Double G Knits

Hey!

2011-03-09T21:54:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I've been gone for a while. I have plenty to show off, but right now go check out this wind knitting factory. Super cool, right?

Kaino

2011-01-06T10:55:00.009-05:00

Pattern: Kaino from Norah Gaughan volume 1

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in #6296

Needles: US 5 and 6

Mods: Added a few inches of length to the body and one inch to the armholes. Most obviously, I added sleeves. I took the sleeve cap shaping from Annikki from the same book.
I knew when I decided to make this that I did not want to use the little sleeves included in the pattern. No sleeves or long sleeves was my decision. I thought about it some more and further decided that I did not want any orphaned skeins of yarn hanging around. I have found the yardage requirements in this line of patterns to be extremely generous. I ordered the number of skeins suggested in the pattern for my size (6) and had enough yarn to lengthen the body and armholes and make two generous 3/4 length sleeves with a few yards left over.

In order to make the sleeves work out and end up with as little yarn leftover as possible, I cast on provisionally, knit the sleeve caps, and then knit down from the caps until I ran out of yarn. I used the sleeve cap shaping from Annikki in the same book. By chance, I lengthened the armhole to the same length in the Annikki pattern, so this seemed like very little work on my part. Unfortunately, the sleeve caps do not fit perfectly in the armholes. This may be due to my negligence in measuring row gauge, but the caps are quite long a fact that I suspected while knitting but did not bother to do anything about (knitter's intuition = 1, reason = 0). I also did a somewhat shoddy job of easing them in, particularly on the right hand side. This is not helped by the fact that the shoulders on this garment are quite wide. If I were to do it again, I would probably leave the sleeve cap shaping as is (and take more care with the sewing) but narrow the shoulders so that the seams sit closer to the tops of my shoulders. This is nitpicking, because I have worn this garment at least 5 times since I finished it two weeks ago with great compliments. The back is especially pretty with the long ribbing and the pointed neck band.

Once again you will have to listen to me rave about Ultra Alpaca. The yarn is incredible. It makes a nice firm fabric at a certain gauge but in this piece the gauge is looser than I have done before and the fabric is silky and drapey. This is a sweater that invites lounging, curling up, and wrapping around. The colors in this yarn have amazing depth and versatility as well. This color (whose name I have forgotten) is a combination of peaty brown, verdant green, and unexpected bursts of bright blue. Without close examination, you cannot read the individual colors but the overall effect is complex and nearly glowing.

Whoopsie!

2010-12-06T10:23:00.010-05:00

I didn’t mean to fall off the face of the planet, it just happened. Among other things, I recently purchased my first Mac, and I haven't quite got the hang of iPhoto yet. Photographic proof of some of the things I've finished up recently:

I've got quite the backlog to show you, starting with my Rocky Mountain Sunshine Afghan.

Please see my Ravelry project page for more information on the specifics. I adore it. Love it beyond all reason. Would save it from a burning building. The yarn is delicious (Michigan-based Shepherd's Wool) and the colors are perfect. I think the red edging really helps to bring it all together and keep it feeling fresh and modern.

My dad had a birthday, and I made him some socks. He adores his handknit socks. Frequently when I call him, he'll find a way to work into the conversation that he's wearing socks I made him. He has a serious attachment to these pair from a while back, so I figured it was time he got a new pair.

These are the Gentleman's Half Hose from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. This book is my absolute favorite source for socks in general and men's socks in particular. I used Lang Jawoll superwash with size 0 needles. They were excellently received and immediately modeled by my dad. Knitting men's socks can be quite the slog - their feet are just so big! - and I find I never know for sure if they're going to fit properly. These are perfect.

My sister-in-law also had a birthday. I decided to make good use of the the fabric scraps I've been collecting at an enormous rate since I got my machine last year and make a patchwork scarf. And then I decided that I loved the end result so much that I made one for myself! These patchwork scarves sew up in an evening, with very little thought required.

I apologize for the blurry photo, and for the sans-makeup-Sunday-is-for-homework look I'm sporting.

Anyway, the only materials I bought for this project were 1.5 yards of quilting flannel in that putty grey that is so popular right now. I used it for the backing. While I don't love the color in general, I wanted a flannel back for snuggliness and I wanted something that would go with the overall color scheme (black, white, light grey, yellow, purple, red) without matching anything in particular. If you're looking to do something similar, just Google "patchwork scarf" to see what I used as inspiration. I interspersed long strips and short strips, laying them out in a manner that pleased me. I pieced the scraps with 1/4 inch seams and sewed the front and back right sides together with 1/2 inch seams. Then I just clipped the corners, turned, pressed, and topstitched. The flannel yardage I bought was enough for 2 scarves with a seam in the middle of the length. The scarf is 8 inches wide and about 84 inches long. It is long enough to wrap once and have long ends or to double and pull the end through, if that's your preferred method. I really like that the fabric has enough body to stand on its own in front of your mouth and nose so you can really snuggle down in the face of winter wind. Also, it takes a lot fewer scraps than you might imagine, so if you're looking for a quick and cheap holiday gift, you could consider this.

In other news, I spilled 16oz of hot coffee on myself on Friday in front of (among others) a certain male that I am crushing. All 16oz of coffee. I was wearing my Ravelympic vest. The whole situation was very Meg Cabot, and definitely the sort of thing that happens to me more often than not. Luckily, the vest has a lot of patterning, so the fact that I wasn’t able to remove all of the coffee is not noticeable to anyone but me.

My ego, sadly, has not recovered.

Too much thinking, too little sleeping

2010-10-21T15:04:00.004-04:00

Maybe you haven't heard, but the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is on strike. The strike is historic for a number of reasons, and it is the cause of many sleepless nights around my place. I have been working with the library at the DSO since June, and while I am not on strike, the strike is raising some very personal, very touchy issues for me. I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the use of music in the world and why orchestras are important to culture and what it means both economically and spiritually to a city to have an orchestra. More information, from the musicians' perspective, can be found here.

This passage from a book I'm reading for class has sparked a lot of thought today:

"It is with art as with religion: people think too often that all truth, all perfection, is confined to one sect, to one school, and that beyond it there is nothing but error and imperfection. Nature and the spirit that pervades her is too great a theme to be exhausted by one man or school - a theme to which not even the united schools of all arts and all ages can do justice; it is inexhaustible, infinite. Let us be careful that by disregarding any branch of art, however slight, or by disparaging any style, however uncongenial to our individual taste, we may not lose part of the interpretation of that glorious mystery."

-- "On Mendelssohn and Some of His Contemporary Critics" by Friedrich Niecks in Mendelssohn and His World, edited by R. Larry Todd

Fall Break

2010-10-20T13:40:00.002-04:00

I went back into the woods again. This time we went to Nordhouse Dunes just outside of Ludington. That's Lake Michigan - the darker line of blue above the gorgeous trees.

This time, the trail was easy. Because it was easy, they didn't feel the need for accurate maps or markers of any kind. It was easy, but no one really knew where they were. This made me nervous, but the sound of the water calmed me down.

There are a lot of things to love about being on the water. One of them is the sunset. Have you ever seen the sun set over water? It literally sinks into the water right before your eyes. The sunset from the top of a dune? Pretty much perfect.

We walked on the squeaky sand.

And we dipped our toes in the water. It wasn't exactly warm, but it was also not terrible - nice enough for a barefoot stroll along the waterline.

In other news, I recently had a run-in with a professor. You know, the kind of person who expects you to rely on telepathy instead of assignment sheets and tells you that you simply aren’t trying hard enough all the while marking you down for not including requirements in your paper which you demonstrably did include. I find it incredibly hard to let go of these kinds of injustices, and they unfortunately effect my life for many days (and in this case weeks) afterwards. I find it depressing and yet oddly comforting that at every level of education I have received and in every school I have worked there are bad teachers and good teachers, no matter the level of funding or prestige. There are people who are good at their jobs and are always striving to be better, more effective, and more relevant, and there are people who are lost in their own world or, worse, don’t care at all. These people exist in every place and in every job on the planet.

And because I still have half a semester left with this professor (maybe more), I'm wondering how it is you deal with these kinds of people and these kinds of injustices. Any advice is appreciated.

Professional

2010-10-10T17:32:00.002-04:00

I've been dreaming about a red corduroy skirt since last winter. Don't ask me why. I just wanted one. I never really got around to it last year - I wasn't sure what kind of shape I wanted on the skirt, and it needed to have pockets and waistband, and I hadn't found the Right Pattern. Then it occurred to me that I had a pattern I liked. I didn't like everything, but I liked the basic things. That pattern was New Look 6873, otherwise known as the Lemon Skirt. I liked the substantial waistband and the pockets. I liked the length (which I had also altered from the pattern on the Lemon Skirt). I didn't like how severely triangular the shape was, and the skirt was a bit big. Not so big I couldn't wear it, but big enough to migrate during the course of wearing so I might find my pocket located closer to my belly button than previously imagined. So, I redrafted the pattern.

First, I traced the existing front and back pieces on to paper. Then, I added two inches in length and took off two inches at the side seams from the hem of the skirt, removing 8 inches total circumference from the skirt. I blended that line up to nothing at the waist. I added less room at the fold when I cut out (recall that I graded the pattern up for the Lemon Skirt. This red skirt is something like a size 19.) I didn't do anything to alter the pockets. I sewed them from the original pattern pieces, and when it came time to attach things I lined up my notches and whatnot, cutting the side seams flush by hand.

I really like this incarnation of the pattern, and I'm already considering new directions for it. I don't, strictly speaking, have a lot of use for this skirt at the moment, but I have worn it to various client meetings and workshops. It never fails to make me feel confident and a bit smug. The picture is an example of an outfit from a real live workshop earlier this week. I also made the teal shirt under the cardi. It was my first go with knits, and more successful than I had hoped, but still a learning experience. The pattern is from New Look 6569. It's not so successful that I feel comfortable modeling without something over it, however, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

In other news, I finished up my granny squares and am now sewing them together. It's starting to look like a blanket, and I adore it more with each new row.

Sunday Morning

2010-09-26T18:23:00.002-04:00

Right now my life is:
- learning a semester's worth of computer programming in 4 weeks.
- being a project manager (!)
- sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons.
- granny squares. Lots of them.
- acorns. I have an unreasonable love of acorns.
- sitting through 3 hour classes, then managing the work for said classes.
- learning to be a different kind of student.
- putting on the first handknit sweater of fall. Arwen, my favorite.
- cutting down the basil to make pesto.
- trying to go running, but mostly not managing it.
- missing friends.
- eavesdropping on the bus.
- thinking. Lots and lots of thinking.

Never

2010-09-17T20:22:00.003-04:00

First thing's first. Head over to Kristy's and read the first paragraph of this post (minus the last sentence). I'll wait.

Such is my life. I do, however, have a number of crafty-type things to show you. The first of which was photographed on the Diag with me in my full grad-student-again glory on a brief respite between three hour classes.

Pattern: Galathea by Asa Tricosa
Yarn: 2 skeins Bristol Yarn Gallery Buckingham in Olive
Needles: US 3 (I think.)

I bought the yarn this summer, mainly because I loved the color and it felt like holding a kitten. It wasn't cheap, so I only got two skeins, thinking I'd do some kind of scarf-type thing but maybe a shawl or something kind of shawl-like.... in any case, I wanted that kitten yarn as snuggled around my neck as possible. Remarkably soon after that, I stumbled on this pattern, without even looking for it, and knew that it was The One.

The pattern is incredibly flexible. Mine is more scarf-like than shawl-like because I spaced out the increases and decreases. I wanted to make sure that there would be enough fabric for adequate wrapping around of my neck, something which many "shawlettes" lack. Indeed, this scarf is long enough to wrap loosely all the way around and still have ends that dangle to my waist. I love how simple the pattern looks, and the garter stitch edging with picots that make it just a little girly. The edging looks deceptively simple - it's not. Reading the chart is a must, but completely worth it.

I never thought I'd really enjoy knitting a scarf, but I really enjoyed this one. The yarn is delightful and the pattern challenging but not frustrating. It grew faster than I could have imagined, and before I knew it I was done. I'm just so pleased with how it turned out.

So now I have a little security blanket to get my through my Friday afternoon Network Computing class, which, I think it goes without saying, is something I've NEVER done before. Today I wrote my first computer program. I'm doing a lot of things I've never done before, but with my kitten scarf, it seems more possible.

One Stone

2010-08-25T19:31:00.003-04:00

This is a post about two of the three pieces of clothing I am wearing between my waist and my collarbones. And it is not about the thing that I am wearing which you can't see. So that narrows it down.

Both of these things have been done for a long time. The sweater was finished in June, and the top in July. It took me until a few days ago to block the sweater. Wow. I just admitted my gross negligence in a public place. I need a minute to recover.

The stats:
The sweater is Hannah Fettig's Featherweight Cardigan knit with US 4 needles (I think. It's been a long time since I finished!) and in Valley Yarns 2 14 Alpaca Silk. The top is New Look 6774 shortened to be a top and made from fully lined cream colored eyelet.

The modifications:
In the sweater, I moved the raglan lines in towards the top of the arm by 2 stitches on each side and cast on more stitches at the underarms. I have trouble with top-down sweaters fitting properly, being a woman of a large-ish chest. By the time the body circumference is right, the armholes are way to long and the arms are huge. There was a recently released updated pattern for this sweater which I believe does something similar, though I knit mine from the old pattern and have not read the new one. I shortened the arms to a kind of middle short-sleeved length just above the elbows, and I lengthened the body by a lot.

For the top, get ready for an in depth few paragraphs. This pattern is actually a dress pattern, but I have this love for eyelet which I couldn't put off. I was originally thinking to do the lining on the Lemon Skirt in eyelet and have it peek out under the hem, but that plan fell through so I decided to shorten the dress to make a top similar to a few others which I have in my closet. I measured one of the existing tops to get the length of the body right since this is an eyelet edged fabric and there was going to be no hem. For me this was 12 inches.
The modifications were many, and if I was going to do it again, I would do a lot of re-drafting of the pattern to get it right. I moved the front of the straps about an inch towards the center. Basically, I tried on the top with a bra and made it so the straps would cover the bra straps. I have to wear a strapless with the top, but it was useful for placement. I took about an inch overall out of the circumference of the bodice initially, then went back and took out another 1 1/4 inches out of each side of the front, tapering to the existing seamlines at the band. As mentioned above, I am a bit chesty, but whoa did this pattern overcompensate. This means that that top now fits mostly snugly against my chest but since there aren't any darts or anything, it kind of reshapes my boobs in a way that they don't go naturally. (We're talking a lot about my boobs today. I hope that's ok with you. In this context, I'm ok with some over sharing.) Note to pattern drafters - boobs are curvy. The don't stick straight out from our chests like boxes. It would be nice if there were allowances made for "the girls" while still allowing the top to provide a bit of modesty. My bridesmaid's dress for my brother's wedding was exactly the same way. Fit great across the back, but I could have fit a whole other set of boobs in the front in addition to my own.

If I were to make it again, I would do all the things I mentioned above plus one more thing. This top has a centered back zipper. What kind of sadist puts a centered back zipper into a dress that ends at the middle of the back, right where no one can reach short of those freakishly flexible circus performers? And just think of the contortions I would have had to go through if I had put in a hook and eye! Anyway, next time I'm moving the zipper to the side seam.

I'm fairly happy with both of these things, though not ecstatic, hence the long time in talking about them. The top (aside from the fitting issues which are mostly resolved) is quite sweet and girly with the lacy edging. I'm learning to love my girly side, but I can only really feel comfortable in this top if I'm in the right mood. The sweater fits pretty well, but I wish I had made a bigger size. The rolled stockinette edging means that while it theoretically fits across the bust, it rolls open, and I feel more comfortable with more coverage.

Old is New

2010-08-20T18:03:00.004-04:00

These socks are kind of infamous. Or at least, they are infamous in my own mind. I wrote a post about these socks a while back, a long while back when I was still subbing and trying to kill time on one of the fantastically boring days in an English classroom where I was mostly just watching my own life slide past me and the kids were working independently. Well, it was about these socks, and another project that's still in Time Out.

These are Meida's Socks by Nancy Bush knit in Louet Gems Sport in a color that I think is called "Thistle." I lost the ball band.... Anyway, the yarn was bought for my Siberian Iris Socks (back before they had fully finished developing into Siberian Iris Socks.) Plans changed and I ended up using a different yarn. This yarn, while wool, is very tightly plied and knits up more like cotton than wool. These properties make it perfect for Meida's Socks which are knit in sport weight cotton. The fact that I had the perfect yarn for a project I did not plan on meant that I cast on with more zeal than common sense. I ran out of yarn on the second sock a few inches from the end, got cranky, tossed the project in the corner, started another project with the same coincidence, zeal, and lack of common sense as the socks, ran out of yarn on that project a few inches from the end, and got more cranky. I'm pretty sure I didn't knit for a few days after that. After I moved, I needed a new project, or in this case, an old project that needed ripping. The only thing I modified about these socks was to make the leg portion half as long, and voila! I had enough yarn to finish. These went very quickly in sport weight yarn, and they'll join the rest of my stash of wooly handknits for when fall finally arrives.

And now for the good stuff. I am mostly a knitter as opposed to a crocheter, and I think I always will be, but I'm not enough of a snob to let it get in the way of things I really want. Crobots being one thing. Alicia Paulson's Sunshine Day Baby Afghan being another. I really, really, really love this afghan, and I've been planning it in my head for a long time. One of the things I love about it is that the neutral colors in the background make it feel very fresh and modern and less like grandma's leftovers (which is not to diss grandmas. I have one. She crochets. Enough said.) Almost immediately, I knew that I wanted to make my afghan with colors inspired by the Rocky Mountains, particularly those in the Aspen region of Colorado. The colors of Aspen almost more than any other thing about the place really effected me. The bright blue sky, the dual colored aspen leaves, the white snow on hard granite mountains, and the red earth with sage and wildflowers. I went to the LYS today with hope in my chest and stumbled on the most perfect yarn for my project. The yarn is Stonehedge Mills' Shepherd's Wool, a yarn whose soft squishyness would have made me want to stock up immediately, even if it was not a Michigan company. Get ready. Granny squares here I come!

Summer Things

2010-08-14T18:08:00.003-04:00

Lately, I have been immersed in all things summer. I had a friend staying with me for a few days, and since she had never been to Michigan, I did my best to introduce her to the best we have to offer. We went blueberry picking, and since she wanted to know how to can, we made some jam.

We drove to the west coast and spent a perfect day on the beach. The ranger at the state park was out for a coffee break. The above sign explains what to do in just such a situation. M found this hysterical. She lives on Long Island where the honor system doesn't really come into play that often.

Ah, the beach. Ok, so we got a little crispy. We wore sunscreen, but it turns out that in the process of carrying things to the beach, some of it wore off, and we didn't think to replace it. Luckily, I have olive skin. Unluckily, M doesn't. But just look at that expanse of perfect water! I had a blast reverting to my childhood. Things I had forgotten about being a kid? Um, yeah, the amount of sand that accumulates in uncomfortable places at the beach.

Speaking of kids, a woman my mom works with is having a baby. I got invited to the shower. I kind of forgot about it, but a fast Ravelry search turned up these free patterns. On the left are Saartje's Bootees and on the right are Ruth's Perfect Baby Bootees. Clearly, I couldn't decide which to make. The pink ones are very lightweight (Cascade Heritage, US 0, larger size) and use some vintage buttons I picked up in a thrift store. The purple ones are much more substantial (Cascade 220, US 3). I asked specifically if this was the kind of baby that would be dressed all in pink, and my mom thought probably. Though I don't really go for "baby" colors, I think these are appropriately girly while being fun and modern. If it was my kid, I'd probably swap out the pink ribbon for something a little less predictable, but I had the ribbon lying around, so why not use it?

