A Few Updates

The pretty scarf I had made such great progress on? Frogged :(

I made a mistake and did everything I could to salvage as much as possible but with the nasty combination of my inexperience, and a mix of stitches that left me in a daze trying to pick up on a needle, the poor little scarf is now reduced to it's original ball of yarn. I was devastated, to say the least. I'll start again when the chenille scarf is a fait accompli...

This little baby slipper has now been joined by it's mate, happy couple! :) I've started a new pair, this time in a Jaegar cotton yarn in a soft greenish gray. One is complete so perhaps a photo of them when I have two...

Auntie Catherine's pie crust recipe worked perfectly for 2 delicious pies (apple & blueberry) for Christmas dessert. Yummmmy! My first attempt at pie baking, and her foolproof recipe was...well, foolproof!

Don't You Love Lavender?

Here's my completed KH December Challenge (click image to see a little more detail):



Winter white Bernat Satin, and for the life of me, I can't remember what size needles I used!

After knitting, I hand-sewed a muslin bag which I filled with fresh lavender to stuff inside, added silver-lined glass beads for the star and randomly scattered some on the tree itself, then topped it off with a satin bow.

I Christmas-gifted a fellow student in my art class with it. :)

Today's The Day...

...that I try out my brand, spanking new sewing machine! I have a pattern to make a needle case, but I'm not entirely satisfied with it (much too basic and plain), so with pattern paper I'm making some useful adjustments, adding additional pockets and perhaps a snap-in zippered bag for knitting accessories.

Last month I had bought tons of 100% silk Dupioni fabric, and another ton of ultrasuede scraps in fairly large sizes to use as the lining fabric. I also bought a couple of yards of a gorgeous, multi-colored fabric to use as a contrast. I adore the Lantern Moon needle cases, and my finished result will probably bear some likeness to them.

This test case will be for me, and if I'm satisfied with it I'll be making several more for friends. :)    Look at me, being all ambitious:   several she says!!  lol

The Mall Revisited...

My first foray to the mall since a few days before Christmas and I was shocked at the huge numbers of people there! I had thought it would be dead, but there were actually more people today than all the days prior to Christmas when I shopped there. Yes, post-holiday sales. It took 30 minutes to find a parking spot, lengthy lines at all the cash registers, and the food court was packed, even at 2:00pm. I just hate shopping!

But I found a few great things on sale; a pair of Hilfiger jeans for an unbelievable $6.99! Glass-beaded coasters at Pottery Barn for a mere $4.99 per set of four... Ok, so maybe shopping isn't so bad! ;) ...and the caramel latte I got for the drive home made it all worthwhile. :D

Après-Christmas

I hope everyone's Christmas was as wonderful as mine was. All the family together, good food, much laughter, and presents!

My lovely gifts: A $200 gift card to my LYS! Several sizes of bamboo knitting needles, an amazing music box, jeans and sweaters, a gift card to Sephora, a leather purse, cashmere scarf and gloves, a Barnes & Noble gift card (already spent)! On and on, all the Santas in my life have spoiled me, and I'm so grateful. <3

Yesterday I ordered three books, though when I logged on to Amazon it was with the intention of buying only one! (I always mean well)!  The three wunnerful books are:


Weekend Knitting: 50 Unique Projects and Ideas, by Melanie Falick;


One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit and Crochet, by Leigh Radford, and;


Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, by Joelle Hoverson.


*sits on the doorstep waiting (impatiently) for UPS*

I've spent the past couple of days working on the troublesome chenille scarf, though actually not troublesome at all anymore, once I had figured out the right size needles to use. I have about 1/3 done... Photo soon.

I felt very crappy yesterday, typical day-after-Christmas crappy, and thought for sure that I was coming down with something dreadful; but after an afternoon nap and a cup of tea I felt fine. I don't think we truly realize how much Christmas preparations take out of us! Today, much better. Knitting days are always better!

If Only...

...I had seen this thread before I'd fallen in love with a gorgeous Blue Heron Chunky Rayon Chenille at my LYS yesterday ...and bought it ... and then came home and began the nightmare of knitting with it! :(

The lovely lady at my LYS suggested US size 10 needles, and a loose tension to knit the scarf that I wanted to make with this yarn. That's just what I did, after deciding on a simple stockinette as the stitch du jour on it. To make a very long and unhappy story short, I started so many times that I lost count, with the result of frogging each time. I've estimated that with the amount of scarf I had done before each frogging, I'd be about half way finished! All of the problems mentioned in the KH Forum I encountered. "Worming", uneven stitches, gaping holes where there shouldn't be any. In sheer frustration I even grabbed my trusty crochet hooks (trying several sizes), but the end result was the same as the knitted tries.

