herringbone pullover

I finally had some time today to take some photos of the finished pullover. The fit is perfect, and the only minor change I made was to add one more decrease (and increase) to the waist shaping. It was my first time knitting with Cascade 220, a very popular yarn among the knitting community, and so far I'm quite pleased with it. Let's see how it holds up after I've used it a few times.

Pattern: Hollywood herringbone pullover, by Kate Gagnon Osborn (from Knitscene Fall 2009)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers (3.5 skeins of grey and 0.5 skein of brown)
Needles: 5 mm
Size: 34

More details on the Ravelry project page

wip :: icelandic star

The herringbone pullover is blocked but I still need to sew the buttons on, maybe this weekend I'll be able to take some photos to share. I have to say it's looking so much better now, I'm always marveled at how much a good blocking can accomplish.

And I started a new project, another pattern I had on my queue since the end of 2009 apparently, and using the yarn I bought in Iceland the year before. What drew me to this project were the colors, I just love this combination of red, blue, grey and golden yellow. The Lett-Lopi yarn seems scratchy but when knitted up it looks wonderful (and feels softer somehow).

I'm knitting the smallest size, which might be a mistake, but the next size up seemed too big. I'm a loose knitter anyway, and I think the yarn might stretch a bit with blocking if needed. I'm not planning any changes, maybe except making it a bit longer, I hate it when my cardigans end up too short. And after a lot of hesitation and reading all project notes on Ravelry I decided to follow the pattern as is (i.e. , knitting it flat)  despite many suggestions that purling colorwork is a nightmare and that it would be easier to knit it in the round and then steeking it. Well, I'm done with the bottom colorwork now and I have to say that the purling rows were almost quite as easy as the knit ones. But I purl the Portuguese way (with the yarn around my neck) so I was able to hold one color on my right hand and the other with my left, which made it fairly straightforward.

And the week after next we're going to Lake Garda in northern Italy. A. has a conference there so we decided to make it into a mini vacation for the whole family. We're visiting Trento, Bolzano, driving around the Dolomites and then spending a few days in Riva del Garda. So any suggestions for good places to eat and any decent yarn shops are very welcome, please :)

on mosaic knitting

Yesterday I finished a sweater !
It's this sweater, by the way. I've had it on my queue for two years (and had the yarn on stash for just as long), and I managed to knit it in just under a month. I have no finished photos yet, it still needs blocking and some buttons to be sewn, but I thought I'd give a small explanation on a very interesting technique I learned while doing this project.

It's called mosaic knitting. Now I've been knitting for a few years and had never heard about it till I started this sweater, so my guess is that it might not be exactly common knowledge.

Basically it's a very simple method of knitting colorwork. You work with two strands of different colors, but you only use one at each time, meaning you work one right side and one wrong side row in each color, alternating every two rows.

When I started the front of this sweater I had a hard time understanding this at first. The pattern itself doesn't explain it, and while trying to follow the chart that was provided I probably frogged those first couple of rows a dozen times till I decided to use mr. google and clarify this mystery.

So the technique itself is actually very simple, once you get the hang of it. Starting with color A, for example, you follow the chart by knitting all the stitches in that color, and slipping all the stitches - keeping the yarn in the back -  in the alternate color (color B). On the wrong side, you do the same: purl all the stitches that were knit and slip the ones that were slipped (which means that each slipped stitch is actually slipped twice) with the yarn in front. On the next right side row, you change to color B and work the next two rows just the same, following the chart.

This is how the reverse side looks like ...

And basically that's it. You don't have to fiddle with two different strands as you would in regular colorwork, and it is very quick to knit once you understand the rules. This herringbone pattern in particular was easy to memorize, which is very useful when you're doing shaping with several increases and decreases (which the original pattern didn't specify but I decided to add in).

More details on mosaic knitting here and here.

cesky krumlov

Sorry these trip posts seem to take so long coming, but this is finally the last one from our vacation last December. When we first chose Prague as our destination I initially thought we'd have time to explore a bit more of the country. But then we decided to visit Dresden as well, and so we'd only have 2 or 3 days left to visit somewhere else.

After a bit of research and reading my travel guide, I came upon this description of Cesky Krumlov: "Crowned by a stunning castle, and centred on an elegant old-town square, the Renaissance and Baroque buildings of Cesky Krumlov enclose the meandering arc of the Vltava River. During summer, countless photographic memory cards are filled as pigeons dart through busloads of day-tripping tourists exploring the town's narrow lanes and footbridges. Either side of July and August the town is (slightly) more subdued and secluded. Come in winter to experience the beauty of the castle blanketed in snow. (...) In 1992, Cesky Krumlov was granted Unesco World Heritage status."

I mean, how could we not go there, right ? So we decided to rent a car in Prague and drive down, and maybe even stop and visit some other sights along the way. Of course, the airline strike kind of messed up our plans and in the end we only had one full day to make the trip. We went anyway, kind of crazy I know, but we thought it was worth it.