I have some other projects backed up to show you in a bit. How's your summer going?

Settling

2010-07-31T11:56:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm moved. All my stuff has been packed, transported, and unpacked. I've started to find out the best places to run and shop and park. It's a process. I have to keep making a point to be brave, to try it out, and if it doesn't work to try something else. I can tend to get stuck or be fearful of new things when I liked the old ones just fine. That's no way to live, but it does take conscious effort on my part sometimes.

I went down to the Farmers Market today, which was fun, even if parking was a nightmare. Next time, I'd like to take my bike. This is no small feat since I have to cross a highway to get there, but I think I've found an acceptable place which does not involve navigating on- and off-ramps. A peck of peaches came home with me. That's a lot of peaches. But since these were seconds, they cost only one dollar more than half as many "perfect" peaches. They're going to become Peach Cardamom Jam later today. Browse around that link a bit, would you? It's completely gorgeous. The rest will get devoured or frozen for smoothies.

Things I'm loving:

- Fables. I've been trying to get on the graphic novel bandwagon for a while. It seems like it should be a perfect fit since I love comic strips, but this is the first I've found that I have enjoyed. Other suggestions?

- I made this a few weeks ago with golden zucchini. Delish and super easy. I'm making another today, and this time I'm going to have fun arranging slices of green and gold baby zucchini. My thyme has gone bonkers, so I'm looking for new ways to use it.

- Huge. I'm kind of addicted to this show. I love, love, love, the way it really and truly portrays the trials and tribulations of being a teenager in a summer camp setting. As a former camper of many years and a camp counselor, too, I can remember what it was like without having to share a bathroom.

- Also, about summer camp, I'm thinking about care packages and the thrill of getting mail. I have a friend away at a festival, and I'm betting the thrill doesn't wear off even if we are decidedly not camp-going age.

- Speaking of books, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen is the most enjoyable, addicting, perfect for me book I've read in a long while. Everyday magic, cooking, romance, and reality.

- I'll be making a set of these for my place. That is, as soon as I find some affordable wool felt. See above about exploring....

Lemons

2010-07-17T17:28:00.003-04:00

You know, they have that saying about what to do when life gives you lemons. Well, it's been a challenging year, and with my lemons I made a lemon skirt.
I fell head over heels for this pattern by Alexander Henry. It's a quilting weight cotton, so the skirt is fully lined in muslin to prevent any unsightly back-lighting issues. This gives it a very nice weight and feel. I don't have the pattern available at the moment (more on that in a sec) but I'm pretty sure it's a New Look pattern, and in the original version, this is a mini skirt. I added two inches of length to make it hit just at the knee, and I also graded the pattern up a bit since it only goes to an 18 and I need a 20. I like this pattern because it has real jeans-style pockets and a substantial waistband. The thing I don't like about this pattern is that the skirt is very triangular and doesn't flow nicely. I'm looking for a swingy kind of skirt with a waistband. Anyone have any ideas?I also made this apron a while back. It's a twin to Danielle's apron, but this one took half as long to make. This is another quilting-weight cotton. I couldn't resist the kitschy fruit print. That's me pitting 3 quarts of sweet cherries. My hands look bloody right now, but these are destined to become Brandied Cherries. Speaking of low tech, I'm pitting those cherries with a hairpin, just like my great-great-Aunt Irma.

The other thing I did with lemons? I took charge of my life and made a decision. I am headed back to school in the fall to pursue a Masters of Library and Information Science degree at that other Michigan university. This means that I'm moving.

It's been a long journey to this place, where I'm deliberately heading my life in a direction different from the one I thought it would take. I'm an intensely practical person, and the truth is that even if the economy were not the way it is, and symphonies weren't cutting their personnel and season to the bone and beyond, music performance jobs are incredibly difficult to come by. I hope I will always be playing and teaching and taking auditions, but I also need health insurance and some stability and one day (maybe) my own home.

I don't think that anyone likes to move, but I am finding this to be a bit heart wrenching. I have loved living here more that I thought I ever would, but it's time to do those favorite things one last time and open my heart to the new favorite things that are to come.

Though I don't "officially" move until next Saturday, I took possession of my new place on Thursday. I drove down with a car load of stuff (including a box with all my sewing patterns in it), and set about deciding whether or not this place would be mine, or just a place to live. There are good signs. Preserves in the pantry.
And a tree outside my window.

Love a Long Weekend

2010-07-06T15:02:00.002-04:00

This weekend I:
- went to the farmer's market
- had a long-ish run
- made iced tea (twice!)
- painted my toes "gunmetal" from Sally Hansen
- made Strawberry and Cinnamon Basil Popsicles
- watered my plants (often)
- got inspired to lift some weights. Should be inspired more often. Ouch.
- finished listening to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on audiobook
- sewed. A lot.

This is the second thing I made. The first will wait for another post. I am absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. It was directly inspired by this dress Melissa made. When I saw this dress, I had one of those "gasp-step-back" reactions that happens occasionally when you find something that you absolutely adore. I loved the stripes, the pockets, and especially the way the bias-cut sides meant the stripes made as very flattering V with the princess seams. And the princess seams which work very well for my body type. The pattern is Simplicity 2591, and it fits reasonably well. Of course, liking something and fitting it to flatter are two different things, but this worked out just fine. The only thing I would change is to make the neckline smaller and the armholes a bit higher and narrower.
It's made from a cotton/poly blend in a white and grey stripe. It does actually make your eyes swim a bit in florescent light, as it appears to do in these pictures, though 98% of the time this is not an issue. To have fully copied Melissa, I would have needed a wider stripe, but we work with what we have. I followed the pattern exactly except for two things, both born of necessity. I did not interface the neckline facing. If I make it again, I will, but I had very, very little interfacing to begin with and I managed to cut two left back pieces instead of a left and a right back piece. Having no desire to go to the store, I ditched it. I also inserted an invisible zipper instead of doing a lapped zipper. It was so easy and painless, I may never use a lapped zipper again! Seriously. I have all this anxiety about zippers because I've never managed to do a lapped zipper that didn't look like an intermediate home sewer put it in, so I bit the bullet and brought out the invisible zipper foot. I'm so glad I did. No more anxiety! Plus, it just looks better.

Though there are a number of pieces to this pattern, it is not particularly difficult to sew. The handwork at the end took nearly as long as the machine work did. That is a hand-sewn hem my friends, and though it looks... um... unprofessional from the inside (apparently, it takes some higher form of education than I possess to iron in a straight line), it looks great on the outside! Next time I might try using hem tape instead of double folding the hem. There will be a next time, no doubt.

Tuesday Toad

2010-06-29T19:00:00.003-04:00

This morning was clear and cool, in contrast to the cloying humidity of the past week. I thought it was a good morning for breakfast on the balcony. While I was out of town, the folding chair which I had collapsed and moved out of the sun had fallen over. I righted it and moved to brush the leaves and debris out of the seat when I saw this little guy perched on the edge of the chair. How he managed to get three stories up is completely beyond me, but he changed my plans quickly.
I had breakfast inside, but worried about my toad friend. The sun was about to hit the balcony full force, and with the tree right outside my window, there was more than a passing chance that some bird would find him to be a tasty snack before he got fried in the sunlight. I finished breakfast and got out a spare Ball jar. It took a little coaxing, but I got him inside and out onto the grass.

Free at last! I don't think he was properly grateful, but in his defense, I did inspect him rather closely for concealed wings.

Sewing Presents

2010-06-15T21:47:00.004-04:00

I didn't really mean to take a little blog break there, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Speaking of cookies, my friend Danielle had a birthday. I made her an apron because she gave me one for my birthday that I love, love, love. This was made off the Magic Pattern from Stitch Magazine Spring 2010. It was easy peasy to make aside from the bias tape, which I made from scratch. It was an adventure, and I ended up with double of what I needed, easily. Note to self, 1/2 yard of fabric makes a ton of bias tape. It's not hard, but it was my first time. Just one seam at the back neck and lots of bias tape edging. I did have to look up instructions for how to make the inside corners on the neckline, but this, too, was not hard - just a Google search on "bias tape inside corner."

I took direct inspiration from the photo in the magazine which featured a red floral print and red and white gingham edging. I fell in love with the photo from the first moment I saw it, and I fell in love with the apron the moment I put it on. It is super flattering, both on me and Danielle who are vastly different sizes and body types. The only change I made was to use the bias tape as the ties instead of using the ties the pattern instructs you to cut. I was having a lot of trouble turning them right side out so instead I edged just the skirt portion in bias tape, then cut a length long enough to edge the top and neck plus ties. Start in the middle at the top of the neck and do one side, then the other. It's really a good thing I bought fabric to make myself one, because I can see this "pattern" getting a lot of use.

Note also the Punch Brothers t-shirt I am wearing. Their newest CD is out in stores today, and I highly, highly recommend it. I was the lucky recipient of a special package which included the special edition package (CD, bonus CD, DVD, t-shirt, and signed cocktail recipe guide) for being one of the first 200 to pre-order the new album, and I've been listening to it on repeat for the past few days. They make me remember that I am first a musician.

I will be signing off for a few weeks as I make the rounds of the eastern US. Friends, family, what could be better? Cheers!

Bayshore Half Marathon

2010-06-01T18:38:00.003-04:00

I had a fantastic weekend. Friday my folks and I drove up to Traverse City, Michigan where I was supposed to run the Bayshore Half Marathon on Saturday morning. It wasn't the original plan for my parents to join me, but they insisted, and I wasn't about to turn down a free ride north. I swear, my parents were the Nervous Nellys of the three of us. I am so used to performing, being put on the spot, and often traveling distances to get put on the spot that I was not especially nervous about this race, in spite of all the work I've put into it. On Saturday morning, they woke up at 5:00AM, made sure I ate my bagel and peanut butter, that I drank enough water, that my race bib was pinned on straight, and then they drove me to the bus that was to take me to the starting line and walked me to the bus doors, all like it was the first day of school.

7:30 AM I crossed the starting line. Buckets of sweat, aching feet, many cups of water and Gatorade, and 2:45:21 later I crossed the finish line. Hooray! Hooray! The first 8 miles were fine. I warmed up, the sun came over the trees, the bay was always right there, and there were cute summer homes to admire and dream over. Miles 8-10 were very, very hard. My feet hurt, my calves and quads were seizing up, the aid stations seemed a longer than normal distance apart, and my stomach was making signs of rebellion. Miles 10-12 I was just numb. And that last 1.1 miles was the most difficult of the whole race. I wanted to be done so badly, and everyone I passed kept saying that it wasn't far now, only 6 tenths left, just keep going, you're almost there. But I never quite got there and my legs wouldn't move and I was tired and my feet hurt. I saw my family about 2 tenths from the finish and somewhere I found the strength to keep running, and then I found an extra gear and I picked it up for the finish. I did it!

But that was just the beginning of my awesome weekend. I got to go shopping in Traverse City with some of my favorite people, and then I got to spend some time at my most favorite lake in the whole wide world - Torch Lake. I soaked my aching legs and feet in the icy water and tried to be grateful for the moment.

Monday I was back in my apartment, I slept in, caught the early showing of Letters to Juliet (which I recommend, by the way, if you're looking for a chick flick with gorgeous scenery), had the least painful bra-shopping experience of my life (You know how it is. They discontinue your favorite bra, and no one likes bra shopping, so you have to gear yourself up for the torture of trying on bra after uncomfortable bra to find the one you can live with, only this time it took me just two tries and minimal discomfort), bought a few things at 25% off at Banana Republic, had a nap, and made this Shaved Asparagus Pizza (fantastic!!!) which I ate with a large salad from my garden and wondered how I got so lucky to have three incredible days in a row.

How did I get so lucky? Thanks for the encouragement from everyone who asked me how training was going, said "you can do it," or otherwise sent positive thoughts my way. This was an incredible undertaking for someone who's not especially athletic in the traditional sense of the word, and I am so grateful for your uplifting spirits. Thank you.

Harvest

2010-05-24T18:08:00.003-04:00

Saturday, my lettuce looked something like this:
A veritable lettuce jungle, you might say. You'd be right. It was very hot this weekend, and it looks like its going to continue to be hot this week. It went from cool and wet to hot and sunny in the blink of an eye, and you know what that means for cool weather loving things like spinach and lettuce, right? Or maybe you're not a gardener and you don't, so I'll tell you. It means bolting - when the plant sprouts flowers and goes to seed. This also makes the leaved bitter and yucky. Yesterday, my greens seemed to have grown half an inch over night. This morning, the spinach in the lettuce mix shown above had bolted and the spinach in the box right next door (not shown) was looking a little sad.

I had been very precious about harvesting my lettuces. A leaf here and there, but nothing more drastic than a two small bowls of salad. They were just so tiny and lovable, you see, and they were my babies. Well, the threat of bolting without a real chance to enjoy the fruits of my nurturing lit a serious fire, and I pretty much razed the boxes. You can see to the right where I just pulled the bolted spinach out of the mixed box. No need for an icky leaf to make it into my delightful salads this week! I came away with quite the little harvest, and the possibility for regeneration from what's left in the box since I left about an inch of stem and the smaller leaves behind. I'm hoping that it will regrown without bolting and I can have just one more harvest before putting the boxes away until the fall.

We do things very low tech here, Chez Double G. No toaster for me when a broiler works just as well and saves my very limited counter space. "Harvest" consisted of a pair of scissors and a bowl, with me plunked on my butt in front of the boxes. Taking a tip from Grow Great Grub I made a bag for keeping my lettuce out of an old dishtowel and a bit of ribbon lying among the sewing supplies. Just sew a casing for the ribbon and then fold the towel in half and hem it. Keep the towel damp but not wet, and the lettuce will stay fresh in the fridge without wilting or rotting.

I'm also low tech about washing my lettuce, possessing nothing resembling a salad spinner. Just swish the lettuce in cold water and place in the middle of a dry, clean dish towel. Find a place you don't mind getting a little wet (for me this is my balcony), fold up the corners until you're carrying a pouch full of wet lettuce, and swing the thing around like a windmill until the lettuce is reasonably dry. It works, I swear. Plus, you get to feel 5 years old. Bonus!

It's 80 degrees....

2010-05-23T14:25:00.002-04:00

Which means the conditions are perfect to show off the adorableness that is this pair of toddler mittens. A little while back, I was stalled on a couple of projects that were meant to be using up odds and ends of yarn I had lying around. On both projects, I ran out of yarn within inches of finishing and both on the second of the pair. Rather than deal with the situation (it wasn't the end of the world, but it would have involved ripping all of both projects back, making the wrist/leg shorter on the first, and reknitting the whole dang thing) I cast on for these with some more odds and ends.

Pattern: Annemor#5 from Selbuvotter by Terri Shea
Yarn: Baby Ull, leftover from this pair
Needles: Um... US1? I can't rightly remember
Size: Toddler

These little mittens, like the other Selbuvotter I have made, just make me so darn happy. They are a pleasure to knit, and the finished project makes me look so much more clever than I actually am. The only problem is that I have no little one to give these to. In fact, the only explanation I can give for making them in the first place is that of frugality. I mean, I had the yarn, I had the book, and the yarn wasn't much good for anything else. I do have quite a quantity of ends of sock weight yarn, and no good idea of what to do with them. It seems that I need an army of toddlers or babies to knit for.....

Adirondacks

2010-05-18T19:46:00.008-04:00

So I went on this backpacking trip. You might remember I mentioned I was going in October, but those plans fell through. We rescheduled for May, and one week ago I found myself in Lake Placid with my toilet paper wrapped in a baggie and all the essentials packed into a (relatively) small pack.

I've been struggling with what to say about this trip. It was awesome and intense. The hiking was much more technical that any of us had expected. There was some bouldering, lots of mud pits, places where we were essentially bushwhacking between trail markers, places where the trail itself was indistinguishable from the surrounding forest, very steep scrambles up and down very large rocks (Indian Pass, I'm looking at you), tons of stream crossings necessitating the use of fallen logs and well-placed rocks (24 on the last day alone), and very wet feet for certain of us.

People keep saying that it doesn't sound like much fun, but it was. I mean, the kind of fun the means carrying you toilet paper in a baggie and renting bear canisters. But the views were incredible. I think the best thing to do is let the pictures speak for themselves.

This is the trail. See it? Yeah, not so much.

This is also the trail. It looks like a semi-dried up stream bed because that is what it is.

I love trillium. They have a very delicate version in the Adirondacks.

The nature, it strives to make us feel insignificant.

Cooking dinner the first night. Thai Cashew Chicken. Yes, please.

1. Day 1 - Pristine New Boots, 2. Day 1 - First Sploodge, 3. Day 1 - Dampish, but not wet, 4. Day 2 - Very Wet and Squidgy, 5. Day 3 - Soggy and Sore, 6. Day 3 - Relief

An attempt to illustrate how to turn a pair of new boots into very wet, muddy boots. With the best part of any hike, getting the boots off and the feet in very cold water at the end of the day.

I am pretty much in love with all the moss. If I was a fairy, I would live among the many moss covered logs in the forest.

We found an Ent. They really do exist.

The water has this incredible dark stillness about it. I can't get enough. I'm a Michigan girl through and through. I miss the water when I can't have any.

Handknits in the wild. Shown are Owls and a hat I made before the blog from wool I brought back from Ireland. I think it was my first attempt at winging a pattern. And, yes, I am wearing a ridiculous number of layers here. It is cold! I've got on long underwear, a Smartwool pullover, and a chunky-knit sweater in addition to a hat, pants, and mittens. And I should point out that I'm not exactly warm here.

You want another lake and mountain picture. I know you do.

Oh, hey, that's not an outdoorsy picture! I decided I need to sewas pouch for my first-aid kit. I improvised this pattern to make a double pocketed zippered pouch that would fold up.

It turned out better that I expected. I didn't use any of the first aid except the ibuprofen.

Adirondack chairs at Heart Lake. I could sit here all day.

I have a problem

2010-05-08T13:03:00.004-04:00

I can't stop making crobots. These are from Crobot: 20 Amigurumi Robots to Make by Nelly Pailloux. I saw some that Minty made a while back and fell in love. I was afraid that my rudimentary crochet skills (previously limited to square, single crocheted potholders when I was about 10) would mean that these little guys would be a huge challenge. Actually, they were super easy. There are great directions in the front of the book for increasing and decreasing, the only two skills other than single crochet that I have had to learn so far. And, I think it goes without saying that they are completely addictive.
This one is inspired specifically by Minty's creations. She has a little heart sewn on with embroidery thread and since I was sewing, I added some seed beads. The arms are made from beads with little "hands" made out of a cluster of three seed beads. I put three pin backs on her head because, well, why not, and her feet are made from flat-head screws. She stands on her own on a flat surface. Her ears are made from two sets of safety pins, one slightly smaller than the other for some extra bling.
Alienbot is a little lopsided all over - his fuel meter skews a little to the left and his head console a little to the right, but he just might be my favorite. You can't really see the silver thread on the lavender yarn, unfortunately.
The Thinker. This one reminds me a little of Yoda.
And this one is going to live with my mom as part of her Mother's Day present. I think he will be perfect on her desk at work as her "fix-it" muse. She does a lot of running around and fixing things.

