Sunday, August 31, 2008

Tea in the City

Do you recognize this street corner?

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This is Newbury Street, Boston. I went on a tea and yarn shop search yesterday. It's been a long time since I've been to Newbury Street - usually my trips to Boston end up in Cambridge.

The morning started, of course, with tea in the sidewalk cafe at Tealux:

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I love wandering, window-shopping, and exploring. I saw lots of knitting and crochet in shop windows, and recognized these particular knitted curlicues from patterns in my vintage books:

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This syle is a little dowdy, isn't it? Is it 60's style - the tan curvy suit coat over a baggy print dress?

The city itself is more stylish! One thing about Boston is its beauty. The buildings themselves are works of art in brick and stone:

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Eventually the new yarn shop was found by my sharp-eyed bf, and I suddenly felt at home. Even though it was one small second-floor room, I spent an hour there, looking at everything, touching everything, envisioning each yarn as a special something, and admiring the beautiful samples made by the shop owner. One was an intricate cashmere lace scarf that caught my bf's attention - he wondered if I would make one for his mother for Christmas? So...some very nice yarn came home with me! and I bought myself a pair of baseball knitting needles.

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What is it about Boston that is so magical and compelling? I'm always happy when I'm there...

Today my health is a little fragile, so I'm drinking my tea at home and yukking it up over these very hilarious old recipe cards.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Jasmine Nectar

This post is about tea...jasmine tea...

...but also about knitting...knitting Jasmine.

Some time ago, my friend Melanie sent me a precious tea ball from Canada, White Jasmine Moon:

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This is one of those presentation teas, where the tea leaves are tied into a tight ball around a beautiful flower... in this case, an exquisite white jasmine flower. When the tea ball is placed in the heated water, the tea leaves unfurl and the flower "blossoms", often rising to the top of the water while the open tea leaves settle in the pot...

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This one was so beautiful and the scent was perfect for a sultry summer day! The tea was lighter than other jasmine teas I've had, grassy and pure. I couldn't bear to remove the pretty tea ball, so after I enjoyed the two cups that this teapot holds, I refilled the pot with water just to enjoy having the floating flower in front of me while I read and had my morning toast.

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Later today I started a new project while watching the rowing and diving competitions in the Olympics. There is something perfectly soothing about watching water sports on a summer day that's hot and sunny. If I can't be on the water, I want to be seeing the water!

The blouse I'm knitting is Jasmine, from Kim Hargreaves' Nectar collection:

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Drinking Jasmine tea and knitting Jasmine... synchronicity!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Bluejay Wings

C'est fini!

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Stats:
Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A Clark, in Wrap Style
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks That Rock lightweight in Smoky Topaz, 1 skein 360 yards
Needles: Addi lace needles, size US 6, 4 mm, circular 32"
Started August 8, 2008 at 8:08 am
Finished August 15, 2008 at 11:20 pm

The obligatory "bathroom mirror photo":

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My Ravelympics medal!

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sigh....that was so much fun! Being part of Ravelympics, especially Team Blue Moon, it was "the experience of a lifetime"!!

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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

something special in the mail...

This afternoon, after a morning conference that started (or seemed to) at dawn and didn't include lunch, I ate at Beijing Tokyo, a restaurant downdown. I got vegatable tempura and miso soup. And a fortune cookie came with the bill. I love fortune cookies. The hope that somehow chance will know exactly what is going on in the course of any random life is very amusing and optimistic!

Mine read:
"You will receive something special in the mail"

When I got home, after a long, long day and an after-hours meeting, I found this on my doorstep:

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Two packages from afar! From England, in fact!

The first was my order from Kim Hargreaves.

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I love how she wraps everything up in tissue and ribbon. Items are packed in white gift boxes and include a blank card, so that when you've finished knitting whatever it is you've ordered, you can give it as a lovely wrapped gift.

My boxed included her summer book of patterns, Nectar, and the very new one, The Thrown Together Collection. I also got a kit, but since it truely is a gift for someone, it will remain a mystery for now...

