End of Winter Distraction

I've been working my way through the end of winter and the overwhelming local, national, and international news with...

1 - A little knitting. 

A ruby red and pink swirl hat for a baby I want to finally meet soon.And a couple mitered squares for a blanket my knitting group is working on. I found this yarn on sale and used a gift certificate I got for Christmas. The colors are my favorites, all in one! Luckily I have a couple more skeins to hoard or use up soon. I can't decide which.2 - A little scrapbooking.All the bits and pieces for this page came from an awesome craft supply swap I attended at the Blue House in Ann Arbor. It's a really cool art and crafts space that I discovered after connecting online to a local crafter in the aftermath of this annoying post on Etsy's blog in January. (I read this post on my phone while I was driving along the main drag through downtown, in the passenger's seat, thinking about how much I love it here. I love you Etsy but I don't love Detroit bashing by rubberneckers who don't check their facts. They're at the top of my pet peeves list. I think my comment went something like "last gasp my ass".) Anyhow, I turned a negative into a positive, and hope to make it back to the Blue House sometime this year to take a class. It takes a lot of energy to drive outside of 8 Mile these days, but I'll make it back to Ann Arbor eventually for a little craft escape.I've also been getting ready to jump into a Project Life album and have been gathering supplies for a photo mounting project. More on that soon.3 - A little break here and there. I even squeezed in a couple beach walks when I went to Florida for work. I added 'try kite surfing' to that bucket list on that trip! Walks. Naps. Spending time with family and friends. Space to reflect and process thoughts. Time to shop for and cook some good food. All are necessary for sanity in these troubling times. I am praying for peace and renewal as we approach spring.P.S. Jen is auctioning a Noro hand knitted scarf for Red Cross Japan relief fund. Great idea. Check it out.

Archive of Knitting UFOs

In knitter speak, UFO is an unfinished object. Let's just say I have a knack for them. I've been making a little extra effort lately to finish up some long overdue projects but I don't have total confidence yet, given my track record.

Cases in point:

2005:: I was really in love with this fluffy sweater in my first knitting pattern book. I boldly struck out to knit myself a sweater. I think I even went so far as to buy this yarn on ebay. I know it was out of production and it took some effort to find it. Once I got about a third of the way done, I became afraid that the sweater was going to be too small or that I wasn't going to have enough yarn or that it was just too fluffy, so I gave up. Now that I look at it again, it might be okay. Ah, maybe. It is so soft and fluffy. It's been off my to-do list for over five years but now I'm having second thoughts.

2007:: I decided to knit the Juliet sweater right to specifications. Same yarn, same color as the pattern. I had plenty of extra yarn so no fears about running out. Little room for error. But, the lace pattern was hard for me and I spent an awful lot of time on this. The printed out pattern was crumpled, ripped, and taped back together. Now it seems I've lost the pattern and I have no trace of it in my email or computer files. I took the sweater to knitting group one night recently and wasted the entire time trying to see if I could figure out the lace repeat. Then I spent a couple more nights at home doing the same. I finally realized, just last week, that I could quit being such a cheapskate and spring the $6.50 for the the pattern again so I can finish this already. It would take less than a two or three nights to do so.

2008:: I knitted these lovely spa socks in organic cotton for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Ambitiously, I told my sister-in-law I was planning to knit her a pair too. Then, surprise surprise, after some procrastination, I lost the pattern. Definitely a theme running here. Even moreso, it was an obscure pattern in a magazine that I bought on ebay. Wow, I really do repeat myself. This Christmas I thought I could redeem myself so I started scouring Ravelry for a suitable pattern replacement. Turns out it's hard to find sock patterns for worsted weight cotton. But, then miracle of miracles, I went to buy this book for a project my knitting group is planning, and it had the perfect pattern replacement. I started knitting the socks at the same time I started knitting my husband a hat. The hat required the same needles for the bind off so I took the sock off the needles right when I got to the gusset (the hard part). Bad move. I haven't put the socks back on the needles yet. I will. Really, I will. Lesson here: don't believe me when I say I'm going to knit you something for a holiday. Or just prepared to wait a few years.

