gearncniht

I'm back!

2008-03-02T09:38:00.003+01:00

Okay, I've finally decided that trying to focus on a dissertation 24/7 while stressing about a job hunt just doesn't work. So, I am easing my way back into the knitting scene. I attended my first Stitch 'n Bitch meeting this year on the 18th of February (though I had to miss the following meeting because of aforementioned dissertation), and it was so great to see all my fellow SnBers and to see what everyone was working on. I am going to try to attend more regularly (that meeting was my first since October last year!). But first, over the next couple of postings, I am going to update on my FOs from last year with photos and take inventory of UFOs.

Crocheted Baby Blanket

I made this baby blanket last spring. I gave it to a friend of mine from my time at the University of Georgia who is now living in Sheffield. She gave birth to a baby girl last spring, so it wasn't too late. I actually visited her and her family and finished the blanket there. Talk about crocheting your heart out! But in the end, I am quite happy with how it turned out and so was she. Yeah!

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

2008-01-08T17:07:00.001+01:00

Happy New Year!

I know, it has been ages and ages since I last posted (27 August 2007, to be exact). This is just a quick post to let everyone know that I haven't died and to update you guys on what I've been up to. (And why I haven't posted in so long)

In the crafting arena, there is not much to discuss. I haven't had time to craft nor am I allowed to--my developing RSI symptoms (Repetitive Stress Injury) caused the university doctor to recommend that I stop knitting until it got better. Who knows when that will be...

My main stresses have come naturally from work--I have a dissertation to finish up (anyone in the final stages will totally understand where I am coming from) and a consequence is that I had to start applying for jobs so that I won't be unemployed when I finish.

Now, when you are an immigrant in a country and you say that you are on the job market, one of the first questions you get asked is "Well, do you want to go back or do you want to stay?" I can't tell you how annoying that question is, especially after the umpteenth time. In my case, I want to keep my options open--I just want a decent job and am willing to move wherever necessary for it. It just so happens that the job openings at the moment are primarily in North America, where you usually have to apply a year in advance. In Europe, the jobs generally aren't advertised until a few months before you would start. It's just very frustrating when people assume you want to go back just because you apply for jobs in your "home country". And then have the nerve to ask why you don't want to stay! Find me a job and I will! That's what I always want to shout... It just seems that some people just don't quite get how the job market works and how there usually has to be an opening before you can actually get a job. Anyway, just venting. The stress is getting to me, can't you tell? (After re-reading this, I guess I shouldn't really complain, but I'm going to keep it in.)

A quick update on my job hunt, though (I am not naming any of the institutions and would appreciate it if those of you are privileged enough to know the details of my job hunt not name any of them in a public post on this site):

I have applied to 19 jobs so far.
I have received 3 rejections.
I have had 6 interviews, 2 by telephone and 4 at conferences.
I have received 1 invitation for an interview, but haven't heard from the head of the search committee since, so I guess the invitation has been retracted.
I still have at least 2 more jobs to apply to (there may be some late openings).
I am still waiting to hear from 9 of the jobs, though a few of them interviewed at the conferences mentioned above (interviews for which I was not invited), which leads me to suspect that I am no longer in the running for those positions. But until I get a definite rejection, there's still hope, right? :-)

Isn't the job market such a lovely place? Are any of you completing a major project and/or on the job market? I'd love to hear your experiences...

Until all of the excitement of everything calms down (hopefully before the end of the year!), I won't be posting much and I won't be knitting... :-( But I may just post an occasional update... Just keep checking! (or email me to "encourage" me to post)

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

I suck, I suck....

2007-08-27T07:57:00.001+02:00

I suck... I received a really great package from Cheryl for the PRGE Mini-Exchange, and I am just now getting around to posting it. There was a delay in sending it, and the package arrived while I was away at a conference... When I came back, I was bogged down by a looming deadline... So, major stress... But of course the next round of PRGE is beginning, so the last bits of the previous mini-round need to go up. In any case, it was very inconsiderate of me; I am sending out my apologies.... But here it is!

It was a very fabulous package filled with all sorts of goodies. In the overview picture, you can see a I Taught Myself to Crochet package (includes a booklet, 6 different crochet hooks, stitch markers, tapestry needles and yarn holder for multi-color crocheting), two long Afghan crochet hooks, a bag each of Welch's Fruit Snacks and Chewy SweetTarts (both of which are now no more... a moment of silence, please...), two canisters of Altoids Mango Sours (had never seen them before, I don't think, but are really, really sour! yum!), two canisters of Godiva Chocoiste: one Milk Chocolate Pearls and the other Dark Chocolate Pearls with Mint (again, fabulousness in a canister!), two hilarious luggage labels (one reads "remember? yours is black" and the other "take my luggage, do my laundry"), an insipirational magnet that reads "Success can only be measured in terms of distance traveled.", a box of assorted Harney & Sons teas, a box of The King's Cupoard's Espresso Chocolate Dessert Pudding (doesn't that sound fabulous!), and a Jasmine Green Tea scented candle from Yankee Candle, with a very nice and smooth scent that is not overpowering. And, that is not all!

Cheryl also sent me the cutest stitch markers I have ever seen! They are of dogs in various positions! I think you can get a fairly decent look at them in my pic to the right. Aren't they just the sweetest thing? I hope they can get my yarn and needles to obey my commands as well as they seem to be trained! ^^ For those who are interested, the stitch markers were made by Wee Ones.

And, you thought that was all? No, wait, there's more! Two skeins of fabulous yarn, both of which I have been dying to try out!!! One 420-yard/4-ounce hank of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock 100% superwash merino fingering weight in the Birches colorway and one 425-meter/100-gram skein of South West Trading Company's 50% superwash wool/25% Soysilk fibers/22.5% cotton/2.5% chitin Tofutsies in lovely purple/pink with bits of grey and black. Cool, huh? And below the two skeins of yarn, you can see a fabulous-est and punkest project bag I have ever seen! You can see one of the skulls... And the project bag is very sturdy. There's a hook so I can hook it to the outside of my knitting bag (or to my belt) so I can knit while standing around. I can close it tight with the elastic, which has a tightener clamp (or whatever that is actually called) and the end of the elastic is sealed with more skulls so the clamp doesn't come up! It's just so fantabulously punk!

Thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into this package Cheryl! I'm really enjoying all of the contents! Again, I apologize for my delay in posting... I know it can be a bummer when you have a slack-ass spoilee...

Wolle aus Köln!

2007-07-16T09:24:00.000+02:00

Wool from Cologne!

I went to a fabulous yarn shop when I went to Cologne for a short trip. The shop is owned and run by Daniela Johannsenová, the maker of the Secret Knitting podcast. I heard about it through Cast-on and remembered that the podcaster had a yarn shop in Cologne. So, I thought I would give it a shot. I am really glad I did!

I entered as soon as it opened and was greeted by Daniela upon entering. She started in German but after my confused look, switched to English. She asked if she could help me with anything and then proceeded to describe her stock. She was so helpful! She has a lot of yarns that are not easy to find in Amsterdam... Afterwards, she offered me a cup of coffee, and we sat at her sofa and knit and chatted. Very pleasant. The following afternoon, I went back (the day was so hot and I needed a rest after spending the morning and early afternoon walking around). There two other knitters (in addition to Daniela) just sitting, knitting, drinking, and chatting. I wish we had such a lovely, cozy and welcoming yarn shop in Amsterdam! I bought two hanks of lovely alpaca (one light grey, one blue--a color-stranded vest was my plan...) despite not needing any more yarn... But I thought that I should support such a nice shop... Who knows, I might go again!

Here is the website of the shop: Maschenkunst. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

SP10: Final installment

2007-07-11T21:43:00.000+02:00

Today, I received the final installment from my SP10 pal. The only appropriate description is "Oh... my... God!" I was overwhelmed by the three packages I received at my office! There are no appropriate words to describe the fantabulinity contained in the packages... I just wanted to let my still-secret pal know how wonderful everything is! I'll have loads of fun with it all for a long time! At the moment, I don't have photos of the contents, but I thought I could go through the packages and let you guys know how I have been so spoiled by my pal!

package 1
-a beautiful burlap bag from Yr Hosbis i Blant yng Nghymru 'The Children's Hospice in Wales', a great place to hide (a small part of) my ever-increasing stash!
-a huge grab bag of assorted yarn ends from Texere Yarns, a wonderful assortment for future color-stranding or intarsia projects!

package 2
-three knitting magazines, all with free gifts!
*Simply Knitting with sheep-shaped point protectors
*Knit Today with a booklet filled with baby patterns
*Knitting with a poster of different sheep varieties!)
-a Shaun the Sheep comic with free magnetic photo frame
-10 x 25g skeins of Jamieson's Ultra (50% lambswool/50% Shetland wool) yarn in a beautiful white color. Perhaps another opportunity to dye again? Or maybe I'll keep it white and knit a nice lace shawl for my mom. We'll see!

package 3
-2 x 50g skeins of Koigu 100% Merino wool KPPPM yarn in mostly beige-y color with lots of other colors mixed throughout. I've been waiting to get my hands on some Koigu because of all the hype about it in the podo- and blogosphere and now I have 4 skeins: two from my SP10 pal and 2 from winning one of the PRGE best pal awards. How fabulous is that?!? Now, what to make from it? Socks? Gloves? Mittens? Oh, my!
-2 x 50g balls of Sirdar Snuggly baby bamboo yarn (80% bamboo/20% wool) one in light beige and the other in khaki. It's so soft! I think this will turn into something for my future niece or nephew. Gotta hunt through baby knitting books (as if they are hard to find!)!
-a 50g? skein of a mysterious orange yarn, feels like a plant fiber--perhaps cotton or linen? There are a number of bits in the grab bag mentioned in package one that seem to be of the same weight and type as this yarn, so perhaps I'll combine them into some sort of color-stranding project.
-a mix for a Turkish dessert called Kazandibi. I tried this in Turkey, and it was a nice custardy milk dessert. The version I tasted had chicken in it--not chunks of chicken and you couldn't taste it, but you could see the fibers of the chicken. Very interesting! I think I'll save this mix so I can make it with Ashley when I go back across the pond.
-a bar of Coldspring Mill Wool Fat Soap, a lanolin soap! It smells so lovely, not strongly perfumed. It's supposed to keep your hands nice and smooth... Can't wait to try it out!
-a 170g box of Clotted Cream Fudge, which is absolutely delicious! (um, yeah, I've already had a piece.... or two... ^^)
-four Clover products
*Knitting counter
*yarn cutter pendant (This is something I've always wanted to buy, but just never did for whatever reason. Now, I have one of my own! Yeah!)
*two sizes of coil knitting needle holders

I think you can see now why I was overwhelmed! So much stuff in one day! I'm going to have to start a bunch of projects this weekend!

Ethel, thank you so much! All the things you have given to me in these three packages as well as in the previous ones have been just fabulous--you chose so well! I can't wait to find out who you are!

Örgü dili: Knitting in Turkish!

2007-07-09T12:52:00.000+02:00

Örgü dili 'The language of knitting'

Here are some useful knitting related words and phrases in Turkish that I learned while in Turkey. I did not really use them, though, as I was always with a Turkish friend who I had ask all my questions for me.... But in case you're caught in a Turkish yarn shop on your own...

Notes on Turkish pronunciation: Some letters (and sounds, for that matter) in Turkish are not found in English. Some of the sounds are spelled with a different letter than they would be in English. Other than that, Turkish spelling is pretty consistent--words are pronounced the way they are spelled and vice versa. Here are letters/sounds that do not correspond to English:

C, c is always pronounced like English 'j'.
Ç, ç is always pronounced like English 'ch'.
Ğ, ğ is never pronounced--it lengthens a preceding vowel.
H, h is pronounced as in English, but it is always pronounced wherever it is written, even at the end of a word.
I, ı (non-dotted 'i') is not an English/German/French sound. It is an unrounded 'oo' sound.
İ, i (dotted 'i') is always pronounced like English 'ee'.
J, j is always pronounced like French 'j' or like the s in the English word 'pleasure'.
Ö, ö is always pronounced like German 'ö' or French 'eu'.
Ş, ş is always pronounced like English 'sh'.
Ü, ü is always pronounced like German 'ü' or French 'u'

Now, the words/phrases...

I. Nouns

örgü 'handcrafts, knitting' My understanding is that Turkish has one word for handcrafts in general.
örgü şişi 'knitting needles' This is the same şiş as in "shish kebab"!

Yumak 'yarn'
(saf) __ yumağı '(pure) __ yarn'
yün 'wool'
pamuk 'cotton' (I also heard people say koton.)
ipek 'silk'
akrilik 'acrylic'

(Saf yün yumağı) istiyorum. 'I would like (pure wool yarn).'
(Akrilik yumağı) istemiyorum. 'I do not want (acrylic yarn).'
(Saf yün yumağı) var mı? 'Do you have (pure wool yarn)?'
(Saf yün yumağı) nerede? 'Where is it/(the pure wool yarn)?'
(Saf yün) değil. 'It is not (pure wool).'

II. Adjectives

renk 'color' + -lEr (plural) = renkler 'colors'

You can just add adjectives in front of nouns--there is no agreement like in German or French.

açık 'light'
koyu 'dark'

siyah 'black'
beyaz 'white'
kırmızı 'red'
mavi 'blue'
turuncu 'orange'
pembe 'pink'
yeşil 'green'
mor 'purple'
sarı 'yellow'
gri 'grey'
kahverengi 'brown' (literally 'the color of coffee')

güzel 'beautiful'
çok 'a lot (of), very'

bu 'this'
şu 'that (and point)'

(Mavi) değil. 'It is not (blue).'

III. Verbs

örmek 'to do handcrafts, to knit'

Turkish verbs are fairly complicated. There are a number of endings one can use to express various characteristics of an action. There is even an ending, for instance, to say that the speaker only heard that something happened but did not witness it firsthand! I will, however, only demonstrate a few basic endings, enough to get started. Something else that one has to contend with in Turkish endings is vowel harmony. I will explain this later.

For basic conjugation, there is usually one ending for the tense and/or aspect of the action (present, past, future and/or progressive, perfect, habitual, etc.) and one ending for the person (first person singular/plural, second person singular/plural, third person singular/plural).

Some basic tense/aspect endings are:

-Iyor- progressive, in other words 'to be (verb)ing'
-(y)EcEK- future, in other words 'will (verb)'
-DI- past, in other words '(verb)ed'

Note: the capital letters indicate that this sound changes depending on the context: A vowel changes depending on the last vowel of the verb stem (vowel harmony) and a consonant changes depending on the preceding sound. I will explain these a bit later. In the future ending, a y is added if this ending is added to a word ending in a vowel.

These tense/aspect endings generally go between the verb stem (ör-) and the personal endings.

ör-üyor- 'be knitting'
ör-ecek- 'will knit'
ör-dü- 'knitted'

To this, you add the personal endings.

-(y)Im 'I'
-sIn 'you (singular/informal)'
-(DIr) 'he/she/it'
-(y)Iz 'we'
-sInIz 'you (singular/formal, plural)'
-(DIr)lEr 'they'

The vowels between parentheses are added if you are adding the ending after a consonant. So, if we conjugate for the progressive, we get:

ör-üyor-um 'I am knitting'
ör-üyor-sun 'You (sg/informal) are knitting'
ör-üyor(-dur) 'He/she/it is knitting'
ör-üyor-uz 'We are knitting'
ör-üyor-sunuz 'You (sg/formal, plural) are knitting'
ör-üyor-(dur)lar 'They are knitting'

Usually, a k at the end of a word becomes ğ if an ending beginning with a vowel follows it.

ör-eceğ-im 'I will knit'
ör-ecek-sin 'You (sg/informal) will knit'
ör-ecek(-tir) 'He/she/it will knit'
ör-eceğ-iz 'We will knit'
ör-ecek-siniz 'You (sg/formal, plural) will knit'
ör-ecek-(tir)ler 'They will knit'

In the past tense, the endings are a bit reduced. Notice, though, that the ending for 'we' is not related to the one we already learned:

-m 'I'
-n 'you (sg/informal)'
-(nothing) 'he/she/it'
-k 'we'
-nIz 'you (sg/formal, plural)'
(-lEr) 'they'

So, when we apply this to the verb, we get:

ör-dü-m 'I knitted'
ör-dü-n 'You (sg/informal) knitted'
ör-dü- 'He/she/it knitted'
ör-dü-k 'We knitted'
ör-dü-nüz 'You (sg/formal, plural) knitted'
ör-dü(-ler) 'They knitted'

You can also combine the progressive and the future endings with the past tense marker. Then, you end up with:

ör-üyor-du-m 'I was knitting'

Notice how the past tense ending is no longer -dü- like in the simple past tense given above but has changed to -du-. This has to do with vowel harmony. In Turkish, the vowels of most endings change depending on the vowel preceding the ending. There are two types of vowel endings: E-endings and I-endings.

E-endings: This represents a two-way distinction.
If the last vowel before an E-ending is i, ü, e, or ö, then the vowel of the ending is e.
If the last vowel before an E-ending is ı, u, a, or o, then the vowel of the ending is a.

The plural ending -lEr is an example of an E-ending. You have, for instance, renk-ler 'colors' versus yumak-lar 'yarns'.

I-endings: These are a little more complicated because they represent a four-way distinction. If the last vowel before an I-ending is i or e, the vowel of the ending is i.
If the last vowel before an I-ending is ü or ö, the vowel of the ending is ü.
If the last vowel before an I-ending is ı or a, the vowel of the ending is ı.
If the last vowel before an I-ending is u or o, the vowel of the ending is u.

The stem ör- has ö as its vowel, so an I-ending will become ü.

ör-dü-nüz 'You (sg/formal, plural) knitted'

If the -Iyor ending intervenes, however, the I-ending becomes u because the vowel before the ending is o.

ör-üyor-du-m 'I was knitting'

Another change that occurs in Turkish endings have to do with consonants. Generally, if an ending begins with a consonant that has voiced/voiceless counterparts, you use the voiceless counterpart if the final consonant before the ending is voiceless. Otherwise, you use the voiced counterpart. So, the d of the past tense -DI ending may change into a t if it follows a voiceless consonant, for instance, when you add this ending to the future ending:

ör-ecek-ti-n 'You (sg/informal) would knit'

Another useful ending for verbs is the negative ending, -mE. This is usually placed between the verb stem and all the other endings. Notice how vowel harmony is cumulative.

ör-me-di-m 'I did not knit'
ör-me-yecek-sin 'You will not knit'

With the progressive, the vowel of the negative ending is dropped.

ör-m-iyor-uz 'We are not knitting'

As you can see, Turkish endings are quite complicated, but there is a logic and a system behind it all. For more information on Turkish, you can consult any number of Turkish grammars.

Hope this is helpful! ^^

PRGE... Mini!

2007-07-05T07:57:00.000+02:00

Okay, so I likes me some swappin'. I signed up for PRGE Mini, a one-month not secret pal exchange to hold us over until the grown-up version gets going again... Here is my questionnaire. (It's not quite finished, but I'll add to it as I think of things...)

