The Purly Gate (a knitters cult)

Vacation, Long Beach Island, NJ

2009-09-05T21:52:00.006-04:00

As a child my family went to LBI pretty much every summer. I don't remember how long we ever stayed, but LBI set my expectations for the beaches. As a child I was envious of my friends who got to go to Wildwood, after all, Wildwood had the boardwalk. LBI was simply beaches, ocean, and bay, now that I am an adult, I appreciate the simplicity of waves, sand, and non-boardwalk tourist traps. My family continues to visit LBI each summer, I do not. This year I decided to join the extended family for one week down the shore. I've returned tanned, but not ready to resume the stress of work (who ever is?).

Barnegat Lighthouse (probably the first lighthouse I had ever seen)

An entrance to a section of the shore:I was happy to return to Boston, and my kitty was probably even happier. I did some knitting while at the shore, but not a lot. Most of my time was spent instead with my new toy, a Kindle.

I hope that everyone enjoys this long weekend!

Modeled Shots

2009-07-15T00:25:00.003-04:00

I brought the dress over for a modeling session. I had to do some horsetrading, but I got her to put it on. Once I got out the camera, her inner Cindy Crawford came through and she gave me some great shots. It seems to fit great!

A Little Summer Dress

2009-07-14T01:43:00.002-04:00

Is anybody still out there? I seriously doubt it at this point. J and I have been terrible bloggers. I haven't had the crafting bug lately. I've started a bunch of knitting and sewing projects, only to leave them doomed to UFO status. I'm afraid to start anything new on the knitting side - everything just takes so long. Plus, it's been quite hot here in SoCal lately. However, I did miraculously get the sewing bug on Sunday thanks to a tutorial I found online for a shirred sundress. Allegedly, no pattern was required, so I made a quick trip to Beverly's for some fun, girly, summery fabric, and set about making a new dress for my niece. I didn't bother getting her measurements or anything, figuring that the bodice of the dress would stretch to accommodate her. I only knew she is 42 inches tall (at 4 yrs old, btw).

I had never shirred before, and I was nervous. It wasn't quite as easy as the tutorial implied. It turns out that the key to getting proper shirring is to wind the bobbin (elastic thread) fairly tightly. As a result of not having this knowledge, the first seven rows of shirring had to be ripped out, which occupied one evening in front of the TV. Replacing them didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped, so it isn't perfect, but since it was my first time, I'll consider it a learning experience. I think next time, it will go much better.

Here is the finished product:

I'm starting to like it, although I'm still focusing in on everything I don't like about it. I plan on giving it to her sometime this week, so she can be the coolest kid in preschool!

Long Weekend

2009-05-26T06:45:00.006-04:00

I hope that everyone enjoyed the long weekend. I decided that I wanted to get out of the city for at least part of the weekend, and thanks to Amtrak, I was able to do so. Amtrak has a train from Boston to Portland, with some stops along the way. Since you are able to take your bike along with you, I decided that this would be the perfect way to take a day trip (I have no car-be warned I may complain about this for awhile as I try to adjust).

I hoped on a train at about 9 am and arrived in Wells, Maine by about 10:30. After getting off the train, I hoped on my bike and headed down Route 1 to Ogunquit, where I visited Perkins Cove. At Perkins Cove I got off my bike and took a stroll along Marginal Way.

After exploring this shortish coastal path I returned to Perkins Cove and wander the shops there. As I was wandering, I noticed that I could take a cruise down to see the Cape Neddick (Nubble) Lighthouse. Since this Lighthouse was among the things I wanted to see, and since I didn't know if I could actually bike all the way there and still eat where I planned for dinner and make it back to the train station, I decided to buy a ticket and to leave the driving to a captain :)

The cruise lasted about an hour and half and took me down the coast line and around the Lighthouse then back to Ogunquit. It was the perfect way to see the Lighthouse since I was able to see it from 3 of the 4 sides, and if I biked down I only would have seen it from one side.

After the cruise, I got back onto my bike and rode up to Kenneybunkport (no photos) where I had my dinner with a Shipyard Brown Ale and a view of the boats/ships sitting in the various docks. After dinner I had plenty of time to ride back to the train station and to relax (and be eaten by mosquitoes) while waiting for my ride back to Boston.

Lest you think that I am all about traveling and not knitting at all, here is some evidence that there is some yarn action happening here:

Nebula Socks by Cookie A (sorry no link-I really have to get ready for work)

Hello!

2009-05-12T09:29:00.007-04:00

Well, I don't really have much to say, but I thought I would post anyway to prove that we here at the Purly Gate are still kicking.

I haven't been doing much knitting lately. I had one secret knitting project in April, which is now off to it's recipient, but still not bloggable. I have another secret knitting project that is in the works, a photo unworthy shawl, and a pair of orchid lace mitts that are a graduation gift for a string musician I know. To be honest, I haven't felt moved by my knitting.

To distract you from this, let me share some photos from a recent trip:

And a recent photo from home:

This is my first time along the 3rd base line, usually I sit in the grandstands, along the first base line, just slightly off from home plate.

Oh, and I am very seriously thinking of going carless. I am not entirely sure that I am ready for this move. I don't drive often, but it has always been nice knowing that I had my car available. I don't drive enough to justify (to myself) the cost of a new car though, so we shall see how this works out for me.

Spring in Boston

2009-04-19T14:59:00.003-04:00

Finally spring is starting to rear its head. We still have plenty of chilly days, but flowers are in bloom and tourist are back around. The tourist are particularly present this weekend since the

Boston Marathon is being run tomorrow. This means that I don't have to work tomorrow, but it also means that I had to fight through crowds to get to the library. I can live with tourist if it means that I will be able to ditch the jacket soo and to enjoy the parks and flowers around town, which it does.

Happy Spring everyone!

The First of Many

2009-04-04T19:46:00.002-04:00

Today was the first of many recitals for Savannah - her first ballet recital. She takes lessons at the YMCA, and the recital involved each class performing as a group. Some did tap, some ballet. She's in a "Pre-ballet" class, where kids were around 3 or 4. It was mostly them wandering around the stage, jumping up and down and twirling around. It was really funny and really cute too. Here she is in her tutu:

She loves to sing and dance, so I see a lot of performing in her future. I just noticed that a studio near my house teaches Irish dancing (which she sort of did instead of ballet during the recital, if I'm being perfectly honest with you), so my brother is going to look into signing her up. That will be a blast!

Still Alive

2009-04-02T09:10:00.002-04:00

Just in case you were wondering, I am still alive, and so is K. I am doing a bit of knitting here and there. Been working regularly. Have tried yoga podcasts (did one for the abs yesterday, and I think if I do it regularly my abs will improve). I have also been taking more photos. Since this isn't a photoblog, I am not bothering to share them here, well, except for the photo above my randomness here. I have gone back into the darkroom, and boy am I loving it (the above is digital not film).

Oh, I will be in San Diego later this month. Can't wait to get away from here (love ya Boston, but I need a vacation)

Stitches West Wrap Up

2009-03-01T00:20:00.002-05:00

I just got back today from a whirlwind trip to Santa Clara, CA for Stitches West 2009. I haven't been to the convention in a couple of years, so it was really good to be back. For those who aren't familiar, Santa Clara is roughly 45 minutes south of San Francisco. So, in addition to having a major yarn orgy, I also took a day trip to The City for the day. The whole trip was great.

I arrived at the hotel at about 5 p.m. on Thursday just as the Market Preview was starting. Stitches is both a series of classes, many of which are taught by well known book authors such as Melissa Leapman and Nicky Epstein, and the west coast's best yarn market, hands down. On Thursday night, they do a 3 hour market preview for class participants. Its crowded, but a lot less crowded than when the market is opened to the general public. The market is massive and completely overwhelming. That being said, it seemed a little smaller this year. Even given that, the amount of yarn was truly staggering, and the amount of handpainted yarns was impressive indeed. I did a fair bit of damage up there, even though I didn't veer from my budget too terribly much. I had shopping list and I fulfilled that in additon to a few other impulse buys.

One of my goals was to return to the Brooks Farm booth to buy a sweater quantity of their worsted wool yarn.

This is their superwash merino wool. I got the last 3 skeins of this color during the preview.

While there, I may have picked up this Duet yarn (wool/mohair blend) that I hadn't planned on buying:

But isn't it pretty?

I also wanted to look at Dream in Color Classy, which I haven't seen much of. Once I saw it, I couldn't control myself and bought a sweater's quanitity in one colorway:

and an awkward amount of 500 yards in another:

I also snagged copies of Kim Hargreaves' Heartfelt and Thrown Together books. Pretty much as soon as the market opened, these babies went. I counted myself very fortunate to have grabbed these.

The next day, I awoke earlier and took a day trip to San Francsico. I have a close college friend that lives in the Bay Area, so I visit the city frequently. Its a little bit of a challenge to find things I haven't done, so I frequently revisit favorite haunts. But this year, I started out with something different: the Golden Gate Bridge. I've been over it tons of times, but I've never walked on it.

This was my view from the parking area. W.o.w. Then, once I got on the bridge itself, I got good views of the city, the bay. the Bay Bridge.

On my way back into the city, I drove through the Presidio and stopped at this lookout point to get a fabulous view of redwood trees and Alcatraz:

Next, I went here for a proper English tea (fabulous) and then I walked around the trendy neighborhood of Noe Valley, home to Noe Knits and Imagiknit, the oft mentioned yarn store on Stash and Burn. Imagiknit was such an amazing shop. They had tons of unique and beautiful yarns and a vast array of patterns as well. They had all of the yarns organized by weight, which I really like. I didn't find too much that had to come home with me, but I bought this Shibui sock yarn:

Sorry for the bad photo. Sensing a color trend?

On my way to Imagiknit, I took the Muni train, and I hopped off early to snap a photo of this breathtaking view from a neighborhood park.

I snapped this quickie of local architecture while I walked:

After I left Imagiknit, I went here to look at fabric. Meow. It is 4 floors of sheer textile heaven in the heart of Union Square. They had very expensive and amazing fabric. I couldn't even afford most of their remnants, but they were all beautiful.

I walked on to the Ferry Building which houses an impressive collection of high end natural food vendors, including a chocolate place, a bakery, a cheese shop, a butcher, a gelato place, a mushroom shop, and an olive oil store, among others. My feet were hurting and blistery at this point, so I stopped and sat outside looking at the harbor where I was fortunate enough to gaze upon this:

and after a few minutes, this:

After I rested, I picked up a few tasty-looking groceries and made my way to Dosa, the most happening restaurant in the city, apparently. We went to the location on Fillmore, which is in Japantown, and the wait was an hour at 6 p.m! It is southern Indian food, which is completely different from what I've had before. It had a very LA vibe, and I definitely felt like I'd stumbled into the "it" place. But the food was really exotic and different and delicious.

That rounds out my trip pretty much. Today was a Stitches class and my flight home. I know this post is long and photo heavy, but I hope you enjoy looking at my pictures.

10 Favorite Things-R edition

2009-02-19T12:40:00.002-05:00

I saw this meme on Knitting Reader's blog and volunteered to play along. 10 of my favorite things:

1. The Red Sox--it is a cult, once they have you, they suck you in, and that's all she wrote. Not that I object to belong to this cult, I am an enthusiastic member.

2. Red wine--enough said.

3. red accessories. I generally don't wear red clothes, I feel like they clash with my hair (I may be wrong, but I don't risk it). I love wearing/having red accessories though. A watch with a red band, red handbags, red wrist warmers, etc.

4. riding my bike--it is incredibly freeing to feel the wind whip past you.

5. Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade--it makes me think of my first year in high school color guard (yes I was/am a geek). Also I love the drama in the piece.

6. Reading.

7. Ravelry (this is a knitting blog, I am a knitter, and I am running out of ideas, this is harder than I thought)

8. Roses-not as in a dozen red roses, but as in rose bushes, salmon colored roses, rose gardens, etc.

9. Rose & Driftwood--a photo by Ansel Adams. That photo made me want to buy a camera, buy black and white film and create. I bought a print of it for my studio when I was in law school, and I still have it on my wall in my current apartment. You can see all the detail of the driftwood, you can practically feel its rough texture. You can see the fine lines in the rose petals, you can almost feel the contrast of the silky petals and the rough wood.

10. A Room with a View-loved this movie. From the love story to the soundtrack, it is just beautiful.

Another Noro Striped Scarf

2009-02-08T15:51:00.002-05:00

I know everybody and their mother has made this scarf, but there's a good reason, I think. Its endlessly entertaining because no two parts of the scarf look alike. Even though scarves are easy for me to stall out on, this one got finished because I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

I also have some modeled shots in my bathroom mirror.

Knitting Update

2009-02-03T09:04:00.002-05:00

I feel like I haven't really posted any of my knitting for awhile. Part of this is due to the fact that I don't really feel like I have done much knitting lately. That said, I do have two FOs to share, one is a Christmas gift.
Girasole by Brooklyn Tweed, knit in Cascade Ecowool. I finished this just before Christmas, but do to space constraints I wasn't able to block it until I went to DC.

Next I have Gretel which I made with the left over EcoWool.

Modeled Nederland Vest

2009-01-28T23:47:00.003-05:00

I took this photo at zero dark thirty and it's a self portrait, so the quality isn't there, but I think you get the idea.

Pattern: Nederland Vest from Fall 2008 Knitscene
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, 3 hanks of the main color and one each of the contrasting colors, purchased at Knitting in La Jolla
Size: I made the 38 1/2 because my gauge was different than the pattern called for
Needles: Size 6 for the ribbing and Size 7 for the body
Modifications: The ribbing called for 5's, but I couldn't find any and was anxious to cast on. I convinced myself it was OK because I didn't want the ribbing to pull in too much. I also decreased a lot more at the armhole because I noticed that some people's finished vests were too wide in the shoulders. I basically decreased until I had the same number of stitches as the smallest size. In retrospect, I could have done more. I also made the length proportions match my body so that the colorwork sat right beneath my bust.
Overall: I'm happy with it! It's my first successful fair isle project since my Deep V Argyle Vest didn't go so well. The fit is good and I like the colors. I wore it today with loafers for an 80's preppy flashback.

In terms of the personal, it hasn't been a good week for me health-wise. I had an emergency root canal on Saturday and I'm coming down with a cold right now. I seem to be fighting it off fairly successfully. I just need to hold out until the weekend when I can rest.

Fair Isle Vest

2009-01-27T00:33:00.003-05:00

I have actually completed an adult garment. Granted, it doesn't have sleeves, but that may just be the key to my success with it. I almost ran out of steam on it and cast on for two other projects before I finished the last of it. But, in the end, I persevered and now it's done! It's blocking and I snapped some photos of it while it dries.

