Pictures!

How predictable can I get! I love cats - surPRISE! And DH keeps me amused by clicking their pictures for me. He returned from a trip to Japan with a photo of a feline snoozing on a window sill in a dark alley. Ain't that sweet? This morning, he captured a snapshot with his phone:

A ginger cat strolling at leisure

I haven't quite wrapped up my discussions of Stitches. I mean, come now, the show is worth more than just a blog entry or two, no? Don't ya worry, there's more pictures than banter to follow.

I waxed eloquent on the Mama Bear earlier. Here's a hasty picture of it in action:


And a pretty picture of the ball winder:



The winder falls short only by the absence of a motor. I know, I know, battery-operated ball winders are not the buzz - and will someone please educate me why! Annnyyyway. For now, the swift and the winder together have reduced the strain on my muscles and time. The center-wound ball that spools up looks sexy, I gotta admit. Love it for that.

If you're wondering about the yarn, it's from my stash picked up at the Knit and Crochet show, Oakland, 2006. It's a 100% cotton, fingering weight.

Then there were the books I bought:


On a different note: I have been the proud owner of a stand mixer since last july. I've prep'd cakes, cookies, rasgulla and an incredible numer of batches of rotis using this indispensable machine. The mixer works with 2 independent motors, one for the turntable and another for the mixing hooks. Last month though, the turntable motor failed. A bit of googling revealed that the Heritage series of Sunbeam is notorious for this exact failure. Fortunately for me, mine was still well protected by warranty. A phonecall-to-customer-service later, I was shipped out a replacement and this time, I requested for the red model. It came in today:

Yipppeeee!

Selecting colours

is not easy and I am justified in being flummoxed over the subject. Looking at hanks of dyed yarn will not give you the faintest clue of how that shade of ochre will contrast against a shade of blue. And if purple will fit into the picture at all when you want to keep the look sedate.

A shade card isn't going to help you much either. I am particularly wary of the ones that indicate 2-colour/3-colour combinations based on color theory. If you ask me, that limits your creativity and makes your product look very similar to many others, simply because of the 'standard' combination you went with.

I am not sure why this never occurred to me earlier. I was walking through the aisles at Stitches and the brainwave hit me - watercolours. Why not use watercolours as a tool to indicate how the colours will work with each other? And what percentage of the knit fabric to knit in what colour to keep the look balanced. So this is what I'm going to try in 2007. Carefully plan my projects and incorporate colours in the 'blueprint'. Then proceed to place online orders. I like this idea.

Stitches (and Market) Take Aways

I'm mostly happy about the event. Fortunately for me, the booths were familiar and also the layout. Infact, I was amazed to find Webs, Yarn Barn of Kansas, and Twisted Sisters in the exact same spots as last time. I spotted Wagtails of Australia as well.

I didn't spend on much yarn coz I don't have any projects lined up currently. What I did was touch and feel the yarns I've seen online to make mental notes of them. That'll serve handy, won't it? I specifically liked Louet sock yarn (100% animal fiber), Lorna Laces(80-20 animal fiber-synthetic), and Cascade 220 worsted weight (100% animal fiber). Valley Yarns has a good selection as well.

I noticed more cotton this time than in the last year's two conventions - Stitches and Oakland. There also was more silk and bamboo. I also chanced upon a 'beginners' spinning wheel - the Ashford Kiwi - selling for about 300 dollars. Hmm.. curious. Seems affordable. The rowing looked beee-autiful. Almost enough to get me started on spinning. Almost!

I also studied the patterns of independent designers and found some very interesting ones. There was a cardigan with panels knit in the diagonal. A row of domino knitting was designed into this on the front panel. Looks very pretty. There was another top with a fine cable design with small footprint and a big number of repeats. The top was knit in mohair and looked dainty. I saw texturing (stitch patterns and cabling) used in ways that work with the structure of the garment and add to it. I saw designs that were built on short rows and ones that knit sideways. In all, an inspiring expedition.

Here's what the cat brought home from Stitches:
- Mama Bear yarn winder and swift from The Oregon Wood Worker. The two came together for a special of 83 dollars. This was a much deliberated choice and only when I was convinced of its value did I invest in it.

