Attitude Of Gratitude

Yeah, I know it’s not Thanksgiving (at least here in Canada – we already had that in October) but today I am truly grateful. I’m very thankful for a warm dry house with electric power and running hot water. Last night we had a huge wind and rain storm that took out trees and power lines all over the place. T-Man and I woke up around 3:30am to a crashing sound. We still haven’t located the source though it sounded like a tree branch. At least it didn’t damage anything that I can see. I’m also grateful that T has an alternative to riding his bike on the littered roads without functioning streetlights and can instead drive the car to work. Most of all, I’m glad I didn’t have to go anywhere this morning. Traffic out there is a zoo.

Storm over. Moving on. A Finished Object!

Autumn Kneehighs

For: me (Yes, the photo is out of focus. You try taking a picture of your own feet and legs in the kind of low light we get this time of year! At least they’re finally dry. Took 2 days.)

Begun: October 27, 2011
Completed: November 20, 2011

Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks Stripes, colourway 1009 (oranges, browns, gray, black), 166 yds = 50g. About 2.7 balls out of the 6 that I purchased at Michael’s on sale.

Needles: Clover Takumi dpns, 2.25mm

Pattern: 110-31 Long socks in ”Fabel” with foot in rib or stockinette st, free pattern from DROPS Design. Ravelry link, DROPS link (the one on the Ravelry page is incorrect).

Modifications: I knit the middle of the 3 sizes with these mods: CO 80, follow patt until piece meas 9” before dec to 64 sts (k2, SSP, p1 around), k2/p2 6” to a total leg length of 15”, heel st on 26sts, regular heel turn, pick up 14 sts on heel flap, cont on 38 instep sts in rib and rest in st st, dec gussets to 22 sole sts (60 sts total), cont until foot is 7”, divide into 30 sts for top and 30 for sole and knit a reg toe, graft toe.

Comments: I didn’t try to match the stripes and went for a staggered effect. So why do most knee sock patterns have you make a leg only about 12” long? I’m only 5’3-1/2” and I still need 15” from knee to heel flap or they’re always falling down. I also have pretty skinny legs (at least from the knee down!) and used smaller needles than the pattern called for. These fit just exactly right.

Next I need to mention the eMag from Interweave that I downloaded a few days ago. This is the Winter 2011 issue of SpinKnit. (Link is for the PC version but there’s also one for Mac so don’t feel left out.) As the third issue in this series, I think this is a great way to present spinning information. Including videos is the best way to demonstrate techniques that you just can’t get across in words. Unfortunately the “knit” part of the equation gets kind of short shrift with only a few patterns in PDF format. However, there are lots of other avenues to get knitting patterns whereas spinning info is rather more limited.

This issue does include the delightful Sara Lamb dye-painting her lace-knit shawl. (Pattern included.) I’ve done this type of thing before and it takes supreme guts to dab dye all over your knitting that may have taken months to accomplish. The results are really interesting though and an effect that you can’t get any other way. Hope it inspires a few projects! One day I’d like to try this with natural dyes. I’ve already done it on a silk scarf but not on my knitting. Yet.

I think it’s lovely when your hard-earned expertise is validated by a well-known instructor with real skills. That’s how I felt when Stephanie Gausted spun a number of different fibres besides cotton on a tahkli exactly the way I do it! She didn’t spin cashmere though which I’ve done. <smirk>

And then there’s the story of the Imperial Stock Ranch in Oregon and the development of the Columbia Sheep. We’ve been both north and south of the 30,000-acre ranch on our travels but not in the exact area. However, the Deschutes River is the one we camped above at Cove Palisades State Park on our way home last time. And note the view of Mt. Hood behind Dan Carver in his interview. We drove right by this volcano! I feel like I’ve definitely experienced the land that this family loves and cares for. I’ve spun Columbia fleece too and it’s lovely stuff.

Another theme in this issue is silk and I loved watching the silk worker in China reeling the silk with a funky old foot-powered machine. Contrast the way the industrial machine works and the homemade setup of Michael Cook’s system and they all accomplish the same end: beautiful reeled silk yarns. There’s a lovely little tabletwoven band pattern included to make from some fine silk.

SpinKnit and Colorways are definitely my two favourites of Interweave’s eMags and I know I’m going to continue to get them because I get a lot of satisfaction from the interactive contents. Even if I do have to install them on my big desktop computer instead of my little netbook! The eMags are in a different (more common) screen ratio and it’s just too much scrolling to be comfortable. Besides, Bluet the Netbook’s sound quality isn’t great and I have to use earphones to hear anything. It’s much nicer to watch the big screen and listen to the big speakers. Less portable perhaps but I’m not complaining. I’m just lucky to have options. Attitude of gratitude again!

Is It November Already?

I learned a new word: backblogged. That’s what happened when I wanted to blog my fabulous holiday but it was sooooo much work to do. It took me a long time to choose the photos (out of 1000) and format them, write up the travelogue, check forgotten facts and post. It had the effect of stopping me from posting other things because I was holding off until I’d completed the trip posts. Now that I’ve finished them, I’m finding it much easier to blog more often. Blog dam broken; flood ensues.

So, we survived the Zombie Apocalypse. We were attacked by a small dragon:

…though who’s eating whom here? Drive-by trick-or-treating granddaughter (and her silly Grampa-Monster). Her parents got the candies and we got to play with the mini-dragon for an hour. Fair trade.

We didn’t get very many trick-or-treaters at the door even though the weather was clear and not too cold. I think a lot of parents are substituting local events and parties for the door-to-door schlep. Too bad because we really enjoy the kids, especially the little ones. Now we have way too much candy left, even though we doubled up on them while passing them out. At least they’re ones we like ourselves! But we’ll have to ration them rationally. Heh.

T-Man and I also spent a good deal of time yesterday afternoon roasting and peeling some of our chestnuts. It was windy all day and the neighbours were doing a good job of picking up the nuts outside our fence so I got the ones inside our yard. Technique: cut an X in the shell (so they won’t explode), put on a cookie sheet and roast at 425F. for 20-30 minutes until skins loosen, cool just until you can handle them without burning your hands, peel while still hot. They were really yummy right out of the oven. All we ended up having for dinner were chestnuts and some cold leftover barbequed pork ribs eaten on the run. Weird, I know. But just about then the knocking at the door started so I didn’t have time to cook anything else. Chestnuts are filling and nutritious anyway. And, if I can beat the neighbours to them, free. We won’t talk about how much work they are to roast and peel! Nope.

Shifting gears here, I want to talk about 2 new magazines just out from Interweave.

knit.wear is a new publication, one of the thicker and pricier editions. I couldn’t find it in my favourite magazine shop so I used a 25%-off coupon and bought the digital download (PDF) instead. At least the file is on my computer and not in cyberspace like the one magazine I have on Zinio. I prefer personal control over these things instead of trusting that an online service will stick around in case I need a pattern years after the publication date. It’s not like a gossip or fashion magazine that gets stale almost immediately! And PDF is easier to see on my little netbook than the eMags in Adobe Air format which I have to read on my desktop computer because they aren’t formatted for this screen shape. This is exactly the printed magazine right down to the page numbers and advertising. Page spreads are split into singles though which sometimes looks a little odd.

Enough of the technical stuff, let’s get to the content! The esthetic of the cover speaks to what’s inside. There are some very lovely wearable sweaters in this new issue! They are generally restrained and elegant and use a lot of plain stockinette and add texture rather than colourwork for interest. I also like that they’ve expanded some of the construction details with a special focus on grafting seamlessly. Lots of illustrations make the how-to clearer. They have allowed 144 pages so there’s plenty of room. My fingers are itching to knit Pam Allen’s Tern Vest but there’s too many other projects to finish first.

Definitely a keeper – as long as I can continue to access the PDF file format and don’t lose the file! It will be interesting to see if/when they publish another issue. I’m betting soon because this should be a popular magazine with knitters.

