Sick Day

I spent a day at home today... nothing serious, but I seemed to be in need of some additional rest. Actually, I rested in the morning and finally did some cooking in the afternoon, so I have some meals for the next little while.

I was trying to finish a meme to have something at least slightly interesting to post, but I wasn't feeling very creative. Next week will be another busy time at work, so who knows when I'll get around to posting again though.

So, I will just leave you with a picture...


The Old City of Damascus

Fall in Sudan

Yes, it most definitely is fall in Sudan! It was a balmy 34 degrees outside when I was driving home from work at about 6pm this afternoon. The local pool has cooled down noticeably, so it no longer feels like jumping into a bathtub. However, I don't think the temperature will ever drop enough that I need to use my new FO!

Handspun Beret and Scarf Set



This is the first thing I've finished knitting with my own handspun! The yarn is New Zealand Romney from Little Barn, spun and plied on my Hitchhiker.

The beret is based on an idea I read about on someone’s blog once, but no idea where. I knit the band in seed stitch, but a less stretchy stitch would have been better. Then I picked up stitches around the edge of the band, increased every other stitch on the next row and knit 4.5 inches before starting the decreases. Knit with 3.25 mm needles.

The scarf is done in a simple k1 *yo, k2tog* k1 for every row. I think it’s the lace pattern used in the centre of the Ogee motif, but didn’t check. Knit with 4.5 mm needles.

I'm back!

Actually, I've been home for a week now, but getting back into the routine of work and seeing friends took up much of my time. I spent the rest of it sleeping, so this is my first chance to blog.

I had a great vacation, catching up with friends and visiting some places that were new to me. I even found yarn!

The first few days were in Aqaba, Jordan, where we stayed at the Radisson SAS Tala Bay. It was brand new, and a great resort, the only one in Aqaba with direct access to the beach. Here are a few pictures for those of you looking at impending winter!

Turkey

PA270442
Originally uploaded by knitter_tara.

So, I'm in Turkey right now until the end of the week. Apparently Turkey has blocked Blogger (in Syria, it was Facebook, and Sudan had YouTube blocked for a while...). But, this seems to be a way to check in without access to the site. It's been a great vacation! Lots of friends and new places. I'll try to write more when I get back, even if work will be busy. This picture was taken inside the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. I love the different lamps!

Vacation

Umm, so I'm on vacation right now, meaning that my posting will be even more sporadic than usual. I am actually getting some knitting done, but I don't have any pictures to post.

I'm currently in Damascus, staying with friends. It's been lovely, but I have of course bought too much stuff! I even found a yarn store and got 10 balls of a silk-cotton blend from Switzerland for $10! I will have to show you a picture later.

Anyway, I'm on the move again today towards Turkey! Who knows when I'll post next!

I hope everyone at Rhinebeck is having fun!

Haboobed

We had a dust storm today, the biggest one I've seen so far, and I managed to take a few pictures both before it hit and as we were running for the house.

Here it comes! (This is not my house.)

Look at it move!

Run!

...and the aftermath

And that's pretty much the lame-ass post you get!

Spinning

Look! I do spin!

So, I've been playing on occasion with my Hitchhiker, and having a lot of fun. The fibre is from Little Barn, and the preparation was lovely.


Sorry for the blurry picture. I want to post, and don't have the light conditions to take a better one right now. This is a two ply yarn, probably between a fingering and sport weight. Now I want a tensioned kate so I can make more than two ply! There are always more toys!


Princess Spooky cat really enjoys the mildly sheepy smell of the yarn after the twist has been set.

Sock Meme

When did you first learn to knit socks? Fairly soon after I restarted knitting in 2003. I bought my first sock yarn from Romni Wools in 2004 when I was in Toronto on training for my stint with Right to Play. That was the first lys I ever visited, as in Calgary I had only ever bought yarn from Lewiscraft.

