Now I don't want to give any of you the wrong idea. I don't generally GIVE away my stash, except for very special occasions, but tomorrow is a special occasion too. Tomorrow (Aug 30th), is the birthday of Geek. Geek torments me regularly at work, any time I attempt to play any jokes on him, he casually brings ATU on his screen, just to remind me that he can **out** me at any time.
Nonetheless, despite this blackmail, I still think he's fab. Not only is he one of the most helpful people alive, he's also one of the sweetest guys that I know (even though he hides it well). His wife is a really lovely lady and to top it off, he's got 2 gorgeous children (no doubt because they take after their mother).
So in honor of Geek's birthday... another yarn give-away. This time, 2 balls of Kid Silk Haze in dreamboat. It's a dreamy mid/dark blue. There's enough here to do Sharon Miller's River Stole from Rowan 38). Did you see how lovely Tracy's River looks? So feminine and gossamer... and you can actually see the detail...unlike that very unhelp photo in the Rowan Magazine. (what were they thinking?)
If you'll like a chance to win this yarn, please leave a comment for Geek. I'm leaving it up to him to chose the winner. You can just wish him a simple happy birthday or try and butter him up. Mind, you, he's got a pretty sizeable ego already, so it's not like any of this could make his head any bigger.
Please note, that Geek is a happily married man, so please keep the buttering, PG, ok? I don't want to get into trouble with Mrs. Geek for encouraging any knitters to lust after him.
and Geek the rest of this post is for you. Hope that you're enjoying the sunshine.
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
You look like a monkey,
and smell like one too!
I don't know how you went from that
but after nearly a decade of knowing you... I hope that this will always be true.
P.S. Now I think we are even up to about my 30th birthday ... I forgive, but I don't forget...
P.P.S As long as you don't blab, these pictures will stay between you, me and a few hundred knitters on the wild, wild web ;-)
This isn't just any old village fair, it's the Kew Horticultural Society's 61st Show and as such there was even a jazz band on hand. While the show is primarily horticulture based (more than half the entries and classes were for vegetables, fruits, flowers and flower arrangements) there were classes for cookery (and some really nice looking jams and chutney, photography, art and handicrafts.
This is a very heavy picture posting today, because I took lots of pictures, primarily of the winners but also some of the 2nd and 3rd place winners. For anyone (like me) who grew up in the big city, the end of summer fairs can be really fascinating... I mean who would had thought that you would go through all that trouble to 'present' vegetables?
Vegetables
First up, were the vegetables. Interesting to note, that the bulk of the entry were by men. Men seem to grow vegetables and women seem to grow flowers.
First the onion... always a favourite of mine... you need a lot of onions to make a good onion soup grantinée.
Shallots are another popular category. The judges seem to look for good colour, size as well as presentation. I was interested to note that the shallots were displayed in sand.
Even Bugs would had approved. Now I know that carrots are sometimes grown in pipes to encourage them to grow long and straight...
Marrows are judged on regularity, size and colour.
I want to know the secret of growing cabbages, since all my cabbages are severely slug eaten, especially on the outside leaves. These cabbages look divine.
There were loads of potatoes in the show. These were some of the best examples.
And then the beans... there were lots of beans.
Fruits
There were loads of fruits as well. Obviously these growers manage to control their squirrel population better than I do.
Arrangements
Fruit and floral arrangements is a very competitive category. You can only arrange that which you have grown. It was so crowded that I couldn't get through to take more pictures.
Cookery
A few photos from the cookery classes. I decided to not take photos of the jam jars because they all looked a like and well, you need to taste it to find the winners. I wonder if these goodies were all made the morning of the show. I just have images of bleary eyed women getting up at 3am to cook up their entries.. what happens if you run out of eggs at that hour?
Crafts
Finally, the crafting section... you know you were waiting for this.
Inspired by Ann's Tennessee State Fair, I prepared myself for humilitation and entered a few of my goodies.
I also entered Tina in the knitted article category.
A picture is worth a thousand words. I present to you Tina, finished blocked and thorough done. Celebrations should be in order for completing the torturous edging. But know what? I miss her now that she's done.
I can't decide which she looks best worn.
It was a long slog but so very satisfying. In case you were wondering, I did this on 3.5 mm using 2/19 95% merino/ 5% cashmere yarn. The total shawl weighed 135g before I washed it.
Thank you all for the blog birthday wishes and kind words on Tina. Just so you know, I've finished Tina. Here she is, just off the needles and getting read for her bath.