I have researched swifts for over a year now. In my opinion, the umbrella swift is not the most efficient. The center of gravity is high up from the base and this makes it prone to instability while perching it on the table edge or fitting the hank on it. Also, I've never quite understood why you need a vice-mechanism in a place where a floor/table stand would work perfectly well.

The other option was a Beka swift. I like it much better than the umbrella design but it still is a vertically projecting swift as opposed to the Mama Bear which has a very small vertical footprint.

The Mama Bear was put to the test last night and it delivered as promised. It sits low on the surface, does not require a tightly stretched out hank, and easily dismantles into a bundle of sticks! Sweet.

- a couple of balls of yarn from Webs in worsted weight 100% merino to make socks out of. It's an experiment as I have little patience for sock-weight yarn with #2 needles. I'm hoping these will make soft squishy socks that knit quickly. I'm open for disappointment. The colour is a beautiful dreamy blue.

- Twisted Flower sock pattern written by Cookie A. from the Bay Area Knit Co-op booth. Also purchased 2 skeins of Louet Gems Pearl for the project. This is not truly my buy coz it'll be sent out to a friend of a friend's as it was bought on her behalf. I am tempted though to buy this also for myself. It is a yummy design.

- Books: Mosaic Knitting (Barbara W.), Scandinavian Knitting (Sheila Mc Gregor) and a handbook on cables.

- Class: Gwen Bortner - "Flat to Circular and Back Again".
I realized I didn't need this class, but too late! The students had to select a flat-knitting stitch pattern that we wished to convert to circular. I scoured the entire Stitchionary for a pattern I'd need help with but surprise-surprise, I could handle all the conversions with ease (save for two at most), even before taking the class.

I tested out several swatches before settling on one that I thought I'd need some help with. The WS of the pattern had a 'dec 4' that read like this: k2tog tbl, k3tog, slip k3tog stitch over k2tog stitch.

Try reversing that. Not the easiest but I hoped to learn some tricks with it - and wouldn't that be the whole point of this exercise? The verdict however, was that some stitch patterns like this, are best left alone. That was sorely disappointing - although she did have a point. The rest of the session held very little information that I wasn't already familiar with through my self-learning.

One useful technique I returned home with was knitting a circular swatch the easy way. And like I said, I have only myself to blame for enrolling into a class that wouldn't add much to my knit-knowledge.

Would I take more classes? Perhaps join camp? Or go on knitting cruises? Probably not. Reason being, I would stand out in the group and not be able to gel. My background - that of being a professional engineer - is very different from most people's at these sessions. I am fearless, mathematics is a friend to me and knitting technicalities are the easiest of problems to solve considering stuff I do for a living. Given this, I'll be taken to be 'wierd' at best. Also, I need a snappy pace to the lectures which, you must understand, is simply not possible at these classes. So although I value the experience for it's sake, I will prefer to self-learn.

No, I didn't win any prizes. Dang! For that, I'll return next year to Stitches. And to checkout the latest in yarns, patterns and books. No more classes for me.

Stitches West 2007 - The Market Preview

I'd been to Stitches last year by paying for Market entrance. This time, I chose a different route - that of enrolling into a class. And guess what - I found out that I'd bought myself entry to a 'preview' of the Market where only registered students and teachers are allowed to shop at a fully-stocked marketplace for 2 full hours. It's worthwhile!

So okie.. I came back equipped with 2 sets of dpns, 2 pairs of addi turbo circulars and a set of cable needles. I browsed gazillion books and was tempted to purchase every single one written by Elizabeth Zimmerman. In the end, I did make one book purchase and that was the Mosaic Knitting one by Barbara W.

I am very keen on owning a colour-stranding pattern book but the choices completely threw me off. Stitchionary has one and with charts too. Should I just go for that or is there a better one out there? I did see some specific to Scandinavia, Andean and generally 'Folk' but like I said, they all left me very confused.

If I'm to buy one Elizabeth Z. book, which would you recommend the most? Almanac seemed very interesting and it's affordable as well. Then there's 'the opinionated knitter' and again, I'm left with confusion.

