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!

on productivity

I have written many blog posts in my head, I just haven't actually typed and posted them.  We have all been there, right?  I have been too busy actually doing stuff to talk about it, I think every now and then we crafty folk need to do that; do the thing and not talk about it so much (or, if you are like me, obsess over other people's amazing craftiness to the point of inertia, or something like that).

Over the past weekend I went to New Hampshire to craft my little heart out, it has sort of re-energized the craft of crafting for me.  It was supposed to be a knitting weekend; but, I spent a goodly amount of time making buttons.  With clay.  And a toaster oven.

I just think it's funny that one can make buttons with a toaster oven.

 

But maybe that is just me.

These buttons are not assigned to any sort of project at the moment (none of them, and there are a lot of them).  Should you have any great contribution to make to spark my creativity, do share.  I am almost at the edge of being "all tapped out."  Almost.

 

I am particularly proud of my shawl pins.  I know the sticks look like carrots.  Try imagining them with some sort of earthy twig found while taking some walk down some path somewhere.  I know, it's hard to see past the carrots.

But I did also do some knitting; or rather, I did some weaving of ends on knitting.  You know that tomten with the 50 bajillion ends?  Ends woven, surplus cut.  The fact that there is now the zipper and pockets to contend with is something to think on later.  Let's focus on the positive, shall we?  Ends woven.  Surplus cut.

Such a feat deserves a fitting celebration, like pie.  Truly great and excellent pie.

Like carmelized orange tart with blackberry puree (go and print the recipe, I will wait).  Delicious.  Perfection in pie form, really.

Okay, back to the doing.

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.

these are the sands of time

I am sure I have mentioned it before, I really don't like knitting scarves.  They seem to take forever to knit...they tend to get monotonous...etcetera, etcetera.  But when I asked for advice about what to do with the Mountain Mohair I got from Green Mountain Spinnery,

so many of you suggested a scarf, I felt like I couldn't do anything else...and really who would turn down an excuse to knit 30 bajillion cables?  Not me!

I have actually wanted to knit this scarf ever since Margaux's Malabrigo version (she knit two of them, I think;  the Sundara version is pretty spicy too).  So knit it I did.  And really, truth be told, it didn't take that long to knit (especially since I was using it to procrastinate, ahem).  Maybe the whole scarf thing isn't as bad as I thought?

The little guy kind of balks at the mohair content (and seriously, how Chuck Bass is my kid in this shot?), but that's okay, it not for him.  I actually knit if for myself.

I heart my new scarf, and I am not afraid to dork it up to prove it.  Deets in the gallery and on ravelry.

there will be pie

...and it will have a pecan pastry crust (which Little Sir should not touch as we have no idea about his susceptibility to nut allergies).

Yesterday's pie was a Truffle Pie with pecan pastry crust.  The recipe is from some Mrs. Fields (yes, I know) cookbook.  There are tons of good truffle pie recipes on the internets, I like the pecan crust for this one.  It's a truffle on a pie crust.  It's spectacular, well, if you like that sort of thing.

We happen to like this sort of thing very much.

Baking this pie was my reward for weaving in ends on the Tomten.

There are less than a hundred to go now.  That's something, right?

But I can't keep my mind from wandering to new projects and hobbies (seriously, I am a champion amongst procrastinators)...  And I really think I need to come up with some sort of solution for this:

I heart it. Mountain Mohair in Day Lily from Green Mountain Spinnery.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?

Okay, back to weaving in ends.  If I get 5 done before tonight, I'll count it as a win.

fiberlicious : chocolate

The appetite, it has returned.

Have a good weekend!

communiqué from the island

Due to a kid with a cold and suffering from the pain that is teething, my weekend was a little extended.  However before there was misery, there was fun.

I went apple picking with my boys.

We played with pumpkins.

I made cupcakes (although we were all so sick, no one really wanted to eat any).

And I became a resident of sleeve island.

I will be on sleeve island for a while, I think.  But at least when I leave the island I will be closer to having completed my first knit-by-me sweater for myself (I suppose I will have to become a resident of 'collar island' and then 'seaming island' first; but, I hear those islands are pretty happening).

fiberlicious: clementines

 

Knitting with the orange Trekking made me hungry for clementines.  I have no idea why...

It's not a perfect match; but, it's close enough.

Have a good weekend of knitting, eating, and fun!

on the color orange

These days I am all about the color orange.  There was a time when I thought orange a rather harsh color, but no more.  Some would say I am a little orange obsessed right now (they would be right).  I will spare you the ridiculous total number of projects I have in progress at the moment and just limit this post to the orange projects (that are actually on the needles).  It's not so bad in those terms...

