Nicole, she is finished.  We will not speak of how long she has been complete, with the exception of the purchase and attachment of buttons.  And the losing of 5 lbs.  

I love the design, but after finishing it, it was clear that if the closure was not done well, I would not achieve the lacy, classy top layer look that I was shooting for.  Especially since I probably should have been a little more thoughtful about measuring my bust line, instead of assuming old measurements would work.

I think it was that concern that found me putting off the purchase of buttons.    Now that the buttons are in place and I've been able to try it on, I'm pleased with the result.  It makes all the time I've spent on my elliptical this summer also feel worth it.    

Taking a look at the garment from all angles helped me come to appreciate Bonne Marie's shaping skills.  The sides lay well and there isn't that extra flare at the hip that sometimes appears in knitwear that's been nipped in at the waist.

I know many have opted to lengthen this vest before the waistline, but for short-waisted me, I think that would have put too much knit fabric flare over the hips.  

I made very few modifications to Bonne Marie's original design.  I did center the outer lace motifs over the shoulder straps, which involved juggling the locations of the decreases just a bit. I also opted for 8 1/2" inch buttons instead of 7 3/8" buttons, but that's about it.  I found the pattern to be easy to follow, and thought it would be a nice introduction to simple lace motifs.  I'm looking forward to being able to wear Nicole for both more casual and more dressed up events, depending on what garments are worn underneath her, and I think she'll work well for at least three seasons of the year.

The Rowan PureLife Organic Cotton was a lovely yarn to knit with.  The stitch definition is beautiful after blocking and, contrary to what you might expect from cotton, it didn't put any strain on my hands, nor was it overly splitty.  

I'm pleased with this project and happy to be adding another neutral garment to my collection.  The only real question now is what ChicKnits project will I tackle for my next layering piece.  Both Aleita and the Mondo Cable would make great wardrobe additions, I think! 

... years, that is.

Today, we celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary.  In 12 years, like most couples, we've been through many things together.  I think one of the many things that keeps us strong is the laughter that we share together.  Whether it's making a silly Simpson's portrait of our selves or hamming it up in front of the camera at our wedding, or just giggling when our 3 year old tells us that "Zombies ate my brains! Zombies ate my brains*" (yes, I know, sounds strange, but just imagine it in 3 year old voice... it's hilarious), we enjoy seeing the silly side of life.  It seems like the older we get, the more serious things start to manifest, and the more important that ability to find the humor and joy in the world becomes.  There's nothing quite like having a best friend who always does his best to make me smile when things are tough.  

Happy 12th Anniversary, Jasiu.  I look forward to much more laughter in the days, months and years ahead of us.  I don't think a single day has gone by since our wedding when I haven't been amazed at how I got so lucky as to find a partner in life like you.  

I love you, and want to laugh with you always.

T

The rewards have been obvious.  On my last trip to my doctor, my blood pressure was good and my resting pulse rate was way lower than it's ever been before.  I've gone down a size in pants.  And I just generally feel better after my rides.  

I'm crediting the success of this program, in part, to my iPad and the Kindle reader. Because of my new toy, I get to work out and enjoy some reading time.  I stay strictly away from anything too serious or mind taxing.  So this summer has been the summer of urban fantasy -- magic and butt kicking in the modern age.  I'm always intrigued by authors who manage to knit magic into their technological worlds, and I love to see how different people take old stand by magic and mythological creatures and define them in a modern space.

I'm already a big fan of Jim Butcher, and this summer I've added three new authors and three new characters to my "must read" list:

Tim Pratt and the Marla Mason series kicked off the summer.  This series features Marla Mason, a mage and martial artist who lives in a world that looks rather like the United States, only with magic.  The use of magic isn't one of those things that all that many people know about (making it similar to the Jim Butcher, Harry Dresden series), so Marla, magic kingpin of Felport (the magic community has some mafia-like behaviors), gets to save the world several times over as she takes on a whole variety of magic users, ancient deities and spirits.  Marla is tough, somewhat abrasive, and generally unlucky in love, but also dedicated to her city and her friends.  Most of the books have a mystery element in them, but are pretty much straight out action adventure.  The writing in the books starts out a little rough, but gets better as it goes on. Unfortunately, the series is on hiatus as the publishing company decided not to pick up any more entries after book 4...  a real shame because that book ends with something of a cliff hanger.

