WWKIP "day"

I wanted to post something quick because I don't post enough, and I finished this today. Properly, I finished knitting it yesterday, but I blocked it this morning and it was dry in time for a picture before it got dark. The light is a little off, which is why the greens are so very green. But the color isn't so bad for all that. It's one 6oz skein of Jackrabbit in the Tidal Pool colorway.



This was the primary knitting I took to Nashville and really the only thing I worked on while there. I brought another project with me; yes I know it was only a 4 day trip but I always do this and never work on them. It's a thing.

The button is reversible since it's just 2 buttons sewn together like a cufflink and slipped into the first eyelet on either side. It's that hemlock ring modification again, only this time it was worked off a base of 7 repeats instead of 9. I think the shape as a capelet is better for showing off the pattern, although 9 works really well as a scarf.


I cast on on the airplane to Nashville and I was on row 37 when I got home. I worked it to row 56, so I got a decent amount done on the trip. I would have been further along but I found a small error and had to rip back several rows to fix it.

But this is about WWKIP "day", which was essentially all last week. It began the 11th and ended the 19th. On June 11th, I was still in Nashville. I had my knitting with me all day and you  know what? There is nothing better than a lazy day wandering around with one's knitting. We sat on the grass and I knit. We sat in a bar and I knit. We walked down the street and I knit. We listened to buskers and I knit. We watched fireworks and I knit.

I spent something like 6 hours knitting about as publicly as one human being can, because after all it was during a festival (although not at the festival). I know I was noticed and remarked upon because people talked to us about it. And I got to tell them it was World Wide Knit in Public Day. I say that's a job well done.

Knitters Represent!

I've got to go finish updating my shop, but I wanted to ask how was your WWKIP"day"? I'd love to hear your stories, however big or small.

Adventures in Nashville

I'm home and chipping away at the work I need to get done, but I wanted to post about this before the details became too hazy.

I haven't gone away on a trip in several years, so I was excited for a lot of reasons and not just the obvious. I had to remind myself repeatedly that I am actually capable of being a grown up in public and traveling to a strange city where they speak the same language as I, without getting permanently lost. Also, I took this trip with an old friend from grad school (Julie) and so would be able to make her navigate. This is very important given how I've turned getting lost into an art form.

First observation on the plane was that the river does some amazing things to the terrain. Second observation in the airport is that Nashville Int'l Airport is tiny. I realized over the course of the four days just how pocket sized Nashville is. With the car, we were never more than 20min away from anything, and that was if we hit rush hour traffic. Mind you, I realize that I may have unrealistic expectations growing up with New York as "the city" and Newark as "the airport".

So, Nashville was FOURTEEN DAYS into a heatwave of 90°F and up weather the day we arrived. The day we left, they were excited because Sunday was forecast to be "only" 89. It was a heat that just sapped the energy and turned us into melted puddles of people. The normal temperature for this time of year is a good 10-15 degrees cooler.

Thursday was the day of the event and we got up early to visit the Parthenon first. It's a full sized replica of the Greek building, but with all the friezes, etc, intact.

It was just the right size for something to occupy the morning, but I'll spare you pictures of the interior. There's a giant gilded sculpture of Athena inside, as well as replicas of the original stonework, etc.

More chatter and pics after the cut. 

Exhibition, exodus, and loot

Once again the realization that lots to blog about means not enough time to blog percolates to the fore.  This weekend, I knit in public for the first day of World Wide Knit in Public day(s); I noticed that there was the annual mass exodus of toadlets from our pond; and I went cherry picking and once again demonstrated my passionate devotion to Prunus cerasus or the sour cherry.
 
They're like jewels. I can't resist them.

I'd best get on with this before it's Monday! (Oh well, I tried!)

Exhibition
First up, WWKIP day! I drove up to Ridgewood, NJ and spent the day with an old friend. We sat in the outside area of a Starbucks and chattered on for hours as we knit. We did speak to a few people who seemed interested, and one very pleased woman who was excited to see someone else who does this craft.

I twitpic-ed from the Starbucks, but here is photgraphic evidence:

The yarn used for the cozy was Knitpicks Merino Style in cream held doubled, and a Phatfiber box sample of handspun merino from Spindipity. The combination reminds me of strawberries and cream, even though the handspun has blue and green in it, not just pink and red.