The Wrong Century

Thumbelina

2012-02-15T18:26:00.000-05:00

My niece doesn't like wearing mittens. Can you blame the little girl? When your hands are so small it's sometimes hard to make sure you get your thumb into the right spot.

So, I decided to make her some mittens that would hopefully be exactly the right size. And they are! At least for this year. I'm sure next year I'll have to make her a new pair.
But no worries. She's worth it.

Stripped Purple

2012-02-07T18:12:00.000-05:00

How do I know it's winter? Not only am I drinking hot chocolate and hot tea like it's going out of style, I'm longing like crazy for new mittens! Luckily, I have an easy fix: I made myself a pair.

Another way I know it's good and winter in Ottawa? I went skating on the canal this past weekend! YAY Winterlude! So much fun! Yes - even that part there where I fell over on my a%* in front of a crowd of people had had this teenaged boy say: "Ma'am! Are you okay?" Yup. Insult to injury. Ma'am.

But I got up, brushed myself off and ate a beavertail to make myself feel better. And I'm already looking forward to my next skating trip. (no pun intended)

Oh. Right. The mittens.
So, I wanted the mittens to be as close to the same as possible colour-wise, which is sometimes difficult with variegated yarn like noro. So I actually went through the ball and cut out the pieces I wanted to use and then pieced them together here. Now I have the left overs of this ball to use in some other project. We'll see how that looks. But it's definitely worth it to get these cute mittens!

Lucky me, I've made so many mittens in my life, that I didn't go by a pattern, if you are looking for one, here is a pattern you can use.

Bolton

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

I recently found some more chunky yarn. Well... more like the yarn found it's way to me. Yarn magic is even better than jewelry magic in my humble opinion! (H&A reference. Go with it.) So what to do with this free yarn? I've seen some awesome fun cowls around and wanted to make myself another one. Maybe cowls are my new go to knit. So easy to make, so fun to wear.

Well, since it was only had one ball of the stash yarn my cowl came out a little small.

One thing I love about chunky yarn? It works up so quickly. I made this cowl during the first half of the ManU vs Bolton game. Look at the difference in size between my key coy hook, and the one I used for this cowl. Slight difference, eh?

I just sort of made up the pattern as I went along. I cast on the number of stitches that would make the cowl the right size. Then working in the round did a 3 row pattern of:

R1: SC
R2: SC
R3: 2 DC, slip stitch and skip next stitch.

Easy! And by the time Bolton (English Premier soccer) was losing (sad) the cowl was done.

Capucine

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

I love this hat.

Seriously. I loved this hat before I finished it. And ever since I sewed the ends in, I've been wearing it. Inside even! Tassels and all!

It's surprising how that happens sometime. I didn't think much about this hat when I started it. The pattern has been in my queue for over a year. But I was looking for a new project the other day, and when I went up to my yarn stash, this is the yarn I decided needed to be used. That in and of itself is surprising too. I've had this yarn for a long time. In fact, if you've been around the blog awhile you may remember that I used this yarn for a hat in 2009 and a cardigan in 2010.

And the only reason this yarn got used is because my stash is getting low. I know!

For years I worked on busting my stash, and getting it down to a reasonable amount of yarn. It's finally happened!! It happened without me realizing it. How?? I stopped going to yarn stores. Surprising that worked. ...
No really. It's because I stopped making specific gifts for people. That meant I went to the yarn store to get specific yarn. And then every time I went I would leave with at least two or ten other balls of yarn I just fell in love with and had to have. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who this has happened to!)

Long story shortened: This yarn, this pattern. Perfect. Now I just have to decide if I want to add the tassels forever. Right now they are pinned on. Thoughts?

Also, in case you care, I made lots of minor modifications to the pattern. Here's what I did:
CO 92sts.
R1: K4, P2, (K2, P2)*, K4 (all odd rows R1-7)
R2: P4, K2, (P2, K2)*, P4 (all even rows R2-8)
For decreasing I used ssk on one side. For example:
R11: k1, ssk, k1, ssk, k80, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1

With 92 stitches there was also one row where I had to decrease only once on each side to get down to 64 stitches.
Otherwise, awesome pattern that's totally easy to follow.
Make one!

I'm with the band

2012-01-15T14:20:00.002-05:00

I think sometimes the best sort of craft is the one you come up with on the spur of the moment. Like yesterday, when I was hanging out with my niece and nephew, they decided we should do a show for mom and dad. This isn't a new occurrence. What little kid doesn't love performing and having their parents full attention?
This time the song they wanted to sing was the itsy bitsy spider. And of course we needed props! Luckily there was an empty egg carton and some pipe cleaners on hand. And voila! Spiders for our song.

My nephew didn't so much like that my spider looked friendly. He wanted pincers on mine! (Which totally reminded me of one of my favourite HP scenes. click click click.)

The craft was a big hit - both making them and during "the show". Sometimes it's great to be part of the band.

Blogiversary 4

2012-01-04T19:30:00.000-05:00

Today, it pretty much snowed all day. It is January in Ottawa. I probably shouldn't be surprised. Yet even after all that snow, somehow there was only a thin layer of snow for me to brush off my car at going home time. So, all in all, not too shabby.
Plus, it gave me a chance to try out the new cowl.

Yes. I have a weird facial expression here, and a weird camera setting going on...

Is it any better in B&W? (Thnx Steph.)

Anyways, I got the pattern here, and really like it the look of the cowl. But if I was going to do it again, I'd do it with much thicker wool. The pattern is mostly SC which means it doesn't grow quickly. I could have made this cowl wider, but just got bored and decided - good enough.

Right? Hope so. I'm already looking forward to the next project.

Speaking of projects... it's time for the 2011 round up, because, earlier this week was my 4th blogiversary. Crazy. I tallied the numbers, and as I thought, I didn't nearly knit as much in 2011 as I did in 2010 or 2009. This year I knit:

Sweaters: 3
Hats: 16
Scarves: 5
Mittens: 3

That's it. That's all.
But I've felt it's been a good year for doing the crafts I really want to do. Hopefully that trend will continue in 2012.

ktb

2011-12-31T13:47:00.000-05:00

I've been sick. Not horribly sick, but sick enough. Since Christmas I've spent two days hopped up on Tylenol (I don't take medication often, so when I do it hits me) because of a horrible headache and a throat that was so sore I could barely swallow. And now, I'm being annoyed by an earache.
Well, you know what they say about what to do when life gives you a lemon... Well, then I would add: when life gives you an ear ache, knit a hat.
So that's what I've been doing, while watching world junior hockey games sitting under warm blankets drinking copious amounts of tea.

I made a hat that was gifted directly upon completion, so no picture was taken. Oops. (But it looked like this.)

I also made this hat.

I didn't follow a pattern per se, but cast on 96 stitches. Did a rib of ktb, p repeat. Switching to a larger needle after about 8 rows of the brim. decrease. done!

