Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Front of Dianne, several rows into lace pattern and v-neck split.
Looks all innocent in the afternoon sunglow, but she's a total bitch.
Dianne started off normally enough. 15 inches of pure stockinette
stitches with a few waist decreases and increases thrown in to keep the
eyes open. Nevertheless stockinette sure gets boring quick, so I was
pleased to have finally reached the lace pattern so that the real fun
could begin.
The pattern says this is for experienced
knitters. That part at least is correct. But let me clarify a
bit. Experienced here does not mean experienced in knitting
techniques - there are nothing but simple yarn-overs, ssk and k2tog
here.
Experienced means "Keeping a smile on your face while you navigate
the very turbulent landscape of our pot-hole filled, erroneous,
lazy and all-around shitty pattern, and still come out the other side
with something that isn't completely F&*D and without having
kicked your cat for no reason (to him)." I am not an experienced
knitter. Sorry Bunny, hope your hips aren't too misaligned.
Lace Pattern. Or, A Very Bumpy Road Ahead
The chart is wrong in some places (unequal number of increases and
decreases, even though in the instructions it says to "make sure number
of inc and dec are the same for a given row."). It tells you how many
stitches to cast on but that's about it as far as helpful stitch
numbers go. You're left on your own as to how many should be left on
the shoulders when all is said and done, if you've managed to get
that far intact.
Also, there are no edge stitches. They've even got yarn-overs and
decreases at the edges. Knitting hooligans! How am I going to seam this
thing?
In conclusion. The
instructions could not be any worse than if you removed the chart
and replaced it with a picture of a giant dirty rat. The only way to pilot this thing is by the seat of
your pants, and to fill the holes as you go along. Counting stitches to
keep in pattern is useless, which is why for me I've got
a delta of 5 stitches between the left and right front. But it
doesn't matter. I'll get that under control eventually. I'm doing
whatever I gotta do to keep the lace in pattern, even if that
means conducting suspect accounting practices by putting an
extra credit here or another debit over there.
I will finish this though. I will.
Did I at some point say that the Apricot Jacket pattern was hard to follow? Did I say it more than once? Interesting.
PS. I didn't really kick the cat.
Filed Under: Adrienne V
Friday, April 22, 2005
It's unbelievable what changes while 10 days away from New England in the middle of April. Suddenly now there is what appears to be FOLIAGE. I'm seeing things that are green, yellow, and PINK. All my daffodils are in bloom. The hyacinths are at peak. The tulips are ready to party. And the peonies! Just before I left for Taipei I was searching in vain for their little pokey heads in the dirt, and now they've seemingly bypassed the Pokey Heads stage and headed straight into Twelve Whole Inches of Fluffy Leaves with Even a Few Buds Included stage!
All the perennials planted Spring '04 - ah yes that magical season of unsurpassed gardening frenzy because I wasn't working - are coming back as well. I know it's their job, but I'm still surprised.
 Back to knitting talk. I finished the left side of AJ. I will say again: the instructions for this piece are f'ed up. I continue only because I really love this cardigan, and because every knitter and their dog on this planet has managed to complete this piece well enough to wear it in public. And so will I damnit.
So first the good news: the mystery that is the front bands has been revealed - they're knitted at each shoulder of the front pieces. You bind off about half of the stitches for the shoulder, and then continue knitting the other half for some inches which will then constitute "front bands." Ahhhh.
Now the bad news: With the front pieces joined together by the front bands, the piece will resemble a halter top. So the front bands then are really back bands, wrapping behind your neck. In the back. Not the front. The back. Back bands. BACK bands you fools. That yes, are knitting from the front. If You Pattern Writers had just mentioned this very quickly somewhere in the footnote of the pattern I wouldn't be so upset.
More bad news: What REALLY bugs me is that for the front/back bands, the pattern says to cast on an extra stitch "anew" at the edge. Anew is too quaint a word for a task so clugey. Unless I misinterpret, anew requires dropping/snipping the old yarn and attaching a new ball for the sake of ONE cast-on. Why not just do a simple increase? Or, why not bind off a stitch less? Or, why not account for the extra stitch in pattern? Or better yet, why don't we just not do it?
