Knitterama

The Eyes Have It

I'll mirror Nona today by opening with good news and bad news.

The good news: I no longer need glasses for distance.

The bad news: I no longer need glasses for distance.

I have worn glasses since I was in 6th grade. Glasses have always been my defining feature. If I were to meet you at a restaurant, I would tell you to look for the babe in the "XXX" glasses. I have always worn glasses that were strange and out of the ordinary. I spend way too much money on them and still have every pair I have owned in the past 20 years (perhaps waiting for A to ask her magic question, "is it vintage").

Without glasses, I look just like everybody else.

I will drown my sorrow by making a quick trip to my favorite spectacle shoppe to pick up that great pair of 40's style Bette Davis/Joan Crawford sunglasses for our Florida trip. I'll post a photo once I have them

We leave tomorrow. This is the current state of my packing:

...at least the laundry is done.

I have been knitting on Sgt. Pepper like crazy. The design is so lovely to knit and I just hope my finishing skills will do it justice. I have finished the entire body (7 sections) and am 3/4's through sleeve island. Emma suggests that I show you one:

I have decided to move to socks for Florida - more conducive to warm weather knitting. Hopefully, I can finish the other Peak sock in STR. I am thinking of trying this same pattern in Lorna's Laces to see if I can get it to stripe. The STR ends of kind of speckled:

I'm packing a pile of patterns, some koigu, str, lorna's laces and a new acquisition that is just too lovely for words, sundara (doesn't that name just roll off your tongue?) in two colorways, cherry blossom and cirque that are already sold out.

We'll be at Grandma's place in Venice, FL from Thursday until Monday, then on to Palm Island for a week. N joins us on Thursday of the Palm Island week so we have a midweek treat! Don't worry, I'll keep in touch. I will be posting knitting progress here and vacation progress in our other blog, Virtual Vacation. Stop by there if you are so inclined.

A bientot!

Panta is Rad

Ok. I fall for all these internet knitting fads. The latest one is Panta. It means headband in Finnish. The teens over at craftster are going ga ga over a headband made of ever increasing ribs. It looks like a hat from the front, but just covers the ears as it goes down. A saw one and loved it - so I made one for her last night out of some Malabrigo I had sitting around.

Here is the front - not sure why she is yanking on her hair -

Side

flirt with camera shot

(sorry these photos are so crappy - I had to grab her fast before she left for school this morning)

closeup

A pronounced it "rad" and so very perfect for a bad hair day or wearing the hair up.

I can try to reconstruct a pattern if anybody is interested. It is really cute.

I am still hard at work on Sgt. Pepper - miles of black stocking stitch does not a pretty blog photo make. I am done with the body (all 7 pieces) and waiting to start the sleeves until A makes a final decision on the other colors. She knows she wants red trim around the outside and is thinking dark gray patches on the front with light gray or cream or red i cord loops. Suggestions welcome.

I also found this stranger in Northfield on Tuesday

Yes, this is N, our college boy, coming out of his dorm at Carleton. I had a bag of stuff that I was going to box up and send him since he is about to go into finals, but he suggested I drive it down and take him to lunch. Which I did.

We had our favorite bad-for-you lent season lunch:

That would be a Culver's Walleye Sandwich. N and I considered this lunch as training for our next joint event

Spring break is upon us. We will bask in the sunshine of Palm Island Resort in Florida and try to forget the howling winds of Minnesota for a week. N manages to subsist on a diet consisting entirely of blackened grouper sandwiches while we are there. We pitch a large shelter on the beach each morning and spend the entire day reading, knitting, listening to music and audio books, knitting, walking the beach, knitting and enjoying each other's company.

I better start packing. Now where did I put those Lorna's laces and STR? And I better not forget this...

or my sockpal would never forgive me!

It's Just a Game

It was with great sadness that I read about all the successes in Olympic Knitting.

I felt alone. I went out to Typepad and edited out those KAL buttons off my blog.

Then I continued with my bloglines subscriptions - I got down to the r's - Rose-Kim Knits/Jessica had just the thing I needed to ease my pain:

I think I'll have a drink, then go skiing. I have added it to my sidebar - anybody else?

