IKnit day

On Friday I went down to London to take in some of IKnit's weekender. I went last year, and this year they've expanded to a full two-day show. I hadn't booked any of their workshops or talks, although they certainly produced an all-star line-up. Mostly I wanted to mooch around and see if anyone I knew was there.

Though there was a good crowd, I was kind of surprised at how calm and easily-navigated the main exhibition floor was. I think because it was a Friday rather than a weekend. Also maybe lots of people were at the workshops?


I delivered some patterns to Jeni at the Fyberspates stall. She was displaying a bunch of knitted samples. And look what was there!


My Hera Jacket! She said there'd been lots of interest in it, and by mid-afternoon, she'd sold all but one copy of the pattern. I greeted this news with pleased surprise, but she said this meant she'd have none to sell the rest of the weekender. I hope she found a copy machine. Still, this news made me very happy.

Surprisingly, I didn't buy much. IKnit had a blocking wire set which I thought hard about, but decided to leave for another day. The House of Hemp had a beautiful display and some of their hand-dyed hanks were gorgeous. They were madly busy every time I went by. Eventually, I elbowed my way through and, after much dithering, bought four skeins of their 4-ply in a pretty blue, with a sleeveless shell in mind.


They'd organized the yarns into baskets based on broad colour families, and I needed help getting four skeins of the same colour. The lady was really nice and pulled out skein after skein, comparing colours and running under a skylight to see better. We eventually felt these four were as close as we were going to get. I'll probably use two skeins for the front of the shell and two for the back, doing a couple rows from each skein to blend the colours. If I like working with the yarn, I get the feeling I might be heading to their website to buy some of the hand-dyed; they had a hank which reminded me of glorious peacocks...

I also bought a skein of some faaaabulous yarn from the IKnit stall, which will be a present for The Limey. You, and he, will have to wait until I finish it to see.

I stopped by say hi to Diane, then ended up spending most of the day sitting around knitting and talking with her and some fairly random strangers.

Eventually, hunger and the fear of spending more money drove me out of the show. I stopped by an Oxfam bookshop on the way to the tube station and- surprise!- found a few really good knitting books. I got one of Kim Hargreaves older books, and one from Kaffe Fassett as well.

I ate, and then hung around until it was time for my train back. One thing I don't like about training it from Oxford is that the cheaper day tickets mean pre-booking specific trains; how do I know beforehand when I'll be ready to head home? But it turns out I needn't have worried.


I was well-entertained at Paddington station by the Great Western Railway Paddington Band. Who knew?

Aeolian

I started and finished Aeolian while on holiday. Then it sat in a drawer here for ten days while I tried to figure out where to block it. It turns out, the bed worked great.


Yarn: Malabrigo lace, baby! In "Buscando azul", bought during a long ago field trip to Get Knitted; shoulderette used about 40g of the 50g skein.
Needles: 3.5mm Addi Turbos
Pattern: the lovely Aeolian, from Knitty Spring '09, by Elizabeth Freeman; shoulderette version

Notes: This was a total breeze to knit. I even got the hang of the nupps after only the first couple. I knit this exactly as written for the small shoulderette version, except without beads. I had a dickens of a time blocking it though. I didn't know what the heck "The shawl will block to slightly more than a triangle" meant. "More than a triangle"? Wha? I looked at a bunch of pictures of blocking Aeolians on Ravelry and got the jist, though. Apparently, "more than a triangle" is this:


I wasn't really happy with my blocking. I felt that the nupped "flowers" of the edging could have been stretched more, but there wasn't room, if you know what I mean. The body of the shawl wanted to be "slightly more than a triangle" but the edging wanted to be way more than triangle. If I could have blocked in 3-D, the edging would have given a ruffled effect.

Speaking of the nupps...I say I got the hang of them, but maybe not. See this close-up here?


Those red arrows point to nupps. Can you see them? Of course not. But can you see them here?


Yes you can. On the reverse side. Those bastard nupps, which weren't exactly easy to make, popped out on the wrong side. I thought blocking would help. But no. Traitors.

But overall, it's a gorgeous shawl, and the Malabrigo lace makes it basically weightless. It's featherlight. I kind of wished I'd used beads, which would have anchored it in case I encounter a slight breeze. I do note the yarn is a single and spun very loosely- it feels like it'll felt if you look at it weird.


The finished size is roughly 42in/107cm from tip to tip, and 20in/51cm from centre to point. Because I had a fifth of the yarn left over, I could probably have added a few repeats- the pattern is great because it tells you how to work varying sizes.

It's a beautiful, delicate shawl, but I'll probably be wearing it like this, where you can see the laciness so well.


I think I'll wear it to the iknit show tomorrow. Say hi if you see me!

Hera Jacket pattern up for sale

The Hera Jacket is up for sale on both the Fyberspates website and Ravelry.


(Click on pictures to biggerize.)

This jacket is all about texture and shape, both kept simple and wearable. The nubbly, woven-like fabric is made with the easy-to-work rosette stitch. The swingy shape can be worn open, or closed with a belt knitted in the same yarn, or with a store-bought belt.

The body is worked in one piece, and the sleeves worked in the round, so the only seaming is at the armholes. For a professional, finished look, all edges are hemmed with fold-over, knit-as-you-go hems.

Hera is a great cover-up for when the days start getting chilly. The wool/silk blend of the Scrumptious yarn is warm and soft and really pops in the textured pattern.

