Learnin'

I'm very excited to have signed up for a couple of classes in the next few weeks.

Two-Handed Fair Isle at Fiber Revival on the afternoon of the 15th, and it turns out that the teacher, Isobel (yes, spelled just like my Isobel), once lived a block from our apartment in New York, though she now lives in Portsmouth. It's a small world out there, especially in New England, I think.

I'm really looking forward to improving my colorwork skills. And if that doesn't work, I hope to find some way to get back up here to Maine the first weekend in October to take Mary Jane Mucklestone's class at Purl Diva.

Did you read the profile of Ms. Mucklestone in Interweave Knits by Julia Farwell-Clay? I haven't yet, but Nick should be bringing my issue back from NYC tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it, as well as the rest of the issue. And I'm looking forward to attending the Fiber Revival, which, I believe, began in 2007, not long after I left Boston's North Shore for Chicago's. I hope to see old friends and make some new ones.

Then I get to meet Franklin Habit. Finally! Between Chicago, New York, Boston, and Mid-Coast Maine I should have met Mr. Habit long ago, but somehow it never worked out. Now, it's working out perfectly.

I'll be able to take his Photographing Your Knitting class at Loopy Yarns on Saturday the 22nd. We arrive in Chi-town on Friday to see my dear in-laws and meet our new niece (Nick's sister is pregnant with her first baby - knit pics to appear in this space shortly), then we'll head for Door County after my class to spend the week with my family (my parents, my brother and his wife and their two kids; sadly for us my sister will be just getting back to Germany after a month in Afghanistan, so we won't see her until Christmas). Somewhere in there we need to see my BFF and her family, too, especially as her little big man just broke his leg. Ugh! Poor everyone. Any thoughts on entertaining an active, sports-enthusiastic almost-five-year-old in a full-leg cast? While keeping the toddler man happy, too? And I thought I had it bad in my rain-soaked, doorless cottage earlier this summer.

Now I'm off to work on a new design, hoping to submit it to a cool, online knitting publication. Cross your needles for me :)

FO: Birthday Slippers

Pattern: Amy March Slippers by tiny owl knits [Ravelry link]
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Paris Night (yarn held double)
Needle: US10/6.0mm
Notions: Pale blue double-faced satin ribbon from Fabric.com
Mods: None!

Let's see ... I think this is the fifth time I've made a pair of these. I hope my dear BFF likes them (they should arrive today and, hopefully, give her a belated birthday bit of cheer). Grey is her color, and pale blue is mine. Anyway, this pattern is super quick and easy, and the result is so cute and feminine. My grandmother wore through her orange pair, so there will be another pair showing up here in the next week or so (Grandma's birthday is the 15th). I love doing Judy's Magic Cast-On now and might even knit another pair of toe-up socks some day as a result.

Lots of other knits in the works. I'm hoping to submit a couple of patterns to some of the online knitting magazines, so that's keeping me busy in my quest for World Knit Domination (WKD). So, back to the needles (and yarn and graph paper and pencil and eraser and computer).

FO: Ishbel

Look what we found in the city today! An honest-to-goodness phone booth with working door at the corner of West End Avenue and 101st Street. Vespa on the street is an added bonus.

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague [Ravelry link]
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Blue Surf (0.9 skeins)
Size: Large
Needle: US5/3.75mm

Can you believe 2025 knitters on Ravelry have worked this pattern? Amazing. It is a lovely little shawl. I like the increases on both sides, which make it wider and shallower than most triangle shawls (and may use that trick in a future design). And the yarn is scrumptious, and I like the semi-solidity of this colorway. I can't wait for some cooler weather to really put this knit into rotation.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Places to Eat

Yup, Ten on Tuesday on Thursday. In random order...

1. Five Islands Lobster Co. (our lobster pound of choice in Maine)
2. Roy Moore's Lobster Co. (it's summer, so I'm in lobster high gear; my old lobster place on Cape Ann)
3. The Inn at Kristofer's (the Wilson Family fancy restaurant of choice in Door County)
4. Acquitaine (mussels and steak frites to die for in Boston's South End)
5. Shake Shack (shack burger, fries, and a concrete - downtown in Madison Square Park, UWS, or CitiField)
6. Inaho (where I first ate sushi long, long ago on Cape Cod)
7. Le Jardin (Nick took me here when I first visited him in New York)
8. Lupita's (I'd go just for the little bean empanadas you get with chips and salsa when you sit down)
9. Walker Bros. Original Pancake House ("A Dutch Baby, hash browns, and a large lemonade, please" - why look at the menu, when you know what's good?)
10. American Seasons (amazing food - foie gras creme brulee, anyone? - on one of the loveliest islands)

I'm sure there are more, but that should get us started. I'm hungry! Off to pick up Isobel from soccer and get some yummy empanadas from the cart. New York street food is pretty good, too.