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Every pattern in both books is gorgeous and several have a really 30's or 40's flair. I want to make them all. This one, with its wide neckline, is calling me...

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The second package was another special knitting resource from the 1930's:

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This book, The Pictoral Guide to Modern Home Knitting, by Odham's Press of London, is full of stitch patterns, designing tips, and actual patterns - many for underthings of both practical and lacy nature. The French Knickers are adorable and the American Panties are depressingly practical! There are a few bathing suits that look just like the unders. I especially love the vests, corset covers, and spencers:

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There are plenty of clothing patterns, too. One that caught my eye has a knitted "godet" of pleats in the back of a pretty skirt:

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And one of my very favorites is a little sweater that is made from 5 skeins of pure angora!

The Fluffy Bolero

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This sweater has somewhat sketchy directions for tricot crochet (made with an afghan hook). The pieces are made square, or almost, and the curve for the neck front edge is made by turning the piece under when the sweater is seamed and "sewing the superfluous fabric to the wrong side". This sweater would probably be easy to crochet, but I also think that it could be easily converted to knit stitches. Angora is almost impossible to undo, so it would be important to be sure of the design first, perhaps practicing the sizing of the sweater in garter stitch with a smooth light yarn.

Here are my thoughts on conversion to today's crochet. I would make it entirely in single crochet (double crochet for any Brits reading this).

Measurements. To fit a 34-in bust; length from shoulder to lower front edge, 20 inches. Sleeve length, from underarm, 3.5 inches.

Materials. Five balls of 1/2 ounces each, in 100% angora. A medium hook and small hook. (sorry, no hook size is given. I would probably start with a G hook and an F hook).

Right front. Chain 32. Single crochet (sc) in each chain, starting with the 2nd chain from the hook. Ch 1, turn (ch 1 at each turning). SC in each sc across. Increase in each of last five sc. Contnue even back and forth until the work measures 8 inches from the first row.
To shape armholes: SC to within five stitches of the end, turn, ch 1, work back. Continue even back and forth in sc until the work measures 16 and 1/2 inches. Fasten off.

Left front. Make the same as for right front.

Back. Chain 62 and sc in each ch, starting with 2nd ch from hook. Continue even in sc, back and forth, until the side edges measure 8 inches. Then follow the directions for shaping the armholes, as for the right front, only do it on both sides of back simultaneously. SC even, back and forth, on these stitches until the entire back measures 16 and 1/2.

Sleeves. - make two. Chain 32 and work in sc for 3 and 1/2 inches, increasing 1 stitch at each side on every other row. Then, decrease twice on each side of the next row. For the next 2 inches, decrease 1 stitch in each row on each side. Then, for the next 2 and 1/2 inches, decrease 2 stitches each end every row. Fasten off.

Make up. Join the side, shoulder, and sleeve seams with over-sewing in a matching sewing thread. Shape the top of the fronts as desired and sew the superfluous fabric to the wrong sides (this is from the original directions). Work a row of DC (double crochet - or triple crochet for the Brits) down the fronts and across the lower edge of the back, using the smaller crochet hook. Then work two rows of SC, slightly tightening the edge and putting 3 stitches into the corners of the right and left fronts. The 30's directions say that it is not necessary to work an edging around the sleeves.

Make a buttonholed bar in the right front neck edge to fasten the small button sewn to the top of the left front. Press the fabric carefully, being sure not to rest the weight of the iron directly on the fabric.


There you have it! If I find any nice angora, I'll try this pattern out. I like the idea of a soft, fluffy sweater for the fall!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Blogging Ravelympics 2

Did you watch the opening of the Olympics? It was a spectacular preformance of Chinese history shown through the Arts. The entire display started at 7:30 pm and ended after 11 pm when I went to bed... I was excited to finally be able to relax with my sweetheart and watch it while knitting my Ravelypics shawl! By the end of the opening ceremonies, I had completed 50 rows of the Shetland triangle:

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It doesn't look like much - more like a wrinkly newborn at the moment. But it's getting more challenging because the rows get longer and longer as I go, instead of shorter and shorter. I much prefer shawls that start at the long end and work towards the point...my enthusiasm and energy is always greater at the beginning of a project. Still, I'm going to work through any doldrums and finish my shawl event! I am! I am! (cheering myself on)

The Olympic ceremonies were held in the Bird's Nest stadium that was built in downtown Beijing:

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From the video of the surrounding area that they showed, it appeared to be in or near the college district of the city.

