The Mitts Are Done - yay!

Hooray, I've finished the cabled mitts! I am very happy with how they came out. I did make a few modifications to the pattern - I made the mitts longer, since I have long fingers. I made them taper a bit at the finger-tips so they don't get baggy. I also didn't do the picot bind-off, as Larissa said that type of ending rolls back easily. This was my first experience knitting cables, and I think it went well!

As to the functionality of these mitts - I was explaining that these mitts could be used when it's cold out but you want to get your metrocard out, or find change for the meter, or use your camera to take a picture for your scrap-book outside in the cold! They'd be good for any time you need to maintain dexterity while keeping warm! Loyal reader Tom said "so... you could use these to smoke a cigarette while standing outside a bar in the cold then?". True, one could. Although the thought of one of my knitted projects getting all smokey does make me sad, he points out an additional valid application of these mitts. I just thought they were a good project to start cables on. And I like the autumn colors of the yarn.

I joined the SOAB (Swap on A Budget) group on Ravelry. I am so excited! I've never done a swap! It's a $20 one, where you get assigned a "spoilee" and send them a little knitting gift package based one a brief questionnaire everyone participating completes. Each "spoiler" puts together a kit of 1 knitted item by you, at least one skein of new yarn, a pattern for the new yarn, plus some treats (such as coffee, teas, chocolates, stationary, etc.). Each spoiler mails their spoilee their package and then it's like Christmas in September! I am so excited to get assigned my spoilee! I think it's just nice that someone puts something special together for you! I'll have that project coming up, I need to get back to DH's other sock, and also work on Central Park Hoodie in time for cooler weather. I like having logs of projects going. If I get tired of one (or have to put one in "time out"), there are other things to keep me busy. And TRUST ME, a busy couch-knitter is better than an idle couch-knitter....

Inner City Pressure

As we speak, DH (again, DH = Dear Hubby) is at work. He has actually been at work since Wednesday morning and will be back tomorrow evening, working 'round the clock! This attorney business is a crazy one! At least his "team" was proactive and let him know in advance "don't plan on being able to go home this week - get yourself a room at the Hilton to take a power-nap or two, and prepare to roll your sleeves up for consecutive all-nighters". So I suppose that was a nice courtesy on their part. There's a lot of pressure with his job, and I am always amazed at how well DH handles it.

For some odd reason, his job often times makes me think of the song by Flight of the Conchords called "Inner City Pressure". I'm not sure why though - I mean we don't live in the inner city - we don't even live in a city. I suppose because DH works in the city, and... works under a lot of pressure....? the song comes to mind.

Here is the song (which is a parody of Pet Shop Boys West End Girls. I read that "Inner City Pressure is not only a parody of Pet Shop Boys, it pokes fun at the great hipster/artist/creatively-under-employed social substratum that has engulfed large swaths of urban North America". Yeah, "hipster", "creative", and "artist" are probably the last 3 words I'd use to describe us. But I suppose it's the satire that makes me laugh).

Anniversary and Cables

With all the rain that fell in June, it's particularly nice to enjoy the warm, sunny weather July has brought. DH and I (by the way, DH is short for Dear Hubby) spent Saturday morning at the Bronx Zoo. I haven't been to the zoo is a good number of years, and we really had a nice time. This Wednesday is our 3 year wedding anniversary, so we decided to wander around the zoo and then have lunch in Manhattan afterwards.

I'd forgotten how big the Bronx Zoo is! There was a lot to see, and we didn't even see everything! Highlights were the adorable lemurs, the playful polar bear, and the butterfly garden - I love the fact that you can just sit in the butterfly garden and watch all the beautiful butterflies dance around. My favorite was the giraffes - we saw a family of 5, including a baby giraffe named "Margret". How sweet! Giraffe are beautiful - tall and elegant, quietly munching on foliage... they seem so peaceful!