I've tried it on and it fits pretty well, so hopefully blocking won't change that. I could use a couple of inches in the body for a more flattering fit, and I think I'll get it when the fair isle bits block out. I hope to have modeled photos soon.

A Time of Change

2009-01-22T19:18:00.008-05:00

Today I came home from Washington, DC. I was fortunate enough to be able to obtain 2 silver tickets to the Inauguration. These tickets entitled me to stand in the ticketed standing area behind the Capital Reflecting Pool (including the first part of the Mall).

I arrived in DC on Saturday night, and began my weekend of events by going to the free concert at the Lincoln Memorial. I arrived early enough at the Memorial area to get through the security gates, but I was no where near early enough to get close to the Lincoln Memorial itself. This is about as close as I got. After getting that close, I then backed up to a jumbotron so that I could actually see what was going on. I am not going to go into who performed and spoke, because I believe that plenty of people already have done that. The crowd was amazing, there were people as far as the eye could see. Then when I left the show, there was even more crowd about, out as far as the Washington Monument (there were no jumbotrons there).

On Monday, I didn't do a whole lot, but Tuesday morning at 7 am I left to go to the Capital. I arrived inside the ticket area by about 8:45ish or so, and found my section nearly full, in addition there was a crowd spreading back across the rest of the Mall.

We stood around that morning in the cold. As we tried to stay warm, we talked to one another. We tried to help one another find ways to warm up just a little bit. Then, the guests started to arrive, and we began slowly to forget about the cold. As images of people came onto the jumbotron people cheered, or sometime jeered. A large cheer went up for Senator Ted Kennedy, and people started chanting "Teddy! Teddy!" They showed the limos that were transporting former President Bush and President Obama to the ceremony. People cheered as Bush and President Obama exited the limo. We discussed Michelle Obama's outfit. Then the Inauguration began, and people quieted down. The cold was entirely forgotten. When President Obama spoke a hush mostly fell (I say mostly only because about a half dozen or more people decided to leave the ceremony during his address)

I rented a telephoto zoom lens hoping that I would be able to get a photo of the President Obama's swearing in from my area. As you may be able to guess from the above photo, that wasn't really happening.

This is as close as I could get with the rented lens. Definitely not bad, you can see people, you just can't really see any details of the people. I had 1/2 hoped that when I got home I would be able to crop and enlarge the center area and see more detail. So far, that hasn't really worked. I was able to identify the people in 2 of my shots. I am going to show you these photos, but you have to sort of use your imagination. The first is of former President Bill Clinton with Hillary Clinton.

Next we have the quartet playing the Williams composition. You can more easily identify Yo-yo Ma, but you can also sort of see the others.

The atmosphere of the Inauguration was one of hope and optimism. All of the people that I encountered were friendly, talkative, and excited. DC was alive. When people tried to start something, others around them ignored them, or calmly ended the attempt. When leaving DC after the Inauguration there were military personnel stationed at the Metro station to limit the number of passengers going down at once. This was a rational and cautious thing to do (a woman had already fallen onto the tracks earlier). Nonetheless, a woman started chanting "Let us in" It was clear that she was hoping for others to join her. One of the soldiers posted looked nervous, lets face it crowd control of 2m people has to be tense. The situation could easily have escalated to a mob scene, but it didn't. Most people seemed content to wait and take their time leaving.

President Obama has a huge following right now. He also has a very heavy task before him. It is a job that will require strong leadership and which will surely anger people on both sides of the aisle. I am glad to have had the opportunity to be there for this historic event, and I hope that the optimism of January 20th can survive the rough road ahead.

Hats, Hats, Hats

2009-01-10T01:29:00.003-05:00

Recently, I have knit a couple of hats. Actually, if you count the ones I've knit for Joe, I knit four hats in December. I haven't been too fired up to knit sweaters lately, so hats seem like an achievable goal. Plus, I get to buy yarn without dropping too many greenbacks or I can use up leftover yarn. It turns out that I don't look good in hats, though. Fortunately, in my climate I don't wear them often. To model a couple of these hats, I recruited a far more adorable model than myself:

This is the Sweet Honey Beret from the most recent Interweave Knits (Winter 2008) in Sublime Angora Merino. The hat took me just over one ball. I have almost a full ball leftover. I really like the yarn. Its very very soft with absolutely no itch factor and has a great halo. The scarf is my own pattern made from Manos del Uruguay. I've always wanted a scarf with large color blocks so I made one.

This is the Newsboy Cap from Stitch n Bitch Nation. I've wanted to make this for years and finally got around to it. The yarn is Lana Grossa Bingo which is a heavy worsted machine washable merino. I added a repeat to the cable pattern based upon recommendations on Ravelry but I don't think I needed it. The hat is a little long, but I do really like it. I added plastic mesh that I got at Michael's to stiffen the brim. This was a very quick knit.

At the moment, I'm working on Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Striped Scarf and I'm really enjoying it. It's coming out really nice. I think I can probably finish it this weekend. I also bought yarn to make an argyle vest since the dry cleaners ruined my favorite one - ugh.

Flawed Sox

2008-12-30T13:33:00.002-05:00

I was off most of last week. You would think that this would mean that I had a ton of time to knit and read. For some reason, you would be wrong. Time went quickly and there wasn't a whole lot of knitting done. About the only thing that did get done, was the second of my Beckett socks. I had left off with the second of these socks over 1/2 way done. The heel was turned and the gusset decreases began before I stopped. On Thursday, I picked the socks up and finished them. I immediately put them on and began wearing them around the house.

As you can see, I decided to reverse the colors on the second sock. I did this because they are going to be at home socks, and I like my colorwork socks and mittens to each be a bit different then the other. Why do the same exact thing 2x if you don't have to?

These are my Josh Beckett socks because Josh is #19, and he is my favorite player on the team.

The sock pattern is pretty cool, imo. It has some arch shaping in the foot. I had never done this before. The pattern instructions include directions for pin stripes and for teams without pin stripes. While the Sox do not use pin stripes in their uniform, I thought that using pin stripes would really displace the arch shaping, so I included them in the gussets and on the sole of my feet.

After finishing the toe on my second sock, I immediately stitched it closed and put it on my foot. I wore the socks for several hours then at the end of the night I went to take them off. When I went to do that I noticed something was wrong. Do you see my mistake in the picture above?

Apparently the last row of B's I knit, I was holding the chart upside down, so now those Bs face in towards me rather than out towards the world. Oops.

As for recent books that I have read they are:

Brideshead Revisited, Waugh (Ravelry book club-I enjoyed this); Possession, Byatt (Ravelry book club-hard to get into at times, but could also be enjoyable); A Year of Living Biblically, Adams (good read, fast, funny at times and respectful without being overly so); Oryx & Crake, Atwood (since I didn't like Blind Assassin, I was alittle dubious starting this book, but I definitely enjoyed it); The Keep, Eagan (a good read, the story kept me guessing for awhile); Nights of Rain and Stars, Binchy (fairly typical Binchy, quick read); Rhett Butler's People, McCaig (do NOT go around changing Margaret Mitchell's story. If you want to add details that is fine, but do not claim that Scarlett met Rhett for the second time in Charleston, if Mitchell wanted that to be their second meeting it would have been in GWTW); Tales of Beedle the Bard, Rowlings (very quick read); and finally, currently reading Annie Leibovitz At Work (loving the book-you can't tell from this blog but I actually have a great fondness for being behind the camera and I love Leibovitz's photos (who doesn't?) so it is really great getting to find out some of what is behind some of her work.) I think that covers my reading.

Sorry that this is such a very long post.

Happy New Years everyone!

Finally Done!

2008-12-24T13:54:00.002-05:00

You might remember that some time ago I claimed to have sewn the cutest thing ever and that you'd be seeing it soon. Well, I haven't had my sewing machine out since. I've been busy and have been more into knitting lately, but I had a Christmas gift to finish, so I had to get it out last night and finish it. So, at long last, you can see the cutest thing ever:

I made the apron from Amy Butler's In Stitches book. In fact, I made two - one for myself and one for my mother-in-law. Fortunately, the one for my MIL came out better than mine. In fact, I'm really pleased with my work on it. I really like the pocket - particularly the way the two fabrics make it looks:

I used contrasting thread to sew it on, so I had to be super careful to sew straight. I did OK, but not great.

I really love the pleats:

I changed the way the tie was done. She has you fold over the rectangular end to make a triangle and hand sew it. I just sewed it to a triangular point - no folding or hand sewing. It seemed more secure that way.

Joe is on his way to Chicago to deliver this to his mom and a scarf that I knit out of Manos for his SIL. Those are the only handmade gifts I did this year, so it was a much less stressful holiday season for me. I knit myself a beret and a newsboy cap that I may get a chance to show you while I'm on vacation - until January 5th!!!! I plan to get A LOT of knitting done. I'm considering making the Gathered Pullover or perhaps a vest. We'll see.

East Coast Update

2008-12-09T09:14:00.003-05:00

Hey all! The weather here in Boston has turned frosty. We even had a some white stuff falling from the sky this weekend.The thermostat has dipped. It is time for hot cocoa, hot tea, warm socks & sweaters.

Sadly, even though it is definitely sweater knitting time my knitting mojo seems to have taken an extended vacation. What this means is that I haven't had the motivation to do knitting for myself, but I have been plugging away at projects for other people. I am about 3 sleeve inches away from finishing a sweater for a dear, pregnant, friend now on the west coast (she knows all about this, she even selected the sweater, so I figure it is safe to blog about it). There is a decent chance that this will be done before the baby is born (baby isn't due for months and months).

I have also started a secret project (Rav link). I had a brief return of my mojo and started this, then the mojo started to fade, but I am still working away at it. In the meantime, I have been doing lots and lots of reading.

Goodbye Takeout!

2008-11-30T08:00:00.002-05:00

OK, so I've been walking around the house, saying things like, "I'm the best!" and "I rock!" and "I should open an Indian restaurant!" for the last hour. Why? Because I made the second best Paneer Tikka Masala on earth! The number one honors belongs to Bombay in Hillcrest (Monsoon in the Gaslamp - same owners/menu, different locale). OK, so maybe an Indian restaurant has a tandoori oven so they don't have to use frozen naan. Details, details.

However, I have to say that this one was amazing and I did it with ingredients from my regular market. OK, so maybe this market is a natural foods market in an Indian section of town, but still, I didn't have to go to a special market.

But I want you to enjoy it as much as me, so I'm going to give you the recipe! This recipe comes from the Chicago Tribune and it is originally intended for chicken, so obviously chicken thighs or breasts or both can be substituted. Also, lamb can be used. If you're making chicken, reduce marinating time to 1 hr.

Paneer Tikka Masala

3/4 pound paneer cheese, cut into 1 x 1/2 inch cubes (local source: Windmill Farms)

Marinade:

1 cup plain Greek-style yogurt (local source: Trader Joe's or Windmill Farms)
2 T lemon juice
2 t ground cumin
1-2 t cayenne pepper (I used one teaspoon to get a medium-spiced dish)
2 t black pepper
1 t cinnamon
1 t salt
1 one-inch piece fresh ginger, minced

Sauce:
1 T ghee (clarified butter) (local source: Windmill Farms)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
2 t ground coriander
1 t ground cumin
1 t sweet paprika
1 t garam masala (local source: Windmill Farms)
1/2 t salt
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
1/2 onion (chopped into 1-inch squares)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 cup basmati rice, uncooked
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 t salt
1 pkg frozen garlic naan (source: Trader Joe's)

Combine marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Add paneer and marinate as long as possible up to overnight (I marinated it for 5 1/2 hours). Put paneer on a greased cookie sheet covered with foil or parchment paper and broil, on high, for 8 minutes. Remove from oven.

Meanwhile, bring 1 3/4 cups water, 1/2 t salt, and 1 cup rinsed basmati rice to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwile, melt ghee in a saucepan. Add garlic and jalapeno and saute for 2 minutes. Add spices and cook for 1 minute. Add tomato sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken. Add paneer, onion and peas. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Add cilantro and remove from heat.

Reheat naan according according to package instructions. Serve paneer with rice and naan.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Leftover Pie Crust?

2008-11-29T13:13:00.005-05:00

My task for Thanksgiving was to bake two pies: one apple, one pumpkin. I made two pie crust recipes, but ended up with 1/2 of a pie crust recipe leftover. Not enough for a double crusted pie, but I really wanted to use it because the crust was really good. But, what to do? A quiche? Maybe. A sweet potato pie? Sounds good, but I really didn't want more sweet pie. I wanted a savory pie. So, I decided to make a meat pie. I searched around on the Google for inspiration and adapted a recipe from here.

Here's the filling:

I used individual pie plates because I didn't have enough crust for a full pie. If you have these, it makes for really convenient personal sized servings. I shredded cheddar cheese and put it in the bottom of each pie:

Then I added the filling and put the top crust on:

I was so anxious to eat this pie that I cut into it before I realized I'd forgotten to get a photo. So I don't have an FO photo so to speak. If you're interested in making this, I'll provide a recipe that assumed you have enough pie crust for a double crusted pie. The opportunities for variation are endless. It can be made vegetarian, or you can use leftover turkey with sweet potatoes, you can use lamb and change the seasonings to have a greek or indian flair, you can give it a Mexican flavor, too.

Proper English Meat Pies (serves 4)

Crust:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 t salt
2/3 cup solid vegetable shortening, frozen, then cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
6 T ice water
2 t apple cider vinegar

Filling:

2 T canola oil, separated
2 T butter, separated
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3/4 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup beer (if you don't have beer, use all beef broth)
salt and pepper to taste
4 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Make crust:

Blend flour and salt in processor. Add shortening and butter and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer mixture to bowl. Mix 6 tablespoons ice water and vinegar in small bowl; pour over flour mixture. Stir with fork until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into 2 balls; flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic and chill 30 minutes. After chilling, divide into 8 separate discs if making individual pies.

Roll out lower crust(s) and place in pie plate(s). Put in refrigerator and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450.

Meanwhile, brown ground beef in 1T each oil and butter. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Add the other 1 T oil and butter to pan and saute onions, carrots, and potatoes until just tender. Return beef to pan and add italian seasoning, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Add flour and cook another 1 minute. Add beef broth and beer. Cook until sauce is thickened into a gravy consistency. Add parsley. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Sprinkle cheddar cheese into each pie plate. Spoon filling on top. Roll out top crust(s) and place on top of filling in pie plate. Cut a 2 slits in top of pie to vent.

