Colors of Nature

When I was leaving my house the other day I saw this beautiful moth by my front door. I wish I could have gotten a better photograph but he was fluttering his wings and I didn't have time to get my tripod. Aren't its colors gorgeous? I'm not letting it in my house because it would surely devour my yarn.

My Iro Scarf is coming along quickly. It is such a nice mindless project to work on as I listen to audio lectures.

I am crazy in love with my new needles. I thought this needle end might be a little heavy in the hand but it is not.

The needle points are ever so sharp and would be excellent for finicky knitting manuevers.

.And the Noro Iro yarn? Yummy! Wouldn't you agree that the colors are manly-man colors? Colors of nature.

Exquisite Woods

A new pair of knitting needles from Costa Rica called Maderas Exquisitas.

(Exquisite Woods)

Add two skeins of exquisite yarn, Noro Iro in shade #47.

The end result will be an exquisite garter stitch scarf for an exquisite young man who is about to become part of our family on August 2nd. He really needs to be initiated into the family properly, you know?

My inspiration? You're My Iro , another beautiful scarf knit by Jared (Brooklyntweed).

Must Have Cardi Progress

I have decided that it is time to finish my Must Have Cardigan so she has been receiving some special attention the last couple weeks. I've planned out a knitting schedule and am bound and determined to get this project off my needles soon!
The reason this sweater has not been finished is because I've had to do some frogging. I decided the size I had been knitting was going to be too large. My Central Park Hoodie sits unworn because I knit it too big. My indecisiveness on sizes was met with procrastination but a couple of weeks ago I decided enough was enough and the frogging commenced..........

I have now finished the two fronts and have started the back. BTW, I am blocking them on a plastic padding for treadmills. The package came with eight pieces and when I was putting them together to put under my treadmill I realized they would be ideal for blocking! They are compact and can be put together in whatever size you need for blocking your project. Since they come apart they can easily be stored. $18 at Walmart, ladies.......

Sunrise Over Sardinia

Sunrise at 6:32 a.m. over the second biggest island in the Mediterranean, Sardinia. And like its larger cousin, Sicily, Sardinia has seen an amazing variety of cultural interchange from the earliest times.

Cagliari is the capital of Sardinia and we will be spending nine hours here. The site of this lovely port city is well placed to give shelter from storms. It's hard to say who actually made the first colony here, since both Minoans and Phoenicians had sailed these waters in the 7th century B.C., and probably earlier. It boggles my mind to imagine how many ships have sailed into this beautiful port!

I have my Italian yarn in hand and have already knit three inches of ribbed cuff as we wait to disembark. Have I mentioned that socks WERE the perfect thing to take on this cruise? They are nice and compact. We always had to wait for the pre-arrival checks to be completed in each port and then the local pilot to board the ship so there were plenty of moments here and there to knit.

We watched the ship approach port from our balcony and then on one of the outside decks as we ate breakfast. Then, after the Emerald Princess was docked, Don and I went down to the Piazza and waited to go ashore. Don had his Mickey Mouse hat and I have my yarn. We are ready to go.....................and I will take you along with me in the next post........

My So Called Tuscan Scarf

When I got home from my Mediterranean vacation I promptly sought out some yarn to commemorate my favorite country, Italy. I was unable to find any yarn shops on my travels -- and believe me, my eyes were really peeled looking for yarn shops! Back home I found some lovely Lorna's Laces yarn dyed in the colorway 'Tuscany'. The colors are perfect and really do remind me of Tuscany. I bought some worsted weight for a scarf and some fingering weight for some matching socks.

I have known for a while that I wanted to knit a popular Ravelry scarf called My So Called Scarf, so I had no problem assigning the worsted weight yarn to that project. The pattern is almost a no-brainer. I say 'almost' because I have had to rip back a couple rows more than once due to daydreaming. It is an easy enough pattern and looks interesting.

