In Bed with Bob

Bob is not the name of my husband. It is the name of an unpleasant visitor who forces me to stay in bed with my legs up on a foam cube cut to my specifications. Bob is the name of my back when it hurts; Bob is the name of lumbar back pain.

Once upon a time, not too long after I had finished a half-marathon and was in pretty good shape, Bob entered my life uninvited. My then-neighbor Amy named him after Bob the Builder (context now unknown), and the name stuck. The first time he visited, Bob stayed for several months and accompanied me to various doctors--from university hospital genius to total quack, and everything in between--; he demanded Vicodine, oxycodone, and morphine; put me in the hospital; and left only after I rolled him into a physical rehabilitation clinic in a wheel chair. At the clinic, somewhere in the middle of rural nowhere, I learned to relax without the use of pain medication but through acupuncture and meditation, and to heal with the help of electric muscle stimulation, afore-mentioned cube, and specific insoles designed for my feet. No surgery needed: Bob left on his own. The threat of Bob's return has curbed my ambition to run a full marathon, but except for rare (and short) visits, Bob is gone.

Now that he is here again I try not to freak out or fear the worst. I try to be zen about Bob. Ice packs, hot baths, walks, time on the cube. As long as I'm not sitting or bending or standing, coughing or sneezing or brushing my hair, Bob is under control. Bob doesn't like me knitting, and Bob surely does not want me to wash and block a new sweater. The Hubs is a trooper, as always, and today he even washed my Olympic sweater. (I know! Totally too sweet. Proudly I put the Ravelympics medal on the blog.) He cooks and brings me tea and helps me into my walking shoes (I can't put on socks on my own, nevermind tie shoe laces).

The confinement to bed has given me some unexpected time to upload and sort photos from our Florida vacation, and here's a mosaic of my favorite photos:



I was over the moon to see palm trees, and I took plenty of photos of those. The kissing couple? My parents. The felt flowers? For my birthday. The astronaut? Cape Carnaveral. I loved to walk at the beach, and just thinking of it makes Bob want to go back to Florida. Maybe he should go there right now and leave me in peace... :|

Ravelympics Update

Go, Team Ivory Tower, go!! I did my bit, I finished the Olympic sweater! I haven't washed it yet, since I threw out my back last night baking cookies for my students (no kidding. Gah!!!!). Because I'm lying in bed with the MacBook propped on my stomach I don't have the stamina to write much but am posting a couple of photos instead. (Funny posture due to painful back. Sticking out my right hip is the only way to go right now. Crappy pics also due to painful back.)

You know what the Hubs said? "Looks great. Not like hand-knit. More like boutique-bought." I understand he meant it as a compliment. But what does this say about my other knits? Umpfh.

BTW: The whole back thing means my socks will get a "DNF". Doubly umpfh.

Olympic Progress

The plan to bring socks along to Florida for relaxed vacation knitting crashed the moment I realized that knitting with five DPNs and a cable needle freaks me out. The socks--I'm still working on the first one and am stuck somewhere between cuff and heel--had to stay behind; instead I brought the Olympic sweater. Many, many hours of unexpected air travel later (very long story. Suffice to say I made surprise stops in Indianapolis, Detroit, and Baltimore. I had booked non-stop flights, by the way):

I'm almost done! And if it weren't for not-so-wonderful Lang Yarns instructions I would have been done long before hitting Baltimore on my so-called non-stop flight home (can you tell I'm not quite over the flight complications?).

In theory this sweater is a piece o' cake. However, I had to redo the sleeves and am looking at doing the left sleeve again. My beef with the instructions? Well, if it reads "increase every 6th row," I don't increase for the first five rows, then work an increase, and then repeat. Once I finished the first sleeve I realized that those first five rows that I didn't increase had added an unwanted three centimeters to the piece, and that clearly the instructions should have read: "increase every 6th row, starting with an increase row." (This wouldn't have been a problem had it not been for yarn shortage: I didn't mind extra-long sleeve, but I was running out of yarn rapidly, and every yard counted). The other obstacle, as I learned once I had finished both sleeves, was the position of a different set of increases:

The instructions ask for two increases in every row at one side of the sleeve, which results in what you can see on the right: a sleeve with a triangle sticking out. This looked odd to me, but I made a second matching sleeve regardless, thinking that this might be some cool-looking futuristic elbow cap. I figured I better finish the whole sweater to see what it looks like when everything comes together. Well, the sleeve design didn't come together at all, and I redid the sleeve increases by increasing every 3rd (then 4th and 5th) stitch over three rows, with plain rows in between. The result is on the left. When worn, it looks much better this way.

