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Dear Ellen,

I realize that this post must have had you immediately wondering why I would make mention of my luncheon habits , but actually I was referring to the tour I took last Friday of the mighty warship USS PROVIDENCE (SSN 719).  PROVIDENCE is, of course, Allen’s submarine.  I flew up to the city of Providence* on Thursday evening and on Friday did some business at the Submarine Base and then Allen gave me a tour of his boat. **  I was so proud — mostly of the fact that I didn’t fall down any ladders, but also of how well Allen is obviously doing on board as the Supply Officer.  We spent the rest of the evening walking around New London, having pizza and laughing at funny web sites like Regretsy, The Man Repeller and Texts from Last Night.  Ah, a great mother/son evening.*

The next morning I drove him up to his mechanic’s house in Hebron so he could pick up his 1973 Innocenti Mini who had been in getting a new fuel pump.  We took pictures with the mechanic’s red minis (larger and smaller!) and then headed out for breakfast and to see me off at the airport.  A very nice visit.

While on the flight I started a new scarf.  You may recall that I made a Sparkly Scarf for Ava several months ago — and mom Katie made the comment that she so wanted one too.  She’s not going to get an identical one, but I’m taking the leftover yarn and making her a Lamina with the same beads. It may have to be a pattern repeat or two shorter than the pattern calls for, but it will be plenty long enough to be a nice accessory. And with all the sweaters I’ve been working on, I need some snack knitting!  I’m calling it Katie’s Sparkly Scarf because I am so creative.  If you look at the cast on edge, you’ll be able to see a bunch of live stitches on a stitch holder.  The instructions called for a provisional cast on so you can knit half in one direction and then return to knit the other direction (after picking up live stitches and unraveling your provisional cast on).  I figured, why not just use a toe-up sock cast on and put one half the stitches on a holder so you don’t have to screw around with any of the silliness of the waste yarn and all.  I expect it will work out perfectly.  Stay tuned.

I’ve decided to go ahead and post pictures of the sweater I made last year for Allen.  (Remember, I was going to submit the pattern for publications, so couldn’t put pictures up?)  Well, I never submitted it as I decided it needed some tweaking before I would do so. Plus I’m going to knit something similar for Dale, so will use his as the submission…someday.  It will be different enough to qualify as a different pattern.  I learned a lot from making this one for Allen and am quite pleased with most of it, especially things like the applied I-cored neckline, but there are other areas that need adjustment (like shoulder width, scye depths, that kind of stuff).

Today has been a quiet day.  I took the dogs for a nice long walk and enjoyed just being.  We’ve got wild grapes all over everything along the trail that the dogs and I follow.  Some honeysuckle and wild snapdragons too, but mostly wild grapes.  The dogs pretty much ignored the flora and me.  They were far too involved in conversations of their own.  I love how much they like each other.  I could have used more nap time, but the day was pretty good regardless.

Love, Jan

* Sorry for all the bizarre new spam we are sure to get.
** Notice we fully capitalize the names of our naval vessels like PROVIDENCE (in order to make them appear even more powerful).  We do not fully capitalize the names of cities like Providence.  It’s a Navy thing.
**For you landlubbers — NO, not you laplanders! — we call submarines “boats” and we call ships…well, “ships.”

Dear Ellen,

Times like the last several weeks make me cherish my knitting. More and more it serves as a means to slow myself down just a bit so that I can process all the activity going on in my life.  And lately that has been a LOT of activity including two trips to three different places (St. Louis, Fayetteville — where I stayed at the Very VIP quarters on post — complete with kitchen staff — and Tampa), weekend visitors 3 weekends in a row, a mid-week visitor, and multiple work crises (some real, some concocted).  While I haven’t been able to knit as much as I’d like to, I have done quite a bit — and I seem to be gaining speed, so I do have some progress on two projects and a new project well underway.

Tropical Gorillas are about 75% done, having rounded the heel and picked up the gusset on sock  number two.  TGIF is blocked and ready for seaming thanks to Ruby’s fine assistance.  All that remains once seamed will be the extra large button bands and shall collar — picked up along the entire front edge and worked in ribbing.  And I cast on Woodland Vines, my version of Ysolda Teague’s Vine Yoke Cardigan in very woodland colors — the Briar Rose yarn I bought at Yarnover (remember?).  I have to say, it is putting the completion of the others at risk because it is such a fun project to knit.  The construction design is brilliant. It is knit side to side in mostly garter with some patterning at the yoke and hem to keep you interested.  And you knit the sleeves as you go round with short row raglans.  It’s crazy I tell you, crazy!  And it knits pretty quickly, so even if the others stall, I should be back to them soon.

