MarQ1

It was a slightly disappointing weekend, so I focused on finishing things and cleaning up. The weather was not permitting. Rain all day Saturday, high and gusting winds Sunday. I had no chance to wow bystanders with my biking outfit. I did eat, however.

I finished J’s hat, another disappointment.

It’s too big for J, whose head, while larger than mine, still does not have enough hair to make it work. On my head, it seems a bit too feminine too. Probably the purple. I did swatch; I just overestimated the size of his head. The yarn is Debbie Bliss aran cashmerino, which I find too thick for a decent masculine hat in that color.

I finally finished the chair cover I made to protect my clothing and head from my chair at work. Pictures later.

I finally altered the whippet coat I made last year. I kitchenered the front together and added a d-ring to replace the velcro. I hope it arrives in time. One more whippet coat to go. Btw, the front is on the left.

Today, I finally caulked around the air-conditioner boxes. I’ll cover the air-conditioners later this week.

Saturday, I went to the LYS to buy #7 dpn’s to finish J’s hat and left—shockingly—with only the dpn’s I came for. Today, because the hat didn’t work out and because I had nothing in the stash that met the new requirements—soft in grey and black—boring—I went back to the LYS and came back with ten skeins of yarn and two circs.

Upper left: five balls of Debbie Bliss dk merino in grey (2), black (2) and navy (1).
Upper right: the circs.
Below them, two former hanks of Reynolds Rapture, one of my favorite yarns, in off-white and pale green.
Lower left: three hanks of Koigu Kersti Merino Crêpe (one not shown), in a beautiful shade of blue—I bought it because it was pretty.
Below, the edge of the ever-present Feather & Fan.
Left: the whippet coat.

Dear Ms. Bliss:

Generally I like Debbie Bliss yarns, but Ms. Bliss needs to work on the quality control.

One: the only way to get a decent center-pull ball of yarn out of the Bliss line is to rewind it. Hours can be wasted trying to find the end inside that cinnamon-bun-shaped coil. If it’s any consolation, Rowan isn’t much better.

Two: See those knots? Both were within twelve feet of the end of the inside end of two different skeins. I know knots are inevitable, but that close to what should be the starting point?! See those bobbin lengths? Those are the leftovers. Cheap economizing on not cheap yarn.

Contemplating felting and winter soltice gifts.

So I bought bike pants and a torso-covering-thing. This is the best shot you’ll get. Please remember that I’m short and even my own camera is treacherous.

It was one of the shorter weekends. I actually did things. Saturday I went out to buy bike pants—tights, let’s be honest—and other cool weather gear to extend the cycling season. Then I went out for an easy and incredibly fast ride out to Gerritsen Beach and an incredibly grueling grind back into a substantial headwind. I think the pants helped. 2:05. Or maybe I was just trying not to be seen in one place too long.

Secretly I hope that the pants flatter my butt and passing motorists think, “Wow, I wish my butt looked that good!” but somehow I doubt it.

Then I finished the laundry I started before I left. And then we walked to dinner at Alma (Columbia & Degraw) and walked home and watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean.

Friday night we watched The Brothers Grimm. Confused, at best.

Sunday, it was an excursion to Fairway in Red Hook. I can’t tell you what we spent, but let’s just say we shouldn’t have to buy more than milk and veggies for awhile. Then I went for a bike ride. It was only an hour-forty, but after the ride of the day before my calves were cramping and I did just pick the right direction out —Maspeth & Long Island City—to fight the wind on the way back again. Cold & sweating. After showering I made braciole and we had dinner and we watched something on TV.

J made me biscotti.

Somewhere in there I also passed the 54% mark on Feather & Fan.

Diminishing Yarn Cake

I also started a new hat on the subway out of leftovers of Debbie Bliss baby cashmere.

Why F&F is a good cool weather project.

Yes, I can still sit cross-legged with my feet tucked under.

Still listening to The Decembrists: The Crane Wife

Close your left eye look directly at your nose with your right eye. Now close your right eye and look at your nose with your left eye. Alternate for a while. Which view do you like best?

I like the one from the right eye. It has more of a curve. The view from the left is just a blurry slab.

Because this is primarily a knitting blog and I do feel the need to fill in the gaps between weekends, I present this pointless photo of a circular swatch floating in the bathroom sink. I also want to see how may hits this gets on Google Images.

