• Yarn: Cascade Heritage Paints in Thunder
• Needles: 2mm/US0
• Patten: broken seed stitch over 64 sts.

Part of my goal to knit more socks in “practical” colors (gray, black). These are blue-ish gray, so only sort of practical. The broken seed stitch is just so easy to knit. I can knit this in the dark-in movie theaters, in the car (passenger only), and places where I dn’t have to look at my knitting, like meetings. The pattern repeat keeps things from being dreary, like plain stockinette.

I started these in November 2010, and they lay dormant for a year. One whole mitten was done, and the second was 1/2 way done, but languishing. I finished them quickly, once motivated. My black and white mittens shrunk a bit, and I needed a replacement.

• Pattern: Vespergyle Mittens
• Yarn: Rowan Harris 4-ply (orange); Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-ply  (gold)
• Needles: 2.75mm/US2

Using proper yarn for a stranded knitting project is great. These yarns are grippy, not smooth like the superwash sock yarn I used last time. They’re not scratchy, they actually feel wonderful and warm, and the cuffs are long enough for my cold wrists.

Tagged: FO, knitting, mittens ]]> http://roseread.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/argyle-mittens/feed/ 2 roseread Argyle Mittens argyle mittens http://roseread.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/books-october-november-2011/ http://roseread.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/books-october-november-2011/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:07:29 +0000 Cathy http://roseread.wordpress.com/?p=1291 ]]> I’ve read practically nothing since the semester started. I’d say I slacked off but that’s not true. I’ve been too busy to read new material.

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Naamah’s Blessing by Jacqueline Carey. Final volume in the Naamah trilogy.

The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg. Scandinavian crime fiction. I got half the mystery right away, the other half was a surprise.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Magical steampunk circus, that reads so much better than that description.

Halting State by Charles Stross. Set ~10 years earlier than Rule 34, featuring the forerunner to the Rule 24 Squad.  This novel deals with mobile tech, games, and what happens when gaming crosses over into real life.

The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo. More than just a PBS/National Geographic on Easter Island, this scholarly book explores geological, ecological and societal issues that lead to the deforestation and population decline of Easter Island. And the answer is amazing in its simplicity.

Awakenings by Edward Lazellari. This book was a good first chapter. Everything about the book seemed like a good beginning, and it only touched the surface. I want to read the rest of his series as it is published.

Fables: Rose Red by Bill Willingham. 15th Fables graphic novel. I love Fables. I love how Willingham et. al. play with the collective mythology and create characters and worlds.

I was wrong. I finished the work project quickly, and got in some fiddle time. I decided not to buy yarn on Sunday because I was going to spend Monday with Jen, and it’s much better to go yarn shopping with a friend that alone.   I cast on for a sweater using some Aran wool yarn I had on hand.

Big mistake. All the yarn shops we tried to go to were closed on Monday. Not just holiday weekend closed, but never open on a Monday closed.  As a union member, I’m all for everyone having Labor Day off. I kept reminding myself of that in the midst of my totally first world yarn crisis.

We ended up at Michaels, where I got 4 hanks of Patons Kroy sock yarn (my first time getting box store sock yarn), two of plain charcoal gray and one of variegated blue and gray.

When we got home, we spent a good hour looking at yarns online, and bemoaning the difficulty of finding useful yarn. There’s too much luxury yarn (silk and cashmere blends) and not enough utility yarn (superwash wool/nylon blend).  But that’s a post for later.

Here are the socks that ended the stash:

• Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Path to the Peaks
• Needles: 2mm/US0
• Pattern: The ubiquitous broken seed stitch

The Burning by Jane Caesy. Slightly gory, somewhat predictable murder mystery set in London. If I was a feminist scholar I’d write about how modern it is to have a woman be the victim, the investigator, and the perpetrator.

It’s All About the Bike by Robert Penn. This memoir is all about shopping for and building the perfect bicycle, and reliving one’s glory days as a younger cyclist.  I hate reading memoirs about spending money because it makes me think about how much money I don’t have, and how I’ll never afford high-end things.  It’s why I don’t read fashion magazines, or even most knitting blogs. The message comes though loud and clear that happiness comes from buying things, and that you deserve new, shiny, expensive things. I couldn’t finish it. The consumerism=happiness message was too much for me.

Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. The latest Liaden Universe novel explores what happens when a sentient spaceship hooks up with it’s captain for the first time. Great for fans of the series, not  a good intro as it needs a lot of backstory to make sense.

Instead of wallowing, I’ve been fiddling. I just got back from a week at Maine Fiddle Camp, which was an amazing musical experience. I feel much more confident in my playing. This is a video of my group playing Le Canal en October by Frédéric Paris.

What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers. A look at the economics and social consequences of sharing.

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt examines the psychological and sociological reasons that people drive like idiots.  Basically, we’re all looking out for ourselves and we see every other driver as a potential hindrance or obstacle. We don’t cooperate and work towards the greater good. After reading this book I was scared being on the road.

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, this is the story of a circus whose performers have bones made of copper. It is also the story of a family rescuing itself, and a boy coming into his own.

The Likeness by Tana French. Murder mystery set in Dublin, sequel to In the Woods. A young woman is murdered, and she is using the identity of an undercover cop. The original cop goes back undercover as the dead girl to solve her murder.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. SF that isn’t sf….a relationship drama that isn’t, really….part boarding-school story, part growing up story.

Matched by Ally Condie. YA-SF romance. A coming-of-age story set in a future socialist dystopia.  17 year old Cassia has just been Matched with her future spouse, except that something’s gone wrong and another boy’s picture appears. Reminds me of Lois Lowry’s The Giver.

• Yarn: Regia Design Line ”Random Strip” Kaffe Fassett in 02903
• Needles: US0/2mm
• Pattern: Broken Seed Stitch over 60 sts, ribbed cuff, wedge toe.

Basic black socks, because I don’t have any neutral colored socks. Some days you just don’t want to wear bright pink or variegated orange.