July 2006 Archives

It occurred to me, while cleaning up my project list and gallery, that I'd never posted the stats on my SIL's Field of Flowers half-a-shawl.

Pattern: Field of Flowers by Evelyn Clark; distributed by Fiber Trends
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Sportweight (100% baby alpaca; 50g/1.76 oz; 146 yards) in #7000 Black, 6 skeins
Needles: US7 for the body, US9 for binding off
Finished Size: 74" wide by 37" deep

Half-a-shawl? The pattern for a square shawl was easily converted into a triangle; I used the "flowers" motif, the row of eyelets, and the waves, but I omitted the finishing lace border because it didn't match the waves. The waves, which I believe was an 17-stitch repeat, would have clashed--in my eyes--with the 12-row repeat of the lace border. I don't remember the number of rows, but I felt it would look better without. So there you have it.

Misti Alpaca Sport- and Lace-weight seem to be my standards for lace, although having talked to several people I feel the need to try Jaggerspun Zephyr. It's thin; in fact, it's the same weight as the 18/2 (or is it 2/18) cone of alpaca I purchased last November at the GLASG show. I'm dreaming of a brilliant but deep red, a mossy green, and a buttery cream. Yummmm.

Right now I'm dreaming of sleep. Oh, that must feel good, to close one's eyes and pass out in bliss. I've been staring at the monitor for the last 12 hours.

Thanks for yesterday's comments, everyone! I owe emails to a few people, and I'll get to those today, just as soon as I settle a few design issues with BF. My god, who knew he could be such a control freak over his socks.

MJ: I gotta measure your feet.

BF: Okay. (sticks out foot in MJ's face)

MJ: I'm kind of nervous about this whole project, you know, because it's for you and it *has* to be perfect.

BF: Yeah, perfect. (smirks)

MJ: I'll probably want you to try the first one on as I go along with it--

BF: In this heat?

MJ: --so that it fits, you know?

BF: On one condition: don't take any pictures. I'm getting hot just thinking of wearing socks in this weather.

MJ: That's fine, but in the end I'll have to take a finished and posed photo.

BF: Okay, whatever.

MJ: Okay, Mr. Skinny Ankles, I've just calculated your measurements according to the knitted gauge. I also compensated for stretch by taking away 10%, so the socks hug your foot. I can start on your socks today!

BF: Hey, will they be ready by this weekend? Maybe I don't need to do laundry for the trip.

MJ: Sixty stitches for 18 inches of sock, per sock? You'll be lucky I'll have one done by Friday, dude.

We're off to Maple Canyon in Utah next week, and I've been tracking the temps at Nephi, the closest town to it: mid to high 90s during the day, mid 60s during the evening. I have a feeling we'll be chasing the shade most of the time, not trying our intended projects. About two months ago in Mount Charleston (near Las Vegas, NV) we watched from the base of a crag as this one guy steadily hiked up the hill in the hot sun, backpack on his back, sweating like it was going out of style. He carried something in his cast-off t-shirt, which he unwrapped like it was the Holy Grail. And it was, sort of: a bowling ball-sized cantaloupe. We watched as he sliced the thing open and proceeded to eat half the melon in huge slurping bites. His buddy, who came up 10 minutes later, ate the other half, juice flowing down his chin. Clearly these guys knew their summer weather shit. The cantaloupe smelled *so good* to us with our dried-up sandwiches, grossly doughy Clif bars and plain water mixed with Emergen-C. So here's my (duh) summer hiking/climbing tip: climbing gear be damned, always carry a melon in your pack.

On to knitting. The shawl. My girlfriend? Still preggers. When is Bean coming out?

Pattern: Shetland Triangle from Interweave Knits' Wrap Style
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace (100% Baby Alpaca; 50g; 437 yards) in VL9311 Merlot
Needles: US7
Finished Size: 70" wide x 35" long

Let it be said that I *love* working with alpaca! It's soft and has a great halo, not as fluffy as Rowan Kidsilk Haze, but just enough to give it that skin-skimming softness. It's great.

The bold color is something new as well. Usually I knit the earth tones. Or black. That gets boring after a while, and pink and green... Well, other than being my mainstays, they were predictable. And since the pregnant friend is less floofy-girly than me, I thought the rich eggplant color (although you don't see it here as well) would be perfect.

Thanks for writing, those of you who still read this blog! I've been too busy to read and comment lately, and I've gotten unwanted trackbacks, which is why I closed comments in the first place. I've opened this one here, in part because of Julia and the PB cookies.

BF: That doesn't look like a sock.

MJ: No, it's a swatch. I'm knitting up little squares with different sized needles to see what makes the best texture. Here, take a look at this one. (hands BF a swatch made with US0 needles)

BF: Wow, that looks machine-made. (grins) That's cool.

MJ: Yeah, it'll only take me a month to crank out a sock at that gauge. I'm doing a few more.

(later)

BF: (playing around with swatches made with US1, US2, and US3 needles) This (US1 swatch) is really nice. It's very firm, though. I want soft socks. This (US3 swatch) is too open. Look. (stretches the swatch) You can see right through it. I think I like this (US2 swatch) best. The fabric is not too firm, and the weave's not too open. The stitches aren't too small that you can't go blind knitting them, right? Did I tell you I like the colors?

