Monday, July 25, 2005

Weekend Blahs

Just a quick note - I may post more later with some pictures of my lastest finished shawl of the year (see, I'm leaving myself open here, assuming that I will continue on this shawl binge that I have been on).

Birch is moving forward slowly, I am blaming it on the muggy weather, which makes knitting with mohair-y yarns less appealing than at other times. I will take a picture-in-progress once it is longer than the current 4.5". At the risk of sounding whiney (or maybe I should use that great British term, "whinging" about it), I am feeling that these beginning rows which started with a cast-on of 299 stitches are going on forever. I've memorized the pattern, but as with all lace for me, it still requires some thought and oversight to make sure that the pattern doesn't go off. Stitch markers - nah, I don't use them. I find that I do much better by reading my knitting as I go along. I rarely have to do more than tink 5-6 stitches every inch or so of length knitted, especially since this is a nice short repeat of 10 stitches.

The black socks are moving slowly, they are really just train knitting and will get done eventually, don't need them right now anyway because it's sandal weather. Sandal weather is the only real compensation for the heat, humidity, and afternoon thunderstorms. My advice - if you want to come to NYC for a visit, come in May or October. Or better yet, if you don't mind the possibility of cold, the first week of December when the lights and decorations are all out but the intensity of the holiday season hasn't quite hit yet. The tourists that I am seeing these days look as if they don't quite know what hit them. There's a reason that many city people leave every weekend in the summer.