Random Tuesday

• Jaywalker - half way through the foot of the first sock. I hope the second sock goes faster (since I know the pattern), but I'm sure that it will take twice as long.
• Picovoli - only a couple more inches to go before it's finished. Right now it would make a cute belly shirt, if I had a cute belly to go with it.
• I'm sheep - like everyone else in the knitting world. I bought Mason-Dixon Knitting and I knit a dishcloth. I don't even use dishcloths (I'm a sponge girl). And that log cabin rug is starting to look like fun. What is wrong with me??



• My favorite tv shows right now: Hell's Kitchen (go Heather!), So You Think You Can Dance (go Donyelle!), and Entourage (I love Jeremy Piven).
• Press Tour has gone downhill since the CW news. I found out Patricia Wettig won't be on Prison Break this season. The new Calista Flockhart show looks like it's going to have problems (they're rewriting and recasting), which is too bad. The promo I saw looked interesting and it has a good cast. Heroes looks promising even though it has Milo. I've never been a Milo fan and now that Alexis Bledel broke up with him, he has even fewer redeeming qualities.
• Lorelei is speaking in sentences now. And she actually sat still long enough for me to cut her bangs last night (well long enough for me to cut them badly).

Press Tour Week - CW

This is always one of my favorite weeks of the year - the annual television critics press tour, where all the reporters who cover television get in a big room with people from all the networks (one at a time) to talk about the new fall season. New plot twists, new characters, new excitement for old shows.

Yesterday was CW day, so today I've been reading all about two of my favorite shows - Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars, which will be on the same night this fall. Some things I've learned:

• Mac will be a series regular next season (VM)
• Logan is staying in London on GG, but both Rory and V will still be involved with their Logans when the season starts
• Dave Rosenthal (the new head of GG) used to be crazy
• VM - instead of one big mystery there will be 3 smaller mysteries (not huge news, I've known this for a while)
• Lorelai and Christopher definitely had sex during the season finale
• Luke's daughter (and her mother) will still be around next season

CBS had their presentations on Sunday, but I don't really watch anything on CBS except for How I Met Your Mother. There was a presentation for Rachael Ray's new talk show which I just heard about over the weekend (from Good Housekeeping?). I love $40 a Day and I have one of her cookbooks, so this show might be interesting. She is really perky though - I'm not sure how much of that I could take.

For more press tour goodness, check out TV Guide's Michael Ausiello or E! Online's Kristin (most of the scoop is in the message boards).

Where did time go?

So it's already been a week since I last posted. How about a quick update?

• Jaywalker #1 - turned the heel, ready to pick up stitches.
• Picovoli - finished the waist decreases. Only a couple more inches before it's finished. I'm hoping that it will be finished this week or next.
• Charlotte's Web shawl - Oh look. I started a project and forgot to tell you. I started this last week, did the first 10 rows (the set-up rows on the pointy end) and I haven't touched it since. Once I finish Pico, this will be my main non-sock project.
• I swear I'm going to start some booties this week. Those little babies are going to be here before I know it. I might make some bibs too (from Mason-Dixon Knitting).
• I ordered some yarn to make dish cloths/dish towels for my brother for his wedding. It should arrive any day now.

It's crazy hot here in DC. My air conditioning may have been fixed this morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Stay cool!

A Visit to Mt. Vernon

We took Lorelei and the sock to Mt. Vernon this weekend. The sock especially loved visiting the Spinning Room. Lorelei had a great time running around.


We learned a lot about George Washington - how he died, that he never had any children, that he decorated most of the house himself. The only bad part of the day was when we were visiting George Washington's tomb. Lorelei tried to run in. I hope Lorelei doesn't turn into a little Tomb Raider - Angelina Jolie might try to adopt her.

There were several buildings that we didn't get to this trip, so we're planning to go back soon.

FO - Wavy Scarf

I made this Wavy scarf for Lorelei's teacher. It's going to be her birthday/going away present since she's leaving to finish college next month. It took about 3 months since I've been working on a lot of projects all at once. It took about 1 and 1/2 skeins of Cascade 220. I had a lot of fun knitting this. It's simple - just knit and purl - but the 44 row pattern repeat forces you to concentrate. It's also a really warm scarf - maybe too warm for this part of the country. But it's definitely something I would think about making again if I find someone who needs a scarf (or I may make one for me).