This morning it all began again, three times at around 2 or 3 inches along when it would all have to be ripped out again. I finally did something drastic. Instead of the large needles and loose tension that all suggestions leaned to, I went exactly the opposite. Using US size 4 needles (pretty strange with a chunky weight yarn, I know!), and keeping my tension on an even (and not loose) keel, much to my surprise the result is perfect! No more wormy loops sticking out all over, no holes and gaps, but instead the smooth, supple and gorgeous fabric that I'd hoped for. :D <-- happy me!

There were two occasions where there was a stitch a little looser than the rest which was easily remedied with a size D crochet hook...after a little poking around I found just where I needed to tug a tiny bit to firm up those stitches and make them perfect.

I have about 6 inches complete, and will post photos when there's a little more done to make photos worthwhile!

One Complete...

From my latest book acquisition, Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, a super simple but lovely garter stitch baby slipper. Yarn is a creamy white, baby soft 100% Australian wool. I added a pale pink silk rosette, and satin ribbon. They're so easy and speedy to make, knit all in one piece with just a little seaming to finish. It's very tiny, 2 ¼" at it's widest point by 3½" long... awwww!



The slipper's mate is OTN, set aside briefly for the privilege of making something for a very worthwhile cause, Caps to the Capital. There's still time to make one if you haven't already! I have a second cap begun, (first one is here), and I'm trying to make a total of five (along with preparing for Christmas -- Yay, a challenge)! :D

Project Scarf

I gained a little experience last night when I made several errors and somehow managed to figure out how to correct them. If nothing else, it's made me feel a wee bit more relaxed with the knowledge that I can quite possibly fix something when it goes wrong, rather than thinking that ripping out everything and starting over is the only recourse.



I've done about 50+ rows, and I'm pleased with it so far, (until I took the photos and saw that there's some stitches that could be a little bit tighter)! But I'm trying not to be too hard on myself because it is the first fairly complicated pattern I've tried. Go me!



Oh, lest I forget, I found the pattern here -- (Ruggles Reversible Scarf #2)

Another WIP

I started one project on Thursday, and yet another last night, for a total of three "works in progress"! The latest is a scarf pattern I found on the net, and with the perfect yarn already tucked away in my stash I couldn't resist trying it out. I chose a tan baby alpaca, with just enough twist to give it a luscious texture, and softer than soft. Oooh, it's like knitting clouds. :)

Photos to follow. :)

Artsy Schmartsy

Charcoal on Canson Bristol
8.5" X 6"

Two very mediocre drawings, but my first in charcoal. :)

Peripheral Blur

New glasses are gorgeous! ...but getting used to them, another matter. I'm one of those rare birds who are both farsighted and nearsighted, which had always meant two pairs of glasses, one for distance, one for reading. My eye doctor felt the best way to have the best of both worlds would be "progressive" lenses, and so that is what I have.

Looking at my heretofore very flat monitor screen, it now looks as though the center of the screen is at the bottom of a shallow bowl, with the edges gradually sloping up towards me. If I look to either side through the sides of my lenses, it seems that I'm looking through a slight veil of water! If I look down too quickly, I feel a bit nauseous, and the blurriness of my peripheral vision is going to be a real pain to get used to. But get used to them I will, as the nice lady at the vision center assured me I would (she couldn't live without her progressives, or so she says)!

I'm off to my art class, new specs in tow. -O-O-

OMG!

Oh, I finally found it!


Of the six nieces of my childless late aunt, I was the only one that she would give her famed and cherished pie crust recipe to. Her pies were the grand finale of all our shared family holiday dinners, and the last pieces of each pie were playfully but determinedly fought over. Many requests for the recipe were made, all of which she politely but firmly refused!

Why, on that Sunday afternoon visit, she had gotten it into her head to make me the sole beneficiary of her sacred pies I will never understand. I carefully wrote it out in longhand as Aunt Catherine read out the recipe from her faded and creased paper that was written in her own hand sometime in the 1930's. When I was finished writing, we started to make a pie together... apple it was. Though I'd never been much of a cook (a fact which puzzled me as to why she chose me to pass it on to), I quickly became engrossed in mixing and rolling out dough and slicing apples. She supervised the entire process with absolute authority, correcting me where needed, and waving her wooden spoon in the air many times to punctuate the importance of doing this or that! I was laughing so hard by the end of it; flour streaked on my face and hers, bits of unbaked pie crust dotting the countertop and floor all around us. It was one of my last visits with her before she passed away, and so it remains a very cherished memory. After her passing, some of my family members searched for her recipe but it was never found. Did she decide to destroy it after I copied it?

