novamade

things to do in northern cali when you're crafty

I spent last week in northern California and due to having limited internet access took an unintentional blog break.  My apologies, I am working to catch myself up on your lives, projects and what-not.  But I wanted to share some of my doings with you, as most of them are of a somewhat crafty nature that you may or may not be interested in.

So here is my list of things that I did and things that you can do as well if you find yourself in northern California and you are crafty (if you are celebrating your birthday, that sort of helps too).

Pebble Beach, California. Wollmeise Gloria Cowl.

Start and finish knitting a Gloria Cowl (details here) to give to a friend for her birthday.  My friend is named Kathy, your friend can be named something else.

Artfibers in San Francisco, California.

Have your friend (Kathy) take you to local-to-her yarn shops like ImagiKnit and ArtFibers.  Acquire pretty things that make you smile.

If you are bloggy, take the opportunity to meet up with a knit bloggy friend and her beau. Especially if said knit bloggy friend is a birthday twin and is like some sort of long lost crafty twin of sorts. Apologize profusely for exposing your knit bloggy friend to your tired tyrannical toddler.

Rangsiwan meets a very tired Little Sir.

Because you can, go to a fabric store, there are lots of them in San Francisco.  If for some reason you, like me, are planning some sort of novelty quilt requiring 21 shades of silk dupioni, you should go to Fabrix like I did.

And since there is a Kinokuniya in San Francisco, you should go there and buy some Japanese craft books, especially if you can not decipher Japanese.  It makes crafting interesting.

And because you neither speak nor read Japanese and you bought a bunch of books written in that particular language, you should probably get some written in English (or whatever your primary language is) just to balance things out.

Whether you are crafty or not, you should take time to smell the roses (or whatever flora is at your disposal).

Pacific Grove, California.

And don't forget to take time to experience wonder.

Jellyfish at Monterey Aquarium in Monterey, CA.

When you return home, get giddy about the books you received for your birthday from friends near and far.

Utilize the book about pies as soon as possible, you know, if you are so inclined. 

Pineapple pie, a very sweet sweety pie.

So yes, good trip, I have a few more trips to California scheduled for the summer, but I am thinking they will not be as acquisition-friendly as this one, a birthday celebration is a great way to justify stash enhancements of all sorts.  While I usually kick off my birthday celebration on Cinco de Mayo and count up to my birthday (are you not doing this as well?), Special K suggested that we start the celebration on my actual birthday this year and add 8 days to it, isn't he sweet?  So with that said, I am still celebrating.  Though right now, I am trying to get my back to stop hurting after incorrectly lifting heavy boxes of books and documents at work.  I am also going to think about happy things, like friends in Philly having lots of fun.  And knitting, because I can do that lying down.

Hey, happy knitting, quilting, sewing, or pie baking!

sorry papa, i had to make pie

In a fit of avoidance (you have no idea), I went through my stash last night to start a new project (this is ridiculous on so many levels).  I really didn't have anything in mind, I was going to let the yarn inspire me.  When all was said and done, I realized that everything I pulled out was green. 

I wish I could say it was Project Spectrum that inspired this color frenzy (it's just a happy coincidence, really); but, I just figured out that every year, about a month before my birthday my affinity for the color green increases exponentially.  I try to incorporate it into everything.  So why fight it?

And going to Webs with my friend Kathy over the weekend didn't help either (they are having a pretty big sale right now, if you are interested in that sort of thing).  Also, Kathy gave me an early birthday gift.  A bajillion yards of laceweight forest green baby alpaca.

That's a whole lotta green.  Enough for an Icarus.  Um two Icaruses...

And then there is this:

I received this sock yarn in a wee trade with Christy recently.  I really love it, and have been saving it for the perfect pattern.  I have a particular pattern in mind for the sock yarn; but, if you can think of something better, please share your suggestion.  It needs to be something that would maintain my interest...because I tend to get bored with socks and my interest usually wanes after the completion of the first sock (in case you hadn't noticed).  This waning interest in sock knitting is a problem since I have an unspeakable amount of sock yarn in the stash.

Oh, so those limes...  I used them to make a tart.  Shocking, I know.