I need to find me an AJ support group.
I'm hoping that like the front band mystery itself, when finished this extra stitch tumor will reveal itself to be useful if not totally mandatory. For now I'm a little put off by the whole thing and have taken a break from AJ, and started AV.
Adrienne V that is, Shaped Top #6 from Spring 2005. I'm going to give it a less clinical name and call it...Dianna. After the name of the yarn. This name will work if I knit in this yarn this one time in my life only.
Filed Under: Adrienne V | Life | Rebecca 27 | Apricot Jacket
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Every day is a packed blur that I can't even remember what I did this morning aside from having a very hard time pulling myself out of bed. This trip has been the first time that I/we haven't tagged along with my mother here and there like illiterate ducklings. We're still illiterate but can finally find our way around unsupervised, and at least have some sense of direction --I asked Mom once whether grandma's house or auntie's house is eastern Taipei, western, southern...? and she had utterly no idea. She can't find her way out of a paper bag, even the same paper bag she's lived in for 30 years.
The funeral was yesterday. My uncle, the new patriarch of the family, delivered a lovely speech after Mass that we were all in tears. After the burial the entire family had lunch together at a nearby restaurant. About 50 of us in somber black attire streamed in on a wedding banquet being held at the same time. I'm sure they loved that.
It turned out that knitting store I visited the other day with the hideous prices was Filatura di Crosa. Just so you know.
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Taipei
Thursday, April 14, 2005
While I continue to make minimal progress on the Apricot Jacket (henceforth AJ), I am making huge progress on the eating.
Last night my cousin Paul took us out for a Japanese bbq dinner. We cooked thin strips of sirloin, pork, fish, clams, vegetables on small grills perched atop a ceramic pot of coals. By far the most expensive meal we've had here, but who cares because we didn't pay, heh. Oh on the way there we walked by Chiang Kai Chek's great-grandson walking his dog. Ooo the closest I've ever gotten to a dictator sighting!
Advertisement: Getting around Taipei is a breeze with mass transit. This "easycard" transit pass is one of several issued with my uncle's name printed on the front. He's apparently famous around here. I saw him on the news the other day, after having just seen him in his pj's.
Today after buying our usual pastries from the shop next door, we headed to, um, Starbucks to eat them over coffee. I know, I know. This city is littered with all sorts of cafes fitted into every nook and cranny imaginable and we picked Starbucks. The problem was that the nook and cranny cafes we've visited were serving up exotic coffees doused with weird syrup or powdered milk (??) or ten feet of foam that there was no coffee flavor to be had. Apparently it's too little to ask for a simple cup of no-frills coffee, because everytime I do I'm barraged with 20 Questions - do you want froth, do you want bubbles, we can add chocolate syrup, do you want sprinkles, only $5 extra for blah blah blah and flah flah flah...Gah!
I also decided to refuse patronizing coffee shops with blatant Starbucks-rip-off logos. And man are there plenty of those. It drives me absolutely crazy. This city comes up with the most creative concoctions of eats like shaved ice drenched in cream and fruit, or topioca balls swimming in tea, or meat sausage nestled in another sausage of rice, and they can't for the LIFE of them come up with their own damn marketing campaign.
Today we went with my cousins to Danshui, a small harbor I guess with a boardwalk of various street food. We spent the whole afternoon eating this and that. Then we came back to the city and had shaved ice, and picked up a couple of scallion pancakes on the way home.
Duck with green-tea flavored gelatinous goo sprinkled with sesame, and (can't see it well here) cannibalistic Chinese sausage within a rice sausage.
Strawberry and mango shaved ice.
Thanks Blossom for the yarn shop tip - what color line is the MRT stop on? Hopefully I'll find the time between the eating and the family stuff to make the trip. I left the States in such a hurry that I didn't even bring appropriate funeral attire. Truthfully I just don't have anything appropriate. Why is everything sleeveless? And suddenly so frilly and so colorful? No doubt my Grandfather would frown in disapproval.
