HOODIE AND SOCKS
I’m still noodling on the hoodie project. Target child is waffling about her requirements. I’d rather wait until she settles into firm conviction before casting on. Some questions came in after Friday’s post:
Why start with Rogue instead of designing your own from scratch?
First, I really admire this particular pattern, its proportions and the way the cables are so cleverly used. Since it fits so closely with the original set of requirements and/or mods to it would not be difficult, why not start out with it? Cardigan-ization isn’t tough, nor would be knitting a smaller size to compensate for gauge differences. As for the rest – the texture pattern and saddle shoulders with a cable down the center of the arms, as Target Child looks over the photos of other people’s finished Rogues, she’s becoming less attached to those concepts.
You know you can use knitting design software to help.
Yup. I know that. I’ve got Sweater Wizard and the older Cochenille product. Hated the latter. I didn’t mind the non-standard format of the directions, better suited for knitting machines than for hand knitters, but I was totally turned off by the lack of technical insight provided by customer support. The thing wasn’t cheap, and I could never get it to run properly. Only one or two of the supplied templates produced any sort of output, and even they were unable to produce more than one or two of the available sizes. “Support” claimed that it was a problem unique to my set-up and there was nothing they or I could do about it aside from waiting for the next upgrade and seeing if that worked any better. Since we’ve got an average of six or seven working computers in this house at any one time (all with different processor/opsys/video card combos), and I tried the software on all of them and turned up exactly the same bugs, I rather doubted that one unique set-up was the problem.
Rather than throwing good money after bad, I decided not to spend close to $100 to upgrade Cochenille (with no guarantee that the new version would work any better. I switched over to Sweater Wizard. It’s got far fewer design templates and isn’t a full-size sloper drafting program, but what it has actually works, and is quite easy to use both during the design and knit-from phases. Which is refreshing compared to my previous experience. My only criticisms of the product have to do with personal preference and fit. I find the standard fit a bit tight for my taste, so I always add extra ease (which is verysimple to do).
My real desire though is to be able to produce the full-featured graphs of actual garment pieces, showing color or texture pattern placement like the ones in Rowan magazines. So far no knitting pattern design tools come close to that degree of integrated pattern shaping/motif placement. Yes, there are export features that allow customization of garment shapes for colorwork placement, but no total pattern maker that lets you tinker with all parameters in one interactive console. (If you gotta dream, dream big. [grin])
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Although progress is slowly burbling along on the hoodie, there wasn’t enough to keep my fingers happy over the weekend. So I started a pair of quickie socks. Standard Figure-8 toe toe-ups with short-row heels. I’m using Lana Grossa Melienweit Fantasy, on US #00s, at the (for me) relatively large gauge of 9spi (68 stitches around). Ankle pattern is an impromptu feather and fan variant:
Here’s the graph for the ultra-simple six-row feather and fan variant used on the ankle. It’s 17 stitches wide and six rows long. I’m working my socks on five needles (four in the sock, one to knit with). Because each needle has 17 stitches on it, this graph is worked once per needle:
More info on knitting socks of this type, including basic how-tos for both the Figure-8 toe and short-rowed heel can be found in any of the sock patterns on wiseNeedle.
NEW PROJECT – BLUE HOODIE
Monitor Dearth Watch = 47 days and counting. Samsung’s latest excuse is that they mailed out the thing twice, but each time to a different wrong address, in spite of the fact that my address is correct in their records. Unpleasantness ensued until they conceded that error on their part doesn’t amount to $300. worth of liability for each monitor on my part. Since someone at those other addresses signed for the monitors, I can expect that they will now have the joy of paying for them. Which leaves me still without a monitor.
Now, those of you considering purchasing a Samsung product right now are probably taking this sample of exemplary service efficiency into account as a data point in that decision. And you’d be correct to do so…
Hoodie. Possibly Rogue-derived.
Can’t put it off any longer. I promised the older daughter that I’d knit her a sweater of her own design. I’ve gotten back this set of thoughts to play with:
- Yarn choice: Almedahls Texas, a 100% cotton loosely twisted multiply worsted weight yarn in faded jeans/chambray blues. Slightly marled. It’s a yarn sale acquisition from last winter that has been stash-aging a while. Very soft, splits like crazy. Knits up nicely on US #6 needles at spot on classic worsted gauge of 5spi/7rpi.
- Required shape: Oversize zip-front hoodie, saddle shoulders and slightly belled sleeves.
- Desired decorative elements: Cables! Especially up the center front and around the hood’s edge. Also if possible – the Dragon Skin texture pattern from Walker #2 (p. 136).
Now I’ve thought about starting with Rogue (a truly excellent bit of design work that I envy). There are some problems though:
- The gauge of my yarn is wrong for it, but I can cope with that.
- Also it’s not a cardigan. I can also cope with that, too. Others have split the front and made it into a zip-up, so I wouldn’t be the first.
- The cotton I’m doomed to use is also rather inelastic for this sort of thing, but I’ve done complex cabled pieces out of the most intransigent of yarns, so I don’t think that this one will be too difficult.
