I Thought I’d Never Finish

I started knitting these socks in another lifetime. Roughly when softball season started. Now my work stuff is kicking into high gear in honor of the end of the season. I start to travel next month for Championships.

But at least these socks are finally finished.

Thicker cedar blockers used b/c they made the ribbing spread out

This is the Rockin’ Sock Club kit from September, 2008. I opened the package took one quick look at the Cloning Anemones pattern and said “That’s an Upstream.” After my class with Cat back in November, I suddenly had all the confidence I needed to translate published patterns into Cat’s New Pathways.

Just for Turtlegirl … toe pic!

The pattern was written top-down, but I wanted to knit toe-up. So I started with Judy’s Magic Cast On and started zipping along until my toe box was completed. When it was time to start the arch increases, I got to work.

Master Reinforced Heel from New Pathways

With four stitches in the middle of the instep to start the arch increases, I was able to start the cable chart right away. It’s a 1x1 cable, every four rows. It drained my soul for nearly three full months.

As I increased within the center “V” two stitches every three rounds, I was easily able to incorporate those added stitches into the pattern as they appeared. It’s an easy pattern to “see,” so the only hard part was owning up to the fact that every few rounds, I had to cable more stitches.

But it’s so pretty!

By the time I got to the end of the leg of the first sock, I realized I was in trouble. But I seem to have whatever the opposite of “Second Sock Syndrome” is, meaning that I’m too damn stubborn to leave the pair unfinished. So I soldiered on.

Please excuse my pasty white legs

Cloning Anemone Socks

Pattern: Cloning Anemone Rib by Team Blue Moon
Source: Rockin’ Sock Club, September 2008
Yarn: BMFA Socks that Rock Lightweight
Color: Tide Pooling (RSC 9/08)
Needles: US 1.5/2.5mm, Addi Lace, Magic Loop
Started: 5 Feb 2009
Finished: 19 April 2009 (note: first sock was finished 2/21/09)
Mods: Knit toe-up into the Upstream architecture from New Pathways for Sock Knitters
Ravelry project link

Field Tripping

Last week was a blur. I worked Monday and Tuesday. In fact, Tuesday was at World Headquarters (my dad/brother’s business) because the contractor was refinishing the floor and it smelled awful here at the house.

Wednesday morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. and drove to my nation’s capital. Landed at my swanky hotel (thank you, ncaa!) shortly after 10 a.m., then high-tailed it over to the Verizon Center to start my volunteer duty at the hockey championship. Four press conferences on Wednesday afternoon (one for each team) then back to the hotel to collapse from exhaustion.

Oh, and by the way? My roommate was a college student from Denver. Who flew out to volunteer for the championship. And who slept from 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night to 11:30 a.m. Thursday night. I kid you not. She was a peach, lemme tell ya!

Anyhoo, I was up reasonably early on Thursday morning, worked for a few hours in the hotel lobby (free internets in the lobby, not so much in the rooms), then woke Sleeping Beauty on my way upstairs to get organized to meet a college friend for lunch.

By the way? If you’re in DC and in Chinatown/near the Verizon Center/near the National Portrait Gallery? Proof has a great $12 lunch. We had to eat on our laps, but a really good entrée and a glass of wine for $12. No complaints here.

Then I started the Tourist-ey stuff. Took the Metro to Smithsonian with College Friend, hoofed it over to the Jefferson Memorial (too many people to make good photos), back over to the Washington Monument, then straight down the middle of the Mall to the Capitol Building, then zipped up to the hotel to shower and head for the rink for the semifinal games.

Friday, I got up and basically went straight to the rink for press conferences with the two remaining teams. Worked with their reliable and strong (and free) wireless at the rink for a couple hours, then started my Quest.

Stopped at Fahrney’s and got myself an awesome new pen (theotheramanda? I love it!), then walked over to The Ellipse, where I took a bad picture of the White House from far enough away to make me mildly cranky, then headed onto the Mall.

First the World War II memorial, where I took possibly my favorite photo of the trip (#11 below). Can I just mention how ironic I find it that there are a TON of signs at the WWII memorial saying “Please respect the memorial. No wading. No coins.” And yet? The entire center fountain portion of the fountain was lousy with tourists wading. Until a mounted Park Police officer showed up and made four laps to get everyone out of the water. Grrr …

And yet? There were maybe two signs on the reflecting pool, but no tourists wading in the water. Yes, that’s because the water is gross, as only stagnant water can be. But still. One is obviously a memorial and yet people are more important than respect for our veterans. But I digress.

After WWII, I hoofed it over to the World War I memorial. If I won the lottery, I’d start a fund to clean that thing up. I really enjoy it, but it looks as if it’s in desperate need of a good cleaning. Then I sucked it up and walked down the reflecting pool to Lincoln. Which was crowded.

Then it was over to Einstein, up to Foggy Bottom and George Washington's campus to catch a Metro back to the Portrait Gallery, then over to Verizon to watch the Hobey Baker Award presentation, then back to the hotel. Up to Union Station for some food, then over to the Capitol Building to take some night pictures. Shower. Sleep.

Saturday was rainy, the first bad weather day I’d had on my trip. I took the Metro out to Cleveland Park and had lunch with same College Friend from Thursday, then zipped back to the hotel to change and head to the rink. We had to be there four hours before the game (I’m still not sure why). Puttered around. Had a group photo taken at center ice (fun!) and got down to work.

Sunday morning, I met a former co-worker for brunch, then hit the road home. All in all, a very fun trip. And I’m reminded of how much fun it is to be a tourist in Washington, D.C!



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Minimal knitting or other crafty stuff has been taking place. The renovation is juuuust about done. I’ll try hard to get back to some regular blogging in the immediate future.

Roaming Tigger Does the Frozen Four

1. RTwash, 2. RTmall, 3. RTholocaust, 4. RTcastle, 5. RTjeff, 6. RTarchives, 7. RTart, 8. RTcapitol, 9. RTwhitehouse, 10. rtWWI, 11. RTlincolnext, 12. RTlincoln, 13. RTeinstein, 14. rtWWII, 15. RTportrait, 16. RTbench, 17. RTrail, 18. RTice