A while back, the Yarn Harlot wrote about a serious condition she called finishitupitis, wherein she felt a need to finish everything in her unfinished object (UFO) basket. I'm not sure how that virus traveled from Canada to California, but travel it did. To the detriment of almost all other activities, I am determined to Get Stuff Done and get rid of projects I have no interest in finishing and clean out the yarn that I will never use. So yes, I finished yet another project. Yay!

Juneberry is a surprisingly fast knit, and it was interesting the whole way through. I loved this pattern, and I want to make it again in something soft and silky and drape-y. Shelter is none of those things. That's not at all a criticism, however, it's just a very different yarn for me. Had I come across it in a yarn store, I don't know that I would have been eager to buy it. I think that most of the yarn I have worked with has been worsted-spun yarn, rather than woolen-spun, as this is. Briefly, worsted-spun means that the fibers are long, and the yarn is spun with the fibers parallel along the length of the yarn. Woolen-spun, on the other hand, is made with shorter fibers, which are more perpendicular or in all different directions. The result is a much lighter yarn because there is more air trapped between the fibers. This also means that it's warmer, as I could tell as soon as I flung this shawl around my shoulders. 

Shelter feels very dry, and not at all soft when it comes off the skein. It has almost a crunchy texture, I kept wanting to compare it to styrofoam when I was working with it. I didn't have any problems with breakage while I was knitting, but when I did want to break the yarn, it did so very easily. Part of the dryness, for want of a better word, makes it really show off the stitches, which I think you can see, are very clearly defined. It blocked up beautifully, and softened a bit. It's still a bit too scratchy to wear right up against bare neck skin, so this will be better worn as a true shawl, around my shoulders, rather than bunched up around my neck like a scarf. 

So, if you'll be knitting something with lots of cables or other interesting surface textures, I highly recommend trying out Shelter. I think it's the perfect yarn for many patterns from Brooklyn Tweed, so kudos to Jared Flood for creating this yarn! 

So now that I'm down to just one project in my knitting bag, I've decided to go through the abandoned project bags and either finish something that's been hibernating, or ripping it out and using the yarn for something else. I'm just going to try to keep alternating between new and old. Last night I had a look at one of the first lace projects I attempted (in 2007! sheesh!). I knew there was a mistake in it somewhere, and I had been so frustrated that I stopped knitting right in the middle of a row, threw it in a bag and never looked at it again. Fast-forward to last night, when I un-knit several rows, but still didn't seem to be able to discover exactly where I went wrong.  I tried knitting a row, but I soon realized the my little size 3 bamboo needles were nowhere near pointy enough to deal with this extremely fine lace yarn. So I ripped the whole thing out and I think I'm going to use it for a very simple, lacy, beaded shawl, and I'll be using bigger needles with nice sharp points. I still love the yarn, and I love the pattern, just not together in the same project. 

One last thing, I have a thrifty knitting tip to share. With the last few lace projects I've been making, I thought it would be really nice to have some blocking wires. One of my local yarn stores had some that you could buy individually for a couple dollars a piece. Another local yarn store had a set for over thirty dollars! I didn't notice how many there were in a set, but still, it was a lot of money. I went to my local Ace Hardware, which is one of my favorite stores ever, because you can ask them anything and they'll help you find an answer. I told them what I was looking for and they sent me to look at some steel rods they had. They were great, but a little heavy, and covered with gunk from the manufacturing process that I would have had to clean off. Then they guy remembered something from the welding section. I had a look, and thought they would be perfect, and they were less than $6 for a set of six 36" copper colored rods. They're packaged in this handy tube, required no cleaning, and were nice and sturdy without being too thick. 

I have no idea what they are supposed to be used for, but I've used them to block three shawls so far, and they worked great!

Wait, I lied, one more last thing: 

Winston says Hi!

