Sil's Fab Knitblog

Greenish

Typepad just ate my post, so this one will be shorter and unlinked...

I've been working on my alternate project from tiny needled Thermal.  I've started Simple Knitted Bodice from some ribbon yarn from the garage stash.  So far so good, but I did have to rejigger the pattern for my 35" bust.  The pattern has the big boobie spreads and 35" is not covered in any of them. Annoying.

Out came Knitting From the Top and my trusty calculator and this is the result.  I've got the sleeves on waste yarn but am still making the deep V-neck.  Standard increasing rates don't apply.

The size small covered 32 to 34" and the medium 36 to 38".  Doesn't that seem like a gigantic spread on a fitted garment?  No worries, pattern writing isn't brain surgery, especially if it's a matter of rejiggering topdown numbers.  I'm glad it fits so far and am looking forward to the pretty chevron bit under those 35" boobies.

So much boobie talk for a non porn site...

Smoke floats

My lovely sister Claudia and the fabulous Michele will ride in the MS Ride TOMORROW!  They've raised an awesome amount of money to fight MS and if you've been meaning to donate, please do so.  Every $10 gets you one raffle chance.  Good cause.  Good prizes.  Great people.

I have no crafting to show you.  I worked six days in a row with minimal rest - it's summer and every flight is full.  That means no knitting, just sleeping on layovers.  I've also learned not to knit on the flight home (I work 2000 miles from SF) because I'm usually so sleepy I make hideous mistakes in even the simplest projects.

What I did do was watch two episodes of John Adams on the plane.  Why didn't I know about how AWESOME this miniseries is?  I also sat next to the nicest couple coming to SF who are taking a seminar to start the adoption process.  They were the nicest, most genuine people and were so freaking excited to start the year long process.  They needed tips on where to go and where to eat in the bayarea and heaven knows I know where things are.  They made me happy.

I came home to find my beautiful California on fire.  That photo is what the sky looks like.  It's not blue because of the smoke.  The sun is now orange through the haze.  Apparently they can see the huge smoke cloud from space.  Not good.  This does not make me happy.

Remember to donate to my sister's MS Ride if you can!  Thanks!

Fruity chicken

I made some chicken salad today that is so darn yummy I had to go all Martha Stewart on you and share the recipe.  I know!  I'm turning into Betty White's character on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Just call me Sue Ann...

I used this recipe for chicken salad with grapes and apples.  It's low fat, spicy and delicious.  I eat it with homemade multigrain bread

Download multigrain_bread.pdf

 and feel thoroughly pleased with myself.  Party on Garth!

Hot and bothered

My fingers were aching a bit the past week or so and after going all hypochondriac and imagining all the diseases I possibly contracted, I figured out it was too much knitting on size 1 needles.  Apparently I clutch those needles with a death grip.

I started a new sewing project in an effort to not knit on my Thermal (and because I like sewing).  That works.  I also thought I'd swatch a project on bigger needles.  My next project should be Apres Surf Hoodie, but that knits up on size 1s or 2s also and won't alleviate hand pain.  I decided to unearth my supply of apple green Tess Microfiber Ribbon and see if it would work as a Simple Fitted Bodice.

I get gauge of 20 sts/4" on size 8 needles and that doesn't seem to bug my fingers.  I found that my bust measurement falls between two sizes of the SFB pattern and I'll need to calculate my own personal size.  Dang.  It's just an easy top down sweater so it's not too hard to do the math, just annoying.  I'll just write my own pattern and add the lace bit in the midsection.  Hopefully that won't look heinous in the ribbon yarn, but I'm willing to rip it all out if it does.  I'd cross my fingers but they're kind of sore.

A rather Bronte Rochester

This layover eye candy is courtesy of Rochester, NY at sundown with gathering storm clouds.  Looking pretty.  It's raining and thundering now, so the promise of those clouds has come to fruition.

Enjoy the view.

Roadie dress

Firstly, sad news from Rachael.  Her lovely momma passed away yesterday after an illness.  Many condolences to Rachael and her family.

Yesterday was a dear friend's birthday and before heading out to a really great dinner at Maritime East, I pretty much finished my newest travel dress.  Today I sewed the hem and then tried to find a shady spot to take a decent enough photo of the darn dress to post.  We're having a heatwave and there is sun everywhere.  Luckily the shady side of the house has a ledge upon which to prop the camera and a photoshoot commenced.

To recap, I began with New Look #6803 and added an elastic waist and more fullness through the body.  Think of it as an A-line tank with an elastic waist.  I made a few fit adjustments like taking out a bunch of ease at the sides under the arms.  I don't want free boobie peep shows getting me in trouble in some foreign spot.  I changed the dumb neck facings to bias bands to clean finish and sewed them down with a twin needle to make a stretchy seam.  For the hem I chose to use the rolled hem function of the overlock machine with wooly nylon in the upper looper.  That creates a lettuce edged hem and makes it a bit more fun.  There are also side seam pockets to hold room keys and trinkets.

