July 2005 Archives

If you've ever had Mia as a secret pal or a secret pal recipient, you know she is one of the sweetest, most generous people you've ever met. I received a second package from her Friday, which could not have come at a better time:

Yarn! Books! Yarn! Books! A boxload of books to help the summer go along, perfect for those days where all you do is lie around in the shade with a glass of ice-cold horchata. And the yarn,I thought of ditching the lace and heading straight into fall knitting. The thick-and-thin texture will be perfect for two pretty woven scarves.

Thanks so much, Mia! This has really made my weekend.

Thanks to Wendy Spaazlicious. Yup, that's me.

I have actually cast on for the Summer of Lace, even though the summer is technically half over. I am so not into charted patterns, but doing this will force me kicking and screaming into doing it. I gotta. Charted lace is probably the best way to figure out an intricate pattern, because reading typed out lines of yo ssk k2tog somehow don't cut it. I have my eye on Kiri, the Flower Basket Shawl, and a pair of lace socks. The good thing about Kiri is that Polly gave both written (yay!) and charted instructions. Cara came to my rescue on FBS, directing me toward this page that answers every question I had. Thanks, Cara! Finally, I found *the* pattern I was whining about last time in Barbara Walker's The Craft of Lace Knitting, and I've got about 6 inches of lovely sock to show you next time.

Guess what? The neverending ball of sock yarn? I finished it! Weeelllll, I have about a yard left. Wanna see what I did with it?

I learned how to knit mitered squares, and the benefits of a selvage made from a sl1p and k1tbl. Mitered squares are fun! They're a little fiddly though, these squares coming out to 1.5" wide on average. Here's the outside...

And the inside, which I like better, for its smooth purliness. As for the yarn ends, I doubled the yarn when knitting the first 3 stitches, then dropped them. Didn't bother cutting them either, as they're inside.

Pattern: Heart Sachet by Vicki Sever in Interweave Knits' Summer '05 issue. It's an online pattern ONLY, available as a 167kb PDF here.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shephed Sock in #32 Somerset
Needles: US1 dpns

One modification I made: for the paired decreases on the wrong side, instead of k2tog, ssk as called for in the pattern, I did p2tog tbl, p2tog. This created a raised increase on the front, like a rib. A nice detail. I suppose you could make this with a thicker yarn for a bigger heart, or make more squares for a heart pillow. In any case, I think the variegation makes the project unique, and I would recommend it over a solid. Or whatever, right? Make the project your own!

Reading: Finished Oscar Hijuelos' The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. I would recommend reading this. There are so many movies out there that have been adapted from, or based on, books, that have lost some of the subtlety and details that only books can do. For any movie based on a book, I would advise reading the book as well. There's an exception for me, however: when I was younger I tried reading J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and never made it past halfway because it was a little too complicated for my taste. I've just added Samantha Daniels' Matchbook, Laura Jacobs' Women About Town, Richard Condon's The Manchurian Candidate, Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote (one for K1R2) and Ross King's Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling.

A friend found this link via Daily Candy. Knitted baby items, so sugary sweet! I left with a toothache.

Shortly after I added Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock to my sock list I was on eBay looking. For said sock yarn. Please don't bid against me, ha ha! Actually, please do. I sooo do not need more yarn!

With the smock jacket nearing completion (side and sleeve seaming) I'm finally free to pick out another project. I still have my sister-in-law's birthday socks to do, and I've borrowed Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns from the library but somehow I can't find the right pattern. I know exactly what it looks like in my head and you know what, I can't find it. I did see another Walker book, about lace, that I'll have to go back to the library for. Hopefully it'll be in there. I'm taking rather long to make these socks because I want them to be special. Sister-in-law is a funny, patient, sweet woman who was able to tame the playboy brother and have

the most adorable little girl. You have to know that these are *really* special socks.

Happy Thursday everybody!

My friends... They indulge my baby sock knitting habit by having more babies! He he he!

Pattern: Wendy Johnson's Toe-Up Socks, Priscilla Gibson's Short Row Technique, and my combination of 2-stitch single and double cables. Easy enough.
Yarn: The neverending ball of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in #32 Somerset
Needles US1 dpns. I *heart* bamboo needles!

I *really* like variegated yarn for socks. I like the unpredictability of color arrangement in the knittted fabric, and the overall combination makes people look closer. I haven't tried the faux Fair Isle striping yarns yet; suffice it to say that I am not really interested because of lack of spontaneity. There is a pattern, it will come out when it's knitted, you knit in stockinette, ta-da. Some of you may think I'm full of it; what are your thoughts on self-patterning or variegated sock yarn?

Anyway, my short list for sock knitting yarns is below. Please feel free to name more. You know I want to try them all!

