I’m not lovin’ it

The moving biz. No house to go to and no idea of when it will be available. And that is only one of the issues involved.

What’s the protocol?

One of my commentors asked me for the instructions for the block and offset shell pattern I used in my blue blanket. It is from the Harmony Guides. What’s the legality or otherwise of posting the stitch instructions on the net? It isn’t a pattern, but a stitch pattern.

And here for the curious, are the front and back covers of the Southmaid booklet I made my last doily from.

As you can see, the Berka shells doily is on the back cover (framed). The one at the bottom is a larger version, which I didn’t make since I wasn’t confident I had the time to finish it and get it framed.

No one has yet told me what a Berka shell is! Is Berka a name?

Blue? Turquoise?

Something. Another FO.

In an effort to finish things and see what can be gifted/mailed away before we move, I finished this blanket. As usual, here are the details:

Yarn: I’ve been told it is Lion Brand Woolease, by Cordelia, who gave it to me. (I think it might be the discontinued sportweight variety). I used three full skeins (with about 3 yards left over).

Hook: Clover Soft Touch F/4.00mm

Pattern: Pattern stitch for Block and Offset Shells from Harmony Guides. Mindless. Reversible but not upside-downable, because the top of the pattern scallops. Also, I didn’t do an edging. It didn’t appear to be necessary. (Plus I was too lazy to try and figure out how to unscallop the scallops for edging). So the baby gets a sorta symmetric pattern. Do you think he’ll care?

Time: I began this a month ago, but obviously it goes much faster than that. Around a week would be plenty.

Size: 41″ square (should be good for a toddler, right? And please, no one tell me it’s too hole-y)

Extra: #1 Quick and easy.

Up close and personal with the pattern stitch:

The pattern is a multiple of 11 + 4 (plus 2 for the base chain). I made a mistake in the starting chain, but recovered by adding dcs (US) a la filet crochet. Now I need to pop it into the wash before packaging it. It’s been washed. Also, the same friend for whom this is intended tells me her next baby will also be a boy. How boring. I’m thinking I shall make something else for that baby too, and mail it to aunty (her mom) to take with her when she goes to the US. Might save on postage!

Pink and blue

There’s another wedding coming up this week, so I made another doily and got it framed. This is it before framing (and after impaling blocking).

It’s been framed against an off-white background and with a dark brown frame. Maybe I will take pictures later. Some of the specs:

Thread: Red Heart 100% mercerised cotton from Madura Coats. Size 20, I should think. The balls give amazing yardage.
Hook: Nameless 1.75 mm steel, probably Pony (could be Tulip also)

Pattern: Berka Shell doily from Southmaid Timeless Doilies to Crochet. (Someone will please explain what a berka shell is.)

Time: A day or so.

Size: Forgot to measure it before framing. I might measure it before wrapping it.

Extra: #1 Quick and easy.

#2 I used Pony Pearlised pins to block this and found they didn’t rust! Yay! Normally when I leave my doilies to dry overnight, I find the pins have rusted. Of course these could just be slow rusters, but maybe not. I shall have to buy lots more of them. This was only a small doily, so I didn’t need too many.

#3 I seem to have found my thread mojo again. Actually I was planning to make a couple more to frame as gifts for the husband’s hospital/mess, but he told me they aren’t classy enough. Ah well. That’s put me in my place, proper, it ‘as.

Yet another book binge

Almost all are granny square patterns and I seriously doubt I’ll ever make any of them, but why look a sale book in the mouth?

This book has some non-granny square patterns, but ditto ditto.

Then this book full of “designer knitting” (how unexpected!) which again ditto ditto, but might serve as good swap/Bookmooch fodder.

But this booklet, which I’m hoping will be very useful, as it covers a wiiiiiiiide range of sizes from 9 mos to size#50 in seamless raglans. It sounds too good to be true. It only gives instructions for worsted weight and sportweight, which means I might have to do serious swatching before ever using the patterns, but you never know! It covers both cardigans and pullovers. You work out your gauge and choose your size from a table and plug in the values that the table gives you into a pattern format, and hey presto, you have your pattern! What could be simpler? Only Rs 10.

