PSA

If any of you will be in Central Park this Saturday morning, pop by the bandshell and come see me. I'm volunteering at information booth at the YAI Central Park Challenge. It's a 5k run/3k walk for people with Intellectual Disabilities/Developmental Disabilities. Yeah, I know it's a shameless plug, but it is a fun day - fingers crossed it will stay dry.

Meme

There is knitting going on in the house of Schrodinger, however, not so much of the finishing kind of knitting. So instead of boring you with WIP shots, I thought I would bore you with 7 random things about myself :) Thanks to Gabriella for the tag.

I'm the product of a RAF family, I spent my childhood not living anywhere for more than 3 years at a time. By the time I was 13 I'd spend 3 tours of 3 years in Germany - yet I've not been back since, although this should change at Christmas :) I miss Germany, I have many happy memories there.

Just before we moved back to England I had a memorable trip to Berlin with my school. We stayed in the Olympic stadium. I learned so much on that trip, it was my first realization of the horrors of what had happened during WWII. I also wrote my name on the Berlin Wall, and listened to the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack almost endlessly throughout the trip.

When I was a teenager I tried my hand at a few different crafts, lacemaking, screenprinting, dried and live flower-arranging. I was lucky that my school was also a 'community college' for people in the town, so they offered these classes to the pupils in the school for free. As time has gone on I've also tried jewelry making, hemp jewelry, candle-making & sculpting, wood-working, metalwork, and the usual paining and drawing, bead and wire sculpture, pottery, origami.

I have a fork-lift truck license. Mr B found it when unpacking last week, and I looked at it and remembered the days. Since it was many years ago, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't how to work one now.

Origami was my last obsession before knitting took over, I folded 1,000 cranes for my grandmother, who - when she received them, acted as though I was quite mad - why on earth would I give her 1,000 of these paper things? She never really got my explanation. She has since passed on and my cousin inherited them, she loves them. Not satisfied with just 1,000 for my grandmother, I decided to make an additional 1,000 for myself and Mr B. They sit in our living room in a large glass cylinder in a beautiful rainbow of colours.

Since my position at work has changed, and I'm on the phone helping people much more, I have developed new pet peeves. For example, I've recently realized that I can get very frustrated when someone says "I hear you" while you're in the middle of a sentence - what's the point?

Over the last few years I've developed this adolescent/childish thing whereby, when I hear people say "duty" I tend to giggle. I think that this is because it's pronounced so differently here in the US, that it just sounds like "doodie" from the mouths of so many to me.

200 posts and still going.

Well, I have a great many WIPS going on, so the basket is getting some good use :) It's basically like this, "oh, I really want to try Sandra's sock pattern" (see below), "ooh, I really want to knit up that habu silk [that I had just bought] into a shawl/stole", "oooh, I finally have yarn to make the hourglass sweater I've been wanting to knit forever", "oh yes, and I must make the mother/daughter socks for my wonderful co-worker moving back to Ireland next month". And guess what? I'm still looking beyond the basket to think about the other projects I want to get my hands on. I don't think that I've ever been this ADD with my knitting before - or maybe I forget?

At the back of my mind there 2 balls of Trekking XXL that I bought in a little sale at the Point last week - they want to be on the needles, right NOW. And to top it off, this landed in my mailbox yesterday:

Isn't it pretty? It's 5% cashmere, 95% Australian Merino. A laceweight called Gentle, in "Soft Aqua Blue" from Yarn Place. This was a prize that I won from Redheadskydiver a little while back. Isn't it pretty? Now it's tickling my brain, what lace project should it be? The card made me smile too. Thanks Redheadskydiver!!! It's soft and lovely. Yes, apparently I'm on a lucky streak - maybe it's time to buy my first lotto ticket?

As a result of all this distraction, I don't really have much in the way of FO's to show, just this one sock:



Now this sock - or was it the yarn? Pissed me off on Thursday. There I was on the train, happily knitting away, and out of the blue, the damn thing decides to tell me that maybe, just maybe, it wants to try being a different sock, perhaps a Monkey...