Good, but not great; but, anything would be better than last week's disaster.  It's the Key Lime Tart from the April 2007 Everyday Food magazine (a lot of the older recipes are available online, but I love flipping through the magazines).  I really just had to make something with limes in it.  A mojito might have been a better idea though (hmmm, Mojito Monday...it sort of has a nice ring to it).  I think Papa would definately approve.

ketchup and caramel

Hey, Little Tomato, ketchup!  Actually, catch up.  I was going through some pictures and realized that I never posted pictures of a quilt I finished last month.

I made this quilt for a special little guy named Dru.  I was sending a quilt for his new little brother, Marley, and I didn't want him to be left out.

Also, the quilt that I originally started for Dru before he was born two years ago crawled under a rock in my basement (aka "craftland" or my "studio", you pick) and died.  Seriously. I lost it.  A whole quilt waiting for binding.   But that is okay, I like this one better (with the exception of the center strip that taunts me with its imperfections even now).  I'll put further information in the gallery, should you be so inclined to know it.

The perfect quilt for a lil' cowpoke (which just seems so much funnier to say--and type-- than cowboy).  Little Sir helped pick out the Robert Kauffman prints, which were floating around in a local Jo-Ann's for whatever reason.  I like the bright vibrant colors of this quilt.  They are fun.

You know what else is fun?  Caramel (I know, terrible segue).

Today/tonight (details), I made you a Carmelized Nut Tart.  This is a great tart/pie.  You probably have everything you need for this tasty treat in your cabinets.  You can sub in any sort of combination of nuts and it tastes amazing (probably because of the caramel).  I also made the crust called for in the recipe which provides the most unexpected and tantalizing dose of cinnamon to which compliments the earthiness of the nuts and the sweetness of the caramel perfectly.  Sublime.  And easy; actually, quite easy.

welcome to the world, here's some pie

One of my oldest friends (perhaps the first I can remember having) had a baby recently (our parents grew up together in Florida--the dads-- and Korea--the moms-- and we lived across the street from each other when we were kids, she is kind of like my big sister, actually).  The baby is cute.  Cute babies deserve cute quilts (though I have made some quilts for some ugly babies too, so I guess cuteness isn't really a prerequisite for quilt making for me).  I am not sure if there is anyone else in Angie's life who feels the same way I do about the babies and the quilts, so I thought I should probably make sure Marley (that is said cute kid's name, how cute is that!) had a quilt to soil in creative ways love.  (Also, it was a great way to avoid weaving ends. And no, Minty, I am still not done.  That is how pathetic I am.)

I am not trying to kid myself or anyone else, my sewing skills are craptastic rudimentary, at best.  I need more practice to achieve the awesomeness adequate results that I can produce from knitting; but, honestly, I don't think I have it in me to knit a baby blanket.  I have crocheted them (though I really know very little about crochet); but knitting a blanket is like knitting a really wide and short scarf to me.  I hate knitting scarves. 

Anyway, this quilt...  I did a re ally good job piecing this quilt (if I do say so myself, and I do) and the layout is pretty cute--nothing like a charm quilt to emphasize fun creative fabric that one stumbles upon in Jo-Ann's.  Binding quilts make me nervous, but I think I did okay with that. 

I used Joelle Hoverson's method of machine binding because she is a genius (and also Marley had already entered the world at this point, so my deadline had come and gone so the binding needed doing lickety-quick-like). 

My problem is always the quilting.  I basted this thing like crazy; but, maybe I need to switch to basting without all the pins.  Also, I suppose it is a good idea to know how you are going to quilt the quilt before you baste.  I kind of made it up as I went un-clipping safety pins along the way.  Very inefficient (and just a little stupid) and, it didn't produce quite the finished look I was going for, but it is quilted.  It has also been packed, shipped and received.  Welcome to the world Marley. 

I hope you enjoy your quilt, because you certainly can not enjoy the pie I made for this week's cyber consumption.

It is a simple pear pie.

The filling is quartered pears with sugar, cinnamon and a squeeze of lemon.  It was supposed to have a walnut pastry crust; but, I left out the walnuts. 

It was still pretty good though.

I left out the walnuts because I got distracted.  I was working on Marley's quilt.  You know, priorities. 

i'm all about productivity

So right about now, you are probably wondering if I actually finish anything.  So to prove that I do, I thought I should show some proof of productivity.

I knit these fingerless mitts (Evangelines) in no time at all, but then I let the ends (all 8 of them for the set) derail the finishing. 

