The acronym is very appropriate; things are rather damp in Providence.
Here's the latest progress on the sampler; I feel that the end of the center is legitimately in sight. Then there will just be the borders, with the names.
Clapotis has been coming along nicely; I've had a bunch of riding in a car recently, and it works very well for that.
Providence being Providence, it's gray and damp, and thus not the best for pictures, so I'm including an old one that shows the pattern more clearly.
I really like the way it's starting to roll on itself; I think this is going to look nice. I'm going to try to get it finished before my birthday; I got the yarn as a present last year, and a faster than usual turnaround to an object I can wear and enjoy would be good.
From now on, Wedding Embroidery Wednesdays are going to be on Thursday. I have a rehearsal every Wednesday night, and those usually go until ten or later. If I tutor or have a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, then I don't really have a chance to desperately make progress (strike that; read) take pictures of the embroidery.
This week, my main craft outlet has been putting together Ikea furniture and posting giveaways of things we no longer need on the grad student e-mail list.
Here is this week's embroidery:
Hopefully, now that there's the new Mythbusters, I'll be able to get more done.
Among other things, Caleb and I ran errands today. I knew that some of the errands would be less than thrilling for me, so I packed accordingly.
Caleb was shocked to see me taking Clapotis out of my bag and leaving it in the car when we arrived at our destination.
I had, however, brought errand knitting (in the form of the sock) as well as car knitting.
Clapotis is looking wonderful; I really like the yarn and the colors. The sock is coming along well too.
Here's hoping that the unbloggable things (work and so on) calm down soon and I can get more of my languishing knitting done! They're busy enough I'm thinking about just buying a sweater for the summer.
Return of motivation.
I did actually make a good chunk of progress, and it was done by Wednesday; it was just not good photography weather. It's actually sunny here today, although it's cold.
Unfortunately, my progress seems to have slowed from one motif a day to one motif a week.
My Providence socks are coming along well. I put the ball of yarn in a yarn bra, so it's staying together better. I've turned the heel and am getting close to starting the ribbing:
I tried Wendy's method of avoiding the heel hole, and it didn't work for me. She knits at a tighter gauge than I do, which may be part of it. I'll try some other tricks on the second sock as well; it seems to be an elegant solution, and I'd very much like for it to work.
Amazingly, it snowed yesterday in Providence. Still, today was a glorious Easter.
This has been a very long and unbloggable week.
In my partial defense for the delay, yesterday was Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. (We had a three day week, missing Monday and Friday.)
Here is the progress for the week, all of which I did on 'Wednesday:'
First of all, if you're anywhere near Providence, go and see the BUGS production of Iolanthe. Tolloller and Mountararat are magnificent. Phyllis has a sense of comic timing rarely found in a soprano. The director was really responsive to the script; he got a lot of the small details highlighted and used the cast very well. The whole thing is a really good show.
Caleb and I saw it last night. While I was watching, as usual, I worked on my sock:
It's almost to the heel turn, which is perfect timing; Wendy posted her method of fighting heel hole on Monday. I'll try it; I do like that method of making a heel.
In, under the wire, with a computer picture taken on a rainy night:
It's amazing how much less embroidery one gets done when one is no longer on break.
I haven't been doing much knitting recently besides working on the Orange Aran. Instead, I sang in a concert last night (I really like Benjamin Britten and Christopher Smart[of My Cat Jeoffrey fame]) and have done a bit of sewing.
I kept running across flaxseed hotpacks on Etsy, but the cheapest combo of a face one and a body one was around twenty dollars. So, instead, I got two pounds of flaxseed at Whole Foods (the two together were under six dollars) and sewed up two of these:
Each has two chambers and each seam is sewn twice. I came up with the size by measuring how big I wanted them to be and then trying the first one.
I then made cases for them out of scrap material. The cases are sewn shut on the outside so they're easy to rip open if they need washing but I don't have to fuss with closures.
