Great tips for sewing silk

Britex fabric store in San Francisco has a blog, and their latest post is about tips and tricks for sewing a silk blouse. Really good stuff!

Knitting gifts from a while back...and some videos

I finally got around to uploading some pictures of a couple of knitting gifts from...oh, last fall. Talk about lazy! But I made up for some of that laziness today by recording TWO videos on knitting cast on techniques for left handed knitters. I will admit that I only thought about making the video because I forgot how to do one of the techniques, and since there aren't too many instructions out there for left-handed knitters, I thought I'd make a "real" video and upload it to YouTube for other left-handed knitters out there.

First the knitting gifts. I made this hat for a friend who likes to play guitar. The yarn is "Allround" by Wolle Rödel, a German yarn I bought locally. I used a pattern, which was created by a German woman, coincidentally. I bought it from Revelry. I don't know if you can tell that the motif above the musical notes is a row of guitars. 

 

 Ravelry info

 

The other gift is a cowl. The pattern, available here, is called "Burberry Inspired Cowl Neck Scarf," because the designer was inspired by one she'd seen sold by Burberry for $750. Yes, $750. I made this scarf out of  Lana Grossa Alta Moda Cashmere, which is actually a wool/cashmere blend. The cowl has large cables knit into it to give it some texture.

 

Ravelry info

 

 And now for the videos. The first video demonstrates the "Old Norwegian Cast On" - also called "Twisted German" or "Elastic Long-Tail." This makes a stretchy cast on edge. This is the cast on that I couldn't remember how to do and after only finding videos of the technique for right-handers I thought I'd make one for left-handers.

 

 

 

After having some fun making this, I thought I'd make one for the regular "Long Tail Cast On."

 



 

 

 

A visit to Prague

Prague, a set on Flickr.

Prague was bitter cold this last weekend, but we endured it to see the Easter markets, which were not too different than the Christmas markets actually - hot wine, beer, and regional food specialties and treats mixed in among stalls selling tacky souvenirs and gifts. The common treat was a spirally wound strip of dough cooked over an open fire that was rolled in sugar and almonds. The "it" item of the market were the intricately painted eggs.

Unlike many cities in Europe, Prague was not extensively damaged during WWII, so the buildings you see are original and not rebuilt; however they have been restored over the years, particularly since the revolution in 1989. The architecture is quite a mix of Italian, German and Austrian influence with a heavy dose of Art Nouveau. We are always looking up when we walk through the streets and are delighted to find interesting facades, stonework and decorative painting on the buildings.

Milk, bananas, yarn...

I was shopping in the discount grocery today and look what I picked up along with my milk and bananas:

The yarn isn't too bad actually - 75% wool, 25% poly - and it comes with free double point needles. The needles alone would cost at least 4 Euro so I couldn't pass it up. I almost bought two. The other color choice was light tan and light blue striped, but I didn't need that much sock yarn or double points.

Yarn in the grocery! Good thing they don't sell fabric too. Although one of the department stores does and that's temptation enough whenever I'm there, which is often because the grocery I usually go to is in the basement.

What I did this winter

No fiber projects to post. Sorry. I have been knitting (and frogging) quite a bit but don't have anything to show yet. The only sewing I did was to make a couple neck gaiters out of fleece scarves. I simply cut the scarf and made a tube by serging one edge. We needed them for skiing and I refused to pay lots of money for a scrap of fleece!

I have been having a great time skiing this winter and want to do more. I'm actually a little sad that it's warming up outside! We went to Austria this weekend for some cross country skiing, and although the conditions weren't ideal - a bit slushy and icy in spots - we were so pleased to see that there are trails everywhere in Austria. You can just park your car and get out and follow the tracks into the woods, across meadows, and next to rivers and streams.

These are some pictures from this season's skiing, both cross country (nordic) and downhill (alpine), in the Austrian and French alps.

 

Cheap clothes

Probably 10 or 12 years ago I participated in a market study. I was paid $50 to sit in a room with a group of other people, mostly women, and talk about clothes. One discussion has stuck with me. The moderator held up a pair of pants and asked us what we'd pay for them. At the time my business wardrobe consisted of nice dress pants and blouses and a few suits for when the customer was in town. The labels in my clothing were Liz Claiborne or Jones New York. My price point was around $70-$90 for pants. I was shocked when one woman said she'd pay $15...and many others in the room shook their heads in agreement that they too thought $15 was a fair price.

