I (heart) Tuesday, lo-tech edition

My inlaws were visiting with us last week. Actually, nine days, but it felt like a crazy whirlwind rather than what I was thinking when A.K. told me they were going to be here for nine days. Mainly because we got a new deck, grill and cushions for our window seat! My inlaws are the best!

I'll have beauty shots of the deck for the next post, but I have a cute teaser photo of my cat on the cushions!


Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled post.

I LOVE TECHNOLOGY! If I called people more often and didn't already own like THREE IPods AND have a 17" MacBook, I would soooooo have an iPhone. (oh, I left out the PDA that I use pretty much just so I can count my knit stitches. yeah, I'm THAT GIRL)

But the truth is, my life is ruled by scraps of paper. Receipts, little notes, post-its and I earn my living designing a newspaper. When I get concert tickets, I like the security of a paper ticket, and any important document (i.e. passport, mortgage papers) is still printed out. So this is my homage to paper ...


I got a thing for typography, being a designer and all, and I love the cover of this edition of James Joyce's "Ulysses."




I have a terrible sense of direction, really. When at a stoplight and I'm uncertain which way to turn, I go so far as to turn in the opposite direction that I want to go in, and this usually keeps me out of trouble. Maybe this means I'm a directional dyslexic, but whatever, it's a good thing for me to keep a map on me and this Moleskin is perfect. I can keep a list of all the yarn shops in the greater Seattle area and I have a map to make sure I make it there before the shops close. (on a side note, I'm very good with landmarks, so if I've been to a place once, I can usually find myself back, it's just the initial trip that messes me up.)


Okay, not paper related, but when I was taking the other photos, I thought I'd take a picture of my radiator. I'm not usually an ornate, scrolly person, but when we were looking at houses, one of the reasons I wanted the one we live in now is because of the radiators.

Oh, I got some knitting in during the visit, here's a photo of the back on Blithe. Hopefully it will be finished in the next few days.

Block Stitch or Dice Pattern

This pattern has three variations, I just don't know where I placed the third one. When I find it, I'll update this post.

So, the top picture is the garter stitch variation and the bottom one is the seed stitch variation. (The one missing is the Knit-Purl Block variation.)

Barb says that this is the simplest form of knit-purl checks and that all three consists of knit stitches, with the variations being either of garter or seed stitches. The one that I left out, the knit-purl variation, Barb claims it looks the same on both sides, which hasn't made it any easier to find among my pile of swatches.

Oh, a little side note, the color isn't messed up, I used two different yarns for the swatches. The first one is a made of Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel, leftover from when I knitted this. And the second is Tahki Classic Cotton.
I forgot how totally enjoyable it is to knit the pima tencel. Great summer yarn to work with, very cool to the touch. I would dare to say even refreshing to knit with on a hot summer day.
And the cotton is a really stable. I hate it when cotton yarn is so loosely spun that it unravels as you are knitting it. Not to mention pretty affordable, with a great range of colors.

Update



I found it! Above is the knit-purl variation of the Block Stitch or Dice pattern. It is knitted with the Cascade Yarn's Pima Tencel.