Sweater Success

As I’m sure you’ve been able to tell, this summer has seen me on a massive sweater-knitting kick. The latest masterpiece off of my needles required no finishing, which is why it’s actually … you know … finished. Meet the Mondo Cable Pulli!

Thanks again to Michelle for letting me use the store’s mannequin for the bulk of my FO-tos!

This sweater is extremely similar to the Mondo Cable Vest that I finished up last October. Same cable pattern, same neckline. Since it’s a traditional raglan, it doesn’t need some of the mental gymnastics that make the vest so remarkable.


As with any top-down raglan, it feels like the yoke takes forever. But once I split for the sleeves, I was off to the races!

The round is joined with the first cable cross.


And the back of the neck is finished by picking up stitches from right shoulder, across the back to left shoulder and through the ribbing for the left front. It’s a pretty ingenious way to get a nice finished neckline with essentially no finishing.


The Fibre Company Terra was a very forgiving yarn in the few spots that required picking up, and it steam-blocked beautifully. You may have noticed that it’s tough to see the raglan lines on this sweater, but it’s also nearly impossible to see where I picked up stitches to complete the neckline.


The sleeves and bottom hemline are finished with a 5x1 ribbing on a one-size-smaller needle. Like on my vest, it doesn’t do a whole lot to counteract the stockingette roll, but I didn’t feel like modifying to change it. I bound off both cuffs and the torso of the sweater using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.


I find it to be a very flattering look both on Hannah, the store’s mannequin.


And on me!


I’m sure it will get tons of wear once it’s cold enough to actually wear an alpaca/merino/silk blend for more than five minutes at a time!

Mondo Cable Pulli

Pattern: Mondo Cable Pulli by Chic Knits/Bonnie Marie Burns
Yarn: The Fibre Company Terra
Color: Wild Clary
Yardage: 11 skeins (1,100 yards … 500 less than I planned for!)
Needles: US 10/6.0mm Addi Turbos (fixed) and US 9/5.5mm Addi Turbos
Started: 26 July 2010
Finished: 17 August 2010
Mods: None. Another triumph from Chic Knits!

And with that, dear readers, I say good-bye for up to a week. Mom and I are headed to The Mannings for a week-long weaving camp that begins Monday. I'm taking my laptop but am not anticipating having internet access available while I'm gone. I'm quite certain I'll have plenty to yammer on about when I get back. Have a great week!

YPF: Orphan Adoption

So Bloomin’ Yarns got its very first Madelinetosh shipment in on Friday. Three colorways jumped out the door instantly, leaving two orphans behind. I really liked one of them and we had something nice that matched.

Logwood is a nice lavender that matches the orphan perfectly. I remembered seeing Stephen West’s Daybreak Shawl done in Tosh DK, so I was off to the races. I’m going to finish with the Logwood …


And I’m starting with my orphan, Lichen


Close-up!


Together!


My Daybreak is already in progress and is flying right along. Coming soon to a WiP Wednesday near you!

WiP Wednesday: Snoozefest

I’ve been a one-project girl this week. Next time you see this Mondo Pulli, it will have all of its ends woven in, and will be modeled on a human. And yeah, it’s finished other than end-weaving. Which is why it’s inside-out.


I did cruise through a few stockingette rounds on the Musique socks the other night. I’m sure they’ll get a little more air time in the coming week.


Otherwise, gratuitous puppy picture:


Sydney really didn’t want to be photogenic today, so this is what you get.

And, all the stonework is finished and it looks fantastic. Front walk:


The repointing on the house is done too. Unless you’re really looking closely and trying to distinguish the old mortar from the new, you can’t tell where the new stuff is. Oh, the new stuff is smooth. The original mortar has larger sand particles


So that’s about it at casa DPUTiger. Not very exciting, but it’s the best I’ve got. Have a great week!

YPF: Deep Stash

It’s amazing what you can find when you’re a slob, like me, and you do some de-cluttering.

