A few weeks ago I signed up for the Tour de France KAL. Since the Tour started officially yesterday I thought it would be a great time to do my first official blogging of my tour project.

I’m competing for the Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) which for knitalong purposes represents a challenging piece of knitting. The project doesn’t have to be completed by the end of the tour but you are supposed to pick something that is challenging for you. Either a new technique or a long languishing UFO that you need a challenge to finish.

My project is one part UFO and one part new skill. It is a resurrection of my Hiking Sweater from last year which I mentioned very briefly in this blog post.

When I originally started this sweater my goal was to design something (that’s the challenge part for me) that would be good for cycling and hiking in cold weather. For the yarn I chose an alpaca/wool blend so that it would be lightweight and very warm and I worked out a few features that I wanted to include like a kangaroo pocket and that was pretty much as far as I got.

When I decided to use this project for the Tour de France KAL I thought that my sweater had been languishing long enough and I must rip it out and start over because the reason I wasn’t working on it was that there were some things I didn’t like about it.

However, when I pulled it out of its box I found that I was much farther along on this sweater than I remembered.

Apologies for dirty mirror and blurry pic but you get the idea.

This is a lot of sweater to rip out folks! And… I can’t decide if I should. There isn’t really anything wrong with this part of the sweater but there are a few things I would change if I were to re-knit.

The main thing I am unhappy with is the trim treatment on the pocket. I did some kind of intarsia thing originally that looks like attatched i-cord but if I were to re-do it I would pick-up and do ribbing instead for a wider trim. I might also make the pocket a bit smaller.

One other thing I would change would be to make the whole sweater about 1″ shorter and use short-rows to make the back longer instead.

Am I being too picky? Is my real challenge here to live with imperfection? Feel free to give me your opinions!

Since I couldn’t decide whether to rip or continue on I re-started the sleeve (the old one was too tight so I took it out).

Unassuming folded cuff

Unfolds to become a fingerless mitt for chilly hands!

I also finished up the actual design sketch including all the nerdy features that I’m planning to include.

I’m really excited about this Knitalong! I’m on Team Rabobank and in a strange coincidence our team colors are orange and blue!

Go Team Rabobank!

We’re back from our trip to Eugene, OR. It was so much fun!!! I was having so much fun that I pretty much forgot to take pictures (I’ll do better next time!) but I think I managed to catch the highlights.

This was my first trip to Eugene and I was so excited to go because a good friend of mine, Nikki, lives there and invited me (many times) for a visit. When I found out that the Black Sheep Gathering was the same weekend that she had off from school I figured that would be the perfect time to visit.

In exchange for taking Adrienne and me to the Fiber Festival (and letting us stay in her house!) Nikki requested knitting lessons! We were only too pleased to comply.

Knitting on the Quad

I’ve taught tried to teach a couple of people to knit before but I thought I was pretty much a failure because it didn’t seem to stick. Not so with Nikki! She was the most enthusiastic knitting student I have ever seen! The absolute best part of our trip was the 2-hour post lunch sitting in the grass and knitting sessions that we staged everyday we were there!

Nikki had her 1st hat finished in no time!

Yeah!!

Nikki took us on a tour of downtown Eugene and the University of Oregon campus where they were in full swing getting ready for the Olympic Track and Field Trials.

This great statue is right on the campus:

Jebediah Springfield!

Apparently the Springfield right outside Eugene is one of many Springfields which inspired the home of the Simpsons. Moe’s Tavern is located here and also this statue which both appear in the show! How exciting!

The other exciting thing we found on campus was an all marble bathroom in the downstairs of the admin building. Sorry, no pictures but it was just as awesome as you are imagining.

I was really impressed with the squirrels, they are HUGE and very friendly

We had excellent food everywhere that we ate in Eugene but this really cool mural was on one of Nikki’s favorite places: The Bier Stein

We went there twice

Eugene is known for its diverse flora. There are a million different plants and trees that thrive there. I really liked this tree:

I think it is Gingko?

We hiked the bluff! You drive up part-way and then it is only a 1/2 mile hike but since it’s the only high spot in town you can see forever. It was really cool and there were lots of friendly hikers enjoying the nice weather with us.

Soaking up the sun and the view!

As a thank you I knit these mitts for Nikki:

They match the hat I made her last year and still didn’t take a picture of. Oops.

The Fiber Festival was pretty overwhelming at first. Adrienne and I just wandered around yarn-struck all the time that we were there on Friday. I did take some pictures of sheep though!

