Cattywampus

A Columbus Day list

1. I went to Denver for a conference.  It was pretty there, the food was good, and we found a fabulous yarn store where I purchased too many things.  (Not THAT much, but considering I didn't need ANYTHING, it was too much)  They had Mini Mochi...I've never seen it in person before!  SO FUN.

So fun that I got two colors...  :-)

2.  I started a sweater for Scott for xmas, Rene by Anne Hanson, the v neck pullover version.  I am knitting it in Berroco Vintage because he thinks 100% wool is hot, and this way he can wash it without fear of ruining it in some way, which I think will allow him to wear it more.  I got about 7 inches done on the way to & from Denver.  Considering we're in October, I'm happy with that.

I have made him two other sweaters, but more at the beginning of my knitting and this one should look quite a bit more "ready to wear" than homemade.  He does wear the others around the house, but not out - but I don't wear the sweaters I knit 5 years ago out either...so we'll see.

3.  The Swirl is coming along.  Here it is a week or so ago.

And here it is now.  

Progress is happening, and it's AMAZING how fast those 300 stitch rows go compared to the 600+ stitch rows at the very beginning!  I am a bit concerned about yarn usage, but nothing to do but keep on knitting and keep my fingers crossed.  Also, it looks a little small, I assume extreme blocking will happen because of the laceweight in there, but still...a little nervewracking.

I am having SO much fun knitting this that I already bought yarn to make one of the other Swirls in the book (see Denver yarn shopping above).

4.  It is fall in the Poconos.

Fall is just so very pretty in the country, in the city it doesn't look like much at all.

5. Duke is still hanging in there.  Right now we seem to be at an uneasy truce with the cancer.  His lymph nodes are not getting any bigger (he is on a chemo regimen that we give at home), and he is still himself and not in any pain (as far as we can tell, he acts like normal other than a few side effects from the drugs he's on).  We've been here for 4 months, and they had given him 6 months 4 months ago, so I assumed he would be starting to decline by now.  

The vet says it is possible, but unlikely, that we can hold the cancer at bay for a year or more, it all just depends on how his particular cancer responds to the drugs.  

So, I am taking nothing for granted, watching him like a mother hen for signs of Something Very Bad happening, but so far, we're just status quo.  I am too worried to let my guard down and think that we are in the unlikely set that can fend off the cancer indefinitely, but I am accepting that for now, he's comfortable, happy, and enjoying life, so I can stop being SO very anxious until he gives us a sign that he doesn't feel well anymore.

A buddy pic:

6. Cream cheese ice cream is amazing.  Thanks to Jodi for posting it as a suggestion.  I added cinnamon and allspice and a bit of vanilla extract to make it sort of apple pie flavoried, then I served it with crumbled graham crackers on top.  YUM.

7. I have Jury Duty tomorrow.  I don't mind it AS LONG AS I don't actually get picked to serve.  In a big place like Philly it's a pretty organized and crazy system, about 400+ people show up in the morning and get taken to a court for the selection process, then whoever isn't chosen gets bumped back to the main pool of people and the whole process starts over.  So in a regular 8 hour day I might get to sit through jury selection on as many as 3 or 4 trials.  It's interesting to be part of the process, and I get a lot of knitting done, so fingers crossed I don't actually get picked, and it won't be a bad day at all.

8. Christmas is just over 2 months away.  OMG.  Commence panic and planning.

9. I have a quilt ready to go, my not enough energy to complete it.

Maybe in a week or two.  I love the way quilt tops look with light behind them, all sort of glowy and luminscent.  It helps get a good sense for the color values too.

10.  Finally, a book review:  (it's been quite a while since anything has been good enough for me to post)

Carrion Comfort, by Dan Simmons

This book is very good, Simmons has a lot to say about the nature of evil and human nature and how those two things play both with and against each other. It was a little long for me, one too many "the bad guy isn't really dead" scenes, but he's really an extraordinary writer. One of the few authors I've run into who actually expands my vocab (along with China Mieville), it's nice, for change, to read a book isn't written for the lowest common denominator.