What's the first sock you ever knit? The sock pattern that came with the skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn (I don't see the one I used on the website anymore. I'm pretty sure it's superwash merino, but who knows...). It took a while, but I love the end results. (See centre row right below)

Favorite Sock Pattern? I use the Turkish cast on from the Fall 2005 Vogue Knitting, and the short row heel from Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook and then whatever pattern choices I want for other areas.

Favorite needle method? DPNs. I have done magic loop and knitting in the round on two circs for other things, but don’t have the right size needles for socks.

Favorite sock needles? I’m using Knitpicks Harmony right now. I prefer plastic, bamboo or wooden needles when possible, but have used metal too.

Who do you knit socks for? Me. The only pairs I’ve made for other people have been through sockapalooza.

How many pairs have you knitted to date? More than 10, less than 20 (They're not all here...)



1. P5310031, 2. P5310024, 3. pomatomus III, 4. stuff 007, 5. stuff 005, 6. stuff 003, 7. P1230001, 8. sherbet socks, 9. sockpal

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

What is on your sock knitting to-do list? I have lots of sock yarn in the stash to knit up, and I recently bought some Sundara sock yarn in semi-solid colours so I could try some more complicated cables and/or lace.

What kind of socks to you like to knit-
Striped? Haven’t yet.
Colourwork? I haven't yet, but I'm not against colourwork socks.
Plain Stockinette? Yes.
Cabled? Yes.
Lace? Yes.
Anklets? Yes.
Knee Socks? There are a few I would like to try, but haven’t yet
Solid Colours? Yes, but I prefer a textured pattern when working in solids.
Bright and crazy? Of course. Why knit socks otherwise?
Faux Fair Isle (the yarn doing all of the work)? Mmm… haven’t yet.

Tag a few sock knitters here: Feel free to tag yourself.

Quickie

Umm, I haven't updated in a bit. I spent three hours working an invisible bind off (from the Fall IK) on the pink Pomatomus that's be waiting to be bound off, only to find out that I had somehow made it too tight. Which is unfortunate, because I had decided to try it specifically because the article claimed it was a stretchy bindoff. I'm sure I just pulled things too tightly, but I couldn't deal with picking it out at that point. So, I have nothing finished to show.

I finally decided not to fly back to Canada for my vacation in October. It was a really tough choice, as I wanted to see family and friends and go to Rhinebeck and all. But, I'm probably moving back next summer, and I'm buying a condo, so once I get home it will be much more difficult for me to get over here again. So, I'm going to meet up with some friends in Aqaba for the Thanksgiving weekend, and then I'm spending some time in Syria and Turkey. It should be a nice couple of weeks.

Umm, so I don't have much else to report. I have actually been reading a fair bit, so maybe I'll try writing a book report at some point (since I don't have any knitting to show).

FO: Cozy Brown Sweater

So, I started knitting this sweater on a complete and total whim. I traveled back to Canada in March for work, and in a very busy time leading up to my departure, I managed to leave without packing any serious knitting. I largely blame it on not having much on the needles that would be nice to knit in snowy Canada. I did take a skein of Cascade Magnum and needles to make a hat (having discovered during my crazed packing that all of my hats somehow ended up in storage), but I finished that on the plane.



So, I arrived in Kingston with nothing on the needles! (I might be exaggerating, there may have been a sock, but it wasn't much.)

I had come prepared, having scouted the Internet for yarn stores in Kingston ahead of time. Over the week, I visited Gwyn Griffin yarns, and another one that I can't remember right now, and I bought some nice yarns I hadn't seen before.



But in the interests of getting something on the needles quickly, I also went to the T&S (a sort of general store) and bought five balls of Patons Classic Merino in a dark brown (which they call Taupe), a 4.5mm needle, and started swatching.



This sweater is the result, and it worked out pretty well. I had wanted the fronts to be more asymmetrical, but you can actually only see that they are when the zipper is done up all the way to the neck. But it's still a great sweater, light but very warm, and I'm very proud of how I made the cables flow in and out of the ribbing on the sleeves. Also, it was my first effort installing a zipper and I think it looks good.