The upside to all this book hunting is that I got to see many many of the books that I otherwise find only online. 'No sheep for you' did seem to have wearable patterns but I've had enough of knitting with cotton for sometime now. I also leafed through the classic stitch pattern series by Barbara, the socks books by Nancy Bush, the Magical Knitting series by Cat Bordhi, the Interweave press books, Nicky Epstein's curious series of 'knitting the edge'.

The books on Arans/cable-knits did draw me. I do like the concept of introducing twists in the knit fabric using cabling but do not really appreciate the very architectural look of traditional patterns. No offense to anyone but I do think that traditional aran knitwear makes people look older than they are. It would be nice though to have non-geometric patterns using cables. The bunny I knit last is a classic example. There's also the 'Leaves in Relief' pattern at Knitty and an incredibly useful howto on designing trees. Sadly, there's no book that has taken cabling to this level of free-form creativity.

I scouted for affordable options for yarn swift + winder. Why are they so expensive? I've procrastinated this decision - to buy or not - long enough now and a hank of perfectly beautiful yarn is languishing in my stash for want of winding. It's a pity. I just might end up spending a neat 80 dollars on a winding system with swift and winder. Sigh. I can buy a great many books for that value, can't I?

Oh, did I mention - I saw Lily Chin, the author of many a knitting and crochet book. She was there for book-signing and chattering away cheerfully.

In the end, Stitches is an exercise in decision-making, prioritizing, and budget. The attendance never fails to surprise - the sheer strength of female population that congregates is to be seen. 'Twisted Sisters' has consistenly one of the best looking booths and yarn.com (Webs) has the largest collection of yarn. Yarn Barn of Kansas has a fabulous collection of books and needles. The demonstrations with spindles and spinning wheels are always fun. Noro and Koigu are still drooled over.

Bunny. Swatch. iPod cozy.

Pics are not the best - I lost sunlight in the nick of time and oh well.. flash just destroys the teeny shadows of the stitches, doesn't it? I'll post better pictures but I just could not resist:
baby bunny complete with googly eyes..

and bushy tail.

See the tail peeking from behind?

The project started as a swatch. When the 2 rectangles were ready, I felt the compulsive need to stitch up 3 edges and lookie - here's the cutest iPod cozy ever!

Thanks awfully to my friends at Eweforia - AuntieAnn and Carin who not just sent me better photos of the sweater(scroll down the entry) but also a pattern writeup to help me along.

This project uses knitting techniques to achieve a sculpted look and feel. That's new for me. The bunny has a distinct 3-d look about her. Cables, stockinette and reverse stockinette are used most cleverly brilliantly to achieve the effect.

Tagged '20 Somethings'

I stop shy of talking about myself on this blog but here I am - tagged! You've to thank Janani for getting me write this post!! The title '20 somethings' does not seem to connect to anything but I do not question the Tag. :)

Three other names i go by: Deepu, Dee, tech-support (I hold an MS in computer networking - hehe)

Three screen-names: Now this is wishful thinking! :) Jokes apart, I suspect this has to do with usernames (on myspace for example) that hide my identity. Nopes.. too old for that sorta thing.

Things i like about myself:
My paranoia that influences almost all decisions I make. It's the reasonable kind and keeps me from stagnating.

Things i don't like about myself:
I know better listeners than me.

Things that scare me:
Spur-of-the-moment changes to plans.

Scared about: charging bulls. Where I grew up, the neighbors had cows (for the milk). The breeding season would be a nightmarish time for us kids. Not fun.

Hobby: My dominant hobbies at the moment are knitting and blogging. But I do switch every so often between painting, reading, and sewing. I'm quite quite drawn to polymer clay but am holding back from launching on it. Scrapbooking is beckoning me as well but oh well.. there're only so many things a girl can do.

I catch myself stealing: optical cables and connectors from other engineers' setups in my lab at work - to help my own setup. shhh! Can't blame me if I'm running deadlines and not able to pull up my testbed (of network routing/switching devices) for a dire lack of cables, can you?