A sweater in some red-orange wonderfulness from Beaverslide.  I am going to be so ready for fall.  Oh, Beaverslide, how I love thee.

Here is my "take it with me, you never know if you'll have some dead time to kill" knitting.  It's a sock, nothing uber special...besides the color.

This sock was actually done for about 24 hours and then Lolly saw it and mentioned how small my feet were...no, my feet are not as small as I hoped they were when I "finished" the sock.  So I ripped out the toe... That's okay, it just means that I can work some more with the orange goodness of this yarn.

And then there is my absolute favorite thing (at this particular moment)...

This burnt orange coloring in this absolute perfect yarn (which I was pretty much blissuflly unaware of until Ashley dangled the carrot (or icicle) in front of blogland.  Sea Wool...I want every color I can get my hands on.  So soft...so pretty...so perfect.

And not in the realm of orange...I will be blocking something that is red tonight.  A finished something, it's about time. And I am going nuts considering the possibilities for this little bit of lovliness. Ashley, why do you torture me with your creativity?

in style

A good classic vest never goes out of style.  This is what some of the arbiters of style are saying (there are a lot of vests in many fall lines, I guess).   I am not one who tends to follow fashion to be honest.  My criteria for clothing usually follows this priority list of questions: 1) Is it in season (you never can tell given the piles that my clothes live in); and, 2) is it clean?    The purchase of said clothes usually follows this inquiring criteria: 1) Does it fit; and, 2) Does is cost less than a (cheap) bicycle?  Yeah, that is pretty much it. I should probably care more about, if not fashion, the way I look in the clothes I am wearing.  But frankly, that requires a lot more thinking than I am capable of most mornings, so I just stick with basics that can be swapped out endlessly.  I think most people favor the "fill your closet with basics" philosophy, but what do I know?

This vest started off as a Seda Vest (see Heidi's, it looks fab) for my mom (the maternal unit loves vests); but, it just wasn't working.  I knew I liked the look of the Leftovers Vest, and when I say look, I mean the structure.  I like stripey goodness as much as the next person, but there was just too much of it going on in the modeled pictures on Knitty for me, though I like the idea of using up your leftover bits and bobs on a project.  After thinking about it some more, I realized that there was no reason that I couldn't knit the vest in one color, so that is what I did.

There is nothing leftover about this vest at all.  And I guess you could say that it was (technically) a stash buster.  It's also a piece that can mix and matched with alot of other clothes.

I was going for something that could be worn with many things, and that would give the recipient a little warmth.  But mostly, I wanted to knit something I knew my friend would like.  You see, this is a Christmas present.  If I am going to knit a Christmas gift for someone, I need to make sure that it is something that the recipient is going to want and enjoy.  Our time is valuable kids, don't knit for ingrates.

This knit is for a "girl" in her 30s who has decided to further her education by going back to school.  For some reason, solid v-neck vests make me think of libraries and books (the students, they spend loads of time in libraries...or, at least, they are supposed to), what about you?

I like the way the vest came out, I think it looks great (if I do say so myself, and I do), I hope my friend does too.  She is probably reading this post, actually.  Hey, friend, come Christmas, just be suprised, 'kay?

(Not so) Leftovers Vest
Pattern:  Leftovers by Alison Hansel on Knitty
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Black Cherry Heather, 6.3 Skeins
Needles: Bamboo Circs & DPNs, US 6,7 & 8
Modifications: Yarns sub, went with the monochromatic variation

This is an easy pattern to knit, it's a vest and not a sweater, afterall.  I shouldn't downplay the vest so much, it's a sleeveless sweater, really.  But this vest was pretty easy.  Knit in the round until you hit the armholes and then knit back and forth, culminating in the knitting of the v-neck before some shoulder joins, easy peasy.  There is also some shaping to be curve friendly, because not everyone likes wearing a box.  I really like the look of the neck.

Doubling up on the yarn for the ribbing in the bottom of the vest and in the neck is brilliance itself.  It gives the vest a little weight and bulk (but not too much), and also scores high on the aesthetics-meter (well, mine anyway).

I can be a little critical of Knit Picks yarn sometimes, but I think the Wool of the Andes line is pretty fantastic (and really, the price is pretty awesome too).  I have knit a few things with it and have never had any problems (it's 100% wool, I think it's hard to mess that up, right?). I knit Special K's Seamless Hybrid out of the WotA and he wears it when it's cold (we live in New England, so that's a lot) and it looks like it did right after I blocked it, so it may be at least one line that I will buy if the occasion presents itself.

This was a fun little modeling of an FO shoot, my friend JJ got to see how ridiculous I am about pictures, thank J!  File this knit away in the done file, time to move on to the next knit or two on hiatus.