MJ: Yeah, it's got every color in your closet, which means it'll match everything. There was a blue ball, but you're more of a green person. I like the subtle color shifts, too. I think that swatch is perfect. Let me calculate the gauge now. (whips out measuring tape and pins) Okay. Okay, I can work with this. (writes numbers down in the notebook) Okay, here's the gauge: 29 stitches and 38 rows to 4 inches.

BF: What's that mean?

MJ: That means for every 4 inches of your big feet, I'll be knitting 29 stitches--that's widthwise--and 38 rows--that's lengthwise. That's a lot of knitting time I'm taking away from my fluffy green sweater. I'm calculating either a week or two weeks. And I'll need you to try the first one on from time to time.

BF: Sounds like a lot of work.

MJ: Not really. I'm just slow like that. I know this one knitter, she cranks out socks in 2 or 3 days! And this other knitter, she's got, like, 10 million colors of sock yarn!

BF: You knitters are crazy.

MJ: I like to think we're goal-oriented, that's all.

Last week.

BF: (to MJ, spinning Corriedale top) Is that the cashmere for my socks?

MJ: No, this is Corriedale. I'm spinning this for something else.

BF: What happened to my socks?

MJ: (stops spinning) I haven't gotten around to spinning cashmere yet. I have to remove the dandruff, then combine it with some other wool, then spin it. Then I'll knit. You'll have to wait a bit for your socks, if that's okay.

BF: I want my socks.

MJ: (surprised, as BF has never demanded knitted items before) You want socks? Is it okay if they're not made of cashmere? I can just make socks with what I have in my stash.

BF: M'kay.

MJ: Here, let me see... (returns with a handful of pink Koigu from the hopelessly small stash) I don't have any masculine sock yarn, as you can see. It can't be any yarn, it's got to be fingering weight, so the stitches are fine and won't irritate you. It's got to be wool, or a wool-stretchy something blend, so it hugs your foot. I'll have to go get some...

BF: (fingering the Koigu) Cool. I like this. I mean, the color changes. Can you buy something like this? Not too wildly variable, but just enough color. You know what I like, don't you?

MJ: Sure...

During the weekend I purchased some Zitron Trekking XXL (75% wool, 25% nylon; 100g; 462 yards) in #61 Green from A Mano Yarn Center. BF pronounced it perfect. On to swatching...

Blogworthy: The blogger we know as Petite was dooced; she's made the news, filing suit against her former employer. Again, why you don't write about your job.

Sometimes it's good to not have a television. The other day at my mom's house we were watching the news and temps for the beaches were forecast in the 90s. Yikes! No reprieve from the heat. We've been running at at sundown and getting up to go gym climbing an hour before the place officially opens, if only to avoid the sweltering heat, loud music and parties (now that's a combination you want to avoid). Welcome to the *real* summer!

Last week this thing dried up in 4 hours.

By the time I got around to photographing it, the shawl was already dry. So I misted it lightly with some lavender-scented water (fitting for the color) and let it dry again.

I love the way patterns open up under tension! The shetland pattern itself is so simple, so easy to memorize; who would have thought that it would open up into a great looking motif.

Perfect shawl weather, don't you think? Not.

Now that my friend's received her shawl, I can blog more about it. It was finished about a week ago, sent to friend soon after, and she emailed back about how much she *loved* it and the baby sweater. It's the Shetland Triangle, out of Interweave Knits' Wrap Style. I've looked longingly at all the versions out there, and decided I had to make one.

Edited the following. I realized I copied and pasted from what was to have been a previous post. Such an innocent, simple pattern, but boy when you block it the exquisite curves just emerge. Last weekend I: 1) drowned it in warm water and Eucalan; 2) stretched it to its limits on the carpet that is my blocking board; and 3) pinned it down without mercy. He he. And t turned out great. More pictures, soon.

Listening to: The soundtrack to Amélie. I think this may be available on iTunes. Fabulous for setting the mood. Happy Bastille Day to France!

Inspired (or is it insipid?) photography. Mount Shetland.

Yet another shawl, this time in a very chic eggplant color for a very chic (and very pregnant) girlfriend.

World Cup roundup: So Italy won the World Cup; Zinedine Zidane ended his career with a headbutt (with good reason, it seems), and host country Germany took third place. BF says that back home, Germans are finally taking pride in themselves as a nation, something that hasn't happened since before the second World War.

It's a healthy dose, I think.

I have to say that the 2006 World Cup logo, designed by London-based firm Whitestone, is one of the better ones I've seen. (I'm actually a bit surprised that Meta Design or any number of German firms didn't design it.) Compared to it, the newly unveiled 2010 logo could have been better designed: the placement of the FIFA mark; the bottom blue shape that ends with a straight edge when all other edges are curved; the "FIFA World Cup" font treatment that clashes with "South Africa". I have no issues with the symbol itself, it just seems that it was tacked on to the other elements.

Update:Here's an interview with former Meta Design principal Erik Spiekermann, who has some choice words regarding the 2006 World Cup logo. Thanks, Jason!

Gripe, gripe, gripe. Sorry, I'm just in the middle of one of *those* types of projects.

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