Eastburn Adventures

. . . at the right time.

Okay, I know I've been in absentia lately, and my apologies to my faithful blog readers and the bloggers I regular follow. I lost internet access in my dorm room Monday, and it didn't come back until today. I'll try to catch up on my reading and commenting - I promise.

I'll also post about my tour of Boston, Cambridge, Lexington, and Concord later, as well as my tour tomorrow (after my test) to Cape Cod. The scenery here is beautiful.

But in the meantime - something happened. Something. major. Even without internet access (except for my cell phone), I stumbled upon some information. I plotted. I planned. I schemed. I begged for help from Kate and strangers. Okay, not exactly strangers - Ravelers. And Ravelers are great. Just great. Are we Knitters part of a great community or what?
So, after class yesterday, I hopped on the Green Line, switched to the Red Line after a couple of stops, and got on a bus at Alewife. The #350 bus to be exact. The bus that took me to Burlington, MA. The bus that took me to see:

THE YARN HARLOT

Yes, they really did throw panties. I wish I'd known ahead of time. :-) Stephanie is just as funny in person as she is in her books. We learned all about C.H.O.K.E. (Cultural Humiliation of Knitters Everywhere) and more than we wanted to know about her neighbor with the gold shoes. And dude, I can totally pick myself out in the first picture on Stephanie's blog - albeit I'm very small in the back! :-) What a hoot!

I also Kinneared Casey and Jess!

A big thank you to Ravelers Janice and Barbara, and of course, Jess, for contacting me with transportation information, and a huge thank you to LilyD for giving me a ride back to the bus station. It made getting back to my dorm so much easier, and it was fun to meet another Raveler in person. Oh, and I also got a handful of Ravelry buttons! Hmmm, I wonder if I know anyone who might want one or two?

Okay, deep breath. I've got to get back to studying for this test at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. I'll be home Sunday, so after making up for being away from Robert for 10 days, I'll try to catch up on everything else.

Okay, I know I failed miserably in updating this site with my photos from my trip to Boston. After my trip to New Hampshire and Maine, I lost internet access in my dorm room last Sunday and didn't get it back until Friday. Aaaack! I was also without television - so my only entertainment was knitting (and studying).

To recap, on Sunday I went to Cambridge (Harvard):

Lexington:

and Concord:

On Wednesday afternoon, I enhanced stash at Wild & Woolly (back in Lexington):

and the following Saturday I went to Cape Cod and took a boat ride in Nantucket Sound:

Sunday, I tried to come home. Needless to say, I missed my connection, waited at O'Hare for 5 1/2 hours to see if I could get on a standby flight - but no. I had to spend the night in Chicago and fly home on Monday. 26 hours from Boston to Springfield - that's gotta be a record, right?

Anyway, back to work on Tuesday, and a nice surprise. I received a gift certificate to my LYS as a thank you for work on a big project. That made up for a lot of my travel frustration, but I'm still writing a letter to the airline. :-)

I'll post on my souvenir yarn and travel knitting in a day or so.

It's amazing how much one can get done when you're confined on a plane, subway, or bus, or in a dorm room with no TV. Although I didn't get everything completed that I intended, I did get quite a bit of knitting done on my trip back east. (And I will finish Lola's Short-Row Hat in time for Christmas!)

I first worked on the Monkey socks and am ready to turn the heel, but I'm procrastinating since this is my first short-row heel attempt.

I started the Moss Grid Hand Towel:

And, I finished not one, not two, not three . . . but SIX Lizard Ridge Squares! That brings my total up to 17 now!

I even had to buy more Noro in Boston because I was on a roll! Only 13 more and I'll be ready for finishing - I have to say, I'm not looking forward to that part!

On my way home, I decided to restart my Jaywalkers. Now that I actually read the pattern correctly, I really, really like this pattern.

The good news is, I did get a lot of knitting done during my recent travels - the bad news is that most of it was for me - not my Christmas knitting. I need to get in gear with that! But the other good news is that in 3 weeks we'll be on vacation in North Carolina. We're driving, and then spending a week here with Steve and Ginger, so there'll be plenty of quality knitting time! I can't wait!

Here's what I get for not paying attention to my blog dashboard - my last post was #100! I can't believe it - especially since I've been so negligent posting lately.

I think the heat has been getting to me - it's been steadily over 100+ degrees here for the past 10 days or so, and there's worse news. Remember in January when I sprained my ankle? Well, it has never completely healed, and of course, I aggravated it even more walking so much in Boston. I finally went to a specialist, and it turns out I have Sinus Tarsi Syndrome. I had an issue when I was a baby and had to wear leg braces (picture "Run, Forrest, Run") because my feet turned in or pronated a lot. Over the years it hasn't been a real issue, other than I would wear out my shoes on the outsides pretty fast. But when I fell, I apparently sprained my ankle so badly that my natural inclination for my foot to turn in kept it from healing, so I've been caught in a vicious cycle of foot pain.