If you haven't read any Simmons, I would recommend checking him out, he has other books & series if this isn't to your taste.

 

It's all about lace

For some reason, the fall brings with it thoughts of lace, maybe it's the idea of wrapping oneself in lovely warm shawls, whatever it is, this book was timely for me.

I received a review copy of Wendy Knits Lace, and there are some really sweet things in this book.  

This book would be good for someone who is ready to jump into lace and wants some options, some mitts with a touch of lace, a sweater with a bit (or a lot) of lace on it, or ultimately a full-on lace shawl.  There is a bit of instruction in it, but it is not a how to knit lace book.  I think an intermediate knitter could use this book as an introduction to lace, but it isn't in depth.

Of course, it would also be great for an experienced knitter if you simply love one or more of the patterns.  Personally, I love this one. 

 

Isn't that just luscious?  Delicate and summery, the perfect addition to a summer dress for the evening.  Gorgeous.

If you're feeling a bit more wintery...

A pair of pretty gloves that are dainty and feminine, but ultimately practical and warm.

Or of course, a lovely shawl

There are quite a few of these, both stole and traditional triangular shapes.

Take a gander at all the patterns in Ravelry and see if this is one that needs to go on your holiday wishlist!

A book review, some cooking, still no knitting

Over memorial day weekend we celebrated our 5th anniversary...I really can't believe it's been 5 years!!!  For our anniversary dinner I made a sausage and rice timbale and it was phenomenally delicious.

I'm not sure how all timbales are constructed, but this one was made by cooking risotto rice, mixing it with egg and cheese, and packing it around the edges of a spring form pan, filling the center with a sausage tomato sauce & then packing more rice on top and baking to set. 

I was really amazed at how well it held shape after I took off the spring form pan.  It was fun to make, creating the rice structure was very much like making a graham cracker crust for a cold pie, in other words...it involved much playing with my food. 

When you cut it open it looks like this:

And it was absolutely delicious!  According to my husband it tasted like high end restaurant food (he's no dummy, he knows how to go for the big points).  I don't know what level of food it tasted like, but it tasted realllllly, realllllllly good!  Basically I guess I'm saying that you shouldn't be intimidated by this (or any!) complicated recipe, it wasn't hard, it was pretty fun, and it was SO worth it!

Book Review:

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Like all of Jasper Fforde's series this world is filled with random rules that don't make sense to the reader and form a bizarre landscape that the main character is fighting his way through, making decisions that make no sense to the reader but make perfect sense in the world Fforde has created.

Fforde uses very little exposition and I really enjoy the way he drops the reader into the middle of these rather bizarre worlds and forces the reader to fend for him/herself in understanding the rules and preconceptions that the world is built upon.

Fun & enjoyable, forcing you to adjust the way you look at the world.

However, if you haven't read any Jasper Fforde before, I much more strongly recommend his Thursday Next series.  The first one is The Eyre Affair.  This series centers around a main character who is a literary detective because in this bizarre world people can go in and OUT of books, so characters escape from books and set themselves up in the real world but then are missing in all the copies of the book, sometimes she has to go INTO the book to solve some sort of crime or problem and she is written into the story...if you enjoy literature, bad puns, and puzzling your way through things that create paradoxes (paradoxi?), you will really enjoy this series. 

 

Book Review: Knits That Fit

Knits that Fit, published & edited by Potter Craft is, at first glance, a compilations of patterns, but once you start looking a little closer you'll notice the first chapter, where all the fit information is included.

Chapter 1 is a quick overview of body types, important body measurements, and common alteration points.  It goes over how to fit these alterations into a pattern to fit your body while keeping the rest of the pattern in tact.  The chapter also goes over sweater shapes, where different types of sweaters should fall on the body, how yarn choice plays into the finished product, and one very detailed example of pattern alteration.  Unfortunately, the one major fit technique this book is lacking is how to use bust darts.