I have plans to make a few more. What is a word that means more than obsessed? These little guys crochet up very quickly. The embellishments and sewing all the parts on take longer. In the past, this fiddly stuff has been very bothersome to me, but somehow this is exactly what I need right now. Plus they are so darn cute! Last Creative Night I demanded that everyone admire each little sequin and bead as I sewed them on and coo along with me.

"Hi. My name is Meg, and I have a crobot problem."

2010-04-30T19:19:00.002-04:00

So Meg, how is that half-marathon training treating you?

Well, it's had it's ups and downs, that's for sure. The first time I did a ten-miler? Definite up. The calf pain I've been battling since January? Down. But, well, I have to say that I'm really glad I decided to do this. Unlike some of the other things I practice (my clarinet, for one), it's pretty easy to see real progress on a run. In January? Yeah. Ten miles on a Saturday morning seemed like a far distant goal, much less 13.1. Putting on the miles, getting out there when I'd rather be sitting down makes a difference. And, no, I'm not fast. Not at all. Especially recently. But I put in the miles. I get up at 6:30 on Saturday and put on my running clothes and go out in all kinds of weather (notably, one sub-zero run in February where I came back with my entire body covered in a layer of frost and my eyelashes caked in ice) and GET IT DONE.

I'm incredibly proud of that. I complain sometimes. I get frustrated, particularly when I get passed going and coming by my other team members. But I do it. When people ask me about my training, I tell them in minute detail about my last run, my latest theories and conclusions, and what hurts this week. They probably wish they hadn't asked. I can't help telling them, though. One thing I didn't count on in this whole training thing is how much non-running time I would spend thinking about running. First of all, getting really sweaty 5 days a week means lots of extra laundry. That's definitely not something I figured on. Mostly though, I'm hungry all the time. The nutrition thing is something I'm still working on. What it takes to fill me up without gaining a bunch of weight. What my body needs to refuel properly. What it needs to heal. What I need to eat before I go out to make sure I can even do 10 miles.

Tomorrow morning is my third 10-miler. I can hardly believe I did the first one. My legs? Tired, sore, but hanging in there. My iPod? Kicked the bucket a month ago. Couldn't take the heat. Metaphoric heat of course, since probably what it couldn't take was the cold. I keep going.

[Enter Chorus]

2010-04-28T19:26:00.002-04:00

Two projects both alike in dignity
In fair Michigan where we lay our scene
From pattern, needles, and yarn begin
Where lack of planning makes knitting sin.
From forth the fatal mind comes these two foes,
A pair of star-crossed projects stall this night.
These misadventured designs overthrow
All plans and dreams to make them right.
The fearful passage of their impromptu start
And the continuance of their parent's slog,
Which, but their imminent end, naught could remove
Is now five minutes traffice on this blog.
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

[Exit]

Sincerest apologies to Mr. Shakespeare

Siberian Iris Socks for FREE!

2010-04-25T19:06:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note to let you know that my Siberian Iris Socks are now available for free through Ravelry. It took me long enough, but I finally got it all done! If you're at all like me, you start to crave smaller projects this time of year. Admittedly, socks are not exactly "seasonal" but I knit them at this time of year anyway. You should too.

2010-04-22T19:44:00.003-04:00

When I was a kid, we had a big garden in our backyard. The kind of garden that meant weeding and pulling and canning and chasing rabbits. When I was young, I kind of resented that garden, not because I minded getting dirty and digging and sowing or eating (especially eating) but because I increasingly felt that the garden was a responsibility shouldered mostly by my brother and be, and not the fun parts either. We didn't get to choose the plants, and most of the weeding and watering was left to us as summer chores when we'd really rather have been running around with our friends. Of course, I could eat more than my fair share of beans, carrots, and raspberries, but if I'd had my choice, I'd have left the kohlrabi, broccoli, and radishes out of the garden entirely. I always felt that if my parents had just asked if I wanted to be involved, I could have had a different attitude. That this attitude was mostly a product of my tween years is probably no coincidence.

As I've gotten older, I've been influenced by the farmer's markets in Ithaca and East Lansing, and by books like The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, Animal Vegetable Miracle, Jamie at Home, and most recently Grow Great Grub. I have awakened a desire to have a garden of my own, especially considering the taste difference between a store-bought carrot and a home-grown one. But I live in an apartment, and this seemed to be a major obstacle to my dreams of stepping outside and having what I needed to cook the way I love. Reading more (particularly Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail) I realized that I could have, if not everything I wanted, at least some, grown in containers on my balcony. This year is my first, and I'm being ambitious, if only for the experiment of it: Two kinds of lettuce mixes, spinach, chard, peas, and tomatoes.
The greens have already sprouted, and I'm like a little mother hen with them, checking them first thing in the morning, worrying about how much sun they are getting and whether they need more water (or, equally bad, worrying about them getting too much.) I am so thrilled to see the little sprouts poking up, and I can't wait to see what colors of chard I will have - I chose Bright Lights chard which grows in many different colors. I'm already collecting salad recipes for what will be, in my head anyway, a bumper crop of lettuce.

I chose greens specifically because they like the cold and hate the heat of July, which fits perfectly into my summer plans. The tomatoes might not make it to fruition - even the cherry variety I'm trying needs more light than I typically get, and I'm late getting the seeds in because of circumstances beyond my control, but I'm trying to let things take their own shape and treat this as a giant experiment. How else do you learn, after all, except by the occasional failure.

Though this adventure isn't meant to be a big Earth Day plug, I can't help but be excited about my little sprouts. I am so looking forward to picking those first lettuce leaves for dinner. And my tree is about to bust into bloom. Growing is good.

How do you Earth Day?

Found

2010-04-14T21:38:00.003-04:00

... while hunting among my embarrassingly large collection of children's literature....

Knitted Things by Karla Kuskin

There was a witch who knitted things:
Elephants and playground swings.
She knitted rain,
She knitted night,
But nothing really came out right.
The elephants had just one tusk
And night looked more
Like dawn or dusk.
The rain was snow
And when she tried
To knit an egg
It came out fried.
She knitted birds
With buttonholes
and twenty rubber butter rolls.
She knitted blue angora trees.
She purl stitched countless purple fleas.
She knitted a palace in need of a darn.
She knitted a battle and ran out of yarn.
She drew out a strand
Of her gleaming, green hair
And she knitted a lawn
Till she just wasn't there.

There are so many things to be found when one is not looking.... incidentally, I didn't find what I was looking for.

Ohai!

2010-04-07T17:57:00.002-04:00

My mom had a birthday. I knit her a shawl.

Pattern: Clothilde by Kristen Hanley Cardozo
Yarn: Cascade Heritage in hot pink (I don't have the ball band at the moment.)
Needles: US 5
Size: Large. Finished dimensions are approximately 60x25"

Remember when I was complaining about the lack of color around the stores? Well, this was my antidote. It is an incredibly saturated pink. It was quick and fun and perfectly wonderful. I kind of wish that I had done one more repeat of the gull lace before the spearhead edging, but yardage was somewhat in question. Cascade Heritage has good yardage, the price was right, and it was nice to work with. It's a lighter fingering weight, and I would definitely use it again.

Mom loved it. It should be very wearable in many circumstances from casual to moderately dressy and in all seasons. I kind of wish I had one myself.....

Sew

2010-03-29T20:35:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I've shown any sewing around here. It's not that I haven't been sewing, just that I've not really been excited about the things that I've finished. This one I'm calling the Blackberry Tunic. It's a Built By Wendy for Simplicity pattern. The tunic is made out of blackberry colored twill. The color is not accurate here - it's a wonderfully rich, deep purple. The color is the whole reason I chose this fabric. In retrospect, I probably should not have used twill. Twill is sticky in the sense that it wants to stick to itself and to everything else. Not ideal for a tunic that is meant to be worn over pants, plus every little bit of lint hanging around finds its way to the twill. It's a good thing I don't have any pets. The fit is very close, which means I can only feel comfortable wearing it sometimes. You know, when I'm feeling particularly svelte.

These are a set of 4 placemats and napkins I made based on the pattern in Bend the Rules Sewing. I love the fabrics I chose, but I think that they feel more homemade than handmade, if you know what I mean. You have to apply the contrast fabric first, then carefully stitch the ribbon around the outside. I found it nearly impossible to make the contrast fabric lay perfectly flat, so it bubbles a little on every placemat, and it was also impossible to make the ribbon edging perfectly square, which wouldn't have bothered me except that it is pretty obvious that the center isn't square in comparison to the square outside edges. For the napkins, I just made them as big as I could for the amount of fabric I bought instead of following the instructions in the book. I will use the set but they aren't especially company-worthy. I really liked lining the placemats with cotton flannel. It gives them a nice weight and structure without being inflexible. I'll definitely make more placemats and napkins, but I think next time I'll stick simple graphic prints and ditch the contrast fabric and ribbon.

This is my newest adventure. I bought the Built By Wendy Dresses book last week, and I highly recommend it. From three basic patterns (sheath, shift, and dirndl) she shows you how to make many, many different versions. First, though, you have to make sure that the basic pattern fits properly. I'm working on a sheath variant (the Workin' 9 to 5 dress) and this is my second muslin. I think I'm on track, but the alterations I'm making are a little more complicated than adding or subtracting from the side seams (which I've already done). I need to make the front of the bodice between the armholes smaller by about 3/4" on each side in order to eliminate some gapping in the neckline. I altered the seams manually, but now I'm just hoping that I can cut the original pattern appropriately so it fits right every time. So that I will have MY pattern. The one that fits ME. Oh, and I think I'll add a set of darts to the back and shorten the sleeves as well... It's my pattern. I can do what I want, right? I have some lovely mustard colored linen washed and ready to be cut. Here's hoping I'll have a new Easter dress!

On socks...

2010-03-21T16:50:00.003-04:00

You know, I never really did understand why people would make lace socks. It seems kind of pointless, right? I mean, putting holes in your socks on purpose? So imagine my surprise when my sock design for Elinor's Socks Revived contest formed in my head and it was lace. Lace? Yup, lace.

These will be called the Siberian Iris socks, and they will be available for you sometime in mid-April, if all goes according to plan. Siberian Iris make me nostalgic for the clump that we had in the house I grew up in. They came from my great-grandmother's garden but did not make the move with my parents. I loved them for their beautiful dark blue-purple color and their delicacy. They are quite small, unlike the usual iris you might see coming up soon. Think the difference between paperwhites and daffodils. (By the way, is the plural of "iris" irises or iris?)

These socks are meant to evoke the Siberian Iris petals through the curving V's which run down the back and front of the sock and the "beard" (the fluffy raised part that runs down the middle of the petals) by use of a raised, eyelet ribbing and the side panels. They have a stockinette heel and a wedge toe. Though the socks are lace, the pattern is very simple to memorize - there is only one chart for each size. Ok, two charts. But the other is the ribbing chart, which totals eight rounds. You can handle that, right? The only lace stitches used are yarn-overs and decreases.

And the reality of spring is that it's not as warm as we like to pretend that it is. Given a choice, I would run around barefoot all year long, but sadly I have chronically cold feet. I will consider these socks to be a good compromise between warmth and the feel of air moving over my toes this spring.

Note: The movement of the stitches can be preserved without the lace by replacing the yarn-overs with a lifted increase, a tip I will include in the final pattern.

Irish

2010-03-17T18:52:00.005-04:00

Did I ever tell you about the trip I took to Ireland? Probably not. It was before this blog. My junior year of college the Women's Chorale I was singing in took a week long tour of Ireland. It was at about this time of the year. In fact, we arrived back in the States just before St. Patrick's Day, and at this time of year I find myself yearning for Ireland in a way that has nothing to do with green beer.

The Cliffs of Moher were literally one of the first things I saw in Ireland. We had an awesome bus driver by the name of Tom O'Toole who took us to see the ocean, the Cliffs, and through Ennis before we were allowed to check in to our hotel in Limerick. Tom drove us all over Ireland, talking the whole way about Irish history and telling us stories.

In many ways, being in Ireland opened a door for me. I really enjoyed singing, even though it was not my first musical love, but the reaction of the Irish audiences was absolutely incredible. Never have I performed for a more engaged and openly appreciative audience. As we sang, I watched them, and I knew that what I was doing was having a profound and immediate impact on their lives. We never had many people, but those who were there more than made up in sheer joy for their lack in numbers.

One of my favorite places to visit was the Rock of Cashel, a crumbling church where St. Patrick baptised the first high king of Ireland, Angus. It was not crowded (unlike, say, Blarney Castle) and free of most touristy trappings. We wandered for hours in the castle, small museum, and graveyard. It really is that green, even in March.

21-year-old me

Of course, I sampled the local brews - here shown with a pint of Guiness though I think I like Murphy's better. Murphy's is another Irish stout, mostly based out of Cork (where the accents are truly unique!) So every year, I remember the trip, the people, and the incredible green on grey of the Emerald Isle. I remember the way we as a chorale burst into Mouth Music during an evening of authentic medieval food at a posh castle in Limerick out of sheer excitement and gratitude, prompting comments of "who are you people?" from the other diners. And I remember the food.

Food in Ireland is really quite expensive. On every menu is soup and bread which at the time cost about 7 euros, or about $10. I ate a lot of soup and bread. The soup, none of which I ever caught the exact name of, was always delicious and hearty and accompanied by brown bread and butter. Brown bread is a kind of soda bread which is made in a loaf. With all of my interest in cooking, I have never attempted brown bread, even though I can still taste it. In my family we made a version of Irish Soda Bread which I think is more authentic that what you usually get in the States, which for our purposes we'll call Irish-American Soda Bread. You know, the kind with caraway and raisins that's more like dessert or a special breakfast than peasant food. This bread couldn't be easier.

Irish Soda Bread

1c flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 c buttermilk

1. Mix together the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk. Stir until a soft dough forms.

2. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and pat into a circle 1/2" thick. Cut the circle into quarters so that each piece is a rough triangle.

3. In a dry pan (preferably cast iron, but in my case a non-stick skillet) cook the bread over medium heat until the first side is browned and set. Flip to brown and set the other side. Carefully arrange the pieces of bread on each end in turn to brown all sides.

4. Serve warm, the day it's made, with butter and honey.

I had mine with Scotch Broth from The Vegan Table, which, I understand, is not specifically Irish, but bears a strong resemblance to the stews and soups I remember from Ireland. The bread will be floury on the outside, which is what you want to prevent it from sticking to the dry pan.

Slainte

2010-03-07T18:55:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been a gorgeous week around here, weather-wise. Seven full days of sun in a row. Temperatures are still low, but the smell of spring is in the air, and the birds are singing their little hearts out. It has been amazing to have all this sun, and I'm fully primed for spring to really get here - asparagus and crocuses and even rain if it means that I don't have to scrape frost off my car every morning.

Sadly, things have not been so great around here health-wise this week. I caught an incredibly nasty cold which started in my chest and went straight for my head, leaving me prone in the bottom of the shower in the aftermath of a very scary fainting incident. I'm still not sure what that was about. I spent most of the week on the couch with a box of tissues and a trash basket handy, watching episode after episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was so sick that I didn't knit a stitch for days. I had no energy to do anything but stare blankly at my computer, vaguely wishing that Spike (with a soul, of course) was real instead of a character. Luckily, while I'm not exactly back to normal, I have resumed my half-marathon training (which has been seriously thrown off due to basically tossing a whole week of my life down the drain.) I'm still using a higher than average number of tissues, my cough would make you step back, and my energy isn't what it usually is, but I'm getting there.

I also managed to go yarn shopping with Danielle yesterday. I had a list of things I was looking for, but in the end only bought two skeins. One is going to be Clothilde for my mom's birthday. The other is still a secret right now....

Side note, but kind of related - is anybody else hungry for color? I go to the store (yarn store, clothes store, doesn't seem to matter) and all I see is shades of clay, putty, and mud. And then black, white, grey, and navy. Ew. I have rebelled against this enforced color palette by buying hot pink yarn and by painting my toes an even more electric shade of pink. So there.

Ravelympics Finish Line!

2010-03-01T16:59:00.003-05:00

Otherwise known as, "The Crazypants Ideas Just Keep Coming."

Pattern: Ivy League Vest by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Knit Pick Palette in the Violets colorway taken directly from here.
Needles: US 1 and 3
Modifications: I made a rounded neckline by starting the shaping about 1.5" after the armholes. I didn't take exact notes, but I did something like: round 1: decrease 4 each end (k4tog and ssssk), round 2: decrease 3 each end (k3tog, sssk), round 3: decrease 2 each end (k2tog, ssk), decreasing 2 each end every other row until the shoulder stitch count matched the back. I also added about 4 inches of length.

Soaking up the sun

So, the steeks weren't that scary. I did a machine steek, lining up a "leg" of the foot of my sewing machine with the two center steek stitches and zigzagged away on each side. I just cut everything without allowing myself to think about it first and it all worked out in the end. Right after, when the edges started unraveling I had a panic moment, but they stopped unraveling at the machine stitches, which is what counts. Either way, don't try to do this with Palette unreinforced. Though it's wool, it's pretty slippery.

I think I mentioned that I've had a lot of time off work lately. I doubt that I would have been able to finish without the extra time. I have to say, when I was knitting this, I wasn't in love with it. I was worried about the fit, and the corrugated ribbing was taking forever, and it turns out that I don't like to knit under a deadline. I was really ready to be done with it, and had to buckle down to get through the edgings, but now that it's done, I couldn't be happier. Blocking lace is the most tranformative knitting moment, but I have to say that blocking colorwork runs a close second. The fit on this is really great, but it should be noted that the corroguated ribbing does not stretch like regular ribbing. In fact, it doesn't really stretch at all.

I don't think that this will get much wear for the rest of the season - things are beginning to warm up (though you might not guess it from the 15" of snow I had to tramp through to get these shots). This is incredibly clear when you walk into some of the superheated classrooms I've been in lately. Today's classroom was at least 80F. But I'm so pleased with my work that I might just hang the vest up on a wall to look at. It's so pretty!

Blobby

2010-02-24T17:14:00.002-05:00

This is where I was yesterday in the early evening. Yes, it looks remarkably like a fair isle blob, but it should be a sweater by the end of the week! My progress has been fast because I've not been getting many working days lately. Between Mid-Winter Break and snow days, it's been a bit sparse around here. Today it is snowing again. Well, it's coming down as snow, but it's hitting the ground more like rain, which means there's a solid two inches of slush on the ground.

I'm getting excited to finish the vest, but I'm dreaming of swirly flower printed skirts and flats.... That, and employing someone whose sole job is to make me bento boxes for lunch daily.

Behind the Scenes

2010-02-18T17:19:00.002-05:00

I whipped these up a while back....

Stashbustin' 1
96 stitches on US7
Plymouth Encore (navy)
Patons Merino (cream)
Square decrease at the crown
The lice pattern occurs every fourth stitch with two rows between pattern rounds

Stashbustin' 2

96 stitches on US8

Plymouth Encore (both)

Regular crown decreases (something like k10, k2tog at the beginning maybe?)

The bottom two charts come from The Opinionated Knitter and the top was an invention of mine when it became obvious I wasn't going to have enough green to do the crown.

There's not actually as much difference in size between the two as you might imagine... The green and blue one has been gifted to my dad who will probably use it when out snowblowing. The neighbor who has often kindly done my parents' sidewalk is out with shoulder surgery so all those "freebies" are now being called in as my dad takes on their walk too. The other is hanging around my apartment. It's slightly smaller (probably a size large) and a bit shorter. More of a women's hat. Unfortunately, I don't much like to wear a beanie style hat. I have one in my closet and that's plenty for me. But they are great stashbusters. That's two random skeins (and a bit) down, and a few others in sockweight to go, but that's for next post!