The fronts of the jacket overlap, so one size will fit a wide range of bodies. This is also meant to go over other clothing, so choose a size with a couple of inches of ease.

Finished measurements: 36.5 (40.75, 44.75, 48.75, 52.75, 57.25, 61.25) inches at bust, including 3-inch overlap on jacket fronts; 18 (18, 19, 19, 20, 20, 20) inches long from hem to underarm;
92.5 (103.5, 114, 124, 134, 145, 155.5) cm at bust, including 8 cm overlap on jacket fronts; 46 (46, 48, 48, 51, 51, 51) cm long from hem to underarm

Yarn: Fyberspates Scrumptious Chunky (45% silk/55% merino wool, 122m per 100g skeins): 13 (14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21) skeins

Gauge: 20 sts / 22 rows = 4 inches / 10 cm in rosette st pattern

Needles: 4.5mm/US 7, or size needed to get gauge, 40 inch / 100 cm circulars; 3.5 mm/US 4 40 inch / 100 cm circulars.

Notions: removable stitch markers, stitch holders or waste yarn.

The pattern is an 8-page PDF with clear schematics and finished measurements for 7 sizes.

The pattern is available for £4 and you can buy from the Fyberspates site, from Ravelry, and by clicking the "Buy Now" button on the blog here.

Travel broadens more than the mind

As I've mentioned before, when I travel nowadays, whatever little planning I do is centred around food and yarn. I've found that it's a great way to travel. If I'm looking for specific yarn shops and restaurants, this involves my navigating around new places with a goal in mind, rather than mindlesslessing wandering around the easy-to-find touristy areas. Often, these places are out of the most touristed bits, so I am forced to interact more with locals and to use whatever little language skills I may have picked up from a guidebook.

This latest trip home may not have required navigating around strange cities and foreign language skills, but I still got in a lot of food and knitting. Here are some highlights.

Ramen, tempura and tonkatsu at Suzu Noodle House in Japantown in SF. That is some good stuff. My veggie tempura had a piece of aubergine that was done damned near perfectly (which is good, 'cause it's so easy to make aubergine gross).


Imperial rolls at Turtle Tower in the Tenderloin in SF. Not the best neighbourhood, no (though I grew up there), but great Vietnamese food- just down the street from here is the place that makes the best bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) in the city. The dishes we had here came with lots and lots of greens, which is what I loved most about eating on my trip to Vietnam. I'd ordered the cha ca, and it was the nearest to what I'd had in Hanoi than any version I've had since.


Oysters at Hog Island in the ferry building market in SF. I love oysters, but the picture here is The Limey trying a Kumamoto. This is amazing because before he met me, the only fish The Limey had ever eaten was battered and deep-fried beyond recognition. Although he's tried lots of fish since and even liked some of it, oysters weren't something he was ever even vaguely interested in. But here he is! His verdict? "I could see how some people could get used to it."


Uh....we didn't actually eat or buy anything at this deli in the ferry building market, but you gotta give it points for truth in advertising.


And the best thing I ate in SF: crab in ginger and scallions, cooked at home. This is one of my favourite dishes in the world and I've never had it better than the way my father cooks it. He makes this for me whenever I go home. The last two times, he has tried to teach The Limey how to do it. I think he's nearly got it down now, although my father's method of killing the crab is a bit too ruthless for us- we'll have to find a a wussier way of doing it.

Did you say yarn?

Some Lana Gross sock yarn from Bluebird Yarn and Fiber in Sausalito- these were picked out by The Limey for his next socks. A skein of Online Linie12 from Knit and Pearl in Santa Barbara for me to play with; I've been kinda interested in linen yarns for a while.


Jared Flood's book of patterns for Classic Elite Yarns, again from Knit and Pearl in SB. There are some lovely patterns in here and the Classic Elite stuff is hard to get in the UK, so I jumped at the chance to grab it. A Japanese stitch dictionary from the Kunokuniya bookstore in Japantown in SF. I was tempted by a few of the pattern books as well, but figured I wouldn't actually knit anything out of them. This stitch dictionary, though, has a bunch of stitch patterns I've not seen anywhere else, so I couldn't resist. The bookstore had a large knitting section, which I had to go through book by book because I can't read Japanese and therefore couldn't tell what was in the books by the spine!


And, oh yes, I finished knitting my Aeolian. It's still unblocked, but it was a great knit.

I don't know about this sunny and hot business...

Sure, SoCal has the beach and ocean...


And it's got the palm trees and hot hot hot weather...


But all that means for me is a mild sunburn and the need to mainline iced coffee all day.

No, what I'm really excited about is...


Mexican food!


Mmmm...fresh tortillas...tamales...many and varied salsas...

Also, some pretty good seafood. It turns out The Limey has never had clam chowder (until last night, anyway)! How does someone reach his fourth decade without ever having clam chowder?!

But I'm over all this hot weather business, and am really glad that we're off to San Francisco tomorrow. Whew. With any luck, I'll need to actually wear a cardigan at some point in the next few days.

In sunny Santa Barbara

Got my Addi Turbos through two airports with no problems. At Heathrow, the needles were empty, so I figured at most I'd be out the cost of a pair of Addis, but at my layover in Vancouver, they had 8 hours of lace work on them, so I was quite nervous. Security didn't bat an eye, but I did have a fellow passenger say she had wanted to bring knitting but didn't think she could get needles through.


