Among other happenings, this past Friday Alli and I went to the Ivy Plus Society's (semi?) annual cocktail party. Sounds pretentious doesn't it? Well, it was. Initially I was very hesitant about going, and the 25 pound price tag didn't help. But the event was also being held at The East India Club, a proper 'Gentleman's Club' if there ever was one, and originally populated by the various Higher Ups of the East India Company. Translation: You're never going to have the chance to get through the door ever again in your life, so GO. Thus, off we went to a schmancy cocktail party, makeup, hair, dress and all. Here are a few (very poor quality) pictures i snapped on the sly.
The entry to the building, and the wall of school plaques (featuring all the really poncy schools)
Our event was held in the smoking room, featuring many portraits of very important (and likely deceased) old men.
In all honestly, I would have loved to have the opportunity to poke around, but sadly it wasn't in the cards. So we went off and mingled instead. Sigh....can you imagine what a stereotypical Ivy League gathering might have been?? Yeah, a lot of the people were like that. There were some pretty neat ones there as well, however. So it was a very good time to be had, not to mention the wine (East India Club's House Label) was fantastic.
Plus? We looked awesome - first photo is from after we left (they kicked us out promptly at 10 pm) and went and had a great dinner at Spaghetti House, made even tastier by being starving. Please also note - I totally had awesome heels on, but took them off when I actually had to walk somewhere. The second photo is Alli's absoutley INSANE hair do. Because it's awesome.
Lastly, the current state of my Ravelympics Chantal, which is going VERY fast (as I've done nothing but knit for the past two days). Yoke, sleeves divided, and the waist decreases are all done, Now I'm just plugging along with the body until I get back to the hip increases. After that, a nice classy moss stitch border for the buttons and collar.
As one of the many nutters who take a part in the knitting site, Ravelry.com I am also signing on for their traditional Ravelympics! The idea is that you pick a project, cast on during the opening ceremony and (plan to) have it finished by midnight on the last day of the Olympics. Obviously, as it's only 16 days, if you're doing something big, it's a bit of a push. But that's the whole point, the idea is to work hard while watching the games, as a way of sharing in the spirit of it. Challenge yourself and try something new etc etc.
So, for my Ravelympics Project, I'm making a cardigan for work. Because now that I am "employed" I need to look respectable and professional, and my current closet of clothing doesn't precisely fit that description. I've picked up a few bit and bobs (including a pair of slacks that turned out to be 6 inches too long, and required going into work with them pinned up with bobby pins *headdesk) but what I really need is a nice comfy office sweater. Hence, the Cardigan. With that in mind, I've chosen to knit myself a Chantal, in Big Wool (Rowan). It's a lovely cloud color, pale grey with a hint of blue. I am slightly leery of how this may come out, as i tend to look like death in pale colors, but it was that, hot pink or lime green. So....cloud it is. This particular pattern was chosen because it's a fairly classic K2P2 design, bulkier yarn and most especially because it's top down. According to most patterns I've found, I have a freakishly long torso, so I'm hoping that the top down approach will be easily modified to add length.
I cast on this morning while watching a rerun of the opening ceremony...because there was just no way I would have been able to stay up that late (Wine from Friday night, a post on that one to follow). I only got to see bits and pieces of the ceremony though, as the BBC only chose to do a 30 minute 'highlight' version, which was terrible, and then when I figured out that Eurosport had it, I'd already missed about 2/3 of the ceremony. But I DID get to see the awesome fiddler/tap dancing duo, bits of the whales and the slam poets. All in all, I really enjoyed what I saw and those graphics were amazing. Ten points to the Canadians for that one!!
About a week ago, Yas and I followed up our YumCha tea bliss experience with a visit to Postcard Teas, near Bond Street. It's easily accessible, but still quiet and off the main road. Not to mention, the show front is incredibly classically inviting. The inside wasn't quite so comfortable, as this is clearly intended to be more of a tasting, buying and then going away sort of place, as opposed to a shop where you sit and nurse that cup of tea for a good hour or so. But, it was very quiet, and nice place to sit for a bit. Not to mention their tea choices rather blew my mind. Seriously, go look at their blends on the website, it's like tea porn.
