lolajl: November 2007 Archives

Since my creative energy is not being properly channeled into work that will compensate me financially, and I really need to keep up with "what's new in the field", I'm going to be tweaking this blog, first by bringing the templates up to par with the MT4 defaults, installing Media Manager so i can properly do book reviews and maybe other product reviews, etc. I don't want to change the look, since I've been unable to get in touch with original designer, I'm going to have to fuzz around with the CSS. First, I'll be doing that on my laptop so I don't screw up what I've already have. That's what a good developer does - work on a development server, then port it over to production.

Hopefully it will be rather straightforward. Unfortunately, SixApart neglected to put up adequate documentation about MT4 styles. Ugh.

Don't worry if you don't understand what I'm saying. I'm just scratching that inner geek itch.

Coming to the middle of the week, I'm also getting over the hardest part of the shawl and am well into the third and last repeat. I'm really anxious to have this completed by Saturday, which I'm confident will happen; I'm also really anxious to have this finished today, which I'd give a 50/50 chance of actually happening. Then, I'm moving on to other stuff. I'm being sorely tempted to start more new projects but I do need to clear these items to the left off the list.

Thanksgiving Dinner came off really well. Everyone had a good time, and the food came out just fine. I contributed two pies - Pumpkin and Buttermilk Chess, and my sister left behind half of the Ginger Cheesecake before heading over to her in-laws.

Left to right: Pumpkin, Ginger Cheesecake, and Buttermilk Chess. The recipes for Pumpkin and Buttermilk can be obtained from The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. This is a great cookbook, put out by the folks from Cook's Illustrated (a great magazine in and of itself). Yes, I made Pumpkin Pie from scratch. None of that canned pumpkin crap for me. Preparing the pie pumpkin may be messy, but the reward is great, and once pureed, it freezes great. Now that these pumpkins are back to a reasonable $1.99 per pound (Safeway was so nice to jack the price up to $3.99 just before Thanksgiving . . . good thing I had got two couple weeks prior to T-Day), I've picked up more to process and stash away in the freezer.

Mother really wants more pumpkin pie. I tried to put her off by saying that I could fix another one before Christmas. But you all know how mothers are good at guilting you into doing stuff. So I'm gong to have to whip up another one within the next two weeks or so.

While I was out shopping, I came across this truly lovely pullover. I really like the construction, the way it is fitted by having the sleeves set into the shoulders. One can also detect a slight nipping in around the waist (although there might be a clothespin behind - I forgot to check this out). Also, I like the zippered neck. Great for ventilation when you're coming in from the cold and the room gets too toasty for comfort. This would make for a great steeked project (yes, one can do a steeked set-in sweater - there's a project in one of the early Knitters issue that explained how to do this). OTOH, I just may do it piece by piece. Just need to figure out the construction.

So why don't I just go ahead and buy it? For one, I really don't have $$ to throw around at this point, not unless I can get a company to hire me without having to go through a recruiter. And for another thing, the quality of mass-produced sweaters leave much to be desired. When factories can crank out $50 sweaters by the dozen, the quality inevitably deteriorate and worksmanship can suffer. I like my sweaters to be classical and last a good long while. So I'm going to stick this in my mile-long list of projects to do.

So, here's the dress I got from Coldwater Creek for the holiday party this Saturday. I love it and that's saying a lot for a picky dresser who isn't very happy with the unappealing choices out there, from baby doll dresses to thin, sheer winter dresses. I've also ordered a nice black slip from Winter Silks which should keep me warm if the museum turns out to be on the chilly side. Next on the list - shoes and evening bag. There's a pair of shoes I'd like to get from Easy Spirit but danged if they don't have the size I want every time I go there. And the one bag I have is rather faded and dusty - just goes to show how often we go out to events like this.

Plugging away on the shawl and having to do some ripping out every other row. There's a mistake in the pattern - row 32 should be straight purl, instead of p2tog at certain intervals.

So, we're leaving home and driving by Best Buy, which is next the road that leads out of the community where we live in, and see people already sitting on fold-out chairs with a table right at the entrance. At 12:30pm EST. These folks are crazy.

I've been busy cooking up a storm for dinner at my parents' home. Of course, I had to do it the good old fashioned way - make the dishes by hand, from scratch. Yes, that even includes baking pie pumpkins and pureeing these. We'll see how all this goes over at dinner . . .

So, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you Americans who celebrate it!

I'm working on the Mendocino cardigan (Pacific Coast Highway) and I'm confused by the directions. The gauge calls for 19sts and 24 rows over 10cm using 5mm needles; mine is 19.5 sts an 29 rows using 4mm needles. Right now I have 26.5cm in length with 85 stitches on the needles. Here's where it gets confusing - she has you increasing until sleeve measures 34 cm, then starting the chart pattern over the center 27 stitches (notice that she does not say how many stitches you should have on the needle at that point). And then continue to increase until there are 99 stitches, and continue without further shaping until sleeve measures 44cm. What I'm confused is how long the sleeve is when you have 99 stitches. The diagram shows a diagonal edge to the sleeve, then bindoff straight across to create the saddle.

