My knitting mania is continuing, and I'm really wanting to clean up my stash, so I took a break from all the stockinette I've been doing and used a lone ball of Koigu KFM for a small Ishbel scarf.

I like all these colors, but they're a bit much all together like this. The yarn was a total impulse buy last summer when we spent a day in Ketchum, Idaho while I was visiting my family. I found a little yarn shop, and there was a single, lonely hank in the 50% off basket. So for $11 I have a cheery, lacy scarf. It's not quite my usual thing, but I'll probably wear it now and then. 

 Ultimately, knitting this little confection only took a few days, but it did take three attempts at starting the lace section before I got it (mostly) right. I'm still learning to read lace, so I'm glad I did this before getting into the lace on my Seraphim shawl. I'm not sure what my problem was, it's a pretty simple lace pattern, but I kept losing stitches and couldn't find them again. Once I realized the double-decreases were stacked right on top of each other, it got a little easier. There were still mistakes, but I just figured if I missed a stitch somewhere I could just pick one up in the approximate spot and it would all work out in the end. I don't think anyone will notice when I'm wearing it all draped and squished around my neck. 

Because I'm in such a stash-busting state of mind, I've been doing a lot of thinking about knitting, and thought I'd share some things I've been finding useful lately. 

1. It goes without saying that if you knit, you should have a Ravelry account. What I love about it is that you can use the site however you'd like. I don't spend a lot of time in the forums, but with all the groups, you can certainly find some like-minded knitters to chat with. I do, however, have a few friends, and I just discovered the friend's activity tab. It's a great way to find new patterns, especially if you have friends with similar taste. I'm also keeping better notes on my projects, and slowly adding my stash yarns, which will make it easy to match up that stash yarn with the perfect project, and therefore, clear out my stash even faster. Yes! 
2. Ravelry related: Ariane of the Falling Stitches blog does a regular post called What's Hot on Ravelry, where she searches out the best of the newly listed patterns. She has reliably good taste, and has posted some lovely patterns that I might not have otherwise found. 
3. I've taken a break from audio books (I still haven't listened to the last disc of Edgar Sawtelle), and I've been listening to knitting podcasts during my commute. The Knit Picks podcast has some good episodes, and I found the one about blocking your knits (episode 123, I believe) truly helpful. I've only listened to a couple episodes of The Knit Wits, but this married couple is pretty darn funny and entertaining. The Knitmore Girls are an adorable mother-daughter knitting duo, and I've also enjoyed a few episodes of Ready, Set, Knit, the WEBS podcast. Do you have any good knitting podcasts to recommend? 
4. This is a pretty cool tool if you like knitting from charts (which I do!): KnitChart. Give it a minute to load, and then you can easily chart your design. 

One more stash project:

I had to try out Malabrigo's sock yarn. I'm happy to report that I really like it and would like lots more socks knit from it. Do you like my rustic back drop? It's been dark and dreary and in every picture I took inside the socks were a different color. This one is actually pretty close, although they are slightly more purple: 

I think this is the fourth pair of Embossed Leaves socks I've knit. I know I need to branch out more, but I like everything about this pattern. It's interesting but not too hard, they're pretty, and they fit perfectly. 

Read More

So I thought that knitting season had finally arrived in earnest when I woke up Sunday morning to white frosty roofs and white frosty ground, but it turns out the autumn can't seem to commit, and it was nearly 80 degrees today. I don't care, I'm forging ahead with my knitting plans anyway. It will eventually get cold enough for sweaters and boots, even if I am wearing a skirt and sandals today, right? 

I'm pretty excited to have finished my Tea Leaves cardigan! I love it, and even wore it one rainy day last week. It was crazy warm and cozy. I just gave it a quick steam blocking, so I still need to block it properly. With the previously cold and wet weather, I just didn't want to soak it and then have to wait days for it to dry, but now that it warmed back up, I think I better do it soon so I'll be ready when those colder days return. So, that's my excuse for not having any photos wearing it, they will have to wait until it gets a wash and a block. These will have to do in the meantime:

 

The buttons were a flea market find during a weekend trip to New York years and years ago. I think the tarnished brass suits the pumpkin alpaca quite nicely. 

I didn't quite keep to my resolution of finishing all current projects before starting another, and suddenly felt I needed to knit a hat. But I had the yarn (ravelry link), and I had the pattern (ravelry link), and it was a quick and satisfying project started and finished all the same day. 

Again, no modeling shot, since I was having a bad hair day, but trust me, it's pretty darn cute.

The mitts are done, and the shawl is growing, and I still love the Malabrigo lace yarn. The color is so perfect and interesting and just pretty. 

Since I finished a few things I was allowed to start some others. I love a cozy, loose sweater, so I started a Snowbird (ravelry link). I've been thinking that I have a problem. I tend to like sweaters with a lot of stockinette stitch, but it gets boring, and so I start things and don't finish. I'm working on getting over the boredom, and this pattern definitely helps. While it is pretty much all stockinette, it has some interesting construction that I think will fight the boredom.

I was able to continue perfecting my provisional cast on technique, and I think I've got it down. I'm keeping things tidy as I knit, so I practiced grafting the collar sections together as soon as I could. I hope that someday I'll be able to do the kitchener stitch from memory and not have to look it up, but I'm not quite there yet. I've also now learned how to do an i-cord edging (at least I think that's what it is), which I very much like the look of. I think I am at the point as a knitter, where I appreciate a little challenge in a knitting project, and I want to learn something new with each new thing that I knit, so I'm so pleased with this sweater so far because I am learning and challenged.