Still here (and knitting away)

I have been very busy knitting lately, but as most of it consists of presents for people, and I haven't gotten off my derriere to mail them out, nothing to show at the moment. And the sun is hiding, so photo shoots have to wait. But I can write about the selfish knitting :)

You can go see my finished socks on the Purl Diva blog [link]. What you can't see in that oh so flattering picture is the picot hem I re-knit after not liking the 1x1 ribbing I knit at the top - it just looked floppy, and since I'd already knit the socks on US0 needles, I wasn't going to get smaller needles for the ribbing. Picots are all pretty and girly, anyway.

I knit up Ishbel (along with lots of other folks) with a little less than one skein of Malabrigo Lace. It needs blocking, and my wires are in NYC, so it will get blocked some time next week when we're back in the city. The yarn is so yummy, and of course I love the color (Blue Surf).

I finished a sweater (my own recipe, which will probably become my next freebie pattern, since I'm not ready to grade a pattern yet) in Schaeffer Nancy, and it's become my go-to pullover when things are a little chilly, That yarn is yummy and bouncy and interesting, and I totally lucked out with not alternating skeins. The dyeing is more in short bursts, I think, so you don't get pooling, even switching from the narrow circumference of sleeves to the wider body and yoke.

I've swatched with Berocco's Vintage Wool, a new yarn for them, to knit up a Ditto along with the folks at Purl Diva for a KAL. I was thinking of starting with a sleeve, my usual M.O., but I'm not sure if I want to stick with the short sleeves as written or make them longer, so I guess I'll start with the body.

And there are two ideas, one knit up, one all sketchy and swatchy, that I may send out into the big, wide world.

On top of that I'm about half-way through a dress for Isobel on the sewing machine. I wish I were a better sewer, but I know it takes practice, which is hard to come by in this little cottage without doors - sewing is a little too loud during naptime, and when Penelope isn't napping she'd like some attention.

Busy busy busy with no photos to show for it. Lame, I know.

Ravelry Eye Candy

I may have lost a day (or five) to this Project search. I *know* that Ravelry is filled with tons of creative knitters and crocheters, but the amount of original stuff is pretty amazing.

I have four almost-FOs to share, but the BSJ needs its buttons, the (original design) sweater is rolling at the bottom hem and *something* must be done about it before sharing, the socks need to be picot-ed (right now they have a ribbed top, which is bleah), and Dad's belated Father's Day present needs it's ends woven in and some thought given to its photo.

So, I'm about to start the charts on Ishbel. I love the Malabrigo Lace (now called Baby Lace, apparently) and hope to squeak a large one out of this skein as other Ravelers have done.

Go check out that eye candy, and if you're not a Raveler yet, what are you waiting for? Apparently, sign-ups are being processed on the same day now, so no waiting.

10 on Tuesday: Ten Guilty Pleasures on TV

Yes, it's Wednesday morning, which means it's time for me to (maybe) get around to 10 on Tuesday. This week: Ten Guilty Pleasures on TV.

1. ANTM (America's Next Top Model, in case you're too cool to own a television or observe pop culture or something) - Rich of the FourFour blog does awesome recaps
2. Absolutely Fabulous - nothing beats some quality time with Edina and Patsy, poor Safron
3. RHONY (Real Housewives of New York) - it's fun to see how the "other half" live in New York
4. RHONJ (Real Housewives of New Jersey) - it's a little frightening to see how some people live across the Hudson, but, oh, so entertaining; great recaps by Richard Lawson on Gawker, who also recapped RHONY brilliantly
5. Coupling (BBC version) - so funny, a brilliant combo of Sex and the City and Friends, only British and way better
6. Project Runway - even more fun now that I occasionally shop at Mood Fabrics; hopefully it won't be ruined by Lifetime Television
7. 30 Rock - j'adore Liz Lemon
8. The Simpsons, now and forever
9. Top Chef - we don't have cable/satellite here in Maine, so I'm missing Top Chef Masters, though, oddly, I don't mind
10. The Fashion Show - much as I love Isaac Mizrahi, this show is not living up to be a ProjRun replacement for me, but I still watch