-N- – Page 712 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Lampshades and Buttonholes

What do these have in common? Both are useful, both are usually ugly.

Given this, these past few days I have been on the quest for a good buttonhole. I’ve found that the classic eyelet buttonhole is by far the easiest, and attractive. Unfortunately it is not going to gracefully accommodate a large button if you are using fine yarn.

I have tried a number of them, and none have pleased me, though some have intrigued me. The best one, beyond the eyelet, is the “Two Lip” or “Tulip” buttonhole by TechKnitter, a genius in the ranks of the knitting world. It is a bit of work, but I think I can get it. It was featured in the Summer 2010 issue of Interweave Knits, and it is presented here by Eunny Jang.

In trying out a number of buttonholes, it becomes pretty obvious what their major failing is: to complete the buttonhole, you turn your work, creating one extra row of new stitches, over which you then work another row. The result is lumps and holes, and uneven stitches. Very, very ugly.

This does not occur with the eyelet, nor the Tulips buttonhole. The eyelet is straightforward – k2tog, yo – and continue on your merry way. The Tulips buttonhole requires some wraps, unwraps, fiddling with a crochet hook and a double-pointed needle, but it works. The upper part of the buttonhole is continued in the same direction as you are originally knitting, adding the stitches by doing a yarn over and making a loop with the crochet hook. Kind of messy to do initially, but it will get graceful later on.

In sewing, I hated buttonholes so much I would make loops for everything. I have only made eyelets for sweaters because everything else was so dreadful. As I am designing a sweater for Josh, an eyelet buttonhole will not accommodate a button an inch in diameter. Necessity forced me into the search – I’ve ripped the sweater out twice now! – and I hope that I will get it down. Meanwhile, I plan to practice, practice, practice!

Fritatta for One

I’ve been reading Daniel Silva’s books this past month, and in one, Chiara makes a zucchini and potato fritatta. Out of potatoes, but do have a zucchini. This is what I did – for only me! (Josh was still in bed, and I was hungry!)

Zucchini Fritatta
3 small eggs
1 T. milk
2 cloves garlic
1 small zucchini, sliced fine using mandolin or grater
3-4 T. pecorino romano cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

Preheat oven broiler. In oven-safe saute pan, over medium heat, pour in 2-3 T. olive oil, coating sides if necessary. Heat. Saute chopped garlic and grated / sliced zucchini until lightly cooked.

While garlic and zucchini are sauteeing, vigorously whip together the milk and eggs. Grate the cheese.

Once the vegetables are slightly cooked, pour the egg-milk mixture into pan. Let cook for a minute or so. Sprinkle cheese on top of egg mixture. Remove pan from stove, place under broiler for 1-2 minutes (watch it closely!). Remove from broiler. Set aside to allow eggs to continue cooking through, about 3-5 minutes.

Gently pull edges of fritatta away from pan, invert over plate. Salt and pepper to taste.

Patio Gardening

With some optimism, I did some container gardening this month. I transplanted some old roses from another property – a beautiful, delicate pale pink rose that has been in the family for over 50 years – and a Helmut Schmidt, which is a bright yellow rose with a delicious fragrance – and my favorite yellow rose.

Besides the roses, I put in a Tradescantia (never heard of that) in a pot with some lobelia, planted herbs together and separately, planted a Tickweed (also known as coreopsis) and re-did the ongoing disaster of a strawberry pot. (I should have read this before I did this pot yet again!) Here are the results.

Patio Corner with Brown Turkey Fig Tree, Roses, and Herbs

Spanish Basil, Lemon Verbena, Lobelia, and Tickweed

Strawberry Pot with Mint (on top) with Lobelia and Nieremberigia

Another Close-Up of a Tradescantia Flower

Tradescantia Blooms in the Morning, Closes Up in the Evening

Twins’ Sweaters

A friend of mine’s first grandchildren are twin boys. These are the sweaters I completed the other day – hopefully, they will get them tomorrow. These are sized to fit 6-12 months, so I hope they will be able to grow into them.

The kimono sweater is from a pattern; I am not too thrilled with it, but I think it will be practical.

This sweater is my own pattern design, and like the kimono, is sized for 6-12 months. I had the pattern written down, but, it seems to have vanished. If I can find it, I’ll write it up.

Out Looking Around

Being in vacation mode means – being in vacation mode! But as my last week begins, the organizational part of me returns. This means a return to patterns of daily living, such as coffee set up the night before, getting up at 5:30-6:00, and following the morning routines of reading the news, blogs I enjoy, and perusing the patterns on Ravelry, and what everyone is knitting. And this brought me to the current issue of Twist Collective, for which I had considered sending in a pattern or two. Well, I never got around to that! However, this morning I sat down and went through the current edition, and was really impressed by a lot of what was on it.

Latvian cast-on? That possibility caught my eye on this hat with knit-purl-cable patterns that are very pretty in all their combinations. This is the Crown of Leaves hat by Faina Goberstein.

A lot of sweaters caught my eye, too. Mostly they are traditional patterns – I don’t do innovative well – that are on the tailored side. Wellfleet by Cecily Glowik MacDonald presents with a tidy appearance in a very unconservative and cheery color.

Continuing on a traditional note with innovative design is Hallett’s Ledge by Elinor Brown. It is easy to see why this is a popular sweater on Ravelry – design and construction! And the name – where did that come from?

Finally, there is Acorns by Carol Sunday. The entire design of the sweater is very attractive. It is knit from the top down, in one piece. The name of the sweater got my initial attention – I really love oak trees – but then the sweater itself showed its appeal.

A part of me wants to order these patterns and get to work! Self-control must step in, but this post certainly will remind me what got my eye! (I still have other projects to work on . . . ) And this is not to say there are not a lot of other wonderful patterns on Twist Collective – there are far too many. This season’s issue is, in my opinion, one of the best. But then, I say that about most of their issues.