Several of our visitors were our children.  Allen was here a few weekends ago and I took Allen in to work with me…we snuck a picture outside the Pentagon.  He was down for some interviews and I had fun showing him around and showing him off.   Marie and Heidi were here this weekend…and guess what!  Marie has picked up knitting again!  She’s working on a cute little baby bonnet and doing pretty well for having not picked up a needle for about 2 and 1/2 years! Hearing she wanted to try knitting again was almost as good as if she had said she was working on a different kind of baby project.  Not really that close, but still.

We did make it up to Fair Winds yesterday while the girls slept in.  We cleared brush, burned brush, watched fuzzy caterpillars, were amazed by the height of the corn, mused over the possible additions for our future kitchen (wouldn’t that be a GREAT stove!!), and had our eye caught by the colors of the surrounds.  I personally found it very reassuring to know that 24 hours a day we can acquire live bait via vending machine down at the local grocery.  Almost as good as a vend-o-mat for those late night munchies, I should imagine!  We decided we would go a different way for our end of trip treat and headed over to Maplehof’s for ice cream before heading back.

We’re hoping for a quiet week.  I’d be happy to have an empty guest room for a few days at this point.  Plus we’d love to avoid the excitement nature sent our way this past Tuesday when hurricane force winds hit very suddenly.  We had some minor damage to the townhouse in which we’re living, but the neighborhood was hit much harder.  We lost some really beautiful trees.  The one in the photo (and several others nearby) caused the George  Washington Parkway to be closed for quite a bit until it could be cut up and moved off the road.  Fortunately, no one near us was hurt.  I hope your week is filled with good fortune too!

Love, Jan

Dear Ellen,

In answer to the title question, evidently so.  We had a power outage on 4th of July that certainly messed up our connection.  By the time I got it figured out on Monday, it was already past my bedtime and I was pretty tired, so no post from me.  I have a hunch that with the kitten-induced ecstasy going down at your place, you probably didn’t miss it.  The highlight of our 4th was a nice visit from our favorite daughter and daughter-in-law.  We enjoyed a nice block party with our neighbors, made a trip to Costco and decided to forgo the fireworks in lieu of what may have to become an annual tradition…the “screwing-with-the-security-alarm-because-the-power-loss-signal-(a mild beep every 5 minutes or so)-is-bugging-you-too-much-to-leave-it-alone-with-the-result-of-disrupting-the-whole-neighborhood-when-you-set-off-the-alarm-and-can’t-get-it-shut-off-for-almost-a-half-hour” extravaganza.  I will let you guess who came up with this event…but it wasn’t me.  Oh, and we did play Hand and Foot.  The excitement never stops.

I finally found someone to take some pictures of me in Not So Naive.  I love this sweater!  It fits so very confidently.  You know — the kind of garment that makes you feel like you are looking good and that doesn’t have any “fidget” associated with it. And it is nice and warm too!  Of course, this is a far more attractive feature when the temperature is NOT 102 degrees Fahrenheit. It will be very welcome the next time we get over two feet of snow though.

Kniestrümpfe are now finished.  At least the knitting is finished.  I still have to test wash the swatch to see how this mystery yarn handles shrinkage so I know whether or not I need to add elasticizing.  If I do, it will be brain dead hand work for some night when I don’t feel up to even thinking about garter stitch.  I doubt I’m going to want to wear these till the fall Oktoberfest season rolls around so I think I have some time.

I whipped out a quick little hat made out of leftover fleece (as in micro-fleece, not sheep fleece) that somehow landed in my basket one time when I was at an LYS in Colorado Springs.  (Six small balls of micro-fleece for $2…how could I resist such an inexpensive opportunity to try this chunky yarn?)  I love the result.  I just played with making up slip-stitch color work patterns as I went.  Were I to do it over again, I’d probably go up a needle size or two.  The fabric is very dense.  These pictures are pre-blocking.  I’m confident the stitches will even out a bit when I do that — though I’m seriously thinking about just sticking with the fun, bumpy, lumpy results that I have right now.  If I decide to keep it for a barn hat, I’ll not block it.  If it goes to charity, I will — I don’t think bumps have the same charm for everyone.  It is a snug one!  Oh, and I did like using the micro-fleece yarn…quick knit and very cooshy.  You know how I feel about cooshy.

