KnitandTravel

Published in Interweave Knits!

2012-01-22T16:49:00.001-08:00

I'm very excited to report that I have been published by Interweave Knits, one of my favorite magazines, and one of the most prestigious ones in my opinion. I've always admired their designs as they always have style, and feature unique details that make every design special.

I'd like to introduce the Quixote Scarf. Don Quixote was famous for "tilting at windmills" and this scarf features tilted cables.

It's a garter stitch scarf -- but the cables are tilted to run diagonally across the scarf. The diagonal rectangle is formed by increasing on one side and decreasing on the other.

Knit in squishy warm garter stitch in a worsted weight yarn, this piece features cables that use Lily Chin’s reversible cables technique, so when you wrap the scarf ends around you, they look exactly the same on both sides. A cozy fringe completes the look. It is easy yet a bit of a challenge for the fearless knitter.

I'm pleased to say that there are already 16 projects in progress, and it's been queued over 50 times. One of my favorite podcasts, Barb and Tracie of The 2 Knit Lit Chicks, were kind enough to mention the pattern on their recent podcast episode, and that was much appreciated. Check them out - they are a lot of fun.

Talk to you soon.

Adventures in Steeking, or When Knitting Attacks

2011-11-11T18:17:00.000-08:00

I have been knitting a sweater in the round. You know how patterns say “Join to work in the round, being careful not to twist stitches”?

So of course I double and triple-checked that my stitches were not twisted. And I checked again after a couple of rows.

How then, can it be possible, that they ended up twisted?

What I like to do with sweaters in the round, is slip them onto 2 circs, just as you do for knitting socks on 2 circs. That way you can spread out the stitches, check your gauge, and even try it on. After about 4 inches of knitting, I did just that. To my horror I found out that the sweater I have been knitting is twisted! Aarrgghh!

I don’t want to start over, I’m just lazy that way.
Rather than rip it out, I decided to try steeking it and then grafting or mattress stitching the untwisted ends together.
I could have tried a new design feature like side vents, as suggested by my friend Bronwyn. Genius idea. This is a design for a magazine though, so it sort of has to match the specs.

Worst case, it doesn’t look right and I have to start over -- which is what I would have done anyway - had I not been inspired by Bronwyn’s steeking a sweater that had gotten twisted. So no huge risk, anyway.

So I reinforced it before cutting, held my breath and cut it The I untwisted it and sewed it with mattress stitch, and I sort of tacked down the cut edges on the inside of the sweater.

It looks fine on the front side, but it’s a little extra bulky on the inside from the seam edges. It’s only around 4 inches though. Should be better after blocking.

see the pics here:

Right side:Inside:

Whew!

Next time I will follow some advice I read, to work 2 or 3 rows flat, until you can see your work better; then join in the round. Then you just have a tiny bit to sew up.

Book Review - A Knitting Wrapsody by Kristin Omdahl

2011-10-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

This book - A Knitting Wrapsody - focuses on wraps, shawls, and shrugs. It has the innovative feature of including a DVD that illustrates some of the special techniques used in the book. This is a fantastic feature.

Kristin is well known in the crochet world. I'm not a crocheter, so I'm looking at the designs solely from a knitter's point of view. This book is not intended for beginners, as it really requires a good foundation in basic knitting techniques. I'm fairly experienced as a knitter, so I'm attracted to new and different techniques and design effects.

There are eighteen patterns, categorized: scarves, wraps, shawls, and skirts. They go from lacy to quite dense, solid knitting. It's really hard for me to pick a favorite because there are a lot of great ideas in this book.
Overall, the book is well-produced: there are lots of clear photos of each piece; charts and schematics are sharp and usable; the design layout is visually pleasing. The patterns seem easy to follow.

On to the patterns:

Ring of Cables – a very cute shrug with lots of lovely cables. This design is on the cover. This would be adorable on a twenty-something, and it has a really interesting construction. I love the cables! This is the first project I started. I'll be making it for my daughter in law in a wool-silk blend yarn. I’ve done a gauge swatch and I’m on my way!

I Do - diamond lace scarf, is very pretty, wearable and appealing.

Echo - Mobius - has an original stitch pattern that makes me want to try it.

Infinity cardi-wrap - just breathtaking in its unique design. A figure-8 is knitted for the back, then stitches are picked all around it to make the rest of the sweater. So striking.

Finally, the Warrior wings shawl, with its pretty scalloped edges, is another winner.

I passed the book around at my knitting group, and these patterns got the most ooohs and aaahs.

As for the downside, I couldn't see knitting the Flamenco ruffled skirt, or the Gypsy wrap... Just not wearable for me or people I know.

With the inclusion of a technique DVD, this book is suitable for most knitters, because even if you are a beginner, you can work on the techniques until you have them down, then embark on one of the projects.

All in all, there is a very good proportion of things I do want to make, compared with other knitting books I have. So this book is a winner :-)

Note: I was supplied a copy of the book by the publisher.

Lots of Stuff!

2011-10-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

I haven’t yet blogged about my trip to London in May and the fabulous Chelsea Flower Show. And I haven’t blogged about my vacation in the south of France in late August/early September. I will get to those in good time. But first I will talk about recent knitting-related stuff, especially something very exciting that just happened.

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Last weekend I attended Vogue Knitting Live in LA. A knitting conference 3 miles from my house ? I’m there ! I registered for a lecture by Franklin Habit and 2 classes, with Cirilia Rose and Shirley Paden. In addition I signed up to be a volunteer and help out with registration and such. So, I had a very busy 3 days.

I’ll go into detail on all of these, but first I’ll get right to the most exciting part -- one of my designs was shown in a fashion show! My design – up on the catwalk, worn by a real model!
I was super excited and actually got a little choked up afterwards.

It’s a simple cowl and matching fingerless mitts, done in a slip-stitch colorwork design. It will be available as a free pattern by the end of October on the Premier Yarns website. I’ll post the link here and on Ravelry when it comes out. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goodstuff/super-secret-cowl-and-mitts

So, I thought the conference was really good. There was a huge variety of classes offered, to the point where it was very hard to pick just a couple. The vendor marketplace was large and extensive, lots of yarn stores had nice booths, and a few brand-new yarns were launched. In spite of my large stash, I succumbed to a skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze, in a new variegated colorway designed by the famous Kaffe Fasset. http://www.knitrowan.com/yarns/kidsilk-haze-stripe
This was one of the new yarns introduced at the conference. I saw some items made from it at the Rowan fashion show and went right to the marketplace to buy some – it was that pretty.
Another one, Polaris by Universal Yarns, was gently variegated in ivory, grey and black with sequins sprinkled through it. I couldn’t resist those sequins, especially at just $10 a skein :-)

There was also a bag of half price Noro Shirakaba in a nice cranberry red semi-solid.
I was hoping to find the famous Signature needles that I had heard so much about -- because I had just about talked myself into buying some – but I wanted to try them first. I wanted to see whether they magically improve my knitting in some way. There are several different lengths and styles to choose from, so it would be best to test them out. But, alas, Signature did not have a booth, and none of the yarn stores represented there had them. I decided to pick up a circular Addi Lace Turbo needle instead. I’ve used it a little and I like it so far.

Now, about the classes.
Franklin Habit was funny, informative, and charming as he talked about his interest in historical knitting patterns and how he goes about doing his research. He showed us some of the items he has made for his regular feature in knitty.com. There were some lovely pieces.
Cirilia Rose taught “Design with Confidence” and she covered a wide ranging set of topics relating to the design process, providing lots of insights into the industry. She is sweet and charming and fun.
The class with Shirley Paden was intense. We had to knit 4 large lace swatches as prep work, then in the 6 hour class we learned about the many styles of lace and the management of shaping lace to fit shapes such as sleeve caps or necklines. We knitted several complicated lace swatches in class to learn the different types of lace. Shirley showed us many beautiful samples of lace that she has used in her designs.

I had a chance to catch a few of the fashion shows. The one done by Rowan was one of the most beautiful; there were many lovely and wearable pieces. Skacel, Universal, and Premier also had good representation. A poncho/wrap that looked like a big tablecloth, and some unfortunate legwarmers that didn’t stay up, were the exceptions.
It was also great fun to chat with people too, like Wendy Bernard (Custom Knits) and Vicki Stiefel (The Laidback Knitter).

Oh, last but not least, there was a beginner’s lounge where you could learn to knit or crochet. I decided to take the plunge and learn to crochet. After 20 minutes of patient coaching I had the hang of single and double crochet. Woo-hoo! And they were nice enough to give me the crochet hook and the yarn I used to take home. My friend Ellen, an avid crocheter, was happy to hear this news, and has offered to help with any further questions I might have.

