Inspired 2…Sailboats and Sunsets

Instead of boring us all with the details of when and where, I think I will just share some of the photos from our trip.

One down!

Pattern: Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan
Yarn: Plymouth Jeanne #001
needles: US8 and US7 (on cuffs, etc)
mods: really, nothing you do on this is a mod because it is pretty much up to you. However, I will tell you that I must have knitted and frogged the collar 3 or 4 times cause I couldn’t get it to be stretchy enough. What I ended up doing is on every other bind-off I knitted into the front and back of the stitch and then bound them off…does that make sense? And the “ribbing” is a 2×1 with the 2 done in a faux cable (knit into second st on left needle, do not pull off, then knit into first stitch on left needle and pull them both off at the same time).

2 more sweaters to go, along with one blanket and a pair of mittens. But I feel good with one under the belt.

I tried.

I was working right up to the wire hoping that I would get something finished and posted tonight. But I didn’t like the way some of the finishing looks, so maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, I will leave you with one of the pictures of Dexter from this summer on the boat. He is the kitten that we decided to keep (and I don’t think I have posted about it on here).

A fresh start

I believe that somewhere out there there is a blogging movement going on…something about blogging everyday for the month of November. I think I’m going to try this. I think that not only do I have more than enough material for a month since I haven’t been blogging at all for the last month but also that it will get me back into the habit again. Hopefully. I really enjoy sharing and hearing back from those that stop by but it has just been on the backburner. Also I have figured out how to do posts remotely from my iPod Touch, which is cool! This would also explain some of my poor spelling and/or strange out of place words.

So this is day 1. Just getting my toes wet and seeing how this iPod thing is going to work. Let’s try a photo while we are at it. It is a picture of our boat taken at the US Boat Show in Annapolis last month.

Newest member of the family

Meet my in-laws’ newest baby…uh, I mean, boat. I am definitely feeling like we need to upsize soon. We look way too small next to them now. We had fun, however, visiting them on their way to Maine. We hope to visit them while they are up there, too!!

I really do intend to continue the “Sweden Experience” and am only waiting to use my husband’s computer to do a few tricks with the pictures. In the meantime….

Its been hot! This is how the day begins…

and a little later…

always one step ahead of the sun…

That’s LK (black and grey–mom to the kittens) and Curly (short for Curlique).

Gosh, I just realized that our back deck looks terrible! That’s not completely true…I’ve realized.  ANYWAY!

Let’s see…what else?

Oh, there has been knitting. Just finished a b-day present for my soon-to-be 4 yo niece.

Monica
Cascade Sierra #3 and #16
4mm and 3.75mm needles.
mods:I did knit it in pieces, which wasn’t terrible but wasn’t necessary. Next time…in the round. I switched to 3.75mm needles for the ruffle and the rest of the top. I made tieable icord instead of the fixed garter stitch straps.
Hope she likes it.

I also lost my mind and started this yesterday…

Sea Urchin by Ilga Leja
Tahki Daphne (FROM STASH!!!)  The color is actually more champagne than the picture shows.
4.5mm needles (did a swatch on 4mm and it was slightly off in gauge so I’m going up to 4.5 without swatching again. Hope that doesn’t bite me in the rear! RIGHT!).

That’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll get to use J’s computer software soon!

3 hour tour

I recently joined a forum on Ravelry called Sailors (if you are a member of Ravelry and a sailor, check us out and join!).  I’ve met some very nice knitting sailors and it has been fun to visit their blogs.  Made me feel a little guilty, though, that I don’t post more about our sailing on the C-Bay.  So….

Ever really needed to get some knitting done but you just feel like you don’t have time or other things seem to keep distracting you?  Well, all you need is a sailboat and a stormy couple of days and you will be amazed what you accomplish!

We left Thursday afternoon fully aware of the forecast.  In fact, we left the dock knowing exactly where we were going to anchor to ride out the front that was on its way.   Our sail down was gorgeous! 

Here we are in the Elk River heading southwest.

Capt. J manning the helm

Beautiful enough to make me put down my knitting.

That night we stayed in Still Pond, this wonderful little, well, sort of a pond just off the shipping channel. The weather was behaving but it was certainly building.

The next morning I casted on for sock #1 of the pedicure socks I planned to make for my sister-in-laws for Christmas. We weighed anchor and had every intention to head down to Rock Hall. When we rounded the point out of Still Pond we couldn’t believe the wind! It had shifted to the Southwest and was blowing 15-20 steady. Our boat handles these winds well. In fact, she preforms best in these winds. I knitted the whole way down only being interrupted when I had to help tack the jib. We felt that the wind was too on the nose and decided to take the bailout point at Fairlee Creek, which is a great little isolated river with the most interesting dog-leg at the entrance. You feel you can reach out and touch the sandy beach but you are in 10 feet of water. Scary and fascinating at the same time.  I’m glad I don’t steer.

