I love this yarn.
You know how it is with a yarn that is just so beautiful, every few rows you lay it on your lap and run your hands over it. I pull on the bobbles and lace, and admire the softness. Wonderous good it is, and a pleasure to knit. The two ends are done, and I’ll make a decision about what lace to put in the middle sometime after I’ve triumphantly knit the baby sweater. I have stuffed the cotton into a clear plastic zipper bag prison and sent it to the rear of the stash. It has been replaced by a decent, upstanding, reliable wool purchased from my local this morning.
I may also have come home with a fair bit of baby wool…..
but we shall not speak of this, or how much baby wool this means I have in total. (I love 100% wool for babies. I really do. Discuss)
A while ago Aubergine sent a comment about the Dublin Bay Socks. He wrote:
I can’t help but wonder about those dublin bay ones tho- they don’t look any longer since any of the other photos. Could it be you’re just taking the socks with you and _not_ actually working on them?
Ahem. A careful forensic examination of the photographs will reveal that while progress on the Dublin Bay socks is shamefully slow, they are actually a little bit bigger in each photo. I admit that I’m not making good time, but it’s not like I’m not working on them. The problem is that they are my bus knitting. This is a problem because it’s summer, and I don’t take the bus. I ride my bike. Me and my little harlotites are in training for our annual family vacation which is always an epic bike ride.
This will be our third serious bike trip. The first year (when our youngest was 8) We rode our bikes from Toronto to Niagara falls. (200 km) Last summer we looked for more of a challenge and rode the 400 km from Toronto to Gananoque (The Thousand Islands) and carried our camping gear on our bikes, camping in Provincial Parks all the way there.
This year, after what should be a fabulous trip to Newfoundland to see Joe’s family, we will meet Ken in PEI with the bikes and ride our way through the province. (Camping all the way) I know this sounds nuts, but I assure you that it is fun. It is a rather complicated way to wrangle a trip to Fleece Artist, but a Harlot’s gotta do what a Harlot’s gotta do.
Expect progress on the Dublin Bay socks to be slow as long as we are riding 20-40 km a day to get ready. I’ve explained all this to the socks, and they are looking forward to the Maritimes.
More details later, but for now….
I’ve been promised a recipe for cherry cake, and discovered that a 2mm needle makes an excellent cherry pitter.
Yarn Harlot
Mmmmmm… cherry cake. Love the thought of the Harlot carefully poking cherry pits out with a 2mm needle. I think a picture of that is in order.
Now I also understand the bodaciously ripped Harlot calves (insert wolf whistle here). That’s one heck of a vacation. Next summer, Greta, an as yet unknown number of knitbloggers and I are heading to PEI for an Anne of Green Gables vacation. I doubt we’ll be biking.
Oh no! I suddenly realized that your vacation means at least a week without blogging! What’s a Harlot blogstalker to do?
Are you biking home as well? My little brother is biking to Nova Scotia this summer and taking the train back. I hope you do the same, otherwise it’ll be considerably more than a week without blogging! (Geez, we readers are so selfish and one-track-minded, eh).
I also selfishly hope that your vacation overlaps with mine, the middle two weeks in August. That way I won’t be stricken quite so much with Harlot longings while I’m knitting away next to my tent in Pennsylvania without electricity and internet access. If I know I’m missing stuff, I’ll go nuts.
Jodi, it’s not a selfishness thing, it’s a public service thing.
Stephanie, you must be mad to even consider undertaking a trip of that level of rusticness/ rusticosity/ whatever. Of course, that comes from one whose idea of roughing it means 3 stars, instead of 4. I’m sure you won’t let us down though. You’ll be taking a laptop, lots of extra batteries, and a satellite uplink doohicky so that you can keep us posted, RIGHT?
A week without blogging???!!! And here I get antsy when you haven’t posted by the time I’m sitting at my desk for lunch. Say it’s not so!!! I’m all for rusticness, although I prefer mine to be accompanied by a canoe (one could knit while another paddles!) rather than a bike – one of those satelite uplink doohickies can’t add that much weight to your pack!
Seriously – you are my favorite blog since I have become hooked on reading a them recently. Some have gone by the wayside already and off my bookmarks, but yours is at the top of the list!
I second Nathania’s remark about the photo. You can’t throw something juicy like that and expect us to just imagine it, do you? (Yes, the pun is intentional…)
A week without the blog, I’ll have to be careful or someone may find the correlation between that and a sudden increase in work productivity around here.
How wonderful! I have 5 middle of the road Trek bikes hanging in my garage. One for each family member and my son and I seem to be the only one who use theirs. When the kids were younger we would go more places on bikes. Not now when they have their own lives. (they think!) I ride to work most days and try to get out on little jaunts. Weather has been horrible here in central PA so that has been stopping me in my tracks. What will you do if you encounter bad weather with the whole crew in tow? I’ve posted about how I could possibly knit while I ride and I got a comment back about the knitter who skates and knits ; )
And I thought those calf muscles were from treadling at a spinning wheel!
Your trip sounds great. I love Newfoundland. I wish I could bike like that but it hurts my knees too much. I do have a dream/plan of doing a walking trip in Great Britian one of these decades.
Oh-the wonderful memories your kids will have! I’m starting to wonder if I have given mine any good ones, you’re making me feel guilty. Alas, we have spent hours biking and other fun things, I think they will live without the whole bike from campsite to campsite thing, haven’t camped in a few years. To think, I have turned into a spoiled pampered thing-where did that camping chick go to?