The winter issue of Knitscene is just out too and also a keeper. There’s quite a few sweaters that I’d definitely like to make! I particularly like the cover sweater by Romi Hill and the kimono jacket (Uxbridge) by Kyoko aka Cotton & Cloud. This magazine is supposed to be for the younger edgier knitter but I find many of the styles appeal to me too – definitely not the target market! Now I just need to spin and knit faster so I can make more sweaters.

Speaking of which, T-Man has been getting a lot of use out of his new sweater. He loves it! And says so frequently. That makes me very happy. Totally worth all the work it took to make a man-sized handspun sweater. Unfortunately now he wants another one. I should have learned my lesson after I knit his first pair of socks, shouldn’t I?

On A Wet Thursday

It’s raining today because of course T-Man watered the garden yesterday. The little sprinkles we had yesterday and the day before didn’t do much especially under the very large hazel out front. So I think we’re all watered nicely so it can stop raining now! Please. Sadly we’re supposed to be stuck with cool, cloudy, sprinkly weather for the foreseeable future. Bleh. I truly think those folks sweating back east should send us some of that sunshine so we can have some summer too. Just a thought. I’ll trade you some cool shade for it!

Well, I sewed all yesterday afternoon but I’m not finished the pleated dress yet. I struggled with the invisible zipper for quite awhile. It’s been a very long time (as in decades) since I’ve sewn an invisible zip and now I know why. Some people think it’s easier than a centre application but to me, at least, it’s a PITA! The zippers themselves seem flimsy and delicate and I hope this one lasts as long as the dress does. I basted it in several times in a vain attempt to match the checks. Didn’t help. Also I used my new invisible zipper foot for the first time:

It’s ugly, weird and plastic but it does work. The shape keeps the coils rolled out and the donut in the centre pushes down the stitching line. You use the left groove for the first zipper side and then switch to the right for the second side. I wish I could use my walking foot with it though because my old Pfaff doesn’t always make even stitches without it. Only certain presser feet have the cutout in the back to allow the walking foot to click in. Instead I had to help the fabric through with my hands but gently so as not to break the needle or anything. The finished seam with the zipper looks ok now that it’s done. On the outside. I didn’t take a photo but the inside looks like a dog’s breakfast! Especially where I tried to serge the edges after the fact. If I was a sewing teacher I’d give it maybe a C-. Good thing nobody but me will see it, huh?

So far the dress looks good on Debbie Double but I think it needs a little tweaking on the princess seams over the bust and a little taking in on the side seams near the waist. I’m restricted in how much I can adjust by the fact that the pockets are already sewn in but it shouldn’t need more than a little nip. This is supposed to be a loosely-fitting dress anyhow. But not voluminous. I did stitch the princess seams/tucks down 2” further which makes it lie nicer over my tummy and behind. Otherwise it was heading into maternity territory.

My adjustments for the neckline and armholes are looking pretty good and don’t need anything further. Now I need to remember to transfer any tweaks to the pattern for next time. If there is one. It’s always helpful to know what works in case I need the information in the future – even for a different garment. It’s all a learning experience so I take notes as if I was in school! With an disappointing C- mark for my efforts too.

Switching gears to knitting news, have you seen my old buddy Sivia Harding’s newest pattern release? Her new Harmonia’s Rings Sweater is based on the Harmonia’s Rings Cowl with the same clever beaded twist at the neck. I love it and could definitely see it in a handspun yarn. Yet another addition to my never-ending queue! I’ve recently decided that if I can spend money on a magazine that doesn’t offer anything much that I’d like to knit, then I can spend the same amount on a single pattern that I really want to make. Plus the money goes directly to the designer who deserves it.

Speaking of magazines with not much of interest, I recently downloaded Interweave’s EntreKnits e-mag. After I was so thrilled about the Colorways e-mag, this one struck me as kind of meh. It seems like it’s padded and gussied up to look like more than it is. With only 5 patterns, none of which grabbed me – except maybe the 3D bracelet – it’s really depending on articles and videos for content. As usual, I haven’t even gotten around to watching the videos yet but the most interesting article to me is “Who Invented Modular Knitting” by Jenna Wilson. It’s kind of a detective story! Otherwise there’s a lot of cute digital tricks that are really just fancy advertising. Yawn. I’m going to stop jumping for these digital magazines and try to become more discriminating in my purchases.

That goes for print too. I’ve been disappointed in a few magazines lately. Is it just me? Now do I have the discipline to leave them in the store? Or will my compulsion to have the Whole Set win out? Usually if I quit a title, I quit for good. If I keep buying it, it’s because I’m expecting it to improve again. Wishful thinking? Oh horrors. Maybe I’ve finally reached some kind of saturation point? Is that even possible?

Colorways, A Review

I promised to tell you what I thought of Interweave’s new eMag and I’ve finally had a chance to peruse it thoroughly – so here it is!

Colorways, Summer 2011, is the first issue of a new series that covers working with colour in fibres, yarns and cloth. It cost me a reasonable US$9.99 (using good old PayPal), downloaded easily and installed properly, though I needed to (again) upgrade my Adobe Air software first. I was very excited about the subject of colour applications since that’s near and dear to my heart. There is lots on natural dyes, particularly cochineal and kakishibu (fermented unripe persimmon juice) which includes history and ethnic traditions as well as instructions for use. Video interviews with a number of dyers and teachers are fascinating. I especially liked seeing featured one of my dye instructors of old, Michele Wipplinger of Earthues in Seattle. A section on coloured cotton included information on growing and spinning these fibres. Gorgeous photos throughout.

I think they are finally getting the bells & whistles of the eMag format correct. The slide shows, pop-up information (I particularly liked the slide-out drawer of cotton colour samples), embedded videos, etc. are elegant rather than gimmicky. You do have to pay attention to the number of pages included in a section and scroll down to see them. If you scroll across it takes you to a new section instead. There’s a navigation arrow at the bottom of the page to remind you that there’s more down there but it doesn’t work as a toggle, like the left and right ones do. I did have one glitch with this eMag – clicking on the included PDF links wouldn’t bring them up. For some reason I got an error message in my browser saying that it didn’t know how to deal with that file format (which is totally incorrect). Even after updating the Acrobat Reader it didn’t help so I just used Reader to hunt down the files (in Program Files) and opened them that way with no problem. There are 3: one with Trudy Van Stralen, an excerpt from her book Indigo, Madder and Marigold (which I already own), and another from a dyer from Oaxaca, Mexico, both of these on dyeing with cochineal; plus instructions on working with kakishibu. This is something that I haven’t experienced and I’m quite intrigued about getting some of this “magical elixir”! Do persimmons grow here at all?

All in all I was definitely not disappointed with this publication. It had quite a lot of fascinating details and new information that kept me clicking and watching and reading for a couple of hours. Don’t miss the last page! It’s a hoot – but I’m not going to spoil it for you by telling. I’m now impatiently waiting for the next issue, apparently due in the fall.

Another thing I’m waiting for is my book order from Chapters/Indigo which I missed today while I was at the dentist. Darn. Now I have to wait until I can go pick it up and I have a weavers’ guild meeting tomorrow which will take up most of my day. At least they wisely sent it by Purolator which was especially smart because Canada Post has currently locked out their striking employees. Doh.

I see many more reviews coming in my – your – our near future!

Decisions

I’m kind of tired today so I thought I would take a day off. I know – you’re asking how a person who Has No Real Job can take a day off, aren’t you? For me it’s a mindset. Instead of doing all the really energetic things like vacuuming (my most not-fave job for some reason), laundry, digging a garden bed, or walking many kilometres, I’m knitting a little, reading a little, typing a little. Whatever I feel like doing that involves staying seated. Of course stuff like the dishes still need to get done anyhow. Like death and taxes, dirty dishes are always lurking about. Especially after the grandbeasties have been here.