- The thing really isn’t set up for saddle shoulders. (I think this
point isn’t a life or death requirement, and Target Kid will be happy
without cables up the arm to the shoulder so long as she’s got the
cabled cuff detail). - Much of the beauty of the piece comes not only from its excellent shaping, and clever incorporation of cable increases into accents, but also from the contrast of the very plain body with the deeply embossed cabled trim. Using an all-over texture pattern like dragon skin would cut into that contrast.
Problem:? How do I either talk Target Child out of the dragon skin texture pattern, modify dragon skin’s stitch count/repeat to make it easier to use in a project of this scale; or talk myself into adapting Rogue to use it?? More explorations and/or negotiations are necessary. I’ll probably order the pattern early next week, after I’ve finished swatching out the Texas and playing with Walker’s repeat widths.
Here’s my initial swatching play of the texture pattern as she wrote it. (Dragon Skin is on the bottom of the thing. )
REPORT AND PATTERN – FINGERLESS WHATEVERS
UPDATE: REVISED PATTERN FOR FINGERLESS WHATEVERS IS NOW AVAILABLE AS AN EASY TO DOWNLOAD PDF AT THE KNITTING PATTERNS LINK, ABOVE.
On this 43rd day of the Great Monitor Dearth, and second day of post-blizzard digging out, I share these mitts:
Fingerless Whatevers
Approximately 200 yards of sock weight yarn – roughly one 50 gram skein. This pair looks to be using half a skein each of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock and Dale Baby Ull. (I can’t guarantee that this is a spot on perfect quantity estimate as I am not yet done with the second mitt.) This would be a good project to use up odds and ends of several self-stripers, pairing them with one solid color common to them all. Five US #1 double pointed needles?(2.5mm). May be knit using the two circ method by considering each two-needle unit = 1 circ
Gauge in stockinette:? 9 st = 1 inch
Twisted cable ribbing:
Round 1: (K2, p2), repeat
Round 2: (K2, p2), repeat
Round 3: (Right twist using this method: [K2tog, leaving unit on left hand needle. Re-insert right hand needle tip into stitch closest to end of left hand needle. Knit this stitch. Slip entire now-twisted two-stitch unit to right hand needle], p2), repeat
Round 4 and 5: Repeat Rounds 1 and 2
Wristlet/Pulse Warmer or wrist part of Whatevers:
Cast on 64 stitches and knit one round, using the method described in yesterday’s post. You should have 4 dpns, each with 16 stitches (or two circs with 32 if using that method.) Work twisted stitch ribbing for 9 repeats (45 rounds). I alternated my two color yarns, switching colors after Row 5 and stranding up rather than breaking the yarn at every stripe. Note that you can end off right here and have a perfectly nifty pair of pulse warmers, instead of continuing on to make the thumb hole and palm part of these mitts.
Left Thumb Gusset and Palm (Mitt #1 only):
Knit 9 rounds in stockinette.
10th Round: Knit all the stitches from Needle #1. Knit 12 stitches from Needle #2. Place a marker. M1, K2, M1, place another marker. Knit remaining 2 stitches on Needle #2. Knit all stitches on Needles #3 and 4.
11th Round: Knit all stitches
12th Round: Knit to marker. Transfer marker to right hand needle. M1, Knit to marker, M1. Transfer marker to right hand needle. K2. ?Knit all remaining stitches on Needles #3 and 4.
13th Round: Knit all stitches.
Repeat rounds 12 and 13 until there are 24 stitches between the two markers.
Knit 2 tog at the beginning of Needle #1.Knit remaining stitches on Needle #1. You should have 15 stitches on Needle #1. Knit to marker. Slip the 24 thumb stitches onto a stitch holder or piece of string. Stranding very tightly to avoid gapping, knit the remaining two stitches of Needle #2 together. You should have 14 stitches on Needle #2. K2tog, knit remaining stitches on Needle #3. You should have 15 stitches on Needle #3. Knit all stitches on Needle #4. There will now be 60 stitches total.
Knit 10 rows. On 11th row begin working rounds 1-5 of Twisted Cable Ribbing (I chose to switch back to my solid color for this). You will find this easier to work if you slip the first stitch of Needle #2 to Needle #1 and the last stitch of Needle #2 to Needle #3 just prior to commencing this round. Bind off in pattern.
Right Thumb Gusset and Palm?(Mitt #2 only):
In theory you could just make two lefts, since there are no fingers in this piece to skew the fit one way or the other. But I think it’s more satisfying (and marginally better fitting) to do a mirror image. Plus it’s good practice for anyone planning on graduating from fingerless whatevers to real gloves.
Knit?9 rounds in stockinette.
10th Round: Knit 2. Place a marker. M1, K2, M1, place another marker. Knit remaining 12 stitches on Needle #1. Knit all stitches on Needles #2, 3 and 4.
12th Round:? Knit all stitches
13th Round:? Knit to marker. Transfer marker to right hand needle. M1, Knit to marker, M1. Transfer marker to right hand needle. K2. Knit all remaining stitches on Needles #2, 3 and 4.
14th Round: Knit all stitches.
Repeat rounds 13 and 14 until there are 24 stitches between the two markers.
Knit 2 tog at the beginning of Needle #1. Slip the 24 thumb stitches onto a stitch holder or piece of string. Stranding very tightly to avoid gapping, knit the remaining 12 stitches of Needle #1. You should have 14 stitches on Needle #1. Knit 14 stitches on Needle #2, K2tog, knit You should have 15 stitches on Needle #2. Knit all stitches on Needle #3, and 4. There will now be 60 stitches total.
