Fluffbuff

   Tonight marks fifteen years since I landed in LA. I never thought I'd still be here. I blame it on Ben. ;)
When we met, I was just about ready to move out and move on, then we started dating, I started grad school, we bought a house, started a business… Life happens.

My first two years here were very difficult. I had left all my family and friends behind, married a man who turned out to be a horrible choice, and found it hard to transition from a small town in Italy to the big metropolis. As a consequence, I went through culture shock, divorce and undergraduate school all at the same time.

Now, I have many good things going: a good relationship (I'm trying to convince Ben that that's portable), good friends (and yesterday I met an old friend from my Art Center days that I hadn't seen in over twelve years), two wonderful cats (they're portable, too), the business (hm, that's not as portable). So I have mixed feelings about being still here cuz I've been restless for a while, but the good stuff is good and I'm feeling more like celebrating than regretting or reminescing.

In true celebration mode, over the past week I have splurged on some aceto balsamico tradizionale…

…spicy hot chocolate, and hazelnut biscuits.

By biscuits I always mean what the British call biscuits, the Americans call cookies and the Italians biscotti. Of course, confusingly, the Americans use the term biscotti to mean something else, i.e. a specific kind of biscuit, er… cookie. I'm finally getting used to seeing Italian words used to mean something other than what they mean in Italian, though I really don't understand why someone would pick a foreign word to mean something different from what the word means in the original language. Take "latte" for instance. Latte is Italian for milk, but in the U.S. it's a coffee beverage that includes variable amounts of milk, coffee being still the primary ingredient. Why call it "latte" when they could call it "caffelatte" or "cappuccino" or make up a word in English?

I also got myself some flower tea…

and a tea posy…

I am going to spoil myself rotten this weekend. :)

Posted by Francesca at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Sunday night I saw the finale of Battlestar Galactica and found out that I'll have to wait 2008 for the next season. Two-thousand-fricking-eight! Arrrrgghh. Finally a decent TV show and they struggle to sell each season. At least there will be a miniseries in the fall based on the starship Pegasus and set prior to the time frame where the season finale left off.

Can you tell I'm a fan? When I said "decent show" I actually meant good, fracking good. Where do you find that moral ambiguity, lack of all-American clear cut good vs. evil definition in favor of real people with real issues? Yes, the world is made up and it is sci-fi, but it's more real than anything else on TV right now, at least on US TV.

Posted by Francesca at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Well, what do you know? Someone has already made my funny gloves and he did a better job, too. I really like the pattern/yarn combination.

Posted by Francesca at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Since I started this blog, for the most part, I've been addressing comments and questions individually, but now I am wondering if it wouldn't be better to do that on the blog so that each question was answered in the same spot and available to more than just the original commenter. I just can't make up my mind. Emailing you privately has a personal touch and is also what has started a few friendships that I value. Would those friendships have developed if I always replied publicy? On the other hand, most of my visitors — in line with the overall web participation-to-readership ratio — are lurkers who see other readers' comments, but don't get to see my replies and they might be interested. Often I get the same question from several people, which is what prompted me to write that entry on where to buy Japanese books.

Whether you have a blog or not, I'd like to hear your opinion on how you like to see this issue handled. Maybe you have ideas I haven't thought of.

And now to more crafty things…

The past few nights I've been slowly working on my first quilt. For now I am still quilting and haven't started any embroidery. I have ideas, but am unsure of how to proceed.

I also finished the first of my funny gloves. Here you can see it closed…

and with the top folded back.

I worked a little too tight and I want to see if I can figure out a better way to close off the tube than what I've done here. I want it to be as closed as possible when it covers the fingers, but loose engough for when I want to fold it back. It does look a bit wierd, doesn't it? The thing is, if I want it to fold back, I have to leave the top open and if I start adding buttons and such, then I lose the immediacy I like. Ideas anyone?

Posted by Francesca at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

  The nice people at Kinokuniya's in Little Tokyo agreed to order this book without having me commit to buying it. I'd been curious about this dictionary for a while but couldn't bring myself to part with the equivalent of 10,000 yen without seeing it first. And a good thing that was indeed. When I finally got to examine a copy of the English-Japanese Knitting Dictionary, it definitely was not what I had expected. I had hoped for a dictionary that included a lot of visuals along with translations of knitting terms, and one that would be equally useful to Japanese and English speakers. As it turns out, the visuals are scarce and a lot of entries are textual explanations of words in the same language, with only part of the entries giving translations from one language to the other. When I examined the book I was a little under the whether and probably not at my most alert, but my guess is that this dictionary will be most useful to Japanese speakers who are trying to decipher knitting instructions in English and not the other way around.

