T is for Template

T is for template. I got tired of toting my socks in progress around in ::cough:: plastic zip bags, so I finally made a project bag following Dragon[knit]fly's tutorial, with a few tweaks. The result is this box bag, which looks rather like a dop kit gone deplorably wrong. Hey, it's a prototype.



Mods: Because the fashion fabric is directional, I pieced and seamed it so the motifs would be right way up on both sides of the bag, which had the added benefit of securing the interfacing. The inside raw edges are finished with improvised binding (oh, for a bias tape maker or Creative Little Daisy's clever tutorial!). The handle is simplified and has a contrast lining, there's a loop at the bottom of the zipper to provide something to tug against whilst zipping, and there's a zipper pull. There's also a zipper guard, to keep the zipper from snagging on sock yarn. It took an incredible amount of time and re-sewing to get it just right and, sadly, the fabric shows the wear and tear.



The bag interfacing is mediumweight Pellon, which gives the bag substantial body. I could see using lighter interfacing or skipping interfacing and even the lining for a soft, unconstructed look. I don't think I'd use anything like Timtex for an Amy Butler-esque look. I also don't think I'll use rayon thread for the topstitching again – it's 'way too fragile and was a slithery horror to work with.

Overall, I'm happy with the bag. It easily accomodates a sock in progress plus wallet, keys, and cell phone. The same concept with different proportions could be used as a lingerie bag or a shoe bag. I'm going to make more box bags – I certainly have enough socks in progress to fill quite a few. Hm... a smaller bag with pockets would be nice... hm... I wonder if left-handers would rather have the zipper guard on the other side of the zipper?

Meanwhile, I've been enjoying looking at political carved pumpkins. I'm a total klutz when it comes to pumpkin-carving, but the DIY stencils are giving me hope!

Man Mitts ver. 1.0

The other day DH announced he wanted man mitts. He's anticipating lots of evening and weekend work on the Wall Street mess, during which the heat, literal and figurative, may or may not be on. So man mitts were made.



The mitts are worked in Malabrigo Worsted, colorway 508 Blue Graphite. It was DH's idea to style them this way. I think it's a hint to the IT department – his abacus only goes up to 9,999,999,999,999. DH likes to be prepared.

The only trouble is they're a bit baggy and (sez he) itchy. I made the mistake of mumbling something like these are version 1.0 and DH could have nicer mitts. He agreed happily. Next time, he wants cashmere mitts with half-fingers. He also wants socks, but that's another story.

Meanwhile, casa Jersey Knitter is looking forward to the vice presidential debate tomorrow, October 2, at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, at 9 p.m. EDT. Guess that means no SnB for me!

If the prospect of a debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden isn't riveting enough, there's a fascinating sideshow. Moderator Gwen Ifill has been preparing despite a broken ankle – she even solicited questions from the public. Conservative commentators somehow only today noticed Ifill has a pending book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, listed on Amazon (publication date: Inauguration Day 2009) and are claiming bias. Hm... is their raising the hue and cry now due to inadequate vetting or something else? What say you?

Open Season

Someone asked me, Where were you and what were you doing when you heard John McCain had picked Sarah Palin as his soul running mate? Hrumph. Creepy question. I think it's just a bit inappropriate to compare the Second Woman to Be Nominated by a Major Party for Veep (assuming all goes as planned this evening) with the World Trade Center disaster.

But if you must know, I was with DH at the U.S. Open, watching Olympic giant-killer Jie Zheng gamely battling 2nd-seed Jelena Jankovic, who is extremely flexible and plays like composite is clay (they racked up 11 deuce points in one game), also munching a ham and arugula crêpe and coveting the giant tennis ball a couple rows down.

Although perhaps the most notable match of the day featured a rising star, 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki, pictured above, defeating 14th-seed Victoria Azarenka. (Notice the serve speedometer – the women hit hard.)



At the end of the match, Wozniacki seemed very happy to participate in a U.S. Open tradition – the winner autographs a few tennis balls and hits them into the stands. Alas, I didn't get one. Autograph hounds also tote around those giant tennis balls and line up courtside. I get a kick out of seeing people holding them out hopefully, as this bunch waiting for Roger Federer (in the red polo shirt, click to embiggen). Federer had unexpected trouble with his opponent, Thiago Alves, who played the match of his life.