Something that gives me the creeps: arachnids

About me: I am a firm believer in planning. Have you heard the quote that goes "In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable"? I like the sciences and especially mathematics for the predictability in them. I enjoy knitting for the same reason. That would explain why stochastics and queuing theory are the dearest to me. These are studies that attempt predictions in the real world. In contrast, the pure sciences work using a multitude of assumptions.

I have never understood the value of 'vague' art (the kind that's vaguer than abstract) and nude art. The latter, IMHO, is porn endowed with the halo of artistic expresssion. Wouldn't mind a bit if it were categorized plain and simply as what it really is! But that's my opinion. I'm sure quite a few would disagree.

Bungee jumped? Don't care for it.

Food: Love seafood. Specifically the Konkan and Kerala styles - which sadly are absent from the Indian cuisine offered in restaurants in the US. I also dig Thai Chicken Rice Soup. It is quite literally 'chicken soup for the soul'.

I like to read: well written material. I'm not particularly biased towards any category of books. If I've to recommend a book though, I'd ask you to read 'Never Eat Alone'.

Emotional: Watching fine excellence in action exhilerates/inspires/awes me. In any field of expertise. Be it the way a good manager tackles a difficult situation with elegance or a classically trained artist perform his/her piece on the stage. Often, when I'm reading an exceptionally written book, I slip into observing the craft of writing rather than merely following the tale. These are things that draw emotions from me but may not necessarily have me emotional over them.

I strongly detest: having to use a 'white' kitchen. All the cleaning and scrubbing to keep it that way takes the fun out of cooking. Give me granite countertops and steel appliances anyday. Add a floor with the look of stone and it completes the picture. I'm currently paying premium rent just for this luxury.

I regret: I wished I could skate when at university (USC) to take the effort off of my tired feet. I had to walk across campus between classes, to my oncampus job, to the labs, the library, the bank and the apartment I rented. Wheels under my feet would've been SO much more efficient.

I love: appreciation. ;) And caricatures. And funky clocks. And maps (for their artistic value as well as utilitarian). And 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles.

Intuition is: tad overrated. Instinct is more powerful than intuition. The basic defect in the intuition hypothesis is that it gets confirmed only in hindsight - when infact it ceases to hold value anymore.

Three essentials:
Granite kitchen countertops, steel kitchen appliances (including sink) and a sexy stand mixer. :D Oh, and spray that kills mildew.

I believe:
Jack Bauer is a hypocrite.

Funny thing you read today: ..we say "There are 300 knitters coming to your bookstore on Friday. " and they say "Sure...sure honey. Hundreds of knitters. Uh-huh. Why don't you go knit on your cute little sock over there while we PREPARE TO SCREW YOU OVER BECAUSE WE ARE SUFFERING FROM A TERMINAL STEREOTYPE." - Yarn Harlot

Thing I want to do badly now:
Knit a pair of wrist warmers using my sage green microfiber-cotton blend scrap yarn.

Dream Career:
Writer

I want to go on vacation to:
Peru and Scandinavia/Norway

I want to visit:
handloom weavers of India and study the skill.

Three girl names i like:
1) Anoushka
2) Janani
3) Aurna

A Song you sing a lot lately: Into the Ocean - Blue October
(A feb 17 update: this track moved to the top of the VH1 top 20 charts today - aha!)

Are you happy this ended: Loaded question! ;)

Me tagging:
(and this is optional for you folks coz we've knitsy blogs and this tag is quite generic in nature).
AuntieAnn
MrsFife

Thanks Janani, for tagging me. This was fun. Hope it's as interesting reading my responses as it was penning (err.. typing) them.

Whoa!!!!

Ofcourse I'm subscribed to Yarn Harlot's blog! (For the benefit of non-knitters in my life who might read this, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee writes humour of the knitting world. Psst: search her name on Amazon.)

Her post of Feb 16, 2007, 'Represent' had me sit up. If you want to hear from the celebrated author about the size and purchase-power of the knitting world, read that post. It overwhelmed me, despite having been to knitting conventions and keeping myself tuned into the various blogs, podcasts, KALs (knit-alongs), meetups, yarn swaps, charities and online magazines.