Naturally, there will be a long and extensive photoshoot. Emily was right, I did miss working on her when I finished her. It was a long slog, but really worth it.
Birthdays in Blogland
August 20th is probably the most popular birthday for knitting bloggers. I hadn't realised that so many of us share this day. So, here's me raising my glass to Cari, Greta, Jackie, Jessamyn and Lisa... so now, we are all a bit older and probably not one bit wiser.
I did get some super lovely presents, but I haven't gotten around to photographing them yet. I've decided that I can only blog about them, after I have written the thank you letters and mailed them . Raise your hand if you occasionally find letters ready to go sitting in your handbag for so long that the envelopes start fraying at the edges. (sigh, that would be me)
...and
because I was tagged by
1. Big family get-togethers at my great-aunt's house in Toronto. My mother is from a large family and when they left China, many settled in NYC, Bay City and Toronto. As a child, we didn't know about the family squabbles and just enjoyed spending time with cousins and our very glamourous great-auntie and her daughters. Goo-pau passed away in October last year and her funeral was attended by over 400 people. She was one of those women that made everyone feel special. Introducing me and my cousins to cosmetics (including bright red nail polish, blue eye shadow and mascara ) I got the most outrageous hand-me-downs from cousins. I was a tall and stringy kid and my much older cousins were all dainty and petite,so these hand-downs meant that I was wearing ankle-length bell-bottoms in the 1980's. Looking back, I didn't enjoy the part about being a fashion disaster... but I did enjoy being treated as as a young lady.
2. My Grandma's cooking. It was very important for my Pau-pau to make all the *proper* foods, esp for the new year. We all tried to help and in fact were probably such a hindrance that without us helping it would had been done faster and taster better. My grandma made all sorts of goodies like soy bean milk. She would soak, puree and strain the beans and then boil and add the sugar. There was sesame paste.. a perfect treat in the summer. I don't know how she learned to make all these things. I've seen the stove that she used to cook on when she was in China and there was no way she could had done this there. The refridgerator didn't even work for a large part of the day.
3. Apple picking in upstate NY. We would drive up annually en masse, pick bags of the stuff, buy crushed apple cider from the windfalls and picnic too. One of my uncles would always take his clunker of a car, which would over-heat and we would end up on the side of the road waiting to see if it would restart while my auntie would lay into him. This part wasn't so fun, but picking the apples and drinking the cider was.
4. All the goodies that we very occasionally get to eat on hot summer days like : grass jelly and tofu fa with honey syrup or lychee or red bean ices... bought home by dad via a quick stop in chinatown. Dad usually bought it home when he finished work early, so not only did we get to see him, but we got the sweets too.
5. Trips to the library. We borrowed tons of books, read them and returned them every few days. oh to have the time to just read and read and read ...!
Thos, Dani, Mary, Valentina and Jacqueline, I would love to read your answers on this, so please have a go, if you're so inclined.
...and finally
The winner of the blog birthday yarn draw is .... Jill Schaefer. I'll be getting in touch with you for your details.
How did Daisy twig that I was following an old chinese custom? The elders often gave red envelopes out on their birthdays to everyone. I thought that yarn would be far more appropriate in this case ;-)
Thanks to everyone for leaving comments. I'm trying to work my way around to visit some of the 'new to me' blogs... and this year, I didn't have to worry about emails that came in after the deadline, wondering if the delay was caused by mailserver or sender.
I've rounded the second corner and steadily approaching the third corner. I swear if life or death was involved in getting this shawl done, I'd be a goner. There are still 38 more repeats to go!
I've improved on the initial 28 minutes to do one repeat (15 minutes knitting, 10 minutes, unpicking and counting the stitches, 3 minutes cursing like a sailor) to now 15 minutes a repeat (it helps to not have to stop, frog and mutter some colourful expletive in a non-English language). It also helps to put it down when tired because theose yo's can get a bit tricky.
Can I say interminable? I don't know how she does it. It does go a lot faster after I memorised the the edging pattern, but still ... it's starting to feel like Chinese water torture. Wendy managed to finish the edging of her Inky Dinky Spider shawl in a weekend. I wonder if Lucy's been helping?
Oh, aside from working with Rowan Denim, here's another good reason for a navy blue sofa... the perfect backdrop for photographing a light colour lace shawl! I didn't even have to ask to borrow Amelia's dad.