Lorna's Laces Worsted is amazingly soft! I love it! In fact, it may replace Malabrigo as my all-time favorite worsted weight yarn. I will definitely be purchasing more.

I'm still searching for the perfect sock pattern to match this scarf. I'm thinking that a slipped stitch pattern would complement it best. I think that Cat Borhdi has one that might work in her Knitting Pathways book. Do any of you have any ideas for me??

From the Hip

My photography lesson this week at Digital Photography school was to take a picture from the hip. From the hip?

I was to see if I could come up with a fantastic shot without composing my picture carefully through the viewfinder / LCD. It didn't necessarily have to be shot from the hip - mine were taken about over my head, by extending my arm out full range and from down on the ground.

I pushed myself outside of my dependency on my viewfinder and I was surprised at what came up! These were taking after a rainfall yesterday afternoon. And, I might add, we REALLY needed some rainfall because everything is very dry right now. These are not 'fantastic' shots but they were fun and I found the assignment quite enjoyable.

These flowers are in a flower pot on my front porch. I would love to be able to grow something like this in the ground but they are too delectible for the deer that feed in my yard.

The aspens have just budded out. In a few weeks these little aspen leaves will be quaking aspen leaves.

Pretty cool shots for not looking through the viewfinder and composing , eh?

The next assignment is entitled Clashing Colors so I am eager to see what it will involve!

Up on the Rock

GIBRALTAR. Have you ever heard of the Rock of Gibraltar? For some reason it conjurs up memories of life insurance in my mind! I think there used to be an insurance company with that name when I was growing up.

This is one of the last bits of the British Empire upon which the sun never set, Gibraltar is a quirky mix of Anglican propriety, "God Save the Queen", English bookstores, English pubs, military memories, and tourist shops.

Europe is only eight miles from Africa at this point, and the straits are 36 miles long. Whoever controls Gibraltar and the harbor at its base is in a good position to control the passage between Atlantic and Mediterranean waters. The Rock itselt is 1,396 feet high with a sheer vertical force to the east. Although the military history is rich, I was more interested in the astounding feeling that you had stepped into an English colony.

Gibraltar is less than three square miles and I think Don and I covered it all on foot. We had a full day here so had plenty of time to meander around enjoying the sites. We spent some time in Trafalgar cemetary - a reminder of the colony's English military heritage. Although, I have to admit, my mind was drawn to a dinner scene in Jane Austen's Persuasion wherein The Battle of Trafalgar was discussed.

I enjoyed my 'Fish and Chips' for the first time in the Gibraltar Arms Pub. Yummy!

The actual Rock of Gibraltar was the colony's best sight. We took a cable car ride to the top admiring views of the port and the Emerald Princess the whole way up. The views from the top were stupendous and homo sapiens were not the only admirers of it. There were many seagulls that I enjoyed taking photographs of. And, the quirky apes! Oh my, the quirky apes!

The Rock is home to about 200 apes (actually, tailless monkeys). The males are bigger, females have beards, and newborns are black. They live about 15-20 years. Legend has it that as long as the apes remain here, so will the Brits. We were advised to keep our distance from the apes and to beware of their kleptomaniac tendencies. We witnessed that tendency firsthand when one grabbed a candy bar away from a lady on our tour.

The cable car took us to the summit of the spectacular Rock itself. The large rock mass was nearly a mile long rising 1,400 feet high with very sheer faces. According to legend, this was one of the Pillars of Hercules marking the edge of the known world in ancient times. Local guides say that these pillars are the only places on the planet where you can see two seas and two continents at the same time. Don and I enjoyed the 360-degree view of Morocco, the Strait of Gibraltar and the bay. Awesome views!

Did you get my postcard?

More Gibraltar Pictures........

The Alcazar and Nearby

I almost forgot to tell you about my afternoon in Sevilla, Spain visiting the Alcazar!

This was most exciting for me for I love history and the idea of seeing the room where Columbus presented his New World discoveries to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand thrilled me to no end.

