Last Christmas R gifted me with the last book in Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb. The only trouble was that this was also the last book of the second trilogy with the same character. I had read the first book of first trilogy (The Farseer) but none inbetween.

Until now. Friday after the party I was able to borrow the five books preceding mine. Needless to say, I have done little else but read. Knitting and other crafty activities shall commence when I will return from Six Duchies.

I'm sorry to be so boring.

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Yesterday at the party I used the chance to experiment with my camera a little bit. I have Canon PowerShot A70 which is a good beginner to advanced amateur camera. You can point and click or you can adjust everything yourself, and you can use different lenses. I'm still in the stage of discovering what all the automatic settings do.

The first image was taken using Auto Mode (fully automatic).

The second was taken with Fast Shutter Mode.

The third was taken with Slow Shutter Mode.

And the last one was taken with Portrait Mode just for the heck of it.

As you can see Portrait Mode used flash when the other ones didn't.

So far I have learned about this camera, that:

1. when taking pictures outside, always use Auto Mode first — Landscape Mode distorts colors;
2. I must pay attention to flash settings;
3. Macro Mode is awesome for photographing details;
4. there is a lot more to learn.

I wanted this camera for adaptability and for ability to take pictures of small things in museums. So far I'm very happy with it, altough I haven't tested it in a museum with low light conditions yet. It probably will be much bettern than my old camera was.

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On friday we went to a midsummer's party at friends' place. We ate traditional potatis och sill (potatoes and herring), they sang swedish songs, later we grilled meat and ate a very good strawberry cake. It was a good party, it's past midnight now and we're beat.

Good night, everybody!

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Alison asked in e-mail what pattern I use for the hose. The answer is: a couple and I'll be ajusting things as I go on.

First of all, these are knee length and therefore do not need knee shaping. The hose will be tied below the knee with garters and the fabric is stretchy enough to compensate for the lesser circumference without discomfort.

These are the patterns I use as a guide: Carnamoyle Stockings for the top band and Kurfürsten August von Sachsen hose for the rest. These hose are very much like Duke Barnim's hose in "History of Handknitting" by R. Rutt, but the heel shaping is simpler.

This is how much I have now. As you can see, they are not yet very exiting to look at.

I have also started another pair of socks. The flat knitting of fake fisherman's rib breaks the color pattern this yarn makes in round knitting. Much better, don't you think?

Right now it has lots of pretty colors in random pattern instead of lots pretty colors in ugly staggered pattern.

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There is a book list making rounds on blogs. I've refrained from posting it because while some of these books were on my school reading list, I have no idea who some other authors are. Growing up in Soviet Union kinda puts a slant on what was available. Also, I have a few favorite authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and Rex Stout, and favorite genres like fantasy and sci-fi. The list of books I have enjoyed would be way too long to post.

Yesterday Cari asked on her blog what are the top ten books that have changed her readers' lives. Well, I don't have a top ten, but there is a book that had a profound effect on me. It is "War Began Tomorrow..." by a Soviet Russian author Boris Vasilyev. I read it in Estonian in mid 80's. I have never read it since and I probably never will read it again, it was that powerful. I usually read the books I like over and over and over, so a book that has been read once is scpecial.

The book is about a bunch of teenage classmates in Russian school. Stalin is the General Secretary of Soviet Union, the economy is doing well and communism is the way of life. Most of the classmates are good little Commyouths and the class Leader is a girl devoted to communism. However there is a Pest in the class, she dares to differ, to read forbidden books and have opinions not 100% in accordance with The Communist Way. So the Leader takes upon herself to let the Pest know how she has erred. A teacher lends a hand and between them they make the Pest's life miserable. So miserable in fact that she kills herself. Everybody is shocked, including the Leader who considers this a very non-communist thing to do. At the funeral the school principal speaks the words that made me a different person. Here is the passage in full. To my knowledge this book has not been translated to English, but I was able to find the original text in Russian and did the translation myself.

"Comrades!", said the director suddenly very loud. "Guys and girls, look. Everybody, look at your friend. Look well, to remember. To remember for the rest of your lives, that not only bullets, not only blade or a shell fragment can kill — affronting words and noisome deeds kill, indifference and bureaucracy kill, cowardice and meanness kill. Remember that, children, for the rest of your life, remember!..."

I've tried to remember. I can't say that I haven't spoken a hurful word since, but it made me think of the consequenses of my words and deeds.

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The Cloverleafs are finished!

I like the eylet pattern, it looks very good and was easy to memorize. I wonder what pattern is next in the Six Sox Knitalong?

Until then I'll continue with the hose and probably knit another Critter Knitters blanket. I'd really like to start Ryan's Alhambra Socks, but for some strage reason I left both sets of 2.25 mm dpns in Estonia. I have the perfect Regia yarn for these socks and for me 2.25 mm needles work best with Regia. I'll have to wait for a month until we'll visit Tallinn and I can retrieve the needles.

