Knitting In Public

Last weekend we went to see M for her school’s family weekend:

We met with some friends:

We attended some tours and classes, and had lunch at the Student Center:

M & I went on the “ducks” for a tour of Beantown. It was raining, but we sat in the back so we could take photos without obstruction. We were pleased and surprised to discover they provided us with rain ponchos!

We went on the Charles and saw this cool bridge:

I was intrigued by the ’ship front’ on the structure. The guide said locals call this the “salt and pepper” bridge, because there are two of these sections with the ‘tower’ that from a distance looks like salt and pepper shakers!

We also went by Beacon Hill. I was rather surprised to discover it’s actually a hill! (Maybe that’s a ‘duh’ moment for everyone else, but it never occured to me… there are plenty of places mis-named in that way.) Sorry for the fuzzy photo, but it’s all I could get while moving along on the Charles!

We left the Charles and went on a land tour. We caught a glimpse of the U.S.S. Constitution.

The line was short since it is off-season and was a rainy, icky day. Our guide said you get a longer, better tour if you can go on such a day. I had always thought the U.S.S. Constitution was a battleship! I was quite surprised to see it is really a ‘tall ship’. I also did not know this was the ship they call “Old Ironsides.” Here’s a better picture.

I love the buildings and architecture there - reminding me of our country’s beginnings. The city is so beautiful, so colonial!

Trinity Church:

We returned just in time to make it to the Glass Lab for our tour. Unfortunately, the tour was not as wonderful as expected, and we didn’t get to see anyone blowing glass.

I managed to get some Harlot-esque sock photos with some incredibly smart people:

as well as a “proof of life” photo:

As we were sitting on a bench in the Infinite, M caught sight of “that Chris kid’s” parents. We had plans to meet them the following day for lunch, but had an impromptu meeting in the hallway. We chatted for quite a while, then decided to move over to the Student Center and get some dinner. A nice evening “meeting the parents.” (Sorry, no photos! What was I thinking?!)

The following day was sunny and cool. We had breakfast on campus, and I managed a sock shot with another incredibly smart person:

(Isn’t it nice how they humor me?)

We had our photo taken with Tim, their mascot:

We went back to the dorm to see M’s room, then met with Chris and his folks for our scheduled lunch. We took the bus to Harvard Square and had lunch at a mexican restaurant. We returned to campus and took some photos in front of the famous buildings. That evening, after dinner, we attended the A Capella concert. Outstanding music! Of course, I purchased some of the cd’s available after the concert.

We returned to our hotel, and I flew home the next morning. M was a wonderful host. We look forward to another adventure in June!

At our Monday knitting group on October 8, we had a surprise baby shower for Aimee and her soon-to-be-born daughter. (Mega ultrasounds have confirmed it’s a girl.)

I’m a terrible photo-historian. I got so excited to see what everyone gave her/them, I forgot to take photos!

Valerie made these wonderful mohair booties…

We had lots of fun and laughter. It was hard to take photos since the Caribou is so full of windows!

We even hijacked these two ladies:

Heidi and Jill (or Jill and Heidi?) - wonderful women who unwittingly chose “our” Caribou to sit and knit on Monday at 1:00…. Lynn invited herself to join them and explained they were being absorbed into our group and our baby shower by virtue of being knitters in the wrong right place at the wrong right time.

Since Aimee’s been on bed rest, she’s been getting some serious knitting done. (I’m not sure how she is able to knit laying down - I sure have trouble with that!) She decided to try Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket:

Can you believe it’s her first BSJ? Isn’t it beautiful?! What a lucky baby to wear this gorgeous sweater.

Aimee also received gifts from Lynn (lots of gifts from Lynn!) and Angel, and there were several “big sister” gifts for Shelby when she arrived with Dad. (Again, apologies for lack of photos!)

On Sunday, October 14, 2007 our last two boys left us to go to their new home.*

Sketch, and

Yogi.

No, this is not two photos of the same dog. Look closely. It sure is tough with 4 black-and-white dogs to tell the difference, especially with only a face shot! Sketch has more white on his face, and a “full” nose of white - Yogi is more like half a nose.