Cook pie at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and cook for an additional 25 minutes for individual pies and 45 minutes for full pie. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

Wooly Goodness

2008-11-26T00:49:00.003-05:00

Can you believe that I haven't finished sewing my mother-in-law's gift yet? I promised it last week, but since then, I haven't used my machine at all. I have a renewed knitting mojo, which I'll discuss in some other post some other time, but for now, it's all about sewing. I've got a 6-day weekend coming up and I plan to be up to my ears in thread. Oh, there is one important bit of knitting news. This is really only important to the locals. Last Saturday, I went to Knitting in La Jolla and she was having an anniversary sale. Yarns are between 10 and 50% off. Manos and Silky Wool are 50% off, a couple of Rowan yarns (All Seasons Cotton, for one) are 40% off, Kidsilk Haze is 30% off, etc. She had a TON of Manos in lots of colors - mostly solids. I plan on going back tomorrow to get more Manos. The sale is going on for another week and a half.

Anyway, on to the sewing. I've decided to draft my own skirt pattern. I have a book that tells you how to do it based on your personal measurements, and I feel that I have enough sewing experience that I can add features to make the skirt fit me well. If the pattern turns out well, I'll use it over and over. I've decided to one-up myself and sew my first wool skirt. Winter (in a manner of speaking) has arrived, if by winter you mean temperatures below 70 degrees and a few sprinkles. I have some wool fabric that I purchased in Boston, but I just wanted new fabric. You know how that goes? So, I took a ride up to Yardage Town in Escondido (for the locals, again). I've been to several of the Yardage Town locations and most of them, pardon my French, suck. I even have one in my little neighborhood and, it's OK in a pinch, but it...well...it sucks. So, imagine my surprise when the location in Escondido turned out to be a real treasure trove. They had 3 racks of wool fabric, another of just suiting wool fabric, multiple racks of silk (dupioni and charmeuse), cute corduroy and denim fabric, knits and a lot of cotton, both stretch and regular. They also had gauzy cotton for breezy summer tops. The entire downstairs is remnants, and I found a couple of great pieces there. They had a lot of patterns, notions, etc. too. It was a real shocker. Go figure. Anyway, on to the fabric:

This is going to be my skirt and lining. Isn't that wool fabulous? Can't you just see it paired with a burgundy or pumpkin colored top and knee high boots? The lining is polyester, which is kind of yuck, but it's not as plasticky as other polyester linings. Trust me, I was very tempted by the silk charmeuse for a lining. I also found these on the remnant tables:

The flash is obscuring things, but the one on the left is deep charcoal gray suiting fabric and the one on the right is kind of a taupy brown with blue lines running through it. They were $3 a yard - both wool!

The PJ's

2008-11-19T01:52:00.002-05:00

It's late, and I'm a little tired, so I'm going to be pretty brief. However, I wanted to show you the second item I sewed this weekend. I had dreams of pressing them out and giving them a real photo shoot, but instead, you see them hanging in the bathroom in bad lighting:

These are the first pair of flannel PJ's I have ever made. I took advantage of a $3/yard sale at Joann's and purchased this adorable ladybug flannel fabric.

Here's a closeup of the print:

The pattern that I used, Simplicity 2821 (Simplicity patterns were $1 each at Joann's this weekend!), is a unisex pattern that has a band around the bottom of the leg. I really liked this feature, and it is the reason that I chose this pattern. However, when I measured the pattern pieces and compared them to pants I have at home, I realized that they were more proportioned for a man. I ended up taking two inches out in length between the waist and crotch area and leaving off the band entirely. This turned out to be OK because I ran out of fabric and couldn't make the band anyway! To finish the bottom, I added piping in red to bring out the contrast color:

In the end, the changes I made really helped to make the pants fit me really well. I love the piping, too. I'm not at all disappointed about not having the band on there. Now, if only it was cold enough to actually wear them! Honestly, winter, or heck, even fall, will come eventually, right?

Sewing Weekend

2008-11-17T01:00:00.002-05:00

I'm just finishing a three-day weekend that I filled almost entirely with sewing and shopping for fabric. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? My hubby is out of town on a business trip, so I took advantage of an empty house to lug in a bunch of fabric and patterns from the garage and set up my sewing machine. My goals were a little too ambitious, but I still got a lot done. In the end, I completely finished two projects and almost completed one more. I'm going to roll them out slowly so that I actually have something to blog about. It appears that my next knitting FO may not happen for a while.

To get my feet wet, I decided to finish a project that I cut out several months ago. I tried to find out exactly when by looking back through my posts, but I couldn't find anything. I may have started it as long ago as a year! Anyway, I figured since it was already cut, it would work up quickly. Basically, that's true.

This is the Frenchy Bag by Amy Butler, in the shoulder bag size. I really like the way it turned out! I think I'll use it as a knitting bag, since I can't picture myself walking around town with a cat-themed purse. The best part?

The lining! It coordinates with the cat fabric, although the colors in the photos are so bad that it may be hard to tell.

Somebody got nosy.

Sometime later this week, I'll blog about my second finished project. I'll probably have the third one done tomorrow night, and it's the cutest one of all!

First Tuesday in November

2008-11-04T11:39:00.003-05:00

Here in the US that means that it is election day! I made sure to vote very first thing in the morning. It took me about 3x as long to vote this year as it usually does. I am not complaining (it only took 15 minutes), I think that this is a sign that voter turnout is going to be better than predicted. There were only 2 contested races on my ballot (plus 3 initiatives) and 3 uncontested/unopposed races, so if turnout is this high in my little section of Boston, I can only imagine what it is like elsewhere.

Because I am feeling cheerful and optimistic, I am sharing a rainbow that I saw last Tuesday. I had a rough couple days (I was very angry with my partner) then I saw this on my way into the city.

Oh, E, the "face" is the reflection of a P on a parking pass that is on the ledge beneath my windshield.

Now, for real knitting content:

A non-surprise gift. It was selected, and requested, by the recipient, a fellow knitter. Not showing the pattern here, just giving a taste of what my home knitting has been. There is ALOT of this.

Actual knitting content

2008-10-31T12:46:00.002-04:00

I decided to pick up my knitting needles again. Ironically (for those who know me), I was more inspired to knit for others than for myself. I'm not normally a gift knitter because I feel that I get more satisfaction out of my knitted items than the recipients do. At least that's how it's gone in the past. However, this past summer, I met my sister-in-law in Chicago for the first time, and she requested a scarf for Christmas. She even requested particular colors! How could I not knit something for someone who a) lives in a freezing cold climate and takes the bus to work every day and b) requested something handknit?

The colors she requested were lime green and/or orange and/or pink. I can tell she likes a lot of color, and since I do, too, I figured this would be a fun scarf to knit. So, I went shopping at Yarning for You in San Marcos (northern San Diego county). I found a nice variegated yarn that I'm using to make this pattern. With my purchase, they gave me a 20% coupon to use on my next purchase through the end of the year. Apparently, they're doing this with every purchase, so if you live in the area, you may want to stop by.

I'm not sure if I'm loving it or not, but in case it turns out super ugly, I have a backup plan.

I'm going to break the seal on something for this blog. I'm going to go political for a second. Don't forget to vote on November 4th! Please vote No on Proposition 8, if you live in California. It's very important to keep discrimination out of our state constitution.

A Sock

2008-10-28T11:25:00.000-04:00

Second in a pair. Not much to say today.

More Cooking

2008-10-21T08:52:00.008-04:00

This weekend a friend of mine and I picked up our first winter CSA installment. 45-50 lbs of produce split between 2 people. 2-25 lbs of produce is a lot. We were both very excited about our fall bounty. I immediately had to start cooking. I really REALLY don't want to waste any of this locally grown produce. So Saturday night I made a salad using romaine and carrots from the CSA and tomatoes from Trader Joe's. I also mixed up a balsamic vinaigrette.

I munched on my salad while I roasted a HUGE sweet potato, 3 beets, 2 onions, garlic, and a delicato squash (all CSA). After the fall veggies were all good and roasted I placed them on a bed of quinoa. This was nice, but the quinoa needed more flavoring, something that I will be playing with over this winter.

On Sunday morning I woke up and prepared a Maple Fruit Crisp using 3 apples from the CSA, frozen blueberries, and 2 pears from Trader Joes (I snuck a piece to have with my breakfast-haven't had any since though)

Around midday I made a red lentil soup using CSA onions, turnips, carrots, spinach. I still haven't tried this soup, but I have made it before (using a crock pot and parsnip instead of turnips) so I am expecting it to be good. I have stashed the soup in the freezer to be pulled out as fall moves into winter. I went to the Melting Pot for dinner, so there was no home cooking for me. I made the soup now, though, so that the veggies wouldn't go bad.

Last night I did more cooking, making a curried potato fennel soup. This one is going to be "experimental." While I had a recipe I was kind of following I made some changes. The first change was substitution soymilk for buttermilk (yes this can be done). Sadly, I didn't have enough plain soymilk, so I used about a cup of vanilla soymilk (I can't really type that without grimacing, so you know how much I am looking forward to trying this soup-no it wasn't dinner last night). I also did not have any curry power so I subbed with tumeric (I think-it wasn't labeled but I think that was where I had my tumeric) and corriander.

My dinner last night was a variation of my new favorite quick meal. Sauteed greens with garlic and beans on polenta. Previously I had used kale and white beans. Well, my CSA came with Swiss Chard, so I used that in place of Kale. I also read that turnip greens were tasty, so after I used the turnips for my lentil soup I reserved the greens and mixed the turnip greens with the swiss chard. When I stopped in a local convenience store to buy white beans I discovered that they didn't have any, so I picked up pink beans instead. I also noticed a can of sliced beets on the shelf, so I grabbed them and added the beets to the mix. While I like homemade polenta, this dish I prefer to serve on the packaged tube of polenta because I can pan fry medallions of polenta and get good and crispy. I tried this with homemade polenta and it just didn't work for me.

You may have picked up from my curried potato fennel soup sub, that I have some vegan leanings. I can live without milk, I can definitely live without eggs, but what will prevent me from ever going vegan is cheese. I LOVE cheese (my quinoa dish had cheese melted over the roasted veggies-I add that individually). The white stuff on my greens and polenta is romano cheese. In my opinion, everything tastes better with cheese!

Since this is a knitting blog and you probably aren't hear to see what food oddities I create, I will share some knitting progress now:

Haruhah Scarf knit with some Drops mohair in a laceweight or fingering weigh gauge.Baseball Socks (I hoped that working on something Red Sox related would bring good things. It didn't).

FYI the 19 is for Josh Beckett, my favorite player on the Sox. I finished this sock on the bus this morning.

Leaf Peeping

2008-10-14T09:02:00.005-04:00

Here in New England when fall rolls around people start to talk about going "leaf peeping." For those of you who don't know, leaf peeping amounts to driving out to Vermont, New Hampshire, or other areas to see the fall foliage. While I have never officially been peeping, last year I went on my first ever backpacking trip to New Hampshire where I got to see the last vestige's of the prime peeping.

This year I went out to the Northern Berkshires for a last hike of the year. I went with three other people and we discovered that our trip coincided with prime foliage viewing time. Sadly, my photos don't do justice to the fall foliage.

We spent 3 days hiking, and traveled from Lee, MA to North Adams, MA. We hiked about 44 miles over this 3 day span, and climbed up and over Mt. Greylock, which is the highest point in the state.

As a result of this hike, I have managed to hike about 115 miles this year (2008), this is a lot more distance than I expected to cover. It also means that the backpacking gear I bought between my first trip and now hasn't been wasted. I have learned what I like and don't like about my gear and am thinking about what I can/should replace (mostly my pack, which I don't think fits right).

There was no knitting this weekend, nor was there any cooking (unless you count boiling water over a camp stove and adding it to coucous).

Welcome to our food blog...

2008-10-13T00:14:00.002-04:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. The scarier thing is that it's been about that long since I've knit a stitch. I've never gone through a dry spell like this before and hopefully, it will end soon. In the meantime, I've been doing quite a bit of cooking, much like J has. This weekend, there was a touch of fall in the air, so I decided to make some comfort food.

First off I made this zucchini bread recipe.

Actually, I cut the recipe in half. The only thing that couldn't easily but cut in half was the egg amounts, so I used two eggs. I just had a piece and I have to say it was yummy! Particularly with a schmear of cream cheese.

Then I made a goat cheese, shiitake mushroom and bell pepper quiche:

I served it with a salad dressed with an orange muscat champagne vinaigrette, recipe here. Everything turned out really well, particularly the salad dressing. I highly recommend the recipe. I got the vinegar at Trader Joe's, if anyone is interested. I could wait until the quiche was cool, so it hadn't quite set up yet.

I found this little gadget at Marshall's. It's the coolest thing to mix and store homemade salad dressing so it can be used during the week. I've been looking for something like this for ages:

Another SIP (sock in progress)

2008-10-09T09:04:00.002-04:00

At home my needles have been fairly quiet. No lace shawls slowly being created, no sweaters being started, or worked on. For some reason I am going through something like a knitting slump. The only time I seem to be regularly knitting is when I am sitting on my bus going to or from work. Bus knitting is largely for sock knitting. My current SIP is Twinkleberry by Knitzi. I am making this using some Schaffer Anne yarn.

Notice how well the pattern shows up with my yarn choice (read sarcasm into the sentence)?

Despite the fact that the yarn and the pattern are competing with one another I am blithely continuing with this sock. I am somewhat optimistically telling myself that the pattern will show up better when the sock is stretched on my foot/leg. Hey, it could happen!

We have a long weekend coming up, but don't expect great feats of knitting, I am going to go backpacking, probably for the last time this year, and if any knitting comes with me, I doubt it I will have any progress to show.

Gothic Spire

2008-10-02T09:02:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday I mentioned that I finished my Gothic Spire Socks. Well, I am wearing them today and have photos to share.

I also mentioned frying up chili cornmeal encrusted tofu on Sunday, well, this is what I have done with my tofu:

It tastes really good :) There is chipotle mayo, pickles, and slaw in that sandwich. The bun is toasted and the tofu is reheated (in the toaster oven that sits around in my office). I put together the sandwich hear and it has been much better than my standard hummus on a pita.

A side note-the problem with baking an apple pie when you live alone is that you then have an entire apple pie with no one to share. Oh well.

What to do With a Rainy Weekend

2008-09-30T09:03:00.005-04:00

The rain started falling on Friday of last week and it continued falling through Sunday. There were a couple of breaks in the rain, breaks long enough for a 3 baseball games to be played, but the breaks seemed tenuous and drizzly. It wasn't cold or even chilly out, but it is fall here in New England, so I decided to use the rainy weekend to try keeping busy doing some fallish things.

My first activity on Saturday morning was to make a pie crust. When the crust was ready I made an apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust.

While the pie was being prepped I soaked some black beans. By late Saturday afternoon I started making a pot of Southwest Black Bean Soup. A bowl of the soup was my dinner.