Also, when I first converted the yen price to dollars, I must have made a mistake because I was expecting the book to cost $80 (already a hefty sum for one book), but the price is actually $120! Now, I would have bought it at $20; I would have thought about it twice at $30, but at $120, I really didn't have to think.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures to show you, so this is probably not a very useful review as there is always a lot of subjectivity in making this kind of judgement, but I thought I'd share all the same.

日英最新ニット用語辞典
2006/12/20
510 pages
ISBN-10: 4881220853
ISBN-13: 978-4881220856

Posted by Francesca at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

  After a series of trendy knitting books that left me unimpressed and slightly annoyed, finally a book to treasure for years to come. I put this book in the timeless category for several reasons. It provides a good overview of the various natural fibers (animal and plant) and beautiful projects to highlight each one. More than twenty projects and with such a variety that I dare you not to find something you like. They include classic styles and innovative techniques with something for everybody.

Each project provides also information about the people behind the yarns, often small companies or individual entrepreneurs who are building their businesses with environmentally friendly practices.

Beautifully designed and photographed, too.

The Natural Knitter: How to Choose, Use, and Knit Natural Fibers from Alpaca to Yak
by Barbara Albright
Potter Craft (2007)
Hardcover, 192 pages
ISBN-10: 1400053528
ISBN-13: 9781400053520

Posted by Francesca at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

  After discovering Spirit Cloth, I've been inspired to take out the fabric I bought a while back form Azabu-ya and try my hand at quilting. When I tried a few months ago I didn't get very far because I was trying to practice the quilting stitch on samples that weren't going to be anything and I really need a project to get going. So this will be my first project for both quilting and embroidering. I have some ideas for the embroidery, but first I am going to quilt enough of the fabric that I don't have to worry about messing that up while I embroider. I know that usually people embroider first, but I've already found out a couple of things about the kind of quilter I'm going to be, if this works out.
a) I don't like to use a hoop.
b) I don't care about the way things are supposed to be done as long as I like what I get.
Looking at the kind of quilting and embroidery that Jude of Spirit Cloth does, I am convinced that this is the way to go for me.

This is how far I got yesterday.

So far I quilt stitched along two lines and the stitches are very "rustic". I'm telling myself it's a feature, not a bug. :)

I like the back fabric almost as much as the front one, so I am going to try to make a reversible quilt. Funny that this morning I should see this same fabric on another blog: 100% Pura Lana.

Given the colors and motifs of the fabric, I am thinking of a marine subject for my embroidery.

Posted by Francesca at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Wednesday started off with a trip to the Honda dealer for more repairs to the old lady. Then, while my car was getting a new oil pan gasket (whatever that is), I had a couple of minor medical procedures, one of which turned out to be more substantial than anticipated. Ten external stitches and a bunch of internal ones to remove a mole from my back. The result is a row of dark blue stitches that is too long for any easily available band-aid, so protecting the wound is an exercise in creativity. Some logistic problems also with showering and tying my shoe laces plus some crabbiness 'cause I'm not reacting well to the antibiotics or getting much sleep.

On the good side of things, I have a new project on the needles. We've had temperatures in the 80s and 90s in Southern California, but I dont' let no stupid weather get in the way of my knitting. So here I bring you my new WIP: a glove. Hey, it's winter somewhere on the planet, I'm sure.

The yarn is the Habu cashmere I bought a few weeks ago, used double so I don't go crazy and also have good hopes of finishing the gloves before next winter. I've only knitted a pair of gloves before and it's been at least three years. I am using that old pair as a starting point, but I had to frog and start over three times because I couldn't figure out whether to use the yarn single or double and the best needle size for it.

I'm making things up as I go and I am thinking of not knitting the fingers but rather continue as a tube, probably like the cuff, so that I have the choice of covering the fingers or fold back the tube. Okay, that didn't come out very clear, did it? Hopefully the next pictures will show what I mean.

Posted by Francesca at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The day I got my Holz + Stein needles in the mail, I also received my latest book purchase from Amazon: The Natural Knitter. I want to spend some time actually reading this book before writing about it and posting a few photos. For now, I'll just say that it looks good, real good.

On another subject, it seems that chocolate is in the air lately as I'm seeing it pop up everywhere I go, or is it that I am tuned to chocolate and notice it more than usual? Whatever the reason, given your response to yesterday's post, some of you might enjoy this article on Ping mag: SWEETCH: Cakes with Surprises. I particularly like the key and the button-shaped cookies. Buon appetito!