In between matches we gawped at old Shea Stadium on the left, currently in its last season, and new Citi Field on the right (and a subway yard in the middle distance). I never liked Shea and feel no nostalgia for it; I can't wait to see the inside of the new stadium, said to combine the charm and beauty of Ebbets Field with all the conveniences of a modern ballpark.



And of course I had to take a picture of the Unisphere at dusk. I'm basically happy with this photo, except it doesn't capture the scale of the thing (140 feet or 42 m tall).



Over the rest of Labor Day weekend, I finished my second and last pair of socks for Summer of Socks, Nanner Socks by Wendy Johnson, worked top-down in sportweight handspun by Melissa. They remind me of Bananas Foster, the famed NOLA dessert (thank goodness Hurricane Gustav did less damage than initially forecast). The Nanners stitch pattern, reminiscent of Spirogyra, has a strong bias. If the sock leg were long enough, the pattern would spiral around it completely. Which makes me wonder what effect S-spun singles would have. Hm....



Summer of Socks certainly started with a bang this year and I've enjoyed it thoroughly, even if I've been ::cough:: less productive than I would have liked. Many, many thanks go to Jessica and her terrific crew for the most amazing knit-along ever! I loved the addition of the Ravelry group, the CafePress store, and the Google group. The only suggestion I'd make – to adjust the season to run from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend – is horribly U.S.-centric, alas.

Astonishing to relate, I'm in no -alongs at the moment except for the perpetual ones – it's open season and, well, you know what they say about idle hands. I've been trying to decide if this is funny. I'm intrigued by that wandering eyepatch myself. What do you think?

N is for Non-Olympics

N is for non-Olympics. This year I'm feeling rather sour on the Olympics, but I've been enjoying the nutty goodness that is the Ravel*****s. Here's my first FO, a New Jersey washcloth (pictured with gold Jersey tomatoes, of course), and the sweet bloggy bling of victory.

   

Speaking of home stuff, N is for the New Jersey State Fair & Horse Show. Last Saturday I looked for but somehow could not find Kelli and her thrice-ribbon-worthy entries. However, I did bump into Kim. And I saw some fainting goats and some jumping horses. The one on the left is more my speed – that's "only" a junior fence, the Grand Prix fences were much higher. (Click on photos to embiggen.)

   

And N is for New Jersey: The Movie – see the trailer. Made me smile although I'd venture to say the narrator has a Pennsylvania accent.

Redacted 6/26/12: The Ravelry event formerly known by a name that rhymes with and supposedly infringes on the Olympics™.

More Flowers

It's a gloomy rainy Monday, so here's yet more cherry blossoms from Branch Brook Park. These are the late bloomers in the park, double ruffled pinks, in full bloom this past weekend. The flower clusters are so full, they give the impression of weighing down the branches.



Not to be outdone, the triple ruffled socks of irony (Jeanie Townsend's Ruffles & Bubbles) made their successful début bicycling to a Tour de Montclair planning meeting and to MY SnB. Tree pollen may make me wheeze, but the falling maple blossoms proved no impediment to the intrepid socks.



I heart the socks of irony! JaWoll Cotton may have a stupid name, but it's excellent for athletic socks, with just the right amount of slip inside the shoe, cushyness, and wicking. I suspect it will prove durable as well. The ruffles did not catch in the bicycle gears; indeed, their only drawback was I started thinking how well their cuteness would look with [cough] new cycling shoes and new cycling capris.

The Ruffles & Bubbles foot seemed plain compared to the cuff, so I substituted a star toe of three points, modified from the directions in Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. It's okay, maybe not as glam as its name would suggest, and surprisingly camera-shy. I can't get it to photograph properly – the digicam is registering crazy diffraction patterns in the yarn (a challenge I've had before with regular JaWoll).



Ah well, here's more flowers, apple blossoms from Branch Brook Park. I can't get over how early the apple trees are blooming this spring. Mine popped two weeks ahead of normal. Most years my tree is so full of bees at blossom time that it hums. This year was a silent spring. Something to make me go Hmmm on a rainy gloomy Monday.

G is for Goodies

G is for goodies, two that I got and some linky love for everybody.