We, BTW, had a lovely time last evening even though neither they nor their grandpa were feeling very well. T-Man even went to see the doc only to be told that he has the “100-day flu” and not to worry. It will go away by itself. Even his plugged ears will unplug eventually. Poor baby. He’s getting an unsolicited taste of what it’s like for me without my hearing aids in. Super-Princess is also currently sniffly and her poor face is all broken out with eczema from wiping her sore nose. And Stargazer was feeling under the weather as well and running a temperature. Lovely bunch huh? Now that I’m finally all better I’ve been trying hard to avoid catching this stuff all over again! Bleh. We played with a new Play-Doh game, had supper and then watched “How To Tame Your Dragon” until their parents got back. They had been watching the hockey game in Rogers Arena with a gazillion other fans. (No, T and I are not sports fans. Still sad the Canucks lost that game. But not the series. Everyone lives in hope.)

It’s cloudy and cooler today and it’s windy too. I’m trying to decide if I should make the effort to go out and carry on with cleaning up the bed where the summer squash need to go. Or if I should instead dig out some fleece to put in the madder pot. Or if I should continue working on the RoseBunting that I haven’t touched in days. Hence this post’s title. I can’t decide and the day is getting away.

I got this far with the Watermelon Eyelet Cardi for Rosebud however:

Cuteness! So my littlest grandbeastie is spoiled by her granny, ya think? And here’s the now-dry suri alpaca yarn after it’s makeover in madder:

You can see that it’s somewhat more orange than the Zephyr silk/wool skein on the right here:

 

But it’s at least as dark in value. Even though the alpaca was in the exhaust bath, it was in it for several days longer than the Zephyr. Interesting. It also feels somewhat softer and cleaner than it did when I first got it. Did so many processes (washing, mordanting, rinsing, dyeing in woad leaves, more rinsing, overdyeing in madder, even more rinsing) actually improve this yarn? At least it doesn’t felt very easily. It was from an unknown supplier and bought at an ANWG conference a number of years ago. Bad Damselfly forgot to take notes. <smacks forehead>

Speaking of Zephyr yarn, my next project is going to be the Rock Island shawl by Jared Flood (Ravelry link, Brooklyn Tweed link) in this:

Yes, that is indeed a full cone of BLACK silk and wool. I desperately want a black shawl and this gorgeous lace pattern was calling to me with its siren-like song until I broke down and bought it! I figure if I knit it during the brightest and lightest time of year (over the summer solstice), it won’t make me go blind. But it will likely be a challenge. A couple of other knitters have used Zephyr for this pattern but none of them seems to have finished theirs yet. I wanted to see what it blocks out like in this yarn. Guess I’ll find out eventually, huh?

In other news, I got a copy of Vogue Knitting’s Early Fall 2011 issue. Do check out the results of the Magical Mohair challenge! The photo styling is a hilarious combo of forest fairy meets retro-hippy. But I am totally smitten with the First Runner-Up’s two-piece dye-painted effort. Big congrats to Lynette Meek from Nanaimo, BC. (Nearly local!) They even included the dye-painting instructions though I’m not sure how understandable they would be for the absolute newbie. Must be a first for VK though. The other two pieces shown are lovely but Lynette’s is glorious! Must be the dye colours.

A Happy Mother’s Day. Almost.

We had a very pleasant Mother’s Day dinner yesterday. The weather cooperated enough to barbeque the pork roast and it was delicious. We had a really good visit with the family and I got to try the green hoodie on Rosebud:

It fits better than I thought it would! The bib kind of spoils the effect by hiding the cute green heart zipper pull but if you look at her drooley chin you will see that it’s a necessary fashion statement. I took a whole bunch of shots all of which seemed to include her tongue sticking out, an expression which translates to mean happiness in Rosebuddian, especially when accompanied by flailing arms and legs. And her grandpa was having a challenge trying to hang on to her. Plus she ended up wearing (and drooling all over) 3 out of the 4 new bibs I made her before they headed home. She’s messy but so adorable!

Unfortunately I made a big mistake and went to check out the damage to my garden from the hailstorm on Saturday. It’s so sad! And very frustrating. So many plants are badly torn and flattened. Here’s the biggest lettuce so you can see how shredded the leaves are:

Poor Esmeralda! Hopefully it will recuperate but I’m really concerned about the coreopsis which was even more decimated:

I’ve already planted some new seeds but they will take awhile to catch up. The blueberries lost a lot of flowers and the walnut tree’s unripened catkins were knocked off onto the ground. It should have been a good year for them but now they will be much reduced. The kale of course held up without a scratch. Man, that stuff is invincible! Even the hailstones madly bouncing off the greenhouse roof didn’t hurt them. I think that was the worst hailstorm I can ever remember. It’s the one that affected me personally the most anyway. It was kind of exciting and exhilarating to watch until I realised how much damage it caused to my garden. (And I’m sure others as well.) There were still pockets of hailstones left 24 hours after the storm was finally over.

In the studio I haven’t been sewing like I ought to. Instead I started dumping out my supply drawers. I spent half a day happily sorting the buttons:

These range from quite new to very vintage to possibly antique. Some are from T-Man’s granny’s button collection which I inherited. Some are from other people’s cast-off collections. A few are from my earliest sewing days or recycled from discarded clothing. And the rest I purchased for various projects and then weren’t used for whatever reason. There are some sets and some singles. Lose a button? I could probably find something closely matching! Now they are arranged in half a dozen old ice-cube trays waiting for a chance to be used. Or passed on yet again.

I also sorted out the zippers and trims, elastics and lace and threw out a bunch of dirty old junk that will never get used. (Have you ever noticed what horrible sleazy fabrics the manufacturers use for commercial bias binding? So much nicer and easy enough to make it yourself.) I bought several plastic baskets from the dollar store to keep everything captured in and they just fill the 2 shallow drawers in my old bureau. The bureau also holds patterns and projects in its 2 big drawers and just fits underneath the slanted ceiling in the south corner of the room. Nice to get it all cleaned out and now I have a better idea of what I have. There are lots more drawers to tackle still so I’m not finished yet.

Speaking of organising, I played some more with the My Stuff app on my iTouch and now have the beginnings of an inventory for my sewing patterns. I experimented with importing and exporting and it worked very well - except for some duplicate entries which were probably my fault for not checking or unchecking an option in the import. Easy to delete them anyhow and I’ll try to figure out how to avoid that next time. Now I can much more easily add items using Excel on my computer instead of thumb-typing on the iTouch screen. The photos don’t get passed back and forth unfortunately so they need to be added with the iTouch, very easy with the built-in camera. However they do get saved with the Backup feature and can be Restored if necessary. My Stuff seems like a really adaptable and powerful database application and you could use it to keep track of anything really. When I’m done the patterns I hope to start adding the fabrics, most of which I already have in an Excel file.

Did you see the latest issue of Threads magazine, #155 (June/July 2011)? They have an article on fabric shopping in Vancouver featuring all my favourite places! The only one I hadn’t heard of was the leather shop. Otherwise they hit all the highlights including Outdoor Innovations (right in my own neighbourhood), Button Button, good old Dressew and my fave magazine shop. If I’d known it featured a photo of Mayfair, I’d have shown it to them when I bought the issue there! It makes a complete circle, don’t you think? Mayfair in Threads in Mayfair…OK, I’ll stop now.

I need to go wash yesterday’s massive pile of dishes. No, I wouldn’t let anyone do them for me. It would have interrupted the fun and anyway I don’t mind.

Electronic Magazines and Such

Some random stuff today. (Like my blog posts are anything besides random. Heh!) I’ve only got an hour or so before I head off to my weavers’ guild Christmas party. Because our president is also my driver, I get to go bright and early and sit through the executive meeting. At least I have knitting…

Have you seen those new e-mags that Interweave is coming up with? I’d provide a link but you know where to locate them, I’m sure. Anyhow, what do you think of these? So far they’ve covered quilting arts, sock knitting and spinning & knitting combined. I like the fact that the satisfaction is immediate – no trying to see if they’ve come in to my local shops yet or (even worse) being slowly snail-mailed to me by our ever more expensive postal system. They cost the same as a print magazine though. I don’t understand that part. Yes, the production needs to be paid for: writers, designers, editors, computer whizzes and all. But there’s no printing or paper, shipping or distribution. That should save something that might be passed on to the consumer, no?

