MarQ1

I’m going to have to start another project just to provide some variety here. Here, once again, is F&F now successfuly transferred on to the 150 cm circ with the completion of round 92.

This pattern has become easier as I’ve moved into in. Three out of four rounds are basically stockinette. On those three, the challenge is to count past ten. The odd row out, though, is just loaded with k2tog’s.

Rabbitch has challenged herself to knit something nice for herself. And finish it. Yay! I tried to find the pattern at the LYS, but she doesn’t carry Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Knit.1, etc.

Btw, I might have to knit a bikini. What won’t sag when wet and is still sunscreen-resistant? Anyone willing to model it?

Other Stuff

I’ve finally recovered enough from J’s head cold to go out on the bike. As it was supposed to be brutally hot (for NYC) today I went out early: 7:40 am. Boy, only old men are out that early on a Sunday. I stuck to Park and South Slope, the western edge of Borough Park, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge. I was only out 75 minutes, but was drained.

We went to Fairway in Red Hook afterward and made it out for less than $200. J got to see one of his favorite things: cute firemen in uniform shopping for their meals. Sorry, no pics.

And for the most part it is brutally hot today. The a/c is blasting and the sound of the fan keeps putting me to sleep.

I truly believe I’ve just completed round 90 of F&F today, and row 56 of Birch, yesterday, through a staff meeting and during two conference calls.

Odd conversation at the tail end of the workday yesterday. I was wasting time until 5 pm—having been there since 7:35 am, I felt justified—talking to the interns and associates about my knitting. They actually seemed interested and had some idea of what I was talking about. One has knit and another wants to learn, though none of them could get away with knitting during a staff meeting yet. Shame.

They are all half my age or less, and none of them are guys.

Damn. Foiled again.

After two weeks of minor struggle with the Rowan Kidsilk Haze, picking up the J&S laceweight is such a pleasure. A yarn with some give is more satisfying to work.

Now having completed round 84, I’m up to 496 stitches per round. Anyone know when is the best time to switch from the 36″ circ to the 60″? 496 divided by 36 is just over 13 st/in. Divided by 60 is just over 8.

Eventually I’ll have 1360 st per rnd, or 22.67 st per inch on the 60″ circ, which seems like an awful lot.

Correction: You’d think with a math degree I could correctly determine the number of stitches in the round. Round 84 has 512 stitches; round 190 should have 1376, but don’t hold me to that.

You might ask just that.

Going way back, I slipped into vacation mode a little early, right after that last post. I considered posting that weekend, but put it off until the 4^th. The Fourth was going to be a hot one, so I went out early on my bike. Twenty minutes into the ride, I had to hit the brakes real hard to avoid hitting a school bus that had the right-of-way—who rides a school bus on the 4^th of July!?—and the front brake caught before the back and I just avoided going over the handlebars into the path of the bus, wrenching my back out. I spent the 4^th and the 5^th on my back or on my stomach with ice on my butt or propped up rigidly in a straight-back dining room chair to knit. No posting possible.

It is not possible for me to knit Feather & Fan lying down.

That gave me one twelve-hour workday to get everything done at work before taking off. Too pooped to post.

Friday, the seventh, I had every intent to post, but ran out of time what with taking the car to the carwash—they had to run it through twice—doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge, packing, deciding what knitting to take, moving the plants from the front to the back terrace, loading the car and picking J up by 5:00. Sorry.

I over optimistically took the Rowan Kid Silk Haze to work on Birch, which Mom said she would like. I didn’t even get this far:

I made it only through row 32 in PTown, knitting on the deck while waiting for other people to wake up. That’s not the best yarn to be knitting in a breeze. I also knit after dinner while J napped before going out to the bars at night. This is now my office knitting. That’s my disgusting office chair underneath it. I got 8 more rows done during Thursday’s and Friday’s conference calls.

Vacation

Right off the bat, let me say that while I packed the camera I never unpacked it. No pictures.

After picking J up, the drive was pretty easy all the way up. We had dinner in Milford and pretty much drove straight through getting in at 12:05am.

Saturday

We planned to go to the beach, but at breakfast we both realized we forgot to pack beach hats. So we had to go shopping. Four pairs of shorts, four shirts, three hats, three bars of soap a bottle of body wash, a book and a pair of cufflinks later it was after 1 o’clock, so we decided to skip the beach. Took a nap. Showered. Had dinner at Fanizzi’s, a good long walk to the other end of town. Walked back. Rested, read or napped. Went out to the bars at 11:30. Stood outside Spiritus with everyone else after the bars closed at 1. Went back to the house and slept.

Sunday

Slept late for me: 8-ish. Knit on deck while having my coffee; walked to the beach (2 miles?); beach, i.e., watching guys, reading and or napping; walked from the beach; showered; napped; had dinner at the Mews, which was very good; rested read or napped; went to the bars; stood outside Spiritus Pizza; went to an after hours party; went back to the house and slept.

Monday

Awoke aroung 7am. Read. Knit on deck while having my coffee; walked to the beach (2 miles?); beach; walked from the beach; showered; napped; had dinner at the Fanizzi’s again, really early with the old people; rested read or napped; went to the bars; stood outside Spiritus Pizza; went back to the house and slept.

