Sil's Fab Knitblog

A pox

Dear Skeevy Little Car Burglar:

I wish to inform you that I will be calling forth the power of the knitters ("TPOTK") forthwith to rain curses upon your head.  It is with some reluctance that I have come to this decision, but you did steal my iPod and attempt to extricate my car stereo from it's rightful location (i.e. my dashboard).

I am reluctant to wish you so much ill will and bad karma, as clearly a person who has chosen car burglary as a profession does not have too many shining paths in their future from which to choose, but one reaps what one sows.  You dear burglar, will be reaping the powerful negative energy of a large group of creative individuals.  The curses will vary in content and manifestation as the knitting/spinning community is very diverse.  You shall never know where the next one will come, rather like a good horror movie.  You can be sure that your karmic circle will be closing in upon you shortly and I wish better luck in your future endeavors.

Best regards,

The Owner of The Beige Car You Burgled Last Night

Lil bag o'mine

I think going to Kinokuniya with Carolyn the other day unleashed my desire to make small things.  Everything in those Japanese craft books are so cute and well thought out.  Even the butt ugly, what were they thinking items.

I thought I'd start with a small bag.  I came upon a very good tutorial for a boxy pouch on Kelly's blog Drago[knit]-fly.  She's got a clear, concise little tutorial for sewing one up.  I had all the supplies necessary in the stash so I cut out my fabric from home dec stash remnants and plugged in the iron. 

All in all, this bag took about an hour to cut and sew up.  Honestly, I could have done it a bit more quickly but I stopped when I figured out that the lining wouldn't clean finish the inside of the bag.  I futzed and ripped a bit trying to find a work around, but short of ripping the whole thing apart and starting over, it wasn't going to happen.  The home dec fabric I'd used unravels a ton more than cotton calico and I was afraid my cute bag would disintigrate with use.  I ended up finishing the inside corners with the serger and topstitching the horizontal side seams so the unravelling would stop where the stitching was.

I'd like to make another one and figure out the clean finishing part.  I pulled out the bag making book I'd bought on another Kinokuniya expedition and there is a similar box bag in there that is clean finished and engineered with Japanese precision.  If I can figure out the diagrams I'll make another attempt at this box shape and also at a few of the other really cool shapes in that book.  I've got tons of remnants to practice with and a keen desire to learn Japanese, one character at a time from craft books.

Snow and cake

FYI: there is no knitting in this post.  None at all...

Carolyn came out to visit this weekend for an action packed snowboarding trip.  Alas, we are having a series of giant storms here in California, which probably wouldn't be noteworthy in other parts of the country, and thought the better of getting stuck in the Sierra Nevadas. (Yes, Hwy 80 is still closed according to the Yahoo).

Despite huge amounts of hairstyle ruining rain in San Francisco this weekend, we managed to have fun.  There were the usual activities, but the major focus for me was eating Swedish Princess Cake this weekend.  I'd first seen it mentioned on Mariko's blog awhile back and became obsessed.  She even gave me the name of a bakery where I was sure to find it.

The first slice of Swedish Princess Cake was from the Mariko approved Schuberts Bakery on Clement in SF.  I believe Carolyn said "this is the best thing that's ever been in my mouth".  Hmmm...It is divine, white cake with kirsch custard and raspberry layers, whipped cream and marzipan over top.  It's my new favorite.

The second slice was procured the next day at Patisserie DeLanghe, who's deliciousness I'd known of since day one.  What I hadn't know of was their Princess Cake.  In we wandered and there it was, begging to be eaten.  This slice may have been even better than the first, more raspberrier.  It could be that the slice in the hand is always the best, but more raspberry is always a good thing.

Today I see that Ikea has Swedish Princess Cake in their restaurants!  Holy crap!  The Swedish Princesses are taking over the world! I'm going to have to take up marathon running if this cake obsession continues.

Green light

My Double X cardie is progressing.  I finished the first sleeve and thought I should check the fit of it before making another one.  Sound logic there Sherlock!

As you can see from the photo, I sewed in the first sleeve and it fit in just fine.  I did find that Rowanspun DK sucks ass for sewing up.  It breaks as soon as you pull it just a tad too much.  ARGH!

I rummaged around the yarn basket and found some embroidery floss in a neutral kind of greeny color and gave that a try.  The color isn't a great match, but you can't see the stitching so what the hell.  The embroidery floss worked just fine for sewing up and the sleeve set in very easily.