The bad news? I have to wear fully enclosed shoes, with socks, with orthotics, all day long for the next six weeks. No sandals, no barefoot walking. (Maybe it's not a big deal for you, but I go barefoot and wear sandals in the winter!) The doctor said that should be long enough to let my ankle heal, although I'll have this problem the rest of my life and have to be really selective with the types of shoes I wear. The other bad news? Remember in April when Robert and I went to Tulsa and I bought 10 pairs of super cute shoes? Yeah, I'm not going to be able to wear most of them now. Brianne may have hit the jackpot as she's the only one I know who wears the same size as I do.

The good news? I get to buy new shoes (there goes the budget)! To get me through the next six weeks, I bought a pair of bio-morphic Asics and a pair of Earth shoes! Grumperina is right - these shoes are awesome, and I got 2 knitting project bags to boot! I've got my eye on some Keen sandals as soon as the six weeks are up! Of course, Robert says that any doctor that writes a woman a prescription to buy shoes must be a quack! (Personally, I liked her a lot!)

Okay, off my back and onto my feet! I've been seriously lacking in knitting-related content, but I have been working on socks. The Monkey socks stalled because I was completely confused on turning the heels - first, I was missing the instructions on the short-row wraps, which was kind of an important step in order for Misocrafty's tutorial on picking up the wraps without holes to make any sense. Once I realized that I needed to find that step, I went back to Silver's Sock class. Again, it didn't make any sense. She insisted I needed to start the heel on Sock A, yet to me it seemed like I needed to do Sock B first. After talking it over with Kate and Brianne, we figured out that because the sock class was a non-patterned sock, of course she would do the heel - in front - on Sock A first. But because I had a pattern, I had to get to the back of my socks, which meant that I would turn the heel on Sock B first. Now it makes perfect sense.

Of course, this being my first short-row heel, I've made it too narrow. I'm going to be brave and rip it back - it needs to be right. I'll really be glad when these socks are finito! Anyway, here's the updated photo:

I also finished my first Jaywalker. I really love this pattern, but I'm apparently the odd woman out. Everyone I've talked to who's knitted these, everyone who's blogged about it, has had issues with them being too snug. Not me. Mine are too loose, mainly at the cuff. I decided to go ahead and finish them, and I'm hoping that they'll shrink up a little in the wash. I'd already frogged them once because I started out with the larger number of stitches cast on. I'm glad I did - they would have been waaaay too big if I hadn't.

This is Knit Picks Memories in the Hawaii colorway - oooh, and displayed on my new sock blockers from The Loopy Ewe! I know I've mentioned it before, but this is my favorite online LYS. If you need sock yarn, Sheri is the one to call. She has the best customer service anywhere! (Click through the link on my sidebar when you place an order and I get a bonus!)

Here's the rest of my recent stash enhancement from TLE - 2 hanks of Interlacements Tiny Toes in Scottish Lichen, and 1 hank of J. Knits exclusive custom Anniversary yarn for TLE:

I am so ready for vacation - I want to get some of my UFO's done! But now, I have to go fix spaghetti for Robert. He's in a pasta mood.

After Robert and I were married, we discovered that he had an issue with his wedding band turning green - not his finger, but the ring itself. So a couple of years ago, we upgraded his white gold diamond channel set ring to a cool black titanium ring with white gold bands running through it. Problem solved. (Don't worry, we upgraded my ring at the same time!)

Fast forward. Lately I have discovered that I have an fondness addiction to Starbucks' Vanilla Bean Frappuccinos. Yum. So much so that I convinced Robert to pull through a drive-through yesterday morning before work. As we pulled up to the window, the guy took our money, and as Robert reached to take the Frap, Mr. Tattooed Starbucks exclaimed, "Dude - man, we're ring twins!" (Seriously, they weren't alike, Mr. Starbucks' ring was just a black band - but still. . .)

Robert couldn't put the window up fast enough, and as we pulled away he said, "I want a new ring."

. . . and in a van. With Steve and Ginger. It's our annual couples retreat/vacation, and boy, am I ready for this trip. There's a big difference between travel and vacation. Boston was travel - I still had to work during the week I was there. This time, it's me, my wonderful husband, and our dear friends for a week of fun, relaxation, and of course, lots of knitting. I'm probably being a little over-optimistic as to how much I can really get done, but better safe than sorry!

Bags packed - check.

Road trip snacks - check.

$$$ - check.

Reservations confirmed - check.

Jaywalkers finished - check! Yes, I finally finished the Jays! WhooHoo. I'm really digging these socks, and will definitely make another pair, but the next time I'll use self-striping yarn. They look really cool that way. Anyway, these are KnitPicks Memories in Hawaii (now discontinued). Sammy is quite impressed.

I'm taking the laptop with me, so I'll post updates from Asheville. See ya!