Ahhhhh, Noro

The vest is done. Well, almost. In an attempt to beat the rapidly fading daylight, and the forecast for rain, Nick offered to take some quick photos for me when I got home from work this evening. I still have a few ends that need weaving-in and I had to dispose of them discreetly for the photo shoot. Finding adequate daylight for taking blog photos is going to be a challenge this side of the equinox.

But I digress. Did I mention: THE NORO VEST IS DONE? I'm pretty happy with it. Really a simple, quick knit, except that I was flying by the seat of my pants sans pattern. Therefore, there was much ripping and reknitting as I figured things out along the way. Luckily I planned for a deep V-neck and fairly deep armholes, because over the weekend I took out my shoulder seams twice (once after blocking and weaving in the ends .. oy vey) to rip and shorten. I managed to get a length I like and still have my v-neck and roomy enough armholes.

I loved working with the Noro. The subtle color transitions, the sheen that the silk added, and how it got soft and drapey after washing. Yum.

Noro Vest Specs:

Pattern: There ain't one.
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden in colorway 47 (~6-7 skeins)
Needles: US 7/Addi Turbo Circs

A Koigu Diversion

A few years ago (3? 4?) while still living in California, my knitting group was overtaken by a moebius knitting frenzy. One of our fold, Karen, set things in motion and before long everyone was knitting moebiuses moebiuae moebi them. Fat ones, skinny ones, long ones, short ones, beaded, ribbed, and lace ones - you get the idea.

I seem to be missing that group more and more lately. Maybe it's the fall weather. Or perhaps even though I'm thousands of miles away, I'm sad because the LYS where we once gathered has closed its doors for good.

So I pulled out Cat Bordhi's book and my 47" Addi turbos and cast on the magical moebius stiches and thought of my Thursday night friends.


Koigu Moebius
Pattern: Basic Moebius Scarf a la Cat Bordhi
I cast on 130 stitches and worked a 5 row rib until it was wide enough
Needles: US 9 47" Addi Turbos
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM (ONE SKEIN!)

Beach Weather

I grudgingly went back to work this week, lamenting all the way my loss of valuable knitting time. Though I snuck in rows during lunch hours and evenings, I set my sights on today, because (lucky me) I'm only working 4 days a week and Fridays seem like they're going to be made for knitting. But around mid-day Wednesday the weather changed. The clouds parted, the sun shone, and the rain ceased to fall. AND this glorious weather is still going strong.

Just to put this all in perspective let me tell you that Juneau set wet-weather records this summer. In August alone there were 29 days with measurable precipitation. In the period from April to the end of August something like 109 out of 153 days were rainy days. These current days of sun are especially precious because we've seen so few of them, and as autumn approaches we can expect to see even fewer.

In light of all this, I did the only thing a sane person could do today. I went to the beach. I took my husband, our dog and my knitting with me. We saw the boys off to school("Bye-bye suckers kids, have a nice day!"), packed up lunches and the dog, and headed out the road to the Boy Scout Camp. It's a short hike through the woods to the camp and a beautiful crescent-shaped beach with views of the Chilkats. We saw sea lions from the beach, some sort of falcon that flew overhead, and three bikini-clad sun-bathers. (Only in Juneau is 60 degrees bikini weather.) We almost saw a bear, but some other hikers came upon it first and their dogs scared it off.

We had lunch on the beach and basked in the sun while I snuck in a few more rows on the back of my Noro vest...

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

All's been quiet on the blogging front lately. I have been knitting. It's just that it's been a process of *k1,rip1* Repeat until you get it right! But I think I finally have the Noro Vest on track. I'm about 3/4 done with the front. The back should fly by after this since I've spent so much time figuring things out and reworking on the front's time.

Back to work tomorrow after a nice summer break. 4 days a week, but I fear knitting and blogging are going to be adversely impacted. OR maybe I'll be more productive since I'll have less free time. Yeah, I'm sure that's the way it'll go.

Oh, and I mailed my TKGA Level I stuff today ...