And isn't it nice that she is attempting to change the world? Very impressive how she's planned an event and only then proceeded to complain about the issue she wants to take a shot at resolving. The skeptic in me does consider the possibility of this being a clever marketing ploy for her new book but in matters like these, the skeptic has to take a backseat because the change, if impacted, will be welcome. Never mind any possible ulterior motives. That's my opinion and I wish her luck in the endeavor.

Piggles

More caps! :) They're quick, easy, and utilitarian. Oh, and addictive owing to the instant gratification. Also, they're awesome projects to try out new techniques on - perhaps stitch patterns, colour stranding, mosaic knitting, and double knitting. The piggle is charged guilty of tempting me into the realm of knitting caps.

Psst: does anyone know the technical difference between a cap and a hat? I thought I knew but that was before I came to this country. Out here it's understood differently - I can sense it but not put my finger on it.

Getting back to my new products, the little yellow one has the port-holes for pony tails. I ran out of the lovely coloured yarn and had to compensate for the height of the piggle with a pom-pom. Thank you L. Chatterjee B. for suggesting the contrasting shade *and* the pompom for effect!


Here it is, perched on my speaker:


And below is the larger one with no port-holes. This does seem a touch bigger than my niece's head-circumference (I won't know exactly yet though) but I'll go with the pattern's claim that it is designed to fit all sizes, from toddler to adult.


I used worsted weight 'affordable' yarn. I tried, the caps are comfy against the skin despite one being 100% acrylic and the other about 70% or so.

I cast on 65 stitches for the yellow cap and 90 for the blue. My stitch gauge (5 stitches and 6 rows per square inch) was considerably different than the one in the pattern.

So finally the postal package will be mailed out to my sis. It'll carry 2 caps, 2 tops (all handknit) and some scrapbooking paper for the grrlz.

A note on lace - folks with tendinitis and CT will do better with lace knitting eliminated from their projects. Mine was slightly aggravated by these stitch pattern repeats and I can only imagine the impact full-fledged lace can have.

All I need is a windfall

http://www.puchkaperu.com/index.shtml
http://www.interweave.com/knit/events/scandinavia/default.asp

I rest my sorry case!

The post that reads like a podcast

If only I could afford this! :( I spotted the ad first in IK Spring 2007, page 124. If you ask me to choose between the Da Vinci tour and this one, oh hands down! Shouldn't they run some lottery? Like the one Charlie won in W. Wonka and the Choc factory? Imagine that - winning a lottery that'll take you on this tour. WAAAHHH. I want to win!!!!

I'm glad Stitches West is approaching. I've enrolled into a class this time. It'll be my first ever knitting class and I'm a bit skeptic about the take-away. My only reason for taking it is the experience-value. And the entry it gives me to the Market on all 3 days (I hope!). I intend to spend my lunch hours and evenings on the weekdays and just live out of there on the weekend. That'll be a retreat alright! Hopefully I'll make some wise choices with yarn this time.

On a different note, have you seen Katja? Isn't it the most adorable little thing for a little one?

And on a vastly different note again, has anyone from Interweave Knits supplied a good reason for why they never publish patterns of knitwear for men? Beats me! The men in my life LOVE handmade knits - I'm talking of the husband and my dad. Well actually, so also my FIL. I haven't yet knit for my nephew or brothers-in-law.. hmm.. that gives me an idea. Anyway, what would I do if not for Knitty. Makes me love the online portal that much more! Also for that Knitty has nailed the sensibilities of the young (at heart) knitters.

I'd also like to talk about 'let me explaiKnit'. I found this blog not a day too soon. Sara writes posts that read like essays on the nuances of knitting techniques. There is so much information derived from experience and also pointers to excellent references, that I can read for hours, much like a text book. Her 'discussions' (as she calls them) on fair isle and colour stranding particularly helped me immensely.

My DVD rentals are waiting for me. I have TransAmerica and Walk the Line beckoning me. To think I resisted the urge so I could catch up on my blogroll and blog some myself - and quite effortlessly at that! I guess that makes me a hopeless knitter. Yay!!! :)

All set for a ski trip

V, this is for you. To match (or rather contrast) my chullo.