1. Skacel Trekking XXL in #100, #105 Autumn, #67 Pastel, #92 Shades of Tan and Cream, #90 Brown and Olive, and #96 Khaki and Tan. Oh heck, all of 'em. Except the self-patterning.
2. Koigu KPPPM. Secret Pal 2 Elizabeth gave me one skein of it in pinks. Must amass more to create a Koigu stash of my own. More more more!
3. Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock. What a great name!

Added 07.21.05I'm adding Lorna's Lace's, because the colors are amazing. Of course, my new favorites are now #32 Somerset, #70 Vera, #105 Glenwood, #112 Sandridge, and #403 Tuscany. Margene posted an article on socks as well which was great timing with mine. More sock yarn suggestions!

Secret Pal 2 Mia and I have been corresponding for a while now, and during MDSW she mentioned that she got me something special that Stephanie helped her pick. Then I went on vacation and came back and all that time I was wondering if she had sent the package while I was gone, but luckily she waited until I was back.

The waiting was worth it.

Fluffy goodness from Spirit Trail Fiberworks! Eight ounces of 50% Clun Forest Lamb/50% Cormo in pink, green and white! It is really beautiful. Thanks Mia! I seriously have to start thinking about getting a wheel, because this fiber is begging to be spun into something...

Another knitter (and non-blogger; believe me, I've tried to convince her) is Jennifer, with whom I had been discussing the Rebecca 25 Wine Red Top. Remember my knitting the Bellini Tank last year? Kris finished hers recently too. Well, Jennifer sent me pictures of hers, which was done in Patons Katrina in a lovely icy blue (or is it green?) shade. Doesn't it look great on her?

Jennifer is currently working on Pia from Rowan 35. Someone else convince her to start a blog!

Last Tuesday, I met up with Cara at my LYS, Wildfiber.

First of all, Cara is really cool! I was waiting for her and when this woman came in with a red thing in her hands I knew instantly it was her.

And of course, her beautiful Flower Basket Shawl.

We were fortunate enough to see the work of Prudence Mapstone, whose freeform crochet just blew us away.

Look at this. Isn't it fab?

Prudence was self-taught, and she said that for writing her books she had to learn what the different stitches were in order to create directions. She is much like my mom, who doesn't know a single crochet stitch but whips up beautiful pieces all the time.

Who said you can't combine different yarn weights in crochet?

All in all, it was great hanging out with Cara. Georgie took this picture of us in front of the (*drool*) Koigu wall. I was so tempted to pick colors for a Charlotte's Web!

Cara, it was really nice meeting you!

Cool Link: For those who like neat stuff, there's Design*Sponge. Is this a great cat bed or what?

Reading: I'm almost done with the Salt book, but I've started on Oscar Hijuelos' The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Watched the movie, own the soundtrack; it's about time I read the book.

This past Tuesday I met Cara at Wildfiber in Santa Monica. Will tell you more about it next entry, pictures included!

So I'm semi-blocking this, not fully stretching it to size (I wish Debbie Bliss would show some schematics), but just pinning the edges and spraying them down so they don't curl. Shoulders are ready for my now-favorite three-needle bind-off, and back stitches were left live for the collar. I'm thinking round mother-of-pearl buttons, although they may be too fiddly for little fingers. Perhaps more playful buttons? I'm going to toss the finished jacket in the dryer once it's all put together, though. For some reason my stitches got kind of loose (especially around the smocking) and I need to tighten them up. Almost done! I'm looking forward to the Summer of Lace now!

How about some Weight Watchers cards circa 1974?

Reading: Finished Michael Crichton's State of Fear ahead of the Salt book. It was more or less a neutral take on the environmentalism/global warming issue, and I definitely learned a lot from this book. I've read almost all his fiction, and aside from being a compelling writer he also bases things on fact. State of Fear made me more aware of the issue surrounding global warming, and I definitely recommend this. Still reading Salt, and I've been paging through Eric J. Horst's How To Climb 5.12, but that's just supplemental reading.

I was relegated to Sleeve Island... and rescued in a week! So happy to be done with the sleeves! This is the good thing about knitting for infants, because everything is smaller/shorter/cuter. The exciting bits in these here sleeves were the moss border, the decreases, the smocking, the increases, and the bind-off. Yup. You can tell I don't go out much.

Seems I haven't been keeping up wit' the blogs. Which is why Jessica's posted 78 entries! I am almost scared to click... I know she's got those WTF knitting projects and Manolo anecdotes, always funny. Okay, I *will* click!

Kris inspired me with her lists, so here's my summer knitting list:

1. Baby Socks #3, to finish the everlasting ball of Lorna's Laces
2. SIL's horribly belated Birthday Socks
3. Sock Pattern, simple design
4. Grandma's KSH Shawl, take 2. Feather and fan, I think
5. Kiri Shawl

And my summer physical fitness list:

1. Convert those 10 vacation pounds back to, um, "muscle" (run, climb, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups)

It's short, I won't bother with too many details, but we know how painful it is to lose the weight. I *really* want to fit into that swimsuit! Welcome to summer!

