India and Lace

So a few weeks ago one of my good friends from college calls me (from India) to tell me she is getting married in six weeks. I had promised that I would come to her wedding so I racked my brain to figure out how I could make a trip work given the cost and that I just started a new job and have no vacation time. Well long story short we found a way although we will not get to stay a very long time. I am dissappointed that we won't be there longer but I guess that gives us reason to go back. So in order to make my life harder--something I excel at--I decided that instead of money what my friend needed for a wedding gift was a knitted lace scarf. I have never knitted lace so that posed problem one. Luckily one of my knitting friends is a pro and gave me some advice and went yarn shopping with me. This scarf was quite the drama. I picked the Japanese Feather Scarf which I think is a beautiful pattern and several people commented on ravelry that it is a good beginner lace project. I picked out some beautiful wine colored lace weight yarn (malabrigo velvet grapes) and got to work. I used US 7 needles since those were the needles I had with the best tips for knitting lace. It took me nearly half an hour to knit the first two rows but then I got into the swing of it. I used a "life line" which luckily I only needed to use once but having it in place gave me peace of mind. The first drama came as the scarf was being knit it entered the "ramen noodle" stage, which is where your knitting does not look like pretty lace but rather a sloppy pile of noodles (pictured above). I started to get worried. The color also seemed wrong. I realized I had never seen my friend wear purple, even a wine color. The yarn was also variegated which I realized the pattern doesn't need because the lace sets if off on its own. I started to worry that it would not be a wedding worthy present. My knitting friend assured me it would block beautifully. I worked on the scarf at my admin job when we weren't busy and on my lunch break at the hospital in order to finish. I had to do several more pattern repeats than the pattern called for in order to get the right length. Earlier this week I finally finished. I blocked it out and waited for this so called magical lace blocking to take effect. I have to say it was a pretty magical process. The scarf stretched out (pictured to the left) and you could see the lace pattern and it stayed even after I removed the pins. I do still wish I would have picked a solid color--just not sure this color will work with my friend's wardrobe. Unfortunately it is too late to make her a different one so it will have to do. I am hoping she will appreciate the fact that it was my first lace project--it really is a beautiful pattern and the malabrigo is a merino wool so it is incredibly soft. I think I will probably make more of this pattern, but in a solid color.

Enjoying the Fall

So aside from just finishing a five day stint at the hospital, I am enjoying this wonderful month of October. John and I took a canoe trip two weekends ago and the weather was great for it. Even the Chicago river looks beautiful in the fall. The river still smells terrible in places but I don't really want to think about that. The weather is starting to get cold here--the heat actually came on today. I am glad I took a break from knitting Christmas gifts to knit new gloves for us. John requested fingerless gloves, or what we used to call "hobo gloves." I was amazed that after eight years of knitting I had never made a pair of gloves. Now I know why--they are a royal pain in the arse. Not that the pattern is difficult but doing tiny finger openings in the round was tedious. I also used aran weight yarn when the pattern I was using asked for sportweight. I had to adjust the pattern for the thicker yarn. The pattern said to cast on 52 stitches and I went down to 36. It all worked out, but John had to try on the gloves at every stage of the game. I think he was a bit annoyed, but hey, that is the price you pay for gloves that fit. I used the leftover yarn from his aran sweater. I am planning to line them with a cheap pair of lightweight knit gloves so that the wool doesn't irritate his skin. I also made myself a pair of "Maine Morning Mitts." I don't really get the title but I love these fingerless gloves. They fit snuggly but I can still wear a thin pair of gloves underneath. They also match my new hat as they are made from the same Noro Kuyeron yarn. Here are some pics of our new handwear:

Yeah for October!

So it is finally looking like fall here and I can sit in my living room without sweat pouring down my face. Of course being in the city other than the temperature there is no way of knowing what season it is. The trees look pitiful and don't really get the kind of fall foilage we are used to in Ohio. We are hoping to take a canoe trip on the Chicago River this weekend, weather permitting, and will hopefully get a better view of some healthier trees. October being my favorite month I am hoping to do some leisure things this month. Like knitting for myself, something I don't really do that much. I have done a few projects recently though. I needed a new hat so I frogged a scarf I made several years ago from Noro Kuyeron that had a small hole in it. I found this free pattern on Ravelry and used some leftover wool yarn from Ireland for the contrasting color. The effect makes it look much fancier than it really is. I am hoping to make some fingerless mitts in the Noro to match. These colors will match my coat and breathe some new life into the Noro yarn, which is too expensive to waste. A couple of months ago I finally made a sweater for myself (that actually fits!) from yarn I bought in Ireland. I took a break from the Aran I was working on to do something less intense. This is a pattern from Stitch N Bitch the Knitters Handbook. The pattern is called "The Pinup Queen" why I am not sure but it has this very cute empire waist which is done through short row shaping and is form fitting due to the ribbing on the waist and sleeves. Overall it is a very flattering sweater.



The picture did not turn out so great but hopefully I can get a better one when it is finally cold enough to wear the sweater. The yarn is also darker than it looks in this picture.



Of course later this month is my birthday and Halloween, no wonder I love October. I am thinking about making a new sweater for myself and have been looking at this pattern called Rogue. Since I am almost done with Christmas gifts I might look into that this month. I am also trying to win some handspun yarn at garnfiti's Halloween contest. We are also thinking about taking a short trip to Wisconsin but are not sure of the details yet. Will keep you all posted.

