Ooh, pretty…

I went to the (perilously nearby) yarn “district” to buy some knitting needles today, and I found what I was looking for – but I also impulsively bought 4 skeins of yarn! They’re all different… A few I can chalk up to “research” for other projects I have in mind, but really I just bought them because they caught my eye.

In other news, the smoke is back, and lots of people I know are complaining of headaches and general malaise… The current conditions on my weather alerts even acknowledge it: “Smoky, 68 degrees.” I haven’t had time to find out why it’s back, I just know that I can feel it – and see it.

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An Undertaking

A couple months ago, when the temperature started to drop in the Southern Hemisphere, and I focused on getting cozy in my newest dwelling, I turned my thoughts back to knitting again. I knitted a scarf and fingerless gloves when I arrived in BA last year, but dropped the hobby completely as the weather got warm, which I imagine happens to a lot of people. This season I got the crazy idea that I wanted to take on a big project – something that would take a while to finish, something that would be memorable, that I would be proud to have completed, and happy to keep for many years. The first, and possibly only, item that came to mind that fit the bill was an afghan (a blanket, not a person, as I had to clarify for someone already!).

So began the process of finding a pattern I liked, yarn I liked, colors I liked, needles that would work, etc. etc. Long story short, the undertaking has begun! I’ve finished one “rotation” of all the colors and thankfully I like the way it looks so far. It takes about 75 minutes to knit one band of color, and I’ve estimated I’ll need about 150 bands of color for a queen-sized afghan, so at this rate, I’ll be finished in… well, hopefully in time for next winter! Here’s a sneak peek:

Want to Knit, Must Knit

It’s funny that a four-hour epic adventure to a feria would result in a post about knitting, but there you go. Yesterday I headed off with two fellow intrepid travelers for the Feria de Mataderos, which was having its 21st birthday and was supposed to be full of gaucho games, pampas fun, and artisan wares. Using my trusty bus guide I determined that we needed to take bus 141, which we did. There were a lot of people on the bus, all of whom I sensed were headed to the fair, but as we neared the spot I thought we needed to get off, no one else budged. James asked a girl where the feria was, and she said la ultima parada—the last stop. So we stayed on the bus. When we got off the bus, we were surrounded by guys shouting “La feria, la feria” and pointing us towards another bus. For some reason James thought we should not take this bus, and headed off on his own, so John and I followed. But from the walkway that went across the highway we quickly determined that there was no fair within walking distance, so we went back down and got on the bus. It cost us more to go 10 blocks than it had to get all the way across the city (an hour ride), but what the heck. When we got into the middle of the chaos of the fair, we had no idea how we were going to find Carolynn, who was supposed to meet us there.

Knitting Needles? Check!

I’m having a hell of a time deciding what to take with me to Argentina, but one thing is now on the “definitely taking” list: my knitting needles. Although I know there are many knitting traditions in South America, especially in Andean communities, I had been wondering whether there are yarn stores in Buenos Aires, whether it’s at all a “hip” thing like it is here. Now that I found this comment online by Kelly, I will head off confidently knitting and purling, and possibly bonding with the locals as a result:

The fact that knitting in Argentina is so intertwined into the mainstream culture (there were 3 places that sold yarn in the small town I lived in for 9 months!) made it all the easier for me to keep on knitting. Thankfully, my time in South America was a happy one and knitting was a very important part of that experience.

I also found this bilingual knitting blog, which means I can read about knitting and practice Spanish at the same time—que bueno! Now I just have to figure out how many sweaters to take… Or maybe I’ll just knit a new one when I need it!

Knitting Extravaganza

My knitting endeavors now have their very own photo gallery, where you can see some of the projects I’ve been working on. Taking pictures of them is often tricky, and unfortunately they rarely do the finished product justice, but it’s nice to be able to keep a record in some way.

New Pictures

Click on over here for some pix celebrating my first East Coast autumn in years, and featuring some of the crazy cats I hung out with over the summer, recent knitting projects, my cousin’s new baby, and my new room in Philly (more apartment pix to be added soon).

I can just tell Zoe loves her new blanket.

Knit, Baby

Pictures of the cutest baby in Maine, and the sweater I knit for her (cross #87 off the list!), are here.