Knit 12 rows. On 13th row begin working rounds 1-5 of Twisted Cable Ribbing (I chose to switch back to my solid color for this). You will find this easier to work if you slip the last stitch of Needle #1 to Needle #2 just prior to commencing this round. Bind off in pattern.
Thumb:
Evenly divide the 24 stitches of the thumb onto three DPNs. With a fourth work the following rounds of Twisted Cable Ribbing:
Round 1
Round 3
Round 5
I chose to work these in my solid color. Bind off in pattern. Darn in all ends, taking care to snick up the hole that has formed at the base of the thumb where the ribbing began.
Please note that this pattern is copyright 2005, by Kim Salazar, and may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without her permission. It is intended for private end-consumer use only. Please contact the author for permission if you intend to make up this item in quantity for sale or charitable donation.
Mailbag Questions
Michelene asks how I keep half hitch cast on stitches from loosening and turning into big loops. The answer is knitting them very slowly, firmly, and carefully. They will distend somewhat, but if your second row is neat and even, the cast-on row will snick itself back into reasonable shape. The long string gap between needles will also resolve itself; and the beginning/end round gap is addressed by the trading stitches trick also described.
Important note on this – If you try to work a normal purl on a half hitch cast on stitch, the cast on stitch will disintegrate because the motion of the purl undoes the twist that formed the stitch. That’s why the first round of the sock method described two days ago is all knits. If you MUST purl, do a twisted purl through the back of the loop. Awkward, yes – but it shouldn’t disintegrate.
On finding teeny size needles, I get most of mine at my LYS – Wild & Woolly, in Lexington, MA. They get them every now and again as part of their DPN order. When I see a set in a size I haven’t got yet, I buy it. I’ve also found some in yard sales and other yarn shops. If your local shop stocks Inox accessories they should be able to special order them for you. There are also lots of on-line sources for specialty needles. I’ve never dealt with either, but both Lacis and JKL Needles! both have quite extensive offerings.
WORKING REPORT – FINGERLESS WHATEVER
UPDATE: REVISED PATTERN FOR FINGERLESS WHATEVERS IS NOW AVAILABLE AS AN EASY TO DOWNLOAD PDF AT THE KNITTING PATTERNS LINK, ABOVE.
Day 41 of the monitor hostage crisis. Will the unholy alliance of Samsung and UPS actually deliver?? Odds are not in my favor…
Seriously, thank you to eveyone who has offered up a monitor or pointed me at low-cost sources. This is a highly computer-enabled household, my not wanting to use one of the kids’ machines, The Resident Male’s deck or even the house server is more a matter of territoriality. This is MY set-up, and I want it to work. Right now I’m using MY laptop – older, slower, but enough for when I need to tote a machine with me on a consulting assignment. I can access my stuff on my base machine via VPN, and drive it remotely. It’s slow, a pain, but it works. So my whining is mostly about lousy service, not deathless need.
If you do have a spare monitor, please consider donating it to a local school, library, literacy program, shelter, or other worthy cause. They need it far more than I do.
Fingerless Gloves/Mittens/Wristlets (Whatever)
I still don’t quite know what this project is. I’m torn bamong doing?the fiddling to make gloves with abbreviated fingers, settling for truncated mittens, or something shorter like a pulse-warmer or cuff. In any case progress is being made. I have settled on an eye-popping combo of the Lorna’s Laces Socknitters Rainbow, and bleeding scarlet Dale Baby Ull. Interestingly enough, the red Baby Ull is perceptibly thicker than the charcoal black. I’ve used the black in combo with the Lorna’s on a sock, and found them much closer in weight. This isn’t unsual, many yarns sport thicknesses affected by the specifics of dyeing one color or another. Blacks, whites and natural undyed hues are sometimes different from other colors.
Here we see the proto-wristlet. After much experimentation, I’ve arrived at something that’s working:
In a counter-intuitive leap, I ended up having to use LARGER needles to make something that stretches enough. I moved up to US #1s, and used the stretchiest ribbing I know. It’s a K2, P2 variant with the two Ks twisted every 6 rows, making them into 1×1 mini-cables. To avoid looseness, I work the crossing as a twist stitch rather than as a true cable by knitting two together, but NOT slipping the result from the left hand needle, then re-inserting the needle tip into the end-most of the two just knit together. That stitch is knit, then the entire two-stitch unit is slipped onto the right needle. I picked up this trick from the stitch glossary in Walker III.
The pattern so far:? Cast on 64 stitches, work in the cabled rib described above, alternating colors every 6 rows. Exact length of how far to go or what to do next has not yet been decided. (It must be pretty evident by know that I leap long before I look, knitting-wise.
Big Box Stores and Yarn Stocking Patterns
Yesterday’s comments and letters brought several speculations on why big box stores stock a different mix of yarns than do specialty yarn shops, and observations of a convergence.
I think the posters were right. It’s got to be an “economics of scale” phenomenon. Big box crafts and discount department stores buy in huge lots. They use the size of their purchase to negotiate price concessions from the manufacturers. Lion, Caron, and a couple of others can supply yarn in ISO shipping container sized lots (the huge boxes that stack the decks of freighters, that are lifted off to become truck bodies). That’s the quantity larger stores typically purchase.