Come walk with me through the Alcazar and the streets of Sevilla, Spain...................

Click here to visit my Flickr page on The Alcazar and read more about each photo.

Cast-On ~ May Sockdown

The May challenge for Sockdown Ravelry is to knit a fair-isle pattern. It was difficult narrowing down a pattern but I finally decided on the Windowpane Socks in the summer Interweave Knits magazine. The pattern is designed by Chrissy Gardiner.

I received this lovely Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn from my daughter for Christmas. The colorway is one I had requested, Fall Foliage. It was much brighter than I thought it would be. I believe the bright colors will be toned down significantly by knitting it alongside the charcoal gray yarn. At least, I hope the colors will be toned down! I'm no stranger to knitting fair isle patterns; however, knitting fair-isle with double point needles is something I have not yet tried. I knit with both hands typically carrying the background color in my right hand. Having to reposition the thread at the end of each teeny dpn is making my fingers tire sooner than they would have had this been a fair isle sweater. I keep telling myself to persevere for I really love Chrissy's pattern and think these will look great!

Paris Night One Row Scarf

How long is long enough? How long should a scarf be? I am curious to discover how long you make YOUR scarves. The Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf is between 59-61" long which, when I arrived at that length, seemed a bit on the short side.

This pattern was a mindless knit and perfect for listening to lectures on my Nano. I chose it because both sides of the scarf look the same, there does not appear to be a 'wrong' side or a 'right' side. The yarn, Malabrigo, is simply heavenly to knit with. It lives up to claim to fame of being as 'soft as butter' and it now rises to the top of my worsted weight yarn list as being an all-time favorite.

So, please tell me, what is your favorite scarf length?

CADIZ ~ Spain's Gateway to the Atlantic

Buenos Dias, Cadiz!

When Don and I awoke the morning we were to arrive in Spain, the ship had already docked and we witnessed a beautiful sunrise over Cadiz. We would not be spending the day in Cadiz having booked a shore excursion to Seville, Spain. Seville was about an hour and a half away. The buses were lined up waiting for us to disembark.

Sevilla was lovely! The day was beautiful with glorious sunshine and temperatures in the upper sixties. I had planned three tours in Seville. The first would be a walking tour of Barrio Santa Cruz, a once-thriving Sevilla Jewish Quarter. Then, I had planned to tour the Alcazar, palace of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Lastly, I wanted to tour the Cathedral next to the Alcazar knowing that many famous masterpieces were within. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and did not get to see the Cathedral except from the outside.

Will you now come with me on a walking tour of the Barrio Santa Cruz? You can click the descriptions under the mosaic or you can follow the link to my Barrio Santa Cruz set on Flickr.

1. Cadiz at Sunrise, 2. 1. Plaza de la Virgen de los Reyes, 3. Plaza de la Virgen de los Reyes, 4. 2. Plaza del Triunfo, 5. Passing through....., 6. 3. Patio de Banderas, 7. 3. Patio de Banderas (2), 8. Exiting Patio de Bandera, 9. 4. Calle Agua, 10. 4. Calle Agua (2), 11. 4. Calle Agua (3), 12. 4. Calle Agua (4), 13. 5. Plaza de la Santa Cruz, 14. 5. Plaza de la Santa Cruz (2), 15. Following Calle Mezquita....., 16. 6. Plaza de Refinadores, 17. 6. Plaza de Refinadores, 18. Backtracking, 19. 7. Casa de Murillo, 20. 8. Plaza de los Venerables, 21. Continuing west on Calle Gloria,, 22. 9. Plaza de Dona Elvira, 23. Ceramics, 24. Calle Rodrigo Caro Restaurant, 25. Next up - The Alcazar

Happy Mother's Day, MOM!

Welcome to Funchal, Portugal

Ola, Funchal!

The city of Funchal is named after the fennel which grows on the island. Funchal is the capital of Madeira. The island was discovered in 1419 by Portuguese explorers sent by Prince Henry the Navigator. Madeira's geographical position allowed her to play a pivotal role in European discovery.

