pepperknit

No trip to Philly is complete without a visit with my peeps, and when that visit expands from what you think will be a short but nice afternoon of knitting into pretty much the entire day knitting, laughing, and drinking, well, it’s been a good weekend.

Megan (on the far right) is of course the originator of the “whelmed” face, and after 9 hours together, it seems it had rubbed off on everyone–Specs on the left, Jennie in the middle. You can’t really tell, but Jennie’s fabulous boyfriend D is standing behind her. Not pictured here is Megan’s own M, who joined us at the bar for dinner, but who is standing near me with their camera.

Jennie and D graciously let us overtake their adorable and cozy house, where we sat at their giant table—and some knitting actually happened. Last week was crazy busy for me, with a friend staying with me and plenty of work, so at about 1 am on Saturday morning I wound a ball of sock yarn and threw what I hoped would be appropriate needles, a measuring tape, and a photocopy of a stitch pattern (go me and my own personal copier!) in my bag. I’m doing a sock swap as part of Sit ‘n’ Knit New York, and as you know, if you don’t start the pair as soon as you can, you’re doomed.

This fabulous yarn, because I know you’re about to ask, is Neighborhood Fiber Company yarn, which I bought at Stitches East (Olga, I believe you found me right around then!). I can’t say much more about what I’m knitting, so as not to give away too much in case the person I am knitting for reads here, but I’m making up the pattern myself, and I’m quite enjoying it so far.

Once the hunger potential reached a specific level, we all went to the bar on the corner and debated politics, gender identity, knitting, blogging, and, really, the state of the world until midnight. The time just flew by! Can’t wait for my next trip down.

Last weekend in Philly, I had a chance to hang out with an old friend and his kiddos at the pool on a pool playdate. Oh, summers as a kid. Fun!

There was a Yoga Journal a few years ago with this phrase as the big grabber headline on the cover. I used to laugh at it–there’s something so melodramatic about it. The article was about the upwelling of emotions that can happen while doing yoga–the idea being that sometimes you release a muscle or an area of your body and you tap into bottled up emotions, which come out during class, sometimes without a clear reason.

Well, this weekend I knew the reasons. I was both happy and sad, and I had my share of both laughter and tears on the mat.

I got to Philly for lunch with my coworkers on Friday. Being back with them was the best–being with family that you really and truly like. I had anticipated eating lunch and hanging out a little, but I was there for nearly FIVE hours. Another old coworker, Goldie (who occasionally comments here), joined us for lunch, so it was great to see her, too! After lunch, I flitted from office to office, talking to everyone. I had to literally drag myself away, because I wanted to see the woman I was staying with, her kids, and have time to get ready for the workshop, but I would have spent more time at the old office if I could have.

Here’s what the studio wrote about the workshop:

Jim Bernaert has been practicing yoga since 1984. In 1996 he began intensive study with John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga. Based on the Big Island of Hawaii where Jim teaches on-going classes, he also travels the US and internationally offering trainings, retreats and workshops. His teaching reflects his love for the students and for the practice of yoga. Students experience the clarity of his understanding, his precise instructions and his warm and generous heart.

John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga, said about Jim, “He embodies integrity, devotion to the Highest, and a full-hearted dedication to serving his students. He is one of the most highly trained Anusara Yoga teachers in the country and has studied with me directly for hundreds of hours over the past 10 years.”

It could not have been more apt. Jimmy was a generous, warm soul whose direction and insight really got through to me. But oh, it was intense and difficult, especially since I hadn’t done yoga regularly since I moved to New York. First night was hip openers, and included some strange poses I’d never seen before–foot into the back of your armpit? I was overcome with the emotions of the day and actually cried during Savasana, but in a good way. I was bursting with happiness that night, though. So happy, I took a picture to capture it.

We were all complaining of soreness Saturday morning, but we had no idea what we were in for: The session was standing poses and arm balances, which left us all with our arms hanging limply at our sides and our hips aching further! We sat in a fog at a coffee shop between sessions, finishing up Saturday’s five hours total of yoga with forward bends–less intense but still a challenge.

The whole group went out to dinner Saturday night, where I tried to not complain too much about my soreness (Jimmy was at my table), but after dinner I downed some ibuprofen when a few of us hung out. The sitting around chatting was as important to me as any of the physical exercise; I am so thankful to have such awesome friends at the studio.