All in all, VK Live was an exciting, busy and educational time. It’s always nice to be surrounded by other knitters, and the hotel was swarming with them. Where else can you stroke a complete stranger’s shawl, and murmur “nice!” and not get into trouble? ;-)

New Pattern!

2011-09-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

My latest published pattern is the Terrigal Trio of Tops. It's published in the September 2011 issue of Yarn magazine. This Australian based magazine can be found at JoAnne's and other craft related stores. After one year, it will be available on Ravelry.com.

It’s a simple tank top that comes with a surprise – there are 3 different ways to wear it.
First: is a classic fitted tank top with a deep V neck. Great for summer weekends or going out at night, it lets you show a little cleavage.
Second: perhaps you want to wear the same top for work but find the V neck a bit much? Add a matching lacy insert which snaps or buttons in, and you’re covered up for the office. The lace can peek out when you’re wearing a jacket or cardigan over the tank.
Want more? Make another triangle in jaunty stripes and you’ve got a third sporty look, accented with bright silver buttons.
When the cooler weather comes, wear it as a vest with a crisp white shirt underneath. That’s version number 4!
.
The design was inspired by the look of 17th century ladies’ dresses. At night they showed a deep décolletage, and by day they tucked a bit of lace over their shoulders and in the neckline, to make it a more modest day dress.
The design is done in stockinette stitch with occasional purl stitches for texture, and has waist shaping for a smooth silhouette. An attached I-cord is used for the edging along the neck and armholes. The buttonholes are cleverly hidden by the I-cord. Alternatively snaps can be used to attach the lacy insert. The hem is finished with a tiny ruffle. These design elements result in a clean modern look with texture interest.

I hope you like this design!

Busy busy week!

2011-08-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy week for my knitting designs.

First, an exciting announcement, my pattern for the Belmont Park Child’s Hoodie is published. It’s available through Knipicks or through my Ravelry store. Yes I have a Ravelry store!
In other news, Vogue Knitting Live is going to be in Los Angeles this September. This is a new event, as the first one was in New York City this past January. Hope it's the first of many more knitting events in the SoCal area.

I gather it’s something like Stitches, with lots of classes, lectures, demonstrations, a marketplace, fashion show, and other special events. I am registered, and will be attending 2 classes and a lecture. I’m so looking forward to it!

Anyway, the super-exciting part is that I submitted some designs for the fasion show, and was accepted!! Cool!

I will be whipping up a cowl and matching fingerless mitts in the next few weeks. As soon as I finish the 2 sweaters on my needles. Yikes. I think I have got myself overbooked again.
And, even more news, a new knit magazine (Knit Now) is starting up in the UK and they have been asking for submissions, They seem to be focusing on smaller accessory type items, at least for now. I sent them a few of my ideas and they accepted 3 of them !
Wow!
Unfortunately I can’t do them all in the time allowed, one reason being I have vacation trip coming up and I won’t be able to knit (or write patterns) several hours a day as I sometimes do at home. But I think I can do 2 smaller pieces…. At least that’s the plan!

And when I’m back from my trip, I have a shawl to work on – for yet another magazine! So things are really bubbling along!
And yes, I do finish things sometimes, I have a project ready to mail off to yet another well known US based knitting magazine. I can't show it to you yet, but it's a new "slant" on the old favorite garter stitch scarf. I can show you the yarn, though. It's from Green Mountain Spinnery, and it's luscious! This is the Pumpkin colorway.

I’ll close now and get back to the travel part of the knit and travel blog next time !

Where Have I Been? (part 1)

2011-07-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

Lots of travel and lots of knitting has been going on !

I have had a few patterns published: Picasso Cardigan in Creative Knitting; Vintage Paris Sweater, also in Creative; Elise girls’ dress; and Le Marais Vest in Yarn magazine. See them here. I was also thrilled to have an article published in the Summer 2011 issue of Interweave Knits. It's called "The Slowest Knitter in History" and it's based on one of my earlier blog posts.
In April I attended CampKIP, a knitting retreat held at Cedar Creek in the St-Louis MO area. It was fabulous! Lots of time for lounging around, enjoying the sunshine, and knitting. There were raffles and games, wine tasting, beer tasting, S’mores around a campfire, and so much more. There were a few classes, such as spinning, carding, and yoga (thanks, Rachel!) but mostly just relaxing time. For many of us who lead hectic lives with jobs, kids, husbands and pets to look after, it was a huge treat to have time for ourselves. Quite a few knitting podcasters were there, so it was also a chance to meet these folks in person. Jackie did a fabulous job!

I worked on this hat while there, my own design. It's for my darling granddaughter. She is in Australia, where it's winter now, so she needed warm hats!

Next time I will talk about my trip to London in May, to see the Chelsea Flower Show, among other things, and my trip to Australia in June.
(to be continued)

Story of a Sweater – Water Lilies

2011-07-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

It all started with winning a raffle. My LYS (KnitCulture) was having an open house, customer appreciation event, and at the event I won a raffle prize. It was 2 balls of Classic Elite Firefly yarn, in a pale pink, along with a pattern booklet. Firefly is a warm-weather yarn made of rayon and linen. It has a lovely texture and a pretty luster.

I loved the yarn, but the color was too pale for my complexion. So I put it aside, with some vague thoughts of dyeing it one day.

A few months later, another great LYS (Unwind) was having their anniversary party, and amazingly enough, I won another raffle. (I know! What are the odds?) And it was Firefly again! This time 2 balls of yellow-lime-green and 2 of soft blue. Once again: lime green – great color, but not for me. (Heck, I have green paint on my walls – I’m not anti-green! It just doesn’t look good on me!)

So, for those keeping score, I now owned 2 balls of pink, 2 of blue and 2 of green. And only the blue looked good next to my face. But I really wanted to knit with this yarn.

The solution came to me – STRIPES! Not just any stripes, but the kind designed to flatter: wider at the yoke, skinny ones in the middle. I could place the most flattering color near my face. Add some interesting colored welts at the lower borders, and I-cords used to drape the hem into soft folds. The design helps to camouflage an imperfect tummy area. (Now you're looking at my tummy, aren't you?)

I chose an easy top-down tunic shape, fresh and cool for the summer. It is knit in the round, with some uncomplicated texture stitches to show off the glow of the Firefly yarn. After swatching a few ideas, I settled on 2 rows of seed stitch, 2 rows of stockinette stitch. Easy-peasy! It gave me the kind of “crunchy” look I was searching for. The stitches are simple enough to keep this an easy knit.

I had started knitting it for myself and was really enjoying the yarn when I had the brainstorm to contact Classic Elite Yarns to see if they’d be interested in using it. Well – they were!
I finished knitting the sweater, wrote up the pattern and sent them both off to CEY. The rest, as they say, is history.

The pattern is being featured on the CEY website and their Web-Letter this week, and is on Ravelry too. See:
http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/WebLetter/199/Issue199.php

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/firefly-water-lilies-top
If you like the sweater, feel free to choose your own favorite colors.

By the way, I think it would be great in one solid color too. I look forward to seeing many versions of this on Ravelry (my id on Rav is Goodstuff).

The model wears it well, too, don't you think?
I almost forgot to add: I named it Water Lilies because the pastel colors reminded me of Monet’s paintings of water lilies. These pictures are among my favorites. And a few years ago I had the opportunity to visit Monet’s gardens at Giverny and see them in person. Gorgeous!

Here is one of the Monet paintings, as well as a photo of the actual garden.

All Money from pattern sales will go to Japan Earthquake Relief

2011-03-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Just a quick note to say that from 100% to 200% of my pattern sales from now until April 7th, will go to Japan Earthquake Relief.

I'll donate between $3 and $5 for each pattern sold - that's more than I make from each one :-).

I've already donated $100 to get the ball rolling.

Click on the pattern pictures on the right to find out how to buy them.

Thanks for looking!

Sad News

2010-11-27T23:46:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry to report that my mother in law Celia (whom I mention in the the previous post) passed away a week ago.

She was suffering from leukemia.

Last spring she experienced a remission and we were able to have 8 additional months together, but the disease was too much for her.

All her 6 children and several grandchildren were with her when she passed away.

I just got back from 2 weeks in NYC where we spent several days in the ICU, and then attending the funeral and observing the 7 day mourning period.

Here are my fave pictures of her, taken when we took her to Australia in January to meet her great granddaughter.

