Winter Blues Skirt and Morning Coffee

This skirt has more of an urban edge to it than most of the projects I knit.  But then even us rural Topanga people occasionally visit the big bad city of Los Angeles.  Although, not often, if I can possibly avoid it.  I shouldn't really say that because I am fortunate to live as close to Los Angeles as I do. If there is anything you are interested in Los Angeles is sure to have a club, store, support group, and more groupies than you can possibly fathom.  What you thought was a weird fetish of yours is probably hugely popular here and taken to levels you haven't yet begun to imagine.  Another nice thing is the amazing amount of talent (actors and musicians) that lives in the area and every once in a while Steve and I enjoy going out to a show. And getting dressed up to go out brings me back to my skirt.

I like knitting skirts and this is the third one that I've knit.  If you are going out at night they are a great chance to wear funky tights, show off cute shoes, and make a nice change from the jeans that I typically wear.   I actually don't knit a lot of "clothing" and that is simply because they don't get worn enough to justify the time, effort and expense compared to accessories. But the skirts (and sweaters) that I have knit I am very pleased that I have.  If you haven't yet knit a skirt I really think you should consider giving it a try.

Particulars:  Winter Blues Skirt (loosely based on the Seaport Skirt a design by Kristina McGowan; pattern from Modern Top-Down Knitting); 3.5 skeins Madelinetosh tosh DK (fathom colorway); US 7 circular needles.  Because I was concerned that the skirt might be too heavy as designed for my climate I eliminated a lot of the cables from the design and made it more a traditional A-line skirt.  And, even with many fewer cables, it is still a very warm skirt which makes it exactly perfect for what I had in mind as even in Southern California we occasionally have cold wintery days. But it looks substantially different than the original design which I really liked too and if I had used a lighter weight yarn I definitely would have knit it as designed.  Other skirts I've knit are: Carmine blogged as: Winter Wool Skirt and Bell Curve blogged as: My Retro-Fitted Skirt.


Morning Cup of Coffee ~

You can't imagine the passion I have for coffee.  And lately my morning coffee has been elevated to a new level of pleasure.  Granted I do have to wear goggles, gloves and use a bunsen burner but these are small inconveniences for someone like me dedicated to achieving a perfect brew. Kidding aside my morning cup of coffee is extremely fast, fun, and easy and it's all thanks to my newly acquired and never to be parted from Aeropress coffee device.  As a bit of background I don't have many expensive vices so don't feel badly spending money for a fabulous cup of coffee in the morning and this winter it has become somewhat of a quest of mine.  So let me fill you in. First, if you haven't heard of the Aeropress alternative to the french press it's a much faster and better alternative for a single cup of home brew and you don't have to just take my word for it there are legions of positive reviews on Amazon.  But the device you use to brew your coffee is only part of the equation.   The other critical part is your coffee bean and over the last few months I've been conducting my own informal taste testing and have found the following coffees are my favorites, so far, listed in order of preference:

Kona Medium Roast - Blue Horse.  $32.00/16 oz.  cost per ounce: $2.00 (pictured above)
Jamaican Blue Mountain - Trader's Joe  $19.99/13 oz.  cost per ounce: $1.54
House Blend - Intelligentsia  $14.00/12 oz  cost per ounce: $1.17
House Blend - Stumptown Coffee  $14.25/12 oz cost per ounce: $1.19 (Los Angeles based)
Kona Dark Roast - Blue Horse  $32.00/16 oz.  cost per ounce: $2.00
Cafe Domingo - Peet's Coffee $13.95/12 oz.  cost per ounce: $1.16

Honorable Mention:
French Roast Classic - Peerless Coffee $10.95/16 oz  cost per ounce: $.68 (a popular brand served in many cafes in my home town Santa Barbara, California (shown in the picture below).
Ebony Pearls - Raven's Brew $12.25/12 oz cost per ounce  $1.02 (I discovered this brand while in Alaska)

As far as brewing techniques using your Aeropress there are a number of styles including a cute flip method demonstrated on Vimeo. But whether you flip or not I think is irrelevant.  To make a 10 oz mug of coffee I simply use one heaping aeopress scoop (1 aeropress scoop = 2 tablespoons which means I use slightly more than 2 tablespoons) of beans that I finely grind.  I employ a very slow pour of hot (not boiling) water (30 seconds or longer) and fill the tube up to around the "2" marker. I then gently (almost a caress - it is a fetish after all) fold/mix the coffee and water with no more than 5 or 6 folds max .  I then immediately begin to press at a rate of no less than 40 and up to 60 seconds.  See how easy that is!!!  Within seconds you have a wonderful cup of home brewed coffee.  Alas, I'll concede it's possible that I've thoroughly confused you and, if I have, just watch some of the pros demonstrate it on youtube and you'll see how easy it actually is.

