Month: June 2014

Victorious Return of Victorian Raffia

If you’ve been following me since before EDK came out, you may remember a scarf I was in the process of knitting back then. Here’s the story.

Once upon a time, I had figured out double-knit decreases but double-knit increases were still a mystery to me. When I finally filled that gap in my knowledge, I decided to work on a piece (a scarf) that allowed me to play with a whole series of different increases and decreases. I had recently discovered the wonder of Kieran Foley’s work and decided to adapt one of his charts to double-knitting.

Never one to do things by halves, I realized that if I were to work the chart exactly as he’d created it, I’d be missing some important techniques. So I modified it subtly to make it a better practice piece.

The chart I created has directional single increases and decreases, and centered double increases and decreases. That’s 6 techniques, each (of course) done on front and back of the work for a total of 12 different types of increase and decrease. This was assured to make me an expert in double-knit increases and decreases in short order.

Victorian Raffia Scarf
Victorian Raffia Scarf

The piece came out beautifully, and got lots of attention in knitting groups and on Ravelry. When my book was in progress, I was about 2/3 done with the scarf. I wrote to Kieran and asked him if he’d allow me to publish the changed pattern in my book (with suitable attribution to him as the originator). He turned me down. To be fair, I was a little relieved — I had a lot to do and this just meant I didn’t have to finish the scarf. I bagged it up and it has been bagged ever since.

Four years later, I got an email out of the blue from Kieran Foley. He’d reconsidered and decided to allow me to publish the pattern on Ravelry, with a 60/40 split for joint authorship. I was intrigued, and accepted his offer. I could finish the last 1/3 of the scarf and have it ready by the Fall easily!

However, in those four years, I had learned much about double-knitting and designing in general, and I felt that the piece was no longer up to my usual standards. First of all, it was entirely done in twisted stitches — something I enjoy the look of but most other knitters will never do. In addition, it’s a pain and a half to do double-increases into twisted stitches, even with very pointy needles. Second, unlike any of my more recent scarves, it was done without selvedges, which meant the edges were harder to keep smooth and clean. Finally, it was done without any embellishment to the bottom edge, which meant that the increasing and decreasing created a couple of bulges along the bottom. After much deliberation, I broke the yarn and started again with a fresh cast-on.

VicRaffia2The new revision of Victorian Raffia has a section of mock-ribbing similar to the ends of Corvus. However, because of the main pattern, the mock-ribbing flows seamlessly into parts of the chart. The new chart is an 80-row repeat rather than the 76 of the original, so that the “river” sections which are a 20-row repeat will be able to match up nicely with the larger chart. The river sections themselves use some no-pair elements to smooth out the movement of the knots-&-crosses pattern. There’s a new type of increase I’ve never used anywhere else, which means there’s a total of 14 increase/decrease techniques now. And of course, it’s now done with a selvedge and “normal” stitches so that it will more closely resemble other people’s work.

Now it’s time for me to apologize, once again, for the next part: this pattern will be done when it’s done. I can’t release it until the scarf is finished and photographed, and I’ve got several other things to do at the same time, which will necessarily slow this one down. The good news is that I’m very much enjoying working on it, and will endeavor to get it done as soon as I can. But the nature of the piece means that it will take a while to finish, and I hope you will be patient in the meantime.

MusicBlox: Govinda

If you’re like many people, you’re probably sick of hearing about dubstep. Perhaps you think it’s the auditory equivalent of nails on a chalkboard, or the anguished screaming of the souls of thousands of teenagers as they’re dragged into the pit by half-shaved hipster demons. Actually, that’s Merzbow you’re thinking of (so it could be worse). Perhaps you liked dubstep once upon a time when you heard Glitch Mob for the first time, but since then the genre has kind of gone in a direction you don’t like. Perhaps you actually remember dubstep before it got taken over by the current EDM crowd, and Hatcha and Plastician are still in occasional rotation on your playlist. Perhaps you like dubstep and you wish it didn’t have such a bad rap. Perhaps you have no idea what I’m talking about.

Regardless, I have one word for you: Govinda.

