New Project: Firelight 火光 And GIVEAWAY Alert!

This is closer to the true color of the yarn

Project:  Firelight 火光
Pattern:  Firelight, by Agnes Kutas-Kereztes, Knitty Winter 2011
Yarn:  Peruvia Wonders Fine Alpaca, 80% alpaca, 20% wool, from Peru
Yardage:  about 1092 yards in stash
Needles: Size 3 & 5
Cast on: August 7, 2013
Notes: It's been awhile since I knitted a garment for myself, and this little vest seems to be a good "come back to me" start. I've had this yarn for a few years. There is no yardage on the label, and it's not quite enough for a sweater or shawl. I estimate it's about sports weight, and compare with other sports weight yarns, it would come to about 1000 yards. The vest is designed to show firelight and smoke with cables, yarn overs and twisted stitches. It's knitted bottom up in the round with slight waist shaping. I'm done with the fire part, the rest is a simple cable all the way up.

Coming up next week -- Giveaway alert! Remember my friend Audry Nicklin (design name Bear Ears) who designed the super cool Celestarium shawl which was displayed in the Blue Moon Fiber Booth at Stitches West? I met Audry at Green Planet Yarn, and she quit the job soon after I started to work on The Book. Over the next few months I followed the progress of The Book on her blog. I'm proud to say that The Book, Lit Knits, is now available for preorder. Next week I will review the book and GIVEAWAY a copy of the eBook. Stay tuned!

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

Burly Spun Hat 粗针粗线

Project:  Burly Spun Hat
Pattern:  Burly Spun Hat, designed by Lorna Miser, published by Brown Sheep
Yarn:  Brown Sheep Burly Spun, super bulky weight, 100% wool
Yardage:  The yarn comes in 8oz skein, 132 yards, this hat used right about half a skein, the ball in the 2nd picture is what's left.
Needles: Size 11
Cast on: July 21, 2013
Cast off: August 6, 2013
Cost: None
Notes: This is for a class I'm putting together at Green Planet Yarn. It's a quick project that students can learn to do cable, pick up stitches and decrease for the crown. One skein makes two medium size hats, and it'll be a good holiday project that people can make for multiple recipients. 

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, Tami's blog, and leave me a comment!

Snow White Finale

Project:  Snow White in June 六月雪
Pattern:  June's Favorite Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn:  Frog Tree Pediboo Worsted, 80% Merino 20% Bamboo
Yardage:  9 skeins, 1638 yards in stash, used 8.5 skeins, 1547 yards
Needles: Size 8
Cast on: June 1, 2013
Cast off: August 3, 2013
Cost: None
Previous entry: here and here
Notes: This is a shop model for Green Planet Yarn, and in the last picture it's proudly displayed behind the counter at the shop. It took longer than planned but came out quite nice. The cardigan is designed to be worn open in the front, with 5 or 6 inches gap between the fronts. The yarn is new at the shop, an easy care (machine washable) wool blend in a large range of colors. The body is knitted in one piece bottom up to the armhole, and sleeves are knitted in the round, then the pieces are connected together, decreased to the collar. The cable band is knitted with the body and sewn together on the back of the neck. There are 14 stitches on each side of the underarm that I grafted (proudly), but probably no one will ever notice!

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, Tami's blog, and leave me a comment!

Vacation Wrap up

We have been back from our Oregon trip for a few days, still catching up on laundry, (why is there always laundry? I even did a load in the hotel!) so everything still feels pretty fresh and new. The second half of the trip turned out to be mostly visiting college campuses. Henry is heading into high school, but he has been following college sports for years and knows exactly what schools he wants to see, namely, Oregon State University in Corvallis and University of Oregon in Eugene.

Henry the future beaver in the brand new basketball gym

Henry (on the 2nd floor) in UO business school

The loot, book from Powell's, yarn from Pearl Fiber Arts

How interesting some of you mentioned Portlandia in last week's comments. I have seen a few episodes of the show (Henry too), and really enjoyed it. I wanted to visit Portland, because it's the city of bikes and public transit, fresh organic local foods and free spirited Portlandias unpolluted by the corporate national retail chains, not to mention all the yarn shops. It'd only be fitting for me to plan a trip that takes me there on the train, and we'd find a little place to stay through AirBnB, maybe someone's backyard cottage, or a garage converted into tiny apartment; we'd get around town on bikes or buses; we'd shop in the local farmer's market or eat at the food carts. I wanted to support startups, small business, local economy, and do everything to avoid big boxes and corporate chains.

Best laid plans.

Searching for a place to stay for two people that are not a couple is a bit of a chore, and it's nearly impossible on AirBnB. I had to look at each posting and click on the pictures to see if there is a fold out sofabed or cot or some other alternative arrangement. If I search for accommodation for three people I end up with a family size apartment that's way over my budget. Occasionally there are places with the right arrangement, but the place may not be available for all the dates, or the owner looks like a gansta or spacey hippie that hasn't logged in the site for a few days. Do I really want to stay on their property?

So I went back to the familiar. On Expedia, Hotels.com, Priceline.com, every hotel has a two-queen-bed standard room, and an 800 number I can call any time. Yeah, the rates are pretty good too.