Now you can understand the reasoning behind this thinking, while in progress, it's really hard to see the great tweed-ish pattern - kind of a confused charade. So the yarn starts to worry, it wants to be seen in it's best light after all. But then. I try it on. No, the yarn was wrong, Charade was the right pattern after all - phew! all is good again (it's true that I still have a nagging doubt, however, I'm choosing to ignore it).

Oh, and there have been some requests for apartment pictures. There is still plenty to be done here in our humble abode, but I thought I would oblige. So, here's a couple of shots of the living room to tide you over:





And my crafting space - as you can see , this is still a work in progress - AND (with Mr B there for scale) it's obvious that my stash is a reasonably small size... right?




I'm going to have go now to get ready to go out to celebrate the Mets win :)

Luck o' the British?

I'm a lucky bugger. Look what I won at a work event today.

Packed full of pampering Bath and Body Works goodies - about half of which will be going to work tomorrow where they will be surely more appreciated. But dude! Look at that basket.

I immediately gave it a job. Doesn't it make a great WIP basket?


And, a little teaser of the apartment, I will try to take more pics of the place at the weekend - but with me going to a Mets game Saturday, not sure when that's going to happen :)

Weekend update

First of all, I just have to say 2 words Raverly Rocks! Frecklegirl Jess and her amazing hubby built up this phenomenal site for knitters - it's a perfect way to keep a track of all your projects (finished and WIPS), your yarn, your needles/hooks, your books, patterns your want to do, even your friends. Check it out now, you can only join by invite - so contact them, your invite will be given to you in the order it was received.

While deciding what yarn to buy project to do next, I picked out the baby silk I had in my stash and knit....well.... another shedir. Maybe it's a shedir addiction, may it's that I have tried several patterns with this yarn already and it just didn't want to be them, ever


And this is how much yarn I had left - I measured it, not even 21 inches - PHEW! That was a close one.


Okay, okay, you just want the stats - so here ya go...

Pattern: Shedir cap.
Yarn: 3 balls of Elann's Baby Silk in "Deepest Black", 80% baby Alpaca, 20% silk yarn. I doubled the yarn.
Needles: Addis Turbos, 32" #3's (magic loop method).
Adaptations: I did 4 of the 5 pattern repeats, again.

As for other knitterly goodness. I got my order from WEBS this week, I cast on for a sock, more about this another time.



I also swatched.


I might be pushing this one though, I keep getting 20 stitches, as opposed to the required 19 sts per 4". While I really like the feel of this yarn, I'm not convinced about the color - as is frequently the case with reds/oranges, it's impossible to capture the true color - but I would say there is a little more 'flamingo' going on.

And the spinning has been going well.


There's a little more white in it than I would like, but I'm sure that plying will change it all. Speaking of which, I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle the plying. I got an Ashford lazy kate some time ago, didn't really think about it until I assembled it. However it's too small the bobbins of my mystery wheel - doh! I've been plying from center-pull balls, leaving me with less than perfect plying, I don't want that for this beautificous roving.

Oh! and one more picture - Absorba out in the wild. Don't you just love our bathroom's subway tiles?



Enjoy the weekend - it's a beaut here!

Behold the great Absorba!

ETA: COMMENTS HAVE BEEN TURNED ON :/

Huzzah!! The bathroom will now be fully dressed with it's hand-knit bathmat.


Pattern: Absorba, from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Peaches and Creme double worsted in #51 Apple Green.
Needles: Denises #15
Adaptations: What I did, is essentially knit a single crochet edging - I don't have a crochet hook that big, so I picked up 2 stitches, then pass the right stitch over the left one, then picked up a st and passed the right stitch over the left, etc, etc.
Thoughts/additional info: Knitting this was no piece of cake, it was challenging to knit what is essentially [a soft lime colored] rope on fat, fat needles, it hurt my hands a bit :( On the bright side, it's a pretty fast knit. The bathmat didn't really come out as flat and perfect as I wanted - I know, I know. Anyway, I'm blocking it right now (yes, blocking a bathmat - like that makes sense), but I think that will fix those issues for me. Oh, and I could not capture the color of this mat at all, it is a more lurid brighter green than pictured - which suits me fine.

