The Secret Project

isn't a secret anymore!

A baby blanket for the hubster's lovely, wonderful assistant.



Presenting the Sunny Baby Blanket.
Yarn: Plymouth Encore / color 0515 (used about 3 1/2 skeins)
Needles: size 7
Size: approx. 34" by 30"



The designer named the blanket the Sunny Baby Blanket because she used bright, sunny-yellow yarn. A friend suggested that I should re-name mine since nothing about it is sunny.



But I disagree. Since this baby could be born under the zodiac sign of Leo, his ruling planet might be the sun. (I do hope he'll be a Leo. After all, it is my favorite sign!) But, even more so, hubster and I wish the parents-to-be many, many sunny days ahead with their sweet baby boy.

The Road--Again!

Chez Snit n'Knit 's theme song these days:



Last weekend, I was off to Boston to hang out with a niece. Had a wonderful time. K and I shopped, laughed, ate, shopped, saw beautiful sights, had heartfelt chats, shopped, experienced a power failure. . .







And the oh-so-considerate Amtrak actually gave me an extra hour and three minutes to knit the secret project on the way there.

Meanwhile, the hubster was off on his own adventure in the Pacific Northwest with some submarine veteran buddies.

We both returned home for a couple of days. And now we're off to the Catskill Mountains for a family wedding this weekend. I might actually get enough travel-knitting time to finish this secret knitting project.

But, if I don't finish--on Tuesday, I'm back on Amtrak. This time to DC to meet up with some old friends for a couple of days. And if I don't finish the secret project then---I'll never finish it!

Amtrak Knitting Circle

Another weekend. Another train ride on Amtrak.



This time, hubster and I went upstate to Albany, NY for a dinner. Since the train follows the Hudson River, this ride is exceptionally scenic. Here's one sight: (Photo was taken through a tinted window on a moving train. It's really much prettier than this.)



On the left side of the photo, notice the island. That's Pollepel Island. If you click on the photo to make larger--you'll see what looks like a ruined castle. That's Bannerman Castle. It was built around 1900 to store munitions.

On our return trip to NYC, there was a couple sitting in front of us. I was knitting my secret project, listening to an audiobook, enjoying the scenery when I saw the woman raise her hand above her head and in her hand was. . . YARN!

I looked at her reflection in the train's window and saw



Do you see what I see? A knitting bag, hands and dpns!

I scrunched over to the side so I could get a better look and the woman was knitting a sock!

I called out to her and held up my knitting. I asked and, yes, she's a member of Ravelry and so suddenly two strangers on a train became knitting buddies! Through the opening between our seats and window we had a fun conversation about yarn, needles, alpacas, NYC and upstate yarn stores, the 2009 NYC Yarn Crawl, Stitches East, Rhinebeck.

She held up her sock so I could take a photo --the yarn is Heritage. Very nice!



The train ride can be bumpy at times and I was quite impressed that the knitter didn't drop a needle or a stitch!

Amtrak being Amtrak, our trip was delayed by an hour. I can't say I welcomed this extra hour of knitting since I really wanted to get home. But knitting helped ease my anxiety about the delay. And, though I didn't ask, I'm sure the other knitter felt the same way. This is something that knitters just know.

Knitting Odds and Ends

Am I still knitting these days? There's a secret project on the needles. Sorry, can't talk about it right now.

I'm also working on the sweater--but not too much. I'm trying to do at least two rows a day. Maybe one morning I'll pull it out and discover I have the entire back finished. Not yet, though.



I'm using a Signature circular needle and love it! The tip is pointy and swivels and the join is perfect. Despite my two rows a day, they make me feel like a speedy knitter.

Signature Needle Arts had some difficulty with the second generation circulars--the joins weren't smooth and that causes the knitting to snag. The secret project is on a set of those. I've read that Signature has excellent customer service and so I may be returning that needle for a third generation needle. It probably wouldn't be bothering me if I didn't have this perfect circular.

The secret project is being knit on a size 7 needle. I swatched it on size 6 and size 8 circlon needles. Unfortunately, I don't have a size 7 circlon. I think for a future knitting project, I'll have to use a circlon--they felt unbelievably good!

And that's all I have to report!