There are 3 additional chapters with 24 patterns total.  These patterns are quite detailed with good schematics.  I think the combination of the first chapter with these patterns makes this a good beginning sweater knitter book.  I am drawn to this sweater particularly, I love the simplicity of it and the dart waist shaping.

For the most part, the sweaters are a basic shape with some embelishment to make them unique, though they do get more complicated towards the end of the book.  Some of the patterns at least have been published elsewhere but I'm not sure if all of them have been, the authors included are:  Berta Karapetyan, Annie Modesitt, Melissa Matthay,  Lily Chin, Sally Melville, Mary Weaver, and Caddy Melville Ledbetter.

This book could have been really fantastic if they had gone through the patterns and indicated where to alter intructions for better fit, a tips & tricks after each pattern or little asterisks through the pattern to note 'here is where you adjust X', but that isn't provided.

I don't think this is the only book you need to get things to fit you properly, as we've all seen, entire books can be written about how to choose the right yarn or altering a sweater to fit your body, but this is a good starter.

Not at all a spring sweater

I started this sweater in December with the idea that I would finish it for late february and have it for those days when the highs are in the 40s, it's a cotton/wool blend, so that seemed like the right temps for wearing it.

Unfortunately, I underestimated how long it would take me to finish, those cables were really, really hard.  Not hard like I couldn't do them, hard like I never memorized them, EVERY. SINGLE. ROW. I had to check against the chart and see what came next.  It drove me absolutely bonkers.  

The sleeves were too long, believe it or not, I shortened the cuffs by an inch, I may shorten them more when I get it back out next fall, but right now I just need to be done with it.

The underarms are a touch tight, the sleeve fabric kind of bunches up there, but it's not anything anyone but the knitter would notice and it's not uncomfortable (especially when I am NOT wearing a dress underneath it).

Oh, this is Parcel, from the winter twist collective in Shelridge Farm wool/cotton.  

It doesn't match what I am wearing in these pics at all because I really do have it on over a dress, I threw it in my bag to take to work so I could get some pics taken because I don't envision being able to wear this before september.  Sigh.  But hey, a brand new sweater ready to go next fall, that's bonus!

The pattern was excellent, the fit is good, I am most pleased.

____

Book Review!

I have two today, one good and one meh.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand:  I cannot possibly tell you enough times that you should read this book.  It is not earth shattering, it will not blow your mind, it will make you feel...wait for it...HAPPY.  When was the last time you read a story that made you feel good inside?  Major Pettigrew is a fabulous character (older British retired major) with a really great sense of humor, his little asides had me cracking up outloud, and it is all the easier for you to understand where he is coming from because he seems to surrounded by complete idiots on all sides.  I won't say anymore, just read it, it is wonderfully written and it will make you smile.

The Passage:  This is the meh.  800 pages of meh.  It starts slow.  It starts reeeaaalllllyyyyy slow.  It reminds me a bit of The Stand, a bit of every movie ever made about a deadly pandemic, and a bit of a very strange vampire book.  It's not a bad book.  It's not a great book.  It's a book...you may love it, or maybe, like me, you'll wish you knew it was the first in a trilogy before you started so you could have gotten out while the getting was good.  Because the thing is, I really do want to know what's going to happen with the characters, I just wish I could find out in 300 pages instead of two more (presumably) 800 page books.

I wanted to share that because I kept seeing it on 'best books of 2010' lists and I didn't think it was all that.  Sometimes I wonder if books like that get on multiple lists because somehow LONG and COMPLICATED has been mixed up with GOOD in literature.

Just because an author can write a storyline that crosses 1000 years and has hundreds of characters does not mean the book is automatically good.  Give me Major Pettigrew or Beat the Reaper any day, good writing, characters I really care about, and a plot line that isn't completely predicatable...books that stay with me days, weeks or even months after I've finished them.  I'll take that any day over long, complicated and just a little bit boring.

Alright, there's my rant for the day.  I was a lit major, some things stick with you...