The swatch itself is to determine gauge for the hat I’m starting for J. I wasn’t trying for any particular diameter, just stitches per inch in stockinette and seed stitch. And since I wasn’t trying, the resultant swatch would fit loosely around my thigh and dwarf any head. It’s another reminder that I always should check gauge.

Tell me why I can drag myself out on the bike twice each the weekend, pushing myself to nausea in the heat, fighting the wind and hills and punishing my aging joints in the cold, but getting myself to the gym in the morning is impossible, even though I get up at 5:30, theoretically, to do so.

To prolong the weekend agonies, I’m looking for those full-length biking pants, the ones that will make my calves look skinny and my ass huge. Talk about masochism.

Currently listening to the Scissors Sisters’ Ta Dah. Ooh.

On the same subject, I’ve passed the 50% mark on Feather & Fan. Only 60,000+ stitches to go.

Literally, cold sweat running down my cr–ck. Yes, I went out on the bike today. You would have thought I had learned my lesson yesterday, but, no, I thought another layer on my torso would help. Slap me upside the head. It just prevented evaporation. Sweat ran down my back, chilled by the 15 mph wind I was biking into—let’s just assume I was going 15 mph or more and make that an effective windspeed of 30mph—right passed the love handles and—a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!

I was out two hours and got a full-body workout. One thing about where we live in Brooklyn, almost every place I could bike to is east of here. Which means that on the way out today’s crisp northwest wind was behind me and on the way back it was in my face, arms, chest, belly, thighs and calves, all of which currently hate me and are complaining that I am incredibly stupid. My hip and ankle joints agree.

For the record, I went out Dean and St Marks to Eastern Parkway; down Rockaway Blvd and Rockaway Ave to Ave K in Canarsie; up to Glenwood on E 80th; over to Kings Hwy and then down to Ave L along the service road; across to E 4th where L ends and down to Ave M and over to 59th; then cut up to 51st on 17th Ave; cut up to 12th Ave on New Utrecht; 12th to Dahill; Dahill to Caton; Caton to E 3rd; E 3rd to Terrace/11th Ave; up 18th St to 8th Ave; from there to President St; there to 6th; over to 5th at some point then homeward on Bergen. Google it.

Grapevine Scarf

Wool in the Woods Cameo (rayon) in Rosebud. Grapevine Pattern from Barbara Walker’s First Treasury of Knitting Patterns, altered so that the edges are symmetrical.

I like the pattern. I like the yarn, to a point. Hand-painted yarn, I’ve heard, can be variable from skein to skein and this would be no exception. I had several false starts getting the pink to line up when changing from one skein to the next. There was, fortunately, no appreciable difference in color from one skein to the next. I do like the finished effect.

The temp is in the fifties today, theoretically pleasant enough for a bike ride. So I went. I’ve never been out when the temp was under 60°.

I didn’t just go, though. The rear tire was squishy, so I pumped it up, but when I tried to disengage the nozzle, I pulled the whole stem off the tube. Off to the the bike shop on foot, back home, and then out for a ride.

The first few minutes of inhaling large drafts of cool air were a shock. It’s one thing I hate about exercising. One of many. After I got (sort of) used to that, I started to sweat and my high-tech long-sleeve shirt did what it was supposed to do and wicked the sweat away to evaporate in the 15-20 mph wind. My back was cold, my chest was cold and my lungs were cold. Cold straight through. I considered finding the F train and riding it home.

I didn’t. I sped on. The hot shower when I got home was the first ever after a ride. Usually I can barely get the water cool enough.

Cute boys jogging in Prospect Park today. At least I think they were cute; I was going quite fast.

I’ve finished the grapevine scarf. Unfortunately the dye does not appear to be colorfast. It bled a lot when I washed it in the sink and was afraid to rinse it too much. It has left little points of pink and purple on the foamcore boards I use for blocking. I’ll warn the recipient to avoid whites when wearing the scarf. Picture tomorrow; it’s fluffing in the dryer now.

I’m in round 141 of Feather & Fan, closing in on the halfway mark. At this rate, I might make spring. I do have to make a hat for J. He left the last one in a cab.

Ew! Another horror of male aging: an inch-long nose hair.