A LIttle Knitting

I've been pretty obsessed with this little shawl I cast on. It's called the Summer Flies shawl. In fact, I've been so obsessed with it that I didn't even stop to add it to my projects sidebar over there. I cast it on, I think, Friday, and I'm already done with it.
Granted, I need to block it, but I may never get around to that.



Besides, it's made out of bamboo yarn. Does bamboo even block nicely? I don't know.
It has this little picot edge which took just forever. I didn't think I'd ever finish it.



Worth it? Oh yes. I'll try to get a photo of the finished product for you soon.

Summer Flies Shawl in South West Trading Company Bamboo

Curses!

Grievous, costly knitting error!
Must un-do 43 rounds, knitted on double pointed needles.
Ugh.
With a shipping deadline looming (for my out-of-town nephews), this is a bad, bad thing.

At Least I'm Consistent.

We need to talk.
(If you are the mother of one of my nephews, you must not, for any reason at all, click on any of the links in this post! I'm watching you...)
I have told myself all year long that I would not be making hand-made Christmas presents for everyone this year. And I have meant it all year long.
I mean, after the knitting debacles and sleeplessness that nearly took me out last year, could you blame me? For heaven's sake - I wound up lying to my husband about needing a bath and sitting in the tub with my knitting hanging safely over the edge of it, actually bathing and knitting at the same time.
I made everyone hand-made stuff for their birthday presents and promised that I'd be buying stuff this year instead.
But I have little nephews. And I wanted to knit them some stuff. Two baby boys and one toddler boy - that's not so bad. I can make three presents, right? Wellll...I need to make something for my own kids too. So that's five presents. Totally do-able.
Totally.
Only, I got started and it has snowballed.
I made one little present for one little nephew and I felt pretty good that I was done with it. I mean, five homemade presents, one done, that's...um...20%, right? Next I started in on baby nephew present #2. And I am completely smitten with it. Utterly smitten with it. The clever shaping, the simple lines, the unrelenting cuteness...
Sigh.
Suddenly, nephew present #2 is looking cooler than the first present. We can't have that. I love all my babies the same amount. The designer of said amazing pattern offers a few, shall we say, variations of the same (here and here) and...and...
And there you have it. I find that I need to make one variation for each nephew. However, I already made one present, so nephew #1 now has two handmade presents in the works. We must even the score. Now, each nephew must have two handmade presents. I realize that a normal person would keep the first gift to give for the next birthday, but I can't. I am not a patient girl. Plus, nephew #3's present? The original one, I mean, not the one I have stumbled into, is too cool for school. I won't sleep unless I make it.
This, effectively, doubles the amount of hand-making I will be doing, you see, because now each nephew is getting two hand-made gifts and I hafta do the same for my children.
It may be that I've defined a new mental illness here.

But wait! There's more!

Just like everyone else in the universe, we are a little strapped this year - financially speaking. Not nearly as badly as some, but enough that it pinches my present budget uncomfortably. And I thought of another great, practically free, gift to make for everybody else too. This should have been a simple task.

It should have been.

You will have to forgive my cryptic communication here, as many of those on my gift list read this blog.

Let us suffice it to say that I have learned a lot about a certain ancient craft. One that seemed it should be simple. One that promised lovely results. One that has been far more difficult than I could have imagined, but also one that I cannot get out of now because I must. conquer. it.

It's personal.

So, in spite of my promises, this season will be filled with frazzle dazzle and sleepless nights. It seems to be my destiny. I've decided not to fight it.

For now.

PS - If you are not the mother of one of my nephews and you do click on the links, please word your comments carefully!

Re-Shoot

So, I decided to re-shoot my little tabletop assignment. I had been going for a dark, moody, pewter-y look the first time, but it was just too dark. It was a learning opportunity. I learned about my camera's exposure compensation button - as in, it was set to take the picture two steps darker than the actual conditions. How it got set that way is beyond me. Actually it's not. I know what happened. I just don't think you want to labor through an entire paragraph about my camera's buttons.
So, here are my two favorites from this morning's re-shoot. I had one tiny break in the clouds (it's been cloudy for three days!) and I like these photos a lot better.




I really couldn't choose just one of these, so I think I'll leave them both on my flash drive...you know...so my professor can just pick his favorite and give me a good grade. Ahem.
Also, getta load of these super-tiny hats I made for my nephew! My hand is in there for size reference.