The only niggling concern I have is the sleeves are a tad narrow.  I think they'll fit fine, but too much layering won't happen in this sweater.  I sure am not ripping the sleeves out at this point just so I can get four layers under it.  If I need four layers to go outside, I'm staying in with a margarita and a down comforter.  A pioneer I'm not.

Greensleeves

After a week of southern hospitality, I'm glad to be back to the welcoming fogginess that is the SF bayarea.  And despite optimal naptime available on the flight home, I opted to knit and watch "The Jane Austen Book Club".  The knitting is much better than the movie (the ending will give you diabetes, but it was free so I got my money's worth).

Three hours on the plane and one hour in the airport gave me 3/4 of the sleeve.  Not a bad use of time.  I'd originally planned that the sleeves would be plain stockinette since I wasn't sure about having enough yarn, but I've got plenty and went for the cable.  I quite like the pretty cable with the tweedy yarn, so I'm glad I had enough yarn (for once).  I only wish it was done since it's bloody cold here today!

Travel sockies

I 've got some travelling and sitting around time coming up this week and have brought way too much knitting with me than is reasonable.  Oh well, it made me feel better to have a few projects from which to choose.

One project I brought was my latest "travel" sock.  Travel sock is just an easy project that you can talk/socialize/watch a movie without screwing up royally.  This sock is my plain vanilla picot edge stockinette sock.  Short row heels and toes are the plan.  Who saw that coming?!

The yarn makes the plain sock much more fun.  I'm pretty sure it's from last Maryland Sheep and Wool and it's Lana Grossa Meilenweit Party color 5562 in Wine Twist.  It's self striping and ragg yarn looking.  Cute ain't it?  Off to sitting about waiting to be "oriented"...sigh.

It's not all about hats

Steady progress has been made on the fronts of the Double X cardigan.  I'm making up the pattern myself, so there has been a bit of self editing to correct the crazy calculations I made when first writing up notes based upon those lying swatches.  They lie like rugs.

As you can see, they look OK.  Sure they're unblocked and laying on concrete, but I can't show any cable detail using the flash and sunlight has been sparse here in "sunny" California.  Fog, drizzle, rain - that we've got.  Sun, not so much.

I love the cables and the shaping that will make this a rather fitted sweater.  If I have to make 2" plackets at center front in order to get this puppy closed of my profoundly average sized rack, say nothing.  Just say it looks "interesting" and we'll all know where we are.  I'm still pondering the button or zipper issue.  I'm sure a last minute, impromptu decision will be made.  Why pretend I'm deliberate and thoughtful.  Again, not so much.

The back is plain stockinette and is about 1/3 done.  The sleeves will also be more of that super exciting stockinette with ribbed cuffs.  I can't pretend this is the most interesting knitting project for blogging, but it is one that has a great chance of being worn frequently.  Please bear with me.

Crappy hat pictures!

After several attempts to photograph my newly completed Marbou Beret, the photos that didn't come out blurry have my big old mug front and center.  Sorry for the giant pictures of my face.  Turns out it's hard to capture a black beret on a dark overcast day.

I like the way this hat came out, though I did futz with the band a bit.  I reknit the band once with smaller needles and less stitches.  No big deal to do that on a top down hat.  I think my hat may be a tad bigger than the pattern, but it fits my head ok, so no harm there.  I don't know how one is supposed to wear a beret, but this is how this one fits and I like that my head doesn't look like a bullet as in a regular watchcap.

I've steam blocked the beret so far and will wet block and let it dry with a dinner plate stuffed inside just to make it the roundest shape possible.  I'm also toying with the idea of weaving in a row or two of elastic thread to make sure the hat won't blow off in gusty conditions.  Does anyone know where one can buy black elastic thread online?

Project specs:  pattern - Marabou Beret by Ingrid Nielsen (click the Marabou Beret pattern link in the sidebar); yarn - 2 skeins Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK (254 yards total) in black; no mods.

Back to the green XX Cable Cardigan.

More hats please

Although I've been working on my Double X cardie, I've been itching to start a more portable project.  I decided to knit a black beret and nipped out and bought two skeins of yummy Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK.

I really love Beret Gaufre from Veronik Avery.  It's a super cute textured beret, but my yarn won't work with the gauge of this pattern.  Trust me, I tried.

I then perused the hat patterns on Ravelry and found Marabou Beret from Ingrid Nielsen.  Also very cute.  I'll be trying this pattern out next and hopefully my gauge will work here.  I'd better hop to it, since it's going to be cold, blustery and rainy here in California.  No snow though, so it's bearable.

After this hat, I fear my fascination will turn to mittens (sibling rivalry?)...