Hints of Spring

I hope you have been enjoying the same amazing spring weather that we got towards the end of the week this week.  I left work early on Friday and took the puppies for a nice long walk.

We stopped in the Old Pine Street Church cemetary, I love it there, it's so peaceful and not at all sad - except in that far away kind of way - because I think the most recent grave I've ever seen in there is from the early 20th century.  

That pillar on the left is for this esteemed gentleman:

I saw that and thought, oh of course, the civil war, and then 'oh wait, that's says revolutionary!', which - duh - it's Philadelphia, there's revolutionary war signage and history all over this city, but wow, that's old - for this country, I mean.  That's nothing compared to native americans or in europe, but for europeans turned american on american soil.

I imagine this churchyard in the 1750s, it must have been in the middle of a field, or at least in the middle of small lane of houses with pasture all around.  What odd imagery compared to the massive city that surrounds me in this place today.

But from this view you can almost imagine it, can't you?

A very nice pre-spring day for a walk about town and a nice rest in this peaceful place.

Duke concurs.  You can see his little 3 toed foot on the left.  He isn't favoring it at all anymore, and you really can't tell when you look at him unless you focus on his foot - at least now that the fur has grown back, it seemed like it was glow in the dark when his little foot was still naked.

The chemo treatment was started Saturday, we have 4 weeks of that and then another course after that depending on what the tests show at that point.  Sweet puppy, he's bearing it all quite well.  He still seems a bit tired, but his personality is back to normal, hopefully he won't have any adverse reactions from the chemo.

Book Review!

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

I know this book has gotten a lot of hype and I have to say I think it deserved every bit. 

This book was fast paced, in the way that people say action movies are fast paced, an absolute page turner. 

Somehow the author has you invested in the ethically questionable main character within the first 2 paragraphs and from there on it's just a rollercoaster. Enjoy!

Quickie

We had more puppy drama last week, not to worry, everything is okay, but with DH out of town, me on my own with the pup, and then me turning around and going to a conference the day after he got home, I haven't had much time to knit or blog.  I have, however, had time to read, so I am posting the first book review.

Anyway, the one thing I did want to show you was that I popped my toe through my sock in the airport on the way out of town and I had to do an emergency fix with the yarn I had on hand.

It doesn't match, but it's functional!

And now, on to a book!

Sleepless by Charlie Huston  

I LOVED this book. It is set in a not-so-far-from-now time where our society is falling apart at the seams. The narrative is from two points of view, one very clear character and one that isn't identified immediately, each of whom are operating on opposite sides of the same reality. Due to the semi-apocalyptic atmosphere and the disease ripping its way through society, seemingly at random, it alternately creeped me out and made me hope beyond reasonable hope that all the main characters were going to be okay. 

It is very well written and constructed, the characters are very timely and a bit iconic, but still very well done. I think this one will stay with me for a long, long time. I highly recommend it.

(find me on Goodreads!)

I haven't been doing real book book reviews (as opposed to knitting), so I'm not sure how much detail to put in.  I know I tend to like blurbs rather than story outlines - thoughts?

Warm Knits, Cool Gifts

I recently received  a review copy of this book by Sally Melville and her daughter, Caddy Melville Ledbetter.  To be completely honest, I was really expecting a book full of accessories and quick-knit items, but that's not what this is.

There are 35+ designs in this book ranging from blankets to baby knits to children's sweaters to women's to men's to Christmas decorations.  A few of them really caught my eye.  

This little baby overall thing is just adorable

And it is designed to grow with the baby, there are cleverly disguised expanding gussets with buttons at the side and the design feature at the bottom of the leg can be let out to make the legs longer.  

There were two nice men's sweaters in here, sweaters that men might actually wear and during the knitting of said sweater the knitter might not actually die of boredom.  Here is one of them.

It's all about texture baby!

There are multiple designs for women, a simple cardigan, a not-at-all simple cardigan, a dress, a jacket, a cuddly cowl neck sweater, plus multiple accessories.  This lace scarf caught my eye.