I’m up to the armscye on the back of TGIF, but haven’t taken any new pictures.  I’ll probably wait till it’s off the needles and blocked.  I need a double check on the gauge after blocking before I proceed to the fronts and sleeves, so plan on doing that pretty soon.  I’ve also cast on some new socks out of a cotton fingering weight, the name of which escapes me at the moment, but it’s of the ilk of Trekking.  I’m finally doing the Monkey Socks pattern by Cookie A, but I’ve modified to add an extra repeat of the lace pattern to bring the cuff stitch count up to 80.  If I’d stuck with the 64 stitches she says to cast on, I’d have socks for a skinny 12 year old.  Some shenanigans were required in the heel turn and instep to accommodate the change in the stitch count, but nothing too fancy.  I’m well into the foot of sock number one.  I’m calling them Tropical Gorillas based on the colorway (which looks like pale rainbow sherbet), their “enlarged” status in comparison to normal Monkey Socks and the fact that I cast on during a trip to Tampa Florida.  Extra bonus on the trip was that I got to join Chris, Jim and Tom for dinner…and got to spend some quality Aunt-nephew knitting time!  (Yay, Tom!!)

The weekend before the 4th we made a quick run up to the property.  Dale had great fun whacking weeds and cutting up downed trees.  The doggies and I hiked in the woods and basked in the grass.  Ruby loves running through the ferns.  Max thinks the farm is pretty much Nirvana.  I was amused by a funny bug that crawled around on my knee and less amused by some stuff that I am moderately concerned might be poison oak. I am thrown off by the 5 leaves though.  If you can help i.d., I’d greatly appreciate it so I can try to avoid last summer’s itch-fest.  The two panoramas are the view of the house from the curve in the driveway and then the view from the front porch looking out over the farm.  (Use your imagination here — strain your eyes to see if you can make out the re-bar stakes in the ground marking the house outline — there, right there…to the right of the shed in front of that dried brush.)

In the coming days we will entertain Patty and Ken (yippee!) from Friday to Sunday, Chris, Jim and Tom from Sunday to Monday, and sometime thereafter I will start a page to track Rebecca’s and my progress towards the Level I Master Knitter certification.  (Anyone else want to join in?)  I’m tired (but happy) already.

Love, Jan

Dear Ellen,

Dale and I decided to take a quick ride across the river with the intent of walking around the Tidal Basin to admire the cherry blossoms.  The big festival is next weekend, but unfortunately for attendees, the blossoms really peaked early this year.  They were just stunning Thursday and Friday, but now are losing their brilliance and by the coming weekend will be all but gone.  I actually am rather fond of this point in the cycle when the leaves start to take over.  It’s not as dazzling, true…but I rather like the less boastful and more mature beauty of it.  Funny how when I was younger I was disappointed by the transition.

We rode the motorcycle hoping to get parking more easily…Ha!  Even on the bike we ended up just taking a circuit and then heading home.  Fortunately I’m fairly good at one-handed photography and got a few nice shots (I think).  Dale’s favorite is the one he took…of me at the end of the ride.  He’s now calling me his  “Biker Babe” though he does acknowledge that the “Hoops ‘n’ Yoyo” jeans jacket takes some of the fierceness out of it.

Check out Sheep Gal’s entry for today for some of the cutest little lambs wishing you a Happy Easter!

Love, Jan

Dear Jan,

I had a brief sojourn to the Toronto airport the last couple of days.  Yes, literally the airport and not Toronto - it was one of those business meetings, held in an airport hotel (I never even left the terminal, for heavens sake!), with tight schedules that don’t allow adventures into the city that is 20 miles or so away.

For those of you wondering about the security measures for flights from Canada to the U.S. - yes, you can bring your knitting (neither my metal circular needles nor my bamboo needles caused any concern once they were inspected), and yes, you will be inspected.  My bag was inspected twice (once every single item was removed and patted down), my bag was also swabbed twice, and even I was swabbed once.  All told - with short lines - security took about 40 minutes.  With long lines, I can see why you’d want to allow up to a couple of hours.

But, I made it back into the country, knitting intact.  My trip knitting was further progress on Norwegian Hugs.  Here are the beginnings of some sleeves.  Erica reminds me that I might be happier if I’d change to the proper needles - the circulars I’m using just don’t have the right flex for the magic loop method and I think I should change to dpns while I’m thinking of it.  Magic loop is slower for me than double points - just too fiddly.  And I put less stress on the fabric, especially in colorwork, with dpns.

Before I left on the trip, I frogged and reknit much of Springtime Sugarplums.  I am very happy, indeed, with the new gusset and thumb.  No bunching, the decreases up the pad of the thumb pull everything into place so nicely, and the mini-gusset that eases over the webbing between the thumb and hand seems just the trick.

Perhaps even more delightful - look what greeted me upon my return home.  My weeping pussy willow, bought for a lark at Trader Joe’s, must have remembered its Canadian providence, greeting me on my return from the Great White North with  catkins to remind us that it is Imbolc, halfway from the solstice to the equinox.

From close up they look like little candles, adding their light to the returning sun.  But from a distance they look like snowflakes, reminding me that we still have more of that to come.

I’ll do my best to take joy in whichever presents itself next, snow or sun.  I hope you are finding joys where you travel, too.

Love,

Ellen