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Ages and ages ago I bookmarked a post from Angry Chicken about making your own deodorant. Honestly, I had my doubts. I've tried all sorts of natural deodorants before, and when they ultimately didn't work, I went back to my aluminium-laden Dove or Secret. There's nothing worse than sitting at a desk all day and catching a whiff of yourself smelling like you just finished a strenuous hike. Then, a few months ago I found this post, and realized that I had all the ingredients and finally got around to mixing up a batch (the silver tins contain the deodorant and my coconut oil moisterizer). 

There's good news and bad news, but I'm hopeful that it will all work out in the end. I started using it, and it was amazing! It smelled really nice, lightly scented, but not perfume-y, and I didn't smell at all. Even when I did my usual skip-a-shower Saturday, no B.O.! It worked even better than any storebought deodorant I've used. After about ten days, however, I noticed a little bit of a rash under one arm. I just thought maybe something was chafing, and continued using my new favorite deodorant. Well, the rash started resembling a bad sunburn and then appeared on the other side (sorry if this is TMI! I think we should all be able to discuss our armpit rashes without judgement!). Eventually it even peeled like a sunburn. I stopped using the deodorant and went back to my old tube of Dove [sad face]. 

I really think and hope that it is the grapefruit essential oil that I'm allergic to. I'm going to try again, and just leave that out, and I'll report back on the presence or absence of a rash. I've used coconut oil as my facial moisterizer for several months now, and haven't had any bad reactions at all. A quick Google search didn't reveal any widespread arrowroot or baking soda allergies. So I'm crossing my fingers that it will work without the essential oil. 

Fresh from the (almost) successful deodorant experiment, I started looking around for some other natural products to make. I read all about oil cleansing and whipped up a quick batch (in the blue bottle, above). My skin tends to be a little drier in the winter, so I did a 10% Castor Oil/90% Sunflower Oil combination, and added a couple drops of lavendar oil for scent. I've only used it a couple times, but it does make my skin feel lovely and soft, and I haven't had any breaking out at all. I'd like to find something I can make and keep in the shower for every day use, but so far, most of the ideas I've seen involve ingredients that are better stored in the refrigerator. I don't want to have to remember to get it out every time I take a shower. 

Then of course, I got super ambitious, and decided to make some lotion, which is all kinds of awesome. For the water I used a combination of rose water and chamomile tea. For the oils I used a combination of beeswax, sunflower oil, and a little coconut oil. It was magical to make it in my blender, and watch it emulsifying, going from frothy water to creamy and thick lotion.  It smells so good, mostly like honey, but you can smell a little hint of roses and chamomile too. It takes a minute to soak in all the way, but leaves my hands feeling nice and soft and not at all greasy. I'd like to try it with some different combinations of ingredients and might try adding some vitamin E oil next time. Overall, though, I'd call it a success. Has anyone else had good luck making beauty products in the kitchen? 

And just a tiny bit of knitting for today, I finished my Pyroclastic socks:

I didn't capture the color very well, they're a very deep purple, it's such a pretty shade. It's the same yarn as my Abrazo shawl, but I guess my camera just sees it as lighter and brighter out in the daylight. They were a fun, quick knit, and I'll probably be making them again.

A very long time ago I favorited this photo on flickr and set a goal to have a sock drawer like it someday. I'm keeping these to add to it, since I keep giving socks away. I can't help it, though, I want everyone to have handknit socks to keep their feet nice and warm!

I'm also just about done with my Juneberry shawl, and after that I will only have one work-in-progress on the needles (although there are a few things hibernating in various bags and drawers), so I better decide what to cast on next! Or maybe pull something out of hibernation. But that doesn't sound as fun. 

 

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I'm working on a post all about some natural skincare things I've been making and using, but it's taking a little time, so here is some more knitting. Do you mind? Are you tired of knitting? Because it seems that I am not. 