1. Why are you punk?
Punk me? PUNK YOU!
2. What are your five favorite things? (these don't have to be knit related)
Languages, Cooking, Books, Travelling, Sweets (chewy fruity kinds and chocolate kinds)
3. What are your three favorite things that you have made with knitting/crochet?
Norwegian vest for my niece, my Swell hat, my Noro ribbed hat.
4. What five things would you love to see in a swap box someday?
No Sheep for You, hooked knitting needles (found in Portugal, perhaps elsewhere), any of the newer interesting yarns made from various weird things (corn, seasilk, soy, chitin, etc.), Folk Socks: The History and Techniques of Handknitted Footwear, Ethnic Socks and Stockings: A Compendium of Eastern Design and Technique
5. What are your three favorite yarns? What are your three least favorite yarns?
No particular brands... Depends more on the feel and look of the yarn...
Favorites: anything soft
Least Favorites: anything scratchy, frilly or novel
6. What are your five favorite delicacies?
Hmmm... Toughy... Anything chocolate (leaning more toward milk chocolate recently, but also enjoy dark chocolate occasionally), chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, Krispy Kreme donuts (which I can't get here!), nice coffee (for making capuccino, interesting teas (I currently have a lot of jasmine, lady grey, pu'er, oolong, lapsong soo chong, north korean rice/green tea, rooibos, assorted plain black teas, etc., etc. I'm not particularly fond of the kind of sour teas like the Zinger line of Celestial Seasonings--though I love their other teas)
7. What are your three favorite guilty pleasures?
Going out to eat (in Amsterdam, you feel guilty about the price... But the service is generally NOT a pleasure), ???, ???
8. What would you like your pal to know that is not covered here?
Umm, go Dawgs! Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-04T19:36:00.001+02:00

Okay, so I'm actually posting this on the 5th... But the postdate magically says 4th... Know how? ^^

An informational tidbit for non-United Statians: The normal way we, the people, refer to this holiday is the "Fourth of July". This is so ingrained in us that there is a joke: Does (name of any random country) have a "Fourth of July"? Most United Statians immediately answer, "No!", knowing that our holiday, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is only celebrated in the US. The answer is, of course, that every country has a 4th of July (assuming they follow the Gregorian calendar).

When I first moved to Amsterdam and people asked/talked to me about "Independence Day", I didn't know what they were talking about at first. It only took me a few seconds to realize that they were talking about the Fourth, but this shows you how strongly we associate the date with the holiday. Of course, it is officially "Independence Day". And this is the better way to refer to it, I suppose, outside of the US, since everywhere else, the Fourth of July is just a date... ^^

Craftiness in Turkey

2007-07-03T09:06:00.001+02:00

Okay, so the previous four posts pretty much sum up my vacation to Turkey. It was such a wonderful experience! I can't wait to go again! And for those who might be interested in going to Turkey, you more than likely need a visa. However, you can easily get this upon entering (at the airport), and it is not terribly expensive (for Americans, it's $20 or 15 euros). A useful tidbit: you have to pay cash. They don't accept cards. Be sure you have enough...

Now, for the crafty bit of my journey. The project I ended up taking was my Exchequered scarf. I figured that my Master Knitting swatches, though small, would require a lot of references (I want to try out different techniques to see which works out best), and I hadn't started any socks. The scarf was small enough, and I knew that I wouldn't finish while in Turkey. I didn't take any emergency sock yarn because I knew that I would be stocking up on yarn--if I needed to, I could just start a new project with some new yarn. Besides, I figured that with such a busy schedule, I might not have much time to knit anyway (not thinking about the hours upon hours of travel time). It turns out, however, that this was a wise decision.

So, on my second (full) day in Istanbul, I met up with Nihal, a crafter I met over the internet. She was nice enough to meet up with me and show me around the yarn/textile part of the famous Istanbul bazar. It was amazing and a little disappointing at the same time. As Nihal warned me ahead of time, I encountered mounds and mounds of acrylic--the mounds and mounds of yarn being amazing to look at, all the acrylic being the disappointment. However, not all hope was lost--there were many little shops with all sorts of yarn. It just required a bit of searching. I was on the hunt for some cotton yarn for a short-sleeved summer polo shirt and enough wool yarn to make a sweater. (I still haven't attempted making any sort of top for myself... I'm a little scared... And the previous times when I bought yarn with the intention of using it for a sweater, I ended up not having enough or not really liking the combination of colors... Perhaps I was subconsciously trying to sabotage myself before even beginning?) We entered one shop with a very nice and helpful owner. Luckily, the shop was stocked with mostly cotton yarn. And I found the colors I was looking for--dark blue for the body of a polo shirt with a light beige for the collar. I also saw two other colors that I liked--a khaki color and an orange-y red. I thought short-sleeved striped V-neck. I debated long and hard about whether to buy it or not and ended up buying it... You can never have enough yarn, and this was a lovely souvenir, afterall! ^^ And of course, it was so cheap! I was like 1 Yeni Türk Lirası (usually abbreviated 'ytl') per 100g (about 0.55 euro or $0.77 per 100g)! Can't beat that, eh?

In another shop, I also managed to find some nice pure wool yarn, a nice dark grey (but not charcoal grey). I couldn't find a color that went well with it, so a solid-colored sweater it'll be. I got 1kg of this yarn (I'm pretty big...) and also got 600g of a beige cotton yarn at the counter (for a great bag I want to crochet). Needless to say, I had to lug around a loooot of yarn that day. The sacrifices we make for our craft! ^^

Nihal also wanted to take me to a yarn shop on the Asian side of Istanbul where there was also quite a selection of yarn for cheap, but unfortunately, she had to get back to her exams. She gave me directions since I was staying on the Asian side. I decided that I had already bought enough yarn, but Fulya asked me to knit Coachella for her. I told her that I wouldn't mind if she got the yarn, so together we went in search of this incredibly cheap yarn store. It took some searching, but we eventually found it. The store, named Diyana, had quite a selection, but again, it was mostly acrylic. After a bit of hunting, we found some nice peach-colored cotton yarn, perfect for the pattern. So, we bought the yarn, a pair of circular needles and a tape measure (I didn't bring all my knitting supplies with me... but you can never have too many tape measures, right?).

The Coachella project ended up being the knitting project I worked on in Turkey. I measured Fulya and checked the pattern for the appropriate size (converting from metric to US measurements). I knit a swatch in the round so the top would come out the way it was supposed to. The needles were too small, so we went back to exchange them. I knit another swatch with the new needles and recalculated the pattern to fit my new gauge (again, constantly converting between the metric and US systems). I cast on and worked on Coachella for the bus ride from Istanbul to Ankara, the car ride from Ankara to Kaş, and for many of the small breaks I had in between. I knit and knit and knit, hoping to finish before I left. When I was about halfway done (while we were in Kaş), I put the stitches on an extra piece of yarn so Fulya could try it on. How did it fit? Not like a glove as I was hoping it would... It was two sizes too big!!!! Can you believe it! After all my prep work and careful calculations... At least this terrible mistake was not a result of my knitting (this was one of my most consistent pieces) nor my calculations. Apparently, the sizes given were measured differently than I expected. Despite the little note at the beginning of the pattern (which I didn't think was very clear, but I was sort of rushing through it), I assumed the list of 'Chest measurements' represented the actual chest measurement of the recipient. Instead, these represented the measurement of the finished garment, which fits a person with an additional 7 inches of chest. So the XS, which measures 25 inches, fits a person with a chest measurement of 32 inches (25 inches + 7 inches). I hope you can see why I was a little confused. And I saw on Ravelry that I was not the only one who was confused by this... I'm not a total idiot! Yeah!

What did I do? I sighed, took a deep breath, and started over. I looked at the pattern again, did loads and loads of calculations and then cast on for my second attempt. At least I (a) got a lot of practice with the combination method, (b) have a much better understanding of the pattern as a whole, and (c) can avoid the mistakes I couldn't correct in my first attempt. And hopefully, this one will end up being the right size!

What did I do about the overly large Coachella? I kept the stitches on the yarn and set it aside... I couldn't bear to rip out all that knitting at the time... I actually still haven't ripped it out.... It's stuck in small plastic bag on my sofa in that state of perpetual incompleteness... It knows it's going to be reincarnated, but just not when... I don't think I'll rip it out until I need to for Coachella Junior... You knit, you learn! ^^

Ankara'dan Kaş'a... and back!

2007-07-02T22:29:00.001+02:00

From Ankara to Kaş... and back again! Fulya's parents were quite excited about my visit and planned to take us to Kaş, a lovely town on the Mediteranean coast. About an 10.5-hour drive from Ankara (with plenty of breaks on the way). But I got to see a lot of the landscape in Turkey--from the desert area around to the Mediteranean coast, you can imagine that there is a lot of variation in between. On the way down, I remembered my Dramamine but did not realize that it is only effective for 5 to 6 hours... I got pretty woozy about an hour and half away from Kaş... I quickly took more Dramamine, which helped a bit... I definitely remembered it on the way back though! We stayed in a lovely pansiyon 'pension' (is that an appropriate word in English? perhaps 'inn' is better? I would have said bed & breakfast, but there was no breakfast. any other suggestions?) in the center with a lovely view of the center and the sea. Fulya and I went swimming each morning at like 6:00 am! The water was cold! But a great way to wake up! It is such a lovely, laid-back, relaxing town. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to go back!

Apparently, kaş means 'eyebrow' in Turkish. The story goes that Meis, the name of the Greek island off the coast (visible from Kaş) means 'eye', so the Turkish town is the 'eyebrow' for the island 'eye'. Funny how places get their names! ^^

Kaş'a 'To Kaş'

A lovely place where we stopped for kahvaltı on the way. We had gözleme (read previous post for a description) and Türk çayı 'Turkish tea'. Çok güzel!

Turkish landscapes

Tea break!

More landscape

Kaş'ta 'In Kaş'

Views from the balcony of the pansiyon. The Mediteranean! Gorgeous, eh? Jealous?

A view of Kaş itself from my balcony.

A view of the Greek island of Meis from the Hellenistic amphitheater in Kaş.

Lovely flowers and a small bay near where Fulya's family will build their own house in Kaş!

Dinner on our last night in Kaş. Fulya's parents are so nice and friendly, very lovely people. Our conversations were a mix of French, Turkish and English...
Great fun for a linguist like me!

On the road back to Ankara.
We stopped for a mini-picnic and for a stretch--just two hours left!

İstanbul'dan Ankara'ya

2007-07-01T22:07:00.000+02:00

From Istanbul to Ankara. On a five-hour bus ride. I remembered my Dramamine this time! :-) On our last day in Istanbul, we took a trip to Adalar 'The Islands' known as the Prince's Islands in English. We visited Büyük Ada 'Big Island'. It was very, very hot, but pleasant nonetheless. We took a picnic lunch and then wandered around a bit before heading back. The following day was the five-hour bus trip to Ankara. It was a nice bus, I have to admit, and more like flying than riding a bus--someone came by every so often to offer drinks and snacks, and we even got a meal. I spent the first hour or so sleeping (Dramamine) and then spent most of the rest of the time knitting... stitch, stitch, stitch. But I'll tell you about that later! ^^ In Ankara, we stayed at Fulya's place and visited the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and Ankara Kalesi 'Ankara Castle'. I also got to meet almost all of Fulya's very wonderful friends and colleagues--she is quite lucky!

Adalar: Büyük Ada 'Prince's Islands: Big Island'

View upon arrival

View when you exit: hordes of people!
Apparently, we weren't the only ones with the bright idea!

A beautiful abandoned house

Covered market? At least it provided some shade.

Ankara'da Fulya'nın evi 'Fulya's house in Ankara'

Balkonda Kahvaltı: Breakfast chez Fulya on her balcony. So, the Turkish word for 'breakfast' is kahvaltı, literally 'under coffee'. Apparently, you would have coffee after breakfast, thereby placing the food under your coffee.

View from Fulya's balcony

Ankara Kalesi 'Ankara Castle'

There was a festival going on at the castle, so there were quite a few people, and a lot of stalls selling assorted goods and handcrafts. Here, Fulya and I are having lunch: delicious gözleme, a sort of savory crispy crêpe made with yufka (i.e., filo dough--paper, paper thin dough used a lot in Turkish and Greek cuisine--think baklava) instead of batter.

The courtyard where we had gözleme, surrounded by assorted antique and clothing shops.

Looking down on Ankara from the castle

Fıstıklar! This is where we got Hugo'nun fıstıkları 'Hugo's fıstıks' (pardon the inside joke). Fıstık in Turkish (related to the English word 'pistachio') refers to dried foodstuffs like nuts and dried berries. As you can see, they have quite an assortment!

A beautiful tree stub in the castle

Not at the castle, but still in Ankara: Lunch with Fulya's colleagues from Bilkent Üniversitesi 'Bilkent University', a very friendly group of people.

Türkiye, part II

2007-06-29T23:46:00.001+02:00

Before Turkey, some quick news... I got my ravelry invite! Coolness! If you are already on ravelry, add me as a friend (my name is "gearncniht") and send a message. If you haven't already signed up, you should now! It's a great place to keep track of your stash, projects, supplies, make friends, etc. It's like friendster for crafters, plus much more!

Now, back to my trip. A few more photos... We stayed in Istanbul for a few days, so here are more pics of it. On day two, I did some yarn shopping with a Turkish crafter I met over the internet, Nihal, at her blog. It was a very exciting and interesting day, and I'll have a separate entry on all my craftiness in Turkey, so be patient! ^^ After yarn shopping, Fulya and I went to the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art and then met Burcu in Beyoğlu for dinner and just walking around... The following day, Fulya and I took a cruise of the Bosphorous (not quite to the Black Sea), where I'm sure you can sympathize with me when I say I should have taken Dramamine! But it was pleasant, and we got off at Sarıyer, where Fulya's family used to go each summer when she was younger. We had some of their famous Sarıyer böreği for lunch and then slowly made our way back to the ferries by bus with a stop in Örtaköy, a kind of hip trendy little area on the Bosphorous with a lot of craft shops, food vendors and tea gardens where you can enjoy a game of tavla (Backgammon) or nargileh (hookah). Very cool!

Kadıköy'de çay bahçesi

Sunset at a tea garden in Kadıköy

Views from the commuter boat

Mavi Camii (Blue Mosque)

Topkapı Palace

View outside of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art

Boğaz Turu: Bosphorous Cruise

Tea break! A cool thing on the boats, even the commuter boats, is that there are men walking around with trays of juice and tea for sale. A pleasant way to have a refreshing beverage on your to wherever!

Views from the boat

Guess who! ^^

Fulya in front of her childhood vacation home in Sarıyer.

Men fishing at Örtaköy

Türkiye, part I

2007-06-28T22:09:00.000+02:00

Here are some photos from day 1 of my trip to Turkey. I won't put up all the pics or post about each day... Just the interesting things Fulya and I did. Day 1 was jampacked with all the historical sites of İstanbul'un Sultanahmet'i (the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul--I hope I'm writing that correctly!).

Topkapı Palace

Fulya in the garden at the entrance of the palace.

One of the side streets in the second court area (there are four).

A reenactment of a palace procession with music, singing and traditional outfits.

Harem hamamı (Bath in Topkapı's harem)

Aya Sofya
Byzantium church built by the Greeks, turned into a mosque,
and now rediscovering its Greek roots.

Basilica Cistern
Underground water supply--nice and cool after a hot day wandering around in the sun!

Two heads of Medusa, taken from another structure (though no one knows what structure). Strangely, one was placed in upside down and the other sideways--scholars think this was intentional but are not sure why.

Fish in the cistern. Fulya and I fed them simit, a Turkish circular bread with sesame seeds. You find this bread all over the place in big cities sold on the street--a wonderful snack!

Oost, West, Thuis Best!

2007-06-27T19:39:00.000+02:00

Home Sweet Home! (The post title is the Dutch version of this saying--literally "East, West, Home's Best") After two exciting weeks in hot, hot Turkey (apparently, one of the hottest summers in decades!), I came home to a cool and rainy Amsterdam. Home Sweet Home, eh? ^^

Well, I will definitely post pics and commentary about my trip in the following week or two. To get a taste, you can visit F.'s blog, the good friend who I visited in Turkey, here.

But, first, I need to blog about two things awaiting my arrival. When I went in to the office yesterday (after my flight--I'm a glutton for punishment to go into work the day I arrive from vacation, eh? I do this even if I fly from the US. I'm somehow deluded into thinking that it helps me overcome jet lag...), I was disappointed to see that no packages had arrived for me as I was expecting two. When I left to go home, however, I saw a package at the porter's desk that looked suspiciously as if it had come from the US. As I approached the porter's desk, I saw my name on the box! Yeah! So I asked the porter if he could give it to me (though I must say I was a little surprised that he didn't ask for identification...). Yippee!

What was it, you ask? It was a package from the Punk Rock Gift Exchange--I won one of the best pal prizes (there were three)! And this is what it contained: A great black project bag with a skull and crossbones in white, two patches, a button, wonderful skull stitch markers, fabulously kitsch magnets from Obsidian Kitten, five 50g blue and turquoise-y green skeins of 77% cotton/23% rayon Believe yarn by Classic Elite Yarns, and two 50g yellow/blue/green skeins of 100% Merino wool yarn by Koigu. Such a wonderful package! What am I going to make with the delectably yummy yarns? Any suggestions? ^^

And, what did I get today? A package from my SP10 pal! Yeah! Some more luscious yarn--hand-dyed 100% cashmere! So soft! There were two 100g skeins of a grey-white sock yarn and two 55g skeins of a brown-white lace weight yarn, both from HipKnits. I'm not sure what they are destined to become... Perhaps gloves so I can envelop my hands in the luxuriant softness? We'll see!

Thank you so much, Sunneshine and SP10 pal (or, as I learned in Turkey, "Çok teşekkür ederim")! The gifts are divine--I'll definitely enjoy working with them!

Vacation!

2007-06-12T06:55:00.001+02:00

A quick note to let all of you know that I will be away for the next two weeks. I leave this morning! Yippee! Two weeks in sunny Turkey! How exciting! I'll get to visit a really good friend of mine and explore her country (well, a small part of it, anyway), culture and language! Hopefully, I'll have an opportunity to blog while there, but we'll see! When I get back, I'll definitely have lots to tell about the experience and hopefully of lot of interesting information about knitting in Turkey! 'Til then, have a great summer! ^^

Sheffield

2007-06-06T08:58:00.001+02:00

For Ascension weekend, I flew to jolly ol' Sheffield, England to visit a friend of mine and her family. Of course, I just had to check out what yarns were on offer, so I joined the Sheffield Knitterati Yahoo group and sent out an email asking for addresses of shops to check out and to see whether anyone might be interested in meeting up for some yarn shopping, chitchatting, and knitting. I got an immediate response from Astrid, a Dutch woman who has been living in Sheffield for the past 7 years. How funny is that! ^^ She suggested a few places and was free one of the days of my visit, so we arranged to meet up. It was a pleasant day with a very nice and friendly woman. We visited two department stores in the city center and then went to have coffee and chat. Here's a pic of me (taken by Astrid) knitting away on my Exchequered scarf while having coffee at a café--you can see Waterstones behind me... The following day, I had time, so I went to one of the dedicated yarn shops in Sheffield.

My overall impression is that each of the places has more or less the same amount of yarn available but quite different selections. Atkinsons is mostly acrylic and blends with some wool and cotton. John Lewis has quite a selection of Rowan and Debbie Bliss yarns among others and also carries some acrylic. The Wool Baa has Debbie Bliss and Noro among other brands (you can get a more complete list on the website) and also has some acrylic and blends. I felt one skein of yarn here that was amazingly soft. I looked at the label and was very shocked to find out that is was 100% acrylic! I just had to buy it for the novelty! ^^ I think it'll turn into the Alien Illusion Scarf from one of the Stitch 'n Bitch books.