Simon Green's Nightside Series will, at first, feel familiar in location, to anyone who has read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.  This series features film noir styled private eye, John Taylor, a man who isn't a magic user per se, but has a special gift for finding things.  In the Nightside, a sort of alternate reality to London, it  is always 3 AM and all that is dark, dirty, dangerous and magical dwells there.  Most of the books follow John Taylor on "a case", but the story arc that resonates through the whole series is Taylor finding out who his parents really are, what that means, and how that affects the long term survival of the Nightside.  Along the way we meet a host of characters, including Tommy Oblivion the Existential Detective, Razor Eddie the Punk God of the Straight Razor, Dead Boy, and Shotgun Suzie, bounty hunter and the Nightside's closes thing to a biker chick.  These books contain a mix of straight on magic and futuristic technology with a healthy dose of time travel thrown in for good measure.  Overall, the stories are good, if a little short, and the main characters are fairly well developed.  They draw heavily on "old world" mythology.  My biggest complaint is that Green has a tendency to re-use certain descriptive phrases throughout (perhaps to help make sure the audience has a consistent tone no matter where they join in -- there are now 11 books in the series), however, he makes up for that but the relatively constant patter of funny lines. 

Probably my favorite find of the summer has been Illona Andrews' Kate Daniels Series.  Set in an alternate present day Atlanta where magic and technology shift back and forth, Kate Daniels is another hard fighting heroine who relies on her wit, sword and unique heritage to get her through the day.  Kate's world is filled with knights, vampires, witches and were-folks, but if you're expecting the vampires from Twilight or Anne Rice's books, you'll be disappointed. In this series it's the lycanthropes that generally shine.  I actually really enjoyed watching Kate's world get fleshed out, understanding the dynamics and politics of her world.  As the books roll along, we're also treated to a gradual unfolding of who Kate really is and what her destiny will be, along with a satisfying romantic arc.  The books are fast paced, there's more than a little bit of humor between the covers and I'm looking forward to seeing how Kate's world continues to get fleshed out as the series progresses.

Interestingly, all three series are told from a first person perspective  -- something that I have to admit I love, because it helps me create a connection with the characters.  

I'm changing focus a bit now and shifting back to Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series -- modern day mystery.  I seem to be a sucker for mystery series set in England...no matter what the era.  Next time I talk about books, I'll put together a list of my favorite series in this genre.

There is a limit to what I can do with my current photographic skills to make neutral colored sweater pieces in K1P1 ribbing interesting. I am gradually making my way through this little sweater.  Two fronts and a back and the start of a sleeve (off camera).  It's a relaxing project to work on while the rest of the summer blows by.

It always seems to me like when I have the most going on, I say less.  Not a strange phenomenon.  Sometimes I just have to stop and be in the moment and not reach for the documentation tools.  This summer, more than almost any before in the history of this blog, has been about doing other things.  Visiting with family, chasing after a crazy active three year old, taking ownership of a full time job that tests what I know and pushes me out to learn what I don't.  It's been a summer where having my Kindle reader on my iPad has drawn me back into reading as much as I can, and time when I rediscovered my elliptical machine (assisted by that same iPad/Kindle combination) and now don't feel good if a day goes by without some time exercising.  I'm working on warping up a big blanket project in my weaving class, playing the occasional video game and just generally dipping my fingers into whatever feels good at the time, without a whole lot of consideration for what I'm going to put onto the blog.  I'm still knitting, but the pace is slow... and while I want to spin, the heat and concern about curious little fingers have left my wheel mostly silent.

We just celebrated Ms. Z's third birthday (complete with iPhone shaped birthday cake) and since then she's been coming into her own on many things.  That whole potty-training thing is moving forward... she can wear real, live under-drawers most of the day. She discovered that she could climb over the bars on her crib and wake us up in the morning.  She moved into her big girl toddler bed and has discovered that there are no boundaries to hold her in bed at all.  What to do with that new found freedom?  She is a wizard of iPhones, iPods and iPads.  She is beginning to spell out every word she sees, can identify a few written words and her language skills routinely surprise adults who haven't met her before.  At the same time, she has the activity level of a hummingbird drinking espresso-infused nectar and no fear of anything at all. She seems to have mellowed on the tantrum front, but the better her language skills get, the more definitive she is about telling us what she wants to do and how she wants to do it. To listen to my parents talk, she is like my brother and I combined into one child -- and either one of us alone was enough to keep multiple adults busy.

