In the wings

WEBS had these yarns on sale. I'd had these projects in the back of my subconcious. Berroco Zen was too expensive to pay retail so I waited. For the cardigan, Devon Julia was hard to find. I had to substitute colors, but it will work.

Stuff in the works

In my quest to challenge myself and master new aspects of the craft, I bought Knitting Out of Africa. The author is a Dane (I believe - or Norwegian) and her designs are inspired by various African motifs.

She uses her own yarn and I've never been able to find it anywhere except one Norwegian yarn site. I substituted to the best of my ability. using Knitpicks Palette. While I always check gauge, and did so this time, the knitted garment is not gauging correctly. But, the pattern is a huge size and I can block to fit.

The trick to this one is that it is modular knitting. The small needle size and the constant changing of direction makes it slow going, but it will be pretty cool when it's done.

The other one is a rather nondescript man's sweater. It's from Knit N Style, one of the few to which I do not subscribe. Sometimes it has useful stuff, but often the designs are just tacky. Lots of eyelash, sparkles, and some just butt-ugly designs. I don't subscribe because I don't want to pay for the ones that are going right in the trash. The yarn I'd ordered in error, and just kept. The color will not work on me at all. It would work on someone, say, blond and blue-eyed. Or someone with dark hair. Not someone like me, who tends to favor reds, yellows, browns and greens.

Why, then?

It's in the technique. This one will require a steek. Steeks are shaping techniques that require the knitter to cut the knitting. This seems counterintuitive and I'm leery of it, but this is a simple one and I'm at least willing to try. If I screw it up, well, no matter.

Knew In Knitting

So I finally learned to knit socks.

I took the week between Christmas and New Year off, and one of my projects was to sit for an uninterrupted period of time trying to figure this out. I'd tried before, using double-point needles. I dislike using them. And by "dislike," I mean "loathe." So I quit.

I had the Cat Bordhi Socks Soar book for a while, and tried to learn it before. But I was a bit too new and the book does not, IMHO, explain sock anatomy. This, I discovered, is one of the keys to seeing what you are doing. So, I got a few more sock books, including Sensational Knitted Socks and the new Vogue Ultimate Sock book, as they both illustrate sock construction. Sensational also contains instructions for 4 or 5 needles, or two circulars, along with various patterns, sizes, and gauges, for mix and match.

I got it.

The needles I had were not ideal for the task. I'd bought them with the idea that I didn't want to spend much on needles if I didn't like doing it.

After I finished the first set of socks, I invested in some decent needles (I needed small needles in various sizes anyway for other projects). Knitpicks sells very nice nickel plates for the best prices I've seen. With the new needles, I started the next pair.

Yeah, so sue me

I know I haven't been on in a while. I'm guessing only three people read this anyway, so nyeh.

I'd give that trite excuse about being busy. It's true, but that isn't all. I've been spending my time on the spectator sport that is presidential politics, reading articles and blogs. I do have an undergrad degre in this, so I find it of interest.

I've been reading more, and working on some essays and short stories.

I've also been conflicted about my electoral choices, and have been reasoning through them.

And, of course, knitting.

Christmas Dinner

Lest you believe all I do is read and play with yarn, I cook as well.




We stayed home this Xmas. Fresh from my last round of holiday baking (chocolate peppermint chews, s'mores cookies, pistachio lime balls, chocolate dipped mocha cutouts, cranberry white chocolate drops, to name a few), I made a pretty fine round of meals for the in-laws. Friday dinner was a rotini-tomato bake with pine nutes, basil and cheese, garlic bread, and a salad. Saturday morning was an almond tea ring.



Then, dinner. The menu was from various issues of Fine Cooking (as a charter subscriber, I have every copy, as well as several of their seasonal publications). I roasted a whole beef tenderloin in a salt crust. I served it with orange dijon green beans, carrots with shallots, and served a sourdough. For dessert, it was a steamed gingerbread cake with an egg nog creme anglais.

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/beef-tenderloin-roasted-salt-crust.aspx?ac=ts&ra=fp

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/braised-carrots-shallots.aspx?nterms=50044,50280,53160&ac=fp

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/steamed-coriander-gingerbread-eggnog-creme-anglaise.aspx?ac=fp


For Xmas dinner today, Bon Appetit will provide the meal. I'm making apple-sage cornish game hens, a pilaf, and ginger creme brulee.

Nancy learns a new skill

Up to this point, I was ambivalent about crochet. I think most of the stitches are ugly and I think granny squares are hideous. Of late, however, I've seen designs done by creative sorts that are just lovely.

And, crochet makes lace easily.

So, I've studied it. I have a few beginner books. Crochet pattern reading makes little sense to me. I still haven't figured out what a "post" is. I have managed to figure out the "front loop" and the "back loop" and single, double, and triple crochet (which I find to be misnamed, as single crochet requires two moves, double requires three, triple requires four).

I found a pattern for a shrug in the fall issue of Interweave Crochet. I've bought some crochet magazines and just flipped through. This shrug, however, was rated for beginners (most patterns are at least intermediate and thus way beyond me). I decided to try it since gauge isn't crucial for it. I used a smaller yarn for a more lacey effect.

I finished it over Thanksgiving, but I didn't get the ends right (instead of a rectangle, I had a warped trapezoid). I yanked it out and am redoing it. I did a lot of it during a CLE (which are forced upon me so that I can retain my license -- don't get me started on what a waste CLE is and how it's nothing more than a monetary boondoggle for bar associations) and on an Amtrak ride from Chicago to Alton.

Band Concert

(P.S. -- I do know about paragraph usage. For some reason, Blogger keeps running everything together on some of my posts, despite my zillions of attempts to edit them). My local programmer taught me how to force them. Point is, Blogger is very buggy and should be doing this automatically all the time, not just on some posts.

Forgive the bad pictures. I was far away and had trouble getting the shot. But anyway, Robert started playing trumpet. Andrew played the same instrument in his youth.

We went to the school's band concert -- his school is in Godfrey. I worked at home that day, so I picked him up and got him there on time. Andrew met us there from work.

The parking lot was jam-packed and the event very well attended, despite the fact it was cold and rainy that night.

I remember these days well. Both Valerie and I were in band. I was also in choir. I remember playing whole songs, though, whereas the orchestra and band played the first verse of several numbers.

Robert's school has a big orchestra (appeared to be about 50 kids) a big choir (about 50 kids) and a small band (closer to 20 kids). One of the drummers was a kid who looked about 13. Robert told us later that kid is his friend with whom he's been in class since Kindergarten. We noted that it's good to have a big friend.

The orchestra director appeared to me to be a bit high strung. She stopped the whole procedure when a violin player dropped her violin, bow, and music. The band director, Mr. Banks, on the other hand, was far more laid back. He appeared to be in his 50's, so he's not a rookie and knew he was dealing with kids.

The choir was pretty good. All the kids in all three groups had been told to wear white shirts and black pants. One boy in the choir, though, wore the sharpest suit I'd ever seen. It was cream colored check, a 3/4 length single-breated coat, and a sharply knotted tie with a tie bar. You won't find too many boys willing to go all out, to make a fashion choice. I couldn't get a good shot of it.

We got dinner at the Applebee's and then I took him home.