something old, something new

Okay, well, this really has nothing to do with anyone getting married, but I do have an anniversary-related thing to celebrate–
This little blog is one year old as of today!
It’s my blogiversary!

Boy, it sure doesn’t seem like a year, but now that I look back on the posts from those first few months, I feel like both my crafting and especially my photography skills have come so far.
Here’s to more blogiversaries to come!

I don’t really have much knitting to show you purely because of the combination of not having much time to knit, and not being able to figure out what I WANT to knit right now.
So, I thought I’d show you something I mentioned awhile back (in November) but never actually posted pictures of.

The stats:
Pattern- improvised, sized to fit my extremely well-loved iPod mini
Yarn- The Knittery Merino Cashmere Sock, with small bits of Louet Gems Fingering in Lilac and Cream for embroidery
Needles- Brittany Birch US 1 (2.25 mm) double points

I made this after searching everywhere I could think of to find a suitable cover for my “obsolete” iPod, which I saved up for for months 3 years ago, only to find out a few weeks after I got it that Apple had opted to stop making them (and all accessories for the mini) to make way for the then-new nano. This little blue machine has been a very good friend to me, even through various occasions of slipping out of my hand while walking and getting scratched up on the sidewalk. It is, however, starting to die a slow and sad death, and I’m afraid I may have to start saving for a new one soon.
The things I love most about this iPod cozy are the sweet little details, like a picot hem at the top, a pretty, engraved button, and the love-music embroidery motif on the back (the music note was done in duplicate stitch, and the heart was done in chain stitch). I also made it completely seamless, knit from the top down ending with a 4-stitch saddle style gusset at the bottom, and an i-cord loop that was picked up and then grafted at the top of the back.
Something else that has inspired me recently-
I found this sweater pattern advertised in the newest Knit Picks catalog

Which goes by the same name (the Innovation Mockneck pullover) and looks suspiciously like this sweater from Anthropologie’s winter collection

Image courtesy of Mixed Plate blog

I, of course, would never be able to buy anything from Anthropologie, but they’re always a great source of inspiration, and it looks like someone from Knit Picks must have made a deal with the Anthropologie people, and now us knitters reap the benefits. I would have to purchase the pattern, but it would be great to use as a starting point (I like the original version better) to modify.

 

ce week-end

(this weekend)

The little group of daffodils beside our driveway is in bloom, and since they don’t usually last long, I picked a few and put them in a vase to brighten up our kitchen.

The crocuses right next to the daffodils are blooming too.

The pink camellia bush in our backyard is blooming.

The cherry tree in our backyard has little pink buds, and I can’t wait for them to burst.

It’s Meyer Lemon season! These are so cute and really fragrant.

I refilled our coffee bean jar today, and couldn’t resist taking this picture. I love the shape of coffee beans.

I also made a latte. Isn’t the mug cool? I saw a bunch of them at Chapters in November right before my birthday and thought I might like it (though I probably never would’ve bought one) and then Austin ended up getting me one for my birthday. It reminds me of a candy cane, but cooler with the striping.

I took Emma (our family’s old, cranky, but still active border collie) for a walk to the park right near our house.

At the park I saw more daisies and was glad I brought my camera along so I could show them to you!

I’ll be posting an actual knitting-related post very soon.

 

please pretend I posted this last Monday

because that’s how long these pictures have been on my computer, and that’s when I MEANT to post, although obviously that didn’t happen because I’ve been horribly neglectful of my poor little blog.
Oh well, here goes…

I finally took my turn and made a pair of Saartje’s Bootees (Linked to Ravelry, sorry if you can’t access it).

These were for Bethany’s baby, but for some reason I mistook the location of the baby shower and missed the opportunity to get them to her before she went back to Utah, so Bethany, if you’re reading this, please tell me how I can give them to you before the baby gets too big to wear them! I made the newborn size, and they’re so tiny and cute and soft. I used remnants of The Knittery Cashmere Merino with more of the little pearly buttons.

I also made some adult-sized footwear:

Fuzzy Feet in Cascade 220 (left over from my Dahlia prototype) with little bits of Rowan Felted Tweed and Malabrigo Worsted for the embroidery, and they were for Liv’s birthday, which was all the way back on the 19th. The only modification that I did was making the cuffs about an inch longer than suggested, so that they could be folded over more easily.
Making those made me really want to make another pair of socks, just because the shaping of them is so fun and intriguing.

Not knitting, but still cute and Project Spectrum-y, the very last thing I made in sewing class:

Yes, those are elephants. And look! The stripy lining!

