Showing posts with label Coco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coco. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Don't bother, they're here...
CoCo
Hmm... I'm not sure. I think I like Dame Coco. I wasn't sure that the yarn combo would work and I'm trying to ignore the mistakes I made, but I think I like her... I like her more than I did when I took the last photos of her, that's for sure. She has been on her very best behaviour and the last 4 repeats or so passed in a haze of perfection. (The chocolate offerings appeased the Cable Deities, it seems.) It's amazing what differences nice lighting, suitable accessories and proper finishing touches make, though. The trellis cabling was, in the end, rather exhilarating to do, (AFTER my many mistakes already documented in detail...) and although the effect isn't *quite* the same as the original design by Janine le Cras, who has a divine royal purple bag as her prototype, my version hopefully won't make the recipient want to hurl...!
The needles aren't empty, though. Brigid II number 2 is off and running (my GAWD - I've managed to escape SSS again!!) and there's a few bits and bobs I'm toying with. I'm also still working on Aoife, which is a bolero jacket with loads of cable detail (mmm - cables) and is slowly coming on - it's my first item of apparel that I've started, so I have no idea how long it will take.
I was hoping that maybe I'd have it done to wear for my next concerts in May, but I don't think that's going to happen. I have the most amazing dress that I am sure it will go amazingly with, but unless I'm knitting 24/7 for the next 2 weeks, I suspect it will have to wait... Here's the dress, by the way, although you have to imagine it *somewhat* wider! I loves it, I do! Think it's diva enough for a Mahler orchestral song-cycle?! I can't wait for that at all - 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' which roughly translates as 'Songs of a Wayfarer'... ish! (Yeah, yeah - I know - it's a mezzo song cycle, but who really thinks writing pianissimo top g-sharps is being kind to the lower voice?!) It's my first foray out of baroque and classical music (by classical I mean the music of the classical era - roughly 1750 to 1820) for a LONG time and that in itself is a little scary, but I guess you have to go where your instrument dictates, and my voice is getting bigger now, although I never sounded like a boy soprano even in my teeniest-of-voiced days... One day I'll tell you about some of the *interesting* things I've been told/taught and advised...
And I changed my major from piano to singing 'cos I thought singing was an easier option! Hah, and yay, verily I say unto thee - HAH!
The needles aren't empty, though. Brigid II number 2 is off and running (my GAWD - I've managed to escape SSS again!!) and there's a few bits and bobs I'm toying with. I'm also still working on Aoife, which is a bolero jacket with loads of cable detail (mmm - cables) and is slowly coming on - it's my first item of apparel that I've started, so I have no idea how long it will take.
I was hoping that maybe I'd have it done to wear for my next concerts in May, but I don't think that's going to happen. I have the most amazing dress that I am sure it will go amazingly with, but unless I'm knitting 24/7 for the next 2 weeks, I suspect it will have to wait... Here's the dress, by the way, although you have to imagine it *somewhat* wider! I loves it, I do! Think it's diva enough for a Mahler orchestral song-cycle?! I can't wait for that at all - 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' which roughly translates as 'Songs of a Wayfarer'... ish! (Yeah, yeah - I know - it's a mezzo song cycle, but who really thinks writing pianissimo top g-sharps is being kind to the lower voice?!) It's my first foray out of baroque and classical music (by classical I mean the music of the classical era - roughly 1750 to 1820) for a LONG time and that in itself is a little scary, but I guess you have to go where your instrument dictates, and my voice is getting bigger now, although I never sounded like a boy soprano even in my teeniest-of-voiced days... One day I'll tell you about some of the *interesting* things I've been told/taught and advised...And I changed my major from piano to singing 'cos I thought singing was an easier option! Hah, and yay, verily I say unto thee - HAH!
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Horloges.
Clocks. I like clocks. I'm a fan of clocks. I have 8 or so dotted around at home, not including the ones I still have packed somewhere... None, though, like this effort which can be found in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. (The museum itself is a converted train station.) Now there's a clock-lovers paradise... You can also find this there:
You can just about make out the silhouettes of people
walking on the framework behind the clock.
You also get the opportunity to see one of the massive clocks from the other side, as it were.
My sister is the silhouette on the right, taking photos through the clock hands! I took my own from the same spot:
You can see Montmartre right at the back and the Big Wheel at the Place de la Concorde, next to the big hand. (Now that was very weird to type - it felt like I was presenting a children's programme for a second!! "And when the big hand points down, it's...")