Ping Mag is a Japanese "magazine about design and making things". Not to worry, it's published in both English and Japanese and its coverage is an eclectic mix of design/craft/fashion items so you'll find articles ranging from street art to Iranian typography to Japanese packaging design to quilting.

Posted by Francesca at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Chocolate lovers, rejoice! Soon we'll be eating chocolate — at least dark chocolate — per doctors' orders. And really, is any other chocolate as good? (and here my American friends will get up in arms because they do seem to have a predilection for milk chocolate).

A recent study on the Kuna people of Panama identifies their weekly consumption of 40 cups of cocoa as a possible major factor in the very low incidence of stroke, heart disease, cancer and diabetes. "The Kuna also appear to live longer than other Panama inhabitants and do not get dementia". Although "genes and other lifestyle factors also play a part", Dr. Norman Hollenberg of Harvard Medical School seems convinced that epicatechin, a flavonoid present in cocoa, is responsible. Are we to believe the good news?

Since I am no scientist, I looked around at other sources and found that even though flavonoids are ineffective as antioxidants because our bodies get rid of them quickly, the act of eliminating flavonoids from the body "… is inducing so-called Phase II enzymes that also help eliminate mutagens and carcinogens, and therefore may be of value in cancer prevention..." (quoted from the Wikipedia entry on flavonoids). For the other claims (heart disease, blood pressure, etc.), I guess we'll have to wait for more studies.

In the end, it all comes down to what we choose to believe, doesn't it? For me, the best explanation so far of why chocolate is good for you is in this delightful little book.

Chocolate: The Consuming Passion
by Sandra Boynton
108 pages
ISBN-10: 0894801996
ISBN-13: 978-0894801990
(My 1982 copy actually has a different ISBN: 0 413 51170 7)

The book profiles various chocolate lovers…

debunks many myths about chocolate…

offers facts backed by rigorous scientific research…

provides some provocative observations…

and practical tips.

If all this chocolate reading has wetted your appetite for cocoa-filled dishes, look around Mrs. Cornflower's blog; among the book reviews and flower photos, there are many food entries with chocolate as the main ingredient.

And if you are conscientious about where your chocolate comes from, these are some suppliers of organic chocolate:

Dagoba
Endangered Species
Green & Black's
Theo
Vere

There… now you can eat chocolate and feel good about it, too. Life is good.

Now, if only scientists would start conducting this kind of research on gelato.

Posted by Francesca at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

The short-row scarf is finished. The truth is, I ran out of yarn and my skein was the last one in this color when I went to Purl Soho. I know, what was I thinking? So this is the shortest short-row scarf you'll probably ever see.

I intercepted Ben on his way to the shower, still half asleep, and recruited him to take some pictures. His hands turned out to be just as unsteady as mine. He says the pics are blurry 'cuz his eyes were blurry.

Pattern: "Twist and Lace" by Brenda Patipa
Yarn: Jade Sapphire 2-ply cashmere, color Silver Pearl (I'm going by memory here so I may be wrong)
Yardage: 400 yds minus a few swatches

After I washed it, I shaped it like this to squeeze out excess water.

Then laid it to dry in a sort of spiral still in double layer because it seemed the best way to preserve the shape.

Two FOs in a week. I'm making progress. :)

Posted by Francesca at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

  Forty-three days for an Air Mail envelope to reach Los Angeles from Hamburg, but who was counting? I was already resigned to the envelope having gotten lost or stolen and then yesterday it showed up. I had been so looking forward to getting my hands on some Holz + Stein needles and now I can't wait to put them to the test. My good friend Elisabetta sent them to me. Grazie Betta!

Quarantatre giorni per una lettera via aerea da Amburgo a Los Angeles, ma chi ci teneva dietro? Mi ero già rassegnata che la busta fosse andata persa o sgraffignata, ma ieri è finalmente arrivata. Ero proprio impaziente di ricevere i ferri della Holz + Stein e non vedo l'ora di provarli. Me li ha mandati la mia amica Elisabetta. Grazie Betta!

Theresa had warned me about mail from Germany taking 4-5 weeks when she had a secret pal in Hamburg. There seems to be a postal black hole in the area. Maybe the Germans have beaten the Swiss to building a super collider, you know… one of those atom smashers where physicists in white lab coats try to create super-tiny black holes? The one in Switzerland should be operational in November, but who knows? Maybe they are not the first.

Theresa mi aveva avvisato che la posta dalla Germania ci mette 4-5 settimane quando aveva una secret pal proprio ad Amburgo. Pare che ci sia un buco nero postale nella zona. Forse i tedeschi hanno battuto gli svizzeri alla costruzione di un super collider, uno di quegli schiaccia-atomi dove i fisici cercano di creare buchi neri di dimensioni infinitesimali. Quello in Svizzera dovrebbe entrare in funzione in Novembre, ma forse non è il solo.

