Socks and Coffee

Sunday, July 20, 2008

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I was in the lab three days last week instead of the usual two and my online summer class has gotten a little busier too. There has been a lot of waiting around for things to filter or evaporate in the lab though which means knitting time. Here are the Kaffe Fassett Regia socks that I bound off on last Thursday.



Pattern: Stockinette Socks for me
Yarn: Regia Design Line, Kaffe Fassett Colorway
Needles: US 1 DPNs
Mods: None because I made it up as I went along. Basically one inch of 2x2 ribbing, then stockinette with a short row heel. I prefer the fit of heel flaps but think short row heels show off stripes better.

Last night, while watching Read or Die episodes with Kurt, I cast on for a Cabled Coffee Cuff. We received the yarn and pattern at the Stitch and Pitch. Prairie Yarns in Fargo has teamed up with Dunn Brothers Coffee to sell these donated cuffs and the proceeds go to the Great Plains Food Bank.



I also knit up the two inch swatches of four different yarns that Boucle Yarn Studio provided at the game but pictures and critique of those will have to wait until they're blocked and photographed.

Now I'm off to paint trim on the garage, reinstall garage windows and study for my Psych test, which is tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Stitch and Pitch

Friday, July 04, 2008

Didn't take many pictures at the Stitch and Pitch and I'll admit that it was mainly for aesthetic reasons. The temperature hovered right around 90 degrees for most of the game and I really don't think you want to see pictures of a bunch of knitters sweating their very pores off their skin. Thankfully, right around the seventh inning stretch a thunderstorm nearby (with spectacular lightening) blew in a nice cool breeze and none of the fussy rainy part. Here's a picture of Tina, from Boucle Yarn Studio in Fargo, binding off our team effort scarf.



We started with around 80 people in the Stitch and Pitch section and here is who was left to gift the scarf to the Red Hawk's mascot, Hawkeye.



Overall, it was a really fun time even though I can't stand that kind of heat (this is why I live in ND). I had a hard time keeping track of the game and actually thought our team won until it was later pointed out to me on Ravelry that I had the score backwards. Oops! Still, I would totally go again. Hopefully they'll have another one next year!

I took some pictures today of my yarn drawer in my desk where I keep my WIP's.



If you click to make it big you can maybe see, clockwise from the left, the beginnings of the second half of my Mystery Stole from last year, the sock I started for the baseball game then ripped and started again in the lab yesterday, and the ever-constant dishcloth which I keep there to work on when I don't feel like working on more thought-demanding projects. And here is the pile of yarn and needles and odds and ends I cleaned out of the drawer just moments before snapping the beautifully organized picture above.



Okay, I'm off to get some stuff done before we go do fireworks. Happy Fourth everyone!

Summer Fun in the Sunshine

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Busy day! I started off painting the trim on the garage because I got a call saying not to go in to the lab until 2:00 pm (we're waiting for dry ice, which we need for this experiment). Then I realized what time it was and started rushing. Kurt and I ran to the store to get a gift for a friend's birthday party which he went to at 1:00 pm, some last minute things for tonight and then I ran back home to get ready for lab. Whew. I'll leave lab a little early to head down to a baseball game in Fargo tonight - a Stitch and Pitch! I'm very excited to hang out with other knitters and watch some local baseball. I started a new sock last night so I'll have something easy to work on in lieu of the Mystery Stole which I also started working on again this week.

If this entry seems rushed and chaotic it's because that's how today feels! I'll leave you with a pic of my strawberry bounty this morning. We forgot to pick for the last couple of days so today we had a huge* haul!



* Huge to us anyway because we only have about a dozen plants. Usually a handful a day for a couple weeks is all we get.