Hanami in its Natural Habitat

Two more photos from this long and delightful weekend before I head to bed. While we were at the blossoms, G took some pretty amazing photos. He was even kind enough to take some photos of my Hanami shawl in its natural habitat- the cherry blossoms! Last year it was about 35 degrees at the Tidal Basin- even with the wind, it was easily 30 degrees warmer on Saturday.





And they posted our race times. 35'57"!!!! That's a huge improvement over my last time (37'38"). I ran the first mile handily, kept up the pace a bit into the next mile, but walked on the bridge a few times, on either side of the halfway mark. Hopefully the next time I race, I'll be running non-stop the whole way. But what a great improvement! I'm inspired to get back out on the roads and train.

Right now, I'm inspired to go to bed. 10pm isn't that early on race day.

Hurray for the Interwebs

It has been far, far too long since I was able to blog. For two weeks, I've had no internet at home. Not that it would have mattered- my laptop died (hard), followed a few days later by my desktop. The laptop is still a hunk of useless plastic right now, but the desktop has miraculously come back from the dead. When I pay off my couch... I'll think about that MacBook Pro I want so badly. In the meantime, I'm back online, I have a working CPU, and I have a few things to show! I did not do much knitting in the past two weeks... I packed, I moved, I unpacked, and I went to bed REAL early. But I did manage to block Hanami before I left the old place, and I got a few action shots at the Tidal Basin during the Cherry Blossom Festival. If only it had been 10 (or 30) degrees warmer. I made it to the Yarn Party in Takoma Park today, which was delightful- but I'll blog that a bit later. And I didn't stop knitting entirely these past weeks- I started what is looking to be one brilliantly pretty shawl. In the meantime, I present Hanami!

The requisite blocking photos




I wanted to model it over a pretty little black dress. My big black jacket will have to do for this year.


One last photo for the road. He didn't want his picture taken, but I think he looks adorable in front of the blossoms. Don't you?

Fun when moving

I haven't had a lot of fun time lately- lots of writing for work, and packing, and trying to read a bit, and of course I have another work essay to write by this Sunday and I have to finish packing by next Thursday.

What fun time I've had, though, has mostly been knitting. Still haven't blocked Hanami (for shame! I should do that this weekend). I did finish the first Kaffe sock, and I've finished the cuff of the second. I'm making them not matching. On purpose. Something about the fun stripes leads me to believe that if I make them the same, they will lose a bit of their eclectic cool. I want them to not match up. Me, the incredibly anal knitter. If I hate it once I get to the heel, I could always rip them out and make them match... but I doubt I'll be tempted.

Autumn Rose has been sitting neglected ever since I started these socks. I have this dream that I'll finish packing almost everything on Saturday, and write my paper then, too, so Sunday I can sit around and watch Netflix and knit. I know reality isn't going to allow any of that to happen, but I can dream!

I went to see Live at the 9:30 Club last night. It was a stellar show- the opener was surprisingly talented, and I'm still in love with Live. They played some great hits from their back catalog, and stayed away from playing too much of the recent stuff (which, realistically, isn't why their fan base goes to see them). The crowd was so different to me than the usual 9:30 Club fare. I usually feel like I'm the only boring normal late-20-something at that venue, surrounded by cool cats and hipsters and skinny girls in skinny jeans. Live fans seem to trend a decade or two older than that, and let me just say that I felt kinda thin. And oh boy, I'm not thin. I'm not judging, I should note... it was actually very refreshing to look around the crowd at a rock show and go "wow, I fit in here." Usually I feel like a bit of an interloper- I'm just not cool enough for the nifty indie bands I love. Music transcends age, but it definitely is part of a moment. I'm glad Live's moment has been going on for a decade and a half. After all, this was my third or fourth time seeing them, and every time I'm more impressed with their talents and the vocals and the rock'n'roll soul they share so willingly with the audience. Over 1100 people showed up.

My only complaint is with myself. I remembered my camera (for once)... but I didn't charge the battery, so it died after one photo of the opening band. I'm a terrible photographer, less due to skill and more due to idiocy! So it goes.