I've already started on a third one. I'm absolutely addicted to knitting preemie hats now. They're almost as cute as the baby they're for. Well, not really. He's awfully cute. Cuter than any living thing should be.
His mama came home from the hospital today. She sounds like she's starting to feel a little better, but I think we are all beginning to realize what a long, tough road is ahead for them. Little Nolan is doing remarkably well, but there is still a long way to go.

Something Finished

It's been a while since I showed you guys anything I've made, huh? I suppose that might be due to the fact that I haven't made much. OK, fine. I made almost nothing all summer long. But I did whip up a birthday present for a friend of mine who lives up in more northerly parts of the country. She knows I made her something, but she doesn't know what it is, and I guess she will after she reads this post. I thought about waiting until I've sent it to post pictures, but I am terrible about getting to the post office, so I got impatient.
Here's a hat, based on one that Emma Watson wore as Hermione in The Half Blood Prince (Harry Potter) movie - this pattern is named Hermione's Cable & Eyelet Hat. I actually knitted on it while we stood in line to see the movie. For this particular friend, that will mean a lot.





In the movie, the hat is gray (or grey? I never know which spelling to use!), but the kids were with me and we all agreed that this blue color was the way to go for our version of the hat.





Here's a close-up of that yummy yarn. It's Malabrigo wool, which is delicious to look at and to knit with. The colors are just so rich.

It didn't take me long to knit up a coffee cup cozy or two out of the leftovers. I just had to keep knitting with it!

There won't be much knitting or sewing going on this fall, I'm afraid. But I am working on a little blog that will be solely my spot for posting about stuff I make. I hope it'll be ready to go soon, but that will largely depend on how much HTML I can learn by Googling and how long it takes me to learn how to make it look like what's in my head. I suspect that could take some time...

Daily Bliss: plowing through my to-do list
Wake-Up Playlist: Chopin, Valse Brilliante (Opus 34, No. 1)

Done

I have been a busy, busy little buzzy bee over here. I've been finishing projects and starting new ones and have taken no time whatever to tell you about things or to take decent photos.
But.
Max's blankie is done (my new little nephew in Indiana). That sucker is big! I had no idea how big it was until I started binding it off and it was coming off the needles. It's big enough to be a watching-tv-on-the-sofa blankie for me!
I'm really pleased with it, though. Here's the blanket and my silly puppy wishing she could sit on it.





I've also gotten hold of the irresistible notion to make a sundress wardrobe for Emma and myself, as we are heading off to an artist's retreat weekend at the end of July. I have a sneaking suspicion I've mentioned it before, but I don't want to check to see whether I did. What that means, really, is not as fancy as it sounds, but it will be so perfect for us. We are going to visit my friend Allison who has a bit of property a little ways south of us. She's a writer and a kindred creative soul. And the three of us girls will paint and write and draw and generally just be artists for the weekend.
Don't you think that calls for a wardrobe of simple sundresses? Well, I sure do.
I made two for Emma over the weekend and one for myself. There should be three outfits total for each of us, plus a fabulous ruffle bag! Pictures and links will follow to be sure.
The only dress I have photos of is the one I finished for myself. I made Poor Chris try and take pictures of me tonight in the dark house. He really hates it when I ask him to take pictures of me. Mostly because, even though his pictures sometimes turn out okay, I am entirely too vain to post pictures of myself that are not flattering (read: shave off 20 pounds and add four inches of height to my frame). But, as I have little else to offer you in the way of proof-of-crafting, here are some blurry, dark photos of me in my super-cute dress. You can't even see how pretty the fabric is! It's a lovely blue and purple calico-ish floral print. And, it has pockets (which I will place higher up next time. oh well.)!



It's the Mendocino Sundress pattern by Heather Ross and it's simple and fabulous - and free! The shirring on the top is done with elastic thread in the bobbin case and it's super-easy. I do it lots of it on stuff for Emma, but it's rather tedious on a grown-up-sized dress. I do like this dress enough, though, to do it again! I hope it will be soon. I could simply live in this dress all summer long.
The kerchief is on my head, not as a fashionable accessory, but because my hair is pretty dirty. When I have a project I am focused on, I have little ability to focus on anything else, and that certainly is holding true with this silly sundress wardrobe idea! I can't seem to make my head be where it needs to be.
But that is nothing new. It will pass.
Coming soon: a red gingham dress for me and the first skirt Emma has sewn for herself!