(There's a full shot of the scarf on Flickr.)

Socks, Socks, Socks

I did it - my second pair of socks and my first finished during the Summer of Socks. I know, I know, I didn't start them during the summer, but they were definitely finished during the summer. I used Opal Prisma purple yarn and size 2 Clover bamboo DPNs. These are based on Wendy's generic sock pattern. I started these on April 26, so it took about 2 and 1/2 months. At this rate, I should be able to finish one more pair of socks this summer.


As you can see, I've already made some good progress on my Jaywalker. Confession time: I've only really been knitting for about 6 months (though I learned 2 or 3 years ago), and this was the first time I'd seen a DD (double decrease). So for the first 4 pattern repeats, I was doing it wrong. And I don't care - I'm leaving it the way it is. I may even do the same thing on the second sock for consistency. But now that I'm doing it right, it looks pretty good.

So I've started 4 pairs of socks now (and finished two) and used different DPNs for each pair. Let's review:

1. Practice socks made out of LB microspun acrylic - Size 3 Clover bamboo. These DPNs were fine for practice and I had an easy time learning how to knit in the round with them. The bamboo holds the stitches on the needle pretty well, even though the acrylic was a little slippery.
2. Socks from Hell - Size 1 Lantern Moon. I really liked knitting with these needles, even if it did feel like knitting with toothpicks. But they are very bendy and I broke one. And they're expensive.
3. Purple socks - Size 2 Clover bamboo. Same as the Size 3. These are pretty strong and don't bend. I may try to find some of these in size 1 (I haven't seen them in my local stores).
4. Jaywalkers - Size 1.5 Crystal Palace bamboo. I love these needles. These are pretty thin but they seem a lot stronger than the Lantern Moon. They have little ridges on the needle, so it's not too slippery (which is important to me because I always lose the stitches off the end of the needle). The only (tiny) problem I have with them is that they are really pointy. My fingers are a little sore from stabbing myself with them. But since I'm not bleeding yet, I'll have to say that these are my favorites so far.

For reference, I'm a big fan of my Susan Bates aluminum needles and my Lantern Moon ebony needles for straight knitting. I'm afraid to use the SB DPNs though - I'm afraid my stitches would slide too much.

Happy 4th of July ...

yesterday.

It's still a little weird to me that I live in our nation's Capitol (well, in the suburbs of our nation's Capitol). I turned on the fireworks on tv last night and thought - I could totally be sitting right next to those people. Except that it was past Lorelei's bed time and the fireworks would probably freak her out. She would have loved to see Elmo.

One reason I'm glad we skipped The Mall, the heat. Yesterday was the hottest so far this year - 95 degrees. My apartment was so hot that Lorelei and I spent the day at Tyson's mall shopping and enjoying the air conditioning. We also did some mother-daughter bonding over ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery.

In knitting news, I finished the ribbing of the Jaywalker and moved on to the pattern. I really like the pattern, it looks complicated, but I had it memorized before I finished the first repeat. I'm half finished with the leg of the Opal sock and I worked a few more rounds of Picovoli. The Opal sock should be finished in another week or so and I'm still hoping to have Picovoli finished by the end of summer. I need to start working on baby stuff soon. Less than 8 weeks until the next niece or nephew is born.

Productive Weekend

I've had a very productive weekend.

• I finished the Wavy scarf - yeah! I'm waiting on Lorelei's dad to take some nice pictures of it, so I'll post pics then.
• I turned the heel of the second Opal sock. It's coming along nicely.
• I cast on for my first Jaywalker sock. Pictures soon.
• I did ALL of my laundry - that hasn't happened in months.
• Went shopping. I bought some new shoes for me and for Lorelei. Lorelei's new shoes are soooo cute!
• Got my travel plans made for my brother's wedding. New Mexico during Labor Day weekend - should be fun. I just need to make reservations for the dog and buy a dress.

I'm hoping to get a lot of knitting in this week with the holiday. We'll see how much Lorelei allows.