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Taipei
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Errrrgh! I want to throttle the instructions for the Apricot Jacket. I don't know what's up, but this is the fourth Rebecca pattern I've followed and having by far the most trouble with it. The textual instructions are pretty much useless. I should instead carry the back piece with me and use that as a visual guide - the front is really just the back in two parts - but it's too bulky carrying that all over the city. I've started and restarted the pattern for the front panel so many times that the yarn has started to become frayed.
Also the finishing instructions say to sew "front bands" together and to the neck edge. Uh, what bands...?
My mom and I visited a yarn store yesterday, giving ourselves plenty of time to browse/buy before a dinner engagement later in the evening. It turned out we browsed for all of 2 minutes. The prices ranged from $700 NT to $2000 NT ($20 to $60 USD) per ball. I think we must have asked the owner about one hundred times if the prices was per unit or per bag. FOURTY DOLLARS FOR A SINGLE BALL OF WOOL. They were mostly Anny Blatts and Bouton d'Or and other French imports. What's the big hooha? I don't get how anybody, no matter how irresponsible with money, could stand paying $400 to knit a plain ole wool sweater.
So yesterday Duck and I spent part of the day at Taipei 101. I wanted to go up on the observatory deck but it's been cloudy and foggy and unseasonably cold. We spent the morning eating pastries til we turned green, then walked around, then had lunch, then had dessert. For dinner we ate sushi again (an obscene amount that I think I'm actually scared of sushi now), then spent some time with my grandmother playing mah-jong.
We're staying with my cousin at what I like to call the Kennedy Compound: Uncle and Aunt #1 along with my cousin Paul and wife live on floor 2. Other cousin Francis and wife with 2 kids live on floor 3. Grandmother and Uncle #2 live on floor 6. We're staying with Francis. The kids (aged 1 and 3) stare at Duck like he's from outer space. Yaya, the eldest, won't call him when she sees him, but she apparently talks about Uncle Duck all the time when we're out. She's warming up though. Today she was willing to get close enough to take a picture with Uncle Duck!
I appreciate the kind comments left in the previous post! Til next time...
Filed Under: Life | Rebecca 27 | Apricot Jacket | Travel | Taipei
Monday, April 11, 2005
Here's what I got going on with the Apricot Jacket. I gotta say, the instructions for this are really confusing. Glad I didn't start off with this as my first sweater project. I would've given up on knitting altogether.
Bunny feet on Jacket
I'm knitting this on size 6/4.25mm needles to obtain a much smaller gauge. I like 'em tight. I've also shortened the length 4 cm and plan on doing the same for the sleeves.
So I am here unexpectedly again in Taipei. When the Pope passed away last Saturday, he took my grandfather with him, mercifully ending years and years of suffering a slow and painful death. None of us can be too sad about him finally being at peace. It was so hard for me to see him so broken and bed-ridden and tied with a mess of feeding tubes and whatever else. He spent over 10 years like that, never speaking and wholly unable to do anything on his own, but breathe, sleep, and blink. Several times he was on the brink, and each time he was pulled back in.
Duck and I set up a living will a couple of years ago to ensure we'd never have our low threshold of pain tested in such a way. If either of us so much as develops a chronic rash, that's it dude. You have my leave to pull the plug.
I love Taipei but need to stop coming here for the purpose of mourning. Fourth time in as many years, third time since Jan 2004. However it's always great seeing family again, and of course it's great to do ALL THE EATING.
So we're here about a week. Brought the Apricot Jacket but doubt I'll find any time to knit. Also I left some knitting materials on the plane - a small bag of crochet hooks, stitch markers, a beloved tape measure and grrrrrr.
Filed Under: Life | Rebecca 27 | Apricot Jacket | Travel | Taipei
Sunday, April 03, 2005
It's going to be in the mid-60's this week, just in time for the Eyelet Cardi/Bunny Wrap to make its debut.
 
Bask in all its pink glory
Pattern: No.39 Wrap Sweater with Eyelets from Rebecca 29
Yarn: Classic Elite Lush (angora/wool blend) in pink, 4.5 skeins
Gauge: 18sts on 7/4.5mm needles
So I substituted GGH Soft Kid with Lush because SK and I were just not getting along. At all. I couldn't get rid of it fast enough and traded them in for the very aptly named Luuusssshh. Though it made the sweater a real 'knit' piece rather than a fluffy, light-as-air one, Lush was nevertheless a great substitute. Until you got to the sash, then it became seriously inappropriate. I redid it a couple of times, decreasing the number of stitches from 21 to 9 to make it more ribbon-like and less rope-like. Better, but not great. Still can't double tie it. It also curls like mad despite attempts to block and steam the bloody life out of it.
