Back to Utah

At the end of April, work took me to Utah for a week. I didn't get to blog about the trip, but aside from being a little lonely, it was not such a bad trip. I love it when travel lets you get a car. I don't have my own car, so it's fun when I get to tool around and someone else picks up the tab.



My job on these trips is to visit academics at their office, and talk with them about their teaching and the books they use in their courses. I was fortunate this time to also visit three very awesome knitting stores, and I didn't want it to get so long that I couldn't remember which was which.



1. In Logan, Utah, I spent a long time driving around looking for Rumplestiltskin, as well as looking at the mountains, trying to find the parking lots on campus, places to eat, and anything to do... Anyway, the last day I was there, I thought I'd just walk around and see if I could find the store. I'd kept driving up and down Main street looking for the sign, but with no luck. However, my hotel was also on Main, so I figured it couldn't be much of a walk, and it wasn't! It turned out the reason I couldn't find it was that it was inside a larger building that housed a bunch of businesses. When I went, they were having a knitting class in the space next door. I didn't buy any yarn, but I did find the very first issue of Knitscene magazine, which I'd agonized over buying when it first came out (when I was much newer to knitting and didn't realize the pull of knitting mags). I hadn't bought it and always regretted it. And imagine my surprise when I found it languishing in the magazine basket at this little shop in Logan, UT of all places! YAY. I felt like you do when you find a cashmere sweater at a thrift store for $2. Like I knew the value of something someone else was throwing away. Indeed, the owner said she was really cutting down on the mags because people there didn't want them. Shocking, actually. I also snagged an IK from 2003, I think. I've put it away for later now, but it was the one with the pink ballet sweater on the front. I also bought a circular needle too. They had their own line of yarn, but my suitcase was bursting, so I refrained.



2. In Ogden, Utah, my next stop, I was out to dinner my first day there, by myself, when I saw a needlepoint store, and thought, oh, I wonder if they sell yarn too. HA. I shouldn't have worried. The Needlepoint Joint not only carried yarn, it was overrun with yarn. I have never seen a yarn store this big before. It was amazing. If I lived in Ogden, I'd be in there ALL. THE. TIME. She had yarn, tons of books where you could browse for them, lots of needles, buttons, bags, and so many other things I could have been in there for hours. Sigh. I wish, wish, wish that there was a place like that where I could shop all the time. Again, I refrained from buying any yarn (I have to learn to pack lighter!!!), but I did pick up Nora Gaughan's Volume 1 and Volume 2 pattern booklets. I'd wanted both, but had again, put off buying them. Having seen many finished things on Ravelry now though, I think I'm going to make a lot, especially from Volume 1.



3. In fact, after I finished in Logan and Ogden, I had some time to kill in Salt Lake City before my flight, so I stopped by Black Sheep Wool Company, a charming little store in downtown Salt Lake. I went in on a Sunday, so I wasn't sure they'd be open, but yes! Apparently not everything closes in SLC on Sundays. I even drove by the Gay and Lesbian resource center, which was really thrilling for me. Anyway, back to the yarn store. At that point in my trip, I was very close to finishing my second rainy day sock, and I knew I would go nuts on the plane without another project, so I went in looking for the yarn to make the Jyri scarf from Nora Gaughan vol. 1. They didn't have the Pure Merino that it called for, but I ended up getting five balls of Mission Falls 1824 wool, which OMG is so soft. I'll talk more about it when I finish up the scarf (I keep messing it up because it's knit sideways, and i start zoning out and messing up the lace pattern about half way through. It's sad when you're looking forward to the purl rows as a break from the pattern!). Anyway, the shop was a midsize one, with lots of different types of yarn. I also found the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that I'd been looking for at my LYS and which they sadly don't carry anymore. This shop would also make a pretty decent LYS. Not as far reaching as the Needlepoint Joint, but respectable selection and super-helpful owners/workers. They went out of their way to help me figure out a substitution for the Pure Merino, and that I got enough of the wool to finish the project, asked me about myself, told me a little bit about the neighborhood, and were generally really nice! I like Salt Lake City, and I'm glad I have to go back there in the fall. Next time, I'm going to take the tour of the Temple grounds and spend more time driving around in that neighborhood by the yarn shop. There are tons of beautiful Victorian homes there and other buildings, and the whole place just makes me think of settling the West in a way that I've not experienced in other areas (such as Denver-ech.).