I will say I didn't particularly enjoy the koi pond in the butterfly garden - I was sitting on the edge of it, enjoying watching the butterflies flutter about, when I heard a lazy splash behind me - I turned around and saw an all-too-shallow pool of water with dozens of overgrown, slimy, slow-moving, straggly-moustached creatures swirling about. There were so many of them, they were practically climbing on top of each other - it was as if they were trying to step on each other to escape their murky pool. Someone really needs to club those ugly beasts. I remember when J and I were in Hawaii at dinner, the restaurant matri'd, seeing that we were newlyweds, seated us right alongside the koi pond. I recall asking DH if I could pour my coffee or perhaps drop a sugar cube into the water to get them to go away. DH, the ever-present voice of reason in our relationship, said no. Anyhoo, now that I think about it I suppose it could be said that sitting by the pond at the zoo this weekend did bring us back to our honeymoon in Hawaii, so if fish do serve one purpose in my life, that was it, and maybe this was an appropriate anniversary activity in a round about way after all.

So what's cooking on the needles - cables, that's what! I've always wanted to try cables, and on Sunday I did. I'm working on a pair of hand warmers (a.k.a. fetching gloves, a.k.a. fingerless gloves - and let's not get into a discussion of their functionality at this point) that call for a few cables in the cuffs. Knitting cables involves re-locating a few stitches onto a spare needle, holding them to the front or the back of the work (depending on if you want a cable twisting to the right of left) while you continue to knit, and then going back and knitting these stitches-in-waiting. It's definitely not as difficult as I thought on paper, but I do have a hard time working with 5 DPN. Once I had the spare needle slip off, which wasn't good. I tried using a cable needle, but found that too slippery as well. I've heard of people using a safety pin, which might work for me. I'll have to give that a try when I work on the opposite mit.

We have a tentative close date for our house! 14.Aug, just has to be vetted by the attorneys. We've got some boxes to start filling, so I plan to work on that during the week, too. So much to do!

Yarn Sale and 5K Follow-Up

So my LYS had a pretty big sale this past month - everything was on sale for at least 30% off. Now would have been the time to purchase material for a big project coming up, or splurge on that luxury yarn I've been eye-ing... But, we've been so busy this past month with house stuff (attorney review and inspections are finally complete - yay! Now we're considering paint colors carpet colors), I hadn't spent any time thinking about new projects until *of course* the last 2 days of the month-long sale. So, last week I visited the sale with Larissa and tried to find projects that could be worked up on the fly. I just wandered around the store, picking up skeins of yarn, saying "this is 50% off - what could I make with this?", which really isn't a good way to shop. Never-the-less, I purchased two skeins of sock yarn for 50% off, 1 more skein of Manos (I need more Manos like I need a hole in the head - I feel like I keep throwing more chips into the pot by buying more Manos, thinking that I'm going to make all these great ear-flap hats this winter) for 50% off, and a skein of "Sheep Three Yarn Company" material is a gold-brown hue for 40% off. I think I'm going to try knitting fetching gloves with the Sheep Three stuff. Had I put in some time to actually strategizing what's coming up next (I must have 50 projects faved on Ravelry), I probably could have taken more advantage of the sale. But I am happy with what I got!

I am currently working on the second sock for Jason, and will probably fire up the fetching gloves after that. I do have CPH (Central Park Hoodie) on the needles at the moment too, but after the clapotis took so long to finish, I feel like doing some quick projects. So the fetching gloves will work out nicely. Here is a picture (and pattern) for what they'll hopefully look like. I'll likely adjust the pattern to make them cover more of my fingers. I think they'll be a good project to learn cables on.

Oh, I never followed up with how our 5K run went last month - it was a lot of fun! I completed the race in a decent time (32 min or so). I think there were 2 components that made this race fun: 1) running with good companions - I ran with Julie and her friend Rob, who are both "real runners". They kept a steady pace and were fun to run with, which was so helpful because it kept my mind off the actual run, and 2) reflecting with friends on how the run went after the finish line. DH, Julie, Rob, and I met up with my colleague/friend Jen and her boyfriend (who happens to be my trainer too!) afterwards - it was fun to say "jeez, weren't those hills long?!?" and "did you see that guy wearing the spandex fly by everyone??" and "what was up with that lady pushing her litter of kids in the stroller while talking on the cell phone?!?!?". Jen and Bill were super sweet because after they finished, they jogged back to cheer the rest of us on. It was really motivating! I think Jason and I would like to run another one, maybe in Sept some time, when it's cool again. This was my first 5K and I'm happy to have completed it!