I know, it's kind of ridiculous.  In any case, while procrastinating the tomten, I finished them.  I think they are pretty fantastic, I hope the recipient does too.  I will pop the details in the gallery.

The mitts were knit in Andy's Merino (that's the name of the wool source) from Farmhouse Yarns .  I love Farmhouse Yarns, the colors are phenomenal.

So, I am on vacation right now, spring break, as it were.  I don't have internet accessibility in my room, I have not yet decided whether this is a blessing or a curse; but, I was able to post this, so I should still be able to share some pie and another fo on Wednesday.  Because, you know, I am all about pie (and apparently, finished objects).

procrastination in e major

This post might make you wonder about me a little; but hey, I walk around wearing chocolate as an accessory, so there you are...

Because I have become an expert in the fine art of project avoidance and procrastination in general, I thought I would deliver today’s post in song (or lyrics), to the tune of the Major General Song with some a ton of variation here and there (with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan and to you, really).

I am a fine example of a modern knit-procrastinator

I have so many ufo’s they can’t be counted with a calculator

There is a tomten needing ends weaved in

But weaving ends does not make me grin

Even though it involves touching wool

And though that usually makes me drool

I just don’t think weaving ends is that cool.

To avoid weaving in my ends

I make the most of gifts from friends

Kirsten sent me merino, take a look at this:

I spun the wool and set the twist

I really think it’s fabulous

I have no idea what to do with it

I don’t want to let it sit

But I try to be good and put it down

Then I pick up the tomten and go to town

But I want to knit everything I see—

This has been made worse by Ravelry.

Instead of weaving in my ends

I imagine purchasing new project bins

And filling the bins with yarn I do not need

Due to my very slow knitting speed

And my stash is larger than it seems

It is the stuff of knitting dreams

I’m not complaining

I’m just saying

I have a lot to occupy my time

And fitting in all my interests is an uphill climb

To achieve some balance I try and take a rest

But my conscience always becomes a pest

And I think about the tomten sitting in the wings

I know all the other projects are really flings

But every time I take time to sit

I find a way to procrasti-knit

In my weaker moments I rediscovered the quilting bug

Because to me, sending a quilt is just like sending a hug

I sew badly but make great haste

I take the time to pin and baste

And when it’s time to bind the quilt

I leave that too to try and spin some silk

(My procrastination knows no bounds

It’s not as bad as it probably sounds)

When my hands get tired, I turn to the internet

There’s so much inspiration there, I kind of need some limits set

First Brooke began her weaving kick

Her work is so amazing it kind of makes me sick

I would love to weave things half as good

But I don’t weave and instead of knitting as I should

I troll the web for some sort of simple loom

Special K says, “you’re crazy we have no room”

But I think something small and simple would be fine

And it would likely not take up a lot of time

And time is quite the commodity

But still I return to the internet to scope what else there is to see

But I try to avoid spending more time on Ravelry

And then I go to flickr and note that Mandy dyed some wool

That struck me as really cool

Have you seen the singles, I don’t think the yarn will pool

When all is said and done, I just go and bake a pie for fuel

Because it’s Wednesday and I am a pie-baking fool

And I am still avoiding all those ends

I need to find a way to make amends

But there are so many ends to weave in it’s ridiculous

They make me feel like Sisyphus

But I am not discouraged because I like to procrasti-knit

And I’ll always find a way to let the knitting sit

It’s not as though I’ll every quit

Because I love knitting and it loves me

But weaving ends is as dull as dull can be

And I’d rather ignore all the ends I see

But then Little Sir gives me a face

And it puts me in my place

So I pick up the knitting and weave in ends

Keeping in mind advice from friends

I’ll finish the tomten, but bit by bit

Because I’ll still be prone to procrasti-knit.

I know.  It’s a special kind of crazy.  Info about today’s pie is in flickr.  Things should return to normal (which for me, admittedly, is still a little crazy) at the end of the week.  There may even be an fo!  No, not the bain of my existence tomten...

feelin' fruity

Alternatively, I could have titled this post "taste of summer," either way, a fruit normally associated with summer is involved.  Strawberries!! 

And here, I have to admit, I am running out of pies of interest to entice you; so today, I give you a tart, which some would say is not a pie; but, whatever, there's a crust, there is some filling and it's tasty.  Also, tarts are just so pretty.