She will be missed.

Adventures of a Prodigal Knitter - Part 2

2010-11-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

(cont'd)

Although I always had a pair of socks on the needles, I yearned for larger, more substantial projects. When I learned that my son and his wife were about to buy a house, I decided that an afghan would be a great housewarming present. After all it was literally there for warming you up!
I pored over patterns by the dozens. There were so many criteria -- not too simple, not too complicated. Not too old-fashioned, not too boring. No sewing up of endless squares. I wanted it to be interesting for me to knit, and attractive for them to enjoy using. I thought it should be wool, since acrylics are never as warm as wool. It needed to be machine washable, since I couldn’t see washing a great big blanket by hand.
I finally found a pattern I liked. I asked my daughter-in-law to choose the colors, I ordered Cascade 220 Superwash in 2 coordinating colors – a warm terra cotta red and a deep gold - and away I went.

I had a few bumps along the way— I ran out of yarn and had to order more. I found that due to changing tension over time (the work went on for 6 months), I had a trapezoid and not a rectangle, and had to partially re-knit it.
In the end it was about 45” by 72” -- huge!

What I learned: Knitting an afghan that uses 10 balls of Cascade 220 means 2200 yards of knitting, or over 150,000 stitches. That is a ton of work! I don’t think I’ll do that again anytime soon.

After knitting several lacy socks without incident, I thought I’d go for the ultimate – a lace shawl. I chose the Seascape Shawl, from Knitty.com.I had 5 skeins of a fuzzy mohair yarn which looked as though it should work for this pattern. It’s a really lovely blue-lilac color, like hydrangeas or blue hyacinth. The Seascape pattern was less fussy, and more tailored, than a lot of lace shawls and seemed like a good bet for my first lace shawl. Mohair is really hard to unravel so I had to get this right.Also, inspired by someone’s version on Ravelry, I decided to add beads: some at the edges, and one in the center of each motif. So, it was my first beaded project as well.Might I add, the mohair was really hairy and got all over my clothes and even up my nose when I worked. I had to stop working on it an hour before I went to bed or else I’d sneeze and cough when I was trying to get to sleep.

Anyway, my mother-in-law was staying with us for a while, so I decided I would make it for her. She is always complaining that she’s cold, even here in Los Angeles, so this might help.She used to knit but doesn’t anymore, so at least she would appreciate the work that was going into it. There were some errors near the beginning, but then I decided to obsessively put stitch markers every 10 stitches and keep counting that there were exactly 10 stitches between markers. Once I did that, there were no more errors.

I was a bit anxious if my hard-to-please mother-in-law would like it.

Well ---She did. I wrapped in tissue and put it in a box, so she would have a nice "gift opening" experience. When she saw it, she said "how pretty".

Then she said it must have been a lot of work.

Then she wore it the rest of the evening.

Half-joking, I told her I would keep the temperature of the house low so she would *have* to wear it (because she's totally the type who would put it away and save it for a "special occasion").
My MIL has done a lot for me over the years, not the least of which was looking after my baby boy so that I could go back to work. So I was happy that I could do something nice for her.
What I learned: Knitting can be very rewarding, both for the knitter and her loved ones.

So, where does that leave me?
I absolutely love knitting, and with a new baby granddaughter, I have plenty of new patterns in my Ravelry queue, and lots of new challenges ahead. There’s entrelac, and fair-isle, and lace-weight, and double-knitting ….. I have even started designing, and I have sold several designs. Check out the Crayon Pocket Cardigan on Ravelry.

Adventures of a Prodigal Knitter - Part 1

2010-11-12T00:06:00.000-08:00

Why the prodigal knitter? Well, I returned to knitting in 2007 after a 20 year absence. The story of how that happened is discussed in my blog post, The Slowest Knitter in History. To quickly recap, I found a knitting bag with knitting in it that had been lost and abandoned 20 years ago, misplaced during a move, and finally rediscovered. I obtained a copy of the original pattern on eBay, and continued to knit the sweater, completing it one month later, 20 years after it was first cast on.
What I learned: Knitting is timeless, and muscle memory really exists.

So, buoyed by my success, I wondered what to knit next. An online friend had just started knitting for the first time, and she was knitting socks.
Socks were scary – those little pointy needles, that mysterious way they curve at the heel – no way was a beginner like her tackling socks! Well, the long-dormant competitive streak in me emerged. If she could do it, then I certainly could!
She kindly emailed me links to instructions on using 2 circular needles, a free basic sock pattern, and an article called Sock Anxiety. I ordered my 2 circs, and away I went.
I am a totally self-taught knitter, so I was fine to roll up my sleeves and embark on this new challenge. The mystery of turning the heel revealed itself to me, and my first socks turned out OK, although the colors were awfully bright…
What I learned: Knitting socks isn’t that hard, if you can follow instructions.

The bright self striping yarn in green, teal blue, purple, and hot pink was fun to knit with, but kind of bright in the finished product – the kind of socks a circus clown would use to complete his outfit.
What I learned: Just because you can knit something, doesn’t mean you should knit it.
Luckily my sister was happy to take them off my hands.

From there, I was hooked and turned out many more pairs of socks – top-down, toe-up, 2-at-a-time, even some off-the-wall Cat Bordhi designs. There was:
- A nice pair in mauve, pink, and beige, which turned out too big, so I gave them to my son.
- Another pair was also in self patterning yarn, and I chose a lace pattern.
Yes, you guessed it – the lace pattern and the self striping sock yarn were fighting it out. And I don’t know which was the winner.

What I learned: Not every sock yarn goes with every sock pattern. There’s actually an art to matching the right yarn to the right pattern.

Around this time, a friend told me about felting – a whole new adventure !! So I turned out a bunch of large and small felted bags in different styles and with various embellishments. They made great gifts.

What I learned: All that loose fuzz can damage your washing machine. I decided to slow down on the felting projects before the machine broke down in protest.

(to be continued)

More Good Fortune!

2010-09-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Last week, I got yet another acceptance of a pattern, this time for a little girl's dress. Being so overwhelmed already, I was going to decline. But the design is named after my baby granddaughter, and I was a little bit sentimental about seeing her name published.

So I took the advice of my friend Ellen (thanks, Ellen!) and looked for a test/sample knitter. I got several very accomplished knitters applying for the job, and I went with someone from my local knitting group. I feel I can trust her to get the job done on time, and I know she is a great knitter. Whew!
I am such a mogul -- outsourcing my work!

We just got back from a wedding in Montreal on the Labor Day weekend, and spending Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) in NYC with family.

The wedding was very nice: here's a new thing - the bride wore a beautiful burgundy red silk dress. The bridesmaids wore cream dresses with burgundy red sashes.
Is this a new trend to non-white bridal gowns? Please enlighten me!

We were also fortunate to get tickets to the closing ceremony of the Montreal Film Festival. They announced and presented the awards, and then showed the closing film, La Princesse de Montpensier, a period drama about 15th century France.
Such an elegant evening, and lots of fun!

When we arrived home on Sat. packages of yarn were waiting for me for 3 of my projects, so it's time for swatching and pattern writing and knitting.
Talk to you soon!
(Gratuitous Baby pic)

Careful What You Wish For

2010-09-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Oh, gosh. It has not seriously been a month since my last post?!?
Yes it has.
(guilty face)
Here's what's been happening. I submitted quite a few designs to Creative Knitting magazine, and also one to Yarn magazine, which is Australia based.
I also submitted designs to the Sanguine Gryphon, a hand dyed yarn website.
Guess what !

They all accepted my designs !!!
Creative accepted TWO of them!
That's in addtion to the 3 Irish Girls who had already accepted 2 of my patterns.
I am incredibly thrilled and grateful that they appreciate my design efforts.

Can you guess what's coming next?
Yes -- I have to knit and write patterns for a total of 6 items - 4 of them sweaters - in 6-8 weeks.
OMG.
(takes deep breaths).

I am not an especially fast knitter - I never needed to be fast so I didn't worry about it.

Based on my rough estimates, I think I may need to knit between 8 and 10 hours a day for the next 6 weeks. Maybe I'll get faster as time goes on. Maybe my estimates are off.

Yikes.

Anyway, wish me luck. I will be needing it.
Any helpful suggestions are welcome.

What's up?

2010-08-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

I've been lazy lately. DH is away visiting his Mom in NYC. So I indulge my tendency to be a night-owl, and stay up late and of course sleep in late.

I have a to-do list but am having trouble getting things done.