One booklet on plastic canvas cat things, one for “full figure” sweaters (I haven’t got there yet, but the rate I’m going, I should reach there pretty fast), another with two patterns for men, and one for larger sizes, each at about Rs 5 or 10. A good haul, might serve again for swap/mooch fodder.

Also a fair amount of British mystery writing. Just finished PD James’ Unnatural Causes, and am in the middle of her Shroud for a Nightingale. A couple of Martha Grimes (she’s American but writes with a Brit detective) and one Ruth Rendell, I think. A nice haul from a book sale at YMCA Secunderabad.

Also in Hyderabad, I managed to finish my first Anthony Berkeley Richard Sheringham and the Vane Case (not too impressed with it, seemed laboured somehow, without the ease of the BWW*). And my first Priscilla Masters, Endangering Innocents. Much better, maybe you have to be female to write the good stuff. In this particular genre anyway. Not very uplifting, though. I think I prefer older victims. Both from the British Council Library.

My train reading on the way to Hyderabad (since the baby sweater only needed sewing and seaming) was this book:

I picked it up at Crossword and it was a good read, but after finishing I was wondering if perhaps it counts as (oh the horror) “chick fiction”? Interesting, but it was the end that raised my doubts on its classification. Too M&B-ish. Not that I haven’t read my fair share of those (and still will, given a chance) but not if I have to buy it for Rs 415! 4 strangers are named in a will by another stranger and they spend the book trying to discover why. I’m thinking I’ll use this to try for my first-ever exchange at a bookstore.

So, about 4 or 5 books in a week. That’s my usual speed (I spent a large part of one day at an annaprasana (first solid food feeding) for the niece of my last post, and another running some errands including the book sale and checking out the new Fiat Palio Stile with my sister). Would that be your usual speed too? Or do you think I lose something by devouring the tomes at such a hectic pace? (Sort of like yo-yo dieting, feast and famine).

Come on, I want to hear what you think.

*BWW = British Women Writers 

Proof

that I actually give away the things I make:

Of course, I might have snatched it away after the photo-op, but I am not like that, really, I’m not! Here is another view of the baby:

You will of course ignore the double chin and other signs of decline on the adult.

Very few of my recipients have been documented (photographed) in their gifts, sadly. Which gives me to wonder if the things fall apart, don’t fit, raise rashes, offend sensibilities or what. One doesn’t like to ask.

Squint and you’ll miss it

The dotty thing of two posts ago has morphed into this:

Yarn: The pink is Bergen, apparently a German yarn (possibly East German) made of WolPryla (mit anderen faserstoffen – with other ingredients). It is showing quite true on my monitor. The purple is Pegasus, also of the same origin. It is less blue than in the picture. Both yarns advise using 2.5 mm needles, but while the pink says “3″, the purple says “2″. Neither has a st/row count gauge indicator. The white is Cactus from Taiwan (why would you name a yarn that?!) with no indication of content, but also advises 2.5 mm. The gauge indicator for this yarn says 32 st/46 rows to 4″/10 cm. All yarns are slightly fuzzy but soft enough.
Hook: Easy Tunisian Hooks N/10mm and M/9mm, Boye K/10.5/6.5mm

Pattern: Loosely based on a Crotiques pattern. I changed st counts, row counts, button bands, and the collar pattern, as well as adding that holey lacy row in the middle. I used a Tunisian double crochet(US) for that. The body was worked in Tunisian knit stitch. Changed colours when I felt I couldn’t go further without compromising on the yarn for sleeves. The button bands and the bottom were worked together in seed stitch (sc (US) in both loops, sc in back loop only and then reverse order for next row) and I quite like how it worked out. To make the collar longer, I added a few rows of sc through both loops on top of the collar area. Instead of poke-through buttons, I plan to put snaps, and use the purple buttons for only aesthetic effect.