Hmm, and talking of children's programmes... (Here comes a clumsy link...)
Well, the need for a child's/idiot's guide to cabling is as strong as ever... I'm muddling through the Coco bag - trellis cabling all the way. (I must add that it's a gorgeous pattern - 'tis merely mine own self that's messing it up!) I gave a *brief* description of my 1st pattern repeat fumbles in an earlier post. After 3 repeats I discovered that there were errata to the pattern that I should have read. D'oh! It certainly made sense as to why the Cable Faeries were regarding me with such disdain. Then I only did 4 rows of the pattern repeat when I thought I have done all 8 and started the repeat again... Some more repeats in, I discovered that there was a T4B or a T4F or some such equation that had a 'K2 from needle, then P2 from the cable' around the wrong way on the pattern itself. Or something along those lines... The knitting is in the living room and I'm in the computer room and I can't be arsed to go and check. Of course, after I figured that last bit out, I was feeling very pleased with myself and promptly made a hold back instead of hold forward mistake. Across a WHOLE row.
*smacks self on forehead*
Am I feeling stupid enough to post a picture? Damn right I am... as a warning to others.
You can just about make out the silhouettes of people
walking on the framework behind the clock.
which turns into this when you get closer (or use a telephoto lens!):
You also get the opportunity to see one of the massive clocks from the other side, as it were.
My sister is the silhouette on the right, taking photos through the clock hands! I took my own from the same spot:
You can see Montmartre right at the back and the Big Wheel at the Place de la Concorde, next to the big hand. (Now that was very weird to type - it felt like I was presenting a children's programme for a second!! "And when the big hand points down, it's...")
Hmm, and talking of children's programmes... (Here comes a clumsy link...)
Well, the need for a child's/idiot's guide to cabling is as strong as ever... I'm muddling through the Coco bag - trellis cabling all the way. (I must add that it's a gorgeous pattern - 'tis merely mine own self that's messing it up!) I gave a *brief* description of my 1st pattern repeat fumbles in an earlier post. After 3 repeats I discovered that there were errata to the pattern that I should have read. D'oh! It certainly made sense as to why the Cable Faeries were regarding me with such disdain. Then I only did 4 rows of the pattern repeat when I thought I have done all 8 and started the repeat again... Some more repeats in, I discovered that there was a T4B or a T4F or some such equation that had a 'K2 from needle, then P2 from the cable' around the wrong way on the pattern itself. Or something along those lines... The knitting is in the living room and I'm in the computer room and I can't be arsed to go and check. Of course, after I figured that last bit out, I was feeling very pleased with myself and promptly made a hold back instead of hold forward mistake. Across a WHOLE row.
*smacks self on forehead*
Am I feeling stupid enough to post a picture? Damn right I am... as a warning to others.
CABLE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Good Gordon Highlanders. I mean REALLY! There was I thinking that I could make the most divine little cable bag, called 'Coco', for my Mum. *slaps self on forehead* I have the yarn, I have the needles, I have the cable needles (hah - I iz prepared!), I have the pattern, I have time to do it. Sadly, I don't seem to possess the skill. Jeez. Miss Coco has been playing merry hell with my patience, something that is not usually disturbed by much, but those cables are enough to make a saint blaspheme, and believe me, here the air has been BLUE, BLUE, BLUE! Madame Coco is refusing to behave.
Cast on 56 stitches. Check. Do the preparation row. Check. Do the first cable row. Check. Count the stitches on the next row of knits and purls. Check.... Whoa - 55 stitches. Okay, I can make that up - it's only the 2nd row, right? Okay, and continue: 2nd cable row. Check. Row of k and p. Check. Oh bugger that for a game of soldiers. 54 stitches. FROG.
And repeat. And repeat. Oh yes, and repeat...
I did manage to get to row 7 once in the session, though. I felt mighty proud until I counted the stitches and found there were 58. This was around attempt 8, I think. Duchess Coco was thrown down in disgust. Picked up again, frogged and then thrown down again in disgust. Well, the needles were, as there wasn't any knitting left to chuck.
But, that was last night. This afternoon I completed one whole (yes indeedy, ladies and gentlemen, one WHOLE) repeat. Eight entire rows. No extra stitches. No dropped stitches. 'Twas indeed a miracle. Or someone came in during the morning and did it for me while I was out picking up my new passport from the post office*. Either way, this evening there sits one demurely subservient cable repeat. Meek and chic Miss Coco is back. Although I'm now too frightened to try any more, like I'm somehow tempting the Fates of Wool to begin their capers anew.