I need to tell you a story though, about the rent-a-car place. The car rental prices in Prague seemed to be substantially more expensive than what we are used to in other places in Europe, and after some comparisons we decided to make a reservation at Avis for a short rental. Even so, it would cost us about 240 EUR for just 2 days. While in Prague I read about a local car agency, Vecar, which seemed to offer much better prices. I contacted them by e-mail and they were quite prompt in their reply, and indeed the price was less than half the price quote from Avis. On the day we came back from Dresden we took a taxi to their office which was not in central Prague but a bit further away (advice: if taking a taxi from the train station don't ever accept the price that is given to you at first. Bargain at least two or three times before settling on a price.). Upon arriving there we were very surprised to discover that the office was actually what seemed like the owners' home (there was a desk on the entrance hall where we were received, but next to it we could see the kitchen). This had never happened to us before but I guess there's a first time for everything. We thought it was quite peculiar and amusing though. It took a while to get all the paperwork done, and even more time to get the car, after about an hour and a half I think before we were on our way. So I would not recommend this if you need a quick and efficient service, or if you're particular about the cars you rent (these are usually not new cars, the one we got was probably 5 or 6 years old), but if you're looking for something cheaper and don't mind waiting a little for service then this is a good option.

I took us a little over two hours to get to Cesky Krumlov, quite reasonable even though it was rainy and the roads not in the best of conditions. It is a picture perfect postcard place, as you can see. We wish we could've had a few more hours to visit the inside of the castle, but even so the place is so small you can visit everything by foot in a day easily. It was quite empty at this time of the year, but I can imagine this would be swamped with tourists during the summer.

Places to eat: we enjoyed a really nice dinner at The Two Marys, a Bohemian restaurant with a cozy atmosphere that serves traditional Czech food and drinks. The food was very, very good (just take a look at the menu) and A. says their mead was one of the best he had.
The next day we discovered the Egon Schiele Museum Café and had our 2nd breakfast there, while Sara played with the numerous plush toys available. They had a great children's room too. It's funny how we never notice these things when we don't have kids but suddenly it's such a nice thing to find when we do.

:: someone was a bit grumpy that day ...

:: but she soon was in a  better mood ...

:: the castle at night

:: dinner at The Two Marys

:: view from our apartment

:: C. Krumlov had some of the best children's shops I've ever seen, full of marvelous wooden toys

:: view from the castle

:: an inner courtyard of the castle

:: we asked a passer-by to take a photo of us three with the castle in the background, but clearly he was in a rush and didn't wait for us to pose. Even so, I find I quite like this photo

:: Botanicus, one of my favorite shops in the Czech Republic

:: Egon Schiele Museum Café, the perfect ending to our trip

book review: romancing miss bronte

I've always been a Bronte fan, so when I stumbled upon this book it made me curious. I was half expecting it to be a sort of "Becoming Jane" kind of story, but about Charlotte Bronte instead. See, the romancing word on the title can be a bit misleading. It does have romance in it, but just the right amount and only at the end. The rest is a fiction novel about the Brontes' sisters life and of Charlotte Bronte in particular. Although it is fiction, it is based on the real facts that are known about them, so it reads like non-fiction or more like a biography sometimes.

What did I think of it ? I loved it. I enjoyed it so much I couldn't stop reading it. It was a busy week and I had a certification exam on Saturday morning but still I stole a few moments every day just to read another chapter. The book starts quite slowly, introducing us to the Bronte household, the different characters of the three sisters and their brother, their relationship with their father and their friends, their studies in Brussels and their solitary life in Yorkshire. I loved Emily's portrayal, it is exactly how I would picture the author of "Wuthering Heights". I have read "Villette" a few years ago and although I can't remember much of it now (time for a re-read perhaps ?) it was very interesting to learn how much of Charlotte's novels are autobiographical. I loved to read about the interaction between the three sisters, and how they decided to publish their own novels under the name of Acton, Ellis and Currer Bell. I also enjoyed reading about how the inspiration for "Jane Eyre" came about. After it gains public recognition the story starts to pick up a bit more of pace and things start to happen for Charlotte. At the insistence of her publisher she goes to London for a while and gets to meet Thackeray, for example, and becomes a friend of Elizabeth Gaskell.

The book has a lot of sad parts, of course. I mean, if you know a little of the Brontes' life, you'll know they died quite young, so there are no surprises there. I was curious to know a bit more about their brother Branwell. He who was supposed to be the talent in the family, the one that everyone had such high expectation from, and was actually such a failure.

And about the romance part ? Well, at the start of the book we are introduced to Arthur Nicholls, a curate who comes to work for Patrick Bronte, the girls' clergyman father. He seems to be quite the boring character at first, but little by little he seemed to grow on me. He's stubborn and quite obstinate in his views, and sometimes his opinions just seem too intolerant and bigoted. But we catch glimpses of his good qualities and how he starts to care for Charlotte. That he finally falls so passionately for her is a bit of a surprise, but Gael makes it feel true. Charlotte doesn't feel the same way but thinks it's the last opportunity she'll have of getting married and not ending up lonely and resigns herself to a loveless marriage. I was a bit angry when I read this, since I do love my happy endings, but the last couple of chapters about their honeymoon and the start of their married life made up for it afterwards.
So if you're a Bronte fan or are just merely curious about their lives I would definitely recommend reading this. I have a strong urge to re-read "Jane Eyre" now, and see if knowing a bit more of Charlotte's life will give me a different impression of her books. I've never read "Shirley" either, so that goes on my to be read list soon.

(Charlotte Bronte's portrait by J.H. Thompson. I was really curious to see it after it was mentioned in the book)