Preemie and Newborn Hats

Pam is trying to collect 250 baby caps by the end of October so we've just finished 12 to help her reach the goal. Here is a photo of them before I ship them out.

The 3-Sock Pair

Finally - the famous 3-sock pair. I'll bet you were beginning to wonder whether they exist. Notice I laid them out in sort of a spoke pattern. Speaking of patterns, there's something else to notice - the foot is a different yarn than the cuffs. That is a design feature. My DH stopped by my LYS and surprised me with some yarn from the sale bin. He didn't realize that the reason these yarns were in there were that they were orphans and that you needed 2 50 gr balls for a pair, not one. Hence the 2 yarn sock was developed. So I guess these are the 2 yarn 3 sock pair!

TdF photos - first day of Tour in London

This was Sunday, July 8, 2008 as they came whizzing by in London on the way to the actual start at Greenwich.

TdF photos - time trials in London

Here are the long-promised photos of the initial time trials in London. The first one shows Buckingham Palace in the background and the hoards of people lining both sides of the road. The second one gives a closer view of another rider. Unfortunately, we've lost track of who the rider is.

TdF KAL

Well yesterday slipped by without a photo, but I can explain ...

Tonight for sure I'll post the photos we took in London of the initial time trials and the take off through London. Sorry it's taken so long!

TdF KAL

OK, OK, I just figured out how to post photos I think (I finally looked at the little gadgets on top) and so now all I have to do is get DH to take a photo tonight and I'll post it.

The TdF KAL has really encouraged me to stick with a project (of course there was my 3 sock pair for the plane ride, and there's the other jacket I'm partway through) but I definitely expect to finish my jackette tres chic be the end of the TdF!

TdF KAL

I'm just about up to the armhole on the second front now - I wish I knew how to post photos so I could show what it looks like - it's so interesting with the dangling needles.

TdF KAL - my project

I did socks as my project to and from London and Prague. I really don't enjoy knitting socks the way I do sweaters. I generally design my own sweaters and love the creativity of putting together different yarns and textures. But socks are the ultimate travel project - I don't use double pointed needles - I have tiny addi's so I can knit both the cuff and sock body in the round. For the toe and heels I use 2 circulars (I have 2 of the size 2 12" addis and one size 1 12")

I am knitting a jacket which is a rather strange design. It comes from last winter's Vogue. I know, I know, I just said I design my own, but this is a sort of knit-for-hire so I'm doing what they want. As I may have mentioned, the fronts of the jacket are knitted with part using double yarn and part using single with different sized needles. So halfway through each row you either pick up or drop a yarn and change needles and leave one needle dangling. I have finished both sleeves, one front, and am halfway through the second front. I expect to be able to finish the whole thing well before the end of the TdF. Unless I get sidetracked by heat since the yarn is so heavy and wool. I mostly knit in the car on my hour-long commute to work (my husband drives) and so I can always turn up the air conditioning.

TdF KAL

Now that I'm back in the US, I can do more knitting but it's much tougher to see any of the TdF. At best there is a snippet on the nightly news. Thanks so much to the great descriptions on the KAL!

TDF project

So my project was a pair of socks to be knit on the plane to and from London. Actually my trip was NY - London - Prague - London - NY.

Not only did I finish it, I wound up finishing a 3 sock pair! I discovered that there was enough yarn to do 3 socks and figured that having an extra would prolong the life of the socks if I can manage to rotate them. Anyone else ever do that?

TDF KAL

I posted this on the TDF website, but in case you didn't get here from there, here it is.

The big news is that I got to watch the time trials in London. I arrived all jetlagged but dragged myself over and it was worth it. Very cool - big party atmosphere etc. It was hard to get near the front, but patience won out and so I watched some of the later ones up front.

Sunday morning, they went by about a quarter of a block from my hotel. We went out shortly before it began, managed to squeeze in next to a nice guy in the front row, and saw the whole pack whiz (I mean really whiz) by in about 3 seconds. And then it was over.

As for my projects, I finished the pair of socks that were my airplane project. More about the socks on my blog.

TdF KAL

I found a really nice map of the routes on Saturday and Sunday in London. Both days it's very near our hotel so I plan to go and watch them fly by and cheer. Unfortunately it doesn't go by our window or we could watch from there - definitely would be cool. I'm meeting a British friend with her 3 year old on Sunday and it should be fun watching with her.

TdF KAL

OK - we're leaving for London tomorrow and I have packed my knitting - my typical plane knitting: a funky pair of socks.

So what's funky about them? Well, I use different yarns for the foot than the cuff. It started with my LYS sale bin which my husband got into not realizing that you needed 2 50gm balls for a pair but now I really sort of like them that way.

The foot on these will be Socka. It may be patterned or it may just be color blops. I'll find out once I get started. The cuffs are Fortissima Colori Socka Color in similar colors (white, blues, grays, black) but it has some glitz in it. Pure funk.

I'll do a simple toe-up sock on very short circular Addi's as soon as it's wide enough.

And then if I finish them I can always buy some yarn in London or Prague. Anyone have any suggestions in Prague? It's my first time there.

TdF KAL

I have a confession to make: I couldn't wait to start my tres chic jacket so I started working on it the other day. I've finished one front and most of a sleeve. I think I'll have to pick another project. I was planning to knit socks on the plane to and from Europe but since I'll want to knit while watching the TdF I think I'll have to bring enough yarn for 2 pairs or better yet, have an excuse to BUY YARN while I'm in London. Too bad I'm supposed to be working for part of the time but luckily NOT for the weekend when the TdF will be going on in London.

TdF KAL - I'm a yellow jersey girl!

Tour de France KAL - again

Hey - I'm really getting into this. I've looked up all sorts of TdF events while I'm in London - pretty cool. And I've been dusting off my pretty dusty French which is better than I'd expect given how long it's been since I last studied French.

More soon.

Tour de France in London

What dumb luck! I'm leaving NY Friday night for London (arriving Saturday am) and I'm staying in a hotel about a block or 2 from the route of the prologue. Maybe I'll be able to catch a glimpse of them whizzing by while Madame Defarge over here knits. :-)

Tour de France KAL

I've just joined the Tour de France KAL http://tdfkal.blogspot.com/. Sounds like fun! I'll try to manage to post about it.

Trading

I've become a yarn trade junkie. It is an addiction, but it is fabulous one. I have traded with lots of people, gotten a chance to try all sorts of different yarns, and met all sort of new interesting people. It's an even better addiction than chocolate for oh so many reasons.

I have so many different projects I've knit, that I can't even begin to think about posting photos (not to mention the fact that I don't have a camera and also don't know how to do a photo yet).

There's a first time for everything

I've been knitting since I was 5 years old, which is a very long time ago. I've resisted blogging till now but ... well it's time.