KnitCrit

Pattern Critique #33: Lace & Cable Scarf

Pattern Name: Lace & Cable Scarf

Designer: Debbie Bliss
Pattern Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmere
Images:

   

Pattern Review:

Due to some issues that I won't get into here, I end out developing very close relationships with the administrators at my son's school.  These last two years were no different and in fact, the assistant principal and I were on a first name basis.  She became his greatest support, and mine, too.  Since this was his last year at that school, I knew I wanted to knit something special for her.  My son helped me select this pattern for her.  I picked out the yarn - Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK - and he chose the color.

The pattern repeat consists of ten rows, knit a total of 22 times.  Every wrong side row is purled across all of the stitches.  Four of the rows are a series of knit stitches, yarn overs/forwards and decreases via k2tog+ pass slip stitch over combinations. 

What makes the stitch pattern unique is the use of 6-stitch cables with a twist, incorporated into only one of the rows.  Three stitches are first put on a cable needle and held at the front of the work. Then, the next three stitches are knit, as a traditional cable.  However, before the cable needle stitches are knit, the needle holding them is twisted 180 degrees clockwise. This twisted technique beside the yarn overs provides the depth and design of the lovely lace and cable pattern.

Personal Notes:

The only weakness to the pattern is that I found the twisted cables to be a bit of a pain.  I guess it is comparable to a technique such as intarsia, where you really have to pay close attention.  You cannot take your eyes off of the project as you knit.  In fact, I loved the pattern design so much that I envisioned it making a lovely shawl or wrap.  That concept ended when I thought about that many twisted cables.

This scarf was rewarding for me to knit because my son was so interested and followed my progress along the way.  He was very excited about giving Ms. B the gift and carried it with pride to her on the last day of school.  Believe it or not, I am really going to miss our weekly - sometimes daily - talks next year.

On Ravelry, there are only six finished projects of this scarf, including mine.  That surprises me a bit.  This appears to be akin to the popular Irish Hiking Scarf, with its 1850 projects, but with a lacy twist (literally).

Rating:

It is, after all, just a scarf.  The instructions for the pattern are written perfectly and the photo in the book is an accurate image of the real thing.  What's not to like?

             

If you have knit this pattern, please rate it and submit as comments. Thank you!

My "Fly to the Finish"

You devout Tour de France followers have probably seen (too) many of the Saab "Fly to the Finish" Sweepstakes announcements over the three weeks of viewing the race on Versus.  Although I did not play the game this year, I had my own "Fly to the Finish."

Yesterday's stage was the time trial for the riders - and me, too.  As fast as I could, I knit away on my Tour de France Knit-a-long project, the Aleita Shell.  Early in the evening, I had knit about half-way up the back. I stopped for dinner, a meal that had a French flair to it, with a medley of asparagus and mushrooms as an accompaniment to broiled salmon.  The wine selection was one that we stumbled upon during our trip to France several years ago and have been thrilled to find it in local wine shops from time to time:

After a couple of glasses of the yummy vino, I couldn't see the stitches any longer, so opted for sleep and an early rising this morning to watch the final stage into Paris.

While the boys in the CSC-Saxo Bank car were sipping their champagne, I was shaping the front sides and knitting like a mad woman/sprinter.  And just as the yellow jersey was being put on the back of Carlos Sastre, I bound off the final stitches at the shoulders!

As I do every year, I cried as the coverage ended.  Another Tour de France has come and gone.  What an amazing Tour this was, with surprises and no clear winner up to the very last stage. 

Our celebration of the Tour concluded with a French themed brunch - poached eggs with Manchego cheese (for the Spanish winner), raspberries tossed in honey, almond croissants and mimosas.  The XM radio was, of course, tuned into Sur La Route.  

Congratulations Carlos!  Kudos to CSC-Saxo!  Garmin-Chipotle and Columbia, you all are amazing! 

And here is the completed Aleita Shell.  I certainly picked the correct jersey category with my sprint in the final days...
 

My Intermediate Sprint

As a member of the Tour de France KAL, I am way behind.  I'm lagging in both my project (the second one cast on) and in reading the blog entries of other participants.  However, I have not given up.  Yesterday and today, I have been knitting like a sprinter.  Today, I made a personal commitment to the second intermediate sprint competition.

This sprint emphasizes regions.  One of three choices for the sprint entries, the "cycling option" and the one I selected, is to "get on your bike and show us something special about your own region where you live and cycle!" 

I live in a DC suburb, Chevy Chase, Maryland.  Four blocks from my house, I can access the Capital Crescent Trail.  It's tagline, "the outstanding Washington Area Hiker-Biker Trail," could not be more accurate.  It is a primary reason that we chose to live where we do.
 
Unfortunately, the trail is in trouble.  The new "Purple Line" of the area's mass transit rail system is expected to be built right where the trail currently exists.  Because the cost of building an underground tunnel for the subway is prohibitive, and because the area desperately needs the line to connect the ends of the existing system, there are simply not many reasonable alternatives. I "get that," to some extent, but the thought of losing the trail saddens me. 