2011:: Despite all these perfectly suitable projects that I should be knitting, I got ahead of myself and cast on for this sweater. It was 10 degrees out and I was really cold. It was a desperate move. I'm knitting it out of yarn I bought back in 2005 to knit my husband a sweater. Soon after I started the sweater for him, I realized he didn't actually wear big itchy, chunky sweaters. It was a nice gesture, but totally wasted effort and yarn. The first several inches of that long lost sweater project are now sitting on my end table in the living room waiting to be frogged so I'll have enough yarn for a sweater for myself. And yes, clearly my sister-in-law deserves those long ago promised socks but I seriously must finish this project before the snow melts and I lose the pattern. Cotton ankle socks will be just perfect for the spring, right?

And that, my friends, is my knitting life. I could say I'm going to stop these habits and maturely work on one project at a time. But who would I be kidding? It's clearly not my style.

Wool on Ice

Matt loves snug hats and anything linear. Turn a Square hat was just the hat to knit for him. The pattern by Jared Flood is free and well written. I used some leftover black Patton's wool and Malabrigo merino worsted in olive (I think). The two give a nice textural contrast between regular wool and super soft wool. If you knit this, make sure you learn how to do jogless stripes first. I skipped that, and the stripes are a little messy (not shown). But, he's a dude. He doesn't mind.

6 Ways to Entertain Nieces

One more special little niece entered the world about a week ago and so I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be an aunt. I have five beautiful little girls in my life who bring me tons of joy. A few months ago, I read Elizabeth Gilbert's follow-up book to Eat, Love, Pray. It's called Committed, and it's largely about deciding to marry after a long period of ambivalence. She also writes about the Auntie Brigade, a group of childless women who have enough reserves of energy and time to dote on their nieces and nephews, as well as to be roving aunties to the world. When I read it, I was like, "Hey, that's totally me!"

Over the past ten years, I've had so many special aunt and niece moments, and I can't help but think that some of them never would have happened if I'd been encumbered by children of my own. Recently, for one day during the Thanksgiving weekend, Matt and I went into full gear aunt and uncle mode and spent a full day doting on our three nieces. It was an awesome day.

For those aunties and uncles looking for ways to connect with their nieces and nephews during the holidays, here are the ideas we came up with.

1. Give a music lesson. Beating out rhythms is always great fun. If you don't have practice drum pads, use pots and pans and be prepared to cover your ears. It's even more fun first thing in the morning when everyone is still in their pj's. It totally rocks to have a cool uncle who bangs on drums.

2. Give knitting lessons. Or crocheting, cross stitch or sewing lessons, depending on your hobby of choice. The girls and I have been building up to knitting lessons for over a year. They see me knit at holiday gatherings and have always been curious. Last Christmas they sat on my lap and tried a few stitches with me. This year the two oldest told their mom they wanted to learn to knit at Thanksgiving, so before they came, I picked up some chunky 10.5 knitting needles and yarn. 

The lessons went well and they spent a good part of the day knitting. Of course, they needed a lot of technical assistance along the way. The traditional rhyme used to teach kids to knit is, "In through the door, around to the back, peek through the window and off jumps jack". We found that this method had them asking me again and again, "But where's the window!". So instead came up with our own rhyme. "Go down the hole, chase the rabbit behind and through the middle, catch the rabbit, pull it out of the hole. And off jumps jack (rabbit)". Before they left, the oldest said to me, "This is the first year I haven't wanted anything big for Christmas. I just want yarn." We will see if this is just a fade, but either way, for the rest of their lives the girls can now say, "My aunt taught me to knit".

3. Playground Photo Shoot. It was very cold Thanksgiving weekend, but giving the girls time to run around outside was still very necessary for everyone's sanity. We tried to take holiday card photos outside, but it was just too cold so I got one good candid shot instead. Photographing the girls has been a favorite auntie activity over the years.

4. Make a time lapse movie. This was Uncle Matt's big activity for the day, aside from the music lessons. He showed them a couple examples online and then got out the tripod. The girls came up with some ideas, and then they got to work. They took 30 photos for this movie, which required lot of patience for the girls! They did great though and I can see them trying this again during their next visit.

5. Have a night at the museum. Our amazing local art museum has an adult and kid-friendly Friday Night Live event every week with music and special events. Matt and I took the girls for a 'just us' night out on the town. 