I want to find a knitting group, so I tried one out this past weekend at a local yarn store and made a hat:

It's pretty darn cute, and was fun to knit. The only downside, which isn't really a downside, just my own disatisfaction was that I used the exact yarn in the exact colors called for in the pattern, which is great, it just makes it feel a little less creative. Know what I mean? It's a silly complaint, and I love the finished hat. In fact, I'll be making the matching mittens, so maybe I should just stopping whining. It's the perfect yarn in the perfect colors, so I don't know what I think I want. The pattern for the hat and matching mittens is from The Red Collection, which is a really cute bunch of patterns. I want to make the ziggity hat and mittens too. As for the knitting group, there were just a few people, but I found out about another, large group that meets at a nearby Panera on the second Wednesday of the month, so I'll be trying that out this week. Maybe there will be some readers there, so I'll find a book group too. Or maybe I'm just overly optimistic. 

I also whipped up a baby sweater for a co-worker. I've made this pattern before, it's not particularly exciting, but it's a nice, classic look for a little boy, I think. It's from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss, which has lots of good, basic patterns. It's a quick knit too!

It's been awhile since I've done any seaming, it was good to practice. 

I spent a few hours on Saturday waiting while one of our cars was in the shop, so I used those hours for reading and finished Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. It's my second non-fiction book for the year, and it was really amazing. Louis Zamparini grew up in Torrence, California, where he was a Troublemaker-with-a-capital-T. With some help from his older brother and best friend, he became a track star, breaking records and accomplishing brilliant feats of speed around the track. He even went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He had big plans to attend the 1940 Olympics, where his increased maturity would certainly make him a contender for a gold medal. And then, World War II broke out and the Olympics were cancelled. 

So he joined the Army Air Corps and became part of the crew of a B-24 Bomber. What follows is an amazing story of endurance, optimism and redemption. It might sound a little cliché, and I know there are probably more WW II stories like this that will never be told, but that doesn't make this one any less worth reading. I won't spoil it for you, just recommend that you pick it up soon and read it. Laura Hillenbrand, the author, has obviously done extensive research and spent a lot of time interviewing Louis, who is still alive. I really appreciated her obvious admiration for him, although her writing is at times a little dry. She has a journalistic style, which I think that I, as a fiction reader, am not used to reading, it's not quite as 'literary' as I am used to (not that I'm some literary snob, I'm in the middle of a slightly cheesey mystery novel at the moment), so that's not even really a criticism. 

 Just for fun, as is my habit, let's have a look at the one-star reviews, shall we? I wasn't sure how anyone could rate this story one-star, but right now, there are eleven who did. It seems that a common complaint is that the book is overly-dramatic. Really? A man survives unbelievable odds for years during a major war, and you don't think it should be dramatic? That's pretty funny. I can kind of, sort of understand not loving the writing style, but I really don't see how this story is anything less than amazing. 

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I'm still knitting away here. It's cold and windy tonight, so I am curled up with a plain little baby sweater. I need some straight stockinette stitch so I can start getting through the backlog of foreign films in my Netflix queue. I think I'll start with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, for a nice two-and-a-half hour knitting marathon.

Oh, and my Juneberry shawl is moving right along, it's just not a foreign film sort of project. I've completed the body and am working on the edging, which I suspect will take as long as the rest of the shawl did. I'll write more about it and the yarn when I'm done, but it's been a really fun project. The heavier yarn means that it knits up super fast, and the pattern is interesting, but not difficult. I was a little worried at first, since there are pattern rows on the right and wrong sides, but it really hasn't been hard. I tried to get some in-progress pictures, but it pretty much just looks like a big pile 'o yarn. Still, the color is pretty accurate, and you can see the beginning of the edging (in the lower right corner). 

All this nesting knitting I've been doing lately has made me be a little more organized. My little studio, where I keep all my knitting and sewing supplies, is a short walk out the back door, but when the low is supposed to be 19 degrees, like it is tonight, I'd like to avoid having to venture out in search of a tape measure or stitch marker. So I've put together a toolkit of knitting essentials that I keep nearby at all times, and thought I'd share. You certainly don't need everything here, but most of what I've got are just things I've collected here and there, and are things I use regularly.