Yesterday was the deadline for a design submissions for a knitting publication so I was busy sketching, swatching, drawing the schematics, scanning my sketches, photographing my swatches, and putting it all together for the submissions. There are quite a few steps involved beyond the actual idea!

I started selling some of my stash on Ravelry, which caused me to look at what other people are selling, which caused me to buy more stash with the money I made -- which is OK because now I will have some yarn I've never tried: Sanguine Gryphon, DragonFly, and Sundara.

Here's one of them - the Dragonfly - isn't is pretty?

Of course all this Rav surfing sucks up huge amounts of time -- but you knew that, right ? :-)

In other news, I did finally spread mulch in the garden, which had been on my to-do list for weeks. It took all of one hour.

There's also a rose garden, but there are only a few roses at this time..

Now, I'm off to find the yarn that I sold, so I can mail it out.

Does that count as my getting rid of one thing a day ? ;-)

Knitting Designs, this and that.

2010-07-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

So, I have now sold 4 designs, and have 2 more submitted for which I'm anxiously awaiting a reply.

I plan to resubmit some ideas to another publication, and i have some new design ideas, too.

The Knitmore girls are having a contest for designs of baby hats, so I threw together (and knitted) a pattern for that, too.
So I'm busy with that.

I should mention that I have a story on the Never Not Knitting podcast , The Prodigal Knitter. Alana was also nice enough to mention my new pattern. Check it out - you'll enjoy it:-)

Next Friday I'm going to the LA Stitch 'n' Pitch event; a bunch of knitters sit and knit together at a Dodgers game. One of our LYSs is organizing a little party beforehand and renting buses for us to go all together. They are having a yarn sale too.
I'm so looking forward to it!

Gratuitous baby pic.

OK, now some knitting

2010-07-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

First, the play, The 3 Musketeers, was fun. Some actors were better than others, but overall I think they did a great job. They took some parts of the original very long novel and made it hang together fairly well. The setting was gorgeous, in Topanga Canyon at the Will Geer outdoor theater.

I still continue to be surprised that there are these lovely pockets of wilderness right in the city.

So, in knitting:

I finished the baby booties for my granddaughter, and they were very well received.

It's winter there, so she will get good use out of them. They match a sweater I made for her last May. It's on the right over here.

She is staying incognito so that the paparazzi don't stalk her :-)

Next, I've almost finished a super secret project for publication (Yay!). It's a child's cardi for Tangled - an online magazine. I'll post a link when it's published, natch.

This is my second published pattern! Here is the first.

I've been inspired lately to submit design ideas everywhere. I've also had 2 more designs accepted for a hand-dyed yarn company (Yay again!)

Also, I'm working on the Sassymetrical sweater. I'm not sure that it is going to drape properly, so i'm going to add beads to the border. Sneaky, eh? I hope it works.

I have a pair of socks on the needles which I work on sporadically. I do have one done.

This is a really different pattern - they are knitted sideways!

And finally, I couldn't resist casting on this cute baby hoodie, called Snug, done in sideways garter stitch. So adorable! I'm doing it a rust cotton worsted, with cream trim.

More next time...

P.S. I'm continuing to throw out one thing a day, at least! Plastic containers, jars, expired grocery items... and I haven't even hit my closet or bathroom yet.

Cooking, a resolution, and of course, knitting

2010-07-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

In cooking:
Sometimes we get into a rut and just make the same old stuff again and again. Well, I do.
Pasta, burger, fish, chicken; Pasta, burger, fish, chicken; etc. (we try to limit red meat as much as possible, so the burgers are mostly veggie-burgers).

Anyway, one of my favorite French desserts is clafouti– a custardy cake made with fresh cherries. So I finally made one, for the first time, last weekend. It was yummy, just as good as the ones I’ve had in France. And here it is.
You can only do this when cherries are in season, so it’s a fairly small window of time. It’s really an easy recipe: you make a batter of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter, and you pour this over the cherries in a baking dish, and bake. You don’t even pit the cherries!

I don’t know about you, but when I was little, my mother would never dream of heating up the oven for just one thing. I guess the electric bill was a big item for my family back then, and you just didn’t waste energy (we had electric stoves).
I still feel guilty about using the oven for one item. Therefore, I made up a batch of blueberry bran muffins at the same time. They were great too. After eating two while they were still warm, I froze the rest for quick snacks or breakfasts later on.

Resolution
After living 18 years in the same house (yikes – where does the time go?) we have accumulated a fair amount of “stuff”. I wouldn’t say our house is terribly cluttered because we do manage to find places to put our stuff, but nonetheless we have too much. Both DH and I have trouble letting go of things; we get sentimental about the little artifacts, souvenirs and gadgets that we accumulate.
At the same time, I’m lazy and don’t care to spend a beautiful sunny day indoors cleaning out a closet. When I saw this suggestion in a comment on the Crazy Aunt Purl blog, I knew it was for me. This is it: Throw out one thing a day. Simple, no?

I started with an old cookie sheet that’s old, tarnished and stained. I have 2 like-new cookie sheets that I will use in the future, so why keep this one?
The second thing was a glass jar. I have many of these (sigh, I have trouble not washing and saving jars from jam, olives, pickles, etc.) This is also a habit inherited from my mother.

Between kitchen stuff and clothing items I’m sure I can get rid of lots of stuff. And you don’t have to literally throw it away -- you can put it in a box to donate.

Knitting – I will have to talk about it next time, as I have to go now; we’re going to see a play – The Three Musketeers – in an outdoor theater set in Topanga Canyon. Should be fun!

Bye for now!

NEW POST !

2010-07-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well, long time no see, right? I will try to avoid cliches like that in future, but, hey, it seemed to fit. Yes it's been almost a year since I last posted.
I've been lured away by Facebook and twitter.
But, I will attempt to write every couple of days and thus eventually catch you up on my all my doings. Assuming you're interested in my doings, of course.
OK, I will start with a major one -- I have a new baby granddaughter, called Elise. She is the cutest thing, of course, and is both intelligent and beautiful.

We've been fortunate to have been able to visit her 3 times in the last 9 months. (She is in Sydney Australia.) On one trip we even brought my mother in law with us, so she could meet her first great-granddaughter. That was a wonderful and emotional visit. My MIL is now ill and so it's not likely she will be able to travel that far again.

I have knitted her lots of cute things which you can find here on Ravelry.
More tomorrow!

Long Time No Hear

2009-09-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

There was a big ship...

There were gladiators....

A breezy afternoon...

Any guesses?

Yes, it's definitely been a while. Did you miss me ? Did you notice ?
We are back. We were away from late June thru to the end of July.

We did a cruise, then 12 days in Paris, then 10 days in Israel, where my SIL had arranged 2nd Bar mitzvahs (near the Western Wall) for 3 of her sons. (She has 6 kids, ranging from 7 to 18.)

The cruise was wonderful. It was our 1st cruise and we were very impressed. It's just like being in a luxury hotel, that magically moves. You barely feel any movement at all - it's very smooth. The ports were -- Messina, Athens, Kusadasi Turkey, and Heraklion Crete. All pretty interesting.

The best was Turkey - we'll have to go back there.

Food and service were excellent, and we were upgraded to a room with a balcony, which was very pleasant. About 40% of the passengers were Italian, and 40% American, with the rest a mixture of many other nationalities.

It's a huge ship, and you never feel crowded or cramped; there's lots of space, plenty of deck chairs, and places to walk. 16 bars, 3 pools, etc.

Then came Paris, which we enjoyed very much. The apartment we rented was very convenient, and in a nice location, right near the Eiffel Tower, in the 16th arrondissement (district).On Bastille day we watched the parade on the Champs d'Elysees, and then gorgeous fireworks at night on the Eiffel tower. Truly stunning.

There were huge crowds but everything was very orderly and polite.

Here's a shot of the parade.

We did a lot of walking, enjoying yummy pastries, and seeing all the sights in a leisurely fashion.

Here's a shot from a yarn store there -- the famous La Drogerie (near Les Halles shopping complex). Finished knitted items from their own exclusive patterns, and yarn galore.

Israel was wonderful as well. There is lots to see, but it’s very hot.

We visited lots of DH’s relatives and unfortunately also attended a funeral as DH’s cousin (who had ALS) passed away while we were there.

I hope you’re all having a great summer!

I will update you on my knitting activity soon !

P.S. Please leave a comment so I'll know if anyone's reading this ! That will spur me on to update more often :-) .

WWKIPD

2009-06-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

For WWKIPD - World Wide Knit in Public Day (not "what would KIP do"), I went to the West Hollywood Stitch n Bitch group that I attend sporadically, at the Farmers Market on Fairfax (which is 75 years old this year, and that's very old for LA).