And then there is the train. According to Amtrak website, for the two of us, round trip between San Jose and Portland, with a roomette, it'd set me back close to $1000. A rental car costs less than $200. The Chevy Impala we got was a gas guzzler at 25 mpg, after 1600 miles the total gas expense was less than $250. A lot of things we did, like going to the coast and visiting the campuses, we wouldn't have done without a car. We were very glad to have the options.

As for the farm fresh organic food, we hit quite a few food carts. I used an app, CartCompass, to find the nearest pod, then it switches to Google Maps for the directions. The food can be a hit and miss as well as seating, and it's outdoors of course. After a few days I caved and let Henry hit Subways and other familiar places, since I really needed Starbucks some afternoons to stay upright and alert. You can't beat the AC, a nice cool place to sit down while charging my phone, and free wifi so we can research our next destination.

We really enjoyed our trip, but sometimes I wonder if it's reasonable for me to insist on "doing it right", and why it's so hard to "do it right". After my years in bay area, I might have become one of the suburban car-centric Americans that can't live without supermarkets, coffee shops, and 24x7 customer service.

While we were on the road, my husband got a call one morning and was informed his position was eliminated, in fact, his entire group was disbanded. Six hours later on the same day he received an offer from a group he had been talking to (in the same company) with a job offer. I was happy to be away for those few hours and avoided all the drama. We are all extremely pleased the world worked its own magic.

A few days before we left Henry's transfer to a new high school was finalized after couple of weeks of intense negotiations. It's been a roller-coaster 8th grade year, especially the last few weeks. In the new school Henry will have a chance to enjoy playing music, continue to pursue his academic interests, start learning Chinese, and may even join the basketball team. This freshman will have a nice fresh start indeed.

If you are still reading this far, have a Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

Blogging on the Run

Henry and I are traveling in Oregon this week. Many new sights and we are thoroughly enjoying the change of scenery. With a teenager in tow, I'm not visiting as many yarn shops as I would like, but here are some random pictures. Lots more on Facebook, find me there!

The Websters in Ashland. We got in town late and the shop was closed.

The picture above is a very large scale yarn bombing/art installation project in Portland. More information and lots more pictures can be found on this blog. They will put up more pieces in the next few days, and I'm going to see if I can catch a few more glimpse before leaving town.

Powell's bookstore not only has a huge knitting section, they even sell yarn!

Can't agree more with this stash philosophy

I brought Tilly with me as my travel knitting, imagine my nice little surprise to see Tillie the Tillamook mascot when we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Then again I thought she was a little lam :D

The gorgeous Oregon coast

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

Snow White Progress; Wingspan

Project:  Snow White in June 六月雪
Pattern:  June's Favorite Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn:  Frog Tree Pediboo Worsted, 80% Merino 20% Bamboo
Yardage:  9 skeins, 1638 yards in stash
Needles: Size 8
Cast on: June 1, 2013
Previous entry: here
Notes: I did not finish this sweater in June as I planned, but it's chugging along nicely. The main part of the body is done (in one piece), one sleeve is done, the other will be done soon. Then I will connect them all together and decrease for the yoke. The guys are going to a basketball camp this weekend and I'm hoping for a lot of me time in front of the TV with the sweater.

After owning my camera for almost a year, I figured out how to use the macro function. Look at this cable, talk about stitch definition!

If you are a fan of the Wingspan shawl on Ravelry, you should know that the designer is going to make some changes to the pattern and turn it into a paid version on July 20. So if you like the current version, download it now.

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

Winner, Q&A, Happy 4th!

Last week's eBook giveaway winner is AllyB, who blogs at Ally B ... that's Me! Ally, Denise will get in touch with you on Ravelry to send the eBook.

Chat back time:

Cathy, my favorite yarn is usually wool, usually merino, and usually the less processed the better. I really like Ellen's Half Pint Yarns wool, and that's a Falkland wool. I like most of cashmere and alpaca yarns too (pure or blend), but sometimes they don't hold stitch definition very well so I can't use them for cable designs (and you know I live on cables :-)). I have some fancy stuff in my stash too, like pure silk, qiviut, I really like them, but they are so expensive for a small quantity, hard to decide how to use them.

Mlissabeth, my mom taught me to knit when I was about five, and I knitted on and off when I was growing up. This time around when I became a serious Knitter was in 1998 when I found Knitlist online and join our local knitting group. I have been knitting just about every day since.

Sheila, the little black dog is our little princess Emma. Emma just turned a year old and she knows she's the cutest pup in the world and everyone worships her dainty little toes. 

Beth, the picture was taken at an outdoor concert / picnic, so there was a lot of food around. Emma allowed us to eat our food and only had couple nibbles of fries. She's perfect.

Ally, yes she's ready! Did I send you the address? Let me know if you need it.

It's July 4th week and Henry has the week off from camps. We did some day trips to the coast to get away from the heat wave. I leave you this picture of a hot fudge sundae from Ghiradelli Chocolate Shop on Cannery Row in Monterey. 