Rosemary generously gave some prizes to her Toque, Yo! test knitters and I got a Designs by Romi penannular pin [grin]. A heart, of course, because that's her signature design (pictured on an old gauge swatch). I love how it's not just for lace shawls, although it sure does make me think of making myself Muir. Thank you, Rosemary, I enjoyed test knitting and now can wear my heart on my sleeve, literally.

Last week I knit up some fingerless mitts from the Patons Soy Wool Stripes that Julie in Texas sent as part of a swap. It's colorway 70530 Natural Geranium. As with the last pair, these are sororal twins. Thanks again, Julie, these are perfect for when I get pinky on the brain, which has been known to happen.



And here's three happy links:

Jessica is having a Summer of Socks 2008 Button Contest, through April 25. Which implies Summer of Socks is coming soon! (Be sure to sign up for free accounts on Flickr and Ravelry, if you haven't already.)

Knitty is celebrating their 50 millionth site visit with their biggest contest ever, through May 1.

Knitting Daily has made the Top Five Interweave Knits Readers' Choice patterns available as a free download through May 14.

Cherryblossomland 2008

For Earth Day, here's some pix from Branch Brook Park, affectionately known as Cherryblossomland. I never tire of the show.



Renewal of this graceful urban treasure continues apace. There are new playing fields, a roofed bocce pit, and the old fieldhouse and the old community center have been refurbished (= nice new accessible restrooms!).



The ponds have been stocked with trout (eagerly sought after by anglers, not pictured), which makes the prohibition on dumping in the park's drains all the more critical.

   

An area along the canal was clear-cut (gasp – so many trees gone!) and replanted. Many of the new trees are so young, they still need braces. This grouping of weeping cherries looks very promising – I look forward to watching them grow and mature.



Even with all the creative destruction, there's no lack of old friends to visit.



I like a mix of tree silhouettes, bark colors and textures, and blossom colors and types, although my faves tend to be the small single pinks.



Because every sock deserves an adventure or two, I took the Annetrelac socks to frolic amongst the cherry blossoms.

   

Entrelac is not a favorite technique, but I'm happy with these socks, not to mention they're my first Sockdown! project to [cough] finish on time. They're kinda like these large double pinks, just plain appealing.



I got more cherry blossom pix (wanna see more?), but that's enough for one post. I hope your Earth Day was green and blooming!

The Palms

Here's a bit of green as a nod to yesterday's festivities, although I'm mostly thinking about Sunday's Palm Sunday service at Church of the Improv, which included Arvo Pärt's beautiful Berlin Mass for choir and string orchestra. It's wonderful beyond words to hear sacred music written by a living composer. The staging – with violins (playing ethereal harmonics) placed to the left of the chancel, violas, 'cellos, and basses to the right, and choir on the chancel steps – emphasized the conversation between voice and instruments in ways at once reminiscent of Ives' Unanswered Question and Renaissance chant. [Sigh] What a way to start Holy Week.

Put in knitting terms, the music was not unlike mittens of Malabrigo Worsted – soft, smooth, and flowing...



... simple, yet richly textured. It all makes sense – Pärt is a minimalist composer from Estonia, land of mittens.



These modified Chevalier Mittens by Tikru have jumped in the mail with a few other goodies and are on their way to my Mitten Swap downstream pal. I've heard from my upstream pal – my mittens are also in transit. By some synchronicity, a cold front has settled roundabout Exit 151, so this is a good time for mittens!



While I'm thinking about palms, I saw these oddities at the Flower Show. They have 3D bottlebrush fronds rather than the more usual flat pinnate or palmate fronds. Alas, they weren't labeled and none of the experts there could identify them (a few even claimed they "hadn't noticed" them). Perhaps they're a Roystonea sport? I wonder what they are called.

Ed: I heart the Internet. They're foxtail palms, Wodyetia bifurcata, an Australian species well known to Aborigines, but not to botany until 1983. Hardy and easy-care, they're increasingly popular in landscaping, particularly in Florida.

Constantly

Happy Pi Day! It's 3.14, a day to celebrate the never-varying relationship of the circumference of a circle to its radius. I've got the necessary for a knitterly observance: Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac and yarn, Yarn Place Graceful. I'm starting my first pi shawl!