Had great fun chatting with people and admiring their knitting. Ellen will be posting pix on her blog shortly here. I wore my new Feb Lady sweater and showed it off just a bit.

I'm almost finished the baby blanket, but it's too big to carry around and has too many ball of yarn trailing it, so I didn't bring it. Instead I brought the baby sweater I started.

One of the other knitters there had brought her 6 month old grandson along, so I had the (brilliant) idea of measuring the baby to see how big a 6 month old actually is. He was very cooperative and didn't mind a bit. :-)

After that I went to the gym, and had a lazy afternoon.
Our good friends K & T came over later, we chatted a bit, then went to a fabulous tapas place, Cobras and Matadors. They have a woodburning oven, and all the food is wonderful. Sweet potato fries, smoky eggplant, baby lambchops, artichoke croquettes, and roasted mushrooms are just some of the yummy things we ate.

From there we walked to the Grove (shopping center with a village street atmosphere which is attached to the Farmers Market mentioned above) and from there headed back to our place for coffee and dessert - delicious baclava from Trader Joe's.

All in all a great day!

I'm back - Did you miss me ?

2009-06-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry to stay away so long, stuff just gets in the way.

I'm not caught up on email either :-)

I thought I’d check in and bring you all somewhat up to date.

DH got laid off from his job (this is one that was literally around the corner) so is just retired now. He’s not looking for anything else.

I don’t have any consulting gigs on the horizon, but I’m content to have the summer off.

So far I’ve worked 50% of the time since taking the company early retirement package, and that is just fine with me. (They have since laid off 1000's of people, and decimated my department, so it was a good decision to leave when I did.)

I finished up my project at xxx Insurance Company in Feb, then we went to Australia for most of the month of March. DS and DDIL moved there in Sept. 2007.

We had a great time visiting them, as we hadn’t seen them in 2 years. Here they are.

We spent one week together (all 4 of us) on the Gold Coast (near Brisbane) which is a beach resort area.

It has the most gorgeous beaches I’ve seen anywhere – very wide and clean, great waves, warm water. Perfect. We went to great restaurants, and had a couple of BBQs and picnics. Visited a National Park, played mini-golf, relaxed, swam, hiked. Did a little shopping.

Sydney (particularly the area where they live - Newtown) has lots of ethnic restaurants – Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, African, Caribbean, you name it – and we had fun trying them out.

Here's me at Doyle's with a yummy seafood platter, with fish and chips featured prominently!

On a visit to the Art Museum of Sydney, I noticed this.

See the woman on the left?

Yes, she is knitting a sock.

I had a chance to visit the largest yarn shop in Sydney, Tapestrycraft aka J. Morris, and bought some very soft Merino wool.

I also went to a nice button shop - All Buttons Great and Small - and got coconut shell buttons for my February Lady sweater.

They lend an exotic touch, don't you think ?

DDIL's parents had us over to their house for a BBQ and we enjoyed that too. They are warm, lovely people. Both are school teachers.

Our flight home had a 2 day stopover in Tahiti on the way back, and that was VERY nice too.

I do have some news. DS and DDIL are expecting a baby! In October. They told us the news when we were there, so that was pretty cool.

Yes, DH and I will be grandparents soon! Very exciting. So, I guess we’ll be back for more frequent visits in the future.

Of course I don’t feel old enough to be a grandmother – I still feel about 30. When did this getting old happen? I never noticed it. ;-)

Naturally, there are lots of baby knitting projects planned and on the needles. I will discuss these in my next post. Baby knitting is loads of fun !

I'm in a podcast

2009-04-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

If you like to listen to knitting-related podcasts, check this one out. I submitted a story – which is featured here. Never Not Knitting

It’s about halfway through… but I recommend listening to the whole thing ;-)
Enjoy!

P.S. The pictures can be found on my post for Jan 2, 2009, here.

Warm Ewe Up Swap - Number 3

2009-04-03T23:31:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my trip to Australia (more on that in another post) and I just received my 3rd package from my wonderful swap partner "AlwaysNancy". She is so thoughtful and so generous!

Here is the 3rd, lovely, amazing package! How sweet of Nancy to use the theme of spring – everything is so coordinated. I’m a bit confused on the seasons at the moment. In Australia they are going into autumn, and here it feels like summer!

The soaps are just darling and smell great – almost too nice too use. I have that bad habit of saving really nice things and not using them. Then my candles, soaps, etc., lose their scent over time, and that's a real shame. I will try to either use them or give them to someone who will !

I’ve never used Tofutsies sock yarn before, it will be fun trying it out. Such a pretty colour! Maybe for a certain future grandchild of mine ;-) And the Tilli Thomas silk in browns and greens is so luxurious – I will have to find something wonderful for that.

Jelly Bellies are a perennial favourite in our house, and I’m sure DH will be happy to share these with me.
And the pansies are great, one of my all time favourite flowers. Did you know that here in LA we call them winter flowers? Yup, we plant them in the fall and they bloom all winter. In spring it gets too hot for them and they die off.

Anyway, thanks so so much for the thoughtful, wonderful package -- this one and the 2 previous ones were all fantastic.
This swap (my first) has been a lot of fun, and I hope that Nancy had a good swap partner too.

Enjoy the springtime season!

Happy Birthday to me

2009-03-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

My birthday.

Well, I don’t like being reminded that I’m getting older, but – as a friend of ours says – it’s better than the alternative !
DH was very sweet and attentive. Last night we went out to dinner at one of LA’s best restaurants, Spago. Didn’t see any movie stars, but enjoyed the dinner immensely. I had a sashimi appetizer, roasted duck breast, and raspberry soufflé for dessert. Delicious.
There was also a cosmo and a nice glass of wine. Lovely !

DH’s gift to me was a bunch of tulips (which he has finally learned that I prefer to roses) and a bottle of Calyx perfume (eau de parfum to be exact). It’s definitely one of my faves, and my current supply was getting very low, which he must have noticed. So it was a very good choice.

I had told him I wanted gift certificates to a yarn store, or membership in a sock club, but I think he doesn’t quite get my obsession with all things knitting and didn’t quite believe me.
Oh well, I’ll just buy the yarn I want anyway ;-)

I’m currently destashing some yarn I’m no longer excited about, and in turn buying some items that others are getting rid of. Here is my destash page if you want to take a look.
(link)
So it’s working out OK…

I received birthday cards – both paper and electronic – from lots of friends so I’m happy. We had plans to visit Huntington Gardens today ( a huge botanical garden plus museum), but I have had problems with my foot, so I’d better rest it. I have a long awaited vacation trip to Australia starting Tuesday, and I want to be healed by then.

On my actual birthday, Sunday, I taught DH how to make coffee (I KNOW, right?) and he made me some. We hung around the house a bit (he has a bad cold), and then I sat outside and knitted in the sunshine while he napped indoors.

We went out for late lunch/early supper at Joan’s on Third, where I had a yummy muffelata sandwich. We had planned to see a movie after, but DH’s cold was really bothering him so we came home again. He pointed out that we will be seeing a lot of movies on our flight to Australia, which I thought was a valid point. We ended up watching a Netflix movie at home instead. And more knitting of course. So a very quiet evening.

That’s about it !

….
Edited:
NJ - you asked if I see stars in LA.
Yes, sometimes we actually do. We have spotted: Jack nicholson, Jerry seinfeld (when his show was still being produced), Brooke Shields, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Sean Connery, Rod Stewart, Bill murray, Steve Martin, Ron Howard, Al Pacino. Oh just yesterday I saw James Denton, who plays Mike on Desperate Housewives.

Warm Ewe Up Swap - Question #5

2009-02-28T18:03:00.000-08:00

The question for this week:
What knitting pattern could you make again and again?

The only patterns that I've made more than once are these felted purses. link
A friend asked me to make some for her and some for her to give as gifts. link2 link3
I also made a bunch of cell phone/iPod cases for her to give as gifts as well. cases

She paid me a fair price, and I enjoyed doing them, but I didn't want to do any more!
Now I'm all about trying something new with every project.
Oh yeah, except for these...

Now I've got Spring Forward socks, a Noro striped scarf, and a February Lady sweater on the needles. Lots of variety there :-)

Swap package #2 arrived

2009-02-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

I want to thank my sweet and thoughtful swap partner. She is somewhat of a psychic, having guessed correctly about my tastes and preferences.

Where to start? She knew that I have a trip coming up, so she included a travel journal and travel size lotions.