...and
because I was tagged by
Finally, tomorrow (Aug 19th) is my second blog birthday. As with previous blog birthday, there will be a yarn drawing. This year, it'll be a bag (10 balls) of Rowan 4 ply cotton in sage, perfect for making Martha from Rowan 37 in the largest size with some to spare, should you wish to lengthen the body or sleeves). I'll post a photo of the yarn, tomorrow. If you'll like to take part in the drawing, all you need to do is leave a comment in this post. I'm drawing on Sunday night at 18:00 BST. I wish all of you participating good luck and thank you all for coming by and visiting ATU.
Added 19 August
One of the best things about meeting up with knitting friends is that they've always something to show.
Jacinta has just finished her Kiri. She's used Rowan's long discontinued Donegal Tweed in leaf. Leaf is an interesting shade, taking on different colours depending on the lighting.
Here's a close-up on the leaves.
Jill on the other hand decided to not show her face.. but she did whip off her glasses for this shot (obviously, so that there would be no reflection from the flash). She's knitting with the new Noro Aurora yarn. It's like Kureyon, only thinner and with (ahem) sparkly bits.
...and on the Stitch Your Neck out front ...
I've received yarn and pattern from Grumperina so that I can soon start her scarf.
and I've finally dug out some yarn to send to my knitter... who no doubts thinks that the person that she is knitting for has decided to send it by surface. I was a real knucklehead. I wanted to have Forest Forbes, but hadn't realised that the yarn (Jaeger Matchmaker merino was in DK not aran weight) so I actually don't have enough yarn here to make the scarf that I wanted. So, I'm going to send the yarn and ask my knitter for poetic license...) i.e. pick something else that she thinks that this will work with and surprise me. I also don't mind a shorter and narrower scarf.
So that's all for this weekend at Chez ATU.
OK, Terry, you got me on the date.. how'd that happen? Fat fingers... when I tried to change the posting time, I overtyped part of the date ;-).
There are so many things that I want to make, and each time I take stock (go through my frighteningly large yarn stash), I almost have a bit of paralysis on deciding what to work on next. When in doubt, I just grab a ball of sock yarn and I feel some calm return to me.
In February when I was in NYC, I bought some Lion Brand Magic Stripes. I thought it a phenominally good value. If you consider that sock yarn in the US usually retail for over $12 a ball, Lion Brand had a 100g ball for just $6.50, a real snip. My initial impression was .. it's the Regia Jacquard in a slightly different weight. I thought that this was the same as the Provence.
Lion Brand Magic is slightly thicker than Regia and it's marketed as a sportweight. The label recommended casting on 56 stitches on 3.25mm needles. I did as recommended and thought that the fabric was too loose. These were done on 2.5mm using 64 stitches.
In my 'let's finish some of those 20 or so half started projects mood', I ripped and recast it on. If you're used to doing fancy textures, you'll know that it takes time to finish a pair of socks. Doing socks in stocking stitch or a simple rib are much quicker. These were really quick, less than a week, about 12 hours for the pair. The cuff was a 2x2 rib and the leg was a 6x2 rib.
I made these identical twins, which involved a moment of sheer panic when I started on the toe decrease of the second sock and realised that there was only enough yarn to get to the blue stripe.
Fortunately, I still had the bit of the repeat that I snipped off prior to starting sock 2, and fortunately, there was a full blue strip and some of the fairisling grey/white bit there, so a little careful joining in, preserved the identicalness.
How do I feel about magic Stripe? Well, I think that it's a good affordable version of the Self-Fair-isling patterned yarns. It's not as good as the Regia though. The Regia is a higher quality yarn. Regia used a better quality wool. The plying was also better, You can't see the separation of the wool from the polyamid. Magic Stripes is not as soft. In a 100g ball, there was a join, with a wrong colour sequence, that I had to cut out and re-splice. Not the end of the world but annoying.
The socks that I made were to fit a US 7/UK5 with a 6inch leg. There was about 4 meters of yarn left, so if I tried making them for a larger foot, I would had run out. I think that I was extremely lucky that I was able to make them identical.
In terms of colour, you might think it identical to Regia's Provence. On initial viewing they are identical. The Regia Jacquard is on the right. They were knitted for my by a German knitter on one of the list exchange that I did 2 years ago (and there might have been some slight fading, because I wear these all the time)
But if you look closely, they're not. Regia has 6 colours in the striping sequence. Magic stripe has only 4. The 2 more subtle shades, the soft lilac and light blue were omitted from Magic Stripe, so overall the colours are brighter and less tonal.