Even medium-sized big box stores can buy in larger quantities than LYSs. Here in Eastern Massachusetts we’ve got? small sewing specialty chain called “Fabric Place.”? They’ve always stocked yarn, but over the past five years have greatly expanded their department. They’ve also cornered the local market for Reynolds Lopi because they were able to offer it at a far lower price than smaller shops. Although Lopi had been a good seller at most local yarn shops, sales fell to zero in the face of competition – especially from FP’s special sales, in which it was marked down to $1.50 per ball. All the smaller shops dropped the line, and the only source of Lopi around here is now FP (which hasn’t offered the ultra-low price in a long time.)
Right now in this area the big box crafts store/distributor combo?that is evoking the most ire is A.C. Moore. They appear to have cut a deal with the distributor Knitting Fever. Now that doesn’t mean you’re going to find Noro yarns at Moore. It does mean that many of the other lines that Knitting Fever handles – Sirdar, Schachenmayer, their catch-all Euro category, and even On Line products are showing up there, at prices below what LYS can meet. I predict that as a result, LYS will be decreasing their stocks of Knitting Fever yarns – they just can’t afford to fight a store with Moore’s retail clout.
Is this good for knitters?? Yes and no. Yes in the short term. It means yarns for less. No in the long term. It kneecaps a major source of support for knitting and knitters. Big box stores are notoriously fickle, and known for limited at best customer service. I dread what will happen if they suck up too many yarn lines. LYS, already under attack from?web-based competition?will have additional pressures in their fight to stay open. Some will die. ?And when the knitting trend crests and the big box stores move on to scrapbooking or whatever fad is next, we’ll have even fewer sources for both yarn and advice.
What can we do about it?? Support your local yarn store. If you’ve got one nearby and?can afford it, buy there. Think of that extra 25 cents per ball as an investment in having hands-on help, and a source of other yarns?available. Please, no whining about lousy and or snooty?LYSs, how you live on a fixed or student income, or that the closest one is 100 miles away. We’ll save those complaints for another day.
Manga
Japanese-import or derived comic books. More like?graphic?novels, actually. There’s a big cross-over between manga and anime (Japanese animation) in stories, artists, and look/feel. ?If you know the TV cartoons Sailor Moon, Ruroni Kenshin,?and Yu Yu Hakusho you’re familiar with the aesthetic. Subject matter is all over the map – everything from romance novels to mysteries, the supernatural, history, and hard science fiction. Many are quite adult in theme and depictions, but others are aimed at a more teenage audience. They’re all the rage in the junior high and high school sets. The Older Daughter loves them.
Don’t tell her but I like them too. Maybe someday I’ll confess about the eight collectors’ boxes of ’80s vintage comics we’ve got squirreled away. I think she’d like Lone Wolf and Cub, and the not-Japanese?Stinz.
BY AND FOR, BY AND LARGE
UPDATE: THE PATTERN BELOW IS NOW AVAILABLE AS A QUICK DOWNLOAD PDF AT THE KNITTING PATTERNS LINK, ABOVE.
Sigh. Still no monitor. Perhaps today. At least today I’ve got Internet connectivity. Yesterday I experienced several hours of intermittent service interruptions (that’s why there was no Monday edition of String).
In the mean time, I’ve managed to get one of the other machines in this house to accept input from my bargain-basement digital camera. It’s blurry, but you get the idea:
I finished the Crazy Raglan. Now it’s lurid and not my best effort, but it’s to the exact specifications of the target Small One, and she loves it. Perhaps this explains why:
She’s got one of these. It’s been her favorite toy since she was only a couple of months old. Her Squeaky is now much less pristine than this catalog shot, and (mercifully) no longer plays a music box rendition of “Born Free.”? She?picked out the self striping yarn because she wanted a “Squeaky Sweater,” and now she’s got one. But I?think you have to be six to truly appreciate such things.
In terms of technical?performance and lessons learned – there were several. First, going back to mid-summer, there were all sorts of things to be experienced?managing the repeat and?width of the area being knit so as to best manipulate the striping. Second, I used?Sweater Wizard software to devise the basic raglan shape. I really like having that shortcut available to me, but I have to say that for kids sizes at least,?the templates do?run a bit small.I added both copious width/ease and length to make a custom fit on my string-bean kidlet, and it still turned out to be snug.
I’m not entirely pleased with the raglan angle. I should have made the armholes deeper. That would have changed the angles and made the sweater a bit more proportional. I also bowed to kid-preference and made a very shallow V-neck instead of a crew or deeper V, trimming it with a very narrow band of ribbing. She likes it, but I don’t – again the proportions are a bit off. Finally, I did a slip stitch selvedge edge on all pieces. I’ve done that before on raglans and had no problems, but they were solid color raglans, sewn with yarn of the same color. The mattress stitch seaming in the space dyed yarn – especially on the raglan seams – was VERY evident. I ended up taking it out and redoing it as pierced double running stitch to tighten up those shoulder seams and make them gap less. I also selectively cut bits of the darkest green to use for my redone seams. That helped a bit, too.