The Progress Shot

2010-02-16T15:59:00.002-05:00

Thar she goes!

Lots of knitting happening lately because of this thing they have introduced since I was in public school - Mid-Winter Break. I have to say though that the 3x1 corrugated ribbing was incredibly tedious. I knit Continental, and am not at all used to purling with my right hand. It seems so wasteful, that motion - throwing the yarn to the front of the needle, inserting the needle and purling the stitch, then throwing the yarn to the back again. I ended up purling with my left and knitting with my right, since this motion, while still wasteful, is at least do-able for me. Still, the ribbing took me three days and the rest of it (more than doubling the length) has taken a day and a half.

The colors are turning out more winter-y than I had hoped, but I'm still pretty excited about it!

Celebration!

2010-02-12T17:20:00.002-05:00

Have I ever said how much I love the Olympics? I do. I love them. I feel that the Olympics are all about bring nations together, to root for the underdog, to rejoice in accomplishments, even if everyone isn't a "winner." To me, a gold medal is less important than the story, and let me tell you, every single one of those athletes has a story. I'm so excited for the Winter Olympics, because I'm going to be around to see them. For the last few summer Olympics, I've been in places where I have not had access to a TV and so I've had to live on newspaper accounts, which, given the physical nature of sports in general, is no substitute.

So, this is also my first Knitting Olympics. I'm entered in the Nordic Colorwork Combined for Team Michigan over on Ravelry. My project? Eunny Jang's Ivy League Vest.

Of course, I can't just knit the pattern the way that it is written. It needs to be longer, for one. And I don't really like the V-neck. I find that a V-neck in a striped pattern tends to pull the stripes upward at the point of the neck whether or not you're the busty type (Take a look at the finished projects over on Rav. You'll see what I mean.) I don't really like this look, so I'm going to try change it to a U-neck shaping, much like my Double Time Vest. This is a little scary because I'm going to try steeking for the first time (the name says it all: EEK!), and it could be complicated. I'm using Knit Pick Palette for this, mostly because I found this super helpful chart for choosing colorways. The original colors are lovely, but do not fit in with my wardrobe. The only change I had to make is to change from Black to Asphalt, since Black was backordered. I'm looking forward to casting on tonight!

And, on a slightly different note, let me say Happy Blogiversary to me! Three years and counting! What better way to celebrate than to cast on for a project I've been thinking about for months?

Demi

2010-02-07T14:01:00.002-05:00

She's done! I've been plodding along on this since Christmas... really enjoying the process, a unique experience for me, since I tend to be a product knitter. This is kind of landmark for me. It's the most complicated cabling I've ever done, and I conquered my fear of twisted stitches. For a long time I hated twisted stitches because they seemed to take forever, but I learned that they are like anything else - practice makes perfect, or if not perfect, at least faster.

Pattern: Demi by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, all but a few yards of 2 skeins
Needles: US 6, 7, 8
Mods: Just a few tiny little things. I lengthened the body and arms as I usually do. I used slipped stitches on the side seams to help with seaming (so much easier to seam cables and texture this way!). Like many others, I used a three stitch bobble instead of five. The biggest change was that I moved the waist shaping which in the original decreases quickly and soon after the ribbing. This would have been supremely unflattering on my body, so I moved them to a more usual place in the vicinity of a high hourglass.

I'm proud of this knit, but I don't know if I'll love it as a garment. Though you can't see it in the pictures, the sleeve caps don't fit very well. This may be the fault of my gauge, but when I move my arms up or down, the caps seem to want to "lift" out of the armhole. Also, I think that I may have sewn them in too tight. I feel the seam around my whole arm. The other thing is, this seems to be an almost see-through knit, though warm. The cables look great at this gauge, but the reverse stockinette in between is very loose. I was wearing a black cami underneath, and though you can only see it a bit in the pictures, it's much more obvious in real life. I feel like this sweater screams "BOOBS" which makes me a little uncomfortable. Maybe it will relax a bit after wearing?
Anyway, I made these brownies for Creative Night last night. They're from Smitten Kitchen and they are supremely chocolately and chewy. I'd much rather have a chewy brownie than a cakey one. I added 1/4 teaspoon of orange extract and some zest to make them pretty on top. Next time I'd add 1/2 teaspoon and forget the vanilla altogether. I cut them in tiny little squares, and they went over big. You should make some. Tis the season for chocolate, after all.

Pink

2010-02-01T17:20:00.002-05:00

Things have been extra crazy busy around here lately.... every single last bit of my brain capacity is in use currently. Slowly, slowly I'm checking things off my list, freeing up room to do other things. Sleep is optional at the moment. I just don't have the brain space to do it properly. I'm really behind on my routine phone calls, which makes me feel bad but that's the way it is. I didn't even manage to call my brother until yesterday, and he just adopted a dog last weekend. My "furry nephew's" name is Hank, and apparently he's quite the sweetie, right up until you try to leave. He just doesn't understand that your boss does not hold the same views on dogs in the workplace that you do and tends to bolt out the door in protest.

Anyway, I have some crafty type things to show you, but that will have to wait for another day too. A sewing project is hanging in the closet and Demi will be finished by the end of the week. The light is terrible when I have time to take pictures these days, but the past three days have been so supremely sunny. It's been like a gift after day upon day of twilight gray.

I treated myself to these hot pink astrolmeria this weekend, and I'm so glad I did. I am always tickled to have flowers around my place, but sometimes the extra few dollars on your grocery bill seems like too much, even when it isn't, you know? I should buy myself flowers more often. I smile everytime I walk past.

Quick Note

2010-01-21T20:02:00.002-05:00

Hi all,

Just a note to let you know that my Double Time Vest will be included among the many other projects that are pledging to donate funds to the relief effort in Haiti. If you have not browsed through yet, please take a look. I will be donating 50% of the procedes from pattern sales to Doctors Without Borders through the end of February.

Love,
Meg

Come on over

2010-01-16T17:12:00.000-05:00

It's pizza night Chez DoubleG. Wanna come over for dinner? There's plenty.

We can't really sit at the table because it looks like this, but that's ok, because I was thinking that we should watch a movie with our pizza. How about Casino Royale? Or we could do 27 Dresses instead, if you're feeling girly. I'm thinking beer with Casino Royale and salad with 27 Dresses. What do you think?

I'll be working on Demi for sure, which is looking pretty ok. I majorly miscrossed a cable (the wavy one on the far left) and had to tink back a really long way last night. This wouldn't have been so annoying except that I miscrossed the exact same cable in the exact same spot on the back. It still looks a little wonky, but that's what blocking is for, right?

Danielle gave me that apron, and I love, love, love it. I've never had an apron before, but I possess unique powers for wearing black on bread-baking days and for getting flour everywhere. Now I can get flour on my apron, and it's a badge of honor, not shame. Danielle tells me that she has been stalking my blog. Maybe we can lure her out by being friendly. Let's all say "Hi!" to Danielle! (Hi, Danielle!)

The pizza dough recipe is this one, recommended by Leya. I'm doing it with half whole wheat pastry flour, because I'm healthy like that. It negates the cheese, right?

The last one

2010-01-13T09:51:00.000-05:00

The truth is this. Life right now is really hard. Really hard in that mid-twenties existestial way, and also really hard in the "life is hard, suck it up" way. In the last week and a half I have had six jobs, two of which rank numbers one and two on the Worst Days of Subbing Ever list, one which was just plain challenging, and one which turned out to be a snow day but I didn't find out until I got to school. So then the existenstial question is "what do I do next?" because clearly, I can't do this for a whole lot longer and expect to keep myself in one piece.

And, really, I tell you this because I want to explain my lack of blog mojo, and because this is the last time I want to talk about it here. I really need a existential crisis and complaint free space, and this is it. So even though I have a few sewing projects started or completed to show, an improvised hat finished and another on the needles, plus the back and part of the front of Demi done and I haven't shown you any of it, that's just the way it's going to have to be for now.

I made a tote bag from the tutorial by Gloriana. It's kind of the big sister to one of my first sewing projects only this one is reversible

I didn't use any velcro for the pockets, because I didn't have any lying around and didn't feel like going to the store to get any. My single complaint with this bag is that I wish the pockets were larger. Because they are attached to the bottom, and the bottom is square, some significant pocket real estate gets taken up when the bag is full. If they were taller, this would matter less. This is my work bag, taking the place of two smaller bags which I was carrying before. It holds everything I need for work, plus my lunch, purse-type things, and a shawl admirably. Between this and a thermos for taking hot soup I manage to trudge through.

This is the last one, I promise.

A word on resolutions and other things

2010-01-10T13:22:00.000-05:00

You know how they say that stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result? Well, I'm really stupid. Luckily, this is the kind of stupid that only effects myself. I went cross-country skiing for the first time this season today, and although I know that I always get blisters from the boots, I chose to ignore this bit of evidence and do what I always do, which is to wear liner socks and thicker socks on top. About three strides into the trail, I knew that this was stupid. It was so stupid that I hadn't even thought about how stupid it was until that point. So, of course, I ended the trail the way I typically do, which is to take off my skis and hobble back to the hut while trying to hold back tears and grimacing.

It was a beautiful day though, even if the trail was less than ideal (lots of skiers going both the proper way around the trail and backwards, necessitating jumping off the trail to let people pass frequently, the snowmobile grooming the trail alongside all of these skiers, and a couple walking their dog in direct violation of the posted signage which says that hikers are not allowed on the trail when the XC trails are open. Of course, they followed behind the snowmobile, obscuring any sign of the groomed path.)

These top two pictures are actually from New Year's Day, which was cold but sunny. I went out for a walk around the neighborhood and listened to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me on my iPod. Love that show.

And about those resolutions, anway? Well, you may remember that way back last year my resolution was to read all the unread books in my bookshelves. I was pretty good about talking about them here for a while, and then I stopped talking about them, but not reading. I am proud to say that with the exception of 1.25 books, I met my goal. Some of them were great. Some I stopped reading because I decided I didn't care enough to muscle my way through. And some I just decided I wasn't interested enough to start. The 1.25 books I have left to finish are Siddartha by Herman Hesse (this is the .25) and The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery.

My resolutions for this year, I have already discussed here. I am unconcerned about making lots of resolutions. Two is enough for me: 1. Complete a half-marathon and 2. Incorporate yoga into my life.

One more thing. Everyone knows that the best part of getting cold is getting warm again. I made this soup in a flash after skiing today. It took maybe 10 or 15 minutes to chop everything up and then simmered for about 20 while I was in the shower. Delish! It's the Hearty Stew from The Vegan Table, which I highly recommend. Only, I un-veganized it by adding a chunk of parmesan rind which was lying in my freezer. What a chewy cheesy treat!

Welcome, New Year

2010-01-01T13:19:00.000-05:00

It's 2010, and I'm amazed. How did we get here?

I ended my year the way I intend to continue into the next. I ran a 4 mile race yesterday, the longest I've done in many years, and I had a few people over to celebrate the turning of a decade. We talked, made a meal of some light and healthful appetizers, and toasted to ourselves and to new beginnings. We decided that yesterday was a day for reflection on the past year and today was a day for looking forward, for facing up to the scary unknown and choosing how to step into the light.

I will be starting my new year with some activities that I can't wait to get started. I'm signing up with a local running store to be on a team training for a half-marathon in May. It's with not a small amount of trepidation that I have decided to do this, but I'm so excited about it that I know it is the right choice. It's the right time, I'm in the right place, there's nothing to be gained by saying "next year, next year." So, this year, my first resolution is to run a half-marathon.

I have been interested in yoga for a while now, but purely from afar. I have decided to add occasional yoga classes to my training regimen. With all the running and pounding my body will be taking, some stretching and soothing will be just the ticket. There is a local studio where I can by a punch card and decide week to week which class will best fit my schedule, and on Sunday nights they have apprentice-taught classes for $5. Where's the down side in that, right?

Both of these activities will get me out and meeting new people. I have been living a very isolated existence these past few months, and I'm excited to be finding ways to get out.

As far as crafting goes, I'm not sure what 2010 holds. I have very few concrete plans, except for the Knitting Olympics. I already have my project picked out, but more on that another time. I received a sewing machine for my birthday and Christmas, so I will probably be spending a bit more time at the machine than knitting, and I'm ok with that. Learning to properly fit a sewn garment is going to require some trial and error, I have found out the hard way recently. I think I might just stock up on yards of muslin....

All in all, I'm thrilled to step out into a new decade, into the unknown. This has been a difficult year in many ways, and I'm not sorry to leave it in my history and to embrace a shiny new year.

Through the Cracks

2009-12-20T13:19:00.001-05:00

I did actually mention that I was making this top, but I failed to report when I finished it. It's been done for many weeks now, and I've worn it often.

Pattern: Plain and Simple Pullover by Vera Valimaki
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss sock yarn in Woodland Sage, frogged from my Thermal.
Needles: US 2 and US 1
Modifications: I didn't pick up as many stitches around the neck as the pattern said. Mostly that was from laziness, but also this yarn drapes like nobody's business, so the smaller neck circumfrence was a really good move.

I do actually like this top, but I'm not thrilled with it. Mostly this has to do with the yarn, not the pattern which I find very wearable. I'd definitely make another in a different yarn. Gloss has some problems, which I consider to be pretty important. It does not hold its shape at all, it is pretty splitty, it does not frog especially well (the yarn fuzzes up and is prone to breaking), and any garment knitted in it gains substantial length when washed. This last reason is why my Thermal had to be frogged - a top that was maybe a bit short after knitting was suddenly halfway to my knees after washing. I took this into account when knitting this top. For the body to the underarms, I knit 14". After washing it measured in excess of 18". I also knit the armholes and inch shorter than I normally would. They lengthed to the correct size later.

These tendencies also do not lend themselves very well to a big fold-over neckline. The neck is floppy at best and a bit gaping. I also got right sick of knitting 3x3 rib and stopped before I probably should have.

The one comment I have to say about the pattern is that the instructions for which button band goes where and where to sew on the buttons are not super clear. From the designer's pictures, it seems that the button holes should go on the front and the button band on the back, but the buttons continue along the front edge of the fold-over neck. Instead of switching a button hole band to a button band halfway through, I just decided to have the buttons on the front edge and the holes on the back, meaning that the back laps over the front.

I'm likely to knit this again sometime, in a better yarn of course, and when I do I'll make just one more modification besides a longer neck, which is to make the sleeves a bit shorter. This is not a huge deal, just personal preference.

There have been a lot of little knits happening around here lately, but my knitting mojo has been in a bit of a funk. A design I started is not going to work out, and I see very little point in knitting things that aren't going to be used. I have plenty of hats and mittens for myself already (as do my immediate family) but hats and mittens seem to be what I can handle right now. Lots of experimentation happening, and planning for the coming year....

Lost

2009-12-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

I got some bad news on Sunday night. It appears that the practice rooms at my undergrad, Ithaca College, were vandalized. At the time 60 pianos and some percussion equipment were thought to be destroyed. This on the eve of the beginning of juries, the “final exam” for the playing portion of a musician’s studies in higher education. In the end, though ¾ of the pianos available in the practice rooms were overturned or had parts ripped out, most were in “playable” condition after some intensive work by the piano technicians. The police are investigating, and no one has been caught, nor is there any indication of why this was done.

I’m still in shock, mostly because I cannot for the life of me understand why someone would do this. I keep thinking of the sheer amount of time and strength it would have taken. When could this have happened? You cannot be in the music building during any of its open hours find yourself alone in the building. It’s generally open from 7AM to 1AM, and I have heard that often you can stay later than that. This 6 hour period of lockdown is really only to force music students to get some sleep. Could it have been a music student? More than one? This at least, does not seem true to me. A normal music student would never consider this kind of damage to a musical instrument. And they would not do it on the eve of juries. While this seems like the “best” time to do damage, and it’s true that the practice rooms get a lot of use at this time, the reality is that the practicing that needs to be done has already been done, and most people avoid the practice rooms entirely after juries are over which means that about Wednesday things get really quiet. The school has a lot of time to repair the pianos, get replacements, clean up, and generally put things to right again before school starts up. A more disruptive time would have been the first day of the new semester.

And still I do not understand. This shock goes around and around in my head and my heart, never reaching any kind of destination, open-ended and searching. Why?

This may seem trivial to a non-musician. The damage was, after all, pretty minimal in the end. But it’s the violation that is the shock. Consider a few points.

1. The music building is more a home than many musicians’ dorms or apartments. We often spend more hours a day in the music building than we do anywhere else between classes and practicing and attending concerts.

2. The music building at IC has always been open to anyone. Many music buildings I have visited over the years require key cards to get in, have extremely limited hours, or extremely limited space. The practice rooms are invariably in the basement, but IC’s rooms have windows to the outside (a real treat) and more grand pianos available to students than any other school I have ever visited. It’s this openness and the sense of home that seems most violated.

3. And then there’s the instruments themselves. Pianists and percussionist do not have the luxury of portable instruments. Even in the best of circumstances, the sheer cost of a grand piano or a marimba means that most of these students can only hope of owning one someday, after years and years of saving pennies. They cannot afford their own instruments, and that is why there are so many available in music schools, and why the pianists and percussionists spend so much time in the music building.

4. Lastly, I have to mention the personal relationship that a musician feels with his or her instrument. Each instrument has a personality, little things that it likes or doesn’t like, things it does effortlessly and things you need to coax it to do. Each instrument has its own voice. A music student often spends more hours a day with their instrument than any person in their lives. Consider that. A student was quoted as saying that he considers this act like a murder. He’s not far wrong in sentiment if not in actual fact.

I can’t help but think of the steps that IC will have to take to protect its students and its instruments, and another little part of me is sad. Hindsight is 20/20 and I have only been able to accurately value what Ithaca has given me in relation to the kinds of experiences I have had since. Ithaca is a truly unique place and offers an incredibly thorough and diverse musical education. I cannot picture how it will change with locks on its doors.

2009-12-13T15:46:00.000-05:00

I've been sick this week. It's been so long since I've been really sick - stay home from work sick - that I've completely forgotten how miserable it can be. Not just the sneezing and the headaches, sore throats and excessive Kleenex usage, but the boredom of it all! I think I watched about 6 of those Lifetime Christmas movies the past week, started sewing a dress (which will not be finished because of fitting issues), made a monster, started a new sweater, and made these mittens. They are based on a vintage pattern I picked up a few years back. I have no idea what decade the pattern is from - it's a Patons' pattern and judging from the color scheme of the original (yellow and burnt orange) I'd guess it's from the 70s. The original is for children, but I loved the criss-cross and tassel detail so much that I decided to translate them for adults.

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Cascade 220 in Italian Plum (I think?) and Classic Elite Wings (discontinued, and leftover from my Cardigan for Arwen) in a lavender.
Needles: US 4 and a crochet hook in size F

The mittens themselves were super quick to knit, even while basically making up a new pattern. It took a bit longer to get the proportions right on the length of the crocheted chain versus the number and spacing of the criss-crosses. I adore them, but they are a tad small for me. I seem to make this mistake a lot in my crafts for myself. Anyway, if they fit a certain friend of mine, she will be getting them as a Christmas gift. These are really great for last minute gifts. If there's intrest, I can write up the pattern quickly and offer it for free through Ravelry for last minute gifting.

Presenting!