And while I'm not a knit-for-the-holidays kind of girl, who among us can turn away when you realize that this stocking was knit from sock yarn LEFTOVERS.

That just gets the little gears turning in my head.  Leftovers!

There are many, many more projects in this book, I definitely recommend taking a flip through it at your local bookstore or LYS.  

As for the technical stuff, the directions include schematics and look clear and concise, and the women's sweater sizes range from XS to 1X, approx 33" to 52" depending on the sweater.  

If you're the kind of person who digs a story with your knits then you have them here, a brief inspiration is included with each pattern telling the knitter how or why the pattern was conceived.  

And finally, I would say this book would be accessible for anyone from advanced beginner and on. 

Now I'm off to add that sweater into my queue...

More knitwear for travel

I finished!  This was my other project I really wanted to finish for the trip, Azami from Twist Collective in the yarn recommended in the pattern, Valley Yarns something marvelously cheap.

 

I made the medium, it fits perfectly, just enough room to put a slim tshirt or tank top underneath it.  My theory is that because in Belgium this time of year the temps are going from lows of 40s to highs of mid 60s, I will need lots of layering stuff.  (That sentence is awkward, I apologize, but I don't have the energy to fix it right now)  This seemed like a great layering top b/c it is fine as a piece on its own or as a jackety type thing.

 

The hood is crazy long here, after this pic I sprayed it with water and threw it in the dryer, it shortened up by about 4 inches, I think, I know that now it is above my waist where as here it is most definitely below my waist.

The only concern I have about this top is that the hood will be heavy and pull the front part towards my neck so I will have to keep pulling it forward.  Only time will tell.

I absolutely recommend this pattern, the directions where easy to follow and when I had a question for the designer she answered back in a few hours!  Very helpful. 

I only made one alteration from the pattern (how unlike me!), I had to shorten the sleeves, my lace gauge must be way out of whack b/c the pattern says to start the lace on the sleeves (top down) after X inches, well I did, and I ended up with sleeves that hit at about my thumbnail.  Now, why I didn't use this information to realize that the hood would end up too long as written, I'm not really sure, oh brain - why don't you process information in a more timely fashion?

At this point shortening the hood would involve undoing the seaming of the garter stitch in the front V, ripping all of the collar and hood border out, washing the yarn and redoing it.  Which, if I were a teensy bit more of a perfectionist I would do, but since I can make it the right length by cheating and throwing it in the dryer, I'm happy with that.

We are leaving in 10 days.  OMG!!!  So on Sunday I still had 12 days of knitting left before the trip, so I cast on for something else.  Redhook, by Jared Flood, I thought that would also make a nice layering piece.  More to come on that - either way, even if I can't finish it in time for the trip it will be good for fall!  I am going to make it a bit shorter than the pattern shows, as cute as that length is on the model it does not look great on me, I'm just too short.  I think shortening it up by about 2" will move it from just below the hipline to just above the hipline, a much more flattering place for a garment to fall on me personally.

My head is full of lists, lists, lists - lists for the dog/house sitter, lists of things to buy, lists of things to pack, lists of things to pack in this bag and not that bag, etc - and I am truly starting to get excited.  Not excited like "oh yes, we are going to belgium in 10 days, I'm SO looking forward to the vacation", excited like I can't seem to focus at work, and I can't think about anything but preparing for or being on the trip.  Woohoo!!!!

In other random news I've been following the Monkey See blog on NPR (she is hysterical, give her a try), and she is doing an "I will if you will" book club, first they did Twilight, which was very amusing, and now they are doing Moby Dick.

I have to say, I decided to do it b/c I wasn't sure under what other circumstance I would ever be coerced to read Moby Dick (which, btw, you can download free for ereaders from the Guttenberg project, along with many other free books that are in public domain).

Warning - book review ahead!

The thing is - while Melville was full of way too much exposition about whaling life, devices on whale ships, whale genealogy (most of which is wrong), whale anatomy, whale skeletons, how to kill a whale, and once killed, how to turn said whale into oil - even with all of that, which sometimes makes you want scream in its absurd thoroughness - the book is amazing.  I wish it didn't have such a bad rep.