Alas, to no avail.
What I should have done was to knit in garter stitch...or double crochet it...I had also thought about using my one leftover SK skein in HOT FUSCHIA to use for the sash. Could have been a nice accent against the pink. But I couldn't bear to redo it yet again so I'm going to live with it and be happy with the results. And I am. It's very very VERY soft, warm but light, and pink! I don't usually do pink, but every now and then it must be incorporated into wardrobe to remind self and others that despite the boy-like figure, I am actually a girly girl.
I also enjoy the occasional lace
Other notes:
- Substituted yarn, yadda yadda.
- Next time (if there is a next time) garter stitch the sash to prevent unruly curling. Notice I did not say "try using Soft Kid as suggested."
- Did not crochet slip-stitches around the arm cuffs or body.
- Picked up about 140 stitches around the V-neck and back neck, purled one row and bound off the next knit-wise, per instructions. I was afraid I had picked up too little and it would pull in, but it didn't and the end result looked really nice.
- It got a little hairy at times knitting the front pieces, as there were so many things going on simultaneously: eyelet pattern, increase shaping on one side, sloped bind-off on the other, armhole shaping, do this every other row but do this once every 8th row, etc. etc. etc. Groups of tick marks everywhere.
- Mattress stitch as usual for seaming. For the cap sleeves I did the usual combo of grafting/mattress stitch to attach top to body (I think Vogue Knitting calls it "invisible vertical to horizontal" seaming), and then mattress down the sides. I posted to a news group asking about preferred method of attaching sleeve, since my books reference backstitch as the "right" way to attach cap sleeves. But the vote was unanimous: mattress. Less bulky, more flexible, and easy. Awesome. I don't want to do backstitch.
Next up: The famous Apricot Jacket. Finally. Already started it using Cotton Fleece in teal. The instructions are totally confusing, but I got around it, I got around it.
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
Friday, April 01, 2005
Eyelet Cardi progess: finished ties
Eyelet Cardi deprogress: ripping ties
The sashes are too thick with the yarn I used. There's no way I can double knot, but even draping one over the other in a single knot has me looking like I've got a pink fuzzy tumor on my side. I was knitting this and thinking, you know, I really should decrease the width but then I didn't because I'm lazy and now gaaah.
Pictures later.
Filed Under: Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
Friday, April 01, 2005
Today during a meeting I used the word "nipples." I reminded myself of Jeff from Coupling whose biggest paranoia was accidentally blurting out "nipples" or "breasts" or "thighs" in casual conversation. Only difference was I thought about it first, then gave myself leave to say "nipples" outloud anyway, and then we all laughed until we cried. In a strange twist of sexism I don't think I would have gotten away with saying nipples if I weren't a woman and if I weren't the only woman in the room.
(The conversation was about those little buttons on men's shirts that allow them to button down their collars. The guys were comparing who buttoned their collars and who didn't, and if those buttons really served any valuable purpose. Like men's nipples. They're there, one on each side, but why? Such a natural segue, I thought.)
The Eyelet Cardi/Bunny Wrap just won't end. Everything's been seamed except for a small portion of the right side, because I'm waiting to finish the ties before I do that. Knitting the ties is taking ages and ages. Then I still have to give the edges a crochet finish. I want to wear it already. I've been trying it on periodically and it is so freakin soft. Next fall/winter's projects are going to have to include angora because damn I feel all luscious in angora.
Speaking of angora, my cat, whom we call Bunny, has been projectile vomitting again on a semi-regular basis. Projectile because he leaves a trail of mashed up catfood 2 feet long, or he backs up as vomits. It's totally disgusting. Other than that he's a happy healthy kitty: likes to play, likes to chase his brother, likes to swat at my knitting. He just can't keep his food down to save his little cat life.
Filed Under: Cats | Life | Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
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