This morning’s class was inversions and backbends. I knew I was in for a difficult class, but I don’t know that I had any idea that I would be so tired. It was a lot of fun though–padmasana variations in shoulderstand, getting to watch Jimmy do some advanced headstand variations (which I sat and watched after I fell transitioning from one hand position to another). Here’s a shot of a good friend before this morning’s session. Those of us doing the entire workshop were leaving our stuff out, and I kind of love how lived-in and messy the studio got. (And also? It smelled like a locker room, aka “ass”; we kept steaming up the place.)

I’m back in New York now, more tired than I have been in ages. I’m going to order some dinner and crawl into bed.

I did knit this weekend some. Here’s shots of me working on the way up and on the way down, side by side.

I know they’re small, but notice anything? Like how the toes are the practically the exact same size? No, I didn’t finish the first sock and start on the second. As is my standard, I got about three inches in and decided I needed to start over. I also decided that I much prefer the cute roundness of a short-row toe to using magic cast-on. I managed a short-row toe with no scrap yarn and no tools other than the needles I brought with me (I just unraveled the cast-on). I’m liking the yarn (red koigu, purchased for me by my mom at Stitches), but not entirely sure I’ve done the right thing with my plan for the lace pattern. I’m going to keep at it and see what happens.

Is it really Friday already? This week’s installment of Eye Candy Friday will be less odd than last week. Nothing absurd, just out of the ordinary: Wild nature in the city!

Sure, it’s true, you see plenty of pigeons and squirrels, plus an occasional mouse or rat out and about in Philly. But a few weeks ago, I came across a chartreuse caterpillar!

He was a speedy little guy, and capturing a nonblurry shot was a challenge. When I was little, I remember camping in the Catoctin Mountains with my family and family friends. The kids would climb every rock we could find, exploring new heights. We encountered loads of caterpillars. We’d catch some, put them in a bowl or something with some twigs, and watch them a bit before losing interest. (Or, we’d wave them under the nose of my friends’ mom, who was deathly afraid of them. Such brats we were!) We never saw one like this, however–we only saw more standard, less poisonous-looking ones.

Needless to say, this brightly colored caterpillar warranted a stop on the way to work. Again, as I am wont to do, I pointed it out to a woman passing by. Except the woman who was passing by was a “hello” friend I’ve made, from crossing paths every morning for a few months. She eagerly stopped to look as well, and we marveled at the presence of a caterpillar as exotic as this in Society Hill.

I wonder what kind of butterfly it will be. Google to the rescue! Searching “yellow fuzzy caterpillar” yielded this blogger, who found a similar caterpillar and did the research for me! It grows up to be a completely uncolorful moth. Still a cool sighting, though!

A Roadblock is a task that only one team member may perform. In this Roadblock, that team member must scout the city of Philadelphia to find new sock yarn. Minty took this challenge for her team on Friday, hoping for the best with all the walking even after hurting her back at yoga in the morning. See the route she took here.

The search begins at Sophie’s Yarns, where all yarn searches begin. (Minty lives nearby.) They never end here, however, as the selection is slim and sock yarn in short supply. The owner is incredibly nice and friendly, always interested in what you’re working on (or leaves you perfectly well alone if you want), and she also seems to have a commitment to learning about the business practices of all the yarn companies she carries, opting to keep those with good ethics and not reorder from those whose practices are questionable. All laudable qualities. But the selection simply isn’t there. Two aggressively friendly store cats are pleasant, but for those with allergies (Minty is very allergic to cats), it’s not always welcome. Minty stopped in but was on her way soon thereafter.

From here, it was a trek west, to get to Loop. Minty went a little out of her way by walking down Lombard, mostly because there’s a lot of construction going on on South Street, but also because Lombard is nicer than South.

Minty can’t think of a single negative thing to say about Loop. The space is perfect. Lots of yarn, lots of selection, a crisp, clean, white interior with friendly and hands-off staff who also are engaging to chat with. Minty dropped her credit card on the counter and walked off with five skeins of yarn, all sock yarn (not all destined to be lace socks, however). Her love for this store doesn’t wane with repeated visits, and she would like to start going there to knit but finds that whole thing intimidating and it’s a lot farther away than the couch in the living room. She was making incredible progress on this Roadblock, but still had one more yarn shop to go, Rosie’s Yarn Cellar, just a few blocks north of Loop.

