Cheadle

I finished the second Feather and Fan Cardigan for my daughter and have started on a new project for myself—Cheadle from Rowan Magazine No. 46. I was intrigued by the design and wondered how they put it together. I was also tired of working with small needles and skinny yarn. I wanted to worked with something big and chunky for a change.

Cheadle is knit with Rowan's Cocoon yarn. A blend of merino wool and kid mohair, it is soft and warm and does make you feel like burying yourself in it. It is even softer after blocking. But it is a one-ply yarn so you have to be careful not to split it as you knit. The required needles are US sizes 10 and 10.5. But the UK sizes are 6 and 7mm. The US 10.5 does not translate to 7mm. It is smaller (6.5mm). Fortunately, KnitPicks has a size 10.75 which is a true 7mm and I purchased a pair to go with my set of interchangeable needles. I still did not get gauge, though, and worried about the outcome. But most of the projects from Rowan that I have knit so far have ended up being a little too big. Small is their smallest and I must be an Extra Small. So I decided not to use even bigger needles and hope for the best.

You start from the bottom of the front or back in the usual way with a ribbing and stockinette stitch which widens out to include the sleeves. But then comes the fun part. The middle section is knit in three strips which are then braided.

This is what they look like before blocking.

Then the braid is attached to the completed bodice bottom. Stitches are picked up at the top of the braid and you continue up to the neck and shoulders. The sleeve ribbing and cowl-like collar are added last.

This is definitely a block as you go project. Picking up stitches is much easier if you block all the parts first. I blocked the strips straight before braiding them. They still curled a bit anyway but only enough to give it a nice soft look. In this photo, I have just finished picking up stitches along the top.

The whole thing is going very fast. I am about to start the strips for the front (back? I haven't decided which yet. I am waiting to see how the second one comes out. Then I will do the shoulder and neck shaping.) The two halves are sewn together at the shoulders and underarms and that's all the sewing that will be required. Looks complicated but is really pretty easy.

A Trip to the Cove

My new camera, the Canon 7D which was just released in September, arrived last Friday so I really wanted to go out and take some pictures somewhere. I decided to head down to the tidepools at Abalone Cove. While not super low, the tide was going to be pretty low at 0.32 ft. on Saturday afternoon and I discovered that that is low enough.

It was beautiful and quiet. There were hardly any people at all—a few fishermen way out on the rocks, another couple taking photos like me, and one man painting. Because there was nobody to disturb them, some interesting shorebirds showed up including a Spotted Sandpiper. I haven't seen one of those in a long time, but they are unmistakable because of the way they bob up and down as they walk along. I took pictures of him, but I did not have my super telephoto lens with me so the photos are not great but are good enough for an ID.

As I was hiking back up the cliff, I looked up at the Wayfarers Chapel and noticed that the bell tower was completely encased in scaffolding. I hope it has not been damaged. The famous chapel, built by Lloyd Wright, is right next to the Portuguese Bend landslide area. Indeed, the chaple lost its original Visitors' Center in 1982 due to landslide damage. I couldn't find any mention of current problems on the web, but I did find this interesting piece of information:

In 1954 Wright designed the soaring Hallelujah Tower that goes down two stories into the soil and locks in solidly to anchor the sanctuary to the hillside. At night the tower with its lighted cross is visible for many miles out to sea. Sailors passing through the Catalina Channel call it God's candle. A chime of sixteen bells in the tower proclaims each quarter hour, peals forth at the end of wedding celebrations, and plays for special events and services.

Driving back on Palos Verdes Drive South, I did notice that a small slide had occurred along the road just beneath the structure.

Negative Tides

Checking the tidepool tables this morning reveals that a series of negative tides is coming up again in the afternoon hours in November and December. Early December will have some really low tides. Unfortunately, they are mostly mid-week and the one on Saturday occurs more than an hour after sunset. You can expect the tide to be out for an hour before to an hour after the times listed here.

11/30/2009 Mon 02:07PM LST -0.7 L
12/01/2009 Tue 02:48PM LST -1.1 L
12/02/2009 Wed 03:31PM LST -1.3 L
12/03/2009 Thu 04:17PM LST -1.4 L
12/04/2009 Fri 05:06PM LST -1.2 L
12/05/2009 Sat 05:57PM LST -0.9 L

November 1st through the 5th, 14th through the 19th, and December 13th through the 19th are also periods of afternoon negative low tides. And it looks like we will be able to ring in the New Year with the lowest tides of all. It was last New Year's that my son and family and I made our first trip to Abalone Cove. Maybe we can make a return trip this year (hint, hint).

