blogging break

I’ve decided to take a break from blogging.  In my frenzy to work on so many craft projects I lost site of the need to have fun in the real world!  I’ve enjoyed having lots of fun meeting so many nice and friendly people through this blog.  I will keep the archives up for anyone who might find some notes in there on knitting or quilting that might be helpful. 

Kathy

Ballet and Knitting with the Flu

Caught the flu bug this week and have been knitting while not being able to sleep, watching all sorts of interesting public television, everything from cake decorating to ballet and everything in between, trying to relax and get better.  Visiting all my favorite craft blogs has been heavenly, and finally our weather has turned sunny and warm again.  Suzi sent me a wonderful link to a free pattern for these adorable Fair Isle Easter Eggs that I wanted to share, and just thinking about making them lifts my spirits, knowing that Spring is just around the corner.  I’ve been busy this week doing some simple quilting, making another hat to match the one below, this time in pink and red, and finished a few mittens from 12 Months of Knitting.  It feels so good to rest, and I feel so guilty that I’m not at work today!  So I’m trying to make the most of it, push away the guilty feelings, and indulge myself in a little rest, some ice cream, and some relaxing knitting.  If anyone wants to know the colors I used for the yarn, just leave me a post and I’ll send you back an email with the numbers.  This was my first real attempt at swatching a color scheme different from that called for in the pattern and I found the article in Knitter’s Handbook to be really helpful - the basic idea they recommended is to look for the same tone when you are substituting colors (dark for dark, light for light etc.).  I love coral pinks, all my lipsticks and blushes and favorite shirts are in this color so I couldn’t help but feel happy working with these colors.  I am using rosewood circs on this project but wish I had some ebony needles with the Koigu since it is so slippery, but I didn’t have them in the right size, so to compensate, I’ve been holding the yarn fairly snug (triple wrapped around both pointer fingers) and that seemed to improve the results quite a bit.  I found some Colinette Jitterbug yarn that was variegated with all the Koigu colors I picked out so I snuck a little bit of that in there and found them to be fairly compatable in terms of thickness.  I goofed on color selection across about ten rows and had to frog and redo, but the ripped out yarn turned into a pretty picture so I thought I would include that here as a testimonial to my hard work!  The 49th Parallel Mitt pattern that I’m working on from 12 Months of Knitting had an error in it for the decreases at the top, so I winged it and finished the first one, and it came out ok.  It took me an hour to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it, so I’m bound and determined to get this right for the second one.  Somehow I thought I could whip up a pair of these magically in time to give them away as gifts on the week-end to some visiting relatives.  Even though they were done on size 8 and 9 needles, its still pretty time consuming to finish just one.  The yarn reminds me of pink lemonade, which was alot of fun to work with and its very soft (Malabrigo).  Hoping that you have not overdosed on pink yet (I think I’m almost there at this point), these are the scraps from my new quilt (these are the background/filler fabrics…I forgot to include the focal fabrics in the photo but you can see them here.  Its called “Pastel Antique Flower Collection” by Lecien.).  Its been difficult finding the type of floral fabrics that I fell in love with here, (similiar to the small photo of the pink and red rose below) but it seemed like a relatively good time to search for pink fabrics since the quilt shops here are blooming with Valentine’s fabrics.  One thing I noticed about searching for rosebud fabrics, the background colors range from bright white to cream, beige and everything inbetween and the range of pinks out there is incredible.  It was alot harder than I thought getting the right mix so I definitely recommend starting a collection and building it up slowly over time.  Its truly difficult finding the kind of hand painted rose chintz floral prints that are truly eye popping.  I’m only cutting out very large squares and sewing them together, just about all the time I have these days, but its been so satisfying getting something up on the design wall, arranging and rearranging the colors and designs, and gives me a nice creative outlet that is different from knitting.  I love the beautiful sensation of knitting that is quiet and peaceful, and then sometimes I like needing to get up and move around alot and have something ready made to work with, sort of a little bit more of an instant gratification!  We (did I say ”we”?!) are also working on a new hat for my son with some Rowan wool cotton.  I recruited my son to help me work on it and it was a ton of fun sitting there knitting together, having my bud side by side.  I promised him I would play a video game with him if he gave it a try.  We found the pattern in Hats Gloves Scarves by Louisa Harding.  The beautiful bright sky blue in the photo is a color that seems unfindable so we substituted with a sort of duck egg blue that tones it down a bit but still looks nice I think.  Isn’t it just my luck to catch on to a really fabulous color selection from a pattern like this two years after it comes out and one color is no longer available or at least unfindable!   Perhaps you can tell which rows he worked on and which ones were mine?!  His stitches are a bit on the tight side but I think its all too precious because it came from his own hands and heart.  The hat below, made out of Rowan 4 ply Botany was a little scratchy so it can’t really be worn except for on the coldest days so I thought this one might be softer for most of the winter when its not super cold outside.  We worked on it mostly last week-end which was a long rainy, chilly and gloomy weather kind of week-end, so it was nice to have something on hand that gave us something to stay busy with.  I keep telling myself we’ll wear these things at the ice skating rink and I have still yet to make it over there on the week-end!  Well, I am getting sleepy so hopefully I will get a good night sleep and be ready for work in the morning.  Thanks for dropping by and listening and may your Super Bowl Sunday be a good one (shopping, knitting, etc. while the guys are watching the game)! 