Seamen such as Christopher Columbus gained knowledge and experience plying the routes of the island's sugar trade. Christopher Columbus not only decided to stay on the island for a while, but also married Felipa Moniz. After his wife's death, he moved back to Spain with his son. His travels to other places would follow.

Madeira served as a vacation spot for British soldiers and civilians on their way back from India. The island lies on the Gulf Stream, making its climate pleasantly subtropical.

Madeira wine is world famous and there are several different kinds. Don and I tasted some of them in one of the Farmer's Market shops. My favorite was the sweetest of the four types, Malmsey. Boal is a semi sweet dessert wine. Verdelho is a medium dry wine and Sercial is the driest wine and rather like sherry. Do any of you have favorites amongst these?

Another thing the town is known for is it's lovely cutwork hand embroidery. I dragged Don to the Embroidery Museum having done some lacework for my daughters' when they were young girls. I found it fascinating to see old photographs of ladies working in the local embroidery factory. Most of the cutwork lace items were dated from 1860-1918. I wasn't allowed to take photographs so have none to share with you.

I'm not sure how much I like displaying my photos in this slide show. Do you like the mosaic better or the slideshow? If you prefer stationary pictures with descriptions attached you can see them here.

Adeus, Funchal!

Land Ahoy!

Land ahoy! Don and I were more than ready to set foot ashore after six days at sea. The excitement of seeing land after days and days of only seeing ocean was thrilling. It made me appreciate all the more what our ancestors must have felt when it took them several weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Manuevering into each port was an adventure and we were curious onlookers at each port of call, sometimes rising early in the morning to witness it. This blog post is just to capture the excitement of that part of cruising. My next blog post will be all about the city of Funchal (Madeira) that you see pictured behind me.

1. Land Ahoy!, 2. Love of My Life, 3. Secret Place, 4. Ship Manuevers, 5. Onlooking Hubby, 6. Emerald Princess Anchor, 7. Height Perspective, 8. Portside!, 9. Port Graffiti, 10. Portugese Sea Gulls, 11. Ponta do Pargo, 12. Pirates of the Mediterranean, 13. Walking into Funchal, 14. Don on Emerald Bow, 15. Emerald Princess, 16. Funchal, Portugal

Cast-Off - April Sockdown

I finished my April Ravelry Sockdown Challenge the first day out to sea. Most of the knitting was done on the plane trip down to Ft. Lauderdale. I had finished the first sock prior to leaving. I took my bright pink sock bag with me all over the ship and everytime we went to the Princess Theatre to wait for entertainment to begin or to wait for a movie to start I had a sock to work on. (Note to self: next time don't bring a bright pink sock bag, bring something that looks like less inconspicuous). Knitting socks attracted much positive attention from fellow shipmates who were fascinated. I met a few ladies who had knit Red Cross Socks during WWII - imagine that! And, I sat next to a lady one night who used to knit argyle socks for her men many years ago.

Isn't it always a pleasant surprise to discover that knitting transcends generational barriers, political barriers, religious barriers and race barriers? It warms my heart that our love of knitting bonds us despite all our other differences. Taking photographs when at sea posed a bit of a challenge for me. The ship was in a continuously state of motion and even in the calmest stretches there were still vibrations. Consequently, the following photo shots are blurred a bit - sorry about that!

Pattern: Cascading Leaves by Jeanie Townsend

Yarn: Shibui Knits in Wasabi

Needle Size: 2.25 HiyaHiya circulars

Modifications: none

I discovered something new about the naming of this sock color one night as I was in a buffet dinner line. There was a bowl of bright green sauce the very same color as my socks and it was labeled 'Wasabi'. I asked the chef to explain to me what wasabi was and he informed me that it was similar to horseradish sauce. Isn't that a hoot? I'm sure the people around me were astounded by my excitement over a sauce!