Hanami

Is done.

For posterity, I wanted to record that. I need to block it in the next few days, and share pix! I think it's decent looking now, but it's going to be SO PRETTY after blocking. I just know it.

So stay tuned... one very pink Cherry Blossom Stole coming your way. Now, the only problem is that I don't have any easy knitting for the metro. Oh dear! I best remedy that, ASAP. I'm thinking... Jaywalkers in the Landscape Storm colorway. It just came in the mail recently.

Let's not discuss the Friday Harbor socks I'm ignoring right now. Haven't we had the discussion about low project fidelity?

C is for...

two things, that are interrelated.

CHERRIES

and CHERISH


They're practically the same word, and in my world they're entirely coterminous. I love the fruit with a fiery passion... and of course, that passion allows me to cherish them. The words are even practically the same. Cheri, en francais, is even closer! And cerise... doesn't that sound like cherish? I'm telling you, they're the same.

I do cherish my cherries. Both the real kind, which I have been eating all week, and the Hanami shawl blossom kind!





I'm nearly ready for April, and this year's Cherry Blossom festival here in DC. I have this little daydream of going to see the blossoms at sunrise with my boyfriend who works nights- he'll still be awake, since dawn is during his normal waking hours, and I'll get up extra early to enjoy the bright morning light and the decided lack of tourists.

I have my doubts that I can really get up that early, but for him? I might be capable of anything. I cherish him, too. How could I not? He wears yarn as a hat.

Music and Musing on Autumn Rose

This weekend was fantastic. On multiple counts, even. I got to have delicious steak and equally delicious conversation on Friday night with the boy, and I spent Saturday swatching and casting on for Autumn Rose.

No really. I'm almost done with the corrugated ribbing! You'd think aliens came by and stole my usual placid boring non-swatching self. As always, I had to go up a needle size. I may knit tight, but at least I knit consistently tight. I started out with the Addi Naturas... I hate them. I've switched to the metal Addi's and am already significantly happier with my work. I'm hoping to finish the ribbing on the train tomorrow, so I can come home and do the prep row for my beautiful colorwork! I also need to make copies of the charts- the book is far too large for convenient metro knitting.

Saturday night the boy, my friend Stephanie, and I went to dinner in Arlington- Whitlow's on Wilson will evidently become one of my new haunts in my new neighborhood! As we were waiting to order, I was watching the door and said "huh, that guy looks like Dan... only taller." Silly me. It was indeed my friend Dan. He lives in Southwest... his friends mostly seem to live in Bethesda... so that was a pretty random meeting! I think the whole world is coallescing in Arlington nowadays. After dinner, we went to Iota to see my favorite rockers, Fools & Horses. I was completely unimpressed by the first act, since they were a bit too Christian rock and way too feedback-full for any kind of enjoyment. The middle act was rocking, however. The Sometime Favorites had a really great sound, and I definitely want to check out their music a bit more. Their rendition of Gin & Juice had the whole crowd singing along. The night was of course capped by the boys of F&H, who I have adored from their humble(r) beginnings and will always love. Their new song "Selfish" screams radio to me, and if I don't hear them all over the local rock stations soon then those people are craaazy. A good crowd stayed to see them, and my roommate and her boyfriend joined us midway through the show as well. A good time was apparently had by all, since most of us left humming their music. Or in my case, still singing it- I can't help knowing the words! Jamie is pretty enthused by them as well, and good taste in music is a key component in any boyfriend. My only regret from the night was not bringing my camera- it seems to be missing in action. We had awesome seats at the bar, and then right in front of the stage for F&H, and I could have snapped some great shots in that brightly lit venue. I'm not much of a shutterbug, but I was definitely kicking myself in this case.

Speaking of music, on this tangent, March is a crazy music month. We're seeing Jonathan Coulton again (my 4th time, Jamie's 3rd, our second together as a couple, since we met at his show at the Birchmere in August). We're not fans or anything. Then we'll be seeing Live at 9:30 Club's "Surprise! At the Club!" show. And I also have tickets to see The Mountain Goats, up from Raleigh where my pal Abby blogs them with love. I really want to see them live, but I'm a bit nervous about trying to catch a show on moving day. I guess if it all goes smoothly, I can nap and then head downtown. Hmm.