It Was an Honor Just to Have Participated

Before...

After

Tubey was never going to work. For some reason, I was experiencing biasing in the top part - this was why A kept complaining that the top part felt twisted every time she tried it on. I thought about finishing it anyhow (for about 1 minute), but decided to frog and start something that had a greater chance of being worn. A and I sat down together and browsed through Anna Bell's fantabulous patterns, hoping to find something that would work for A's fashion sense as well as the yarn. Once A saw this, it was all over

Sgt. Pepper by anna bell

"You mean you could KNIT that," asked A - to which I replied, "I'm sure I can knit it. I am not so sure about the finishing..." I will have to, as the song says, "get by with a little help from my friends"

In the meantime, the matching pets are preparing for the closing ceremonies by doing the dance before the pounce, a daily activity in which Grace the Cat always wins. Of Course.

Congrads to all on completing your projects. It was a great journey!

Olympic Update - Twizzle On

Wow. What was with those Ice Dancers? Those outfits looked like somebody had attacked the lingerie department at Wal*Mart and met the pantyhose queen in the checkout line. Shit. That was really awful.

What about those long "poses" they were doing...

(sorry - I accidentally pasted a photo from the NY Times rather than a link - I have now remedied the situation - it was a mistake and is now a link like it was supposed to be. Now, back to our sponsor)

I paused a couple of them and they looked like they were straight out of the pages of the Kama Sutra (not that I read that or anything). I bet the conservative right really got their dander up over that one (tee hee).

My favorite comment of the night came from Dick Button who, while watching the Russian couple (WHICH Russian couple - they were ALL Russian, weren't they?) get into a "pose" that had the woman upside down with her crotch right over the man's face, declared it a "glorious pose". God. I thought Dick Button was gay.

I started the body of Tubey last night. I am going to do some short rows around the boobage area to avoid having the thing shorter in the front than in the back. I also need to do some serious blocking to the arms - like others have said, the place where the sleeves meet the body, under the arms is REALLY tight. A insisted that the top part had to be tight to create the look she liked, but I may have gone too far. I think Aurora 8 blocks pretty well so I will have at it when I am done.

A and I went to see Matchpoint yesterday - OMG - Woody Allen is back. It was so awesome. It is "Brideshead Revisted" meets "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". Scarlett Johansson really nailed her role and Jonathan Rhys-Myers has never looked better. At the end, A commented that any child parented by those two would have the most amazing lips on earth and be the most beautiful child, even nicer than Bradgelina. Ah, the wisdom of sixteen. When P asked what the movie was about at the dinner table last night, A and I looked at each other and both said, in unison, "luck". See it - it rocks.

I am adding a section at the end of each entry about what I am making for dinner. If my readers are interested in the recipe, leave me a comment and I will add those to a new sidebar section. Lemme know.

What's for dinner? Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I ♥ Lucy Neatby

I spent two entire days this weekend in the presence of royalty - I took three knitting classes from the queen of creative knitting, Lucy Neatby at my LYS.

If you have ever read one of her patterns or books, you know her - she is exactly like she writes. She is soft spoken, witty and passionate about her craft. She celebrates independence (and has a wonderful hair color that is a mixture of magenta and brilliant royal blue) and gets excited when a class member has an unusual knitting style. She stimulates, educates and motivates you to become a better knitter. She combines things - like a knit and a purl with fewer hand movements or a mattress stitch/kitchner stitch grafting stitch (she informed us that "Kitchner" had nothing to do with knitting) to make knitting simpler, prettier or just plain stronger.

She also wears awesome mismatched shoes:

One day was spent in a sock class - all day. I came home motivated to make a final decision on my sockapalooza sock pattern and yarn with the expert guidance of Lucy.

I will be making Lucy's Fiesta Sock pattern - it is a cornucopia of knitting techniques - cable, slip stitch, fairisle all in two simple socks. I will be using black Celestial Yarn (Lucy's Own) for the background and Koigu P122 353 - this Lucy-inspired combination should look like a stained glass window for the feet!

I need to finish my olympic knitting before starting my sockpal socks. Tubey is progressing well. I am about to start the body, which should go faster since I plan on using slightly larger needles.

