Vacation and Finished Objects!

I've been so busy since I last posted! First David and I went on a fab little Memorial Day weekend getaway to New Hampshire. We stayed at his folks summer place. It was really nice. I had just finished the body of the Feather and Fan cardigan and set it out to block.


All I had left to do was the button band, but I didn't feel like picking up stitches in a five hour car ride, I cast on a new project that involved lots of car riding stockinette. I decided to use the Purelife Cotton and cast on the Fiery Bolero by Debbie Bliss. A quick knit and I got a good third of it done between the car ride up and back


The trip was SOOO fun. It was the perfect combination of active state & vegetative state. Our first day was mostly about getting settled and then poking around a few nearby towns. We had a fantastic dinner out and then headed back to our little condo. We found a 1000 piece puzzle in the closet and I couldn't resist. My family used to do puzzles when I was a kid and I always loved them. We cracked it out the first night . . .


and FINISHED it the second


David wanted me to mention that (as it turned out) it was NOT a 1000 piece puzzle, but a 999 piece puzzle. Bummer


It was really fun to stay in and listen to our ipod and do a puzzle. Just good old fashion fun that you only seem to do on vacation.

As for the more active part . . . we took a pretty tough hike up a mountain. It took us about 2 hours going up and an hour going down, but here was the view that greeted us


We were hot and tired, but we got a wonderful cool breeze, ate our trail mix and recharged for the hike down


After that David took me to check out Patternworks. It had a pretty good yarn selection, but oddly not a great pattern selection (kinda surprising considering the name!). After our hike we felt like the rest of the day would be well spent lying on the little beach by the lake.

The next day we checked out of our place, and drove out of town, passing the obligatory pretty covered bridge.
and set off for Lake Winnipesaukee to go to Weirs Beach. It had a great pier with old fashion arcade games. We had lunch and played a little pinball, and then had a great old beach day. SO much fun.


We also stopped at an antique store where I found the perfect buttons for the Feather and Fan Cardigan. Now all I had to do was finish up the button band (yeah)



I was exhusted the next day, and it was a big work week. Not only is it the usual end of the month stuff, but we did a full store inventory as well. I was so happy to get to yesterday (my day off).

Sunday was all about the garden. David had bought some new plants on Saturday while I was at work, and Sunday we were doing major work. All the Iris's had to be dug up and divided, we rearranged a lot of the plants, put in the Dahlias & Cannas . . .



The climbing roses are more like falling roses, because of the crappy job I did this spring cutting them back. They also got really bad black spot. Right now we are just waiting for the blooms to fade so we can hack it back


The other two are doing much better



But for me the main attraction of our garden is FOOD. We are harvesting lettuce twice a day now


The broccolli heads are big and happy



The zucchini is freakishly large (it now fills the box and there are already 5 zucchini's that are pretty large) and there's already a tiny tomato on one of the plants . . . I LOVE growing food



Almost as much as I love FINALLY finishing the Feather and Fan cardigan. I knit it pretty much as is with the exception of adding an additional increase round for the body. I'm a little hippier than the average model.

So here she is, my favorite finished object so far!!

Ode to Blocking

What takes a nicely knit piece and turns it into a PERFECT piece? Blocking. I was shocked recently when one of our regular customers (you know who you are) admitted to me that he never blocks his pieces. I just finished blocking the top of the Feather and Fan Cardigan. I used my two new toys - the blocking wires I bought with my niece Alana's gift certificate (THANK YOU) and my new blocking blocks that one of our teachers, Hannah, turned me onto.

They are called Knitter's Block. They are interlocking blocks that you can put together in a variety of configurations (more about that later) with an absorbent side.

The interesting thing is their blocking method. It comes with a large cloth. You pin your piece in place, and then (depending on the fiber and pattern), you either steam block it, or spray the whole piece with water. Here's the interesting part. You then take the cloth, get it good and wet and cover your piece. When the cloth is dry, your blocking is done!

Here's my sweater pinned in place in the lovely evening light:




My other new (I don't know how I ever lived without them) tool are my beloved blocking wires. I bought a full set that has straight wires in two different lengths, and flexible wires. These were PERFECT for this project. They helped me create a straight edge for the side of the cardigan and take out the large swag that happens with feather and fan. Here's a close up:


The only drawback to the Knitter's Blocks is they are not built to be put together in any configuration. As you can see from the shape of the upper bodice of the sweater, what I needed was a T shape, like this

The blocks however, only fit snuggle one way. I had to kind of force them, and it didn't really work perfectly

Never the less, the next morning, I removed the dry cover to reveal my perfectly blocked piece


So here it is, the finished upper bodice of my cardigan. Now I just have to knit the miles of stockinette . . . kill me now.


Speaking of kill me now. . . my brother agreed that the 11" wide scarf he wanted was insane. I ripped out the scarf and recast it on for a 9" width. Still REALLY wide, but not a baby blanket. I also changed to US 17 instead of 15 which made it more flexible and drapier. It will still be the world's warmest scarf




It looks like I'll have two whole skeins left over. I bought 4 back in the day when I thought I was making the insane 11" wide scarf. I have a crazy plan for it, but more about that later.

Feather and Fan detour

After the most recent debacle with the Feather and Fan Cardigan, I was happy to set it aside for a bit for two knitting distractions. The first one was knitting cupcakes for the shop window. An addictive little pattern and a great way to get rid of scrap yarn. I'm up to five so far!


The second is a little larger . . . my brother's 11" x 8' scarf. What? That's right, my beloved brother wants an 11" x 8' scarf. I bought Cascade Magnum so I wouldn't be knitting for the rest of my adult life. Only one problem . . . it's so damn thick that his neck may be slightly strained under the weight of it. I'm doing a basket weave with it:


Monday I'll start the Feather and Fan again . . . and clean the apartment . . . and start exercising . . . and file my receipts . . . and catch up on e-mail.

Or maybe next week.