Yas went with the Mountain Grey, aka Earl Grey, but it was way too bitter for my taste.
Whereas I opted to try the Jasmine Che, based on the description; "Jasmine Che is the finest quality Vietnamese Jasmine tea. Made from ancient tea trees grown as wild by Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy and then scented in the summer with the freshest jasmine flowers."
My favorite part about it was the smell, which was so heady it was like snorting a bunch of wild jasmine flowers...except, apparently they have no scent. Either way, it was great. The tea itself had an interesting smoky flavor to it which I couldn't quite place, but also enjoyed. It was a nice, light lunch tea, as opposed to the heavier (and stronger) Mountain Grey. The Mountain Grey is one of those teas you want when you have to get up at 3 am to catch a plane, but don't have the brain power to figure out how the coffee maker works, never mind that you've owned it for years.
Afterward we took a look downstairs at the small exhibition the shop had, featuring lots of different tea sets from around the world. Quick, but very cute. Which is a pretty accurate description of the place overall, I don't think I'd want to sit there for a long time and mull over my world philosophy with a cuppa, but I'd definitely enjoy popping in for something quick, fantastic, and new.
The first Noro Striped Scarf I did took about a month. Much of it was knit in one weekend, when a friend and I took a quite trip down to Bournemouth in early April. There was lots of train and car time, as well as watching of Rugby. So it went fairly quickly, and I was so enamored of the clever color changes that I started the next one immediately. I'd even brought the yarn with me so I wouldn't be bored on the trip back. My comment on the start of my new scarf for Ravelry was as follows...
"I get the feeling i will be making a lot of these suckers…"
Oh what a fool I was. Nearly a year later I have FINALLY cast off this second monstrosity, which I made wider and longer than the first...and promptly lost interest in the minute I got back from Bournemouth. See, here's the thing: I hate ribbing. Totally, utterly and completely. I love how ribbing looks, particularly K1 P1, but for me, the actual DOING and knitting of the thing drives me utterly mad. It bores me to tears. So more than about 10 rows of it and I'm ready to go do something else, something entertaining...like my dishes, or vacuuming. I picked half heartedly at it here and there over the months, and in the past few weeks finally decided it was time to get it DONE. I will not countenance a UFO hanging out in my knitting basket untouched for a full year (Oh, wait? My Green Gable Hoodie has been untouched since September 2008 you say? That totally doesn't count, totally doesn't.). So, at last, and knit over many hours of Firefly, coffee and my newly discovered addiction, Sea Patrol. I give you my second Noro Striped Scarf. Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf by Jared Flood Yarn: Noro Kureyon #170 and 52 (2 or 3 skeins each, i'm not quite sure, but I think it's 3) Needles: US 8 Length: Roughly 5'10, or just a bit taller than I am
Notes: It needs blocking, as there's a bit of a curve to it because I don't always remember to slip my first stitch. On the whole, however, I am VERY pleased....and sort of want to make another one, but I'm thinking I will wait a bit for the trauma that is K1P1 to recede.
Wednesday, I was so unproductive it was ridiculous. As part of our resolution to be more productive, Yas dragged escorted me to Westfield where I bought a planner for the year. Every evening since then, I sit in bed and review what I got done for the day, and write out my to-do list for the next. Wednesday I didn't even look at my planner, I hadn't even written a to-do list. Definitely fell off the productivity wagon. Yesterday, however, I was better. Even if I didn't get anything productive done, I got out of the flat. Ooh, I lied, I went grocery shopping, which is TOTALLY productive. I spent yesterday in Camden, first with Yas and then a few hours by myself. It was, shockingly, actually sunny outside for a few hours. So we made the most of it.