And although there is some cute and magical content that you can’t get in print journals (animated logos, video demos & interviews, popups and flyouts, oh my!), afterwards I’m somehow left feeling like I just had a piece of candy. All sweet taste and no protein. I enjoyed seeing folks actually do stuff (particularly good for spinning demos) it seems sort of superficial and basic and some of the very minimal number of projects are recycled. The e-mags are pretty and amusing but will I look at them more than once or perhaps twice? Not so far.

There are drawbacks also. The file sizes are huge! It took my highspeed modem about 15 minutes to download the SpinKnit issue the other day (purchased at a 20% holiday discount). And then you have to install it which took another 10 minutes. So I guess it’s not quite such immediate gratification, huh? I don’t think anyone with a dial-up connection could get it. And it needs lots of computer power too – though my little netbook, Bluet, running Windows XP managed ok. I think they need to get the file sizes down to something reasonable or folks are not going to buy too many of these and fill up their hard-drives like crazy. Oh yeah. That was something I just dealt with over the last few days, wasn’t it?

Another drawback is something I’ve complained about before – I can absolutely guarantee that you won’t be able to access these publications in a couple of years. No reading them again 20 years later like I do with my print magazines. No passing them off to someone else to enjoy after you’re done with them. They are limited in their usefulness. Like anything electronic. Just ask my 5-year-old Palm T/X! Oh wait. You can’t. The pressure screen is dying on it and it hardly works at all.

OK, I’m running out of time and I still have to pack up my necessities: portable and easy knitting project, magazines to return to the guild library, tea cup, plate, fork, napkin, finger food (celery & cream cheese – yum!), gift for the exchange, nametag, “ears” – oh, and mustn’t forget the tapestries. These are a dozen vintage pieces from a guild collaboration long ago. So long ago that nobody now remembers who wove what! T-Man and I were in charge of taking them out of the frames which we did. Mme. President wants to give them away to perhaps be used to make tote bags for our guild booth for next year’s ANWG conference. Not sure about that. We’ll see.

One last whine: why does a brand-new pair of footless tights get a hole in the panty area the Very First Time I put them on? They were not cheap ones either and I was careful to don them in the correct manner. Now I know why I so rarely wear pantyhose of any description. I’ve used Fray-Check stuff on the edges and hope it doesn’t run further. Oy.

Bronchitis 10: Damselfly 0

I had a bad night. And that’s all I’m going to say on that subject. Don’t know about you, dear readers, but I’m boring me to death with the litany of complaints!

So lets talk about something completely different, ’kay? I managed to drag walk the 3 blocks with T-Man to the movie theatre yesterday. Popcorn for dinner! Yum! We saw “Inception” with Leo DiCaprio and I have to say that it was pretty good. Unique concept but some people must have very bad dreams! (Not anything like mine at all!) Also a very long movie at about 2-1/2 hours but you are so busy trying to figure out what’s going on that you don’t notice. I tried hard not to cough at the quiet parts, which were of course few and far between! I don’t much like watching movies in the theatre. Can’t put my feet up. Can’t pause the action for more tea and a pee. Can’t babble incessantly to my seat-mate. The action is bigger and the sound is louder though which I guess is the draw for those poor souls who don’t have a 50” flat-screen, surround-sound and Blu-Ray. Ummm…kind of like us?

So. On to another review: the new Interweave KnitScene Fall 2010 issue is out. Some cute things in there to knit. If I could knit. (Shut-UP, damselfly!) I particularly like the Brit Knit Vest by Mathew Gnagy. It’s got all the close shaping in the back with only wide ribs on the front to hug the body there. That suits my figure just fine. The Brise Soleil Cardigan by Debbie O’Neill is cute too but the asymmetry isn’t quite enough for my taste. Either do or do not, but if you’re going to do it, do it big! If it’s too subtle it just looks like a mistake instead of deliberate.

I would love a pair of Connie Chang Chinchio’s Blume Gloves, given my love of all things fingered. The hat is adorable too but it wouldn’t suit me. I’d drown in it’s slouchiness! Lots of other wearable functional pieces here, nothing too out-there or too trendy. You don’t want something you’ve paid a pretty penny for the materials and slaved over for weeks or months to be passé the second it’s off the needles! Though Interweave tries to slant KnitScene for the younger crowd, I don’t really see an age-appropriateness to most of these styles. Perhaps slightly simpler construction and stitch techniques.

Interestingly, the last issue (KnitScene Winter 09/Spring 10) was totally sold out in what seemed like seconds and is now only available in digital form. I never even saw a single copy at any of my favourite haunts. I’ve spotted this current issue in large heaps at several outlets so far. Maybe Interweave got the memo to print and distribute a more reasonable number of copies?

I’d show you how my flour-paste cloth finally turned out but it was…ummmm…kind of a disaster. One of the fabric paints that I used for quite a large section of each piece washed out entirely. Boo-hoo! I think it was too old and had been diluted with water ages ago which broke it down. Anyhow, I’m very disappointed with the fact that most of my effects disappeared in the wash. I will use them for backings for the 4 pieces I did previously that actually turned out ok. Note to self: throw out old paint before it ruins your hard work!

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this post. I’m not getting out of bed to go take any. You’ll have to live with the boringness of all these words.

Snagged The Elusive Mag

I was hunting all over for the most recent (Winter/Spring 2010) issue of Interweave’s KnitScene (Rav link) and couldn’t find one stinkin’ copy. I obviously didn’t start looking early enough. It’s no longer available to order on the website either – out of print. It’s a very popular issue, filled with great designs, and my favourite magazine shop which we visit weekly never even got it in stock. Boo-hoo.

Anyhow luckily for me, my knit-buddy Chelle was kind enough to loan me her copy. So at least I can read it! Now I’m totally smitten with the Tudor Henley. And the Helleborus Yoke. And the Conifer shawl (for which there’s an errata available). And…and…I’m going to have to give the magazine back. I would totally buy a copy if there was one to buy. (Shhh…don’t tell the copyright cops. I have a scanner and I know how to use it.)

Moving right along, the wool and Zephyr wool/silk skein that I dyed yesterday is dry:

Not sure how accurate the colours are on the screen but the skein is a soft gold (it had an little swim in an ammonia modifier bath) and the wool is brighter yellow. I still couldn’t get myself to throw out the rest of the dyebath so I sealed it in a canning jar. Probably it will be tossed eventually! Only a light yellow is left in it now. At least I managed to put the extracted root bits in the compost! Otherwise I’d be trying to get more colour out of the poor things. Now I want to spin some multicoloured yarn out of all the wool. With long colour changes.

I sorted out most of the fleeces for the upcoming Anne Field workshop that I’ll be taking. My study smells like a sheep barn and I need to go buy more baggies! I was asked to provide the wool and it has been a much more difficult job than I expected. Anne asked for fine, medium and coarse fleece at 100g for each participant (13 packets total). Still not sure I got it right but too bad! Plus some wool sliver which was easy-peasy. Just walk down the 3 blocks to Birkeland Bros. Then they tell me they also need drumcarders and a spinning wheel for Anne to use. I volunteered both of my carders (since the guild ones are frankly crap) but don’t really have a suitable wheel to spare. I asked if Birkeland Bros would be willing to lend a Joy or Traditional and they will – in trade for me getting some of Anne’s books signed for them! Now I have to track somebody down to give me, my own gear, plus all of this stuff, a ride out to Capilano University in North Van. Not like I can take it on the bus, yo’. And folks wonder why I’m getting un-enamoured with taking workshops no matter how incredible the instructor or fascinating the subject. Too much flippin’ stress! This had better be a worthwhile exercise. Just sayin’.

I also gave in to startitis and began a Super-Secret Project for Alien Baby. No news because it’s a secret, silly! Hope it doesn’t cause me to give up on the Happy Legs tights. I started the second leg and have 5 or 6” done already. It’ll soon catch up to the first leg.

What else. It’s been windy and cold so no more planting outside until it warms up. I think I should have made my broccoli some little sweaters but everything else seems to be taking it in stride. I swear it was warmer in January! Squashes and the first of the Chinese woad are popping up under the lights so the temp had better improve darn quick before I run out of places to put things.