This is old, but still newsworthy: Minor Threat versus Nike. The offense and the retraction. But then, think about this: is it copying a smaller company's original idea in the hopes that no one really saw it and recognized it, and using it to a bigger company's advantage (image of "cool"); or is it imitation as the sincerest form of flattery? I think ultimately it's the original creator's choice, as Dischord (Minor Threat's label) stated:

"No, they stole it and we're not happy about it. Nike is a giant corporation which is attempting to manipulate the alternative skate culture to create an even wider demand for their already ubiquitous brand. Nike represents just about the antithesis of what Dischord stands for and it makes me sick to my stomach to think they are using this explicit imagery to fool kids into thinking that the general ethos of this label, and Minor Threat in particular, can somehow be linked to Nike's mission. It's disgusting."

Some great flash, but may be a little offensive to some: Hoogerbrugge, via Kaliber 10000.

A classic redefined: the all-new Sesame Street.

The green sweater. I frogged. I wasn't feelin' the love for it, you know. Made me look like a long-armed fuzzy bear. I'm a bit on the skinny side, so if a sweater can make me look like a long-armed fuzzy bear, it must be bad. It was. Bye-bye, green sweater. Hello, cute little fuzzy green yarn cakes. I'm on a pattern search now.

The lace stole. I frogged. I have to thank Lyn, who frogged her pink Criss Cross (I think it's from Vogue Knitting). These two projects have been gathering dust in the closet and everytime I opened it to take out needles, or yarn, or my knitting bag, I got a twinge of pain. Agh, the pain. So, I frogged. Also, do you know that frogging mohair sucks? It wasn't enough that I frogged the fluffy green sweater (mohair and wool), I had to frog the lace stole (mohair and silk) right after. I never got a good rhythm with the pattern, which was turning out to be incredibly boring. It was all good, though, the Argentinian wine helped.

I joined the Summer of Lace knitalong. I gotta do this KSH shawl for my grammy (I'm thinking the good old standby Feather and Fan) and I gotta do Kiri as well. We shall see...

A Post-it mosaic of Elvis. He he. Nothing to get the creative juices flowing! (Also good for team bonding, etc. etc.)

This reminds me of the time we did a treasure hunt at work. One of the IT guys had a pair of magnets that made a clicking sound when he tossed them in the air (something about the poles attracting and repelling each other). He did it far too often and incurred the wrath of one of the designers. The IT guy made the mistake of leaving the magnets one day so we "kidnapped" one of them, made a ransom note (photo of blindfolded magnet included), and left it on the foosball table demanding cold hard cash for its safe return. When he didn't pay up, he was sent on a treasure hunt that took him to the very bottom of the parking structure to the CEO's conference room to the outdoor landscaping. It took the better part of an hour and 15 clues, and it was sooo much fun to watch the entire IT department running around! I wish we could come up with something like that again.

Cute Link Alert! Witold Reidel's The Bear travel photo series.

He he, gotcha! This pair is for my co-worker's wife, who is 5 months pregnant.

Pattern: Toe-Up Baby Socks using Wendy's toe-up formula, her toe cast-on tutorial, and the short-row technique from Better than Booties Baby Socks in Interweave Knits' summer issue.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Sheperd Sock in #32 Somerset
Needles: US1 bamboo dpns

I felt adventurous and decided to try a toe-up baby sock. It was quite simple; I completed this in 5 hours, which is fast for me. I reread Wendy's notes completely a couple of times, just to make sure I knew what I was doing. My formula: crochet chain provisional cast-on of 20 sts (after short row shaping and unraveling the crochet chain, there will be 40 sts total), short row toe , 14-row foot, short row heel, 18-row leg, 6-row 2x2 rib cuff. I'm so proud of these socks!

I decided to do it in stockinette to show off the lovely color changes in the yarn. The Somerset colorway is made primarily of bright pink, baby blue, and a bright seafoam green, and the transitions from color to color are pastelly and quite nice. My co-worker and his wife were the whole reason behind my starting to knit socks. Since they didn't know the sex of their baby, I had to pick a yarn colorway that was fairly unisex. This fit the bill.

Knitting designer Louisa Harding has a PDF of her fall collection. I usually don't go for ribbon yarns, but I love the romantic earth tones in hers.

Reading: Duuude, have you seen the Penguin Classics Collection--holy cow, does that qualify for free shipping? I stole borrowed a few books from my sister's nightstand: Mark Kurlansky's Salt: A World History, Alison Bond's How To Be Famous, Oscar Hijuelos' The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, and Ross King's Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling. Should last until the end of July. Can you believe it's already July?

Added later: That How To Be Famous is god-awful. I'm normally game for chick lit, but it was embarrassingly mindless. I'm changing to Juan-Eduardo Cirlot's Gaudí: An Introduction to His Architecture.