I labelled everything on flickr, so you can click the image to see all the notes. A little pouch is handy for keeping all the smaller items together, and if you're working on multiple projects, it's easy to move it from one bag or basket to another.

• Scissors are useful, but a yarn cutter will do in a pinch. 
• Stitch markers are necessary for many projects and I like these Clover markers that work like a safety pin, so they can be removed in the middle of the row. I'd love to make some small beaded markers for smaller projects. Maybe one day I'll get to that. 
• A retractable tape measure stays neat.
• I hate it when my hands are dry, so I keep some rose salve and lotion nearby. I just made the lotion in that little tin (under the rose salve), I'll tell you more about that in an upcoming post, it's pretty cool!
• Post it notes are essential when I'm following a charted pattern
• I finally thought ahead and added a couple different weights of waste yarn. I used a wooden spool and a yarn bobbin to keep them neat. 
• I don't use my row counter too often, but I figure it's a good idea to tuck it in anyway, since it takes almost no space. 
• Cable needles in various sizes and configurations make large or elaborate cables much easier.
• A pencil for writing notes on patterns. Essential for calculations and reading patterns.
• Crochet hooks are great for everything from picking up dropped stitches to doing a provisional cast on. 
• Nothing works as well as a bent-tipped yarn needle for weaving in ends. A chibi (the yellow case) and a wooden fish are cases for keeping my collection of needles safe until I am ready to use them. 
• I have a set of the Zephyr clear acrylic needles from Knit Picks, so a needle gauge is used every time I start a new project, to make sure I've picked up the right size needles. 

Oh, and I nearly forgot, a little chocolate is never a bad idea. You have to keep your strength up when you settle in for a marathon knitting session. What are some of your essential knitting tools?  

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I think someone could make a business out of coming up with pithy blog post titles. I am obviously not that person.

Some things I've been knitting include my Seraphim shawl, which is now finished.

I knew I would love it, and I was right. It weighs nearly nothing, but is so warm and soft. I'm cursing this ridiculous January heatwave, because it means I can't wear it right now. Not that I have anything that really matches in color or style even if it was cold. I don't care, though, as soon as the temperature goes back down to reasonable winter levels, I'll have it jauntily tied around my shoulders with my every day black hoodie sweater and jeans. 

Sadly, I'm still not any kind of lace knitting expert. At one point, well into the lace border, I had to rip back a few rows due to a glaring error, and let me tell you, it was.not.fun. Then, not learning my lesson, I neglected to put in a new lifeline, and found a couple extra yarn-overs. As I continued knitting, they were so obvious that I wasn't sure I could live with them, but I also couldn't face ripping back again, so I decided to let it go. And you know, as I was blocking the finished shawl, I really had to look to find them. I'm pretty sure that no one will ever see them while I have it nonchalantly draped around my neck, either. 

I think my next lace project is going to be a Juneberry shawl from Brooklyn Tweed. I hope to get some Shelter yarn (I'm very tempted by the Button Jar color, but Almanac is also nice), I think lace in a heavier yarn could be a lot of fun. 

Of course, once I bound off and blocked my shawl, I thought I ought to start something else. I am not at all tired of the purple Malabrigo I used for my Abrazo, so I used the leftover to start a pair of socks.

The pattern is Pyroclastic from Knitty Winter 2009, and they are easy-peasy. Well, that's not entirely true. There is a knitted-in arch support, which I think sounds like a fantastic idea, but the truth is, I started working on it and I just wasn't feeling it. You have to fiddle with about six stitch markers on size 1 needles, and keeping track of increases and decreases on this dark, dark yarn during these dark, dark evenings just isn't any fun, so I decided not to do it. I'll let you know if that's a big mistake, but I think it will work out just fine. I love the mock cables, they couldn't be easier, and the socks are just flying off the needles. 

Some things I've been reading include the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. They're YA books, so they were really quick reads. I thought they were a lot of fun. The action was non-stop, and I really enjoyed all the funny lines the author came up with, like

"I nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."",

or ""It's him," I said. "Typhon." 
I was seriously hoping Chiron would say something good, like 'No, that's our huge friend Leroy! He's going to help us!'"

