'Holiday Romance' Debut!

This is my last 2007 TdFKAL post. I'm already looking forward to 2008! We have lots of time to dream up project ideas!

Here is 'Holiday Romance'!

I'd planned to have Jeff take some pics of me wearing my new top, but we haven't had the chance yet, so I experimented with the self timer feature on the camera. This will have to do! Sorry for the headless shot, but there wasn't room to get further back from where I was balancing the camera. Anyway, considering I didn't do hair and makeup, it is just as well ;-)

Thank you to my blog friends for your comments lately. Your kind words definitely help motivate me to keep up the effort on my knitting and cycling!

Last Day of the Tour

I spent some time weaving in yarn ends today, but still have a few more to do. Otherwise, 'Holiday Romance' is done! I've tried it on and it's pretty nice!

Jeff and I watched a recap of the last week of the Tour on CBS. Despite the scandals, we still enjoyed the race and the spectacular scenery.

This evening, Jeff and I did a 32.62 mile bike ride bringing our total for the month to 462.37 miles so far. There are still two days remaining...maybe we will try for 500, weather permitting.

I'll post pictures of Holiday Romance soon and look forward to seeing every one's completed TdFKAL knitting! Please forgive the short post tonight, I'm melting in the hot weather!

Holiday Romance Update and More Cycling

Sunday afternoon, we finally got to see some televised coverage of the Tour. CBS offered a 1 hour recap of the first week. It was very exciting to finally see more than still shots or the tiny clips occasionally included in the local news sport report!

I’m keeping up with my knitting for the Tour de France KAL. The sleeves are knit as part of the back and front pieces, so it is necessary to make a series of increases at the underarm. The pattern notes suggested working into the front and back of a stitch at each end. I started doing that, but didn’t care for the way it looked. If it was increases on just the right side, it would have been fine, but doing the increases every row made it look too busy. I frogged that and decided to go with the right and left slant M1 increases. They seem to be ok. I won’t really be able to tell for sure how much I like it until I get it seamed at the very end, but it should be ok as they are mostly hidden.

Assuming I don't decide to frog and change the neckline decreases, one section is now done. After you finish with the underarm sleeve shaping, you soon begin shaping the neck opening. The pattern directs you to do the shaping on the edge stitches and the picture seems to show that. They direct you to do k2tog and p2tog regardless of the side of the neck you are on. This is what I've done for the time being. I keep thinking that there has to be a neater/directional way to do this... However it's done, it has to be possible to pick up and knit the neckband along this edge! (Perhaps I overthink the shaping, but it's really been on my mind lately and I'm at a standstill on another project over how/where to do the shaping especially as it has such an effect on the seaming later on. This seems to be the biggest hurdle in learning to knit!)

I have kept the shoulder stitches 'live' for now on holders. Later, I think it may be possible to join the shoulder seams using the three needle bind off technique. The center neckline stitches are also kept 'live' for joining to the lace edging later. Yes, that’s my bike in the background!

After watching the Tour coverage, Jeff felt a bit more daring on his bike and balanced with no hands! As stable as the road bikes are, I'm not too thrilled with this! I do not need to see a close up view of 'road rash'! My injuries from 2 mountain biking falls last summer were gross enough.

After riding in direct sun for most of the ride, it was a relief to find some shade.

Staying With the Peloton!

There is lots of easy stocking stitch happening on my Tour de France KAL project! I can watch television or play a movie like A Good Year to see plenty of French scenery while I knit and purl. I've used 2 balls of yarn so far. In this picture, you can see about 13.5 inches done on the back section.

Now, I can spread out the ribbing without losing stitches off the needle and show you the lace pattern! I'm really pleased with the stitch definition! The dainty little plates are Limoges porcelain.


I've been keeping up with the 5:30 *AM* bike rides. I have to admit it's agonizing to haul myself out of bed at that hour, but once I'm out on the bike, I'm happy! It is so quiet except for the birds and sound of the wind.
Here are foggy pastures near Hammersmith Farm. There is a funny collection of livestock grazing during the day: a couple of llamas, a mini donkey, mini ponies and some sheep and beltie cows.

Cycling & Knitting

For a few weeks, I get to post about two of my favorite things for the Tour de France KAL!

Today, Jeff and I got up early and were on the bikes by 5:30am to avoid riding in the hot sun later. It actually felt a little chilly as we started out which was a refreshing change from recent rides. It was great not to be slathered with sticky sunscreen too (it makes every bug stick to me).

As we made our way to the beaches, we passed this pasture with sleepy cows. There were various types of herons and water birds wading in the little cow pond.

