Revisiting the past, part 1

For almost all of March I've been in Davis, CA for work. For those of you who don't know me, Davis is my alma mater. GO AGGIES! I had forgotten how beautiful Davis is in the spring (although, technically, it wasn't spring until half way through my visit--but you know California and its unstoppable sunshine). The temperature is perfect--mid 70's to low 80s with a nice breeze. Sometimes this lasts for only a two week period between the rain/cold and the unbearable hot summer with 90 and 100 degree weather, so it was great timing for me to be there when I was. I took some pics to share with you.


These last two pictures I just had to include. They are from in front of the building where I was working. Normally buildings have rows of planted flowers in front of them, but not the Plant and Environmental Sciences building; it had rows of vegetables--with nice signs asking you not to pick them yet. This is SO Davis. We were actually allowed to pick them while I was there and I got to take home some red onions and greens. All in all, Davis was pretty great. I also loved seeing all my friends from that area. We had good food and great conversations. Good times.

Of course, I also got some knitting done. Normally, I am a very slow knitter, but being away from home and running samples on an instrument that is for the most part automated leaves a lot of sitting and waiting. I finished Eunny's Endpaper Mitts.


I used Koigu KPM, one skein each color (2239 and 2235), and 4US dpns. This was my first fair isle project. I don't think I'm very good at it. My stitches are totally uneven and wherever I switched from one dpn to the next, I've got a crease in my mitt. Maybe if I used two circulars instead. The uneven stitches thing I think improved throughout the project and the second mitt came out much better than the first. Despite the flaws, I love them. I learned to knit continental and waded into uncharted territory. They were a labor of love. Initially, I tried using size 3US needles and my gauge was too small, by a lot. So, I moved up a size in needles and just went for it, thinking that if I went too big in needle size my fair isle pattern would turn out funny. I don't know if this is true...do you? Anyway, everything worked out ok. They are snug, but definitely wearable--next winter, since it is now too warm for scarves and mittens and such.

There is more knitting and scenery to post about, but I'll save that for later.

But I do want to say that this being my first blogging experience, I hope you enjoy reading. I'm sure there are many little flaws and I hope to be making improvements as I go along. But mostly I hope this helps connect me with all of you, as a more constant form of keeping in touch with those I already know, and as a chance to meet new people.