DC and NYC

I'm off to Washington, DC and New York City next week! I haven't been to either in ages and this time, we've managed to blag a tour of the White House. The last time I was in DC (during the reign of King George W), it was for a protest march and it actually took me a little bit of time to realize that I no longer need to carry any resentment about the current occupant of the White House.

No particular plans for New York, except I definitely want to visit The High Line and the Met. I want to spend most of my time wandering around neighbourhoods, really. I've already done the more touristy things, so this time, wandering, getting coffee, pastries, poking into bookshops is the plan, as far as there is a plan. Also, eating lots of good food.

Obviously, I'm making a list of yarn shops. DC and NYC natives: tips, advice?

Random garden pictures

Almost there!

Hoping these will hold out until I'm back from holiday.

Every time I grow pansies, I re-discover their gorgeous scent.

Persephone Shell

Hmm... that name at the top left there looks familiar...


I'm so happy to announce that I have a pattern in this summer's Interweave Knits!

(And it's a great issue- how much do I love the Ambrosia Cardigan? Muchly. I love it muchly.)

More notes on Persephone on my website.

You know, I've been published in print before, but I tell ya, The Journal of Physical Chemistry has nothing on Interweave Knits! I am way more excited about this than any of my science articles!

This is what happens when you marry a physicist

The Limey figuring out whether we should buy a place/how much we can borrow/how much mortgage is necessary...


...whereas I said, Can't we just talk to the bank?

(He's written the calculations on Igor Pro, if that's the kind of thing that floats your boat.)

Different. Better?

As you may have noticed, I've changed the look of the blog slightly. This is all part of a revamp and launch of the website The Limey built for me. (It was his Christmas/birthday present to me this year!) Please visit and let me know what you think! There will be more and more content put up over the next few weeks, and you can get to this blog from there, although it will stay here on blogspot as well. If you link to me from your website, please link to the new one. You can always get to the website by clicking on the logo at the left here.

Right, on with the knitting. I actually have an FO!



My very own Arachne Cardigan. I seriously loved the sample I knit for Jeni so much I bought more yarn for my own right away. And it's gorgeous yarn, so it was a joy to work with it again.

This was supposedly my Ravelympics project, but the gauge gods intervened, but it's finally finished!

Thanks to Liz for reminding me that Mason's was, if not on my doorstep, then on a neighbouring doorstep. I went on Saturday and bought a bunch of buttons. I ended up using these thin, slightly un-flat shell buttons.


Now, I won't make the mistake Arachne did, and claim divine-like perfection. For starters, the sleeves are slighly longer than ideal (that's what I get for following my own pattern for "standard" sizing) and the buttonhole band could have been knit tighter. But, dudes, I love this cardigan. It fits perfectly (I'm so glad I frogged and re-knit), it's soft and lightweight and airy yet warm and summery. I wore it over jeans to a birthday party in London yesterday, but I'm already planning on wearing it with dresses to work. I really think this is going to be my workhorse cardigan for the next two seasons- better than the plain black store-bought affairs that I've been wearing forever.