Swatch This!

So, since we last chatted, I turned 33 and we had a national holiday. Woo! I also had two softball games, so surely you can understand why maybe I don’t have so much knitting to show off.

Since I took this picture yesterday, I managed to put another four inches or so of hood on it. It was easy, since I happened upon a used complete Buffy boxed set, and have been in warm, snuggly Buffy heaven.I did cast on for another project, but seriously, I casted on. There’s nothing to see yet. My dress that I was so excited to make is still a heap of fabric on my sewing table, but whatever, right? There are only so many hours in every summer, and I’m spending this one soaking every one up!

I think I’ve made my distaste for picking up stitches clear, so anybody who’s read my blog probably knows what choice I made when faced the decision whether to pick up stitches for a hood or finish a pair of socks.

These are Coupling by Deb Barnhill from the Summer, 2007 issue of Knitty. I used Cascade’s new sock yarn, Heritage. First, allow me to gush about this yarn! I popped into Purl Diva before my vacation in search of a sock yarn I wouldn’t be attached to, just in case my knitting got confiscated on the plane. I was drawn to Heritage because it’s completely solid, a quality that’s surprisingly hard to find in sock yarn. It’s also very soft and squishy, so I decided to give it a chance. The resulting fabric is both soft and strong (isn’t that a tagline from a deodorant commercial?), with great stitch definition. I am absolutely going to buy more of this yarn!



As per usual, I just used the chart for this pattern and put it on top of a plain old toe up sock. I had fun making these, and I love wearing them! Of course, we’re mired in summer right now, so I won’t actually be wearing these for some time, but they are so comfortable, I’m praying for Fall. The stitch pattern has a lot of stretch, ensuring a perfect fit.

I had an issue with the Ribby Pulli, where I discovered after a night of knitting that I had misread the pattern and had to rip back 18 rows! I meant to take a photo, but forgot before I ripped it. Then I thought I’d take a picture before I reknit, but before I knew it, the reknitting was done! As I mentioned before, I’m due for the hood now. How perfect that I’ll have all of this Fall knitwear finished just in time for the first heatwave of the summer. Ha!

Actual knitting content on this knitting blog?! I don’t have any photos of Coupling #2 in progress, though it’s almost finished. I do have an FO to show, though!

This is the Children’s Neck Down Bolero from Knitting Pure and Simple. I picked this pattern up when I needed something small and sweet when all of my stuff was in storage. It was just the ticket, and if I hadn’t had twelve bajillion things going on, this would have been a fast project! I actually finished the knitting (ends woven in and everything) before I went to India, but I just attached the button last week.



The yarn is Dream in Color Classy in Visual Purple. I can’t say enough about this yarn. It’s soft, has great stitch definition, the color is amazing, and it even smells good! The yardage is awesome, too. I only needed to barely dip into the second skein of this to finish the sweater. I bought the lime button at Purl Diva. I love the little shot of contrast. Now I just need to find a little girl to wear it!

I’m planning to do some serious work on this when I finish this entry. This is my Ribby Pulli, I think I’m about halfway through the yoke. I’m trying not to psych myself up for finishing soon, as I still have the whole hood to do, and anyone who’s done a hood knows they always take longer than you think they will.

Inspired by Veronique, I bought the fabric to make this Built by Wendy dress. I already had this pattern on my list (Jo-Ann’s having a sale on Simplicity patterns this week!), but now I’m determined to actually make it. I thought I might do it today, but I’m in a knitting mood. Now that I think of it, Parikha made this dress, too! Now I’m torn as to which collar to use! Thanks, girls! Everyone should have such problems.

I swear, I’ll get back to posting my knitting! As usually happens in the summer time, my knitting speed takes a hit, but I’m still plugging away at my Ribby Pulli and Coupling socks. But hey, let me show you a few of things that have kept my needles idle lately.

I adopted four new ratties from the MRR! I was only going to adopt two old ladies, but while I was off in India, two more rats were surrendered who had been living in an aquarium on pine shavings and eating Cocoa Puffs and Pop-Tarts, so surely you can see how my hands were tied. This is one of those girls, whose name I changed to Blanche. They are all sweeties, but the two who had been living in poor conditions also weren’t well socialized, so I have some work to do.