Jupiter and Many Moons

As I was heading out to play quartets last night, I noticed that the Moon and Jupiter were very close together in the sky. I regretted that I had no time to take any photos, the sight was so pretty, and left to go play some Haydn and Mozart. When I got back a little earlier than usual, they were still there, dancing together across the sky. So I went in and got out my camera and my new lens and a tripod.


The field of view of the new lens was almost too small to take in both objects. You can see Jupiter way off on the left in the photo. Another problem was that the Moon is so bright, it overpowers any other nearby stars. In order to get the features of the Moon to show up, I shot at 1/1000s so that the lens would close down a bit. But that meant that Jupiter was now very faint. So I decided to take a shot of Jupiter all by itself at a much longer exposure. I was amazed when I saw the result. I not only got Jupiter, I also got three of the moons of Jupiter, something I could not see with my binoculars because the Moon was so bright!


The four moons were all on a diagonal line with the planet. Europa is the bottom one (lower right), Ganymede is above Jupiter, and Callisto is above that (very faint). Io was so close to the planet (below it) that it got washed out by the light reflecting from the planet. The star way off to the left of the planet is Iota Capricorni.

I love my new lens.

Long Beach Aquarium

Just a few photos taken this morning at the Long Beach Aquarium.

Leafy Seadragon

Green Nape Lorikeet
Happy Halloween!

Done!

Just a quick post to say that the first Feather and Fan Cardigan is complete! And a lot of progress has been made on the second one for my daughter. I have finished the sleeves and upper bodice and am now working on the very long rows of the lower bodice in boring stockinette stitch. But not having to think about what I am doing or count anything, gives me time to listen to audio books while I knit. I have listened to Emma by Jane Austin as read by Prunella Scales and am now thoroughly enjoying Sense and Sensibility as read by Juliet Stevenson. Both of these actresses do a marvelous job of changing their voices to represent the different characters. Makes for delightful listening! I signed up for a subscription with Audible.com after recommending audio books to my cousin. Audible lets you sample the voices before you buy which is very important for me. And there are hundreds of books that I would like to listen to which should keep me knitting long enough to get all those unfinished projects done!

A Big Boy Lens

I decided that what I really wanted to do is take really good photos of birds. But you need a really big telephoto lens to do that. So after a lot of research, I ordered the 400mm Canon DO lens plus the 1.4 Extender. Diffractive optics (DO) lenses are lighter than the L series lenses that Canon makes, but this one still weighs 4.3 pounds. That's better than the 8.5 or 11.8 pounds for their 500mm and 600mm lenses but you do need to use a tripod or at least a monopod with it. It works on my Rebel XSi, but to do it justice I plan to upgrade to the Canon 7D when it becomes available.

The new lens arrived on Friday, so on Saturday I was off to the San Joaquin Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Reserve in Irvine, CA for a photo session. The sanctuary is the home of Sea & Sage, the Orange County chapter of the Audubon Society. I hadn't been there for years, but I knew it to be a pretty reliable place to find water birds at this time of year and also for being quite large. I wanted to go someplace where I could pretty much be alone and learn to use my new equipment without attracting attention. And water birds are relatively easy to photograph as opposed to the small and skittish warblers and sparrows. The sanctuary consists of ponds separated by berms so most of the birds are pretty far away. You can't make out any detail without a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope. Many times my husband and I wished that we had a camera lens as good as the spotting scope. This lens comes close.

I was very far away from the Osprey when I took this shot. Click on the photo to see a larger version and check out the expression on his face. He's a fish eater. One look from him would have the fish jumping out of the water in fright.

The Cassin's Kingbird on the right didn't budge while I took several photos of him. I was far enough away that I didn't disturb him. But I still need some practice getting set up quickly and changing settings quickly as I move from place to place. The lens magnifies almost as much as my binoculars (I'm still working on calculating the exact number) but doesn't have the same wide field of view. My one try at capturing some Green Herons in flight was fruitless. I couldn't even find them in the viewfinder.

Up top is a classic shot of a Black-necked Stilt with his reflection in the water. The stilt is such a regular visitor to the sanctuary that they use a similar pose for their logo.

No, this picture isn't upside down. That's a reflection of these Black-crowned Night-Herons in the water. The one in front is a juvenile and the one in the back is an adult. Here they are right-side up, hiding in the reeds, on the right.

I thought the lens might work for taking pictures of the moon as well and was pleasantly surprised with this shot taken last night after I got home. You can compare the detail I got here with this shot taken during the lunar eclipse of Feb. 2008 using my old lens—an amazing difference.

Now I'm dreaming about all the places I can go to take photos. But I will have to get more computer storage space for them. I'm filling up my hard drives!