She added hand dyed yarn in gorgeous blue and deep purple tones.

A sheep themed tape measure, and Canadian maple sugar candy (a rare treat) complete the package.

Thanks so much, swap partner! I hope you get equally nice goodies.

Warm Ewe Up Swap Question #4

2009-02-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day this year?

We don't do much for Valentine's Day, it seems too much of a commercialized, made-up holiday. Plus, my birthday is just 2 weeks later, so no biggie.

Since 2008 was my first year as a self employed consultant, we are going to meet with an accountant to help with our taxes. So what day did hubby make the appointment to go meet with the accountant?

Yup, Feb. 14th :-)

Now, that's romantic!

P.S. Take a look at my prior posts for some actual knitting content.

Rather Fuzzy Seascape Shawl

2009-02-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

It's done. Here are a few photos.

I think it turned out quite well. You can just barely see the beads, but they are at the edges and within the center of each motif.

I was a bit anxious if my hard-to-please MIL would like it.

Well ---

She did.

I wrapped in tissue and put it in a box, so she would have a nice "gift opening" experience.
When she saw it, she said "how pretty".
Then she said it must have been a lot of work.
Then she wore it the rest of the evening.

I told her I would keep the temperature of the house low so she would *have* to wear it (cause she's totally the type who would put it away and save it for a "special occasion").

So I am calling it a success.

More details are available at Ravelry. Here.

Knitting and such

2009-02-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should blog about my actual, you know, knitting, once in a while.

Pretty Green Cowl

I had been seeing all these really nice patterns for cowls, and thought, how pretty, and fun to knit. Too bad I can’t use them, here in LA where it’s 70 degrees (20 Celsius). Then I thought of my poor sister, freezing her tail off, up in Toronto, and emailed to ask if she would like one. Mind you, I have already knit her a scarf (cashmere, doncha know), socks, and 2 hats this year, so she has not been totally deprived.

She emailed back that she would indeed like one, so that she can cover her mouth and nose with it on the coldest days.

All I can say is “Brrrrrr”.

I chose the Cherry Garcia pattern, because I love cables.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cherry-garcia

I had a great skein of wool for it too, 127 Print (soft sage green with splashes of other colors) which I got from a person who was destashing. I had been waiting for the perfect use for it.

I knitted it quickly because I wanted her to have it while it was still cold. There was enough yarn left that I could make a double lining for extra warmth. Perfect!

So I mailed it off to her in less than a week. She did indeed like it.

That was my first FO of 2009.

Seascape Shawl

I had 5 skeins of a fuzzy mohair yarn which looked as though it should work for this pattern. It’s a really lovely blue-lilac color, like hydrangeas or blue hyacinth. I picked this up at a yarn swap at my local Stitch n B!tch group.

The Seascape pattern (from Knitty) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/seascape-stole

was less fussy, more tailored, than a lot of lace shawls and seemed like a good bet for my first lace shawl. Mohair is really hard to unravel to I’d better plan on getting this right.

Also, inspired by someone’s version on Ravelry, I decided to add beads: some at the edges, and one in the center of each motif. So, my first beaded project as well.

Might I add the mohair is really hairy and gets all over my clothes and even up my nose when I work. I have to stop working on it an hour before I go to bed or else I sneeze and cough when I’m trying to get to sleep.
Anyway, my mother-in-law is staying with us for a while, so I decided I would make it for her. She is always complaining that she’s cold, even here in LA, so this might help.
She used to knit but doesn’t anymore, so at least she does appreciate the work that is going into it. I hope she’ll like it.

There are some errors near the beginning, before I decided to obsessively put stitch markers every 10 stitches and keep counting that there were exactly 10 stitches between markers. Once I did that, there were no more errors.

As I write this, I have about one more inch left to go, then I have to block. (gulp!) Of course I’ll post pics here and on my Ravelry page. I will also share my MIL’s reaction.

I think it looks pretty good.

Globe and Mail article

Here's an article sent to me by my sister.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090130.wlyarn30/BNStory/lifeMain/home
Yarn bombers cozy up to the urban landscape

Stealthy knitters are leaving their mark on the Great Wall of China, the Golden Gate Bridge and a street near you
From Friday's Globe and MailJanuary 30, 2009 at 10:03 AM EST

VANCOUVER — Beware the friend who suddenly takes up crochet. She (or he) may be a yarn bomber.

Working under code names such as Incogknito and the Microfiber Militia, a global network of "craftivists" is stitching makeshift sweaters, oversized tea cozies and giant pompoms around public property. Street poles, trees, bike racks, bridges - nothing is safe in target cities such as London, Paris, Chicago and Stockholm.

The craftivists' manifesto, according to Vancouver knitters Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain, is "world yarn domination."Paris was hit in 2007 when hundreds of knitted socks were slid onto street posts in the Marais district.

I liked this quote, "Knitta has since left its mark on the Great Wall of China, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, inspiring legions of youth to rush out and buy knitting needles."

Hee. Watch out for stampedes at your local LYS!:-)

Here is one of the comments: "So that's why they won't allow knitting needles onto planes! They're weapons of mass production! "

See you next time for more knitting tales, or should I say -- yarns :-)

Get it ?

Warm Ewe Up Swap - Question #3

2009-01-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

What is your favorite way to keep warm when it’s snowing outside? (And if you live in a warm weather climate, what would you do to stay warm and cozy while it’s snowing?)

Well, I now live in LA, but I do remember those cold snowy days from when I lived in Toronto and Montreal. (Bbbrrrrr!)

What I used to do -- to avoid actually doing housework or laundry, heaven forbid -- was cooking and baking. Lots of healthy muffins that I could take to work for snacks, occasionally a nice banana bread, stuff like that. I also would make soups and stews, do some advance cooking so that on weeknights I just had to heat up food that was already cooked. Doesn't everyone do that?

I will still do this if it's a rainy day in LA. In fact yesterday (even though the weather was nice) I spent about 4 hours making lemon marmalade from my abundance of lemons off my own tree -- 9 jars! Tiring but very satisfying.

Warm Ewe Up Swap -- First Package

2009-01-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

So exciting !
I’m pleased to say that my swap package arrived today.

There is: gorgeous yarn (Hand Maiden Mini Maiden, silk and wool in a beautiful rich red), the great Yarn Harlot calendar, a knitter's magnet, and some oh so cute stitch markers. I love them all, and I especially appreciate the Canadian content.
I don’t have any silk yarn so this one will be a new one for me. The colour is absolutely gorgeous – great choice!
I also don’t have any decorative stitch markers, I currently use the very practical plastic ones but these are so much nicer. Love the mittens and scarf and socks – so much fun. And the magnet is great – can’t wait to brandish that!

I should say it all arrived in a very timely manner – I had a bad day (my foot is sore and has swollen up for no apparent reason) and I was kind of grouchy when I arrived home. So it was a nice treat to find this package waiting for me.

Thanks, secret pal! Ya done good !!

Warm Ewe Up Swap - Question #2

2009-01-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

If you could only knit or crochet with one brand of yarn for the rest of the year, what would it be and why?

Hmmm. This could go one of two ways. I could pick a solid workhorse yarn, like Cascade 220 or Knitpicks Wool of the Andes or Lamb’s Pride. That would work for a large variety of projects and I’d never run out of projects for my queue. I used Cascade for my big afghan project. See here.
http://knitandtravelandsuch.blogspot.com/2008/12/yarn-swap-q-do-you-knit-or-crochet-or.html

But that eliminates sock yarn, which I enjoy using.

I have fondled... but have never used Malabrigo ( I just ordered some but it hasn’t arrived yet). But from what everyone is saying about it, it seems to be the softest, most luscious yarn around. And it comes in wonderful colors. Moreover, it comes in lace weight and sock weight as well as worsted, so there’s practically no limit to what I could make.

So, in conclusion, I would pick Malabrigo, in spite of never having worked with it!

What I Did This Summer - Part 3

2009-01-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Here are a few more stories about my experiences in Marseilles.

Street market
Where I am staying now, I have a short walk to the Metro, and there is a street market that is just in the process of getting set up on the street as I go to work in the morning. They sell inexpensive clothes and shoes, kitchen gadgets, cosmetics, and food.
I can’t really stop as I’m on my way to work, but I’ve spotted nail polish for one euro, summer sandals for 5 or 6 euros, and lacy bras for 7.

But the greatest part is the food section: as I walk, I get alternate whiffs of sparkling fresh fish, tangy spiced olives, the sweet perfume of ripe melons, strawberries, and peaches, and the unmistakable aroma of fresh-baked croissants and baguettes. What a start to the day!