Being big department stores, the atmosphere at both Atkinsons and John Lewis was not very warm, friendly or welcoming. I mean, it wasn't necessarily that the workers there were not friendly, but I guess it's better to say that it was more distant. I decided to buy something at John Lewis, but they did not have enough of the yarn of the same dye lot. So, I took the dye lots they had and asked the cashier, when she came (I had to wait a bit before someone showed up), if they had enough of any of these dye lots for me. She didn't seem annoyed that I asked, but she didn't seem very pleased to do it for me... But, that's more or less what one should expect in a department store, I guess. In contrast, The Wool Baa was quite homey, and the owner was very friendly approachable. When I asked for a business card, she gave me a pad of paper with the contact information of the shop on the bottom. How cool is that! ^^

The Wool Baa
83 Junction Road
Sheffield s11 8XA
+44 114 266 6262
thewoolbaa@btconnect.com
Tu 10:00-18:30
W-F 10:00-16:30
Sat 10:30-17:00

John Lewis
Barkers Pool
Sheffield s1 1EP
+44 114 276 8511
MTuFSat 9:00-18:00
W 9:00-20:00
Th 9:30-18:00
Sun 10:30-16:30

Atkinsons
The Moor Precinct
Sheffield
+44 114 276 8811
M-Sat 9:00-17:30

Square Three

2007-06-05T07:27:00.000+02:00

You thought I forgot, didn't you? Well, now, I didn't... I've just been a little lazy... Here's the final square that I knit for the baby blanket. It's in the first column on the third row. In the baby blanket, it's actually upside-down... but no worries. I put a bunch of stitches together from the book Beginner's Guide: Knit Stitches & Easy Projects by Leisure Arts, Inc. The border is done in Divided Boxes (little squares that are made of two triangles--one knit and one purl). In the center, I did Diamond Lace and on either side is Little Fountain. After I finished, it was just a little smaller than the size we agreed on (20cm x 20cm), so I crocheted a simple edging--nothing fancy. Just single crochet, chain three, single crochet. I think this is my favorite of the three. Which do you like? ^^

Yarn: Cotton/Acrylic Blend (forgot details)

Colorway: Purple (forgot details)

Needles: Suzanne Bates US8/5mm straight aluminium needles, Suzanne Bates USH/5mm aluminium crochet hook

Patterns: Various Stitches from Beginner's Guide: Knit Stitches & Easy Projects by Leisure Arts, Inc. (Border: Divide Boxes, Center: Diamond Lace, Sides: Little Fountain) and simple crochet edging

Price: Group purchase, so I'm not quite sure.

How long: An afternoon

Where: Home

Finally, two FOs to report!

2007-06-04T00:37:00.000+02:00

So, this weekend was fairly productive for me. I finally finished my third sock (to go with my first one), and I was in such a knitting place that I cast on and finished a tea cozy in like 11 hours. And today I'm wearing my first pair of hand knit socks! Yeah! Now time for the pics and details.

Sock # 3

Yarn: Knit Picks Memories, 100% Merino Wool

Colorway: Fly Fishing

Needles: Knit Picks US1/2.5mm aluminium dpns

Pattern: "Straight-Laced" in Knit Socks! 15 Cool Patterns for Toasty Feet by Betsy Lee McCarthy

Price: yarn and needles gift from princessgenevieve during Secret Pal 9

How long: Off and on for about two and half months, I think.

Where knit: Mostly at home and at a few SnB Amsterdam meetings

What did I learn?: My first time doing the Kitchener stitch. It didn't come out too nicely, though, so I need to try it again. I also learned that you don't want to knit the foot the actual length of your foot... You want it a bit shorter (or at least, I do) so you get a nice snug fit.

Tea Cozy

Yarn: year of the goat, hand-dyed, 100% wool

Colorway: no name--greens and browns (rusty reddy brown)

Needles: US7/4.5mm Bryspun Bry-Flex plastic dpns and US7/4.5mm Denise Interchangeables

Pattern: Modified version of Kureyon Kozy from Knitty.com

Price: Yarn gift from princessgenevieve during Secret Pal 9

How long: started around noon on 3 June, finished around midnight (with a few breaks and a nap in between), ripped a bit on the morning of the 4th and reknit, finishing around 9:00am. So roughly 10 hours total.

Where knit: at home

Modifications: The teapot I was knitting this for is a Turkish teapot, and it is not round like the teapots this cozy was intended for. I had to knit it much taller than the pattern called for. And since the handle is so high, I kept the cozy in one piece, more or less, until that point instead of knitting two flaps like the pattern calls for.

What did I learn?: I practiced combined knitting for the bit I reknit this morning--purl by wrapping the yarn from under the needle and then knit into the back of the stitch. This is one of the suggested techniques for knitters whose purl stitches are a little looser than their knit stitches. My ribbing was a bit more even, but I still need to practice.

Me, me, me, me, meeeeeme....

2007-06-02T23:45:00.000+02:00

I was tagged by princessgenevieve.

Here are the rules
1. Each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a post with the same.
3. At the end of the post tag 7 people.

Ready? Okay!

1. I lived in Panama for three years with my family in the mid-80s.
2. I went to a fine arts high school (despite not really taking part in any fine art....)
3. I took one year of piano lessons at said fine arts high school. (forgotten everything, though)
4. I took a month of danso lessons in Korea. The danso is kind of like a recorder in the sense that it's the instrument that almost everyone learns to play. It's a little more complicated than the recorder in how you blow into it--there is a little notch at the top, and you have to place your lips properly in order to produce any sort of sound. I should start practicing again! ^^
5. For some reason, when I was younger, I had my heart set on liking liver. So, I had my mom make it for me about once a year to see if my tastes had changed. It took a while, but eventually, they did!
6. I got sick off of burritos when I was younger (I inhaled like ten of them in like 5 minutes) and couldn't stand the smell of the spices afterwards for almost a decade.
7. The one time I had to get stitches was the result of having fallen at a skating rink. Four stitches in my chin. Apparently, I fell some something sharp...

Now, whose turn is it for a bit of randomness?

I tag fuliyama, oferenda, klozknitz, smoek!!!, Liza au lait, metalknit, and ghostknitter! Get those skeletons out of your closets! ^^

What kind of yarn am I?

2007-05-30T13:13:00.000+02:00

A quiz I saw on C's blog. So, what kind of yarn am I? Are you surprised? What kind of yarn are you? ^^

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.
Take this quiz!

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PRGE2: The final package...

2007-05-29T09:42:00.001+02:00

Yeah! My final PRGE2 package! And, what, oh what, did it contain, you ask? A very lovely silk tie with penguins (how cute!) and a deceptively prissy little pink box that contained a skull keyring! If you lift the top part of the skull, the clock underneath is revealed. How cool are these gifts? Thank you so much Chrissie! You've been a great pal!

Easy-peasy!

2007-05-23T11:47:00.000+02:00

Yeah! Woohoo! A finished scarf! Never mind that it was just a simple garter stitch scarf with free yarn from my Utrecht stash. It's finished! Of course, pink is not really my color... I was planning on donating it to a charity, perhaps The Dulaan Project if they are still functional. If not, any suggestions?

(Template stolen borrowed with permission from C.)

Yarn: 1 full 50g skein and a number of partial balls (perhaps an additional skein and a half) of Phildar Steppe yarn (76% acrylic, 20% wool, 4% rayon) in pastel pink.

Needles: Suzanne Bates, aluminium, straight, US8/5mm

Pattern: Garter Stitch to the end!

Worked: At home and at a few Stitch 'n Bitch Amsterdam meetings (garter stitch makes a great project for chatting--not much thought to it.)

Cost: Free! Well, I guess technically, I had to pay €7 to get to Utrecht and back to pick up the famous (free!) Utrecht stash, and whatever I paid for the Suzanne Bates needles, which happen to be my first pair of knitting needles (bought at JoAnn's in Athens, Georgia in December 2003)!

Travel knits

2007-05-15T09:07:00.001+02:00

In June, I'll be travelling to Turkey for the first time to visit my good friend Fulya (for whom, as you might remember, I knitted a pair of gloves last summer/fall). We'll spend about a week in Istanbul and a week in Ankara (where Fulya lives). I can't wait!

Of course, I'm faced with the difficult decision of what projects to take along to knit. Something not too bulky I can easily take out and work on in the plane and while waiting in airports, but enough of a project so that I don't run out (i.e., finish) while I'm there. I think my best bet will be the swatches for the Master Knitting Program. I have to do quite a few plus a project, and I need to practice the different techniques to get them just right. They are definitely small enough to carry around and enough to last... I hope! That should keep me for two weeks, right? If by chance I do finish all the swatches and the project to my satisfaction while there (not likely), what do I do?

A very interesting fact that I learned while reading up on Ankara is that its old name was Angora, and it was well known for its goats and rabbits and of course, the wonderful yarn you can get from them! So, of course, I'll be loading up on yarn, yarn, yarn! Perhaps I'll even be able to find out about Turkish knitting, which I understand is a little different from the way we Westerners generally knit. So I'll also try to find some books on traditional Turkish knitting and patterns. Lots to look forward to! Sounds like great potential for a knitting holiday, eh? ^^

I've bitten the bullet...

2007-05-09T23:15:00.000+02:00

I've enrolled myself into the Master Handknitting Program, Level 1! Fun, eh? I just received the instructions yesterday. 16 swatches, 17 questions, a report and a project. I have my work cut out for me! I'm gathering my research materials... I have to buy appropriate yarn, but I'll practice the swatches with yarn that I have, I think. Let's see how long it takes me to complete the program! Luckily, there is no time limit, but I hope to finish it within a year at most. Keep your fingers crossed!

Got Squares?

2007-05-08T09:21:00.000+02:00

Here's another square that I made for the SnB-group-effort baby blanket: third column, fourth row. A bed of various flowers knit into a stockinette background with a border composed of squares that are half knit and half purl. The two flowers in the middle were made with bobbles (how fun to make!) and the ones on the top and bottom were done with a kind of mini-bobble (the directions were from a Chinese stitch dictionary, so I'm not quite sure what it is called...). The stems and leaves were also knit at the same time, not duplicate stitched on afterwards. But because of all the loose bits of yarn in the back, I knit a small pink swatch and sewed it onto the back, hence the pink border between the field of stockinette and the border. I was quite happy with this square, but it is not my favorite... Any guesses? One square to go! ^^

Baby blanket validated!

2007-05-05T06:48:00.000+02:00

My baby blanket was received! Yeah! It's nice to have some sort of validation for months of knitting, isn't it? I started knitting this blanket (off and on) June 2006. I started working on it hardcore this January and finished it by the end of the month. I immediately shipped it off to the new parents. Now I know that they received it and are making good use of it. They sent me this pic with their new son taking a nap under my blankie. ^^ They found my detailed washing instructions funny, but hey, I want them to be able to use it for a long time... Wouldn't you? ^^

Got Squares?

2007-05-04T06:00:00.000+02:00

Finally, I'm getting around to revealing the squares I made for the baby blanket. Remember, I made three... One of them I actually crocheted: the granny square in the third column, second row. Two to go... Any guesses? ^^

The pattern for a granny square is quite simple (ch=chain, sl st=slip stich, dc=double crochet):

Start: ch 4, join with sl st to form a ring.

Round 1: ch 3, 2 dc in ring, ch 2, *3 dc in ring, ch 2; repeat from * 2 more times; join with sl st to first dc.

Round 2: Sl st in next 2 dc and in next ch-2 space. (ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in same space, ch 1, * (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next corner ch-2 space, ch 1; repeat from * 2 more times; join with sl st to first dc.

Once you get the basic idea, just continue until you have a square the desired size. Snip off the yarn and weave in the end. Voilà! You have a granny square!

PRGE P3... With special permission!

2007-05-03T08:41:00.000+02:00

I have been given permission to go ahead and open the third PRGE package. And, what did I find? A notecard, a very punk, soft and lacy black scarf (made from the same yarn as the bookmark in package one!), a cool notebook filled with what looks like handmade paper, and a 78-yard skein of Doodle Do's handspun yarn in blue, green, rust and burgundy. Hmm, what can I make with the lovely yarn? We'll see! Coolness! Thanks Chrissie for all the goodies!

SP10 P1!

2007-04-29T23:52:00.000+02:00

Friday, I received my first SP10 package! Yeah! It was such a lovely surprise from England. In it, I found a nice Simply Knitting bag filled with goodies: a 100 g skein of soft Regia sock yarn (white, blue, and gray: great colors!), a set of Clover bamboo dpns, size 2.5mm, instructions on knitting a cuff-down sock, a issue of the Proud to be Crafty magazine, a wonderful Lucky Dip bag from the buttoncompany filled with assorted buttons, and a bar of Oliva soap! This was such a cool and fabulous package! Thank you so much secret pal! I really enjoyed all the goodies you picked out--great choices!

It takes a village...

2007-04-24T07:37:00.000+02:00

...to knit a baby blanket! One of our SnB A'dam members has recently given birth to a beautiful baby girl. We wanted to do something, so we got together, chipped in, and knit a baby blanket (we also got some lovely lotions and soaps for the mom)! The yarn was all the same (though different colors: light blue, purple, pink), and we were given the task of making 20x20cm squares. Of course, we could use any pattern we wanted. Everyone came up with really nice and interesting patterns. This is how it turned out:

Any guesses as to which squares I knit? I'll only say that I knit three of them... ^^ Over the course of the next week or two, I'll slowly reveal which ones.

PRGE Super Package!

2007-04-23T22:04:00.000+02:00

Last week was a very bad week for me. Just a lot of things going on. Luckily, I received a package from my PRGE pal in Singapore, which really cheered me up! And it was quite cleverly done: three packages in one! So, why three packages, you may ask? One was part of the first package. One was the package for the second round. And one was package three (to be opened in a month). Clever, clever, clever! So, what exactly was in packages 1b and 2? ^^

In package 1 part 2, I found a knotting frame. It is a tool to make interesting knotted/woven squares, which you subsequently can crochet or sew together to form all sorts of interesting things: pillows, throws, scarves, vests, etc. It looks pretty cool! I can start off with trivets to practice and get a hang of the technique! Fun!

The second package contained a copy of Creative Knitting, a memo pad, a set of Clover size 1 metal dpns, a 50-gram ball of black, machine washable Cleckheaton 100% pure new wool from Australia, and a small tape measure keychain! How cool! The thought behind the yarn and needles is to make a pair of fingerless gloves... I've been wanting to make myself of pair fingerless gloves for a long time now! I just never got around to starting... Now I have nice yarn and a set of needles, so no more excuses, eh? ^^

As this was the second package, my pal also revealed her identity: her name is Chrissie and you can read more about her at ghostknitter. Thank you so much for the packages! Let's see how long I can last before ripping open package three! ^^

Stitch 'n Bitch A'dam

2007-04-19T20:49:00.000+02:00

Here's a pic of me at Stitch 'n Bitch Amsterdam (A'dam for short). It's friendly group of people, and we talk about all sorts of things. There can be from three to about twenty people, depending on what's going on, and sometimes there's a Dutch majority and sometimes an expat majority (we Americans seem to dominate the expat group).

For those of you who may be interested, we meet every Monday evening from around 19:30 (sometimes people don't show up until around 20:00) at Café de Jaren. Everyone is welcome to join us! See you there!

Lavender and coconut cookies

2007-04-18T07:57:00.000+02:00

I made these this weekend. I got the recipe from a workshop on using flowers as food at a food and wine show last year. I followed the recipe even though it does not include sugar, which I found very strange. Afterwards, I decided it definitely needed some sweetening, so I generously sprinkled powdered sugar all over them! It is very simple to make! The recipe is from Crème de Cassis and is what I made, so half what is given.

Lavender and Coconut Cookies

For 30 cookies:
250g flour
50g butter
75g coconut butter
small tbsp dried lavender flowers
1 egg
1/3 tsp salt

Melt the butter and the coconut butter together carefully. Mix the flour, the flowers and the salt in a big bowl. Add the melted butters and mix. Add the eggs and use your hands to make the dough homogenous. Roll little balls between your palms (4x4cm) and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180°C. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy! ^^

Surprise, surprise!

2007-04-15T22:24:00.001+02:00

Okay, so I must admit that I did start knitting with the black yarn that covered my magic yarn ball. Apparently, however, that black yarn (4 balls worth--200 grams!!!!) was just the wrapping paper! But this is how my Exchequered is going. I'm quite happy with it and will continue it. Double knitting is so much fun! And I find it easier to keep the tension even double knitting than color-stranding knitting. Perhaps I should try carrying over some of the techniques over....

Well, once I realized that it was just the wrapper, I tried to unravel it as fast as I could. Slowly, slowly, I was able to pull out bits of chocolate, yarn, and two gifts. And I came across a note from the gifter: it was Froukje from my Norwegian circular knitting group! How funny is that! It was such a fabulous and thoughtful package! This is what the whole kit 'n kaboodle looked like.

Now for a bit by bit analysis of the package: Loads of chocolate! Two chocolate lollypops by choc-o-lait.com, Chocolate XL with Cappuccino and Extra Dark flavors by Rademaker, and a bar of hazelnut and chocolate by M & Bee. I'm definitely going to enjoy all this!

After reading the note, I realized why she didn't use the "real" yarn to wrap all the gifts: it is 200 grams of very fine and delicate, hand-twisted (is it also hand-spun?), hand-dyed yarn made especially for me! There are three thin strands of linen twisted with one strand of silk in two colors: 100 grams of Bordeaux and 100 grams of Chocolat. Fabulous colors that go so well together! I just love it! I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it, but I'm going to have to find a very special project for myself! Any suggestions? ^^

As if all this wasn't enough, there were two wrapped gifts as well as a cute little white dog with orange short and a yellow scarf. What o what is inside the wrapping paper? In one, I found yet another bar of chocolate: dark with ginger by Bovetti Artisan Chocolatier. I can't wait to try it out! And the final package contained a copy of dekleinejohannes, a kind of mini-encyclopedia of cooking. It is such a great book! Instead of just listing recipes, it gives some background information about different ingredients and dishes and then suggests different ways to prepare it. Fantabulous!

Dank je wel, Froukje! Het is een echt geweldig pakket! Ik ben er helemaal blij mee!

Magic Yarn Ball Arrives!

2007-04-14T23:42:00.001+02:00

Yippee! I received my magic yarn ball! Yvonne came to my place yesterday to deliver a ginormous ball of lovely black yarn filled with all sorts of a goodies. The gifter, whoever she may be, wrote a note wishing me much pleasure with my magic chocolate ball (ah ha! a hint as to the contents! ^^) and suggesting that I make a "sophisticated version" of Exchequered from knitty.com. Well, I got out the yarn that I received from my Winter Scarf Knit Kit swap and the light grey yarn from that was the same thickness as the black yarn from this exchange... So, that's what it'll be! A black and light grey Exchequered scarf! I'll post an update on it as there is something to update! ^^ For now, here's a photo of the magic ball; I can't wait to find out what it contains!:

Sock Frustrations....

2007-04-13T06:59:00.000+02:00

I finally finish my wavy-inspired sock with some nice hand-dyed yarn. I start to bind off. I come across a knot. What do I do? I try to take the knot out and to spit splice the two halves. I end up with a big bulky felted bit of yarn much wider than the rest. Frustrated and really wanting to finish this sock off, I continue to bind off. I can't bear the bulky blob. I decide it won't look so bad knitted in. So, I pull back the bind-off row and knit three more rows. The mass of felted wool is still noticeable, but I am so ready for this sock to end. I bind off with a larger sized needle (I used 2.5mm to knit and 4.0mm to bind off). I try on my sock, and the bind off is too tight... I rip it back and try again, this time very very loosely with the 2.5mm needle. Again, I try it on, and again it is too tight. Once again, I rip it back and try to bind off more loosely. Finally, it is loose enough to try on. Then I realize that the problem is that the sock itself is a little too tight...