Oh, and I haven’t discussed this for awhile – the psoriasis is finally starting to behave itself. Not perfect by any stretch but a lot better than it’s been for the past year. I’m down to a less complex regimen of ointments now and I have another appointment with Dr. Serious Dermatologist in June. So nice to finally feel like we’re getting somewhere with it after so long. However, I’d hate to have a total of what this would have cost if T-Man didn’t have a good extended medical plan at work that pays 80%. Just one prescription alone cost nearly $100. And there are 5 more medications, not including several others that I had to discontinue. Oy.

Spring Cleaning

Surprisingly (to me anyhow), I’m coming up to my Fifth Blogiversary in May. Wow! I’m thinking it might finally be time to update the look of my blog. It’s a bit grimy, dusty and old-looking and I’m getting tired of working with the HTML in the template. Just a warning that one day very soon (maybe even tomorrow) you may come to visit Damselfly’s Pond and not recognise the place. Shocking, I know. But it’ll still be me under the new paint.

Hopefully I won’t kill the thing completely in the process! I always say I have just enough computer savvy to be dangerous. I’ve saved my template and can always patch it back in if something goes awry. It’s supposed to be pretty foolproof to move to the new Blogger layouts so I’m hoping to have better navigation and a more streamlined look. Along with some new items I couldn’t have before. It might take a bit of tweaking to get where I want to be. We’ll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

In other news, I went to see Dr. Serious-Dermatologist again yesterday. It took an hour to get in to see him this time and T-Man just had to walk down with me, so he got stuck waiting too. Plus I forgot my knitting. Ack!

I think our relationship is improving – I actually got the doc to laugh a little with my tale of how my husband complains he feels like he’s tying up to a wharf every night when I apply the tar ointment! Smells like old treated logs, get it? OK, you might have to be a sailor.

He finally clarified a few things for me, now that I understand what questions to ask, and changed the Goo Schedule somewhat. And I got the prescription for the systemic anti-fungal pills. The final lab report says there’s a fungus there but that it shouldn’t be a problem. I figure if it can survive over a month’s worth of the strongest anti-fungal cream then it needs a kick in the pants to get lost! Hopefully this will finally break the cycle, which I realise is not causing the psoriasis directly but I think it’s interfering with my immune system. We’ll find out, won’t we? At least now I know my liver is in good-enough shape to withstand the medication.

However I was really optimistic in my post yesterday about when I could get in to see my family doctor. He can’t see me for a physical until the end of July! Yikes! Four months to wait. Can you feel how the lowly GP is overworked and underappreciated? I certainly appreciate mine. Bigtime. I need to remember to book the next appointment right after the last one the way I do with the dentist.

Back to some crafty stuff. (Got whiplash yet?) So have you seen the new Spring/Summer 2010 issue of Vogue Knitting? There are quite a number of very lovely and wearable garments in this issue which has a lace theme. Only a couple of them are Out There…oh, sorry…”fashion forward”. I see this as a definite improvement in the last couple of issues. Maybe a trend towards patterns that are more knit-worthy rather than just flying in off the runway? See what you think.

The article on grafting seams in stitches other than plain stockinet could be really helpful, if a bit complex to understand. I like the chart system since it eliminates so many words, but I think it will take some brain work on my part to make sense of them. (The author looks at the stitches on the back needle from the top/front as if the pieces are laying on a table, rather than the way I see them, from the back as I’m holding the needles parallel.) And it very likely won’t be utilised by anyone else writing patterns. You’d have to make your own chart to follow if the seam to be grafted isn’t one of those discussed in this article. But it does illustrate the “half-stitch” problem very clearly for me. I plan to scan and print out a copy for my tech notes.

I am also intrigued by the scarf knitted in blocks using dropped stitches. How ingenious! I don’t recall ever seeing a stitch pattern resembling this one before. If I didn’t already have so many projects ongoing, I’d be swatching it for sure. Just to see how it works if nothing else. And speaking of knitterly experimentation, I’ll have another book review for you soon.

Must get some work done around here now that I’m feeling a bit more human again. (Tummy grumbles hopefully finally subsided. The good news: 4 pounds lost since Friday.) Later this afternoon we’re off to see the Silk Weaving Studio’s opening of a mini-show featuring the work of dear friend Chisako, who is visiting from Japan where she now lives. Her weaving is always amazing! Such fine threads and beautiful natural dyes. Love-love. I missed seeing her at Saturday’s luncheon. Hopefully I’ll have some photos for you tomorrow. If I can avoid my usual camnesia!

And speaking of cameras, here’s another photo of this city’s gorgeous cherry blossoms:

They’re so spectacular and so short-lived that you have to admire them while they’re here. They’re already starting to make pink and white snow on the ground.

Are You Tired of Crochet Yet?

Hope not because here’s some more! Or, if you’re bored, just skip this one. My feelings won’t be hurt. Anywho, I bought myself a couple of birthday presents – since my birthday was spent in quarantine due to the flu and I didn’t get to celebrate at all. First up, I got the new Denise crochet hook set. This is similar to the knitting needle set but with 12 crochet hook heads: US sizes F/5-19 (3.75-15mm). 7 cords: two each of 3" and 5" and one each of 9", 12" and 16. There are two extenders and 4 end buttons. Luckily the case fits neatly along with the original one in my felted Denise bag that I made from a pattern by Cat Bordhi. (PDF here.)

Please note that these are not your regular crochet hooks! Though they apparently can be used that way, they’re not particularly well-suited. They are actually for Tunisian/afghan crochet or double-ended crochet. (There’s lots of links to this latter type of crochet in an old post of mine here. And no, you don’t really have to buy more matching hooks, just switch the hook from one end to the other.) Plus they also have lots of uses for knitting in picking up stitches, casting on and binding off. You can combine any of the parts with the needle set so the possibilities are endless. The manufacturers include a beginner Tunisian crochet insert and challenge people to come up with some innovative combinations of knit and crochet using their sets. At least this new set might be an incentive for more people to learn how to do Tunisian crochet. One can never master too many techniques! I’m sure I’ll be playing with it in future to see what I can come up with.

I also got two new books. Quelle suprise! The first was one I mentioned recently: 

Crochet in Color by Kathy Merrick is really a nice book with patterns that include charts and diagrams where needed. Of course whether you agree with me depends on your personal taste! As I mentioned before, I covet the yellow sweater, though maybe in a more subdued colour. And perhaps in handspun? I love the several scarves and wraps that are in here too, most making use of motifs in a fresh and (of course) colourful way. I don’t know about using the recommended yarns however unless you are very rich or own a yarn store. For instance a couple of items use Koigu at the rate of 9 to 11 different-coloured skeins. Or 5 skeins of Noro Silk Garden. And there are more in this vein. A little rich for my blood, though the results are lovely indeed. But then I have dyes and I know how to use them! Nobody said you had to use the same yarns that Kathy did.

The other book I got – because of course I needed to make the minimum for free delivery:

This one from the Harmony Guides series has lots of shapes and sizes of motifs, some of them quite different, including both written directions and symbols. However it’s really hard to find what you’re looking for because they are in no discernable order! I would have liked some categorising, say small fill motifs vs large elaborate ones or squares vs circles, stars etc. Even numbering them might have helped. But they are all mixed up and given rather arbitrary names. This means that to find anything you have to page through the book repeatedly which of course means getting seriously sidetracked every time. Also the motifs are photographed so they look relatively the same size so it’s hard to tell what size each one might turn out when worked up. Especially if you wanted to combine them in the same piece. Swatching, as always, is mandatory. This book is a good addition to my expanding crochet dictionary collection and now I’m seriously going to consider the other 2 crochet Harmony Guides: Basic Crochet Stitches and Crochet Edgings & Trims. But since I’ve been a wee bit greedy in the book department lately, they will have to wait.

