Last year, at the TKGA conference, or maybe it was at Stitches West, I can’t remember, I bought some Alpaca yarn from Honey Lane Farms. I had no idea what to make with it, but picked it up anyway. I had made a Leaf Cravat from IK a few years ago and liked the pattern so I thought I would try it with this yarn. It would be a little different, since the last time I made it was in Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton, and this yarn is very different. I started working on it right after I bought it and then got distracted by something more shiny. Plus, when working on the scarf, it would make my eyes water like crazy. I must be allergic to Alpaca, or at least whatever it is that’s around when Alpaca is processed, because the KnitPicks Alpaca bothers me too. So, if whatever was more shiny didn’t make me cry, I would work on that for a while and forget all about this project.
I finally picked it back up last week and decided to finish it. The pattern is pretty easy to memorize, and I will probably do it again with another yarn. Here it is right off the needles.
Here it is blocking on my deluxe blocking wires. They aren’t really deluxe, but it sounds more exciting when I say deluxe blocking wires than just blocking wires. Don’t you think? Please excuse the contrast-y towel I am blocking it on, it’s soaking wet after sitting in a bath of Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Castille soap and warm water. Since the scarf had been dragged all over the place while I was working on it, I thought it needed a wash.
And here is the final scarf off the blocking wires. It looks nice, I think. It’s a bit hairy though, so while I was wearing it today it made me itch like crazy. I will be able to wear it over a collar, but not next to my skin. I am too sensitive, I guess. But, after the wash, it didn’t make my eyes water like Alpaca usually does, so I think that whatever was bothering me that way was washed out. That’s a good thing.
Monthly Archives: August 2005
Sweets from India
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One of the nice things about having a diverse group of people to work with is the variety of things you can learn about other cultures. It seems like food is always the first thing people share.
One of my colleagues just returned from a month-long trip to India. He was in Mumbai when the monsoons hit, and got stuck there for a while before returning to New Delhi where he is from. He shared that his brother was out walking in the water and it was up to his armpits! I have been in the monsoons in Las Vegas, where the water comes half-way up your shins, but never up to my armpits. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.
He brought these beautiful sweets back with him to share with the team at work. The long tube-shaped one and the cube-shaped one have silver leaf on top. How pretty! The other has coconut and I think they all have pistachios. Yummy!
He says you can buy them here but they don’t taste the same as the ones he brought back. Not suprising, really.
Two Thirds Bean Salad
In the summer, I hate cooking, because it’s just too hot. I have built up a repertoire of recipes that I can stretch for a few days, just to avoid having to cook on the hot days of summer.
When I was a kid, my mother always made 3 bean salad. Green beans, Garbanzos and Kidneys. I never liked the Green Beans, in fact, I still don’t. Every few years, I like to try foods that I hated in the past to see if I still hate them. I recently discovered a love for Asparagus this way, but Green Beans are still on the you-know-what list.
So now that I’m a grown-up, I can make my own version, which I call Two-Thirds Bean Salad. It’s actually nothing like my mother’s version, I don’t think. She is an amazing cook, but we have issues, so we don’t talk. It sucks that I don’t have her recipes, but my sanity is worth so much more.
I never think to measure this kind of stuff, which means I would fail miserably as a baker. I really have a hard time following a recipe exactly as written. I always throw in twice as much garlic as called for. I never use cups of things that come in units, like peppers, onions, carrots. I just use 1 onion, or 1 pepper, etc. It seems so wasteful to use only a cup of something that isn’t pourable.
Two-Thirds Bean Salad
1 (14 oz) can Garbanzo Beans, drained
1 (14 oz) can Kidney Beans, drained
1 green pepper, finely diced
3 shallots, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of two lemons
olive oil to taste, I start with about 2 Tablespoons and adjust from there
Sugar to taste, I start with 2 teaspoons of superfine and adjust from there
salt and pepper to taste
Rinse the beans if they are in that unpleasant goo that they sometimes come in. Otherwise, just drain them. Combine everything but the beans in a bowl. Adjust the last four ingredients to get the balance you like. The sugar might not even be needed, depending on your lemons. Toss in the beans and mix well. Pop the bowl in the fridge and let the flavors meld for a couple of hours. Makes a great side dish for a few days worth of lunches or dinners. I like it with sauteed chicken breasts or a steak. Yum!
I hope you’ll try it and let me know if you like it, blogworld!
A few more baby items
This is, I guess, inspired by this pattern: tychus from Knitty.com. I didn’t actually read the pattern, but I looked at the picture and thought, “How clever! I can do that!” I think it’s a really nice design, and once you see how the construction works, it just falls into place. I will probably make some more of these in the future, I like how the pattern works.
I used some Knitpicks Shine in Orchid and Blush. This will be for my new niece, who was born in June. I don’t think her mommy reads my blog, so hopefully the present won’t be spoiled.