When I was blocking, I did notice a few small errors (a purl instead of a knit in a place or two), which reminds me that I need to slow down and enjoy the process more, as the final product is nicer when I do that.

Ravelry details

Knit Night

I hosted my first Knit Night in Khartoum last night! So exciting! I didn't knit much, but I gave an intro lesson and strategised on a crochet project. Mostly it was just chatting in a very comfy way. Exactly the thing I needed.

Some days, I just want to go home…

Today is a pretty good day, actually, but there are some not so stellar ones around here. Don’t get me wrong, I love living in a foreign country, seeing and doing things I would never manage at home.

But I miss my friends and family at home, and some of the things I used to do. (Oh how I miss my chiropractor!) So when things don’t work as I would like, I definitely have the occasional homesick day. I don’t usually write then, as I’m sure I’d come off as a big whiner, but there really are some interesting things that happen that tell you a lot about life in Khartoum (Sudan – I mention Khartoum specifically because, as the capital, it is very different from the rest of the country)

Let me tell you about my trials and tribulations with electricity in Khartoum. First, I am part of the lucky few that have access to both air conditioning and a generator. The AC is nice when it works, and then the generator powers lights, the fridge and ceiling fans (but not the AC or other high-demand appliances) when the power goes out. Since the power goes out at least once a day (too much demand on a too small supply, which yes, is somewhat related to the growing number of air conditioners in use), the generator is very nice to have indeed. The generator was on a switch, so it only provided power if someone was in the apartment to turn the switch when the power went out, so it wasn’t ideal, but still better than not having a generator at all. I could never, ever drink milk from my fridge without checking whether or not it had gone off though.

The first problem appeared in mid-July, when suddenly the generator was providing too much electricity to my apartment. Enough energy that it managed to short out eight appliances in one go (including two voltage regulators that are deigned to deal with the spikes of electricity that occur regularly with the city supply, the fridge, and both of my radios (for security))! It took a week or so, but the building management fixed the problem (something to do with the ground wire not being properly connected).

Then, at the beginning of August, the switch that changes the apartment electric supply from city to generator broke. Now, a lot of other people live in this city without a generator, but my building was built with the generator in mind. What else would explain the large, east facing windows in a desert country? So a nice Saturday, my only day off on the Civic holiday weekend, was spent lying on my couch while two to five Sudanese men tried to fix the switch. Unfortunately, more parts were needed, so it took a few more days, but did eventually work out.

But the worst was when the original problem suddenly came back for an encore! Three problems and at least twelve appliances broken, in less than a month! The owner of the apartment (who is not the owner of the building) decided he was tired of dealing with this, and told my employer to fix the problem and bill him for it. So, with our own (contractor) engineer, the problem seems to be solved (fingers crossed, knock on wood, and whatever other superstitions exist, as I haven’t had a good go of it yet). And, as a plus, he installed an automatic switch which allows the generator to kick in automatically! No more fumbling for the switch in the dark and less testing of the milk too!

The Rain in Sudan...

... really does fall on occasion.



And since there's a very limited drainage, most of it sits on the street. It's currently the rainy season here, but this is the first time I've actually seen it rain much during the day. We've had the occasional downpour at night, but nothing else. However, the Nile is quite high right now, so it is definitely raining somewhere south of me.

So, work got a little crazy, as it is wont to do, and I ended up working nine days in a row. Not so tough, but it really cuts into the blogging time. I should have an entire weekend off starting Friday, which will hopefully give me some time to finish a few things up and blog about it too.

firsts

Stolen from Everybody Loves Saturday Night

Who was your first prom date? We don’t really have prom in Canada, but I accompanied my high school boyfriend Shaun to his grad, and he did the same for me when I graduated.

Do you still talk to your first love? Yes, every so often.

What was your first alcoholic drink? Probably tastes of beer. If you mean the first thing I actually finished, I’d have to go with rum and coke.

What was your first job? Babysitter.

