June 2008 Archives

Webs

By MJ on June 28, 2008 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This ball of mohair yarn, given to me by a family friend, was begging to be knit into something light and airy.

So I made a lace scarf.

Yarn: Mohair mystery mix

Pattern: Qiviuk Webs Scarf by Gayle Roehm, Interweave Knits Holiday 2007

Needles: US8

May and June weather have been cloudy; gloomy, even. While I would've preferred to be outside, we had to stay in. Time to knit, to think of future projects (ahem, climbing projects, that is), to cook (I'm always hungry). It's hard having to stay in, what with a world-class crag just 15 tantalizing minutes from our house...

If you're a beginner knitter looking for something a bit harder, try this project. I'll rate it as intermediate, because it involves picking up stitches on the side and knitting lace on both sides. That was the best part, doing all the fiddly things because it made me feel like I was doing something complicated. The middle part, the acre pattern, was simple but boring. Boring, I'll warn you. I've been reprimanded by my husband a couple of times, when, while he was painting, I'd scream at the top of my lungs, "WHEN WILL IT END!!! Honestly, the only reason I got past it was the complicated part at the end, this time in reverse. Ooh boy, did I get excited over that! But now it's done, soaked and pinned out, dried, folded into tissue with a scant handful of lavender spikes from the garden.

Ready to be gifted.

Lavender

By MJ on June 20, 2008 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I wish you could smell this. The driveway leading up to the house is lined with small round bushes from which spikes of lavender grow, their heads bobbing in the wind. It smells divine. I happened upon a US-based website called The Splendid Palate that sells French products, don't know if you'd like to try it. There's also The Frenchy Bee. Durance is the local brand of bath and home fragrances. Specialties around our area are lavender and lavender-scented products, honey, nougat, chèvre, peaches, olive oil, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes-du-Rhône wines. Husband and I have discussed the pros and cons of AOC (which, originally, applied only to wine) and whether the US government (raise eyebrow here: do they have the resources for something like this when the FDA is a mess anyway?) should have certification for regional specialties. What do you think?

I've been inspired to do a little blogkeeping. I updated my masthead and added a font color; these will be changed from season to season (this idea came from Heather Armstrong/Dooce, whose mastheads and backgrounds change monthly). I've put together the Finished Knits gallery, stil needs a bit of work, but it's fine for now. Still to come are the Yummy Yarn Designs and Norwegian Knits-Along galleries, and I need to put Ravelry links as well. Long overdue, I know. I've also updated the sidebar and Patterns page to include the two latest: the Simple Yarn-Over Shawl and the Koigu Striped Socks.

Patterns. I've created a few patterns in the meantime. A striped hat for my niece (her 4th hat from me for her 4th birthday; I plan to make her one for every year of her life). A simple top-down hat with long earflaps. A colorwork hat. A lace scarf. A frivolous bit of a jacket, maybe it's really a shrug. The last pattern that needs publishing is the Arlecchino socks, which I just found the notes for! Yay. I love those socks, the seed stitch and purl and knit diamonds that so fit well with each other. I am loving the simple these days....

Unpeeved

By MJ on June 12, 2008 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

{ + }

From swissmiss: Flickr redesigned by a graphic design student.

LOVE. WANT. DOWNLOAD. USE. NOW.

This is the reason I love my profession. Designers make things look better. And in some cases, work better.

{ + }

Copyright issues aside, I don't use Flickr much because of its interface and user experience. The idea of photosharing is great, don't get me wrong. Its offerings--badges, cards, virals--are great, because it encourages people to use it more. But. If there's anything that gets to me? You should know this by know because I'm a designer. It's the way Flickr itself looks. There's the user experience: granted, it's simple so it's easy to navigate around. Colors are kept to an absolute minimum (white background, black text, brand colors cyan and magenta for highlighting) so that the photos are the main element. The global navigation is fine on its own. But take a look in the main area and this is where things get a little shaky. Too, too many elements, and I'm not the only one around who shares this opinion.

So I'm absolutely overjoyed that swissmiss blogged about an application that provides an alternative method for viewing Flickr content. Created by a student, the beta release is called DestroyFlickr (I think the name refers to the user experience, not the concept of Flickr itself) and requires Adobe AIR. Note that it is only a beta release, so if you encounter any problems with it, bugs or user experience, it would be helpful to let the DF group know.

Now go use it!

Simple Yarn-Over Shawl

By MJ on June 8, 2008 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

A while back Ronni asked about a pattern or information on the simple yarn-over shawl I knit for my brother-in-law's mother. There was no pattern, really; it was something I made up along the way and fortunately it turned out fine. The body is made of a series of yarn-overs and and stockinette in multiples of 2. I'm putting my "pattern" here for anyone who wants to knit something mindblowingly easy in 3-4 days.