I know, that's a pretty boring picture, you can't even tell what it is, but it's the collar and beginning of the back. Another inch or two, and I'll sew the collar down. I think the finishing bits are also a nice break from stockinette. Oh, and I didn't mention the yarn! I'm using Knit Picks City Tweed DK, which is so nice for the price. Once I grafted the collar, I steam blocked it a bit to prepare to sew it to the back, and it turned into the nicest, soft, drapey fabric. I'm looking forward to wearing this one this winter, so I better keep going! 

Oh, wait! One more little thing on the needles! This is a gift for a friend that loved my daffodil jaywalkers. I accidentally bought this yarn in sport weight, rather than sock weight, and it's been languishing in my stash for ages. There's not a lot you can do with yarn this bright, but the chevron scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts seemed like a pretty good match. 

I'm making it a bit narrower, and went up to size 7 needles for a slightly drapey-er scarf (why is drapier not a word? it totally should be!). 

So, how many projects are you working on? Am I weird for having so many? My sister works on only one thing at a time and has no yarn stash. This impresses and disturbs me. 

Read More

What are you planning to do this Autumn? Here's what I want to accomplish by the end of the year:

• Finish Christmas shopping/making by the first week of December
• Find the perfect  cream of mushroom soup recipe (I think I'll start with this one, Ina never lets me down!)
• Bake a Ginger Pear Upside-down Cake
• Bake a pear tart
• Bake an apple cake
• Make lots of pickles for gifts
• Finish a quilt
• Finish current knitting projects before starting a new one
• Go on a hike
• Clean up the garden
• Plant some cold-weather vegatables (Kale, spinach, etc)
• Plant pansies and flowering kale in pot on the porch
• Make a desk for the guest room, so I can work there on my laptop instead of sitting in bed or on the couch
• Chop wood for the stove and start building fires (I need to learn how to split wood, I think that will be a good skill to develop)
• Move the mulch to the garden
• Build another planting box

I can't wait to eat this cake again! 

Read More

I am pleased to report that I have organized all my knitting. I've cleaned out the stash yarn, made plans to use most of what I have left, cleaned up my Ravelry queue, and am working away on a few things that I want to finish asap, so I can cast on some other things that are ready and waiting-yarns and patterns together in bags, hanging from the hooks in my little studio, just hoping to be cast on soon. Whew, that feels so good! 

I finished one mitt to go with my much loved shawl, and the other should be done shortly. These will be worn regularly this winter. I just love these patterns, the stripey-ness and the lacy-ness of them. 

And because I have been making progress on my Tea Leaves cardigan (button bands are done! sleeves are underway!), I just thought I'd go ahead and cast on a big, lacy shawl. It's just that the yarn, it was sitting there so prettily, I couldn't help myself.

It's Malabrigo Lace (the color is Bobby Blue), and oh my goodness, it knits up like a soft, soft cloud. Those two skeins should become a big shawl that will weigh nearly nothing. This is my first time knitting with Malabrigo, but I really think I need to try every yarn they make. I should, right?

And mostly unrelated, I just thought I would jump on the "what's in your bag?" bandwagon, and take a picture of the contents of my purse. This is one of very few places that I have complete control, and I like to keep it super tidy and organized. Doing this I realized that I really need a much cuter case for my sunglasses, and a much cuter cover for my check book. Why have I been carrying it around in the navy vinyl monstrosity that came with the checks? What is wrong with me? I'll take another picture when I remedy these things, don't you worry. 

What is the state of your bag? What all do you carry around with you? 

Read More

I'm having kind of a good time finishing some things that were started a long time ago. Here are just a few: 

A long ago thrift store find, this little display shelf was dusty, dark wood. I think it still needs one more coat of glossy paint, I just had some flat spray paint, but I love it so much more in white. It's nice to have a place to showcase some tiny treasures that I love. 

A simple appliqué quilt I started long, long ago. I finished sewing the three big flowers and their stems, so now I just need to get some batting, figure out the backing, quilt, and bind the whole thing. I love the saturated colors of these batik fabrics. I know they're maybe not so modern and hip, but I don't care. I'll probably hand quilt it with lots more of the same bright colors. 

It's nice and chilly in the evening, so I've picked up the knitting needles again! This is the Tea Leaves cardigan (Ravelry link) I started in March, and that is the bottom edge, just about ready to be cast off. Then I'll just have to do the sleeves and the button band, and I'll have a new sweater for this autumn!

There are a couple more projects in the works, and all this suits my ADD style just fine. I've also managed to hem my living room drapes, which have been hanging there un-hemmed for longer than I'd like to admit. There's also another porch project that I hope to finish this weekend that I think is going to be very cute. 

Luckily, Winston keeps me company in my little house studio as I work on all these projects. It really must be fall, his summer haircut is growing out quite nicely! 

Read More

One of the items on my to-do list for 2009 was to learn to make creme brulee. I'm a little late, but I finally did it this weekend. 

  

I used this recipe, and it wasn't really all that hard. I had a butane torch from the hardware store, and it didn't work so well. It may have been user error. My brother Cary was visiting, and he did most of the sugar caramelizing using the highly dangerous and exciting lighter and butane torch technique. Yum, yum, yum! I can't be making this too often, but I will definitely make it again, it was so delicious!

I might have also started another sweater. I was using this lovely alpaca yarn for another sweater, but when I was nearly done I realized it wasn't very flattering. So I'm reusing it for a tea leaves cardigan. 

  

I think this one will work out much better. 
 
 

Read More