It turns out, for me, about eight hours is what it takes to get to the edging charts of the Aeolian shawl (I'm doing the smaller shoulderette version, without beads). I've just finished the second set of nupps, and you know what? Those bastards don't show up very well for me- they want to appear on the wrong side.

It's nice to see The Limey, and I had a present for him.



Oh That's Punny!
Yarn: Trekking XXL for the main body of the sock, and I think some Paton's Diploma Gold 4-ply for the words
Needles: my usual 2.0mm dpns for the main sock, with the stranded colourwork done on 3.0mm
Pattern: the body of the sock is basically Kate Blackburn's Hareton Socks, with, uh, a modification at the top of the leg

Notes: A visual pun of one of The Limey's favourite cursewords. I don't even know if other people except he and a buddy from grad school use it. It was suggested during the camping trip in March, and it was easy enough to do, so I did it.

The argyle-y pattern of the socks is great; it's all elegant texture. It would be perfect for a pair of fancy dress socks. If you don't put swear words on the cuff, of course. I did some non-obvious modifications of Kate's pattern as well- I did it toe up, with my usual short row heel.

Good plane knitting?

In a valiant, and somewhat successful, attempt at avoiding the huge to-do list, I finished The Limey's socks yesterday. I was saving them for the plane ride. So now I have no plane knitting! Oh noes!

I'm racking my brains here...I like sock knitting because my wooden dpns are less likely to be confiscated by the overly zealous security people, but I have no more sock yarn for The Limey and I don't want to knit socks for me...I want to start a good lace project, but I don't want to risk my Addi lace turbos with the aforementioned security and I have no wooden circulars of appropriate size...it would be a good time to do colourwork, but I don't have a project picked out, and there's no time to get more yarn, so whatever it is has to be do-able with what I have...

I'm going to add "rummage through stash" and "do humongous Ravelry pattern search" to my to-do list.

Make me do chores!

I'm leaving for California in a few days. The Limey's already there, working. I'm going to fly out to Santa Barbara and hang around for a few days while he finishes up work, and then he's going to take a few days off, and we're going up to San Francisco to see my family.

(Despite living just a few hours away, I have spent very little time in southern California; in fact, I think I've only been south of Santa Cruz twice. I'm kinda looking forward to mooching around SB. Mexican food, here I come.)

But, before I leave, I have to get all sorts of crap done. I have to clean the house, set up everything for the person who's going to come in to feed the cat, pack, arrange for a neighbour to keep an eye out, do some laundry...aaargh, a thousand little things. And right now I can't even be arsed to make myself lunch.

Must. Get. Ass. Off. Couch.

What to knit next?

Last year, The Limey's mother gave me a bunch of the yarn she had left over from the '80s when she used to knit. A lot of it wasn't to my taste, but she had a bag of cream-coloured Wendy Sarto (80% wool / 20% nylon). I instantly wanted to make a long cabled cardigan from it. This was put on hold until a few days ago.

I browsed patterns and asked on Ravelry (there are lots of cabled cardigan patterns out there, people) and really liked these patterns:

Louhi:

I'd seen this before, and think it's gorgeous. Look at those cabled bands going all around the front, hem and hood! However, the pattern's more of a guideline, and in one size, so I'll have to do a lot of number crunching to make it fit me and make it shorter.


Nell:


One of Kim Hargreaves beautifully classic designs. I have to be careful not to let the photography/styling/model influence me, though. I may want to live in a Rowan photo shoot, but that doesn't mean I want the knitwear. Also, for this, I'd have to get the Hargreaves book, since the pattern isn't sold individually. (A kind soul on Ravelry has already offered to lend me her copy, though- the wonders of the interwebs!)


Fireside (Ravelry link):

Isn't it lovely? All that cabley goodness, and it's got front bands that cable right up to and around the collar, like Louhi. Also like Louhi, I'd have to do a bit of number crunching, in this case, to lengthen the cardi.

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, I've decided to read through the Louhi pattern and see how easy/hard it will be to re-size. I think it's got a certain something, and it's definitely different...

Not bad, if I do say so myself

In the last few days, I've managed to get quite a few things done, and put other stuff in order. I'm surprised, because I feel like I've just been surfing the internet and reading teen sci-fi/fantasy books (I'm rediscovering Diana Wynne Jones, at the moment).

1. I got Milkweed done in record time.

2. I sent out the first draft of that Fyberspates pattern. I also scheduled a photoshoot with a friend this weekend to get some pictures for me before I send the FO off to Jen.

3. I downloaded Scribus and played with it to see if I might want to start making my patterns look a bit more professional. It's a very basic desk top publishing program (can't afford InDesign!) but it looks like it will do what I need to lay out patterns and such.

4. I did up the charts for another design, swatched it, realized it didn't work, messed around some more with the charts before deciding that the stitch pattern probably won't do what I need it to do, picked another one, messed around with it a bit and charted that up. I "just" have to swatch it up now.

5. I've decided that I will definitely take a break and do a personal knitting project before I start work in earnest on the next design. I will work on either that dress I've been talking about, or a long cabled, belted jacket, maybe with a hood? Any ideas on patterns for that, by the way?