One thing I did do right was to use provisional cast-ons for the body and sleeves. I also knit both back and front at the same time, and both sleeves at the same time. After I sewed the seams, I went back and picked up the bottom edge stitches at body hem and cuffs, and knit the ribbing in the round. I did the body ribbing first, and liked the contrast between the narrow one-row stripes in it, and the wider stripes in the body. When I did the cuff and neckline ribbing I used two balls of yarn starting at two different points in the color cycle to ensure that they matched the waist ribbing.
So I post an equivocal success. The target audience was pleased, but I’m not enirely so.
Why “By and For?” in the title?? Because those little hand-mitt wristlets The Small One is wearing are a knitting product entirely of her own manufacture. They’re lumpen, odd little superbulky yarn paw-warmers but she’s very, very proud of them. Here’s the pattern. Such as it is:
Morgan’s Paw Warmers
Will fit a small child, age 6-10.
Small quantity of?leftover superbulky yarn. I can’t say what we used. I bought it years ago for holiday present ties. My guess is that it’s 100% acrylic.
US #10.5 straight single pointed needles. Tapestry needle for sewing up.
Gauge – roughly 2 stitches = 1 inch in garter stitch.
Cast on 16 stitches. Knit in garter stitch until piece measures about 6 inches long. Bind off four stitches, and knit across remainder of row. Knit next row, casting on four stitches at the end. On the next row, (K3, K2tog), repeat across the row, ending K1. Knit three more rows on the remaining 13 stitches. Bind off. Sew side seam, taking care to leave the thumb slit open.
WORKING REPORT: VARIOUS PROJECTS
Still no monitor, so I’m still photo-challenged here at String. Progress is being made on several fronts, in spite of the joyous accumulation of frozen precipitation that continues unabated.
First, I’m on to the sleeves of Crazy Raglan. I am knitting them flat, both sleeves at the same time, each from a single ball of the Regia Crazy. I had started the sweater body the same way, but being wider, I didn’t like the way the self-striper was manifesting itself. Those I did from two balls each, with an Intarsia-style join down the center front and back. I think the sleeves being narrower might look better done straight across. But as with the body, if I don’t like the way they look after a couple of inches, I’ll rip back and start again.
I’ve also completed a couple of pairs of socks that were sitting half-done in various small briefcase project bags. One is from a Lana Grossa Melienweit self striper, and is yet another standard toe-up, with a very ordinary ankle based on Old Shale. The other is a pair of kids’ toe-ups made from leftovers of several projects. One or both of these pairs will end up being donated to a charity auction.
I’m also finishing up my Cursed Socks. I’m well?past the heel of Sock #2. Unfortunately, I’ve misplaced my two Strickfingerhuts, and working without one is slowing me down. They’re in a knitting bag. Somewhere…
I’ve still got several UFOs in queue. But while I like to start off the year finishing up some of?the previous?year’s stalled efforts, it’s also fun to think on some new things. One idea I’m toying with is for a toy. Although I’m not a fan of Muppet-pelt furry novelty yarns, my kids adore them. They’ve asked if it’s possible to work up some patterns for stuffed pillows or floppy bed toys. But they don’t want licensed characters or recognizable creatures of any sort. They want fuzzy "Alien Pets" of their own devising. They’re scribbling madly away at their sketch pads even as I type this, adding extra limbs and/or tentacles, wings, and multiple eyes. We’ll see what develops…
And finally, I’m still working on the write-up for the lacy scarf. Yes, I know it’s taking a while, but I want to be sure that it’s as error free as I can make it.
MORE QUESTIONS – SNOWFLAKES AND FOOD
Did you crochet those snowflakes on your tree?
Yes. I’ve done them in several batches. I often invite holiday visitors to take one home with them, so replacement/supplement sets have been made. A couple of the flakes are my own invention, one or two are single motifs intended for bedspreads or tablecloths, but most are from these books:
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Of the two, I like the patterns in the green Leisure Arts booklet better than the red American School of Needlework leaflet. The LA flakes are smaller, lacier and a bit more delicate. Both books are pretty easy for experienced crocheters to follow, but I’d recommend the red one if you’re relatively new to thread crochet. Warning – this IS thread crochet, although it’s pretty large scale for that style. These snowflakes all look better done with smaller threads and hooks. You can work them with relatively large threads, size 10 and bigger, but you won’t get flakes of a pleasing scale for hanging on a tree (they’ll look nice as door or window ornaments, though.) Mine were done with size 20 crochet cotton, although the next batch I’ll make will be with size 30 cotton, comparable to the stuff I used on the dragon curtain.
There are also lots of patterns for snowflakes on line, although I haven’t tried any of them yet. Noel Nevins maintains a nice index to them at her thread crochet website.
How was the cassoulet?
Wonderful. Worth the year’s wait. Beyond that, words fail me. And when that happens you know I’ve been conked royal.
Is cassoulet the most complicated thing you’ve ever cooked?
No. In what now seems like a previous life, The Resident Male and I were very active in the SCA (East Kingdom, Barony of Carolingia). Among the many things we did was host a Valentine’s Day event for the local group.
It was a themed day, and included several activities as well as a sit-down three course dinner for 125 people. The feast offered up nine main dishes from historical sources (of which I can only remember seven), plus three in-between-course sweets. The theme of the day was Chaucer’s Parliament of Fowles poem, in which the birds hold court to debate the nature of love. It’s more than 25 years ago, but as close as I can remember the “Feast of Fowles” ran something like this:
First course
- Ostrich eggs on salad nests – many chicken eggs cracked and separated, then the yolks poured into round golf ball sized molds and cooked to set. The whites were poured into huge half egg-shaped molds. When they were mostly cooked, the centers were set inside two half-whites.
