Tiare Shawl & Scarf

I’m very excited to finally be sharing with you my Tiare Shawl & Scarf.  This baby has been in the works for over a year, and is long overdue.  As a shawl, Tiare is triangular and worked from the top center out to the lacy edge. As a scarf, it is worked from the center out, from a provisional cast on. Both feature a simple eyelet mock cable that is quick and simple, with the beautiful corona lace scalloped edge. Options are given for both a crocheted and knitted bind off. Instructions are written and charted.

If you aren’t on Ravelry already… you should be so that you can view what will be some awesome projects.

The shawl measures 46”/117cm wide by 21”/53cm long. You can add repeats to adjust the size – each repeat would add about 3”/7.5 cm of knitting, so will require more yarn than stated.  The scarf measures 13”/33cm wide by 63”/160cm long. The length of this can also easily be adjusted as each repeat is only 1”.

Tiare is available for purchase through Ravelry for $6.

Demalangeni is on Her Way

Update 12/19: She’s available for free download now. Go get her!

After a bit of procrastination, I have the Demalangeni Shawl in the test knitting phase now.  I love this shawl for its simplicity. It is a triangular-crescent shaped shawl, worked from the bottom edge up. The lace border is worked along the full width of the shawl, and then short rows are used to fill in the body with a simple textured stitch that resembles mock cables.

This one was worked in Yarn Love Elizabeth Bennet in Shiny Penny. This yarn really looks like shiny new pennies in person, and is a dream to work with.  I hope to have the pattern ready and available by mid-December.  Last minute Christmas gift knitting, anyone?!

Aidez Progress

So remember how I was all, “I’m gonna work on making sweaters!” Yeah, kind of hasn’t happened yet. I keep getting distracted by sock yarn and shawls. It’s a serious problem.

But I did join the Aidez KAL (in the Selfish Knitting Sweater KAL group on Ravelry) last month in hopes of getting some more, if not all, done on that one.  This week is our catch up week.  The group is doing the sweater as one piece, so they are now done with the fronts up to the pits, and the whole back.  I now have done one sleeve, and I finished the back last night.  Yay!  It really does go fast, it’s just a matter of doing it.  Yesterday I only had 2 of those diamonds done on the back, so I literally knit the other half in one afternoon.

Timbali

I am very excited to show off my latest design, Timbali, which is included in the Twist Collective Winter 2011 issue! I am quite honored to not only be in Twist, but to have my name included among so many other wonderful designers.

Photo courtesy of Twist Collective and Jamie Dixon

Photo courtesy of Twist Collective and Jamie Dixon

My vision for Timbali was as a stole with an intricate lace center square. I love lace, especially anything that resembles blooms and leaves.  When I knit these triangle panels together in a square I was so pleased with the delicate curving lines it created, due to the different types of increases used along the “spines.”

My swatches:

Finished Product

In fact, I loved this lace so much that I decided there needed to be a triangular shawl to show it off as well.

Maui Salad

I had this salad while in Maui, which at first did not seem like it would be that impressive. It was just romaine with some dressing, some fruit salsa, and a grilled chicken breast. But I swear it got better as I ate. And though at first glance I thought I’d never finish such a huge salad, I ended up scarfing down the whole thing.

So tonight I made a pretty good duplicate. But I ate it so fast, I don’t have a picture!

Start with some nice crisp romaine lettuce. Lightly dress the salad with Creamy Oriental Salad Dressing. Can I just say I’ve been looking for this very salad dressing in bottled form forever?! (Ok, only since I was a server about a decade ago…) Who knew it was so easy to make at home?

Throw a big spoonful of pineapple salsa on top of that. I used this recipe, which turned out great. I also had some peaches and strawberries on hand, so those got tossed in as well.

Cook yourself a chicken breast. Or use some shredded rotisserie chicken. I just baked one which I’d let marinade in the dressing for 30 minutes. Threw it in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes on a foil-lined baking sheet, for easy clean up.

Yum!  Super tasty, bright, fresh salad.

Maui

I just got back yesterday from my 10 year wedding anniversary Maui trip.  It was fantastic, and I’m trying not to be depressed by the realities of every day life now!!

Here are a few highlights:
The view from our 10th floor balcony, and Ka’anapali Beach.