Both puppies went to the same place. It’s beautiful and they have lots of room to run. *The puppies will be evaluated and then one will go into a hunting/guide operation (where his life will be filled with hunting as he was bred to do, and in the off season he will have a home life with a family too) and the other will go into law enforcement as a drug/ammunition dog (he will also have a home life, and ultimately “hunt” - just for something other than birds).

Doesn’t Sketch look great? (That’s Yogi’s leg at the edge.)

It feels good to know that all the puppies have good homes.

I signed up for another mystery lace stole KAL.

Actually, two.

And S-O-C is in German! (No, I don’t speak, read, write or understand German other than about 3 words - none of which are knitting-related.)

And if you’re wondering: no, I haven’t finished MS3. Actually, it’s still at the same spot as the last photo I posted on the blog. I still intend to finish it, but this is the call of the wild…. Something new. Pretty yarn. Pretty new yarn. Beads.

So I bought some yarn for the Secret of the Stole (starts tomorrow - sign up tonight if you want to join in). They suggested earth tones, richer colors, perhaps silver or gold. So I thought of colors I’d like, or colors I could make if it were a gift for someone else.

Aren’t these pretty? And they’re from KnitPicks, so they’re (relatively) cheap. There’s enough for 4 stoles there. Beginning to see my problem? The two on the left are actually different colors. Shadow in Sunset Heather is more red. The Alpaca Cloud Autumn Heather has more highlights but comes off as closer to a brown. Any of these would be fine for the Secret of the Stole. But there’s more coming…. and this stole calls for beads. I need to find some beads to go with these colors….

I thought I should get some laceweight that I could use to make one for my sister Jenny. Not so much with the earth tones. Nope, she’s a purple gal. Hasn’t started wearing the red to go with it (to be a Red Hat lady), but she’s always loved purple and has lots of clothes that have purple tones in them. So I thought I could use a purple-ish laceweight for the Secret of Chrysopolis (this one closes tonight too, so sign up now and join me). I’ve seen the first “clue” knitted and it looks lovely. It doesn’t require beads, although I’m sure you could add them if you like. That yarn isn’t even here yet.

Thinking I could get some Christmas gifts out of the way while having some mystery fun, I thought I’d had it all figured out. I had already asked Jenny if she would be likely to wear a shawl of some kind (I asked for a different reason, but the answer was positive), so I finally came out and asked my other sister Anne if she would also be likely to wear something like that. Again, a positive answer!  With one hitch.

 I had seen the Hanami stole quite some time ago. It’s created by the same designer of the MS3, Melanie Gibbons. I wasn’t quite so sure I liked the asymmetry. Then AJ wore hers one day and I love it! So, I offered Anne the option of the Hanami or the Secret of the Stole. (The Hanami story has to do with the cherry trees donated to Washington DC, so I thought it might be special for Anne, although pink is definitely not a color for her.) So, Anne thought she’d like the Hanami. Hmmmm. More yarn.

Jaegger Zephyr wool-silk, Curry color.

Jaegger Zephyr wool-silk, Chrome color.

We were trying to get a “gold” color - sort of wedding ring gold. The Chrome, according to my sample card, looked very yellow. I suggested the Curry. Now that I see the Curry with the darker beads, it seems to pull more brown in to the yarn. So on impulse, I tried the silver-lined yellow/gold beads with the Curry:

So the picture isn’t the greatest, but the gold beads blended in with the Curry yarn!

I will take all my skeins to the bead shop on Saturday and see what I can find, but so far I like this combination. The beads shown are size 6 though, so I’ll need to get something similar in a size 8.

The bottom line? Not only do I have no self-discipline, I have no sense of realistic time commitments. Two lace stoles, finish C’s sweater, a sweater for DH, several socks needing mates, many years of accumulated UFO’s and a long queue of “must do” patterns. No, Mary and Jean, we will not mention the Eunny mittens either. So if this is a disease, is there a cure and do I want it?