May Flowers

Less than a month until big day #1!  While I thought I could get away with little to no preparation for this India trip, I miscalculated on the immunization front.  I was initially going to stick with just Hep A, because you can’t avoid being exposed to coughing, but it didn’t take much convincing for me to get four more shots. The final four shots were within a two-day timeframe, which led to extremely sore arms.  A major driver for my extreme caution is that I do not want to risk being bed-ridden the month before the US wedding.  Another reason is that I will probably go to India quite often now that HP and I will be legit.  For full disclosure none of these immunizations guarantee  I will not get sick.   I will also be packing deet, antimalarial drugs, and just-in-case antibiotics.

The plus side of being super immunized is that I can now jet-set to any developing country as long as they don’t have yellow fever.

I am still going strong on the puffs, and 25 teeth deep into my hitchhiker. I should be done with the hitchhiker by the end of the month.  Today’s 365 photo shows the progress on said hitchhiker.  My crappy camera flash doesn’t do the colors justice.

When I’m not knitting either of those projects, I plan to knit flowers for my wedding bouquet.  Below is my first flower with some requisite puffs.  I love the yarn color.

For a brief period of insanity, I contemplated knitting all my wedding flowers, but that was clearly too much pressure. I must admit, I am getting a little bored with all this stockinette/garter business.  Even the flowers are strips that are molded during sewing.   I am in definite need of some lace knitting!

The puff picture below shows my first attempt at machine sewing set-in-sleeves. For you non-sewers, it’s basically taking a bell-shaped piece of fabric and sewing it into the armhole of the shirt.   (I’ve had these India shirts with pre-cut sleeves sitting in my closet for years waiting for their debut.)  I did hand sew set-in-sleeves into a knitted sweater once so I knew conceptually what needed to happen.   I used this tutorial for some guidance.  All my hand sewing for my knitted sweaters has taught me that there is no point in seeking perfection in handmade garments.  First,  you won’t get it.  Second, no one else will probably notice.   I apologize that all my pics have puffs, but I have to multitask to keep up with my 365 project.

The next time I blog, it may be from half way around the world!

Year Marker

Happy Earth Day! One year ago this weekend, I moved back to the East Coast.  What a crazy ride it has been.  I still miss my favorite people in California, but I’m definitely enjoying the adventure.

Berkeley had two seasons, raining in December to February, and not raining the rest of the year.  I forgot that Spring existed.  When I moved here a year ago, we had a very unspringlike heat wave  and the temperature stayed 80+ until October.  Fortunately, we are actually having Spring in Philadelphia this year.   Unfortunately, rain can pop up at any moment.

I  still have lots of uncharted territory in Philadelphia.   When we first got here, I did the long commute while staying with my dad.  Commuting took up all my spare time.  Then we moved into the city, and acquiring furniture/painting/decorating  took up all my spare time.  Then when I finally breathed a sign of relief that we were somewhat settled in, wedding planning filled the void.  I try to explore when I can.  I really enjoy walking to and from work every day even if it rains.  Walking home is when I get a lot of my exploring done.

Though the grit of Philadelphia has been an adjustment,  my view of urban life is on the upswing.  Berkeley is a city in the sense that you can walk and bike everywhere, and the restaurants are great.  But it can be a bit of a bubble as far as crime and litter and the other downfalls of big city life.

I finally finished my toe-up socks last week!  This photo demonstrates April showers.

The yarn is Socks that Rock lightweight.  The colors are a little wacky, the kind of colors that only socks could love.

I also decided to go with the Hitchhiker as Viral Shawl #1.

The yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga that I scooped up before they branched into two businesses.

April

I delayed writing my April update by a week, thinking maybe I would have some more finished knitting to report.  No such luck.  I did finish one of my two surprise knitting projects.  I have also kept up with the puffs.  My epic toe up socks are almost done. Just a few more inches on my calves.

Knitting plain socks has pointed out all the reasons why previous socks have had fit issues.  When it comes to sweaters and other projects on “normal” sized needles, I am usually close to gauge.  Close enough that I rarely go down a needle size.  Socks are a different world.  When it comes to socks,  I become the queen of loosy goosy.  With my normal laid back knitting, where the needles are an extension of my hands, I knit about 7 stitches to the inch on size 0 needles. (8 or 9 stitches to the inch is what I think of as more average for a socks.) If you are a non-knitter and still reading, the only important point is that patterns where I thought I was knitting socks that were 8  inches in diameter were actually 9.14 inches in diameter.  This may not seem like a lot,  but it can make the difference between socks that fit and socks that don’t stay up.

Here is a March puff pic:

The March puffs are mostly Miss Babs Toes skeins mixed with Koigu KPM.  I also have a pic of all my puffs so far  (as of April 1):

I did forget to take a puff picture one day in March,  but I’m going to ignore that and keep the 365 going.

My April knitting goals:

1. Finally finish my toe-up socks.
2. That other surprise knitting project of which I cannot speak.
3. One of the viral shawls.
4. Experiment with knitted flowers.

I haven’t picked a viral shawl yet, because I can’t decide if I want to jump on the Hitchhiker bandwagon or the Daybreak bandwagon.  I’m sure I will eventually jump on both.

