Fall is finally here! Now if only the weather would agree.
Tag Archives: weather
Quite the update
I seem to be going through one of my don’t-really-like-computers phases. This usually consists of my only really using a computer at work, avoiding email, and (obviously) not posting to my blog.
I haven’t really been doing tons of knitting either, and I certainly haven’t taken any pictures. I did manage to finish the body of my Ribby Cardi even with the short delay of having to redo the right front armhole shaping section. For some reason, instead of doing the k2tog at the end of the RS rows I did them at the beginning of the WS rows (oh wait, that’s right, the pattern didn’t tell me where to do them). It wasn’t too hard to rip it out and reknit it. And I can say that I learned something (besides the fact that I’ve decided I don’t like patterns that tell you to knit one part like another, but change something). I’ve started on one of the arms… I’m knitting it in the round using the magic loop technique. I’ve got 4 more increases to do before I need to start worrying about length and shoulder shaping.
I’ve only completed 2 repeats on Birch… total. I just don’t feel like working on lace when I get home from work.
But, then, the thought of knitting with any kind of wool the last few days hasn’t been entirely appealing since we went from rather moderate weather to sit-on-the-couch-in-shorts-and-a-tank-top-while-drinking-chardonnay-
and-not-moving weather. I’m just glad I don’t live in Gilroy… 100 F… *ugh*
Now the funny part is I’m sitting at work wearing a scarf and fingerless gloves cause I’m freezing. I’m even thinking about putting on my hat. Geez. I get in in the morning and it’s actually rather nice, but come afternoon, once the a/c is really going, my fingers start turning blue. I’ve complained to facilities a few times, and it get better for a day, then I’m back to figuring out how to wear my winter wardrobe without dying of heat exhaustion while coming to work on my scooter.
Maybe I should have a cup of peppermint tea. My secret pal sent me a great card with peppermint tea to get my through the stress of my manager being on vacation. Yes, a hot mug of pepperminty goodness… that would be nice.
Friday and weekend plans
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I actually woke up at 7:30 this morning and felt ready to get up. I wish I could say it’s because I’m finally getting used to Daylight Savings Time (which I loathe with a passion), but I think it’s more likely that I just finally got a good night’s sleep after seeing my chiropractor yesterday. Having my neck and lower back adjusted gets rid of the stiff back feeling I’ve had every other morning this week.
After the storm we had whip through here yesterday and seeing some blue sky this morning I thought it would be safe to ride my scooter to work. My scooter is now getting it’s first bath. Between the wind and the rain pourin down you’d think it was January.
I’m still feeling some knitting blahs and didn’t work on anything last night. I looked at the Wool Peddler’s Shawl and thought about working on it, but then proceeded to completely ignore it. I think I mihgt take the Brooks Farn yarn to the LYS with me tomorrow and see if I can garner suggestions… I should at the very least get opinions. 🙂 If you’ve ever been to the Rug and Yarn Hut, you know what I mean. One important thing I need to take care of while I’m there tomorrow is ordering a drum carder. *squee* The husband and his parents went in together and got me a gift certificate that’ll pay for half a drum carder, and I should be getting my bonus for Q1 in a couple weeks, which’ll cover the other half. If it’s anywere near as nifty as I understand drum carders to be, I just might have to name it “My Precious.”
Speaking of names… I think I have finally come up with a good name for my scooter… Sake. It’s a Yamaha, which means it’s Japanese, and it’s a Vino scooter, which is Italian for wine… so, Sake — Rice wine. *hehe* Bad, I know. But it seems fitting.
The most important part of this weekend will be Sunday. The husband has arranged for a sauna/hot tub session at Watercourse Way in Palo Alto to be followed by massages. Mmmmm….
Is it Spring yet?
In a week’s time we went from 88 F and sunny to 55 F and rainy. I know the Vernal Equinox was on Sunday, but we been suddenlt plunged back into winter around here. On an interesting note, a tornado hit South SF on Sunday.