6. I've also decided that The Limey's socks will be finished up on the plane over to California. It'll be a cool surprise for him, and -let's be honest- by then he'll probably have run out of the clean socks he took with him.

Go me! (Now with new and improved pictures!)

(Got the good camera back from the repair people. I know it's a poor worker who blames her tools, but I really did not get on with the back-up camera. Since I'm not such a hot photographer, I do need all the help I can get from the equipment.)

In a marathon knitting session, I got Milkweed done in less than two days. I really needed a quick satisfying knit, and this hit the spot.


Milkweed Shawlette
Yarn: Jenny Cook Hand-dyed sock yarn; 80% alpaca/20% silk, bought in Hay-on-Wye
Needles: 3.5mm Addis
Pattern: Laura Chau's Milkweed

Notes: Took just over 100g of this yarn- I'm guessing I used around 300m. I was really afraid I was going to have to frog a bit of the Anti-Funk, but luckily had no problems finishing up with the leftovers from that first skein. Finished size about 1 meter wide and 40cm from centre to middle point. I kind of wish I'd managed it to be a little wider, actually, so it would hang lower when worn.

I love this yarn in garter stitch, and it works with this pattern beautifully.



The pattern is clear and easy to follow- I used the charts.



Now, onto pattern writing. While the shawl was blocking, I had a small breakthrough in charting out a pattern idea, so now I'm making myself write up this last pattern before I start swatching on the next.

Camera-less

I finally got around to sending the camera away to be fixed and what happens? I finish knitting that last Fyberspates design.

It took forever. And I'm not sure why, exactly. It's not a difficult knit, and I'd memorized the lace pattern at the very beginning. I'd been holding off doing any other knitting until it was done, so now there's a short list of what-to-do-next:

1. Write up the pattern for the design

2. swatch up another design I've got in my head

3. figure out what I should do about a few swatches/proposals that I have laying around

4. Start Milkweed!

5. Finish the last three inches of The Limey's latest socks (these socks have been languishing since April).

Milkweed it is!

Thanks for the suggestions. I think because of the yardage requirements, it will be Milkweed for the Jenny Cook hand-dyed. But, in going through my stash, I found some beautifully soft bamboo blend sock yarn given to me by a visiting friend, and it is absolutely perfect for Aestlight. Yay for shopping from stash!

But first I have to finish this last design for Fyberspates. It just needs a couple of days of monogamous knitting and it'll be done. Then I can go to work on Milkweed while writing up and editing the pattern.

Decisions, decisions

Thanks for the comments about the driving instructor. I'm glad to know that I wasn't overreacting or being too "special snowflake" about the whole taking the wheel thing. I will probably call the driving school and ask for another instructor. I don't blame the school itself- after all, my last instructor worked for them and was awesome. The Limey thinks I should complain about the latest person and demand my money back, but I don't think I'll go that far.

So, then, next thing I'd like some of your opinions on. I still have some loverly hand-dyed alpaca/silk sock yarn from Jenny Cook left from the two skeins I bought in Hay. I want to make one of these new-fangled shawlettes with it. I made the Anti-Funk with one partial skein and, because I love the gartery goodness of this yarn, I've narrowed it down to two garter-based designs.

Milkweed, by Laura Chau:


or Aestlight, by Gudrun Johnston:


To be perfectly honest with myself, I probably don't have enough yardage for Aestlight, even the smaller size. But I do so love that little bit of lace!

Whaddy'all think?

Different teaching style or batshit crazy?

During the April/May/June visitors/moving madness, I had stopped my driving lessons. I'd done a good 18 hours and was at the point where we were just doing practice tests on the known testing routes so my instructor could give me pointers on what I had to improve on (mainly checking the damned mirrors in an overly cautious and -most importantly- obviously noticeable way). I'd passed my theory test with flying colours. Basically, I was getting pretty good and just needed to polish up a few things.

As stuff has settled down, I decided to schedule my last two pre-paid hours here in Oxford, with another instructor, obviously.

Now, I admit my first instructor, Paul, was great, and maybe I'm spoiled. But this Oxford person's teaching just did not gel with me at all. You all will have to tell me if this is normal driving instructor behaviour.

• She kept taking the steering wheel! She'd grab it from her side and start moving the car I'm supposedly driving. Paul never did this.

• She used her passenger-side brake and clutch all the time. It got so that when I went to use any of the pedals, I wasn't sure what I'd find. In the 18 hours of lessons I had with Paul, I remember him using his controls exactly twice.

• She seemed skittish and overly cautious. She wanted me to go really, really slowly and then to slow down even more if a car even looked like it was going to come near us, even if it had its own nice, wide lane. I realize this is a judgement call, but we barely got into third gear the whole two hours. I did more than that in the first lesson I had with Paul.

So: normal driving instructor behaviour, and I was just spoiled before? Or is she crazy?

(I hasten to add that we got along fine, and she was a perfectly nice person. Plus, she was professional, gave me a few good pointers, and said she'd been a driving instructor for seven years. So she can't be totally off, right?)

Either way, I can't imagine taking any more lessons from her. Luckily, I've finished my pre-paid hours with this driving school. Should I call them and ask for lessons with another instructor? Or should I take the really cowardly way out and use another driving school?

Munich

I will spare you the pictures of the central square and the crazily awesome architecture. Instead, I will list a few observations.

These people are serious about their beer.