Recently, one of the tunnels on the trail became the target of a hotel developer.  It pours out into downtown Bethesda, Maryland, with its many shops, businesses and residences. 

Bethesda also has a subway station, thereby making it an attractive setting for a hotel.  Routing trail traffic around the tunnel will mean that trail users will have to cross the very busy and congested Wisconsin Avenue.  This controversy threatens the trail immediately.  A large building beside the tunnel has already been abandoned.  I have been a part of a large group who reject the project and hopefully, our words and concerns will be heard by the officials who will make the ultimate decision.

Moving down the trail from Bethesda, about 3 miles later, you leave Maryland, entering into DC.  Almost immediately, the Potomac River is on your right and the C&O Canal on the left.  The towpath of the canal runs from Georgetown to the far western corner of Maryland, in Cumberland.  In fact, I once went on a weekend ride between Georgetown and Harper's Ferry, a distance of about 50 miles each way.  The trip was magnificent; with peaceful and beautiful spots all along the path.

Here, at Fletcher's, situated just above Georgetown, a variety of fun activities are available, from canoes and kayaks to fishing and picnics.


For us on this very hot DC day, the $2 bottles of very cold water were a godsend.  About a third of the water got poured on my head and down my shirt!

The trail ends just below Whitehurst Freeway, one of the thoroughfares between Georgetown and downtown DC. 

Also from this spot, you can see an underside view of Key Bridge. 

Not far beyond the end of the trail, you emerge from under the freeway and onto a trail that runs beside Rock Creek Parkway.  This road takes you next to Watergate and then under the Kennedy Center patio.

Growing up as a child in DC, recreational activity on the river was prohibited because of the pollution in the Potomac.  Although it is not fully clean today, it is wonderful to watch the kayakers and boaters out on the river.  I drive (and sometimes ride) this route to work every day and there is almost always someone out on the river.

Once beyond the Kennedy Center, we went to and over the 14th Street Bridge to Virginia, via the road to Hains Point.  This is the area next to the Tidal Basin where the cherry blossoms bloom each spring.  In fact, cycling there during cherry blossom time is a test of patience and cycling skills, with the thousands of tourists who flock to DC for them. 

Our quick cycling tour of DC ended in Virginia, where we turned around and rode the same route back home. 
 
There is never a time that I ride the route we did today that I don't fall in love all over again with Washington, DC.  I grew up in the area and then was away for over 20 years.  Almost 11 years ago, I moved back and I believe that you can come home again.

This post was not begun as a plea to save the trail.  But, if you are in the area yourself, or just want to be a part of the contingent to save it, please go to the site and help.  Hopefully, you will be able to enjoy the trail ride into and/or around DC sometime, yourself.  If you are in the area and seeking cycling pals, let me know.

PS#1: It was very, very hot while we rode and my little digital camera got wet from sweat and some of the pictures didn't turn out; the really good ones, of course :-|. 

PS#2: For those of you who watch the Versus Tour coverage, you no-doubt know about the Saab commercials, ad nauseum.  We needed a new car and I guess the commercials became so ingrained in this family that look what we bought - a Saab Sport-combi!

No TDF Ritual

The Tour de France is, simply put, my favorite sports event of the year.  I really get into the Super Bowl and NCAA Basketball finals, but it's the Tour that I anticipate for weeks in advance.

For the past few years, my husband and I have done the same thing on the first day of the Tour.  We sit in front of the TV in our little get-away house.  I knit while he stays glued to the tube, usually with the Tour Edition of Velonews in his lap.  Everything else in the world stops.

This year's plans were no different. 

The night before, while cooking dinner during a thunderstorm, there was a brilliant flash and then a noise that sounded like an explosion.  This was followed by the smell of electrical burning, and then the power went out.  Three hours later, it came back on, and we surveyed any damage.  As you can probably guess by now, the lightning strike affected the TV; it zapped our satellite TV box.

We tried to figure out what options were available.  I called hotels in the area to find out if Versus was on their channel listing.  Nope.  We considered calling the one couple we know there who would understand.  It was too late and they probably had family visiting for the holiday weekend.  We even considered going home.  I cried.  It became more and more obvious that our ritual was not going to occur and that we would miss the first day, and likely the second day, too, of the Tour de France.

You may be wondering at this point, why we didn't consider just streaming online.  Well, we only have dial-up Internet there which is useless. 

I did, however, cast on my Tour de France knit-along project on Saturday morning.  This is going to be a Category 3 climb, for sure.   It's doable, without much pain, but I have to pay attention.  Each row is charted, with decreases, increases or other design features throughout.  This may be asking Robbie McEwen to get to the summit of Alpe d'Huez first.  More to follow in the next week.

In closing, how about that showing by Will Frischkorn on Stage 3?  He's a kid that I've watched race since he was about 13 years old.  I was going nuts throughout the entire stage! 

p.s. I have been trying to get this post completed for four days.  We are having Internet connectivity issues, on top of serious Typepad sluggishness problems, and having to use the desktop, not the fast laptop that I dropped onto the floor last week.  I don't know how the next few days are going to go.  So far, though, no crash.