And hopefully my ear ache is done, too! Just in time to start the new year off healthy!

Happy Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T11:42:00.003-05:00

Happy Christmas, all. Look we got snow!

Hope everyone has a great day.
(Here are some of the things I made as gifts, but didn't get good pics of.)

Warmth

2011-12-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that there's less than ten days until Christmas? Where did the time go? Why haven't I done any Christmas shopping? Like, none. How did this happen? Oh yeah. I was on vacation last week. (That's a valid excuse, right?)
This is my second (annual?) trip to Vancouver/Seattle, and if possible it was even more fun and more cookie filled than last time. Hard to believe, but true.

But because of all that cookie making and coffee drinking, I didn't really spend any time crafting. In fact, the only thing I finished on the trip, I knit on the plane (while watching, but not listening to, Beauty and the Beast. I am awesomely smart and checked my headphones.).

I pretty much based the pattern off memories of this hat. So simple and such a fast thing to knit up. And, I think it looks okay when on a head. Not as cool when it's just sitting around, but such is life.

And now I just have to figure out which family member/friend I can ~~pawn this off on~~ lovingly gift for Christmas. And I need to find a few other quick crafts to start, and finish, in the next 9-ish days. Eek.

crocheted key cozy

2011-11-27T16:11:00.001-05:00

So, I had a request for a crocheted key cozy. I was only too happy to try it!

I think I like this one even better than my old knit one! But I feel I must warn you that the results were a pass and a fail at the same time. Pass because I really like it. Fail because I'm not sure how easy it will be for someone else to recreate it.

Why? Because I had used this tiny, tiny, tiny crochet hook. Does anyone else have a crochet hook this small? I worry, no.

I inherited this hook from my mother, who I bet got it from her mother. The size on the side says England 9. It is probably from the days when things like crochet hooks were actually manufactured in England. I looked it up online, and size 9 is definitely not a contemporary size UK9.

So if you can find a hook small enough that you could make socks with it... That isn't to say it can't be made with a different size of yarn and hook. It can. This is just what I did.

Also, this is what I did for my key. There are so many different kinds of keys out there. You may have to modify it depending on the shape of your key.

My Key Cozy notes
(I pretty much took the knitting pattern, and made it with SC. )

Yarn: Noro sock yarn
Length: Not that much. Just some scraps.
Hook: really, really small.

Chain 10 sts. Join.
Ch 1. SC into every stitch in the round. Join round.
Ch 1. {SC1. in next stitch do 2 SC. SC4} repeat. Join.
Ch 1. {SC5. in next stitch do 2 SC. SC1} repeat. Join.
Ch 1. {SC1. in next stitch do 2 SC. SC4. in next stitch do 2 SC. SC1} repeat. Join.
Ch 1. {SC1. in next stitch do 2 SC. SC6. in next stitch do 2 SC. SC1} repeat. Join.
Right about now you should probably be trying it on your key. All keys are different and here I realized I'd needed to increase one more time. Maybe you won't have to.
Ch 1. {SC1. in next stitch do 2 SC. SC8. in next stitch do 2 SC. SC1} repeat. Join. (Optional)
Ch 1. SC to end. Join.
Put key into the cozy. Make sure the yarn is above the top of the key. Do another SC row if you have to.
Ch 1. SC looping through stitch loops on the left and the right to join them together above the key. Do this until you get to the notch where you attach it to the ring. SC until the other side. SC other side together as well. Ch back to tab.
Ch1. SC around.
Ch1. SC through stitch loop from left and right to end.
Pull yarn through.

My key then looked like this.

I sewed the yarn in and done.

Unraveled

2011-11-15T18:00:00.001-05:00

As I was walking out to my car tonight, I noticed that my key cozy is coming unraveled! Sometimes even the best crafts bite the dust.

I guess it's not surprising considering I made it about a year and a half ago. Most often, it's a very sad day when a beloved knit starts to come apart. But this is such an easy pattern (I did make it in about 20 min after all) that I just might have to make myself another! And now I'll get to have it in a new colour!

Update: Crocheted version of key cozy is done and posted about here!

Beautifully Brown

2011-11-07T20:34:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post, but I've been working like a mad woman on a bunch of old project, and even a new one. None of these projects have anything remotely to do with crafting. They seem to be eating up my time like a kid eats candy on Halloween.
So since I haven't finished anything, I thought I'd show you what I've been working on. Mittens!

Or they will be mittens once I'm done! Thus far, I really like them! Note: there was a fairly obvious mistake in pattern. Good thing I realized it before I had to rip it all out.
Even moving at a snail's pace, I'm hoping to be done sometime sooooon. Cause it's been cold here! So cold that this past weekend I wore a headband under my toque when I went out for my morning runs. Seriously. That is cold. (Or. Yes. Maybe I'm just a wimp.)

What are you doing to get ready for the chill of winter?

7!

2011-10-21T06:30:00.000-04:00

Not that long ago, a friend asked me how many hats I have. You'd think it would be a lot, wouldn't you? I mean, I make hats all the time! "About 10 to 12," I replied at the time. But I had no idea. One of my favourite thing about being a knitter is always having new fun items to keep me warm. And it's so nice to have a stash of winter gear that is always changing. Make a new hat, give a hat away.

But I became curious about how many hats I actually have, so went and found the stash of hats. Turns out I only have seven. 7 ! (Not to be confused with 7 factorial, which would be a lot.)

And that even counts this new hat I just finished.

Like so many, I made this pattern from an image in my head of what I wanted the end result to look like. Needless to say, it didn't turn out quite as expected. ... Not that it's ugly. Just different. I wanted it to be a slouch, and although I cast on the stitches for that, I don't think that type of hat works with this type of yarn.

Oh well. Sometimes you just gotta go with it. And all in all, I'll probably wear it. Less than some of the others in the pile, but I'm glad I made it. And now that I know I only have seven, I feel free to make something else.

dee-dee

2011-10-12T06:30:00.000-04:00

Every knitter in the world has the same problem: What do you do with all your leftover yarn? I don't mean what do you do with your stash. That's easy! Look at it. Dream about what you can make with it. Hoard it. Add to it. And sometimes, even use it.
I mean, what do you do with the small remnants of yarn that you end up with when you are done with a project. That is harder. Even if it's just a few scrap pieces, there is something in me that stops me from throwing it out.
That is how when I finished making my latest shawl I ended up with this headband.

I didn't have enough for a hat, but I still wanted something that would match. As with most times when I'm just using up scraps, I had a general idea of what I wanted it to look like (in this case I wanted it to be similar to that shawl) but mostly, I made the pattern up as I went along.
Here's what I did.