Since soup, by itself, seems a bit lonely I decided, while the soup was simmering, to make some corn bread. The recipe I used called for the corn bread to be made in a cast iron skillet. My cast iron skillet is only big enough for one veggie burger, so I made the corn bread in a cake pan.

While on my cooking frenzy, I finished up my Gothic Spire Socks (photo to come latter).

On Sunday, a new, rainy day dawned, and I had more indoor hours to fill. To fill those hours I finished reading 2 books, and finished knitting my Shaped Lace Tee (from Knitting Lingerie Style). I also fried up some Chili-cornmeal encrusted Tofu (recipe from the Veganomicon) to have for lunch during the week.

By the end of Sunday I was ready to jump out a window (and I actually was gone from my apartment for about 2 hours +-). I guess that I am not really that much of the type of person who enjoys THAT much at home domestic activity (please note that while I was domestic this weekend, there was no mention of me spending time cleaning, I guess I just can't reach that level of domesticity)

A Tiny Bit of Knitting

2008-09-23T09:03:00.002-04:00

I have been bored lately. Bored to the point of distraction, therefore, there hasn't been much knitting happening and with no knitting happening there has been no reason to blog. This post is going to be brief. Both K & I are still alive and kicking. I have done some knitting and have just turned the heel on my second Gothic Spire sock.

Instead of knitting I have been doing some real cooking (people that know me IRL know that usually cooking for me means opening something from Trader Joe's and heating it up).

In addition (ready for some pointless bragging? If not, you can stop reading) I rode 50 miles on Sunday as part of the Hub on Wheels Ride. I rode my 50 miles in 3 hours and 26 minutes! This gives me an average pace of about 14.5 mph! For me this is fabulous, I am usually a 12 mph kind of rider.

Ennui Shawl Part Deux

2008-09-09T09:39:00.002-04:00

The Shawl if finished. It is blocked and dried. Done, off the needles, soft and warm. Unfortunately, the photos of me with it were kind of blurry, so for now, the above is what I have to share. It looked a little short before blocking, but thanks to the magic of water and blocking wires it turned out to be a good shawl size. Bellow is a detail shot of the little circles in the center and the start of the border pattern.

Ennui Shawl

2008-09-02T09:33:00.002-04:00

Last year I began to attempt to design a triangular shawl. My inspiration for the shawl came from seeing the beautiful and oh so soft Malabrigo Lace. I wanted to create something unique with this lovely yarn. I decided to make my triangular shawl following the top center out plan of Icarus and the like. I carefully selected my center pattern and began working on it.

After a while I decided to mix things up and switched to a different pattern. Originally, this was not going to be the border, but instead a step between the main pattern and the border pattern. I attempted to choose a motif that continued with little circle/rings, but which used them less often. As I continued though, I decided that adding another center motif would be too much, so this became my border.

Next was time for the edging, I decided that the little picots on the very edge of the edging would be a nice follow through with the other circles (admittedly, unblocked, the circles in the border don't show so well). The edging pattern departs from the knitting structure of the rest of the shawl and is knit separately and attached to the body through means of purling two together.

Now, after nearly a year of off and on knitting the shawl is coming close to completion. My edging is almost half done. The only challenge left is figuring out how to make the edging turn at the point of my triangle...

No Photos of Hey Teach

2008-08-27T00:55:00.003-04:00

Well, I did finish Hey Teach! It turned out well - fits like I made it myself. Wait...

However, although I wore it several times, I had no one to take a photo. I almost recruited my mother, but she was recovering from dental surgery and wasn't up to it. So, no FO photos. I have to say, though, that the yarn, 2nd Time Cotton, really exceeded my expectations. It seems stiff and heavy in the skein, but it knits up like a dream, particularly in lace patterns, and it wears extremely well. It hasn't stretched out much with wearing, and it's very comfortable. The best part, I think, is that it is made from waste from the fabric industry, so it's got that green vibe going. Check it out for yourself - you won't be disappointed.

Here's my progress on my latest effort:

This is Liesl by Ysolda in Elsebeth Lavold Angora. I think it's turning out well. Considering I used size 11 needles because it was what I could find (it calls for 10 3/4), I am shocked with how well it fits. I thought it was going to be way too small, just by looking at it. At this point, I have the sleeves to do, which I have to do on two circulars because I couldn't find a 32" or a 40" circular needle in that size. I'm not looking forward to that, so I'm taking a short break from this project. Plus, the yarn irritates my hands. In fact, I swear I had a hive on my finger the other day. No worries, though. Although my hands are incredibly sensitive, the skin on my body isn't, so it should be fine. I've tried it on with no itchies or irritation.

Instead of finishing Liesl, I have cast on for Marilyn's Not So Shrunken Cardigan. I am making a not at all shrunken version with a full-length body and 3/4 sleeves. I'm using Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in a pretty periwinkle color. I said to J today that I thought it was coming out to bulky, but I've pressed onward because I think it will be fine in the end.

Even though I was apparently the only person who didn't watch a single minute of the Olympics, I am busying my evenings with watching the bloodsport known as politics. Every night, I watch coverage of the Democratic National Convention and am as riveted as Olympics-watchers, I can assure you. I hope you are enjoying your week.

No Knitting Pics

2008-08-26T09:12:00.004-04:00

While I have knit a couple more rows of WRS, it still isn't photo worthy, unless you want me to keep showing photos that look pretty much identical. What I am sharing today is a photo of the cute little red Fiat 500 that I rented while I was in France. I LOVED this car, it was adorable. It didn't have a lot of pick up and go, but it had a sun roof thing (it didn't open) it looked like I could have connected my Ipod to it, and it was just fun. I actually only paid for the most basic of cars, but there was an incident at the car rental agency when I tried to pick up my car on Saturday. I think that as a result of the incident I got a better car. The Fiat was brand new. If these cars come to America, I very well might have to get myself one :-)

Quick Update

2008-08-21T10:59:00.003-04:00

My knitting mojo seems to have been on vacation most of the summer. I have a sweater started that I just don't feel like working on. I finished one Gothic Spire sock and now I don't know where my second skein is, and I don't feel much like looking for it. The only knitting I seem to still be working on is WRS, and not even consistently on that. I know that it is probably totally boring to see photo after photo of lace in progress, particularly if only a row or 2 has been added, but sadly, that is all I have to share.

As of this writing I am 13 1/2 rows into repeat #3 of the center panel. Each repeat is 62 rows and there are 5 full repeats plus another 40 rows.

Since I have nothing knittingwise to share--here is a photo of a wonderful cheese salad that I had in Carcassonne (I may be sharing way too many France photos, but I have nothing else, sorry) I don't remember exactly what cheese were on the salad (there was a goat and an emmental) but there were all delicious. As you can see there were orange, cucumber, kiwi, tomato and lemon slices artistically displayed around my pile of lettuce. Yum!

Out With the Old, In with the New

2008-08-13T02:01:00.002-04:00

Hey Teach! is blocking:

She's almost dry, but it turns out that it takes a while for thick cotton fabric to dry:

It didn't take me long to choose my next project. I decided to cast on for Liesl by Ysolda Teague. I always knew I'd make one of her patterns someday, but I always figured Arisaig would be the first. Lets just say that a fingering weight sweater isn't exactly calling to me right now. I'm using yarn that I bought for 70% off a long time ago. The store only had 6 hanks left, so I took what they had. Later, I offered one to a friend who was finishing her Under the Hoodie (she also bought her yarn at the same sale). However, she wouldn't take it because she told me that she knew a project would come along where I wished I still had the 6th hank. Well, guess what?

That's Elsebeth Lavold Angora. According to the pattern, I should have plenty, but I'm dubious. However, I got this far on just over one hank, so maybe there's hope:

Back to Reality

2008-08-12T08:32:00.019-04:00

Sometimes in life you get lucky, sometimes you get REALLY lucky. I was REALLY lucky recently. My aunt and uncle are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary by renting a villa in Provence, and they invited family to come stay with them. Who am I too say no to a free place to stay in Provence?

This is the pool at the villa. Doesn't it look peaceful and relaxing? The float you see there is a cheapo float that I bought at CVS just for this trip, I couldn't wait to just spend some time relaxing, floating, and sunning in the pool.

Of course, when you go to Provence you can't spend all of your time floating in the pool at the villa, you must do some touring too! There was a stop at a lavender field and museum, the lavender had been harvested a day or so before my arrive.

I visited Pont Saint-Esprit:

Pont du Gard:

Nimes:
Chateauneuf-du-pape: Carcassonne: and, of course, Paris:

Short Attention Span Theater

2008-08-10T02:16:00.002-04:00

Rather than be good and frugal and finish my Hey Teach!, I decided to go to a yarn sale today and buy more yarn and cast on for another project. I'm not being too strict with myself because I've found my knitting mojo so fleeting recently. But still, I'm a little annoyed with myself.

For the local readers, the yarn sale was at Two Sisters and Ewe in La Mesa where they're having a 20% off all yarn sale. They have gotten some new shipments of yarn in, including Nature Wool, a new Brown Sheep yarn, Lanaloft that is essentially Lamb's Pride without the mohair (GREAT idea!) and a hand dyed merino by Southwest Trading Company called Jezebel. They had some other cool stuff, too, including a yarn called Eco wool by Sirdar. This yarn had two pattern books that go with it. I thought the patterns in both books were really cute and the yarn is yummy. I just loved this pattern, though:

I've seen a lot of sweaters in this style over the last year, including one by Debbie Bliss (Silverbell?), but this is by far my favorite. It's close fitting and looks like it would be easy and comfortable to wear. It's also not as busy as some I've seen. Here is the Ravelry link.

The only yarn I bought is Kureyon sock, which I've wanted for a while, but stopped myself for the simple reason that I don't knit socks. But I love, love this yarn, and I'm hoping that the color changes will keep me interested long enough to finish a pair. Hey, it's been known to work before. I'm easily amused. I've cast on for a simple stockinette sock with a long ribbed cuff.

A Walk Around the Lake

2008-08-08T01:35:00.003-04:00

Hey Teach! is coming along really well. I've already seamed up half of it and I've done a good portion of the second sleeve. It will definitely be done sometime this weekend. Which leads to the obvious question...what next? He he. If you can believe it, I don't have a project picked out, but isn't picking it out half the fun?

Let's see, what else happened this week? On Wednesday, I had a birthday - a milestone. Thirty-five. 35. The big 3-5. It's the kind of birthday that makes you take stock of your life. I've decided that everything's going pretty well, so there's no need to feel bad. Moving on...

Tonight after work, I decided to take a walk around Lake Miramar. Actually, I do this walk twice a week. I thought I'd take you with me on my walk. That way, you can sort of have a workout without leaving your chair!

First off, let me just tell you that the lake is a great place for walking. It has a nice wide well-paved path:

The path is marked every quarter of a mile so you know how far you're walking:

The views are lovely:

And there's some pretty foliage to look at along the way:

I've got to say, it sure beats the gym! It's almost like not working out, but not quite. I'm enjoying daylight savings and going after work because I know, come October, I'll be stuck back at the gym.

2008-08-03T23:08:00.002-04:00

I'm going to be holding down the fort here on the Purly Gate while J is in Provence for a week. I'm not sure how much I'll post, but we'll see how it goes.

Over the last few months, I have not really been knitting. I couldn't say exactly why, but I guess it has to do with adjusting to a new work schedule, warm weather (I prefer to knit with wool) and a lack of interesting new patterns. I think all of that is going to change this fall since the Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits and Rowan previews all show promise. Plus, I've heard that Kim Hargreaves is publishing two new books this fall comprised of patterns that were previously only offered as kits. Personally, I never liked the fact that her patterns were only available as kits since it took yarn choice out of the knitter's hands and the kits were prohibitively expensive at the current exchange rates. So, I've actually been waiting for her to make this decision for a while. All I have to say is yay! There are several things that I can see myself knitting from the new magazines and books that are coming out.

I was also really pleased with the Knitty surprises that were released at the end of last month. So much so that the day after they came out, I drove over to La Jolla to buy some 2nd Time Cotton to cast on for Hey Teach!. It's coming along really well. I have the back and one of the fronts done. The first front only took a couple of days of sporadic knitting, so I'm hoping to be ready for seaming next weekend. I'm enjoying the simplicity of the pattern. It's the kind of pattern that combines several simple elements to their best advantage in order to create a cute, fashionable, wearable garment. I'd say that's sort of my bliss when it comes to knitting patterns. It's got stockinette to appeal to my mindless requirements and it's got some lace to keep me from getting bored. The shaping is done subtly using stitch patterns instead of overtly (decreases). I think it's going to fit well, now that I've added 4 inches (to accommodate my very long torso).

I was hoping to get a lot of sewing done this summer, but my sewing machine has been on the fritz. Turns out that it needed a rather costly tuneup, so it's in the hospital as we speak. Hopefully, I'll be back and sewing in no time.

Thank God Its Thursday

2008-07-31T09:00:00.003-04:00

Only another 12-13 hours of work to go then I am on vacation. In just over 24 hours I will be on a plane.

In the meantime, here is a progress shot of a crochet project that I have started. It will be a bedspread in northern CA when it is done.

It's Thursday, Right?

2008-07-24T09:23:00.002-04:00

Please don't tell me if it isn't Thursday. I desperately need for the week to be nearly over. I need to be able to be home before 11 pm. I need to not be in the office practically every waking moment. I need a day without work.

My office has a trial that started this week. The trial is scheduled for to last 2 weeks. I am not in the courtroom this week, but nonetheless the trial is consuming my life too. Fortunately the last 2 nights I have been home by 11, which is fairly early for a trial, but even still, I am exhausted.

With my work schedule I haven't had much knitting time, before the trial started though I started the Fitted Lace Tee from Lingerie Style.

I have the back done, and about 1/2 or so of the back was knit in one day, so it moves quickly when I actually work on it.

I don't have a round trip bus commute with the trial, but I am still riding the bus into work each morning, which means that I am continuing to make progress on my Gothic Spire sock.

The only thing keeping me going right now is the knowledge that next Friday night I will be on a plan for Paris :-) I have some euros, I have my prepaid European cell phone, I have my International Driver's Permit, my train ticket, and passport. Not sure what else I will need, but I will somehow get it figured out before I go.

More from the Out Doors

2008-07-15T08:08:00.005-04:00

During Spring I decided that my goal for the summer was to spend one weekend per month hiking/backpacking and 3 weekends each month going on long bike rides. Somehow, the long bike rides haven't materialized yet, but I have been out backpacking in April, June, and July. I missed May, but I did go for a 9 mile hike in May, so perhaps that counts. This past weekend I went up to the Presidential Range of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I did not manage to cover much distance, but I did reach the top of 6 or 7 of the Presidential mountains, including Mt. Washington, which is the highest mountain in the area with an elevation of 6,288 feet. Unfortunately I don't really have any photos to share from the top of Mt. Washington. When I was on the top, I was in a cloud, so the visibility was very poor.