Now, we don’t normally drop anchor so early in the day (this was around lunch time) but with the impending weather and it just not being that much fun to be out there…well…. I was surprised that J was OK with all of this. He usually likes to stay on the go, but he actually RELAXED! I was so proud. I continued to knit on the sock stopping only to make food or open another drink.

My favorite way to relax on the boat!

And by 4pm that afternoon:

One finished pedicure sock!  And that was all the wine I drank, too!  RIGHT!

pattern: Ann Norling’s Adult Socks Pebbled Rib
yarn: Mirasol Hacho #300 (DK weight yarn)
needle: 3.5 mm Inox express 40″
mods: just stopped about an inch before the bottom of the big toe and knitted that last inch K3, P1 and bound off. I knitted the cuff 4.5″ using only one skein of the yarn (137 yds) with 10g left over. I guess I should have done these “toe”-up!

I usually pack way more projects than I would ever knit but for some reason I didn’t bring the second skein of this yarn. I would have had one Christmas present out of the way!

That night the front rolled through at the predicted time (way to go, NOAA!).  We were sleeping soundly when our boat rolled to its port-side.  See, with the wind from the south, our bow was pointing south.  When the front hit from the west the boat couldn’t correct fast enough.  The winds were 20 knots steady and I saw gusts to 25-28!  The rain was so loud!!  We got out of bed (duh!) and sat in the cockpit for an hour or so.  We were so tired that we eventually crawled back into bed and tried to sleep through the rest of it.  We woke the next morning to blue skies and a very clean boat!

I also brought a hat I am working on for my nephew. I’m about 4″ into the 6″ that I have to knit before starting the decreases at the crown and I HATE how the cast on edge looks. I followed the instructions as written even though I knew it would do this. UGH! Why didn’t I listen to my inner voice. So now I am contemplating pulling it all out!!! I know that is crazy and obsessive but I HATE the way it looks. For some reason, the designer has you begin with a long-tail cast-on and then you knit across the ear-flaps (previously knitted and held on dpns) and then BACKWARD LOOP cast-on all the rest of the stitches. First, I do not like BL cast-on and, secondly, it looks completely different from LT cast-on! IF I were to do it again, I think I would Cable cast-on the whole thing. I tried to get pictures but my camera wouldn’t show what I could see. I’m going to get a few people’s opinions before I eventually rip it out. I just know I will.

Never say never

This is what I love about knitting.  You might think that you will NEVER have the need for a certain technique or that you will NEVER want to make a certain item and then something triggers a second look and you are suddenly obsessed with this thing that you thought you would NEVER do! 

When I first started knitting I never thought I would want to make socks.  Well, nuff said, right?  It was so much fun to go back to all my old knitting books and magazines to see all the sock patterns I already owned.  Course, that didn’t stop me from buying more.

NOW I think I am in love with colorwork…something I thought that I would, yes, NEVER want to do.  A couple of years ago I did draw someone’s name in a handmade item Christmas exchange and I made a fair-isle golf club cover.  I can’t really say I enjoyed it but I was happy with the finished project (more like, happy it was finished).

So what has changed my tune?  I signed up for a Ukrainian Christmas Stocking class at my LYS.

It took a little while but I finally got the rhythm of it and fell in love with seeing all the motifs develop. This week we put the toe and afterthought heel in.

A few months ago I signed up for Seamless Argyle Socks class at Stitches East in Baltimore. So that was this past weekend.

I certainly didn’t think about this actually being colorwork at the time I signed up…it was just one of the only sock classes offered, but I learned A LOT! I will certainly be finishing this one and knitting another to make a pair but not right now cause I am a little obsessed with this:

The pattern is from the Kauni Cardigan pattern that it seems everyone is doing in the internet knitting community. I wanted to try it but 1) wasn’t sure I could do it and 2) wasn’t sure I would have the patience for a cardigan. Oh, and 3) was too impatient to order and wait for the yarn. My LYS owner suggested Noro Silk Garden Lite. I LOVE it! This is my “swatch” which is ~16″ around which I think I will make into a project bag.

 Also, while in the Stitches East class, I met an internet friend, The_ADD_Knitter.  It was so neat meeting someone for real that you have been corresponding with on Ravelry.  Gotta love Ravelry!

In other news, I have finished my Hogwarts Sock Swap II sock.  I would rather not post a picture just yet.  I am finishing up the bookmark and then I just have to put the package together and send it off.  So, Holly Heathertoes, never fear, I have not forgotten you!

Socks and Lucky Go On Vacation

My Sockapalooza Socks (also Summer of Socks 07 qualifier) and Lucky the Lamb just got back from a week on the boat and wanted to tell you all about it.

