Polar Bear Dip 2012

Yesterday we did the annual Polar Bear Dip in Lake Padden. My husband got it into his head that he wanted to do it, the boy eagerly agreed, and I decided I wasn't going to get left out. We were first-timers, and I was astonished by the number of crazy people in Bellingham who were willing to do this. The parking lots at the lake were filled and cars were parked all along the road--there were probably twice as many people there as on the hottest summer day. This is just a handful of the people who were there.

Some people dressed for the occasion.

It was the low 40s so we waited till 11:59 on the countdown clock to strip down. Then we dashed down to the water. My philosophy was to think as little as possible, so I splashed in till I was deep enough to not belly flop on gravel, and then flung myself in. Then I got the hell out. Husband and boy were still wading slowly out by the time I got back to the towels.

It was kind of ... fun? Did I just say that?

I also managed to finish a shawl--Kleio by Rosemary Hill. Love it, though the knitted-on edging took me as long as the rest of the shawlette. Here it is blocking.

Happy New Year!

Angee

Ravelympics inspired me to finish a pair of socks that I started in September. Why yes, I have a severe case of second sock syndrome. The other pair I was intending to finish for the Ravelympics was started last winter.



This pair was knitted from a limited edition 8-ply (9-ply? it's been a while) merino yarn. Specs (330 yds, 100g) make it sound like a sport yarn, but it acts more like a fingering. I used U.S. 1.5 needles, but probably U.S. 1 would've been better.

I'm trying not to buy limited-edition yarn any more. I want consistency in my lineup, but sometimes curiosity gets the better of me. At least I have three kilos of this stuff. It knits up into a nice firm fabric, which I really like. Colorway is Copper Patina, a very springtime colorway.

the last custom of 2008

I mailed a package to a Canadian customer today. Had to go to the post office since it was an international item. I stood in line for 40 minutes. Ugh. I've decided not to do any more international shipments until the holiday insanity is over. This isn't a complaint about the post office, though. I really appreciate the postal staff in town, though--they are always pleasant and helpful, and my regular mail carrier has delivered and taken away an enormous number of parcels in the last two years. Lots of people have horror stories about their shoddy local service, and I am so grateful to live in a place where I never have cause for complaint.

Anyway, here's what was inside the package. I squeezed this one in when another custom order got delayed, and at the same time someone purchased some yarn for me and asked if I had time to knit it up.

This is my new Coldfire colorway, kettle-dyed on Marr Haven wool. It was much more muted than on my Shooting Star sock yarn, probably because the dye struck so much faster on the superwash wool. The colors didn't have a chance to meld together. Also, I think the Marr Haven absorbs a lot of dye.



This is my second project with Marr Haven. I was struck again by the similarities to Sweet Grass Wool's worsted Targhee. They are both mule spun, so I wonder how much the processing accounts for it. Both have a soft, furry texture but not much elasticity.

back to the Stone Age

You never really appreciate high-speed internet until you don't have it any more. Since Black Friday, my DSL connection has been ridiculously slow. I couldn't even get a connection on Saturday. I called on Sunday to see if there was some sort of problem; the automated service said there were no network issues, but at that moment my connection was mysteriously restored, and I haven't had any problems with my ISP since. Hmmmm.

But it's still slow. Like, dial-up slow. Maybe even 2400 baud slow, where you can see individual letters typing themselves across the screen. My shopping style has definitely been cramped. And now that I'm trying to upload and, worse yet, edit photos for the Venus Vanguard stocking tomorrow, I am really feeling the pain. I prefer how Picnik handles color corrections to my desktop photo editing programs, but it is taking forever to load photos, and the batch edit option hasn't worked for me for weeks now so Picnik has to relaunch every time for each photo.

Since it was so pokey, I thought I'd give Adobe Photoshop Express another try. Still don't like it. It took even longer than Picnik to launch. And the editing options seem much less flexible and intuitive than Picnik's. For instance, exposure and contrast are bundled together; you can't adjust them separately as far as I can tell. I would definitely not call it Photoshop Lite; it's more like Photoshop Zero.

I did manage to edit my photos of my new soaker ornaments. I think they're pretty darn cute. Though they're not quite shaped like my normal-sized soakers. I am having a hard time resisting the urge to rip them out and redo them. I happened to buy a Christmas wreath today, and it made a nice backdrop for the ornaments.





I also dyed a new colorway this week, Coldfire. It's inspired by C.S. Friedman's trilogy of the same name. Silver, frosty and royal blues, and deep, deep black. I really like it.

wrist warmers

I decided not to knit a soaker--the group has been running ads on Ravelry and perhaps other places, so I didn't want to limit my potential customer base to cloth diaper users with little girls who wear size mediums. So I knitted some wrist warmers instead:





I like 'em. I started making myself a pair two years ago, when I was working on the pattern, but I've only managed to make one. Is it wrong for me to hope they don't sell?

The link to the auction is here:
http://hyenacart.com/prod_details_auction.php?id=47370&vid=1253

recent customs

I've been in the middle of four or five different projects lately, what with waiting for items to dry so I can embellish them, needing something I can work on in the dark when I put the boy down for the night (I sit with him with the lights off until he falls asleep), and procrastinating about weaving in ends. But I finally managed to finish up two of them.






The top one is knitted from aran BFL, hand-dyed in my Pearl colorway and embellished with my flowering plum design. The second is the paler variation of Banana Fish, dyed by wonderful Kimberly at Beemer Knits, also on aran BFL, and finished with my chainstitch cuffs. I wish the photos were better--I'd love to go to a Crate & Barrel photo shoot and see how the pros do photo styling.