Snowy Day in California

The timing couldn’t have been better finishing this hat right in the middle of a major rainstorm that delivered all this fabulous snow to our local mountains.  Final thoughts on the hat - loved the colorwork chart, the size was a little snug, could have gone up a needle size, a little shy about the dimple on the top of the crown (no tassles mom, please!), otherwise, I’m pretty excited.  Totally goofed on the progression of colors, should have had one more light, medium and dark blue so the background is a little stripey rather than the gorgeous graduated palette from the pattern, but I’m trying to focus on the accomplishments rather than the coulda, shoulda stuff.  Kinda fun walking around in public knowing my son felt like he had a pretty cool ski hat on, not shy about wearing it and feelin proud of his mom. 

Tranquil Ocean Breezes

I’ve  been working on another stranded knitting project and fell in love with these colors of blue.  I couldn’t find the Socka yarn called for in the pattern (Stahl No. 29) but discovered some discontinued Rowan 4 ply Botany, a fingering weight wool, in almost all the colors I needed.  I’m using rosewood circs, size 1 and it seems to be a good fit with this yarn.  Not only the materials but the colors have provided me with a very gentle, loving experience for me as I bring this little hat to life.    Since I get to go to the beach alot, the colors remind me of the beauty of the ocean as the sun shifts in and out of the clouds over the water, so it is very serene and tranquil to almost see into the ocean as I knit.  My wonderful antidote to stress!  I did make boo-boos though, the center should be navy, the original pattern called for two shades of dark blue but I didn’t realize it until it was too late!  This pattern is in German and English and the colorwork chart is the most unusual one I’ve ever seen, a little hard to work with but after coloring it in, it was alot easier.  This is just the brim so now I have to knit the same amount in one color that will go inside, then decreases for the crown, and then finally I will be finished!  I am a little worried about the garter stitch edge curling on me but if it doesn’t come out with blocking I will insert a very thin piece of elastic or sew it down with invisible thread and hope that will do the trick. 

Farm Girl Stitchin

Please don’t think this is my quilt, I just wanted to blog about it a bit because I thought this fabric was the cutest thing I saw at the quilt show yesterday at Road to California.  The yardage isn’t in yet but you can pre-order the kit here.  Unlike my previous experience with buying a kit online, this time I actually saw the fabric first as charm squares anyways (thank you Magic Quilter for caring so much!)  I know the focal fabric is a complete nock off of Kath Kidston’s “bubble rose“ (photo on the bottom….hers is much much prettier I have to admit but we couldn’t find it here in their LA shop which seems to have closed, and its “currently out of stock” through the UK website (however they are selling lots of pretty things already made up in the same print that I just love!).  I found a very nice complimentary fabric, “Classic Rose” which they do have in stock but its about roughly US $36 per meter and here was the deal breaker, $40 for international shipping!  OK all you Brittish/UK/European lucky ducks, how I envy you!   I’ve been so busy at work so no time for intricate patchwork and fell in love with/was inspired by the larger geometric quilts I saw over the week-end at Quilt Monkey, so much wanted some vintage inspired farm girl fabrics and everything seems to have come together when we saw the little swatches at the quilt show then discovered this kit online.  Cinderberry stitches has some very awe inspiring photos on her blog for this fabric and some yummy projects she is making with it in case you’d like to see, so pretty!