Until next time, be well and love well and stay warm this winter by drinking your own wonderful home brewed coffee! After all a little of what a person fancies does them good.  Sage advice from my mother who will laugh to know that I am dispensing it.

Winter Wool Skirt

It seems somehow disloyal to move on after loosing someone held so dear as Mr Puffy was to me. But moving on is something we all must do because life is a gift and meant to be lived and enjoyed. Before doing so, thank you all for your concern, sympathy, and understanding. It was nice to hear from some of you whom I've not heard from before and, after reading a comment by Marie Luisa from Portugal (sorry no profile link available) it occurred to me that I should clarify Mr Puffy's role here on the blog. As Marie correctly observed, Mr Puffy did many things but he did not knit. That's right. Instead, I would describe Mr Puffy's role as that of a design consultant and knitwear model. He had great fashion sense and no one looked as cute in a hat. His presence, insight, and modeling will always be missed.


But I am a knitter and she who knits must knit on. I'm wearing my new winter wool skirt, Carmine, designed by Dutch Knitting Design. I'm pretty happy with it. Ya right. It's hard to curb my enthusiasm for this rockin little skirt. I have wanted a simple tasteful wool skirt simply 4ever. Something I can throw on and look casually look put together for afternoon tea or strolling about a museum. How often do I do either of these things? Never. Who cares? I am ready to accept any invitations.

This skirt has great texture which is hard to show in the pictures. The design has triangles running the length which gives it a visual interest that I'm afraid do not show up well. A couple of the following picture do show the design, if you look really closely.

Whenever you knit a skirt in wool you need to be concerned about sagging. If you chose, as I did, to use a pure wool then I think you should look for a yarn with a tight twist and plied ~ something with a bounce and good memory. Your LYS owner is a good source for suggestions. And, because you want your new skirt to fit you perfectly, I'm sharing my Perfect Fit Knitting tip!


Knitting Tip: Getting a Perfect Fit

When you invest the time and money into knitting a skirt (or anything for that matter) you want to make sure that it will fit you. And getting the perfect fit is all about gauge. Here's my Perfect Fit Knitting Tip: Do not follow the conventional wisdom and knit your gauge swatch using stockinette as patterns generally instruct. Instead, make your gauge swatch using a full repeat of the knit design used in the actual pattern. In this case, it would be to knit a full repeat of a triangle. Then wash and block your gauge swatch before measuring. When wool is washed it can have a dramatic impact on your swatch. By following these steps you will have a more accurate gauge from which to base your knitting. I never consider a project truly completed until it is fully washed, blocked, and lightly ironed.


Particulars:
Carmine skirt by Marleen van der Vorst who blogs as Dutch Knitting Design; 5 skeins Zara (extra fine superwash merino wool) by Filatura Di Crosa (a division of Tahki - Stacy Charles, Inc.); US 6 circular needles; size XS; my only modification was to reduce the waist band to 6 rounds instead of 10. Tip: BO stitches firmly to reduce the tendency of BO edge to expand. This will give you a "neater" finished look. However, to allow the necessary "give" for the waist band to slip over your hips, you will need to very loosely whip stitch the waist band edge in place.

Valentine's Day Fun:

Growing up I thought Valentine's Day was just for lovers and that's just not true! It's a whimsical and fun day and can be celebrated by everyone with a heart (that includes you) and zest for living! This easy peasy wine charm took me all of an hour to knit ~ and is just one of zillion quick and easy crafting ideas for Valentine Day. I'm also tempted to crochet some of Knitter Gal's bright, happy "Me Mine" Coasters (you can see them here).


Particulars: Heart-Shaped Ornament by Ann Budd in Piecework Magazine (Nov/Dec 2009)/; US 2 double pointed needles; red scrap yarn

Until next time, be well, love well, and have fun preparing for Valentine's Day!

My Retro-Fitted Skirt

It came out a little more "night on the town" than PTA but it's my Bell Curve Skirt and I love it!

It was almost not to be, though, because of some dastardly star stitches..... which actually were the reason that this skirt went from being merely a "nice" skirt to an eye-catching "wow" skirt that I'm thrilled with!

Those of you who have been following along on my knitting adventures know that I struggled with the Swallowtail Shawl because of the "nubb" stitch (P5Tog). Based on that experience you would think that I would avoid patterns with a similar stitch. Think again. I'm apparently a slow learner.