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The performance started with very early civilization in China, and went forward through history to the present time and then the future, and even to hopes for the future. The broadcast I watched (actually the only broadcast available in my area) didn't show every performance and also cut out some due to commercials, so I didn't see all of it, sadly. The show used thousands of dancers, acrobats, artists, musicians, actors, costume designers and light technicians. The whole spectacle took place on a moving scroll that opened and unwound on the stadium floor.

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One of the early performances showed Chinese longboats and exploration on the ocean:

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Another was of the Imperial Court period, and the court ladies:

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You can't see it very well in the picture, but this dancer is dancing on a thin flexible platform upheld on poles, each pole held by one of a hundred men. She had to dance and keep her balance at the same time as they walked around the scroll!

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The performances representing modern times used technology and light in an amazing way. This huge globe rose out of the scroll. At first it changed shape and colour to represent the various heavenly bodies in our solar system, then it glowed from within to show Earth, with the oceans and continents, then people's faces from around the world began to appear on the globe and dancers and acrobats scampered and twirled around it - sideways, upside down, running, walking, dancing, flipping - it was incredible!

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In this long view you can see the image of whales swirling in the ocean around the stadium, and the dancers suspended on wires that "flew" through the air around the globe to represent the good spirits who bless the earth. The thousands of little lights that look like stars are actually the attendees on thier seats around the stadium. On top of the globe stand Sarah Brightman and a very prominent Chinese singer. They sang a lovely ballad in both Chinese and English.

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Protecting water, the environment, and children were very prominent themes throughout the Ceremony's performances. Quite often school children were included in the performances, child performers of around 8 years old took the stage with amazing voices and musical abilities, and images of children were used to illustrate that everything was about the future, their future. The numbers of little ones who took part in these artistic symbolic performances was amazing. Here you see the 'light dancers' - one of my favorite parts - surrounding a photograph of a Chinese child. I think the dancers represented raindrops or water, and this particular dance had been about protecting the environment. It had started out with a group of Chinese school children in a classroom in the middle, with two of their teachers, and they were learning about the world's environment.

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One of the final dances also involved light dancers, this time, all in white. They formed this dove, which lit up the stadium and as they danced back and forth, the wings of the dove moved as though it were flying.

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It was a beautiful, amazing, awe-inspiring artistic display. So many times, my eyes filled with tears at the touching messages, and the hainting music. So many performances took my breath away!

The reality of politics seemed far away. But my appreciation of these ceremonies does not mean that I accept China's political policies and stances - not at all. I believe that no one is free until we all are are free, and that alone will preserve this earth for the future of all the world's children.

Tibet:

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Friday, August 8, 2008

blogging Ravelympics

At 8:08 on 8/8/08 I cast on the my Ravelympics project: the Laceweight Longjump:

This is 20 rows of the Shetland Shawl from Wrap Style in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock yarn, lightweight, Smokey Topaz....

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Now must rush to get to work (late - yikes!)...

Sunday, August 3, 2008

sensitive men and their socks

I finally finished the first Sensitive Man sock!

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It turned out just as I had envisioned it and is soft and cushy and comfy. As planned, it hugs the foot to minimize irritation that happens when loose handknit socks slosh around inside shoes. I immediately cast on for the second sock, using my easy-peasy Sophietoes method for toe-up socks. (This is smoothest DPN cast-on I've ever found and I created it quite by accident, when I couldn't remember how to do a complicated toe-up cast on that I'd been using...)

Another thing I like about these Sensitive Man socks is that there are no bulky seams or transitions - they're all nicely smooth inside.

All the sensitive men in my life like these socks:

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