So, what to do? I can knit another like it and give it to someone else. I can rip out the whole sock and knit it back up again. I can rip back the cuff and heel and reknit just those parts. In any case, I'm setting it aside for a bit... I tired of working on it! ^^

It all started....

2007-04-09T09:28:00.000+02:00

a long, long time ago. Okay, a brief post on my crafting history in response to one of the Secret Pal 10 polls. I actually started crafting back in middle school. My mom had received small cross-stitch packages as a gift but didn't really want to do them herself. I took them and stitched them up. After that, I would pick up more of these tiny projects every so often from Wal-Mart or whatever other -Mart. So that was more or less the only craft that I worked on up until I graduated from college. When I came to Amsterdam to do an MPhil in Linguistics, my friends in the US got hooked on knitting. One Christmas (2004), I decided I'd like to give it and crochet a go. I bought two booklets, one for knitting and one for crochet, a pair of needles, a set of hooks, and some acrylic yarn and tried to teach myself out of the books--I wasn't very successful. I just wasn't patient enough to sit and follow/figure out the instructions. I couldn't get passed casting-on for knitting. I did get a bit further with crochet, but my "sqaure" kept slanting on one side, and I could never figure out why. And actually, I initially was more interested in crochet than knitting. It just seemed easier and more fun. But, I had a lot of questions about how it all worked and no one to ask--almost all of my friends were knitters and didn't know much about crochet. So, I was stuck with my slanted work and no solution. When I went back to the US the following Christmas (2005--putting me at 26 years old), I asked my boyfriend to teach me to knit. He taught me the basics--casting-on, and the knit and purl stitches. I also found a much clearer book about crochet, which made it clear why my work was slanting. With these tools, I started crafting. It took a few months before the obsession gripped me... By the end of May 2006, I had joined my local Stitch 'n Bitch group and have been crafting ever since!

Just wanted to post right quick.

2007-04-07T21:22:00.001+02:00

It's been ages since I've posted! A quick update:

Knitting has sort of been put on hold for a bit. I've just not been interested in doing anything... a weird sort of funk I've been going through. But I've picked it back up and am finishing up my wavy-inspired sock. I'm still working on the crochet blanket. And for my next big knitting project, I think I am going to try to make a short-sleeved shirt. We'll see, though...

My apartment is such a mess! This weird mood I've been in has sort of resulted in nothing getting done and everything just piling up... Need to get cracking on all that cleaning up! Luckily, we have a four-day weekend this weekend, so I have some extra time to get things done...

Last week, I sent off two secret pal-y sort of packages. One for the Dutch magic yarn ball swap and one for Secret Pal 10. I hope the recipients enjoy the packages!

Now, a random language tidbit: How many of you have heard the expression "right quick"? How many of you actually use it? It is a Southernism that I use. I'm not quite sure how to translate it into more standard English, though... For the Dutch among us, it is used a lot like the word even or eventjes, but "right quick" is a little more restricted. For those who know how this expression is used, but don't use it themselves, how would you express it? Just curious... Send me a message right quick and let me know! ^^

Being sick sucks!

2007-03-26T20:32:00.000+02:00

Well, I just spent an annoying weekend being sick... And still, I'm sick... Being sick sucks! But I had my pot of chicken soup and have assorted juices and teas to drink... I hope I recover soon!

In crafty news, I'm busy crocheting a baby blanket. I was just suddenly struck with the urge to crochet. It's slowly taking shape, and I'm pretty happy with it. Crocheting (especially a baby blanket) goes so much faster than knitting. This does mean, though, that my knitting is on hold... I better pick it up soon before I forget! ;-) Just need to finish up some socks... and then find another project to start up... Any ideas/suggestions?

First PRGE package! Yeah!

2007-03-22T20:59:00.001+01:00

I got my first PRGE package! All the way from Singapore! It's amazing what you can fit into an envelop! Thanks so much! Here's a pic and a list of the contents:

-a bar of Richfields of New Zealand Classic Dark chocolate... yum!
-a hand-crocheted bookmark (apparently, a foretaste of what's to come! can't wait!)
-a felted bag containing a mix CD (the CD didn't make it into the picture--it's at work in my computer! ^^)
-a CD-rom full of recipes! (such a thoughtful gift! can't wait to get it installed and to play around with it)

It was such a great and thoughtful package. Thanks a bunch, prge pal!

Magische Bolruil

2007-03-15T10:22:00.000+01:00

Yet another swap! So, I finally got around to posting my questionnaire for the Dutch Magische Bolruil. I'm just an idiot for waiting so long... I had most of the questions already answered from the last round, which I didn't get to participate in because I forgot to post the questionnaire. Hopefully this time, I posted in time. We'll see! I guess we'll get paired up either today or tomorrow. Then, this Saturday, I meeting my Secretpal 9 spoiler (i.e., the one who spoiled me)! I'm really looking forward to it! She's in Brussels at the moment for work, so we will be meeting up in between Brussels and Amsterdam. I decided on Breda (in Noord-Brabant, the south of the Netherlands) because I've been to most of the other cities between Amsterdam and Brussels and wanted to try something new. It turns out, they also have a few yarn shops as well, so we'll definitely hit those! It's funny, because when I mention that I'm meeting my secret pal in Breda, a lot of my friends sort of laugh and wonder, "Why Breda?" For a lot of people, it's a just a small provincial town, with not a lot to offer. Be that as it may, I think that we Americans are kind of fond of quaint little places in Europe (though Breda isn't that little--by Dutch standards). Anyway, it should be a fun Saturday filled with shopping for secret pals, knit talk and just hanging out. Can't wait!

Weekly fruits and veggies

2007-03-13T20:16:00.000+01:00

de appel(s or -en) 'the apple(s)'
de peer (peren) 'the pear(s)'
de sinaasappel(s or -en) 'the orange(s)'
de mango('s) 'the mango(es)'

de prei(en) 'the leek(s)'
de wortel(s or -en) 'the carrot(s)'
de courgette(s) 'the zucchini(s)'
de taugé 'the bean sprouts'
de winterporstelein 'the (winter)purslane' (something I've never heard of. Apparently, it is considered a weed in the US but is fairly commonly eaten in Europe and Asia.)

First meal with veggies? 떡볶이 (tteokbokki)--rice cake with assorted vegetables (in this case, carrots, zucchini, and onions) fried with red pepper paste and a bit of water to make a really thick orange sauce. Yum!

Can you believe it!

2007-03-12T06:01:00.000+01:00

Well, I ended up not burning the midnight oil Thursday night... Oh, well. I just can't stay up late anymore... Had my interesting weekend away and pick-up a copy of Le tricot pour les nuls and Bijoux au crochet. After a four-hour train ride back, I enter my building to find the mail table (there's only one mailbox for my entire building, so whoever checks the mail places it on a table in the foyer, exposed to anyway who passes in) littered with two skeins of yarn, a crochet hook, a cloth project bag, a postcard, a pattern, and a box of tea... Someone opened my package! Can you imagine! I'm pissed, but unfortunately, there isn't anything I can do about it. Fortunately, I don't think anyone else in the building is into crochet or knitting... Thought I do think the edible goody was stolen... So, for those secret pals who were recently assigned to me, would you mind sending packages to my work address instead? Just email me for the address. Thanks a lot!

Anyway, here are more specific details on the package. This was the Mugless International Crochet Kit swap. My package came all the way from England (It seems like I've been getting lots of packages from England lately! ^^) There was a box of assorted Celestial Seasonings herbal teas, a 15-cm long 4.5mm crochet hook, a pattern for Mushroom Cap by Woolly Wormhead, a nice purple cloth project bag with yellow and white vertical stripes, a 100g skein of Sirdar Denim Sport Aran (dark blue and white (hence the denim)--60% acylic, 25% cotton, 15% wool) and a hank of Michell's Lvxvry Collection yarn (beige--50% baby alpaca, 50% fine merino). It was a lovely package. Thanks mother of all needles! It was a wonderful gift! Can't wait to get started on the cap (though, it'll have to wait a bit, unfortunately).

Burnin' the midnight oil....

2007-03-08T23:02:00.000+01:00

Well, it's not quite midnight... But soon to be... Gotta pull an all nighter to get a chapter done before hopping on a train to get away for the weekend... Fun, eh? At least I can sleep on the train... Perhaps knit... We'll see... Of course, instead of working on my chapter, I'm checking my emails every minute and posting to my blog... Can we say "procrastination"? ^^

In knitting news, I'm making progress on the toe-up sock... I've already turned the heel. The other is slowly making progress... I think I'm focussing on the toe-upper because the pattern is easier... Just knit and purl stitches... The other is a little more complicated (but not actually complicated), and sometimes, you just want to sit and mindlessly knit, which I can't really do with that sock... That's why it's a little behind... But at least one of them should be done by the end of the weekend... Maybe even both of them... We'll see!

Enjoy your weekend, everyone, and I'll post again on Sunday, I hope!

Parsnip, onions, apples and pesto?

2007-03-07T21:37:00.000+01:00

Have you ever seen a recipe where you thought the author was playing a joke? Like s/he had a bet with a friend to see the most disgusting thing they could get people to make? That's kind of what I thought when I saw this recipe. First, a bit of background....

I found out that you can get vegetable and fruit "subscriptions" here, usually through biological food markets. What you do is sign up, pay so much per week, and receive a bag of assorted vegetables and/or fruits (or a combination of the two) each week. You never know what you will get as the suppliers make up the package based on what they have available. I thought this was a great idea and a wonderful opportunity to try out things that I would never dare buy myself. And, seeing as how I like being surprised so much (as can be seen by all the swaps I do!), I signed up last week. This week, I got my first bags (I got a "small" vegetable bag and a fruit bag). The contents? Here's an opportunity to learn some Dutch!

In my fruit bag, I found appel 'apple', grapefruit 'grapefruit', sinaasappel 'orange', and banaan 'banana'. Okay, nothing terribly exceptional, but still yummy... I really likes me some fruit!

In my veggie bag, I got pastinaak 'parsnip', Chinese kool 'Chinese/Napa cabbage', rode uien 'red onions', witlof '(Belgian) endive/chicory', and groenselderij 'green celery'. So, I've had all of these things before... But I've never bought (or, at least, don't remember buying) parsnip or endive. But, you also get a sheet of paper with your bags with news on one side and recipes on the other. So, I glance through the recipes and what catches my eye? Pastinaak met uien en pesto 'Parsnip with onions and pesto'. Here's the recipe (you should be able to understand the ingredients!).

de pastinaak
2 uien
1 appel
1 à 2 eetl. (1 to 2 tbsp.) pesto
een klontje boter (a clump of butter)

Pastinaken schillen met een dunschiller en in stukjes snijden. Ui pellen, op wortelkantje neerzetten en halveren. Beide helften met de lijnen van de ui in 4 tot 6 partjes snijden. Ui fruiten in boter. Pastinaak met een scheutje water toevoegen en in 10 à 15 minuten gaar stoven. Appel in kleine stukjes snijden en de laatste 2 minuten meestoven. Pesto door de groente roeren. Lekker met pasta, kip of tofu.

What to do: Peel the parsnip with a vegetable peeler and cut into pieces. Peel the onions, set them down on their roots and halve. Cut both halves along the lines of the onion into 4 to 6 parts. Sautée the onion in butter. Add the parsnip with a bit of water and stew for about 10 to 15 minutes. Cut the apple into small pieces and stew along with the parsnip for the last 2 minutes. Stir the pesto through the vegetables. Delicious with pasta, chicken or tofu.

Of course, I decided to try it out... I was intrigued. I made up the veggies, cook some spaghetti, threw it in, and... done. It actually wasn't as bad as my first impression lead me to believe. It was actually nice... The pesto wasn't as strong as I was expecting, so there was an overall sweetish flavor to the dish. I don't think I'll make it again (at least in the near future), but I'm glad I tried it out.

Another fun thing about these veggie bags is that I can hunt through all my cookbooks for recipes and inspiration. Unfortunately, I don't use them as often as I meant to when I bought them. But now, I'm scrambling to find interesting things to do with all these veggies! ^^ I actually found this very delicious sounding salad that called for endive in a vegetarian cookbook and was just salivating all day thinking about it. After work, I go to my local grocery store, and they didn't have like half the ingredients! :-( So, I ended up making a bootleg version of endive au gratin with ham. With the Chinese cabbage, I'm making kimchee (it's ripening now! for those who don't know, the kimchee has to ferment for about a week before you can eat it.). For the other two parsnips, I think I'm going to use them as a substitute for sweet potatoes in some Korean recipes I have, but I haven't quite decided... I'll keep you posted and will post whatever interesting recipe I decide on!

Next week, who knows? I'll post what I get, and you can post/email suggestions/recipes for what I can do with everything!

Robert needs...

2007-03-06T07:06:00.000+01:00

A funny little "game" (called a meme) taken from princess genevieve.

Instructions: google your name and the word "needs". Report the top 10 results. (Well, some of them weren't quite appropriate, in the sense that the words didn't occur together or some other nonsensery, so I just did the first ten that did have a straightforward "Robert needs...".

1) Robert needs to SHUT UP!!! (I'm sorry. *sob, sob*. I didn't mean to offend you.)
2) Robert Needs. (What do I need? Oh, that's your name?)
3) Robert Needs Money. (You gonna give it to me?)
4) Robert needs Simone and Wendy. (Please, simone and wendy, don't leave me!)
5) Robert Needs Some Help. (Hello, my name is Robert, and I'm a knit-oholic.)
6) Robert needs a trip to the train museum. (Who's going with me? ^^)
7) Robert needs to open the properties of OU and go to the Security tab. (Um, okay)
8) Robert needs to do some more Battle Pope. (Is that some code word for some drug?)
9) Robert needs to email Mark this info. (Will do, Mark. Expect it this morning)
10) Robert needs to be remembered. (Damn right! ^^)

What do you need? ;-)

Color-stranded child's vest

2007-03-05T07:13:00.000+01:00

It's finished! The child's vest that I made for my Norwegian circular knitting course. Of course, it's not perfect, but I'm quite satisfied considering it was my first attempt at large scale color stranding with this new technique and also my first attempt at steeking. I knit it up with Sandilane Classic Light yarn (70% pure new wool/30% dralon) from Italy. You can see that the colors are yellow, light blue and green (with a bit of black on the backside of the border). As you go down, the background color changes from blue at the top, yellow in the middle, and green on the bottom. I quite like the bands where the background color shifts--I did a mirror image of the design with the original main color for the first half and the new background color in the second half. I did have a few issues that I mentioned in an earlier post with the color stranding--I'll have to try out the various suggestions I got.

Another issue I had was with the border. Picking up the stitches and knitting along the border wasn't difficult. But once I finished and started to sew it down, I noticed that the corners kind of curled. My instructor warned us about this, saying that we could prevent it by knitting a round without increases just before the purl row and starting on the other side. I did just that... But I also started the decreases immediately on the backside... Perhaps I should have just knit a row without decreases on the other side as well? The other issue was that I couldn't seem to keep the border lined up enough to sew it down properly. That also caused a bit of unnecessary curliness. I guess this is best resolved by keeping the border down with some strategically placed safety pins? Any other ideas?

My first (real) sock!

2007-03-04T13:27:00.000+01:00

Okay, so it's been a while since I finished my first sock but better late than never, right? I did a short row toe-up sock using a generic pattern from the Tiptop Toes article on knitty with just k2p2 ribbing all the way up. I'm actually quite happy with the way it turned out. I used the Knit Picks Memories yarn (100% merino) I received from my previous secret pal, Genevieve. I love the color way, called Fly Fishing, a combination of green, blue, and brown. It made a kind of spiral on the way up. This sock was knit on Knit Picks (very pointy) metal dpns.

I was quite happy with the toe-up method I used. But there are other toe-up methods and of course all the permutations of the cuff-down method. Luckily, I don't feel obliged to knit a pair of socks that are exactly the same, so I won't be suffering from the second sock syndrome... at least, I think I won't....

Now I have two socks going--a cuff-downer with the same yarn as the above-mentioned sock with a lacy-ish pattern and a toe-upper with yarn I got from storm op zolder at the Zwolle Handwerkbeurs a few weekends ago. The new yarn is 100% wool and hand-dyed. The colorway is called regenstorm 'rainstorm' and is a lovely combination of various shades of blue and brown. Instead of a k2p2 rib, I'm trying to apply the Wavy pattern to the socks... Hope it works out!

International Sassy Sock Yarn Swap

2007-03-03T18:57:00.000+01:00

I received this lovely package earlier in the week from J. It was fabulous! Enough sock yarn for two pairs of socks! Two skeins of Silja 80% superwash wool/20% nylon strømpegarn by ASA Gjestal Spinneri in Norway. It's a lovely blue-gree-purple color. I can't wait to see how it knits up! I also receive two hanks of Lorna's Laces 80% superwash wool/20% nylon hand-dyed yarn. The colorway is called Black Watch: a blue-green-black blend. I've heard loads about Lorna's Laces yarns and am excited to finally get a chance to knit with it! I just love the yarns and the colors! Yeah! I also got an envelop of tiny size chiclets and dark-chocolate covered Altoids. I didn't know that Altoids came chocolate-covered... Interesting combination! Thanks J! It was a wonderful package!

Can you tell that I likes me some swappin'? ^^ I just love having to put a package together for someone you don't know very well, to guess what they might like. And then to send it off, waiting to hear whether you were successful. While you wait, you receive your own package, thoughtfully assembled by a new knitting friend from somewhere out there. And all the while, you get to make new friends! It's so much fun... and addictive ;-) ... The Punk Rock Gift Exchange has just begun, and Secret Pal 10 starts soon as well. Gotta get packin'! ^^

Winter Knit Kit Swap

2007-03-02T13:12:00.000+01:00

About a week ago, I received my Winter Knit Kit Swap package from G! (Sorry for the delay in posting about it....) It was a swap through swap-bot.com where we had to send (1) a pattern for a scarf, (2) needles and enough yarn to complete the scarf, (3) a mug, (4) at least two servings of a hot beverage to enjoy while knitting away on the scarf. I was already impressed when I read the enclosed card: She got a friend to translate it into Dutch! How impressive! ^^ G sent me the Exchequered pattern from knitty.com with five balls of really soft Sublime 100% extra fine merino dk: three balls grey and two balls dark blue. I love the pattern; it happened to be one I was thinking about knitting up! And I get to learn to double knit, which is something I've been wanting to learn. And with the Prym bamboo needles, I'm sure it'll be a fun experience! And I also received a lovely mug with a canister of Green and Black's Maya Gold Organic Hot Chocolate with a twist of orange and a blend of spices--it is absolutely yummy! It was a wonderful package! Thank you, so much, G!

Punk Rock Gift Exchange Questionnaire

2007-03-01T07:52:00.000+01:00

1. How long have you been knitting/crocheting/spinning? I’ve been knitting for about one year (since Christmas 2005)

2. Do you consider yourself a beginner, novice or experienced yarn artist? Intermediate, so I guess that would be novice.

3. What fibers (materials) have you knit/crochet with? I’ve knit/crocheted with a lot of cotton, synthetic fibers, and wool/wool blends.

4. What are your favorite yarns? No particular favorites. As long as it’s soft and not fuzzy, I’m happy!

5. What fibers are you dying to try? I’m curious about the new yarns I’ve heard about made with soy, corn, and seaweed. Unfortunately, they’re not available here, as far as I know…

6. Do you prefer solid, self striping, or handpainted yarns? I like them all!

7. What fibers do you dislike? Fuzzy yarns (which keep getting caught on my needles) and scratchy yarns (which are just not nice to feel on your skin)

8. What are your favorite colors? Blues, greens, browns, blacks, greys… Occassionally deep rich reds and purples are nice as well.