You couldn't spit without hitting a brauhaus or biergarten. And we had gorgeous weather, so brauhaus (-es? -er?) and entire cafes and restaurants conducted their business outdoors. I quite liked the weisse beers I tried- I found them sweet and aromatic. Although I cannot drink them by the litre. Alcoholic drinks should not be measured in litres! Petrol and water come in litres, not beer!

These people are serious about their meat.


Bavaria does not seem to be a place that recognizes the fact that people might sometimes feel they've had enough pork and beef. However, I definitely didn't starve. Here, at Der Pschorr (at one corner of the Viktualienmarkt), I had some pike perch, on a bed of some beautifully done risotto.

But it was definitely hard going sometimes. The Limey was in Munich for a conference, and I attended the conference dinners and barbecues. This is the only time I've ever been at gatherings such as this where no effort whatsoever was made to accommodate vegetarians. I'm not vegetarian (see fish, above), and luckily I'm not picky. At the fancy conference dinner, I ate soup, salad and veggies and gave The Limey my portion of meat (so he was happy), and at the barbecue, I ate crisps and bread.

One of the great things for me about travelling when I don't know the local language is ordering random stuff off the menu to see what you get. Like I said, I'm not picky, although not eating most meat does limit this pleasure somewhat. However, ordering from the dessert menu is always safe.



These people are serious about their dirndls.


When I first saw these in a shop window, I thought, Haha, good tourist trap. But then I noticed them everywhere: in department stores that seem to to cater largely to the locals; in shops outside of the more central touristy areas. So it can't all be souvenir tat. That purple one with the peacock feathers costs EUR2200! But, except for waitresses at the brauhauser, I didn't see anyone actually wearing one. A friend of mine said that you do see more of the traditional costumes around Oktoberfest time. I did see gentlemen "of a certain age" wearing the old-skool lapel-less jackets with the small collars. I think those look really good, actually. We should have bought one for The Limey.

In all, I had a really good few days wandering around the city. The public transport was easy to use, I could get by with a half-dozen words of German, people were helpful. I do like Berlin better, but that could be because I had my own personal tour guide and translator with me there.

And now for the knitty portion of the trip review.
Non-knitters, you can stop reading now.

I know what's on everyone's minds: Wollmeise.

Okay, well. Okay. Now, I've never bought or even seen any Wollmeise yarn in person. I like touching and feeling new yarns, so I hardly ever buy stuff off t'internets. But I'd heard good things about the yarn, so I figured I'd make some sort of effort to see it. What a rollercoaster ride- it went something like this:

:) Going to Germany! Wollmeise is German! I'll be able to get some at the yarn shops!

:( Wollmeise doesn't sell in shops, even in her native land.

:) But she sells in markets! I can navigate the Deutsche Bahn website to get to a market!

:( No markets are scheduled for the few days I'm in Germany.

:) But what's this?! She has an actual physical, bricks-and-mortar shop! And it's only 30 minutes by train from Munich! And it opened for business last month!

:( But it's not scheduled to open any of the days I'm in Munich!

So I'm afraid there is no Wollmeise experience to report. I did wander around the city to find some yarn shops. Unfortunately, two of them were closed when I found them, but I did get into Lanaiolo.


They had a good selection of GGH yarns, a little bit of Rowan (KSH, natch) and Debbie Bliss. Some other cashmere, mohair, alpaca blends and such. Basically, though, it was way too hot to even think of those fibres. I was on the hunt for summer fibres for a dress. I eventually bought some GGH Safari, a linen/nylon blend- but maybe not enough for a whole dress? (Stop me if you've heard that before...) I think I'll be able to do something with a constrasting colour, though.

A spot of travel

The Limey has to be in Munich for work next week, and since we've only seen each other for a total of two days in the last month, I'm gonna tag along. The only place in Germany I've ever been is Berlin, which I loved, so I'm excited about wandering around Munich. We'll be there for five days. I think I may have to hang around with The Limey and his work people in the evenings, but I will have the days to myself.

Anybody been to Munich? Or live there? What should I see? I will get a guidebook, but it's always nice to hear people's experiences. Oooh, and restaurant recommendations, please. All I do nowadays when I travel is look for yarn shops and restaurants!

I wouldn't need to be paid to knit if I were paid to frog

I'm working on another design for Fyberspates. It's actually a version of a sweater that I had been knitting for myself. But one that other people could also knit without, you know, reading my mind.


This picture was taken during its second frogging session. Both times, I'd knit around 10 inches. The first time, I realized the lace pattern wasn't matching up exactly symmetrically across the side "seams". If this were just for me, I probably would have just carried on, but it's the sample, so I figured it should actually, you know, look good. So, frogged back to the ribbing.

The second time, I realized that, if I were to write up the way I was going about this sweater, it was going to result in a pattern involving numerous instances of the phrase "at the same time," as well as some pretty heinous simultaneous lace shaping instructions. (I love figuring out lace shaping, myself, but I realize it's not some other people's idea of a party.) So, frogged back to the ribbing.

Finally, I figured out a way to do this without future knitters tearing their hair out, and I'm merrily knitting along, la la la, past the waist shaping...when it dawns on me that I've been knitting this as if it were for me, i.e., to my measurements. The width isn't a problem, because luckily I'd figured out that bit of the sizing already. The length, however...since I'm short, I've pretty much memorized where I like my clothing to hit on my hip, my length measurements, etc., and I was just unconsciously knitting this to my preferences, rather than a standard sample size.