Govinda is the moniker of a solo artist named Shane Madden with quite a number of albums under his belt, who has recently been moving in a dubsteppy direction. There is some confusion since there are evidently two artists under the name Govinda, both working in electronic world fusion with Indian influences — but I think a line can be drawn around the Shane Madden Govinda project by isolating the albums that use live violin. This is how Madden has really made his mark as a performer: few electronic artists will whip out a “traditional” instrument and play it with virtuosity equal to their electronic wizardry. It’s always a delight when they do; for example. Squarepusher played bass guitar alongside his early performances, and Big Gigantic packs huge venues that dance for hours to what is essentially acid jazz.

Under normal circumstances I’d drop in a handy YouTube video here, but since the future of music on YouTube is in doubt right now, I’m going to link elsewhere until that whole mess settles out.

This is one of my favorite tracks from the most recent full album. Govinda has released some EPs as well, of both original content and remixes, and all strong music but I still feel Universal On Switch is the best full album. YMMV, so listen to them all!

CSA: Somerville (Chocolate, that is)

Last year, when my friend Guido joined the Somerville Chocolate CSA for their first season, I was intrigued but unsure if I could really justify purchasing such quantities of chocolate. I’ll also admit that I found the sole pickup point at the top of Winter Hill a little daunting as well. While I have no problem pedaling up that hill in the summer (at least, every now and then, not daily), the prospect of getting up there in the winter was not something I relished the idea of.

But like any successful CSA, they have expanded their pickup points and one of them was in my neighborhood, at Central Bottle. I could no longer resist.

CSA-S2H1-1

The proprietor of this amazing venture is one Eric Parkes, brother to the singular Clara Parkes whose unparalleled knowledge of all things fiber and yarn and knitting (not to mention baking, and those caramels …) has endeared her to the knitting world forever and ever, amen. But where was I? Clearly the genius runs in the family, for Eric is doing with chocolate what Clara has done with yarn. He’s starting from the very beginning, almost — getting cacao beans shipped from all over the world and experimenting with different ways to process them, then charging a hundred or so willing guinea-pigs for the privilege of being his test subjects. He came to the Common Cod’s latest Ignite event and gave a talk about his CSA … which, since I was there, was probably the thing that sealed the deal for me. You can check it out here — it’s only 5 minutes.

So in the interest of enticing you to perhaps join me in this adventure — for I think that there are still shares available in this season, if not for much longer — I’m going to try to give you a sense of the three bars in Season 2, Harvest 1.  Once upon a time I fancied myself something of a supertaster — I could pick individual ingredients and spices out of a dish by taste alone. I’m out of practice but I haven’t completely lost the knack.

The bars are sorted by origin — Peru, Venezuela, Ghana — but also by cacao varietal. You can read up on the varietals first if you like.

Peruvian Criollo

Peruvian Criollo: This is my least favorite of the bars in this harvest, so I’m starting with it. The mouthfeel is sort of grainy, similar to Taza’s trademark texture. Interestingly enough, I understand that Taza uses mostly Peruvian chocolate as well. I’m fairly sure that’s a coincidence — or perhaps not? I assume the graininess is a function of the tempering process, but could it be endemic to this particular cacao bean varietal? Aside from the mouthfeel, the flavor is sort of unremarkable. There’s something between a tangy first taste and a bitter aftertaste, but that’s as far as I can taste. One thing it does have going for it — it’s not too dry, which I appreciate in a dark chocolate.

CSA-S2H1-4Venezuelan Trinitario: This one had me looking back at the label a couple of times to check the ingredients — nope, still just cacao and sugar, and 70% at that. It really tastes like a dark milk chocolate — very smooth, no bitterness at all, very sweet but most surprisingly, the distinct flavor of roasted nuts. I had to eat a couple of squares (quelle horreur!) to pick it out but I think the flavors are reminiscent of something between roasted almond and roasted hazelnut — but not overwhelmingly so.

CSA-S2H1-3Ghanaian Forastero: Finally, my favorite of the bunch. This bar is reminiscent of dark spices and has a pleasant, fruity tang with the occasional burst of something tropical I can’t quite define. The mouthfeel is very smooth but this is definitely a dark chocolate, not like the near-milky smoothness of the Trinitario. With a flavor like this, I can forgive the brut quality that leaves me wanting a little something to drink right after finishing it.

I feel I should come clean — I actually picked up this harvest about a month ago. I have been alternately sick or busy since then and haven’t had time or the functioning taste buds to review these. I have already picked up Harvest 2, and hope to do something similar with that soon — so keep an eye out!