Yes, I would buy the Magic Stripes again (esp when I get an idea of how they hold up after a year's wear. I'm giving them to my mom who's very hard on her socks). There are some subtle differences with the Regia and the knitting expereince with Regia is going to be better. However although, I prefer the Regia, the difference isn't so great so that I could definitively state that I would choose the Regia over the Magic Stripes. So, well done to Lion Brand for introducing this yarn... and what luck for having stumbled onto this find.
A final piece of advice ... coffee and pale colours are a deadly combination. Do not attempt to carry coffee in same hand as sea amemone.... bad things can and will happen.
Should the sea anemone get splashed, wash the splashed bits in cold tap water with some dish washing detergent. do not scrub, just run under water and dry in towel. Be very careful to avoid letting stitches escape.
If you wash it immediately (or right after the photo shoot), the stain should come right out.
86 more repeats to go....
Finally where in the world ... (sounds a bit like Carmen San Diego doesn't it? )
I was in Bradford on Avon. This statue is affectionately called Millie and was designed by John Willats for the millenium. She symbolizes Bradford on Avon's long association with the wool and cloth trade. Millie carries a distaff and a spindle hangs from her waist. She also represents Clothe, the Greek Fate, who spun, measured and cut off human's lives.
Bradford on Avon is an absolutely charming town (pretty and unpretentious) about 6 miles from Bath. I think most people have heard of Bath, since it's got the most gorgeous Georgian architecture, fabulous museums and a renown setting for those England-set bodice rippers that many teenage girls grew up on. (to be whisked away by a handsome, wealthy lord to spend the rest of one's life buying pretty fripperies and attending soirees ...)
Our destination was Bath, but due to the traffic heading into Bath, we looked up destinations nearby and at the last moment, diverted to Bradford. The town is small but there's lots to see. There's the canal,
Such a scenic place, Bradford on Avon reinvented itself when the wool trade crashed. The mills were retooled for rubber making. So, if you happen to be in Wiltshire, do stop and have a wander. I happened to be there on Sunday and lots of the shops were closed. I would reckon that Saturday would be a much more interesting day to visit some of the curio shops.
Well done to Rowanette Louise for cottoning on to Bradford.
... and in case you were wondering, no, I'm not on the payroll of the British Tourist Board.
Finally, thanks to everyone who confessed their fashion faux pas. I found myself looking at all the women in the office to see evidence of navy and black worn unharmoniously together... sadly there were several examples. I didn't see any mismatched shoes though.
You know those words of wisdoms that your mother taught you as a child that you'd ignore? the ones that go like ...
- Don't touch that open flame, you'll burn yourself.
- Don't eat all that cake, you'll get sick
Along with these lines, I would like to add
- never store navy and black shoes next to each other. It doesn't matter if the styles are different or if the heel heights are different... because one morning when you're bleary eyed and half a sleep you'll end up in work with one of each shoe on your feet.
- if you like to occasionally leap out from a room and scream boo at the top of your lungs to give someone a fright, make sure that you are not under a door frame... or wear a hard hat.
- Always photocopy the original pattern and put in a safe place, because if you put aside a project for a few months, you might have trouble finding a few pages of the copy that you were working with... and after ransacking the house, emailing all your buddies to see if you can get a copy of chart 3, you realise that you really ought to put yourself out of your misery and just buy another copy.
Lookie here, I've got a Sea Anemone just like Wendy
Only 96 edging repeats until I'm done... can you wonder why I needed a breath of fresh air?
Guess where I was this weekend?
First thing, first ... go and wish Yvonne a happy birthday. A little birdie tells me that it's a special birthday.
..and if you happen to be Yvonne, then
and why are you reading blogs when you should be
opening birthday presents?!
now .. to the knitting ...
I made these fellows identical.. well as close to identical as I could. Post blocking, the 4x2 rib relaxed and looked very sock shaped. The yarn is Opal Lollipop and it was yarn that I purchased on my trip to Austria, last September. I thought that I might had avoided the yarn barf, but no luck I had to untangle about 20 meters to finish this sock.
Pre-blocking we obviously had a very stretchy sock, that pulled in and looked less pretty.
I wet these and gave them a few yanks but they still didn't look nice.
Here's the Artsy shot... opals reclining in the corydalis
While taking these photos, I couldn't get over the sense of being watched... sure enough when I turned around, I could see who was stalking me. Isn't he gorgeous? He owns some of my neighbours. I'm not sure which ones, but this fellow has been seen quite often prowling around my gardens. Obviously, he thinks that it's his garden...
