Shangri-la is in your mind...

Next year the Olympics will be in China which is a huge deal for the Chinese government and people. Having been cut off for so long from the rest of the world, ordinary people are hoping that the huge influx of people from others countries will highlight their struggles with a totalitarian government, which the Chinese government still is for all intents and purposes as well as showcase all that is wonderful about China, the Chinese people and Chinese culture. The government is making every effort to show the best side of their country to show that they have everything to be proud of and to prove they are not a second-rate country but a strong, proud nation.

In their effort to make their country accessible to the enormous number of visitors, they have faced a few stumbling blocks. One is how they have tried to make all their signs and posters read in multiple languages but largely in Chinese and English. Taxi drivers have even been made to learn at least basic English so they can best serve the travelers. All very noble efforts towards the goal. Unfortunately, not all of it has turned out as they would have wished. Especially at issue are the signs like this one(which is my favorite of the ones I’ve seen).

(Click to see a larger image)

The government has now had to draft in Western retired businessmen to work with them on cleaning up the signs which, unfortunately will do exactly the opposite of what they’ve wished. I’m afraid most people will overlook the great effort which has gone into making Beijing accessible to them and will end up mocking their efforts.

I just want to know…where IS my buffalo?!

Progressing...

Here's the progress on my Danish sweater....

It's finally starting to look like something!

Long Weekend

I love long weekends. About all I did was sleep and knit. I got through the first motif on my Danish sweater which feels like a huge thing. The thing is, I had to make a little adjustment because I couldn’t face starting all over. Seems it was coming out a little larger than I had intended – due partly to my maths, I think, but also due to the fact that it’s a 16-stitch repeat and if your measurements fall in the middle of the repeat you either have to round up or down. I rounded up and I really could have done with rounding down. So I’ve made an adjustment that I think will work but I’m not going to admit to it until I see if it works. So far it’s okay and I’m going to blindly continue.

I finished my self-designed Victorian bag so I only lack sewing in the lining. I did a lining but the material was a little heavy so I’m going to change it out. I’m pleased with how it came out. A weird thing happened with the beads and thread at the beginning of the piece. It’s knit from the top of one side, increasing beads as you go down and then worked back up the other side. On the top section of the beginning, somehow the beads seemed to bleed onto the cotton. I’ve never had that happen before so don’t know really what happened and it didn’t happen on the rest of the work. Giving it a good soak in soapy water seems to have gotten most of the color out of the cotton, although if you look closely you can still see it. I originally did a powder blue lining but think I’m going to go back to white.

I’ve got an idea for a smaller coin purse that I need to work on this week. Since this came off the needle last week, I now need to get something else started. I have some lovely cobalt blue beads that I’ve been wanting to do a full-size purse with and I think I’m going to do one of the patterns out of the Lacis reprint of 2 1920’s beaded bag instruction books. I started it this morning but it may take a while! I’m working it with a cobalt blue crochet perlé cotton size 8 thread and size 0000 needles. Like I said, it may take a while! Actually it’s just awkward right now because I started it with 8 stitches over 4 size 0000 double pointed needles. Anything that small is awkward at first but once I get some distance on it, it should go pretty quickly. I love the tone on tone effect so far.

I was also able to make great strides in my Fisherman’s Sweater. I’m testing the pattern I wrote to make sure I haven’t put in something too stupid (of course, I did so the exercise is worth it!). I’ve finished the front and back, which were the pieces with the cable stitch up the raglan shaping and am now about halfway through the first sleeve. I should be able to finish that tonight and maybe by the weekend I can do the collar section which is the part I most need to test on the pattern. It’s been quite interesting now that I’m getting more patterns written and ready for others to work on the discipline of getting the patterns right. I’m also going to work on some assorted sizes for this sweater, too, to add to the flexibility. I need to learn much more about that side of things and this will be a good chance to work things out. After all, other than the fact that it’s got a ‘fancy’ stitch, it’s a pretty basic sort of pattern.

Once I get the pattern worked out, it will be available for our Guild members but I’m also going to work out a way to get patterns out there for others to use. I’m still working on how I want to do that.

I was also very excited to get an email from a student in my recent sock class with a photo attached of her first completed sock (using my pattern, no less!). That’s the real pay-off, isn’t it, passing on the knitting bug!!