Also, interesting facts I learned about Mormons:
*Many of the college students have a couple of children before they graduate, which means that they have absolutely no money to spare, and graduate with lots of debt (which I'm assuming most college students do these days, but if you're supporting a family on top of that, think of how much harder that must be...)

*The streets are all labeled by how many blocks N, S, E, or W they are from the Temple, which is supposed to be in the middle of the town. That was completely freakish when I got there, and was trying to find the campus at Utah State, and the address was like E 400 N, N 600 E. Crazy.

*There is a genealogy center at the Temple in SLC that anyone can use, and they'll help you track down your ancestors.

*Non-Mormons can't go into the Temple at all, but you can take the tour of the grounds (Temple Square, I guess), which like I said, I'm planning to do next time.

*There are not Temples in every town in America, but there are some sort of meeting houses where people go to church (I think. This part was hard to figure out...).

It's all pretty fascinating. I also take it that the regular Mormons were pretty irritated by what is going on in Texas right now. Completely separate apparently, yet I'm sure non-Mormons ask regular Mormons about it all the time, kind of like how when people hear I'm from NYC, they want to know about 9/11.

**Just a note, the pics are a mix of Logan and Ogden. I didn't really put them in any order, but that place is absolutely sick with beautiful scenery. If you like them, you should click through to make them bigger--they're much better that way.

home again, jiggedy jigg

I'm back again, folks! I'm sure you've all been aching with missing me, right? While I was in jolly olde England, Beth tagged me with a meme. She's previously said I had an awesome blog, for which I can only thank her and laugh modestly, as I'm sure my posts are not all that entertaining. Anyway, I never responded to that other designation, as that's the kind of blogger I am (late! antisocial! unresponsive!), but I do love movies, so thought I would give this one a try. Let's see how we do, eh?

1. One movie that made you laugh: This really is not hard, as I love movies with slapstick, but I am going to go with the latest movie that made me laugh, and that's one I saw on the way back from London, The Darjeeling Limited. There was a scene in that film that made me laugh so hard I thought I was going to embarrass myself.
2. One movie that made you cry: I tend to avoid sad movies, as I feel that life is sad enough without making myself cry for the hell of it. Having said that, I'm terribly romantic and sappy at heart, and so cry at lots of movies that aren't inherently sad, such as another film that I saw on the plane that I really enjoyed, Dan in Real Life. Steve Carrell is so good in this movie as a man who's devoted to his kids, yet emotionally dead inside after the death of his wife, coming back to life when by chance he meets someone he's really attracted to.
3. One movie you loved when you were a child: The first movie I remember seeing is The Lord of the Rings with my Dad, and not understanding any of it. Later, my favorites included The Goonies, Footloose, and Pretty in Pink.
4. One movie you’ve seen more than once: I've seen many, many movies more than once, but I think I've watched Pretty in Pink more than anything else.
5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: I am not really ashamed to admit I watched anything, but I have a secret, shameful love of Olsen twins movies. I watch them every time they are on tv. That's pretty bad...
6. One movie you hated: I have only walked out of one movie in my life, and that movie was Clifford. Oh god, I don't know why on earth I would have gone to see this in the first place, but I guess the combination of Charles Grodin and Martin Short playing a giant, spoiled rotten child was too much for even moi.
7. One movie that scared you: A Nightmare on Elm Street Seriously creepy to think that you could die in your sleep because something you dreamed was real. Also, that grey streak she got in her hair because of the stress of fighting Freddie freaked me out.
8. One movie that bored you: My Dinner with Andre Enough said...
9. One movie that made you happy: Amelie--god, it's so pretty and arty and sweet and sentimental and well-written and well-acted. All around, just a very satisfying movie.
10. One movie that made you miserable: Saving Private Ryan Ok, make that two movies I've walked out of. I thought this one was really good, but so horrifying that I just couldn't take it anymore. I think I lasted through 2/3 of the film though.
11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see: Boys Don't Cry
12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with: oh, really lots of them, but two of my favorites: Jack Sparrow, and Gary Oldman's Dracula.
13. The last movie you saw: Sweeny Todd--it was really pretty good, and I hate musicals.
14. The next movie you hope to see: I hear it's getting bad reviews, but I still want to see Indy Part 4 on the big screen.
15. Now tag five people people: I'm not going to tag anyone, since I really don't have enough blogging friends for that, but if you want to try your hand, feel free!

catching up, finishing up

I'm sorry it's been so long. I went to Utah at the end of April, and that threw me off--traveling for work always sets me back weeks! Anyway, then it was my birthday, and my cat got sick, and I started going to the gym, and basically any energy I had for updating was lost by the time I got home (I'm usually at the gym by 6:15 am...)