I’ve had plenty to post about recently, but I’m damned if I’d had the time to do so. Thus, this post is mostly going to be look what I did last week. 🙂
Lace Scarf
This is a lace scarf I knit up as a belated Christmas present for my best friend’s fiance. I used fingering weight Frog Tree Alpaca. It seems to be a nice yarn, although I was a bit shock by the amount of guard hairs in it.
Cappachino Socks
Since the felted kitty bed was finished on Thursday night… well, the knitting part anyway… I cast on for a pair of socks. Back in November I got my Secret Sock Kit in the mail from Inspirations Yarns. It’s a beautiful chocolate-y brown color with variations in the (now let me show my complete lack of dyeing vocabulary) darkness/lightness of the color. It’s their Java yarn, which is a superwash 3-ply that they claim is sport weight. The Secret Sock Kit also came with a pattern. I decided it would probably be best to use the pattern that was written for the yarn. I get out my size 2 dpns and look at the pattern to see how many stitches I should cast on. The pattern has 2 sizes: woman’s small and woman’s large; by the numbers associated with the sizes I assumed I was a large… cast on 42 sts. This is when I notice that if you’re making the small socks you woudl cast on 40 sts. I was perplexed… 2 sts difference didn’t seem like a lot even with a gauge of 6 sts/inch. I decided to give it a shot even though I am feeling great doubt. I got through the ribbing (just an inch, thankfully) and started into the st st. I thought it looked more than a tad small while doing the ribbing, but ribbing can be deceptive. I measured my gauge in the st st… 7 sts/inch. No wonder it looked small. Switching to size 4 dpns got me to gauge, so I ripped back and started over again.
Still looks a bit too small doesn’t it. I slipped it on my foot… the knitting stretched as far as it could. Those would not be comfortable socks; I would feel every ridge of the sts. So, out it came again.
Third time’s the charm, right? I decided I liked the look of the fabric when I was using the size 2 dpns. I have a sock pattern for basic socks and one of the sizes uses a gauge of 7 sts/inch… perfect… I thought. It was huge. I didn’t even bother taking a picture of that one. I ripped it out as soon as I realized it would work for a sleeve.
The too small sock was 7 inches around, the too big sock was 9 inches around, so I settled on something in the middle. I cast on enough sts to get me 8 inches and went for it… this time I’m actually writng it down so I can knit the second sock. I started the heel yesterday – it’s a short row heel that’s a mixture of 3 different ways of doing it. So far, it looks pretty good.
I’ll take pics once the heel is completed as well as before and after shots of the felted kitty bed.
A little start to spring cleaning
This weekend proves that Spring is definitely on the way. Yesterday, it got up to 71 F… don’t know what it was today, not quite as hot, but definitely nice enough to work with my balcony garden. The majority of my plants were moved when the winter rains began, so that they could partake in the wet. Today, I moved the ones that reside on the railing back into their proper places, and began the process of trimming things. Now, I have a pile of new trimmings mixed with slowly-turning-into-compost winter debris all over the floor of the balcony. I just didn’t have the energy to try to wrangle it into a garbage bag. That’ll probably take place next weekend. I do have another tulip in bloom, just didn’t take a picture, but it’s a very delicate pink… and I can see it through the glass door while laying on the couch.
On the illness front, my cold-that-was-coming turned out to be a no-show. Sure, I had a sore throat and a headache for a few days, but my temp never got over 99.8 F. Meanwhile, the husband is slowly recovering… he got hit hard. Since Tuesday, his fever slowly came down, and finally seems to have left, but he’s still got a nasty sounding cough and gets tired easily. I’m very glad I didn’t get sick. I’ve got a project similar to my manuscript paper due a week tomorrow, with the midterm the week after that… the day after my visiting in-laws want to spend all day Sunday with us. I’ll have to study that Saturday and hope I don’t forget anything.