I'm currently reading the book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline.

Although I had an idea of what's been happening to clothing and fashion over the years, I really did not realize what's been going on. I'm only on the first chapter and already felt compelled to blog about it.

I do not buy (many) cheap clothes and I avoid H&M, Zara, and Walmart, so I was not aware that today one could pay even less than $15 for pants, dresses, blazers, and shoes. Maybe it's because I sew, or maybe it's because I never got into shopping with my girlfriends or maybe it's because I have difficulty finding clothes that fit right, but I pretty much dislike clothing shopping.

I was aware of the developing trend for large quantities of cheap clothing around 20 years ago. At that time I was a grad student on a very tight budget. I went on a trip to Germany and Austria (thanks to the deep pockets of my then boyfriend) and got a glimpse of how expensive clothing was in Europe. Maybe it was because I was in touristy towns, but I saw that clothes were sold in small stores at relatively high prices. But I also got the sense that because of the cost, the clothing was purchased wisely, worn often, and cared for. I returned home to find that a new discount store opened in my town with rack upon rack of generic clothing in a variety of colors and at a very cheap cost. I realized then that Americans could (and would) purchase clothes without much thought and because they were so cheap it wouldn't matter if they weren't worn or became misshapen rags after one washing. Even though I didn't have much money, I decided I'd rather live like a European. The problem was that even if I saved my money, quality clothing was disappearing from the stores.

I purchased my Liz Claiborne and Jones New York wardrobe from Macy's but soon I began to hate going there. The dressing rooms were cluttered with piles of discarded clothes, and the aisles were crammed with racks of generic, cheap clothes. Fortunately I found that because I had purchased relatively good clothes - $80 instead of $15 for pants really did make a difference in quality - I didn't have to shop that often. Then my job changed and I no longer needed suits for customer visits. Casual Fridays became Casual Monday-Thursday as well, and soon I was the "best dressed" engineer in my workplace when I wore pants that weren't out of denim. My wardrobe consisted of either clothing I sewed myself or sweaters, blouses and pants I picked up at Costco along with 2 gallons of milk and 24 rolls of toilet paper. Once or twice a year I ventured to the mall department stores to treat myself to a new outfit. I would succeed at finding a few things, but usually the day was long and frustrating because I was dismayed at the quality and trendiness of the clothing, lack of any sales help, and inability to find clothes that fit and could be worn for more than a few months.

Now that I'm in Germany I would love to say that I'm living like a European, but I fear that this now means buying cheap clothing, for the most part. When I walk downtown I pass many stores with racks of 10-euro tops - flimsy things that wouldn't last beyond one washing (and certainly not the 2-hour wash cycle of  European washing machine!). Truth be told, I haven't done much clothing shopping here, except for winter coats and ski jackets, but when I do, I won't be visiting H&M or C and A or browsing the racks of those cheap 10-euro tops. Thankfully there's no Costco here to tempt me with the convenience of buying clothing with my groceries. I brought my sewing machines, there's a fabric store just a 5 minute walk from my apartment, and I have Burda magazines.

Pfeffernusse

Here's my grandmother's Pfeffernusse recipe. I make half, which produces plenty of cookies, at least 5 dozen, but here is the full recipe:

2 1/2 lbs flour (8 3/4 cups)
1/2 lb brown sugar (1 1/8 cups)
1 1/2 lb dark Karo syrup (2 1/2 cups or 1 jar  + 4 oz)
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp baking soda disolved in a little water
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp crushed anise seeds
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Mix and heat the syrup, sugar and butter. Add 1/2 of the flour and dry ingredients. Cool, then add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and let set in a cool place for 2 weeks*. Roll dough into a sausage. Cut pieces about 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick. Bake in a 375 deg oven for about 11 minutes. Let cool and coat with powdered sugar (put in a gallon sized zip-lock bag and shake).


 *I never actually let it sit for 2 weeks, and I'm not sure of the purpose for letting it sit for so long. I sometimes refrigerate it over night after I've rolled it, because the dough is very stiff.