I like the yarn too. It’s a little nicer than straight cotton, meaning it has a little give to it so it doesn’t feel like you are getting a workout when you are knitting with it. I only wish it came in black and white in addition to the colors that they do have. I have a perfect idea in mind for one more baby gift for a friend due in February, but I need black and white. I will probably be able to find another brand of sports weight cotton in black and white, but I like to use the same yarn so that it all behaves the same in the garment.
This one is for my new nephew, born in July. He lives in the Seattle area, so I made him some mittens too. He’s new, so he doesn’t need thumbs on his mittens yet. These are knitted in Knitpicks Elegance in Cornflower and Grass. Elegance is a Baby Alpaca and Silk blend, and knits up beautifully. I put a little loop at the top so if the parents decide to wash the hat it can be hooked by the loop to air dry. His mom doesn’t read the blog either, I don’t think. I guess I’ll find out when I finally get to meet him and give him his present!
This yarn is really nice too. Much less hairy than the Andean Silk, so it doesn’t bother my eyes to use it. It feels nice and has a nice shine from the silk. I can see using this for a lightweight but warm cardigan in the future.
I hope that Knitpicks decides to add more colors to the basic lines they started out with. A lot of the shades are a bit… juvenile? They need some Rowan- or Debbie Bliss-like adult pastels. Then I think they will really have something. I did just order a mess o’ shade cards which I will bring to my local Stich and Bitch maybe next week. I am glad I didn’t notice the “buy all shades of this yarn” link when I was looking at the fingering wool yesterday. I might have gone a bit overboard. Besides, once I see the shade card, I am sure they will be happy to let me buy the sampler box.
More BG thoughts
I was reading over here: Sweater Project where David is discussing religion and machines and whether we should figure this stuff out before creating AIs that might decide their own morality that might differ from our own.
I am glad to hear there are others out there enjoying BG as much as I am, and the thought provoking questions too. How did the Cylons become religious? Are they worshipping the same God as we {those who) do? What will happen when they reach Earth and find monotheistic groups that all disagree on who God is? When is this happening anyway? Will we Earthers ever agree on something so personal? We can even see some differences in the religion of the 12 colonies, when it’s mentioned that the Gemini are fundamentalists.
As an agnostic, it’s more academic, but for a believer, what’s it like to watch this show?
I can’t wait to find out what happens each week. The questions in the most recent ep (205) regarding love, whether man can love a machine, and whether love is what’s missing from the machine’s ability to procreate… And Boomer, what’s going on there? Is she betraying the Cylons in her desire to be human? If so, does that mean Adama is a cylon and she shot him to stop the fleet from leading the Cylons to Earth? Or is Adama human, and she’s betraying the humans in favor of the Cylons? It makes me wonder if she is in control of herself at all, or is it more of a multiple personality thing where one persona doesn’t know what the other is doing? Her comment to Starbuck that she didn’t access the information about the farms makes it seem like there is some form of connecting consciousness, or is there?
So many questions!!
Chinese Food Nightmares
Does anybody else get these? I get nightmares whenever I eat Chinese food, like clockwork. Luckilly I can avoid Chinese because there are so many tasty alternatives, but no other Asian food bothers me like this. Not Japanese, Korean, Indian, Thai, Filipino, Vietnamese, nothing. Even the shops that advertise no MSG still cause nightmares.
For lunch yesterday, I had some orange chicken and bbq pork, and forgot all about it. Went to bed at the usual time, and blammo, about a half hour after I fell asleep I was wide awake with a nightmare. They always happen very quickly like that too, never late into the night, but just after I fall asleep. (I do have the middle of the night kind, but very very rarely, and never after Chinese food.) Sometimes they are the really terrifying kind, and sometimes they are more like startling enough to wake me.
I did an informal poll at work today and found that the only other person in my group to also get them is the other white girl. My dad has them too.
So what was the dream? Well, not the terrifying kind this time: It was me waking up from falling asleep on the sofa to a knocking at the back door. I approach the door (strangely, the blinds were gone from the window) and I see my sister outside with a suitcase. Her husband is helping her with her other suitcase and then leaves her. I scream after him, “Don’t think you get the house!” Then I help her come into the house and that’s where I woke up, sure that she was getting ready for bed in my bathroom.
What a difference a gauge makes
On the Rogue_Along mailing list, someone asked if KnitPicks Andean Silk would be a good match for Girl From Auntie‘s newest beauty, called Eris.
I replied that I thought it would be to floppy, and that I might try swatching a cable to see if it really was.
I decided to compare the Andean Silk to Wool of the Andes, which has the exact same gauge information on it’s label. 4.5 – 5 stitches/1″ on Needle Size #7-#8.