2009-12-07T18:45:00.000-05:00

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that the pattern for my Double Time Vest is now up in my Ravelry store. I can't believe that I've actually done it! It's been a while in coming (most of the fall, actually) but it's here and it's ready for you to enjoy. I'd like to thank all the people over at the Vestvember group who really encouraged me with all their kind comments on my vest. I'm sure that this vest has a place in nearly every wardrobe - I've worn it more than a few times myself recently. Should you have any questions or comments, need clarification, or find errata, please contact me as soon as possible.

Meet Jann

2009-12-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

Have I told you about Jann? I worked with Jann in the Aspen Music Festival Box Office the past two years. She fun and loud and a great person to work with. Since she's a local, she knows just about everything that's going on around town, and since she's worked in the hospitality industry, she also knows a lot of the concierges. I think I mentioned before, but aside from the first rush of the morning and right before a concert, there's not a lot to do in the box office when the phone is not ringing. I spent a lot of time browsing around Ravelry and Flickr and the like, and I showed Jann a picture of Tuppy Von Monster. She fell in love and insisted that I make a picture of him the background of the computer I regularly used, so even when I wasn't there, she could see him. She was so excited about him that she kept calling him Tuffy not Tuppy, and I could never correct her. I promised that I would make him for her, and I got her address. She probably thinks that I have forgotten about my promise, but I haven't.

Pattern: Tuppy Von Monster by Elli Stubenrauch
Yarn: The main color is Paton's Classic Wool in Winter White, the contrast colors are bits from the stash.
Needles: US 4
Mods: Just a few things to make my life easier - I didn't have any extra heavy stabilizer, so the teeth are made from white felt and the wings are very lightly stuffed with polyfill. I accidentally bought 12mm eyes instead of 15mm eyes, so those went on instead. I also mixed it up with the colors - instead of using B and C for the horns, I used what I liked instead.

"Tuffy" was pretty fun to make, and he's ever so cute. The body on mine seems to be more oblong than pear shaped like in the pattern, and his legs are decidedly splayed. He doesn't stand on his own, as it appears the pattern model does, but his sweet little smile makes up for it. I'll be sending him out tomorrow with a jar of raspberry jam and wishing Jann the very merriest of holidays, up there in America's winter wonderland.

Before :: After

2009-12-03T16:32:00.000-05:00

Do my fingers look a little white-knuckled around that cookie? I knew when I snatched up this teaching job for today that it was going to be a challenge - 2nd grade, and I've never done a whole day with kids so young. I called home last night to have a mini freak out over it. My dad set my head back on my shoulders and I scooped House at Pooh Corner and a book of Native American myths into my bag and tripped happily along my way.

If I had known that it was this 2nd grade, I would have just stayed home. I survived, but ended up sending two boys to the office for the 2nd half of the day and received concerned looks from just about every teacher I passed in the hall all day. I must have looked a bit shell-shocked. Needless to say, these kids were not going to be sitting still for House at Pooh Corner. I spend the whole day in a cold sweat, trying to keep kids on task.

Upon arriving home, I headed straight for the yoga pants on my Owls sweater. I was popping a couple of ibprofen and stirring honey into my Lady Grey tea when there was a knock on the door.

A package for me! I chose to spend my birthday money severely dessimating my Amazon wishlist, and I'm so glad I did, especially since it came today of all days! (That's right, as of last Friday another year older, another year... wiser....?) Now I have too many awesome stress relievers and I can't decide! Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Kungfu Panda? Smutty romance novel? New music? I'm going to opt against doing them all at once, since I've been subjected to a dull roar all day, and I think my head might explode....

And, oh, tonight is Creative Night, a semi-regular thing I have going with some girls I know. We just get together and, well, I'm sure it's no surprise that we mostly eat and chat more than actually create. I'm hoping to get a good start on the neck for my Plain and Simple Vest. Just 7 inches of ribbing on size 1 needles to go. Good food, good friends, and snuggles from a dog named Odo (you know, from Deep Space Nine. He's a shapeshifter.) The best antidote to a crappy day that I know of. Dudes, I earned my pittance today.

Snapshot

2009-11-24T17:40:00.000-05:00

Let me explain the picture. Today I managed to score a sweet gig subbing for an elementary school librarian. I was pretty excited about it because I'm considering the pros and cons of getting a Masters of Library Science degree, and although being a school librarian is a different certification program, I was looking forward to finding out about what it is that a school librarian does first hand. Not to mention that when I got to the school, it was clear that it was going to be an easy day.

And then one of the 4th grade teachers had to leave suddenly, and I got reassigned to be in her classroom for basically the whole day. I was pretty bummed, and everything got kind of thrown together at the last minute, and oh, did they forget to tell me that the kids were going on a field trip to see a play at the high school? Well, I managed, and I had a good time too. Younger kids seem to like me a lot, which I find kind of funny. I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. I just try and make sure that everyone has all their body parts at the end of the day, which come to think of it is probably why they like me. Their real teacher needs to accomplish substantially more than that.

Anyway, I'm off for the holiday. I hope that you all have just the kind of holiday that you most need!

Thoughts from a Sunday Afternoon

2009-11-22T13:54:00.000-05:00

Here I sit, procrastinating about writing up the pattern for my Double Time Vest. I was thinking that I was going to go to the local coffee house, flirt a bit with the cute guys who work there, get a pumpkin latte, and sit for the afternoon to knock out the math on the pattern. Since I'm not in school anymore, I've completely lost perspective on Sunday afternoon being prime homework and studying time, and there wasn't a table to be found in the place. So I'm back home, giant mug of Earl Grey by my side, thinking about maybe at some point soon-ish getting to the pattern writing. After having had two auditions in two weeks, I've finished auditioning for the forseeable future, and it's kind of like school's out. I have all this extra time. What do I do now?

Danielle and I hiked about 9 miles yesterday, which was great. I get really cranky when I can't get outside, and with it getting so dark in the evenings, I've had to take my run to the treadmill, which is not my favorite thing. I felt so much better after being outside and chatting for a few hours.

I've been thinking about the holidays this year. I'm trying to let go of my need to have every little thing turn into a tradition. Life goes on and changes. Love stays the same, no matter what. I put up my Christmas lights around the living room. I just love Christmas lights. I think that they are a very important part of this time of year. It is just so dark, and the lights make everything cheerful. I feel calm when I see them. I'm also thinking about these little trees. I love that they are not really holiday specific - you could use them for the whole winter if you wanted. They're plain but interesting and in groupings they are just so cute.

I bought this skirt recently after hearing recommendations for it from two different people in a week. It's kind of the winter counterpart to my favorite summer skirt. It's incredibly comfy and easy to wear. It's more money than I would typically spend on a single piece, but I can tell that it's going to be worth it. I may even have to get another closer to spring! I've been so obsessed with skirts lately... my day feels better from the get-go when I'm wearing a skirt.

Stephanie is coming over for dinner tonight. She'll have finished up the opera, and I know she'll need to decompress. We're having these little chilli pepper things from Jamie Oliver for salad/appetizer, Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash, Carmelized Cauliflower, and Stephanie's bringing dessert. I'm excited.

The picture at the top is being reused from a recent posting on M&S. We're taking a little break for the holiday weekend, but we'll be back after that. We're having a great time, and we'd love to have you stop by!

So Proud!

2009-11-18T11:24:00.000-05:00

After much ripping and complaining, plus a nearly a week spent pinned to the floor because I was out of town, the Double Time Vest is officially finished!

Pattern: Double Time Vest by ME!
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in Redwood Mix
Needles: US2 and 3

This vest is meant to be very versatile. Wear it as I have shown it here for a work-appropriate look or with jeans and boots on the weekend. Won't weigh you down, but it will keep you toasty thanks to the alpaca content of the yarn. Vest are wonderful because they aren't bulky, but they do an excellent job of regulating body temperature. For me, a scoop neck is a very flattering look, and this one is just a bit higher than some of the others out there. It's great for those of us with... assets.

I've been needing some work clothes for a while now, and I had virtually no knits that fit the bill. I can see this one will be in heavy rotation for the coming months, along with this very nice and lightly worn grey skirt which I got at the thrift store for $8. I should also mention that Ultra Alpaca Light is very reasonably priced, great for those of us on a tight budget.

I'm still working on the pattern. It's been quite a process, this, however if you are interested in test knitting the vest, please let me know!

Obsession

2009-11-11T16:45:00.000-05:00

I saw a picture of this a few days ago, and became immediately obsessed. I wanted one, I needed one. I had some yarn which (miracle) knits up to gauge which I had ripped from another project and tagged for a self-made design but I couldn't get this vest out of my head. Today, after running errands for a few hours and dealing with stupid people, and an overly full bladder, I put off the rest of my to-do list and sat for a bit, watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy, and cast on. I'm going down a needle size from gauge, because I want something a in between two sizes, and with this yarn which is a silk blend, I think a bit more stability would be a good thing.

I have other things I should be knitting, but I don't respond well to should. I'm leaving tomorrow for an audition in West Virginia, and I'm going to be passing through my aunt and uncle's in Kentucky on my way back. I'm bringing my Embossed Leaves socks and a pair of Thick Woodsman's Socks for my aunt and uncle. The Embossed Leaves socks don't fit me very well. That's what I get for not checking gauge, however my aunt has very wide feet, so hopefully they will suit her. The Woodsman's Socks will use up the last of that same green on green yarn that's been hanging around for far too long, and although they are a very quick knit (socks on US8 anyone?) I would rather be knitting my plain and simple pullover. I'd rather be knitting my plain and simple pullover than doing just about anything right now, and that includes packing.

Sneak Peek

2009-11-05T16:36:00.000-05:00

This is the design I'm working on now. I've been at it for a while. It's a vest, with a low-ish round neckline. The cable panel works up both the front and the back, giving the piece some interest and stretch. The first attempt (in the ubiquitous Buckwheat Ultra Alpaca Light) turned out too small for me, and I gave it to a friend who was thrilled to have it. But I wanted one! So I ordered some more Ultra Alpaca Light in Redwood Mix, which I'm loving. The color is not one hundred percent accurate in this photo, but it's one of those colors that changes a lot depending on the light. I can see this being a wardrobe staple for me this winter - it's definitely work apporpriate (I'm thinking a button down and black pants), but it can be dressed down, too, with jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt.

The second attempt made it to the back shaping when I realized that something catastrophic had occurred in my math and marker placement, and I ripped back to the ribbing on Halloween.

The third attempt is looking good so far.... fingers crossed. It coincides, luckily enough, with the Vestvember movement. I'm upping the ante, and hoping to have the pattern done in enought time to release it for the second half of the month - gotta keep the energy flowing! I've never written up a pattern before, and it's been quite the learning experience. I'm so excited to share it with you!

Mystery Sock

2009-11-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Mystery Socks by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in Mango
Needles: US 1
Mods: Omitted one round on each side of the ribbing in the cuff of the sock. It was starting to look a little long for my leg.

They are so pretty, and they were fun to knit! Of course, you never know what you're going to get with a mystery sock, but I would have picked these if I'd had a choice.

Knitting's going pretty slowly Chez Double G. Well, the knitting isn't going slowly, it's just that the mistakes are coming faster than the progress. I had to rip back almost a whole sweater yesterday. That stung. But I'm trying to remember that a perfect fit is worth it! What's new with you?

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T00:01:00.000-04:00

I taught a friend to sew today. We made a skirt for her Tinkerbell costume. The Wind Symphony is playing a concert tomorrow. The clarinets are dressing up as characters from Peter Pan.

Not pictured: Stephanie's AWESOME Tiger Lily costume. We did the whole thing by hand, not being in possession of a sewing machine. It's not exactly professional, but it will do!

May I suggest that you add some Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing to your Halloween festivities? These (like pretty much all the cupcakes I make) are from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The only changes I made were to double the amount of powdered sugar in the icing to make it spreadable. I left some cupcakes plain because, well, that's all the icing I had, and I didn't expect us to eat them all, and I figured I'd just freeze the leftovers. Oh me of little faith, though I did send four to good homes, there is only one lonely cupcake left for me to eat tomorrow (and to be clear, I only ate one today!). It turns out that they are perfectly delicious without the icing after all!

Well, I haven't got any moors.....

2009-10-25T16:33:00.000-04:00

.... but I'm pretty good at wandering.

Pattern: Wandering the Moor by Celeste Glassesl
Yarn: 3 skeins Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Buckwheat
Needles: US 5
Mods: I added one extra pattern repeat to the small size on each side of the shawl - two total - in an effort to use up every last bit of this yarn that has been lying around here for a year now.

You might want to get used to looking at this yarn. It will feature in a design of mine in a few weeks here, and if you recall, it is the same yarn as I used for my dad's Very Classy Vest about this time last year. I grossly overestimated the amount of yarn needed for his vest and have had a ton of it hanging around. Since I'm on a bit of a yarn diet, I'm making use of what I have. You will also be seeing another new design of mine with this "making use of what I have" idea in a few more weeks.

I think I got bit by the shawl bug after I finished the Box Office Shawl. I actually wore it, much to my surprise, though sadly not in the "date night" situation I was imagining. It's a great little thing to have around to throw on when you're a bit chilly but not cold enough to get another sweater. And it's good to take along substitute teaching because you can never be sure what the temperature of a classroom is going to be and it folds up to practically nothing. It's only as warm as you need it to be. This new shawl will get added to my arsenal. It's heavier, and therefore warmer, but the color is versatile and I like the geometric lace on the edging. The pattern is well written with lots of tips for customization. The only thing is, in a twist of irony, I wish I had more yarn, because I would have like for it to be bigger!

Central Park in the Woods

2009-10-18T13:09:00.000-04:00

Doing a little happy dance - my first sweater of the season!

Pattern: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky
Yarn: Classic Elite Skye Tweed in #1288
Needles: US 4 and 6
Mods: Lengthed the body by an inch and a half, shortened the sleeves by an inch.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about this sweater. It's very warm and cozy and perfect for the cold fall days we are having now. I am very glad that it's done though. I did not like knitting with the yarn. It's not springy, and it's very felty, and all in all the experience was not great. The yarn blooms a lot in the wash, which is pretty much the only thing that makes it wearable. It knits up almost like it's still in spinning oil or something, but without the oily feeling. The end fabric is quite dense and pleasingly soft while still having structure. In any case, I'm not sorry it's discontinued. I wouldn't use it again simply because it was very hard on my hands and not fun to work with, though the end fabric is nice.

The one disappointment about this sweater, which fits very well otherwise, is that I wish I had lengthen it even more. In these photos, I have it pulled down quite a bit. I wore it all day yesterday, and found that I was constantly tugging it down. I should have made the body about 3 inches longer in total than the pattern calls for instead of an inch and a half. I'll save those notes for another time, I guess.

On to other projects, and I have a few hangin around that are near completion!

A Quick Note

2009-10-14T16:20:00.000-04:00

Just thought you might like to stop by M&S, a new blog started by my friend Sarah and me. We have been wanted to do a co-project for a long time, and finally decided to set one up. The parameters are pretty loose right now, but the idea is to stay connected to each other and to our creative spirirts. We'd love to have you stop by!

Socktober

2009-10-01T17:34:00.000-04:00

Are you doing it? Kirsten Kapur's Mystery sock knitalong for Socktober Fest? Join in the fun!

Clean it out!

2009-09-28T18:28:00.000-04:00

I think we can pretty much agree that it is the law of washing your car that it rains the next day. Yesterday I not only washed but also waxed my car which meant that today it was cold, overcast, rainy, and windy. "What to do, what to do?" I thought as I drove back to my place after staying the weekend with the family. I was thinking not so much about the rain as about dinner. As far as I knew, my fridge was very bare. Mentally, I took stock. The best I could come up with was some kidney beans I had cooked and frozen months ago. They should probably be used before they started to taste too much like freezer. And knew there was a rather large stock of tomatoes sitting in my pantry, leftover from some garden fresh tomato soup I'd made the weekend before. Those needed to be used, too, before they rotted where they lay. "Chili," I thought. "Chili would be perfect." And so was born the Clean it Out Chili:

Clean it Out Chili
serves 4

1 T olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 carrot, quartered and sliced
1 zucchini, quartered and sliced
3 c (or 2 15-oz cans, rinsed and drained) kidney beans
1/2 bottle Labatt's Blue beer (or other light, non-bitter beer)
9 small to medium tomatoes, peeled and seeded and coarsely chopped
8 T tomato paste
2 t unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T chili powder
1/2 t chipotle chili powder
1/2 t cumin
salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel and seed and coarsely chop tomatoes. I do this by dunking them for a minute in a pot of boiling water. Core them and score a cross on the bottom first. You know they are ready to come out of the pot when the skin starts to split on its own. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions. Saute until starting to brown. Add carrots. Saute a few minutes more. Add garlic, jalapeno, and zucchini. Saute a minute or two, until you can smell the garlic but it isn't browned. Add the beer, tomatoes, and spices. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

3. Simmer at least 20 minutes for the flavors to meld. Serve with cheddar cheese, sour cream, or fresh tortillas on the side

Note: Because this was a thrown together meal, I used what I had. This means I used fresh tomatoes and homemade tomato paste. If you don't have these ingredients, a 28-oz can of diced tomatoes (with the juice) could be used with similar results. If you are using store bought tomato paste, you may need to use less. If you have fresh or frozen corn, it would be very good here.

I had it with tortillas (also out of the freezer. Go freezer!) and the last of last year's homemade applesauce on the side. Yum!

It would seem that I've suddenly transitioned this knitting blog to a cooking blog. Knitting content to return very shortly, I promise!

On the up side...

2009-09-22T17:17:00.000-04:00

It's not all doom and introspection around here. There's other stuff too. Like jam. Lots of jam. My friend Danielle is a raspberry fiend. In fact, she harbors a not-so-secret desire to own and run her own u-pick berry farm. I like raspberries a lot. All berries, really. But if I'm completely honest, I'm more into strawberries and blueberries than raspberries. Raspberries, though delicious, have seeds that get stuck in your teeth and won't come out not matter how much you pick at them. This little annoyance keeps me from loving them as much as I might. It doesn't keep me from picking them, aparently. Eight more quarts came home with me last weekend. Getting up early to pick raspberries and chat with your friend is a great way to spend a weekend morning. There are all kinds of things you can dream while standing in a quiet field, supplementing your breakfast, that you can't dream anywhere else.

And what to do with all those berries? Well, I already mentioned the jam. It's official. Everyone is getting jam for Christmas, because there is NO WAY I can eat all that jam before next year. I mentioned the Raspberry Custard Kuchen last time, and this time I can highly recommend the Chocolate Raspberry Blondie Bars from Vegan with a Vengance. I had a few friends over this weekend and I think they each ate 4. I tell you what, skinny girls put away more food than anyone I've ever seen, except possibly a teenaged boy.

Can I also suggest Raspberry Jalapeno Jam? It's something I've been wanting to make ever since I had my first San Diego Bagel from Collegetown Bagels in Ithaca. It's a bagel with cream cheese and raspberry jalapeno jam. Delish! So I found a recipe, and I made some.

Mine isn't as spicy as I'd like it to be. It's not spicy at all, actually. I probably should have left the seeds of at least one of jalapenos in the jam.

Raspberry Jalapeno Jam

5 cups crushed raspberries
6 cups sugar
½ cup cider vinegar
1 pouch (3 oz.) liquid pectin
½ of a red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
3 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
½ teaspoon butter (optional, to reduce foaming)

Makes approximately 8 8-oz jars

1. Prepare canning equipment. (See below.)
2. Place berries, vinegar, pectin, butter, and peppers in a large stock pot. Bring to a rolling boil over high head, stirring constantly.
3. Add sugar. Return to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for exactly one minute. Remove from heat. Let cool for 5 or 10 minutes, skimming off any foam and stirring occasionally.
4. Ladle into jars. Carefully wipe the rims and threads of the jars before putting on the tops.
5. Process 10 minutes.
6. Enjoy the sound of the tops popping and the deep, deep red jars.