Here's Caleb's, for his shoulder:
And here's mine:
For heat, I microwave them 75-90 seconds. They can supposedly also be chilled for a cold pack, but
Here it is this week. I've made a good chunk of progress, but there's still more to go.
It was a good weekend. I had my big yearly conference and presented. On the way to the conference, and in some of the down time, I got to work on Clapotis:
The colors are even more striking in real life.
The dropping stitches is a lot of fun, but it was hard to explain to others that it was a design element, not a mistake that I was trying to ignore.
Inspired by the Finishing Fridays over at Major Knitter, I'm inaugurating Wedding Embroidery Wednesdays.
I started working on this embroidery back in 2006, before my brother got married. I didn't exactly get it done in time for the wedding. That was OK; it would make a great first anniversary present.
I didn't get it finished for then either. That was OK; the second anniversary is cotton.
I didn't get it finished for then. I really do want to get it done before their silver anniversary, so I'm planning on posting a picture every Wednesday. After all, this worked for the guitar (oh, wait…).
This sampler is traditional in my family. My mother and father have one, as does my mother's sister. The design is symmetrical, except for the man and woman. Around the outside there will be my brother and sister-in-law's names, 'Wedded,' and their wedding date. The black line through the heart and the white line a quarter of the way down the woman' side are just thread markings; they'll be pulled once I have the center finished.
I think this has arrived, so I'm putting up the finished shots:
Pattern: Hooded Baby Jacket from Clover Hill Yarns
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Colorspun in a brown color changing heather
Needles: Size 8
Size: One year (I think; largest size)
Amount of yarn used: about a skein and a half
Source of Yarn: Fresh Purls
Modifications: I worked the sleeves in the round and did buttonholes on each side. La Mode 761 buttons
Thoughts: A nice, reasonably fast baby sweater.
Since this picture, I've gotten almost to the top of the second center motif. This puts me at about a third of the way done the front, and so at 40% of the sweater. If I keep going, I should be able to have it for Rhinebeck.
It's now sunny and bitterly cold in Providence. Knitting large, thick items is exceedingly appealing, so I'm hoping to crank out some more over break.
Pattern: Standard 60 stitch sock, based on the Wendy pattern, but with the Jo-Jo heel. Ribbing in a pattern of Row 1: K, Row 2 K3, P1, and a stretchy bindoff.
Yarn: Knitpicks Felici in Clay (discontinued)
Needles: Size 1 dpns
Amount of yarn used: 64 grams
Source of Yarn: Knitpicks
Thoughts: For some reason, I had a really hard time getting the ribbing pattern into my head. I think that I need to do ones with all the rows the same if this is going to be my mindless knitting.
I was really wanting to finish up the School's Out socks not just because they were getting stale, but also because, on Friday, I went to see a show. I like having simple knitting to work on, and I knew that the ribbing on the School's Outs wouldn't work well. So, on Friday, I started these:
This is after getting them started, working on them while waiting for them, and then through a musical. They have my standard 16 start going up to 64 (I accidentally went up to 72 during the first act, but dropped one set and decreased the other set of extra increases.)
Here's hoping they go a little more quickly.
I took this picture of the socks snuggled up together before Caleb and I ran errands (including to Ikea for a wonderful cinnamon bun):
I took this picture after we came back: 
I'm almost finished. I have the toe-tightening, weaving in the ends, and finishing up the top of the second sock. The end is in sight!
The ribbing took so long because it's two rows, one of which is only slightly different from the other; Row 1 is K, Row 2 is K3 P1. I can't get up a good rhythm like I can with normal ribbings.
I've now sent in my registration for the Institute where I learned the ribbing pattern I'm using for the School's Out Socks. I feel this means I really ought to get them finished up.
Caleb and I went on a hike on Saturday, and I worked on the knitting on the way there and back. I'm now about halfway through the post heel section of the sock.
Providence has eight inches of snow, so things are rather shut down now. I may actually get a little more done today in between doing school stuff and research.