Daily Bliss: bubble gum
Wake-Up Playlist: The Silver Seas, High Society

Tea & Knits

It's been a full day.
Emma had her Rock Band Camp concert this morning. She did so well. I have high hopes that her stage fright issues will be overcome with time. This was a nearly all-girl camp, so their band was called the Music Magicians. They played Twist & Shout, Surfin' USA and an original composition called My Life and they were all so cute. One of the instructors told my mom earlier this week that they'd never seen anything like Andrew...until they met Emma. I'm pretty much glowing with pride right now.
Lots of small projects are afoot here, including several summer dresses for Emma and myself that should be simple and breezy and ready for use by the end of July. There will be pictures as they roll out from under the needle.
And I have a few personal projects - some new directions I'm thinking of taking. If they come to pass, you'll be the first to know. One thing I've been considering is returning to the piano - she and I have something of an on-again, off-again, tempestuous relationship. But I've been thinking a lot about why I let it go when I was younger and why I haven't followed through on the handful of chances I've been offered to pick it back up. And maybe, I've been thinking, I owe it to myself to take one more stab at it, just for a little while, to see if I really was any good and to see if there's anything left in my fingers that's worth salvaging. My mom and dad have granted me six months of piano lessons as a birthday present, and when they told me about it, I cried. I am rather terrified to jump back in, though. This is something that I definitely want, so it is something that definitely brings out my preternatural fear of failure. Probably, there will be more to say on that later, once I get started or at least once it isn't late at night and I'm sleepy.

I attended knitting night tonight, which was hosted, for the first time ever, by someone other than me.



I don't mind hosting. In fact, I rather like it. But it was nice to have a break this time and just show up with my bag o'yarn + sticks and not even have to make the cookies. Consequently, Nephew Blankie is nearly done. I have high hopes that it will be finished tomorrow.




Daily Bliss: Dipping an Earl Grey Tea cookie into my Earl Grey Tea. A full-circle moment to be sure, at least in the life of that cookie.

Wake-up Playlist: Muse, Thoughts of a Dying Atheist (shaking my head over that one)

I'm Good!

I love that guy phrase - you know, when they fall down or get hurt or something and they holler out, "I'm good!" I saw that on a Pepsi commercial recently. I laughed a lot at it because it's really true.
So I feel like I ought to holler out at you all that I'm good. You know, I didn't hurt myself or anything, I just haven't had a lot to say this past week or so.
Summer is rolling along.
We haven't bothered to get our TV converter box yet and we don't have cable, so we're outta luck on TV. I'd like to be in a store and state loudly and self-righteously that we don't watch TV in order to make people think that we are that kind of family. Does it really matter why we're not watching TV?
That lack has made for some interesting entertainment choices, though. We've really been digging to the bottom of our DVD collection to find something to watch in the evenings (not that we watch something every evening...). I tend not to enjoy watching things twice, so it's getting hard to find something entertaining in the cabinet. Last night, we watched the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers while I knitted on that baby blanket (sorry, Melanie, that this blanket is taking so long! I don't know why!). Chris grew up on that kind of stuff, but I didn't, so it's fun for me to see those campy sci-fi movies. Only, this one was actually good. Bonus! Plus, Kevin McCarthy, the leading man, was in UHF, which is one of the few movies I've seen multiple times. I know. I'm not normal.