So I'll experiment with the ugly yarn and try to knit a sock on two needles. It will be interesting to see what kind of pattern the yarn will make then.

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This quiz result is sort of appropriate — for the game journal I chose to use a script that is very similar to this. Exquisite, isn't it?

Lettera da Bolle - You are very beautiful, but few
people take the time to discover this. Those
who do are well rewarded.

What Calligraphy Hand Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

This sample is a book hand, meaning it was used to write books with, very neat and formal. I was able to find a sample of a personal hand, a page from a 14th century notebook. Not so neat and not at all formal. As soon as I get some ink, I'll start practising.

I have turned the heel of the second Cloverleaf and I'm s-l-o-w-l-y progressing on the hose.

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These two guys have joined their brothers in arms.

Painting figures is fun and a welcome change: the hand motions are different from knitting. This is another RPG-related new thing R has shown me.

By the way, the guy on the left has a bird attached to his hat. Neither of us could figure out why — pidgeons for carrying mail were transported in cages. But hey, this is fantasy, they can do whatever they want. No matter that the poor bird would be dead by the time the soldiers reached their destination.

Back to knitting.

The Landsknecht hose are 8.5 cm long now and still slow going. Today I cast on the second Cloverleaf and have knit five pattern repeats.

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These two guys are the ones who engaged me until the small hours yesterday. Thus preventing me from posting...

that I have finished the Carolingian style book.

A view of the spine...

and the detail shot of the tab with endband.

There are numerous things I'll do differently next time. I made this one to get my toes wet and see if the water is fine. Well, the water is perfect — I love the style and even with all the mistakes it looks better than I expected.

As you may have guessed there is no progress on knitting to report.

Boring binding details, skip at will.

I used 20 A4 sheets of 100 g/m² marbled paper for leaves and 1 A4 sheet of 200 g/m² marbled paper for endleaves. The grain of the sheets runs horizontally, which is not the norm.

The A4 sheets are cut to size (take 7.4 cm off longer side) and folded twice along horizontal axis. Resulting in 4 leaves 13.5 cm tall and 7.4 cm wide. Four of those were stacked to create a quire, five quires total. The endleaves are constructed similarly, but have a single sheet in quire. Next time I must remember to not pull so hard when sewing or strenghten these leaves so they don't rip. Quires are stacked and pressed overnight to set the folds.

Boards are cut to the same size as the leaves and have two holes drilled in them. Refer to "The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding" by J. A. Szirmai for proper placement of sewing stations. Slit the quires according to the planned placement of sewing stations, attach cords to the cover boards, sew. Refer to the book for stitch variants. Let the book block sit in press overnight.

Feather the ends of sewing supports and the sewing thread. Glue all the ends to the spine with wheat paste. Make sure the quires are glued to each other too. Take special care gluing the knots of sewing supports at back board. Let dry.

Prepare the leather for cover and tab linings. I did not pare the tabs or tab linings and it worked out well.

Sew endbands; again referring to The Book for the stitches. Attach a bookmark if you wish.

Most Carolingian bindings had the pastedowns under the turn-ins, but I decided to go with the minority and have the pastedowns cover the leather which had a few paring mishaps. So I attached the cover leather to the boards first.

Stitch the tab and tab lining together (look into The Book for stitch guide) and don't forget to wax the thread! Glue the feathered ends between book block and cover boards. When this is dry, attach the pastedowns with wheat paste. Let dry under pressure, changing drying aids (adsorbent paper) frequently. Remember to take the bookmark out of the book before you put it into the press or it will leave a mark.

Take the book out of the press and admire your handiwork.

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First Cloverleaf Eylet Rib Sock is finished!

My favorite toe is round toe — no grafting or three-needle bindoffs.

Round Toe formula.

First, divide your stitches by 8. If they do not divide evenly, determine the modula and decrease these stitches evenly before you start the proper toe decreases. The Cloverleafs are a good example of this because 60 doesn't divide by 8 well.

Next, start the toe decreases. On first decrease round knit two stitches less than the amount of stitches you got (total/8-2), k2tog; repeat until the end of the round. Knit as many rounds as were knit stitches before the decrease.

All subsequent dec rounds: knit 1 less stitch than on previous dec round, k2tog; repeat. Knit as many rounds as were knit stitches before the decrease. Repeat these two until you have 8 stitches left. Cut the yarn and draw the end through the loops, pull tight. Voila! You have a toe.

The math.

1. Divide your total stitches by 8: 60/8=7.5;
2. Take the nearest integer and multiply it by 8: 7*8=56;
3. Subtract the second number from your total stitch count: 60-56=4.

Therefore you need to decrease 4 stitches. I did the decreases at the end of each needle (set of 5).

First dec round: knit 56/8-2=5, k2tog; repeat.

Knit 5 rounds.

2nd dec round: knit 5-1=4, k2tog; repeat.

Knit 4 rounds.