I think it makes a decent swim coverup and with a belt, it works well enough to run around town in.  Leggings and a little cardie will make this a good airplane commute outfit too. (Yes, I fly to work - always have.)  After my trip this weekend, I hope to make a summery blouse, or skirt.  No ideas yet, just some material wanting to be used.

There is much heat

If there is radio silence here on the blog it usually means I'm working.  Crafting is usually minimal on those trips as a legal night's rest is 9 hours.  It's usually more, but not by much.  Attempting to knit under these conditions usually brings about some bonehead error.  One such error was found on the front of Thermal while flying home at the end of a six day work stretch.  It was only about 2" down and quickly ripped and redone.  Must be more careful.

My current crafting is all about sewing.  Because it's hot everywhere in the whole country and I have limited outfit space in my suitcase, I like to bring a knit dress with me on trips to wear out to dinner or what have you.  My favorite is about 2 years old from Target and is black knit.  I'd like to have another go to dress in my arsenal so I'm sewing one up.  I found 2.5 yards of nice cotton Lycra at Joann's for the dress idea bouncing around my head.  I made a quick sketch and started looking through the pattern books.

Unfortunately I couldn't find what I was looking for.  I found something close to start with and am altering the pattern to suit my ideas.  As you can hopefully see in my messy sketch, I want a simple round neck with the pleat detail, an elastic waistband, a slight blouson bodice and a bit of an A line skirt.  New Look 6803 has the neckline and basic shape I can start with.  I added 1.5" length above the waist to add 3/4" of blouson.  I then slashed and spread from the hem up adding 3" of fullness to the hem.  I then straightened the slight side shaping and brought the side out 1".  Hopefully that will give me the silhouette I'm shooting for without adding too much fullness.  I'm not after a square dance skirt after all.  I'm starting the sewing up today, so I shall soon see how my plans are faring.

Food idea for a hot day you ask?  Well pretend you did.  I made a sweet potato salad yesterday that was super yummy.  I used a Moosewood cookbook recipe where I steamed 2 garnet yams cut into 1/2" cubes for 6 minutes (sweet potatoes are out of season apparently).  I diced one red pepper and 3 stalks celery, added the warm (not hot) yams to the bowl.  Made some dijon/honey/red wine vinegar dressing and tossed.  Added one thinly sliced green onion and salt and pepper.  Yum!  Green salad on the side and a nice cab in the glass.  Bliss.

Dang it's hot

I am in between two three day trips today and with the exception of the ever gorgeous San Diego, every place I've been lately has been hot and humid.  It must be summer.  I forgot how much I didn't like it.  Cranky is as cranky does.

I've also noticed a huge surge in knitters on my flights for the past few days.  I like to politely ask what they're making in a fellow knitter, atta boy kind of way.  I didn't really think too much about it until one flying knitter reminded me that they were all converging on Columbus, OH for TNNA.  Ah!  It becomes clear.  Everyone was making nice things with the possible exception of the gal knitting a poncho.  I quickly schooled my expression when this flying knitter informed me of her poncho intention and I hope my response of "cool" didn't betray my dismay.

Not only have I been grilling the flying knitters of America, I've been knitting on my own project.  The back of Thermal is finally done and the front is underway.  I had to confess to my sister the other day that after finishing the back of Thermal, I counted the balls of yarn I had left and wasn't going to have enough.  After her valid response of "AGAIN!" I told her I had it sorted already.  Despite buying my yarn about 2 years ago at Stash in Berkeley, I found the same dyelot at Knitterly in Petaluma.  Apparently Rowan has huge dyelots and this 4 Ply Soft is plentiful.  Yay.  I bought two balls to make sure I'd have enough and knit wildly on.

See how nicely the fabulous couch in my hotel room models the pieces of Thermal?  I think I can deem the Hyatt chain knit friendly.  Comfy room couches, flat screen tv, efficient air conditioning and beer.  If it wasn't 102 with the heat index it would be heaven.

Copy cat

Because I can't dig my camera out of my suitcase to get knitting progress shots, here's a meme I copied from Cheryl.  You type the answer to each question into the flickrsearch box and paste the url into the Big Huge Lab mosaic maker.  What's cool is it lets you see really great photos on the flickr that you may not take the time to enjoy.

ALSO, go over to Claudia's blog and check out the cute cloth shopping bags I made from a clever (and easy) tutorial on Craftster.  They're a prize on Claudia's MS Fundraising Ride, so DONATE!

Crazy 8 Scarf Done

   

I began making this scarf in FEBRUARY for a friend's birthday in JUNE.  Yup, just made it.

No, this wasn't a hard thing to knit, I just didn't knit on it too steadily.  I decided to make the scarf reversible by using reversible cables.  Basically, a reversible cable is created by knitting them in 1x1 rib.  I used multiples of 8 stitches to make 4 over 4 cables.  I decided to mirror the cables and cross them every 8 rows.  See not hard at all.

So the "pattern" is cast on 56 stitches with size 6 needles.  Knit two rows of 1x1 rib.  Change to size 8 needles and knit on in 1x1 for another six rows then make your cables.  I decided to slip the first stitch of each row to make a cleanish edge.  I knit on until I was about to run out of yarn and then switched backed to size 6 needles for two rows and cast off.  Block and gift.