We started out making finger puppets. The museum staff had a great idea to cut the fingers off of cheap work gloves and then have felt, pipe cleaners, feathers, yarn, fabric, markers and googley eyes on hand. 

We got some candid feedback from the girls though that glue sticks are "THE WORST GLUE IN THE WORLD!" for making finger puppets. We had to make some emergency repairs after we got home that night.

After the finger puppets, we almost called it a night. It'd been a very very full day. Still, the girls wanted to move on to the next activity. We headed over to the Africa room, where they had sketching stations set up for the kids. The docent walked us around so the girls could decide what they wanted to draw. They were given a drawing pencil and a gum eraser, and then went right to work. Oh my, they melt my heart.

We had the docent all to ourselves for the first 10 minutes, so he kindly offered to sketch a picture of the birthday girl. I've never seen her sit so still.

After a half an hour of very serious sketching, we headed out. Unfortunately, we missed the music so Matt asked them what they wanted to sing on the way home. The little one yelled, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds!" Yep, these are totally our kind of girls. Pretty sure they learned that one thanks to our Beatles Rock Band contribution to last year's Christmas. 

When we got home from the museum, it was straight to bed, after some quick finger puppet repairs.

6. Watercolor paper for snowflakes. The next morning I woke up with a little girl in my face, "Aunt Sara, when are we going to do our project?" I had promised the little one that I'd do a special project with her since the older two spent a lot of time with me learning to knit.

Quickly, before the parents had to load the three girls into the minivan for the next family gathering, I got out some big pieces of drawing paper and some watercolor paints. She worked her magic with water and paint, and then went home with a few sheets of lovely paper to make snowflakes from. The transition from harvest to winter was underway!

I have to say, even though it's not something you hear very often, that I love being a childless auntie. We should celebrate them more.

Pixie Hat for the Girl

I've been knitting a lot this month, after a long hiatus. I've been traveling a lot, and it seems that knitting on a plane or in a car is the best place for me to make some good progress. I also recently joined a new knitting group and I got a great suggestion from the organizer to try out this pattern for the Vintage Pixie Hat in the book Vintage Knits for Modern Babies. It's an awesome pattern and I can see myself knitting this one again and again.

A little one in my life got it for her birthday. She wore it for about 10 seconds and then threw it on the floor. But no matter, giving hand knits is really fun and the 10 seconds of cuteness made the hours knitting totally worth it.

If you're looking for handmade gift idea for the holidays, this is a great option. It's a good pattern for beginners and a quick knit for experienced knitters. You'll have to buy the book but it's a good one, filled with other great patterns so you can keep on giving. I followed suggestions for a couple modifications, which you can find here.

finishing what I started...three years later

For the first time in my knitting life, I made a completely wearable sweater. This is the hourglass sweater, which I started a few years ago. I'm slow. But that's okay. Knitting is my slow craft. I've learned that I make the most progress on projects like this when I'm on a road trip. So our last trip back to Michigan and the resulting 30 hours in the car helped a great deal in bringing this one to completion.

When I finished, I was initially a little disappointed because it's a bit shorter than I felt comfortable with. Because you start at the bottom and work your way up, there is no way to go back and fix that. I tried stretching it out a bit in the blocking, and it helped a little. This is made with a tweedy wool and silk blend, so I couldn't steam block it.

A woman at a knitting store told me the drycleaner could stretch it out a bit, and so I tried that but the woman at the drycleaner refused. She didn't want to be held responsible for ruining a handknit. I had it dry cleaned anyway because I the very first time I wore it, I dragged both bell-shaped sleeves through something in the kitchen. These sleeves are going to be tricky for me, as a have a long established habit of dragging my sleeves through my dinner plate. "Sara, watch your sleeves!" was a common refrain at our dinner table growing up. It's true. Since then when I've worn it while cooking or eating something messy, I fold up the sleeves.

In the end, I think it's a sweater that looks nice layered over a wide necked t-shirt. So I think it'll do quite nicely. Just in time for cool summer nights.

Yarn and pattern details available on Ravelry (username: blueturtle).

Debbie Bliss Baby Shrug

Holy bananas, I knit something!



And I finished it.