Simple Yarn-Over Shawl

Yarn: I estimated that the original shawl used about 300 yards of mohair yarn, slightly thicker than Rowan Kidsilk Haze. To be safe, estimate 300 to 400 yards. Also, waste cotton yarn of the same weight.

Needles: Depends on how open you want your shawl to be.

Gauge: None taken. Knit some stockinette with a row of yarnovers and decide how open you want your shawl to be.

Finished Size: Depends on how much yarn you have! And how many yarnover multiples you want to do.

Skill Level: Beginner. Stockinette stitch, garter stitch, yarn-over.

Using waste yarn, cast on two stitches and knit 3 rows. Drop waste yarn and pick up working yarn. K 6 rows. Turn, k 2 sts, pick up 3 garter stitch ridges, then undo your waste yarn and pick up the 2 live sts. You know have 7 sts total.

Keep in mind the formula for creating a neck-down triangular shawl: use a two-stitch garter stitch edging, yarnovers for increasing, and two identical triangular panels separated by a knit stitch and a pair of yarn-overs. From this point yarn-overs will be known as "yo".

Row 1: K2, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k2.
Row 2: K2, p to the last 2 sts, k2. (11 sts)
Row 3: K2, yo, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, yo, k2.
Row 4: K2, p to the last 2 sts, k2. (15 sts)

On every odd row, you'll be increasing the size of the triangular panels by 2 yo sts, for a total of 4 additional sts total. On every even row, you'll be incorporating those yos into the knitted fabric.

*K 8 rows of stockinette. Then:
Row 1: K2, (yo, k2tog) to the last 2 sts, k2.
Row 2: K2, p to the last 2 sts, k2.**

Repeat * to ** 4 times.

*K 4 rows of stockinette. Then:
Row 1: K2, (yo, k2tog) to the last 2 sts, k2.
Row 2: K2, p to the last 2 sts, k2.**

Repeat * to ** 2 times.

*Row 1: K2, (yo, k2tog) to the last 2 sts, k2.
Row 2: K2, p to the last 2 sts, k2.**

Knit * to ** 8 times.

On the last 8 rows, your row 2 will be all knit. This creates a garter stitch edge, barely noticeable when fully blocked. It prevents the dreaded stockinette curl! If you're nearing the end of your yarn, don't forget to thread in a lifeline, because you may/will misjudge how much yarn you have left. I certainly did!

After your last eyelet row, turn the work over. Bind off in knit.

Block it to your heart's desire--I personally like to stretch it to its limit!

© 2005 - Present Mary Joy Gumayagay and Indus3ous.com. All rights reserved. This pattern may be freely distributed as long as the pattern, images, text, and this copyright notice remain intact and no profit is made from its distribution or use. For pattern assistance please post in comments below.

La vie provencale

By MJ on June 4, 2008 6:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Salut, I'm blogging in real time.

We've settled in the south, not quite neighbors to Mr. Pitt and Ms. Jolie, but we're in the same region. (Think wine. Also, climbing: Chateauvert/Correns.) There are old, deserted stone buildings; row upon row of vines, still green but starting to flower; furry lavender bushes, their budding stalks dotting the fields purple.

We've been climbing amidst absolute beauty, that is, when it isn't raining! Honeysuckle blocks the path to the cliffs, and smells like heaven. Wild roses snag at my fleece shirt and pants. We've had to ford the river because we were too lazy to hike up, but at least it cooled down our feet! The rock climbing is excellent, old-school grading, a bit slabby for my taste, but it's not crowded at all, and the cliffs go on and on along the river.

I've been reading Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not The French by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow, and it's a fairly good summary about the inner workings of French life, things like education, the government, WWII (eye-opener, that chapter) and the Algerian war, etc. As well, I'm taking advantage of the little English-language (yes!) library in the house and reading everything I can get my hands on.

I'm thinking of dinner. There's a bag of carrots in the fridge; I think I'll make my Toby's Carrots (named after a camp host). Two potatoes in the table bowl may be roasted, but maybe tonight it'll be couscous with leeks, diced pepper, and sultanas. We need more wine. We've finished the chèvre and need to go to market for more; the young bûches are so creamy I could finish one off with a bowl of strawberries. The mister likes the aged ones, 3 months or more, visibly smaller and stronger in taste than the young; there's a joke in there, you know it.

Anyway, just a pointless entry to say bonjour!

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