because it’s been such a busy trip, my olympic goal—to finish five socks and knit a hat for david—has not really been at the forefront of my thoughts this week. despite my lack of focus on it, bit by bit, my knitting has progressed and if david drives most of the way home (so i can knit), i might actually finish.

and with a hat like this, who wouldn’t want to support a knitter’s dream of getting gold?? this was knit with a special skein from chris at briar rose, dyed on super-squishy mountain meadows merino worsted. i don’t think she has it listed in her online shop, but it may be something you’d see in her booth at one of the shows or possibly on chris’s page of selections from the dark side. it’s just yummy—so soft and squeezable, yet sturdy.

haha, i really love the rustic-ness of this hat—it’s perfect for david; he looks like a man of the forest in it. and he seems to like it a lot; he’s worn it nonstop since i finished it (he really needed a hat). we’ve even got plans for at least one more; maybe one that he can tuck his braid into. i knit until my yarn ran out, so the length wasn’t completely optional, but a longer one might be fun (and good for wearing in heavy snow).

once i got going on it, it knit up very quickly on 6mm needles, but my beginning was, as usual, fraught with indecision and false starts. i had to cast and reknit the first few rows on a couple of times.

then, halfway through the first repeat of the cable, i decided that i wanted the cable to cross differently, in a way that looked more “interwtwined”. i did NOT, however, want to rip back what i’d done (sixteen rows—big deal, right?)

so i commenced to doing some surgery. i dropped down a cable rib on the right side and re-crossed it the other way (under, instead of over), then worked those stitches back up

then the one on the other side needed to be recrossed to match it, so i took that one out too and changed it.

finally, the center one got changed as well (why not; as long as we’re change-happy, we might as well reconfigure the whole thing, right?).

i dropped the three knit sts of that rib down and recrossed so it went under at the center instead of over.

when i was all done, it looked like this

then i had to repeat the sequence for the big cable on the opposite side of the hat.

the whole process took about half an hour—probably almost the same as it would have taken to rip and reknit, but sooo much more interesting, heh. maybe i just wanted to see if i could do it successfully. sorta like adding a triple axel to my program, for a few extra points from the judges.

so far, i’ve finished the hat and three out of five socks. sock four is almost ready for toe shaping and sock five is completed to about halfway down the foot.
i could do it.

omg, it is STILL snowing outside—it’s been snowing all week, ever since we left hyde park on tuesday. there’s a big storm circling around and around out there and i guess it’s going to remain in place for a few more days yet. we are headed back to ohio today, too—i hope the drive home isn’t too painful, ugh.

the weekend was great—i taught classes here in albany at trumpet hill on friday evening and saturday. we had a fantastic turnout, despite the weather—i am so impressed with the intrepid upstate knitters—everyone who was supposed to come arrived with bells on and we had lots of fun.

barb, ruby, and barbie o. (otherwise known as the gang from montreal) drove four hours from canada for the full the weekend of classes. impressive, right??
i think they had a pretty fun friend’s weekend; i hope their drive home today is free of complications.

i was a little nervous friday night (it’s always like that when i first start a class), and i completely forgot to take pictures during the lace knitting class (sorry!).

saturday though, i managed a few before we got going for the day with our sweater fitness class.

we had the use of this incredible, state-of-the-art classroom room provided by berkshire bank—they make it available to groups as part of their “give-back” to their community. that’s one thing i love about where i grew up—businesses in the capitol region provide a considerable amount of community support and it makes a big difference.

that’s jen in the middle above; she came all the way from cape cod to join us! her family owns sage yarn in falmouth, MA

we had almost thirty people participate in this session and boy, did we ever dive in to fitting—these knitters were ready for it. a truly awesome day; i think most everyone went home very excited.

i had a wonderful time too—it was SO good to be teaching in my home town and i really appreciate that robena at trumpet hill provided this wonderful opportunity.

last night we celebrated my mom’s birthday by having dinner at the standard restaurant with my sister’s family and my aunt. afterward, we cut that cake i was telling you about

and finally got a chance to see what was inside

whipped cream and strawberry preserves, mmm.
i gave my mom the dark red hat and neckwarmer set i knitted last month; she loves the color of the hat (but declined to model it for the blog, haha).

it’s funny how everyone runs when i pull out my camera now . . .

well, i need to go—i have to pack up my stuff so we can get going this morning. have a great sunday and i’ll see you back in ohio.

a quick post today, with many thanks to paul and kristi, owners of eleganza yarns, for organizing such a wonderful event in frederick! the classes were exciting and fun, the fiber event was a big hit with knitters and other visitors, and the entertainment was an exceptional bonus to our visit.

their beautiful shop in historic frederick is a real gathering place for area knitters—they have a lot of enthusiastic friends and fans (and rightly so).

with a beautiful array of yarns, pattern, accessories, and a full range of class offerings, they work hard to participate in their community and create an atmosphere that makes the shop a tantalizing destination.

the fiber event this weekend was augmented by frederick’s monthly “first saturday” gallery walk—that event was suspended on the actual first saturday of this month due to the grand blizzard that occurred that weekend. it was rescheduled for this weekend, complete with ice sculpture, balloons, lights, and all the usual festivities.

we enjoyed bits and pieces of it saturday evening after the fiber event ended, as we made our way to a most delicious delicious ethiopian dinner at a nearby restaurant.
(it’s been a great trip for food—at this rate, we may not fit into the car to get home!)

on sunday morning, another group of knitters convened for our sock design class. this is the only picture i ended up with—sorry! what can i say; we were working hard.

we worked all day in this class, learning about what goes into a sock design and then swatching and crunching numbers to come up with something new.

afterward, we said our goodbyes at the shop and headed off to see james again for one more evening before heading off to our next destination.

in colombia, we were treated to yet another incredible meal—this time korean, at the lotte asian plaza food court. it sounds a bit pedestrian, but it’s one of james’s favorite places to eat and we have greatly enjoyed meals there in the past.

when we set out from ohio, david specifically mentioned that he’d like to have another bowl of seafood soup and noodles there. sunday is the day to go—that’s the time when lots of big, laughing family groups gather throughout the day to enjoy a meal together in the food court; it is always packed and the food is constantly fresh. mmm.

and ps: i haven’t forgotten about my knitting this weekend; it’s just been so hectic that i kept forgetting to take pictures (and, i’ve been kinda beat at the end of each day). back at the hotel after dinner, i put the finishing touches on my second longjohn sock

i’ve been using kristi’s shalimar zoe sock yarn to knit them—that is colorway catalina on the left and colorway cayenne on the right
i think we’re all set to go now with this pattern, as soon as i can get a few nice pictures. later today, i’ll ask david to model them so we can get the longjohn show on the road, heh.

today we head up to new york state. we’ll be visiting friends in the catskill region overnight and tomorrow, we’ll also be visiting with the fischers (YAY!) over lunch at CIA—i can’t WAIT to see them. this will be david’s first visit to the school and i know he’s excited (he’s a big fan of anthony bourdain, a graduate of CIA).

david also maybe chiming in soon to add a post about his day of wandering around washington with paul. they spent sunday in the capitol and i know he has a lot of photos.

see you at the next stop . . .