But there’s more! I also got the 4th issue of the British crochet magazine “Inside Crochet”. I bought the 3rd one awhile back and, if I want them, the first 2 issues which are out of print are available in electronic form for a discount. They are pricey little darlings though! Nearly twice the price of North American mags. And 6 times per year. Yikes. What got me this time was a couple of the articles: one on dyeing with mushrooms and another by Shannon Okey on crocheting with handspun energised singles. And some cute crochet patterns to boot. This is a very excellent magazine that feels like a cross between Interweave Crochet and Spin-Off.

At first I was put off by the instructions which are, as you might expect, in British crochet terms. It’s a nice reversal of the frustration they must feel reading North American publications, doncha think? Also there are no schematics which I’ve come to rely on for a truer representation of the sizing and fit as well as the construction. However they do have the garment photographed flat as well as on the model which is helpful and the sidebar includes garment and body measurements, expected fit and what size the model is wearing. There are charts and diagrams where appropriate and adequate space is given for instructions, tips and special stitches. The ads are not jarring and the photography is clear and styling is attractive and reasonably uncluttered. I’d give it 4 out of 5 crochet hooks up, only quibbling on the price and frequency of publication which makes it a difficult choice to decide purchase on a regular basis. I might not be able to help myself though.

Hey, I also actually got a real birthday present that I didn’t buy for myself! It’s a lovely ball of recycled sari silk yarn, purchased for me by my mother-in-law (aka Nana) when she was on a trip to Cannon Beach, OR. Isn’t it pretty?

No idea what I will make but I just love that it’s all hand-wound into a ball and it’s so colourful and hairy – and heavy! Oh and Nana included a couple of bars of yummy dark chocolate too which I suppose I will have to share with her darling son, T-Man. He gave me soulful eyes when I unwrapped it. Cute. Speaking of T, the Movember moustache is growing, along with the accompanying beard. He says his Mo doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up so he’s not going to prune it until it decides. My vote is for “shaved off” but I can wait until December 1st. It’s nearly past the worst of the prickly stage now. Nearly.

Vintage VK

Further to my sorting and cleaning efforts, I was rearranging my bookshelves and found a couple of magazine files of vintage magazines. No, I didn’t buy these on eBay or anything – I actually bought them myself and saved them all these years. I never throw out a good craft magazine! You never know what goodies you’ll find in them later.

In the oldest one I could find, a Vogue Knitting dated 1969 (really! I was all of 18 then), I noticed several interesting things. The first to immediately strike me is that many of the sweaters could be knitted and worn today without much in the way of adjustment. The look was long and lean with a little boho attitude.

Totally in style 40 years later. But then this is an earlier incarnation of Vogue Knitting we’re talking about. Always cutting edge. Or the current fashions are even more retro than I remembered!

The real differences from today’s knitting magazines are in the photography and the pattern writing. There’s a colour section but the vast majority of the magazine is in highly contrasting black and white. Kind of challenges the theory that colour is the most important factor in choosing a pattern to knit, huh? Poor knitters back then had to imagine the garment in whatever yarn colours they purchased before they started knitting. Also the instructions are rather cursory, sizes are not in inches but in the equivalent of sewing pattern sizing (8, 10, 12 etc. with a table of standard body measurements at the beginning of the mag), and there are no schematics or charts. How then do you make a garment that really fits you without a lot of math and trial-and-error? It’s difficult enough with all the information we have to work with in most patterns published today.

I’m glad that modern knitters have demanded more space be allotted for the details that helps us to make a successful garment. Unfortunately not every single piece of information can be included and each magazine does it differently, but it’s certainly better than in the “olden days”. Recently I’ve noticed that there are more items knitted in the round instead of flat pieces and there are many more patterns for the accessories (socks, mitts, hats, scarves etc.) that we all love to make. But where are the knitted trousers? There were several in that old VK! How ‘bout these?

Alright, maybe not such a good idea. However I do have a craving to knit me a pair of tights. Maybe these ones? No, these ones! Oops. I’ve just succumbed to impulse and bought the PDF. I love instant gratification! And check out the designer. Phoenix Bess is only a teenager but…holy cow! What a wunderkind! Or maybe she has a lot of encouragement?

Whew! Where was I? Oh yeah. Even if the fit or details need to be altered to work today, there’s always lots of interesting ideas in these old magazines. Budding designers take note. But you can’t have my copies.

Hey! I’m supposed to be reorganising my books. Not reading everything first! Back to work, damselfly.

Enforced Holiday

OK it’s been temporarily amusing but I’m getting really bored now! Walking around is a bit more comfortable now that the redness is gone from the edge of my heel. Though I still can’t wear shoes or even sandals for more than a few minutes. The ouchies are mostly on my inner ankle bone and upper arch so pretty much any footwear is going to rub even with a lot of padding from the bandages. And my ever-faithful Sock Monkey Sock. So I’m still confined to barracks for the moment.

Meanwhile poor T-Man has been attempting to shoulder the full burden of the garden. He was out there most of the day yesterday pruning and tying and watering and fertilising. I was going twitchy not being able to help. Bet today he’s quite happy to be safely at work sitting in front of a computer! Hope he gets nice and rested because even though it’s cooler today with intermittent clouds, the front garden still needs water.

I also need to rest up because we’re supposed to have the grand-beasties over for the afternoon tomorrow. T doesn’t get home until about 2:30pm so they will be all mine until then. Probably a good time to get out the Play-Doh, huh? We can do that sitting down at least.

In crafty news, I was interested to see that Stampington & Co. has put out another magazine “Art Quilting Studio” to rival “Quilting Arts” from Interweave. This is another one of their super-thick expensive publications with fabulous photography, lots of visual and personal inspiration but very little actual how-to nitty-gritty. QA, on the other hand, has no end of techniques explained and illustrated with lots of concrete examples. You might find both approaches equally exciting but I like QA best because of the more straightforward style of writing and presentation. That’s just the kind of damselfly I am: WYSIWYG. I like to know how to do it.

Stampington has been experimenting with an awful lot of new magazines that are not-quite-books. Many of them come out once or twice a year as special issues. If you are a fan of Belle Armoire or Art Doll Quarterly, then you have a good idea of the type of content in the others. I’m not really sure how many issues I will continue to get. They are rather pricey! And I’ve noticed a similar aesthetic overall that I’ve begun to get a bit tired of. Images of houses, birds or persons with crowns - again? However, I’m waiting for the summer issue of “Stuffed”. The softies are so creepy-cute I can’t resist them.

This is all to avoid talking about Secret Project #2 because it’s giving me a bit of difficulty at the nearly-finished stage. I will make it work. I have my ways.

The Return of Winter

My Dizzies have mostly given up and I’m able to function again, thank goodness. It’s a lot of work catching up after all that down time. I’ve been grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and am currently in the middle of 5 loads of laundry. Sheesh! Unfortunately my No Snow chant failed last night while I was asleep so we have over 2 inches of the white stuff on top of the spring flowers this morning. I’ve got little plants under the lights that will need to go out to the greenhouse soon to harden off but there’s no garden ready to plant them in. Global warming? What global warming? Apparently our area has had colder wetter springs than normal over the last few years and it takes until halfway through July for the plants to catch up. Today is near record low temps. Go figure. At least the sun is trying to come out now and it’s finally above 0 C. for the first time today.

While we were shopping this weekend I found the premier issue of the new British magazine “The Knitter”. Mason-Dixon seemed to be thrilled with the quality of this new publication (well, they are featured in it!) and indeed it’s got very nice production values, heavy coated paper and a readable layout. But it cost me CDN$19.25! Yikes! For 15 patterns (some of which have already been published in other sources) and a couple of articles. It’s hard to tell for sure, but I think they’re planning a monthly + 1 extra publishing schedule which would add up to several hundred bucks a year to buy them all. Not happening. I wasn’t super-impressed with the content and truth be told I see way more items I’d want to knit in IK (half the price) or Knitty.com (free). YMMV as they say but I’m giving this one a pass in future. Good thing too – if I really loved it I’d have to take out a second mortgage on the house to afford it!