Comfort Knitting

Big week-end here on the home front with the Road to California Quilt show, I got to finally take Lenni for a test drive and I have to say, he won me over completely!  I had waited a whole year to give this little guy a try, didn’t expect much, and ended up getting my goldy locks moment, I finally found a longarm quilting machine that felt “just right”!  I never thought it would happen.  Not that I can afford him by any means but it does give one something to dream about.   I admire the people who have invested in these and been able to have them pay for themselves by quilting for others.  I also went to go visit the Kath Kidston store in Santa Monica hoping to find some pretty fabric like the print in her napkin in the photo but learned that they went out of business, very sad moment indeed!  But all was not lost, the beach was having a very good day and I ended up driving over to Malibu, parked on top of a hillside, and just took it all in for a little rest (I wish I could bottle this up and send your way), and then hiked over to Wild Fiber and visited their Koigu wall (yes, a whole wall of this gorgeous yarn) and finally made my way home contented and happy.  (I feel spoiled and I know this sounds idyllic but we have lots of not so nice things here as well like horrible traffic (bumper to bumper all the way home on a Saturday night! and terrible smog, gale force winds, wild fires etc.)  I made these fingerless mittens in the mornings over the week-end while watching State Fair, I just love this movie.  Santa brought it and I think I’ve seen it 5 times already.  I’d just love to have a bedroom like the one in this movie!  Overstuffed rose chintz chair near the fireplace, another by the window, and all frills on the bed, very sweet and feminine!  I found the pattern for the mitts in a new book that just came out, “12 Months of Knitting” (lots of Aran and Fair Isle knitting with soft yarns, my favorite is the photo to the left which uses the same yarn as the one I used for the other fingerless mitts below). For these mitts I used Malabrigo yarn (see pretty swatches here) on size 9 needles, pure comfort knitting!  I first saw this yarn a year ago, fell in love with it, but didn’t know what to do with it until I saw the pattern in this book (which actually called for Manos Del Uruguay - I was told these are “twins” and I found the Malabrigo to be softer, nice for warm weather climates - both are kettle dyed, both from Uruguay.  The Malabrigo looked more tye dyed, while the Manos looked more hand painted, both remind me of Noro Crayon but different enough to have it’s own personality from each other and Noro).  I don’t know if the designer intended this, but the pattern is not centered.  I tried to change the pattern to center it but didn’t quite make it so I’m hoping to make another pair and try to center it better for the next ones.  On the plus side, they knit up fast, the yarn is gorgeous and cuddly, and you don’t have to worry about playing in them (made these for trips to the ice skating rink), they are made for every day fun!

Tales of Fetching Mittens

Wow, Ann and Kay really outdid themselves with their recipe box photo contest at Mason Dixon Knitting!  Discovered a really fun cookbook I had never heard of before, and discovered links to so many wonderful knitting bloggers who love to cook!  The blogosphere is alive with recipe box love this week, with hundreds of posts and stories of old family favorite recipes including my personal favorite, 1-2-3 jello (cool recipe discovered here)!  (There was a lot of love put into those jello creations!)  The apron (below) was a big hit with grandma/mom, she loved the apron!  (yay!).  I wasn’t sure as she came from the generation who rebelled against apron culture.  (When I got my barbie house she made sure I could put it together with just us strong independent minded women.  She also made it really clear to me from a young age the importance of finding a profession that would never require me to be dependent on a man!  She wasn’t as militant a woman’s libber as that may sound, but the message was very powerful in my college days.)  I had some long, wonderful, poetic sounding story to share about my love affair with this knitting project, but Ann and Kay’s story just eclipsed everything and now all I can think of is the joys of all those jello recipes I had long forgotten (some were really good, but I could never stand the cubes of plain jello with canned fruit inside…ugghh).  In case you are into swapping jello recipes, here is my favorite from my mom’s recipe files (in her own words). 