EZ's simple design concept had always appealed to me, but the vast quantities of yarn required – as much as 3,400 yds or 3,100 m for some variations on the theme – and the concomitant investment of knitting time formed a high barrier. But then I told myself, Self, it's a shawl. Why obsess? I decided to wing it – when the ball o' yarn is finished, so is the shawl. Trala... la?



The first step was to weigh the ball o' yarn because [waves hands over math] when one-fourth of the yarn is knit, the shawl will be about one-half its finished diameter. Alas, the weigh-in revealed that the 100-g ball is 10% underweight. Plus the Yarn Place website indicates the yardage on the label is overstated by 40% due to a misprint. I'm guesstimating I have 1,600 yd (1,460 m), sufficient for a 50-inch (127-cm) shoulder shawl. Not quite what I was hoping, but fair enough.

Moving along, I finished the no-purl mini Monkeys. Alternating the MC with the CC at the ball of the foot initially was an expedient, but I like the way the solid contrast yarn makes the shyer colors in the variegated yarn pop. (Sorry about the still-blinding legs and allergy rash.)



There's a small ridge inside the sock where the colors are twisted together. It runs up the middle of the sole and doesn't bother me, although people with sensitive feet might want to place it elsewhere and people with very sensitive feet might not be able to tolerate it anywhere.

Overall, I'm very happy with my mini Monkeys, especially their mischievous stripes on the heel and gusset. They're just the thing to wear while cherry blossom viewing in Branch Brook Park...



... or while gawping at Heliconia at the Flower Show.



The similarity of colors and shapes wasn't intentional on my part, but perhaps it's yet more proof of that some plants engage in subliminal communication. Hm....

Amabilis

The month is less than a week old and already has both meowed and roared. Perhaps in harmony with that seasonal split personality, Malabrigo March is reminding me of how much I love fancy texture stitches. I also hate the same stitches, but right now it's all good. The Amanda Hat by Gina House is finished and she is lovable perfection, if I do say so myself. I'm particularly happy with the way the Diagonal Demi-Brioche stitch and the color pooling work together.



Amanda as written is a bit too deep for my head, so I set out to omit one repeat of brioche stitches, four rounds, half below the garter band and half above. Apparently I can't count to two, because somehow the omitted rounds are all above the garter band. Ah well, I rather like the subtle asymmetry. I also added an extra set of decreases on top for a better fit.



Consistent gauge is extra important when working brioche stitches. The fabric has a strong propensity to pull in, which causes many knitters to tighten their gauge, which causes the fabric to pull in more, ad infinitum (– and beyond!) in a spiral as inexorable as a gravity sink or an economic depression. Happily, it's generally a virtue if a hat tapers toward the top, which makes Amanda a forgiving project for the first-time brioche knitter.

The next Malabrigo March project on the needles is Chevalier Mittens by Tikru. I'm a great admirer of her Suomi style and this pattern is no exception. Alas, my poor digicam seems unable to capture the richly ombréd red-violet of the Pagoda colorway; indeed, what it does register seems to obscure the beautiful cables. So I dabbled in some special effects to convey a better sense of the luscious texture.



Chevalier as written has a cuff that reaches almost to my elbow – a magnificent gauntlet for a knight of yore, but too much of a good thing for my taste. I've shortened the cuff. I'm working the m1 increases for the offset thumb gusset so that they lean away from the thumb instead of the more usual lean toward the thumb, resulting in soft organic curves on the palm side that showcase the yarn and contrast with the embossed relief on the back of the hand. Sorry, no pix of the thumb gusset this time, I got obsessed with the color balance problem.



Red-violet does seem to be a challenge for my digicam, cf this splendid dendrobium orchid from last year's Flower Show. I'm off to Philly tomorrow to chatter in botanic Latin, walk and gawk 'til my feet fall off, and stock up on goods, garden and otherwise. (Thanks, Alotta.Knittin, for the advance review. I'll look for those Flying Monkey cupcakes!) As I mentioned to blogless Kelli, I'll be the one inhaling – all the fresh flowers and plants are such a breath of spring.

Marching

Today is the most peremptory date on the calendar: March 4th! Applying knitter's logic, it seems appropriate to show off new socks today. It also seems like a good day to try out Jessica's theory about socks, shoes, and blog comments. I'd tell you the theory, but that would violate the Uncertainty Principle, at least for this post (so maybe later).