To prepare canning equipment:
1. Wash and sterilize the jars, tops, and rings. I do this by hand washing them, then putting my jars on a jelly roll pan and placing the pan in a cold oven. I heat the oven to “warm” and I TURN IT OFF.
2. Place the tops in a heat-proof container and pour boiling water over them. The tops must be unused. The boiling water prepares the adhesive. Let them sit until needed.
3. Fill your canning pot half or three-quarters filled with water and bring to a boil.
4. Measure out your sugar into a separate bowl and have at the ready.
5. Have lots of towels and pot holders within arms’ reach.

Things to know about canning:
1. You must follow the recipe exactly. This is science, not art. Not following the recipe can result in as little as runny jam or as much as botulism. Don’t mess around.
2. You must use new jar tops every time. The rings you can reuse (and in fact, you can take them off the jars once they are canned.).
3. When you tighten the rings on the jars, only tighten them until the point that you would screw the lid on any other jar in your fridge. This is called “fingertip tight.” Do not tighten the lids further after you have taken them out of the water bath. This could interfere with the canning process.
4. After you have processed the jars, you will hear them pop. Let them cool a few hours and then press gently on the tops. Any tops that spring back have not sealed properly and must either be re-canned with a new lid or refrigerated.

Ideas for use from Holly:
1. Warm some brie, spoon the jam on top, sprinkle with toasted slivered almonds, and serve with crostini
2. Spread a little on a slice of flourless chocolate cake (or unfrosted brownies), serve with a dollop of whipped cream
3. Mix a 1/3 cup of the jam with 2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar and use as a glaze on chicken or pork
4. Mix it with some minced garlic, a little salt, pepper, thin slightly with some cider vinegar and toss with chicken wings (you will want to roast the wings to near doneness--then apply this glaze toward the tail end so as to avoid too much crunchy blackening)
5. Make a grilled cheese with some wholegrain bread and sharp white cheddar and add a little layer of the jam
6. Make a sandwich with turkey, arugula, Jarlsberg cheese, and spread a little jam on the baguette
7. Spoon it over cheesecake
8. Serve with panko crusted shrimp
9. And the easiest, dump it on a block of cream cheese and serve with some whole grain crackers

I can pers0nally vouch for the various combinations with cheese, and I can't wait to try some others!

On Life and Earl Grey

2009-09-18T11:49:00.000-04:00

The best word to describe my life right now is "odd." Not in school, not employed. Lacking in a lot of the things that I'm used to having in my schedule like lessons and rehearsals. I'm feeling both more and less balanced than I'm used to. I've been spending a lot of time thinking and inventing things for myself to do. These things mostly have to do with organizing and cleaning, which is all good in my opinion. I didn't realize how many things I had put off doing, or which hadn't seemed important at the time but are now rather critical.

I have applied to be a substitute teacher, and I have been doing all the training and form-getting which is needed for that. My orientation is on Thursday, and I'm really hoping that it comes through for me. Not being one to put all my eggs in one basket, I'm also looking at other jobs, putting together resumes and cover letters, taking assessments on my strengths and weaknesses. It's been illuminating, but incredibly scary.

I talk a good talk about letting my life open up and exploring the options available to me, about seeing where my path leads. The truth is, I'm really afraid.

I have two auditions scheduled between now and Thanksgiving, which gives me something to practice for. The reality of being a musician is that it is hard to make yourself work if there is not a reason to be working like an audition or a lesson or a concert. I'm running the Dino Dash again this year on October 4th, and I'm in the beginning stages of planning a weekend backpacking trip a few weeks later. All these things are giving my life some structure, but I sure wish I had a job so I could feel productive.

This morning I woke up feeling down and out of sorts. We all have our little ritual which help us to center and focus and let go of the weight in our mind. For me, the scent and taste of Earl Grey tea makes me feel like everything is ok in the world. When I smell it, I can't think of anything else. My cup of tea was badly needed today.

Smug

2009-09-13T11:40:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling pretty smug. You see, in the event that I am snowed in for weeks on end this winter (they are apparently predicting a very snowy winter) I will have packed away provisions. Mostly in the form of jam.

Elderberry jam made using this recipe, only quartered, because that was all the berries I had. It made just one jar of jam, which I didn't even bother to can. Elderberries (at least in this form, which is the only way I've had them) have a very dark flavor. I bought them on a whim from the farmer's market this week, never having had them before and set about finding out what to do with them. It turns out, people pretty much make only three things: pie, jam, and wine. So, jam it was.

And then yesterday I went raspberry picking with a friend. It was a cool, foggy morning, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The berries practically fell off the bushes into our jugs. Seven quarts later (seven! quarts!) I had a little raspberry processing factory going in my place last night. Two and a half quarts made 8 jars of jam, one quart is in the fridge for snacking, two and a half more are frozen, and the last quart made Raspberry Custard Kuchen. So good. I made it with skim milk instead of cream, and it worked just fine.

Smug, smug, smug. I think I feel Christmas presents coming on, because I don't think I can stop jamming and canning!

Did I forget to mention?

2009-09-09T15:27:00.000-04:00

I did a little knitting while away this summer. I'm calling this the Box Office Shawl, because it was knit almost in its entirety while answering phones in the Box Office. I needed a little something to do while waiting for the phones to ring, and not having the ability to go full-on sweater (the lack of needle choice, for one thing) I knit my first ever shawl, since sizing isn't really an issue.

Pattern: Matilda by Kate Blackburn
Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Lace in #2020, 1 skein
Needles: US 5
Mods: I think I did only about 8 repeats of the diamond pattern, and I only did about half of the edging chart. As a result, my shawl is smaller than the pattern, and the edging points are less pointy. I did this because I wanted to use as much of one skein of yarn as possible, and I just made it.
When I first started this shawl, I wasn't in love with how open the fabric was. If I'd had a full selection of needles, I probably would have gone down to a US3 and used 2 skeins. After blocking, it's a very airy shawl, and will probably be nice for the transition seasons. Since it's alpaca, it is still warm.

I wasn't sure I was going to keep this shawl for me. This is very much my mom's color, and to be honest, I'm not sure how much use I have for a shawl, but I after taking these pictures, I'm going to keep it for a little while anyway. It would be a nice date-night kind of thing, if I ever got asked on a date. I'm holding out hope.

Two mini celebrations: I got my hair cut, and I bought a tripod (finally!) I love the cut. It really suits my hair and my lifestyle. It's quite a bit shorter all over than I've had it recently, not just from top to bottom. I have a very stubby ponytail, but I love it too much to care. And the tripod! What took me so long? These pics were the first with the tripod, and I'm not saying that things are initially easier, but they sure are more fun! And I no longer have to worry about my camera shifting or falling when I make a 10 second timer dash.

Not pictured: the swarm of moquitos who descended upon me as soon as I set foot outside. There aren't many mosquitos in Colorado. Just sayin'.

Epic Hike

2009-09-01T16:53:00.000-04:00

The last Monday of the festival, Krista and I went on an epic hike. We’d been planning for it and working up to it all summer, gradually ramping up our hikes so we could be prepared to be at 12,500 feet, so we could handle and elevation gain of roughly 3000 ft. and a duration of 7 hours. We’d been planning for it for a few weeks, and by 5AM on the prescribed day, we’d nearly talked ourselves out of it. We knew it was going to be hard, sometimes painful, work. It was 5AM on our day off. Staying in bed sounded like a really good idea.

We got up anyway and headed to the Maroon Bells Wilderness Area to do the hike to Buckskin Pass. You’ve probably seen Maroon Bells, even if you’ve never been there. It is one of the most photographed scenic views in the US, and let me tell you, those photographers don’t even have to work for an amazing picture. It’s all right there. All you have to do is point and shoot. (Don’t ask me why they’re called “Bells.” I have no idea.)

We took a little break at Crater Lake for some water, snacks, and photos before heading off the beaten path towards the Pass. It’s quite cold in the mountains in the mornings and evenings. The sun in the source of most of the warmth, and without it, things cool off in a big hurry. It was in the upper 30s (farenheit) when we left, and at Crater Lake, most of the greenery was frosted over.

We passed Minnehaha Gulch, where we saw a mama and baby mule deer.

We stopped for a bit in the alpine meadow, where we dreamed of putting up a little cabin and never coming down.

We finally sighted the Pass (the snow covered bit on the left), and a marmot – a funny kind of cross between a woodchuck and a dog.

The thing about hiking so early is that your sense of time get so skewed. By the time we’d made it to the summit, it was only 10AM, and though we were sweaty and our legs were a little wobbly, it didn’t feel like we’d been hiking for 4 hours. One of the difficult things for us was hiking in the altitude. Though we were fully acclimated to 8000 ft, climbing steep switchbacks at 12,000 proved to be a bigger challenge on our lungs than our legs. We had to stop every couple hundred yards to catch our breath before continuing up. This was fine. We weren’t in a hurry. We just wanted to get there.

And, oh, there we were!

We were sitting down to some “lunch,” comfortably couched on some obliging rocks when Krista yelled, “Mountain goats! Mountain goats!” They were coming down the mountain right towards us. They got very close – Krista was actually quite scared at this point, and hunkered behind some rocks. I didn’t even have to zoom on this shot! I was a bit uncertain too. I had never encountered a mountain goat, and I had no idea what to expect from them – they really were very close! – and I didn’t know how to make them go away. Our talking didn’t seem to faze them, and neither did our singing. (To the tune of “A Spoon Full of Sugar:” A spoon full of mountain goat makes the hike a little scary, hike a little scary, hike a little scary….)

We did finally end up cutting the trail to avoid two goats who were getting a bit aggressive with each other right on the trail and we headed back down.

The thing about hiking in the mountains is that going up is hard work, but hiking downhill for hours is painful on the joints. The terrain is very rocky above the tree line and gravelly below it. Not such a problem going up, but on the way down makes for slippery and uncertain footing. Coming down got really old. It was hot and crowded by the time we made it back to Crater Lake, and we really wanted to no longer be vertical.

The other epic thing about our epic hike? An epic shower afterwards.

I'm alive

2009-06-29T22:59:00.000-04:00

I promise. This summer, like last summer, I'm not likely to be around here often. I just have too much other stuff going on, like triple rehearsals and lessons two days apart and concerts and working in the box office. If you like, you can catch up with me over on Flickr (screen name: doubleGknits) where I've started a "Summer in Pictures" photo set which is meant to document my summer in one picture a day. Who knows how often I will be able to upload, but it should be interesting anyway. I haven't knit a stitch in the two and a half weeks I've been here, but I'm ok with that. Book recommendations, however, are always welcome.

Pudding Night

2009-06-05T10:31:00.000-04:00

If you have ever had the good fortune to be in Ithaca on a weekend, and then were able to make it to the Farmer's Market, and had the patience to stand in line at the Macrobiotic stall when they serve tapioca pudding with fruit on top, well, you're one lucky person. I love, love, love their tapioca pudding - thick and chewy and flecked with vanilla bean. I've been wanting to try and replicate their recipe for a while. I can't say that I've made it, but this recipe was an excellent place to start last night. I was drawn to it because it had real vanilla bean in it, and I've been trying a lot of her recipes lately (I also made this one last night). I think the original has some coconut milk in it, though. Next time. It's a little bit time consuming - you've got to stir it constantly - but so, so worth it. Read a book, contemplate life, listen to The Greencards latest CD, whathaveyou. Just make it. You won't be sorry.

Definition

2009-05-29T15:57:00.000-04:00

Can I call this a FO if there's only one?

Pattern: Toast by Leslie Friend
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted, leftovers in stash
Needles: US 6 dpns
Time Elapsed: about 1.5 hours

I'm in prep mode for Aspen, and, as is not unusual when I start increasing my practice, my right arm hurts. Clarinetists balance the whole weight of the instrument (about 3 pounds) on the end of their thumb, and this stress combined with the kind of speed and technique that I am currently practicing, means that we often have troubles with our right arms. I always liked the styling on Toast, but didn't see myself knitting it because what was the point without the whole hand? Well, I've found out. Ballerinas use leg warmers, I use (an) armwarmer(s). Luckily, Sarah is coming to town this weekend (she's on her way right now!) which gives me an excellent excuse to rest and recover. I need to be 100% next week, since I will be not only doing my normal prep, but also playing in a Conducting Symposium here at the college which will provide me with a little cash (!) but will require 6 hours of playing a day for three days. Toast is just the thing for a tender arm.

I am planning on knitting the mate, but I probably should not be knitting just now....

Big Accomplishment

2009-05-24T11:51:00.000-04:00

Do you have any idea how long Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley has been sitting on my bookshelf? Long enough for the edges of the pages to start yellowing, that's how long. I've been meaning to read it, really I have, especially since I've tried twice before, crapping out in approximately the same place both times, and that just seems like a challenge to me. The thing is, weighing in at just under 900 pages, the thing is not light reading in the literal sense of the word, even in paperpack, and not readily portable. It's physically uncomfortable to read, not unlike some of the later Harry Potters (in hardcover, if you please) but not nearly so addictive.

I did make it. It took me two weeks, which for me is an eon in reading time. I read fast, people, and I'm not used to dedicating so much time to something not for a class. I'm really glad I did finally make it. The book was very good - well conceived and well written. There are few dangling ends and remarkable connections are made across many pages and years. I found, however, that it really wasn't my thing. I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. I just didn't like any of them. It was hard for me to invest myself in the outcome because I didn't identify with any of them. This the King Arthur legend told from the point of view of the women in the story, and while it is very interesting to see the inner workings of the women of the time, I find that a huge and complicated story like this, told only from one side, is a half-told story.

Still, I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to add a little weightlifting to their reading.

Did you notice what I'm wearing?
Pattern: Prairie Tunic by Veronik Avery from Interweave Spring 2006
Yarn: Frog Tree Pima Silk in color 820
Needles: US 3
Mods: Did a little gauge magic to make the yarn work - knit 36.5" size for an approximately 38-39" bust. Shortened the vents on the side from 6" to 2.5" and did not start the A-line decreases until after the vents. Also, I decided to forgo the racer-style back for a regular tank-style back and used ribbon instead of yarn cord for the straps.

Sorry the color is washed out in this picture, but you can see how I did the back. I knit to the armpits, did about 1.5" of the initial short-row armhole shaping specified in the pattern, and then continued on in stockinette, decreasing each end every row for about 3/4-1". Then I added four rows of garter stitch to the middle portion (the patterned bit plus six stitches on either side), decreasing every row at the armholes and the beginning and end of the garter section. Bound off the middle part, leaving three garter stitches on each end and worked the two tabs separately, decreasing every other row until 8 stitches were left, and following the directions for the tab extensions as for the front.

I opted against the twisted yarn straps in the pattern because: 1. I was not using the racer back, and 2. I have broad shoulders and do not possess the ability to go bra-less. I used a 7/8" wide leopard print ribbon for the straps to add some interest and coverage. I'm not normally a leopard print kind of girl, but when I went to the store, this ribbon just jumped out of the rack and into my hands. I'm embracing it.

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday weekend!

From the Outside

2009-05-21T18:38:00.000-04:00

I'm one of those people who gets embarrassed when she brings things to the checkout, always thinking that the cashier is wondering what kind of nut buys toilet paper, drain cleaner, fake crab, and a Mother's Day card. The cashier could probably care less. The cashier gets all kinds of weirder combinations coming through daily. The cashier can't tell the difference between a cucumber and a zucchini, so why should the cashier care what you're doing with the fake crab and toilet paper?

I admit, when I went through the checkout today, I had a qualm. In my hands was the latest Knit.1, Rachel Gibson's most recent release (True Love and other Disasters), and Vegan with a Vengeance. I know what it looks like: Crazy, repressed cat lady with a thing for horrible, scratchy sweaters and rabbit food. Ok, crazy, yes. Repressed, very likely. Cats, no. Horrible, scratchy sweaters, no. Rabbit food, depends on your definition. These are the things that I like: beautiful sweaters, stories with glowing, happy endings, and vegetables with little animal-product interference. I hate that I care what the cashier was thinking as he rang up my bill (yes, it was a he. It always is, isn't it, when you're out of tampons?). I really hate it, but there it is. I care what people see when I'm holding a pile of potential crazy. What do you see? What was the most embarrassing pile of purchases you ever made?

In other news, I have been knitting, just not blogging about it. For whatever reason, I'm just not that motivated to finish projects, or when I do finish them to photograph them. Maybe when Sarah gets into town, she'll take some pictures for me... In any case, it is what it is, so bear with me.

The truth is...

2009-05-13T12:01:00.000-04:00

I lasted one day on that detox diet. It was only supposed to be two days long. I spent all this time preparing for it, and looking forward to it, and then yesterday when I woke up feeling more nauseous than I can remember feeling in a very long time (like, lying on the couch in a cold sweat and willing myself not to vomit) I decided that this thing wasn't worth it. I don't like dandelion greens or escarole. I like lemon water, but not in the ratio of half a lemon to 8 oz. of water. I hate steamed spinach (though I like chard and kale). In the end, I learned a lot. I thought that what I needed was to go further into myself but what I really needed was outward, not inward. What I needed was yesterday - taking off to Ann Arbor with a friend, getting this little thing on my clarinet fixed that has been driving me crazy all year, going to Zingerman's and buying really good bread and artisanal cheese and pastries, chatting all afternoon, and eating dinner in my apartment of all the things we bought this afternoon. Let me tell you what's not on the detox diet - wheat, dairy, and sugar - but I felt so much better after yesterday than I have in a while now. It's like they said on Radio Lab, laughter is not about what's funny. It's about communicating. I needed to be out, not in. Consider my slate clean.

Thoughts

2009-05-08T10:35:00.000-04:00

- Something about the end of the spring semester makes me knit socks each year, and then after the semester is done, all I want to do is read and read and read, preferrably with some fun music on while sitting on my balcony.

- The crab apple tree outside my window, which is my single most favorite thing about this apartment, is full of glorious magenta blooms. I don't care that it makes my allergies act up.

- I'm playing three graduations today, one of which is my own. If that sounds torturous, I'm playing two more tomorrow starting at 8:00 AM.

- I probably wouldn't be walking graduation if I wasn't playing in it. I paid $50 for a new regalia because as a Master's student, you need one with theses silly sleeves that have this piece of fabric that hangs down to your knees and you need a color coded cowl. For music, it's pink on the outside and green and white (school colors) on the inside. Baby pink. I dislike pink, but luckily I'm not a ginger kid like my friend Dan.

- I am ridiculously happy with the photo at the top of this post. I took it this weekend while hiking. It's exactly what I wanted, but I have no idea how I got it.

- My brother is getting married a week from tomorrow. I'm supposed to make a scrapbook page for the secret scrapbook that that maid of honor is putting together. I don't really scrapbook, and what's more I have very few pictures of my brother, his fiancee, or me in any combination. This is probably not a big deal, but it feels like it is.

- I got some sad news this week. What a waste.

- I'm committed to doing the weekend detox from the latest Vegetarian Times. I have a lot of crap I need to get rid of, physically and mentally, and more than that, it sounds like a great opportunity to focus inward and regenerate calm and confidence. Just in time to go stag to my brother's wedding.

