All Purpose

to bring you some non-knitting content, brace yourself. Here are some of my favorite pics from the Alaska trip.

Stanley Park

Pulling into Ketchikan

Juneau clearing up

Orca (or killer if you want to be un-PC about it) whale in Lynn Canal (Juneau)

Humpback whale (we saw a lot of humpbacks and they came very close to our boat, and it was awesome)

Glacier Bay

No Comments | In: life, travel | tags: 2008, alaska, glacier, humpback, juneau, kethikan, orca, travel, whale. | #

So since it’s been so long I have several project updates and a lot of stash enhancement to report…at least I have photos to make it more fun.

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Vaa colorway
Needles: US 8 (straight)
Notes: My first Clap, I liked the pattern. It was simple and the effect is very nice and looks fancy, but isn’t really. I think the lace made a nice substitute. I wish I’d had the time/patience to use both full skeins of lace. I could have made it slightly wider and longer, but it turned out pretty good as is. I was totally sick of it by the time I finished, I think if I didn’t have decreases at the end (so I was knitting progressively faster) I would have been really cranky. But that’s just me. I totally plan on making one of these for myself using some Dream in Color Baby I got a couple of months ago.

Pattern: Thuja
Yarn: Cascade 220 in a charcoal gray
Needles: US 5 (1 29″ circular for Magic Loop)
Notes: Easy peasy pattern that knits up super fast when you use worsted weight. I hope the socks fit M, we’ll see I guess. My only issue with this was that the circular I used was I think 29″ and it wasn’t really long enough to do Magic Loop, so when I did the first sock I had some slight laddering, but it seems fine now that it’s done.

So that’s it for what I finished. I also started another pair of socks (Hedera) and while I love the yarn, the pattern has been a pain in the ass. But it looks great so I can’t complain too much. Hope to finish these by end of the month, but who knows.

And I’m still chugging away on the tank, but of course I haven’t picked it up since I’ve been back. I hope to finish it in November so I start my very own February Lady Sweater in Malabrigo, yum.

So now to the stash enhancement. I did ok on the trip. I spent more than I budgeted, but I didn’t go totally bananas overboard either. Here’s what I got…

In Ketchican I got these:

Kureyon for a travel blanket. I’ll collect single skeins of Noro Kureyon as I travel and them incorporate them into a blanket, probably a log cabin or Lizard Ridge. The color for this one totally reminded me of the rain forest hike we took in Ketchican.

Pink Carrot Creations is a lady from Ketchican who drives a truck part time. I have no idea what I’ll do with this…

The yarn is from Maryland, but I thought the colors were great so had to have it.

In Juneau I got this:

More Kureyon for the blankie, the colors are very Juneau.

In Skagway I got this:

Gorgeous Raven Frog Fiber Arts yarn (Elegante), it’s half silk half merino I think. The colors perfectly capture Skagway.

That’s it. I did buy one more skien of yarn in Skagway (Rabbit Ridge yarn), but it’s a gift for a friend it doesn’t count.

No Comments | In: finished object, gifts, knitting, stash, work in progress | tags: alaska, clapotis, finished object, hedera, juneau, ketchican, knitting, scarf, skagway, socks, stash, thuja, work in progress, yarn. | #

I have been very, uh, lazy I guess for the last month. I just realized I haven’t blogged since I got back from my trip to Alaska in September. Crazy.

So a lot’s been happening I guess. I have been struggling with the stupid occipital neuralgia crap. It’s pretty bad right now, but I’m back to regular acupuncture and I’m considering meds. I actually filled the prescription but I’m not ready to commit to it quite yet. I want to wait a little longer and try some other options to see if I can get the problem solved rather than medicated to an acceptable level.

The trip was awesome, but I totally had PMS the whole time and felt like I was a bit of a pain in the ass. I finished the Clapotis for my mom and she loved it. C loved her headband. I finished M’s socks. So lots of good knitting. The weather was great, nice and cool. Our excursion were so cool. The whale watching especially was amazing. I will have pics up soon, I just haven’t been up to sitting at the computer to clean up the images and load them all. Will try to finish it this weekend.

I’ve decided to do NaNoWriMo this year, for reals. I have an idea, and I’ll be spending this week doing some character and plot development in prep for the kick-off. So for those of you not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it’s National Novel Writing Month, and I think it’s been going on about 10 years, maybe longer. The idea is to try to write a novel (50,000 words or more) during the month of November. So Nov 1 to Nov 30th @ midnight. I have sorta been signed up for the last couple of years but have never done a damn thing. This year I’m taking it a bit more seriously. I hope that I’ll be able to get my prep work done this next week because I think that will be key to me moving forward for this for real. So because I’m also going to use NaNoWriMo as a way to get my ass writing everyday I’ve decided to split this blog up again. I know. I am so fickle. I’ve been wondering how boring all the knitting stuff must be to some people and vice versa for personal stuff. Not that I have more than like 5 people that have ever read this. So anyway, details to come.

So knitting is next…

No Comments | In: life | tags: alaska, blogging, blogs, nanowrimo, occipital neuralgia, pain, travel, trip, writing. | #