Dee-Dee headband notes
CO 100sts
k2, p2 for 7 rows
m1 sts for a total of 101 sts
k2tog, YO for 8 rows
k2tog for a total of 100 sts
k2, p2 for 7 rows.

Camping like it's 4C

2011-10-04T18:13:00.003-04:00

When I got into work today, and told some folks I used a day off to go camping, they looked at me a little weird. "Um, wasn't it... COLD?" they asked. Well, I like to think of it as being chilly. But who cares if it's a little cold? I don't mind wrapping myself up if I get to spend the weekend with one of my best friends, while taking in the colourful trees, fresh air, sand, sun...

When you know it's going to be cold, you just prepare for it. I am never happier to be a knitter than when I'm preparing for some chilly weather! I've got so many options to choose from. Like my ETTA hat I made a few years ago. (Still a favourite. Even if I think it looks a little like a beehive on my head.) I also grabbed a whole bunch of random scarves.

The one above is my first crocheted item anywhere. I kinda loved it this weekend. It's super long, but also narrow. So depending on how cold it was, I just looped it more or less times around my neck. Done.

Corrie and I had an awesome time. Even if we couldn't build a fire to save our lives. Don't let the picture below fool you. Sure we got a fire going. ... after about 45 matches and 20 pieces of paper and perhaps a few choice words from me. We couldn't even get the paper to stay lit most of the time! I blame the wood we bought. We had to start drying the wood before it would burn on the fire! Seriously.

But we made some super awesome food. Cornbread in a cast iron pan. Yo. And a baked onion!

It was super great fun. A trip we will definitely do again next year!

In the autumn garden

2011-09-21T09:40:00.000-04:00

Ready or not, I came back from my trip to Philly to find that fall has truly befallen us! The morning air has a chill to it. I'm wearing a scarf and jacket to work. A jacket people! I'm wearing tights and arm warmer to run.

But in a way, it's so nice to see the seasons changing. I like when the leaves are bright red, orange and yellows. I like pulling out the part of my wardrobe I haven't worn in months.

And I like new garden veggies. Autumn means winter squash! I hadn't looked in the pumpkin patch in weeks, and to my shock when I looked on the weekend we have 7 (yes. I counted. seven!) pumpkins. And they are turning orange already too! Last year our pumpkins stayed green and were useless.

Do you know how excited I get about pumpkins? Very! This year I've already had amazing pumpkin soup, and less amazing, but still really good, pumpkin brownies. (I'm still not exactly sure how I messed them up.) Next? Maybe a pumpkin latte. Or perhaps pumpkin ice cream.

But there are other things I'm excited about: butternut squash.

And kale! A second crop of snow peas. And, surprisingly, potatoes. I never realized just how different potatoes right out of the ground taste compared to the ones they sell in the store in the middle of winter.

So autumn, now that you are here, please stick around for awhile. Because I'm not sure I'm ready for winter yet.

Better late than

2011-09-14T07:33:00.000-04:00

When it comes to gifts, I tend to think people would agree that it's better on time than late, but better late than never. Right? Well, I was just over a month late when I delivered this gift to the incomparable steph chows. That's not too late, right??

By now everyone should know how I feel about taking reusable bags when shopping, so when I saw this great idea for using an old men's shirt to make a bag I knew I had to do it! I pretty much followed the directions exactly. I went and got a $1 shirt from the Goodwill, bought some straps, did a little sewing. Voila! Reusable bag!

Thanks so much for a great idea!

And luckily I had a chance to give Steph the bag when we met up for dinner a few nights ago. I spent the weekend in Philadelphia visiting some old friends (they aren't old, we've just been friends for awhile), so our visit was right on the way. Too bad we don't live closer, but I'm so glad we get to hang out.

Here are some of my favourite pictures from my trip:

Uncanny Jam

2011-09-07T07:25:00.000-04:00

Jam!! I love it! On toast. On pancakes. On ice cream. In my oatmeal. Need I go on?

That is just one of the reasons I make sure to participate in steph chows' annual jam exchange. Last year I got some amazing jam, and this year was no different.

Thanks so much to Uncanny for the great jam she sent my way! I tried some of her red currant and raspberry jam as soon as I took it out of the box. Yum! It tasted just like my grandmother's raspberry tarts. It was so good I almost cried!

Okay. Maybe I didn't cry. But maybe I did have another 2 slices of jam toast!

Deirdre

2011-09-06T07:15:00.000-04:00

I'm done! Phew. I thought this shawl would never be done, it's been hanging around so long. And now that it's done I really like it! I bought this yellow yarn mainly because it was on super sale, and while I've never seen myself as much of a yellow person I kinda like it.

Knitting details:

I got the pattern: here.
Unfortunately I made one little mistake. Totally my fault. ... I didn't increase on the WS rows and because but I still knit until the 195sts before starting the lace pattern. And because of it the shawl is the right length, but about twice as wide as it should be. Oops? It makes the scarf almost unmanageably big. (When I was showing it off I heard: (quote) "You could make a new style. Like wearing a afghan around your neck." Great.)
And the lace? I really like it! But it totally threw me for a loop until I'd done about 4 rows. For once I found the written pattern a lot easier to understand than the chart.

And in case you were wondering, this is what happens when you don't focus your camera correctly. Oddly enough, I kinda like this shot. It's kinda like what I see when I take my glasses off.

Pranks 101

2011-09-02T07:40:00.000-04:00

When I was in University, my housemates were probably the best pranksters on the planet. No joke. For my birthday in first year they filled my room with enough balloons that they were up to my waist and came tumbling out when I opened my door. I don't even want to think about how much hot air that took. They also once miniaturized everything in another roommate's room. Another time, I think in fourth year, one of them put cream cheese icing into my toothpaste tube. Yes. He actually used a toothpick to push it in there. And yes, I actually brushed my teeth with the icing. Let's just say it is not something I suggest!

Well, they taught me well.

For the past few months I've been doing an experiment/prank on my family. Every week or so I've been moving around the photos on my parent's walls. Thus far no one has noticed the change. I guess after awhile pictures become like decoration. Background noise. You don't notice them. Because they don't change. Or do they!? They do in HP. And then do when I'm around.

This past week I stepped up my prankster ways by adding mustaches to my older brother and I. Mine isn't so great, but I am in LOVE with his.

I cannot wait until someone notices. I figure if a week goes by I'm going to start adding more stuff, like cartoon thought bubbles. Any suggestions? I'm thinking my bro's should be: "Mamma Mia, what a meatball!" or maybe "I'll save you Princess Toadstool!"
So many options. So few mustaches.

Garden Update 3

2011-08-29T19:12:00.000-04:00

In case you didn't know... it's tomato season! And we have hundreds of tomatoes to prove it! Look at 'em all!!

For weeks I've been having eggs and tomatoes for breakfast. Tomato & cucumber salads for lunch. And bruchetta with dinner. Tomatoes are so great! I think of them as the ice cream of vegetables - everyone likes tomatoes. (And yes. For you purists I know that tomatoes are actually fruit.)

