I had almost a whole week away from the office and some substantial knitting time but no completed project to show except one that was practically finished before the flight left for Boston. Though Adam will tell you otherwise, I don't usually travel with more than a couple of knits; This trip, I managed to pack 4 projects with me.
If you follow me on twitter, I had quite a few tweets about my knitting and Boston wanderings this weekend.
Retro Redux shrug
I had only about ten rows to finish when we left for the airport. By the time we boarded the flight, I was binding off the 200 or so stitches. An ideal situation really, since I hadn't planned on knitting during the redeye flight.
I took some photos of the completed shrug in my hotel room and added them to my ravelry project page, but may take some better ones before I post the project notes. I actually wore it one night while we lounged around the hotel bar chatting with friends. I love it.
Hadley mini
I read the instructions for this crocheted grocery bag during the redeye to Boston (bedtime story?) and realized quickly that I needed a reference for crochet stitches since the last few projects I've crocheted were English patterns. I started this a few times, after quickly committing a stitch guide to memory. But, in the end, I couldn't get my count correct and put it aside until I could devote more attention to it. I find crocheting in-the-round is a bit confusing.
On a side note, I like the yarn, Berroco's Naturlin. I think it's perfect for a bag. But, I really wondered if I would make a garment to wear with it.
Simple Noro socks
I also brought the Webs cabled sock pattern (that I had bought at Stitches West) and two skeins of Noro SIlk Garden with me to Boston.
After I put down the crochet hook, I immediately picked up Size 6 dpns and started these socks. Instead of following the cabled socks pattern, I quickly modified it into simple anklets--because I'd never knitted socks before (and I was watching a movie at the time). Things were going well; In almost no time I had finished the gusset decreases and was about halfway through the foot, when I thought I should take out the tubular cast-on "waste" yarn and try on the sock. That's when I realized my mistake.
I managed to do the cast-on wrong and could not pull out the tail of the yarn. I couldn't believe I had remembered the technique wrong. I always use this cast-on! Really, I tried for quite some time to fix my error before I frogged the project. Is this an omen? Something always happens to keep me from completing a pair of socks. Should I just not knit any socks ever?
I don't really believe that. For now, those socks are on hold.
Dotless Dotty, aka Adam's Silky Wool sweater vest
The next few days were busier than the last so I didn't want to take around a project that required too much attention or was awkward to handle, if I actually had time to knit. (For me, knitting with dpns and crocheting require some concentration.) I'm glad that, at the last minute, I threw the Adam's still unfinished sweater into my suitcase.
This is actually this vest's second trip to Boston. I knitted the back part when I was there in December. This weekend while in Boston and on the return flight, I knitted the front panel. I'm still working on the v-neck decreases, but it's progressing. I can't wait to finish it.
While waiting to board our return flight, I sat with another knitter in the terminal, and amazingly enough, she was working on a project with Silky Wool as well: a gorgeous sweater with an intricate cabled pattern. We chatted a bit about the yarn and our projects before boarding. Later, I noticed a Blogger sticker on her bag and wondered if she had a knitting blog. I really wish I had asked her name.
Glad to be home.