- Not Chickens – a chicken skin with legs and wings intact, stuffed with a forcemeat style sausage, sewn back into chicken shape and roasted.
- A barley-thickened chicken soup with leeks (broth made from the bones and scraps from the Not Chickens)
- First sweet – spun sugar nests with tiny marzipan birds
Second course
- Ham dressed in pastry to resemble sleeping swans
- Chicken pies – the meat from the Not Chickens after the soup was made, cooked with onions, leeks and bread,?made into open face pies
- [memory fails on the third dish]
- Second sweet – Feather shaped shortbread cookies (again memory lapses, I think this was what we served)
Third course
- Roast duck stuffed with kasha and onions
- Beef birds – roulades of thinly sliced beef, wrapped around garlic and mushrooms, then braised
- [memory fails on the third dish]
- Third sweet – Peacock in its pride – three magnificently shaped and painted gingerbread cakes, each sporting heads, wings, and a fan of real peacock feathers behind.
There were also sallets (vegetable side dishes), brewed mead and ale, and nibbles offered earlier in the day. Before your mind boggles, please note that we didn’t offer these dishes in full-serving-per person portions. There was enough of each for everyone to have a fair taste, and to be full at the end of the meal, but not enough to stuff everyone silly (For example, for each table of ten we sent out one pie, one duck, one Not Chicken, etc.)
The Resident Male and I did not do all the cooking ourselves. Lots and lots of friends helped. They did the marzipan birds, the splendid peacock cakes, the beef roulades, the mead and ale, and half of the Not Chickens. Most of the rest we were able to cook together ahead of time and warm at the hall; the remainder we did on-site. RM ran the day-of kitchen, I ran the hall, the service, and arranged the entertainments, which included copious dancing (and flirting); a Court of Love adjudicated according to the rules of Capellanus; a poetry competition; and other gentle activities suited to the day and theme.
Needless to say, life has interfered with other pursuits and we don’t do this sort of thing much any more.
LESSONS LEARNED
It’s the last day of the year, and like everyone else I should be looking back over the year past, and ahead to the year future.
Lessons Learned for 2004
First and foremost – blogging is fun and (I hope) less of an imposition on people than is?writing interminable posts to the knitting-related mailing lists. At least the audience here is self-selected. Plus I’ve never kept a knitting-specific journal before. I find myself going back and looking up what I’ve written before to see how or why I did something in a specific way. Who knew?
I learned a lot this year about the periodicity and use of variegated or hand/dyed yarns. Although the projects on which I employed them aren’t completed yet (Crazy Raglan, Entre deux Lacs Tee, and Birds Eye Shawl), I did spend lots of time figuring out how to get the color effects I wanted given the color cycle repeat lengths. This remains a fascinating topic for me, and as each skein of hand-dyed offers up new challenges, won’t be an area that becomes boring any time soon.
Filet crochet. I’ve done piddly little things in crochet before. Even blankets count as "piddly little" because they are generally very simple in motif and technique. Snowflake ornaments, a table-topper round cloth of simple design, several blouse yokes in the ’70s, a couple of ill-conceived faux Aran style kids’ sweaters, but nothing as complex as the filet dragon curtain. It turned out to be an even bigger project than I thought, and consumed the better part of five months. Lessons learned include the fact that no two companies’ crochet hooks are the same size (even if so marked); the effect that near imperceptible differences in hook size can make on gauge; how to do a near-invisible join on adjacent strips of filet crochet; and how well the old graphed patterns for Lacis and other Renaissance needle arts can look in filet.
Along the way to the filet crochet project I learned that none of the methods of filet knitting I tried worked particularly well, nor were they fine enough in gauge to handle the complexity of the dragon graph. I’m not through with this subject yet. I did do some experiments in alternate techniques that were less cumbersome than the methods I had read about. I’ll probably revisit this in the future.
Entrelac is much faster if you can force your fingers to knit backwards. I’m still no speed demon at left-to-right knitting, but I’m faster at it than I am at knitting and flipping at the end of each mini-row. Especially when those rows are only six stitches across.
I also learned (via my Suede Tee) that novelty yarns can bring a world of interest to a simple, well-drafted pattern, but at the same time can be a *(#@ to knit. Side note:? I am also not that pleased on how the Suede is wearing. The microfibers do tend to be grabby, and catch on even the slightest roughness.
I learned several methods of knitting a lace edging directly onto a piece, rather than making it as a strip and sewing it on later. The most fiddly but most satisfying came via the Forest Path Stole. I used it again on my Spring Lightning Scarf:
Under "miscellaneous," I learned a nifty I-cord trick that applies a band of cord to both sides of a strip of knitting (apologies for the blurry photo):
I also used?a highly trendy but extremely boring to knit kiddie poncho to experiment with double width I-cord treatments to help tame edge curl in large stockinette pieces.
