Hubris
Let's start things off on a positive note. I finished the Rainbow Sampler Bag for the Beaded Knitting Club Knitalong:
I knit it exactly as written in the pattern except I chose to use the other side for the flap and joined one row later than the pattern calls for. I used a button that looks like a knot on the flap rather than the faux button with beads that the kit comes with. I had a great time going through my buttons to find one - I forgot how many cool buttons I have.
Renee's Reviews
Friday I had to tour a facility for possible placement of a client. We met with the staff and took about half a day. Afterwards, Jackie and I went to Origami in Ridgedale for a late lunch. I felt like the downtown location had the best sushi in town, but this one was good, but not the best. The sushi we had at Fuji-Ya a couple of weeks ago was far superior. I don't know if it is just the different location or if Origami has just slipped a bit. My favorite of all now, though, is Nami. The dinner combination with sushi and teriyaki chicken is my favorite!
Since it was so late in the day, we decided not to head back to our offices, so we got a coffee at Caribou and chatted some more about our cases. Since I was in the western suburbs, I decided to head over to the Edina and check out this Academy Award winner:
Wow. So good. This movie was incredibly depressing, but uplifting at times as well. It's about this photographer who goes to Calcutta's red light district to photograph the prostitutes. She immediately makes a connection with some of the children living there and starts a photography class for them. She lives there most of the time for 2 years and starts trying to find boarding schools where the children can live and get a good education and hopefully escape "the line" - prostitution. The photographs the children take are incredible. You get just a glimpse of what their lives are like and it's heartbreaking. I highly recommend seeing it. This will move into my Top Ten List for 2004.
Beading
Again, since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to check out the western version of The Bead Monkey. I know, I'm supposed to be saving my money for the trip to Maryland. However, I hadn't been to this store since they moved into their nice, big space and I did have a "Maria's Cuff" planned for a birthday present for my friend Alissa. The store is very nice and includes a lot of non-beading stuff - a gift shop. I did very well and didn't spend very much. Of course, I had already purchased most of the beads I needed for this project. I decided to finally make it when I got home:
As I was getting this ready for photography, I noticed that I wrapped one of the strands in the opposite direction as the other two. Damn! That's why it was looking so weird. I think I'll try cutting off just that one strand of wire and trying to re-wrap it and see how it looks. I'm also going to put a few charms and drops off the jump rings on the ends, but it was really late by the time I finished wrapping it. I really struggled with this - I kept pushing the beads down so they weren't centered. As you can see, my wire wrapping leads much to be desired. This project was humbling - hubris part 1.
Girl Culture
On Saturday I went with some friends to see the "Girl Culture" photography exhibit at the Minnesota Center for Photography. Like "Born into Brothels", it was really depressing and very powerful. So many of the photos and stories left such an impression on me - like the 6 year old girl shopping where Britney Spears shops and wishing she was a teenager. Or the 15 year old girl who is shaving her arms because she doesn't want any hair anywhere on her body - except the false eyelashes she puts on every morning. Or the three very slim girls at "fat camp" who are the cool girls because they are the thinnest. Check out more of the photographer, Lauren Greenfield's, work. Afterwards we went out for a nice cup of coffee and some chatting and another customer told us about a gallery nearby that had a showing in the same theme. The Frank Stone Gallery show was called "Young Voices: photographs of/by girls/teens/women." There was a really cool series of portraits of girls with words about their hopes and fears handwritten around them. Another cool show and highly recommended.
Knitting
I've also been working on Mariah:
Those who pay close attention to this blog may notice that the sleeve is shorter than it was in my last post. The designer of Mariah, Jodi Green, let me know in the nicest, most gentle way possible that I had failed to cross the cable at the bottom of the first knot. She was even nice enough to suggest that I could just leave it that way and make it a design element, because I'd done the same thing on the start of the second knot. No, I wanted it to look like it looks in the pattern - much better. That cross is a 5 stitch cross with most maneuvering of stitches, so I figured I must have done it incorrectly without a cable needle.
So, I ripped down and fixed the cross, using a cable needle to make that cross. I spent a good part of yesterday knitting away. I got up to the second knot and realized it wasn't crossing again. So I ripped down and did those rows again. Still no cross. Finally figured out the problem. Jodi emailed me that it looked like I was having a problem with Row 13. No, it couldn't be row 13 because that cross isn't on Row 13. So I started from Row 25. Yeah, well, I'm a moron. Note to self: when the designer of a pattern gives you information, listen to it. She's much more familiar with the pattern because SHE DESIGNED IT, plus, she's obviously extremely talented and knows her stuff. Turns out, I messed up the chart. Here's how I do cable charts:
I color code each cable so i can just glance down and say, "oh, now I need a blue cable" and not have to figure out the symbols or read the directions because my mind integrates the color and the motion better. Well, the chart didn't print out very well on my printer and I thought the middle of row 13 was a blue cable followed by 2 knits, not the 5 stitch pink cable. So, I really was doing row 13 wrong and I had made the first knot with only 2 middle crosses instead of the required 3. Ok, rip again. That explains why I had so much yarn "left over" when I thought I was back where I had started when I ripped the first time. Hubris #2. Maybe I should stay away from cabled project in bright pink yarn - they seem to be cursed for me.
Speaking of bright pink, it seems the Quechua looks pink on my blog, but it's actually a true red color. I was going to try to steal the swatch from elann, but they're out of this color already. Those who REALLY pay attention may notice that I took photos outside today - it's a gorgeous, sunny day. I could try to photograph the Quechua outside and get a true color, but I think I'm just going to go enjoy the day! The dogs agree and would like to take a walk:
I knit it exactly as written in the pattern except I chose to use the other side for the flap and joined one row later than the pattern calls for. I used a button that looks like a knot on the flap rather than the faux button with beads that the kit comes with. I had a great time going through my buttons to find one - I forgot how many cool buttons I have.