I’m dropping (or have already dropped) several magazines that I’ve bought diligently in the past. This includes all the bead ones (I’m not feeling the love), any of the knitting mags (other than Interweave Knits), Piecework (may be seduced by one of the knit-centred issues though I will try to resist), and any of the gajillion pricey Stampington mags (except perhaps Art Quarterly and Stuffed). Besides IK, I’ll keep Interweave’s Crochet, Handwoven and Spin-Off plus Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors. I get a lot out of those and re-read them frequently. A Needle Pulling Thread is somewhat more problematic – it has many different needlecrafts, some of which I’m not interested in, but it’s Canadian and a lot more personality-oriented than many other mags. Nice to see what’s happening in my home and native land for a change. Also problematic is Rug Hooking. I haven’t done any hooking recently but I still enjoy reading about it. And there’s only one commonly available mag devoted to it. I think I’m going to keep getting those last two, at least while we can still afford them. If I’m counting right, that’s 10 different titles! Luckily they don’t all come out every month. Or we’d be eating a lot of mac & cheese around here.

Back to laundry load #3 and scarf repeat #12. I think the snow is melting! Yay. Ooh, maybe I should try some snow dyeing before it goes away?

Take A Cup Of Tea

“Tea tempers the spirit and harmonizes the mind; dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness.”
- Lu Yu “the Sage of Tea”

Wise man, that old Lu Yu – even 1400 years later. (Note he used my “harmonize” word!) I’m sitting here drinking jasmine tea and feeling somewhat better about my Estonian Lace scarf. I need a new name for it. Something less general and more evocative. How about the Bead-Dazzled Diamonds Scarf? Anyway I’ve finished 4 repeats so I know it’s working out ok. I’m definitely going to have to knit more than the 16 repeats because so far it only measures about 6.5”. Even with the borders that’s not nearly long enough to wrap. The beads are looking fine but adding considerable weight to the very light yarn. Hope it’s not too much but I’m not really going to be able to assess how it will behave until I’m finished. It would be nice not to have a scarf that curls up into a tube obscuring all the knitting. Just saying.

We went on our usual weekly walk yesterday afternoon and I got several magazines that are just out. I wasn’t actually going to buy the second issue of Debbie Bliss but got seduced by a funky little cropped cardi with lace and bobbles on p. 20. I don’t much like the cotton yarn and chances are I won’t go for the pea-green colour either (though I like it) but Me Want-ums. So what did I find after checking Ravelry? The darn pattern is available for free download here! Not to mention that it is yet again one of Debbie Bliss’s recycled patterns and originally was published in 2006. Sheesh! I could have saved $9! I doubt I would have noticed it any other way though and of course the magazine isn’t going to tell you about the free download, are they now? This issue also has my favourite little bunny pattern that I’ve knit several times with handspun yarns. It’s originally from her Toy Knits book which, BTW, I own and love. There are a few other patterns in this magazine that are quite attractive too but why do I feel so ripped off when they are discovered to be previously published? Makes me think they’re kind of stale. Even if I like and don’t already have them in my possession.

Debbie Bliss patterns avoid charts like the plague. There isn’t one in this issue so if I end up knitting the lace and bobble cardi I’ll have to spend the time to chart out the pattern stitches first. I refuse to knit from a bunch of words if a simple chart will do. Oh, and don’t get me started on some of the photo styling in this issue! It’s lucky they include simple straight-ahead photos with the pattern instructions or I would be totally clueless on what the darn things actually look like. I Do Not Care where or with what the model is posing, I just want to actually see the shape and fit of the garment. Is that too much to ask? She could be a headless mannequin photographed against a blank wall. Just show me the damn sweater, please. Front and back if possible.

I also picked up the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits which has consistently been my favourite knitting mag over the years. This one doesn’t have a lot that I would knit for myself but still some cute items. Some nice fine yarn and small needle stuff and lots of silk blend yarns. And at least when IK reprints patterns they are upfront about it, i.e. the lacey top from “French Girl Knits”. I haven’t had time to read it yet but the technical article from Kristen Omdahl on Shaping Lace with Short-Rows looks to be worth the price of admission. I bet you can’t guess that I love the lace shawls in here especially the Fountain Pen Shawl. Nupps! However, doesn’t the cover sweater look like it’s missing a button? Or several perhaps.

I’m feeling the urge to start a sweater Right Now but I’m controlling myself until after I complete the two exhibit pieces. Wish me luck.

My Feets Are Tired

Since we’ve been stuck in the house for much too long, we took advantage of the relatively nice weather (a little fog and some welcome sun) this weekend and went walking in the Urban Jungle:


On Saturday we walked downtown, went to Dressew (for a zipper for my pencil case), Murchies (for tea and coffee), lunch at Tsunami Sushi (with the little boats), Chapter’s (for magazines) and home (uphill all the way). Yesterday we went to Blockbuster (for videos), Home Depot (for new rechargeable tool batteries), Best Buy (for phone batteries but they didn’t have them any more so we bought a new phone), Save On Foods (for groceries) and Kin’s Market (for fruit and veggies). Whew! I’m pooped just remembering it all!

One of the magazines (though it’s more nearly a book at 144 pages) that I picked up is another new Stampington issue called “Stuffed: A Gathering of Softies”. Whether you call them softies, plushies or, as I do, stuffies, these totally hit my ugly-cute button. They are all fairly simply constructed (mostly pancake dolls with appendages) and there are general instructions for most and some include patterns. I think the point is not necessarily to copy them anyway but to get inspiration to create your own. There are stories and tips and the magazine is beautifully laid out in a simple uncluttered format. Favourite quote: “Even the most ferocious monsters seem less threatening when you can give them a great big hug!”

Of course all that hoofing around meant that I didn’t get much knitting or sewing done. I did finish the FMQ on my pencil case:


The back is still a bit ratty:


But not too bad. I got much more comfortable with the stitching in the second session. Who knew that it would take a week to make something that should be relatively simple? I’m enjoying the process though so no hurry. Dressew has isles of zippers to choose from and I got the perfect black zipper with heavy bronze teeth in exactly the right length. I’m working on the lining next. I didn’t back the top (like a real quilt would have) but stitched only through the top and the cotton quilt batting because I wanted a separate lining to conceal the seams. I also want to include an extra stiffened piece to create 3 sections inside. Further info as I continue.

With all that walking going on, I haven’t done much more on the knitting front. The socks have a one-week deadline before The Ninja’s birthday party (thrown annually by his MIL!) and I’d like to get the gloves done by then also since Nana is coming to the party. Her birthday is only a few more weeks away and I want to start her another pair of socks. She can always use more! The Seaweed Shawl only gets a stitch or two done here and there so it’s not proceeding very fast. Impossible to knit while walking your feets off, you know. At least for me. My talents only stretch to knitting plain while reading. The streets around here are much too dicey these days to avoid watching your footing at all times. Otherwise you might end up flat on your face instead.

However it was nice to get some sun on our faces after all the snow and then fog we’ve been having. The fog is still there down on the water. I can hear the ships in the harbour almost constantly. Unfortunately now that the sun is shining in the windows I can’t ignore that I need to go vacuum up the monster dust bunnies that have accumulated unmolested. Best get to it.

I leave you with a sign of spring. This is a local witch hazel that I just love because it’s orange instead of the more common yellow. The blooms are just coming out:

Noooooo...

It’s snowing again. You really needed to know that fact, right? What I want to know is will it ever end? They’re calling for a warming trend that could bring rain. But that could change. I certainly don’t trust the weatherman at all. Yesterday was quite nice though still pretty cold, just hovering around freezing except in the sunshine. We got out for a rather uncomfortable and somewhat slippery walk and got some more groceries. Now we’re ready for whatever the weather does. I’ve got my knitting. T-Man is flying his virtual airplane now that he’s shoveled off the walk for the gazillionth time. He says he’s going somewhere warm. Unfortunately it already looks like he never shoveled at all.

I finished up the socks for The Ninja:

Big Guy Socks

Begun: December 18, 2008
Completed: January 2, 2009

Yarn: DGB Confetti superwash wool/nylon sock yarn, colourway 19.05, dyelot 7102, 420m = 100g.
Needles: Addi Natura bamboo dpns, 2mm.