9. What are your least favorite colors? For myself, pastels and most sorts of pink are definite turn-off, but I have a 3-year-old niece, so I could just use these colors to make something for her.

10. How did you learn to knit/crochet/spin? I learned to crochet from books, and I learned to knit from my boyfriend.

11. What projects are you currently working on? At the moment, I’m finishing up a vest for my Norwegian circular knitting course—just need to sew the border down. Then, I’m going to get a pair of socks going and start planning a smiley face shirt that I want to make.

12. How old is your oldest UFO? What is it? Will it ever be finished? My oldest UFO is the vest for my course, which I started at the end of January. I should finish it tonight (1 March 2007)!

13. What is the most heartbreaking project that you ever frogged? Well, I’ve had to rip out a few projects, but none that I would consider heartbreaking. I’m not sure…

14. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? I like them both, depending on what I’m knitting and where.

15. Do you own a swift and/or a winder? Yes and yes! ^^

16. Where do you keep your needles? At the moment, they’re in the envelope they came in and all the envelopes are in a slightly bigger plastic box…

17. Do you enjoy helpful hints about your knitting or does it just piss you off? Tact is everything. There are some people who I really appreciate helpful hints from, but other people just give they’re helpful hints in a I’m-so-much-more-experienced-than-you-so-you-should-heed-my-advice kind of tone, which I don’t appreciate. But in general, I’m happy to receive helpful hints.

18. What techniques are you still a virgin in (lace, cables, etc.) and are you interested in trying them? I still haven’t tried lace, entrelac, double-knitting, Tunisian/Afghan crochet, and a number of other things I'm sure there are that I've never even heard of. I’m not too interested in trying lace, at the moment anyway, but the others I’d love to try out sometime… I will be able to try out double-knitting soon as I received a lovely Winter Knit Kit with a pattern for a double-knit scarf, enough yarn to complete the pattern and needles.

19. What knitting magazines do you subscribe to? None. They just don’t have enough men’s designs for me to subscribe, unfortunately.

20. Are there any books, needles, yarn, patterns that you are dying to get your hands on? Well, all these yarns that are the hype in the US make me curious… Like Koigu, for instance. Most of them aren’t available here, yet, if they ever make it. But also the newer fibers like corn, soy, and seaweed. I’d love to get a Tunisian or Afghan crochet hook, but I might be able to get one here. As for books, have a look at my amazon.com wishlist! ^^

21. Do you enjoy knitting socks? How big are your feet? Yes! I just started making socks and they are fun! The ball of my foot is 10” (~25.4cm) and the length of my foot is 10.5” (~26.7cm).

22. Do you have a wish list? Yes, at amazon.com but under another email address: kankoku {at} hotmail {dot} com.

23. What are your non-knitting, crochet, spinning hobbies? Cooking, reading, watching TV/movies, learning foreign languages/about foreign cultures, traveling, cross-stitching, hanging out with friends, …

24. How do you feel about sports? Sports?

25. What is your favorite season? Least favorite season? Why? I guess my favorite season is fall/autumn and my least favorite is summer. I like cool weather and seeing all the leaves change colors. Summer is just too hot and humid for me, especially in Amsterdam where air-conditioning doesn’t seem to exist and in Georgia where air-conditioning doesn’t help. ^^

26. What is your favorite holiday? Favorite holiday? Hard to say. I guess now it would have to be Christmas as that is the only holiday I’m able to spend with my family.

27. Do you like handmade gifts? Yes!

28. Do you wear jewelry that isn't real? No, but not because they aren’t real… It’s because I don’t wear jewelry.

29. What are your favorite foods? Scents that you love? My favorite foods… Hmmm, I just love food in general… There isn’t much I don’t like, except for bitter things… I love the scent of sweet birch, which I came across in Charleston, South Carolina during Christmas 2005. The scent is reminiscent of Bengay…

30. What is your family situation? Do you live alone? I live alone in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and my boyfriend and family live in the US.

31. Do you have any pets? No pets, but my boyfriend (who lives in the US) has two cats.

32. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3's? I love Björk, the Hidden Cameras, and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and I like listening to music in general. I’m into all sorts of music, except probably the more experimental kind. My computer can play MP3s.

33. What are your favorite movies? TV shows? Actors? I love The Joy Luck Club. My favorite TV shows at the moment are Grey’s Anatomy, Monk, NCIS, Medium, and CSI: New York.

34. What do you collect? The Little Prince in different languages, cookbooks, language grammars, bills and coins from different countries.

35. What do you do in real life -- besides knit and blog? I am a researcher at the University of Amsterdam working on my Ph.D. I’m comparing how word order in English and Dutch develops over time.

36. When is your birthday? Is it a national holiday or just another day? August 24… Just another day.

37. Do you have any allergies, medical conditions or disorders that your pal should be aware of (ie. diabetes, food/pet allergies, ect.)? Nope.

38. Are there any scents, phobias, or sensory thing (ie, the way certain objects feel) that your pal should be aware of? Nope.

39. What is the most difficult thing that you have ever knit/crochet? I guess it would have to be the vest I’m working on now. I still have trouble keeping the tension in the two strands even while knitting.

40. What is your personal style? Is there a time period/fashion movement that you take your cues from? Not really… Just kind of whatever… I’m more of a T-shirt-and-jeans kind of person. Comfort is most important to me, even more so than how the ensemble looks. Maybe I’ll ask my friends to describe my style!

41. Anything else that you would like to say? Looking forward to getting to know you! Can’t wait!

Zuurkooltaart

2007-02-28T07:18:00.000+01:00

(AllerHande, no.2 2007, bladzijde 99)

Hoofdgerecht - 4 personen
35 min. + 45 min. oventijd

2 rode paprika's
2 eieren
500 g zuurkool, uitgelekt
125 ml crème fraîche
1 el karwijzaad
1 ui, in dunne partjes
1-2 el olijfolie
1 lage taartvorm (24-26 cm), ingevet
grillpan
(gefroren hartige taart bodem)

1) Verwarm de oven voor op 225°C en rooster de paprika's 20 minuten tot het vel zwartgeblakerd is. Laat de paprika's 10 minuten afgedekt afkoelen. Verwijder vel en zaadlijsten en snijd de paprika's in brede repen.

2) Zet de oven op 200°C. Meng de zuurkool met de crème fraîche, de eieren, het karwijzaad en zout en peper. (Bekleed de taartvorm met hartige taart bodem).

3) Verdeel om en om het zuurkoolmengsel, de paprika en de ui over de taartbodem en besprenkel het met olie. Bak de taart in het midden van de oven in 45 minuten goudbruin.

Secret Pal 10 Questionnaire

2007-02-27T11:11:00.000+01:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? So far, I’ve worked with synthetic yarns, lots of cotton, wool and some mohair blends. I must say that I’m not particularly fond of ‘fuzzy’ yarns—my needles keep getting caught on them… But other than that, I’m not particularly picky about material/weight of yarn, as long as it’s soft! ^^

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I have Denise Interchangeable needles, so they are in their own nice, neat little case. As for my other needles/hooks, I keep them in the plastic envelope they came in and try to keep all of them in a plastic box. But that is only a temporary solution until I can find the perfect container to house all my knitting/crochet supplies!

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I’ve been knitting since Christmas 2005. I would consider myself intermediate.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes, but under another email address: kankoku {at} hotmail {dot} com

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) When I went to Charleston two Christmasses ago, I came across a soap scent that I absolutely fell in love with: Sweet birch. I liked it so much that I bought bars for my mom and my sister. I just kept sniffing the soap on the drive home. Of course, my sister, appreciative of the thought, quickly recognized the smell as Bengay… I never made that connection, but she’s right. I still like it, though…

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Doesn’t everyone? ^^ I love all forms of chocolate except for white chocolate, which I can’t stand (I don’t consider it chocolate). Other sweets are also greatly appreciated!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? In addition to knitting and crochet, I also cross-stitch and do a bit of sewing (by hand, though my sewing hasn’t developed much). I don’t spin, though I would like to give it a shot at least once. I’d also like to try weaving, but who knows when I’ll have the time. LOL.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I love Björk, and I like listening to music in general. I’m into all sorts of music, except probably the more experimental kind. My computer can play MP3s.

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? For myself, I prefer more masculine colors: blues, greys, browns, blacks, greens. I’m not particularly fond of pastels or pink…

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I live by myself without pets in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. My boyfriend and family are in the US.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I wear scarves and hats. I don’t have mittens or ponchos, though I have had them in the past and would wear them again.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Well, I don’t know if I have a favourite item to knit. I like knitting socks, hats, and scarves (if the pattern is interesting). I would like to try a vest and/or a sweater for myself sometime this year. And I’m always on the look out for interesting things to knit.

13. What are you knitting right now? At the moment, I’m working on socks and a Scandinavian-style baby vest for my Norwegian circular knitting course. I’ll probably start up another project as well, in case I get bored with either of these… ^ -

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I like all kinds of needles/hooks! As long as I can knit/crochet with them! ^ -

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes, I own a yarn winder and a wooden swift!

17. How old is your oldest UFO? I guess my oldest UFO is my Norwegian baby vest that I started at the end of January. But it is almost finished! Yippie!

18. What is your favorite holiday? Favorite holiday? Hard to say. I guess now it would have to be Christmas as that is the only holiday I’m able to spend with my family.

19. Is there anything that you collect? "The Little Prince" in different languages, cookbooks (also in different languages, especially with regional or ethnic cuisine), language grammars, bills and coins from different countries.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I don’t have any knitting/crochet magazine subscriptions. I find that in general knitting books and magazines are too female-centered (thought I totally understand why that is). I see a pattern or two per book/magazine that I might want to knit/crochet, but for me that is not enough to warrant buying/subscribing to them. I find it a pity, though. One book that I would like to have, though, is Weekend Knitting. I’d also love to get some Afghan crochet hooks.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I’d like to learn entrelac and double knitting. I’d also like to learn the Afghan/Tunisian stitch (and derivatives thereof) in crochet.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes! Around ball of foot: 10” (~25.4cm), foot length 10.5” (~26.7cm).

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) August 24

새해 복 많이 받으세요! (belatedly)

2007-02-22T08:57:00.000+01:00

Happy Korean New Year! Okay, so the Korean New Year was a week ago on the 18th. But you can still wish people a happy new year within the first month of that new year, right? Well, I will! As some of you may notice, the Korean New Year falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year. Coincidence? No. The Koreans just borrowed the Chinese calendar a looong time ago and still celebrate certain holidays based on that calendar. But the year is different. The Korean year is 4340, as far as I know. I'm not sure what the Chinese year is...

What did I do for the Korean New Year? Not much... Sat at home, knitted, and had ddeokkuk (I just hate transcribing Korean... There is no efficient way to represent Korean sounds...). Ddeokkuk is the traditional New Year's meal. It's a soup made with bits of beef, rice cake (not the crispy stuff you eat when you are on a diet!), some green onion, and an egg. Well, you can add some other stuff if you want, like dumplings. But the essential ingredient is the rice cake (that's the name of the soup: ddeok = rice cake, guk = soup). Anyway, it was yummy. Gotta love comfort food!

But, since the Korean New Year was last week, I'm now officially 29! Fun, eh? What does the Korean New Year have to do with my age? And since my birthday isn't until August, I'm probably confusing a lot of you, right? ^^ One's Korean age is counted differently than one's Western age. In practical calculations, your Korean age is the age you will turn that year plus one. Make sense? No? So, my Western age is 27. This year, I will turn 28. So, my Korean age is the age I will turn (28) plus one, which makes me 29. Another thing you may notice is that I "turned" 29 on New Year and not on my birthday, another thing that is different about Korean ages: everyone becomes a year older at New Year's and not on their birthday. For Westerners, this is very strange, but in Korea, it serves a practical purpose. First, a quick Korean lesson.

In Korea, hierarchy is very important. It determines not only how you act toward other people, but also how you speak to them. The endings of your words (especially of verbs) changes based on your relationship to the person you're speaking to. Now, I know all of you are going, "Oh, so it's like tu/vous in French or du/Sie in German." No, it is nothing like that! The difference is that those forms in French or German are only relevant when you address your conversation partner directly. But if you are talking about Mr. John Doe, then how you talk about him does not change whether you are talking to friends, your boss, or to your child. In Korean, however, it does. So, an example. The following sentence in French stays the same no matter who you speak to.

Jean parle français. 'Jean speaks French.'

The Korean equivalents, however, depend on who you are talking to.

Jyon-eun hangukmal-eul ha-n-da.
Jyon-eun hangukmal-eul hae.
Jyon-eun hangukmal-eul hae-yo.
Jyon-eun hangukmal-eul ha-mnida.

All of these mean 'John speaks Korean.' However, the first sentence you can only say to someone younger than you (like children). The second, you can only use with close friends or people younger than you. The third is the general polite form--you can use it for strangers or for people who are older than you. The last one is a formal polite form that you use to talk to your boss or anyone else you should show respect to. This gives you an idea of how complicated the situation is and how it is different from the familiar French or German situation.

How does this relate to age? Well, the age of the person you are talking to determines which endings you should use. So, when introduced to Koreans, one of the first questions you get asked is how old you are. Because of the way Koreans count age, everyone who is the same age was born in the same year. If you meet someone who is the same age (in other words, born in the same year), then the next question is usually what month. This is very different from the West, where you generally don't ask how old someone is until you've gotten to know them. But in Korea, it determines your relationship to that person.

A cultural tidbit instead of a knitbit. Hope you enjoyed it!

Kimchee Jjigae

2007-02-16T11:09:00.000+01:00

Gotta love comfort food! I made some kimchee jjigae and pot of rice last night... Luckily, I have some leftovers, so another night of comfort! Kimchee is the national dish of Korea. The proto-typical kind is made with Chinese cabbage (or Napa cabbage), and it is pickled (i.e., fermented) and spicy. To be honest, I'm not particularly fond of this type of kimchee, but I absolutely love all the dishes you can make with it, usually when it's gone a bit sour. All I did was boil some kimchee with some pork and added a bit of water. You end up with a kind of spicy stew that is just so yummy! Add a bowl of rice, and you have a simple but filling meal. This is one of my favorite dishes!

In knitting news, I'm knitting away on my first real sock! I'm using the Knit Picks yarn my secret pal, Genevieve, sent to me. I love the colors and how they are knitting up! Since this was my first time knitting a sock and since I have rather big feet, I'm doing a toe-up sock. That way, I can be sure that I have enough yarn. It's coming along nicely (I've already turned the heel), though the foot looks funny... I'm just doing k2p2 ribbing on the top of the foot and on the cuff, but it makes the foot look very narrow. And since it is rather long, it looks like a sock for a clown! Luckily, though, it fits very nicely and that's what matters, right? ^^

My baby vest for my Norwegian circular knitting course was started, almost finished, ripped out, and restarted. I initially envisioned a colorful vest with five stripes of colors... My first combination was red with blue... When I was almost done, I decided I really didn't like the combination... It hurt my eyes to look at! So, I started over, this time with colors that more or less go together.... Yellow on blue, green on yellow, and then blue on green. I'm almost done with the second version... Now, I just need to practice keeping the tension even in the two strands... Any suggestions? ^^

Baby Knits

2007-02-15T08:29:00.000+01:00

Finally, photos of the everlasting baby blanket! I made this for the son of a friend of mine in Belgium. I started last June and finally finished at the end of January. I was so excited! Originally, the stars and the moon were supposed to be done in white Chenille cotton (intarsia), but I didn't like how it swatched, so I was just going to do random geometric shapes. Then, a fellow Amsterdam-SnBer suggested doing the design in purl stitches. That's what I did and I'm happy with how it turned out! I hope my friend's son likes it as well! It was done with thousands of skeins of Rowan handknit cotton. Okay, not exactly thousands.... Seemed like it though... 7 skeins of a light blue color and 1.5 skeins of the dark, dark blue for the edging. Done on Denise Interchangeables (US size 6). Next time I do a baby blanket, I'm going to choose a less monotonous pattern!

I also finished a baby hat for the as yet unborn daughter of a friend of mine in England (who is Russian, and we studied together in the US). I sort of just made up the pattern with the leftover yarn from Fulya's gloves. I did a spiral rib (k2, p2 over an odd number of stitches). I was quite happy with it and am thinking about making another hat...with a wavy rib (inspired by Wavy from knitty.com). We'll see! ^^

And I mentioned swap-bot.com in a previous post. I received my first magic yarn ball from my first swap two days ago! How exciting! Of course, being my first magic yarn ball, I had to immediately unravel it and wind it into a ball. In theory, you are supposed to knit from the ball with all the goodies inside and encounter fun surprises while knitting. But I was too curious to see what was inside: pencils, pens, assorted teas, fabric, erasers, flower seeds, a bookmark, a magnet ("I knit, therefore I am"), heart-shaped cookie cutters, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and more! I'm impressed that my partner was able to get so much stuff into the yarn! Fabulous! Thank you so much!

And the yarn... It is a lovely multi-colored 100% wool yarn called Taos by Crystal Palace Yarns. Fun! I think I'll use it to make a tea cozy. I just have to figure out how to knit an oval in the round... Any ideas? I was thinking if I knit a round and then alternate between slipped and knit stitches (1/4 of the stitches for each), and then knit the next round, etc. I should swatch and see if it'll work... Hope so!

February blogging resolutions and swapping

2007-02-07T09:56:00.000+01:00

Okay, I'm bad at blogging. I don't update regularly, and I don't read other people's blogs very often. I've decided that I need to work on that. So, I am going to start small by trying to post at least once a week and to read at least the blogs I have linked on my sidebar at least once a week. We'll see how that goes! I do realize that I don't have to post pictures each time... I guess I can just talk about all the exciting things I'm working or experiencing and then post pics later.... So, here we go!

This morning, I sent off a package for the European Valentine Magic Yarn Ball Swap. You take a ball of yarn, buy a bunch of little things, and wrap them into the ball. This was a swap through swap-bot.com, which I'll tell you more about in a second... I included a package of Chinese flower tea, a pen, a roll of Droste milk chocolate, a roll of Dutch mints, stitch markers, row counters, and a sweater smoother (I'm not quite sure what it's really called) all wrapped in 50g of Jaegers Alpaca (100% alpaca). Now, it's on its way to Nina in Norway. Hope she likes it! And I'm naturally curious about who will be sending me something and what! Can't wait!

So, swap-bot.com is just a place with a bunch of different swaps. There are quite a few fiber craft-related swaps. Most of the swaps are a one time thing. This is my first, so I hope it's enjoyable! I also signed up for a Winter Knit Kit Swap, a crochet version of the same swap, and a Sassy Sock Yarn Swap and maybe a few others. For some of them, I'm still waiting to be assigned my partner... But it should be good fun, and it is great for those of us who need a quick swap-fix.

Color-stranding

2007-01-30T08:39:00.000+01:00

So, I had my hand at color-stranding. I finally made the Swell hat from Knitty.com with the lovely Russian yarn I received from my friend. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, even though I didn't knit it very efficiently. I couldn't get a hang of working with two strands of yarn in one hand, so I just kept dropping and picking up yarn... It wasn't so bad, but it did result in some twisting, which I don't really care about... I didn't find out about trapping the yarn, though, until I was halfway done, so on the bottom part, there are some rather long strands... But, as they say, you live, you learn.

