Knit the Dog

[...because if I ever run out of yarn--- I can just knit the dogs.]



Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Some things

Two weeks is a bit too long for Phil to be gone. I really don't mind at all when he goes away for a few days; I'm a natural hermit and like the time alone. But the longer he's gone the weirder I get. I stay up late, spread my knitting all over the house, watch weird movies, eat strange things and generally revert to the wild.

He's in Colorado, riding a mountain bike from Telluride to Moab [Utah] with five other guys. I call this a grunt-n-sweat trip, but actually they're all pretty nice well-mannered folk since they all work for USDA like Phil. They've had some bad reactions to the altitude (camped the first night at nearly 11,000 feet) but they're doing fine. He's been able to call me a couple of times.

Phil is a natural athlete, agile, coordinated, muscular, and actually enjoys exercise. I'm the complete opposite-- my natural position is sitting down, I lack coordination, I'm a physical coward, and no matter how much time I spend in the gym I huff & puff hiking up hills. I "run to fat", as my Dad used to say, and I hate to sweat. I can't bend my mind around the desire to beat the crap out of yourself for six days on a bike. Yet I deeply envy them the ability to do it. The one thing I was ever good at was canoeing-- I can paddle all day-- and I would love to go on a few more river trips.

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I've been messing about with a lot of yarn without accomplishing a lot of knitting. I'm playing with holding two different yarns together to enhance the colors, use up sock and lace weight in my stash, etc. I like the results, but so far it's mostly swatching. Not sure I have enough of either combo for a long vest, which is what I want to knit. There are two piles of yarn, one burgundy/navy/purply and the other teal/blue/green/purplish.

Here's what's on my [way too many] needles:
---Phil's cardigan. Still working on the back.
---the Noro/Cascade striped garter side-to-side vest. Very nearly done with the body, then it will need a button band.
---Hate to admit it, but a cotton cardi from summer still has four circs hostage-- the sleeves need finishing-- and since I know it isn't going to fit very well I can't muster the energy to finish it. I keep leaving it out in prominent places to spur the guilt.
---A wrap sort of thing with cables and lace, just a few inches along, to use up yarn. Pretty golden colors.
---latest start--- the Sine/Cosine sweater, in a combo of burgundy and navy yarns. All garter knit on the bias, fun to knit.
---patiently waiting in the closet, the white lace shawl I started last winter, which I will pick up again when it's cooler.
---and at least one baby blanket, just in case there's another baby some time.

So do you think I have a problem????

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Sock Summit Junkie

I didn't go to Sock Summit; the timing wasn't great and I didn't get into any classes, and wasn't going to cross the country just for the marketplace. But the idea of it intrigued me, and I'm a fan or Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog, so I spent the weekend reading every post and snippet on Ravelry and other people's blogs and generally being obsessed with the event, to the extent that I practically feel like I went. It might even inspire me to get out the skinny needles and knit another pair of socks (I've started many but only completed one pair, which is too big.)
I do love sock yarn and have acquired an awful lot of it. Some goes into scarves, some just sits and looks pretty. I'm playing with two strands of Trekking and Cherry Tree Hill held together to make a shrug-- it's the color of grape soda, not my usual sort of thing but intriguing. Of course I have no idea whether I will have enough yarn, and doubt I could get any more of those colors, so it's a bit of a crapshoot.
Cool rainy days this week, a real relief after the sweltering heat. Phil's packing to go on the mountain bike trip in Colorado-- six guys for a week, camping-----oh dear. I am happy that my attendance is not required. Meanwhile I get two weeks to knit in solitary splendor and can hang out at the yarn shop every day if I want, since there will be no cooking. When Phil's gone I don't cook and rarely eat meat, just live on salads, fruit, and a little chocolate.