Molded Apple Walnut Salad

Ingredients: 2 pkgs. lemon-lime jello (1 each/I presume the small kind), 2 cups boiling water, 1 1/2-2 cups Verner’s gingerale, 1 can crushed pineapple, 2 bananas cut up/fine, 1 apple/cut up/fine, crumpled walnuts or pecans.  Mold this in a tall mold, or whatever. 

Topping (the best part that really makes this dish a zinger): In sauce pan combine 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour.  Add 1 cup pineapple juice and 1 egg slightly beaten.  Cook until thick and then add 2 tablespoons butter.  Chill and then fold in 1 cup whipped cream (or Cool Whip). 

In case you are in the process of or planning stages for making these Fetching Mitts (also discovered through Mason Dixon Knitting), here are a few notes to share:

• Yarn: I used Classic Elite “Lush” (50% angora, 50% wool), color # 4420 (bought originally for another project…one of those ribbon scarves, which I ended up not liking so much but fell in love with the yarn).
• Needles: US Size 6 (6″) ebony double pointed needles (why ebony?  slip,slip,slip…no tugging, smooth sailing on the hands and wrists for us carpal tunnel syndrome knitters;  I found cable knitting was harder on the hands.)
• Technical Notes: Requires “cable cast on” (directions found in Knitter’s Handbook by Montse Stanley - great technical documentation for a huge variety of various cast on techniques.)  Sounds difficult in name, but turned out to be easier than I thought.  I discovered just how cool this book was from Mari.  I figured, if that book helped her make this sweater, I gotta have that book! And it just goes to show you, never judge a book by the cover, because I passed that book up so many times before when I saw it in the bookstore, wondering what Reader’s Digest knew about knitting!  Boy was I wrong!  My impression is that the author had a voracious appetite for technical knitting knowledge and a deep passion to share it in the most easy to understand way possible, for the pure love of it all.
• Mood Enhancing Qualities:  Wasn’t sure about this cable business at first.  I started out with Colonial rosewood needles (dpns) that were not in good shape.  I duked it out for about 12 rows and was frustrated but determined.  Then I switched to H&S ebony dpns and everything became dreamy (ok, I splurged, but this is cheaper than therapy, powerful medicine kind of stuff and unlike what you might have heard, you can buy them here in the US.  I found them here.  One of the owners is German and they get H&S shipments from time to time, most recently, ebony dpns in a good range of sizes.).  By comparison, the Colonial rosewoods created too much friction and drag; the H&S ebony dpn’s grabbed the yarn but the drag was eliminated, finally giving me that gliding feeling that hits my knitting nirvana sweet spot and makes me feel all giddy inside, the kind of feeling that powers you up after feeling depleted from a week of work.
• Final Thoughts: It was very uplifting and refreshing giving my hands a new experience, both the soft caress of this lovely yarn, and a happy-happy joy-joy love thyself experience from learning something new, fun, and interesting (if you are new to cable knitting), plus the extra special treat of getting to wear these when they are done (soft and warm…like holding a bunny in your hands all day long!)  The total cost for needles, yarn and pattern came to less than the price of store bought cashmere gloves with the added bonus of getting to use the needles over and over again to make more pairs (Kay made a pair for a teacher’s gift, how nice!). 