I had a very important graduation to attend on Saturday. Kobe had been practicing his songs for weeks, and asked me about four hundred times if I was going. As IF I would ever miss it. He looked so serious through the whole thing though, I never got any smiling pictures of him until it was over! Now that both of my nephews will be in elementary school, I just know the years are going to fly by. I hope I never forget this little man in his caap and gown, taking it all so seriously.

That very evening, I had my 15th high school reunion. I hadn’t been to one of my own reunions before, and I had a great time. One of my best friends, Troy (in the picture with me), came to my reunion, as did my sister. In a repeat of senior prom, I spent most of the evening sitting outside with my friends, but as people floated by our table, I had some nice conversations. I also talked to one of my classmates who has a bison farm, and told him exactly what he could do with the grocery bags of buffalo fiber he has laying around. Never in my life did I wish I was a spinner, until he told me that! I was pretty disappointed that Amy couldn’t attend (oh, the fun we would have had!), but hey, let’s plan on the 20th. And we should totally bring our knitting.

And our final round. Nothing like milking one vacation for three blog entries over a week and a half.

The day after we saw Mysore, we stayed in Bangalore and had our driver show us some of his favorite sights. We saw the “old” Parliament building (it’s not even 60 years old yet!), and the new one right next door.

I was delighted to see two rats gamboling on the lawn out front. Most people, I think, see rats in the wild while they’re scurrying somewhere. Happy rats leap and jump, and that’s what these rats were doing.

My mom wanted to go to the zoo, and it was aways outside the city center, so we went there first. I’m not really into zoos… they sorta make me sad… but my mom was really psyched so I sucked it up. Without going into too much detail, it was exactly what I expected, but I still managed to get some good photos! When we were near the zebra enclosure, I noticed a commotion near the fence. This little monkey was climbing a tree over the fence, and hanging onto the fence. I figured he was part of the zoo, but found out later that he wasn’t! He was just a free-range monkey, hanging out!

We saw more monkeys at the Botanical Gardens, which is when I finally figured out that the monkeys I saw at the zoo were wild. The gardens are beautiful! There’s a huge lotus pond, sculptures, giant bonsai trees…. We went through the park at breakneck speed on a cart (my mom has some problems walking long distances), so I didn’t get photos of everything. It was nice to drink it all in, this green oasis in the middle of the city. I would love to go back for a meandering stroll. Maybe someday.

Our last stop was Bull Temple. My guide book had promised snake charmers lining the path to this temple, but there were none to be found. I found out the next day that since monsoon season was immanent, the snake charmers were staying close to home and not venturing into the city center. Bummer! The only thing my brother asked me was a picture of a snake charmer!

We accepted a tour here. Well, the tour wasn’t offered, as had happened before, someone just started walking with us and showing us around, but I was tired and he was helpful, so I followed along. Inside the temple is another statue of Nandi, but this one is inside, and it was carved from gray granite, not black. It’s black now due to being rubbed with coal. Our guide told us that the hundreds of years of being rubbed for luck also helped keep his color. We made an offering and received a blessing. I think the string of jasmine I got is one of my favorite souvenirs of the trip.

In all, I had a wonderful time! And the experience has really given me a serious case of wanderlust. I’d like to go back to India someday, to see the northern part of the country. I’d also like to see Europe (France especially) and Scandinavia. I do feel that maybe a more seasoned traveler would have gotten more out of two weeks in India, but I don’t regret going there as my first international trip. It was an eye opening, amazing experience.

Coming up… back to our regularly scheduled knitting! I’m speeding up the yoke on my Ribby Pulli, and started the leg on Coupling #2 last night at Whole Foods while I hung out with the Portland Knitters Around Town. (By the way… nicest group of ladies ever! I can’t wait to get together again!)

I saw this on KnitxCore and Floofle! today, and I love me a good Flickr game!