And finally, I learned an important lesson about something to avoid in the future. If any of you have ever looked at a loosely plied yarn like the Paternayan’s normally sold for needlepoint, and thought about how nice only one or two of those plies might be for lace knitting – take heed. Spare yourself. The yarn for the Larger Kid’s simple drop-stitch rectangle poncho took longer to de-ply than it did to knit up. For this one, I still bear the scars…
Next year?
Who knows. If you’ve been reading along, you’ll have noted that I’m more of a whimsy knitter than a planner. Projects leap up and seize my interest. Sometimes that interest wanders before I finish, but I (almost always) go back and work to completion. Eventually.
I’m finishing up a couple more unanticipated last minute gifts right now – more socks, and a pair of quickie Coronet hats from Knitty (one hat = one evening). Then it’s back to the Birds Eye shawl and the Crazy Raglan. While I don’t as a rule knit to deadline, the Raglan is for The Small One, and the one thing certain about 6-year olds is that they’re a moving target growthwise. The shawl is a present that I really should finish by the summer. Unless another killer project like the dragon curtain ambushes and drags me off first…
LAST OF THE HOLIDAY KNITTING; GENETICS
One last scarf to go. Since (at this point) I’m brain dead and desperate for something quick and easy, it’s a great thing that Knitty’s latest came with a fast-knitting piece that offers great bang for the time unit investment. Add me to the legion of folks doing up a Wavy Scarf.
I’m using that same sport-weight alpaca I used for the Kombu I finished last week. Because it’s of finer gauge than the standard-issue worsted written up in the pattern, I’ve added an additional six-stitch pattern repeat to make up the width. Mine is done on 48 stitches instead of 42. I’m also visually lazy, so I graphed out the pattern so I don’t have to rely on the prose write-up. Note that if you want to use a different weight yarn, modifying the thing is quick and easy – either add or remove multiples of six stitches.
In other knitting-related news, most of my knit presents are winging their way cross country right now, or are about to be distributed to those nearby. Once this scarf is done I’ll be done, done, done. (Huzzah!)
Cookie Liberation Front
Today’s cookie was an experiment – a coconut/oatmeal drop, based on a standard brown sugar drop cookie recipe, with toasted oatmeal and unsweetened coconut tossed in. Since I had some whole blanched almonds left over, each was topped with a nut. Younger Daughter said the rough-shaped cookies with almonds atop them looked like birds nests, so that is now their name.
Tomorrow’s cookies – Chocolate rounds stuffed with marzipan. I haven’t decided to do them flat or folded in half like little chocolate/almond gyoza yet. Also another experiment, but this one will be a shortcut cheat. I’ll be taking a sheet of frozen puff pastry, painting it with a beaten egg, then spreading it with sugar, cinnamon, and chopped pecans, folding it a bit and cutting it into elephant ears. Pix for sure, as this is something impressive looking even the Cookie Challenged could do.
Genetic Component of Crafting?
Marilyn the Knitting Curmudgeon posted an interesting thought the other day (one of many for her, I might add). She mused about whether or not the urge to do something like knit or make other crafts might have a genetic component to it. That got me thinking…
I’d guess that there would be a large inborn aspect to the desire to do these things. But I think there’s more than one influence at work here. To simplify, I’d guess that there are at least two:
- Some set of things governing the process that generates original ideas
- Some set of things that governs the "gotta-do-it" urge
I know people who have a strong concept-generation bent. They fairly sweat ideas, finding new viewpoints or perspectives, synthesizing disparate influences, or distilling previous exposures in innovative ways. The most affected of them sometimes have a hard time sticking to one idea long enough to bring it to full fruition, and may not have even mastered all of the skills necessary for optimal completion, but neither limitation strikes them as a problem. A person like that is off and running, captive to the next idea before the earlier one is completed.
I also know people who have the "gotta-do-it" urge, but the idea generation set in them is less strongly manifested. They are in constant motion, producing endless streams of items verbatim from directions or patterns. They often have extremely accomplished sets of technical skills, but can be stymied by roadblock problems. I have a friend who would seize upon an idea and explore it in hundreds of minute variations. She’d make wonderful little toys or identical baby sweaters by the dozens (in the case of toys – by the hundreds). All were beautifully crafted, yet it often seemed that once she started, "retooling" to make something else was difficult for her. She’d hum along happy to make even more of the item under current exploration rather than switching to a new thing. For her I think that fulfilling the "gotta-do-it" urge to keep busy was the true reward.
And then there are the folks who have both influences working on them in various proportions. Some feel particularly pressured or depressed because they have an inexhaustible source of new ideas and the urge to see each through to completion, but rarely have the time available to accomplish them all. Others are at constant war with themselves, reining in their urge to start something new before the item at hand is completed, and (sometimes) growing to hate the almost-finished item for blocking the beginning of the next.
Why do I think this might be genetic? Because I’ve seen these urges run through families. Not every person in the family need have the exact same hobby, but the mindsets do replicate through the generations. I know my father was a very compulsive "gotta-do-it" guy. Detail oriented in the extreme, he was a classic definition engineer. He never just sat still, he was always reading something, tinkering with something, or meticulously graphing something (he would have adored PCs and spreadsheets but died before they were sold). I know families where the parents or grandparents are method makers or idea shedders. Their households are sometimes chaotic places, but their kids also scatter innovation behind them and flit from project to project.