I bet you are wondering what we did with ALL of the tomatoes above. No we didn't feed an army. But we did make a lot, a lot of tomato sauce this weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday. At one point on Saturday we had 4 big pots and one crock pot all cooking tomato sauce. Pretty awesome, eh?

Although it may seem impossible, there are other things growing in the garden. Most notably: Musk Melons! I don't love them, but it is pretty exciting that these grew. Every other year we've grown them they've never matured enough to eat.

This lone yellow pepper. Not sure what we're going to use it for yet... It is the only one out there.

And there are things still to come. Like acorn squash!

And butternut squash, kale, a 2nd round of beans and peas (as long as the temperature holds) and if we are really lucky, maybe even a pumpkin or two!

One last pic. On Sunday night I was walking from room to room in the house when it was suddenly lit by this amazing light. I looked outside to see the most amazing twilight and just had to take a picture of the amazing pink and purple clouds.

My Snow Blue

2011-08-16T07:11:00.001-04:00

OMG. Is that a (bad) picture of a knitted item? Me? Knit!? It's hard to remember a time when I was truly knitting. It's been soooo long since I've finished anything. But even longer than that, I haven't done anything fairisle since these hats over a year and a half ago!

Is it a coincidence that this was also made as a gift? (Prolly not, if you know me.)

One of the nicest girls ever, who I've played soccer with for the past two years, is moving to a place more North than Ottawa. (She's an amazing soccer player too. I'm very much going to miss having her on the team!!) I think the direct quote from her is, "It's a good thing I like winter!" Yes. Good thing. But another hat can't hurt right?

I made one slight modification to the pattern. Instead of having the contrast grey colour along the decreases on top of the hat, I kept it in the main colour.

I was worried I was going to run out of the grey. But I also thought that the hat would look better with blue along the ridge. Either way, I think it turned out pretty good. Hopefully it keeps her head warm.

Garden Update 2

2011-08-08T07:02:00.005-04:00

It's been a long time since I've been in Ottawa for a weekend. First Toronto, then camping, then California. All those trips made for an *amazing* July, but it is good to be back. And it was soooo nice to spend time with the fam in the garden.

Thus, here is your garden update for the start of August!

Notice the difference a month makes?

I'd love to tell you the garden is the best ever... but there are a few things I'm worried about. I don't think the brussel sprouts are forming properly. Some of the celery isn't looking so hot. And the peppers...

While the ones that do have peppers on them look and taste pretty darn good, many of them are just a plant. No fruit. And isn't the fruit kinda the point?

But everything else is pretty great. We even made our first batch of homemade tomato sauce today! By next weekend we are going to have a bumper crop of tomatoes. I don't think it would be any exaggeration to say there are a thousand green tomatoes out there just waiting for a hot day to ripen. Homemade tomato sauce is on the horizon.

And one of my personal favourites right now: yellow zucchinis! I had to fight hard for these when we were making our seed list this spring and man are they worth it. I love the bright colour they add to stir-frys. Not to mention that they are super tasty!

Speaking of tasty... when I returned from California, everyone told me that the raspberries are done for the season. But oh look! There are still a few hiding out. You just have to take the time to look for them. And yum. They are worth it.

All in all, there's still a lot of garden to look forward to. I am loving summer! Hope you are too!

On the beach

2011-08-01T21:16:00.003-04:00

For about the last week I've been visiting friends in California and it has been just so nice! It's fun to go back to somewhere I know so well and see friends I adore so much. It almost makes me wish I had never left! If only I could uproot everyone and everything I love about the Bay Area and take it with me. If only...

Cause I miss things. Like the beach. It was soooo nice to spend 2hrs on a Sunday morning just knitting at the beach.

Seriously. Why did I never do that when I lived in California??

On this past Sunday morning I was going to drive the Big Sur coast, but with it being overcast, I figured it wasn't worth it. So I just listened to the small waves crash on the shore and worked on my latest project. So. Much. Fun. Everything Cali related. I wish I got to stay around for longer.

More pictures to come.

Camping like it's 1993

2011-07-26T20:28:00.003-04:00

Did you go to sleep-away camp when you were a kid? I did. This past wknd I went camping in the ADK with my super awesome friend Steph, and it totally reminded me of when I was like 13. It was summer camp, but only the best parts!! There were no mean girls or counsellors saying "You can't have another s'more". Instead we had amazing weather, the most beautiful campsite, fun hikes, awesome food, kayaking, rock jumping and (of course) crafts!

Crafts circa 1993 even!

Did you ever make friendship bracelets? Well, when I noticed these popping up all over the blogisphere I thought it would be a hilarious project for Steph and I to undertake in some of our time off. Luckily neither of us have lost our touch.

I love the over the top colours Steph chose for the anklet I made her. It totally reminds me of cotton candy!

Here are a few more pictures from the trip. The view from our campsite! We even swam out to the island and back one day.

From the top of the fire tower on Blue Mountain.

Our fire pit.

All in all, it was one of the most fun camping trips I've ever been on, and I simply cannot wait to go again next year!

The End of an Era

2011-07-17T06:41:00.005-04:00

It's the end of an era. So exciting, but also pretty sad. The last movie, and thus maybe the last scarf.

(The newest one is the hufflepuff scarf on the left.)

We also had an awesome HP feast!! Roast beef, peas, potatoes and Yorkshire pudding even!

And the piece de resistance: Treacle Tart!!

I've always wanted to try Treacle Tart! Turns out treacle can be made of one of my favourite things, molasses, so I was doubly excited to try it!

And it was... disgusting. I don't know what we did wrong! None of us could eat a single bite.

Oh well. At least the scarf, the movie and the rest of the feast were awesome!

Garden update #1

2011-07-07T19:27:00.003-04:00

I would tell you to call me the jolly green giantess, but at 5'6", I'm average girl height. And I'm not green. I don't even wear green that often. And, while I think in general I'm a pretty happy person, I'm not jolly. I'll leave that to dear old St. Nick.

But the jolly green giant and I do have a lot of things in common. Mainly: Peas!

The garden is now OVERFLOWING with them! Peas and snap peas too! It is such a tasty and healthy work snack! And that's not all the garden has. Oh no. We've got lettuce and spinach and little tiny zucchinis and today we ate the first beans. I can see little tomatoes on a whole bunch of plants and flowers on so many other things.

And, last but by no means least the blackberries are ripening! And do you know what that means? Raspberries are just around the corner. I can barely contain my glee. Garden glee!

Anyone else out there gardening? Or just plain old enjoying fresh summer produce?

(Hope you don't mind these garden updates, cause I see more coming in the future!)

Happy Canada Day!

2011-07-01T07:38:00.001-04:00

Wills and Kate? Here I come.