What's for Dinner? Spinach, Potato Italian Sausage and Gruyere Casserole - only time will tell. If it is good, I will post it.

In the Olympic Spirit

Never leave a pattern alone.

That's my Olympic Motto.

I am renaming Tubey Tuberino since 1) it is being knitted during the Torino (Turin) Olympics and 2.) I am making so many changes to the pattern that it may no longer resemble an authentic Tubey.

So far I have

• thrown size to the wind and built the shrug custom designed to A's torso. While I originally cast on for a size small, I think I have ended up someplace before XS

• changed the colors to a scheme designed by A made up of grays and an occasional red

• changed the yarn (have I told you how much I love aurora 8?)

• added ribbing to the sleeves below the stripes (Nona made me do it - I did 5 x 1)

I also plan on adding short rows to the bust area to avoid the problem people are having with the front ending up shorter than the back due to boobage issues.

...and I am not finishing the sleeves until last, since I want to add loops so A can hook the bottoms of the sleeves to her middle fingers - i.e. the length needs to be just right.

In a new addition to the blog, I will post recipes that I make that warrant an addition to the virtual recipe box. My first recipe came from a blog written by an American living in Japan , nihon no ryori. I made some minor changes, but the main recipe was just wonderful:

Ramen
Strong Tasting Soup With Noodles, Pork And Vegetables

fresh raman noodles
stock ingredients:
4 spring onions (negi)
6cm ginger
2 chicken carcasses (I used a stewing chicken)
1 onion. quartered
4 cloves garlic lightly crushed (so it still intact but the juices etc are very noticable!
1 carrot, chopped
1 cup sake

90 mls (or a huge spoonful ,-) ) miso paste (any type)
30 mls shoyu
toppings
pork (slow roasted and sliced would be great, but any sort - cha shu, stir fried, etc will all be tasty)
vegetables if you want. i used snowpeas, carrots, beansprouts, baby corn. shiitake mushrooms would be good.
chilli
spring onions, chopped
optional - grated raw garlic, chilli oil and salt

OK, i am assuming most people reading know how to make a stock. Just put all the stock ingredients (not the miso or shoyu) into a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for a few hours. I left mine for about 3, but anything after 2 will be ok for this one. The miso and shoyu will add a LOT of flavour to the soup. remove the veges/chicken by draining the stock into another pot and set aside. If you are a beginner at this, don't throw out the liquid. That is your stock, and you can throw out the other stuff (the veges and chicken carcass form the stock making process!)

Blanche your topping vegetables if you are using them. Don't worry about the bean sprouts, they will be added shortly!

Mix a cup of your stock into a bowl with the shoyu and miso paste, and mix so that it is runny and combined Then add it to the rest of the stock. This is now a delicious tasting soup. Add some chilli too if you like!

Boil your ramen noodles. don't boil them till completely cooked, as the soup will cook them a little more.

Put the noodles in individual serving bowls and then put a handful of beanshoots on each. Pour over some soup and then place some vegetables and pork on top of them. top with the spring onions and voila. A delicious ramen dinner.

bon appetit!

The Agony of Defeat

I frogged the Tubey.

I decided not to use Cashmerino Aran because in my previous experience, this yarn pilled and lost shape in a bad way.

I love Aurora 8. (I know I have told you that before - just a reminder).

I was not getting gauge with Aurora 8. I had two choices - 1.) adjust the needle size or 2.) recalculate the pattern. I chose item number one. I should never do that. In the end, the fabric was just too tight and my hands ached and the progress was S-L-O-W.

I reswatched (is there such a word?) and liked bamboo 5's with this yarn so, after minor pattern adjustments, I am back in the running.

The Sweet Sixteen party was a huge success. Kids arrived early, stayed until we kicked them out, and ate a lot of food. They danced and did karaoke and rolled in the snow when they got too hot from all the activity. A very well behaved crowd they were - most actually thanked us on their way out. A is lucky to have such great friends.