This strawberry and lemon curd tart is a mish-mash of recipes (lemon curd taken from an old Bon Apetit magazine; and the crust was a shortbread cookie crust from Joy of Cooking because I feel like any crust from this book can not be a bad one.  Anyone can do it,  especially you, Liz!).  I was originally going to make a strawberry pie; but throwing some berries in a pie crust was not the sort of adventure I was going for.  Also, it sounded soggy.  I had some pretty strawberries, woefully out of season here in Connecticut (my apologies to Barbara Kingsolver and all other localvores out there) and since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I thought something special (and red) was in order.  This, my friends, is special.

Most strawberry pie recipes have you plopping whole strawberries (with the tops cut across) right on the pie crust or pastry filling, for whatever reason, I could not accept this aesthetic.  I sliced and spiraled/fanned them out.  This made me happy.  I also brushed them with the cooked down seedless strawberry jam.  It wasn't the neatest when cut in slices; but, you can not have everything.

But, if you are a friend of mine, I do try to be accomodating.  Especially if a birthday is involved.  So my pal Al--I made a Trellis cardigan for her little girl last year (an action shot of the sweater with a chid that does not belong to me should be forthcoming)-- decided that she was going to buy a sewing machine for her birthday.  Al, at this particular point is the least crafty person I know, so the news of sewing machine acquisition filled me with all sorts of excitement.  I had visions of me and my friend sewing...whatever friends sew together, I have no idea.  So, obviously she needed a sewing kit.

In a cute bag.  A box bag to be specific.

The honeycomb box bag was the practice run to make Al's bit of fruitiness.  My pal Al, she has a thing for fruit, particularly apples and strawberries.  But pears are good too.

The practice was needed, I learn by doing and doing the first bag helped me to figure out that reading and understanding the directions you are following is a useful thing.  Also, I was able to work out how to produce a bag that would adequately hold a collection of things.  Very necessary to hold her new collection of sewing gizmos and gadgets.

I totally stole this idea from Diana (genius), by the way.

So yeah, happy birthday, Al!  Now sew.  Sew, mama, sew!

pie, cakes, a scarf, and happiness: things i made this week

Hi, remember me?  I'm the insane person who bakes a pie every Wednesday.  Were you wondering where your weekly dose of pie was?  It's a bit late, but hey, better late than never, right?

This week, I decided to take a lesson from Chuck and put some Gruyere cheese in my pie crust.  I can think of no words to articulate how good this was.  The pie was a pear pie; just pears, no berry funny business to detract from the subtle pear flavors. 

The grated Gruyere seemed to help bring out the subtlety of the fruit and it was beyond fantastic.  I used the Pate Brisee pastry dough recipe from Joy of Cooking--the 1972 reprint (my standby pie crust) and just threw some grated Gruyere in the dough.  This is a first for me, but I didn't measure the amount.  I just grated until my happiness meter hit "happy".  I can not wait to try this with apple pie...it would probably be good with strawberry pie too....hmmm.

 

So yes, if you are a pie baker, you are not living until you toss some Gruyere in the pie crust of your fruited pie.  Seriously, what are you waiting for, THAT was your invitation!

And then there was cake, there were two cakes actually; but, since one was made from a box (at Special K's request, honestly, I have no idea), I am going to talk about the cake that rates.  I made the American Chocolate Layer Cake from Maida Heatter's Cakes book.  This cake is all kinds of fantastic.  It was made for Special K's birthday, which we sort of celebrated after his birthday when he returned from a trip to California (we had the boxed one for his actual birthday, a fact that I am really embarrassed to admit, sigh).

It was delicious (the baked from scratch one, not the boxed one--which was passable, but come on it was from a box!).  And here is the thing about Maida's (we are so on a first name basis right now) cake, one slice is really two slices.  Because it's four layers.  I don't think anyone needs a four layer cake; but, I have a feeling, deep down, everyone kind of wants one.

And since a birthday offers a knitter a great opportunity to give a knitted gift, I knit the boy a scarf. 

I can't really say anything about this scarf that has not been said before.  "Noro is great...knitting it was a breeze...it knit up so fast, I didn't even realize the passage of time...the stripes are fun..." etcetera, etcetera.  If you really need the details, they are in the 2008 gallery.

