In Banff

While I would love Aaron were he in any profession, I've discovered that there's a big advantage to marrying a mathematician. He has to go to math conferences in all sorts of interesting places, and I get to go along. So we're in Banff, and he's spending his days locked up in a room studying math, while I'm out enjoying the town.

We got in Sunday evening, and settled in to the Banff Centre. It was established in the 1930s as a gathering place for artists to come and work, but somewhere along the line they added a little compound for mathematicians, tucked way back into a corner - the Banff International Research Station.

So we're in our little corner, but we get to use the rest of the Banff Centre. There are great recreational facilities, and the artists and musicians who gather here put on all sorts of programs. (No knitters. I've been checking. Perhaps we need to propose some sort of knitters' gathering here.) And it's beautiful. This is the view we get on our way to the dining hall, where the mathematicans share space with artists, a jazz musicians' seminar, and an international conference on pig reproduction. The last group isn't as fun as it sounds - I haven't seen a single one of them wearing a pig nose.


We did just a little walking through the woods, before discovering that the advice about getting used to the altitude probably should be taken seriously - as should the advice about reading a map and knowing where one is going. So we turned back pretty quickly - but not before I saw these. I think they're some sort of wild orchid.


We're told there's all sorts of wildlife in the Banff National Park. So far we've only spotted one mule deer, and a whole bunch of these guys. They're Columbian ground squirrels, one of the five kinds of squirrels that live around Banff.


So this is an educational trip, as I'm learning about the wildlife. I'm learning that they take some things very seriously here because of the wildlife - like garbage. There are no regular garbage bins in town, just these things - constructed of heavy steel, and closing with a latched door. They try very hard to keep the animals from being fed by humans, and most people seem to cooperate with the effort.


Mostly, however, this is a pleasure trip. How could it not be, when the main street looks like this?


To provide some knitting content, I'll mention that I touched Qiviut (called Quiviuk here) yesterday. Notice that I said "touched," not "bought." At $79 a ball, I'll have to think long and hard about how badly I want to buy yarn. But the nice people at Jacques Cartier clothing were happy to show me around the store, and let me enjoy visiting the yarn, and the clerk gave me a pamphlet about qiviuk. They have some other exotic yarns as well - some even more expensive!


The biggest downside to this trip is that we're living on a mountain - a small mountain, but a mountain. This means that the trip back to the Banff Centre is all uphill - up fairly steep hills. So I've learned the hard way to stop wandering around town before I'm completely tired - because I know I'll be completely tired by the time I get back to our room. I'm sure sooner or later the benefits of crisp mountain air will kick in, and I won't feel tired at all.

The $3.50 Sweater!

It is really nice when things just work!

My sweater is finished. Totally finished. Blocked, seamed, buttoned, ready to wear - and I still have enough yarn left over for repairs. This did not seem possible six weeks ago.

But here it is, blocking. I finished it last Friday, blocked on Saturday, then did the seaming on Sunday while listening to Helio win the 500.

This marks some firsts for me - first time blocking to a specific shape, and the first time I've sewn any knits with any kind of care. I found this great page with instructions for all sorts of seams, and I think taking the time to pay attention was really worth it.

After that, there was nothing left to do but wait for Aaron to come home so he could take pictures. It's been 80 degrees almost all week, but I'm still going to wear the sweater long enough for pictures.

Finished. Not bad for $3.50. Thanks for the yarn, Debbie!

The Sock that Defeated Me

Sock Madness has moved on and then some, and I've finally finished Round 3.

Talia's Wings socks, made with some sort of mystery yarn. I hope I can figure out what the yarn is, because I have about half of it left.

It's a pretty little sock, and I'm reasonably happy with the way it turned out. It seems just a bit too small in this yarn, but I think it's ok.

It's probably even ok that I don't get to continue with Sock Madness. I've realized that I've come dangerously close to starting too many projects for my Winter WIP Workdown, so I really need to focus on finishing rather than starting.

I was doing so well for awhile, but then I let things get out of hand. This is one of the latest culprits - a Wavy Gravy hat for charity knitting. If I'd been good, I would have pulled out one of the ongoing charity projects - but those were hard to find, and I had the yarn handy. It's Outback Wool, a gift from a friend who was de-stashing. I'm glad I can use it for a good cause, even if it's not so good for my project-finishing. At least this one's finished.

It Must Be May

It's time to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

We headed over yesterday for the 4th day of qualifying. There was a pleasant surprise when we got there - Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James were conducting a question & answer session. So we got to hear from them even before we went inside.

Somewhere, I have a picture of me with Janet at her first race. I'll have to find it to post later. It was the coolest thing in the world when she started racing - before that, I never knew who I'd be when we played race drivers, but after 1977, I was always Janet Guthrie.

So then it was time to head inside, and it was a lively day of qualifying! Quite a few drivers took advantage of the great weather to re-qualify with better speeds, so there was something going on all day. There was plenty of knitting, too - I had my yarn, and several other Ravelry knitters showed up. It was crowded enough that most of us didn't find each other, but I got to hang out with Clare (who doesn't have a blog) and her family. The Speedway is such a great place for kids.