Me and the bracelet I made out of old tshirt (kinda like these!).

Classy? Yes, I am.

Happy Canada day all!!

(And for the American's out there, happy early 4th of July. And... for non North Americans... Happy weekend!?)

Update: This be's Will and Kate!

LOVE her hat. Have I mentioned I want a fascinator?

Easy Bookmark

2011-06-27T13:15:00.007-04:00

Back about a millennia ago, when I was in high school I kinda had a thing for collages. Odd. I know! Would you expect anything else from me? I don't know why, but I really enjoyed finding a way to mix different pictures/ads to make something new. I made a few posters (yes. random.), but more often than not I covered folders for school.

This is one of the favourite folder covers I did:

I don't remember where I got picture for "Do you hunger for something more?", but I thought it was a great launching point because it had so many answers. I don't know how long it took me to find all the words around it (Recognize the "maybe" as part of the maybeline font? Oh, I thought I was so clever.)

Well, I was going through an old box on the wknd, when I found that folder. At the same time I found some other old ads I'd saved. So, I figured, why not do another paper craft. Enter the bookmark idea and a confessions.

Yes. I get a lot of books out of the library. (That is not the confession.) Yes. I am one of those people who turn books, leaving them propped open and breaking the spine in the process. (That is the confession.) Sorry to all of you out there who hate this. But I never have bookmarks around when I need them! (I guess this is the good thing about having a kindle or the like?)

So with an old heavy piece of cardboard, a few pic on thin yet glossy paper (taken from a free NZ map I got on my trip there last year), two pieces of double sided tape, and an exacto-knife I made this:

Not as pretty as one of my old collages, but it also took way less time. And now I won't break the spine of a book. Well, that is until I lose this book mark too.

(PS - isn't my old copy of Heidi the cutest book ever?)

Fishtails

2011-06-20T20:30:00.002-04:00

When it comes to braids, I used to think that I was a master. If not a master, at least a well ranked intermediate. Seriously. Braid? Yawn. French braid? I can do it in my sleep. Inside out? I lived in 'em for years. Still do when camping!

(See. Me at Yosemite in a inside out french braid! eating the best muffin in the world.)

So why did I never learn how to fishtail?

I remember back in grade school when this girl on the bus tried to explain the difference between a normal braid and a fishtail. I was soooo confused! My little eight-year old brain couldn't understand! Oh the horrors of living in the days before youtube! Now clarity is just a click away!

So for more than twenty years I've stayed oblivious to the world of fishtails. That is, until I saw this post. So pretty! Now I love 'em! (but still can't do it like in those pics)

A week or two later, I saw another post and I immediately loved the simplicity of the necklace. I wanted to make some, but obviously I had to put my own spin on it. And since I've got more yarn hangin' 'round than I know what to do with, why not make a fishtail necklace out of that!?

Here are the results:

Simple how to:

1) Tie a knot and divide strands in half.

2) Take left most strand of left half and move to right half.

(see I'm going to move the pink one on the outside.)

3. Move right most strand from right half to the left half. In this case I would move the blue strand to the left.

4. Repeat until done! Here's the final result:

Wear. Enjoy!

Keegan

2011-06-14T08:18:00.000-04:00

Back in December, I went to Vancouver for a week. During that time, I lent my car to my bro and SIL since they only have one. At that time, my SIL's mom (Mrs. C) came to town via the train. I figured - "I'm not going to be using my car. Someone might as well." Plus, my SIL's mom and I go way back. It's not like we have weekly phone chats, but I've known her since I was about 14, and she's a crafter, (She used to take me to craft fairs and out to dinner when I was in University) so I'd say we're friends. :)

Anyways... when I got back from the Vancouver trip and opened up the trunk of my car I found a whole bunch of yarn. Now, that in and of itself might not be weird, but I didn't recognize this yarn at all. And yes. I have *a lot* of yarn in my stash... but not that much!

Turns out Mrs. C. was kindly giving me some yarn she didn't know what to do with. I gladly brought that yarn into the fold, and when deciding to use it, I figured I would keep it in the family. Thus, I made my niece this:

My gage was a little bit off from what is recommended in the pattern, so I scaled down the number of stitches to 102, but otherwise I pretty much followed the directions to a T. (Or an N if you will.)

It is an okay pattern. I do wish I'd followed my gut and added more stitches after the cabled top. The skirt part doesn't have enough flow/room for my liking... But oh well. Still cute. Ish.

I'm still debating about the buttons. (I've been having button choosing trouble lately, haven't I?) And then done.

When skunks attack!

2011-06-12T10:57:00.004-04:00

This is Moxie, my brother's Weimaraner, who I have the pleasure of dog sitting this weekend.

I bet y'all are thinking: 'man this dog is cute'. Yeah... well, that's cause you can't SMELL him. Seriously people. When skunks attack it's a scary thing. It is nothing warner brothers would have us believe! A noxious smelling spray was exchanged rather than hugs and kisses. And I certainly hope that's not what it smells like when love is in the air!

That is what happened to us this morning when we went on a short little walk. If only we'd gone earlier, before my bike ride. If only I'd thrown the ball the other way. If only Moxie knew not to chase after black and white rodents! Let me tell you, that skunk was no scaredy cat! Amid my yells of "No Moxie! No. No. NO!" the skunk charged one last time, doing a pretty darn agressive donkey kick. And that was that. Poor puppy.

So let this be a warning. This is what you look like after you've been washed in vinegar and then later in a hydrogen peroxide/baking soda mix. Not so happy anymore.

Skunks do not make for a fun Sunday morning.

Pink Pearls

2011-06-05T08:39:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I went dress shopping with my younger brother's gf A. (Love her!) I'm going to a wedding this summer, and I refuse to have the dress fiasco happen twice! So off we went to the mall. After finding a really cute dress, I mentioned to another friend that I thought a string of pearls would make the dress perfect! Not that I'm going to buy myself pearls. Maybe fake pearls. Maybe.

But when I saw a necklace named "knit your pearls" mentioned here just a few days later, I figured it was kinda fate. Not that I'm going to wear them with my new dress... And, come to think of it, not that I actually believe in fate...

But why not make them anyways?

As I was making them I had some serious doubt whether or not this was going to be yet another thing that I knit that just sits around, unworn. Let me tell you, I've got a lot of those. But this isn't one of them. I wore it to work last week.

Sure I took it off at about lunch, but that's only cause it was kinda itchy.

I made a few mods to the pattern because if I can avoid sewing I will do so.

What I did:

CO 9 sts

K 6 rows

Separate the 9 sts into 3 groups of 3. For each group of 3 do the following

kbf, k, kbf

make I-cord for desired length

k2tog, k, ssk put onto waste yarn

When all three I-cords are done, put the live sts onto a needle and K8 rows, putting in the button row.

