Austin
We’ve been in Houston a year now (!), but never really visited Austin. The YH thing doesn’t really count, since I saw no more than a yarn store, a baptist church, and a restaraunt. Last weekend a friend of ours was driving through Austin (and we have a couple of other friends living there), so we finally made the trip.
We were going to check out the UT campus, but as we drove by there were a large number of people in orange tshirts. Oh, it’s game day, stay the hell away from campus. Instead, we checked out the capitol building. Like everything in Texas, it is large and Texan. Even the drain was a big Texas star.
Bats everywhere! Lots of bats leave the Congress bridge every evening, and we were totally there, man.
I got to see Sarah on Sunday, and it was her birthday – the big 3-0! As a gift to herself, Sarah indulged in some gorgeous cashmere-silk yarn. I was a good little kelp and only bought a couple more skeins of this Claudia Handpaints sock yarn. I had purchased some back in July, but I didn’t think that I’d have enough for my planned project – the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. If I have a ton leftover, it will likely become socks for an xmas gift.
The scarf is flying by – it’s so nice to see noticeable progress when knitting (unlike a certain Sarcelle…). However, I was getting some major pooling issues. I was alternating between two skeins (which are noticeably different dye lots, despite both being in Lot 003), but they would both wind up in sync, so a third of the scarf was the same medium blue color. I fixed this by joining the second skein on the opposite side of the scarf as the first skein. The color progression of each skein goes in opposite directions, and no more obvious pooling. The colors are still shifting oddly (I’ve knit a bit more of the scarf, and the bottom part is much whiter than the top), but I can live with it. The Claudia Handpaints is less tightly-wound and sproingy than Koigu, but it is very, very soft, mmm.
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Glad you had a good trip! The scarf looks very nice–I’m not sure I’d have the patience to do all of that to avoid pooling.
Yay for a visit to Austin! It’s SO fun to be there when the bats come out – looking up the street at the capitol building. A nice place to visit in the summer is Barton Springs swimming pool. The Texas State Historical Museum is another good spot to visit. I typically avoid campus at all costs mostly because I despise the Longhorns. heh
Oh, and I’m not sure I’d have the patience to knit something that had such obvious pooling at all!
The scarf looks really nice – dispite pooling!
I’ve never known anyone to work so hard against pooling. I usually just keep on knitting and call it a design feature. I know it really gets under your skin.
Wendy from Knitty D & the City put up a tutorial today on Sarcelle. I know you already know how to do it, but I thought you might be interested, anyway. http://www.knitandthecity.blogspot.com/
Nice acting on the part of your friends. It really looks like they are genuinely in awe of the bats. haha
Yay Austin! You should come back in October when Stalker Angie is having her meetup.
I’ve got a couple of mismatched skeins of Claudia’s. They are also both from the same dyelot. The Chevron scarf is a good use for them. Your’s is looking really nice, so is your Sarcelle.
Hey Kelly… I just joined blogsome. :D
The Claudia scarf is looking super! I’ve fondled the cashmere/silk but haven’t had a chance to wind it yet. Love the Punched in the Eye colorway!!!