I'm so ashamed to say, I never had the chance to try it out on my own, being so young and so not into baking when the baton had been passed on to me. When I came home that day, I had tucked the recipe away in a safe place (you know about those safe places...so safe that you can never find them again), and forgot about it, other than when the holidays would roll around and I would wish I had it at hand for Thanksgiving and Christmas family dinners. I'd made some unfruitful attempts at finding it and when I couldn't, I felt so wretched and such an ingrate.

Just a few weeks ago with the holidays approaching, I thought of it again. This time I went down to the garage, firmly resolved to find it. So many boxes of things that I shamefully had never unpacked after moving here, and filled with things that I had completely forgotten about! I unpacked stuff for hours, but never came across it. :(

Until now! I just walked through the garage and in a partially opened box behind a ladder that had eluded my earlier search, I spied a brown manila envelope just crammed with papers... and thumbing through them, there in the midst of them was my aunt's secret pie crust recipe!

If she were here I'd hugely hug her for placing it where I could find it, just before the holidays. Thank you Aunt Catherine!

4 Eyes!

I just got a call to tell me that my sexy new glasses are in to be picked up! Yay! I'm hoping that my days of blurry-visioned eye strain are over. :) Of course, if I hadn't waited eons to visit my eye doctor, I might not have had any days of eye strain. :(

Began a new project today, from Erika Knight's glorious book on knitted baby wear: Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. Now I just have to force myself to put it down so I can dash off to get my glasses!

Ciao!

Late Nite With MarDi

I swear, one night soon I'll go to sleep before 3:00AM!

Today was semi-productive. For everything that I accomplished, I could think of two things that I should have done!

But I did finish the knit-along that I started yesterday, and the end result was well worth the panic of last night. I did mine in winter white wool, and made a pocket of muslin to tuck inside, filled with lavender... and pretty white/silver beads to adorn it! Pretty! I'll post a photo when the knit-along is finished at the end of the month...

The mail lady rang the bell with a package this morning... a stash addition, 100% cashmere DK, absolute heaven to touch and I can't wait to be inspired with a pattern to use it on... Oh, my stash groweth every day...pondering an addition to the house to store it all in, ha!

Ok, off to bed >>>

I've Only Just Begun

...to knit. And I'm a very careful knitter. Not because I'm a very careful person by nature, but simply because in being the novice knitter that I am, I haven't a clue what to do if I should make a mistake (horrors)!

Yesterday I had gone to my lifeline knitting site, knittinghelp.com, to check out some enlightening videos, and I noticed for the first time that the site had a forum. Peeking in, I found that members were working on a knit-along for the month of December, and because the result was to be a surprise (you had to knit it to discover what it was), I was intrigued enough to try it! The pattern was simple, simple, simple for even the most inexperienced knitter (my status), so I copied the pattern and began to work on it.

It was coming out perfectly! All through the afternoon I worked on it, and by dinnertime I was more than halfway through. Very proud of myself, I put my work away to be picked up later.

Later... about 1:00AM-ish later... and in denial about how sleepy I really was, I thought that I had a good hour left before I had to sleep and decided to pick up my knitting again. Big mistake. Inching closer to the finish, I was about 3/4 done with my little surprise project, my sleepy brain a little too unfocused for the perfection I demand of myself, when to my absolute horror I noticed that a stitch on the latest completed row was all askew!! Arrrrgh! I had no idea what went wrong with the poor twisted stitch, and even worse, no idea on how to fix it. And now there was an extra stitch more than there should have been. :(

Panic mode! I carefully removed all the stitches to the other needle until I got to the stitch. I tried to slip it off the needle to change it's position, tried to loop it through the stitch under it, tried everything I could think of... and as I was so diligently trying to right the wrong, trembling, hesitant, uncooperative fingers and all, I completely neglected the stitches on the other needle... which were silently slipping off the needle point, one by miserable one. Waaaah!

I did the only thing I was capable of doing at that point. I carefully laid both needles on my nightstand, put away all my knitting paraphenalia with a sinking heart, having decided to try again in the morning. A good plan, but in the end I couldn't sleep and with my little project in hand I headed for my computer, this time to do what I should have done in the first place. I logged on to knittinghelp.com and found the salvation of a video to show me the way. And after two unsuccessful attempts I managed to rip out several rows of my oh-so-carefully worked knitting to a place where my work was again on my needle properly! Rejoicing! I worked several more rows to reassure myself that all was well...and with a much lighter heart I was able to finally go to bed...at about 3:00AM. :)

File this under: mishaps ;)