This is about a week old, suffered while in Brussels. Yes, the story behind it is indeed embarassing. No, the story behind it does not involve alcohol. ‘Nuff said.
The remainder of the Brussels trip was too fast. I landed Sunday, had all day meetings Monday, and flew out on Tuesday morning. 
“Blink!” And it was gone. I did have a great view from my hotel room — same hotel as usual, but I’m usually in a room looking over the back alley — and we did go walking out on Sunday night for dinner. I almost didn’t bring my camera, but am pleased that I did. I only took about a half dozen shots, but they were good ones. I think the shot of Saint Catherine’s Church at night is my favorite. Camera will travel with me this week as I head for Philadelphia and “Vision 2020” where I’m one of two delegates from Virginia. This is one trip I’m really looking forward to!
On the Brussels trip I finished my Tangled Vines socks. I will write up the pattern for them, hopefully tonight, but we’ll see. It is Sunday and almost 5:30PM already, so it may have to wait till next week. I enjoyed knitting these and I like the fabric. Some lace socks seem to have too flimsy delicate of a fabric, but these are lacey looking and still feel like they aren’t one thread-snap away from unraveling. I designed them for a high instep with average ankle thickness and find that they fit very nicely. The pattern will have both written and charted instructions for the lace stitch, the traveling vines pattern in Walker. I had to work out the chart myself and managed to get past a challenge that others seemed to have with it (I did some web searching to see if it had already been done) by shifting the pattern a few stitches so that the decreases all fall within the bounds of the repeat. That makes it very workable for a sock pattern and eliminated the fiddliness of shifting stitches around needles when worked on dpn’s.
I solved another knitting problem this weekend as I finally pulled my Kniestrüpmfe out of the drawer and sat down with a needle and elastic thread to work some extra elasticity into the ribbing at the top of the cuffs. I simply turned them inside out and then ran the needle through the backs of the purl stitches (all right, all right, I do know that the back of a purl stitch is a knit stitch!) around the sock. I knotted the ends securely and then trimmed them close. This was repeated about 15 times on each sock to form parallel rounds from the bottom of the ribbed section to the very edge of the cuff. I love how it turned out. It’s invisible from the right side (the picture is of the wrong side) and when I put the socks on they feel snug, but not tight. I’ll be able to wear these with no fear that they’ll fall down. Now to find a corduroy skirt to wear with them!
My last knitting report is on Baby’s First Angora, a new pattern of mine (still in pencil notations, but which will be converted for upload soon!) for simple, but luxurious accessories for the 3-6 month old. (I’ll make a version for the 0-3 month old as well, but haven’t done so yet.) These are fun to knit as they finish so quickly and take such a small amount of yarn. These are of Phildar Phil’Angora 70 — it took 30 wopping grams of it for the entire set. I only wish that I had a real baby to try them out on!!
Breathe deeply…another week is heading our way!
Love, Jan
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
October 17th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Oh. My. Goodness. That angora. That shade (you photographed it better than I did.) BOY, does that bring back memories!
My mom bought some pure angora that exact color on a trip before I was born, to knit for her little girls in anticipation of their being upstaged by the new one coming (me).
My oldest sister got a green sweater and she was highly allergic to it. The yellow…sat in a box for something like 45 years.
Until Mom and Dad packed up and moved out of the house they’d raised us in. I had coveted that angora all through my teens and beyond, and Mom had always said, No, that’s not yours. I promised that to your big sister.
She out of the blue, just before the moving van came, mailed it to me after all all these years later.
You see my blog design? That bit of yellow and those scarves?
That yarn was totally not protected, totally chewed up. I pieced it back together as best as humanly possible and then knitted it up: a scarf for my not-allergic older sister, one for my younger sister, and one for my brother’s wife. I dyed them partly on the grounds that no moth stages could survive the boiling water, partly on the grounds of felting any slipping pieces together beyond the splicing efforts.
And that is the story of how my blog top came to look like that. (Note that the ball of yarn has multiple ends.) After wanting that yarn for all those decades, I finally got to have it come to me–and after all that time, Mom was right: it wasn’t for me after all! It was for everybody else.
October 18th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Well, you KNOW the Brussels photos brought back wonderful memories for me… and for that I send you three kisses on the cheeks, even tho’ you are not ten years older. X-X-X
I love the new eye shadow… Colorway: “Bruised in Bruxelles!”
xoxo
October 18th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Ouch! Glad the eye is healing quickly. You certainly get a lot done while traveling the world and solving problems. Have fun with the pattern writing!
October 19th, 2010 at 12:30 am
[…] to be a lazy blogger tonight and post here, with a touch of editing for clarity, what I put on Twinset Jan and Ellen’s blog. Jan had made some baby socks and hat in a soft, soft angora yarn in a muted sunflower-yellow […]
October 19th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Oh, that eye doesn’t look good! I’m glad it’s healing up, though. And I love all of the knitting you’re doing (not to mention being very impressed, given all the travel you’re doing). Enjoy your next trip!
October 19th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Now I know why I suddenly slipped and poked my eyelid hard with my fingernail while adjusting my glasses this weekend. It’s your fault!
I love the socks. Need a test knitter?
November 9th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Dear Jan, My name is Pat France and I work for General Mills. I am a friend of Ellen’s! I am also a Knitting in General Club member and this year I am in charge of the Helmet Liner project. You have maybe heard of it. We knit about 100 helmet liners a year and they are included with the Military Club’s Care packages to troops.
We are having a Kick Off event for the Helmet Liner project on November 11th. I was wondering if you would consider sending us a message about our efforts. Maybe what it’s like for a serviceperson to receive a care package? It would be nice to have a message from someone with service experience.
I know this is a shot in the dark, I have read your blog and enjoy it. I enjoy visiting with Ellen.
I thought maybe I could read it to the group.
Thank you for your service, and your consideration,
Warm regards, Pat