Before vacation, I tackled my knitting baskets in the TV room. The ones just off my left elbow while sitting on the couch in my primary at-home knitting spot. There was a great big surprise at the bottom of one of the two baskets. This:


It’s 1,200 yards of Schaefer Laurel, a 100% mercersized pima cotton. 400 yards and 8 oz per skein with a 4-5 sts/inch suggested gauge. In the “Empress Wu Zhao” colorway. It was one of my very last purchases at the wonderful Beach Knitting, my left coast knitting home, before moving back east. Which means it's been sitting right there for at least three years.

I have no idea what I had planned to make with it, but I swatched three years ago!


The fabric is wonderful and hefty, and I’m thinking it needs to be some sort of pullover. But I figure it’s marinated in the stash this long, why be in a hurry now?


In my California days, a great deal of my knitting was done with cottons and other similar fibers. I will always have a love of cotton, and defend it. Not all cottons are dishcloth cottons! Many are wonderful to work with and don’t hurt your hands. I’m quite certain this will be one of them.

A Barenaked Wednesday

Back in the dark ages of this here bloggity blog, among the first dozen posts, I gushed about my very favorite band, Barenaked Ladies.

Yesterday, I drove up to Cleveland to see BNL play at the Nautica Pavillion in the Flats. (As a side note? When I lived in Akron a million years ago, the Flats were a Big Deal. Now they’re kind of run down and depressing. Sad!) A friend I used to work with who I hadn’t seen in a dozen years went with me. We both had a blast.

I managed to get great seats for the show. Fortunately, great seats for BNL don’t break the bank. Tigger wanted to prove he attended the show …

During change-over from Kris Allen to BNL

From the minute BNL came out to start their set, I was one (hot, sweaty) happy camper. Jim Creeggan repeatedly came right over in front of our seats to play "to" our little section of the crowd, and despite the fact that we were less than two yards away from a very large set of speakers, it wasn’t painful (until Ed decided to beatbox near the end of the show. Ow.)


They jumped right in with a mix of old and new, including one my very favorites, Easy. The last two times I went to see BNL at an actual show (which does not include the Borders thing), they sold digital copies of the show. I was expecting (hoping? yearning?) to purchase last night’s show on site, but it wasn’t available. And as best I can tell, it won't be. Sad panda! The moment that really made me disappointed that the show was unavailable digitally was when Kevin absolutely crushed Sound of Your Voice. It was perfect.

Tyler, Ed and Jim singing back-up to Kevin (far left) on “Sound of Your Voice"

I’ve always felt that one or two of the songs on BNL’s concert set lists were “ego songs” for Steve. We’d all be floating along having a blast and then they’d play something like Voice just to Remind Everyone That Steve Can Sing. Meh.

I would pay to get a recording of Kevin knocking it out of the park on one of Steve’s old “ego songs.” Voice was never a song I particularly liked. Until last night.

It was an extremely hot and humid night in Cleveland, and I was sweating a ton even before BNL came on stage. About 2/3 of the way through the set list, the heavens opened up and it started seriously dumping rain during One Week and well into Pinch Me, which allowed Ed to work the rain into the lyrics. Nice. We got a decent amount of rain on us (a very welcome cool-down) but it was just fun. I walked out of the venue completely soaked, first from sweat, then from rain. Still, it was awesome.

Despite sitting on what would have been “the Ed side” when it was a 5-piece band, we didn’t see a whole lot of Ed over by us. He did wander over a time or two. This was the best pic I could manage


As is pretty standard, things got a little silly during If I Had a Million Dollars.


See Ed in the front holding something yellow? See Tyler behind his drum kit in the back talking into the mic?

Yeah. Well, Ed picked that yellow thing up off the stage after it had been thrown and said “Is this supposed to be an emu?”


And then proceeded to have the we-think-it’s-an-emu “talk” into his mic as “Sam the Scottish Emu.” Voiced by Tyler. Hilarious. Again, wish I could have purchased audio of the show.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that most of my photos are kind of blurry. I had my flash turned off for pretty much the entire show, both to preserve battery life and to not be completely obnoxious. But I did make one exception

Jim is completely awesome.