Jacobs Sheep - I did not know they had these weird horns.

This alpaca is named Stephen Colbert.

We did better on Saturday. We met up with our Grandma and Uncle (why don’t I have pictures?!), I bought lots of yarn (but Adrienne didn’t buy any!!! More on that later) and watched a knitting machine demonstration. I really really really want a knitting machine now.

We also saw more alpacas:

And just when I thought I was going to get out of the Fiber Festival with tons more yarn than Adrienne she went and bought infinity worth of yarn in the form of….

A Spinning Wheel!

This was a huge leap of faith because Adrienne hadn’t even ever spun on a spinning wheel before, just a drop spindle. She was totally making yarn within the hour of getting the wheel out of the box!

Proof

She spun a whole bobbin’s worth of yarn while we were sitting in Nikki’s yard!

Eugene was great and seeing my friend Nikki pretty much -made- my summer. The weather was sunny and hot (maybe a bit too hot for Alaskan me). I had such a good time!!!

Thank you Nikki! You ROCK!!!

Just a quick note to brag say that Adrienne and I are going to the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene this weekend!!!

It’s our first Fiber Festival and we are sooo excited!  If you see are planning to be there too and recognize us please say hello!  I’ll be the one with the bag full of yarn and a glazed over look in her eyes.  Adrienne will be the one plotting to ship an entire flock of sheep up to Alaska.

We’re a bit shy (and I’m terrible at recognizing people) but I’d love to meet anyone who reads here just to put faces to names even if I do seem terribly over-stimulated at the time.

Hope you enjoy your weekend whatever your plans are!

A few weeks ago I won a little contest over on Yahaira’s Bitter Purl blog. The contest was to celebrate her blogoversary and also to help her chose a pattern for a unique yarn, her post on it is here.

Anyways after a thorough reading of the instructions I suggested the Hypoteneuse Stole, won yarn and when the yarn came it was very very pretty and sumptious and screamed “Adrienne,” to me (it’s her colors, it’s very red and purple in real life) and so I gave it to her and told her to make a Clapotis with it (of course!).  Thanks Yahaira!!!

I really loved puzzling out Yahaira’s yarn puzzle for her and reading everyone else’s suggestions for her yarn.

I think most of us have some Yarn Puzzles in our stashes. Yarn that is really really awesome but difficult to select a pattern for. Yarn that is really special and unique and you want to find just-exactly-the-right pattern for it (yes, I am a perfectionist, why do you ask?).

This is a long-winded way of me saying, “Folks, I need your help. I have awesome yarn and I want to knit it but I can’t decide what to make!”

My parents got this yarn for me when they were visiting my brother in Bellingham last month!

Specs:
Yarn: Spincycle Yarns
Fiber: 100 % BFL
Weight: Worsted
Yardage: 120 yards

The color-way that my parents picked out for me is “Ursus Horribilis” which is the scientific name for Grizzly Bears and is inspired by same noble beasts.

Please help me decide what to make with this awesome yarn!!! My yardage is limited so I was leaning towards a simple hat to show off the yarn. Probably not an ear-flap hat because I never wear the earflap hat I have.

Any suggestions?

mmm… colors…

I think it would be great if you were to post your own Yarn Puzzles and then tell me about them! I think that sometimes it’s easier to puzzle out yarns from afar and even if I don’t get the exact right pattern maybe I’ll get poked in the right direction! It’s also a great way to show off and share some of the really great yarns in your stash! I know I have more of these lovely but tricky yarns.

WARNING: No knitting content whatsoever.

I know it’s been a while since I posted but I haven’t had much time for knitting…

I blame this:

Charlie - will eat anything/everything

and this:

Sula - ball fetcher extraordinaire

and this:

Eddy - the laziest puppy ever

and actually all these guys too:

Left to Right: Zigzag, Sula, Azul, Cedar, Oso, Missy

I have a new job and it’s all about dogs! I’m doing Rad Dogs which is a doggie daycare program run by the Humane Society here in town. Basically people drop off their dogs in the morning, we walk them, exercise them, play with them, etc. and then in the evening their owners come and pick them up again.

It’s great for the dogs and great fun for us!

Linda shows off the dogs’ perfect manners

Even though I haven’t had much time for knitting this month I really love my new job. I will return with knitting content soon, there has been knitting, just not as much as usual.

Bonus:

My favorite co-worker