My second attempt at color-stranding was on another hat from Knitty.com: Center Square. I made this for a friend of mine... I actually knit her a hat last year around this time (i.e., when I first started knitting), and it ended up being too big for my head (which is 1.5" bigger than hers). I showed it to her and asked her what she wanted me to do with it. She could keep it as a sofa cozy or I could rip it out and make something new... She chose for the latter... ^^ For this one, I tried a different method. Instead of dropping and picking up the yarn, I knit one continental (in my left hand) and one english (in my right hand). It was much better than my previous attempt, but I had a definite gauge difference (I'm normally a continental knitter--that's how I learned, so my english knitting is very shaky). This resulted in kind of bumpy texture when the hat isn't being worn... Wearing it, though, sort of irons out these bumps.

Finally, I had my first session (but the second session for the course) of the Norwegian circular knitting course. I apparently learned everything that was taught in the first and second sessions. And I learned another method for color-stranding, which I like the most. I found out why I wasn't able to hold both strands in one hand (had to do with the way I wrapped the yarn around my finger) and how to trap the yarn without twisting the yarn. This way, I can just stick to continental knitting, so the gauge is a little more consistent, and it's much faster for me. Now, I just need to figure out how to keep the tension in the yarn and how to keep the strands of yarn from coming together! ^^ It's a nice course, and I'll be making a (very colorful) vest for a good friend of mine who is due in February. She happens to be the one who brought me the Russian yarn used for Swell above! Funny, that!

Package three!

2007-01-27T19:11:00.000+01:00

Yes! Yesterday I got my third (and sadly, final) package from my secret pal. It was a wonderful ensemble of delectable goodies! In the photo, you can probably see an assortment of chocolates. Yum! A package of Ghirardelli chocolate squares (dark chocolate with white mint filling), a bar of Trader Joe's organic dark chocolate with raisins & pecans and a cute heart with assorted chocolates... I love chocolate! You can also see a package of Orbit chewing gum and a cute pack of mini post-its in the shape of "R". On top of all this were, of course, the knitting related gifts: two skeins of Noro Kureyon and a copy of Knitting with Balls: A hands-on guide to knitting for the Modern Man. I love the book! It has a lot of cool patterns. And this will be my first knitting with Noro! Of course, I've heard everything there is about it, but now I have two skeins of my own! I also received a pattern for a nice hat that uses this yarn. I think I might make it! We'll see... I have lots of time to decide. So many other projects in the waiting....

So, I would like to send out a huge THANK YOU to my secret pal, Princess Genevieve. You've been a fabulous secret pal, far exceeding my expectations! I've really enjoyed getting to know you during the past three months and hope we can keep in touch!

Secret Pal 9 is coming to end. But wait! The fun doesn't have to stop! Secret Pal 10 is just around the corner! Who will you spoil/be spoiled by next? ^^

Holiday Knits

2007-01-16T08:32:00.000+01:00

Okay, so during the holidays, I did quite a bit of knitting. And a lot of new stuff as well. First, though, I finished up the scarf I was knitting up for my friend Nynke. Because it was cables on a stockinette background, it kept curling. So, with my new blocking wires and blocking board, I blocked it! My first real attempt at blocking. I was amazed at how flat I got it! It doesn't curl anymore! Yeah! Unfortunately, it's a little shorter than I was hoping, but she just have to wear it a little differently from her other scarves. Don't know when I'll get it to her, but I hope she likes it!

Next came my first attempt at felting: Satchel from Knitty.com. I love bags, so it makes sense that I would try making one! I used the German, undyed, natural color yarn I bought in Prague. Because I was knitting with two strands throughout, I decided that I would gradually go from lighter to darker. You can see the gradation. Of course, it was ginormous when I knit it! You can see a pic of the unfelted bag to the left. After felting came blocking, pictured to the right. I just pinned down the pocket, stuffed the bag with a plastic-bag-covered box and pinned down the flap. It didn't felt as well as I was hoping for a few reasons: (1) it didn't shrink as much as I was expecting. (2) the light beige colored yarn at the bottom didn't felt as well as the other two colors. Because I was originally planning on using it to lug my books around, I'm worried that the bottom isn't strong enough to support all that weight... So, now I have another knitting bag! Of course, you can never have enough knitting bags! This is what it looks like after felting... Now, I just need to sew everything together: the pocket and the strap. I guess it'll be awhile before I do that, though! ^^

My final holiday knitting first was my first sock! A mini-sock (you can see how small by comparing it to my thumb)! I used Opal yarn; it was a tiny, tiny skein that I bought from Wolhalla at the Dutch Stitch 'n Bitch day. They had a booth teaching how to make mini-sokjes. I didn't have a chance to sit there and do it, but I bought the skein of yarn and the pattern. I used the dpns I received from my secret pal in the first package: Knit Picks metal dpns US1/2.5mm. It was a bit of a pain to start the sock, but once I had knit a few rounds, it was quite fun and very, very quick. It's a little off, but now I get how socks work. Expect to see my first "real" pair of socks here soon!

So, as you see, I did quite a bit of experimenting this holiday season! I also did my first color-stranding, but since I didn't finish it while on holiday, I'll post on it next time.

Happy (belated) Anniversary!

2007-01-11T22:33:00.000+01:00

Okay, so my parents' anniversary was back in November. I, of course, didn't send them a card or a gift, though I did call. But I do, in fact, have a gift for their anniversary. It has taken years to make, if you can imagine that. It is a cross-stitch sampler: a nice little poem with a dandelion on the side. It took me about five years to finish cross-stitching it: I would work on it a bit, set it aside, forget about it for a year, find it again, work on it a bit, set it aside, forget about it, find it again, .... Anyway, I finally finished it and decided that I wanted to make it into a pillow.... But I can't sew very well.... So, I once again set it aside. Finally, like a week before I had to leave to go home for the holidays, I decided I really should get it done. So I took the sampler and the back over to a kledingreparatie shop and had the guy there sew up the pillow and put in a zipper for me. It's done! Yes! Well, actually, not quite... I stuffed it in the US (so as not to take up too much room in my luggage) and gave it to my parents as soon as I saw them (it was a belated anniversary gift and not a Christmas gift, afterall!). And they liked it! Now it is on display on their couch in the living room. Coolness!

In case you can't read the pillow, here is the poem:

To Mom and Dad

Dandelion days and firefly nights,
Rainbow dreams and Christmas lights,
A magic time to grow and learn,
Your guiding hand at every turn
I thank you for those special years
Of laughter, love, and even tears;
You gave to me a legacy,
A part of you is part of me.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-10T07:17:00.000+01:00

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

새 해 복 많이 받으세요!

Bonne Année!

So, it's been ages since I've posted. But I'm back in Amsterdam (slowly, recovering from my jetlag) and will post more regularly! I've finished a number of projects, and I can't wait to share them! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready to start a fabulous new year!

Thank you Secret Pal!

2006-12-15T09:52:00.000+01:00

Yeah! I received my second package from my secret pal two days ago! What a treat! Of course, being the impatient person that I am, I had to immediately tear it open! And what did I find inside?

-150 yards of hand-dyed, green and brown, 100% wool yarn by year of the goat (I think this will become a tea cozy for one of my teapots...)
-4 ounces/560 yards of red-purple-blue-brown, 100% superfine superwash merino sock yarn by Lisa Souza Knitwear and Dyeworks (socks? depends on how I like making my first pair during christmas)
-1 box of Hershey's Sticks--Caramel filled Milk Chocolate sticks (YUM! They've already managed to disappear!)
-1 70-gram bag of Dark Chocolate covered cranberries by Cape Cod Cranberry Candy (YUM! YUM! Again, somehow, they've disappeared!)
-2 boxes of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese--Regular and Spiderman editions (Homesickness! They don't sell Kraft Mac 'n Cheese here, unless you want to pay ridiculously high prices.... And I don't! Okay, I can make it from scratch, but I was raised on these aritificial mac 'n powdered cheese kinds, so they have a special place in my heart!)
-Capital Celebrations: A Collection of Recipes of the Junior League of Washington--A wonderful cookbook! I can't wait to try some the recipes out! But I just had to send out a great big THANK YOU to my secret pal! Wonderful selection yet again!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Maren!

2006-12-13T17:06:00.000+01:00

Okay, it's been a loooong time since I posted. My apologies. But as you know, sometimes, life just happens. And the end of the year tends to be a very busy time for almost everyone. Just two more days and I'm heading back to the US to spend the holidays at home. I can't wait!

Today is the birthday of a good friend of mine (hence the birthday greeting. She is a lover of tea (specifically Ostfriesentee), so I decided to knit up a tea cozy for her. I used the Kureyon Kozy pattern from knitty.com, and I absolutely love the pattern! I used one 50 g ball of Rowan's RY Classic Cashsoft DK weight yarn (a 57% extra fine merino, 33% microfibre, 10% cashmere blend in a soft turqoise color--it's so soft!) for the tea cozy itself and leftover yarn from Fulya's gloves, Lana Grossa's Superlana 100% Virgin Merino Wool, superwash, in purple.

I love the way the bottom pieces turned out--and it is only created by increasing every other row, but the resulting pattern seems very complicated. It's quite an easy pattern. The most difficult part is starting the circles for the bottom because you knit from the inside out. You start with only eight stitches on a number of dpns, which, because there are so few stitches, wanna go every whicha way. I found that starting with just three dpns until everything became more stable helped tremendously! For this pattern, you knit two circles so that the tabletop is extra-protected from the heat of the tea pot. Because of this, however, you have the option of making a little pocket in the bottom, which I did. Why would you need a pocket on the bottom of tea cozy, you may ask? You can insert a satchel of spices so that the tea will heat them up, releasing their scents. Cool, uh? ^^

When I finished everything, I decided I would put it around an empty jar to give it its shape. I tried putting it around my teapot, but mine is too high. This cozy is apparently meant for the short and stout teapots. ^^ I gave it to Maren at her birthday dinner, and she was quite excited by it, immediately jumping up to get her teapot to try it out. Yeah! Now I think I'll knit ones for my teapots! ^^

They fit!

2006-12-01T23:48:00.000+01:00

What do you see when you look at the works-in-project section of my sidebar? Fulya's gloves are finished! I finished them a week ago but wanted to keep it a surprise, so I didn't mention it on the blog.... I sent them off and then got an excited call on Wednesday from Fulya to let me know that she received the gloves and that they fit! I was a little worried about that... It was my first fitted object. Yeah! I also crocheted a little flower with some of the leftover yarn.

Fulya wrote a little blurb and posted a picture on her blog. Here's her blurb with the pic (and a link to her blog):

Once upon a time there was a girl who loved purple
Sooo much that a dear friend sent her a special gift he knitted himself
So that despite their physical distance
They could feel themselves hand in hand in the coldest winters
Thank you for this special and unique gloves that will always remind me of you Robert!
As you see, they are fitting perfectly to my hands:)
Hope to see you soon...

Breien in het Nederlands: Les 2

2006-11-23T14:14:00.000+01:00

Breien in het Nederlands: Zelfstandige naamwoorden, deel 1—geslacht
Knitting in Dutch: Nouns, part 1—gender

In Dutch, all nouns belong to one of two genders: common (more commonly called de-woorden ‘de-words’) or neuter (more commonly called het-woorden ‘het-words’). For the most part, you just have to memorize which nouns are common and which are neuter. It might be helpful to know that there are many more common gender nouns than neuter gender. This is the case because originally, there were three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Due to various sound changes and the loss of cases, the masculine and feminine nouns fell together into one group, namely the common gender. This means that roughly 2/3 of all Dutch nouns are common gender. Note, however, that most Dutch dictionaries still label nouns as masculine, feminine or neuter. The Dutch themselves, though, do not generally know whether a de-word is masculine or feminine, and this does not have any further influence on the grammar.

Why do I need to know the gender of nouns?

The gender of a noun often determines the form of the little words that come before the noun. These include articles ('a/an', 'the'), demonstratives ('this/these', 'that/those'), possessive pronouns ('my', 'your', 'our', etc.) among other little words. The gender also influences the form of the adjective describing a noun, but this will be described later. If you use the wrong gender, the Dutch will still understand you—they will find it strange, however, and it will definitely mark you as a non-native speaker. But it does not, however, impede communication.

Articles and other little words that come before nouns

The indefinite article is een ‘a/an’. Unlike English, the form never changes, no matter what follows. This is not influenced by gender.

The definite articles are de ‘the’ for common gender words and het ‘the’ for singular neuter words. When we look back at the list of knitting nouns at the beginning of this lesson, we see many de-words and only a few het-words.

de steek ‘the stitch’ versus het garen ‘the yarn’

The de versus het distinction is only relevant in the singular. When we make nouns plural, the definite article is de ‘the’ no matter what the original gender is.

de steken ‘the stitches’ versus de garens ‘the yarns’

This does not mean that garen has become a de-word; it has just become plural. This is like the distinction in English between 'this' and 'these' or 'that' and 'those'. It may help you to think of plural as a separate class since plural nouns are always treated the same way.

The demonstratives work the same way as the definite article: dit ‘this’ and dat ‘that’ for singular het-words and deze ‘this, these’ and die ‘that, those’ for singular de-words and all plurals.

deze/die steek ‘this/that stitch’ versus dit/dat garen ‘this/that yarn’
deze/die steken ‘these/those stitches’ versus deze/die garens ‘these/those yarns’

The possessives are generally invariable, i.e., they do not change their form. The possessives are mijn ‘my’, jouw ‘your’, zijn ‘his, its’, haar ‘her’, uw ‘your (formal)’, jullie ‘y’all’s’, and hun ‘their’. The one exception is the word for ‘our’: ons for singular het-words and onze for de-words and plurals.

onze naald ‘our needle’ versus ons garen ‘our yarn’
onze naalden ‘our needles’ versus onze garens ‘our yarns’

And that was a brief description of grammatical gender in Dutch! Be on the look-out for the next lesson: singular versus plural!

Breien in het Nederlands: Les 1

2006-11-21T11:37:00.000+01:00

Breien in het Nederlands: Zelfstandige naamwoorden over breien
Knitting in Dutch: Knitting Nouns

So, here you are: a list of Dutch nouns related to knitting. This list is not exhaustive, but it's a start. In this lesson, I give the word in Dutch (italicized) and the English translation in single quotes afterward. Various aspects of Dutch nouns will be discussed in the following few lessons, specifically gender, singular versus plural, and diminutives. After nouns, I will move on to the other parts of speech (adjectives and verbs). If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions, feel free to ask me!

The bits in parentheses at the end of the word are what you add to make the word plural (The only exception is de steek where the plural ending causes a change in the spelling: de steken). The bits in parentheses at the beginning of a word are optional. You will notice that there are two words for 'the': de and het.

de breier(s) ‘the knitter(s) (male)’
de breister(s) ‘the knitter(s) (female)’

Yarn and its materials

het (brei)garen(s) ‘the (knitting) yarn(s)’
de wol ‘the wool/yarn’ refer to previous post on discussion of this term in English and Dutch.

de streng(en) ‘the hank(s)’
de bol(len) ‘the ball(s)/skein(s)’
het bolletje(s) ‘the ball(s)/skein(s)’ (used for small balls/skeins of yarn)

de wol ‘the wool/yarn’
de zijde ‘the silk’
de/het katoen ‘the cotton’
de/het bamboe ‘the bamboo’
het acryl ‘the acrylic’

Needles, needles and more needles

de (brei)pen(nen) ‘the (knitting) needle(s)’
de (brei)naald(en) ‘the (knitting) needle(s)’
de rondbreinaald(en) ‘the circular (knitting) needles’
de naald(en) met twee punten ‘the double pointed needle(s)’
de kabelnaald(en) ‘the cable needle(s)’
de haaknaald(en) ‘the crochet needle’
de tapisserienaald(en) ‘the needle’
de naaldmeter(s) ‘the needle measurer(s)’

Stitches

de steek (steken) ‘the stitch(es)’
de rechtse steek ‘the knit stitch’
de averechtse steek ‘the purl stitch’
de ribbelsteek ‘the garter stitch’
de tricotsteek ‘the stockinette/stocking stitch’
de averechtse tricotsteek ‘the reverse stockinette/stocking stitch’
de boordsteek ‘the ribbing’
de patentsteek ‘the brioche stitch’
de gerstekorrelsteek ‘the moss/seed stitch’
de stekenteller(s) ‘the stitch counter(s)’
de stekenmerker(s) ‘the stitch marker(s)’
de stekenhouder(s) ‘the stitch holder(s)’

Miscellanea

de toer(en) ‘the row(s)’
de naald(en) ‘the row(s)’
de draadspanning(en) ‘the yarn tension(s)’
het proeflapje(s) ‘the swatch(es)’
de meerdering(en) ‘the increase(s)’
de mindering(en) ‘the decrease(s)’
de lus(sen) ‘loop’

Knitwear

de sjaal(s) ‘the scarf(ves)’
de muts(en) ‘the cap(s)/hat(s)’
de trui(en) ‘the sweater(s)’
de handschoen(en) ‘the glove(s)’
de want(en) ‘the mitten(s)’
de deken(s) ‘the blanket(s)’
het kussen(s) ‘the cushion(s)/pillow(s)’
de tas(sen) ‘the bag(s)’

My apologies to Het Stookhok

2006-11-19T10:30:00.000+01:00

I wanted to offer my apologies to Birgitte of Het Stookhok. I wrote a piece about the scarf I ripped and re-started about ten times. The post mentioned that part of the issue was that the recommended needle size on the website was smaller than what my WPI tool suggested. This was not meant as an attack or complaint about the services of Het Stookhok. Actually, I'm extremely satisfied with the yarn I received (it is so soft!) and with the service (Birgitte was really helpful in email contact I had with her during the purchase, and I received the yarn not long after ordering). The point of the post was more about the lessons that I, as a new knitter, am learning on my journey to knithood (um, yeah, this is the knitting version of knighthood). The point was that the recommended needle size on any yarn is not necessarily "the law"; it should be taken with a grain of salt. I should remember that these recommendations are just that: recommendations. It's up to me to see if it is correct for the project I am working on. So, Birgitte, I apologize for any potentially negative effects my posting may have had.

Breien in het Nederlands!

2006-11-19T09:48:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was the big national Stitch 'n Bitch Day in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Though the website and general organization left a whole lot to be desired, I was quite happy with the workshops and lectures that I attended and was amazed at the assortment of yarns, books, and accessories available! I held myself back from buying too much stuff, but it was nice to look around and fondle all the luscious yarns! I only left with a book, two skeins of yarn for my secret pal, two Clover yarn guides for working with more than one yarn, and a mini skein of yarn with instructions for making a mini sock. Not too bad, eh? I rode down with two fellow SnB-Amsterdam members and rode back with one--it was a very gezellige train ride both ways(gezellig is a Dutch word that is pretty hard to translate... it expresses that something gives you a positive, warm, friendly, cozy feeling. it describes the atmosphere of where you are and/or the company you are in).

It was also interesting because a number of people recognized me from my blog! I didn't know that anyone read it besides the people who know me and are thus more or less forced to read it... ^^ It was nice to find this out, and I hope more people leave comments so we can get to know each other. Perhaps we can all meet up sometime!

On semi-related note, I also decided to register for the course on Norwegian circular knitting. Because of all these knitting courses in Dutch, I decided I should brush up on my Dutch knitting terminology. (Quick note: the language spoken in the Netherlands is Dutch. For some reason, many North Americans seem to think that the people here are Danes and speak Danish. The Danes live in Denmark, the Dutch in the Netherlands.) So, I will post a series of mini Dutch lessons on my blog! Of course, I don't want to just throw the words out at you. I think it is important to learn a bit about how the language works. So, the format of the mini-lessons will be a load of knitting terms followed by more mini-lessons on various aspects of the grammar. If you have any questions about the words or grammar or if something is not clear or if you want to know more, feel free to leave a comment or email me (look at the sidebar). (A small note for the Dutch readers of this blog--Nederlanders, corrigeer me als ik iets fouts schrijf of als ik iets vergeet, alstublieft!)

