Old friends

My parents are embarking on a major construction project at their place in Maine, so my mother has been going to town on the piles of Extremely Important Crap that my brother and I have been storing under their roof. She came across an old trunk of mine with a lock on it. Once we had determined that I had no clue as to the whereabouts of the key to said lock, we decided she had free rein to cut off the lock and see what was inside. Of course she promptly went back to Boston and found the key, so hacksaws were not called in to salvage the situation.

Inside the trunk she found these:

I knit these two sweaters almost twenty years ago when I was in college (and the fact that parts of college were almost twenty years ago totally gives me the heebie jeebies). The one on the top is a guernsey (I'm 95% sure it's Penny Straker's Staithes Gansey - Rav link). The yarn is some gorgeous tweedy teal worsted weight that we bought at the Blue Hill Fair one summer when I was in college and I went back to school and knit it up.

The bottom sweater is my first Aran, from a Candide pattern that I bought in 1991, if I remember correctly. Anyway, a long time ago. It's huge - probable 50 inches across in the chest, and I wore it as a winter jacket through most of college. Which, given that I went to college in western MA, belies the intelligence that presumably got me in to said school, but what can you do.

I have been wondering where these two sweaters were hiding for quite a while now. I don't think I've seen them since I finished grad school in 2000, and they are in remarkably good condition for having been stuffed in a trunk and stuck in a barn for 8 years. I certainly don't have any reason to wear them right now, but I'm glad I have them back. In fact, they've inspired me to start a new cable project.

I can't justify wool sweaters for Houston "winters", but a wool vest? That I can definitely get behind.

Summertime knitting

Now that we've officially moved into "Fall" (otherwise known as the month after August), it's time to take stock of August's steamy list of FOs:

Spinning:

Hush Hush Handspun Hootenanny yarn
Last 2 oz of Maldives (not yet blogged)

Knitting:
Swallowtail
Brambler
Secret socks for Himself

Not a bad month! And now that it's fall I can plunge full force into sweaters and mittens and all sorts of wintery goodness.

FO: a secret

I finished some Christmas socks for someone, but I can't actually post pictures because that would just ruin the surprise.

But here are the stats: StR lighweight in Atomic #6, US size 1/2.25 needles, 7 st/inch, Cat Bordhi Riverbed architecture with Hedgerow sock rib pattern.

If you really can't stand it and want to see a picture go here (not you honey).

That is all.

Remember

The past two days have been pretty significant in terms of coincidences. Or things coming together. But I'm struck by the fact that the first African-American nominee from a major political party accepted his nomination on the anniversary of Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech the day before the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting NOLA. With two more potential hurricanes headed towards the Gulf Coast in the next week or so (not to mention two more months of campaigning), I am sobered by waiting to see what will happen and how we will respond. And whether anything will be any different.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Oh, right

I've not been feeling the blogging love recently - too much time in front of the computer at work, and lots of projects that are making progress, but aren't getting anywhere close to completion, making for somewhat dull reporting. I'm hoping for a bunch of completed objects soonish, but here's the current state of affairs:

1) Gathered Pullover: one sleeve done, need to pick up stitches for other sleeve and redo the neckline. I love the top-down set in sleeve cap. I think it's going to become a standard technique.

2) Ironman's Christmas socks: should be finished tomorrow, just it time for the August installment of the SAM knitalong. Next month's installment is scheduled to be Azure in StR In the Navy.

3) I finished the last 2 oz of Maldives yesterday, but haven't yet taken pictures to share.

4) My Ravelympics project continues on - it's still a big black blob with beads ever so often, but it's moving along. I'm torn between three or four repeats of Chart B - it may depend on how long the rows take me after 3 repeats.

5) SYB is limping along, but I'm running out of scraps to use. I don't really want to start recycling them yet, so I either have to put it aside and knit socks faster, or start cracking in to unused skeins. Hmmmm...here's where it stands though.

That's about it. Keep your fingers crossed that I get my butt in gear to take some photos so I can post some of these soon to be FOs.