On the last day of hiking I saw a Gray Jay. I didn't realize until this trip that Jays came in any color but blue, so seeing this one was pretty cool.

Because of this excursion I don't have a lot of knitting progress to share. I started a pair of Gothic Spire Socks, and the first sock traveled with me, but only a few rows were knit.

Too Wound Up to Sleep

2008-07-10T01:28:00.003-04:00

As you know, I started a new job a few weeks ago at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. I really like it - it's challenging and interesting. I get to work on aerodynamic issues related to GA's UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), the Predator:

I have to say that working every day has been an adjustment from the laid back student lifestyle. I come home every night and pretty much lay on the couch until it's time to go to bed. This week, though, I've had something to do almost every night, so I'm particularly exhausted. Tonight, I went to a happy hour with people I worked with years ago (before I went back to school) and I was out until 9:30! I almost turned into a pumpkin (that happens if I'm out past 10). So, I'm a little too wound up to sleep. Instead, I thought I'd show photos of a park near where I work where I occasionally eat my lunch and knit:

A family of ducks:

This is my seat:

The little pond is full of turtles. Aren't they cute?

Who knew such wonderful things existed in suburbia?

Alive and Knitting

2008-07-03T18:30:00.003-04:00

I haven't blogged for awhile, but I have been knitting. My knitting has just been rather unremarkable. Until Monday (I think) I had nothing finished. Before then if I showed you my progress you would have wondered why I was showing you the same thing over and over again.

Monday though I managed to finish my Rhiannon knee high socks. In this heat I can't imagine wearing these anytime soon, but come fall I will be happy to have a pair of cabled wool knee high goodness.

These socks were knit using approximately 5 skeins of knitpicks essentials sock yarn. The pattern is Rhiannon from Cookie A. I knit these on size 0 addi's using magic loop. Most of the cables were knit without a cable needle.

The down side of these socks is that I feel like they make my calves look bigger than they are. Generally I like my calves and feel like they have a nice shape, but in these I feel like they are gigantic, oh well, they will be worn anyway.

On WRS I am up to row 32 of the second repeat. It still pretty much looks the same, so I am not going to share a photo.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

Trials and Travels

2008-06-25T23:24:00.004-04:00

I guess I took another unintentional break from blogging. I didn't realize that going back to a schedule of working every day would interfere so much with important things like blogging...and knitting. Well, I wasn't knitting even before I started working, so I can't blame the job for that one. Since my last update, we've had some sad news. My father-in-law passed away from cancer earlier this month. It was a very difficult time for Joe, who had to wait until finals were over before he could fly back to Chicago. By that time, his father had already slipped into a coma. I flew back to Chicago for the funeral and met my in-laws for the first time. All in all, a very difficult trip, but it was good to finally meet the family.

The day after the funeral, we took a quick whirlwind tour of Chicago where Joe hasn't lived for over 20 years. So, we were both tourists, really. I took some truly mediocre photos (hey, I was lucky Joe stopped the car long enough for me to take any pictures at all).

It was amazing to see a lake so large. I've flown into Chicago many, many times, but I've never seen the lake that close. I actually walked right up to the edge of it. Frankly, it might as well have been the ocean it was so huge.

I was truly impressed by Chicago - what a great city! I love the way the Chicago River runs through it. Gorgeous. Naturally I have no photos of the river. But take my word for it - there's something very European about it.

I believe the black skyscraper is the Sears Tower, but don't quote me. We had some trouble identifying it for sure. You think it would be simple, wouldn't you?

This is an outdoor venue where they have free concerts in the summer at lunch. I noticed that it was a city that appreciates summer weather, like a lot of cold-weather type places. People in San Diego just take it for granted, so it was nice seeing everybody outside grabbing some rays.

Like I mentioned, I've started my new job and I'll post about that later this week or over the weekend.

2008-06-19T08:55:00.003-04:00

Row 51 of WRS was knit this morning. There are 62 rows to each repeat, so I am nearly there... There being the end of the first repeat, not the whole thing. :-)

I have mentioned several times that I am working on my second Rhiannon sock. This is the project that rides the bus with me. It went to PA and went hiking with me, and it went to San Diego too. I haven't posted any photos of it because it is identical to the first sock. Today, though, I am posting a photo.

Just a reminder this is a cabled knee high sock. I am knitting it on size 0 needles. I expect that this will take quite awhile to finish. Since it is summer and not wool knee-high weather, I am not bothered by the time that this is taking.

I am blocking my Flower Basket Shawl today. Hopefully by the time i come home it will be dry, otherwise I am not sure how I will move it, but move it I will because my bed is serving as my blocking surface.

I hope you have a good day!

Lace & Stash

2008-06-17T11:23:00.002-04:00

I have one more large vacation planned for this summer. I will be going to France in early August, for that reason I am not buying any yarn, at least not until I come back from that trip.

While I am on this yarn diet I will probably mostly be working on lace projects. This is because I seem to have accumulated a decent amount of lace weight yarn, and because I have a lace shawl on the needles that was started about 2 years ago. The Wedding Ring Shawl (WRS). 2 summers ago this was going to be my Amazing Lace project, I was going to make kick ass progress on it. I think I knit a whopping 20 rows then put it aside. Last fall I picked it up again. I was ready to whip it into submission, but it won the battle. My gossamer silk was a tangled mess, a long section somehow fell of the cone and knotted. I tried to get the knot out, but the knot got the better of me, and I broke the fine strand of silk. In despair I set the cone and the shawl aside again.

This year is going to be different, though. This year my desire to not buy yarn is going to win over the teeny tiny stitches. This year all of the socks that I have been knitting have gotten my fingers more accustomed to small needles, including size 0 needles. This year the bump in my inox join isn't going to frustrate me. This year I am not going to knit one row then set it aside for an unknown time frame (each time I set it aside I had to deal with the Inox join again). This past weekend, I knit over 10 rows of WRS. This morning I knit a row before getting ready for work. I can feel it, WRS's momentum is swinging! WRS probably won't get done this summer, but it will be worked on, that is my commitment to this project.

Among the other lace that I will be showing is my finished Flower Basket Shawl. The knitting on this is done, but it isn't blocked, so it hasn't been FO photo'ed yet. I still have plenty more of the yarn left, so it will be resurfacing in yet another shawl, probably some time relatively soon.

My Rhiannon socks are progressing. They are my commuting project so they regularly get worked on, though their progress isn't terribly exciting.

Another Get Away

2008-06-10T10:27:00.005-04:00

This summer I am being quite the explorer/traveler. This past weekend I left Boston, which was experiencing relatively cool temperatures for my parent's in PA. Seeing my parents wasn't the ultimate goal though, the goal was to hike the Appalachian Trail (see the white blaze on the tree above?) from PA 309 to Delaware Water Gap (near the PA/NJ border). The planned distance was about 50 miles over 4 days. I knew that the temperature would be soaring in Boston, but I hoped that being in the Poconos and in the woods would keep the hiking temps lower.

While we were in the woods we saw tiny frogs, a bright orange newt, a furious wild bird (a turkey perhaps?), a gazillion gypsy moth caterpillars, butterflies (or maybe moths), and lots of other insects. As we hiked along the temperature began to rise. The heat grew harsher and harsher, we crossed a treeless expanse early on the second morning. To reach that expanse we had to climb about a six hundred feet ascent that was, essentially, rock climbing. The photo below was taken as I looked down at what I had just climbed up.

After 2 full days of hiking and receiving word that the temps in the area were expected to reach 96 degrees on Sunday and 98 degrees on Monday, the hike was cut short. The rescue team (aka Mom) was called in, and only 6 miles were hiked on Sunday (including the trip to the spring) before my mom, driving a convertible with the top down, arrived in Wind Gap to bring me back to their place. A total of about 37 miles was hiked over the 3 day span.

All of the above is basically meant to distract you from the fact that I haven't gotten much knitting done lately. I did finish the second Ornette, but I had basically finished that before the last post. I have been making some progress on the second knee sock, but that isn't really photo worthy. I also started a Flower Basket Shawl using the Elann Baby Lace merino that I used last summer for the Mystery Stole.

VK Cardigan FO

2008-06-05T11:25:00.002-04:00

After several weeks of knitting and re-knitting the VK cardigan, I finally have an FO to share. I don't think I have blogged about this project yet. I used a yarn that I've never used before - Somerset by Bristol Yarns. , which is a cotton/silk blend. I didn't have the pattern with me when I purchased the yarn, so I didn't realize that I was buying yarn in the wrong gauge. I really wanted to use it, so I had to redo the entire pattern to work with my yarn. I didn't take any notes, so when it came to repeat the instructions for the other pieces, there were some glitches. I had to reknit the left front FOUR times before I got it right. Needless to say, I was happy to finally get this one off the needles and on my back! So much so, that I took an FO photo yesterday before I cleaned up for the day:

Overall, I'm very happy with how this came out. It fit perfectly when I finished it, which considering how much I winged it is rather shocking, but being silk yarn, it stretched out rather quickly. By the end of the day, it was fairly baggy and falling off my shoulders. I really enjoyed the pattern and recommend it to anyone who likes the design. Unlike most VK patterns, it was error-free. J told me that I look unhappy in this photo, but the truth is, I wasn't. I was running late to meet my mom for lunch, so I was just rushing.

Earlier this week, I took my niece to Seaport Village, a quaint but touristy shopping area near the harbor in downtown San Diego. They have an historic carousel there that was handcarved in 1895, so I took Savannah on it for a couple of rides. Here she is waving to my mom as we pass by and there I am. The reason I'm showing this photo is the skirt I'm wearing. That's my Indigo Ripples skirt, in case anyone was curious about it. I knitted it about a year ago, and it's one of my favorite FO's. You can't see me very well in the photo since I'm mostly obscured by the horse, but you can see the skirt.

Now, I'm working on a Tahki sleeveless cardigan pattern using a stash cotton/acrylic blend yarn, and I placed an order to Knitpicks for their Comfy yarn in Fedora to make the Nantucket Jacket. I was going to use Cotton-Ease in one of their new colors, Hazelnut, but I was informed that the color is a more of a green/brown than a rich, espresso color. When it arrives, I'll do a little stash flashing.

Another Skirt

2008-06-03T09:26:00.002-04:00

My crafting time in CA was very skirt oriented. In addition to the sewn skirt that I showed off previously I mostly knit a skirt while there. I traveled to CA with my 6 skeins of Hemp for Knitting Hempton in pewter, and cast on for the Lacy Skirt with bows while K and I drove to San Luis Obispo. I managed to finish 99% of the skirt while I was there. I returned home with only a small amount of yarn left and with only the drawstring left to crochet.

I made some modifications to the pattern. The first and most significant modification was that the pattern was meant to be knit flat, I didn't see the point to that, so I knit the skirt in the round. I created faux seems on either side of the skirt though use of a purl stitch. The next mod dealt with gauge differences. The pattern called for a sport weight yarn, I used a DK weight, so I recalculated my decreases to create a fit that would work for me. I eliminated the bows and did not use a contrasting yarn for the draw string. I made my drawstring by holding to strands of Hempton together and doing a crochet chain until I ran out of yarn, my drawstring may not be as long as specified, but it is long enough to go around my waist and tie-which is all that matters.

Post vacation I have picked up Ornette again and finished the left toe, here it is:

That wraps it up for now.

Doting Aunty

2008-05-31T11:14:00.004-04:00

After J left, I decided to take the time I have off work to do some sewing. I was inspired by this simple children's dress pattern.

I bought the fabric on Thursday and had a finished dress on Friday night!

I got the fabric at Joann's for $1.99 a yard. The fabric I used for the facings, 100% Egyptian cotton in white, cost three times as much. Savannah is in a dress phase now. Also, she's becoming an actual person, which is truly exciting. When I went over to give her the dress, she jumped up and said, "Hi, Kristen!", which is a first. Then, when I showed her the dress, she got all excited and said, "Daddy, help me put it on!" Once it was on, she said, "I look like Aurora!" She thanked me multiple times, which as any crafting aunt out there knows is more than enough reason to keep making things for her.

Back from the Coast

2008-05-30T14:33:00.015-04:00

I spent last week in "sunny" southern CA, once again my trip to San Diego coincided with a spat of Boston-like weather (in fact, I think it may have been nicer back here than out there). Despite non-cooperative weather I had a great time visiting with K.

I arrived late on Wednesday and K & I went to Mellow for a glass of wine and a bite to eat. In honor of our planned wine tasting trip, I had a Qupe from the central coast and K also had a central coast wine.

On Thursday we left for the San Luis Obispo area. Along the way I bought some fabric to make a skirt and we stopped at the Yarn Lady so that I could buy some "cheap" size 4 circs (I ended up with a set of lantern moon destiny needles-only I could go looking for cheap and buy the highest price needles in the store). As we were riding we ran into unusual weather conditions:

wet stuff was falling from the sky! If I were in Boston I would know exactly what this was, but this was the LA area and I am told that rain doesn't exist. Unfortunately by the time we arrived in SLO the tastings were done for the day.

On Friday we began wine tasting in earnest. We hit 6 vineyards and the Hitching Post II. In case you didn't see Sideways, or didn't believe the movie, let me tell you, they make some really good wines in the Central Coast region of CA. There were a ton of wineries there, most of the tastings that we did were very reasonably priced $5 for 5 or 6 wines. I had the opportunity to taste wines that are beyond my price point, which was fun too. The scenery was quite lovely with fields of tended grape vines and mountains in the distance.

On Saturday morning we visited two more wineries before starting the return trip home. I left the area with 9 bottles of wine (only 6 were coming back to MA though).

Sunday was the day I traveled cross country for. K, as readers already know, received her Masters Degree, Sunday was the graduation ceremony. Can I just public mention how impressed I am with her? She went through a lot of schooling and a lot of hard (HARD) work to get to this point.

Monday and Tuesday were both pretty low key. K and I did some knitting and some sewing, but not much else.

Wednesday there was more sewing, I finished my skirt, my first every sewn skirt. We also made it up to La Jolla where I saw the baby seals (La Jolla is just gorgeous-I wish I could afford to buy a place there, and that I had a job lined up to make moving an option)

My final photos to share are of my finished skirt-an indoor shot and an outdoor shot.

If I remember right the skirt is from a Simplicity pattern. I don't remember who designed the fabric. The pattern has a yoke around waist band.