Mike and Tom’s cat, Andre, got out and ran off for the first time ever.

Tuesday

See Monday, except dinner at Edwige at Night. The sweet pea falafel was wonderful as was the blueberry cobbler. And we didn’t go to the bars, since neither of us managed to wake up from our evening nap.

Andre came home.

Wednesday

Overcast with a threat of showers, so we skipped the beach. Shopped. Read. Knit. Napped.

That night we saw Ryan Landry’s Cleopatra. It stank utterly. It was boring. Aphrodite as Cleopatra was boring. Ryan Landry didn’t even do drag. The only bright spots were Olive Another as Caesar’s wife, Chlamydia, and Penny Champagne as Octavia and our cute bar waiter whose pants got lower and lower everytime he came by with the overpriced drinks. Between the tickets and the three rounds of drinks—a necessity for this show—this was a $100+ tab. The tush was cute, but not that cute.

We’ve seen the Ryan Landry production every year we can remember—and a few we can’t. This was the first flop. It was also the first time the room wasn’t standing room only.

The evening was such a downer, we didn’t even think about hitting the bars. The three rounds also influenced our decision.

Thursday

Rain in the morning, clearing up too late to go to the beach, which would have been too damp to be fun anyway. More shopping, napping, reading and knitting. Cocktails on the deck. We had dinner with Mike & Tom at Edwige at Night. Yes, this restaurant is worth hitting twice in one trip. J is still raving about the tuna. Though I wish I had gotten the falafel again. That was so good. Slightly spicy with a salad with feta and nuts and other stuff.

Too stuffed to go out late. Went shopping earlier instead.

Friday

Woke up at 3am. Lay awake until 4:30. Too much napping. Went for a walk. Five other people out and about. Watched the sunrise. Took nap till 7:30. Read. Knit on deck while having my coffee; walked to the beach (2 miles?); beach; walked from the beach; showered.

Instead of dinner as usual, we joined Mike & Tom and other guest of the Grandview Inn on the Bay Lady II, a two-masted schooner, for a sunset picnic cruise out on Cape Code Bay. I loved this. The feel of a wind-driven vessel is exciting. The winds were still and the bay a bit choppy; on the return the waves were splashing over the bow. I loved it. It didn’t hurt that the crew was cute too.

Rested, read or napped; went to the bars; stood outside Spiritus Pizza; went back to the house and slept.

Saturday

The usual. J announced at dinner—Fanizzi’s again (a good burger, btw)—that he was coming down with something. So later only I went out the bar. Spiritus. Sleep.

Sunday

Coffee on the deck. Packed up. Left PTown around 10:30. Remarkably easy and fast trip back. Stomach a little queasy. J has head cold. Home a little after 5.

Monday

Laundry. Nine hours of it.

Since Vacation

Rambling. No real excuse for not posting. Just lazy at home and I’ve been reading and my stomach has been queasy all week. Too busy at work trying to catch up. I did finish off the practice F&F in PTown with a crocheted chain and blocked it Tuesday.

You can see the mistakes, but I’m pleased with the effect. I have avoided the mistakes the second time through.

I have yet to pick up F&F again. Been reading instead. It was a horrible book that I just couldn’t put down, but it’s done and has been tossed into the recycling bin.

Stomach’s better, but I’m getting J’s head cold.

Later.

AND I GAINED NO WEIGHT ON VACATION!

Woohoo!

Need I say more? Ptown again, of course. Beach. Reading. Knitting. Nudity. Sunblock. Eating. Drinking. No WORK.

Unless I have to call into some conference calls. Ptown, fortunately, probably has worse cell coverage than most of Siberia.

Knitting a circular shawl with 190 rounds is perhaps less than visually stimulating when knitting 2 or 3 rounds a day (on average). Just to spice things up and give you something to look at, I f—ked up rounds 58 and 61. Just, of course, so I could show you the before:

Look closely. No life line.

And the after:

That 40″ #1 Addi Turbo circ finally proved its worth. I carefully slid F&F (Fanny?) off the #5, carefully ripped out two and a half rounds, slipped the open loops onto the #1 and then back onto the #5, carefully adjusting for the two dropped yo’s on round 58.

Despite my inability to count past three, I love this pattern. Provided no one actually tries to speak to me while I’m knitting, it totally flows. To finally answer Ted’s question, I have decided to go for the first (oatmeal) version. Twenty-four repeats of anything that large is just too much. The first alternate has more interest. And should be more challenging. Not that all those k2togs aren’t challenging enough.

I’ll probably not take Fanny F&F on vacation with us. I’m afraid I’ll be totally antisocial, trying to count to four or five or six while k2togging at the breakfast table. I should take yarn for simple stuff. Or for socks. I should be able to talk or ogle while knitting socks, shouldn’t I?

Just to clarify, I read at the beach; I don’t knit. Sand, sunscreen and wool probably don’t mix well. Well, I read when I’m not distracted by other things. Well, they aren’t exactly things. You know what I mean.