Even if you’re not a knitter, I really recommend this week’s Sticks and String podcast. David’s essay about last week’s apology by the Australian government was one of the best bits of writing I’ve heard about it, and it’s a good explanation of what it was all about (for those from other countries).
Category: Crafts
Craft projects of mine
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DB Book SCORE!
I’m almost embarrassed to post this, but I just picked up a copy of Debbie Bliss’s The Baby Knits Book at Borders in the city for $3.95. Some, uh, knitting stores sell it for a lot more. Like, $80 more. Ahem. Anyway, all the copies they had on the shelf are now gone (sorry!), but you might get lucky at one of their other locations…
Update! I’ve just been told that they have more stock at the Bondi and Macquarie locations.
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Glib Socks
These are my fifth completed pair for the Southern Summer of Socks, and I think they were the fastest to knit. Less than two weeks from start to finish! I’m still well on track to meet my goal of one pair per month.
This was my first time using the Cascade Fixation. It’s a really weird yarn: 98% cotton, 2% elastic. It’s thick and sproingy and I know a lot of people use it for bathing suits(!). I bought it because the Snook hates wearing wool on his feet, and I figured he might be willing to wear this. All the patterns I could find were either girly or boring though. I mentioned my frustration to Bex, and she remarked that she was working on a simple sock pattern at the moment. She e-mailed me the stitch pattern and it was perfect. (She’s since put the pattern up on Ravelry as a free download.)
For the needle size, I looked at the Flame Wave Socks from Interweave’s Favorite Socks. They use 3.5mm on the foot for a women’s sock, but suggest to use a larger needle to make the sock larger. I was also worried about my tension with knitting with such a sproingy yarn, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to go up to the 4mm.
I used Judy’s Magic Cast On for the toe, and then increased up to 50 stitches. (26 on the instep for the patterning, 24 on the sole in plain stockinette.) I knit both socks at once on two circular needles. I had him try them on constantly so I could work out the length of the foot. This stuff stretches A LOT. I used a basic short row heel, and then I picked up an extra two stitches in each gap when I started the leg again. (There’s still a bit of a hole there, but I’ll live with it.) So that brought me up to 55 stitches in total for the leg. Then I just kept going until I was nearly out of wool, when I switched to a 1×1 rib for the cuff.
Very happy with these! Now we’ll see whether they can stand up to the Abominable Feet of Destruction. (Cross-posted to Ravelry and the Southern Summer of Socks.)
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F*** Cancer
Hooray! Brigita got her care package from me. It takes a lot to get me to cross stitch, you know. The design comes from Subversive Cross Stitch. And how adorable does Miss Violet look? What a cutie!
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Sydney meetup for Damo
In case you didn’t see it over at Ravelry, “Damo” from ACS is going to be in Sydney on Wednesday and I’m organising a little meetup for him. Since the shop won’t be open that night, we’re going to have it at the “Crossroads Bar” at the Swissotel on Market Street from about 5:30ish. If you’d like to meet arguably the most influential guy in Australian knitting right now, let me know and I’ll add you to the list.
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RSS Feeds
I put RSS feeds on the Tapestry Craft website today, so now you can see whenever I upload new products. There are even category-specific feeds, so you can subscribe to just knitting yarns or cross stitch kits or whatever. Huge thanks go out to the Snook, who helped me with some decidedly non-trivial coding issues. He rocks.
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MANDU!
Happy Lunar New Year!“My girlfriend made 68 dumplings!”
“In a row?”(Apologies to Kevin Smith for that one.) Okay, so everybody in Sydney’s going nuts over Chinese New Year, but you know what? It’s Korean Lunar New Year too! So instead of wishing you “Kung Hei Fat Choy,” I’m going to say “sae-hae-bok mah-ni bah-de-sei-yo” instead. We’re going to be celebrating tomorrow with some traditional dduk mandu guk, a yummy dumpling soup. But before you can make dumpling soup, you gotta make dumplings! I printed out Ellie’s recipe (have I mentioned how much I love her Korean recipes?) the other day, complete with a photo of the beef dashida so I could be sure to get the right stuff. Today I headed to Miracle at World Square to get the ingredients. (There was some confusion on the part of the butchers about what exactly constitutes “beef brisket,” but we got there in the end.) Tonight I managed to sweet-talk the Snook into helping me with the prep work, and then I got to work shaping the dumplings. I haven’t had much luck with making gyoza in the past, but Ellie’s instructions were so great that I didn’t have any trouble at all. I made 68 of them before running out of gow gee wrappers, and they’re all chilling in the freezer as we speak. I can’t wait to eat them tomorrow!
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Oscar Contest 2008
It’s time to start the Sixth Annual web-goddess Oscar Contest, folks! Here’s how it works: Just go the entry form and make your picks for the dozen award categories (and tie-breaker!). Whoever gets the most right wins a fabulous, one-of-a-kind sock monkey creation. After much deliberation, there really was only one choice this year: a Striking Writer Monkey. He’s union and proud, dammit! (And he’ll probably get the Oscar ceremony cancelled anyway.) He’s also kind of a hipster, for some reason. He features hand-knitted Converse All-Stars (which also function as baby booties, if you have a baby) and chunky black glasses (made out of Fimo). He’ll also come with his very own picket sign, as soon as I get some more ink for my printer. (If you want an idea of how big he is, check out this Flickr photo.)
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Toe Up Jaywalkers
Toe-Up Jaywalkers
These are my fourth completed pair for the Southern Summer of Socks (previously: Whitby, Retro Rib, Widdershins). The original Jaywalker pattern took the knitting world by storm a few years back, so I’m a little late to the party. I’d previously made a start on these a few months back but frogged them when I realized they were never going to fit over my ankle. (The pattern is notorious for its lack of stretch.) I later decided to use the toe-up mod instead, so I could better judge the fit and length as I went along. The yarn is Vesper Sock Yarn in the “Tartan” colourway, which I thought would suit the zig-zagginess of the pattern nicely. I knitted them two-at-a-time on two 2.75mm circs, and I used Judy’s Magic Cast-On to start the toe. (Note to self: Next time either use more than twenty stitches or space out your increases better to avoid toe pointiness.) The zig-zag pattern is actually really easy to do and takes two seconds to memorize, but it does make for some odd pooching where you switch from zig-zag to straight stockinette. The worst part of the construction was trying to figure out where to start the gusset increases; the pattern doesn’t really tell you so I had to guess and I ended up reknitting it three times. The reverse turned heel is very nice though, and it seems to be a good fit. I’ll give these an 8 out of 10! (Cross-posted to Ravelry and Southern Summer of Socks.) -
Knitting Comics
I started a thread on Ravelry the other day about knitting-related comics, and people posted a few gems. I think this one is my favorite.