I made spaghetti bolognese for dinner tonight. It's really a simple meat sauce recipe that somebody gave me - the photocopy looked like it was originally from a box of spaghetti noodles. It is such a favorite in this house and I think you should try it if you don't already have a sauce recipe of your own. My husband came home from work and I was cooking (listening to my iPod - The Silver Seas' High Society album is really happy indie pop stuff). He lifted the lids on the pots, you know, just to check. He was so happy about what was in there that he started making out with me right then and there! So, ahem,I highly recommend it.
Just brown a chopped-up onion with a pound of ground beef and a clove of garlic. Add parsley flakes, dried basil and oregano to taste - oh, and salt and pepper of course - and pour in a large can of tomato puree. That's all! Man-pleasin' dinner is what that is. Trust me.
I did a little knitting and a little sewing too. There are a few new projects listed over on the side bar, if you haven't noticed. The nephew pants are kind of a consolation prize because I haven't finished Max's blanket yet. Only, they were meant to be cute little matching pants for my Indiana nephews and somehow they are becoming pants with monogram-appliqued t-shirts and maybe some sun hats. But I might nix the sun hats because I don't have enough fabric. We shall see. I always do complicate things.
My sewing was interrupted by a stiff breeze outside that could almost be called a real Wind. I headed out to the porch in the dark and took that in for a while, until I got some dust in my eyes.
I guess you could say that things are happening, lists items are being scratched off and...you know, I'm good.

Daily Bliss: Choxie (chocolate) - bought with coupons!
Wake-up Playlist: Eric Claipton, After Midnight

Family Fun

We had big-time, family-style fun today. There are lots of us in our immediate family. The current count is eleven if we are all present, but it will be twelve come October (thanks Joe & Mindy!). How do you transport eleven and a half people on a family excursion? Well, it helps to have a brother who's in a band and whose band has a big van for tours.

We stopped in Tampa to have lunch at Chipotle. Yum. Unfortunately, we don't have one here in Lakeland, so eating there is a real treat. Then we all walked across the street to the cupcake shop. I don't remember what it was called, but know this: all the boys ordered the Guinness and chocolate flavor. Andrew had a s'mores one with freshly-torched marshmallows on top and Emma got a pina colada one. Me? Well, I didn't get one. They didn't have any vegan ones. Dang allergies.
Then we headed over to Channelside in Tampa to watch "Up." It was really a sweet little movie. I definitely enjoyed the story, but I thought the score was really striking. It sounded so classically Disney - magical and swooping, sweet and sparkling.
It's such a blessing to have our family close by and to be able to do things like that together. I think it has made a world of difference in the raising of our children.

On another note, I don't know if you noticed the little progress meter over there on the side, but my mom's birthday (February was a long time ago!) shawl is finally finished! It's so soft and beautiful that I wanted to keep it for myself. But I didn't. She has waited patiently and I think she likes it.



In case you were wondering (and you all know you were), the pattern is the Japanese Feather Stole by Anne Hanson of knitspot.com. It was a pretty easy pattern, even though I'm not by any stretch an experienced knitter. It came together smoothly and beautifully and my fingers really loved the 100% cashmere yarn, too.

Daily Bliss: laughing so much my face hurts
Wake-up Playlist: My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges

He Is Risen Indeed!

I love that traditional church Easter greeting:
Person 1:"He is risen!"
Person 2: "He is risen, indeed!"
It's how my mom woke us up every Easter morning and it's how I wake up my kids on Easter morning too. When Emma went to bed last night, she asked me not to forget to say it in the morning. I assured her I wouldn't forget.
It was nice that the kids got to go to bed last night, because I pretty much did not.
I don't know why I am compelled to continue thinking and behaving as though I were a stay-at-home mom who has time to make things. I guess I am reluctant to let my life's circumstances steal the things that bring me joy. So I insist on having them, even though I don't have time for them. My husband lectured me about that this past week, which is big. He doesn't ever say things to me like, "You worry me when..." or "I don't think it's a good idea if you...." but he did this time. He told me I need to sleep sometimes. And he's right, but I just didn't obey last night. I had an Easter dress in mind for myself and for Emma, salad to cut up and blackberry biscuits to put together, and life didn't give me time to get to it until late in the day yesterday. And since I didn't purchase back-up dresses and we don't regularly attend a church that requires much more than pajamas on a Sunday morning (so we don't have church dresses in our closets), I had to buckle down and make the dresses. All in all, I'm glad I did. It was a real exercise in creativity for me.
I made Emma's dress out of an old dress shirt of my brother's and a yard of half-priced quilting cotton.

I kept the button placket and let it run down the back of the dress, inspired by one I'd seen on a crafting site. There are lots of other cute ways to do the same type of trick, like this and this.