Third time's the charm, right?

I want to knit a dress

I know, I've already knit a dress, but now I want a summer one. Yes, by the time I finish, it won't be summer anymore, but since I've got a couple of projects that have to be done before I even start on anything else, I'm hoping to just sneak it in to next summer.

I've been mulling over a summer dress in my head for a while now, and I have some things figured out:

• it will be knee-length or just above

• it will be knit in linen or some other summer-appropriate, non-stretchy yarn (boo to cotton, silk or bamboo)

• it will have short or no sleeves

• it will be mostly stockinette

• the skirt will be fuller than A-line

The only problem? I have no idea how the top half of this dress is going to look. I want it to be flattering on me, obviously (no waist, little Buddha belly). It will need some sort of waist and boob treatment so I don't just look like a stuffed sausage.

I'm trying to figure out what kind of shape/detailing would look good. The problem is I haven't been around the shops in ages, so am drawing a blank on the different styles. Any suggestions? Any suggestions on yarn that won't cost a fortune? I need to buy a whole dress' worth!

My God...I think I have a tan!

Continuing visitor season, my good friend K was here for a few days last week. (I love visitors.) I hadn't seen her in ages, so it was good to catch up. It was also good because she was up for a lot of walking around, and since I was only starting to familiarize myself with Oxford, we explored together.

We did spend some time wandering around the town, but the best was when we, unintentionally, took the Thames Canal path all the way to Wolvercote, at which point we figured there was no reason not to stop at The Trout Inn. Mmmm....Pimm's by the water in the sunshine. Then we came all the way back down to Oxford via the Thames Path. I think I'll be making that journey many more times.

We did a bunch of stuff that you're "supposed" to do. We peeked at some of the colleges, looked at all the great buildings, went to The Turf. But, honestly, the best afternoon we had was when we ducked into a random pub to get out of a sudden rain and found that it was populated only by the Kiwi bartender and two of his regulars, a Welshman and an Englishmen. (I feel like I should start a joke here: Two Americans walk into a pub...) They started by disapproving our beer choices, tried to convince us that cricket and rugby were the only proper sports, talked about where they/we had travelled, recommended a restaurant, and then pushed drink at us, including a Jagermeister/Red Bull concoction...which was weird. Anyway, by the time we left, my cheeks were aching from laughing, and then the bartender refused to take payment for our drinks.

It's really nice when you get a good afternoon like that in, especially with visitors.

Hera Jacket

We don't have our own internet yet, using the neighbour's, which is patchy, so I'll do all my blogging at once while I've got any signal.

I delivered the Scrumptious design project to Jeni on UK Ravelry Day. The pattern's being tech edited, and so will be available soon. Meanwhile, it was in the fashion show at Ravelry Day, and I can show you pictures. Unfortunately, not on the lovely model for the show- I had no time for pictures then!

Here it is:


Hera, a cozy wrappy jacket knit in Fyberspates Scrumptious Chunky, in a fantastic woven-like pattern. It was great working with the scrumptious yarn, and it works perfectly for the stitch pattern- it really makes the texture stand out. And the wool/silk mix gives a heavy, cozy jacket that just feels really good when you put it on. It almost makes me long for chillier weather. Almost.

Folded collar, hemmed edges, great little detailing that highlights the two characteristics I was going for: texture and shape.


Too bad the sample's gone back to Jeni! It was so cozy to wrap myself up in during the evenings, especially since the weather has turned the last few days.

You wouldn't believe how many pictures it took to get a few that looked good- there are more and I'll show them when the pattern's available. But it's really hard to take pictures of yourself! I didn't want to do it outside, 'cause I feel like an eejit posing. Getting a good background with good light indoors meant moving furniture around. I think this pretty much sums it up:


I'm really happy with how this jacket turned out. I'm always slightly surprised when stuff happens the way you plan it- but I got the shape, feel and everything about this jacket right.

UK Ravelry Day report

I had so much fun at UK Ravelry Day. Oh, it was brilliant. I met and talked to so many people. This is special for me because in situations like that, I usually find I have nothing to say, even to people with whom I supposedly have something in common, so I clamp up and sort of just spend my time mooching around the stalls, get bored, and find that I still have hours to kill before my train/plane/bus/whatever. Not this time! So in this 'Report from Ravelry Day' post, I shall simply tell you about the interactions I had with all those lovely people.

First, the lady from the Knitting and Crochet Guild who offered an expenses-paid cab ride for random Ravelry Day attendees at the train station: Thanks!

Then I got to meet Jeni of Fyberspates. She is lovely and tall and was wearing cool boots.

She got to see the Scrumptious design in person and loved it, which was a great relief to me. She let me pick out yarn for the third and last design of this batch of ideas I'd sent her. Best of all, we had a good chat about further collaboration and ways to get the designs into shops as well as selling on the innernetz.

And then I spent the whole morning helping Angie set up the fashion show. Let me tell you: I have never had so much fun whilst in the midst of so much chaos. Oh man. Angie and I, along with Pat, Pam and Tom (I believe that's his name) ran around like headless chickens for a while, before Tom sat Angie down with pen and paper and got things started on the road to organization. Oh, it was glorious fun. With five minutes to spare before the show began, we managed to put together a master list of garments and models in the order of presentation. I was convinced we would send people out in the wrong order or there would be huge gaps in the show while we got people changed, but in the end, I believe it went off pretty credibly. I was backstage frantically throwing clothes at people and moving them physically into correct order, so didn't get to see any of it! But I had an unbeatable time.

