A Sad Pang

As much as I love DC, sometimes things in the city break my heart.

I had a pang of heartbreak a few weeks ago, when it was announced that my favorite statue -- the Awakening man, as I wrote about in this entry -- is moving. Turns out he was never really public property, just on loan, and he's going to be relocated to Maryland.

And then this morning, I learn that one of my all-time favorite places in DC, Eastern Market, has suffered a devastating fire.

I don't think I've written much about Eastern Market, but it's one of the first places that ever made me feel like I could be a Washingtonian. My second summer interning here, I shared a tiny apartment less than two blocks from the market's center. I often went there for coffee and pancakes before heading off to my (unpaid) internship on the other side of Capitol Hill. To pay the bills, I toiled on weekend days at a cheesy tourist place, and I would often return home as the outdoor vendors were closing up shop. Nearly every time I walked by, the flower guys would give me some of their leftovers, gratis. I spent that whole summer enjoying fresh flowers. Now, nearly every time I go back to Eastern Market, I buy flowers. The vendors have changed, but my love of Eastern Market has not.

And I really hope it comes back, and soon.

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ETA: Some nice recent photos of Eastern Market here at Project Beltway, and a lovely tribute from Marc Fisher.

Chugging Along

The thing about project monogamy is that it makes for very boring blog fodder. Combine project monogamy with a hectic schedule lately, and you get boring blog fodder that is proceeding at a snail's pace. But there IS news of a sort: I have reached an action point.

Now standing at 12.5" long, the body of Serrano is ready to be split into three, divided into fronts and a back, with arm and neck shaping to boot. Clearly, this is going to require a little bit of maths and planning out.

In the non-knitting category, I have been feeling very culinarily inspired lately. I think it has something to do with the $2 copy of Julie and Julia I picked up at a book sale this weekend. I couldn't put it down -- read it in about three days. Now I'm not going to go off and start making aspics or anything (eww!) but I did feel inspired enough last night to make crepes. My first batch ever -- so easy, and I even managed to get a few flipped correctly! That was fun. I stuffed them with some leftover grilled chicken that I cooked with herbs de provence, vermouth, mushrooms, spinach and garlic. The dinner got a hearty thumbs-up from JT.

Unfortunately, all the culinary inspiration (I haven't even mentioned the baking frenzy I've been on) is not doing so well for my figure... I went yesterday and checked out a gym. It seemed nice -- definitely better than the teensy weight room we have at work. It's been a long time since I've been a gym member, so I wasn't even really sure what to look for. They gave me a week pass to check it out, so I need to find some mojo to go and do that. Anyone have some motivation tips to send my way? I'm finding it really hard to go work out in lieu of watching tv and knitting these days. But I have to get some inspiration soon, or I will run out of clothes that fit. Send me your tips and mojo, please!

A Bit O' Progress

It's not that I have been ignoring the blog. It's just that things are so mundane that it's not making for very good blog fodder these days. I'm certainly not complaining -- I welcome the respite from hectic-ness for a week or three. I know the hectic will return with a fury. (Likely the same time that I start taking a class and we start tearing our house apart for renovations, naturally.)

So, this is a short little post today. I've been totally monogamous on Serrano for nearly two weeks -- must be some kind of a record. I've just completed all the waist shaping, so I have another 4" or so of straight rows before I start the arm and neckline shaping. So far, so good. I am really loving the baby silk for this.

I'm actually somewhat optimistic that I can finish this reasonably soon. Maybe in time for MDSW? Heavens knows we can't expect it to be warm then....

Siren Song of Serrano

So, armed with a swatch and ready for a spring cardi, I cast on for Serrano. My first ever crochet cast-on. I knit the 9 rows of stockinette and then went to pull out the crochet chain. Wow! It came out SO easily, no fiddling. I have a new favorite provisional cast-on. I even managed to get the turned hem knit without any troubles. [I had fully prepared myself for having to start over at some point in the hem stage.]