Try it! It's a great way to use up left over from other projects.

(PS - this might remind you of another one of my projects. I like both the finished product and the construction, much better for this one!)

And... I'm back!

2011-06-01T06:59:00.000-04:00

Hello y'all! I'm back! I can't believe how a month has flown by. Thank you for sticking with me through my blog-cation. Did I go anywhere? Nope. Not really. But it was a nice break. Not that I was bored. Oh no. In fact, I've been busy, busy, busy.

So what have I been up to? There's been soccer. Lots of it! And I ran a 10km race with my SIL last weekend. It goes without saying, there's been some knitting. (You'll have to wait for the next post for that.) I've even started up a new project that I thought looked fun. But the biggest thing that has been taking up my time (other than soccer. Oi!) is the family garden. And when I say garden, I really mean GARDEN.

No seriously. My parents and brother and SIL don't take the garden seriously, they take it SERIOUSLY. You name a vegetable, I bet we planted it!

If you don't believe me, look at the garden map I made:

Yes. We've planted all that. To give you some scale we planted, 42 (count 'em. 42.) roma tomato plants at last count.

Things are already up! But the only thing really useable so far are chives and rhubarb. Let me tell you, I've been baking with rhubarb at least twice a week. It is fab-u-lous. Other things are starting to poke their head up. Like, my onions!

I am so very excited about what this summer will bring. Produce-wise and other-wise.

Hope everyone else had as nice a May as I did! What did you get up to?

To whom

2011-05-01T13:37:00.000-04:00

To whom it may concern,

(i.e. any blog readers I do have...)
I will be going on a short vacation. A blog-cation? A blog-batical? What I mean to say is that while I'm not physically going somewhere, things will seem quiet aroundhere for the next month, or maybe two. So if you don't see another post before July, don't worry. I am okay.It's just that blogging takes time, because knitting takes time and writing takes time and heaven knows that me getting a halfway decent picture takes time! And while I will still be crafting over the next few months, I foresee a dramatic drop in the time I can spend on it. Why? Because my favourite season has officially begun! Outdoor soccer season. During which I spend 3 to 4 nights a week out kicking a ball around, often times getting rained on, running until my legs feel like they'll fall off. No really. It's fun! What's not to love? Exercise. Good friends. Laughter. And rain.And since I know something's gonna have to give in my schedule, I decided that something is blogging.
Thus, I wish you the best of springs, and will see you come summer! (At which point in time I hope to have a few cute knits and crafts saved up to blog about...)

Before I go, I will leave you with one final picture. Me in my latest hat (pattern) in my pretty freakingly cool new Warby Parker glasses! (hat comments below.)

I am, sincerely (and knittingly) yours,

Hat comments:

I like the hat. I don't love it. But I like it.

I like the construction of knitting the brim straight and then picking up stitches to knit it in a round. It's cute. But also a little boring. But cute and different. The double yarn over the ear will be nice once it's winter again. (not that I'm longing for winter or anything. yay spring!) I didn't do the i-cord at the top of the hat. I wasn't so into that. So I just finished it off round.

So this hat will get put away until next winter. Good enough.

Old School Tea Cozy

2011-04-28T21:14:00.000-04:00

I love tea. I always have. Growing up we would have it every night after dinner. (I think it was caffeinated. Yes. I don't know what my parents were thinking at the time... ) My dad would get up from the dinner table and say "Who wants tea?" and all us kids would say, "Tea please!" (I know! We were so freaking cute I could gag. Anyways...)

If there is one thing I don't like about tea it's cold tea. Yuck! Enter this tea cozy!

Doesn't it make you want to talk in a British accent, eat scones and stay up until all hours of the night/morning to watch those Royals get married? (Susan! Get well soon! Hope you can still have your tea party! I want to be there!!) Whose with me? You know I'll be up at the crack of dawn to watch it! And I'll be drinking tea from a teacup (not a mug) while I do it!

This FO was made by request for a friend. After looking through a bunch of patterns, I knew I fell for this one. Seriously. The pattern is from a magazine my grandma would have knit from. Isn't it awesome?

So I started to knit is up!

... ... ...

And then I realized it just wasn't working. It was at the same time too narrow and too wide. I was advised to rip it out and start all over again. And in the end, that's what I did.

For the most part I'm a laisse-faire sort of a girl. You know, no one is ever going to notice a small mistake. And I feel like I'm good enough that I can fudge patterns. Want to do a different cast-on? Why not. Add a few stitches here? Easy!

But there are mistakes you can't recover from. And while I hate to frog (it sucks out a little piece of my soul to rip out knitting) I tend to be happy that I've done so.

So now my dear friends can enjoy nice cozy tea. Even if it is disgusting rooibos. (yuck.)

broken hearted

2011-04-20T08:44:00.002-04:00

So, my grandma and I were hanging out last night. Doing what two awesome ladies do when they want to have an awesome fun time. You know... geeking it up; watching Jeopardy!. And I picked up my new knitting project and Grandma looked at me longingly and said, "I wish I could still knit. I miss it so much. But I can't see the stitches good enough anymore."

My heart is officially broken.

Poppy

2011-04-18T10:25:00.000-04:00

I have a pretty freaking fantastic nephew. He's fun and smart. And he's definitely not afraid to say: "Hey! I like that. Can I have it?" In fact, I've lost these hats to him saying just that! I mean... he's so cute. How could anyone say no??

But it is time for my niece to get a hat too. She's two and although she's as smart as a whip, doesn't talk so much...

It's a pretty cool design. (I downloaded the pattern from Ravelry, but anyone can get it here.)

Years ago, I made a similar hat. You make it using short rows. That makes the curved top. No decreasing needed! Once that is long enough, you pick up all the stitches along the edge and knit the brim.

And now I'm supposed to add an accent. My niece already has a hat from her grandma (SIL's mom) with a crocheted flower, so I was thinking buttons.

These are the ones I've got. I'm not in love with any of them. But I do sort of love the multitude on there. Add a few? Add them all? Go buy new ones?? Don't add buttons at all?

Any opinions?

A year in review

2011-04-14T07:50:00.000-04:00

Today is an anniversary of sorts. Or an Otta-versary. It's been a year since I moved! Crazy!

And looking back at those lists of things that I'll miss and things I'm looking forward to, I'm surprised by just how spot on they are. Every. Single. Point. It's so exact that I'm thinking I should have bought a lottery ticket. (Don't worry. I wouldn't have played: 4 8 15 16 23 42.)

So, what was I most notably right about?