Adverbs

I have figured out that the difference between speaking French like a tourist and sounding really fluent is: adverbs, and plenty of them.
French people use them liberally sprinkled throughout their conversation even when there seems to be no real reason for them. Here are a few of my favorites.

A priori – this is Latin, and it means “first of all”. It is used everywhere, the way many people say “basically” in every second sentence without it meaning anything.
Tellement – really
Vachement – very
En plus – in addition
Plutot – rather
Neanmoins – nevertheless
Tout a fait – exactly
Donc – therefore
Surtout – especially

I try to use as many of these as I can in every conversation, and I feel very sophisticated when I do. ;-)
French intellectuals are known for constructing sentences entirely composed of adverbs !

Bus strike

Since I’ve been here, there have 2 bus strikes that were publicized in advance. Apparently about one in three bus routes were running, and on sporadic schedules. The Metro ran less frequently than usual, but I was still able to get to work OK.

But the one that was the most interesting happened last Saturday. Note this was a weekend not a work day. You wouldn’t think they’d get much sympathy, by interfering with people’s weekend plans, but what do I know?

We were at the beach and wanted to take the bus a bit further along the coast away from town, to see some notable sights that we had heard about – cliffs and lagoons and a little village at the end of the road.
After a few blocks, the bus driver suddenly made a U turn, and announced that he was on strike, and everyone had to get off.

We were not too happy about this (to say the least) because it was a hot day and we would have to walk a good 3 or 4 miles to get back to the nearest Metro station. Some of the passengers did get off, but some protested, “You can’t leave us here, you have to at least take us back to the depot”, while another offered him a bribe of 10 euros to take us back.

He called his supervisor and asked “what do I do, the passengers are refusing to get off”. He eventually relented and took us back to within a short distance of the Metro. I have no idea what the point was.

We stopped off for a cold drink. We happened to be close to the sports stadium, and we soon saw that a big match was taking place that day. (I thought it was soccer, but it turned out to be rugby). This stadium holds 60,000 people, and fans dressed in their team colours (blue and yellow) streamed past us by the 1000’s. Some had faces painted in the team colours, too. I don’t think they were going to let a bus strike keep them away !!

We then took the Metro back to the center of town. We still had a nice time, and explored the “old city” with its winding narrow streets, colorfully painted old houses and cafés, and shaded little squares with splashing fountains. Very picturesque.

Work

The project in Marseille has run into some problems – some areas of the client management don’t agree that they need this project, and furthermore we’re going about it the wrong way, and what’s more they already did it last year…. Blah blah blah…

So the stuff I was supposed to work on, isn’t happening after all. They are shutting it down and I will be done as of June 27, instead of the planned date of July 31st. While I am losing out on a bunch of money, I do get to go on vacation sooner than planned, so I’m not all that heart broken. Hubby is here too, so we just have to decide where to go and how long to stay.

Really, now that I’ve been working 7 weeks straight, I need a vacation. ;-)

We were told of a website, http://www.nouvelles-frontieres.fr/ , that has good last-minute deals for package travel, so we booked a one week trip to the Canary Islands.

Yeah, I barely knew where they were, too.
They are Spanish islands off the coast of Africa. Tenerife is an island you might have heard of.
This is an all inclusive thing, like a Club Med -- all meals, activities, transfers, flights, etc, are included in one price.

We leave on Sunday morning from Paris, so on Saturday we will get ourselves to Paris. When we return we are staying a few nights in a hotel in Normandy, then a quick stop in Paris, then home.
And that looks like it for my French adventure.

P.S. The sandy beach pic is of the Canary Islands, island of Fuerteventura.

S-L-O-W-E-S-T Knitter in History

2009-01-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

This must be a record for l-o-n-g-e-s-t UFO to reach completion.

Here's the story:

When I moved from Toronto to LA, in 1992, a few things were just packed and moved in a haphazard fashion because hubby was doing the packing while I had already started my LA job.

So this is all his fault. :-)

I should also add that, as of the summer of 2007, I hadn't knitted anything in about 20 years. But I had just started thinking of going back to it. A couple of friends had mentioned that they were knitting, and, I don’t know, maybe it was something in the air.

So, when I found a bag of knitting stashed way in the back on a high shelf in the linen closet, that was the catalyst. The knitting was started, with about 8 inches done, the needles still in it, and there were 7 balls of yarn. It was cotton and acrylic (perfect for the SoCal climate), and a nubbly blend of off-white with multi-colored strands. I guess you’d call it bouclé. It’s called Emu Coolspun Confetti. Here’s a photo.

The sales slip was still in the bag - I bought it in 1987 !

Alas the pattern was nowhere to be found. From what I could tell, that yarn isn't sold any more. Now, I needed to find a pattern for it that only uses 7 balls.

Luckily I found *one* listing on eBay for a pattern book for this yarn. It was from England and I got it for 2 pounds plus shipping. So about $6 total. Not bad.

When it arrived, my son and his wife really yukked it up over the 1980’s hairstyles and fashions. But one of them was a simple short-sleeved tee, and it called for just the amount of yarn I had.

The more I looked at this pattern, the more sure I became – this was exactly the same pattern I had been knitting from back in 1987!!

So I literally picked up where I left off with my knitting and continued with the pattern. Fortunately, even though I have put on some weight in the hips region, I am the same size on top, so I could make the same size sweater.

I worked on it steadily and finished it in about a month. Make that 20 years and one month!

Here it is.

Oh and I do have a ball of yarn left over all!

Warm Ewe Up Swap - Question #1

2008-12-28T18:38:00.000-08:00

Why did you learn to knit?

It was a long time ago. I was about 15 or so, and I don't remember all the details. I guess I was just curious, or else I wanted to get nice sweaters cheaper than I could buy them. I did know how to sew and embroider and do needlepoint (how Jane Austen-ish that sounds!) so knitting was a sort of natural progression.

I don't remember knowing anyone who knit. I taught myself using a little black and white pamphlet from Paton's. I do remember making a grey mohair vest, a brown cabled cardigan, and something green. I still have that vest :-)

I stopped knitting when I went to university, then returned to it years later when I was a busy career woman, as a way to de-stress.

Now I'm in my third wave of knitting, and rather obsessed...

Warm Ewe Up Swap Questionnaire

2008-12-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

This is my first swap, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Yarn Swap Q&A

Do you knit or crochet, or both? How long have you been at the craft?
I knit, and I don’t crochet.
I first started knitting as a teenager, many moons ago (self taught). I dropped it while in college and went back to it in the eighties, when I was a busy career woman and mother, and I used it as a way to de-stress. Dropped it again until last year when I discovered an old knitting project (a UFO) that got misplaced during our move to Los Angeles 16 years ago. So I decided to pick it up again. Now I’m knitting all the time. So maybe 8 years, spread out over 30 plus years.

Do you spin?
No

What yarns/fibers are your favorites?
Love the hand painted, hand dyed yarns with their gorgeous and unique colors. (see my Ravelry stash). Like Koigu, Smooshy, Lorna’s Laces. Noro. Also like the soft ones. I prefer natural fibers: wool or mostly wool, alpaca, silk, cashmere. Good plain wool for felting.
I’m afraid I have developed some expensive tastes!

What yarns/fibers do you not like?
Not so much fond of acrylics. Don’t really like to knit with cotton, although I have used it and it turned out fine. It’s just less pleasant to work with.

What yarns/fibers would you like to try but haven’t?
Stuff I’ve heard about, on blogs or podcasts:
Wollemeise, Malabrigo, Hand Maiden Casbah

What are your favorite colors? Colors that you don’t like?

Like: Blues, Reds, grays, neutrals, especially heathers and tweeds. Autumn colors, deep jewel tones.
Dislike: Pink, purple, bright green, bright orange, bright yellow.

What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet?
Socks, scarves, sweaters, felted bags.
(My Ravelry Queue and Projects page will give you a good idea)

What are you currently working on?
Socks in Koigu, a lace shawl in a mohair blend, a Noro striped scarf

What is your favorite FO? (Please post a picture if you have one.)
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goodstuff/school-colors-for-baby
I made a huge afghan for my son and daughter-in-law, as a housewarming gift. It was a ton of work, took forever, but turned out great.

These are pix of the afghan.

Are there any techniques that you want to learn?
Being self-taught, I figure that I will eventually teach myself the things I want to know, but having said that, I’d like to learn intarsia and fair-isle knitting. Maybe some additional cast-ons, since I only use one cast-on for everything.

