Sounds and Smells

My car’s in the shop for the fourth night out of 2 weeks. It sounds so trivial on the grand scheme of things, but I hate being without my car. I have errands to run, things to do, a knitting group to attend, but instead I’m at home. (I love our mechanics, but I really hoped they had fixed it the first time!) I baked a pumpkin cheesecake to perk myself up. It smells wonderful: like a mixture of pumpkin pie and cream cheese. I can’t wait to try it!

Hubby’s upstairs speaking French to himself. More correctly, he’s repeating French phrases. He’s decided to learn a little francais before an upcoming trip we have yet to solidify. It’s a good sign. Myself, I’ve stopped counting the number of years I’ve given to the belle langue without achieving fluency. If you drop me in the middle of Paris, I could find my hotel. I couldn’t do it artfully, but I’d be able to get directions and get home. Do I need more? (I’d love to be fluent, but I’d have to find a way to practice to make that happen.)

Speaking of directions, Rick Steves’ guidebooks are amazing. I started reading his Provence book from the beginning. It’s packed full of really useful information, even for experienced travelers. Do you have any tips for someone heading to the south of France? Please share!

I’ve progressed on the Auburn Camp Shirt. I’m at the bust shaping on the final shirt piece. After this: seaming, sleeves and collars and then I’m done! Maybe I can wear it in the Provencal countryside.

Project photo updates

IMG_5743

Originally uploaded by knitandwit

I finally updated photos for all my works in progress. These are the argyle socks I self-designed. Not sure when they’ll ever get finished. I didn’t think through the problem of argyle socks in the round. The patterns I found on Ravelry were mostly knit flat and seamed, which I was previously opposed to. By knitting in the round, however, I have to move the bobbins of color back and forth, which could lead to some potentially HUGE floats in the back. Knitting flat doesn’t do this because you naturally move your yarn from side to side. In the round, you leave your yarn at the end of the pattern and then it’s not where you need it when you come back around. I’ve added extra bobbins in the longest repeat areas so the floats aren’t as big. It’s still a huge waste of yarn, though. And it’s collasally annoying to deal with the dozens of bobbins I have inside this small tube.

The Auburn Camp Shirt is coming along nicely. I’m on the second front. I’ve put it aside to try to finish up the last Socks That Rock shipment, but I keep going back and forth so neither’s getting done.

I cast on Monday for a calorimetry for a friend and finished it Tuesday evening when a friend came over to knit (special requests that only take a few hours are highly encouraged). I can’t wait to give it to her (hi, Jess).

This has been a musical weekend: “Sweeney Todd” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” both came from Netflix. Any other recommendations?

Brr!

I haven’t had time to take any of the promised photos of my new shawl pins, yarn or project bags, but I wanted to check in.

With this cold snap that’s covered most of the country, have you found your handknits to be helpful? My Calorimetry has been a lifesaver on my evening runs!