knitting kitchen

The toe-up Fixation socks knit up oh, so speedily. They’re comfy, they fit well, and it only requires on ball of yarn. Yah! The red stripe on the argyles still languishes, but if you count that pair of socks, this is my third Summer of Socks pair.

On the 4th on July, M had an all day vintage base ball tournament at Seaside Park in Bridgeport. I remember going to that beach as a kid and it was fine. By the time I was a teenager, it had become a scary place and I haven’t been back since. I was really surprised at how much it has been fixed up. M’s team played three games. The rain held off until the last game was finished, and we had a wonderful time cheering for the teams and celebrating with friends.

I don’t really have much time off this summer, so all of our vacation plans fit into smaller periods of time. M and I took two days to drive to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame.  We’ve been there before, but now that M is making bats, he wanted to go back and see some of the older bats in the collection.

Bats and jersey used by Honus Wagner. 

Before we left on our trip, I needed to start a new sock. I decided to use my least favorite yarn from my stash of yarns I dyed. This one is the last of the kool aid dyed yarn.

And I took it on the road. I had no idea what was to become of it, so I packed up a few sock books and waited to see what would happen. I started toe-up figuring I’d give myself half a skein, but the Knit Picks skeins have a lot of yardage and the sock needed to end well before I hit the halfway mark.

In a rare move, we actually made a hotel reservation before we left the house. We stayed in Little Falls, NY. It’s on the Erie Canal. Despite the fact that most of the businesses seemed to have moved on, Little Falls has some beautiful turn of the century industrial buildings and it looks like there is beginning to be a small rennaissance of artisans moving into the area. We were looking for a small pub so we could have dinner and watch a game, and we couldn’t find anything. We explored Herkimer (where the Herkimer diamonds come from) and then Utica. Everyone was very friendly and we had a really good time. We never did find a pub. It seems that when the people there go out to eat, they go to McDonalds, KFC, or Appleby’s. Surprisingly, however, I had one of the best breves I’ve ever had at Il Caffe in downtown Little Falls.

We headed down to Cooperstown early on Friday. Still having our unfulfilled pub experience, we opted for a hearty lunch before undertaking the Hall of Fame. We settled on an Irish pub.

BBHOF was excellent. We even took advantage of the research library. They are so helpful. M was able to have access to some of the specs used to make players’ bats. Pretty cool.

By the time we came home, sock #1 of Summer of Socks pair #4 was finished. I decided to use an attached i-cord on the top. The sock looks a little loose in the cuff for me, but it’s for someone else and I’m sure it will fit her perfectly.