Be on the lookout for the first mini-lesson:
Breien in het Nederlands: Zelfstandige naamwoorden over breien
Knitting in Dutch: Knitting nouns

How many linguists does it take to start a scarf?

2006-11-12T15:13:00.002+01:00

Talk about frustration, frustration, frustration. In my works in progress sidebar, you can see that I've started a scarf for my friend Nynke. It is a belated birthday gift. We both agreed on a cabled scarf pattern that I got out of one of the knitting books I brought back from Asia (this one is a Chinese one). Luckily for me, most of the patterns are just charts, and the few characters on them are ones I know or can figure out, for the most part. But, unlike most Western patterns, the Chinese one is just a chart. No information on the type of yarn, the needle size or, most importantly, gauge. So, it was mostly guess work on my part.... This resulted in my having to rip out and restart this scarf ten times! I'm using 100% wool, 1-ply yarn that I bought online from Het Stookhok. I initially bought it for more dyeing experimentation, but Nynke wanted a white-ish scarf, so I thought this would be perfect (luckily, she agreed). According to the website, the recommended needle size is 3-5mm, corresponding roughly to US3-8. I decided on a larger size needle and went for US7. I happily started knitting and took the scarf to my local Stitch 'n Bitch meet-up and was making some progress when I (and a few of the other SnB'ers) realized that the scarf was just a little too narrow.... A number of suggestions were thrown out: keep it narrow and make it extra long, start over and knit "two" scarves side-by-side. Well, I decided to start over and try knitting two scarves side-by-side... I knit a bit and didn't like what was happening.... I didn't want the two cables to be so far apart. I tried developing my own modifcation, bringing the cables closer together... Still not close enough.... I tried various modifications, bringing the cables closer and closer together, adjusting it so the pattern looked more flowy, so the cables blended into one another all the way up.... But alas, I was not happy with any of the results. Eventually, on a whim, I decided to measure the weight of the yarn with my WPI Tool (wraps-per-inch). You wrap the yarn around this little wooden cylindrical instrument, and based on the number of wraps per inch, it tells you the weight and recommended needle size. To my shock, I only got 8 wraps per inch, meaning that the recommended needle size is 5.5-8 mm or US9-11! Quite a big jump from what was recommended on the website... So I switched to a US size 10.5 needle and went back to the original pattern. Of course, the scarf was a little wider, but I still wanted it to be a little wider, so I made one final adjustment (instead of 4x4 cables, I'm doing 5x5 cables). Finally, the scarf seems to be working! Admittedly, it could be a little wider, but I decided that this is the final restart... I don't think I can handle one more instance of ripping... (and I decided to give the yarn a break. ^^) The lessons I learned?

(1) Don't always trust the recommended needle size given... If you have a WPI Tool, it's not that difficult to check.

(2) If you have a pattern that doesn't give any sort of recommendations as to yarn type, needle size or gauge, be ready for a loooot of trial-and-error knitting!

Fabulousness in a Box!

2006-11-09T20:05:00.000+01:00

A normal morning... Get ready for work, breakfast, podcasts, a bit of knitting, etc. Walk in the rain to work, and what should I find in my office but my first SP9 package! How exciting! My secret pal is so thoughtful! Of course I have to give a complete run-down of the contents!

There was a card to greet and motivate each gift. My secret pal has paid quite a bit of attention to my blog! In the background, you can see a package of Mini Milanos from Pepperidge Farm next to a box of assorted Tazo teas--a heavenly combination! Milanos are one of my all time favorite cookies! Next to the Mini Milanos, you can see orange and red notecards--great for keeping in touch, old school-style. I love stationery--my yarn stash only recently surpassed my stationery stash! You can see a huuuge box of Jujyfruits in front of the Milanos and Tazo--to be snuck into and enjoyed at a movie theater! How fun! Though I'm not sure they'll make it to a theater! ^^ You also can see two hanks of Knit Picks Memories yarn, Flying fish color. I just love the blues, greens and browns on it! Together with the Knit Picks metal dpns hiding behind the card, I'll knit my first pair of socks! I wrote that I was interested in learning to knit socks, so voilà! But first, I need to finish at least two of the four projects I've got going at the moment. I've already downloaded the instructions for sock-knitting from knitty.com--- very helpful! Leaning on the Knit Picks yarn, you see a package of cute, Clover, sweater-shaped dpn holders! How great is that! Also behind the card, you can see some packages of Kool-Aid, for more dyeing attempts! Black Cherry, Slammin' Strawberry Kiwi and Blastin' Berry Cherry---can't wait to see what colors they produce! And last but not least, two balls of Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn, for my placemat/coaster project! It's such a great package! I'm going to have fun fondling my yarn until I can start knitting/crocheting with it! Just need to finish two projects, but this is a wonderful motivation to get cracking!

THANKS SECRET PAL!!!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!!!!

DANK JE WEL!!!!

감사합니다!!!!

MUITO OBRIGADO!!!!

MUCHAS GRACIAS!!!!

VIELEN DANK!!!!

MILLE GRAZIE!!!!

Stitch 'n Bitch-dag Nederland 2006 is coming!

2006-11-03T19:28:00.000+01:00

In just two weeks, Stitch 'n Bitch-dag Nederland will be here! Here's the website if you want more information (there's also an English version): Stitch 'n Bitch-dag 2006. There'll be a number of stands from various shops selling all sorts of knitting supplies! There are also quite a few talks and workshops. I've already registered, though I may want to make some changes... I hope that's allowed! ^^ I signed up for one talk, "The design possibilities of the patentsteek" by Nancy Marchant (I'm not sure what patentsteek is in English, but it's supposed to be an elastic stitch that's the same on both sides, from what I can tell) and three workshops: "Shadow knitting", "Patchwork knitting" and "Patentsteek". I'm quite excited about it all! I can't wait! Lots to learn and lots to buy! Woohoo!

I also found out about another course that will be offered over five Saturdays from December 16 until April 7. It is a course on Norwegian Circular Knitting, i.e., Fair Isle knitting in the round with a lesson in steeking. It's offered by Stichting Nederlands Centrum voor Handwerken. The only problem is that I leave on the 16th of December to go home for the holidays.... Don't think missing the very first meeting is a good idea... I emailed the teacher, and hopefully we can work something out.

Well, that's quite a lot of knitting classes. All this time in Amsterdam and not many knitting classes have been offered, and all of the sudden, there seems to be a deluge! When it rains, it pours, eh? ^^ Hope my budget can handle it all! LOL. (of course, I'll make it!)

Scarves, scarves, scarves!

2006-10-28T19:33:00.000+02:00

Well, before I went on vacation, I knit scarves for my cousins. Here is what they looked like:

The first was for my youngest cousin (three years younger). Various red parallelograms knit using intarsia modified for garter stitch. The yarn was part of the stash I acquired so I'm not quite sure what it is. I think mostly wool with whatnot mixed in. I am quite happy with the results and really glad to have been able to find random colors that went well together of more or less the same weight.

The second was a blue scarf for my oldest cousin (two years older). I got the pattern from Beginner's Guide: Knit Stitches & Easy Projects. I made it with a 50-50 acrylic/polyamide blend by Esmeralda, again from the stash I received earlier this summer. You can see on the rolled up bit that it is mini-cabling (the unrolled part is the wrong side, unfortunately). This one seem to take forever to make, but the result was nice, I think.

The last was a multi-colored scarf for my middle cousin, the one who is closest to me in age (one year older). I admit, it was the last one I knit and I didn't have much time, so it's just garter stitch. But to make it more interesting, I knit two strands together to get various combinations of colors. You can see stretches of combined colors between stretches of solid colors. So, even though this was just a fast, last-minute knit, it's perhaps my favorite of the three scarves.

Of course, when I brought these to Korea, it was waaaaay too hot for my cousins to try them on (25 degrees Celcius!). Hopefully, I'll get photos when it gets cooler!

Computer's back!

2006-10-28T11:07:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a nice day! I got my computer fixed! It didn't take too long either... Of course, when I first took my computer, it worked... I took it to work to try to burn my data on to dvds, and it went back on the fritz... Took it back to the computer shop, and it turns out that my laptop needed a new hard drive. Got a new one and spent most of yesterday (and most of today, I imagine!) reinstalling all the software that I had. Of course, I don't mind doing this; I'm just stoked that my computer's working again! It was real torture without it... But to top off my day, I received a Halloween card from my secret pal yesterday as well! Thanks SP9! What a great day!

Back!

2006-10-25T11:02:00.000+02:00

Wow! After an amazing three weeks in the Far East, I'm back! Though I miss being surrounded by Asians and having Asian food readily available....***sigh*** Arrived yesterday afternoon and already back to work. As soon as I get my computer fixed, I'll be able to post more about my trip and the knitting supplies I acquired! 'Til then!

Secret Pal 9 has begun!

2006-10-13T01:05:00.000+02:00

Well, sort of... But I guess not "officially". But I have received my spoilee and have received a message from my spoiler... How exciting! For those of you who do not know what Secret Pal 9 is, you can find more information here, though it's too late to sign up for this round: SP9. I also have a button posted with a link to the right. Anyway, a large part of the whole SP9 thing is getting to know a stranger who shares an interest in knitting, yarn and related crafts. To that end, here is the SP9 questionnaire with my answers...

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Well, I’m still fairly new to knitting/crochet, so I haven’t worked with many different types of yarns. So far, I’ve worked with synthetic yarns (acrylic), lots of cotton, a bit of wool and some mohair blends. I must say that I’m not particularly fond of ‘fuzzy’ yarns like the mohair I worked with—my needles keep getting caught on them! ^^

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I have the Denise Interchangeable needles, so they are in their own nice, neat little case. As for my other needles/hooks, I keep them in the plastic envelope they came in and try to keep all of them in a small metal box. But the box is quickly shrinking as I keep all my other knitting supplies in it—gauge ruler, rust-free needles, stitch holders, etc.

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I’ve been knitting since Christmas 2005. I would consider myself intermediate, I guess… Or somewhere in between beginner and intermediat

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I do, but not a knitting related one. Maybe I'll make a new one!

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) When I went to Charleston last Christmas, I came across a soap scent that I absolutely fell in love with: Sweet birch. I liked it so much that I bought bars for my mom and my sister. I just kept sniffing the soap on the drive home. Of course, my sister, appreciative of the thought, quickly recognized the smell as Bengay... I never made that connection, but she’s right. I still like it, though.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Doesn’t everyone? ^^ I love all forms of chocolate except for white chocolate, which I can’t stand (I don’t consider it chocolate).

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? In addition to knitting and crochet, I also cross-stitch and do a bit of sewing (by hand, though my sewing hasn’t developed much). I don’t spin, though I would like to give it a shot at least once. I’d also like to try weaving, but who knows when I’ll have the time. LOL.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I love Bjork, the Cranberries, Green Day, etc. I also like Asian music in general, both traditional, modern and popular, though I'm not so much into the ballads...

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? Don't really have a favorite color, but I guess i'd have to say somewhere in the greens and blues.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I live by myself without pets in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. My boyfriend and family are in the US.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I wear scarves and hats. I don’t have mittens or ponchos, though I have had them in the past and would wear them.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Well, so far, I’ve knitted scarves, hats, placemats, bracelets and dishcloths. I'm not sure which I would say is my favorite, though....

13. What are you knitting right now? At the moment, I’m working on a pair of gloves for a friend of mine in Turkey. It's going okay... I'm trying a different method per glove: one with dpns and one with the magic loop. So far, I can say this: I like working with four dpns better than working with five. I like working with the magic loop than either way with dpns. I'm still not all that happy with the magic loop method because the cord keeps tangling up... any useful hints on how to prevent this would be greatly appreciated! Anyway, before I re-started working on the gloves, I was working on scarves, scarves, scarves. I’m currently visiting relatives in Korea, whom I haven’t seen in about three years. I didn’t have any measurements, so that left scarves, pretty much, for my cousins.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I prefer circular needles, though I still use straight needles about as much. I think the material depends on the yarn used. So far, I’ve mainly worked with plastic needles (Denise Interchangeables) and aluminium. I also have one pair of Bamboo needles, but they haven’t worked that well with the yarn I was using.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes, I own a yarn winder and fairly recently bought a wooden swift in Italy!

17. How did you learn to knit? From my boyfriend.

18. How old is your oldest UFO? I guess my oldest UFO is a pair of gloves I started making for a friend of mine in July, I think. I’ve only recently picked it up again as I had to put it aside, along with two other projects, to make scarves for relatives I’m visiting.

19. What is your favorite holiday? Favorite holiday? Hard to say. I guess now it would have to be Christmas as that is the only holiday I’m able to spend with my family.

20. Is there anything that you collect? The Little Prince in different languages, cookbooks, language grammars, bills and coins from different countries.

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I don’t have any knitting/crochet magazine subscriptions. I find that in general knitting books and magazines are too female-centered (thought I totally understand why it is like that). I see a pattern or two per book/magazine that I might want to knit/crochet, but for me that is not enough to warrant buying/subscribing to them. I find it a pity, though. Some books that I would like to have, though, are Weekend Knitting, Knit Socks!, and a good reference book of hints/suggestions/answers/stitches. I’d also love to get some Afghan crochet hooks.

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I’d like to learn Fair-Isle knitting and double knitting. I’d also like to learn the Afghan stitch (and derivatives) in crochet.

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I’m not a sock knitter yet but would love to learn. My shoe size is 11.5-12 wide, American size or 45 European.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) August 24 (a little ironic that this is question number 24, eh? ^^)

Dying to dye!

2006-10-03T12:16:00.000+02:00

Okay, one last post before flying to the sunny East! Last Tuesday (26 September), me and the American members of our Stitch 'n Bitch Amsterdam group got together to dye yarn with Kool-Aid! (The Dutch members who showed up the Monday were also invited but already had plans). It was amazing! We were all amazed at how quickly it went! And a lot of the colors were marvelous! What we did was make a solution of 1 part vinegar and 3 parts water. For one packet of Kool-Aid, we made a cup of solution (1/4 cup vinegar, 3/4 cup water) and just mixed in the Kool-Aid until well disolved. We then put the presoaked-and-now-damp yarn onto a piece of plastic wrap on a Pyrex plate and spooned the solution over the yarn until it was well covered in color. Then you just seal up the plastic wrap (just bring the ends together), squish the yarn and color around a bit, and pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Afterwards, the solution should be clear! It's really amazing! I've read before that the yarn soaks up all the dye in the solution leaving the solution colorless, but it's hard to believe until you see it! We tried assorted flavors and got quite a range of results. Hopefully, I'll be able to post up pictures of the yarn we dyed with a list of the flavors. Just thought I'd share that before hopping onto my plane!

My computer died!!!

2006-10-02T11:15:00.000+02:00

My computer died on me this weekend!!! It's more of an annoyance than anything else... All my truly essential stuff I have on my usb stick. At least, I hope so. But happening two days before I leave... So now I have to wait until I get back to deal with it. It does, though, explain why I wasn't able to post this weekend. Perhaps I can squeeze out a few before I leave... Anyway, just wanted to keep you guys updated.

Oh, and by the way, I will try to post while I'm on vacation, but I won't have regular access to the internet, so I might not be able to. But I'll be back on 24 October, so things should get back to normal by then! ^^

Chinese knitting needles! 中文的织针

2006-09-26T02:45:00.000+02:00

Okay, in a few days, I'm going on my big vacation of the year! Yipee! Two weeks in Korea and one week in China. In anticipation of my week in Beijing (北京), I've been hunting through my colleague's Chinese dictionary for relevant knitting and crochet words. I thought I'd share what I found, though I won't know if these are the words that people actually use until I get there... I'll also post one on Korean. For the Chinese words, I'll give the English translation, the Chinese characters, the Pinyin Romanization, and the literal translation of each character. Since I can't seem to get the various accents for pinyin, I'll write the number of the tone after the relevant syllable. 1 is a high level tone, 2 a rising tone, 3 a falling-rising tone, and 4 a falling tone. Have fun and 再见！

'to weave/knit/plait, knitting' 编（织）bian1(zhi1) (weave/plait, weave/knit)
'to crochet' 钩织 gou1zhi1 (hook, weave/knit)
'a purl stitch' 反针 fan3zhen1 (turn, needle)
'to purl' 用反针编织 yong4fan3zhen1bian1zhi1 (use, turn, needle, weave/plait, weave/knit)
'a stitch' 一针 yi4zhen1 (one, needle)
'a stitch' 一钩 yi4gou1 (one, hook)

'yarn' 沙（线）sha1(xian1) (yarn, thread)
'yarn' 绒线 rong2xian4 (fine hair, thread)
'wool' 羊毛 yang2mao2 (sheep, hair/feather/down)
'cotton' 棉（花）mian2(hua1) (cotton, flower)
'silk' 丝 si1 (silk)
'cashmere' 山羊绒 shan1yang2rong2 (mountain, sheep, fine hair)
'cashmere' 开士米 kai1shi4mi3

'knitting needle' 编结针 bian1jie2zhen1 (weave/plait, tie/knit/knot/weave, needle)
'knitting needle' 织针 zhi1zhen1 (weave/knit, needle)
'knitting needle' 毛线针 mao2xian4zhen1 (hair, thread, needle)
'crochet hook' 钩针 gou1zhen1 (hook, needle)

'scarf' 围巾 wei2jin1 (enclose/surround, piece of cloth)
'scarf' 头巾 tou2jin1 (head, piece of cloth)
' sweater' 毛线衫 mao2xian4shan1 (hair, thread, unlined upper garment)

Twirl, twirl, twirl, as fast as you can...

2006-09-25T22:46:00.000+02:00

Okay, final installment of my Italian purchases. I was fortunate to come across a nice, Italian-made, wooden yarn swift! And it wasn't that expensive! See the still shot and the action shot. Pretty cool, eh? It's small, but it's enough for my purposes... At the moment anyway. ^^

Being a book and language freak, I also bought a knitting and a crochet book in Italian and when I was in Prague, I bought a Czech crochet book. Here's a picture of all of them together. Having purchased these, I also had an excuse to buy dictionaries and grammars! (Of course, I didn't really that much pushing to get these, anyway!) Eventually, I'll get around to writing up a piece on Italian and Czech knitting/crochet terminology, so be on the look-out! In about a week, I'm going on vacation to the Far East: two weeks in Korea and one week in China. Of course, I'm scouring all the resources I can to put together a list of relevant terms to take with me. I'll share what I come up with before I leave!

Italian stash: Part Two

2006-09-24T18:55:00.000+02:00

Well, I've mentioned some of the types of yarn I acquired in Bergamo: cotton yarn for my placemat project and wool/dralon yarn for my attempt at reproducing a mola-type design in knitting. I also bought six balls (two of each color combination) of Ciao yarn by Filatura di Crosa. They are a blend of quite a bit of stuff: 40% acetate, 11.5% viscose, 11.5% ramié, 28% wool, 7% cotton and 2% nylon. It's cool because you have a main color (blue, green, or beige) and lots of other random bits of colors throughout. I know there are lots of yarns like this. But this is one I bought... ^^ And it feels so soft... I bought it because I liked the way they looked and because they were on sale.... No exact plans for them, except a few balls are destined for a scarf for my own private photographer, who has taken a lot of the pictures that appear on this blog... My friend Hugo (i.e., private photographer) is an excellent photographer. He only does it as a hobby, but I am constantly impressed by his photographs and find them just fabulous. You can find more of his photography at Flickr by searching under the name "Gurugo". Or you can go directly to his photos via this link: Gurugo at Flickr.com. But more of his work will show up here, I'm sure!