- The best thing about the gradutation marathon today is that I bought some brie to make a European Backpacker sandwich - brie and apple on a baguette. Not really healthy, but so good, and if it gets me through the day, well, fat calories well spent.

Finished

2009-05-03T13:26:00.000-04:00

I'm all over the place lately.... Happy and excited and relieved to have finally finished my degree and to be graduating, but also sad and a bit lost. The future is shadowy, and while I know that continuing my education is not the right choice for me now, it certainly would have been the "safer" decision. I'm staying in my happy apartment for a little while longer, but thinking and planning and hoping aren't the same as having. I'm taking it a day at a time, and trying to find the joy in the uncertainty.

I promised you finished knits, so here you are:

Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt from Favorite Socks.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in Enchanted Forest
Needles: US 0
Comments: I shortened the leg, and used a slip stitch heel instead of the German heel in the pattern. I love the star toe on these. I'd really like to add it to other socks. Kitchner stitch is not my favorite. Maybe the dark green was a bit of an obvious color choice for leaf socks, but whatever. I like them. I think they're a tad bit big for me.... gauge wasn't exact, but I'll wear them anyway.

Pattern: Ukranian Socks by Nancy Bush from Folk Socks
Yarn: Leftovers of Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport of various colors and Dream in Color Smooshy
Needles: US 0
Comments: These are my crazygonuts socks. They were fast and fun. Colorwork always seems to go by so fast for me. I like the afterthought heel, but if I were to do them again, I would leave the colorwork off of the toe. The floats up there can get caught in toes, and I think the polka dots are a little bizarre after the wavy lines in the other charts. I did not have enough purple for both heels, so one heel is blue. Like I said. Crazygonuts.

For whatever reason, I always knit socks in the spring, even though I don't wear them until December. It's an odd pattern... maybe it's because I'm no longer knitting sweaters to keep warm?

Snap

2009-04-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

The view of my life right now.... That stack of books is the research for just one of the four questions I'm being posed for my oral exams. In just seven days, I will have to sit in a (probably overheated) room with three professors and talk in a (hopefully) concise, contained, and highly educated manner about (among other things) Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. I wasn't all that excited about this question to being with, because I know that it's been posed to at least two other of my colleagues in the last two years, but now that I've found recordings of the actual birdsong that has been transcribed in the music, I'm jazzed. The Quartet is worth knowing about - it was premiered in January 1941 in Stalag 8a, a prisoner of war camp during WWII. The upright piano's keys were sticking because of the cold and misuse, and the cello had only three strings. It's about 45 minutes long, and not particularly novice-friendly, but if you ever get the chance to hear it live, please do. It is insidiously powerful.

I'll be back in a few weeks with some quality knitwear to show off. Wish me luck!

Chalet Socks

2009-04-09T18:42:00.000-04:00

Pattern: Chalet Socks by Nancy Bush from Folk Socks
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in Butterfly Blue
Needles: US 0

Pretty socks in the pretty sun.... I am working to acknowledge the sunlight and enjoy it while it's around. Stick my head up every now and then. Today I went for a run outside and felt at least 50% more myself afterwards.

Anyway, about the socks. It's a good thing that the sunlight is so flattering to these socks since they don't, well, match. I mean, they match.... ish. I had a lot of trouble reading the chart, especially in the center panel. It's not very well written, and the changes aren't very intuitive. I decided that I didn't care enough to rip back. That said, they're still very pretty and absolutely wearable. Those twisted stitches really do pop and the color is wonderful for when you're wishing and hoping and thinking and praying for spring but then you get four inches of snow like we did this past week.

Find a patch of sunlight and let it soak into your soul.

Ishbel

2009-04-02T19:13:00.000-04:00

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Butter Peeps (about half a skein)
Needles: US 4

I saw this version a while back, and had a sudden, inexplicable need for a yellow lace scarf, nevermind that I've never thought that lace was really "my thing." This isn't lace lace, though. It's more stockinette with a lace border, which I'm ok with. And really, who doesn't need a happy yellow scarf when one is trying her hardest to make spring hurry the hell up already! I would love to have a version of this in something incredibly decadent - really soft and lovely. Alas, while I was lucky enough to have this lovely skein sitting in my stash (big bonus points for a cash-strapped grad student) it is a superwash wool. Great for socks. Not the best choice for neckwear. In any case, I love this scarf, and I can see that last half a skein quickly being incorporated into some color work socks for the winter.

What I've been up to

2009-03-31T18:57:00.000-04:00

Well, for one thing, I've been in Texas. The Wind Symphony played the finale concert for the CBDNA national conference (College Band Directors National Association). We played a very challenging program, and we extremely well received. It really was a great time. We had a bit of free time, and I was strangely relaxed the whole time, in spite of little sleep and a lot of work. I guess I just needed a bit of time out of my life, because now that I'm back in it, everything's the same a usual.

We went to the Capitol, which was kind of cool for about a half an hour. Saw the congressional chambers and some really gruesome paintings of the Texas War for Independence. We walked around campus of University of Texas, which had this really cool spaghetti sculpture.
Which turned us immediately into children. We had a lot of fun walking around in it (it's allowed! I swear!) and taking pictures.

We ate an absurd amount of barbeque at the Salt Lick, which, if you've never been and you're in the vicinity of Austin, you really should. The meat itself is not super special in my opinion, but the sauce, oh the sauce. I'd eat just about anything with that sauce on it. I ate so much, that I wasn't hungry again for days. Days!
But mostly we were there to play, and play we did. I can't wait to hear the final report for our director next week. From the reception we got, I'd say we blew them out of the water.

Oh, and I knit. Our flight home was delayed by 5 hours. And then when we finally landed, we sat for an hour on the runway waiting to be parked. This is Ishbel, nearly complete at this point, in Dream in Color Smooshy in "Butter Peeps."

Happy things

2009-03-10T11:07:00.000-04:00

New red shoes, bought on super-duper clearance, with shamrock socks from my rocking-est friend Sarah.
The table ready for company. Three girls, one bottle of wine, a pound of pasta, and an embarrassing number of Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes.

And possibly best of all, the doorwall was open for a few hours yesterday.

Grumpy McCrankypants

2009-03-03T20:48:00.000-05:00

It's been a long, long day. I treated myself to some ham and cheese this week because I'm sick of peanut butter. I made a sandwich for dinner at school, but the bread was so dry that I almost couldn't eat it. I tried some yoga after a fairly frustrating rehearsal tonight, but I couldn't finish the session. I think I might be having some troubles with milk. My apartment is sty-like and I'm too tired to sleep. My face is breaking out like a teenager, and people are driving me batty.

Tomorrow, I try different bread.

February Book Round-up

2009-03-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

Here's a run down of the books I read from my "stash" this month:

The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman. Our exchange student, Caroline, from Indonesia left this book for me to read when she moved on to another host family. That was two years ago, and I’m just getting around to reading this one. The book started as a serial bedtime story for Carman’s daughters, and it reads like one. Alexa lives in a world of walled cities. More than that, even the paths between the cities are walled, to keep out, well, whatever’s out there. It is only natural that a twelve-year-old girl is intensely curious about the world outside the walls. Alexa begins to discover the truth of the reason the walls were built and learns that her highly protected world is in grave danger. This book may be captivating for young (or non-native) readers, but lacks a lot in character development and explanation of events. For someone who has lived her entire life inside walls, Alexa is disturbingly uncurious about what she encounters when she finally makes it outside them. The book starts slow but picks up a lot in the last third.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway. This is a compilation of ten short stories by Hemingway published elsewhere. I have generally liked Hemingway a lot, but not had much opportunity to read his works. Like many books of short stories, I found some brilliant and a few inscrutable. I particularly liked “A Day’s Wait,” “Fathers and Sons,” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” Hemingway has an incredible ear for dialogue, both internal and external.

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman. I love Alice Hoffman. I seem to forget just how much I love her until I read another of her books. She sees the magic in every day life, and she sees her characters truly – with all their faults. Here’s a sample: “People in Verity like to talk, but the one thing they neglect to mention to outsiders is that something is wrong with the month of May. It isn’t the humidity, or even the heat, which is so fierce and sudden it can make grown men cry. Every May, when the sea turtles begin their migration across West Main Street, mistaking the glow of streetlights for the moon, people go a little bit crazy. At least one teenage boy comes close to slamming his car right into the gumbo-limbo tree that grows outside the Burger King. Girls run away from home, babies cry all night, ficus hedges explode into flame, and during one particularly awful May, half a dozen rattlesnakes set themselves up in the phone book outside the 7-Eleven and refused to budge until June.”

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I have never read an author with more love for commas, semicolons, and pronouns than Woolf, and I’m sorry to say that this predilection made the book a bit of a slog. Time after time I found myself heading to the beginning of a page-long paragraph trying to determine exactly the subject of the sentence (which was often as long as the paragraph). Superficially the book is about a few days at a summer home with a philosopher, his wife and eight children, and various other hangers-on. The strength of the writing lies in how Woolf sees interactions between people and their inner thoughts without their ever saying anything. Indeed, there is very little dialog in the book. Like Hoffman, Woolf sees her characters with all their flaws but her view is harsher, unforgiving, though I think she does not love them less.

The Girl Who Married the Moon: Tales from Native North America Told by Joseph Bruchac and Gayle Ross. I bought this book a few years ago when I was in New Mexico. I do love a good story. This collection is about girls who are brave, self-reliant, and in control of their destinies. I found the stories to be mostly nice but forgettable. A few were truly remarkable, particularly “Stonecoat,” a story about the innate and mysterious power of being a woman, and “Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother,” a relative recent and true story set in the time of Custer.

I also finished the Librivox recording of Jane Eyre read by Gloriana which I have been hacking away at in the gym for a few months now. I thouroughly enjoyed it. I read the book long ago, and found that it went mostly over my head at the time, and I didn't understand what the fuss was about. Now, I understand, and I adored it. It really pays to go back to books that you have read and not understood, because I have found that many I have tossed off in the past have become favorites with a bit more maturity, even if they are "age appropriate." L.M. Montgomery, who is an absolute favorite of mine, I did not truly discover until late high school and college, even though I tried more than once in elementary school to appreciate Anne of Green Gables.

But, reader, (I stole that from Charlotte Bronte, I'm not ashamed to admit) this reading from the stash thing is kind of backfiring. You see, no less than five new books have found their way into my hands in the last week. It's a good thing there was stipulation in my resolution about the purchase of new books.....

Hello

2009-02-24T19:26:00.001-05:00

May I introduce my newest accessory? A brand new Selmer 67 Privlege bass clarinet. Actually I've had it for about a month and a half now, and I'm loving every minute of it. Except the part where one of the straps on the case broke on day 3. And the reeds, but what else is new? But all the rest is awesome. I'm taking my time thinking up a name. All of my clarinets have names, but it sometimes takes a while. When naming inanimate objects, the first hurdle is gender. This one is definitely male. Generally, something will just pop into my head and stick around. Or, nothing will and the thing will be named by default. My stuffed dog? His name is Puppy. And, no, it's not an adorable toddler thing. I was nine at the time.

So here's my question. (No, you do not get to name my bass. I don't love you all that much.) I'm thinking it's about time for some business cards.... graduating, stepping out in the real world, etc. If I get them from Moo, I can add my own pictures to one side. I have some nice pictures that I've taken of my various clarinets, and I'd probably take some others too, but is this photo too, well, sexy for a business card? There is a female form, and some bare skin, and you know how we classical musicians can be picky about these things. My other thought was of me in all black, legs planted, bass standing upright with my hands on top, like I'm staking out ground, but I'm worried about photographing black. You know, black clothes, black bass...

Plus, the truth is, I just wanted to wear my new dress (even though it's in the 20s still.) I tried it on for giggles at the Gap Outlet a few weeks back, because this style of dress usually does not fit or flatter, but surprise! Perfection. And it solves some serious wardrobe issues involving various wedding activities for the next 6 months.

Oh, and then, if you like the photo, which one is better? Top or bottom?

When life gives you lemons....

2009-02-21T07:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday about lunchtime I nearly had a panic attack as I was browsing through my planner, trying to get my head around my schedule for the next two months. My brother's wedding, my recital, the Wind Symphony tour to Austin, oral exams, ski trip Up North, two auditions.... suddenly there just aren't enough hours in the day, and even if there were, I have a limited physical capacity to make these things happen.

Clearly, I needed to bake something. Enter, Gingery Pear and Cranberry Crisp.

I'm not very good at following directions, especially cooking directions, so this is a completely bastardized version of several recipes I found online. Luckily, I wrote it down, so you can make it too!

Gingery Pear and Cranberry Crisp
Filling:
4 ripe pears
3/4 c fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 T fresh grated ginger
1 T cornstarch
1/3 c sugar
pinch of salt

Topping:
1/2 c rolled oats
1/4 c flour
1/4 c wheat germ
1/4 c oil
1/4 c brown sugar
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350. Peel and slice pears. Layer in an 8x8 inch pan. Combine the cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Toss with the pears. Sprinkle cranberries on top. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the topping, mixing until crumbly. Spread over pears and cranberries. Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes until browned and bubbly.

The result is somewhat juicy, but completely delicious. Using ripe pears is key, since they do not break down in the oven like apples do. Far be it for me to tell you have to follow the recipe. Do what feels right to you and then tell me about it!

The verdict: the crisp - yummy. My life - still panic inducing.

Who's your Valentine?

2009-02-14T11:40:00.000-05:00

Who? Who?

Pattern: Owls by Kate Davies
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool in 8095 (2 skeins)
Needles: US 8 and US 9

I actually knit this one twice. Once assuming that this color of Eco Wool would behave like the color I used for my Garter Yoke Cardi, which it didn't. This color, for some reason, did not bloom as much in the wash and the sweater turned out about 2 sizes too small. The second time, I deconstructed the pattern and redid the math for my gauge in this wool. This seems to be a theme for me lately - I'm never knitting a pattern. I'm using the general shape and design elements and doing my own math. This incarnation is a 39" bust and has 26 (!) owls. I love, love, love the way it fits. It's a bit longer than any other sweaters I've knit and I really like it that way. No risk of that dreaded gap between your pants and top when you bend over (and as I spend much of my day lifting and hauling, this is an actual risk.) The other big mod I made was to do regular waist shaping instead of the very fitted darts in the back of the original pattern. I really wasn't sure I liked that, and I knew I was going to have to move them up the sweater, because the narrowest part of my body is NOT my waist, and I didn't feel like an added headache.

I ADORE this sweater. It is truly one of the best fitting sweaters I've ever made, probably because it's based on Anais which is now the second best fitting sweater I've ever made. Wearing it is like a giant hug, perfect for celebrating this day of love.

You know, on past Valentine's Days, I've gotten myself all worked up and grumpy about what I've viewed as a pointless, exclusionary holiday, but this year, I'm embracing it. I'm taking today as an excuse to treat myself exceptionally well. A new sweater, a box of chocolates (which I'm not going to tell you how many I've eaten already, because that would be embarrassing). Later today I'm going to rent a movie or two and make myself a heart-shaped pizza and some chocolate and peanut bars from the most recent Vegetarian Times. Yes, a heart-shaped pizza is super cheessy (literally and figuratively) but last year my grandma bought me a heart-shaped pan, and if you're not going to use it on Valentine's, when are you? There may also be a pedicure in my future....

And on another note, I completely missed my second Blogiversary which was the 12th. I only realized because Kristy and I share a Blogiversary, and she didn't forget hers. So Happy Blogiversary to me!

Treat yourself today. You deserve it.

Love 2

2009-02-03T12:50:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Annemor #8 from Selbuvotter by Terri Shea
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in Ash (yes, the same as my Selbu Modern) and Dale of Norway Baby Ull in 7854 (which is a dark green)
Needles: US 1

Well, I finally managed to make a pair for myself, after the resounding success that was my first pair of Selbuvotter. I ended up making a bunch of modifications, as seems to be the way of my knitting lately. I have large hands (to match my large head) and while I love all of the mittens in this book, most are sized for Women's Medium and smaller. I went up a needle size on these and they are now a Women's Large or XL. They measure 4.5" across the palm, and fit me very well. Also, these mittens were originally gloves. My intestines try and climb into my chest cavity at the thought of knitting gloves, so after messing around a bit, I was able to fit two repeats of the initial glove chart, decreasing as soon as I passed halfway the second time. In order to make the repeats look organic, I added an extra row, fleshing out the diamond pattern, before restarting. Something odd about this pattern is that there are more stitches on the palm side than the pattern side. This is also true of the thumb, so when I finished all the decrease repeats on the pattern side, I just fudged in some extra decreases on the same row on the palm side to make them more equal. The final stitch count isn't the same, but it's virtually unnoticable.

I'm feeling an odd need for more mittens, even as I'm desperately waiting for spring.... maybe some of Bella's Mittens next?

Resolutions

2009-01-31T18:19:00.000-05:00

A while back, I mentioned that I had some ideas about what I wanted my New Year's Resolutions to be. Soon, I'll be talking again about my word for the year - wellness - but right now, I want to talk about my most concrete resolution. I resolved to read all the unread books in my bookshelves by the end of the year (if not sooner) or relegate them to the donation pile.

I've been a book fiend all of my life. I never have enough bookshelf space and I usually have a stack or two of books living in various parts of my apartment. Every time I expand my bookshelves, I fill them up in record time, and it's not unusual for my books to be hiding in drawers, since I have no other place to put them. My dream is to have a library in my house some day with whole walls of shelves. I especially would like door with bookshelves above it. You know what I'm talking about? Like there's so many books that every available space needs using, including the space above the door? I want that.

But I don't have that space. Not yet. Not for a long time. So I'm paring down my whole life. My books are just one part. The only ones that are staying are books that I would read again or that I would recommend to a friend. The rest are out.

So.

This month I have read six books.

Ghostgirl by Tanya Hurley. A fun trip into teen-land ala an ABCFamily original feature. The analogy makes even more sense as Hurley is involved in many facets of teen entertainment, including writing for TV. Charlotte Usher feels invisible and overlooked. After a summer spent carefully planning how to change her social invisibility, she chokes on a gummi bear and finds herself permanently invisible, as in dead. This isn't going to keep her from the guy she loves, however, and in the process she discovers the true nature of invisibility.

Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson. A wonderfully written book. The voice of the author is sure and steady. Birdie, Leeda, and Murphy are three very different girls who find themselves thrown together one summer on a peach farm in Georgia. Though the book is billed as a tale of friendship, the real gem lies in the way that adult problems effect children and the way the girls see and handle them. Lovers of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants will want to snatch this one right up.

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. I've never read any Chabon, though I'd heard good things about him. This book, unfortunately, does not make me inclined to read any more. Meyer Landsman is a homicide detective in the Federal District of Sitka, Alaska, a temporary Jewish safehaven and refugee camp after the Holocaust. As the District is about to revert to US control, a murder takes place in the hotel where Landsman lives. I spent so much time wondering how much of the story is based in reality (a Jewish controlled settlement in Alaska? When did I miss this?) that I was unsure whether I needed to bone up on my history and Jewish studies (not being Jewish, I'm not very familiar with the different kinds of Judaism and their customs) or just go with it. When I finally reached the end, I discovered the "interview with the author" section and it was made clear that nearly everything was fictious, from Sitka (which, confusingly, is an actual place in Alaska) to a lot of the Yiddish words (which are real words but are used here in a kind of "slang" way that Chabon made up as if the settlement had evolved unique word usages.) I might have been able to enjoy it more had I been comfortably aware of the fiction of the whole premise of the book.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I love fairy tales, so how is it I haven't read any Neil Gaiman before? I don't know, but I can tell you this won't be my last. Tristran Thorn has promised to bring back a falling star in exchange for the hand of his beloved and crosses into the enchanted land that lies just beyond the boundaries of his town. Magic, adventure, and love with a libral dose of practicality. I loved it.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. Aislinn has always seen faeries while other haven't. The first rule of being able to see, she learns from her grandmother, is to not let the faeries know she can see as they are both powerful and dangerous. When the faeries start to seek her out and learn she can see, an inevitable series of events unfolds. An interesting take on faeries, as these are of the Celtic doom-and-gloom variety and not the enchanted-forest kind we are used to, however, the book introduces a great number of huge life-effecting senarios that it glosses over in favor of the big finish.

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji Li Jiang. A heartbreaking story of a girl coming of age in a "black" family during the Cultural Revolution. An interesting counterpoint to the class in East Asian music I took in the fall. Fact: During the Revolution all music was banned with the exception of eight pieces which showed the proper balance of patriotism, non-bourgeois influences, and non-historical ties. Eight pieces for 10 years. Think about it.

The verdict: Peaches, Stardust, and Ghostgirl are staying.

If you are interested in any of the rest (except for Red Scarf Girl which belongs to my aunt) let me know!

Selbu Modern

2009-01-20T13:11:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in Ash and leftovers of Mountain Colors Bearfoot in blue-green and purple.
Needles: US2 and US3

One of the first posts I ever put up here was about a failed attempt at a tam. I'm not going to link the post because it was embarrassingly bad, but suffice to say, I have a very large head and tams don't usually work on me. Having said that, it's not an understatement to say that I was obsessed with this hat. I furiously contemplated colors for it, and eventually settled on this light grey-ish brown and some leftover blue-green Bearfoot which has been in my stash for years. I knit it in two days (halfway through Day 2 I discovered that I didn't have quite enough Bearfoot in that color, so I switched to purple and the end result is really very organic), danced around in anticipation of it drying from the blocking, and discovered that it was too big. "Too big? Really?" I said to myself. Yup, too big. What's a girl to do when she's obsessively in love with a too big hat? Rip and reknit? But I don't have circulars in smaller sizes. Clearly the answer here is to shrink it. So I got it wet and popped it in the dryer for 10 or 15 minutes, checking often to make sure that I would get something resembling an adult tam when I was done. The result? A tam with a perfect fit, slightly felt-y which makes it light and warm.

I think I've just discovered my new go-to hat for the winter.

Cozy

2009-01-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

What is this I spy? Lovely, un-dyed wool? Garter stitch? Is that a raglan sleeve? And a human inside that sleeve?! No way!
Way. Totally.

Pattern: Garter Yoke Cardi by Melissa LaBarre from Knit.1 Fall/Winter 2008
Yarn: 2 skeins Cascade Ecological Wool in 8018
Needle: US 8

I love this sweater. A lot. I love this sweater particularly today as it is snowing and 11 degrees out.

Let's talk about my modifications. Ok, I modified everything. Reinvented the wheel. Banged my head against a calculator and wanted to give up on more than one occasion. The problem was the yarn. I had this yarn and I really wanted to make THIS sweater with THIS yarn, because I liked the color and I thought it would be incredibly versatile. But THIS yarn wasn't going to be getting gauge for THIS sweater. I decided that this didn't matter. Normally the gauge thing is not a huge issue. Just calculate out the pattern numbers in your gauge and usually there's a size in there that will give you what you need. Not the case this time. So I threw the yarn into the wind and just got on with it.

I used the pattern as the starting point, calculating how big the neck opening was supposed to be and how many stitches I needed to increase to get to my final body and armhole counts, and then I just cast on. This all sounds much more cavalier than what actually happened, which involved much tense scribbling on a piece of scrap paper and a few evenings of intense self-doubt. When I got past the yoke increases and the raglan increases and I reached the measurement I wanted for the yoke depth, I found I was short a few stitches, which I not uncommon for me in top-down construction, so I just cast on the number needed at the underarms, breathed a sigh of relief, and continued forth as the body is very straight forward. For the arms, I decided I wanted a slimmer fit, so I added decreases to the pattern. The end result is quite a close fit.

The other source of stress was that the yarn bloomed a lot in blocking, which I knew because I washed and blocked my swatch (something I've taken to doing because skipping this step has recently bit me in the rear as I have watched my beloved Dollar and Half cardi grow and grow and GROW with washing). This meant that though the math was working out, I had no idea whether it was going to fit until after I'd washed and blocked it. Luckily, it did.

Let's talk buttons for a second. I really wanted something spunky for the buttons on this sweater. (Oh, also, I used 3/4" buttons instead of 5/8" since my gauge was so much bigger than recommended.) I was not able to find what I wanted despite going to two different stores. These are actually a kind of luminous dark green, which looks nice but is a bit more sedate than I was hoping.

All in all, I adore this sweater. It is a very close fit. In retrospect I should have allowed a bit more ease in order to wear it buttoned all the way down. It buttons, but not in a very flattering way. I don't really mind, though. I'll wear it just as it is.

New for the New Year

2009-01-12T15:44:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Simplicity 4236
Fabric: some kind of cross between microfiber and very fine whale cord with a subtle pattern, plus rayon lining

For Christmas, my mom gave me a "gift certificate" for the materials for knitting or sewing project. I chose to make a skirt, since I have recently become slightly obsessed with dresses and skirts, and I can't find any I like is stores (particularly skirts). This skirt will be very warm with tights for the winter. It is fully lined, and I added a side pocket since I can barely go anywhere without my Burt's.

I ended up adding a extra seam up middle of the front and back. I didn't think to try on the skirt before putting in the zipper or the pocket, and it was quite big. A quick 5/8" seam down the front and back took care of the problem, and in this fabric is hardly noticeable.

It is very hard to tell in the picture, but the wall behind me has recently been painted "Quiet Waterfall" by Glidden. The color is exactly what I wanted - something quiet and muted but still present, and it does a good job of connecting some rather disparate color elements in my living and dining area.

It's going to be getting very cold around here, with highs in the single digits. Hopefully, I'll finish up some quick projects just in time for the cold snap!

Looking Back

2009-01-08T13:13:00.000-05:00

The year in review.... I'm not really sure what to say about the past year. It's been up, down, and sideways. Crazy exciting and crazy painful. I've grown a huge amount, and I think I'm really starting to understand myself better.

As far as knitting goes, I put together a little collage of some of the year's more successful knits. My favorite sweater is Anais, by far. And the yellow one in the bottom corner? Well, it never fit very well, so I've made plans to rip it out and use the yarn for a cardigan of my own design sometime this winter.

I've made some New Year's resolutions this year, which I think I will reveal as the time comes. I'm not a big fan of setting out a list of things on January 1st just because that's what you're supposed to do, but I've definitely been thinking about what I want to improve in my life. After reading this post, I've decided to choose one word on which to focus my energy for the coming year. I chose WELLNESS. I want to create a sense of wellness and balance in my life. I tend to be very focused on one or two things, which gives me tunnel vision sometimes. This is not always healthy. So as I get caught up in the unfolding events this coming year, I will come back to the word WELLNESS. Is what I'm doing creating a sense of wellness in my life? How can I create wellness on a daily basis?

Where are you directing your energies this year?

Things to Knit

2008-12-30T11:34:00.000-05:00

This for sure. But first, I must get a pet snail. They don't require much up-keep, right?

Traditional Christmas Morning

2008-12-28T11:44:00.000-05:00

After reading Kate's wonderful account of her Christmas morning, I thought I'd show you what I've done with my Christmas mornings for as long as I can remember (and probably continuing for as long as I live.) Most of the Christmas traditions that we keep in my family have to do with food. My mother's family is English and German. All of our Christmas cookies (which must be done, no matter what) are German - lebkuchen, chocolate lebkuchen, springerle, and white cakes. Actually, that last one is something that seems to be unique to my family. They are a flat, hard, rolled cookie, cut out with cutters which leave an impression in the top. They are slightly sweet and fruity (one of the ingredients is citron), keep forever, and one batch makes roughly 22 dozen cookies. If you've heard of these cookies or know anything more about them, please let me know. I'd love to know more. Traditionally, our Christmas Eve supper includes a vast spread of these cookies.

My dad's family is English and Serbian. It's not really possible to label the country any more closely than that. The borders keep changing. Currently the village my great-grandmother was born in is in Romania. Christmas Day is for making strudel.

First, we have to get out the traditional strudel cloth. This one belonged to Mica, my dad's great-grandmother and strudel-maker extraordinaire. You can't see it in this picture, but the center is stained yellow from years of dough sitting on it.

Then, we have to make the dough. The dough is made with water, flour, salt, egg white, and lard. Yes, lard. You can use shortening, but where's the fun in that? In the old way, you have to knead the dough for 20 minutes to half and hour. My mom and I use the food processor to cut down on kneading time, though mom's processor seems to be on it's last legs, so I muscled up this year. The transformation from sticky, un-kneadable mess to smooth, elastic dough is incredible. Truly the best way to develop the gluten in the dough is to slam it on a counter, using a bench scraper to help lift it away and slam it again. Then the dough must rest.

While the dough is resting, we turn a pile of Granny Smith apples (must be Granny Smith. I don't know why.) into slices. An apple peeler makes this short work.

Then, we pull the dough. This is the fun part. We take a double handful of dough and turn it into a paper thin sheet.

There really is no trick to pulling the dough, except it's easier with two people so you can pull against each other, and your fingertips are the best tool. Also, a bit of extra melted lard can help grease the works. Around and around you go, stretching it just a little bit futher. There are always holes in the dough, but this is not a problem. Then the dough must dry a bit.

You can see here how thin the dough is. There are little bubbles in it and places that are thinner than others. After the dough is leathery dry, you pull off the doughy edges and lay out the filling. My mom used to give my brother and I the pulled off edges to play with. Boy were they fun!
We exclusively do apple, but Mica used to make cheese and cherry too. You lay out the apples on the longest edge and sprinkle with bread crumb, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
This is not an exact science, as you can see. Rolling the strudel involves using the table cloth as extra hands and sort of tossing it together. Then you maneuver it into a pan, drizzle with extra lard, and pull the next dough.

They bake together and make the whole house smell wonderful. This kind of strudel is much more traditional than the super flaky kind you get in the bakeries. The dough is layered, though the final effect is much more chewy than crunchy.

This dough can also be cut into squares and layered in a pan to make Chesnitza (spelling wrong, I'm sure, but that's what it sounds like). A New Year's dessert similar to baklava with coins baked in it. If you get a coin, you can't spend it and you'll have good luck the whole year.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and I'll be back after the New Year!

Love

2008-12-18T11:06:00.000-05:00

Pattern: NHM #9 from Selbuvotter by Terri Shea
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull in 5545 and 0020
Needles: US 0 and US 1

These mittens need a better name than NHM #9. Like Too Freaking Gorgeous for Words. Or Could They BE Any More Beautiful. Or Love. Maybe not even the word "Love." Just a little heart shape.

There is one less than perfect aspect to these... the left mitten is slightly bigger than the right. I've had this problem before with stranded mittens. Somehow things change between the first and the second. I soaked and blocked them to even out the stitches and managed to a certain extent to even out the sizes, but the left one is still slightly larger. Oh well. That's the beauty of handmade, isn't it? If nothing else, they make great eye candy.

Dad's Very Classy Vest

2008-12-17T11:49:00.000-05:00

Pattern: My own, based heavily on the Rib and Cable Vest from Jo Sharp 3
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in 4204 (Buckwheat)
Needles: US 2 and US 3
Time Elapsed: One month, plus one week's sulking time and a few days extra to redo the neckline and reblock.

This was my NaKniSweMo project this year, and I'm proud to say that I finished it in the month, although there were some unforseen design circumstances that caused it to linger on a bit. I have made this exactly to my dad's specifications, so I'm hoping against hope that it fits like he wants it to. I'll have to wait until Christmas morning to find out.....

My process was this: After my dad picked the pattern, I measured him to within an inch of his life, and then I measured a favorite vest of his to within an inch of its life. I spent some quality time online researching yarns, since the Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette was WAY out of my price range. I settled on Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light as more cost effective alternative in a similar color to the one shown in the magazine, which my dad liked. The resulting fabric is a less formal than the Georgette, which has the silky sheen, but I don't think this will be a problem.

Then I swatched, washed, and blocked. And spent some quality time with a caculator to get some basic numbers together. This vest differs from the Jo Sharp in size (it's a good few inches bigger than the biggest size), shaping (the original was straight from the waist up), and neck treatment (original has a round neck).

You can see in this pic that this is a very fitted vest, which my dad asked for specifically. My dad is not a portly individual and his chest and waist measurements differ by almost 10 inches. I added zero ease to the waist, but there is approximately 4-5 inches of negative ease in the chest. As this is a ribbed vest, I don't think this will be a problem.

The first time I knitted this, the neck came out too small to fit over my head, much less my dad's with a shirt and tie. So I had to rip out the edgings and shoulder seams. I added about 2 inches in overall length to the armholes as the armholes were also a bit small with the ribbing added on. The neck and armholes look better now.

I'm really nervous about this knit. I really really hope that it fits the way my dad wants and that I don't have to do any more surgery on it. Of course, I can fix whatever's not right, but I'd prefer to move on to knitting for myself after the holidays..... Garter Love here I come!

I love finals week....

2008-12-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

... and I always have. I realize this makes me seem crazy (crazier) to some people, but here's the thing. No rehearsals, no concerts, no lessons, possibly just a jury on the first day of finals (which I didn't have to do this year) and a couple of exams. Which I have lots of time to study for, thanks to the aforementioned no rehearsals, concerts, or lessons. Of course, I could also use that time to bake lots of cookies, read some frivolous literature, watch Christmassy movies (The Holiday and Love Actually, anyone?), and become addicted to this:

I swear, I could knit about forty pairs of these things and not get bored. Stranded knitting is the most addictive kind of knitting I know. It's immediate gradification (you can see the pattern developing right under your nose!) and it has the quality of making you want to knit just one more row to see how the pattern is coming out, then just one more row after that, and, oh, another couldn't hurt, could it? These are a pair of selbuvotter for my mom. It's a good thing that a) they don't fit me or they might end up in my pockets and not under the tree and b) I bought yarn to make myself a pair too.

I am reblocking my NaKniSweMo sweater tonight. I had to redo the neckline and armholes as they were not going to be big enough for my dad. Full update on that soon!

Also, in the top picture is:
- A cup of chai (one teabag, 3/4 water, 1/4 milk, two teaspoons of vanilla sugar, extra hot)
- A Swedish Almond Cardamom Star and two Espresso Crinkles from the most recent Cooking Light
- Winter Songs a various artists CD including Ingrid Michaelson and KT Tunstall, two of my favorites. Seasonal but not overtly Christmassy.
- Unravel Me by Christie Ridgway. Generally love her, plus there's mention of a knitting store in the blurb on the back.

Treat yourself today. You deserve it.

NaKniSweMo

2008-11-30T21:54:00.000-05:00

Proof. More info to follow. And, yes, that neck looks rather small....

Twenty Five

2008-11-27T22:33:00.000-05:00

Today is my twenty-fifth birthday. In the spirit of the other holiday that occurs today (turkey, anyone?) I'm remembering the things I love about my life.

Reading books in bed
Quiet music on a Sunday morning
Long runs
Preparing really healthy, delicious food
Strategically placed lattes
Flannel sheets
That certain color of green
Walking. Everywhere.
Discovery moments
Talking to friends
Especially talking to friends who live far away
Hugs. Lots of hugs.
My new winter boots
Warm beverages of all sorts
The smell of the outside
Finding new places
Laughter

What do you love about your life?

Anais

2008-11-23T12:47:00.001-05:00

Pattern: Anais from Norah Gaugan vol. 1
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in #6273 Irwyn Green
Needles: US 3 and 4
Modifications: Knit in the round and added significant length to the pattern. To space the length out more naturally, I added an extra row between the waist shaping and knit for an 1 1/2" between the waist decreases and increases.

I am loving this knit. It was a rough start there.... I nearly finished it once when I realized that it was way too big. So I started the next smallest size, which, as it turns out, is not too small. Even though I added lots of length to my knit, like lots of alpaca yarns, it stretched in blocking. Mine measures roughly 23" long, and if it were an inch longer still, I wouldn't mind. As noted by many on Ravelry, sewing in the insert and sleeve caps was not fun and games, but not horrible either. I used a whip stitch, and just eased them in with stitch markers before sewing up. The one thing that would have been handy would have been some kind of schematic for where you're to sew them in. The front insert fit perfectly from shoulder to shoulder, so I sewed it in that way, but it makes for a bit of a tight squeeze to get it on. Same with the sleeves. I started them roughly an inch from the initial bind off, but the armholes are a bit tightish.

All in all, I'm very excited to have my first wearable knit of the season done!

Bring on the Hounds

2008-11-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

It was a perfectly November-ish weekend - grey, drizzly, chill - and therefore the perfect kind of day to spend a few hours at John King Books in Detroit. It's Michigan's largest used book store, and let me tell you, the thought of a larger one is terrifying, even for a book lover like me. The store is housed inside an old glove factory. It's still got the original hardwood floors and exposed duct work, but the old world charm ends there. The store is four floors of coppled together shelving, hand lettered signs, and narrow aisles. I hear it can get quite cold in there as they don't use much heating (I was fine in my outerwear) and if you need light, well you'll have to pull the chain hanging from the flourescent fixtures down each aisle yourself. Turn them off again when you leave, please. Still, it's a dangerous place to spend a drizzly Saturday. I recommend having at least a general idea of what you want before you get there or risk being hopelessly overwhelmed.

I came out with a bit of a haul, nicely reflective of the many aspects of my personality - fantasy, cooking, classic, fluff, and environment. Actually, the coolest thing I got isn't even here. It's an old beat-up piano stool, the kind that swivel up and down. In addition to the used books, John King does rare books, and also just about anything else you see there can be bought from the prints on the walls to the lonely, dusty furniture. I picked up the stool for $10. It needs some love, but luckily my dad is a woodworker, and the second I got it home, he'd popped the top off and dismantled the base before I could even get a picture! It's going to be a Thanksgiving project of ours.

You know, I didn't really mind the November-ish weather. Somehow, it seemed right, and the leaves were still clinging on. You know, the kind of day where you want to curl up in your library in front of the fire with the hounds at you feet like a country gentleman.

I love this combo of bright leaf on slate grey flagstone.

Christmas is coming, after all. Embrace it.

The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown, of all the trees that are in the woods, the holly bears the crown....

NaKniSweMo

2008-11-02T16:49:00.000-05:00

This is my first NaKniSweMo. But what better time to jump on a bandwagon when I've got this sweater to knit before Christmas? Might as well leave myself a little breathing room and finish it in November, right?

Here it is. I'm going to call it Dad's Very Classy Vest even though I'm borrowing heavily from Jo Sharp 3. I've had to do (and will continue to do) much, much mathing and I've added shaping, ribbing, and a v-neck to meet my Dad's specifications. So I think it deserves its own name. I swatched, washed, and blocked (which, frankly is much more effort than I usually put in) last week, but I held off casting on until last night so it could be official. Yep, just me, my knitting, and Baby Mama which I highly recommend. Very entertaining, and not quite as crazy and out there as the previews would have you to believe.

Now the trick is to balance out my work on the Vest with Anais, which is cranking along and which I'm also hoping to finish this month to wear for my birthday. Two sweaters in November? Sure. Why not?