It’s just a basic little clutch put together from some awesome fabric I found in one of the bursting scrap boxes, sewn on one of my last days in CPF class. Oh, how I miss it! I’ll have to take it again sometime in the future.

I’ve also been working on and off on an Anemoi Mitten.

This was taken right after I put aside the thumb gore stitches, but I’m actually about an inch further than that now. It’s too bad it’ll be too warm to wear them by the time these are finished, but at least I’ll have a pair of mittens ready when next winter comes.

In other news, spring is here in the beautiful Northwest!

Aujourd’hui, il fait tres beau.
The roses in our backyard are SO close to budding.

It’s still a little chilly, but I’m so glad the weather’s been so pretty. The daffodils and crocuses are already starting to poke their heads out of the ground, and the little tiny daisies are already showing themselves in crowds down in the grass (they’re one of the first signs of spring to me, and now when I take my dog Emma for a walk to the park I always pick one and put it in my hair. I have many elementary school memories of sitting in a field during recess making daisy crowns.)

 

massive update

A little love for la fete de St. Valentin.
The pendant in the picture above was actually a Christmas present from my dad – my sister and I each have one, and since they were handmade at our local jewelry shop, each one is just slightly different. They’ve got a pretty sweet story behind them – they’re made from the melted-down gold from my dad’s old wedding ring, and it almost made me cry when he gave them to us.

I know you guys must think I’m the worst blogger ever by now, having twice now gone whole months between posts. This time I have a good reason for disappearing off the face of the blogging world, though. Pretty much right when we went back to school from winter break, we started full-out rehearsals for Arsenic & Old Lace, which meant I had to stay at school from 7:15 AM until at least 8:45 PM, which meant I had NO LIFE WHATSOEVER outside of school. The last two weekends of January were the performances, when I had to be there from 5:30 to 10:30 PM. Let me tell you, by the time the whole thing was over, I was proud of the excellent job they did and also extremely exhausted. Teching is not the most gratifying job, especially when all you get to do is sit where you can’t see anything that’s going on onstage with a headset listening to the directors and light/sound techies talk. My official job was ‘runner,’ but I really did no running at all. I was there to make sure the actors were in their spots 1 page before their next cue, and by the end, I had pretty much everyone’s lines memorized. 2 days after the last Arsenic performance, there were tryouts for this year’s Shakespeare play, Richard III. The lead roles had already been cast to people in the Junior and Advanced Shakespeare classes, but there were still a fair few roles left. I ended up as a Messenger, which was at the bottom of a cast list that was ordered by importance in the play, and I share that role with 3 other people. I still have a few lines, though, and it’s fun to be an actual part of the cast. The way it works in our drama department (at least most of the time) is that you have to work your way up, and that’s what I’m doing.
Other than theater stuff but still school related- our high school’s Winter Formal dance was last Saturday, and we had probably the corniest theme ever: FROSTY FROLIC !
Here’s a grainy and weirdly-lit photo of the group I went with:

From left to right: Conner, Liv, Sara (you can’t see her dress but it was really awesome and floor-length and kind of mermaid-ish), Anna, Austin, and me. It was a lot of fun, less crowded and with more light than Homecoming. I had a lot more fun dancing this time, and it was also nice to go to dinner before the dance so taking all the time we did to get ready felt worth it. I don’t know if you also noticed from the photo that I’m not wearing glasses – I got contacts almost a month ago! I love them, and I like that people can actually SEE my eyes. I’m going back to the eye doctor tomorrow for my follow-up appointment and to pick out new glasses for when I’m not wearing my contacts.

I have been knitting, but the knitting I’ve done doesn’t really make that good of blogging material. It’s a little seamless raglan pullover for Paul in the rest of the chocolate Malabrigo, using EZ’s percentages, and it has a little placket at the neck.

The stockinette shows off the subtle nuances of the yarn really well, and I used a tubular cast on at the cuffs and body hem so it’ll be stretchy.
I’ve also got a secret project for Liv’s birthday on the needles, but of course I’ll have to wait to show it to you until she gets it.

I also bought some yarn last week at Yarn Garden!
First off, some Koigu!

This is my first Koigu ever, and the picture definitely doesn’t do justice to the color. It’s a semi-solid mixture of bluesy greens and greensy blues, and makes me really want to cast on for a pair of socks right away, despite all of the other knitting commitments I have ahead of me for the next few months.
Also, as my only current link to Project Spectrum (it makes me sad that I joined and now I have almost nothing to show to fit in with all the cool kids), a pretty, squishy, yummy skein of Malabrigo in Pagoda.