Here's my last complaint: the instructions don't state yarn requirements correctly. Relying on the instructions I got eleven balls of Piora (the fuzzy stuff) and four of the merino DK weight yarn (for the cuffs). I ran out of Piora completely before finishing the cowl, which is four centimeters short. The bottom of the sweater is worse: it's seven centimeters short! The latter problem is easy to fix, since fortunately I used only 40% of the merino and have more than two balls left. I'm using the merino to add an edge to the sweater, and no one will be able to tell the difference. I'm hoping that those extra balls of merino will knit up to seven centimeters of ribbing and thus make up for the missing Piora. But isn't this irritating: to run out of one yarn but have a lot extra of the other?

Anyway. I can see the finish line. I just need to complete the ribbing, redo the sleeve, weave in all the ends--and show you a photo of the FO!

In a later post I'll share some Florida photos... for now I'll leave you with just one:

Slightly Behind Schedule

This weekend has brought many pleasant diversions that have kept me from giving my Olympic best, at least in the knitting department. The Hubs and I celebrated the Valentine's Day weekend with a private cooking Olympics: my Mousse au Chocolat won gold in the dessert category, and the gold medal in main course extravaganza went to the Hubs and his Boeuf Bourguignon. (We completely outdid ourselves. I'm still in awe. The mousse recipe is Julia Child's; the beef recipe is a Cook's Illustrated creation.)

With all the grocery shopping/cooking/eating/then napping/afterwards cleaning happening around the house I didn't spend nearly as much time knitting as anticipated. Still, I made progress: the sweater's body is one-third done, which doesn't mean much, though. I noticed that the enormous cowl-neck is as long and almost as wide as the body: I have a lot of mindless knitting ahead of me. I also started the socks. It takes a lot of concentration to get all the slipped stitches and cables right, and I'm no longer sure this is a good travel project. It's my first time using DPNs (that's the Olympic challenge), and four needles plus the working needle, plus a cable needle...: well, it's complicated.

I'm all packed and ready to go. Sunny Rainy Florida, here I come! :)

Oh... can't leave without a photo... here's one of a recent visitor, who was climbing up my jeans:

Auf die Plätze, fertig, los!

Well, not quite. I'll have to wait till later this evening before casting on my olympic projects. Consider this warm-up.

Wait, plural? Projects? More than one? Yes, for practical reasons: my mom and stepdad are visiting from Germany, not here in Boston, where it's cold, but in sunny Florida, which is, according to my parents, just around the corner from Boston.* My parents' trip to Florida coincides with my school's spring break (seriously), so why not go on vacation for a week? 'Cause of the traveling I need a small, portable project. Socks, for instance. And since the Yarn Harlot is Super Sock Woman, I'm participating in her Knitting Olympics, knitting Slippery. One of the gals attending last weekend's knitting brunch was working on a pair, and I really loved her results. We'll see how well I fare with the pattern: Cables in every other row? Slipped stitches all over the place? Not a single plain vanilla all-knit-stitch row? I 'spose that's the olympic challenge. See, the yarn's already waiting for me:

(Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino, with Koigu Premium Merino in gray for cuff, heel, and toe.)

Since the socks were a bit of an afterthought, a plan B, so to speak, I also entered the Ravelympics with this in mind:

(Photo by Lang Yarns, published in Lang Yarns' Fatto a Mano 169, pattern #27.)

Yep, that's plan A. 16 olympic days minus 6 vacation days = 10 days. A sweater in ten days? Sort of impossible for me. But when I look at the yarn and consider the #13 needles, I'm optimistic:

I'm hoping that this puppy will knit itself. While I'm in Florida. :) Perhaps that's too optimistic.

Right, then. Y'all enjoy a great olympics opening ceremony!**

*Geographical misconceptions persist on both sides of the Atlantic. When I lived in Berlin, an American friend asked to visit me while she was traveling in Europa; she suggested we meet in Venice.
**This whole knitting business has gotten me all excited about the real olympics, and I look forward to watching some of the biathlon action. Go, Neuner!