I've missed updating though, and I have a lot of finished objects to share!

1. Pattern: Mary Maxim horse sweater (I have no idea what the proper name for this sweater is, if there even is one)



I'm sure I mentioned this, but I got the pattern as a kit, because my niece noticed the design in a MM catalog at my mom's and wanted the sweater. I actually don't know how much she really wanted it and how much my mom just wanted me to make it for her, but either way, now it's done. It is basically just two rectangles with the sleeves sewn into them--there was no sleeve cap at all.

The intarsia was really fun, once I got over the terror of not knowing what I was doing. I loved seeing the picture coming out and manipulating all the little bobbins of yarn. I'm certainly going to do more intarsia, but not for a while. It's one of those techniques that you have to completely concentrate on, and I have a lot to finish already. But now I know I really like it. I didn't even mind weaving in all the ends. (I forgot to take another picture of the inside before sending it to my sister...)

Yarn: Starlette acrylic yarn, which I think is a MM brand. This was much softer after blocking, but it was a pretty soft acrylic to begin with. Only after working with it for long stretches did I find it hard on the hands.

Needles: Size 8 circulars I used my Boye interchangeable US 8 on this, and they worked fine. I'm not usually picky with the needles, but I like aluminum for almost anything.

2. Pattern: Rainy Day Socks



I absolutely fell in love with this pattern when it came out on Magknits. When I found yarn in the exact color, I decided I had to make them.



The sock on the right is the first one I did. You can see how I went too far with the pattern. I didn't have enough time to do a good solid toe before I had to bind off. I don't really like the wedge toes too much. I cut them too sharp, I think. The grafting turned out to be fairly straightforward this time though. I guess making that lace leaf sweater came in handy! (I grafted that sucker three times, remember?)

Anyway, these socks turned out to be a lot thicker than I was imagining they'd be (I'm still not that good at picking sock yarn, since I don't make socks that often.) They probably won't fit into any normal shoes comfortably...luckily, they look cute with my clogs!



Yarn: Louet Gems Pearl, 2 hanks

I absolutely love this yarn, just probably not for socks. It would be really good for a lace scarf. It's super soft and squishy, and comes in beautiful colors.

Needles: US 1/ US 2s. I knit the first sock on US1s, but I kept thinking that something wasn't right. It was too tight. So I knit the second one on size 2s. You can see the difference in the first picture. The one on the right in the pic (the left sock) is just a little bit bigger and taller than the other one. It definitely fits better than the first, but I don't care. I'll probably mostly be wearing them on cold days in the house, which, ironically, is basically what the pattern-writer seemed to intend.

3. Pattern: Pretty Lace Handwarmers



I have knit three pairs of these. The first I did in aubergine Reynolds Soft Sea Wool, but they turned out to be a little too 80s punk rock for the woman I was knitting them for, so when I was out in Utah, I found the very color of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn I was looking for, so I bought two balls to try it again. And yes, we have a winner! I ended up giving the purple ones to my friend Ilene for her birthday, and one of these pink pairs is destined for my friend Donna for her birthday, and the third pair is a gift for the woman who put us up in Melbourne. I hope she likes them!



I sure do.

Yarn: Reynolds Soft Sea Wool AND Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino

The Soft Sea Wool is actually not that soft, and it has a really prominent twist. I can't say that I like it all that much, but the color was really pretty in the skein, and it wasn't bad to work with. Kind of puffy until you stretch it out. It's not like anything I've worked with before. But I have to say, it only took about 2/3 of one skein to knit a pair of mitts, so I have a lot left.

The DB baby cashmerino is delectable. OMG, I love this stuff so much. My first yarn was DB cashmerino chunky, so I have a soft spot for it already. When I decided to make these mitts, I immediately thought of the baby cashmerino, because my LYS near work, The Yarn Connection, used to carry it, and I'd seen it there. When I went back for it, they told me they don't carry DB anymore. ARGH. I was so lucky to find it in Utah, and in a good pink too!

I think I'm going to use the leftovers from both the purple and the pink to make some sort of lace scarf for Donna for xmas. At some point...

What's on the needles now? Well, I have to knit a cap for our other friend in Melbourne, and then I can get back to my sweater knitting! GOD. It's taking me so long to get anything done lately.