In knitting news, I’ve gotten to row 106 on the Wool Peddler’s Shawl. That means 5 more rows, then I start the lace border. This one has gone a lot faster than I was anticipating. I am contemplating what my next thing should be… socks for my toesies, or a shawl for myself made with the Brooks Farm yarn I got at Stitches, or a sweater… I’ve been eyeing Mariah… if I made it from one of the new Knit Picks yarns it would only cost about $40 or $50 to make. I do have this wool/mohair yarn I got from Dyeing for Fiber (I’m slightly depressed that she decided to close her store, it’s gorgeous yarn). I originally got it to do Rogue, but after making Lavender Twist I have decided I don’t like a yarn with mohair for cables. I could just do a simple cardy from it…. hmmm… difficult choices.
Yet another week?
First, many thanks to Erica who reveled to me the secret button for individual post comments. How silly of my to have been looking in the code of the template for something like that.
I don’t know why I’m feeling so run down… geez, I hope I’m not getting sick… no one around here has been sick that I know about, so I have no idea where I would have gotten any germs from. Of course, it could be the weather that’s doing it… 2 big storms right in a row followed by a week of temperatures that sometimes approached 70 F (this may be CA, but 70 F in January is just wrong)… suddenly things are starting to bloom again. This is our green season… the rest of the country is frozen solid under multiple feet of snow, and our hills are being transformed by their green spring finery. Yes, I’m sure those who are living in piles of white at the moment are jealous to here that it was sunny and warm here, but remember, our green will be gone within a few months as everything dries out until we get rain again come December. It’s kind of dreary living in a place that’s brown most of the year. So, anyways… yeah… flowers = pollen = me sneezing my head off.
But, thanks to a couple of nice members of FiberRaok, I can get myself some nice tea to help if my throat and sinuses decide to rebel. *grin* I also received a great welcome ecard from another member. Everyone in this group seems so friendly, it’s really quite nice. I’m looking forward to being a part of it… just need to figure out how to manage reading so many blogs.
I actually have some picture to share today. Yea! Hmmm… of course, now that I’m trying to get to my photo hosting service to get the links, I’m getting tons of page not found. They must be having problems. *pout* I’m sorry, you’ll just have to wait… but anticipation can make things better. :/
Well, I think it’s cold
Boy, am I glad I got my hat finished up at the beginning of the month. It had been cold when I started it, but then it warmed up a bit around here*. Then, it rained on Sunday, and the wind shifted… now the air’s coming down out of Alaska, and it’s gotten damn cold around here… okay, it’s only like 54 F out, but consider that before the storm rolled through it was getting up to 68 F… that’s over a 10 degree difference practically over night… and that’s why I wore both my new hat and the fingerless gloves I made last year** this morning just to get to my car.
Boy, I ‘m glad I know how to knit.
*This of course confused my iris bulbs, so now I have irises sprouting in several of the pots on my balcony and I’m wondering if I should worry about them with the frost advisories the area is starting to get… or should I just think that’s how natural selection works. *sigh* Thankfully, my bearded irises, tulips, and crocuses seem to have more sense.
**At the old building my company was in we had problems like needing winter coats while sitting at our desks in July. My fingers were literally turning blue, so I decided to try my hand at gloves and used the Interweave Knits article that tells you how to make gloves/mittens with just gauge and the size of your hand. Fingerless gloves turned out to be wonderful for keeping my hands warm while still allowing me to type.
In need of a hat on a cold day
The Bay Area went from almost 90 degree weather to rainy, 50-60 degree within the space of a week. It almost seems like Mother Nature thought to herself, “Oops, I forgot to turn fall on in the Bay Area, better do that,” then she flipped a swtich. First, I was too hot, now, in what should be “nice” weather, I’m cold because the change happened too quickly. *brrr*
Now, Shelia over at Mutually Reclusive has made an absolutely brilliant hat — The Lawrence Welt Hat. This warm looking hat has given me an idea… I shall slip a hat for myself into the project list (must keep my ears toasty). I have a skein of Mountain Colors wool in a pretty blue-tan that I’m sure would set off the color of my eyes (because it should be flattering, right?). *grin* Now I am contemplating the pretty cable hat in the Knitty Fall Surprise. I really like the way the cables come together on the top… and I hope one skein will be enough (it’s all I’ve got in my stash)… I’ll have to check the yardage when I get home, maybe even knit up a swatch.