But back to my needles (insert happy dance here), they are very light and smooth and the joints also feel good. I really need to test them. Last night I was tempted but decided to finish my little short-row scarf first, since I was very close. Pictures later today or tomorrow.

Ma tornando ai miei ferri (due tre salti di gioia), sono molto leggeri e lisci e anche le giunture sembrano ben fatte. Devo metterli alla prova. Ieri sera sono stata tentata, ma ho deciso di finire la sciarpina di cashmere con le frappe dal momento che ero molto vicina alla fine. Foto più tardi o domani.

In the meantime, some pics of the Holz und Stein circulars, two in rosewood and one in ebony, in sizes 2.75mm, 3mm and 3.25mm.

Nel frattempo, qualche foto dei ferri, due in rosewood e uno in ebano, misure 2.75mm, 3mm and 3.25mm.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Buon fine settimana a tutti.

Posted by Francesca at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

  If you liked Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols, you may enjoy another book from the same publisher — Hand Knitting Techniques Book.

新 棒針あみ―よくわかるセーター作りの基礎
Hand Knitting Techniques Book
Paperback, 82 pages
Language: Japanese
ISBN-10: 4529029271
ISBN-13: 9784529029278

More info at LibraryThing.

While the previous book covered individual knitting stitches, this one explains various techniques such as a casting on and off, working with DPNs, short rows, intarsia, cables, selvedges, shaping, grafting, and finishing. The book starts off with a spread illustrating the necessary tools then the rest is all about the techniques, illustrated in the same style and with the same clarity of the other books in the series.

Posted by Francesca at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

  Blind fold me, and I'll tell qiviut from cashmere. I didn't think it possible, but I lost my innocence after Joanne generously sent me several yards of laceweight kiviut yarn left over from a finished project. Thank you, Joanne!

For those of you who haven't heard of it (is that really possible?), qiviut is the down fiber of the muskox, an arctic mammal with long curved horns that makes its home in Canada, Greenland and Alaska. Despite its name and looks — it rather makes you think of a paleolithic buffalo — it's genetically closer to goats than bovines. The down fiber that covers muskoxen's bellies is softer and warmer than cashmere. How's that for an endorsement?

Qiviut (a.k.a. qiviuk) is the white truffle of the fiber world and knitters and spinners have been known to go to great lengths to get their hands on a few precious ounces. A friend of mine (no names shall be named, to protect the innocent muscox) managed to spin and knit a whole frikkin' sweater from qiviut fiber harvested by a zoo keeper. I can only surmise the kind of favors that were exchanged in the process. I'm thinking of an old Guccini song that goes like this: Siamo qui che giochiamo alla merla, oilì oilà. For you non-Italians, think that scene in Victor Victoria where Julie Andrews is about to trade her virtue for a plate of meatballs. 'Nuff said. ;)

My qiviut goodness arrived in the mail last night and after dinner I started swatching with 2.75mm needles (US #2). First, I made a swatch with a simple lace pattern, then one in stockinette stitch. I probably should have gone one size up for the lace and one size down for the stockinette. Regardless, the results are exciting. This yarn is flufflier than Jade Sapphire 2-ply cashmere which, in turn, is fluffier than Habu 2-ply cashmere. After washing, it blooms even more and I tried to show the soft halo in the photo, but coudn't really show the swatches at their best. The halo is why I think I could have gone up one or more needle sizes for the lace swatch, since it sort of fills up the holes in the lace. I am amazed at how airy and light these swatches are. If only I could have taken better pictures. I took several, but between the color of the yarn and the lighting conditions, none of them turned out decent. You'll just have to trust me on this. This particular color is called Endless Twilight, but you can see the same yarn in many more colors on Joanne's website: JConklinDesigns. Keep in mind that the yarn is darker than the pictures on the website, at least this color.

I think this yarn would be a fantastic match for the large shawl on page 22 of Victorian Lace Today. For patterns that benefit from more stitch definition, I would go with a yarn with less bloom.

For now, I'll just dream of making this shawl. The pattern calls for 1280 yds and the qiviut ball is 218 yds/$70. But then, this is an especially large shawl and you could use the same pattern for a smaller item. And besides, you don't eat white truffles every day, do you?

Posted by Francesca at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

   Preserving the ordinary is perhaps not high on most people's priority list. Collecting antiques or even the barely old is one thing; cherishing the normal objects of everyday life beyond their expected life span and a certain respectability of appearance is another. This book has reminded me of bygone days, when I was a little girl growing up in a convent. In summer, I was the only girl left in the nuns' care and I would spend my days roaming around on a tricycle and sharing the nuns' activities.