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

GIVEAWAY And Book Review

photo credit Denise Voie de Vie

I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoy Denise's photography. Denise, who blogs at Voie de Vie, is an accomplished knitting and crochet designer, painter, and photographer. I have the honor of being one of the reviewers of her latest eBook, Fleurs et L'eau - Printemps/Ete 2013 (Flowers and Water, Spring/Summer 2013). Besides patterns and beautifully modeled samples, there are pictures of vibrant flowers, peaceful water, historical building, and deep canal, at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks/Carl S.English, Jr. Botanical Garden in Seattle.

Now the patterns:

1. One if by Hook Cardi: This crochet cropped cardigan would look so cute on a young lady or someone with the right build -- thin in the middle and without overly large chest or hips. It's a good representation of wearable fashionable crochet. The stitch pattern offers good texture and the overlap neckline design is a sweet touch. With a cotton worsted weight yarn this is a quick project for the summer.

2. Two if by Sticks Cardi: a knitted version of the cropped cardigan. The navy blue trims illustrate the Seattle, Pacific northwest spirit. At 4 stitches per inch, this is a very quick knit, so pick up the sticks and make it for the summer!

Denise's patterns come with very nice schematics, but as a die hard chart knitter, stitch pattern charts would be ever more helpful.

3. Anyone for a Stroll? Bag: crochet small tote bag with bamboo handles. I love small tote bags, they are so easy to use when you are dashing from one place to the next, and have to constantly find or put away wallet, change purse, glasses, sunglasses, phone, car key, house key, pen, camera, hair clip, shopping list, credit card, business card, chapstick, hand lotion, carry-around knitting project, etc. This little bag is a quick project in thick and thin yarn or other bulky yarn. Close it with a big button, or not. There are instructions for Bottom Stabilizer, Lining, and Attaching Handles.

4. Le Bateau Shawl: le bateau means the boat, and this crochet crescent shaped shawl is so named because it looks like the bottom of the boat from the side ways. But so much prettier!! The body of the shawl is worked in one piece and then top and bottom edgings are picked up. With 75 inches wingspan, this is a pretty good sized go-everywhere shawl.

5. Constellation Bracelet and Earrings: crochet with beads, so simple and so elegant. There are plastic rings inside to hold the shape.

6. Climbing Vines Cowl: crochet in rich texture, another go-everywhere, suitable for all occasion summer must-have accessory. The body is worked flat and edging is added after seaming, so in theory you can easily change the pattern into a scarf or stole.

Now the GIVEAWAY:

Denise's eBook is available on Ravelry for $14.99. I have ONE copy to giveaway to a blog reader (eBook will be sent to you from Denise through Ravelry). To qualify, leave a comment on this entry:

1. Your favorite pattern in this eBook
2. Ask me a question, about this blog, knitting, dogs, me
3. Let me know how to get in touch with you if we are not connected already

One entry per person. Entry ends Thursday July 4th noon PST. In next week's blog post I will announce the winner and answer your questions.

There are so many words in this entry, time to take a look at this face again.

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

Another Oldie: Tree of Life Afghan

Project:  Tree of Life Afghan
Pattern:  Tree of Life Afghan by Nicky Epstein, published by Lion Brand Yarn
Yarn:  Encore Worsted solid white
Yardage:  about 10 balls, 2000 yards
Needles: Size 8
Cast on: 2002
Cast off:  2004

Cost: about $50

Notes: Knitted this a decade ago (!) for my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary. It was one of my first major cable projects, and I gave myself two years to finish it. Think I finished it with plenty of time to spare. Now that I remember, I'd better start planning something for their 60th coming up next year. 

The pattern looks complicated but was fairly easy to execute. The leaf border was a lot of fun to make.
Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, Tami's blog, and leave me a comment!

Snow White in June 六月雪

Project:  Snow White in June 六月雪
Pattern:  June's Favorite Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn:  Frog Tree Pediboo Worsted, 80% Merino 20% Bamboo
Yardage:  9 skeins, 1638 yards in stash
Needles: Size 8
Cast on: June 1, 2013
Notes: This is a shop model for Green Planet Yarn. The yarn has 20% bamboo, and you can definitely feel it, much less wooly but still pretty nice. The pattern is a cardigan with three inches gap between the two fronts. It's not something I'd usually wear because I'd think there is not enough fabric to cover a round belly. The sweater knits bottom up in one piece, so it's pleasant going.

West Cliff, Santa Cruz

Wednesday was my birthday. Henry and I planned for a nice day of walking along the coast (me), playing games on the Boardwalk (him), and having lunch on the pier (together). We arrived in Santa Cruz (over the hill from where we live), just to find an almost-flat tire. We went on to do our things (actually by then I already dropped him off so I didn't have much choice), all on foot. When we were done I managed to get the car to a gas station where the guys helped put some air in the tire, and warned me NOT to drive home with that tire, because it'd pop any moment. Off to Wheelworks, after three hours wait and $400, I got two new tires on my Little Green Engine. I was so glad to bring us all back home in one piece in my own car for a late birthday dinner and ice cream cake. One would hope this does not signify an eventful, exhausting, and expensive year to come. 

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!