At the end of many days, I look back and wonder where did the time go?  It's not like I haven't had a full time job before.  It would be easy to say it's all the kid, but she has gotten to the point where she can watch a movie or play peacefully for reasonable stretches of time.  When I started my new job, with all the new stuff that came with it, it's like I also opened up a door to letting myself indulge in some of the hobbies that had been dormant for a while.  I also think I really used my fiber hobbies as a stress reliever... and while my current job is not stress-free, the previous job came packed full of it.  The needles helped me unwind, focus on my hands and colorful thread.  I don't need that as much right now... so my hands and mind turn to other things.

But I do still definitely have fibery goals.  Ms. Z has been clamoring for a new sweater (every time she sees me knitting she asks if it's for her) and some socks.  I want to have High Line done as August recedes and chillier air floats in.  I can't wait to start weaving the two blankets I have planned (the warping is almost done)  and John's sweater still looks forlornly at me wondering when it's going to get a zipper.  

I'm going to do something crafty tonight.... but maybe not until I find a good recipe for oatmeal cookies...

It's always something this summer.  

Really, it was only a matter of time, don't you think, before I posted something on beads.  I actually think it's kind of amazing that I'm made it through almost 8 years of blogging without having actually executed a beaded knitting project.  Not that I haven't thought about it, mind you, but you have to find beads and beading needles and then get motivated to string 5 kajillion of the little buggers on some unsuspecting yarn.  And then, once they are there, you have to schlep them around.  

But then someone goes and posts something that reminds you of something else you did a long time ago (which reminds me that I still have no gallery page... sigh) that you liked and wanted to make for yourself someday.  But you never made a second version because you are terrible at knitting any project more than once. But that something takes the original project and mixes it up a little bit by changing the orientation and adding beads.

And suddenly the project is much more interesting.  The something of which I speak, in case you haven't clicked on the links, is the Eventide Scarf  as knitted by the Yarn Harlot.

I almost managed to avoid this project by trying to convince myself that I didn't have any appropriate yarn.  Then I remembered the Sundara fingering silky goodness that I had used to start a Brandywine shawl with.  I hand't gotten very far when I abandoned it (it's a perfectly lovely pattern, I just had doubts about my need for another triangular shawl when I hardly wear the ones I have), but I love the yarn and think it would look quite lovely in that crossed stitch.  So the whole "don't have the yarn" problem was solved.

Then it became a "I don't have any beads" issue.  That was solved by finding www.whimbeads.com -- a veritable cornucopia of beads of all flavors.  Unable to decide and worried if I selected only one color it would be not so good when it arrived, I splurged and selected several tubes to test against my shawl sample.  Bead problem solved as well.

But not I have one final problem to surmount: which beads?  I pretty much go back and forth between all of them... though the variegated tube may be leading the pack by a hair.

Any opinions? I  still have a little bit of knitting on my current sweater project to go, but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts!

The project is this:

The High Line cardigan from Takhi's newly published Urban Organics book (there are actually several nice pieces in this book, making the purchase price a little more reasonable).  And the yarn is this:

Takhi's Good Earth Cotton, a cotton tape yarn with a lovely hand, in a peachy neutral called "adobe".  The sweater is worked on US 10.5 needles in a K1, P1 rib, making for simple knitting.  I swatched by knitting up the front left portion of the sweater and my gauge appears pretty much on target.  To be honest, I always have a hard time really estimating gauge on a ribbed fabric, and while it looks about right, what really convinced me was that the texture and density of the fabric seemed "right" for the yarn.

The feel of the fabric is soft and sproingy and I was pleasantly surprised to find that knitting this yarn is very easy.  The tape format gives it a little more elasticity than you normally expect from cotton and I like the ribbony texture that is visible in the fabric.  The left front knit up in no time at all (in fact, I've already cast on for the right front).  The one bit that makes me particularly happy is this:

A tubular cast on.  While it's more effort than a long tail, the look it creates for a K1 P1 fabric is so polished looking that it makes it seem negligible.  It's probably my favorite cast on in terms of the beautiful finished look it creates.  