Every afternoon they would spend a couple of hours sitting in the shade of trees, embroidering, mending, and chatting. I can still see them patiently darning modest pieces of cloth, often working on their "soggoli" (guimpes), a part of their habits that covered the neck. White as snow and perfectly pleated with a parting halfway that changed the direction of the pleats; a feat of sewing and ironing mastery.

Now, when something is old and abused, we throw it out without a second thought. Or so I've been doing.

While my language inadequacies prevent me from understanding even the book introduction, I sense that behind this Darning Notebook is a true appreciation for preserving beloved objects by either maintaining them or repurposing them so that some of their qualities can exist in different form. The book is clearly aimed at the Japanese public with no concessions to the "Japanese Craft Book club" of overseas. Entirely in Japanese — not even the usual English chapter headings — and to be opened from right to left and read vertically, as is customary in traditional publications. The projects include a few items you could fit in the cute category, but the overall feel is not one of cuteness. The aesthetics of wabi-sabi — the beauty of imperfection — are at work here, but taken to a certain extreme and out of the understated domain. Some of the pieces seem closer to fine art than clothing.

After the photographic section, are a few pages of instructions, mostly the basics of darning. Some projects involve cutting and sewing pieces together to shape new items of clothing, but they are meant to be inspirational and no specific instructions are provided to replicate the objects.

繕いノート
Darning Notebook
by 勝屋 まゆみ
Published 2007/01
87 pages
ISBN-10 4579111273
ISBN-13 9784579111275

Posted by Francesca at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ready to wear. Thank you for suggesting the right word; why didn't I think of stole?

To recap:

Pattern: from the book Victorian Lace Today, page 52-54.

Yarn: 2-ply cashmere from Habu Textile, more precisely item #A-34, 2/26 cashmere, color #1210.

Needles: 2mm (US #0)

Yardage: I used four balls, with only very little left over. Each ball is 182 yards (163 meters)/0.5 oz. (14 gm) so, to answer Jared's question, I used about 700 yards or 650 meters. The book calls for 1200 yards on 4mm (US #6) needles.

Manufacturer's care recommendations: dry clean or hand wash. Yeah, right… I'm taking this to the cleaners. Ha ha ha!

Posted by Francesca at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

Finally. Border grafted, threads darned in, scarf/shawl washed and blocked. Okay, I didn't do a great job at blocking, so shoot me. I don't care. I'm happy. The pins wouldn't really stay in place without a rigid board underneath and I couldn't find a straight edge and I was too impatient so the edges are not perfectly straight or perpendicular to each other and the little points are not equidistant, blah blah blah…
Those of you who are under the misguided impression that I am perfectionist, please, revise your mental image of me and file under a different label.

I can't wait for the scarf to be dry. BTW, I dont' know what to call this thing: scarf, shawl? Suggestions? It's too small for a shawl but the ratio between width and length doesn't make it look like a scarf. It's a ULT (unnamed lacey thingy).

Posted by Francesca at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Before and during my grad school days, I used to read a lot. Then, the strain of keeping up a three-year full-time graduate program while working full-time, commuting, sustaining a relationship, keeping a cat and a menagerie of fish and corals in my reef tank alive, and generally trying to have a life, took its toll. My reading habits took a drastic turn from actual reading to browsing, leafing through, consulting and plain just looking at pictures. I haven't read a book cover to cover in about five years.

Two days ago something happened to break the dry spell — I am not sure what — and I started reading again. I am now at page 130 of Dreaming in Code with two other books already lined up: The Wisdom of Crowds and Maps of The Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer. Dreaming in Code, albeit disheartening in its almost fatalistic assessment, is an easy and entertaining read on why it's so hard to build software. Reading it is reacquanting me with concepts and acronyms I had pushed to the back of my mind, and showing me new ones. I feel the old enthusiasm for geek pursuits coming back.

Despite having completed all the class requirements, I never finished my thesis project or got my Masters in Media Studies. The whole experience left me with a bitter taste, a lack of sufferance for the politics and bullshit of academia, and a bad case of information fatigue that caused my regression to picture books. Oh well… it's all in the past now, and I never regretted getting out without the piece of paper.

This weekend will be all about relaxing, some house chores and hopefully finishing the yellow scarf which only needs a little bit of grafting at the border and then blocking. Since I finished the border, I've been knitting the other scarf, the one with short rows. It's growing slowly and I may not have enough yarn after all, but It's relaxed knitting as I memorized the pattern.

Posted by Francesca at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)