Even though I know the end, I think everybody knows the end, I couldn't stop myself from thinking that maybe this time Ahab would win, or have a sudden snap of sanity and decide that Moby Dick was a wonderful, amazing creature and let him go free.  It clear from the beginning that Ahab is cuckoo for the white whale and sees no reason, but his men follow him despite or and somewhat because of his  madness, and I have to say I probably would have too. 

Taking a nutter like him and making him somebody you are not only rooting for, but actively admiring by the end of the book - THAT is a feat of penmanship.

If you haven't read it, you should, it's not as scary as you think it is.

A pair of sock book reviews

I received two sock books to review at the same time, normally I wouldn't review them together, but they are in such stark contrast to one another that it actually makes sense to me to do them together.

The two books, The Sock Knitter's Workshop by Ewa Jostes and Setphanie van der Linden and Toe-up Socks for Every Body by Wendy Johnson couldn't be more different if they tried.

Sort of like the difference you would expect between two cookbooks entitled "How to Boil Water" and "Mastering Souffles".  Depending on what you're looking for, you would reach assuredly for one or the other.  However, just because you are learning how to make a souffle doesn't mean you can't still learn something about the basics!

The Sock Knitter's Workshop is THOROUGH.  I mean thorough.  There are 9 pages teaching not only how to cast on, but different types of cast ons and 33 pages about heels!  33 pages!  Different types of heels, why you might use one over another, and how to reinforce each type of heel.  The authors discuss needle choice (both DPN and magic loop), yarn, toe up vs cuff down (including different toe types for each).  There are 14 different patterns including men's, women's and children's, as well as a guide to help you combine the cuff, heel & toe elements you have chosen into a sock using a stitch pattern of your choice.

Look at all those heels - I had no idea there were that many different heels!!!

I would absolutely recommend this book for an experienced knitter who wanted to dive into making socks.  I wouldn't recommend it for a beginning knitter because I think the options would be overwhelming.  I would definitely recommend that an experienced sock knitter read through this book and possibly have it on hand as a reference book.  I picked up a few pointers and I am planning on going back through it with a little more time on my hands to see what other jewels I can find and put to good use.  

Also, the instructions for specific how-tos are fantastic, the step-by-step pictures are really wonderful.

On the other side of the coin, or the stove - if I'm not going to mix my metaphors here, is Wendy's book, Toe-up Socks for Every Body.  This book certainly expects you to come with your own sock knitting knowledge, though it does have a small portion in the back as a refresher if you need it.  Wendy encourages you to "knit to fit", to adjust the patterns as you need to in order to make them perfect for the feet they are intended for.  She also has a small section about designing your own socks.  Don't fear that this will turn into a learn how to knit socks book though, that section is only 15 pages followed by a 100+ pages of drool-worthy gorgeous patterns.

This one is by far my favorite, the name of this pattern is "Basket Case Socks", I hope it's not because they drive you nuts when you knit them!!

Each section of patterns, cables, lace, and colorwork, begins with a few pages of how-to and Important Things to Know about this technique, then it dives in starting with the easier patterns and getting more difficult as you move along in the section.

None of the socks in this book would ever be deemed 'just a sock', none of them (at least for me) would provide mindless knitting, some of them may be portable - that would depend on your ability to memorize patterns and work anything beyond stockinette in public (I can't do that), but regardless of difficulty level - they are just GORGEOUS.

There are more than a few patterns in here that I find a bit intimidating, but in the near(ish) future we will be winging off to Belgium with 8 hour flights each way and I imagine that a good amount of concentration and that much time sitting still will get me a good start on any of the patterns, now the only questions is which one to pick!

To sum up, one of these books is a tool and one demonstrates fine art (oy with the metaphors), I can't compare them, they aren't in the same category, but they both have a spot on my knitting book shelf for sure.