Pets and Stuff

So in addition to working on Christmas gifts, which of course I can't blog about, I spent some time knitting my friend Laura two greyhound sweaters for her rescue dogs. Both sweaters turned out very well and surprisingly fit the hounds. This sweater is the oddest thing I have ever knitted. While it was on the needles it reminded me of something from a Dr. Seuss book. Both yarns are acrylic from JoAnn's. I recommended acrylic for easy wash and care. Besides it is insane to use expensive wool or other fiber on a dog sweater. This yarn is made by Sensations and is very soft. Makes you wonder what is in it to make it so soft...The pink one is for Princess Buttercup. Like you can make a sweater in any other color for a dog named Princess Buttercup. Bloomberg received a much manlier grey sweater which also fit quite well. You can see the body of the sweater better here. The pattern was designed by Terry Royea and available for free. I got it from Ravelry, the evil online community where you can waste away hours of time searching patterns and yarns and talking to other knitters, but it is also available on her blog. It was a very fun knit and I once again had the chance to live my dream of being a dog owner through my friend. I also have a whole new respect for pet photographers after trying to take these photos. It was pretty hot when we took them and the hounds were not happy about posing in winter sweaters. It was also funny watching the cats react to two large dogs entering our small apartment. Willow of course ran for the hills and hid under the bed the entire time. Mina slowly checked it out. Eventually she walked right up to them. Oh, yes we did finally name the cat Mina. I also got a better picture of her. She for some reason loves the bathroom and has to be in there even when you are trying to shower and get ready in the morning. It was very cute at first but now our sink is disgusting as it is filled with cat hair half the time.

The stash

Sorry for all of you family members who are addicts (you know who you are), but I am talking about my yarn stash not a drug stash. Seriously though the yarn has gotten out of hand (by my standards). So I have vowed not to buy any more yarn until I get rid of 3/4 of this stuff. I am just too tired of carting it around everytime I move and now the lid barely shuts. Besides I hate being a packrat. At least I can store it all in one spot, which I couldn't do a year ago. I once read about a woman who was hiding yarn from her husband behind her couch. Seriously. Most of the stash is yarn I received for free or bought very cheaply at this weird knitting mill closeout sale. Which would be great except I don't like half of it and don't know what to do with about 90% of it. I am of course too big of a tightwad to get rid of it so I am trying to find patterns that will work with what I have. As a result you will all be receiving Christmas/birthday gifts from the above pictured trunk. It's actually kind of fun, like those shows where people build robots from only stuff they have in their toolshed. I have learned to do fairisle knitting to combine yarns and make more interesting things. I am also knitting things for the Iowa Flood Project which will be donated to people who were victims of the recent Iowa floods. They are accepting adult items so I am focusing on adult sized hats/sweaters figuring that most people will be making baby items to donate. I have also started earlier on Christmas gifts than I ever have in my life which is also good--would be nice for once to not scramble at the last minute to finish everything. Sorry but this means no requests this year for Christmas--it's got to come from the stash so I don't care if you already have 20 scarves or orange isn't "your color." Some of you might be receiving Harry Potter themed gifts, obviously only the Harry Potter fans though, the rest of you will be getting orange scarves. So if you have a beige coat that will match you might want to hold onto it.

Aran Sweater Completed

The aran pullover is finally finished!!!! I am so happy about this I thought I would give the finished product its own post rather than update the older one. Not only is it finished, but it fits as well. Too bad it is 90 degrees in Chicago and it won't be worn for another three months... I made John try it on anyways for pictures and to make sure it fits. I haven't blocked it yet but will do that when the weather is less humid (October?). If you want to see the details of the sweater, check out the older post in May. I don't even want to think about the hours that it took to make this sweater--but I thought it was not too shabby for my first aran. I only used four of the five skeins of wool that I bought in Ireland. I think at the time I paid five euro a piece for the skeins, so this sweater ended up costing me less than $30 in yarn. Of course if you total up all of the hours put in, it is, as they say, priceless. So how long do you think it will be before John spills salsa on it?

Special Days

Well I thought I would only write about the numerous craft and homey type projects in my life on this blog, but there have been two very special days recently. The first was I finally graduated with my master's degree in clinical psychology! It took four years and lots of night classes, but it finally happened. Unfortunately, I realized at graduation that the batteries in my camera were dead. Doh! Luckily, one of my classmates took some photos for me. You can't see the fancy hood, but here is a picture of me and my friend Vicki. It's too bad you can't see the hood because it was kinda cool looking. The graduation ceremony was quite beautiful but very long...Luckily it was at the Civic Opera House which is right next to John's workplace. He came over for the ceremony and we went for a celebratory barbecue with my friend and classmate Sandi and her family. All in all a very good day.

The other special day, 6/22/08, was John and I's sixth wedding anniversary. Can you believe that! We decided to take a short vacation to Starved Rock State Park to celebrate. We stayed at the Starved Rock Lodge and went hiking at Starved Rock and at Mathiesson State Park. We had hoped to go kayaking but due to the flooding they were not allowing kayaks/canoes on the river. That was disappointing but we were able to spend more time hiking. Mathiesson was beautiful and the trails were just the right amount of challenge for us. We were disapppointed to learn that cable television has become nothing but home decorating and medical miracle shows. Everytime we have stayed in a hotel we have been able to watch American Chopper and Myth Busters, but there was sadly no sign of Paulie and Mikey, just really annoying people trying to remodel their kitchens and nauseating stories of people having limbs reattached. The dissapointment of cable tv was offset when we learned that fudge making is a specialty at Starved Rock. We had never seen such a selection of fudge and it was a great anniversary treat. My favorite was the mint and chocolate swirl. Don't be surprised if you all get some variation of it as a Christmas gift. Here we are at Mathiessen--you can just see the waterfall in the background.