- Trader Joe's? I've been there 4 times in the past year. Those four times were in the span of lovely Seattle 3 days. Let me tell you, 4 times is not nearly enough! I've broken down at least a half dozen times and actually google-mapped routes to East Coast TJs to figure out the closest one to Ottawa. Answer: None of them. Like, maybe Boston? New York City? None are in driving distance. But watch out TJ's. I will be back.
- I was right. Family day is the absolute best. It would/will be even better once a certain younger brother of mine moved/moves back to town!
- While I miss the mountains, I've adored being on the East Coast, and getting to spend time with East Coast people. Cause I never would have run my first half marathon if I hadn't been here. And while I didn't go canoe camping, I did make chocolate orange cakes in the ADK.
- The library? Yup. I still miss that little building.
- The weather. Yes and yes. (It was on both lists if you remember.) I *loved* winter for the winter aspect of it. Snow? Fun. Canal? Awesome. Getting to wear awesome woolens? Fabulous. I didn't even mind brushing snow off of my car. But I do mind that I can't run outside when it's soooooo cold. I can't stand treadmills. When I am on one I feel a little bit like my soul is dying. So, I am soooo glad that spring is here, cause it's time to get back into running shape!

So what was the one bad prediction I made. ... Turns out I haven't gotten my Canadian accent back. And I have proof. So, my SIL was telling me just this past weekend about a study of regional dialects using twitter. Turns out "Hells ya" and "Hella" are pretty much Bay Area things. Yup. I say those. Mostly jokingly, but I still say them. My SIL said that for the past year she thought I was crazy and had made up that slang. Nope. I just talk like a BA-ian.

All in all, a good first year back in the homeland. And while there are days that I *MISS* it, on the whole, I think the move has been for the good.

And good thing I can visit. Like I'm going to do this summer! :)

Callie

2011-04-08T09:51:00.003-04:00

Earlier this week I declared that spring has sprung. Since then I've experienced snow and rain and ice pellets and sun. Is that what spring is in Ottawa? It may be spring, but I might just keep mittens in my purse for awhile longer yet.

Although you can't really see it, I made these mittens with a cable pattern to match this hat. Yes, I know the colours are totally different. But I thought it would be neat to carry the same theme throughout so that they'd match, but not match.

I think the cable didn't work mainly because this is made out of wool. The stitches aren't as distinct, so it just swallows up the detailing.

I didn't really use a pattern for these, but just drew on my knowledge of the general way to make mittens. Cuff, gusset, thumb, done.

But in the end, these mittens are a fail - at least for what I wanted them to be. They should have been boy size. Nah. Definitely turned out to be girl size. Snug on my hands. Oh well. They might not be what I wanted originally wanted to make, but that just means they'll keep a different pair of hands toasty.

Origami tulips

2011-04-04T08:05:00.001-04:00

For me, tulips are the harbinger of spring. Or maybe when I was living in California it was those daffodils that pop up along canada road that were just waiting to make me happy when I was out for a weekend bike ride. Either way, those bulb flowers make me so very happy.

But what happens when you just can't wait that long for spring to come? It'll be weeks before the tulips are out. And I want it to be spring now!

Well, momma used to say: If you can't the mountain to Muhammed, then make him some origami tulips!

Look! Instant spring! Okay, so it wasn't exactly instant. It did take me an half hour or so to make these... But well worth it!

I just followed the instructions found here. And if like me, and some other fabulous people I know (you know who you are), and you are diagram-ly challenged (please do not ask me to put together Ikea furniture) there are super helpful youtube videos too.

Super fun! Especially the part where to you get to blow them up like a balloon.

So make a spring garden, I say. Or brighten someone's day. Or take them when you pick someone up at the airport. Cause the best thing about these flowers? They never die. (Although they are highly crushable.)

Mara by any other name

2011-03-29T17:16:00.005-04:00

I don't know when it was I first looked up the meaning of my name. Perhaps it was in High School. Like a lot of people, I was named after a relative. In my case I'm the namesake for both my Opa and Oma, and I've always been sort of proud of that. Sure "God is gracious" isn't the most exciting meaning for a name out there, and Jeanne was sort of annoying to grow up with (I hated the first day of school), but now I like my name. It's part of me. And in a way, I think it matches who I am.

And while I don't put a lot of stock into name meanings, I do think they are worth considering. Which leads me to ask: why, oh why, would you name something this pretty Mara?

Sure, Mara sounds like a pretty name, but it means bitterness. Bitterness?

I love this shawls and how the ribbing looks a little bit like ruffles. I love that I think it is versatile enough to wear with a jacket or with a spring/summer dress. Bitterness? The only thing that could make me bitter about this shawl is that I want two! Or three! Wouldn't a nice light coloured shawl be perfect for spring? With the last traces of snow melting, that would be perfect!

On that note, Yay for spring and fun spring activities! Although a small part of me is sad to see the winter hat/mitt/scarf season go, there is so much good stuff to be looking forward to! I'm looking forward to getting out to do more.

Booties

2011-03-19T10:27:00.000-04:00

This story has a point, so stick with me. Okay?

So about 7 years ago when I had just moved to California I met Cyrille, a friend of a friend who was originally from France. His English was very very good, but when you are talking a language that isn't your mother tongue it's understandably there were still some things that he would get wrong.

Cyrille was big into surfing. And if you've never been to Nor-Cal you might not believe me when I tell you the Pacific is quite cold there. You wear a wetsuit. Some people wear neoprene caps! And gloves. And one day Cryille informed us that he really wanted to go get himself some booty... It took us a moment to figure out he really meant he was going to get some booties to keep his feet warm!

Maybe you had to be there for it to be hilarious...

Why am I relating this random story? (Other than the fact I love random stories??) Well, I was thinking about it because I made baby booties!

I got the super simple pattern from here, but to be honest... I'm not sure I'm in love with them. They are sort of cute... but will they really fit a baby's feet? I don't know. And I don't have a baby to try them out on. Oh well.

No real reason for making these. Other than to use up stash yarn. (you might recognize it from a recent sweater...) And I'm sure there will be someone soon to whom it will be appropriate to give these little gems. I just have to hold on to them until then.

Boneyard

2011-03-10T18:25:00.000-05:00

Aren't hobbies the weirdest thing in the world? And why do we chose the ones we do? I guess in my case it kind of helped that I learned to knit when I was young, but it was my choice to pick it back up after University. But what would have happened if my mom hadn't taught me to knit? Would I be flying model airplanes? Stalking celebrities? Reenacting civil war battles? Collecting stamps? More importantly, does it really matter what my hobby is as long as I enjoy it? (Well... minus the stalking celebrities one because I think that's kinda illegal.) Whatever floats your boat, right? (Or in some cases, whatever mails your letter...)

I was recently chatting with a guy I know from masters swimming and I told him I knit. He looked at me like I'd grown a second head.

"You... knit?" he said, one eyebrow raised. "Did you make that sweater?"

"No," I told him. "But I did make my hat, my mittens, my scarf. And I have made sweaters."

Then he looked at me like I'd grown three heads. (Good thing I have enough hats for all those heads I'm growing, eh?)