What was your first car? My grandpa bought me a ’90 Mercury Topaz when I moved away for university. It was a good little car, and served me well for all the time I had it.

Who was the first person to text you today? My friend Manasi.

Who is the first person you thought of this morning? I woke up from a crazy dream that involved most of by family this morning.

Who was your first grade teacher? Mrs. Elliot. Not my favourite over the years.

Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane? In grade 11, I lived with a family in Quebec for three months as part of an exchange program. It was a great experience, starting with my first ever (big) plane ride to get there. As a kid, we had a pilot friend who was teaching my parents to fly, so I have vague memories of lots of small airplane rides then.

Who was your first best friend and are you still friends? The first one I remember would be Kimberly in grade one. I haven’t seen her since then, as she moved away after that year.

What was your first sport played? I was a dancer and a gymnast as a kid. I didn’t really play any team sports until I started soccer as an adult.

Where was your first sleepover? I would guess Tamilyn’s house, as we were friends at about the right time, but it might have been Jaylyn’s or Megan’s too. It might even have been my house for all I know.

Who was the first person you talked to this morning? Abdu

Whose wedding were you first in? My sister’s. And she is younger than me.

What was the first thing you did this morning? Made coffee? Actually, petting the cat probably came first.

What was the first concert you went to? Meat Loaf, with Cheap Trick as the opener. It was a great concert, and I still love the music now (although I have a limited tolerance for the length of Meat Loaf songs sometimes.)

What was your first tattoo or piercing? My ears were pierced when I was five or so. I don’t remember the exact age, but I remember not really knowing what they were doing for the first one. I cried for a long time before I agreed to get back into the chair for the second one, and I still moved so that the second hole is crooked.

What was the first foreign country you went to? The US, although only for a day ski trip in high school. Italy w as the first one I stayed overnight in. I moved there after my first year of university to work as a nanny.

What was your first run in with the law? Unless you count a speeding ticket, I’ve never had one.

When was your first detention? In grade six, I got lunchtime detention for a week because I passed around a petition to my classmates that said that the undersigned hate insert name here (the class bully). I also remember getting in trouble for staying in and reading during lunch hour in fourth grade, but I don’t think detention was the punishment.

What was the first state you lived in? Umm, none. I was born in Saskatchewan, but lived most of my life in Alberta.

Who was the first person to break your heart? I respectfully decline to answer this question.

Who was your first roommate? I shared a room with my sister as a kid. After that, it would be Kale (?) in my first year university. I’m not sure if I’ve spelled that correctly, that’s how firmly I’ve put her out of my mind. It wasn’t a good experience.

Where did you go in your first limo ride? We took a limo from the airport once in Vancouver. A bunch of us arrived on the same plane, and the per person cost was the same for four in a limo as for two per cab. (Very exciting, I know)

Serendipity

So, I was concerned the other day that I had somehow lost a ball of linen yarn, or maybe used all four balls without realizing it. (Still have no idea what actually happened… I blame the gnomes) I had a back, front and sleeve, but only enough yarn for one more sleeve (which would result in a less than useful cardigan). And since I bought this yarn in Lyon on vacation last year, it wasn’t going to be easy to get more.

Amazingly enough, I have a colleague in my tiny office (of four people) who has family in Paris! When he was going for a visit in June, I prepared a stash card with a yarn sample, quantity and address for La Droguerie, and he brought me yarn! Amazing! (It looks exactly like the other cakes of yarn, so I didn't take more pictures. And I’m beyond caring about dyelot, not that this store has them.) I am so inspired, I cast on for sleeve number two today.

In another serendipitous episode, when I was in Kenya in April, I ordered some clothes to be made for me by the design house Kiko Romeo. I paid a good deposit, with the rest to be paid on collection. At the time, a good friend was living in Nairobi, so I thought we would be able to work out delivery in some way. But, by the time the order was ready, she had moved. (she's currently in Zimbabwe!)