I really love the mixture of colors in here, and when I saw it I just knew that I had to have it. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do with a single skein of this (maybe some late-season mittens?) but whatever is is bound to be beautiful.

My Spring Interweave came last week!

The patterns are nice, and I especially like the Legwarmers, the Printed Silk Cardigan, and the Chameleon Scarf:

Last but not least, I found out a few weeks ago that I’d been awarded the You Make My Day Award by Knitting Kninja!
It’s going to be hard to choose just 10 because I have about a bazillion blogs in my Google Reader, but here goes.
Here are 10 people who make MY day:

Ysolda

Grumperina

Kate

Lolly

Jared

Skrilla

Jenna

Elin

Elli

Tiennie

 

conundrum!

Doesn’t it make sense that I should make a hat from a pattern named for a girl who got lured into a candy house out of a yarn called ‘rich chocolate’?

This is the fitted version of Gretel, made for Tabatha as a belated Christmas present. I used less than 1 skein of Malabrigo Merino Worsted, in colorway Rich Chocolate. This pattern was so fun to knit, and I love how the cables come together in the crown decreases. The only problem that I had was that the cast-on (I did a stockinette-stitch tubular cast on) turned out too tight, and didn’t stretch much when I tried to loosen it during blocking. I hope she can still wear it comfortably, though!

I finally got around to putting buttons on my Wisp.

I went through the rest of the little pearly buttons that I used on my cardigan to find 5 of the thinnest, lightest ones and put them on one end at as regular intervals as I could, using embroidery floss and the attachment method suggested in the pattern. I think I might re-block this soon, because it’s gotten stretched lengthwise a little too much, making it a lot less wide than it’s supposed to be.

Here’s the beginning of a My So-Called Scarf, with the extra skein of Malabrigo Worsted (Lettuce colorway) that I got awhile ago (I found out that I only need 6 skeins for my size of Tilted Duster, which means I had a whole other skein to do whatever I wanted with):

The horizontal herringbone stitch pattern may be a little tedious and hard to get used to, but it’s showing off the yarn beautifully. I added slipped stitch at each side as a selvage, because the edges don’t look very pretty on their own. It’s about a foot and a half long as of today, and I can already see that this was the perfect thing to use the yarn for.

Here’s a photo of today’s paper, just because I felt like it and I like taking pictures with my camera:

 

there are angels in your angles…

there’s a low moon caught in your tangles…
~The Decemberists

I now present to you my first FO of 2008: my Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

The lighting in the photo sort of made everything look yellow, but the color is actually kind of a light purple with little slubs of black, blue, and white.

Here’s a not-so-good one to give you an idea of what the rest of it looks like.
I used Rowan Felted Tweed in Melody (I had never used a tweed yarn before and am now in love with it) and my size 4 32″ Knit Picks Options circulars, with pretty little buttons made from shells that I found at JoAnn’s in a pack of 65 for $3. It didn’t really turn out as fitted as I had thought, but I still love it and it’s really comfy. I’m actually kind of glad it’s a little looser, so I’ll be more able to wear it over other things. The cable was by far my favorite part of the sweater to do, and I just love how the two gracefully tangled lines interlock at the center back:

This is what I’ve been knitting since the day after I went yarn shopping with my grandma. I had blocked the finished back of my $1.50 cardigan, and somehow it ended up WAY too long (I held it up to my back and it went down past my hips..NOT flattering in with that shape of sweater). So, it was sent to the frog pond, and the yarn from it is still in a decidedly not untangle-able blob on my bookshelf, perhaps to remind me to be more cautious with my choices in the future. I still have about 5 balls of it leftover, though, so maybe I’ll make something for Paul with it. Those kinds of colors tend to look better on him than traditional ‘baby’ hues anyway.
After talking with my CPF teacher about my mishap with the old cardigan and asking if I could please switch patterns and start over with the Tangled Yoke instead (which was actually what I wanted to make in the first place), I swatched, found I needed to go down a needle size from the one recommended in the pattern, and jumped right into the initial body piece. By Wednesday that week, I was all the way through the garter rib portion and had a couple good inches of stockinette, which is a lot considering that it was about 200 stitches in each row, only to find that I had made a serious misinterpretation of the instructions for the waist shaping, and had to frog back to the 10th row. After that, though, it was smooth sailing, albeit a lot of work. I worked on this all through winter break, and stayed up until 3:30 in the morning yesterday finishing the front bands. I did the sleeves Magic-Loop style, and I think I’m starting to prefer that to using DPNs.
Other than working endlessly on my sweater, I had an alright break. Basically, the only things I did out of the house besides Conner’s New Year’s Eve party involved watching movies: We went to see “Enchanted” on New Year’s Day, our youth group had a marathon of the Bourne movies (“The Bourne Identity”, “The Bourne Supremacy”, and “The Bourne Ultimatum”…I had never seen any of them all the way through, and they were INTENSE, especially when you watch all 3 back to back. Good, though.) and then yesterday I went with a few friends to see “Juno”, which was really good, had a lot of great music, and ended in a pleasantly unexpected way. I mentioned before that I reread the 7th Harry Potter, but that’s pretty much it.