Spring Has Sprung

The trees are blooming and the weather is freakishly warm.  My allergies are acting in full force!  I am not used to the concept of spring after a long hiatus from the true seasons.

I went to the Philly Flower show two weeks ago.  The theme was “Aloha” or something close.  You can see some of the Aloha spirit in the photo below.

More photos are on flickr.  

This is one of my faves.  Some of the more artistic competitions were really interesting.

Unfortunately, y mad photography skillz didn’t really come through considered all the beauty I saw. Aside from the Aloha full throttle type displays, there were also individual plants competing in different categories.  Funky succulents really stole the show for me.  I even brought some home.  (I am happy to report that they are still alive.)  The marketplace is huge!

I’ve always had generic allergies, but the sinus headache towards the end of my journey through the flower show confirmed that I am specifically allergic to the flower show.      I even had a hangover style headache the next morning.  Kind of a warning, just in case I didn’t get the message the night before.  The flower show definitely had it all though, and I’m very glad I went.

Marching Ahead

March is here!  This blog is now a year old.  Hard to believe all that’s happened in a year.  Yet, 2012 refuses to be outdone by 2011.  I am now the proud owner of a ten-year Indian visa!  With the visa comes the reality that the grand voyage is approaching quickly.  Part of planning for this trip is planning outfits that won’t make me faint in 100+ degree heat while still keeping me well covered.  No showing my knobby knees or wearing vnecks allowed!  Thank God maxi dresses/skirts are in!  Most of these dresses are party on the top though so there will be some carefully planned layering.

I am now 2 months into my 365 project.  Here’s a photo of all my February puffs together:

Notice there are only 27 puffs in 29 days.  I missed one day of puffing, and took a picture of just yarn.  But the whereabouts of puff 28 are a mystery.  I suspect Boots batted it to some unknown crevice in our place.  During a reconnaissance mission,  I cleared the area under the couch and managed to recover 5 missing cat toys in various states of disarray.

February knitting also included finally finishing my Parcel sweater.  Unfortunately the first cut of the sleeves was huge.  At that point, I had to either give the sweater to HP or redo the sleeves for a woman’s body.  HP already has his one sweater, and this one was a little feminine for his tastes so of course I redid the sleeves.    I am thrilled with the finished product.

Please note that HP took this photo.  Leave it to an unobservant man to not tell me that I have a huge chunk of hair choking me in what I thought was a glam shot.

I also managed to do something cultural/touristy this month.  After hearing about the Henry Ossawa Tanner exhibit at the PAFA at a first Friday event in February,  I decided to check it out.  HP and I had brunch before at Reading Terminal Market to make a full local tourist outing.

Photo 1 is the market Photo 2 shows the PAFA.  The exhibit was actually in the more modern building next door, but this was the more iconic of the two.
     

My March knitting goals are 1) Finish those toe up socks I started last month; 2) Finish my secret projects; and 3) Keep puffing.   It would be a bonus to finish my peacock stranded mittens, but we are exiting mitten territory weatherwise so we’ll see.

Puffs and Stuff

We are now one month into 2012!  Thankfully, the weather gods have shown me mercy, and my first winter in Philadelphia has been pretty mild temperature-wise.  We did have one relatively tame snowstorm on a rare day when I needed to go two places via car.  I can’t remember the last time I used an ice scraper if I ever have used one!  The nice guy at 7-11, where I purchased my first ice scraper, told me to start the car first, which was very valuable information.

I have been loosely planning to knit the Beekeeper’s Quilt for a while, even buying the pattern and reading it.  But the idea of committing to a knitted blanket made of 384+ individual “puffs” was a bit scary.   I already have one MAJOR commitment for the year. Then I read about a group of people doing a 365 photo project on Ravelry to document progress on the blanket.  Thinking of the blanket one puff at a time drawn out over a year seemed way less panicky.  ( For those of you less Flickr obsessed, a 365 photo project is where you take a picture a day for a year.)  Since 2012 is a leap year, I gave myself a break on January 1 and started the photos January 2.  The photo below shows my progress so far. If you really want to journey into the weeds, visit my set on Flickr.

All this time spend puffing away has delayed my Parcel sweater.  I am sooo close to finishing it.

Once the Parcel sweater is done, I am going to start my first pair of toe up socks.  I’m hoping that knitting from the toe up will help me customize the fit to accommodate my chicken legs.  My cuff down socks always wind up too loose even on size 0 needles.

We have finally checked all the boxes in preparation for travel to India.  My dad’s and my 10 year visa applications were mailed today. Airline tickets were purchased last week.  (Living on the edge according to the visa application.)  Now we just wait for the visas to arrive.  Part of the visa application process is mailing your passport to a processing center.  Worry worts do not like to mail such important documents, but it beats a side trip to the Indian consulate in New York City.  I am really looking forward to my trip to India and wedding 1 where I just basically show up.   HP and I are slowly chipping away at the endless stream of decisions for our U.S. wedding (a.k.a. wedding 2).   Hopefully not chipping away at my sanity in the process.

Happy New Year- Mummer Style

Today HP and I went to the Mummer’s parade, and met up with friends and family along the way.  To sum it up in a sentence, it was the Philly version of Mardi Gras.   Here are some pictures to give you an idea of the elaborate costumes.