It took me six months, but it's done. This week it's shipping off to my 15 month old niece, who is getting her Christmas presents quite late because her aunt (me!) needed to finish this little Debbie Bliss baby shrug started way back during their summer vacation at the lake. This light cotton sweater will arrive just in time for a Texas winter. And because she's a toddler, she won't even realize her Christmas gifts were late!

I knit this with Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Violet. The only modification I made was inadvertent. I didn't bring a smaller set of needles with me on our journey home for Christmas to do the binding, so I just picked up fewer stitches and used the same sized needles as I did for the body. You can't really tell on the neck ribbing, but on the sleeve ribbing the larger than called for gauge created a cute flutter sleeve which I like a lot. Happy accident. I also didn't realize I was supposed to bind off in a rib pattern, so I have a visible line of bind off stitches around the neck. I don't think anyone but a skilled knitter would notice that misstep and I'm fine with how it looks.

The pattern is one piece, which makes for a nice baby knit, but the pattern is not particularly easy to understand as you are knitting along. This skematic helped me picture the final product.

My other niece helped me weave in the loose yarn with a plastic tapestry needle, which turned out to be a good task to tackle together.

I'll be back soon with another purple sweater. It's so close to finished. Hint: It's adult sized and I started it over two or three years ago!

December '09: 13 of 31

The three of us this evening in the living room.

A few days ago Matt came home with Kaia's Christmas/birthday present. She was born on Christmas.

I think I hear resounding "awwww"'s out there.

Since she is spending the holidays in what we call "playcare" (don't worry, she won't know it's her birthday) we decided to give her her gift early. We weren't sure she'd treat this toy any differently than any other toy, but she does. She knows. The big bushy tail gives it away.

In other news, I'm starting to feel the mad dash to make make make over the next week or so. Therefore, I realized today that it's time to trim the Christmas to-do-list so I can enjoy the process!

Are you feeling the same way? Maybe it's buy buy buy or eat eat eat that's got you thinking about trimming back!

There must be something about approaching the end of the year that makes us feel urgent to squeeze in as much as we can!

December '09: 5 of 31

Saturday morning, I checked my email and found out I made my first Etsy sale that wasn't from my mother! Actually, it was from someone I did not know at all. I was quite excited. The internet is pretty amazing.

I packed the PhotoJournal up, added a few little extras, and then asked Matt to wrap it up in brown paper since he's a better wrapper than me.

Then I left for the afternoon to meet up with a friend at a cafe for a study session. We sat at a picnic table in the building's old bank vault, which was a new experience. It was nice to get out for an afternoon that did not involve walking the dog (as much as I love that).

Afterwards, I went to the knitting store for an hour-long private knitting lesson. I've been knitting a sweater for my baby niece (since before Easter) and made a mistake I couldn't figure out, so I kept picking it up and setting it aside. I'm hoping to finish it for Christmas, before she's out of the appropriate size range. Luckily, I had the foresight to knit up a few sizes when I started in the spring.

While I had the ear of the knitting instructor, I asked her to watch me knit to see if she had any tips for speeding me up. I feel dreadfully slow. She didn't think my knitting was that slow, although I watched her and she went much faster! She gave me a few tips, mainly to keep the yarn raised on my right index finger so my hands move less.

I think my knitting slowness mainly comes from the fact that I'm a daydreamer and often lose track of where I'm at in a pattern. On most projects, I end up ripping out whole sections to fix mistakes. That's what I had to do today. I somehow missed a whole row where I was supposed to bind off 8 stitches. I didn't notice anything was off until I thought I was finished with the front of the sweater! This is why I don't think I'll ever knit for pay!

But, paper crafts is another story. In a week and a half I'm going to drop off a new batch of wanderCRAFT goodies at the knitting store for their Last Minute Holiday Shopping Party. Should be fun, and hopefully I'll sell a few items. I'm going to whip up some knitting project PhotoJournals. If you're in the Boston area, they will have the items for sale through the weekend of the 18th. After that, I'll add them to my Etsy shop for any last minute shoppers.

Between Us

A conversation late last week:

Me: Oh, on my lunch break today I finally went to that yarn store in Dorchester. They had some fabric too. The store had a really nice selection, but I didn't buy anything because I just bought some yarn when I was with Stephanie.

Matt: Oh, yeah? I know a place that has a really great selection.

Me: Really?

Matt: Yeah, your closet.