3rd dec rnd: k3, k2tog; repeat.

Knit 3 rounds.

4th dec rnd: k2, k2tog; repeat.

Knit 2 rounds.

5th dec rnd: k1, k2tog; repeat.

Knit 1 round.

6th dec rnd: k2tog; repeat.

Cut the yarn and draw the end through the loops, pull tight.

There is a variation which I call A Rounder Toe. You simply knit one less round between decreases than you had knit stitches. For example there would be 4 knit rounds instead of 5 in the first sequence.

To keep all the information about the mods to these socks in one place here are links to heel and gussets, ribbing and pattern.

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R has been into role-playing for at least a decade and he has a regular group of people to play with. Sometimes he is game-mastering, sometimes one or other of the group. They are not GM-ing the same campaign (story-line), each has their own. Some campaigns are set in fantasy worlds known from books like Middle Earth or Forgotten Realms. Sometimes they make up their own worlds.

The group that plays in one of R's ongoing campaigns has decided to meet every other Saturday for a session. As one of the three players decided he doesn't want to play anymore, I and another friend were asked to join. I made my character before Saturday and M made his before the game.

Now. I'm new to this, we didn't have role-playing in Soviet Union. These guys have been playing for ages, I'm just trying to comprehend what's going on. It is fun to watch them play/act, though. In future I hope I can contribute more than just fighting. Of course, sometimes R forgets that I know nothing and spouts cryptic remarks at me. When I ask, everybody are very kind and helpful explaining what's going on.

The journal is meant as my character's journal. I took notes while playing and now I am trying to decide which hand should I use for writing. I have to find a mechanical calligraphy pen or some ink for my ink pens also. So I have time to decide.

About knitting. I have finished one Critter Knitters blanket, there is some progress on hose and I've knit two pattern repeats past heel on Cloverleafs.

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Progress on hose: I have now knit 6 cm total of one.

Progress on Critter Knitters blanket: I have knit 7 cm past the half mark, 39 cm to go.

Progress on Cloverleafs: none.

I was making a game journal bound in Carolingian style instead. Unfortunaely I can't finish it by tomorrow's game, I don't have a paring knife to pare the edges of the cover leather. I tried to use all my knives that could possibly work, but neither was sharp enough.

R attempted to console me: it's ok — you can write in it, it has leaves, it's a book.

Me: yeah, but it's unfinshed and ugly!

See for yourselves:

Actually, it doesn't look half bad in this light. You can't see the pencil arrows on covers or smudges or all the ends sticking up which ever way.

Next week I'll try to find a knife and put a good leather cover on it.

I have now noticed that I have forgotten the headbands. It is good then, that I didn't ruin the leather by paring where the tabs should be.

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I have turned the heel on the Cloverleaf socks and wrote a description of the heel turning method. This method was originally posted to Socknitters list by Julie Stanley. Thank you, Julie! This is the perfect heel I have been looking for.

To start the gusset, do not make the 6th round of the last pattern repeat. Divide stitches in half: instep on needle I, II and heel on needles III, IV. If you are using 4 needles, put all the heel stitches on needle III.

Gusset increases

Note! Gusset rounds do not match pattern round numbers. Gusset R1 = pattern R6. See the chart for help.

Rnd 1

Shift p1 from the end of the round to the beginning. M1, p1, continue with pattern, m1 in the end of needle II. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 2

K1, p1, work pattern, k1. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 3

M1, k1, p1, work pattern, k1, m1. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 4

K2, p1, work pattern, k2. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 5

M1, k2, p1, work pattern, k2, m1. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 6

K3, p1, work pattern, k3. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 7

M1, k3, p1, work pattern, k3, m1. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 8

K4, p1, work pattern, k4. Knit all heel stitches.

Now is the time to decide which heel you want to use: short row or peasant. If you decide on peasant heel go back to the beginning of needle III and knit all the heel stitches with waste yarn. NB! The work yarn stays at the end of the round. If you decide on short row heel use your favorite method and make the heel.

Gusset decreases

Rnd 9

K2tog, k2, p1, work pattern, k2, ssk. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 10

K3, p1, work pattern, k3. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 11

K2tog, k1, p1, work pattern, k1, ssk. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 12

K2, p1, work pattern, k2. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 13

K2tog, p1, work pattern, ssk. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 14

K1, p1, work pattern, k1. Knit all heel stitches.

Rnd 15

P2tog, work pattern, ssp. Knit all heel stitches.

Slip the p1 from the beginning of needle I back to the end of the round and keep purling it on subsequent rounds. Continue working in pattern down the instep and knitting the sole stitches.

This is what it should look like in the end:

Stitches used

k1

knit one;

p1

purl one;

m1

make one stitch;

k2tog

knit 2 stitches together;

ssk

slip 2 stitches knitwise, slip them back to the left needle and knit them together;

p2tog

purl 2 stitches together;

ssp

like ssk, but purl them together.

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