I also have some goodies to show you!

First is a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in Amber. This is my first purchase from them, and I really like it. I think maybe that I might be more motivated to make socks if I really like the yarn I’m using, so this will probably be a good candidate. I chose this colorway because it reminded me of the Lithuanian amber jewelry that my grandma wears a lot, gotten over many visits to my great-aunt and -uncle, who have been living in Lithuania for a while.

I got a spindle! Specifically, this is a Louet top-whorl spindle (I just love the sheep on the top) and 8 oz. of Corriedale wool (the color’s called Warm Wine) that I bought as a kit from Hello Yarn. Adrian even put in a little thank-you note and the cutest little button that says ‘Hooray Sheep!”
I can’t wait to learn how to spin.

 

pretty pictures

I got a new camera for Christmas.

I was rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and decided to try out the ‘macro’ setting. It’s pretty easy to tell if you read the words, but try guessing what chapter this is from.

I finally dyed one of the alpaca skeins! It turned out more ‘melon’ colored than ‘black cherry’, but still looks beautiful, and will still make a great pair with the natural off-white.

Ah, the beauty of lace. I’m loving this scarf more and more as the winter goes on – it’s amazing how it can be both incredibly warm and so delicate at the same time.

It actually snowed on Christmas. My sister Gracie and I were outside revelling in the wintry-ness and a lot of the snow was landing in her hair, so I took a picture of the snowflakes in it.

My mom’s backyard in Portland as viewed from my window, during that blissful hour.

I had a lot of fun running around and taking pictures of the snow…

Sadly, it didn’t last long and had melted within a few hours, replaced by the mundane rain.

Another Wisp photo! I think this one looks like a wave on the ocean, maybe at sunset (which might justify it being pink).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

happy holiday!

Hi everyone! Sorry this is a photo-free post, as I have no access to my normal computer with iPhoto and ability to hook my camera up to upload photos.
Anyway, I just thought I’d check in.
My knitting is going good, although I’ll have to wait until another post to show you what I’ve been working on.

I had an idea a few days ago of thinking back through the months of this past year and trying to sum up each with a song that stands out that I may have listened to more than others. It was surprising, too, doing that, because some of them actually represented somewhat accurately what how I was feeling at that particular time. Others, though, were just caused by the buying a new album or receiving a mix from a friend (like the awesome one Liv gave me for my birthday) and listening a lot to get familiar with the songs.
For November and December, the songs I’ve been listening to most are fresher in my mind than, say, February, so I had trouble picking just one.

My Soundtrack to 2007:
January…A Lack of Color (Death Cab for Cutie)
February…No Hay Problema (Pink Martini)
March…Yankee Bayonet (The Decemberists)
April…Brand New Colony (The Postal Service)
May…Song for You (Alexi Murdoch)
June…Annie Waits (Ben Folds)
July…Bubble Toes (Jack Johnson)
August…The Engine Driver (The Decemberists)
September…Blackbird (The Beatles)
October…Gone (Ben Folds)
November…Trapeze Swinger (Iron & Wine) / The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us (Sufjan Stevens)
December…Casimir Pulaski Day (Sufjan Stevens) / Baby We’ll Be Fine (The National)

I hope you all are having a good Christmastime/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/whatever holiday you celebrate!

 

yarn shopping!

My grandma and I went on a sort of yarn shopping spree yesterday (a.k.a. stash enrichment expedition), going to Northwest Wools, Knit/Purl, Yarn Garden, and Mill End. I just thought I should show you guys what I got.

7 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Lettuce. I’m loving this stuff! So yummy and soft. I’m thinking either a Tilted Duster or Clapotis for this.

Enough Rowan Felted Tweed to make a Tangled Yoke Cardigan (also 7 balls) in Melody. I swatched this last night to see if I got the right gauge, and the fabric this stuff makes is so cool! I can’t wait to start on my cardigan. For some reason, the naming of this color makes me think of Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens (a beautiful song that I’ve had stuck in my head for the last few days) when I look at it.