Here is an update with pattern details:
Source: No-Rib Ski Hat
This pattern is written for the knitting machine. All you'd need to do is translate the knitting language into the handknitting one. It's simple enough. The band around the ears is double layered. My interpretation of the pattern went thus: Start with provisional cast on (I used crochet for the purpose) and knit even in the round. Once knit twice the length of the hat band, fold over, carefully remove the crochet and and pull each loop from the MC cast on through the live stitches. The cast on stitches now become live and the hat band will be double layered, all closed up. Now on, it's simple enough - follow some stitch pattern or colour work pattern, decrease as required and pull yarn through the last few stitches to finish up.
Makes for a dependable hat recipe.

I cast on 87 stitches, just as in the pattern because for once, my gauge nearly matched. And have you noticed, knit caps/hats are very forgiving in the matters of the circumference.

For the knit-curious, I'm updating with a new pic of the stranding. You'll notice full weaving of floats:


Video tutorial on the technique here.

Sinhaavalokan

That's Sanskrit for frequently looking back - literally or figuratively. The simile is drawn from the lion's instinct of looking over the shoulder once every few steps. Translated to us bipeds, it's a check of sorts to assess if we're on track by recapitulating the paces we most recently walked. This is unequivocally a virtue.

My first blog anniv. came and went. I didn't feel the need to discuss it. Today though, I would like to jot down some findings of my last one year:

- what's ergonomically poor: acrylic fancy yarns, lace knitting, and knitting synthetic yarn with metal needles. Oh, and continental knitting. Although much faster (and my preferred method), this technique strains the shoulders.

- surprise! woolease brand of yarn works very well for hats. This will stay my first choice for its affordability and accessibility.

- cotton yarn is heavy! And inelastic. The microfiber cotton blends work the best, if cotton it should be.

- variegated yarns do not lend themselves to stitch patterns. They're best knit in vanilla stockinette, garter or reverse stockinette. A rare exception is the 'sea foam' pattern from stitchionary.

- sock yarn which is wool reinforced with synthetic fibers are uncomfortable on the feet. I just might opt for 100% hand wash sock yarn the next time around.

- socks (made with sock yarn) take a loong time to complete. They have large surface areas and are knit with fine yarn using fine needles. I should perhaps try a pair with soft 100% wool worsted weight yarn. Given that they'll be used to warm my feet at home, the thickness will only help!

- 2 socks on 2 circs method for knitting 2 socks simultaneously is very rewarding. The symmetry achieved on the pair is picture perfect. Highly recommend it. As a bonus, you'll never suffer the dreaded SSS ('single sock syndrome' for the uninitiated).

- caps/hats are very useful. Really quick to knit and can be constructed in 'standard' sizes. Gloves and scarves are useful as well. Except, the length of the fingers would need be customized and as far as scarves go, sadly they're the most boring to knit.

- knit curly whirlees, teeny sweaters and jingle bells make sweet tree ornaments. Take a look and another one.

- garter rib is the most beautiful of 'em all ribs. Despite much experimenting, I cannot stop loving this stitch pattern for its elegance.

- if you're knitting fair isle (or colour stranding), learn how to weave the 2nd yarn (while you're knitting with one) to eliminate floats. This makes the fabric tighter and less puckered. Sara's blog 'Let Me ExplaiKnit' has some very useful posts on the subject of colour stranding. This video was of incredible help for me.

- if you're knitting colour work, do learn about the 'dominant yarn'. It makes an awful lot of difference to the finished product.

- mosaic knitting works amazingly well with felting. Click here to see a bag from my collection of FOs.

- colour stranding naturally lends itself to double knitting and steeking. It also makes the fabric double-layered and therefore, extra warm.

- while selecting yarn to knit accessories, colour-coordinate the projects to go with some clothes you already possess. Or make the accessories neutral. I know, this sounds intuitive but often, it's an effort to find the exact shades of yarn for the project. It takes an effort to plan the colours around the clothes we already possess.

It's raining.. It's raining patterns!!