Or "I’ve met plenty of embarrassing parents, but Kronos, the evil Titan Lord who wanted to destroy Western Civilization? Not the kind of dad you invited to school for Career Day."

I was seriously on the edge of my seat for most of the five books, so I read them back-to-back, pretty much non-stop. I would have probably loved these when I was in sixth grade, so if you have any young readers looking for something entertaining, and even a little educational (I even learned a few things about the Greek gods), give them a try. 

Way at the other end of the spectrum, I spent a good part of my day off yesterday reading Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue. Wow. I don't want to say too much about this one, but I couldn't put it down, and I will be thinking about it for a good, long time. Room is the story of Jack and his Ma and the 11 x 11 room where they live as prisoners of Old Nick. Five-year-old Jack is the narrator of the story, and it takes a little while to get into the rhythm of his voice, but ultimately, I think Donoghue has done an excellent job of creating that voice. Jack is at the same time smart yet somewhat developmentally or maybe emotionally disabled. His Ma does that best she can to educate and entertain him within their very confined, limited existence. 

Often, when I read a book, particularly a very popular book, I have a bad habit of reading the Amazon reviews, mostly the bad ones. I can sometimes empathize with the one-star reviewers, and often find new insights that I may not have thought about before. In this case, however, I found myself disagreeing with most of them. Many of them didn't like the voice of Jack, saying they didn't think a five-year-old would talk like he did, using simple words and improper grammar one sentence and then spouting multi-syllabic words the next, but I thought that was very authentic, particularly because his world was so limited, yet his mother would play games with him to teach him new words and their meanings. The other complaint that was repeated multiple times was that the reviewers thought that the many references to breastfeeding were "gross." Really? I get that in society today it's not really acceptable to breastfeed a five-year-old boy, but they didn't live in regular society. I think it was quite understandable in their circumstances, and that it was a great comfort to both Jack and to Ma. I understood the discomfort of people outside of Room when Jack wanted to breastfeed at that point, but I would hardly call it gross. Okay, I'll stop there, but if you've read it, what did you think? Please comment! I still need a book group!

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I'm just going to ignore holidays past and look forward to this new year, and the potential it holds. So, let's talk some more about knitting, shall we? I've been doing some.

I'm really getting into this whole lace thing. It's so very fun. I made this version of Abrazo out of some Malabrigo sock:

There are some mistakes, but fewer than I made in my Ishbel shawl, so that's progress, right? It also has beads. I'm not a super sparkle-y kind of girl, but I really like these. They give it a nice weight:

 The pattern calls for laceweight yarn, but I wanted a slightly more substantial shawl, so I used a heavier yarn. I also added more short rows so it's a bit deeper in width. I'm trying to keep thorough notes on my projects now, so if you want more details, they're on my ravelry page (linked above).

I took a short break from lace to knit some cables. This is the second Habitat I've made, it's such a great pattern, which is probably why 1400 other people have made it too.

I recommend tweed for cables. Tweed + Cables is like Peanut Butter + Jelly.

It's not all about the new projects, though. I finished the chevron scarf I was working on. My plan was to use every bit of the two skeins of yarn, but I was just plain tired of knitting this when it was seven feet long, so I quit with probably half a ball left and called it done. 

I've also made lots of progress on the Seraphim shawl, It's working up just beautifully:

This is the first time I've used a lifeline, and it's given me perhaps too much confidence. Can you see my mistake? Here it is:

I missed a yarn over, but I think I'm going to have to learn to live with it. I just can't bring myself to rip back that far. Any ideas for fixing it that don't involve re-doing all that work? 

And one last little project, just because it's cold out there, and no one wants cold eggs, I made some tiny pink stocking caps.

They were an easy little knit, but I was thinking of writing up the pattern if anyone is interested. They're great for using up those leftover bits of sock yarn.  

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