First, Yas introduced me to YumCha an absolutely splendid little cafe hidden in the Markets...I think I may have found my new home away from home. I plan to go back once a week and work my way through all their different teas. This week I had A Walk In The Woods, which I could happily drink every day until I die - I wish I had thought to write down the description, but it was a black tea (Kasaan?) with several different kinds of berries. Unusually, you could actually taste the berries in the drink. Ooof...I'm drooling again just thinking about it. Definitely a 5-star tea.
After that we did a bit of shopping...this is why I try and avoid Camden, I end up buying things. I am weak. But I am also now a weakling with t-shirts.
I spent my copious amounts of bus time reading The Giver, a book that I seem to be the only person in my age group who hasn't read it. There are a bunch of them, and one of my current 'self improvement kicks' (it's a fad, I won't lie, but I'll make the best of it while it sticks with me) is to try and read all the books that I SHOULD have read, but for some reason haven't. Others on the list include Animal Farm and Wuthering Heights. I don't know why I didn't read these in high school, but I'm trying to make up for it now. My over all thoughts on the Giver are pretty neutral, it's an interesting story and I wish it were longer. But, I don't think Lowry meant it for 24 year olds, so she went with a little less depth. I can see how there would be ENDLESS debates in English class over the ending - did Jonas and Gabriel finally reach safety? Or freeze to death, hallucinating in the snow. I'm going to go with the first one, it's happier that way.
On the knitting front, I continue to make slow, meandering progress on a hat I started (It's BLUE!) and my Noro striped scarf that I started last March. The Jury is still out on my Ravelympics project.
Happy New Year kids, I'm still here. After a tumultuous end of the year, including graduating and an absolute nightmare of a journey across the United States (remember all that Snow-nonsense just before Christmas? Guess who was in the airport then) I am now back in London and attempting to "Get my Life in order". I put this in quotes, because frankly I have no idea what that will entail. In the meantime however, I present you with more of my Christmas goodies! After all the nonsense of stress, insanity and 'I can totally knit a project a a week" I did, in fact, manage to complete all of the various knittery I had planned for the holiday. Albeit in a slightly rushed manner. I even managed to finish an extra project. So, without further ado -
Mom's Cowl: Pattern: Green Sea Cowl Yarn: Mirasol Sulka shade 222 (4 skeins) Needles: US 8 Probably my favorite FO of the Christmas season.
Yaz's Evangeline Gloves: (Photo Forthcoming)
Dad's Hat: (#2, didn't like the first one)/ Harry's Fingerless Gloves Pattern: none Yarn: Sirdar Big Softie, 2 skeins/1 skein Needles: US 13 Also, a gratuitous cleavage shot...sorry.
Rufus' Biking Gloves: Pattern: None Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed, 1 skein Needles: US 10 Previously Posted: Irfan's Hat
Kiera's Mittens
Erika's Socks
And for my last item, my very dear friend Kaitlyn, whom I have known since we were 11 is expecting! Therefore, BABY clothes are a requirement. Unfortunately, the silly girl was so inconsiderate as to time it that I had very little heads up as to her happy state prior to visiting, so I didn't have much to work with....but, this is why BABY clothes are awesome, ...they go really fast. They're also really easy to make gender neutral.
The Anticipatory Handsome Hoodie (for the as yet unnamed BABY) Pattern: Handsome Hoodie Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande (2 skeins) Needles: US 9
So, when I first set out on this “one FO a week” idea, I knew there would be bumps, and that I probably wouldn’t stick to it very well. This was part of the reason why I started it as early in the fall as I did, and set the goal so high.The other reason is that, while I knew I was perfectly capable of knitting a hat/pair of gloves a week and could spread it out, taking plenty of time and not getting sick of knitting as I went along. Slow and steady wins the race.