I got cake and spent some of the early afternoon working the door and checking tickets with a volunteer in a Ravelry t-shirt whose name I totally did not get. We had a grand time. When the number of people died down, Jo, the day's organizer, threw a Meg Swansen ticket at me and told me in no uncertain terms to enjoy myself at the talk.

I ran into Liz while getting more cake after the talk, and spent a relaxing half hour chatting with her. We'd only met a few days before, when I went to my first knitting meeting of the Oxford Bluestockings group. Always nice to get a chance to pick a local's brains when you're a new resident.

As I was sitting, knitting and waiting for one of the workshops to let out, Pam or Pat (I'm sorry! I got them mixed up in the fashion show madness, and now will forever be confused) stopped by and, again, I spent a great half hour chatting with her. She goes to a bunch of the knitterly gatherings in the UK, and says that Tom happily accompanies her to them as well. I look forward to running into them again.

Finally, to cap off a great day, I met up with the Irish contingent and -what else?- went to the pub. It was great to see Isobel and Sinead again, and to meet Averil and some of the representatives from Cork.

It turned out a bunch of other Ravelry Day people, including the organizers and some guests, congregated at the same pub. We took over a whole half of the first floor, I think. God only knows what the rest of the pub thought. We thanked Jo, although she refused to make a speech. It was a brilliant evening, and, thanks to two very weak mojitos (was there even booze in those?), I even managed to find my way to the train station sans taxi.

And then! At the train station, I met Rene, another Californian scientist Raveler. She'd only just moved to the UK a couple of months ago. We were on the same train for most of the way and spent the journey discussing expat things, science, and the way British people use whingeing about the weather as a social lubricant.

Great day.

Minor miracles

One of the things I love about knitting is how a few little finishing tasks turn some random, tattered-looking pieces of fabric into a beautiful, finished, professional-looking garment. Weave in ends, polish up the edges and -voila!- a piece of actual clothing! That you can wear!

It's done.


This is the sample for a pattern I've designed for Fyberspates' Scrumptious yarn. I took my time finishing this because it was clear that I wouldn't have enough time to knit a sample for another pattern, anyway. I was a bit nervous about how the whole thing would look (a problem when you pitch designs based solely on a sketch and swatch) but as soon as I knit the collar and attached the sleeves...it all came together and it actually looks like what I'd intended it to look like.


I wanted to get some modeled pictures before delivering it to Jen at UK Ravelry day, but my photographer is out of town, and I don't know anyone in Oxford to model for me yet.

That's deviously convenient timing, that is...

We've been here for a week, surrounded by boxes, and The Limey has just left for a three-week training stint in the US. So who gets the pleasure of unpacking and moving shit around? That's right: me. The cat is useless- won't even move from her spot in the sun to make it easier for me to get at the boxes.

And I have no idea where my phone charger is. Oh, it's in one of these boxes, for sure, but which one?

*contented sigh*

We've managed to move ourselves, the cat, and our stuff to Oxford, and have been here for almost a week. Other than the fact that we've been unpacking, yet still find ourselves surrounded by boxes (kinda like at the other end, where we kept packing and packing, yet the flat still looked the same), I'm pretty much loving it so far.

I'm sure I'll be sharing with you all the stuff I like about living here, in due course. But, for now, one pleasant bonus to having even a bit of outdoor space:


Stuff dries so much faster!

Even more progress?

Three guys.
One truck.
Two empty rooms.
One very suspicious cat.

More progress?

Another small detail sorted.

I bought my train tickets to go to UK Ravelry Day. The boxes and dust must be getting to me, because it didn't occur to me that I would - duh - need a return ticket. So I bought the Oxford-Coventry ticket, congratulating myself on catching the advance fare of only 12 quid. As soon as I hit 'enter' after all my credit card details, I thought, hang on... something's missing...

Luckily, for some strange reason, two separate singles are slightly cheaper than a return, so it all worked out.

I hope this spaciness goes away soon- I don't want to forget to bring my Fyberspates design sample with me!

I will buy the actual ticket for the festival itself in a bit. I'm trying to figure out if I want to take the 'Design your own lace project' workshop. £25 is not too dear, but I wonder if it's going to be more about how to put together different lace motifs, or how to invent your own?

Are you guys going to Rav day? Please say hi!

Three things

Progress?

1. Pattern for sample to be knit: Done and sent to Jen. Can't wait to see it!

2. Scrumptious sample knitting: Going well. Hope I have enough yarn. I've already asked for more. If I've underestimated again, it'll be embarrassing. Scrumptious pattern: most of maths done.

3. Moving: why is it that I've packed boxes and boxes, and we've moved three carloads up to Oxford, and yet the flat still looks exactly the same? In fact, if possible, it looks like there's more stuff than before!

Knit knit knit

A while ago, I wrote to Jen at Fyberspates and sent her a few design ideas for her yarns, 'cause I love them. She was totally on board with the ideas, and sent me yarn to swatch. Everything went well, and I was sent yarn to start on the first project. Whee! So exciting. I got even more excited when I got back from Scotland to an e-mail saying she wanted at least one of the designs to go on the catwalk show at UK Ravelry Day.