Some Vintage Kitchen Fun

Wow, what an amazing thing, I logged in and found 8 really fantastic, wonderful posts waiting for me to read!  Its so much more fun to have a two way conversation!  I’ve been busy this morning delving into the world of recipe box fun over at Mason Dixon Knitting and decided to join the spirit of things with their recipe box photo contest by making this apron.  I had been admiring this pattern for about a year now, and thought it would be kind of fun to have a twirly skirt to bake in, but could never seem to find some fabric that felt just right.  Then as if by magic I ran into these Japanese prints that look just like the various recipe boxes being posted on their blog.  I hope you go take a look at their amazing photos, they are so sweet and precious and alot of fun to look at.  On Monday they will post photos of the winners.  We are in the middle of three storm systems back to back with lots of rain all week-end, so we are going to pack up some goodies and go a visiting to grandmother’s house and give this apron to my mom.  This fabric by the way came from a Japanese firm called Cosmo Textiles.  I’ve never heard of them before, had hoped to share a few links, and couldn’t find much.   The pattern itself wasn’t so easy afterall, a bit time consuming because it is double sided, but the big reward is in the end when it all comes together.  So fun!  Here is a link to another really fun twirly skirt type apron from Threaded Pear Studio, a Mother/Daughter Tea Party Apron.  They remind me of the beautiful children’s ruffle skirts by Beata at Rosehip.  I also thought I’d post a photo of the reverse side so you can see the other fabric from the same collection which sort of has a Pennsylvania Dutch feeling to it and very much reminded me of Corry’s tea cozy made out of Dutch fabrics in red, white and blue.  As I was searching for these links to my favorite blogs I noticed that everyone has been busy and I have some catching up to do, yay!  I’m looking forward to reading your posts and seeing all the amazing things that you do!

Picnic Fun

I just managed to take a shot of our picnic lunch before leaving for the ocean yesterday on New Years to bike ride along the coast before running out of battery!  The fabric on the outside is from a new Moda line called “Simplicity” (I thought you might like that name Mary Jane!), and I used some leftovers from Barefoot Roses for the inside, which seemed to be a good match.  I picked up this little charm packet with the squares already precut so it was fast and easy to put this together.  I saw a model in the store that quilted the patches 1/4″ away from the seams instead of stitch in the ditch which I really liked.  I’m not sure when this fabric will come out in yardage but it looks like all the spring/summer fabrics are finally starting to arrive little by little.  I also saw a collection from Moda called Urban Indigo that had a very pretty cornflower blue that was very vintage inspired and a very unusual blue for quilting fabric that I really liked as well to make this apron out of.  In case you see a pretty packet of squares you’d like to have fun with, here is a link to the pattern I used for this tote bag.  They made theirs with braided handles and a front/inside pocket that I skipped for the sake of time and afterwards I’ll put a self adhesive velcro fastener on the inside to keep the sides together.  It made a nice little picnic basket for a day at the beach and now some yarn for these mittens are happily resting inside waiting to be enjoyed for another day.  The mailman finally delivered Pacific Coast Highway today. I had Google searched all the patterns from the book and loved the bright colors.  I liked the color pallette Alice Starmore worked with when she made these designs, they seem brighter and more cheerful than the palette she is working with today.  I am a spring/summer person when it comes to color so I feel fortunate to have these photos of Fair Isle in a spring time palette from this wonderful designer.   A big bonus was several cable/fisherman sweaters that I had never seen before that were probably the prettiest sweaters in the entire book. 

Happy New Year!

Pappa Bear and Mamma Bear want to wish you a very happy New Year!  Thank you to all my wonderful blogging friends for all the wonderful things that you brought into my life, with so much sharing and caring and support.  Thank you for our inspiration, your incredible creative spirit, and your beautiful creations! I hope that all your knitting and quilting dreams come true, that you continue to find much joy and pleasure and happiness with all that you do, and find much peace and good health in the new year!

• Ein glückliches neues Jahr!
• Bonne année!
• Godt Nytt År!
• Onnellista uutta vuotta!
• Shinnen Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu!

How did you bring in the New Year?  We slept (yay!) peacefully, and awoke to a little tea party on the veranda, soaking in the morning sunshine.  (Oh gosh, this is my first time to post a photo of breakfast!  A little shy about this really, but its been so fun to see how you all have turned this meal into the funnest part of the day on a Sunday morning, with yummy treats and pretty aprons and delicious jams and the list goes on and on……)  Its about 71 degrees F today and we are going on a bike ride to burn off calories! 

Oh happy one more day off from work! Lets not even think about it for one final joyous day of freedom!  Its as if time has been suspended and all the world has come at rest for one precious day of peace and remembrance.  If you missed some of the goings on around the world on TV like we did, here is a great link with videos and photos.