We drove the infamous Road to Hana with the purpose of hiking the Pipiwai Trail. The trail was fun and beautiful and made the drive mostly worth it (it’s just scary and slow).

We had a day on boats. One boat out to a sub, then a sunset “dinner cruise”.

We went to the obligatory Luau.

Snorkeling… sorry, no underwater camera. But aren’t I cute? There was a great snorkel spot just 100 yards up the beach from our hotel.

I got to open an oyster with a pearl inside and gained a pretty piece of jewelry. On the down side, the husband lost his wedding ring in the Pacific Ocean… Booooo!!

And yes, I’ll be missing the daily breakfast buffet, other yummy food, and the maid service, of course.

And I’m Back… again

I got my computer back today.  It’s like brand spankin’ new!  Apple basically replaced the entire exterior of my MacBook at no cost to me… though, they said it’s a “one time, complimentary” thing.  They obviously don’t want to admit that this white plastic stuff is a joke.  I’ve had this Mac for not quite 2 years, and I’m planning on being extra careful now, but not holding my breath that I’ll not end up with more cracks.  And seriously, how careful do you need to be with a computer that stays at home and is only used on your lap?!

So to reward Apple for their mediocre customer service (ie. customers don’t like being told they are liars that don’t properly handle computers….), I bought an iPad.  I’ve wanted one for a few months, and since I was without my computer for a week, well, yeah.

In knitting news, I heard back from Knitty.  I didn’t make it in the Deep Fall issue, but they are holding on to my design for consideration in the Winter issue.  The wait might seriously kill me.  I’m so excited about this design… my test knitters loved it, and I actually completed the prototype almost a year ago!  This baby is ready to be born.

Am I REALLY the Only One??

So the plastic casing on my MacBook was cracked, then shattered, then a whole piece came off around the magsafe power adapter connector gizmo.   I took it in to the Mac Store and was told by several employees that they had never seen this before (only the cracks on the top display case at the hinge).  Therefore, since the plastic is obviously prone to cracks, I MUST have dropped it causing the damage around the power source because that would never happen as I’ve stated.  I call BS.  The magnet pulls the adapter out of your hand, so that unless you are extremely careful and have perfect aim, this metal piece slams in the narrow plastic area between the power and ethernet connections, over and over.  I’ve talked to friends with MacBook Pros (which have a metal casing), and they’ve said that the plastic protective cases have also cracked where this magnetic power adaptor hits it.  It’s craplastic casing!!

As a “courtesy” they are going to waive the outrageous charge for the diagnostic (seriously, just buy a new computer).  Yay.  So glad I invested in that Apple Care, which seems to cover nothing.  For crying out loud, I use my computer on my lap at home all the time….

Sneak Peek

Demalangeni peek

Here’s a little sneak peek at the shawl that I’m working on right now.  It’s done in Yarn Love’s Elizabeth Bennet in Shiny Penny.

Ok, so the name.  Demalangeni.  That’s Day-MAH-lawn-GAY-nee.  And this the Demalangeni that the shawl is named after.

Me and Demalangeni

“Dema” (as I refer to her in my head) is a 12 year old girl that I met at our Care Point in Swaziland.  I’m not the most social person.  I’m pretty shy initially and am not the type to just walk up to someone and make small talk.  Dema, not so much!  She’s a bubbly and intelligent girl.  I was sitting on the bench of a broken picnic table with probably 5 pre-school children crawling all over me jabbering in Siswati.  It was our first day at the Care Point.  Then Dema plopped herself down next to me and said, “Hi, will you be my friend?” with the most beautiful accent.   Her voice still echos in my head, the way she would draw out the ‘e’ in the word ‘yes’ when we talked.

My first task as her friend was to teach her a song.  No choice, she just declared I’d be teaching her!  I don’t sing solo, by the way…  She walked over to her friend, unzipped the backpack, and pulled out an English workbook.  She sat back down next to me and flipped to the page, pointing to the words of the song.  Jesus Loves Me.  Phew, I know this one!  I start singing it and she immediately joins me in singing.  She didn’t need my help, her English is perfect.  As we get to the part of the song that repeats Yes, Jesus Loves Me, about half a dozen more pre-teen girls gather around us joining in the song.  And the truth of what they sang, the beauty of their voices, and the reality of their situation hit me full force, and I had to choke down tears to finish the song with them all.