I am off clean up the party debris, pack up leftover food and drink to deliver tomorrow to N at Carleton (along with chocolate covered strawberries, homemade cookies and some hot pepper raspberry jam for Valentine's Day) - all as training for tonight's skating events. Can I get caught up on Tubey? Stay tuned.

Upfront and Personal - The Games Begin!

The bag of Aurora 8 came out of hiding around 4 pm central time - swatching, teammates...that's allowed.

I took a quick peek at the pattern to check the gauge. The pattern calls for Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - which is the same label weight as my yarn. The design calls for size 8 needles. That seems big to me so I start with 7's, although I usually knit pretty close to gauge - that's not perfect, folks, just average. OMG. Not even close. I reread the pattern.

I remeasure A for the third time. She is ticklish and the key measure calls for the center of the underarms. A is not so sure she wants this after all. I try 6's...and 5's and 4's and finally get gauge on 3's. Geez.

The swatch looks fabulous . I cast on just as I see him

Bob Costas is finally on (who is that dude with the wire hair and tacky suit on at the start and why do they show the first hour of stuff nobody cares about - practice runs for the downhill <yawn>)

Tubey and the Knitting Olympics have begun. Have I told you how much I love Aurora 8? The stitch definition is superb and it is so soft.

Watching the teams walk in to tacky 80's music that I hated in the 80's was painful. I told P (back from California, he is today and he was sorely missed) that the next thing we needed to hear was "Funkytown". Not TWO minutes later, the song started. Steven Greenberg must be happy (he wrote the song and we know him - sorry Steven), but we were NOT. We are opera fanatics and couldn't understand why we weren't hearing Verdi and Puccini. That came later. And it was really grand. We are francophiles, but we heart Italy as well.

I hate how NBC (the new religious right channel) has decided that the Olympics are about AMERICAN athletes WINNING. I prefer to think of them as showcasing the highest form of sport, REGARDLESS of the country. I heart Alberto Tomba. And Jean-Claude Killy. And Ingemar Stenmark. Enuf said.

Tomorrow is A's sweet sixteen party so I will not be knitting or updating until Sunday. We will Tivo tomorrow's festivities and be up to date on Sunday.

May the best team win.

When Enough is Not Enough

I lived though A's 16th birthday. We fested with one of her friends at a terribly overpriced, unfriendly but tasty thai/vietnamese restaurant in South Minneapolis, Rice Paper and blew out candles in that sinfully rich chocolate truffle torte from Byerly's that both kids seem to love. A opened box after box of beautiful clothing. My brother, who lives a dream life sans kids in Paris with his great wife, bought her the most beautiful carpet bag purse from Milan. Her grandma bought her a fabulous outfit from Anthropologie.

But, the morning after, she wanted to go shopping. For sandals. We live in Minneapolis. It is twenty degrees.

I guess enough was not enough.

We did end up stopping by one store that was on the way to the grocery store. She found the "perfect" sandals. They were too high and pinched her feet. (She has a closet full of shoes that she never wears because they aren't comfortable.) I advised her that she should wait for this purchase (her money) until closer to our Florida trip when the selection would be better. She sulked for the rest of the day.

Until dinner -her choice of veggie burgers on the grill and homemade french fries (I cut them on the mandoline rather than using the Cuisinart and they were much better) cooked in peanut oil (always best). We finished up her cake, which was tiny to begin with and declared her 16th birthday closed.

Until next saturday when we throw her sweet sixteen party - all 36 of her classmates (she goes to a private school) at a cozy log cabin with a fireplace in a park nearby with dinner (pizza, sloppy joes), dancing (her ipod spins the tunes) and DDR/Karaoke.

Then it's really done.

I have done some knitting. I finished reworking the second jaywalker, and continued work on the feather and fan pattern with STR carbon. I am sure I will finish both socks before Friday night when I start A's Olympics sweater. DH, P got on a plane this morning for a boondoggle business trip to San Francisco that includes a side trip to Tahoe with his brother to ski for a few days. P has been depressed that the kids overruled our typical spring break trip to ski Big Sky in Montana, preferring the bake on the beaches of Florida. It is nice that he gets a nice ski trip after all. I will get lots of knitting done to fill the empty place caused by his absence.

At least I have Miss Sweet Sixteen.