Lots of Knitting

2008-05-20T09:16:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I had one of my knitting heavy weekends. I managed to finish up and block my Flutter Sleeve Cardigan.

Knit with Webs Longmeadow in Willow on Size 6, 5, and 2 needles. I will get an in use FO shot sometime soon.

Ornette has reached toe shaping point on both socks.

The second Nutkin was started and finished.

No photo yet, but the second Rhiannon has been started too.

Um, I guess that about covers it.

Josephine FO

2008-05-15T23:29:00.003-04:00

I finally got some rechargeable batteries for my camera, so I'm able to bring you the following FO shot:

This is Josephine which I knit using Queensland Cotolino that I purchased 50% off at Lori's Frames, Fibers and Frills in Alpine. The gauge of the yarn is DK, but the pattern calls for sportweight, so I had to make a different size. It seemed to work out well. I totally lived on the edge in terms of running out of yarn. In fact, I got so freaked about it that I used a coordinating yarn for the neckline trim just in case. It matched the ribbon that I used for the tie, so it actually looks cute. The pattern calls for the tie to made out of yarn, but since I was low on yarn, I decided to go with a ribbon. I also altered the proportions of the pattern so that the tie hit me immediately below the bustline so it would be more flattering. I'm very happy with how this pattern turned out - I've already worn it a couple of times!

Since then, I've also finished my Something Red, but have no finished photos. I ended up being really happy with how it turned out, so I'll get some FO shots at some point.

On a personal note, this has been a good week for me career-wise. I got two job offers! I'm so thrilled because I've been interviewing for a couple of months already. I haven't totally decided, but I think I'm going to end up working at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. Also, Joe has an interview next week at Northrop Grumman, so fingers crossed for him. I picked out two outfits for him to wear. I picked through piles and piles of discounted shirts and ties at the Nordstrom Rack and I think I did really well. There was a lot of ick there. Which one do you like best?

Test Knitting Progress

2008-05-15T07:33:00.002-04:00

Ornette is moving along. I have knit the heel flap and turn for both my right and left sock. I have also finished my gusset decreases on the right sock and am in progress of decreasing the gusset on my left.

I am enjoying working on this sock. I like the twisted faux cables and the traveling cable panel. This is clearly a pattern that takes a lot of thought to create. I definitely would have bought this pattern, but I am thrilled to be able to test knit it instead.

My left sock isn't as far along as the right one because I made a bit of a mistake and had to tear out the gusset decreases. This actually seems to have been a good thing because it is easier to follow one sock at a time than to try to knit 1/2 of a right sock then 1/2 of the left sock then vice versa.

Flutter Sleeve is nearly done. The body is all knit and i am working on the sleeve cuffs now. This weekend I hope to buy buttons, next week I may have an FO shot!

Next week I am heading out to So.Cal for a week's vacation! K has kindly offered to help me sew my first skirt. We will have to see if I actually have time or if we will keep ourselves too busy to sew. If I do sew a skirt then I will happily share an FO shot of that.

Not Much To Say

2008-05-08T09:36:00.002-04:00

From a hike in the Blue Hills on Saturday:

New yarn: First finished Nutkin:

Heel of Nutkin:

Cuff of Nutkin:

Fluttering Along...

2008-05-06T13:23:00.003-04:00

Flutter sleeve is slowly moving along. I managed to finish the left front this weekend. The button band is knit separately from the body and attached by a mattress stitch, which I found a bit annoying since I prefer to minimize seaming. At least though the seeming was fairly simple.

I like the way this cardigan is turning out. The color (which is not accurate in any of these photos) while not what I wanted for Erin is perfect for Flutter, summery and light. I now have only the right front, sleeve cuffs, and tabs to make.

In addition, I have decided that this cardigan will look very cute with the Lacy Skirt with Bows from Greetings from the Knit Cafe, which will be knit in pewter Hempton. I just received my Hempton today and photos will come eventually.

In addition to working on Flutter, I have started test knitting Ornette by Cookie A. I didn't have time to go buy some new sock yarn, so I reached into my stash and pulled out...

Fawn Knitpicks Essentials (expecting something fun and exciting? Sorry when I get fun and exciting I knit it up pretty quickly). So far, this has been a fun pattern to knit. I started with the left sock then decided I wanted to try the right one as well (we are only supposed to be knitting one, so I guess I am cheating).

Well, I guess that is about it. Have a good day!

Fluttering Along

2008-05-01T09:08:00.003-04:00

Slowly but surely my Flutter Sleeve Cardigan is moving along. The back is finally off the needles. There is a nice little seed stitch detail up around the collar of the back. When I started this seed stitch section I thought I was nearly done, but the seed stitch section kept going and going (it felt like it took longer than it looks like it should have taken). After finishing the back I, of course, started the right front straight away. I am at about the midpoint of this front section and so far there is smooth sailing. I have some stitches on a holder/needle they will be knit latter up along the front borders.

The nice thing about this cardigan is that most of the sleeves get knit at the same time as the body, so once I have both front halves done there will only be a little knitting left. :-)

Something Vintage?

2008-04-30T11:34:00.003-04:00

I'd never really noticed Knit and Tonic's Something Red pattern before. I thought it seemed like an ordinary cardigan. But I saw this, and I decided that the sweater had potential. I wasn't sure at first whether it was the cables she added or whether it was the fit, but I really thought it was a flattering sweater on her. So, on Friday night, I cast on, and I now have this:

I'm using a cotton/acrylic blend yarn (like Cotton-Ease, but not) that I purchased at the Yarn Lady bag sale nearly two years ago. I don't love the color, but alas, it does put a dent in the stash. As you can see, I ultimately decided against the cables. This is mostly because I felt that, in a worsted weight yarn, the cables would be clunky and heavy. The pink sweater (seen in the Ravelry link above) was reworked in a DK yarn, making it more delicate. I decided that what made this sweater look good on some and not so good on others was fit. I have made it point to have it fasten just below the bustline and to fit rather snug. It needs to be blocked so that the flare on the bottom is more obvious, but so far, I'm happy with th fit. In fact, it might be a little TOO snug, but we all now how cotton stretches.

My question is this: the original pattern has elbow length sleeves. What do you guys think of the idea of doing a shorter sleeve?

Hiking, Camping and Knitting

2008-04-29T08:50:00.007-04:00

Last time I posted I mentioned my plan to head out to Bash Bish Fall out in western MA, I am happy to say that I made it out there, hiked around a bit and have made it back. I spent two nights camping at a "primitive camp site" in Mount Washington State Forest. Everything I needed for the trip I packed into my backpack and carried about 1.5 miles to the site. My pack, including food and water, ended up weighing about 39 lbs, which was more than I expected, but still manageable. When I arrived I pitched my tent:

put down my sleeping pad and sleeping bag:

and started cooking my dinner:Since there were all kinds of bugs flying around I retreated to my tent early and spent some time working on Rhiannon, my knee sock.

On Saturday I hiked about 10.5 miles and tried to find my way to Bash Bish Falls. I didn't make it. On one trail I decided that I had missed the turn off and turned around and went back the way I came, on another trail I hit a wide brook crossing that I didn't feel up to making (I was pretty sure that I would manage to fall and bang my head if I tried). I may have seen the falls from the side, but I am not sure about that. If I did it was up from near the top or over the top of the falls, and I could only see one of the 2 falls.

Over night between Saturday and Sunday it rained. When I woke up on Sunday and emerged from my tent there was no rain falling, so I decided not to delay and quickly packed up my gear and went back to my car. I took a longer route back to my car and had one brook crossing, which made me a bit nervous, but I managed it. There was no way that I was going to return to Boston without seeing Bash Bish, so I drove around to the trail head for the Falls and descended 300 feet to the viewing area and was rewarded with this view:

Oh, and since this is a knitting blog and I mentioned knitting, with my evenings at camp, the hour and a half I spent at the RMV yesterday morning, and my normal bus trip home yesterday and to work today I am now only one decrease row away from being done with my first Rhiannon knee sock.

Look at My Pretty Dress!

2008-04-27T23:05:00.003-04:00

Even though I sewed it a while ago, I finally got to see Savannah wear the dress I made for her.

It finally fits - last summer it was way too big. She's in a dress phase now, so when she's wearing one, she says, "Look at my pretty dress!" She knows I made it for her, and when I saw her today, I was wearing a skirt that I made that she loved because it has flowers on it. Wearing a dress didn't exactly make her act like a lady though! She still horsed around in it. By the way, those oven mitts she's wearing are her lobster claws.

As for knitting, I finished Josephine and wore it to work on Friday. I was afraid I was going to run out of yarn (I didn't), so I did the neckline trim in the same color as the ribbon I used to tie the sweater. I was all ready to take a bathroom mirror photo of it on Thursday night when I remembered that my camera battery died. I haven't recharged it yet, so I also don't have photos of my Something Red that I started on Friday. I'm moving very quickly on it and it should be done my next weekend. Hopefully, I'll have my camera battery charged by then!

Flutter Sleeve with Longmeadow

2008-04-24T08:55:00.002-04:00

You may remember a few posts back I started Erin, by Kim Hargreaves. I wrote that I didn't think that the color of Longmeadow that I bought on the Internet was what I wanted for that particular sweater and I was debating frogging and repurposing the yarn. I received a couple of comments supporting repurposing, and K also supported repurposing, and that was all it took. Erin is not being made right now, instead, the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from the current IK is now on the needles. Flutter is kind of flying. I haven't spent much time working on Flutter, but that back is nearly done.

One of the cool things about this pattern is that the sleeves seem to be part of the front and back pieces instead of being separately knit. I hate having to knit sleeves.

My gauge isn't quite right for this, so I am compensating by making a larger size. The sweater has waist decrease and ribbing around the waist, so this could end up being very flattering (fingers crossed).

The color of my yarn doesn't really show true on my laptop screen (which is how I ended up choosing this color) but I think the color and the pattern match much better than this color and Erin, so I am happy with this project so far.

In all likelihood, this project won't get any attention this weekend because I am planning on going out to Bash Bish Falls for some hiking and backpacking. I am really looking forward to this trip, but I have to check out weather forecasts because I was just told that there is still feet of snow out in the Berkshires and I am not sure that I am prepared to sleep with snow still on the ground.

And She's Back!

2008-04-23T11:32:00.003-04:00

Hello everybody! It's so good to be back! I haven't blogged in ages it seems - a few months at least. Sometime in January, my thesis began to take over my life and by February, I had given up all of my familiar leisure activities - walking, knitting, watching Netflix movies, listening to podcasts. I continued to work, but in all of my "spare" time, I worked on my thesis. However, on March 28, I presented by work to my committee and it was approved! I have a Master's Degree now! All that's left is finalizing the formatting and walking in May. J is coming to San Diego to help me celebrate my graduation, and we're going to have a blast while she's here. We're planning a trip to the Santa Barbara wine country to do a little eating, relaxing, knitting and, of course, wine drinking.

So, what have I been doing since March 28? I have been knitting, but my pace has definitely slowed since what it used to be. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think it has to do with the fact that the project that I have been working on is rather fussy and not a relaxing knit. I have been working on Josephine from last summer's IK:

I am using a DK cotton/linen blend yarn, but the pattern calls for a sportweight, so I had to do a little refiguring. I ended up making a different size and customizing the lengths for my body. So far, I have knit the front and the back, so all that's left are the cap sleeves and the seaming. I am very much in danger of running out of yarn, but I think I'll be OK. While my pieces were blocking, I picked up another IK project, this time Sylph from the Spring IK:

I'm using Calmer in a color that I absolutely love! This project is also not particularly relaxing. The upper portion in this photo is not stockinette - those are twisted stitches. They result in a subtle striping effect, but they're very difficult to see, so each row takes a while. I think the final product will be lovely, so I'm trudging onward. However, I need something that I can just pick up anywhere and knit on, so I'm going to cast on for Chaise from one of Jo Sharp's pattern books:

I plan on casting for that sometime this weekend.

I'm hoping to do better about blogging in the future, but now I'm looking for a job, so it's hard to say how successful I'll be.

Long Weekend, Long Bus Rides

2008-04-22T08:43:00.002-04:00

With yesterday being Patriots Day here in Massachusetts I had a three day weekend. I used this extra time off to go visiting family in PA, with the cost of gas quickly rising, and with a general disinclination to drive 5+hours I decided to leave the driving to Greyhound and to NJ Transit. All that bus riding meant that I had plenty of time to listen to my Ipod and to knit, and what better project to knit on then a knee high sock on size 0 needles.

I don't remember exactly how much of the sock was done before I left Boston but now I am almost ready to work on my heel flap, I expect that I managed to knit at least 10 inches of leg on this trip.

Unfortunately, I didn't actually look at the yardage requirement before starting this sock. I had 4 skeins of knit picks essentials and I just dove right in. Now I am nearly through 2 skeins and haven't started the foot of this sock, so I think I might need to find a fifth skein if I want a pair of these very warm, knee high, socks.

Traveling Socks

2008-04-17T08:56:00.002-04:00

I finished the second of my Mingus Socks last week and so needed to start a new traveling sock, so I pulled out some Knitpicks Essentials sock yarn that was given to me by C when she moved to CA and cast on for Rhiannon. Since I wasn't liking the way Erin was coming along this sock got more weekend knit time than would ordinarily be the case. I have finished the cuff:

and started on the calf, though I am not at the point of shaping yet, I am only about 2 1/2 inches into the calf/leg pattern and haven't made it beneath the section that would be covered by the cuff. I am using size 0 addi's for this sock, so it should be a time consuming project, which is fine since these are knee high socks and it is spring, so I won't be wearing them anytime soon.

This weekend these socks will have additional extra knit time since I will be traveling to PA via bus and don't feel like carrying home multiple skeins of Longmeadow and a copy of IK (Erin is not going to be done now, but the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan will be done in its place-photo to come next week)

A New Sweater?

2008-04-15T09:31:00.002-04:00

This weekend I cast on for a new sweater, Erin, by Kim Hargreaves. I had ordered some Valley Yarns Longmeadow from Webs specifically for this project. When I placed the order I expected to receive a yarn that was basically just tinged with a hint of green. While the yarn I received basically meets that description, the green that it is tinged with is more appropriate for a baby shower gift (in my mind) then for the sophisticated cabled sweater that it was intended for. Despite not being thrilled with the color I cast on for the sweater. I haven't made much progress on it though, mostly because I am not thrilled with the anticipated FO this yarn will give. The Longmeadow is very nice feeling and seems to be a good sub for Calmer, but this color just isn't doing it for me.

I can't decide if I should just plug on, hoping that the FO will be better than expected or if I should repurpose the yarn for something more fun and summery.

In the meantime, to distract you from the unimpressive knitting shot, here is a waterfall that I visited this weekend. It is in the Middlesex Fells Reservation.