But no, actually, that went fine. It's when I went to read the chart that I had a total brain fart -- I forgot how to interpret pattern repeats, and my numbers weren't adding up. At 210 stitches per row, it only took 2 failed attempts before I emailed the pattern's author. Of course Laura was extremely gracious in the face of a boneheaded question and had me back on track within no time.

My only issue so far is that it's a wee bit addictive. Yesterday JT and I spent many hours moving dirt in our yard to regrade the area by the house. (The land is officially 3" higher than when we started. It needs to be another 6" or 8", but we made real progress.) When we called it quits and came in to relax and watch the Masters (yes, my boy Tivo'ed golf!), my arms were burning and all of my muscles wanted to fall asleep. Yet somehow my hands were all a-twitching for Serrano.

I dig the way this pattern looks when it's stretched out. I'm ready to start the waist shaping now, so I need to take some time tonight to work out the maths. But hooray for shorter rows at the waist!

Also worked on in the last week: world's ugliest kitty pi bed.

I'm hoping that the felting process will tone down the excessively bright colors. I'm about 12 rows away from finished on this. I honestly expected to finish this weekend -- clearly I did not expect the siren song of Serrano to be so loud!

Updated to Add: I almost forgot. This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Totally enchanting: The Peeps Diorama Contest. Seriously -- dreamgirls recreated with peeps? Love it.

Monkey Done!

The Monkey socks, they are done! Thanks to baseball's opening day, I was able to sit with my sweetie and knit while he enjoyed watching America's pasttime on TV. I am still totally bewitched by the colors in these socks. They're not typical Ann colors, but I love the way they all work together. [Side note: I really seem to be drawn to orange more than usual lately. Wonder why?]

Pattern: Monkey Socks from Knitty
Needles: US2 (calf) and US1 (heel and foot), done on 2 Addi Turbos
Yarn: Claudia's Handpainted Sock Yarn, colorway Boot Camp
Notes: I went up a needle size on the leg so they'd fit around my ankle and heel. What a good idea -- they are really comfortable. I'll have to remember that in the future.

I've done a bit of a sock inventory over the past few days, and have come to the realization that I have several pairs of socks that are just-a-smidge too small for my feet. Just enough that it's annoying, and they're not all that comfortable. They seem to be socks that I knit early in my sock-making tenure, so I think I've figured out to err a bit on the side of too much length rather than too little. (I think I gave too much credit to the yarn, thinking it would stretch with more wear, and it didn't.) So, I'm going to be finding better homes for these socks among my smaller-footed friends, and focus on really loving and wearing every pair in my drawer. Yep, that's my knitting learning curve for this month.

So, with those socks and Cambridge knocked out, it's time for some new projects! I like my groove of having one complex and one simple going at the same time. I'm going to stick with that.

The bad thing about complex projects is that they require a bit of pre-planning.

This is some Elann Baby Silk, in a great rust-clay-cranberry color (it's any of those depending on the light). With a little luck, it's going to grow up to be Serrano. I really love this sweater and think I would wear it a lot. I've never made a cardigan before, but I like the way this one has one piece for the body -- no making two front pieces.

I did manage to get gauge on US3s, but the fabric was a little loose, so I'm going to go down to US2s and see what happens. Maybe it will be in one of those mythical gauge vortexes where the fabric looks better but gauge isn't affected. Fingers crossed.

Finally, in the mindless-but-fun category, we have this:

That's the start of a Kitty Pi bed. With the huge online sale at Knit Happens last week, I stocked up on random colors of Nashua Creative Focus Chunky with the idea that I would play around with felting. Lo and behold, I am reminded of this pattern, where I can do all sorts of absurd things with color and felt them, and the recipient (my uncle's cat!) won't really mind. That's a fun freedom. I think that my next color will be bright orange, but we'll see.

I also was reminded of two things as I worked through this project. One: I really, really don't like double-pointed needles. They felt so awkward and clunky. And Two: it's absolutely amazing how fast something knits up on big needles. I'm almost halfway done after just one night! LOVE that.