The Stupor Bowl festivities were a bit lacking in vim this year due to them being all-vegetarian and almost-all-healthy. Most of us had a glass of wine, and I think my friend Adam even managed a beer- but the mulled cider was the drink of choice. If everyone hadn't had to drive, mayhaps it would have gone differently. I worked on Autumn Rose during the game, and then consoled myself with some easy-peasy Hanami once my Pats LOST. Oh cruel world. Work tomorrow will be insufferable. At least I have Autumn Rose to see me through! And twilight yoga at 6pm, if I can somehow get out of work on time. Yoga is my new knitting. Except for the part where I knit obsessively, and am an inflexible beginner yogi, once a week... gotta start somewhere!

And she knits, too

I know, I know. You don't believe I knit. But I dropped my first stitches in Jeanie last week, and I am moving along on Hanami.

Here's a quick peek, post-basketweave section but before beginning the petals:



I am pleased to announce I'm a lot farther than that now. More to come once it's finally time for the letter C!

Knit knit knit!

I may not have had visible signs of my knitting to post lately, but I have by no means been ignoring it. I knit like a madwoman over the weekend, in fact. In between naps and long long sleeps at night- it's been a stressful week and I spent most of the weekend attempting to recover. My back has hunched up in pain again, but with the help of my back exercises and yoga, I think that the pain is manageable. Hurray, this winter will not repeat last winter's physical therapy regimen!

As to what I have been knitting so industriously... I am back on Hanami full-time to finish her before the cherry blossom festival. How could I live in DC and not model my shawl in front of the cherry blossoms which she depicts?

She is very much a she. And I have completed the basketweave section, and am moving into the blossom part. This is fantastic! It is flowing through my fingers so fast I really need to wind up my next ball of yarn.

I have a photo or two as proof, but I think I need to save them for a few days. Letting that expectation build. It's all about delayed gratification around here!

Wonder if I'll ever swatch for Autumn Rose this month... or finish a certain special project that's due next week from my sewing queue... Goals are made to be ignored.

And two manly socks

Sometimes my FOs really just nag at me. They drive me crazy. They haunt me. The manly socks certainly fit this description. I started them in May, hoping to finish them quickly since they are mainly plain old stockinette. And now it's December, but they are complete! Right in time, since they are part of a holiday-time gift. Want to see?



And just to reiterate, because the stripes match EXACTLY on both socks:


Fantastic. I love them. This makes an awful lot of Finished Objects lately- which is good. I was hoping to complete six items in the last six months of the year, and this brings me close to the mark.

I will be finishing up the Super Secret Holiday gift on vacation, and realized that I have another project that has been languishing. Instead of casting on for a new shawl, I found Hanami and decided to work on her again. I made it 25 rows into the first chart before giving it up, I think in part because the lace pattern wasn't obvious to me. Now that I have significantly more experience with lace, I'm finding the chart to be exceedingly simple! It should be a quick and fun knit- this is convenient, because nothing could give me greater pleasure than wearing it to my work holiday party at the beginning of January. It's a perfect excuse to buy a new little black dress- I have one from when I was 14 (it still fits, though I have no idea how or why), and one from college. It is definitely time to find a new one. I guess that's a good idea for shopping in Raleigh?

This is about what she looks like, since I'm sure you've forgotten as much as I had:


I'm away on vacation again Tuesday through Saturday, which feels blissful since I just got back from Thanksgiving. I will visit my sister for New Year's, and then I don't get a vacation again until March. I am going to live up this week in anticipation. I'm bringing the Super Secret Holiday Gift, Hanami, a sweater I need to start (blah stockinette), and some little projects. For variety, I am also packing up some very exciting sewing projects. I have the fabric and the trim, so hopefully they'll be a breeze to assemble in my Mom's fantastic sewing lair. I will remember to take pictures this time, I hope. It should be fun!