Endpaper Mitts in progress

So, I started a pair of Endpaper Mitts, and the pattern is great! really well written/charted, and I really liked the tubular cast on! Unfortunately, the tubular cast off is not working out so well for me... yet. I've only tried it once, and then didn't want to take the (almost completed) mitt traveling. So, it's been sitting for a bit. Hopefully this weekend I will sit down and work out that final cast off so I can start the second one.


The first picture is a bit dark, but shows the lovely variations in the Sundara sock yarn I'm using. The colours are more true in this photo.

I say that I want to get to the second one, but really, I'll likely cast on for something else. I plan to be in Canada in March, and these are not quite right for the dead of winter, so I think I may make a pair of Bella's mittens instead, and finish number two in this set for next fall.

No news is good news

Umm, so I haven't posted in a bit. I'm actually traveling for work these days, and while I have a pretty regular connection to the Internet, I don't have much to blog about. (You know, since I don't blog about work stuff, and that's about all I'm doing right now.) Then again, I could try to get caught up on some of my random travels over the last three months. As far as I remember, I didn't blog any of Turkey or London.

Ok, here are some pictures of Antalya, Turkey:



After leaving Syria in October, I landed myself in Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast. I met up with a friend from Canada, and we wandered around the Old City for a few days. This is a view over the bay on our first night in town. Mid-October is the end of the tourist season there, so it was much less crowded than the height of summer.



From the same spot, looking in a slightly different direction.



This is Hadrian's Gate, which is one of the few remaining parts of the walls of the old city.



Beautiful up close!



We also spent a few afternoons at St Paul's Place, which had one of the few good lattes I had in Turkey. Turkish coffee was decent, but anywhere I tried to order a latte (cause I like lots of milk with my coffee), it was pretty bad. This place also had a cat that liked to sit on my lap!

Mission Possible 2008 Update

Umm, let's just say that this wasn't my best effort...

1. long socks in Mountain Colours Barefoot, stalled a year ago by the loss of a needle (finish ribbing on two socks) I still need to redo the bind-off on one sock!
2. Souvenir Scarf (graft two pieces together, block) I haven't touched this yet...
3. Baby surprise jacket (purchased yarn for several, need to make at least one) finished!
4. Icarus Shawl finished
5. Samus cardigan (rework to fit me or gift) Still waiting
6. my own scarf finished!
7. Gatsby Girl (sew arms to body, crochet neck edging, add buttons) hopefully in time to wear in March! finished! on time too!
8. Colourwork Vest (finish or frog) no progress
9. baby blanket and the box of grandma's acrylic (?) no progress
10. make a top that fits from some of my extensive bamboo yarn collection I started a Stargazer, but didn't get far...
11. finish spinning the orange roving from Rhinebeck 2005 and knit something from it no progress
12. catalog and organise stash!

Happy New Year!

Wow! I had such plans for posting over my time away from work, but it didn't turn out at all like I had planned. I will hopefully catch up on my travels later this week, but for now, just a few things to post.

1. My New Year's Resolution: This year, I will choose more consciously how I use what free time I have. I don't necessarily work too long as far as hours go, but the subject matter can sometimes be all consuming. As a result, I tend to come home and collapse on the couch at the end of the day and turn my brain off; as a result, I don't get enough exercise, eat well enough or actually do the things I want to get done. Tonight, I made stirfry, which was pretty impressive for me. I even bought broccoli, which is not local produce, so I could have something green!

2. My cat is crazy! She is usually pretty standoffish, except for a day or so after I get back from traveling. I got back on Friday, and she's been stuck to my side like glue since. After a few hours of sleep Friday morning, I unpacked. Here is my cat taking over the Noro Iro cowl I made while I was away.



She's been sleeping beside me, or on my stuff, ever since. I'm not complaining seriously, since I love it. The only thing that would be better would be if she would sit on my lap. It's just unusual.

FO: Snowy Lady Sweater

Or my Turkey Sweater!



So, this is probably the most inexpensive sweater I've ever made. I bought five balls of DK weight wool when I was in Turkey for 15 YTL, which was somewhere in the range of $11 CAD at the time, and it made a whole sweater! The ballband says it was manufactured in Turkey for sale in Germany. Granted, this isn't next-to-the-skin soft, but it works nicely as a layering piece.



The buttons aren't amazing, so they're not affixed directly to the sweater. I attached the buttons to smaller ones that can be pushed through the garter stitch. When I want to wear it with a brooch, I can just take the other buttons off.