Rosie’s has a very good selection for its incredibly small size, but it always feels a bit dingy to Minty. She noticed that they now have hardwood floors, which was nice to see—Minty rarely goes to Rosie’s, and the last time she was there the floors were carpet. The sock yarn selection didn’t feel as extensive as at Loop, though interestingly the Koigu was $1 cheaper at Rosie’s ($11 rather than $12). Minty regretted spending the extra $2 but ultimately enjoyed the experience at Loop so much more, it was OK. Minty left with only a backissue of Interweave Knits—the winter one with Embossed Leaves in it. She’d searched though the other yarn stores, even Vagabond (a delightful boutique that sells nice yarns and some notions in addition to fabulous clothing—Minty bought the bridesmaid dress she wore two weeks ago there) and not been able to find that one. Old IKs were plentiful around the city, but not that issue. Note that Rosie’s did not discount the backissue, which Sophie’s does. The one woman working at Rosie’s was uninterested in chatting, despite Minty’s mild attempt. The environment didn’t feel particularly welcoming.

Minty raced back home, this time in a cab, because the sky opened up and rain came tumbling out of the sky. Her back was feeling fine, thankfully! She produced her skeins . . .

. . . and was handed the next clue:

Finish knitting your first pair of socks, and proceed to the first Pit Stop!

Yesterday was Worldwide Knit in Public Day, as many of you know. I’m not friends with any knitters in Philly, so I innocently suggested a picnic for me, the boy, and a friend. They humored me, and besides, who would turn down a picnic on a day like yesterday? Despite the wind, it was beautiful.

So at 1pm, after yoga, we picked up the boy and walked over to Whole Foods, where we loaded up on sandwiches, salads, and absolutely perfect berries (straw- and black-). We made our way to the western side of the city, plopped down on the eastern side of Rittenhouse Square, and dug in. I was feeling sheepish and didn’t want to pull out my knitting until I saw someone else working on a project. Then I found one!

So I joined in.

I knit for a while on the second sock of my Amazing Lace socks, while my friends made fun of me. Eventually they were too tired to continue the ridicule, and normal conversation resumed. By then I was tired, too, so we all left to get some coffee.

In all, I didn’t knit for very long, and I kind of wish I’d walked around, looking for knitters, but I’m still happy I did what little I did. I will say that I wish I’d been sitting on a bench—it’s not comfortable to knit while sitting cross-legged on the ground. Maybe there’s a reason I mostly knit while sitting on the couch!

I haven’t stopped knitting, but this post isn’t really going to be about much knitting. I just thought I ought to follow up on yesterday’s post a bit and show you some fun pictures I’ve taken in the last two days.

Sunday we’d planned to continue our day-trip adventures, but we were both, uh, suffering hangovers from too much imbibing and dancing Saturday night, so we instead chose to take a nap directly after going out to brunch. (I even skipped yoga, that’s how rotten I felt. I’d had so much fun the night before, though! Isn’t that always the way.)

Today’s weather was too beautiful to pass up, so we walked over to Rittenhouse Square to get lunch. Along the way I took some photos. The difference between the sky of yesterday and the sky of today is striking.

In the top row, we have the Ben Franklin Bridge and the Society Hill Towers, in photos taken yesterday. The bottom row features shots taken today of the Drake and the Kimmel Center and some red buds on a tree.
(Click to see each photo up-close.)

The sky was an intense, brilliant shade of blue today, and I simply had to share it with others by posting these photos.

Here’s another cool shot I took. I just randomly snapped it—it’s me and the sky. I didn’t quite realize the sun was so high, and I certainly couldn’t have aligned it with those wires if I’d tried.

Click to see it HUGE!

In actual knitting news, I’ve been working on Goldie’s scarf today. It wasn’t coming out the width I’d hoped, and I was unsatisfied with the bottom edge’s shape (a deliberate taper that was looking more like a mistake), so I took it all out and started over. Yesterday I started Kiri for real (on 6s), and I’m itching to get back to it. I’ve done two pattern repeats (after the first chart–does that count as a pattern repeat? I mean, in the grand scheme of things, it creates one leaf, and so I would think it does, but that section of the pattern is written a little differently, so I’m not entirely sure how people describe it. I have 3 leaves from the center down, if that makes any sense), and it’s so delightfully simple to memorize and work on; I’m loving it. I just have to finish this scarf, and I can get back to it!