Why do I think these things are inborn rather than learned? Because in some cases I see these traits skipping generations; manifested in a household where the older influence was physically absent while the younger example was growing; or emerging later in life. Plus I know from experience it’s very hard to teach either creativity or perseverance. These are bents that people are born with. You can encourage these characteristics, but you can’t transplant them into someone who doesn’t lean that way to begin with.
I’ve got a very strong "gotta-do-it" bent. Perhaps it’s related to the milder forms of ADD, but I find HAVE to be making something, and I’ve been this way as long as I can remember. Even as a little kid I had all sorts projects underway (and heaven help the adult who put them away before I was done). I even fell into needlework at a very early age, and completed my first clumsy cross-stitch sampler before Kindergarten.
Just sitting has always been extremely difficult for me. Even just sitting and listening/watching something is hard. My hands have to be occupied. When my fingers are distracted, my mind is free and I concentrate better. Conversely, if my fingers are free, my mind is bound by the minutiae around me and zeroing in on some one thing in specific is harder. That fly buzzing around the lecturer’s podium; the interesting detail on the curtains behind her; the texture of the cracked wood at the edge of my seat; the air currents around my ankles; an amusing joke the guy sitting across the room told me last week; where I might be meeting with friends after the lecture; the faint sound of sirens outside the lecture hall; what color combo would be best for the thing I’m planning to make the day after tomorrow – all of these at once descend upon me and compete with the content being delivered in the lecture itself. Mindless autopilot knitting has always been my best defense against them.
I have to believe that I was born this way because I certainly didn’t learn this behavior from anyone. I can’t help this, it’s just the way I am and I’m glad to have found the coping mechanism of knitting. So I guess I agree with KC’s basic thought. There’s an enormous genetic component to many people’s affinity for crafts of all types. Why fight it?
Panforte, Piping, Presents, and Paeans
Panforte
I promised a post-tasting report. Yesterday I spread melted bittersweet chocolate over the tops of my two cakes, dusted them with cocoa, and stuck some left-over almonds on top as a decoration. Did I mention that for the past week, I’ve been drizzling rum over one of them – a little bit each day? No? The secret’s out now.
Wow.
This is an adult chocolate dessert. It’s not soft, gooey, and sweet. To be truthful, it’s hard and chewy from all the fruit and nuts. The taste however is out of this world. It’s spicy, more bitter than sweet, yet with just enough sweetness from the fruit to round out the flavor. The faint hint of rum was a good addition, and seemed to bring out more of the toasty notes from the nuts. We served our cakes with a selection of white wines. It would also be great with hot coffee or tea.
This one is a make-again keeper, but unless you’ve got a huge crowd coming or want to freeze or give away cake #2, I’d suggest halving the recipe. I’d also suggest sticking with the hazelnuts and almonds. You can use any dried fruit you wish (I used prunes, dried cherries and apricots because I don’t like citron and figs were too expensive), but I think that substituting walnuts or pecans would overwhelm the cocoa’s flavor and change the character of the cake.
Socks!
More holiday gift socks.
I knit these Saturday night from Lion Brand Magic Socks, while watching Present #1 below. These socks are worked at 7spi/10rpi on 2.5 mm needles (in between a US #2 and #3). The yarn is serviceable enough – a standard wool/nylon blend sport weight as opposed to fingering weight sock yarn. The color patterning is pretty uninspired compared to most. I get two speckled fake “Fair Isle” sections in this repeat, one in gray and white, the other in red and black. The entire repeat cycles in about 1 inch. Not terribly exciting, but at $7.00 US per 100g ball (enough to make up to about a man’s US size 11 shoe) – a very good value.
This pair is for a new neighbor who showed me how our 100-year old hot water heating system works, and helped me figure out the Rube Goldberg device that’s our boiler:
Presents and Paeans
The Resident Male and I buy gifts for the two of us together, but don’t wrap them or bother to save them for holiday debut. This year’s presents were the extended DVD edition of Return of the King (better than the theatrical version, but unsatisfying if you yearn for much of the books lesser themes and characters); the long awaited Lurulu by Jack Vance; and the Vance Integral Edition. The latter most was a major splurge that will count on the present roster for years to come.
Vance is writer whose works are easy to satirize because of his unique style, and who is dismissed all to lightly for it. At the same time, he has a devoted following of readers who appreciate them for what’s deeper underneath. His following in is bigger the UK and Europe than in the US.Vance appears to be especially popular in the Netherlands, Germany, and France – all in translation. That surprises me as so much of the texture of his prose is in his precisely worded detail and structured phrasing – things I wouldn’t think would move well from English to other languages. Even his old fashioned space opera style stories have a depth of character and sardonic insight into the ironies of human nature that push them beyond the genre.
If you’ve never read anything whatsoever by Vance, I’d suggest you start with the widely collected short story “The Moon Moth.” You can find a list of books containing “The Moon Moth” on this page. If you can’t find a copy, you can listen to a dramatization here. After that, pick up anything. His better known works include The Dragon Masters, the Demon Princes series, the Planet of Adventure series, Lyonesse and its sequels; the Alastor cycle; and the Dying Earth books. I’d start with his earlier, shorter works. They’re each masterpieces of tightly crafted plot construction, and fit an amazing amount highly evocative storytelling into some truly slim volumes. Enjoy!
String-Or-Nothing 