Thursday, January 28, 2010

Knitting; Ribbed Lace Bolero

So I'm currently working on a ribbed lace bolero. This will be my third time making this. The first time I made it WAY too small for myself. So I made it again & it was still too small. So I gave it to my oldest sister, who is smaller than me; btw she's a mother of three children. [yeah...]

So I'm using the same color as pictured. I don't consider myself a large framed person & my measurements were similar to the sample. I eventually realized my gauge was WAYYYY smaller than the creator of this lovely pattern.
So i decided to go much bigger. Lesson learned:
test your gauge before proceeding to make the
whole garment b/c recasting is WAY better than
unraveling a whole garment upon completion. [and I did unravel the first one I made b/c there's no one that I know who is THAT small.

I suggest that your cast on about 22 [multiple of 4+2] & jump straight into the pattern:

row 1: k1 (k2together, yo, yo, ssk) repeat lace pattern until 1 stitch left, k1
row 2: p1 (p1, p1 into first yo, p1 into the back of the second yo, p1) repeat lace pattern until 1 stitch left, p1

for a few rows & measure. Did you waste some time? NO! You are knitting smart.

I am what I like to call a "conservative knitter" which is opposite of what it sounds like if you're thinking yarn. I knit tight. I end up using more yarn so I'm not conservative in that aspect, but yeah... I think you get it.

Anyways... here's video of how to do these confuzzling "yo, yo" & "p1 into first yo, p1 into the back of the second yo" that I had oh so much trouble figuring out. Here you go,

don't mind my stuffy nose!!!

Here is the cable knitting portion of the Ribbed Lace Bolero.

Here's the bind/cast off for this pattern; Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind off.

...your welcome.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Wine

Black Box
Vintage: 2007
Product of California
Appellation: "Finest growing regions"
Grape Veriety: Merlot
Average price: $20 for 3 liters (4 bottles) wow!

Appearance:
Color : dark purple, similar to two buck chuck
Thickness : viscous

Nose:
Aromas : dark berries; cherries, raspberries, strawberries
Length : short finish

Taste:
far from dry, light bodied, not intense at all, very soft tannins, very light finish

Other Comments:
It's easy to drink. Apparently it's all the rage to drink wine out of a box in Europe, at least that's what the box tries to convince you of doing. Their catch phrase; "Think inside the box." Yeah, cute. I'm not saying the wine is bad, but I doubt that wine connoisseurs (myself being far from one) will ever get over the stigma of drinking wine out of a box. When i poured myself a glass, I way over poured. If it comes out of a box, you're usually drinking as much as you can. Okay... maybe only in college. Well, I'm getting buzzed b/c it's so easy to drink. I put some in my pasta bake... gotta go check on that!!

Comes with directions on how to open the box. Just incase kiddos! Located on the bottom on the box! I'm proud to say that I opened the box w/out the instructions & found them conveniently when I took pictures.
Haha, forgive me, I've had almost the whole glass now. OH, my pasta.