2008-04-10T08:48:00.002-04:00

When Icarus became too big to be my commuting project I started a pair of sock. Cookie A's Mingus socks to be exact. Until this weekend the socks were knit exclusively when I was commuting or when I went out immediately after work and had reason to knit. This weekend that changed a bit, in part because I was nearing the toe on the first sock and in part because the project I started looked ugly and will probably be frogged very soon.

Since I was no longer only knitting the sock on the bus or the T, I was able to make some speedy progress. I don't yet have a pair, but I have turned the heel on my second sock.

I made one change to the pattern, I modified the toe a little, the original toe was just stockinette, I decided to continue the twisted rib through the toe. I am pleased with this change.

Oh, while I am on the subject of Cookie A socks, I was lucky enough to be part of the yahoo group of test knitters for this sock which I am totally excited about. Test knitting won't begin for awhile, but once it does I expect to be able to post progress shots here.

Tick Tack Toe

2008-04-08T08:50:00.002-04:00

Three FOs in a row:

Swallowtail Shawl from IK, Fall, 2006. I made this using left over Karabella Lace Mohair which I purchased from Circles years ago. I don't remember if I bought 2 skeins or 3, but whatever I purchased was enough to finish a stole from an old summer issue of VK with more than enough leftover to make this small triangular shawl.

This was a very quick knit (taking less than a week), which I mostly enjoyed. The border area includes nupps (you can see them above) and I am NOT a fan of nupps, the whole purl 5 together is rather irritating, but it does create a nice effect.

Icarus

2008-04-03T08:58:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned before I recently I pulled out a skein and a half of Misti Alpaca Lace that I had left over from Ethereal Fichu and started the Icarus Shawl (I ended up needing to buy one additional skein). Over this past weekend, I finished Icarus and blocked it. A detail blocking shot:

The Icarus in use:

Finally an FO!

2008-04-01T08:56:00.002-04:00

I was lazy and didn't tear out the zipper in Celtic Icon, instead, I finished inserting the zipper and tried it on. When the edges didn't curl out I decided to declare CI complete! Of course, having a new wool/cashmere blend FO in early spring meant that it had to be worn immediately, before the weather had a chance to warm up a single degree, and I am very happy with it.

Pattern: Celtic Icon from Inspired Cable Knits by Fiona Ellis.

Yarn: Queensland Collection Kathmandu DK (10 skeins)

Needles: Addi Turbo US 4

Modifications: 1st--I used a DK yarn instead of a sport weight yarn, this meant that I had a different gauge than specified in the pattern, so I had to make adjustments, row and stitch wise for my gauge.

2nd--the Original is done in 2 colors with side panels in a contrasting color from the main (front/back) pieces. I eliminated the second color and eliminated the use of side panels (the less seeming the better in my mind)

3rd--the Original has no waist shaping. I do have waist shaping, so now my CI has waist shaping too.

4th--I don't know if this actually counts as a mod, but instead of using a standard separating zipper I used a two way separating zipper.

Traveling Project

2008-03-27T09:02:00.003-04:00

Since my Icarus is now too big to carry with me on my daily commute I have started a sock. A year or so I received some Sockatta sock yarn as part of a the Knitter's Tea Swap. I brought this yarn with me backpacking last year, but the yarn and the pattern I chose didn't work together so the sock was frogged. Recently, I saw Cookie A's Mingus sock pattern and decided that was the pair of socks my Sockatta needed to become. Now, my yarn has started it's journey to becoming a sock.Obviously, I still have a long way to go before this tube is a sock.

I haven't felt like tearing out the zipper on Celtic Icon, so I have ignored my messy zipper for now. I decided that I would baste in the other side of the zipper and see if the zipper flops open. Wish me luck, I really don't feel like starting zipper installation from scratch.

Does it Still Count as Stash...

2008-03-25T10:15:00.003-04:00

If you buy one more skein of yarn to finish a project started from stash? I started Icarus with a skein and half of yarn, I suspected that I might not have enough yarn to finish the shawl, so I ordered an extra skein, just in case. Turns out that was a good idea. I am into the new skein, and I still have one chart and the edging to go.

I started putting the zipper in on Celtic Icon, but I think I am going to pull all of the stitching out because as you can see from this photo, I was extremely sloppy when I started sewing it in, I thought I could live with the mess, but now, I am thinking that I really truly can't.

Book Review

2008-03-20T08:54:00.002-04:00

Today I have nothing interesting to share knitting-wise. Icarus is just a bigger blob of black. Therefore, I am going to give a long over due book review of Debbie Macomber's Back on Blossom Street. K & I were asked awhile ago to do a review of this book, but with our various schedules we just weren't able to get the review together.

Back on Blossom Street is the third installment of Macomber's series about the lives of the owner and customers of a Seattle yarn store. This book was very similar to the first 2, so if you enjoyed them, chances are good that you will enjoy Back on Blossom Street. The book tells the stories of the problems that several returning characters are dealing with and introduces new characters as well. Of course, everyone has a happy ending.

Back on Blossom Street was an easy, quick read. Unfortunately, I found the story to be a bit predictable, and more than that it seemed a little naive with it's characterizations of young women living in the city of Seattle. I honestly don't know if things are different in Seattle than they are here, but no one I know is anything like the women in the book.

More Scraps

2008-03-18T11:25:00.003-04:00

I have made more progress with scrap yarn. My Pirate hat is finished, I was able to use the lavender left over from my herringbone mitts for the hat liner (I forgot to take a photo of the lining, sorry).

On Friday I found myself taking a train from Boston to Philly. I knew that I would be returning to Boston on Saturday night. I needed a small project to keep me busy. My Pirate Hat wasn't done at that time, but I knew that it wouldn't be enough to keep me busy during my time away. My Evangeline weren't done (and still aren't) but again that wouldn't be enough. I could have brought both with me, but that would take up space that I didn't want to use, so I reached into my left over lace weight yarn and pulled out a 1/2 skein of black Misti Alpaca that I had left over from my Ethereal Fichu shawl and the pattern for Icarus and brought those with me on the train. I finished the half skein on the train ride home and on Sunday I joined the remaining skein that I owned. I don't think that 1 1/2 skeins will be enough to finish this shawl, but I figure that buying just one skein of black Misti Alpaca won't break the bank and that black should be easy to match. Much to my surprise I am enjoying the simplicity of this pattern, I have liked the FO very much since I first saw it, but I had been hesitant to make it, thinking that I would easily get bored with the body of the shawl. It is nice to see that I was mistaken.

Black yarn is not the best color choice for me. Sorry about the white cat hairs, Isis likes to seek immortality in yarn.

Using up scraps

2008-03-13T09:13:00.002-04:00

With Celtic Icon pretty much done I have been going through my yarn supply looking for things to keep me busy knitting until the zipper comes in (you would like I would pick up Venezia and work on that, but you would be wrong). What I have been doing is making hats. 4 of them at last count.

I made the bucket hat that I showed in my last post. I also made a Cabled Newsboy Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation from some Lamb's Pride Superwash Worsted, which was gifted to me by C before she moved to San Francisco.

Then I made a second Better Bucket Hat. This time using worsted weight yarn, more of the yarn from C.

Then I started a We Call Them Pirates hat using the yarn left over from my Season's sweater.

I also started anther pair of wristwarmers, Evangaline from Magknits. These are being knit using the left over yarn from Celtic Icon.

Breaking the Silence

2008-03-11T08:49:00.002-04:00

Hello all! It has been just over a week since I last posted. I wish that I could say that I was away on vacation, but the truth is that I was home sick most of last week, and I didn't have my computer with me. I wasn't terribly sick, but the people that I work with didn't want me to come anywhere near them.

You would think that not working would have left me with a ton of knitting time, but somehow, knitting didn't really happen while I was home. When I was starting to feel better I was able to pick up the needles again and finish the knitting and seaming parts of Celtic Icon. I have ordered a zipper, so once that comes in I will be able to truly finish this sweater. Somehow when taking the photos of my nearly finished object I forgot to photograph the back. I will do that when the zipper is in place.

I also started on a bit of a hat thing. I bought one skein of Manos Silk Blend (LOVE the yarn) and made A Better Bucket hat (sorry about the lack of link, it can be found through Ravelry though). My hat did not turn out very bucket like, but I am still happy with it.

I have also been using up some of my left over yarns, but I will wait until latter this week to share those projects.

Current WIPs

2008-02-26T09:41:00.002-05:00

My Celtic Icon is nearing completion. 2 sleeves are finished and sewn on, all that is left is the sides of the hood and the left side has been started. Of course, I also still need to buy a zipper and sew it in, and I haven't blocked the sleeves, so there will be some blocking going on too, but those things are fairly minor, right?

My second sock is also moving along, thanks in part to about 4 hours of knitting time yesterday while I did my civic duty and appeared for jury duty. I was never called to a court room, which meant that I had lots of uninterrupted knitting time.

After I finished with jury duty I went home and cast on for a Newsboy Cap from one of the Stitch and Bitch books. I have a cold right now and that has sapped some of my energy, so I knit on this while lying in bed and occasionally napping. The hat seems to move fairly quickly and I hope to have it done by the end of the weekend.

Thats about all there is to report from Boston. Have a good one!

The Blobs

2008-02-22T01:57:00.004-05:00

I've been a terrible blogger lately, but I haven't had anything to share, really. I have been working on things, but they're in various states of blobness. I have blobs of knitting everywhere but nothing truly blogworthy. However, last weekend, I knit my first Herringbone Fingerless Mitt. I used Wool Cotton from my stash that seemed destined for stash oblivion until this project emerged.

I really enjoyed knitting this, but this was an exercise in re-learning fair isle knitting. Mostly, it involved getting comfortable with just how loose your floats have to be to keep the pattern from looking pinched. I finally got into the swing of it toward the end, but the sections near the wrist could use a little work. The second one is turning out much better. This project did help me to remember that I really do like stranded knitting and I think perhaps I should do more of it. I have a long-term goal of knitting a Dale of Norway sweater, so perhaps I can dream?

I am also working on a self-designed raglan sweater in Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed for which I have almost finished the second sleeve, at which point I will join into one big blob for the yoke. I am also making a Drive Thru out of Cotton-Ease for the fair Savannah. That is a more diversionary project that will be finished soon, at which time I will return to the raglan.

I also did some damage at the Two Sisters and Ewe sale where I bought a total of 12 skeins of Cascade 220, enough for two sweaters in some smokin' colors, projects TBD. All of that yarn only set me back around $60.

A Sock

2008-02-21T09:08:00.004-05:00

After writing about how I haven't been inspired by socks for awhile, I went out and bought some Noro Kureyon Sock yarn. The start of the sock was shown in my last post. Now, I have managed to have one finished sock. I started the second sock last night. Unfortunately my toe on my second sock is going to be different than the toe on the first but I don't feel like tearing it out and starting again. I also screwed up on my guesset and heal on the first one, so I think I will correct that problem on the second. I like the stripes on these socks and the Kureyon yarn actually isn't bad to wear, and is sort of nice on the feet, in fact, I didn't want to take the sock off and wanted to wear it out right away. Of course, I did take it off because going out with two totally different socks probably wouldn't have been appropriate.

Another Day of Hodge Podge

2008-02-14T10:19:00.002-05:00

Celtic Icon continues, though it is moving slowly. I have finished the first sleeve up to the raglan shaping. Before starting the raglan shaping I need to visit a raglan shaping calculator to make sure that I do my decreases right--for those that know these things, does raglan shaping on sleeves always match the shaping on the body of the sweater?

I know have the body done, some of the hood (the cabled section) and 3/4ths of one sleeve. Hopefully, I will have an actual sweater before too much longer.

During some time that I should have been working on my sweater, I finished the second of my herringbone mitts. I am very pleased with these. They are shorter than I have been making wristwarmers, but that seems to be ok. I have also managed to end them at the point where I can still knit with them on, so that is a very good thing. I wore them all yesterday and have had them on since I left my apartment today. In the center of my hands is a sock that I started yesterday. I needed a travel project, the sweater is too big.

Warming the Hands

2008-02-12T08:51:00.000-05:00

About 2 summers ago I went on a sock kick. Basically, the focus of my summer knitting was socks and only socks. I sort of lost interest in socks after awhile and haven't knit many pairs since then. This winter I feel like I am on a wrist warmer kick. In Novemberish I knit a pair of long malabrigo wrist warmers which were inspired by Hurry Up Spring. The warmers are a bright screaming red, and very thick (worsted weight yarn thickness) which means that I can't wear them under close fitting blouses or sweaters. They are great for outdoor wear on chilly days. Unfortunately, after about a week of wear they looked very worn (the down side of malabrigo)

Because of the deficiencies with my red Malabrigo mitts, I made a second pair this winter. Again, I chose Malabrigo yarn, this time, though, Malabrigo laceweight yarn. These mitts are good for indoor use, when my hands get chilly (all winter long) and since they are thin they fit well under close fitting tops. Unfortunately, they are purple. Not a sublte purple either. Also, since they are again Malabrigo, they look really worn already.

Since my recent mitts (I had 3 pairs before) are all looking really worn, it was time to start a new pair. I had been feeling pulled to one pair that I saw through ravelry, but then K sent me a link to a pair of herringbone patterned mitts and I was sold.

Because most of the mitts I own don't really go with my work wardrobe, I wanted to find colors that were tamer, and closer to neutral (though I didn't really want neutral). I chose to work with Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn in brown and a dusty lavender, both of which they had a Windsor Button. I cast on for the first. I decided to add a picot edging to the top and bottom of the mitts and made the wrist part longer than it was in the original mittens that these are based on. This is perhaps a tad smaller than would ideally be comfortable, but adding more than a stitch or two would make them too loose, so adding a whole pattern repeat was out of the question. Now I have one down and a second one started.

Left and Right

2008-02-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

Another weekend has been spent knitting, and actually, it has been a week since I last posted. What do I get after a week of knitting? Well, I get a left front of Celtic Icon and a right front of Celtic Icon. I also had some time to block the back of Celtic Icon, though I have no photos of the blocked back.

I also get a finished tri-color (I was using left over yarn) reverisble, ribbed braided cable, short scarf.

Look at Me, Look at Me!

2008-02-05T23:04:00.000-05:00

I got to wear my new sweater today - and I was so thrilled when I finally got to put it on:

Can't you tell?! It fits perfectly! Trust me, I had my doubts because I tried it on frequently and it just seemed a little wonky. Blocking did the trick, though. When I put it on, it was still a little damp but I just couldn't wait. Today was the last day of this little "cold" spell we've been having so I really wanted to wear it today before it was too late. The specs are:

Pattern: Cozy V-Neck Pullover, designed by Stephanie Japel, published in Fitted Knits
Yarn: Cascade Eco Wool +, which is the dyed version of Eco Wool
Needle: Size 10, for both stockinette and ribbing portions
Size: 42" chest

I LOVE this sweater! It's one of my favorites that I've ever made. So, it just goes to show you that even if it doesn't look so great while you're knitting it, you never can tell how wonderful it will be in the end.

