X is for Cross Roads

A day in the city, in Castro District, the gay capital of the world, the weekend after gay pride, a week after gay marriage legalization in America. 

America's cross roads. 

W is for Water

I don't know how to swim.

For years people tried to teach me. I learned how to move my limps in the water but if I was tossed in a river I'd be dead. As I got older people gave up teaching me to swim. There were more important things in life, like studying, or working, or bringing up wee little dogs and child. I can't remember the last time I tried to swim. In Chinese they called people like me dryland duck.

My husband is a good swimmer. A few weeks ago we got talking and he suggested that he could teach me. I gave it a good thought for a few days. I like to be independent, so the idea of having to count on other people to save me has always bothered me. And we live in sunny California and what can go wrong with parading around in skimpy fabric (once I gained the well tuned swimmer body). Not to mention I can use some calorie burning to earn all the mocha and cookies that end up in my belly (and other places).

So we start.

Yesterday I was able to swim on my own almost the entire width of the pool, on the shallow end of course. Let's hope that progress is still ahead and I won't retire as an advanced beginner.

V is for Very Springy

Project:  Spring in London
Pattern:  Nurmilintu by Heidi Alander, free download on Ravelry
Yarn:  Lisa Souza Sock! and Sweet Fiber Yarns Silky Sock
Yardage:  450 yards + 372 yards, used every inch
Needles: Size 6 & 7
Cast on: April 23, 2015

Cast off: May 25, 2015

Notes: Started the project for our trip to London, with the greatest intention to enjoy spring in London with flowers and greenery in what I'd assumed, warm weather. Let's just say California has spoiled me and London was a bit colder than I expected. Nonetheless a spring is a spring, there were greenery and flowers, and warm weather for the locals. I knitted the garter portion on buses and tubes. Started lace section on the plane home. One skein of sock yarn does not make it big enough so I added the yellow portion which is a lighter weight and I had to go up a needle size. The lace edging is light and pretty.

U is for Ultimate FO for Other People

Project:  Point Gammon Pullover 守灯塔的人
Pattern:  Point Gammon Pullover by Elinor Brown, Interweave Knits, Fall 2010
Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool, aran to bulky weight
Yardage:  1434 yards in stash, used about 900 yards
Needles: Size 7 & 8
Cast on: February 9, 2015

Cast off: May 30, 2015

Previous entries: start, progress

Notes: It would have taken me less time to finish this if it's not for London. The sweater was way too big for traveling, and by the time we came home I had other things on my mind. The good news is the recipient likes the sweater and said the cables are perfect. Glad it's DONE!

T is for Travels

I had to look up the last blog entry to see where I left off on the alphabet, that's how long it's been. We got our acts together and took a trip to London. I came back sick, got busy working, and life goes on. Funny how the world works, for many years we didn't travel at all, then all of a sudden I went half way around the world twice in six months. Bill is going to Texas, Boston, and Ireland this summer, within the space of a few weeks. Then I'll finally head off to Houston to visit my mom. If you have yarn shops to recommend in any of these places I'd love to pick up a few souvenir skeins (or have them picked up any way).

Jane Austin house

Yarn shop keepers

Chinese artwork in British Museum 

S is for Steady Growth

Project:  Point Gammon Pullover 守灯塔的人
Pattern:  Point Gammon Pullover by Elinor Brown, Interweave Knits, Fall 2010
Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool, aran to bulky weight
Yardage:  1434 yards in stash
Needles: Size 8
Cast on: February 9, 2014

Notes: When a sweater, a cable sweater, is knitted in the round, the body seems to take forever to finish. Now that I can see the sweater pretty much taking shape the sleeves seems to go a little faster, of course it would help if I don't have rip back because I miscounted the decreases. I'm still not sure what I think of the yarn, it's nice and sturdy, has great stitch definition, but feels like it's too ready to bloom even when I knit. Somewhere between a like-it and love-it.

It's Fiber Arts Friday! Visit Andrea's blog to see lots of fun things!

R is for Rascal

The Rascal with those big mournful brown eyes is our big dog. He is our big dog because his sister is barely tipping the scale at 9lbs. He is bigger than her. He is over 12lbs, after some exercise regiment induced by his little sister, called running around with Emma. But if he has his ways he'd spend 20 hours a day sleeping or lounging around, 4 hours eating or waiting/begging for food.

Rascal is going to be 5 years old in May. By this age Trinket already had to deal with an old grumpy rescued sister (Lucy), a slightly younger and less grumpy rescued Westie (Macie), a stinking baby brother (Bucky), another rescue (Precious), and finally a human baby brother (Henry). See, Rascal has an easy life, even with the little sister constantly attached to his cheek. One day we asked Emma to "Go get Rascal", and the little girl ran upstairs and literately dragged her brother down. He wasn't unhappy about it tho, because there was dinner waiting. Why didn't he come down on his own? That's the sixty thousand dollar question only Rascal has the answer.

Q is for Quick Giveaway

I finished another scrap scarf. My friends at Green Planet Yarn have been saving these odds and ends for me so I have a nice healthy stash of them. It's a lot of fun to put together the magic ball and make it into something so pretty and useful.

Message on Ravelry if you want to claim this scarf. Better yet, if you can send charity yarn to my mom in Houston. Call it a knitters karma.

P is for Point Gammon Pullover 守灯塔的人

Project:  Point Gammon Pullover 守灯塔的人
Pattern:  Point Gammon Pullover by Elinor Brown, Interweave Knits, Fall 2010
Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool, aran to bulky weight
Yardage:  1434 yards in stash
Needles: Size 8
Cast on: February 9, 2014

Note: I love knitting. I love knitting cables. I try to be a helpful person. Sometimes I'm over enthusiastic in trying to help people, without thinking over my own ability and whether it's necessary to offer help. When people praise my cables and ask me to knit a cable sweater I fall head over heels into the project. That's how this sweater got started. I'm knitting it for another raveler for her son. The yarn is too heavy for the gauge the pattern calls for (surprisingly there are couple of knitters had done this sweater in the same yarn and got gauge, I wonder what the sweater feels like), and I recalculated so I can knit it on size 8 needles instead of size 6. The design itself is simple and easy to follow. The sweater starts bottom up in the round till armholes which is only couple of inches away. The combination of the heavy yarn and doing both front and back on the same needle means the knitting gets pretty heavy! If I ever do over I'd knit the pieces separately for sure. 

As I was going through forum posts on Ravelry I found my own post from when the magazine first came out, and I said I'd make this sweater. There, it took all these years and another knitter's request to get me started.

It's Fiber Arts Friday! Visit Andrea's blog to see lots of fun things!

N is for Netflix Movies

I'm on a movie kick lately, so I've been getting DVDs from Netflix and do a movie night once or twice a week. To point out the obvious, their selection for movie streaming is pathetic. I like keeping up with the pop culture, plus I can knit while watching movies.

Here are a few recent DVDs:

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. The Hundred-Foot Journey
3. Million Dollar Arm
4. Boyhood
5. Frozen
6. Her
7. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I'm building up a very long queue, but if you have suggestions for good movies I'd love to hear about it.