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.

Nameless Cat

So I really hope not to add cat collecting to my list of addictions, but thought I would post some pics of the new member of our family. Despite having two cats die prematurely, we thought we would try adopting another cat. This time we went for a younger cat (about a year) of course through our local cat shelter Treehouse Animal Foundation. They were once again great at helping us pick a cat that would be a good fit for our household. She is all black with adorable green eyes. Although she seemed playful but evenkeel at the shelter, she still has quite a bit of kitten in her. She has "crazy time" about three times a day when she runs wildly throughout the house. She plays endlessly but is very cuddly and can easily be picked up. She also likes sleeping on the bed and head butting us at 3:30am. You'll notice I keep referring to her as "she" because John and I cannot think of a name for her. Her name was Babel at Treehouse, but we can at least agree that we want to change it. Right now the front runners are Anabel and Mina. John says he wants to keep "researching" a good name, whatever that means. Willow has not quite warmed up to her yet, but tolerates her. She seems to want to play with her but is not ready to lower herself yet. Here is Willow showing the new cat how a real princess cat poses for a picture. The new cat is not very photogenic and won't sit still long enough to have her picture taken. The above pic was the best I could do and it required John to distract her. Will keep you all updated on the naming process.:)

The Orchid is Blooming!

I got this orchid for free when I worked at the pantry. It was a donation from Trader Joe's but it wasn't blooming and looked kind of shabby so no one wanted it. Actually there were three originally, but two died and this one survived. This is my first attempt at orchids and the roots had been cut since they were coming out of the pot. I don't know why the store did that as it clearly damages the plant. I've had this plant for nearly two years and this is the first time it has bloomed. I think the light in the new apartment is ideal for it. We used a black skirt as a backdrop and John took this picture. Some of the other buds have died so I think it might need some kind of fertilizer when it is flowering, but everything I read says something different. It looks really beautiful so I hope the other blooms open up.

Spinning

So I need a new hobby like I need an STD, but here we are. I decided to take a spinning class because I received quite a bit of free roving (wool that is ready to be spun into yarn) from a friend who used to raise sheep. I wanted to make some use of the wool so I signed up for a three week hand spinning class. The first lesson was pretty hard--it couldn't quite get the hang of drafting and my yarn is very uneven. Once we plied the yarn together it looked better and was more "forgiving" in places, but parts of it still look like dredlocks. Here is a picture of my first little skein of yarn. I have no idea what to do with it since it is so uneven, but I'm still very proud of it. I made this on a bottom whirl spindle, which came free with the class. The second lesson went much better and I started to see what I was doing wrong with the drafting. I also realized I wasn't putting in enough "twist" before I started drafting. My second yarn is coming along much better--you can see here it is much more even. The third lesson went much better and we mixed two different colors of wool together to get a variegated yarn. For this lesson I also converted a bottom whirl spindle that Aunt Julie gave me into a top whirl spindle. My instructor recommended a top whirl because it is easier to get a spin going and is overall easier to work with. I have to say I agree, plus this spindle has a fancier weight so it spins better. John added a hook to the top and carved a notch into the dish. I think I am going to cut off the wooden hook on the bottom as it is kind of useless. This yarn is turning out interesting with the two colors and is so far pretty even, although I am still getting a few nubs here and there.

For the class I bought the recommended "beginners wool" so these will all be small skeins when they are finished. My instructor said that I should be able to spin the roving that was given to me but it will probably be a finer yarn since it is from a long haired sheep. Once I finish these I am going to try to dye the roving with kool aid and see if I can spin it. I don't know that I would do this if I did not have a considerable amount of free roving--it just has not reached the point where it is enjoyable enough for me. Although I really like the idea of turning wool that someone I know raised into a wearable garment. Nice idea, lots of work.

Sesame Street Quilt

This is a project that I did a couple of years ago but it was so painful I decided to document it. I found a book at a used bookstore called Quilting with the Muppets. My sister in law loves Sesame Street and the Muppets so I had a brilliant idea that I could make a quilt for her as a special Christmas or birthday gift. I'm not a great quilter, actually I'm a bit of a hack when it comes to quilting. Nothing ever lines up perfectly and the whole thing ends up uneven. This quilt was no different--it's totally uneven and most of my squares ended up being different sizes. Since they are all muppets I guess the asymetry of it adds to the character. I used patterns from the book and some patterns from coloring books that my sister in law had. It took forever to cut out little pattern pieces out of tracing paper and then cut out the same pieces from the fabric. When I finally finished I was so frustrated that I threw out all of the pattern pieces. Then a friend asked me to make her the same quilt if she ever has a baby and I wished I would have kept the pattern pieces. I used an ironable adhesive to put everything together and then outlined things with puffy paint. It probably would have looked nice to applique the pieces down, but I don't really have the skill. It was a great project to use up leftover fabric scraps. I was really happy with the multi-color triangle border and I decided to maching quilt, also something I'm not very skilled at. Like always I was working until the last minute to finish it before Christmas, which probably contributed to the whole thing being uneven. Here are some close ups, unfortunately these were taken with a very old digital camera so it is hard to see the detail.

Blackberry pie

I have forever been trying to make perfect pie crust, and I am finally starting to get the hang of it. My best friend from high school was visiting for a few days, so I made this blackberry pie. It looked so beautiful coming out of the oven that I had to take some pictures. The crust recipe is from Everyday Food November 2005 issue.

Braided Blue Jean Rug

We needed a new rug for the kitchen--the one we have I bought at Ikea over four years ago and it is sadly nearing the end of its life. I had read about rug braiding in my favorite book, The Tightwad Gazette, and wondered if you could braid blue jean material into a rug. Turns out you can, and there are a handful of lovely bloggers who posted their pictures and directions. I also read The Braided Rug Book and found a picture of a blue jean rug which was exactly what I wanted (Judith Feldsburg was the braider who designed the pattern I am basing this rug on).

I had no idea how time consuming and material consuming this project would be. I had a pile of old blue jeans that I was certain would be more than enough, but I think I was way off. I decided to press my blue jean strips with a steam iron so that they are easier to braid. It does make it easier, but adds a lot of work time. I had some difficulty learning to lace the strands as well. I read and re-read the directions, but some of the thread still shows. I think the technique is meant only for wool rugs and not stiff denim...The other thing I didn't plan on was that this project seems to drive my cat, Willow, into a frenzy. She likes sitting on the rug, attacking the blue jean strips, scratching the rug, and chewing on the lacing thread. Here she is merely checking it out.

Updates 5/18/08

This project is moving very slowly, but it is about the size of a bathmat now, so it is actually looking like a rug. I'm thinking of waiting until I have some time off of work to continue so that I can rip a bunch of strips all at once, rather than doing it a little bit at a time.

Aran Sweater

My husband and I visited Ireland nearly three years ago. He was eyeing some beautiful Aran Sweaters and rather than just buy one, I decide why not just buy the yarn and make the sweater myself. It'll be a third of the cost and I'll get to do something challenging! Brilliant! It really was a good idea, except my husband has been waiting nearly three years for his one and only souvenir from Ireland. The yarn sat in my stash for over two years and finally in August I decide to get cracking on this sweater. It is my first Aran sweater and it is, lets say, a very slow process. Granted I got side tracked with Christmas gifts and all of you people who insist on needing handmade gifts for your babies. But here is what it looks like so far--I guess I'm a little over halfway there.

It is made with Jacob's sheep wool, which is not dyed. It is also knit in the round, which I love! I will definitely look for more sweater patterns that are knit this way. This pattern came from "Two Sticks and Some String." Now I have to decide if something this special is worth giving to a man...