The final part of my Italy stash came in the form of a birthday gift. My friend and fellow historical linguist Nynke was attending the same conference as me and presented me with these two balls of yarn at the conference dinner. Both balls of yarn were produced by Ornaghi Filati. The red one in the back is called Real Baby and is pure new wool. It's very thin and soft. The colorful one in the front is called Scenic and is a 70% acrylic, 25% new wool and 5% polyamid blend. It has a lot of colors, as you can see, and the thickness of the yarn seems to change throughout the ball. It's also nice and soft! I have no plans for either of these at the moment... Suggestions are welcome... They'll just stay in my stash and play with the other skeins, hanks and balls of yarn until I figure out what to do with them all!

I want s'mola!

2006-09-16T07:51:00.000+02:00

One of my favorite types of craft work are molas done by the Cuna Indians in Panamá. My family lived there for three years, and I remember vividly the bright combinations of colors and the objects depicted--mostly animals, but also other random things like panties or just geometric shapes. Basically, you have layers of cloth of various colors and you cut away at the top layers to reveal the colors below. Then you have to carefully sew to keep everything together. I attempted this, but I wasn't very successful.... I still don't quite get how it works.... Maybe I need to learn to sew properly.... hmmmm....

So, I was thinking that I could do a knitted version of a mola. So, to that end, I bought a bunch of yarn in Bergamo. I bought Classic Light by Sandilane. It's a 70% pure new wool/30% dralon blend. I got two skeins of black and one each of yellow, blue, red, orange and green. Now, I just need to work out a chart for the design.... I guess it will involve intarsia or Fair Isle or both, I guess, with all the constantly changing colors, but we'll see. I'm open for suggestions!

Prague stash: Part Two

2006-09-06T22:08:00.000+02:00

Okay, so yesterday, I mentioned the purple cotton yarn I bought in Prague. I also bought some 100% virgin wool--three skeins of a light charcoal gray, three of a dark khaki brownish, and eight of beige (you can see that I'm great at naming colors! Maybe that's why I wanted only primary and secondary colors for my placemats... They're easy! ^^). Each skein is 50 grams (ca. 100m each). I bought it from the big department store called Kotva--it should be easy to get directions to and the yarn and textile stuff is on the fourth floor, as I remember. Look to the right for photo of them. Now, what does he have in mind with all that yarn, you may be asking. I mean, who buys so much yarn without an idea of what they might make, right? Well, I kind of have a thing for bags.... I really like having different kinds of shoulder bags of various sizes for carrying things around. I decided that I really wanted to try making the messenger satchel from knitty.com, so when I saw these colors, I went ahead and got them (I mean, if you see colors you like, you should go ahead and get them because you might be able to find them back at home, right? ^^). Hopefully, I'll get started on it before the end of the year, but we'll see.... I'll definitely post photos when I get to it!

My placemat project

2006-09-05T14:12:00.000+02:00

So, as a start to the introduction to my yarn stash, I thought I should explain a bit about my placemat project. The last time I was back home (Athens, Georgia) picking out yarn, I decided that I wanted to make a set of placemats. Not only did I not have any, but I also thought they would be a good way to practice various stitches. I also decided that the placemats had to be primary or secondary colors only. And they had to be cotton. To start, I bought some green, yellow and blue cotton yarn that were on sale--50-gram balls (ca. 100m each) of 100% mercerized cotton by Tahki. I didn't get all the colors because, hey, I didn't have the money... I found some patterns and knit away. The placemats ended up being a little short... Big enough for a plate and silverware, but not big enough for a glass to go with it. So I decided that I would crochet matching coasters. Here's what I have so far:

Because I didn't get all the colors I wanted, I've been looking for cotton yarn for my project when I travel. In Prague, I got three 100-gram (ca. 250m each) balls of purple MarLen cotton yarn:

And in Bergamo, I got three 50-gram balls (ca. 100 m each) of red multi-ply combed Egyptian cotton by GPTex:

Next, I'll be on the hunt for orange!

Lavorare alla maglia

2006-09-02T16:32:00.000+02:00

Okay, so I've been back in Amsterdam for about a week. I was greeted by rain, rain, rain, and cold, cold, cold. Such a contrast to the lovely sunny, warm weather in Bergamo. *sigh* Anyway, I will have a post on my yarn acquisition a little later. I asked a friend of mine to take some photos, so I'll wait until I have them to discuss what I bought and why. What I can discuss are some Italian-related knitting tidbits that I learned.

1) The word for 'knitting' in Italian is la maglia. There is no verb 'to knit'; instead, they use the expression lavorare alla maglia 'to work at knitting'.
2) The word for 'crochet hook' is l'uncinetto. Again, there is no verb 'to crochet' but an expression lavorare all'uncinetto 'to work at crochet hook'.

I noticed that knitwear is quite popular in Italy. Lots of people wearing knit clothing and many shops dedicated to knitwear. However, knitting as an activity doesn't seem to be popular, if the number/selection of books is any indication. Crochet, cross-stitch and embroidery seem to be much more popular--there are many more books available on these. Or maybe knitting is so popular that the book shops were just sold out.... Doubt it, but you never know!

3) 'yarn' is il filato. But you can also refer to the material. I hunted for la lana 'wool' and il cotone 'cotton'.
4) Colors are always helpful to know when hunting for yarn. Some of the ones I used: giallo 'yellow', rosso 'red', bianco 'white', verde 'green', blu 'blue', and nero 'black.' Don't forget to change the final -o to -a when referring to wool. La lana gialla 'yellow wool' but il cotone giallo 'yellow cotton'.
5) It's useful to start with Vorrei X 'I would like X'.

Stay tuned for an update on my yarn stash!

Greetings from Bergamo!

2006-08-21T13:48:00.000+02:00

Just a quick note... I am away at a conference in Bergamo, Italy on English Historical Linguistics, so I won't be posting as regularly. However, I can tell you about this wonderful yarn shop that the owner of my bed and breakfast told me about. Here's the name and address:

Out of respect for the wishes of the owner of this shop (who I don't think quite understood what I was saying), I am deleting the name and address of this yarn shop. However, if you are interested, email me, and I will be happy to send you the info.
Bergamo

It has yarn and textiles and all sorts of knitting, crochet, cross-stitch and embroidery supplies. So far, I've bought two balls of red cotton yarn (I'm making a set of placemats with matching coasters in the basic grade-school colors: red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange) and a lovely Italian-made yarn swift! I'm so glad I finally have one of those... It'll make rolling center-pull balls much easier! I've also bought a book on knitting and one on crocheting in Italian. Crocheting seems to be more popular than knitting, if the selection of books is any indication. Pictures of these will come once I return!

Anyway, wish me luck on my presentation, and expect pictures in about a week!

To knit or not to knit?

2006-08-16T18:24:00.000+02:00

Okay, okay, the answer is obvious: TO KNIT! But I wanted to share some thoughts on the verb 'to knit'. Like, for instance, it's related to the word 'knot'. It makes perfect sense, but this is not a connection I was able to make on my own.... I just never put the two together. But what about the modern word? For instance, do you say 'I knit a sweater yesterday' or 'I knitted a sweater yesterday'? I don't say either because I've never knit a sweater. ^^ But if I had knitted a sweater, I could just as easily say either, I think; neither sounds strange to me. I have no real preference between the two, and I think I would alternate between the two (though I have no idea what would influence my choice). And I don't really feel a difference between the two, either. But perhaps there are some people who prefer one form over the other... Or perhaps for someone, there is a difference in meaning... According to Webster's and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), both are acceptable. The OED even gives a third option used in the north of Britain, 'knat' (like 'sit, sat'). But I'm curious about what you guys say/think. Is one form more common in your area than the other?

Another thing you may have noticed (or not?) is that I alternated between the forms 'I have knit' and 'I have knitted'. Again, I have no preference between the two. Do you?

ETYMOLOGY: The verb 'to knit' was originally derived from the noun 'knot' (what is called a denominative verb in linguistics--a verb derived from a noun) by the addition of the suffix -jan, which meant 'to make' or 'to cause'. This formed a new word knottjan 'to make a knot'. How did it get, pronunciation-wise, from knottjan to 'knit', then? Well, the {j} (pronounced [y]) influenced the {o} at the beginning of the word. If you notice, the [y] sound is pronounced at the front of your mouth. Try saying the word 'yawn'. Feel your tongue move from the front of your mouth for the {y} to the back of your mouth for the {aw}. But sometimes, when you pronounce words with sounds so far apart, you try to make them closer together to make the word easier to pronounce (assimilation). In this case, people would change the pronunciation of the [o] to something like the [u] sound (which is pronounced at the top of your mouth like [i]) and then to [ü], pronounced in the front of the mouth (again, like [i]). Over time, the [ü] sound was lost in English and became [i] like in our modern word. So, there you go!

From Russia with love

2006-08-14T18:12:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine (and her husband) stopped by on 6 August to visit me on their way back to Sheffield, England from Russia. It was great to have dinner with them (an Indonesian rijsttafel 'rice table' at Restaurant Kantjil en de Tijger) and show them a bit of Amsterdam. Next time, though, they need to stay longer than a night! LOL. And, at my request, they brought me 3 skeins of wonderful Russian yarn! It is Соната {Sonata} yarn, a 50-50 wool-acrylic blend, made by Камтекс {Kamteks}. I decided that I would try to make the Swell toque from Knitty with it. And hopefully there'll be enough left over for a matching scarf or mittens or something.... (I doubt it, but here's to hope!) ^^

'yarn'--North Americanism?

2006-08-13T08:41:00.000+02:00

Disclaimer: These comments are based on my impressions. Comments specifically about English are my own intuitions and thoughts. Other English speakers (even other Americans, Southerners or Augustans) may totally disagree with my assessment. I'd love to hear about it if you do! ^^

As I am living in the Netherlands and Dutch is the language I use most often, I've had to learn the Dutch terminology for various knitting supplies (still working on it...). One day, before meeting colleagues for drinks, I went by a yarn shop (like a one-minute walk from my office. woohoo!) to buy some yarn. Afterwards, I met up with my colleagues and of course informed them that I had bought some garen, the Dutch cognate to English 'yarn'. Well, one of my colleagues was surprised that I knew the word (nevermind that she was the one who taught it to me ^^). When I pulled it out the bag to show her, she, admiring the recent purchase, informed me that garen is more usually used to refer to thread (as in, the stuff you sew with). You do come across breigaren 'knitting thread', but this is something that appears on labels and not really what people say to each other. So, I naturally asked what the normal word for this bag of stuff that I bought was. She said that they just call it (de) wol 'wool'. The stuff I happened to have was pure wool, but I asked, "What if it's not wool?" "Then you just say wol van ___ 'wool of __'." My German colleague confirmed that this was more or less the same in German, where it is (die) Wolle instead of (das) Garn. It took me a while to get a handle on this shocking news....

Having come across knitters of various language backgrounds, I was rather surprised to find out that in a lot of languages, the normal word for what I would call 'yarn' is that language's equivalent to 'wool'. While this makes some sense since 'wool' was the main material in yarn for a loooong time, I still find it a bit odd to say "I bought some bamboo wool yesterday". For me, that would refer to a bamboo-wool blend rather than a pure bamboo yarn. And, before this discovery, "I bought some wool" would have indicated to me that the purchaser was perhaps a spinner, having bought some luscious fiber from which s/he planned to spin fabulous yarn. It seems that in a lot of these languages, there is an equivalent to the 'yarn' word, but it is not the normal way to refer to it... Go figure.

What shocked me even more was to find out that this was also the practice in England (I assume in the rest of the United Kingdom and in Ireland as well, but since I've only spoken with people from England, I'll be safe). When I asked a friend of mine in York where the nearest yarn shop was, she didn't quite know what I was talking about. I had some knitting with me and showed her. Her reply was, "We don't call it that. We call it wool," to which I said, "But it's cotton..." Having met another Brit at a Stitch 'n Bitch in Prague, I was relieved to find out that she did know what 'yarn' referred to but dumbfounded to hear that she considered it a North Americanism. A Canadian member informed us, to my relief, that 'yarn' was the normal word in Canada, but that to say "I bought some wool" was also possible.

For me, it seems important to make a distinction between the product (the yarn) and the material from which it is made (wool, alpaca, bamboo, cotton, silk, acrylic, polyamide, et cetera et cetera). But perhaps that's because I was raised with this distinction. Perhaps it is just a fairly modern innovation. Afterall, how long have alpaca and angora yarns been readily available to the knitting public? And even now, a lot of these types of yarn are still not available to a lot of people. I do agree that even in the US, we can use the name of the material to refer to the yarn itself, but I think that it is limited to specific contexts, for example, "I finally bought that merino I had been eyeing for the past year!" But even then, I don't think 'wool' would cut it...

I would love to hear about the practice in other languages (for example, I found out that Czech, apparently, has a word příze 'yarn' and uses it, too, while the Russian cognate пряжа [pryazha] is considered old-fashioned).

And remember, when you come to the Netherlands, ask for a local wolwinkel 'yarn shop'!

Name change from 'lingvojn' to 'gearncniht'

2006-08-12T20:59:00.000+02:00

Okay, okay. I decided to change my name.... Since this blog is predominantly about knitting, I thought I should have a more fiber-relevant name. Though I predominantly knit, I also like to crochet, so I thought I should have something a little less craft-specific. So, at the suggestion of my boyfriend, I decided to make a compound based on Old English (OE) words (I'm a historical linguist who works predominantly with the history of English...). The result is gearncniht.

(þæt) gearn is the OE word for 'yarn' (as if you couldn't guess that! ^^). It was pronounced, in our reconstructed pronunciation, more or less as it is in Modern English (ModE). Except with a trilled [r]. And a slightly different [a] sound. But other than that, it's the same (the spelling {ge} usually represents a [y] sound, for instance in the OE word geong 'young')! Gearn could also mean 'thread', unlike (my use of) the modern word 'yarn', so it also covers my cross-stitching and sewing. ^^ For those interested, it's cognate with Dutch (het) garen, German (das) Garn and Icelandic garn(ið), and it is a neuter noun in all these languages. I'll have a post about 'yarn' later... Perhaps tomorrow.... We'll see...

The second part, (se) cniht, has become our word 'knight' though the meaning and pronunciation have changed quite a bit over time (as well as the spelling!). In OE, it was pronounced the way it was spelled--both the {c} and the {h} were pronounced, and the {i} was short, like in the ModE word knit. It had a few possible meanings, the modern sense not among them: boy, youth, squire, servant. Cognates are Dutch (de) knecht and German (der) Knecht, both of which have retained the 'servant'/'slave'/'farmhand' meaning. And the word is masculine in OE and German (as you could probably guess) and common gender in Dutch (Dutch has more or less lost the distinction between masculine and feminine, creating an opposition between common and neuter gender).

So there you have it! ^^

PS.--A note on my symbology... Italicized words are words in a foreign language (well, is OE a foreign language?). Italicized words in (parentheses) before or after a word in italics are the appropriate definite articles in whatever language to show the gender of the word in question. Letters between {curly braces} represent spelled letters. Letters between [square brackets] represent a pronunciation. Words with 'single quotes' are the meanings of italicized words or instances where I refer to a word as a word. Oh, and ^^ is the Asian (well, Korean, at least) emoticon for a smile (think of your eyes when you smile!).

Projects, projects, projects

2006-08-12T15:34:00.000+02:00

How crazy can you get? Earlier this week, I booked my flight to Korea and China, my big vacation of the year. Of course, I'll be visiting my relatives in Busan/Changweon for the big Korean holiday 'Chuseok' (also known as the Mid-Autumn festival). I'm really excited as it will be my first time celebrating the holiday the Korean way and in Korea! But of course, my relatives have not been exposed to my knitting obsession yet.... What does that mean? Scarves for everyone! Okay, okay... Scarves are not the most complex thing, but it is the best option if you have no idea about sizes and such.... So, I've put the three projects I've already started (a pair of gloves, a baby blanket and a pillow case--I'll probably take these along with me to knit on the plane, in the train, et cetera et cetera) on the side to start knitting scarves, scarves, scarves.... So far, I've started three scarves....

One is a minty, lacy mohair scarf....

Then another lacy mohair scarf of various shades of gray....

And one of my own design... Parallelo- grams of various shades of reddish, my attempt at practicing intarsia....

I'm open for interesting scarf ideas for men. Not quite sure what to do and would rather avoid just plain garter stitch... But I may have to resort to that... We'll see....

Color experimentation

2006-08-11T15:28:00.000+02:00

I inherited a huge stash of yarn from a member of Stitch 'n Bitch Utrecht (spring cleaning). Part of the stash were various bits of unknown white yarns (well, various bits of a lot of unknown yarns). I decided to try dyeing them with food coloring (since I'm in the Netherlands, I don't have easy access to Kool-Aid). I decided that I wanted three sections of color: one blue, one yellow, and one green. This is what the soaking looked like ^.

I made a mixture of vinegar water at a ratio of 1/4 cup vinegar to a quart of water and added the dyes to different containers. After soaking the yarn in normal water for about half an hour, I placed them into the dyes and let them soak.

One of the skeins of yarn took up the color quite nicely, resulting in pastels. I rinsed the yarn out until the water was more or less clear. Then I put it in a 100-degree-Celcius oven for 10 minutes to set the colors and then let it hang dry over night. Here's what it looked like pre-ball winding:

and post-ball winding:

The other skein did not take the color up so well, so I let it soak over night. In the morning, I rinsed it out... The night soaking didn't help much. It must have a much higher synthetic fiber content then the other one (but since they were both mystery yarns, I know a bit more about them as a result of this experiment! ;-) ) I'm still waiting for it to dry, so pics of it will be up some other time.

Now, I've got a third skein soaking. This time with just two colors, though. As you see in the first pic, the blue and green seeped into the yellow... It ended up becoming brownish, so I threw it out. This third skein will be green on one side and turqoise-ish on the other (okay, so quite a bit of the green seeped into the blue). Can't wait to see how it turns out! (btw, I think this has a higher wool content than the unfortunate yarn, so hopefully it'll absorb the colors more readily... We'll see!)

Welcome!

2006-08-09T08:57:00.000+02:00

Hi! I'm Robert, an Asian-American (from Augusta, Georgia) linguist living and working in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Welcome to my blog! (I thought I would never in my life start a blog... but here I am... Who knows what happened....) I know my blog has a cheesy name, but here's the explanation. 'Knitting' is obvious because, well, this will be a blog mainly about knitting. 'Pearl', however, is a little more involved. One, it is an obvious pun on the purl stitch (didn't you find it punny?). Two, it sort of represents the Asian part of my ancestry. And three, I hope that this blog will prove to be a very useful knitting resource, a pearl if you will, for those knitters who want to become a little more globally aware. As a linguist, I'm very fascinated by language. As a knitter/crocheter, I'm very interested in knitting/crocheting. Put the two together, and you have a knitting/crocheting linguist who wants to know knitting/crochet terminology in as many languages possible! I know, I know... You say there are already a bunch of those already available... But I must say, I haven't been too happy with those... Some terms do not translate well into a given language and require a little more explanation. And those sites almost never specify whether the word in the other language corresponds to a verb or noun, let alone how to conjugate or decline the words! ;-) (I know what you're thinking... What a geek!) Additionally, I'll try to throw in useful phrases in case you happen to find yourself in a foreign country trying to ask for the beautiful green bamboo yarn just behind the counter! And of course general updates on projects I am working on and knitting/crochet techniques I am trying learn/do. Anyway, thanks for visiting and come back later to see how this all develops!