In other news, I got some beautiful stitch markers from Zero Markers this week.



Did I hear you ask what that is in the background? Okay, okay, it's 8 oz of Superwash Merino in "wild thing" from Crown Mountain Farms.


I think it's going to make me some lovely sock yarn.

Now... if you'll excuse me, I have some spinning to do.

I'm not ignoring you

I've just been busy. Unpacking, buying things, enjoying the company of friends and making the apartment our home - bit by bit. There's plenty left to do, but I'm very happy with how things are coming together.

I promise, there will be some pictures of the apartment to follow, but it's still a work in progress - with about 8 more boxes (mostly DVDs, books, knick-knacks) to unpack. But for now you will have to just be satisfied with knitting pics and stats - I forgot to ad that to the list, but I have been knitting too :)

First is a basic pair of socks for me in Regia

Pattern: I did the foot in stocking stitch and the leg in k2, p2 ribbing, with short row toes and heels.
Yarn: Regia surf in sand (color #5420). I think this yarn is great, it has a lot of potential to stand up to the machine washing, it's not as warm as 100% wool socks, clearly a better choice if you feel the need to wear socks during this heat wave. Oh! and see those curtains in the background? I made them a couple of weeks ago.
Needles: Addi 32" turbos, size 2.


Next is the most boring pair of socks ever - for Mr B - modeled by me, the man is busy organizing the spare room (AKA, the art/craft/fiber/sewing, music room) and I don't want to interrupt the progress - but here it clearly shows that he has gigantic feet.


Pattern: again foot in st st, leg in k3, p1 ribbing, with short row toes and heels.
Yarn: Knitpicks Essential Tweed in "flint" I had planned on making a pair of gloves when I ordered this yarn. However, it was absolutely not what I expected, I was hugely disappointed in this so-called tweed. It looks like a child splashed their paints on it - very primary colour-ish. Having said that, the yarn itself is soft, and Mr. B states that the socks are super comfortable.
Needles: Knitpicks 32", size 1.


Next is a couple of wash/dish clothes. I wanted simple and fast. I love the simple ingenuity of this pattern, the yarn color was inspired by a towel I was given a while back. The towel depicts Die Sendung Mit Der Maus - for which I have fond childhood memories, cute little fella isn't he? That and the green tea + aloe soap we had helped me decide that a lime green theme is necessary in our brand new white-on-white bathroom.


Pattern: 4-corners pattern by Abigail
Yarn: Lily's Sugar n Cream - in summer splash.
Needles: Denises size 7



Today I started the Absorba Bath Mat from Mason Dixon - in lime green, of course. My goodness, knitting with this stuff on the HUGE (to me) #15 needles is teeee-ough!! It will be worth it though.

no knitting here

The move is complete!! I am now longer a Manhattanite, instead I have 'evolved' into a Queenster (or an Astorian, if you will). The move was difficult, moving from a 6th floor walk-up with some very (very, very) good friends is no joke - I am appauled at how much crap we have. But the weather was beautiful on the day of the move, and we managed to make the day fun. Every muscle in my body hurts - a LOT, I'm sure our friends are feeling the burn too. It was worth it though - I love the new 'hood, people actually say 'hello' on the street, they are friendly, that will take some getting used to, it's such a major change from our old neighborhood (don't get me wrong, I loved living there, and will miss it, but people being nice is great).

We now have double the living space, with a spare room for knitting/spinning/sewing (and Mr. B's art/music I suppose). The light in here is beautiful in here. There will be photo's, but not for a little while - no internet (phone or TV) until next week (Time Warner sucks, but I'm not telling you anything new am I?). As a result, I'm writing this post on my Blackberry, which is "interesting" to say the least, I have no idea if it will work yet. I have been trying to keep up with blog reading, but you won't see comments from me for a while yet, that is asking a little too much from the little bb. Thanks again for all your well-wishes with the move, it's appreciated - and I'm sure it helped.

Okay, I must go and unpack some boxes, if I can stand up :)