Summer Days

It's actually been summery for the past few days... and I'm tired of it! Growing up in warm summer weather in NYC meant sunshine, humidity and air conditioning. So, even if it was really bad, you get a good night's sleep when the AC's working. In Europe, AC is not the norm. In fact, it's so not the norm that only commercial office building and modern hotels seem to offer it. Most restaurants, department stores, shops, and almost all homes and definitely all buses and trains are AC-less. The only metro line in Paris with AC is the newly installed Ligne 14. In London, you're supposed to keep a stiff upper lip while slowly melting onto the furniture.

So when we get our 5-10 hot days of the year, London grinds to a halt. The tubes can be disrupted not only from fainting passengers but also from speed restrictions due to over-heated tracks. (For goodness akes, why won't people get up when they see someone looking peaky? Don;t they realise that they can avoid delays .... no one might notice if they fainted in their deat ;-)). Hot summer days in London can be pure misery! So what else to do but ... escape to the country.

Or in this case, to the races. Going to the races in the UK is an event. Even in the heat, most people were decked out. Men in their suits and women in the finery, complete with hats. Yes, the British do know how to melt in style. Goodwood is one of the most beautiful race courses. It's set in the South Downs and surrounded by countryside. Saturday was the last day of Glorious Goodwood and marked the end of one of the events of the **London Season**. Even if you're not into playing the ponies, the setting is marvelous and it's a superb place for a picnic.

Needless to say, the needles just haven't been clicking as much as they used to be. But it's neither due just to the hot weather...nor jaunts to the races

I did finish this recently.

Click on photo for project details.

These are the Raindrop Lace pattern from Fiber Trend using Lang Jawoll Cotton. I love FT patterns. They are very well written, stylish and fairly agnostic when it comes to yarn. I know that if I buy their patterns, I can easily knit out of my stash. I particularly liked this pattern, which was easy to memorise and a tad more interesting than a rib or stocking stitch. I love working texture for socks. If nothing else, it makes it easier to count the pattern repeats to get exactly the same length on the foot and the leg. The only changes that I made to the orginal pattern was to add a cuff and do 2 extra repeats. I prefer a cuff to just lauching into the pattern...and I alway work a very tight gauge on my socks (approx 9 sts/inch) I also used the reinforcing thread on the toes and the heel turning (not the flap, since I used a heel stitch there.)

I made them to fit me since I didn't have the recipient's foot to try them out on...and was concerned about fit Wishful thinking. .. they fit her just fine. The pattern was really subtle, which was the effect that I was aiming for, as I have never seen Amelia decked out in Lace. I tried to chose the most boring and conservative colour (since Amelia is not well known for deviating out of the neutrals). I might be wide off the mark but I'm going to guess that Amelia, likes lace but probably finds it a bit fussy to wear... but don't worry, we'll wear her down slowly but surely.

I was wondering, is it bad form to blog about something that you're making for someone else, if that someone might actually reads your blog? I know that it is bad form to sweat on something that you're making for someone else. :-).

Now, off to find me an ice-lolly... it's hot and it was a horrid commute tonight... thunderstorms and floods took out most of the services. It took me nearly 2 hours to get home.

And to answer a few questions

From Jo : how do you plan to assemble those Noro squares?
Not sure yet. I think backstitch would work best. I don't know hoe to crochet, but I'm likely to defer to anyone's recommendations since I am not good with sewing at all.

From Heather : how do you do the diagnoal sqaures
Rownaette Kristine J taught me on the Saturday that Stéphanie was in town. She had learned to do them from Emma .
Cast on 3 stitches. Knit 1 row.
All other rows: increase one stitch at the start of the row.
When you get to the right size you decrease 1 stitch at the start of every row.
You get a guarantee square.

One point to note is that it works well with garter and moss stitch. Don't bother with stocking, as it stretches on the biase.

Posted by atu at August 3, 2004 10:54 PM