Up, down & out of town

Here's a little bit of knitting. It's Stacy Charles Tweedy Cotton Classic, knitted up to be a sweater for a small child. Why no needles? It's knit in one piece, bottom up, and I realized when I got to the armholes that I had 20 too few sts. 20? How could I be off by that many? Because it's one of those patterns with 6 or more sizes, and apparently I have some touch of dyslexia, because I misread 113 for 133. So now the question is, undo it, or just finish it off, for some other, smaller child?

Today, two co-workers and I spent a bit of time in a dank pit under a parking lot. As archaeologists, we do things like that. Though things are usually a bit more open-air. A couple of days ago, at a local food/beer/music spot, the Cyber Cafe, they were doing some work on the parking lot, specifically on a slumping concrete pad. The pad was smashed, and there was a hidden room, with old wooden kegs, a trap door, a pulley system. The building above (no longer standing) was built soon after 1918. So it seems like a little bootleggers den. We mapped in what's there for posterity, before the property owner has to seal it securely to keep out idiots.

And tomorrow, we're heading out of town, to Providence & Boston. Just for fun.

One WIP

So, Cupcake in essence said "Less bitching about the computer, show some progress shots." As I said in the last post, one is a present, so it's not going up, but the other project that's been going on for a bit now is my grey lace-weight merino shawl.

This is the Huck Lace Shawl from Morehouse Merino, and right now it's just over 1/2 done. I took it out to the lovely warm & sunny, but March-barren, backyard and did get a bit of an odd look from a backyard neighbor over taking pictures of a piece of grey cloth slung over a tree branch.

And, for anyone who can't get enough of Progressive Era proscriptive literature, here's a gem of knowledge from the 1911 "Guide to the United States for the Immigrant Italian," published by the Connecticut DAR: "Never give wine or beer to children. When children take these drinks they do not eat enough, and sometimes faint in school. Alcoholic drinks are too stimulating for them and prevent the natural development of their little bodies."

We hates Vista, it burns us

Well, one comment on the last posting, so I'll go again...

Sadly, no new photos of any FO's. For one, nothing's finished. I'm working on a large grey shawl from Morehouse Merino's book (the huck lace shawl), but it just goes on & on. I'm working on a secret present item, so obviously there will be no photos as yet.

2) Through a complicated series of maneuvers, I have a new computer, specifically K's newish computer. He got an Acer laptop in December and was very happy with it. I've been having problems with my old Compaq, but needed to wait for the big-ish tax refund check to get a new one. In the meanwhile they put out Vista. Vista didn't work with our wireless, and I don't feel like being new operating system guinea pig, so we returned it. K got a mac and I got his Acer. And I haven't gotten around to figuring out how to get pictures from the camera to the new laptop. Luckily the printer & laptop worked it out between the two of them.

3) Little time for figuring out camera-laptop relations and less time for knitting, as I've been reading & writing like mad (for me at least), trying to get a draft of my dissertation in to my advisor before he goes away on a year's sabbatical. A year plus, actually, as I understand it, he's leaving town after this semester's over, and will only very occassionally be back between then & September 2008! 2008! There's some fun stuff, but the writing kinda drags at times. Fun stuff like 1915 Department of Labor literature on having children. Expectant moms in 1915 were recommended to "Exercise in the open air" but no violent exercise, no stair climbing and no using the sewing machine in the later months.

Oh, and K & I have decided we're engaged. We're hoping to get married in late September.

Cold & snow outside, Warm cats & flowers inside

My handsome Bean.
Since last I blogged, I finished the blotchy blue alpaca as Cozy-inspired scarf. It's actually been done for a couple of weeks, I think, but blogger & my laptop have some issues. This time, I'm at least saving a draft before the stupid thing crashes. The 4th ball of alpaca was noticeably darker when knit in pattern, so I fooled around a bit at the ends, with this garter stitch & other thing I've got going on here. The pattern is just lovely, and now that it's done, I'm wishing I had enough of this blotchy alpaca to do it up properly as the Cozy wrap. But I don't and an alpaca scarf is still quite nice. I've also finished this feather & fan scarf in an incredibly light & airy mohair/silk blend (Madil Kid Seta, 70% super kid mohair, 30%silk). I've been wondering whether to block it, and looking at this photo, the answer appears to be a resounding yes. It's a present for a very wonderful lady who took care of me during the days from when I was 6 weeks old til I started 1st grade. There's some confusion over whether it was Betty or my mom who taught me how to knit, but somewhere between the two of them, I learned so long ago that I don't even remember it. I think this will make a good present.