The socks are a picot hem variation on Queen of the Jungle Stripe socks, worked from one skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in colorway Sherbet. They are exactly the same size despite the odd perspective above or the gap between their making – the first sock was finished [cough] in mid-2006. That's one less UFO buzzing around Area 151, plus pink is a Project Spectrum color.



Despite gray skies today, the past few days really have got me back in the pink. Jessica gave an excellent spinning and housewarming party on Saturday. Thanks, Jessica, it was good to be in the company of fiber people – to meet Kristy and to see Deb again as well as MY SnB regulars Kim and Risa. (Alas, I have no pix of the happy event.)

The last package of my Scout's Indie Swag subscription arrived. It's got a Valentine's Day theme and is very girly – which, although no longer timely, is still welcome. To avoid spoilers, it's sporting a disguise (click on the pic to view).

The lottery for Scout's Swag 3 is starting soon. Returning subscribers have an advantage in the lottery, but I'll be sitting this one out. Much as I've enjoyed Scout's parcels, I fear I lack the requisite swagger. Put another way, alas, I'm 'way too much of a control freak to derive undiluted joy from random selections.

More pinkyness (and diluted joy): DH and I watched La Vie en Rose, the Édith Piaf biopic for which Marion Cotillard just received the Best Actress Oscar. It's an amazing, luminous performance in an un-Hollywood movie, not factual biography of course, more a sketchy approximation or appropriation, but worth seeing even if one hates subtitled movies. The movie has become vaguely controversial as Cotillard has badly damaged – or perhaps cemented – her blossoming Hollywood reputation (she ascribes to several offensively wacky conspiracy theories).



Marching right along, here's my first Malabrigo March wip, the Amanda Hat by Gina House. I'm knitting fewer repeats to fit my short stack cranium. The Diagonal Demi-Brioche lace (to use the name Barbara Walker uses for the stitch pattern) is especially luscious in Malabrigo Worsted. It's a snap to work and I plan to finish it watching election returns tonight.

And for those who didn't get to vote today (or even if you did), here's an online petition to add bicycle directions to Google Maps. It would be fantastic to have the option to Bike There as well as Drive There and Take Public Transportation There. For more information, check out Google Maps 'Bike There'.

Pinky on the Brain

It's a gray Tuesday roundabout Exit 151. I used to think days like this were just overcast – thanks to Haze Cam Newark, I now know that much of the grayness actually is from elevated levels of air pollution (!). At least I have an FO to brighten the day, a short scarf (with marshmallow bunnies).



While looking for something else at Needlecraftique (Exit 151), I [cough] just happened to notice the basket of Noro Taiyo, looking fresh as spring. New Noro! No surprise, I danced the happy dance went home with a skein, colorway 4.



Because I know Noro, I rewound the 100-gram, 200-meter center-pull skein and found – yup – a knot that disrupted the color sequence. Were it not for the knot, it looks like there would be 1½ color repeats. As it is, I have three repeats of the girliest colors in the colorway, which isn't so bad.



During the Oscars show, the larger portion turned into the scarf – moss stitch with slip stitch borders, no fringe. Nice production knitting, something simple to showcase the brilliant colors and wabi-sabi-ness of the yarn. The scarf is 5 inches wide by 48 inches long (12 x 122 cm), just long enough to knot and tuck. (There's enough yarn left to make it a foot (30 cm) longer, if desired.) Here it is in futomaki view.



And here's some futomaki, for gentle readers who don't know sushi.



Taiyo is fabulous – 40% cotton, 30% silk, 15% wool, 15% nylon – very like a cotton-silk version of Kureyon, except perhaps a bit more smoothly spun. Noro fans will love its mix of brilliant colors, rustic texture, luster, and strength. In the course of working out the dimensions of the scarf, I knit and frogged several times with no noticeable frizzing. As is to be expected, the yarn has considerable grab; I used aluminum needles. The wool and nylon content keep the yarn light and hopefully will reduce the tendency of cotton and silk to sag and bag.



I love my new scarf and am very happy with the new yarn. It remains to be seen how it wears, but at the moment I could see it easily substituting for Kureyon or Silk Garden in projects such as the Brooklyn Tweed Noro Striped Scarf, Argosy, Klaralund, or Poppy, to name just a few.