Notes: (ravelry)
Yarn: Ayda Saf Yün, 100% wool, 200m to 100g
Needle: 4.0mm
Gauge: 20.5 stitches to 10cm
Size: XL to get XS proportions
Mods: none

Eid al-Adha

So, we've just finished Eid al-Adha (also known as the Festival of Sacrifice or the Big Eid) in Sudan, so I thought I'd write a little bit about what has been going on.

The Muslim calendar is lunar, so the dates of holidays aren't fixed. Because the lunar calendar is shorter than the solar calendar, holidays fall about eleven days earlier each year. This year's Eid started on December 8th (which actually means at sunset on Dec. 7), and it runs for three or more days. Eid al-Adha follows the Hajj, which is the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The main event of the Big Eid is the sacrifice of a goat or sheep at some point during the holiday. It forms the basis for a big meal for the family and some of the meat should also be given to neighbours and people in need.


Even my local massage place got into the spirit of things, as I found when I went for a massage on Sunday evening. They had a sheep tethered in the middle of the garden, and one of the resident cats was very curious.


Although he was pretty nervous, I did get close enough to pat the sheep a bit. As you can see from the photos, the local sheep don't grow much of a fleece (but they do have a long tail!) I don't think I'll be able to spin yarn from local fleece. :(

I didn't take any photos, but on my way to work the morning of Eid, there were men sacrificing animals in front of their houses, and you could smell fires burning all day long. As it's a time for family, I didn't get to experience the feast for myself, but I did get a day off work!

Some Christmas Spirit

I saw this on Concateknit's blog, and thought I'd get in on the Christmas spirit!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Well, I was very poor with the wrapping this year, since everything had to be sent by mail. I’m really working on using cloth gift bags, and recycling wrapping materials as much as possible.
2. Real tree or Artificial? I love a real tree, but I haven’t had a tree at all in a few years. There are no pine trees here, so it won’t work out this year either.
3. When do you put up the tree? I think the beginning of December should be the first sign of decorations.
4. When do you take the tree down? Shortly after Christmas, hopefully before going back to work.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don’t actually remember getting it, but I still have my first Cabbage Patch kid that I got when I was three.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My parents are pretty tough, as they tend to just buy the things they need and want.
8. Easiest person to buy for? I don’t think I have anyone easy to buy for right now, as the ease of purchase comes from proximity. When you only see someone once or twice a year, it can be hard to pick out the things they'll really like.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. It was a gift from my cousins two years ago, and it’s simple but beautiful.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I like to mail cards… It’s actually almost the only thing I do these days.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Several years ago, I remember not being pleased with getting pyjamas (my sister asked for them, and we both got them), but I’m still wearing them today, so it obviously wasn’t all bad.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version), although A Muppet Christmas Carol is also good.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually in November, although I haven’t been doing a lot of gifting over the last few years.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Turkey!
16. Lights on the tree? Yes, although I’ve developed a fondness for all one colour over multi-colour
17. Favorite Christmas song? I have to go with a whole album: Kenny Rogers Christmas!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I almost always travel for Christmas, as my family is not nearby. This year, I won’t even make it home, but I still plan to travel a bit just after Christmas. I’m thinking of London right now.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yep.
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The commercialism, without a doubt.
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like white lights, but have been collecting ornaments since I was a kid, so there’s really know theme to them.
23. What do you want for Christmas this year? I have a small list of things I’d like, but there’s nothing big.
24. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel
25. Favorite Christmas dinner? I require turkey, potatoes and stuffing with gravy. All other dishes are optional. This year I’ll be hosting a potluck at my place several days before the big day.

Damascus, Syria

I was mostly in Damascus to visit friends, so I didn't do a lot of sight seeing, but I have a few fun pictures.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of horse riding, which was one of the most random things I did. I had never ridden English style before, and it was very off-putting to not have a horn and trying to learn how to post.

Anyway, here's what I saw...


The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus


First, we need to go to the 'Putting on Special Clothes Room'


and here I am inside, wearing my 'special clothes'.


A portion of the old city walls


I just thought this was a cool building. I believe it's the municipal water building.


Inside the craft souq, we stopped at a store where they do these intricately painted panels in different shapes and sizes.


This is an example of tile work from the Takiyya as-Suleimaniyya, very near the Artisanat where I bought some lovely silver jewelry.

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!