Tien Chiu

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New toys

Two cool toys arrived in the mail for me today: Wild Ginger’s PatternMaster Celebrations, a (sewing) pattern-making software with a set of predesigned patterns targeted at bridal and evening wear (read: AIDS Lifecycle tutus!), and Alice Schlein‘s Network Drafting: An Introduction.  I’m thrilled by the arrival of both.  PatternMaster will allow me to design my own AIDS Lifecycle costumes, and also allows for pattern drafting/alteration (or so it promises).  I know a little bit about pattern drafting, and have several books on the subject – looking forward to being able to do more.  Network Drafting will allow me to understand, well, network drafting – which allows you to make gently patterned curves in weaving patterns, which is hard to do with conventional methods.  It also apparently allows for shading, not just black-and-white.
At the moment my plans for AIDS Lifecycle costuming are fairly vague.  I think I want to do something like the warp-dyed striped shawl I wove earlier and make that into an outfit somehow.  I also think I want to do something with this champagne silk I bought awhile ago:

champagnesilk.jpg

I have some rich red silk velvet that I think would make a beautiful wraparound collar for this outfit – with red velvet piping on the bottom, over a metallic gold organza tutu, I think it would be a tutu fit for a queen.

Oh, and I have decided on the pattern: I’m going to knit an abbreviated version of Sharon Miller’s Unst Stole in white Jaggerspun Zephyr 2/18.  It’s a lovely 50% silk 50% wool yarn that has the slight halo of wool and a nice sheen from the silk.  I’m knitting up a test swatch now.

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A knitting project for China

So, we are now T minus two weeks to the China trip, which means that it’s time to start getting ready.  Since I already have a full set of travel clothes (except for heavier clothing which I can pack pretty quickly/easily), a travel pack, etc. (not to mention being vaccinated for everything under the sun), it’s time to turn to the most important part of the entire planning experience: choosing a craft project to take with me.

Weaving, alas, is not a portable craft.  Even the smallest loom available, the Ashford Knitter’s Loom, is not really compatible with backpack living.  So it’s back to knitting, which you can do with two sticks and a string.  The challenge is to find something that is interesting enough to keep my interest for more than five minutes, yet not too complex to knit on a plane or in a bus, and short enough that I can finish it in two and a half weeks of off-and-on knitting.  I think that either means several pairs of socks, or a lace stole.  At the moment I’m leaning towards the stole, specifically the Leda’s Dream pattern from Pink Lemon Twist.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish it in the time allotted, but you never know.  I might also make up my own pattern, or use Sharon Miller’s Unst Lace Stole, heavily adapted to give me a hope of finishing in time.  (If you have suggestions for quick and interesting patterns, please let me know!)
On other topics, I have finished beaming on 13-14 yards of 5/2 cotton, and will be threading up Lady Di for placemats this week.  Sadly, there is no weekend this weekend, because I’m working both days, but perhaps I can get something done in the precious time between work and sleep.

I don’t remember if I mentioned it earlier, but I have also dyed the first bout of linen yarn for the placemats, a nice straw color.  The dye “took” somewhat unevenly (perhaps because I didn’t rinse it out thoroughly enough at first) but as it’s meant to be a “natural”-looking color, the unevenness shouldn’t be too bad.  I will have to work on my dye techniques, though.

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We now restore you to your regular programming…

I’m now in London’s Heathrow Airport, en route to San Francisco.  I had a great time in Ghana – check out my Ghana blog for the details – and am on my way home.  Home! Land of hot showers, dependable electricity, and real coffee.  I can hardly wait.
Ahh.  I have now caught up on the last 21 days of blogs, news, and so on.  I feel refreshed, like I’ve FINALLY had a decent cup of coffee and a newspaper (both are sadly lacking in Ghana).  If I can just get a hot shower and a change of clothes, all my worldly desires will be met.  Just a few more hours, and then…. 🙂

I made significant progress on the entrelac shawl – I knitted the first row (four blocks) in knitted lace (or is it lace knitting? I can never keep track of which is which) – every other row purled, for a stockinette stitch base.   The second row I decided to do exclusively in patterns from Heirloom Lace (sorry, I’ve forgotten the author’s name and am too lazy to look it up right now), complex Shetland garter-stitch patterns.  I knitted three patterns, started the fourth, and realized that I was running out of complex Shetland patterns.  I didn’t feel like reverting to simpler patterns, so I spent part of yesterday
cannibalizing bits and pieces of patterns from Heirloom Lace into a new, extremely complex pattern that I’m looking forward to experimenting with.  Shetland lace is relatively easy to design since the yarn-overs are mostly paired with immediate decreases, meaning you’re working with a pattern of lines and holes, rather than the more complicated types of lace knitting.  It makes it easy to swap in/out patterns.

I do feel I’m getting a better “feel” for lace design; I’m glad I undertook this shawl.  It’s a nice venue in which to work out new patterns (and find out what an existing pattern looks like), without having to commit to an entire shawl’s worth.  I strongly recommend
doing it as an exercise – it’s like swatching, except that you get a usable end result.

Anyway, my flight is coming up soon, so I’ll wrap this up here.  Welcome back to civilization, one and all – I’ll miss trekking through the tropical sun, but it’s nice to be going home at last.  Washing machines! Hot showers! Cats! Clean fluffy towels!  Fresh milk, and hot coffee!  Yay!

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T minus 33 hours…

As promised, Chez Panisse was really good, though whether it was worth the $100/plate price tag I dunno.  At any rate, it was a nice romantic evening with excellent food – first a plate of seafood bits (Sweetwater oysters on the half shell, Dungeness crab leg, some very tender squid, and yummy shrimp), then potato gnocchi with chanterelle and hedgehog mushrooms in a very delicious sauce.  Both Mike and I threw table manners to the wind and mopped up the sauce with some bread, it was that good.  Then we had quail with mashed parsnip (tastes a lot better than it sounds) and some concoction of pancetta with bitter greens.  Clementine souffle with an excellent dessert wine for dessert.  Excellent food.

Along the lines of excellent food, I have promised to take Mike to The French Laundry.  It’s a simple matter (NOT!) of getting reservations.  They take reservations two calendar months in advance and it’s damn near impossible to get them.  Time to spend some time dialing for dollars.  Too bad I can’t bribe the maitre d’ over the phone.

But all that can wait until I get back from Ghana.

Ghana!  Yes, it’s just over 1 day before I get on a plane to Ghana, and I’m nervous and excited.  My project has a major review coming up tomorrow, which doesn’t help – essentially, I finish the review with the execs, check in with my manager, check in with the program manager who’s subbing for me while I’m gone, and then I’m outta there.  I’ll be giving my presentation in my travel clothes, with a money belt around my waist!  LOL.  If anyone asks why I’m dressed in short sleeves and flowing pants, I’ve got a great story.

I have finished transcribing my Barbara Walker charts and am just about ready to get started with my entrelac sampler shawl. I’m refraining (with effort) from starting it early…I definitely want it to be a “travel shawl” so will wait until I’m at the airport to start.  Meanwhile, I’m rereading the Ghana guidebook so I’ll have a better idea of where I want to go/what I want to do.

Ghana!  Can’t wait.