Pattern: Damselfly's Plain Socks on 72 sts, cuffs 30 rows, leg 8.5" before heel turn, foot 8.5" before toe dec, dec to 28 sts, dog-ear reduction.

Comments: Made the toe slightly wider than usual by reducing to 7 sts per needle instead of 6. These are nice big socks and should keep his feets nice and warm. Heaven knows, we need some heat around here about now!

I also started some gloves for Nana out of the leftover yarn from her socks. I was going to make her fingerless mitts to wear over other gloves but she says her fingertips get too cold so she would rather have full gloves. I hope there’s enough for fingers but I may be finding a few yards of something else to finish them with. There’s only about 40g of yarn left from her socks. I must like Marnie MacLean’s Hooray For Me pattern since this is the 4th pair of full-fingered gloves I’ve made using it, as well as the original pair of fingerless ones.

When we went out yesterday, I managed to find a copy of the winter issue of Interweave Crochet at the grocery store, of all places. Our usual source hadn’t gotten it in yet and the shelves are looking pretty darn bare indeed. I think the snow has been hampering deliveries. I know we haven’t seen hide nor hair of the garbage truck for weeks. I think they’re all hiding out with the snow ploughs and sanding trucks. BTW, there are no snow shovels or bags of salt to be found for sale in this city right now. If you don’t already have these newly-essential items, you are SOL.

But I digress. I was talking about the new Crochet mag, wasn’t I? It’s really spectacular! There is a gorgeous triangular shawl in there that rivals anything I’ve seen in knitting. I want one. And several sweaters I would love to have. Not the cover sweater though unless you leave off the ridiculous bow. If I want a scarf I’ll make one separately so I can remove it. And speaking of scarves, there are two or three I want to make, including a lovely one in hairpin lace. I’m seeing a lot of sport weight and finer yarns. Articles include Doris Chan on gauge and Annette Petavy’s second part on assembling sweater pieces. All good stuff! I’m going to miss Kim Werker’s editorial expertise and hope that whoever replaces her will do as good a job in choosing practical, stylish and well-fitting garments. Crocheters don’t necessarily only want to make afghans or amigurumi and there are enough patterns out there for fugly sweaters. Just check in any of the other crochet magazines besides Interweave’s.

Thoughts On A Sunny November Day

I was reading on somebody’s blog or other about staying “on topic” to keep one’s readers happy. I never thought about this blogging thing as being more for my readers than for me! Not to say that I’m not happy that I have readers: a few commenters and a passel o’ sneaky petes who regularly lurk – I love you all. However I mostly write this blog for my own personal pleasure, to document and show off my FOs, and to kind of think “out loud”. (Though it’s words on a screen, but you know what I mean.) I don’t feel that I need to have separate blogs for each interest like some people do. That would be an awful lot of blogs and I know I wouldn’t be able to keep track of what should go where. It would drive me nuts right quick! My craft stuff is totally integrated into my lifestyle and I don’t separate it out into neat wedges of time or space so why should I do it on my blog? This is not an apology but a clarification. Just so you know why I’m always all over the proverbial map, fluttering around on my little damselfly wings. Heh.

So have you seen the online knitting magazine Twist Collective? The second issue, Winter ’08, just came out recently. This one is a little different. Not completely free like Knitty nor mostly subscription-based like KnitNet (which seems to have not been updated since last spring – toast?). But you can peruse the content, read the articles and then choose patterns individually and pay for them. That way the designers actually get paid by the popularity of their pattern. An interesting concept although I haven’t succumbed to any of the lovely designs yet. I’ve got too many other things to keep my needles busy. It would have to be really compelling and I’d have to want to knit it Right Now to be bothered to purchase an individual pattern that way.

Another online knitting magazine (free) is PopKnits. This one has a vintage feel and the second issue will be out Dec 1. In the first issue I love Lia Liang’s Gossamer Garden Stole and may just make it one day. Not soon perhaps but I’ve got it stored on my computer for later consideration, something you can’t do with Twist Collective patterns.

One more newer free online mag is Knotions. The winter issue is now out after it was delayed due to some technical problem or other. has some nice designs, including lots of socks and other accessories. The technical articles and reviews are really helpful. One thing I like is the Ravelry link on each pattern that shows how many have already been cast on!

So as not to leave out the crocheters there’s the new Crochet Uncut, the official unofficial magazine of the Crochet Liberation Front. It’s available both online and in a downloadable PDF. There’s only been one issue so far.

And don’t forget that Spindlicity is back. And the British online mag, The Inside Loop is up to issue 3 now. These ought to keep you reading and knitting and crocheting for awhile!

I did have some other stuff to talk about but this post kind of got away on me. Just for a photo, here’s the progress on the Seaweed Shawl so far.

It’s my blog and I can post what I want to, post what I want to, post what I want to. You should post too then you can blog you! (Apologies to Lesley Gore.)

Kick 'Em While They're Down

The leaves, that is! It was perfect leaf-kicking weather today. Quite warm and sunny and I even saw one or two people dressed as if it was summer in flip-flops and shorts. Others were wearing fleece or down vests and scarves. I settled for a fleece vest over heavy cotton long-sleeved t-shirt and I was almost too warm. But then we were walking briskly as usual. Why is it that the colder it gets outside, the warmer they keep temperatures inside the stores? Or maybe it’s just the contrast. Anyway I was roasting in the magazine store.

Only one magazine available today, the November/December issue of Handwoven. There was a tote bag on the cover that totally looked like it was a fulled (felted) knit in entrelac or mitred diamonds but it was actually woven in little squares on a pin-loom which were then stitched together into a bag and fulled. It’s final purpose is for a loom-bench storage bag. Also in the magazine are articles on choosing a loom and which shuttles are best for what. I particularly liked the project by Gudrun Polak, an old acquaintance of mine, of a tabletwoven necklace that curls and another by Amy Abbot on inkle weaving a pincushion necklace. It seems that they are focusing more on beginner level weaving or weaving with simpler equipment but there are also projects for 8-shaft echo weave and advancing twills. I think it’s difficult if not impossible to please all of the weavers all of the time, but this issue must hit a good cross-section. Plus I really like the redesigned layout.

What else have I been up to? Yesterday we went to the nursery and bought some flowering kale and winter pansies to replant the deck pots. The coleus had been swiftly dropping leaves all over the place so I knew it was only a matter of days before they would be toast. I’m not going to try to root cuttings of them this year since I had better luck growing them from seed in the spring. I can’t get the more exciting varieties in seeds but I got enough to keep me happy and they grew very large. I kept the rampant lobelia in the pots and it will be fine as long as a hard frost doesn’t hit and swapped the coleus for a single kale (purple and white ones) surrounded by orange and purple pansies. I put all the plastic pots down on the lower deck and brought the ceramic ones with my Amber Waves heucheras up to the top deck for a bit more protection. They did very well this summer and I want to keep them well. Besides I love the bronzy colours of their leaves. So far the geraniums are surviving in the hanging pots but I tucked some pansies in there too. I also got a pretty rust-coloured garden mum for the front door basket and it’s currently sharing the space with my toad-witch doll (made by my sister The Nurse) and my two needlefelted pumpkin heads in a festive arrangement. Now T needs to carve my single giant zucchini into ghosts and we’re ready for Halloween.

I got a wee bit further on the Purple Ruffles Socks for Princess Pink:

So far they’re pretty cute. Not a mindless knit however which brings the total of not-so-mindless knit projects on the needles up to three. I may have to start something mindless just to have something to do when I’m otherwise occupied and can’t watch what I’m doing. I’ll try to hold off though until I finish at least one current project. Or none of them will get done anytime soon.

Then there’s the shibori weaving which is going very slowly and the Journal which is still under a pile of books giving it a good press. I haven’t started writing anything in it yet. I’m not really afraid of it, just otherwise occupied. Too many things going on right now and nothing nearing completion at all! I’ve been trying to enjoy the lovely weather and we even spent some time sitting reading in the sun on the deck today. And it’s nearly November! However we did have a bit of light frost this morning so it’s not as if it’s been terribly unseasonal.