But silver linings appear in the most hopeless of situations and at least I learned some things... Firstly, 1 o'clock in the morning is NO time to knit anything more complicated than a 1x1 rib. Percy's strap can testify to that. Secondly, it really helps to keep the yarn out of the way when slipping the stitches on and off the cable needle. Man, that took a while to sort out! A kitten in a basket of loose wool creates less anarchy. Thirdly, cables are possible for the uninitiated, you just have to add a generous handful of calm, a sprinkling of understanding, a splash of daylight and a bucket load of humour.
*As for the passport. Gads - that was a worry. Don't get me wrong - I'm perfectly eligible for a passport - no girl-on-run, me! No, but this was the first time I've had to re-new it, and seeing as I am in France, I had to go on a bit on a run-a-round to see how I could get it done. Actually, it's quite easy. Fill in the forms, get a French bankers cheque (but my GAWD - how much?!!), a SAE and send all including the old passport to the British Embassy. Actually, it's supposed to be quite easy, but as I'm completely crap at anything that involves paper, money or common sense, I was expecting to have to cancel gigs outside this fair country when my new passport failed to appear. "Ahm zorry, mademoiselle, bit you mist 'ave zent eet to ze wrong addrezz. Eet ees not 'ere." Etc, etc. Being passport-less was a strange and rather disembodying experience, but it is now safely nestled in my bag. I feel legitimate again!
And now I'm going off to do some more 1x1 rib on Percy's strap. I'm actually looking forward to some banality. Funny how things change!
Cast on 56 stitches. Check. Do the preparation row. Check. Do the first cable row. Check. Count the stitches on the next row of knits and purls. Check.... Whoa - 55 stitches. Okay, I can make that up - it's only the 2nd row, right? Okay, and continue: 2nd cable row. Check. Row of k and p. Check. Oh bugger that for a game of soldiers. 54 stitches. FROG.
And repeat. And repeat. Oh yes, and repeat...
I did manage to get to row 7 once in the session, though. I felt mighty proud until I counted the stitches and found there were 58. This was around attempt 8, I think. Duchess Coco was thrown down in disgust. Picked up again, frogged and then thrown down again in disgust. Well, the needles were, as there wasn't any knitting left to chuck.
But, that was last night. This afternoon I completed one whole (yes indeedy, ladies and gentlemen, one WHOLE) repeat. Eight entire rows. No extra stitches. No dropped stitches. 'Twas indeed a miracle. Or someone came in during the morning and did it for me while I was out picking up my new passport from the post office*. Either way, this evening there sits one demurely subservient cable repeat. Meek and chic Miss Coco is back. Although I'm now too frightened to try any more, like I'm somehow tempting the Fates of Wool to begin their capers anew.
But silver linings appear in the most hopeless of situations and at least I learned some things... Firstly, 1 o'clock in the morning is NO time to knit anything more complicated than a 1x1 rib. Percy's strap can testify to that. Secondly, it really helps to keep the yarn out of the way when slipping the stitches on and off the cable needle. Man, that took a while to sort out! A kitten in a basket of loose wool creates less anarchy. Thirdly, cables are possible for the uninitiated, you just have to add a generous handful of calm, a sprinkling of understanding, a splash of daylight and a bucket load of humour.
*As for the passport. Gads - that was a worry. Don't get me wrong - I'm perfectly eligible for a passport - no girl-on-run, me! No, but this was the first time I've had to re-new it, and seeing as I am in France, I had to go on a bit on a run-a-round to see how I could get it done. Actually, it's quite easy. Fill in the forms, get a French bankers cheque (but my GAWD - how much?!!), a SAE and send all including the old passport to the British Embassy. Actually, it's supposed to be quite easy, but as I'm completely crap at anything that involves paper, money or common sense, I was expecting to have to cancel gigs outside this fair country when my new passport failed to appear. "Ahm zorry, mademoiselle, bit you mist 'ave zent eet to ze wrong addrezz. Eet ees not 'ere." Etc, etc. Being passport-less was a strange and rather disembodying experience, but it is now safely nestled in my bag. I feel legitimate again!
And now I'm going off to do some more 1x1 rib on Percy's strap. I'm actually looking forward to some banality. Funny how things change!
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