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? (marlena)
2. What is your favorite food? (breakfast)
3. What high school did you go to? (morse high school)
4. What is your favorite color? (blue)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (christian bale)(RAWR)
6. Favorite drink? (dirty martini)
7. Dream vacation? (paris)
8. Favorite dessert? (custard)(but really I like all dessert)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? (a veterinarian)
10. What do you love most in life? (family)
11. One Word to describe you. (okay)
12. Your flickr name. (sassy_spice1975, but there were no results for that. I had to settle for sassy spice)

1. {171} marlena’s, 2. breakfast beret, 3. Morse High School, Class of ‘92, 4. Just hanging around, 5. Forearm, 6. Dirty, 7. The Queen and her commoners HDR, 8. Pack’s Frozen Custard, 9. Veterinarian’s Office, 10. Fennec foxes, 11. Lucky Bunny, 12. Sassy Bento 15/5/08

As promised, here I am for round 2 of my India trip! We went to Mysore on Saturday to see the sights. It was a long drive from Bangalore (with traffic, three hours there and four hours back), but completely worth it!

We started out at Tipu’s Summer Palace. Actually, that’s a lie. We started out at a tomb, but I was kind of in a fog and can’t remember whose it was!

One thing I noticed about India was the incredible detail on everything. This palace was my first real introduction to that; there was not a surface in this palace that was not decorated in some way. Pictures are not allowed inside, I think because the light can damage the vegetable-based paint, so I can’t show you what I saw. I can’t even find photos online! What struck me most was looking upstairs and seeing the ceiling of what I imagined to be the bedroom, open and airy with gorgeous scrollwork all around the opening in the wall. The ceiling was carved, the wall was carved and there was a balcony with elaborate carvings facing outside. I had a moment where I imagined waking up in a place like that, and wondered if the royalty who stayed there even noticed all of that beauty after awhile.

Next we went to Chamundi Hill, a site I was looking forward to as I heard the views were spectacular. I was not disappointed. We didn’t go into the temple, instead we drank in the sights… and tried to avoid the salesmen. One thing about sightseeing in India is, it’s exhausting. The minute we got out of the car, someone would flash an official looking badge at us and tell us we needed a guide. We’d get past them, and the salesmen would arrive, pitching postcards, sunglasses, and sandalwood. I had been told about this happening, but was not prepared for the tenacity of these people! It is so ingrained in me to be polite, I had a hard time just saying no and being done with it. No is not good enough. I learned that a firm no and ending eye contact did the trick, but my mom never actually figured that out, so everywhere we went, we were followed by up to four people!



There are two monuments on Chamundi Hill. At the top is a statue of the demon Mahishasuran (there’s a photo of him in my Flickr set), and further down there’s a statue of Nandi the bull. Nandi was carved from one piece of granite! Again with the details! It’s amazing for me to be in the presence of such old, permanent things.



We ended our day at Mysore Palace. This was my most enjoyable sight of the day. Immediately upon crossing the threshold of the gate, I was surrounded by a group of schoolchildren, excitedly asking me where I was from and my name. It was interesting the landmarks that people knew from America. After two blank looks when saying I was from Maine, I started saying I was “near New York.” Other people mentioned New Jersey, Mexico, and California. I definitely wasn’t judging! All I know of India besides where I was is Kashmir, New Delhi and Bombay! On our way to the entrance of the palace, a woman stopped me and asked if she could take a picture of me with her kids. I said sure, thinking that she wanted me to take a picture of their family, and was surprised when the boys got on either side of me. I only hope she didn’t think I was someone else!



The palace must be a very popular attraction, because it was packed. We joined a river of people and allowed ourselves to be swept along through the palace. When I saw an opportunity, I’d fall out of the stream and stand still for a moment, just trying to memorize it all! I started at a doorway for a full minute, it was so elaborately carved. There was a ceiling that was all the most exquisite stained glass I had ever seen. The walls had paintings depicting battles and parades, and there were painted ceilings. It’s so hard to imagine people living in these places!

Round 3 (the final round), will focus on our Sunday in Bangalore! I don’t have any new knitting to show. I’m pretty much back to normal now, but the first few days back were really hard!

This is my last day in Bangalore. My bags are packed, my presents are bought, and I am ready to be in the land of Dunkin’ Donuts and yarn stores once again!