Do you have a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope.

How do you store your needles/hooks?
I use mostly circulars now, and I keep them in my knitting basket, by my seat in the family room. I have several of the Knitpicks Options and Harmony (interchangeable needles).
The straight needles are in a bag off in the corner of the family room. Note, I use 2 circs for socks; I don't use DPNs.

Do you collect anything?
I collect egg cups, mostly hand painted, that I pick up on my travels. Also hand painted plates that I put up on the wall (above the top of the kitchen cabinets).

Do you like sweets?
My favorite would be dark chocolate preferably imported (mainly because the ingredients tend to more real and natural). Fruity type candy is good too if there are real fruit ingredients, not all artificial chemicals. Coffee flavored is good too. Caramels, mints – not so much.

What are your favorite scents?
I love scents! My faves would be fruity, citrus-y ones. But I also like classic ones. Lavender is also a big favorite. Just nothing too cloyingly sweet.

Are you having a birthday during this swap?
Yes, March 1st.

Do you have any online wish lists? (Amazon, Loopy Ewe, etc.) Please include a link for your pal.
Yes I do. Here they are.

wishlist1

wishlist2

What is your living situation (Are you married? Do you have kids, pets, or both?)
I’m married, and have a grown-up married son. No pets.

Are you allergic to anything?
Nope.

Is there anything else that you would like your pal to know?
I am a big coffee drinker. I don’t drink soft drinks, just coffee throughout the day. I prefer rich full-bodied coffee, but don’t like flavored coffees. I hardly ever drink tea.

a knitting interchange

2008-12-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

I was at a cookie-decorating party on the weekend, the conversation somehow turned to knitting (I didn't bring it up, the hostess did.)
And so I showed one of the women there the hand-knit socks I was wearing.

She admired them and asked, how much would you charge to make me a pair?
I sighed, and said, if I charged even minumum wage it would be over $100.

And if I charged less, I would really be undervaluing my time, which would make *me* feel bad.
So I can't sell them.
I can only give them.

Weird, huh? But you understand.

I've already given away 9 pairs. Only kept one for myself.

My sister recently gushed about how wonderful the socks I just sent her were. This is them in the photo. (Broadripple pattern from knitty.com).

That feels nice.

What I did this summer - part 2

2008-12-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more random notes and observations after a second week in Marseille (May 2008)

The leisurely lunch:
I really do have to admire the people here: nothing gets in the way of having a decent leisurely lunch. Last Friday we had a deliverable due, yet we still went out for a nice lunch at an outdoor café that was 2 subway stops away. A couple of the folks had a meeting nearby, that was why we went to that area. By 1:40 we still hadn’t been served our lunch. I said to the other IT people, “Isn’t your meeting at 2:00?”

A Blackberry was consulted, and yes indeed the meeting was at 2. They shrugged their shoulders in that expressive Gallic way, as if to say, “Well, what can you do, they’ll just have to wait.”
I love that !

The document was supposed to go to the US subsidiary, so when I informed them that Monday was a holiday, and they probably wouldn’t look at anything we sent on Friday until Tuesday anyway, they agreed we could send a rough draft on Friday and refine it on Monday.

Interesting expressions:
Where we say, “You can’t compare – it’s like apples and oranges”, they say “It’s like cabbages and carrots.” “C’est comme des choux et des carrottes.”

Going to the movies:
On Sunday it was a really rainy day, so instead of trying to sight-see, I impulsively decided to go to the movies. Indiana Jones was playing nearby, and I thought, with an action movie, even if I miss some of the dialogue I’ll still be able to follow the plot. This was the first time I saw a French movie without subtitles (in France they dub English-language movies – they don’t do subtitles), and I guess I did OK. I’m sure I missed some stuff though. Cate Blanchett speaking French with a Russian accent was a hoot. Two interesting things I noticed: snacks are sold out of vending machines, no candy counter with $5 popcorn and quart size Cokes. And they have booster seats for little kids so they can see the screen.

Chips:
Lay’s potato chips come in great flavors here: Bolognaise, roast chicken and thyme, cheese, mustard pickles, ham & cheese, rosemary.
Don’t you want to try them all?

My Hotel:
So, I moved to the Holiday Inn on Sunday. It takes a good 3 hours - what with the packing, checking out, getting a taxi to the new place, and unpacking everything again. The apartment-hotel I had before wasn’t available this week. However the new place is so much nicer - it's at least a 3 1/2 star, if not a 4 star. It has a bar, a restaurant, and room service. The room is large, has a minibar, safe, electric kettle, and a nice big bathroom. And the air conditioning works! It is located in a quiet area though and I couldn't find an open restaurant in the neighborhood Sunday night. Had a VERY quiet meal in the hotel restaurant with only one other couple in attendance. Thanks to the mini-fridge I was able to buy some orange juice, cheese, crackers, cookies, etc to keep in the room and have a light breakfast in the mornings. It seems there are always trade-offs between location, amenities, and of course price. This week I’m back to eating dinner in restaurants and getting back to the room late, around 10 pm or so.

Lunch Conversation:
One of the customer people at lunch asked me about the US elections, the fact that we have a black and a woman candidate for the first time, etc. He asked me, what’s the deal with the primaries, how do they work. Man I don’t think I could have done it in English, much less in French. I told him I needed a PowerPoint presentation at least. But I gave a very simplified, and probably mangled, explanation, and I think it was OK. People seem really interested in the election. I talked about the concept of red states and blue states, that we have so many regional differences. And they were surprised to learn how old McCain is.

Wind
For the last 2 days it has been very windy. People inform me that this is not the Mistral, which is a cold wind, but a wind from North Africa, that brings sand along with it. Sure enough, you can feel the grit in the air, and the cars all look very dusty. It reminded me of one of my favorite songs from Joni Mitchell.

Carey by Joni Mitchell.
The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here Carey
But it's really not my home ...
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/joni-mitchell/carey.html

I wonder if she was here when she wrote that ? Wouldn’t that be cool, if it were true?

(Actually I found out she was in Greece at the time. Oh well. Romantic illusion dashed)

What I did this summer - Part 1

2008-12-17T16:06:00.000-08:00

December 17, 2008

Hi everyone,
I just started this blog, and I don't know what it's going to turn out to be.

I thought I'd start with some stories and impressions from a work gig I did this past summer (2008) in Marseille France. I took an early retirement from my job in November 2007, and this was my first job as an independent.

=================================================================
Here are a few highlights and impressions from my first week working as an independent consultant. I’m a sub-contractor to {large IT firm} working for a French shipping company in Marseille.

My French seems to be pretty good, at least speaking it. Everyone understands me and I’ve had many compliments on my excellent French. I can even tell a joke in French. Understanding it is more of a challenge, especially when there is background noise or if I can’t see the people speaking. But a whole day of heavy concentration is quite exhausting, as if my energy is being drained at a faster rate than usual, so at the end of the day I’m really tired. And dinner takes at least 2 hours so I’ve been getting back to the hotel at 11 pm.

This week I have switched to a studio apartment-hotel, with a kitchen. Now I can buy groceries and make my own breakfast and dinner when I want, so it’s more flexible and comfortable. I don’t have to go out every night if I don’t feel like it.

The people at work seem nice and tell me to say when I don’t understand something, that they will switch to English. However their English isn’t very good and it’s even harder to understand. ;-)
The {IT company} guy introduced me to the client executive on my first day, and he (the client) said “So this is the goddess of BI (Business Intelligence) you’ve been telling me about?” Ha - I think they built me up a little too much. Although, maybe I should add that to my business cards. :-)

French people, when they come into work in the morning, go around and say good morning and shake hands with everyone, even people they don’t know (like me). Some people kiss on both cheeks instead of shaking hands. I’ve probably offended people by not doing that myself. They seem to work approximately from 9 am to 7 pm. I get to work easily by subway (Metro). There are a couple of little cafés nearby for lunch. Everyone goes out for lunch and it takes about an hour and a half. There’s a vending machine in the office, that has coffee, Perrier and Evian as well as snacks (madeleines as well as chocolate bars).

So, my first week went pretty well. After 3 weeks I will go back to LA for a few days, then we are running some data modeling workshops at their US offices. Then back to Marseille for the rest of June and July.
Marseille is not as pretty as Nice or Paris, more working-class I guess, but still interesting and there are lots of things to see on the weekends. It’s over a million people, and is the oldest city in Europe (founded by the Greeks in 600 BC).

....

More to come.

Thanks for stopping by!