I really liked the little ruffle I added on the sleeve. The Little Miss was pleased, and that's what counts.
And mine? Well, I made it out of a thrifted sheet. That seems to be a really great way to get a bunch of soft cotton in pretty prints at a really great price. It was a big hit at church this morning - all the girls I know all came up to me and asked me breathlessly if I'd made it. I breathlessly told them that, yes, I had. And one girl said I shouldn't tell everybody it was made out of a sheet, that they'd never know if I didn't say anything. But that's a little problem I have - I say everything to everybody.
So, hey. Guess what? I made my Easter dress out of an old sheet with pretty bluebirds on it! Mindy took some pictures for me so I could show you the dress, and I can't decide which one I like best, so I'm going to show them all to you, 'k?



We went to my grandma's church this morning with the whole family - my parents, my sisters in law and one of my brothers (the other one's on tour with his band right now). That was really nice (The rest of our own church spent the mornings with their own families. I love that doing church the way we do allows for that sort of thing). I was doing just fine and enjoying the worship until the choir started singing and I very suddenly missed my grandpa terribly. He sang in the choir for so many years and his exuberant baritone was easily recognizeable over the rest of the singers. I cried. There are still moments when the loss of my grandpa is so fresh.
We followed up the church service with a really nice lunch (ham, homemade bread, strawberry, asparagus, and pecan salad, lots of fresh fruits and veggies) and a little egg hunt.

Andrew's a little big for that now, so we let him hide the eggs. I'm not sure what we'll do next year. It's odd that our kids are old enough that our celebrations and traditions need to start changing. Sigh. It really does go by so fast.
This is how we do egg-huntin' in Polk County:

The Redneck Easter Bunny likes to hide eggs in pickup trucks.
One more thing. I finished my aunt's shawl! I blocked it Saturday and unpinned it in time to take a picture or two before I send it north to her. My husband is going to be on the road again for the next couple of weeks, but he'll be stopping in at my aunt and uncle's house, making it very convenient for him to deliver the shawl in person. I'm really pleased with how it came out.

Do you remember the fiasco this project was at first? I'm so glad I switched patterns. This one has tiny beads throughout - just a little bit of glamour, just like my Aunt. Click on the photos for bigger images, if you want, and you will be able to see the beads.

And I'm including this picture because of the face I'm making in it. I smirk a lot, but I don't think I've ever seen an actual picture of it. My Wii Me has a smirk. And I look just a little bit like, "Yeah that's right. I made this. In your face."

For those of you, my friends, who are Believers, I hope you had a joy-filled weekend of remembrance and celebration. And for those of you, my friends, who are not, I hope you at least got some chocolate eggs!

Crafty Gifties

It's getting to be about time for a crafty post around here, don't you think? It's been a long, dry month as far as creativity is concerned for me. Lest you think I've been making things all January long, you need to know that what I'm about to show you is partly Christmas craft. Mindy and her Christmas apron have been very hard to photograph. She prefers to be behind the camera, I think. I finally cornered her tonight at a family get-together (in celebration of her & my mom's birthdays). Unfortunately, it was already dark, we were inside, and my camera's aperture only opens up to 2.8. Sorry that these are not sharp and beautiful photos. Also, I had to resort to using the flash.
Apologies aside, here's the cute little apron. It's from the "A is for Aprons" book that I bought earlier this year. I wasn't completely in love with the pattern once I started making it. I'm something of a sewing novice and the instructions weren't as clear as I'd like them to have been. But I managed to muddle through and pull it together.

I saw this cute fabric in an online fabric store. It's a Japanese cotton print by Lecien. I love it. I saw those little squirrels and the red partridge and it just screamed "Mindy!" to me.

I love how it looks with the red and white polka dots so much, but when you trim it up with this sweet little green velvet ribbon? Oh, my. I can't take it.

So, Mindy's birthday is around the corner, too. But since it's so close to my mom's birthday, we usually celebrate them together. I knew she'd been wanting one of these slouchy berets - the Le Slouch by Wendy Bernard. I had the wrong weight of yarn, so I had to fudge the pattern a little bit. Heh. Is anybody out there surprised that I tinkered with the pattern? I didn't think so.


Anyway, I was doubtful as I knit it up. It seemed like it was too small. It didn't seem like it was going to slouch right. I re-started it no less than three times. but as soon as I started the decreases at the top of the hat, I was in love. I may even make one for myself!

Because I'm pretty sure Mindy's keeping this one.

DAILY BLISS: taking in a matinee