Guess what: more Malabrigo! This time, it’s 3 skeins in the colorway Rich Chocolate, which makes me almost want to eat it. I’m not really sure what I’ll do with this, but it was so luscious looking I couldn’t pass it by. Maybe a vest? Or another Briar Rose? Maybe in time I’ll know what it wants to be.
I just now realized that both of the colors of this that I bought are named after food. Coincidence? I think not…

Last but not least, a sampler 3 pack of Soak wool wash and a Knitter’s Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements booklet. I haven’t gotten to use the Soak yet, but I smelled each of them and I think the ‘aquae’ scent is already my favorite. I love that it’s biodegradeable, too, and that you don’t have to rinse it out.

I hope you all have had a good weekend!
Please wish me luck in finals this week!

ps. I decided what I want to do with the fingering weight alpaca (at least most of it) that I mentioned before: Anemoi Mittens. I plan to dye one of the hanks with Black Cherry Kool-Aid (making it a sort of dark red color) and leave the other undyed. I’m still not sure what I’ll do with the third one, though.

 

progressing s.l.o.w.l.y…

This is taking me WAY too long.

Yes, the color really is that bright.
If you’re wondering, this is the back of the Dollar & a Half Cardigan (renamed $1.50 for short from now on) that is going slower than I thought humanly possible. I cast on for it last Monday, and look where I am now. Not even to the armholes! I took this picture a couple of days ago so there’s maybe an inch and a half at most more than that, but still. This is supposed to be done (and I’d like to have it blocked so it looks nice and not all puffy like right now) by next Friday, the 21st as my 3rd self-directed project for CPF class, and I’m starting to have doubts about whether I’ll make that deadline. I’m on the tech crew for the Winter Play at school (‘Arsenic & Old Lace’…it looks like it’ll be a good one. There are two casts; Liv is playing Dr. Einstein in one and Austin plays Officer O’Hara in the other and both casts are doing really well) and have been staying after until 5:30 every day working on set building, so I haven’t gotten hardly any time to knit the past few days. I missed the window for weekend knitting on that because I was working on a different knitting project, Ruthie’s birthday present, which will come later after I give it to her on Friday. So, I guess I’ll just have to keep going and see where I get, if all else fails I can finish it during Christmas break and get partial credit for turning it in on the first day back.
Now that I’m on the subject of this sweater I might as well say why I’m doing this instead of a Tangled Yoke Cardigan, which is what I’ve been hoping to do for this the whole time since school started. When I went to buy yarn for the sweater I thought I would be making, it ended up being at a shop that I thought carried Rowan Felted Tweed. However, when I got there, the only person working in the shop was on her very first day there, did not know the stock and layout of the store, and could not find any. She looked it up in the inventory and found that the shop did indeed carry it, but after another search nothing was turned up. So, being pressed for time, I had to figure out some kind of alternative, and ended up choosing Debbie Bliss Rialto, which though not tweedy, was still soft, and merino is always a good choice. Now, in that moment I seriously underestimated the yardage in one ball of Felted Tweed and thought, “Oh, okay, the pattern I want to make calls for 7 balls of yarn that have about 150 yards in them. Look! This yarn has 115! So I’ll get 9 balls to cover for the difference.”
Not so. When I came home, I found out much to my dismay that Rowan Felted Tweed actually has 191 yards in it, making me over 300 yards short for my desired sweater.
So I went looking for another pattern that calls for less than what I have. The yardage thing on Ravelry’s pattern pages is really a good tool. I found that the smallest size of the $1.50 Cardigan calls for 11 94-yard balls of Reynolds Soft Linen, which is about the same weight as Debbie Bliss Rialto, making it 1034 yards total. I have 1035. I know that the 32-inch circumference may be stretching it a bit, seeing as you’re supposed to wear a cardigan over things, but I guess a little negative ease wouldn’t hurt on this sweater.
The only problem, though, is that I’m almost to the armholes on the back, and am into the 3rd ball. It seems that if only the back takes up 3 balls, there won’t possibly be enough by the time I get to the sleeves and picked-up button bands! Can anyone help me with this? Am I overestimating how much yarn this will take? I know that the back is the biggest piece, but I really do not want to run out of yarn, because that means, aside from the time issue, that I won’t finish the sweater at all, let alone late.
Please wish me luck as I truck along on my Personal-Fashion-Creating!