Apparently beach goers aren't morning people. In the afternoon, you can hardly see any sand on this beach for all the people with their towels, umbrellas, coolers, etc. There was just one guy on a tractor smoothing out the sand. That's 'Hanging Rock' in the distance, a wave cut cliff.

I just like this building. It looks quite European, like many of the buildings around Newport.

When the surf is rough, this is one of the places we sometimes get splashed as we bike, but it was still and foggy this morning.

You can just see the outline of a mansion in the mist. This one looks a lot like a castle with the turrets.

Here's a pic of Jeff. We rode 25 miles.

There has been lots of time for knitting in this hot weather and I have used up one ball of yarn and completed the lace ribbing for the back section.

When I knit a little further along, I will be able to spread the ribbing out to properly show you the lace pattern.

I'm really delighted by the texture and color of the yarn. It is very evenly spun for the most part and I only had a little trouble with one yarn splice that I found *after* I had knit it into the lace and gone another row and a half! I had to frog back a little to break the yarn and leave out the fuzzy splice.

After completing the six inches of lace, you are directed to do a number of M1's across the next (knit) row. I didn't like the look of the M1's right up against the pattern stitches, so I frogged that first attempt at the increase row and then did a knit row and a purl row followed by the increase row. I think it looks better to have a little buffer of two rows between the pattern stitches and the increases. Hopefully it won't make any difference in how it seams or wears! Oh, I didn't worry about 'direction' for the M1's and just did them all the same since they hardly show.

Because I am trying to include French things in my pictures, I've pictured my knitting along with a bottle of Bordeaux that I happen to have stored in the little wine rack on my buffet. The logo for the wine is a sheep/ram's head. It's called Mouton Cadet and I use the entire bottle of it in my Boeuf Bourguignon! The recipe I use is from Barefoot Contessa in Paris. I really recommend it, but if you are experiencing hot summer weather like we are, I suggest you save this recipe for a cool autumn day.

I have visited most of the TdFKALer's blogs now and am so inspired by all the great projects underway!

My Tour de France KAL Kick Off

I have been so eager to begin my Tour de France KAL project! Finally, the day has arrived!

I began the day with a 30 mile bike ride with Jeff. We rode around Newport and enjoyed the cool, salty breezes. At Brenton Point, people were flying kites of all shapes and colors. The beaches were a blur of bright colors from all the bathers and you could hardly see any sand!

After biking and lunch, I started my TdFKAL project, a summery top called ‘Holiday Romance’. Getting started was pretty easy. The pattern didn't suggest a cast on method to use, but I could see that the one pictured was done using the cable cast on, so I went with that. In the hot weather today, I drank a lot of iced vanilla lattes, shown in the picture. The latte color kind of matches my yarn!

Later, Jeff brought home some sweets and they were packaged in this little box decorated with a chef on a unicycle!

Do you think the chef aspires to be a domestique?

Sadly, the television stations we receive do not cover the Tour, but the local news did mention it as part of the sport report and showed a tiny bit of footage from London.

Just click on the labels 'Pattern: Holiday Romance' or 'TdFKAL' below if you would like to access my previous post that contains more information about the pattern and yarn!

Tour de France KAL

It's time to join the first ever Tour de France KAL and select a jersey! I've chosen yellow and the hosts, Debby and Meg, have kindly added me to the list.

A few months ago, I fell in love with RYC Silk Wool DK yarn and started to keep an eye out for a chance to use it! How appropriate is it that my new yarn love will be used for a summery pattern titled 'Holiday Romance'! It was published in Simply Knitting, Issue 20. (You can read the magazine blog here.) The pattern calls for RYC Cashcotton DK, so I should have no trouble with the substitution as far as gauge. The cashcotton is a little softer and 'fluffier' than the silk wool.

It's a fairly simple off the shoulder top with lace ribbing at the waist, neckline and sleeves. I've chosen a golden tan shade, unglamorously named 'cord' like something you'd use in the garden to tie up tomatoes! It's much prettier than the name suggests! I am pairing this yarn and pattern because I think the silk and wool blend will have good stitch definition to really show off the lace ribbing. The silky sheen will make the top a bit special.

I think it's perfect for my armchair Tour de France holiday! I can imagine wearing this to an outdoor cafe for my morning latte and croissant. Since this is an imaginary holiday, that croissant is filled with the most decadent, high calorie, dark chocolate...Ummmm...where was I? Well, assuming I haven't grown too fat from my croissant, I can also imagine wearing this as a beach cover up as I stroll along the sands of the Mediterranean shore. And, undoubtedly, I could wear it while cheering for the awesome cyclists of the Tour!