Time: About a week.

Size: Hopefully to fit a 6-month niece (cousin’s kid) I’m going to meet in a couple of days. She was a big baby. The size sweater is about 24″ wide and 12″ long, with the sleeves at 8″ long. Her next winter will be obviously when she’s older (a year), so this needs to fit her then.

Extra: #1 I love how neat the raglan shape came out. My knit raglans are never so good.

#2 All three yarns were very grippy. I don’t think I like that. This was true on both the plastic Easy Tunisian hooks as well as the metal Boye. I plan to use the rest of the yarn to make a hat or booties, and will check how they act with my Denises and Pony hooks. Slightly slippery is always better than grippy.

#3 The German yarns say “Altenburger Wollspinnerei” which I think refers to some sort of spinning cooperative. The Bergen also says “50-PAN-f-TDI/50 Wo” which could mean it has some wool content, but I’m not hopeful. The Pegasus says “30 PAN-f-TDI/70 PAN f ” which completely baffles me.

#4 The Bergen yarn says “100 tex x3″ while Pegasus has “110 tex x2″ which makes halfway sense, because the x3 has 3 strands plied together while the x2 has 2 strands.

#5 Bergen came in a 100g ball of 280m, while Pegasus had 50g to 190m. No size/weight indication on the Cactus.

#6 All this documentation for all-acrylic (probably) yarns is because I didn’t find any information on them when I googled.

#7 Shh! I haven’t yet seamed/sewn in the ends or the buttons/snaps yet. The garment has just been skilfully arranged for the photo session.

I trust you dutifully squinted for the first picture so you didn’t see the boo-boos and ha-has. Now I shall reward you with a close-up of the raglan which also shows the button band, main body and collar up close.

Saying no

How do you say “NO” to Lady Catherine de Brough?

Especially when she’s hard-of-hearing and not the sharpest needle in the stash?

Exotica

- We will be moving by the end of May to Cochin. The husband’s been transferred. We came here in October 2004. So just over 2 1/2 years in Vizag. Cochin is exotic for me because I’ve never been to Kerala.

- Today I made a curry of the inside of a banana plant’s stem. We call it “doota”. The inlaws call it oocha, but they don’t use it (they don’t use a lot of vegetables we do). I have a photo of the fibre for you.

It is very fibrous. It is a peculiarly Telugu (or perhaps South Indian) delicacy. The photo is clickable to my Flickr photostream where there is another photo, with my forefinger for scale. I believe yarns made of the fibre are available in the West. I’ve also heard of banana fibre saris here. This particular banana plant (actually a plantain) was in my parents’ house in Hyderabad. It had fruited (!!! what is the right term for that?), and the fruits were harvested, therefore the plant was cut down. They only bear fruit once, you know. The inflorescence is also used in cooking, making a delicious curry.

- Yesterday I made Paatholi which is another Andhra specialty, made of chickpea/bengal gram paste and beans.

- I started making a baby sweater from Australian Woman’s Day Summer Handknits 1986, called Lotsadots, and finished one and a half sides before accepting it was turning out too small. It has since been frogged, but I like the pattern. I want to convert it to working in the round (it’s piecewise now) and use different colours. Will there be a problem maintaining the pattern in the round? I’m afraid there might be a jag. Yasmin will recognise the yarn, she sent it to me. It’s a mix of German and Taiwanese acrylics.

- Currently I’m reading Pico Iyer’s Falling off the Map and find it less funny than I’d hoped. Also he has some peculiar usages for words and phrases. Unwealthy. Commemorated to. Overbroods. I wonder if being a successful writer gives you the license to coin new things. No fussy editors standing over you, red pencils in hand. Or maybe it’s just me. I can’t claim to be an authority on the English Language.

- Today is a sneezy day. My phus-phus (nasal spray) failed again, despite two puffs per nostril last night. I’m giving up.

- Could someone help me place the pictures so that they are not all lined up military style one beneath the other?