I've chosen to make the medium size sweater -- its only a 36" bust, but for this sweater, 40" would be way to much easy on me, and since it only buttons at the neck, instead of all the way down, it should be good.  I'm hoping that I can get it knit in time to enjoy it as an end of summer piece -- I think it would be just perfect for when it's a bit too cool for a sleeveless top, but I'm not quite ready to pull out the fall garments yet.

I realized that while I've mentioned being done withe the knitting for Nicole, I never actually produced any proof.  Here she is, pinned to my blocking board, in a picture I took in early June.  Pretty, isn't she?  They yarn looks lovely blocked out and the color is a perfect summer neutral.

Poor Nicole, why has she been in stasis for so long?  I'm trying to decide what I wan to do wit the closure issue.  Apparently, I am just slightly bigger than I estimated (particularly in the bust area -- apparently motherhood has left me with a bit more up top than I remember)...and Nicole is a bit tighter than I really like (not at all the fault of the pattern -- just the fault of my measuring assumptions).  So I'm trying to decide if I could get away with a ribbon lace up instead of buttons.  I'm a bit worried that that is going to add a little too much "tavern wench" to the look.  So Nicole is waiting while I do some thinking... and work on losing a little weight.      Losing 5 lbs would probably do wonders for Nicole -- and me!

While I don't normally go for pre-packaged needlework kits from craft stores (I'm skeptical about thread quality in these things, and if you're going to invest hours upon hours on an embroidery project, higher quality materials are more than worthwhile), a recent trip with Ms. Z turned up this sweet little punch embroidery kit.  The promise of "fast" and "easy" and "all included but the needle" along with the enthusiastic encouragement that only an almost three year old can provide resulted in the little box and a needle dropping into my cart.  

As I opened it up, I was reminded of some needlework kits from the 80's that my mother got that I remembered were called "Russian Punch" (I suspect they were really "Rush n' Punch" -- but, hey, cold war was on and Russian seems a much more interesting origin).  I'd love to know if the needles were the same.  All I can remember is that, at the time, I had a devil of a time with that needle.  

But this little kit lived up to its promises.  It was in fact both easy and fast and I enjoyed watching the texture come to life.  In addition to that, it came with more than sufficient floss -- something that is often not the case with these kits. The back is rather hideous looking,and I will never win any awards for my embroidery skills in general (the words should be stem stitch, but midway through the "w" I decided that it looked abysmal and switched over to back stitching) but I'm fine with the final result.  Even better, it went over well with Ms Z -- who took it to show her father and only gave it back when I traded her the box and promised that it would be on her wall after I found a frame.

Given that it was simple, and I have no idea of the half-life of a child who likes her mom's needlework is, I managed to procure the frame mere hours after finishing it, as well as another kit with a different butterfly.  And no doubt there will be some more Googling tonight for other punch needle kits or patterns that feature Z's favorite flutterbys.

Happy 4th of July

Uh, yeah, it has.

So what have I been up to?  My life at work seems to have a lot to do with making lists and crossing things off, so I'll share the list...

Probably the best thing I have done all week was a trip to JoAnn's that I took with my little girl.  We're gearing up for a third birthday in a few weeks, and it's hard for me to ignore the fact that my baby is now most definitely out of the baby stage.  In order to give John a little break, I decided to take her with me to pick out the cotton yarn for the rigid heddle project.  I figured this was likely to make me crazy (she refuses to stay in the cart any more and likes to run everywhere), but if I want to encourage her crafty side to show up sometime, I needed to start sharing with her a little more.  

So after walking in the store and finding an inexpensive US flag that she could wave as we wandered (always good to find a diversion) we had a nice trip.  She helped me pick out my yarn (I'm getting good at making color selections fast now), grabbed up some sock yarn that she thought was neat, helped me select the hoop for the punch embroidery project (bright! pink! plastic!) that will likely also become it's frame and then took a long time inspecting all the spools of thread -- even picking one up off the floor (that she hadn't dropped) and making sure it got back into the display (she has these strange moments of needing order).  I enjoyed watching her with the thread display.  She was so clearly fascinated with the rainbow of colors.  She touched without pulling anything out.  We may have to come back and explore that area again.

She followed that up with a sweet little moment last night.  

