Nothing to Do With Knitting

I brought some socks with me to our weekend camping trip to Yosemite National Park last weekend but progress was slow. It's hard to knit during the drive when the road curves and bends every hundred feet or so.

Instead, I did a lot of hiking! Almost 20 miles worth. Every year we make at least one pilgrimage to Yosemite and last weekend was probably our only one for 2005. It was gorgeous! Some fall colors were beginning to show, the skies were deep blue, the air was just crisp and cool enough. We took a couple of short hikes up to Vernal Falls and the Tuolumne Grove. You can see more pictures on Image Zone. Our main hike was new to everyone - a fantastic trail to the North Dome, a smallish rounded hump of granite that was directly across from Half Dome. It took my breath away, the view. It was one of the best I'd ever seen of Yosemite and we've done quite a few hikes there. Half Dome is the gold standard of hikes. If you go to Yosemite, you have to hike up to the top of Half Dome at least once. It's 18 miles roundtrip and takes all day. There are cables along the short side that you use to pull yourself up.

Along the way to North Dome we took a short detour to Indian Arch, an amazing natural rock formation. It's huge as you can see from the photo with the 4 guys. The arch looks so thin and brittle, yet once we were on it, it could hold a few of us up. Maybe not for long though.

The Tuolumne Grove was an easy hike to a small stand of sequoia trees. Sequoias are some of the longest-living trees in the world. They are gigantic but lovable at the same time. They are fairly rare since their living conditions have to be just right - the amount of water, the deep, loose soil, the elevation and temperature. My friend McGinnis pictured here is 6'4. He's standing about 6 feet in front of the tree.

So, not much knitting was accomplished. Thought about it a lot...I wonder if I could knit socks that could withstand all the hiking abuse. I haven't tried any sock yarn heavier than fingering weight so I have no idea what to use. I have sport weight but I'm not sure that would cut it. Any ideas or suggestions?

Until the next day in the life....

Knitting ROI

As I was doing an impromptu sweater inventory in my closet last night, it occurred to me that while the number of handknit items in my collection has surpassed 10, I actually wear only a few on a regular basis. My favorites are Give the People What They Want cardigan, the Einstein jacket, the warm and girly Marilyn pullover and the Side-to-Side Ribbon Pullover.

It could be that the seasons dictate which sweaters I would wear, but even so there are certain ones that I gravitate towards more often than others. It could also be argued that these are the best fitting but that's not really true either. And then there are people who knit for knitting's sake and not use the garments or give them away altogether, but that's not my MO.

So why then? Well, after a moment's thought...I think it simply boils down to the best combination of function and comfort. Comfort is fit, softness and the degree to which the yarn does not irritate my skin. Fit is VERY important because if it doesn't fit, it isn't comfortable. Function is convenience, versatility and ease of care. If I'm going to worry that the sweater will get wet, must be dry-cleaned if it gets a speck of dirt on it or can only be worn in specific situations, it will probably spend most of its time in the closet rather than on my person. Versatility is a huge plus - I will wear something a lot if I can wear it on the weekends, at work or on a casual evening out. Given all of this, it won't surprise you to know that I wear the 2 cardigans the most often. Both of them are simple knits and I'm happy to say they've held up well so far.

Although I unofficially select each project based on the sweater's function, comfort, technique/stitch, style and yarn it seems I get the biggest bang for my knitting buck with the projects based on the first 2 criteria. This may change which projects I knit up in the next few months. The tweedy cardigan I'm working on now is a good choice - I'll most likely use it right away.

(By the way, the number 10 isn't random. Fran from the Knitter's Review forums once said you could consider yourself an intermediate knitter if you've knit at least 10 sweaters.)

Thanks for letting me ramble on. Which sweaters - or scarves, handbags, blankets, socks - have you knit that you use the most often and why?

Until the next day in the life...

Running and Knitting

This weekend was the 2005 Bridge to Bridge 12K race in San Francisco! Karl and I drove down to Oakland on Saturday, spent a leisurely evening in Jack London Square and then ran the race this morning (Sunday). A more detailed account of the race can be found on Fit to Knit! and I posted some pictures on Flickr.

OK, confession time. I have made un-progress on the Tivoli. After I first tried it on, I just kept on knitting and didn't check the fit again...this was last weekend while I was in Oregon. Well, after I frogged a bit and reknit the 20 or so rows, I tried it on again and realized with horror that I had made some horrible mistakes. First was that the size was simply too big. I could've lived with this but secondly, the waist decreases were off. I mean, they weren't positioned correctly. It was so obvious and I was so mad at myself. This is the second sweater in a row that I impatiently screwed up. Is this a sign? Am I burning out? I felt like it that night. So I put the sweater away for now. I need some space and time from it. In the meantime, I got back on the horse and started knitting the Zippered Jacket from the 2004/2005 Winter Vogue Knitting issue. This is a very fast knit. I started yesterday (Saturday) and have already finished the back of the cardigan. It is supposed to have some small easy cables but the yarn I'm using is a thick/thin slubby yarn. It doesn't show the cables at all so I'm not doing them. However I am keeping the 2 purl stitches in the middle of the stockinette expanse as a design element. It will be repeated up the sleeves and on the 2 front panels.

The other knitting-related news is while in Jack London Square, I picked up this super-cute silk tote bag from an Asian import store. It's the perfect size for WIP knitting projects. I was very tempted to buy more than one but that would've been a little much, no? Karl was indulgent and made no peep about the purchase. He knows I have so many bags! But he can't really talk because he has about 20 backpacks himself. Anyway, this knitting tote is just darling, so chic and ethnic. It will probably pull double-duty as a hip bag for work too.

Whew, another weekend down. I've got a few more fun ones coming up and then hopefully I can settle in and enjoy the longer, cooler evenings at home.

Until the next day in the life....