Mediterranean Cruise ~ Sea Days

We spent eight days at sea total - six to cross the Atlantic Ocean, two en route to ports of call. They were days of relaxation. At first I was a little nervous about being out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean but knowing that there was a mini hospital on board helped alot. I really did not get antsy for land until the fifth day at sea. On the sixth day I was more than ready to get off the ship and walk on land. There are many things to do on board a ship this size. The Emerald Princess is definitely one of my favorite ships so far - it's beautiful! We ended up doing the same old things we always do - exercise, read, knit (me) and go to the musical productions and other shows. We saw several movies and one was at the Theater Under the Stars. It was pretty nippy so we only did that one night.

I exercised every day in the enormous spa/gym. There were no less than 24 treadmills equipped with televisions so I timed my exercising to the 'movies' I wanted to watch. I tried to do 5K each session and the movies made it go faster. It was great!

I took my knitting with me to all the shows and knit while waiting for them to start. I also took it on the bus tours in Italy because Rome and Florence were 1.5 hours from port. Don and I also found a special place on the ship that we liked to go sit and listen to our downloaded books so I had knitting in tow for those occasions. I'm really glad that I ended up taking socks to knit on. They were very portable.

If you want to take a closer look at the pictures you will need to click the links below the mosaic.

1. Navigation Deck, 2. Cascading Leaves Socks, 3. Piazza Elevator, 4. Piazza Stairs, 5. Botticelli Dining, 6. Listening to Books, 7. Chameleon Socks, 8. Tucked In, 9. Patter News, 10. Self Photo, 11. Knitting in the Piazza, 12. Got yarn. Ready for Italy., 13. Enjoying the Piazza, 14. My Italian Yarn, 15. Exercise, A Must, 16. Any land out there?

Digital Photography School - Converging Lines Assignment

I am far behind on many things, including my Digital Photography School assignments. Instead of trying to get caught up I'm going to jump right in with this week's assignment on CONVERGING LINES.

Many photographers look for and like to incorporate converging lines in their shots. When you add numerous lines that come together, or close together, you have a tool to lead your viewer's eye into a shot.

I'm not sure my shots are the greatest example of converging lines since I am in the learning stages but here are a few shots that I have submitted for the assignment.

The following shot was taken at the Alcazar in Seville, Spain. I think the grid lines of the pavement guide the viewer's eye to the hedge and then to the arched gateway into the Alcazar courtyard. I also think the converging lines of the walls in the top left corner of the shot guide the eye to the white doorway.

My second converging line shot is of a street in the Santa Cruz district of Seville. Don and I got lost as we were following a walking tour of this beautiful area of the city. The streets were like mazes. In this shot I focused on the foreground having my lines converge there. I blurred the background to give the air of confusion - is this where we are coming from or going to?

The following converging line shot is of a stairway in Cagliari, Italy. The stairs along with the parallel fence and railing channel your eyes up the stairs and to the couple who have just climbed all those steps.

My last converging line shot is of a street in Rome. Our tourguide informed us that many of the oldest streets in Rome are from the Roman Empire days and are shaped in ampitheatre (semi-circular) style. That was a classic Roman shape and is found throughout Rome. I love this photograph and think the parallel curved shapes almost converge in the background and make this little street seem truly curved as it actually was.

Mediterranean Cruise ~ Day 1

It took six days to cross the Atlantic Ocean by ship and twenty-four hours to cross it by plane. I'm home from my relaxing cruise suffering from serious jet-lag. Crossing nine time zones is rough on the body no matter what side of the Atlantic you do it on.

I want to share my adventure with you this next week through photo mosaics. I decided this would be the least boring way for some of you who do not want to be inundated by countless photographs. I took over a thousand photographs on this trip!