Much of my trip has been spent relaxing by the pool at the hotel and knitting, since my mom works during the day. I’m okay with that. I don’t usually spent any time genuinely “doing nothing.” I’m a relentless multitasker, unable to stop myself from jumping up from the sofa every half hour or so to attend to a task. I can’t watch television without also having some knitting and maybe leafing through a magazine. As a result, my vacations usually consist of me trying to accomplish as many tasks as possible early on so I can have two or three days of relaxing at the end of it. Since I’m so far away from home, I really had no choice but to let go and just unwind. It’s been wonderful.



That said, we did so some shopping, eating and sightseeing, of course! I think I’ve eaten enough paneer to fill a dairy case. India is a vegetarian’s paradise! Not only are there dozens of choices on every menu (except for the Hard Rock Cafe, ahem), but everything is clearly marked, so no worries about hidden chicken broth or the like. As warned, I stayed away from the carts and stalls, but it was hard! Especially at the Bangalore Zoo, where we had to walk down a path lined with stalls with the most wonderful smells wafting over us. I did duck into a small shop for some sweets, but it was recommended by my guide book and I only had a bite or two of each piece. My favorite was a pink jelly flavored with cardamom.



I successfully haggled a little for a necklace that I really wanted, but was priced really high. Shopping here is definitely an experience. I felt a little like Julia Roberts at first. Each store had so many salespeople, and they all wanted to sell me a pashmina. This was such a stark contrast to American shopping, where you sometimes have to literally chase down an employee to help you. It was a little tiring after awhile, the constant looking and touching, complimenting and demurring, but it was still wonderful to see so many beautiful things, even if I couldn’t possibly fit them all in my luggage!

We went to Mysore on Saturday for some sightseeing. What an experience! In fact, it was such an experience, I think I should wait and do a second post. This one is already getting long! If you want to see more pictures and read more details about my sightseeing venture now, you can visit my Flickr set.

For now, I’ll leave you with my vacation knitting. It’s amazing how much one can accomplish with two weeks free from work and responsibility!

My Ribby Pulli (I’m doing the short-sleeved hooded version), and Coupling from Knitty, summer ‘07. See you in America!

That’s right! In four days, I’ll be on a plane heading to India. Amazing, right? As you may imagine, I have a lot going on, but I thought I’d squeeze in a quick post!
I’ve finished the knitting on the child’s bolero, I just have to get a button. I’ll be stopping by Purl Diva for that, as well as some dpns just for a travel project. Even though I can supposedly bring knitting with me on my trip, I want to buy some needles just for the trip and bring some yarn that I’m not totally attached to. I’ll also be bringing a project to work on at the hotel, though I have a little concern that my luggage will be lost! It looks like I’ll be bringing my Ribby Pulli. I decided to participate in Purl Diva’s Ribby Pulli KAL! In the following picture, all you’ll see is my swatch. I have a few inches done of the body now. I have to say that one of my favorite things about working ChicKnits patterns is that Bonne Marie and I seem to knit the same! I am always able to get gauge on the first try!

FO pics on the bolero coming soon! I’m planning to procure the button Wednesday. I hope I can squeeze in another blog post before Saturday!

I haven’t done a post about the lives of former FOs since I did the mitten post way back in January. Of course, I wear many of my knits all time, but rarely get photographic evidence. Last week, though, I was fortunate enough to catch a knit in the wild.

This is the Puff Sleeved Feminine Cardigan I finished almost a year ago. I wear this knit occasionally, but since it’s short sleeved, and I’m almost always cold, I don’t wear it as often as other knits. It has no pilling, and the yarn is still soft and wonderful. In fact, I just bought some more in the big WEBS sale going on now. The only thing I wish is that I had added just another inch or two in the body of the garment. The peplum starts just before my waist starts, rather than at my waist, which limits the pants/skirts I wear with it. I get compliments every time it makes an appearance, and people are surprised I made it.In other news, I picked up the babies yesterday! They are so supercute, it’s going to be hard to let them go. I can’t keep them, but I’m having a ball petting them and playing with them!