We had some fabulous women next to/behind us. And several of them brought monkeys (among other "props"). Abby, who spent most of the show dancing next to me, threw this particular monkey onto the stage. Jim’s face lit up when he saw it land, and he picked it up and put it on his double bass for the rest of the song.

Since I “knew” who had thrown the monkey, and knew I could get a great shot, I went for the flash. Totally worth it.

I stayed overnight in Cleveland, busted it home and worked a long shift at the store, hence my delay in posting. I had an absolute blast and can’t wait to see BNL again. Too bad I can’t go up to the Rochester, N.Y., area on Saturday to see them again.

Tigger wanted to see a few additional Cleveland sites, so we did that on the way out of town this morning. We could see the Browns stadium from the park across the street from our hotel

Hey! That’s just how it looks when there’s a game, too! (empty) ;-)

And on the way out of town, we drove by the LeBron-free Q


We had dinner at Mike Golic’s restaurant pre-show. Now serving The LeBron Burger. Yes, “LeBron” was sharpied-out on the menu.

And the it-has-some-stupid-corporate-name-now-but-it-will-always-be-The-Jake-to-me. AKA the baseball stadium.


So nearly $12 in tolls (round-trip) and a sung-raw throat later, we’re back home. An exhausting trip but absolutely, positiviely 100% worth it. When can I go see BNL again?

WiP Wednesday: Sweaterville

So I really haven’t touched my Musique socks since last week. I could have knit while the Hubster drove home from the Lake on Sunday but, well, I kinda slept the whole way.

Anyway, the sweater has been getting the bulk of my knitting time. The good news is that it’s moving right along!

Hey! It finally looks like a sweater! Hooray!

I’m on the 5th skein of yarn of 16 available, so I’m confident I’ll have plenty to make the torso as long as I want and have sleeves of an appropriate length. Good times!

The socks are going to Cleveland with me tonight, so we’ll see if I actually do any knitting. Yay, fun road trips!

Miscellaneous

Several of you have asked what I do with all of that beach glass. Well, I don’t have a particularly good answer for you. I find a shockingly small number of pieces that I’d like to have drilled (or wire-wrapped) for necklaces, but for the most part? No plans.

Honestly, the big lure is twofold: It’s neat/unique to the Lake, and it makes a 2-1/2 hour, six-mile walk go by in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, here’s my solution for now. I found a bunch of these large mason-type jars at Ikea last year. I have two that are full and three empty ones. Next time I’m in that neighborhood, I may see if I can pick up a few more. Cheap and highly functional.


Ooh, I didn’t put anything in that picture fore perspective. Oops. The jars are 8.5” high and have a 16” circumference, so they hold a pretty good quantity of glass.

In other news the Hubster gets a gigantic gold star for wearing his thinking cap while we were on vacation. At the end of our tour of the Darwin Martin house, they finish in the gift shop (much like every single ride at Disney). We both poked around for a bit before the Hubster called me over to take a look at something he’d found. A new floor mat!

We had talked about getting a new front door mat once all the stonework was finished. Neither one of us was a big fan of the one we had inherited (sorry, Mom!), plus it was beginning to fall apart and was molting all over our entryway.

On top of that, indoor/outdoor mats are obscenely expensive! At least the ones I had looked at and liked were more than I was willing to pay. But this one? That’s styled after Frank Lloyd Wright’s art glass? Very reasonably priced. I love it.


Gotta be efficient on Wednesday. I’ll try to WiP Wednesday you straight out of the gate, then I need to work efficiently in the morning. I have Barenaked Ladies tickets for Wednesday night in Cleveland, and I’m going with a friend I haven’t seen in about a dozen years. Can. Not. Wait.

Back in the ‘Burgh

We’re home from vacation. Things got a little busy the last few days, so I’ll get you all caught up from the end of our vacation.

The Lake was pretty high on Thursday, so the walk was shorter and there wasn’t a whole lot of beach glass. But that’s OK! Because it means that there WILL be lots of glass the following day!


Friday proved that theory true. Walked to the State Park again and got a ton of glass!