If you click the links under the mosaic the photograph will be enlarged and you can read my comments about the photograph.
1. Ft. Lauderdale Airport, 2. Last Arrivals, 3. Plane Knitting, 4. Lido 311, 5. Where is the food?, 6. Destination Europe Sailaway Party, 7. Bon Voyage Drink, 8. Bon Voyage Drink, 9. Sail Away! Sail Away!, 10. Leaving Port Everglades, 11. Muster Station, 12. Lido Deck Sanctuary Area, 13. Seafood Extravaganda Buffet, 14. Piazza Staircase, 15. Lido Deck

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

PI for MOSS?

There are always so many things to tackle before going on vacation, aren't there? One week from today I will be halfway across the Atlantic Ocean. I have most of my clothes selected and am still pondering what knitting to bring.

The last time I posted I told all of you that I was going to be testing Elizabeth Zimmerman's proclamation that the Pi Shawl was an ideal project to take whilst traveling. Several of you encouraged me to start it before I left which I have done. I started with double point needles, graduated to 16" circular needles and have now increased to a 24" circular (288 sts). I have one more increase which will take me to 576 sts.
I have some reservations about taking the Pi Shawl along on the cruise. The first concern is the ....um......."sheepy" smell of the wool. Several have commented about it on Ravelry but not being sheep savvy, I had no idea until now what sheep actually smell like! I'm not sure I want my packed clothes to end up smelling like sheep.

My second concern is about spit splicing. One must use a very light touch with this Unspun Icelandic wool. I'm not opposed to spit splicing - and, believe me, there is quite a bit of spit splicing being done with this wool. It's just that I'm not sure I want to be doing so much spit splicing in public :-)

Lastly, I already have a significant cocoon knit and I have not yet finished the first wheel of wool. I'm a bit concerned that this shawl is going to be of monstrous proportions at the end of my fourth wheel! Not sure I want to be lugging around a monstrous cocoon around the Mediterranean.

So.......what to bring? I pulled the Vickie Cardigan out of her plastic bin last night to knit a few rows and found myself in love with her all over again.

Vickie is on my list to work on during the current "Earth" stretch of Project Spectrum. The "Moss" colorway fits the color requirements and moss is a rather earthy plant, don't you think? The color is difficult to capture but I think this photograph does a pretty accurate job of displaying the browns and greens intertwining.

The Black Water Abbey pattern is pretty straightforward and easy. The heathery tweed of the yarn does not lend to 'popping' those cables as much as I would like. But nevertheless, I am satisfied with the overall effect.

I'm actually thinking of packing less clothes so that Vickie can join me on the cruise. I will most definitely be taking along socks to work on.

G is for Garage Door

Now I ask you, "Doesn't everyone's garage door have a story to tell?"

From initial glances my garage doors look pretty commonplace. Your driveway is most likely paved instead of being gravel. And, your siding is probably not made from logs, but other than that your garage doors are probably similar to mine.

You may have an occasional animal lurking around your garage door wondering what is on the other side of your door. Most likely, this animal is either a cat or a dog. In fact, your garage door may have many a tale to tell if it could only communicate with you!

My garage door has tell-tale signs upon it that make me wish I had a hidden camera attached nearby. First, there are the animal signs - as in wildlife.

These are the claw marks of a brown bear. These claw marks have been scratced into the wood for about six years now. They have weathered several harsh winters. They have weathered the logs being powerwashed and stained three times. They are here to stay. These marks tell the story of one husband who left the garage door open overnight and one bear who feasted on three 20-lb bags of wheat and the contents of one dustbuster pulled off the wall and emptied. The claw marks were made on the subsequent night when the bear payed a second visit only to find the garage door properly closed. The claw marks stretch all up and down the middle partition, this is only a sampling.

The next sign of wildlife are the "nibbles" on the garage stripping. I used to think these were little chipmunk nibbles of which we have quite a few. They are hibernating right now and will be coming out soon. Now I say, 'I used to think...' because the nibbles are getting higher and higher as each year passes. These chippies must be standing on their tippy-toes to nibble away at the stripping. Once again, if I had a hidden night camera I just might discover who the culprit is! I'm not sure why they want in the garage. I'm beginning to wonder if their family members live in my storage room. Perhaps Papa Chippy scrounges around in the day and returns at night after the garage door is closed. Any ideas?