This was the beginning of one of the most exciting moments of the day - John Andretti's successful qualifying run. He'd been bumped earlier in the day, and it looked like he just wasn't going to find the speed. That would have been kind of sad, since he's a NASCAR racer who's returned to the fold, and for the sake of his family it would be nice to see him do well here. The redneck fans were pretty excited because Andretti's team owner is the famous Richard Petty, so they wanted to see Richard do well at Indy. And he made it with just minutes to go - putting up the time and making for an exciting last hour.

It was an exciting day for socks, too. The Spring Forward socks and I have a new favorite driver - E.J. Viso. Isn't he cute? And he's obviously a good guy, since he's willing to hold a sock.

He spent every spare moment posing for pictures and signing autographs. A lot of drivers are good about meeting with fans, but E.J. was really good - especially since he had to re-qualify. He had a deal going with his crew that for every place he dropped in the qualifying order, they could paint one of his fingernails pink. He got to take the polish off at the end of the day, though - and I hope he'll be celebrating next Sunday!

It was also a productive day for socks - here's the finished pair of Spring Forward socks. So that's the March/April Sock Club socks finished - I'm going to miss the May Sock Club, but if I were going to be there, I'd be done just in time.

Darn Yarn!

My friend Sam has reason to celebrate today - she and her partner are the proud mothers of a wonderful little girl!

They've been going through the adoption process, and now it's official. So there was a little party today, and I found the perfect gift for a knitter's daughter:

Baby's First Graphic Novel.

This is a funny little book, with two stories told on opposite pages - one about a sock monkey being knit, and another about a sock monkey. I'm not sure if the little one is old enough to read it yet, but it was a big hit with the adults at the party.

The Liver of Ibbi-Sin

Extispicy is the study of animal entrails to divine the future. In ancient Mesopotamia, the liver was the most important organ - so important that there are clay models of livers made as teaching tools for would-be augurs, a sort of "here's what the liver looked like, and here's what happened" manual. One of the livers reads "this is the liver of Ibbi-Sin, who died from the bite of a shoe."

One cannot help but wonder what the "bite of a shoe" may have been. Did a scorpion get Ibbi-Sin? Was he, perhaps, a diabetic, killed by an infected blister? In a way, I'm glad I don't know - of all the accidents I've had, I've never been bitten by a shoe.

But perhaps I should have been consulting the livers, because I cut my thumb on a cabbage. That's right, a cabbage. A decorative cabbage, to be specific, and the cut is one of those unpleasant ones that slips under the fingernail and hurts like crazy.

So far the bite of the cabbage has not been terribly dangerous for me, but it proved fatal to my Sock Madness ambitions. I've been knocked out in Round Three, with just a sock and a half finished when my division filled. Knitting hasn't been very much fun lately, and neither has any other sort of handiwork, which is a problem as I try to complete a project for the Hogwarts swap.

That, combined with my ocelot accident, and a bad cold that won't go away, has made this a somewhat distressing week. Yes, the spots really were the result of knocking a can of spray paint into the track of the garage door. The bad part is that when you tilt a can of spray paint on its side and break off the nozzle, it's not a nicely mixed paint that sprays out uncontrollably. Instead, you get only the colorant, which has acted rather more like a dye than a paint. I'm very, very, glad that there are still weeks to go before the wedding. And I wonder if there's any divinatory practice to warn of cabbages and spray paint.

Wedding planning created the week's bright spot - on Saturday, my mother, my friend Karen, and I traveled down to Cincinnati for a bridal shower, hosted by Aaron's family. So now I have all sorts of kitchen goodies that I can't wait to use, and a collection of family recipes that I'm going to put to good use right away. I also have my bouquet for the rehearsal, beautifully assembled by Aaron's sister, Megan. She's a complete expert at this wedding thing, and is going to have so many people owing her major wedding favors when her time comes.

It's hard to believe there are just over two months to go. I'd better get some wedding knitting done!

Round Three

The Sock Madness pattern for Round Three was released yesterday, and so far it's coming along nicely.

This round's pattern is Talia's Wings, a delightful combination of knits, purls, and small cables that produce a pattern that's been dubbed the "heart pattern" by many of the Sock Madness participants. This is the sort of pattern I really like - something that involves doing something stitch-wise, as opposed to just following a blocky chart of knits and purls. The sample was knit in pink, and since I had this pink sock yarn from Debbie's Fiberalong destashing, I couldn't resist using it.

So far, the progress is good. I'd like to do 1/2 a sock a day - that should let me finish in the top 12.

I spent the weekend knitting on other projects, keeping the momentum going. Plus, I need to finish lots of things so I can start new projects, just in case I make it to some of the higher rounds of Sock Madness.

Here's my progress on the cardigan. Nearly three balls are in the back, which doesn't make things look too promising for the front. The one person on Ravelry who had a ball in "For Sale or Trade" has replied that she can't find it, so there's no luck in that direction. I stopped in at Ewe Knits in Normal just to see if they had any yarn that closely resembled this, and the woman there recommended that I call Knit Picks to see if they have a stash. So that's probably my next call, once I've finished the Sock Madness round.

I've made good progress on the Spring Forward socks, too. On Saturday, we drove up to Rock Island for a concert by Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle, so I got to knit for the whole trip there and during some of the concert. It was a fun show - I'd definitely go see either one of these guys again, especially Earle, especially if they were closer to home. Next time around, maybe I'll even get them to hold the sock for a picture.