BTW-I love wool for babies. Usually the baby wools are so treated and washable that they are plenty soft. Best not to put into a child’s head that they may feel scratchy. Probably they won’t.
And yes-though I work out and work out, I am not genetically engineered to have calves like yours. I am forever envious!
Just don’t forget to give that #2 needle a serious wash job before you get it anywhere near wool. Unless you want Cherry colored yarn, I guess…
Glad you like the alpaca. You and I will get together and you will wear your stole, and I will wear my hooded alpaca sweater and we will rejoice. And be warm.
Now about those Dublin Bay Socks… We haven’t seen them for a few days- I’m beginning to wonder if maybe they’ve met the same fate as the Entrelac socks…
Yes, Yes, it all makes sense now – take them to exciting places, feed them their favorite foods, and then nothing. Will we ever see them again???
I’m knitting a shawl, (like the one my mum gave you for your birthday) and after every row I have to hold it up and smooth it out and admire it! Really, I’m more interested in wool and fleece than boys (not kidding)!!
Oooo! I love Newfoundland– in fact, my husband and I honeymooned there two years ago. We were planning to go back this summer, but we bought an old moneypit of a house instead. Perhaps not the wisest decision. Enjoy your trip!
I’ll be missing PEI this summer…. have camped in the National Park at Cavendish for many years! (This year we’ll be making memories with our 3 grown children, their husband, wife, and significant other on a Grand Canyon rafting trip. But they all have many memories of the PEI beach, and that’s where I taught my daughter to knit one rainy summer! Enjoy the trip, and blow a kiss to the Island for me!
I love wool for babies, that’s all my kids wore. They had wool sweaters, soakers, socks. I threw them in the washer on gentle cold, and laid them flat to dry. Took less time than the diapers. As they got older they stayed in wool, layered. I never heard a complaint. And the oldest had the most sensitive skin I have ever seen. I had to re-rinse everything, no softeners, no plastic, only Ivory on his skin…on and on. Once a trip to the doc cost me $145 in perscriptions because I put Pampers on him for 1 day. And he was and is dressed in wool still after 24 years.
Barb
Oh goody! Copious notes from the PEI adventure, please….. Have FUN!
O.k., the yarns and the knitting are fabulous, but I’m in red envy over those sour cherries. Sour cherry pie, sour cherry jam (my absolute favorite), cherry bread – yum. I scanned http://www.epicurious.com, and there are some “must tries” there. Sour cherry crostata, sour cherry salsa – why, oh why, can I not find sour cherries anymore! I’ll be living vicariously and expect a mouth-watering report. 🙂
i envy you!that sounds like a wicked good trip.we drove down to Nfld 2 summers ago and we loved it.we drove and didn’t stop untill we got the Nova Scotia lol.next year we are going to go to PEI too.have you ever thought of getting one of those old fashion hooked rug kits to do?they are beautiful down there ;0)
I go on vacations only in my dreams now. The animals would never forgive me if I waved goodbye to the farm for a week or so and told them to fend for themselves. It’s been about 12 years since I’ve been in Newfoundland. Those calves of yours are going to get a workout, no doubt. Note: never go to PEI over a long weekend without a reservation!!! Been there, done that (with four kids and a dog!) In my defence, it was hubby’s bright idea that we should stay overnight at the last minute. We lived in NB at the time, and we ended up driving home. No room at the inn syndrome… Not easily forgotten.
I love the Fleece Artist. Kathrine does some amazing stuff with colour. I have a batch of mohair in this amazing midnight blue with silver streaks. I still haven’t found the perfect pattern to do it justice. I just bring it out every so often to admire it and pat myself on the back that I managed to snag it before some undeserving soul walked off with it!
Have a great trip!1
Oooh, lemme know if you actually make it to the Fleece Artist – I live nearby.
Let me know if you need another sour cherry recipe – I have a great (and simple one) that I love.
jas
When are you coming to Nova Scotia? If you have time, you should come down to the Annapolis Valley, which is about 1 hour from Metro Halifax. The little valley that I live in, the Gaspereau Valley is the ultimate on and off road bike riders dream. They have road races and touring along the river spring, summer and fall.
And then there are the wineries, antique stores, chairmakers, tubing down the river, restaurants and theatre in Wolfville, Grand Pre Historic site, Tangled Garden, Just US fairly traded coffee merchants, incredible books stores, B&B’s, British motorcycle parts suppliers, Farmers Market, and to top it all off, for the yarn addicts, there is Gaspereau Valley Fibres. Think 100 year old barn, Cotswold sheep, colour, texture, and two fibre obsessed women.
I’d love to meet you…
Julie Rosvall
Gaspereau Valley Fibres
http://www.gaspereauvalleyfibres.ca
I am so glad I read this entry. I am totally enjoying the blog as a whole, but those baby yarns? Reminded me that I have 10 skeins each in three pastel(ish) colors of lace weight yarns somewhere in my apartment! Just as I was contemplating going out to buy some yarn, thanks to your pic I realized *I have a ton* that I’d bought for that express purpose! For megacheap, at least 15 months ago from eBay, because I knew one day I’d learn about and want to knit lace.
It’s like free yarn day today! 😀 And I love those socks. And the calves. Major envy about those legs. ;D