Sil's Fab Knitblog

Marimekko!

I love big graphic prints and almost expired upon learning that H&M is now featuring a Tribute to Marimekko Collection!

I know!

Go look at those prints and admire the fun summery garments.  I MUST have the dress in slide #6.  Must!

Knitting travails

Ok, I LOST my knitting pattern AGAIN for my flat Thermal!  Again people!  Yes, the dork club called and they've fast tracked me for membership.

Of course since I lost the pattern two weeks ago and had to recreate it from my less than stellar memory, I DID make lots of copies and saved it on every computer to which I have access.  I even emailed it to myself on three different accounts.

So no worries, I pull out my laptop to get the gist of the sleeve (it is JUST a sleeve afterall - not a hard bit).  Ok check, increase every 9 rows.  Pulled out the knitting and gird yourself people, the knitting needle is now BROKEN!  Apparently crushing my knitting into my suitcase and then flying off to about 17 states in 5 days is not the recommended care for a bamboo circ.   YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED PEOPLE!

So teeth gritted and soldiering on, I bought a new METAL Addi Turbo upon returning from said trip, reprinted THREE copies of the pattern and secreted them about my luggage and am now about to decrease for the sleeve cap on sleeve #2.  Deep cleansing breath everyone.

Happy thoughts...Maryland is approaching!  There's even a cute new logo this year! Yay!  With some very creative swapping for absolutely crap trips I have the weekend off to go!  Yay! Yay!  At least then you'll have some sheepy pix and fibery shots to look forward to.  Let's face it, sleeve pix are not the knitting porn we so enjoy.

Breezy times

Today's layover eye candy is courtesy of Gulf Breeze, Florida.  I don't know much about where I am though.  I know my view is gorgeous and the weather is perfectly warm, no clouds with a slight breeze.  Ideal really.  I gathered from the airport signs that there is a big air base here and it's the home of the Blue Angels (who are amazing if you've ever seen them live).

Our hotel in Gulf Breeze is just fine, but what I'll remember most fondly is the world's best bedspread print.  Check it out!  Toucans?  Parrots?  Oh my!  I got a good night's sleep tucked under these covers, so it's fabulousness is no impediment to a good snooze. 

Here's wishing you cloudless skies, toucans and gentle ocean breezes.

Good is the new bad

The good news is that my flat version of Thermal sleeve/extended swatch is looking good (see how impressed Igor is).  The flattened pattern is behaving well and I'm not too alarmed by the Thermal fabric pulling in (it is essentially 2x2 rib afterall).

The bad news is that I left the only hard copy of my cryptic pattern on the airplane last weekend while commuting in to work.  I only realized it when I got to my apartment and by then the airplane trash was in some dumpster on Staten Island.  ARGH!

The good news is that I have my flat version of the pattern on my computer and can print off another copy.

The bad news is that my computer is at home (in California) and I won't be home for about 2 weeks.  Sigh.

I'm going to try to recreate the pattern and save it on my travel laptop and then email it to every email account I have so this won't happen again.  I have learned my lesson though, so I guess if I squint and try not to throw it, that's the upside.

Party on Wayne!

Just in time for summer...

I've been working the sleeve/extended swatch of my flat Thermal version and all seems to be going well.  My cuff ribbing pulls in rather alot, but it's super stretchy and easily wraps around my wrist.  That sounds like a success there.

The Rowan 4 Ply Soft is a soft sproingy yarn that's a treat with which to knit.  Of course it's still fingering weight which makes it not so perfect, but whatever.  I'm using up stash baybee.  I knit that whole sleeve bit in the photo with one skein of 4 Ply which is rather impressive to me for some reason.  I shall somehow manage to shove this project into my suitcase for travel to work tomorrow since I'll be gone for two weeks and hope to make some progress in all that time.  Perhaps colder weather back east will motivate me since it's going to be 80 degrees out here.