This is great (you'll have to imagine to yourselves the little dance I did), but that means I must get them done before the 6th of June! I knit as much as I could while I had my houseguests, but now they're gone, so I can really focus.


This is the first project. I just can't get the colour right on camera. It's Scrumptious Chunky in "Biscuit", which actally is a dark-toned mossy grey-green. Never has a yarn been so aptly named- it really is scrumptious to work with. And with a name like "biscuit"! Mmmm... I think I need some tea...


I swatched and swatched to get a stitch pattern that matched what I had in my head (my problem is scale- I feel like I never know exactly what will happen once a pattern goes from a six inch swatch to a whole garment; however, this one translated perfectly). It's going quickly, and it will definitely be done in time for UK Ravelry Day, but I'd also like enough time to write the pattern and get it tech-edited. That last bit may be asking a bit much?

As well, there is a second project which I'd love to be able to put on the catwalk show. There is almost no way I'd get it knitted up in time, in addition to the Scrumptious one. Jen has suggested sending it out to get a sample knitted, but that means I have to write up the pattern. I've got most of the maths and charting done, actually, so this is a possibility. However, if I get the pattern out today, the knitter would only have three weeks to knit up a sample. Do-able, as it's not a big project, especially if done in one of the smaller sizes.

Okay, this is all possible, but it means I have to FOCUS. No procrastination on Ravelry and other random internet shite. If you guys see me on Ravelry, send me a strongly-worded note!

Another solution to the two-body problem?

Today we sent over the deposit for the little house in Oxford. Saturday, we will go up to hand over the rental agreement and get the keys.

It's a great teeny Victorian terrace, built for workers on the railroad and their families, and is right next to a river. Actually, it's on an island, so is surrounded by rivers. The estate agent assured us it *didn't* flood a few years ago; we'll see. It's probably smaller than our current flat, but there are two big plusses: 1. It's got a gas cooker!!!1!!1!! and 2. It has a small garden with the teensiest plot of plantable soil. Oh, and obviously, it's not Woking!

Actually, I kinda wish maybe it had flooded, because then they'd have had to replace the gross, totally hideous, decades-old carpet they have in there. I shudder at even the thought of walking over it barefoot, let alone sitting on it or laying on it. The floor under it is wooden- I'm really hoping the landlord will let us tear out the carpets; I'm going to ask on Saturday.

As I think about all this re-locating business and after a conversation with one of The Limey's co-workers tonight, I'm reminded of something I keep hearing about over here. I've met and heard of upteen people who solve the two-body problem by keeping two residences. One half of a couple would live in a bedsit or small flat at his/her place of work, and the other partner would live in their "real" home, with the kids/pets. At the weekends, the partner living "away" would come "home".

For The Limey's colleague, the commute between homes is a 2-3 hour affair, and she works four-day weeks, going home on Thursday night and coming back to work on Monday morning. When I first started working in Southampton, I chatted to a university worker at a bus stop who kept a flat in Southampton, but went home to London, to his wife and daughter, every Friday. They had decided not to move the family to Southampton because his daughter was enrolled in a very good school in London. It took him 3 hours, a train, tube and bus to get "home".

These arrangements are apparently not out of the ordinary. City workers do this a lot, supposedly: going "home" to the leafy suburbs or countryside only at the weekends. This seems very strange to me. One of the biggest stresses when I commuted was that I felt that I just was never home, that I had to cram all my actual living into the weekends: it was work work work cram cram cram. If I didn't even have the few hours in the evening with The Limey and the cat, I don't know how much *more* stressed I may have been. Without your pets and family, what is the point, then? Plus, you know I'd try to knit at one place or another, and wouldn't have the correct needles size or whatever. I would just never feel like I was at home, then.

Also, having to catch a train was one of best ways to keep myself from just spending all my time at work. Coming from academia, it was easy for me to stay in lab far into the evening and think nothing of it. But because I, and everyone else, knew that I had that train ride home, it was easier for me to justify leaving at 6 sharp.

A while back, The Limey and I had discussed such an arrangement, but we pretty quickly decided it wouldn't work for us. Just as well, the Home Office take a dim view of such unconventional arrangements, I think. As I'm here as a spouse, it's just as well to prevent any uncertainty on their part.

::catches breath::

Whew! The last couple of weeks have been crazy, and it looks set to continue. Two Saturdays ago, The Limey and I took a lightening quick trip up to Oxford to look at potential places to live. Using the method of driving around looking for "To let" signs, we found a lovely teeny terraced house, with a teeny yard, in an awesome neighbourhood. We're sending in the application paperwork today.

Then the day after that, two college friends of mine flew in. We hung around London for a couple of days, then I trained it up to Edinburgh with them (Why, yes, I did stop into k1 yarns!). Rented a car, drove around Glen Coe and the Trossachs, drank a few foofy cocktails, had a great time. I took the train back down to London on Sunday, while they went on to Wales. They day after that (yesterday!), my sister and her friends arrived for a visit. They will be here for a few days, and the day they leave, my friends get back from Wales. We'll hang around London, with maybe a day trip to Brighton, and as soon as they leave, it's time to pack up and move.

Somewhere in there, I have to fit in the knitting of a couple of adult-sized garments and, oh, yeah, writing a couple of patterns as well.