Tres Chic Veronique

You know this knitting slump everybody's been talking about? Well, I'm battling it. I'm combatting my slump with another illness: startitis.
I have quite a few projects on the needles right now. What I've been most excited about, and what's tossed every other project to the side this week, is Yarntini Mimosa socks. The yarn was my first purchase at PureKnits, and let me tell you, Yahaira made me feel pretty special: the yarn was wrapped in lovely paper and ribbon, and I got a personal note! (Nope, the Phildar Green Cardie hasn't progressed since you saw it last).
Now, I was itching to cast on, but I also realized that I am severely afflicted with Second Sock Syndrome. So I boldly decided to make 2 socks at once! The first thing to do was split the hank in 2. I wound my 430 yd hank into a center pull ball and counted how many repeats I had: 32. Then, I rewound my ball into 2 center pull balls with 16 repeats each. (I also started knitting the Lotus Blossom Shawl in Habu's Kusaki Zome silk for my mother, see?).
Finally, I found a cute stitch pattern in Barbara Walker's third book and zoooom! The next thing you know, I was turning the heels. (Can you see the Gentlemen's Fancy Sock with Lozenge Pattern is jealous of all the attention I'm lavishing on the Mimosa socks? And to think I have to make a 2nd grey sock just like it....).



What's that? You can't see my "Elegant ribbing" very well?
And then, to top it all off, I went to the Point last night and bought some South West Trading Company Soy Silk yarn... My goal is to whip up a short, drapey bolero/capelet, something similar to Julsey's Anthropologie-inspired top. I hesitated between Soy Silk and Misti's Cotton/Silk, but Helane sold me on the Soy Silk when she said that it would feel like my favorite worn-in t-shirt...
If only I had the time to knit with all this yarn that I buy!

That's what the guy sitting next to me at the movies said to me.
I was quietly knitting on my Carmen socks , and this guy kept on turning his head to look at my knitting. I felt very smug, and was about to whisper "they're socks!" in order to answer the question he didn't dare ask. Boy, was I wrong. He spent the rest of the movie hunched forward so he couldn't see my moving hands in his peripheral vision. (Before you ask: no, I did not stop knitting. And, yes, I came up with all sorts of witty come-backs during the rest of the movie, but he never spoke to me again).
Edited to add: I went to the AMMI (museum of the moving image, in Astoria). They are serious about their movie-watching there. Eating and drinking is not allowed in the theater! They're having an Altman retrospective, and I saw Nashville.

Just like Martha, I have a Knitted Artifact to present:

This is an alpaca sweater my grand-mother knitted for me when I was in high school. Usually, my Mamie would take me to the yarn stores, and we'd flip through the magazines and pick a pattern. This was not an easy process, let me tell you. There are plenty of gorgeous sweaters that she would flat out refuse to knit. At the time, I was pretty pissed off, but now, of course, I get it... I probably wanted the sweaters that are a PITA to knit (either boring or technically difficult). Anyway, at one point, I decided I didn't want any novelty yarm (she made me a cabled really long sweater in the 80s with eyelash yarn!), I wanted to go back to the classics. Hence the alpaca and the clean shape.
I never wore this sweater often, so I'm thinking of unraveling it and making something else. I might even dye the yarn. I'm thinking RED. What do you think?

In other news, I have been knitting, but the new job is still occupying a lot of brain space and there's no room for knitting in it right now. But I did finish one front of my Phildar Granny Smith cardie, which I then sewed to the back and the one sleeve that I have.
Man, ribbing looks terrible when it's not worn. I was consoled by Kate Gilbert's pattern in the new Summer IK: it's all 2:2 ribbing, and the smallest size is 11" wide! Unstretched, of course. He he...

My London-based Secret Pal Alice struck again! I got another DNA-based goodie: a necklace laced with gold A,T, C, Gs (and lots of colored beads too). She's got a great tutorial up for knitting an i-cord with beads.

OK, it's hard to see the letters. Here's a closeup: See the G and the T?

As you know, DNA sequences are composed of those 4 letters. Of course, I ran my sequence through a database, you know, just to see what gene I was wearing...
Here's my sequence: GCCCAGACACTAGTTAGTGT.
Here are the top 3 matches:

1. Oryza sativa chromosome 10 BAC OSJNBa0055O03.
2. Mus musculus chromosome 6, clone RP23-461C23.
3. Medicago truncatula clone mth2-13k17.

Hmm, no known genes, just stuff that's been sequenced but hasn't been studied yet. I'm wearing a mystery gene! (Actually, it's probably junk DNA, but it's really pretty junk DNA, don't you think? And just in case you're thinking that I'm insulting my Secret Pal, let me clarify that junk DNA is good: only species with junk DNA have the potential of evolving. Junk is something you want).

That's the goodies from England. Now, on to the goodies from France! Here's my haul, all from Phildar. I got some pink Phil Lin (color Lupin) to make a little bolero, amethyst Canasta to make uh, another bolero, and navy blue Aviso (color: marine) to make a jacket-looking cardigan (ha! you thought I was going to say "bolero", didn't you?).

Sorry for the crappy flash photo. I haven't been able to take daylight pictures as I've started a new job. You know how it is when you start a new job: you feel like you're on your toes all day long, trying to remember everybody's names, as well as where the bathroom is. But fortunately there's a steep learning curve: I only got lost in the maze-like hospital the first couple of days. (OK fine, today was day 3, but still, I didn't get lost today!). Anyway, it's taking all my energy. So much so, in fact, that I didn't knit a stitch last night! Can you believe it?

Oh, and for those of you who liked the picture of my high school, the Lycee des Pontonniers, here's another pic:

I went back to my home town, and here is what I saw:
my high school:


a lot of shopping bags (which miraculously all fit into my tiny little suitcase!):


My brother's appartment building (I can tell he's still sleeping because his red curtains are drawn):


The Strasbourg Cathedral:


A village-like view from right behind my father and step-mother's appartment, right in the middle of town!:


Lots of cycling lanes:


Then, we spent the weekend in the Vosges mountains. This is the heart of the alsacian vineyards:


We had dinner in a little village restaurant (vegetarians, avert your eyes!). Can you guess what I ate? I'll give you one hint: in alsacian, it's called "schwina zingala".


We took a walk to Trout Lake (Lac des truites):


The view from the house. The neighbor's cows graze on my dad's property!


Then it was back to Paris. The Gentlemen's sock with Lozenge Pattern and I contemplated our plane at Charles de Gaulle airport:


And the next thing I knew, I was back in NYC: