The harf...

I finished my sister's hooded scarf on Saturday, just in time to give it to her on Sunday. She left me the sweetest voice mail the other day, saying she didn't like coming inside because it meant she had to take it off!

But, dummy that I am, I forgot to take any pictures of the knitting or my sister wearing it. I've asked her to send some along. Hopefully it happens soon.

Ah, knitting.

I thought I was going to have some things to show off here by now. Like a finished apple hat. Maybe a finished hooded scarf.
But nope.
It's all in-progress still.
I finished the hat, only to realize it's woefully huge, and that my gauge went all wonky when I switched to double-points. So, I saved the failure, and cast on again. I want to finish it, but really need to buckle down with my sister's scarf, because it's got to be ready for Christmas, in just a few weeks. How did that happen?
And, because the new hat is all on double-points, I'm afraid to bring it anywhere because I don't have a decent project bag.
Wait! I think that's what I'm going to ask for from my sister! A new project bag for small projects. Oh, Etsy, here I come!

Sip n Stitch!

A while back I signed up for a yarn and coffee club. It's a neat idea: You pay money, and then an indie dyer sends you some hand-dyed yarn, hand-picked locally-roasted coffee, and a mess of goodies. I'll get three shipments, one every other month, for six months. This one was through The Unique Sheep.

This is the first yarn club I've ever participated in. Here's the photos:

The whole haul.

The yarn, Luxe (25% silk, 75% superwash merino) in a rich collection of browns, yellows and reds. Plus, coffee candy and a Unique Sheep fake tattoo.

The coffee and the Coffee Cozee (the fabric sleeve on the pint glass). I've used that every day this week. It's so cute, and far, far nicer to hold than a cardboard sleeve.
It's like my coffee gives my hand a hug. You can find the Coffee Cozees here.

I would definitely do this again.

Vest photo! And a knitting update

First, the triumph!

Here's the little guy in his Baby Owl Vest, swinging at my parents' house this weekend. It was the first time he'd ever been in a real swing without sitting on someone's lap, and he loved it! It was also great to see the vest in action. It kept him nice and warm on this delightfully mild autumn day.

In other news, my owl sweater is languishing. I'm having gauge issues, didn't swatch (as usual) and really would rather work on gifts. So, I'm letting the sweater sit, and picking up the gift knitting again.

One bonus of the drive to Delavan (which takes a little over an hour) is that it takes me through Burlington, home of Artistic Fibers -- Racine County's last remaining yarn shop. 

I cast on (and have done 5 rows) an apple hat designed by Susan Anderson. Next on my list is the Regular Guy Beanie from Yarnman Knits. A friend requested an apple hat for her daughter after seeing the kiddo in his last month. A few weeks later, the girl's dad requested a hat for himself -- he said he can't ever find one that fits right.

Once those are done, I'm going to finish my sister's hooded scarf, then I'll pick that sweater back up. Maybe after the gift knitting is done I'll feel more like swatching and can figure out this whole gauge issue.

Want to get calls from knitters?

Write about gals in Florida knitting hats for people in Wisconsin... and all the people in the city who knit for local charities come out of the woodwork!

This story ran in the paper last weekend, and I've gotten at least a half-dozen calls and e-mails from local knitters telling me all about the charity knitting they do.

How cool is that? I love it!

Knit night!

I went to my first-ever knit night, and met a group of great ladies. I'm hopeful that I can make it over at least a few times each month.

Mmmmm. Pumpkin!

We carved pumpkins Tuesday night, and I roasted the seeds. Not as good as last year... but I forgot to mark the recipe I used. That's one big down side of Internet recipe-hunts, I've found. I can rarely re-find the ones I use.

This morning, I made whole wheat pumpkin scones, based on the recipe at A Dash of Sass. I used a food processor, instead of making them by hand, and substituted milk and Splenda for the cream and sugar. I was also lazy, and did not use nuts or fancy up the tops. Some mornings, it's quick gratification.

The adjustments I made turned this recipe into a diet-friendly scone -- something I really need to do more.

Whole wheat pumpkin scones (based on A Dash of Sass recipe)

2 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. baking powder
1/3 c. Splenda
1 T. cinnamon
1/2 t. grated nutmeg
1/2 . ground ginger
1/4 t. ground cloves
1 egg
1/2 T. vanilla
1/2 c. pumpkin
1 T. milk
1/2 c. butter, cubed and chilled

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix pumpkin, milk, vanilla and egg in a bowl, put in refrigerator.

Pulse dry ingredients in food processor to mix.

Add butter, and pulse until it looks like clumpy, wet sand. (about 10 one-second pulses -- be careful not to overpulse)

Add wet ingredients, pulse just until dough comes together.

Turn dough out onto counter or other surface. Roll out to 1 to 1 1/2 inch thickness and cut into triangles. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake 15-17 minutes.

These are darn good scones. Though, when I make them again, I would up the spices and add a tablespoon of real maple syrup to give it a bit more flavor. There wasn't quite enough zing for my taste. But they were delicious with butter and coffee!

Owl Baby Vest: Finished!

I am so thrilled -- I'm all done with the Owl Baby Vest. Henry will be able to wear it tomorrow, to the Three Pillars Ceremony. I'm so excited!

And, for my first-ever attempt at embroidery, I don't think it's half bad, though I can tell I need some practice with the technique.

The pattern's available for free, here: http://caffeinatedyarn.blogspot.com/2008/04/owl-baby-vest.html

Here's a picture, of the vest on the floor. Once I've got it on the kiddo, I'll get a photo of it in action.

The importance of yarn choice

When I decided I was going to make the Owl Baby Vest for Henry, I thought about what yarn to use. I knew I wasn't going to use the DK in the pattern, because I needed to make it bigger but didn't feel like doing a whole bunch of math.

He's a toddler, and I figured superwash would probably be best. But I didn't have any superwash in the stash. And I had no yarn money.

I did, however, have a TON of Cascade 220.

Despite its non-superwash status, I cast on. I'm making great progress on the vest, but I didn't get it done in time to put Henry in it for a family wedding yesterday afternoon.  The armhole ribbing wasn't done yet.

And, it's a good thing.

Henry puked all over, almost as soon as we sat down for the ceremony. I was covered in it, he was covered in it, and if he'd been wearing the Owl Baby Vest, the vest would have been covered in it. It would probably have been the first and only time he would have worn it. Not exactly sure how I would have gotten the baby puke out of the hand-wash-only wool vest.

Lovely.

I'm going to be adding some superwash to the stash.

Owl Baby Vest: Yarn ball wound!

I did the math, and all I've got to do to adjust the baby-sized Owl Baby Vest into a toddler sized vest for my little guy is go up a yarn size.

My hope is that the vest will be ready for Henry to wear to a wedding next Saturday. I'll have to be one speedy knitter (not my normal state) to get it done in time. The only yarn I've got in the house is Cascade 220. No superwash. I know I'm tempting fate... but I don't care!

If I can get this finished, and the Third Wave Harf done, then I can start socks and a sweater for me in November. I've got some great yarn for both projects and can't wait to get cracking!

Here's hoping...

Quick progress update

I've completed the hood on the Third Wave Harf, and picked out a couple sock patterns to use for my first pair of socks. I'm hoping to cast on tonight for the Owl Baby Vest.

I'll get pictures up soon.

Serendipity

Last month I had to drive an hour a day to get to work. I was driving through country roads to get to a jury trial in a nearby county. I didn't want to spend my brand new two-hour commute (it usually takes only 7 minutes to drive to work) just thinking about work, and started listening to Lime & Violet's podcast.

I downloaded a few random episodes and got to listening. In the first episode I listened the gals talked about Amy Weber's artwork, among other things. The next episode I listened to, they talked about Amy again, and followed up on a whole lot of the things they'd talked about in the first episode.

When I got to court and fired up the Internet connection I went to Amy's blog. It just felt a bit too coincidental to let it pass by. She had just posted information about her newest project -- a traveling art box. Crazy stuff started happening in the trial, so I had to stop paying attention to the Web.

As soon as I got home, and got the toddler off to bed, I fired it back up, and managed to get myself on the list.

The box is off, winging its way around the globe. I can't wait for the day it gets here. I've got some ideas for some projects to load back in when it arrives.

Devil brownies, a la Sie Macht

Last week I made devil brownies as described by my good buddy Erin over at Sie Macht. I committed the cardinal sin of fudge brownie-making, however, and overbaked them.

I shall try again, and this time, I won't be a chicken. Those puppies will come out when they still look gooey.

Of reading and knitting

Lately, if I'm not knitting, I'm reading. I went through a stage where very little knitting or reading got done and now I want to do both all the time. Sleep? Who needs sleep... There's books to read! There's stitches to knit!

I checked Middlesex out from the library last week (if you haven't read it, I recommend it), and just finished it this morning. I'm now blazing through The Children's Blizzard, and will then pick up Sex with Kings. It's that last one that gave me and a literary friend an idea: a chain of book titles.

See, I'll go from Middlesex to Sex with Kings to something that starts with Kings and ends with some other word, then follow that one to the next book, and so on and so forth. This brings me back to my college days, wandering the stacks of Memorial Library letting the typeface, title and first sentence of a book seduce me.

Middlesex would have won on all three counts, had I actually encountered in the late 1990s.

In knitting news, I managed to get another full repeat of the cable pattern finished in the Third Wave Harf. I'll get pictures posted soon. Here and on Ravelry.

A sock pledge

I'm getting together with a knitterly buddy on Saturday, and we're making a stop at Just 4 Ewe in Oak Creek. I popped in there one day and left with a tiny circular needle perfect for making socks! Now I've just got to make the socks... I should really search ravelry for a sock knit-a-long or something.

Also, I'm intrigued by Kory Stamper's double-knitting sock technique. That might be the key to getting me to knit socks.

Green with envy...

I've been at a jury trial all week. Another knitter worked on a lime green baby hat throughout the whole thing. I took notes on my work laptop. My fingers were jealous.

Back home

So, the new blog location's all gone, and I'm going to move back here.

I've been driving an hour each way to and from an off-site work site this week, and discovered Lime n Violet's podcast. I've been inspired, and am rededicating myself to knitterly and other artistic and creative pursuits.

I've got some ideas for writing, knitting and quilting to start with... we'll see what else appears.