Now if only my brain hadn’t gotten in the way.Remember those few posts about the hats a couple weeks ago? Yeah…trying to knit a hat a day…. I’m a moron. Though I did actually get one more out of the week (see below) things went south after that. I picked up some absolutely gorgeous yarn from a LYS and set to knitting myself An Unoriginal Hatonly to realize as I neared the end of my first of 2 skeins, that I wasn’t going to haveenough yarn, I was okay with this (this is why you can always go back for more, the store wasn’t going to shut down over night) until I realized one more problem…if I completed the pattern as planned…I was going to end up with a hat for Andre the Giant.
I didn't think to add something in for scale, but trust me....that's only the first of two repeats, not to mention the decreases...I'd have wound up with a skull cap for Andre..or maybe one of the statues they have littered around the city. Trust me.
Now, when I realize I’ve made a huge gaff like this, and I do it a lot, I tend to get somewhat despondent and lose interest in knitting for a while, eventually I come back to it, rip back the yarn and suffer through it. But the amount of time it takes is generally proportional to how frustrated I am with knitting in general at that time, how much time I’ve put in on the project, and how traumatic it was to realize I’d have to rip back the whole thing. For example, when I first moved to the UK I was working on a sweater, I took most of my sadness and homesickness from the time and used knitting as an outlet…until I realized I was going to have to rip out the ENTIRE sleeve I’d just knit (mostly while being utterly depressed)…that particular sleeve is still waiting to be undone 14 months later.Honestly…it may be there for another 14 months before I can bring myself to rip out all those freaking cables. (Seriously…that chart was a monster)
Okay, coming back from the tangent, the combination of overkill on the knitting and the realization of a necessary rip proved to be a bit much, so I took some time off, then started my intended project for the next week- a pair of Urban Necessityfingerless gloves/mittens for my brother Harry. Harry is an artist specializing in metalwork, so he spends most of is time working in his shop north of Denver….i don’t know if any of you have ever been to Denver, but it gets freaking cold in the winter, even if you ARE standing next to a forge.So the idea was to knit a thin pair of gloves he could wear under the shop gloves he sometimes wears. I chose the urban necessity pattern because they were fingerless gloves that still had fingers (just not closed) instead of stopping before that, like the Evangeline pattern (one of my all-time favourites).Just one problem with them – the cuff is K1P1 ribbing...my own personal form of knitting hell.Two-by-two ribbing I can just about tolerate, but one-by-one?Don’t even speak to me about it…I loath it. Plus, given that I’d decided I needed to knit up the XL size, there was A LOT of it to do.
Now here’s where I’ll cop to it…the combination of the K1P1 ribbing, and my own stressed out state due to academia made knitting an impossibility. Now seriously, anyone who knows me will know how much of a wreck I was, when I say that for the past two weeks I have been too stressed to knit. To knit! My ultimate stress reliever! So my dear readers (all 4 of you, Hi Mom) I’ll cop to it – I fell off the wagon and have barely knit a stitch. It’s like I’ve been in a coma….and I am now, unsurprisingly, a bit behind on my Christmas knitting.
However, I am happy to say that I now have a Masters Degree!!!!, (BOOYAH!) and am no longer Too Stressed To Knit.So I’m clambering back on that wagon, and working on catching up. The entry is getting rather long, so I’ll end it here and catch up with the rest tomorrow! Suffice to say I’m knitting again…or at least I was until it all went wrong.
Project Profile: Dad’s Black Cap (XL)
Yarn: Blue Sky Aplacas - Bulky (Black, don't remember the color #)
Details: knit to be massive on size 13 dpns
Pattern: Modified "Turn A Square" by Jared Flood
I've owed my dad a knit object for years, but I'd never gotten around to it. BAD DAUGHTER, VERY BAD DAUGHTER. So this year I finally did. The first "Turn-a-Square" hat I made was intended for him before I realized that a) it was way too light and b) it was probably too small. My Dad's got a big noggin, so accordingly, this hat is massive...honestly, i dunno that it's going to fit him, but if it doesn't it's only a matter of a few hours to rip and re-knit the thing, so no problem there.