And lastly, we have another kind of animal that has left tell-tale signs upon my garage door. This animal is of the 'teenager' variety. I will say two words and let the garage door picture tell the rest of the story. The first word is TEENAGER. The second word is DRIVER'S PERMIT.

This is the attempt Allison, my nurse daughter, made to "patch" up her collision with the garage door. I'm quite confident that she is doing a much better job patching up patients these days than garage doors.

I will now leave you with a frontal view of my garage door. Now that you know the story it tells you can see how high the little chipmunks are devouring the side stripping, on all sides of each door. It is a good think all this activity happens on the exterior. If it happened on the interior side I just might walk out to my garage one day and discover the doors lying on the ground!

Does your garage door have a story to tell?

Cast-On ~ April Sockdown

The April Sockdown challenge on Ravelry is to knit a pattern by Jeanie Townsend. I had not heard of this designer before now but learned she has a Yahoo Sock Knitting group. After joining the group I discovered she has designed many beautiful socks. The sock I have selected is called Cascading Leaves.

In keeping with the current Project Spectrum colors I selected a lovely Shibui yarn in green. I then went to Ravelry to see all the socks knit with this yarn and discovered that it does have some issues with pooling. I'm hoping that this sock pattern will camoflauge it some. You can see the pooling already in my cast on stitches. I guess I will just have to imagine that it is sunshine shining through on my cascading leaves :-)

Project Spectrum ~ EARTH

On April 1st Project Spectrum moved into the EARTH element - brown, green and metallic colors.

These are my favorite colors so I am more than ready to pull out some old unfinished projects and make some serious headway on them!

My goal for April and May is to tackle and finish two sweaters:

1. Must Have Cardigan in colorway Taupe
2. Vickie in colorway Moss

You can find more information about them in my sidebar and, if you are a Ravelry member, you can click the links.

Perfect Travel Knitting?

Recently I have joined the Zimmermania by becoming enthralled with Elizabeth Zimmerman's ingenuity in design. Her style of writing appeals to me and whatever pattern I am reading about captivates me and makes me want to knit it right away.

One such pattern is the PI SHAWL which EZ deems is 'perfect travel knitting.' While reading about it in The Knitter's Almanac, this proclamation caught my attention because, as many of you know, I will be leaving on a Mediterranean cruise in a couple weeks. I'll be gone for 17 days. And, instead of contemplating my wardrobe I've been contemplating what knitting to bring for, naturally, I never go anywhere without it!

EZ says that a shawl is perfect for traveling because it takes up little space. It can be knit on a circular needle which is also perfect because one of my greatest traveling fears is loosing a needle and not being able to knit. And since the shawl is knit on circular needles it can be tossed here and there with no dread of accidently pulling out a needle as you pick it up.

Now there is something you must know. I have NEVER knit a shawl. I've never enjoyed intricate lace patterns with all those yarn-overs. So to me a shawl seems like it would be a nightmare waiting to happen on a trip. However, after reading great reviews on this pattern, the concensus is that it is an easy, mindless knit. I think even I can manage this!

I decided that this would be an ideal project to take on the cruise. The knitting will be mindless because this will be a circular shawl with only six shaping rows in the whole shawl! That means that there is quite a bit of mindless knitting inbetween those shaping rows.....endless rounds....no thinking.

I set out to choose the best wool in a color that I love since there will be much mindless knitting involved. Ravelry is a fantastic place to see patterns knit up in different colors and yarns. BTW, there are two EZ groups on Ravelry. I spotted JARED'S PI SHAWL and immediately knew I would also be using the Un-spun Icelandic Wool from Schoolhouse Press. It took me a few weeks to decide upon the color.

The package arrived today. Do you see Meg Swansen's name on the label? Proof positive that knitting talent can be genetic.