Renee's Reviews
Friday I had to tour a facility for possible placement of a client. We met with the staff and took about half a day. Afterwards, Jackie and I went to Origami in Ridgedale for a late lunch. I felt like the downtown location had the best sushi in town, but this one was good, but not the best. The sushi we had at Fuji-Ya a couple of weeks ago was far superior. I don't know if it is just the different location or if Origami has just slipped a bit. My favorite of all now, though, is Nami. The dinner combination with sushi and teriyaki chicken is my favorite!
Since it was so late in the day, we decided not to head back to our offices, so we got a coffee at Caribou and chatted some more about our cases. Since I was in the western suburbs, I decided to head over to the Edina and check out this Academy Award winner:
Wow. So good. This movie was incredibly depressing, but uplifting at times as well. It's about this photographer who goes to Calcutta's red light district to photograph the prostitutes. She immediately makes a connection with some of the children living there and starts a photography class for them. She lives there most of the time for 2 years and starts trying to find boarding schools where the children can live and get a good education and hopefully escape "the line" - prostitution. The photographs the children take are incredible. You get just a glimpse of what their lives are like and it's heartbreaking. I highly recommend seeing it. This will move into my Top Ten List for 2004.
Beading
Again, since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to check out the western version of The Bead Monkey. I know, I'm supposed to be saving my money for the trip to Maryland. However, I hadn't been to this store since they moved into their nice, big space and I did have a "Maria's Cuff" planned for a birthday present for my friend Alissa. The store is very nice and includes a lot of non-beading stuff - a gift shop. I did very well and didn't spend very much. Of course, I had already purchased most of the beads I needed for this project. I decided to finally make it when I got home:
As I was getting this ready for photography, I noticed that I wrapped one of the strands in the opposite direction as the other two. Damn! That's why it was looking so weird. I think I'll try cutting off just that one strand of wire and trying to re-wrap it and see how it looks. I'm also going to put a few charms and drops off the jump rings on the ends, but it was really late by the time I finished wrapping it. I really struggled with this - I kept pushing the beads down so they weren't centered. As you can see, my wire wrapping leads much to be desired. This project was humbling - hubris part 1.
Girl Culture
On Saturday I went with some friends to see the "Girl Culture" photography exhibit at the Minnesota Center for Photography. Like "Born into Brothels", it was really depressing and very powerful. So many of the photos and stories left such an impression on me - like the 6 year old girl shopping where Britney Spears shops and wishing she was a teenager. Or the 15 year old girl who is shaving her arms because she doesn't want any hair anywhere on her body - except the false eyelashes she puts on every morning. Or the three very slim girls at "fat camp" who are the cool girls because they are the thinnest. Check out more of the photographer, Lauren Greenfield's, work. Afterwards we went out for a nice cup of coffee and some chatting and another customer told us about a gallery nearby that had a showing in the same theme. The Frank Stone Gallery show was called "Young Voices: photographs of/by girls/teens/women." There was a really cool series of portraits of girls with words about their hopes and fears handwritten around them. Another cool show and highly recommended.
Knitting
I've also been working on Mariah:
Those who pay close attention to this blog may notice that the sleeve is shorter than it was in my last post. The designer of Mariah, Jodi Green, let me know in the nicest, most gentle way possible that I had failed to cross the cable at the bottom of the first knot. She was even nice enough to suggest that I could just leave it that way and make it a design element, because I'd done the same thing on the start of the second knot. No, I wanted it to look like it looks in the pattern - much better. That cross is a 5 stitch cross with most maneuvering of stitches, so I figured I must have done it incorrectly without a cable needle.
So, I ripped down and fixed the cross, using a cable needle to make that cross. I spent a good part of yesterday knitting away. I got up to the second knot and realized it wasn't crossing again. So I ripped down and did those rows again. Still no cross. Finally figured out the problem. Jodi emailed me that it looked like I was having a problem with Row 13. No, it couldn't be row 13 because that cross isn't on Row 13. So I started from Row 25. Yeah, well, I'm a moron. Note to self: when the designer of a pattern gives you information, listen to it. She's much more familiar with the pattern because SHE DESIGNED IT, plus, she's obviously extremely talented and knows her stuff. Turns out, I messed up the chart. Here's how I do cable charts:
I color code each cable so i can just glance down and say, "oh, now I need a blue cable" and not have to figure out the symbols or read the directions because my mind integrates the color and the motion better. Well, the chart didn't print out very well on my printer and I thought the middle of row 13 was a blue cable followed by 2 knits, not the 5 stitch pink cable. So, I really was doing row 13 wrong and I had made the first knot with only 2 middle crosses instead of the required 3. Ok, rip again. That explains why I had so much yarn "left over" when I thought I was back where I had started when I ripped the first time. Hubris #2. Maybe I should stay away from cabled project in bright pink yarn - they seem to be cursed for me.
Speaking of bright pink, it seems the Quechua looks pink on my blog, but it's actually a true red color. I was going to try to steal the swatch from elann, but they're out of this color already. Those who REALLY pay attention may notice that I took photos outside today - it's a gorgeous, sunny day. I could try to photograph the Quechua outside and get a true color, but I think I'm just going to go enjoy the day! The dogs agree and would like to take a walk:
rdladd@arnan.com