And a close-up of some of the cooler pieces from that day’s walk, including a chunk of Coke bottle and most of the bottom of a bottle.


That night, we had the first good sunset of the entire trip. Hooray! Here’s a mosaic of some of the ridiculous number of photos I took that night. Click through to Flickr to embiggen!

1. 0806sunsetA.jpg, 2. 0806sunsetB.jpg, 3. 0806sunsetC.jpg, 4. 0806sunsetD.jpg, 5. 0806sunsetE.jpg, 6. 0806sunsetF.jpg, 7. 0806sunsetG.jpg, 8. 0806sunsetH.jpg, 9. 0806sunsetI.jpg

The Lake was actually pretty high again during Friday’s sunset, so there was another bonanza on the beach on Saturday morning. Yay!


The big party was Saturday night and I was busy chatting when it was time for sunset, but I grabbed my camera in time for a couple shots as the sun peeked through the clouds one last time.


This won't be my last trip this summer, but I don't know when I'm going back up. We shall see!

WiP Wednesday: Vacation Knitting

Hi! There actually has been some knitting going on. My Musique socks got some good air time at the Jammers Lucy-Desi’s game. I turned the heel on a trip to the Quilt Farm in Boston, N.Y., with my mom on Tuesday and finished the decreases last night.


I split for the sleeves on my Mondo Pulli last Wednesday, just before we left for the Lake. I’ve knit about another inch since then, and I’m finished with the third ball of yarn.


Some of the other “same old” stuff is happening because I’m at the Lake. I managed to take a 90-minute walk in the rain yesterday and here’s the glass I came up with


It actually didn’t rain all that hard and the “storm” cleared out pretty quickly. And yet? Another less-than-stunner sunset. A few moments after this photo was taken, the sun hit cloud cover well before hitting the water. Meh.


Since the Lake was fairly high yesterday afternoon and into this morning, it was a banner day for beach glass. I walked to the State Park again (guessing that’s about a 6-mile round trip, it took me over two hours) and had a pocket completely full of glass when I got home. Oh, and sunburn on my arms. Oops.


The best part about being up here is that I have shiny things to keep me motivated while getting my exercise. Yes, I am part magpie. There is no way in hell I could walk for 2 hours, 30 minutes in the gym.

Hoo-ray for Vay-cay!

It turns out that I can enjoy the Lake without good sunsets or afternoons spent on the beach. How ‘bout that?!! We’ve been up here since Thursday, and the weather has been perfect, which helps.

Friday night, RT, the Hubster and I field tripped over to Jamestown, N.Y.


It was Lucy Desi night for the Jamestown Jammers! Errr … the Jamestown Lucy-Desis!


See that smudge under #48’s number? That’s a picture of Lucy and Desi. Why have Lucy-Desi night? Friday would have been Lucille Ball’s 99th birthday (edited to add that she was born in Jamestown, N.Y.). They auctioned off the special jerseys at the end of the night and announced “now batting for the Lucy-Desi’s…” all night.


We saw hot dog races

There are kids in those costumes … ketchup vs mustard vs relish

Our stadium cup supply is starting to wear thin, so Tigger brought home a couple cups to replenish the stash


After three days at VBP, the Hubster needed a field trip today. So the three of us drove up to Buffalo and visited a Frank Lloyd Wright home

Darwin Martin House!

The entire main house is closed and under construction (which is why the windows are whited out). It’ll be renovated by October of next year, open and asbestos-free! I’m looking forward to going back once it’s restored to its original 1909 glory!


I took long beach walks on Saturday and Sunday. Here’s Saturday’s haul of beach glass


And Sunday’s haul. I walked the whole way to the State Park, which we’re guessing is about six miles round trip. It took over two hours!


Today’s field trip meant I didn’t have time for a “real” walk, so I just took a tiny short one just before sunset:


Because I know WeirdyPants and KnitNat will enjoy it, he may live in a pineapple under the sea, but SpongeBob and Patrick apparently like to visit lakes too


We’ve had really crappy sunsets since we’ve been here, but that’s OK. Tonight wasn’t SO bad. Hope you’re all having a good week!