The Spring issue of Interweave Knits. OMG, I wasn't expecting it in my mail today. And was I delighted when I flipped through the pages! Let me explain. I subscribed IK last year in the hope of finding clever designs/patterns delivered to me at regular intervals. And receive so in mail I did - brilliant patterns and all. Sadly, they turned out not my style. Way too much detailing in any pattern and my mind moves on, not wanting to launch on it for practical reasons.

This issue makes up. The mag is better organized. The patterns are.. well.. I'll let you judge that but I did find some elegant ones not wrought with details. I'll list the ones I dig: the Green Tea Raglan (I'll perhaps use a different shade), Slanted Neck Pullover, Ruffled Surplice, Merry Maiden's Dress, Florentine Pillow and the Lace Shrug. Phew! That's enough projects right there to make new issues of IK redundant in my collection. This being the last issue of my 1 yr subscription (which I've now cancelled), I'm glad it ended this way.

I'll probably launch on the girl's dress for my nieces just coz I love knitting stuff for them and it's a lovely pattern. The lace shrug is beckoning me as well. That'll be my first project with mohair. And how I'd love to have a color burst on my couch with the Florentine Pillow! My only reservation there: intarsia. I am not sure of my feelings towards this technique. It just seems like way too many ends to weave in. Is there a good reference on how to eliminate having to weave in ends by some clever technique or other? I'd love to know.

One other thing I'll prize this issue for: a howto on enrelac. By Eunny Jang who also contributed to the *very* interesting steeking article in the previous issue. Nice! Steeking and Entrelac no longer seem wild and fierce to me.

It seems IK is introducing more and more online Knitting personalities into their publication. First it was Amy Singer of Knitty.com. Then it was Eunny J. This one features Grumperina's pattern. I've been following Eunny's and Grumperina's blogs for nearly a year now. These blog feeds sit next to Nona's, Zibibbo's and Yarn Harlot's feeds in my 'Celeb Blogroll' tab of my personalized Google aggregator. This is what keeps me in awe of them: the sheer bulk of knitting they publish with every new post. When do they knit so much? How do their shoulder/arm muscles cope? I read diligently in the hope of one day unearthing their secret.

February is a lovely month, no? I like the rain showers, the gray skies, and the temperatures resembling those of Spring. This afternoon I sat on my rocking chair on the patio, listening to the pitter-patter of rain and the swish-swish of the swimming pool, watching the bare trees sway in the light breeze and the raindrops fall into the pool. I had a warm comforter around me and a steaming cup of ginger tea in my hand. Bliss!

The Man had his birthday

I baked this cake yesterday with a never-fail recipe I've been using for years. (Have I ever mentioned, I am a die-hard d-i-y baker and stay a mile away from the instant mixes.) This time around, I tried a ganache glaze frosting using white choc coz the Man just happens to love white choc. The decorating was done with a home-made butter cream icing and gel icing-in-a-tube from the store. The product was satisfactory for a first attempt with frosting.


Following the cake-cutting:


It just so happens that my auntie who'd taught me to knit as a pre-teen, also used to bake and frost fantasy character cakes, with my Uncle's able help and support. This cake is nowhere near any of those but well, I'm happy for what it's worth. I especially liked the red-on-ivory color combination, and the way it turned out much better than I'd anticipated. Also, the contrast of the matte-red (of butter cream) with the translucent red gel.

So, as a gift for the birthday, I bought a Dyson. I know what you're thinking. No, it's not a cheap thing to pull off - just practical. I learnt from a friend some world-truths on selecting gifts for your spouse. Without getting into further details, rest assured that I've made my friend proud. And with a home as clean as it is right now, the DH quite content. :)

Okay, so here's the part I don't get. We went out for dinner to a Persian restaurant tonight upon a recommendation. This was the first time we had dined at Negeen. The food was terrific and as we eat, to my utter astonishment, out flows a belly dancer decked in glitter and performs for the next 30 minutes. Turned out that this unexpected treat - of watching belly dancing - beat all other hands down. Now what do you say to that!? DH claims he'd no clue we would be in for this up-close. Do I believe him? ;)