Now, obviously, my row gauge is seriously off the mark. It's not so bad for the front and back since the only shaping is created by the cable ribbing which pulls in the pieces. I've already got the front pieces done and will start on the back after the sleeves are done. My desired measure from shoulder to wrist is 47cm (18 1/2 inches); I know the sleeve will be somewhat shorter than that due to the saddle shoulder and the fact that the edge of the sleeve will be hanging a bit off my shoulder.

So, how should I adjust the sleeve directions to take into account of my off-kilter row gauge?

Okay . . . I've now gotten more pictures taken of my projects, posted on Flickr (I'm lolajlb) and hooked up with Ravelry project pages. For some reason the picture for Saddle-Shoulder Cardigan is not showing up, but it's there. Some of the pictures came out better than others, probably because it's dark and rainy today.

Right now, I'm working on the Purple shawl, mainly because I want to get it finished before end of month. And to a lesser degree, the Mendocino cardigan. Both left and right fronts are all done, and I've got both sleeves on needles but not much progress and don't expect to do so until the shawl is finished.

As for the Rosemarkie, I think I made a boo-boo, but need to figure where it is so I can rip back to that spot - hopefully just a few rows back, since I'm so close to binding off the top. The Red & White Russian Prime Sweater? Well, it's going to be much too small for me, and I've decided to just finish off the neckline and armholes (even though there are supposed to be sleeves to go with it) and hopefully present it to a Russian priest to give to a deserving young girl in the parish. And later cast on for a bigger one. The sock? Well, gotta get the shawl finished first. Ugh.

So I've been killing time by tinkering around with the code for the progress bar and not doing much knitting. However, I think it's well worth it. I even had to go into a couple of projects to add some more details. For some of the projects the dates are going to have to be appropriate because I was naughty enough not to write dow when I started these.

Yes, I'll be adding pictures, hopefully tomorrow or Friday. You'll notice that you can click on the photos to go to the Flickr pages, but you'll need to have a Ravelry account in order to go to the project details. I'll try to have a bit of info on the Flickr pages. Then, I'll get back to moving these off the line and starting new ones.

As y'all can see, I've got the Ravelry progress bar up and running to the left. The links will take you to my project page if you've got a Ravelry account. If you don't, don't worry . . . it'll soon get to the point where you will only have to wait a few days to get your invite in.

I've gone through the thread regarding the progress bar and extracted the geeky nuggets to tweak on the back end. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to change the color from light green to one that is more close to what I have displaying below. I have to say that I like these progress bar because it ties in so neatly with Ravelry. And I'm going to have to get some pictures taken so it's even more prettier.

Had a really good day . . . got to do some of my favorite activities and went out with friends and family to DuClaw Restaurant to celebrate my {mumble, mubmle}th birthday.

And I even got lucky and sqeaked into the Ravelry Progress Bar Beta Testing by just 2 or 3 minutes to spare. Yayyy!!! Now I get to pimp my blog out with RavelryGoodness!

Testing Ability to blog from TextMate . . .

It certainly wasn't my intention to go AWOL after my last post. It's been sort of a busy month. Pus, Inertia has taken up residence in this household. I'm trying to evict her but it's a hard, long slog. Compounded with feeling a little blue from time to time.

So, last time I'd posted that Hubby got a very nice job and would be starting soon. So far, things are going fabulously for him. I've posted a picture of what it's like where Global Company is based. Nice one, eh? Good co-workers, a good long-term plan to grow and move up professionally, an intellectually simulating environment, great benefits. Just what he needed. I'm really glad for him, considering not-so-good working environments he's been through during the past 4 or 5 years.

What was I working on during October? Oh, sleeve #3 and #4 for the hybrid sweater. These turned out to be just the right length and width - I just need to knit 4 or 5 row for #4 and then I can join to the body. Socks for Socktober? Well, I didn't get to finish these, thanks to Inertia. :-(

I've gone back to the Mendocino cardigan and finished the left front. Now I have sleeve #1 and #2 on the needles. Better to get both of these done at once, eh? And I started up a new shawl because I need something for Global Company's holiday party. I already have a nice long black skirt that's just been worn once (we don't get out much because we don't know rich people who throw swanky parties); I just need to pick up a nice formal wear shirt (with the holiday season coming up soon, that hopefully won't be so hard to find). I'm thinking about dark green, which should go well with the dark purple yarn from Kiparoo Farm that I'm using for the shawl. I'm using Wanda's Flowers Shawl from "Wrapped in Comfort: Knitted Lace Shawls" by Alison Jeppson Hyde (who graciously signed my copy at Stitches East even though her book signing event wasn't due till the next day.

I'll try not to be a stranger around here again . . .