Other than a bit of knitting, I managed to use up the rest of the crazy tree meyer lemons from last week's harvest.  This time I found a recipe for Lemon Cake from The Barefoot Contessa.  Her recipes are usually delicious and decidedly full of butter and yumminess.  This cake recipe is superior for it's use of glazes.  Unlike some recipes, this one has you make a lemon juice/sugar syrup to spoon over the hot cake THEN makes an icing with lemon juice and powdered sugar for the cool cake. Double lemon yumminess in one go.  It's a superior lemon cake and the recipe was found here.  The only mod I made was to halve the recipe as I've no need for the TWO cakes it makes.  Well, my junk in the trunk has no need for two cakes I should say.

As an aside, does anyone know why the knitting rings are now completely annoying with some new software/format/procedure thingy?  One must now reregister and jump through hoops in order to surf while viewing their dumb banner on top of blogs.  That may be too annoying for me to stomach.  Anyone know?

Now smaller than ever!

No, I'm not smaller than ever (though I am getting a haircut tomorrow).  My little travel laptop has arrived and has been played with and fondled.

I wanted a small, light laptop for travelling.  I have a very super Dell Inspiron that has a lovely display and keyboard that is perfect for my home needs.  Unfortunately, it's also a bit heavy and big for travelling every day.

I researched ultralight portables on CNET and Notebookreview and found that the Dell M1330 and Lenovo Thinkpad X61 were highly regarded and just what I wanted.  The Thinkpad is REALLY smally and light (3 lbs) and would have been perfect for me, but it's also rather pricey.  I opted for my Dell M1330 which is slightly heavier and a tad bigger, but is significantly less $$.  I got this configuration, which is rather more than I needed but was on a great sale.  The most important thing I wanted was the addition of a full warranty and damage/theft protection.  I can just see me pouring my coffee on the poor little thing.

I also looked at refurbished models but my deal at Dell was comparable with the refurbished models.  If you're looking for a small model and aren't travelling everyday, you would be able to find a really well priced selection out there on the web.

If anyone wonders why I didn't get a MacBook, it's because all the proprietary software my employer uses isn't supported with that OS.  I know some of it does work and other programs don't and I didn't want to chance it.  That MacBook Air was certainly tempting.

My new laptop came with a very serviceable black sleeve, but I found this pretty little carrier in a magazine.  It's felt and very easy to customize for my laptop.  I'll put that project on the todo list.

Tomorrow will have knitting featured!  Promise.

And the lemon went to...

The first (and so far only) lemon recipe I used was to make Lemon Blueberry Bread and it's yummy.  I went overboard on the blueberries.  I used a whole bag of frozen ones and it turns out about half a bag would have done.  Oh well.  No one died from too many delicious blueberries.  Or wasn't that what did Veruca Salt in, something with the blueberry gum?  No that was Violet Beauregarde.  I digress.

Actually, not too much of a digression.  Speaking of blue, I unearthed some gorgeous Rowan 4 Ply Soft from the stash (and I bought it at Stash funnily enough) and thought I'd work out a sweater project.  I've  been hankering for a sweater-size project, rather than just working on my travel scarf project.  Let's face it, scarves are dull - not matter how pretty.

I love this 4 Ply Soft, despite its being fingering weight.  I tried swatching it in stockinette and that just won't work.  My stockinette at that small gauge is too lumpy for me to find acceptable.  It won't block out to be perfect, so no.

I then remembered Thermal by adorable Laura Chau.  My sister's Thermal is so cute and my gauge would work for this pattern.  I saw that it was knit in the round, with is usually my preference, but I'd hoped to make this project somewhat portable.  You must agree, a sweater in the round is not portable.

I swatched, changed the pattern to be knit flat and began a sleeve. My twisted rib was unattractive so I opted to start with 2x2 ribbing.  It may prove to be too similar to the pattern and look funny and have to be ripped and worked as twisted rib, but so far the jury is still out on that.

I'm also adding a tad bit of waist shaping, since I can take advantage of the knitting up flat.  I hope it's not too much because the thermal pattern does pull in some, but hell why not.  I've got the curves, show them off!  Hopefully my half-baked conversion of the pattern to flat will work and the swatch as sleeve method is successful and I shall call this the "Violet Beauregarde Thermal".  Thermal on!