What to do!?! A plane ticket to Nairobi for the weekend is more than the value of the clothes. Well, last weekend I went for a walk with a friend, and was introduced to a Kenyan woman working for the UN who was just about to go home for vacation! She's picking up my clothes for me while she's there!

So, even if it's not always true, sometimes things just work out.

Semi-finished knitted something-or-other

So, I finished knitting something, but I'm not quite sure what it is.



Or, since it's fairly obviously a blanket, maybe the correct expression is I don't know what it's purpose is.

I bought the yarn when I was in Canada in October, and I starting knitting something I was calling the "Airplane Cosy," since I'd spent most of the flights home freezing. I didn't have any of my books/patterns or regular access to the internet, so I was kind of freestyling. And now, I don't know what to do with the results.

I wanted something I could stuff into a bag to keep me warm on the plane. This is both a little too fragile and a little too bulky for that. I suppose I could always tuck it away until I move somewhere a wool blanket would be useful.

If I had planned more, I probably would have made the Tilted Duster. I think this yarn (Ella Rae Palermo) would be a good substitute, but it doesn't respond all that well to frogging. So, I think I'll let it marinate for a while and see.

Hum

So, I don't have any knitting progress to post (or at least none with pictures ready), but I wanted to post anyway. I had family in town last week (my first visitors! Yay!), so this weekend is a lazy, laundry-doing and not much else kind of weekend. And, I'm enjoying season 1 of Heroes (to the point where I'm debating between napping and watching more tv as the show is just so engrossing!)

Umm, yeah, that's about it for today.

Icarus

Pattern: Icarus by Miriam L. Felton
Needles: 3.25mm Clover bamboo needles
Yarn: Fyberspates laceweight mohair (I can’t find the yarn on the site: I won it in the prize draws following the Knitting Olympics.)


Size:
Started: Spring 2007 (I seem to have listed September 2007 on Ravelry, but I’m sure that’s wrong; in September 2007, I had just moved to Khartoum, and there’s no way I started a lace shawl then. Must correct. And maybe look at the blog archives to see when I really started.)
Finished July 2008


Mods: None. I thought about adding another repeat to the quill part (and likely have adequate yarn) but I’m glad I didn’t. I was worried it was going to be small, but the magic of blocking has made it much larger.
Notes: This yarn is lovely, but very sticky (mostly to my hands) at times. I especially had problems moving the yarnovers over the joins in the needles when I was fighting the humidity.


As shown yesterday, I did manage to move a stitch marker or two during the ‘quill’ section. I ended up not using markers for the plum bit and it ended up being easier (I’m not sure if that’s what I mean – maybe more intuitive?).


Blocking this wasn’t really a problem, even if it overflowed my foam squares a bit. I did need a lot of pins (which could totally have been avoided if I had seen brainylady’s smart photo first.


Ravelry info

Things I learned while knitting Icarus

1.Mohair yarn + humidity = bad idea. Look at that fuzz! I started knitting this over a year ago, but quickly put it aside when summer hit in Ottawa. I recently pulled it out for a trip home to ‘Big Sky Country,’ hoping the cooler, dryer summers would help me through. I didn’t quite get it done, but once I returned to Khartoum, I was so far along I just couldn’t put it aside again. But let me tell you, if it’s hot enough out, you make your own ‘humidity.’


2. Stitch markers are your friends, but they still don’t replace counting.


3. Count early and count often, because fixing mistakes in mohair is less fun than it could be.


4. Blocking doesn’t fix everything (unfortunately)

5. I could use a larger blocking surface (and more straight pins, but safety pins did the job in the pinch). But you'll have to wait for the FO post tomorrow to see!

View of Turkey...

...from the Airport.


Starbucks are pretty much the same, all over the world.


I thought this was a novel idea! It's a charging station for cell phones. You pay a fee to lock your cell phone up in a secure box with the appropriate phone charger. I think it would be very popular here, because people are so dependent on their cell phones.


However, I couldn't quite figure out what this sign was all about. Any ideas? (It's above the toilet in a public bathroom.)