One of my favorite colors, Eggplant. This wool comes from hardy Icelandic sheeps. It is put up into 'wheels' that look more like cow patties than skeins of yarn. When I saw them on Ravelry they looked small but here they sit in a pie plate to show you how large they really are.

Someone needs to tell me that I CANNOT start my PI Shawl yet! Hide my needles!

I'm very curious to see how many of you have knit this lovely garment. If you have, what length circular needle did you use? Did you use wood or metal needles?

F is for French Press

My favorite coffee is made with a FRENCH PRESS. It takes a little longer to make coffee this way and there is a bit of mess to clean up afterwards but, in my opinion, the effort is worth it. If you have seen these coffee gadgets and have always wondered how they work I am about to give you a brief tutorial which is bound to make you tea drinkers run and grab your favorite tea bag shaking your head in dismay.

Each French Press comes equipped with a plunger-filter unit inside it. The plunger is removed and the French Press is warmed with water as you grind dark roasted oily beans to a coarse grind. Finely ground coffee will clog the filter.

The coffee is then placed in the bottom of the French Press and the warming water is discarded.. Hot water, not boiling, is added to the pot leaving a minimum of one inch at the top. The coffee and water is stirred gently before placing the plunger unit back on top of the pot.

The lid spout opening is closed and the coffee is allowed to brew for at least four minutes. Do NOT press down at this point.

The pot handle is held firmly with the spout turned away from you. Using the weight of your hand, slight pressure is applie on top of the knob and the plunger is lowered straight down into the pot. Lowering the plunger slowly with minimal pressure produces the best results. Do not use excessive force, which can cause scalding liquid to shoot out of the pot or cause the pot to fall over spilling coffee all over the place!

The lid is turned to the strainer position and the coffee is poured. Yummy! French Press coffee lacks the 'burned' taste that you so often get when using a traditional coffee maker.


The downside, as I mentioned earlier, is that you do have coffee grounds to deal with in the pot. They have to be scooped out with a spoon and discarded. BTW, does anyone know if you can put coffee grounds down a septic system?

So, this is the French way to make coffee. Or, at least one French way. When I was in college one of my roomates was a Cajun girl from the deep Cajun country of southern Louisiana. Cajuns, as you most likely have heard, are descendents from the French Arcadians and are steeped in French tradition and language. My roomate made coffee in a similar way without the nifty French press filter that we have now. She used a plain old strainer. This, of course, was back in the days when folks used a percolator to make coffee, shortly before Mr. Coffee came along. And, the coffee we used was chicory coffee which had a unique flavor of its own.

This is my "F" entry for the ABC Along. And, if you are wondering what happened to my "D" and "E" entries I now confess I spaced them out and forgot to post them. "Forgetfulness" would have been another "F" entry I could have made. This attribute is something those of us who grew up in the percolator generation can identify with these days :-)

Mindless Knitting

I am a firm believer in having mindless knitting on hand for those times when I just don't feel like concentrating on a pattern. The brain can drift of into a state of relaxation and enjoy the rhythmic clicking of the sticks and all is bliss.

The Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf is a perfect example of mindless knitting. There is only one row to memorize, over and over again. The pattern is reversible and looks great on either side. And, what makes it even more sublime is knitting it with Malabrigo! It will be difficult for me to want a scarf knit with anything else from here on out. This yarn is simply heavenly.

Ahhhhhh........relaxation......

Back to Blogger

I've decided to switch back to Blogger. Wordpress just did not have the versatality to play with the layout like Blogger does. It appears Blogger has made some improvements this last year.

The Project Spectrum colors are getting ready to change from FIRE to EARTH. I'm ready to move out of the red-orange-pink spectrum and knit some nice earthy tones. The new colors will be brown and green. But, before the colors change I will give you a Project Spectrum FIRE slideshow - hopefully on Friday.

Cast-Off February Sock

A few of you have reminded me that I never posted about my completed Kaffe Fasset sock for the February Sockdown on Ravelry.