Churning out Boring Sweaters

2008-02-04T00:15:00.000-05:00

I guess it's the nature of working on a major project like a thesis. My brain is so taken up with work stuff that I don't have any intelligence left for things like knitting. Take the Cozy V-Neck Pullover from Fitted Knits. This is probably the simplest sweater I have ever knit. In fact, I wish it had been my first sweater. There is literally no shaping anywhere except for the neckline. The sleeves get their shape from ribbing that starts on the upper arm. This means that there are only a handful of things one can screw up. The first is the aforementioned neckline shaping. The second is grabbing the correct size needle from the collection and creating knit and purl stitches. So, what did I screw up? That's right - the neckline shaping and the needle size. On the day I began knitting the sweater, I had to rip out about two inches of progress because I hadn't done the neckline increases correctly. This is because I hadn't read the pattern closely enough. Hmmm. Secondly, on that very same day, I grabbed a size 10 needle thinking it was a 10 1/2 needle. The day I started this project was clearly an unusually stressful day. When my gauge swatch turned out too small, I figured it would all work out. Oddly enough, it did. The sweater turned out to be the size I chose to make, although it fits a bit more snugly than I'd intended. All in all, though, I think this project is a success, despite my errors. Here it is, blocking:

It should be dry in a day or two. It's really soft and snuggly so I'm looking forward to wearing it.

Braided Rib Scarf

2008-01-31T08:55:00.000-05:00

My mother plans on making a blanket and wanted a cable for the blanket. She asked for my assistance, instead of a swatch, I am turning the cable into a scarf, this is for mom:

Cast on 20 stitches (or multiple of 20 (ex 40, 60, whatever)

Rows 1-4: knit 2, purl 2

Row 5: K2, p2, slip 4 stitches to cable needle hold to front, k2, p2, k2, p2 from cable needle, k2 p2 to end of row

Rows 6-8: K2, p2

Row 9: K2, p2, k2, p2, slip 4 stitches to cable needle hold to back, k2, p2, k2, p2 from cable needle, k2, p2

Rows 10-12: K2, p2

Repeat Row 5-12 until desired lenght is acheived.

I used a chunky weight tweedy yarn (I don't remember the type, I think it was a Rowan tweed, the yarn was left over from another scarf) and size 11 needles, my scarf is about 4.5" wide, pre-blocking. The ribbed braid is reversible so there is no wrong side.

My other knitting is progressing, but there is no obvious visible change, so I am not going to share photos of that.

2008-01-29T10:51:00.000-05:00

A week has gone by and there has been some knitting here in Boston. During the week I began working on Celtic Icon from Inspired Cable Knits. I am using some Kathmandu DK, which I bought from Webs. Since the pattern was originally made using sport weight yarn, I have had to make some gauge modifications. I think the gauge mods I made for width are fine, I am now very concerned that my height gauge mod is wrong, my raglan shaping is already longer than the 8.5" that the pattern specified, so there may be frogging happening at my place tonight. I am also modifying this pattern to add waist shaping.

In addition to working on Celtic Icon, I managed to make my way over to Windsor Button and I bought the last skein of Cotton Fleece that I needed to finish my Dollar and Half Cardigan.

I am not unhappy with this sweater, despite my expression. It probably won't ever be one of my favorite sweaters, but it will definitely be worn.

Last thing: mom, this is a swatch for you, I will be or have already emailed the directions for the cable bit, and the original swatch is being sent to you.

2008-01-22T08:59:00.000-05:00

By Friday Dollar and Half reached this point:(the picture where I smiled actually looked worse if you can imagine).

By Saturday more progress had been made, one more skein of yarn bought (different dyelot but same color thankfully), and buttons were purchased.

By the end of Monday the second sleeve was to about midpoint and I am out of yarn again, I will be going to buy more yarn this weekend probably.

Back in the Saddle

2008-01-20T17:26:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since my last post. In the last episode, I believe I was teetering on the edge of what was looking like a bad cold. Well, I have to say that it certainly was a bad one. The cold itself wasn't any big deal, but the bronchitis that came after kicked my butt pretty good. The worst part of it was the fact that it has been so difficult to sleep because I've felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest. I'm finally coming out of it though, although I'm still sleeping a lot.

There has been knitting, though. I finished Julian, my self-designed sweater and it's been waiting to be blocked for over a week. We had a streak of fairly warm days, so I wasn't motivated to get it done. I heard that we're in for some chilly weather, though, so I washed and blocked it today. It is now drying and will hopefully be done in time to keep me toasty.

It has turned out to be one of those big and cozy sweaters, but it isn't really suitable to be worn to work or anything.

I've been meaning to talk about the yarn I used for this sweater, Rowanspun Aran. Lets just say I can see why Rowan discontinued this yarn. It's a very pretty yarn, definitely, but working with it is a challenge. It's a felted yarn, and I think that process must weaken the yarn. Also, it was spun with really thin spots throughout each hank. So between these two things, the yarn is pretty easy to snap. I just hope that since it's all knitted up, it will have enough strength. It also produced a fairly stiff fabric which I hope will become more fluid as it gets washed. I've had this difficulty with tweed yarns in the past. Finally, it bled like crazy in its bath, stained the towel I used to squeeze the water out and it stained the sweater I was wearing while I carried it folded over my arm while it was damp. Overall, not impressed.

I have moved on to my next project - the Cozy V-neck Pullover from Fitted Knits. I'm using Cascade Ecological Wool. This yarn is the complete opposite of Rowanspun. It's strong, soft and fluid. I'm knitting a bulky sweater but it has both the weight and drape of a worsted weight sweater. I'm in love. The color is a beautiful Crayola Burnt Siena.

I also gave a knitted baby sweater to my advisor whose wife had a baby in November. I don't think I ever showed a photo of the completed sweater on the blog, but now I can't find the one I took. I'll look around for it. Anyway, the recipients were very grateful for the gift and made me a thank you note that is just precious:

Yup, that's the baby wearing the sweater. Doesn't that just warm a knitter's heart? I think that's the best reception my knitting has ever had.

Grrr

2008-01-17T09:01:00.000-05:00

Network server is down at the office. This is a major pain in the ass. No printing, no accessing case files, to be quite honest I have no clue how it is that I even have Internet access. My computer isn't connected to anything that I am aware of right now and my wireless modem is turned off.

Anyway, on to knitting. As a result of three days of deposition reading I have made quick progress on my Dollar and Half Cardigan. I have finished the cabled front panel and am nearly finished with the back. That will leave the other front half, sleeves, and the button band to go. I have just over one skein of yarn left, which I will use for the button band. The sleeves will be done in newly bought yarn, which means that it will probably be a different dye lot.

Restless

2008-01-15T09:08:00.000-05:00

That is what I have been. It happens to us all. I am waiting for some yarn and a book and am impatient for their arrival. I haven't wanted to go further with Venezia, so I decided to read, but reading wasn't engaging enough so I wanted to knit with nothing moving me to knit I decided to use up some left overs and make a hat

The hat started with using yarn that was left over from a Seaman's cap I made last week, unfortunately, there wasn't enough black left over to make an entire second hat. As I ran low on black I searched around in my pile of left over yarn for some dark green Cotton Fleece (the same yarn as the black) which I thought I had. I couldn't find the dark green, no clue how or what it was used on, but it wasn't with my other left overs. What I did find though was my left over from Lotus Blossom, Candy Apple, so I used that instead. I wanted to try to make the hat as black as possible, but I didn't have enough black to do more than what you see above.

I finished the Seaman's Cap on Sunday morning and needed something else to knit. Venezia still didn't move me, mostly because I wanted to continue reading and there was NO way that I could do Venezia and read at the same time. I reached into my limited stash and pulled out some Cotton Fleece in Rue colorway that I inherited when Crisis of Praxis moved to San Francisco and cast on for the Dollar and Half Cardigan from the Spring 2007 issue of IK. I know for a fact that I don't have enough of this yarn to finish the cardigan but I was way to restless and impatient to wait to see if I could find more yarn.

Originally this was going to be a March project. I planned on casting on for Celtic Icon from Inspired Cable Knits, but since Webs still hasn't charged my card for the yarn I ordered on Wednesday and since my copy of the book hasn't arrived from Amazon yet, I felt that I had little other choice but to start this now. I am modifying the original pattern and knitting the body in one piece instead of 3. I have eliminated the slevedge stitches from the back and am using a purl stitch to create a faux seam. So far this seems to be working out ok, though the faux seam gets lost during the reverse stockinette sections of the pattern.

The sweater seems to be moving along pretty quickly, but that is probably because I spent most of Sunday and Monday working on it. I have been able to work on this while reading, which is excellent because I have tons and tons of deposition transcripts to review and they can be mind numbingly tedious. Speaking of mind numbing tedium, it is time I get started reading today's dose of transcripts. Have a good one all!

Slow Progress

2008-01-10T08:58:00.000-05:00

For some reason I have lost inspiration on Venezia. I have an idea why this is, but it is still a surprise to me. I think I have lost inspiration because I am uncertain about the sizing. I am afraid that it won't fit right. I also haven't been in the mood to think and there are modifications that I am making that require some serious thought. As a result of the inspiration lost I am only a few rows into the body of Venezia.

I did manage to finish the second Orchid Lace Mitt. I ended up following the pattern correctly but ended the repeats short to keep the 2 mitts the same length on my hands. The length on my arms is different, but since I anticipate that sleeves will cover most of the arm I don't really care about that.

Finally for today, I started a Seamans cap yesterday. I had to rip out once and start again, so I haven't gotten very far. This is a belated Christmas gift for a friend.

Mayday! Mayday!

2008-01-10T01:51:00.001-05:00

I feel like one of those WWII planes that got hit by German flak on a mission over France. At the moment, I'm still airborne, but going down fast. I am in the process of being taken out by a cold. Admittedly, it's a slow mover. I knew the minute it started. I felt a scratch in my throat and a wave of fatigue. Those symptoms are still there, but they haven't worsened much. However, my husband was sick last week, so I know to expect. Either it's a bad cold or he's a big baby. I'll let you know.

In addition to this, I went two straight days without knitting! How unbelievable is that? My thesis is due at the end of March and I'm starting to seriously freak out, so I spent two nights until 2 a.m. working. I'd intended to knit both nights, but by the time I packed it in for the night, I was too beat and it was too late.

I figured the cold was my body's signal to me - SLOW DOWN, GET SOME SLEEP, GO FOR A WALK, KNIT, RELAX--OR ELSE!!! My body's messages are not subtle.

So, I finally knit that sleeve cap tonight, fixed the back neck where I'd screwed up my short row technique, and pinned the pieces together. Before I knit the second sleeve, I want to make sure it's all OK. I mean, I winged the sleeve cap so the chance for disaster was pretty big.

Well, it all works! I love it! I tried it on and absolutely love the way it fits. I know, I know. It's simple, it's plain. But it combines elements from about 3 sweaters that I love, so it's perfect! In this photo, I think you can make out the tweedy bits:

Now, onto the second sleeve and then a new sweater! Yay!

An Uncluttered Life

2008-01-07T14:24:00.000-05:00

Getting rid of all of the clutter in my life is something that I've wanted to do for a while now. To me, it's simpler to have less stuff. I've had people to tell me that I need to simply get a bigger home, but it seems to be that this isn't the answer. Although small, my home is already larger than what most people in New York or Boston have, so certainly, I can make do.

On Saturday, since it was raining, it seemed like a good day to stay indoors and get some stuff done around the house. So, I began the difficult chore of shoveling out our den. Before I began, there was dust, cat hair and piles of crap everywhere. My desk was an avalanche of papers and junk and there was knitting stuff on every surface, including the floor. Yarn, needles, notions, half-finished projects - you name it.

After about 8 hours of organizing and getting rid of stuff, I now have this:

The best part is that everything is actually put away in a way that I think it can stay that way. That is what has eluded me in the past.

I also have started a new sweater project. It's an original design, although since it's so plain, it can hardly be called original. However, it is all mine. It's a sweater that I've had in my head for years it seems, so I thought I'd finally knit it. I've had the yarn about as long as I've had the idea brewing as well - it's Rowanspun Aran in a really dark tweedy blue. I love the green specks.

This is the sleeve. When this photo was in my camera, I could see the stitches and the tweedy bits, but on my computer screen, it's a dark blob. Hopefully, you can see it better than I can. I designed the sleeve cap last night, so I'm going to finish knitting it tonight and as soon as I have time, I'm going to set it in to see if it fits in the armhole. I call this project Julian because it is the kind of sweater I would wear for a day in the mountains. It's soft, cozy and slightly oversized for a casual look. I think I'm going to be happy with it.

Hodge Podge

2008-01-03T09:01:00.000-05:00

I knit gifts for only 2 people this holiday season. I made a mini-Clapotis for my grandmother and I made a mini-Jeannie for an Aunt. I haven't sent the mini-Jeannie off yet, so I don't know how it will be received. This is a drop stitch cable pattern that was designed to be sort of a stole/shawl type thing. I knew that I did not have enough Seasilk to make it a stole, so I turned it into a scarf. It still isn't a very big scarf, but I think it is long enough to be OK.

I have made some progress on Venezia and now have 2 sleeves knit to the same point. I am not going to bother sharing a photo since each sleeve looks the same and I have already shared a photo of the first sleeve.

I took a short break from Venezia, mostly because I needed to print out my redone version of the chart and my printer at home isn't working, and during the break I began making a pair of Orchid Lace Mitts. I am using some of my Malabrigo lace weight yarn. I have one mitt finished and the second one started. I have discovered that I made a mistake with the orchid lace motif on the first mitt. I read one line as being "repeat rows 2-14 two times" when in fact it said "repeat these 14 rows two times" Now my dilemma is whether or not to repeat the mistake on the second mitt, or to correct it.

Autumn Rose FO

2008-01-01T12:23:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

Awhile back, I claimed to have finished Autumn Rose, but I offered no photographic proof that I really had finished it. Today, I correct that oversight. I have only the one photo to share, but you can see that it is done. I really like this sweater but I have some concerns, first I probably could have made the next size down, I didn't account for the impact of a U neckline. Also the raglan shaping seems a bit long. Other than that though, I love the sweater.

Oh, I am on Ravelry now, you can look for me as NorthEndKnitter. Well, that is all I have for now. Enjoy your New Year's Day.