A major design feature of this skirt is the textured effect of the 4 columns of "star" stitches running the length of the skirt. The "star" stitch requires that you K3Tog wrap and reknit the same 3 stitches together. Not surprisingly it was miserable to execute.

There are many beautiful examples of this skirt on Ravelry and tons of great suggestions on how to make executing the "star" stitch easier, but none of them worked for me. I began to consider other options including blocking it heavily and wearing it draped over my head as a monk's cowl or, I pondered briefly, was the mini-skirt really such a bad fashion statement? That would be yes, at my age.

Fortunately I have friends. Better yet, I have knitting friends! I've mentioned them; I've hinted about them; but I've yet to name any of them.... until now! The first member of my Topanga Knitting Group to be unveiled is the very special Murielle who is a knitwear designer, a newly opened Etsy shop owner, and my own personal creative muse. She adorable, to boot.

She looked at the skirt, listened to my tearful story, and with a shrug of her shoulders pronounced that the skirt would look much cuter with a flouncy ruffle edging anyway. Really?

And she was absolutely right! And that's why she's a knitwear designer. The ruffle was made by casting on 12 stitches (using 1 needle size larger than used to knit the body of the skirt) and worked in seed stitch for the desired length (roughly 1.5 times the circumference of the skirt bottom) and then sewn on by machine.

Particulars: Bell Curve Skirt, free pattern on Knitty; Zoe yarn manufactured by Artfiber Designer Yarns; US 8 and 9 needles; modified by adding a seed stitch ruffle edging as described above. To get the best possible fit with this skirt make sure you have a tapestry needle handy so that you can take the skirt off the needles several times for fittings and adjust your increases as needed.

Lastly, I would like to say how much I appreciate it when someone takes the time to leave a comment on the blog. I try and respond to each of them unless it is designated as "no reply" or "anonymous" in which case I don't, for obvious reasons. But I would like to say thanks to the anonymous person who left a comment on the last post suggesting that I hang the quilt on the front door ~ I love that idea!

Knitting at The Beach

Steve is away this week on business, so Mr Puffy and I headed down to sleepy surf city San Clemente, California to enjoy the late summer beach weather. Besides surfing, San Clemente has some great shops and this week I found the cutest shoes for Fall! More specifically, they will be prefect with the skirt that I'm knitting. See how well they go other already!

I'm knitting the Bell Curve skirt which is a free pattern I found on Knitty (Ravelry link). I've been thinking about knitting a skirt for some time, but was leery of knitting one with wool as I recall having a wool dress that was a little too clingy for comfort. Now that I think about it, I think there must have been some acrylic in that dress because it had just awful static electricity. In any event, I think this skirt should be okay as the "yarn" I'm using has a firm almost metallic feel and it is knitting into an interesting fabric with a nice drape. The yarn is Zoe (25% viscose and 75% nylon) manufactured by Artfibers in San Francisco and is worsted weight. My only complaint with the pattern so far is that the "star" design is a little uncomfortable to knit as you have to K5Tog. But I'm knitting very loosely when this stitch looms on the horizon and that helps considerably.

As I mentioned at the start, San Clemente is known as a surf city and so I've seen my share of surfing. But, I had never seen this before. What is happening is the surfer is hanging on to ropes while being pulled behind a jet ski and and when the surfer is set up on the wave he lets go and really zips along the wave. I can not tell you how much coordination this maneuver requires. I've seen a lot of surfing ~ whisper ~ most of my neighbors aren't very good ~ but this fellow was quite good and fun to watch. The best surfing is actually at Trestles Surf (technically just south of San Clemente) and if you would like to see some decent surfing, here's a link to a surfing video shot at Trestles.





Not being terribly well coordinated (balance wise) I enjoy body surfing where you just let the water carry you along. The waves continuously roll in one after another and makes for marvelous body surfing. I don't even mind all the sand that accumulates in my swimsuit from this activity.



But, as everyone knows, you shouldn't go swimming by yourself and Mr Puffy was having none of it. I kept saying, doesn't it look like fun in the water? He didn't move a muscle. I would hate to think he was faking being sleep when he knew how much I wanted to go in.



Speaking of shoes, did anyone hear about the earthquake in SoCal last week? It was minor, but I felt the earth move. When this happens it always re energizes me on disaster preparedness. And, since I'm in my car a lot, I carry in the trunk an old pair of tennis shoes and a light tote in which I have a few incidentals should I suddenly need to walk to shelter. For myself, even in a nuclear attack, I would need to moisturize having very dry skin. My tote therefore has moisturizer, water, a few nutrition bars, and some toiletries. I'm also thinking about tossing in a skein of sock yarn for good measure.

Cuz, these shoes aren't taking me too far in a disaster.