Icarus Complete

The Icarus Shawl I was knitting for a friend is complete! It knitted up amazingly fast. It took me just 5 weeks. Even with the summer heat of the past five weeks I couldn't put this project down. I truly hope that the intended recipient of this shawl will love it as much as I do.

Pre-blocking

Taking a 20 minute soak

All pinned out. I used lace blocking wires for the first time. Love them!

Basking in the gorgeous cool summer afternoon.

The finished dimensions are 72" across and 36" down the spine.

Pattern: Icarus Shawl by Miriam L. Felton
Yarn: Indie II by Little Knits (2.1 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks Fixed Size 3
Started: July 15th
Finished: August 20th

In The Heights

Last night I frolicked through Times Square with all those *wonderful* tourists that visit our city. You know the ones that insist on stopping right in front of you in order to get the one of a ba-gillion photos of all the neon lights?

Anyhoo, I braved the craziness of 42nd Street in order to go see In The Heights musical at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. I just have to say that all the "Excuse Me's" I uttered on my way to the theatre were well worth it. The show was wonderful!

"In the Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant community in Manhattan's Washington Heights – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It's a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind."

I took this photo of the stage prior to the show starting with my Kodak Easyshare Z612...

DB took the same photo with his Blackberry. Interesting isn't it that the Blackberry took a brighter shot than my fancy schmancy camera?

DB and I outside the theatre before the show. He's such a sport with me and my picture taking.

Thanks to my bestest girlfriend Lisa, we all got to see the show for free thanks to her job!

Knitting content will be had in the next post. Stay tuned!

VIR Raceway

Our regularly scheduled programming of knitting has been interrupted to bring a long overdue recap of mine and DB's trip to VIR Raceway from July 31st - August 4th. This is a picture heavy post and I tried to narrow them down to some of my favorites. We had an awesome time and I love going and supporting DB in his hobby!

This sign greets you when you enter the South Course track.

DB spent 2 days riding on the South Course and 1 day on the North Course.

A huge achievement in track riding is getting your knee down in a curve to where it skims the pavement! It takes some riders a long time to do this. Your body positioning has to be perfect for it to happen and not crash off the course. I was so proud of DB when he experienced it for the very first time after only track riding for just over a month.

His face says it all!!!

Close to the end of Day 2 DB decided to change the brakes to racing ones. I even got my hands dirty helping him!

DB getting some pointers from one of the coaches.

Day 3 was extremely hot! We both were exhausted. DB took advantage of some down time to catch a few Zzzz's.

It wouldn't be me if I didn't snap a picture of the two of us!

Throughout the 3 days I tried to capture some shots of things that caught my attention.

This little guy belonged to one of the coaches. He is treated very well as you can see.

While waiting for DB's group to take off on the track, I noticed this on the back of one of the coaches bike.

Very nice trailer. I loved what it said. A sport for all ages.

Lots of people bring their canopy's way down to block the sun. These guys even had recliner camping chairs with footrests.

Tire barricades.

It was quite funny to see this on the back of one riders bike.

Our faithful transportation.

I was obsessed with getting shots of the clear blue sky. This is just one of many!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of my dinner plate after the first day of riding. A perfect heart!

DB and I are heading back down to West Virginia next weekend for 2 days of riding at Shenandoah again. Can't wait!

Face of 38

Yesterday I celebrated my 38th Birthday! Sunday I ran the NYC Half Marathon, so I spent Monday during the day doing not much of anything. I did sit on the couch, watched television and tried to knit a little while enduring the sweltering heat. Last night however, DB took me out for a nice dinner celebration.

Me before heading out in the 90 degree weather.

DB and I laughing while trying to get a good picture. He does try to be patient with me 'cause he doesn't like having his picture taken.

Dinner and dessert was at Max Brenner's in Union Square. As soon as you walk through the door you can smell the chocolate.

We did indulge in Chocolate Martini's. Mine had Peppermint Schnapps in it. I might have eaten both the candy slices too. :-)

Most people come here just for dessert, but the food was delicious too! We left with both out belly's sticking out.

DB surprised me with a Polar Heart Rate Monitor! This will get so much use with all my runs. He also bought me the tin you see here. At dinner your bill comes inside this tin. I made the comment how much I liked it and could use it for knitting notions. After dinner, we went into the Candy Shop and he bought it for me. I was like a little kid I was so excited over it.

Thank you to DB and everyone else who helped make the day feel special!

In The Meantime

In my last installment, I mentioned I ran out of that luscious yarn for finishing up Icarus. Well the friend I am knitting it for wasn't surprised and is sending more my way. Can't wait to get it. I need just a couple more hours and it will be finished!

So while I was waiting what was I suppose to do? I went to the frog pond!

This is what my Gathered Pullover now looks like....

All the little cakes are sitting in time-out while the heat has taken over my apartment. This yarn will be turned into 1 of 2 Rhinebeck sweaters.

But, this wasn't the only visit to the frog pond.

Remember back in December, or January, when I casted-on for the Tapestry Cowl?

Well this is what it looks like now...

I tried and tried and tried....double knitting isn't for me, at least not at this time. I had the most difficult time holding both yarns and trying to keep the same tension. I just couldn't stand the way it looked. While I oh so much want this cowl in these yarns, the project was more frustrating to me than trying to finish it. So I didn't think twice about frogging it.

This did not go to the frog pond...

This is my version of the 2-Button Wrap that my sis did back in March. Mine too was finished in March, but I am just getting around to showing it to ya'll. My wrap differs from MB's in that I incorporated the garter stitch ends to the sides of the wrap. Just five stitches in on each side. Ravelry details here.

Finally I will have another FO to share in a day or so. It's blocking right now. It's something that I started back in June 2008. I picked it back up on Tuesday and finished it yesterday. Three days to finished 3/4's of a project. Woo Hoo!

Uh Oh!

You know how every knitter seems to find what their "calling" is when it comes to knitting? You know, some are sock knitters and others are sweater knitters? Well I think my calling is lace shawl knitting. I don't know exactly what it is, but I seem to absolutely love knitting this type of project. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy knitting everything else, but lately it seems this has been what is calling me. I am excited to share with you the latest installment on Icarus.

Look at the close-up of the lace pattern! This has actually been a piece of cake even despite working over 400 stitches per row.


Doesn't it look like a beautiful angel wing? This is what I thought when I laid it down to photograph.

So what's with the "uh oh"? Well I am ONLY 10 rows away from finishing this baby. Unfortunately I have run out of yarn. I got OHHHH SOOOO close to the finish line. Right now I am in a holding pattern until I hear back from the friend I am knitting this for about acquiring more yarn. I had a total of 720 yards and need only a squidge more! Boo Hoo.

Who's Got Knitting?

I do! I actually got some knitting done on my trip down to Virginia this past weekend. DB and I drove down to Danville, VA on Friday and stayed for 3 days of moto track riding at VIR. I knitted for maybe only a half hour on the drive down, but definitely got a lot more accomplished on our drive back to NYC on Tuesday.

Since I didn't want to travel with Icarus, I decided Charlotte's Easy Lace Shawl was the best choice. I hadn't knitted on it from the last post I wrote about it so I accomplished a good deal. I snapped this picture in the Jeep at the Maryland House Rest Area. I absolutely love the Fall colors in this yarn.

I also have an Icarus Shawl update. As of this morning I have totally finished Chart 1. The shawl has been knitted for 178 rows and the stitch count increased to 375 stitches. Only 58 more rows to knit before binding off. Of course, the stitch count has to increase to over 400 stitches first.