Andean Silk is 55% Superfine Alpaca, 23% Silk, and 22% Merino Wool. Shown here in the color Olive, which didn’t photograph very well. (I originally bought it to swatch for the Kyoto sweater in Knitty, for the stockinette portion of the sweater, so wasn’t expecting to be taking photos or I would have gone a bit lighter in color!)
Wool of the Andes is 100% Peruvian Wool, in the color Carrot.
I used another of Girl from Auntie’s cables, which she calls Double Knot cable for the swatch, doing the first part in Andean Silk and the mirror image in Wool of the Andes. I soaked each swatch in warm water and blocked overnight, but both curled due to the stockinette edges.
I used a 5.0mm needle (size 8 US) for my first swatch, and the middle sized cable needle from the Brittany Birch set of 3. Unfortunately I have misplaced my needle gauge and can’t report the size of that needle. If I find my gauge I will amend this report. With this setup, I ended up with 5.0 stitches per inch, which is on the tight side of the yarn’s recommended gauges, and the same gauge at which I knitted the original stockinette swatch that made me think the yarn would be too floppy. Please be kind to my mistake on the cables – I was scrolling up and down on the page containing the cable instructions, and I obviously missed something.
For the second swatch I used 4.25mm (Approx. US#6) and the smallest of the 3 Brittany Birch cable needles. This swatch ended up at 5.3 stitches/inch, tighter than the recommended gauge for the yarn.
My Conclusion?
I still think Andean Silk is too floppy for the gauges shown here, especially compared to the Wool of the Andes. Seeing how the cables popped on the second swatch, I can imagine that at a tighter gauge, it might work. But, more than it’s floppiness, it’s the hairiness that would keep me from using it. I think the hair fuzzes out the cables and makes them kind of… blurry? In just plain stockinette, it looks nice, but the cables get lost in the haze of hair.
The real problem though, is that it makes me itch like crazy which wouldn’t necessarily affect anyone but me, but it would keep me from wearing anything made from it.
But, I think I will use the Wool of the Andes – I think it looks great, especially in the second swatch. When I am done with Kyoto, I might start a Rogue or Eris in Wool of the Andes, depending on what gauge the pattern is written for.
Strange goings on
Something strange going on with my template on the sidebar, I don’t know where all the extra spaces are coming from. I upgraded to the latest version of movable type and I am not much of a CSS wizard, although I did manage to change some things. I guess I’ll just play with it over the weekend and see if I figure it out.
Secret Life of Lobsters
Maybe I was pre-disposed to liking this book — there are lobstermen in my grandfather’s generation off the coast of Nova Scotia — but I really found this book to be so fascinating that I couldn’t put it down for days and finished it up quite quickly.
Of course, I love to eat lobster. One of my favorite birthday gifts is when my husband orders from Maine Lobster Direct and has them send me a DownEast Feast. My great-grandmother used to send mittens and socks to us kids, and canned lobster meat for our parents for Christmas.
I never knew anything about lobster in any context outside of dinner, but this book leaves nothing much to the imagination. And it makes it interesting! Who knew?
It discusses the mating dance between the males and females, and the conservation efforts the lobstermen were doing independent of the government scientists that were telling them it was all going to be gone if they didn’t stop. Still more scientists were working on figuring out where the lobsters go throughout their lives. Meanwhile, the catch keeps going up each year even though the government scientists are telling the lobstermen that they were overfishing. The lobstermen had to prove, to themselves at least, that they were preserving the next generations of lobster. If they didn’t do that, they would be out of a job, and what of their business could they hand down to the next generation?
The story flows from the shore to the boats to the pots to the labs and keeps you turning page after page. If you are looking for a quick summer read that might teach you something new, maybe this is the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Headphones
I have these great headphones. They still sound good after 6 years, and they have a really long cord so I can roll around my whole cubicle at work while still connected. They were very inexpensive, but about a year ago, the foam pads that protected my ears finally fell apart.
I have been using them “naked” since then, but they always were very uncomfortable that way, which made my ears hurt and made me listen to music less.
Then last week, at Stich n’ Bitch, I had a great idea – why not knit some covers for the things? I have a ball of some imitation Cascade Fixation that someone gave me a while back, it seemed like a great candidate with it’s stretchiness. I started thinking about how I was going to get started on double pointed needles on such a small and stretchy, fiddly thing when it hit me… Crochet!
I am quite rusty, but I figured, it’s just a granny square without the corners, right? How hard can it be? Well, they didn’t quite come out perfectly shaped, and they are a bit lumpy on the edges, but they get the job done. I was amazed at how — even though my mind didn’t know what to do — my hands knew what to do, and I ended up with some decent half-double crochet ear pad thingies. They are quite comfy too. I highly reccomend it if you find yourself with decent headphones and no foamy covers for them.
Thanks to whoever shared the yarn. Was it Sandra?