Stitch and Bitch

I know that my offerings have been a bit sparse as of late. I know it isn't so interesting to hear about how busy I have been but I have been

• Busy caring for my family
• Busy trying to care for myself (in needed downtime and even joining a gym...)
• Busy in my new role as photographer for the OWC's Rangoli publication
• Just generally busy

I am long overdue for a knitting update so how about I show you what I have been working on. Yes? Good!


As I think I have mentioned I have been a little concerned about how cold I am going to feel when we return to the States to visit in December. I know that there are probably some of you who assume that California is sunny and warm most of the time, but I am here to tell you... not true! It can get cold, even when you are used to it, and now that I have been living in a tropical climate, where temperatures rarely drop below 70 degrees Fahrenheit and are usually closer to or above 80, those moderate and damp Northern California winter days are going to be cold! Definitely sweater weather. So after much thought and contemplation (always an important part of starting a sweater) I decided to start my Philosopher's Wool sweater. I think I mentioned that before... but here is my progress so far:


I have the two sleeves done, Have started the body and am just sort of changing colors as it seems to make sense at this point. I do have a couple of concerns about this sweater. I think my gauge is a bit tight (I seem to be changing my knitting style a bit) and this is made more difficult because this particular yarn does not have a lot of flexibility to it. It is possible that this is partially due to the fact that I have been storing this sweater kit for almost two years and the yarn has a lot of lanolin in it. I have knit with yarn that has this kind of a stiff hand before, but doing a whole sweater of it feels a bit like I am wrangling with it or something. Not a particularly pleasant knit in a sense. I feel fairly certain that once I block it that it will loosen up a little bit, but this particular form of fair isle gives a fairly heavy weight fabric. It will be warm!

My other concern is that I may not have it done in time to be able to wear it for our trip. That would be a bummer. Particularly when I could have chosen a different pattern that would have been a faster, and probably more pleasant knit. ugh. Well, I will just have to keep my fingers crossed. It is not going to be one of those beautiful flattering sweaters, but I DO hope that it will be one of those beautiful and yet utilitarian sweaters! I had an older Norwegian sweater, obtained at a second hand store 10+ years ago for next to nothing, and when we were packing up for our trip to India I realized that it was getting holes, wearing through and was in need of retirement, or at least a vacation! I think I packed it a way in a box (I really HOPE that I did!) but it was my beautiful utilitarian sweater. I need a new one.

Have I rambled enough? If you are not a knitter and have gotten this far, you have my gratitude! Just for you I will tell you another Bangalore tidbit. Yesterday.... what a day. Ari and I decided to go to the gym. Now, our gym is at most 10-15 minutes away by car. Quite close by Bangalore standards. I had read in the newspaper that there was going to a political rally in town, complete with bussed in villagers who are paid and/or fed in exchange for attending the rally (it's true- I kid you not) and that traffic would be a bit heavy. So with all of that I wasn't surprised that it took us 30 minutes to get there. We passed busloads of people obviously heading back home so I figured by the time we were done at the gym everything would be cleared out. I could not have been more wrong.

"Are we there yet??"

We got into the car to head home at about 4:15 and did not get home until 6:15. I kept thinking that Ari and I should just get out of the car and walk home, but our driver Manju was quick to point out to me that he couldn't do anything but go forward anyway.Hours in the car. Everyone was complaining and comparing notes, talking across divided traffic, grousing and whinging. After dropping us off Manju then went to pick up Bryan who works about 30 minutes away. What time did he get home? 11:00 pm. Almost four hours to get him and bring him home. Unbelievable. Sounds like a really smart political rally, doesn't it? Somehow I have a feeling that they won't be getting many votes from this part of the city!