On the train

I love to take the train. Even more than taking the train, I love to knit on the train. Last week, I hopped Amtrak‘s Coast Starlight in Emeryville, CA and rode it all the way to Seattle, an approximately 18-hour trip with nothing to do but sleep, read and sit and knit and look out the window at the rugged mountains and rolling rivers that weave through the Pacific Northwest.

I was on my way to Vancouver, BC where I was meeting my mother and then joining up with 10 or so other knitters on the Norwegian Cruise Line‘s Norwegian Star for a 5-day repositioning cruise. The trip was organized by K2Tog, the yarn store where I work, as a “knitting cruise” – we would have an on-board workshop in toe-up socks, knitting time, and trips to local yarn shops in the ports of call.

But the first leg of the trip was just me, my knitting and my iPod. I picked up the train in Emeryville at about 10:30 p.m. Friday night. With the help of a Tylenol PM, I was able to sleep okay in a coach window seat. I was kinda cold – they really air-condition the hell out of those cars – and my seat was opposite the staircase to the lower level of the traincar, so there was a light in my eyes. But I slept enough.

Sunrise

In the morning I awoke to this view outside my window. I am not sure what mountain this is, but it is not to far south of the California-Oregon state line and is as pretty as can be. The sky was pink, the rising sun turning the snow on the mountain a pink, too. There were lots of pine trees, low shrubs – maybe sage – with yellow blossoms on the ends of their scrubby branches. We passed rivers and lakes and saw lots of birds. No people. No cars. Just what was probably a state park. It was a great way to wake up.

another sunrise shot

Throughout the day, we continued north through Oregon, stopping in Klamath Falls, Eugene and Portland. I had a seat mate all the way, including one woman in a hijab who was traveling from Klamath Falls to Portland to be with her family for the Eid-al-Fitr. Most of the day, I sat in the lounge car, which has a dome-like glass ceiling, and watched the world go by as I knit and listened to a book on tape.

Which brings me to a book review: I was listening to American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I had purchased it from Audible in early Sept with some trepidation. I am not a fan of fantasy or science-fiction, but I have listened to three other books by Gaiman (Wall, Stardust and Neverwhere) and count them among my Audible favorites. This book surpassed them all and may be my all-time Audible favorite. No one can match Gaiman in terms of creativity and fanciful imagination, and this book was enormously aided by the choice of narrator – WHO – who acted each character perfectly. All of the characters – men, women, young girls, gods and crooks among them – were fleshed out in three dimensions and were entirely distinguishable one from another. I kid you not – if you enjoy a bit of magic in your fiction, check this book out. Listening to it really enhanced my enjoyment of the entire trip and made my knitting more fun, too.

Bobble baby hat

Okay, back to the knitting. On the train, I started and finished a baby hat. I made it with one ball of Crystal Palace Taos yarn and designed it myself (this is a big deal for me). The pattern is below. I love the way it came out! When it was finished, I picked up a ball of Manos del Uruguay silky wool and started the first of a pair of fingerless gloves from a pattern I picked up at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island outside Seattle when I visited there last year. What a yarn store! The pattern is free with the purchase of the yarn – ask for their welted fingerless gloves pattern. I am going to finish them off with a set of vintage pearl buttons on the welts, slightly offset from the center of my wrist.

We were due to arrive in Seattle at about 9 p.m., at which time those of us continuing to

Amtrak wine

Vancouver, BC would board a bus for another 3 hours. At 5 p.m., I decided I had earned a drink, so I headed to the café car to buy myself a glass of red wine. The attendant said the only wine he had for sale was a half-bottle of white. I don’t like white – and how good can Amtrak wine be, right? But I was set for a glass of wine and some sunset knitting, so I paid for my half-bottle and took it and glass to a table in the window. The attendant went on break, so I had the café car to myself. I looked at the wine – a pinot

Our Trento view

grigio – and I saw that its label said it was from the Veneto region of Italy. My husband and I were just there in May, and when I turned the bottle around, the label said it was imported by a company in Trento. Trento was one of my favorite cities we visited on our trip! I had an instant flashback to the evenings my husband I spent in Trento, sitting on our terrace and drinking wine as we looked out across the view to the Castello del Buonconsiglio and the Duomo. At the same time, I was looking out the window at the coastline of the Seattle-Tacoma area speed by. Double vision! It was very cool. I called my husband at home to tell him.

My Amtrak view

The rest of the trip was unremarkable. We arrived in Seattle early (!!!), waited around for the bus for an hour, left there on time and got to Vancouver at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. I hopped a cab to the Sheraton, checked in, and there was my mom asleep in her bed! Yeah! I went to sleep (oh, man, was I ready to be horizontal!) and prepared for the morning when we would head for ship.

Okay, here’s the pattern for the baby hat:

YOU WILL NEED:

1 ball Crystal Palace Taos (or about 200 yds of worsted weight yarn)

1 set of size 5 double point needles (DPNs)

stitch markers

Tapestry needle

ABBREVIATIONS:

k – knit

p – purl

pm – place marker

mb – make bobble

kfbf – knit into the front, the back and the front of a single stitch = 3 stitches

kfb – knit into the front and the back of a single stitch = 2 stitches

RH – right hand needle

ssk – Slip 2 stitches, one at a time, as if to knit, and knit them through the back loops

k2tog – knit 2 stitches together

s – slip 1 stitch knitwise

psso – pass slipped stitch over stitch closest to tip of RH needle

Cast on 72 stitches. Divide stitches evenly on 4 DPNs (18 stitches per needle). Join for knitting in the round, being careful not twist stitches. Pm for beginning of round. K 5 rows. Begin Bobble Pattern.

Bobble Pattern:

At the beginning of next row, k7, *mb (see below) in next stitch, k7*, repeat around, ending k3. K 3 rows. At the beginning of next row, k3, *mb, k7* repeat around, ending k4. K 3 rows. Repeat from the beginning until 5 rows of bobbles have been completed.

Make Bobble:

Kfbf – 3 stitches on right hand RH needle. Turn work. P3. Turn work. Kfb, k1, kfb – 5 stitches on RH needle. Turn work. P5. Turn work. Ssk, k1, k2tog – 3 stitches on RH needle. Turn work. P3. Turn work. S1, k2tog, psso – 1 stitch on RH needle. Continue knitting to next bobble placement.

K all rows until hat measures 4.5 inches from cast on. Begin decreases for crown.

Decreases for crown:

At the beginning of next row, *k10, k2tog, pm,* repeat across row until you reach the first stitch marker. Next row: *k until 2 stitches remain before marker, k2tog,* repeat across row until you reach the first stitch marker. Continue in this fashion until there are 6 stitches left on needles. Cut yarn, thread onto tapestry needle, run the needle under the 6 live stitches and remove from needles. Pull needle and yarn to inside hat and work in end of yarn.