They left Sunday night and went down the Chesapeake Bay.  They had 2 unwilling (at first) traveling companions, Bonita and Marmalade. 

 

(he might look like he is smiling, but I assure you that he is NOT!)

 

(if looks could kill…eek!)

But soon they both lightened up…

One anchorage was in the East Wye River…

Socks and Lucky found it to be very relaxing.

After a night of quiet, they hit the big town of St. Michaels.

Lots of fun and knitting going on there. 

While there, the wind began to blow from the south, so Socks and Lucky decided to take advantage and head north.

A few thunderstorms were predicted so they dropped anchor in beautiful Tilghman Creek.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Marmalade is ready for a refill, please.

Fun was had by all (even if there was a small dip into the frog pond!)!!

Takes me away…

Although I intended for this blob to be about sailing as well as knitting, I’ve never been very good about including very many pictures of our boat or our adventures.  I hope to change that this summer.  I’ve always gotten some of my best knitting done on the boat and with the Summer of Socks 2007 KAL (SOS) having started on Thursday, I thought what better way to incorporate 2 of my favorite things to do!

We set out on Thursday to meet up with my in-laws who are on their boat heading north.  The weather was not in our favor but INDIGO performed beautifully and got us through the 40+ knot gusts.  We rafted up for 2 nights and I was able to get work done on three different projects. 

I cast on for Jennifer’s socks after casting off the lines at the dock.  It’s Roza’s Socks from Interweave Knits Spring 2007.  I’m using Tofutsies #733 and I am loving it!!  I probably got through the ribbing before I had to put them away so they wouldn’t get wet from all the water we were taking over the bow.  It was crazy!  I have now just turned the heel on sock #1.  If you want something quick and easy but that looks (but isn’t) a little more complicated than plain rib, give this a try.

I also worked on my Sockapalooza Pal’s socks but I can’t report on them due to my inability to keep my mouth shut.  She said that she wouldn’t go looking for my blog but I think she is just trying to be nice (not saying she isn’t telling me the truth…just that she wants to make me feel ok about my blunder).  So I’ll wait until she has received them before posting a pic.  Anyway, I am doing 2 at a time and am 3 1/2 ” into the cuff.

I also worked on another friend’s socks (the pink Move Your Fanny socks) to get them to the point that she can try them on for sizing.  I think I will see her today and maybe get sock #1 off the needles!!

I have split and caked the STR June Kit but have not done anything with it yet.  Even though the other socks (the ones cast on before June 21st) don’t count in SOS, I’m still going to keep working on them.  I never expected to enter the “most socks” contest or any of that.  I really don’t have any goals for SOS other than to take some pictures of my socks with me on vacation, etc.

Off to work on my pal’s socks….

*cough* *cough*

I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve caught the bug from Kristy…the Single Sock Bug.  Let’s consider my symptoms:

Here you see 2 finished single socks and their mates have not been cast on at this time.  Then you see 3 socks in progess.  What you don’t see is the other 2 balls of yarn waiting in the wings to be cast on tomorrow to qualify for the Socks of Summer KAL.

Is this serious or just a passing sniffle?  We will just have to see.  Considering that I have to finish my Sockapalooza Pal’s socks (a pair, preferably) I might have to be cured soon.  I also have socks for 2 friends (one of which the little pink sock(s) is for) to get finished in a decent amount of time.

FYI, starting at the left top: little golf footie inspired by several patterns knit in Fortissima Socka Polycolon (the wicking stuff), Hedera knit in Cherry Tree Hill “brights”, little pink Move Your Fanny knit in Tofutsies #730,  Pomatomus knit in Lana Grossa Cotton Spirit #3008, and Cascade Fixation Ankle Sock knit in, you guessed it, Cascade Fixation #2406.

Wait, lets take a closer look at that Pomatomus!

OK!  OK!  I get it now!  When these first appeared on Knitty I thought they were neat and all but I didn’t understand all the fuss.  But now, NOW I get it!!!  They are mesmerizing!  I cast on this sock yesterday morning and I turned the heel a little more than 24 hours later (and, yes, I slept, among other things).  I am addicted!  I think these will be at the top of my favorite socks ever knitted.

I also promised to share a picture of the 100% cashmere yarn from HipKnits UK that I picked up in Ireland:

Beautiful, huh?  Again, any suggestions for a pattern for 750 yards of 100% Cashmere sock yarn???

Also, I got package #3 from the Socks that Rock Sock Club.  Very nice, but that is all I will say until all have received theirs.

We will be going out on the boat this weekend.  In honor of that I will share a picture of Vi who went out on her Auntie T’s boat this spring while visiting at Easter.