Brunswick, Maine is one of my favorite places on this green earth. We were just there for the wedding of two college friends, so unfortunately it was a short trip, especially considering the sixteen hours we spent in the car. But Maine is decidedly worth the trek, and we happily larked over our old stomping grounds and relished the greenery, the smell of the salt sea, and the more temperate weather. No visit is complete until we’ve had our toes in the sand of Popham Beach, above. And I was scarcely less eager to stop at Halcyon Yarn in Bath, conveniently on the way to Popham and to the resort where our friends had their reception. Halcyon is not only one of the great Local Yarn Stores in New England; it is also the first place I ever bought yarn (six skeins of Lamb’s Pride to make scarves for my grandparents!). Had I been thinking clearly, I would have taken some pictures of the hallowed space. But who can think clearly around so much yarn? Anyway, I lost all capability of rational behavior when I saw this:

Serious knittin’ booty, my friends. This is the elusive and currently unobtainable Malabrigo worsted weight merino. I’ve heard this stuff praised to the skies all over the internet, and I can gleefully report that none of the ovations have been unmerited. If you’d given me a skein in a blind grope test, I would have sworn it was alpaca, or possibly even a generous cashmere blend. It’s that soft. And the color? Brilliant geranium, just the remedy for another dreary winter in New York. The charming kettle-dyed (I love that phrase: kettle-dyed) variegations are just quirky enough to remind me that this yarn was made by real humans, which makes me all the fonder of it. I’ve been meditating on a second Clapotis in a winter weight and fiber, and now I know it’s meant to be. Much to Adam’s amusement, I kept a skein of my precious Malabrigo in my lap to fondle as we drove. It’s as good as a favorite stuffed animal, I tell you.

This wouldn’t have been a proper outing without a parting shot (no pun intended) from the sock. Although I mostly worked on fixing one of my most boneheaded knitting moments yet (with the sleeves of the bolero – would you believe I ripped out the wrong one, and so had to reknit them both?), the sock was not neglected. Unfortunately it didn’t get to cavort on the beach; it would have felt very much at home in that grey-blue-sand landscape. Here it’s posing with a recent addition to my college town: the Udder Place drive-through coffee shop. My “Ole Tangle Eye”, a mocha made with Mexican chocolate, was mighty delicious. I’ll finish this account of the trip without dwelling on the rather horrid drive home: I fully intend to wipe my memory of those mind- and bottom-numbing hours in traffic. At least I had my Malabrigo to comfort me.

There’s a new project on the needles Chez Blue Garter. When Joy offered to bring back orders from Art Fibers during her San Francisco trip, I knew I had to get my hands on some Chai silk. The store didn’t have the exact colorway I’d selected from the website, but #33 was close: a gentle variegation ranging from magenta to warm bronze. I’m calling it “Bourbon rose”. The pattern I selected for it is the Lace Trim Bolero from Vogue Knitting Summer 2005. This is as close to the shrug as I go, folks. An upper-body garment, unless is it a shawl or wrap, must have a Front for me to wish to make its acquaintance. None of your sleeves connected across the back, thank you very much.

Anyway, here’s my progress:

That’s the completed back piece, and I’ve made a start on the left front. I’m hoping to finish in time for the wedding we have to attend in Chicago in mid-September. Impressions? The Chai is a thick-and-thin yarn, which doesn’t show off the decorative eyelets to their best advantage, but I’m quite happy with the way this project is coming out. Blocking, or even–gasp–ironing as Art Fibers recommends, should improve the look of the eyelets. The silk is luscious (although it’s tricky not to stab into some of the thicker sections) and behaves beautifully on my green aluminum #5’s from the flea market. And I love the colors. I’m pretty wary of variegated yarns (except for socks), but this kind of gentle color shifting I can appreciate.

Speaking of socks and variegated yarn, starting my second Feather-and-Fan sock has proven excruciating. Observe this:

See how the colors are bodging together on the new sock instead of striping? I determined to knit the leg of Sock #2 on larger needles (#1’s) because the first sock is so difficult to pull over my heel. The slightly larger gauge may be part of my problem, but I also believe that dumb luck led me to cast on the first sock at a very advantageous point in the color range. I ripped out my new beginnings three times last night. The dye lot is the same between skeins, but even when I looked carefully at Sock #1 and tried to cast on in the same place (so the join falls where the blue is just shifting to grey), I got the Dreaded Pooling. Finally I realized I was pulling from the center of the new ball, where as I’d drawn from the outside when I began the first sock. In case this was somehow making a difference, I stuffed my frogged squiggles back into the center and drew from the outside. What do you know?

Much better.

Last weekend’s stop on the Summer Wedding Circuit was Okoboji, Iowa, home of one of my beloved college roommates. The thing that’s special about Okoboji (well, one of the things) is the lake. Here’s the handsome husband posing on the Queen II in said lake:

I’m under the impression that every boat owner in the whole midwest visits Okoboji in the summer. It’s quite the hopping scene. After our freshman year of college, Mia and I came out to see Kate’s hometown for the 4th of July, and there was much merriment. So I was delighted to have the chance to go back this year for Kate’s wedding. It was an excellent reunion with college friends and Kate’s wonderful family, and the wedding couldn’t have been more perfect (well, maybe if it hadn’t been 100 degrees outside…).

I even did a little knitting on the plane and in Kate’s mom’s coffee shop. Now that my US #0 circs are free from the baby booties, I finally got to pull out my Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in “Sand Ridge”. I’m such a fan of this yarn, and this colorway, but I know how many people have had pooling problems with it. And I really hate pooling. So I knew exactly what this yarn was destined to become: feather-and-fan socks, of course. I’ve wanted to make these for ages, and although I don’t own Socks, Socks, Socks, I was able to steal a peek at it in the LYS and quickly memorize the pattern. Kate is always up for any goofiness, so I asked her to hold the sock for a picture the morning after the wedding:

All too soon, it was time to head back to NYC. But on the drive up to the Minneapolis airport, we had to stop to see the Green Giant.

And here’s a sock’s eye view:

It’s been rather slow going with this sock. I had to tink a bunch of rows yesterday because I’d missed a yarn over. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out that I had the wrong number of stitches. But hopefully I’ll have a pair done in time for sock weather.