Then they were called inside and ran off.  5 minutes, but I’ll never forget them.  I did have small bits of time with Dema over the next two days.  She is one of the few girls in her class who confidently speak perfect English.  When asked what her favorite subject was, she said English, which seemed obvious!  When asked why, she said, “because then I’m able to communicate with you all.”  At one point she was sitting next to me and a group of about 5 of her girlfriends were on the other side of me chatting animatedly.   I asked her what they were saying or talking about as they had burst into giggles several times.  She said, “They are saying that they heard someone say ‘talk to the hand’… what does that mean?”  Hilarious what they pick up on the other side of the world, huh?  I explained to her that was just a silly thing that American teenagers, mostly, used to say as an insult, and showed her the hand motion.  She just laughed at me, agreeing that Americans are silly.

Needless to say she’s one I will remember forever, so I wanted to honor and remember her through one of my designs.

 

Sweater Making

One of my goals for this next year is to design just one, just ONE, sweater.  I can do it.  Really, I can.  But I’m really scared of grading my pattern.  I’m confident in my ability to make a sweater, just not in writing the pattern for multiple sizes.  So I thought I might take you on my journey.

Knitwear Design Workshop by Shirley Paden

My favorite local yarn store is going out of business.  I was recently able to pick up this book for 30% off as a result (…and then I just noticed that Amazon has it for 34% off the cover price, soooo I guess I was just supporting a dying business.  Oh well.  Anyway!)  I also have the older edition of Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti.  And Ysolda’s Little Red in the City is definitely on my to-buy list.  Between those and the wealth of info on the interwebs, surely I can figure this stuff out!

I’m thinking that if I wanna learn how to design a sweater, I need to just get more comfortable making sweaters.  I have a couple (few?) sweaters on the needles and in my immediate brain queue.  I love Heidi Kirrmaier.  I want to be her when I grow up.  I just love her style.  I have Buttercup on the needles out of some Knit Picks Cotlin… and it’s barely seen the light of day since I started it, oh, 18 months ago?  I’m gonna get on that.  I believe I had JUST gotten to the part where you’re working in the round, on the lace bodice.  I did finish her Sweet Peasy sweater for my daughter which turned out really cute.  Someday I’m also going to make Vitamin D.  Already bought the pattern, just need to get Buttercup done… seriously.  This striped Vitamin D is my favorite!!

Sweat Peasy Cardigan by Heidi Kirrmaier

Another project on the needles is this chunky red sweater.  I bought the sweater on the left at Kohl’s.  It was fairly inexpensive and super soft, and honestly I bought it to reverse engineer it.  Easier said than done since it’s in pieces and I was going for something in the round.  Anyway, the pink sweater is made out of acrylic yarn, so after wearing it a couple times, it’s kind of a fuzzy mess.  Also, my 5 year old daughter is like a cat.  She likes to sleep wrapped up in things that smell like me apparently!  So she claimed that sweater pretty fast and it’s a lovey now, snags, fuzz, and all.  Not wanting to copy it exactly, I started in the round, and I’m just holding them up against each other as I go.   I also obviously went with a different lace panel though I did like the simplicity of the pink one.  I’m working with a Cascade 128 Superwash Chunky Yarn on size 13 needles (the pink one is at a pretty loose gauge).  I think I only bought 4 skeins, so I might be pushing it on having enough for the collar… we’ll figure that out later!

Although I hate seaming, also wanted to do a totally pieced sweater, which is why I’ve also got Aidez on the needles.  Yes, lets start with chunky yarns!  I think I might end up loving Aidez like a lot.

My issues before getting to this sweater stuff is that I have a slight shawl addiction, and I’ve been working on secret knitting all year.  I’ve got a new design on the needles going great.  It’ll be a crescent shawl and it’s worked in Yarn Love’s Elizabeth Bennet.  I’m also anxiously waiting to hear back on a Knitty submission for Deep Fall… so one way or another I should have my first pattern of 2011 out by the end of Sept.  I’m a little sad that it’s taken me so long to produce more patterns this year.  And then there was my super secret knitting which I’m totally done with, so that is some relief.  I should just start switching between projects to change things up a bit.