How to Spend Snow Day

1. Listen to the weather news one last time, be smart and ditch the bike in favor of the bus, and go to work.
2. Discover school is cancelled.
3. Catch the commuter train to downtown.
4. Go to Windsor Button and buy eight buttons.
5. Spend the afternoon finishing cardigan.
6. Sew on buttons while husband cooks amazing dinner.
7. Go to bed very early. Take photos of cardi, then wash it, and finally blog for a few minutes.
8. Wonder why today was a snow day despite complete absence of snow, but be grateful for it nonetheless.
9. Go to bed early-ish and read (hopefully).

Yet Another Gift

This one from my FIL, also out of the blue:



It's Artyarns' Mohair Splash, a silk mohair blend with glass beads and sequins. It's perfect for a small luxurious shawl, but I need to let it marinate in the stash before deciding on a pattern. I'm thinking of something fairly simple; I don't want an intricate lace pattern to compete with an already decadent yarn. Maybe a mostly stst triangle with a small lace border?

Yes, I'm beginning to think "lace shawl" again. It's knitting giant sweaters while holding massive amounts of yarn in my lap that does this to me. That and Anne Hanson. Have you seen her latest design? Stunning. Anne hasn't released the pattern yet, but I'll be the first to get it once she does.

Oooooh! And I need to decide on a Knitting Olympics/Ravelympics project! First I thought to do something small or finish a WIP. Then I thought: that sweater my mom got me the yarn and pattern for, and which knits up on #13 needles (!). Next thought: lace. Following thought: maybe not lace. After all, I'm vacationing at the beach next week. Thought after that: I'm going to the beach, and it's happening next week already!! I won't get to watch the Olympics at all. Should I skip any olympic knitting? Subsequent thought: nay, I can totally knit while on the beach. Maybe not a sweater. Maybe something small. Most recent thought: boy, I'm running out of time and better make a decision quickly.

Out of the Blue!

Just as I thought I didn't have anything to blog about this week I received a big box full of goodies that arrived here entirely out of the blue. First I thought it was an early birthday gift, but then I didn't recognize the sender's name, so that wasn't it. Only when I put "Victoria" and "WI" together it occurred to me Vicki sent the prize I won at her blog giveaway! Yeah!!

Can you see? A notebook, a Victoria-Pictoria card, a 2010 Yarnharlot calendar, a sheep brooch, I-don't-know-what-they-are-called-needle-tip thingies, a skein of fabulous Misti Alpaca, and a very cool box.



I very, very, very much like the box and the yarn. Thank you, Vicki!

The box arrived yesterday morning, just as I was leaving to go to the local knitters' brunch. The brunch was fun: lots of nice gals, lots of good food, lots of time to get serious knitting done. I've been semi-sick all week, struggling with a cold that wasn't bad enough to interfere with work but serious enough to keep me feeling absolutely blah: too blah to read, too blah to eat, even too blah to knit. And while therefore I didn't knit at all during the week I had a bit of a knitting marathon yesterday: first at the brunch and later while watching a Hitchcock. I'm happy to report that I am back on track with my top-down raglan cardigan, which fits much better now. The countdown's on: I'm seeing my mom in eight days and want to show her an FO!

(Ouch. Did I say eight days? Have I mentioned that I'm making a really long cardigan? Currently it's hip-length and doesn't have sleeves. Good thing there's that Superbowl fête we're going to tonight. Since I have no interest in football I'll find myself a quiet corner and knit for a couple of hours...)

Oh, and there's something else I wanted to mention. I know that I'm the last person on earth to discover Alexander McCall Smith's series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, but ever since I heard the author in an episode of NPR's On Point, I've been inhaling the novels. I adore them! They are so lovely and charming and, well, precious, like Precious Ramotswe herself. I may just have to add the BBC/HBO series to our Netflix queue; I foresee happy knitting evenings with Mma Ramotswe.... The Hubs, too, has a book recommendation that he would like me to include here: he just finished Jane Jacobs' 1961 The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and he declared this morning that Jacobs must have been the smartest woman on the planet with the greatest gift for writing, and isn't this book just the best book ever?!?!?! (There were many more exclamation points in the Hubs' voice. I actually think the Hubs has a bit of a crush on her, nevermind that she'd be 93 years old if still alive.)

Road Work

Two three-hour car rides later:

Two skeins of Noro Iro, #11 needles, and three pretty buttons was all it took to create what surely will become one of my favorite scarves.