The Classy People House: Back from the windy city

Kitty likes knitting!

Wow it has been a long time! I can barely remember what I have been up to since the last post. I promised myself I would post more but things get away from me so fast. I did spend a week in Chicago for a library conference which was amazing. Chicago is a beautiful city, amazing buildings and great food. We spent a day sight seeing around downtown and at the Art Institute. I saw one of my favorite painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. His style is so delicate. You cannot see a single brushstroke on the surface of the painting but it has such a depth of color. I saw it across the room and it took my breath away.

The cables have strong definition

This post is supposed to highlight my Valkyrie Vest. I knit this for the Ravelympics as part of Team Redheart. Those crafters are great. They are funny, supportive and so loyal to RH. No yarn snobs in that group. I have to say that the RH group is my favorite Ravelry group. They make everyone feel welcome.

The vest is made from the staple RHSS. I used 2 skeins in Real Teal to knit up the 36 bust size. The pattern is from Interweave and I believe a free download. The vest in knit in two pieces. The cables start at the bottom and spread across the back and front splitting into a v neck. I love the way the cables move across the vest and it knits up so fast since you are always eager to do one row of cabling to see it move across. The pattern charts are easy to follow but this is not a beginner pattern at all. Fit wise I like it. It was written as a plus size pattern and has a nice rounded shaped that doesn’t make me feel like a sausage in it like other vests do. I plan on wearing it with short sleeves or a tank. I am pretty happy with the way this one turned out. It makes me want to tackle a cabled cardigan. I keep mulling it over but I want to do a cardigan for Nate before he heads off to school.

In progress shot. I love the back center cable.

Right now I am working on the front bands of my top down raglan I had to stop carrying it around in my backpack it is just too big. I love the fit of it and want to finish it so it can become my at work summer sweater for the air conditioning. I am also zipping along with the Citron. The only bad thing about it is that it gets bigger after each section so progress slows as you work but I love the ruching and the yarn is very nice. I am finally using the Knitpicks Shadow in Redwood I bought when I finished my undergrad degree in 2006. It took me so long to figure out what to make out of it!

Quickly, quickly. I finished reading Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellows (very funny and sad), Kim by Rudyard Kipling and A Passage to India by E.M. Forster. This one was so good but the ending got pretty weird with the whole religious episode but it was well written not my favorite Forster but well worth the read. I am working on the U.S.A. trilogy by John Dos Passo and Nostromo by Joseph Conrad.

I just emptied the litter box get cleaning human.

Luna is doing well we are still getting used to each other. She is a digger and will empty out her litter box if she gets mad. We are trying to figure out a solution to that since she refused to go inside anything so we can’t get her a box with a lid. Right now we have the tallest dishpan we can find that she still get into but she just sees it as a challenge! Cats are sooooo different than dogs! It is a good thing she is so cute!