Aviator for Charlie

Becky wasn't the only one for which I came bearing Malabrigo gifts. Charlie received this Aviator hat made out of Malabrigo worsted using the Aviatrix hat pattern.

I am glad he got this hat when he did because at 8 months he is already filling out the whole dang thing! I thought I had made it kind of big and he might need to grow into it, but no no no. Charlie has a big noggin and is having no issue wearing this hat on its second button setting.

When I was there, Becky also took out a sweater another knitter in Charlie's life had made him a while back. Becky was thinking perhaps he might fit into it now. As it turns out, he is nearly maxing that one out, too!

Botticelli Herbivore for Becky

Becky and I had agreed to hold off on exchanging Christmas gifts until I was in SLC. I am glad we did because I got to give her the shawl I had knit for her and take a few shots of her modeling it.
This is the Herbivore pattern by Stephen West knit in Malabrigo Sock in the color called Botticelli Red. Ravelry project link. This yarn did one of those numbers where it jumped off the shelf and into my shopping basket even though it wasn't on my shopping list. I loved the color, the name of the color and generally love working with everything Malabrigo makes.

I enjoyed knitting this shawl so much that I started another one as my knitting project for the trip. It made for the perfect mix of mindless knitting without being coma inducing.

Stephen West's patterns seem to have a crisp elegance about them. I enjoyed the unique shape that resulted from the placement of the increase sections.

The twisted stitches in the ribbing look quite smart after blocking.

I used a different bindoff technique than the pattern specifies and I really wish I had taken notes. I have already forgotten which one I settled on. I tried a handful of options before I found the right one. I guess I will have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to binding off the second one. Besides the bindoff, the only other modification I made was to keep knitting until I ran out of yarn. The shawl seemed like it would have been too small if I had stopped at the stated measurements. I am glad I kept at it, because I think the finished sized worked great for Becky.

SLC in January

Over MLK weekend, I flew southwesterly to visit Becky and her little Charlie in Salt Lake City. Becky and I met shortly after we had both moved to Boston and both bid adieu to Boston at the same time. While we were there, we shared a great many wonderful memories and many, many hours of knitting time.

She and her family now live in Salt Lake City where views like the one above are everywhere you turn.

It was fun to meet her little Charlie, to see her hometown and to partake of some winter fun. Although, I use the term "winter" generously as high temps were in the 40s and 50s in the valley while I was there. It was grey and rainy nearly the whole weekend, but we took advantage of a window of nice weather on Saturday to head into the mountains.

I have never been snowshoeing and wanted to give it a try. We chose a trail in the Wasatch National Forest. Our trailhead was off of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The views were gorgeous and so very hard to capture in pictures. To give you some scale, here is a picture of some trees with little bitty Becky visible.

We ventured off the trail to play in the powder (versus the packed snow on the trail) and came upon this running water.

After we got tired and hot enough (we were so overbundled!), we headed back down to the car and drove up to the lodge at the Snowbird Ski Resort for lunch. As it turns out, not only do my ears hate altitude changes in airplanes, they hate the altitude changes in the mountains too. Basically the whole weekend (and even now) my ears didn't adjust to the altitude leaving my head feeling like its underwater. Because of this and the cloudy skies, we skipped the aerial tram ride with its 3000 ft ascent in 10 minutes. I think my head might have exploded if we had gone on it.

Besides our big outing to the mountain, we did littler jaunts out of the house scheduled around Charlie's routines. Props to all of the parents of young ones out there. This weekend has shown me once again that keeping a baby fed, clean, rested and happy is a pretty consuming task!

We got to partake of some delicious teas and lunch at the Beehive Tea Room after checking out the yarn offerings of Blazing Needles.

And enjoyed an afternoon tea at Caffe D'Bolla before heading for lunch at It's Tofu.

We walked around Temple Square and checked out the little museum that explained the history of the building of the Temple and showcased a scaled model with explanations of what happens inside the building.

A lot of the things we tried to do were thwarted by it being the off-season and a holiday weekend. We tried to go to the Salt Lake City Library to look at the building and climb up to the viewing tower. Despite having checked the website before we went, we still found it closed. I got to peak through a fence to get a little bit of the view. Monday was the best day I had for viewing the surrounding mountain ranges because the inversion that had been present over the weekend had lifted.

I may not have been able to see the library view on my last day in Salt Lake City, but the view when taking off from the airport was magnificent. I believe this shot features the Great Salt Lake. Salt Lake City is a pretty city, indeed and an amazing place to be if you like to be active outside.

Fanny vs Jack: Battle of the Cat Bed Part 2

Fanny got a new cat bed/scratching pad. It wasn't in the house more than a day before Jack tried to commandeer it. She was chilling out on it when he came over and plopped down like he owns the place. So far she hasn't put up a stink about sharing, but she sure was giving him the stink eye.

After I took that first picture, I remembered that Jack has a history of trying to steal her bed. The second picture is from 3 years ago. Also, we live somewhere different now but Tchazo still does the heating vent thing I explained in that post. They are older dogs now, but they are up to the same tricks!

And, for the record, our dogs currently have 3 options for dog beds/pillows in this house. I think he just likes being a big Jack on a little bed.

Bring-Along Slipper Socks

I have a few more Christmas items to share, but I haven't given them to the recipient yet. So, for now, how about a little selfish knitting?

Minnesota is a cold, cold place in the winter. Much of the socializing that is done in the winter is done in people's homes. It is a common thing to bring your slippers with you when you go to a friend or relatives house. My old pair of slippers had gotten completely worn out and I found myself without a bring-along pair.

So, I knitted up the Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays, a pattern which I have been wanting to make for ages. I then found some lovely, lined suede soles and some leftover sock yarn. I went to work attaching the soles with a blanket stitch.

Attaching the soles was tricky! I tried to pin them into place, but it didn't work very well. I ended up getting the job done by trying them on, then taking them off, sewing a little bit and trying them on again. Sometimes I even sewed them while I was wearing them.

In the end, I am really happy with how they turned out. They are not perfectly placed in the soles, but they work just fine. And they fold up and fit into my bag quite nicely. They have already kept my feet warm and happy at a few houses and will be coming with me when I go to visit Becky in Utah this weekend.

Ravelry project link

Inspired by this project