Seriously, it was a quick knit that has been done for a while, I enjoyed knitting it and I will likely knit another at some point.  The best part, Special K loves it.  And hopefully, he will be able to convince Little Sir to share the scarf, because the kid loves it too; and, sharing doesn't seem to be something he is interested in right now.

Back off, this is MY scarf.

I also spent some time at Webs learning to spin over the past weekend; but, that is a story for another time.  A gastroenteritis-afflicted (fun times!) Little Sir is waking up and wants the mom, because I am, truly, so much fun. 

I hope your weekends are full of football, snacks, pie, cake, knitting, crafting or whatever makes you jolly.

of winners and wheels

So I had a little contest.  Some of you commented.  Of 93 guesses, there were 7 correct guesses.  Seven.  Apparently, I am a craftilicious woman of mystery.

The bag I originally made for myself was bag #6.

Bag #3 was for my friend Anne in New York.  She is very hip and very funky and she doesn't even try (it might be a New York thing, but she was that in when I knew her in Boston too).  I thought adding the "grandmother's couch" interior fabric to the bottom of the dotty circle fabric toned things down a little.  I liked the effect.  I hope the contest winner does too.    Little Sir drew the name for the contest winner.  I tried explaining the procedure to him, but I got this look of "mom, I have done this before."

After playing with the bag for 5 minutes, he finally pulled a name from the bag.

Congratulations, Elinor!  You are getting THE bag with a bunch of yarn shoved in it!

The bag that I am keeping because it went wonky is bag #11.

I tried to give you a hint by stuffing it with the yarn of a current project (a bunch of Noro Silk Garden, I am sure none of you have any idea at all what I am knitting).  The process of making this particular bag taught me quite a bit:

• yelling at whatever you may be sewing is not going to make the situation better; really, it won't
• sometimes, it is not your sewing machine; it's you (or me, you know what I mean)
• polyester is a little bit "melty", there is a polyester setting on the iron for a reason
• mixing synthetic materials with cotton, probably not the best idea (especially if you are not going to change the heat setting on your iron)
• slinky materials are not fun to sew
• I should not buy polyester ever again.

As wonky as it is, it does make for a cute project bag.  Special K's birthday scarf has been very happy sitting in all that slinky feels-like-silk-but-isn't goodness.

And lastly, I wanted to introduce my newest friend.  Well, really she is an acquaintance right now. We don't know each other that well, yet.

This is Penny.  She is a Lendrum DT.  I tend to like dark finishes and, originally, that was going to drive my selection, but then I realized that was probably not the best plan for me.  After testing a few wheels, I knew that this was the wheel for me (though I think Christy's wheel is pretty special too).  I still don't really know what I am doing.  But I managed to get something on a bobbin.

Since he didn't want Penny ("the Spinny") to be a source of great frustration, Special K also threw in some spinning classes (to make the whole package the best Christmas gift evah).  So that should be good.  I am pretty excited.  I am not so excited about spinning that I will drop the knitting though...because really, the whole spinning thing drives the whole knitting thing, right?

hats for everybody!

In the interest of starting anew in 2008, I figured I would go ahead post the last of my 2007 knitting.  Did I mention that I knit a bunch of hats?  Well, I did.  Meatheads were the hot item for Little Sir's funky bunch.  I decided to embellish with wool felt appliques.

I knit one for Little Sir first.  I needed a prototype for blindstitching the seal (cut free hand, thank you very much).  Clearly, I needed the stitching practice.

The stitching for the one for his friend CPea went a little better (and it makes me all jolly to know that CPea LOVES this hat!).

The one for his friend KB, better still.

And Mo's was the clear winner.  I almost hated to say goodbye to that polar bear (I free hand cut the polor bear too.  I have no idea how I managed it).  Truly.  I now heart blindstitch.

 

And then there was the requisite Koolhaas for Special K.  Everyone else was doing it.

I was able to use the Malabrigo that I was going to use for fingerless mitts before finding out that Special K would have no use for mitts without fingers... I think Koolhaas was the perfect pattern for the yarn.

The details for all the hats are in the 2007 gallery.  The hats (even Koolhaas) took relatively little time.  And they were pretty enjoyable knits.  All right, bring on the sweaters!

Happy New Year!  See you in 2008 with more hobbies, more projects; and, of course, there will be more pie!