Almost broke my heart to leave her there, but three year olds and a heddle threading project don't mix.  But maybe when I start weaving... 

I've had my 64 GB Wifi iPad since the end of May.  I've been holding off on this post, because my initial reaction was so positive that I was convinced that I needed to spend more time with it just to be sure that it was a fair reaction.

A month later, little has changed.  I love "my big iPod" (as Z has taken to referring to it) just as much today as I did on the day I cracked open the shrink wrap.  If anything, I love it more, because I just keep finding more things that make it better. 

It's an ideal crafter's companion, and it's currently helping me on both of my current projects:

Almost any PDF reader in the App Store allows you to easily transfer PDFs onto the device via iTunes.  GoodReader (that big green eye app in the top picture) is even more kinds of awesomeness because for 99 cents you can just point it to a PDF URL, like a browser, and it will pull the PDF into it's archives.  It also syncs up wonderfully with the email application, so that anything you get mailed to you can also be pulled into GoodReader without difficulty*.  I had thought that my Kindle was going to be my go to on the go pattern portfolio, but the iPad really blows it out of the water -- color rendering, easy tools to zoom in and out.  What's not to love?  There's also an app that lets you annotate PDFs. 

The number of crafting apps on the iPad is relatively small at the moment, but most things that you bought for your iPhone will transfer.  Granted, most run at lower resolution, but who needs an HD row counting tool?

Another set of tools that qualify as wonderful are the notebooks.  There are more than a few of them in the App Store that you can write in as if you were writing on paper, using your finger or a stylus (I recommend the stylus -- mine goes with me everywhere).  I used one of these, called Penultimate, in a weaving class to plan out my most recent project.  This app stores notes in "notebooks" and you can create notebooks for as many topics as you like and add to them as you need to.  Penultimate has a nice feature that allows you to rest your wrist on the device, for easier writing.   There are so many of these jotting tools that you should spend some time to find one that is right for you, depending on whether you like to write more or sketch more. 

I won't go into the book reader functionality too much except to say: it's great.  I use the Kindle reader more than the Apple book reader, but, either way I don't think you can lose.  Probably the better thing to mention is all the interactive childrens books that have come out.  If you share your iPad with a child, don't expect to get it back again for a little while.

As far as general features are concerned, this device feels very natural to me.  The onscreen keyboard is easy to type on when the device is in landscape mode, and the mail and calendar programs take the original iPhone versions to the next level.  It seems strange to gush about a calendar application, but the one on the iPad just knocks my socks off.  When it comes to browsing, the iPad really shows you how great it can be on a mobile device. I'd rather use it than my laptop.   A number of people have complained about the lack of a camera, but that hasn't really been a limitation for me -- the thing is large enough that it would be pretty unwieldy for taking pictures (if you really want to take pictures, get the CameraA/CameraB apps that allow you to connect your iPad to any iPhone in the vicinity with the CameraB app).  I do wish it was easier to transfer pictures on to the device (if it had an SD slot, it would be my ultimate blogging machine), and I am bummed by the fact that Apple has not incorporated a mechanism for you to sort and organize pictures in the photo manager (how hard could it be to let you set up albums for pictures of certain types?). 

When it comes to battery life, the iPad rocks and rocks and rocks some more -- you could easily get a full days' use out of the device without a recharge.  The only days I've had to recharge it on a nightly cycle were when I was playing a lot of games on it.  Can you say "ideal airplane companion"? And if you're used to an iPhone, the speed of the iPad is going to impress you.  Everything moves quickly and comfortably.  I've been asked if I miss the 3G connectivity, and, truthfully, I don't.  All the places I use it have Wifi.  At this point, I don't consider the iPad a CTA bus friendly device. 

I know a lot of folks stay away from "1st Generation" products on principle.  But the iPad doesn't feel like a first gen device.  And that's really no surprise -- 3 generations of iPhones have led the way.  When the multi-tasking OS 4 makes it to this device it's going to be almost perfect. 

If this is where this device is starting out, I can't wait to see where it goes.

* I hope it goes without saying that you should never ever put anything on your device that you don't have the right to use, right? 

It was a pretty good night to be out celebrating my sweetie's birthday last night.  There was Belgian ale.  And the Hawks did a nice job of adding some excitement to the evening as well.