Needless to say I don't think he and I will become BFFs any time soon.

But why be a hater? Why not be a lover? An encourager. Besides, when you can make shawls like this one, I can't see how anyone wouldn't love it! It only took me two days to knit up (although I probably should have made it a little bigger). So, so, so easy. I love it so much that I don't want to take it off! Seriously, I'm wearing it as I type this.

Super, ridiculously simple, well written pattern from here. A friend pointed out that the simple ridge pattern would also probably make a nice straight scarf. Totally right! Probably a hat too. There are times when simple is best.

Speaking of things that are simple, yet awesome, look at this rice bag I got in the mail yesterday! Yay unexpected mail! Thank you! I love it.

I'm sure my aching joint will appreciate it soon too. See. Aren't nice people nice!?

If, unlike me, you can sew and like to sew, here are some instructions how how to make one for your very own.

So off you go people. Be nice and prosper.

Giant!

2011-03-05T08:05:00.000-05:00

Before I made my white mittens, it had been awhile since I'd made a pair. It's been even longer since I'd made boy-sized mittens. How big are boy hands? Although I by no means have dainty hands, I would guess on average they are bigger than mine. Um... right?

But when I finished this set and asked my brother to try them on and tell me if I got the size right, he said, and I quote: "Who did you make these for?? The Jolly Green Giant?"

So does anyone know the Jolly Green Giant's address? Cause I've got some mittens for him.

Not really. Besides, he probably wouldn't need them in his warm valley.

But that left me stuck with the problem of how to make them the right size. For awhile I debated whether or not to felt them. They are made from wool for added warmth so they would have felted up quite nicely. And that would (with any luck) make them the right size. But... I'm just not that in love with felt. I think knitted mittens are nicer.

So I decided, to leave them as is. Instead to solve the problem I sewed fleece liners. I know! I, me, Jeanne, sewed! If you don't remember, I'm not so great a seamstress. With the liners I think they no longer feel too big.

(Um... they got gifted and I didn't get a good picture of the liners. Oops! Maybe I'll have to make another pair to show you. Haha. riiiight.)

Too blue

2011-02-24T09:14:00.000-05:00

I've made myself a few sweaters over the years. But for some reason the all tend to end up in the back of my cupboard. They're only worn when there is NOTHING else to wear. And I mean nothing! Why is that? Is my knitting that bad?

Well, I really hoped that I would end this bad streak with this sweater I made about a month ago:

I thought it was a shoe-in for best sweater of the year! Cute pattern. Easy construction. Nice bright yarn. (That I just happened to have sitting around...)

But it turns out... nope. As you can see, I couldn't even get a good picture of it!

I wore it once, and while I liked it... it just didn't fit right. My fault. I didn't adjust the pattern. So I gave it to my SIL who hasn't been ~~cursed~~ blessed with stupid big swimmer shoulders. I'm hoping it'll fit her better and she'll get more wear out of it.

And I guess that sends me back to the drawing board.

Attention Defi... Oooh! What's that?

2011-02-20T08:01:00.000-05:00

I definitely, without a doubt, no question have ADD when it comes to knitting. They're are patterns I've been meaning to knit, would love to knit, would love to have the finished object. I've had these projects bookmarked/queued for months and in some case years and yet I never get to them.

But then there are other patterns that I see and Oh! I just have to make that right now! I don't know what the difference is. Do I have to be in some sort of a lull and need something new? Does the patten have to be amazing? Some combination?

I'm not sure. It just happens. Like this hat Quinn was wearing on this week's episode of Glee. The second I saw it, I knew it would be my next knit.

Sure I have like 4 other things on the go. And 3 things waiting to be started. Projects that need to get completed. Doesn't matter. This has my attention now!

So... it didn't turn out exactly as I would have wanted. The end is a little too pointy.

But all in all, for wiping it up in two days, I like it! I'll definitely wear it!

And now I can return to my regularly scheduled knitting queue. Well... that is until I see the next .... Oh! What's that? ...

Gifting

2011-02-16T10:56:00.002-05:00

'Tis better to gift than to receive. Or at least, I think so! Hence this hat:

A gifting opportunity came up out of the blue, so I found a quick crochet pattern, grabbed some yarn from my stash and whipped it up. I like the stripes! I think I need more stripes in my life.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a better picture. But I did get it in the mail. That's the important part. Hopefully it is liked.

Letters to Winterlude

2011-02-06T14:22:00.003-05:00

Dear new skates,

Are you sure you're skates? You don't hurt my toes. Or my heels. You don't make me fall over! A feat(/feet) I thought was impossible! You are the best skates ever. I am so glad we got the chance to meet and hang out.

Love, -me

Dear Killaloe Sunrise,

It's been awhile. Probably 10+ years and if possible, you taste even better than I remember! You are by far the best Beavertail out there.

Hungrily, - me

Dear nephew who is just learning to skate,

You are pretty awesome. Next year I bet I won't be able to keep up to you!!

Hugs, Aunt J.

Dear canal,

You may not be the longest skating rink anymore, but you still rock. Keep it up!

-me

Dear ridiculously big cowl,

You are ridiculously big. Mammothly big! But you keep me nice and warm, and for that I thank you!

Thanks! -me.

Dear cold virus,

It's not that I don't like you, it's just that... ... ... Okay. I'll admit it. I don't like you. I don't like the coughing, sneezing, or 11hours of sleep a night I've been getting under your horrible dictatorship. But I skated on the canal today even with you hanging around, so take that. Now virus, if you would be so kind as to vacate it would be much appreciated.

I am, yours sincerely, -me.

Almost two right hands

2011-01-31T07:54:00.002-05:00

It's winter. Definitely, definitely winter. There's snow. There's ice. The temperature is in the negative degrees. & I love it.

After 6 years in California where winter is little more than a rainy season, I'm really enjoying having a real winter. It's such a novelty! I don't even mind brushing snow off my car in the morning. I know! Crazy, eh? Sure, that'll probably change by next year, and I'll be like everyone else and longing for summer, but right now, I like all of it! Especially that I have a reason to wear hats and scarves and mittens.

When it comes to knitting, mittens were one of my first loves. In high school they were pretty much all I made. I made mittens for my best friend. I made mittens for the boy I had a crush on in Gr11. I made mittens to be sold at the church bazaars. I made mittens for the kids I babysat.

And maybe I burned out on mittens, cause I don't make mittens too often anymore. I've made a few arm warmers, but those are different.

But with all that yarn from the ugly sweater I made the mittens above to match my hat. Amusingly I almost made two right hands. The pattern I used to use was good for either hand so I didn't think about it until I was just about to start the thumb. Good thing I realized it!

These mittens rock. I wore these mittens skating on the canal and they totally kept my hands warm! Wool is the key I think. It just keeps the heat in so well. It helps too that the cuffs are long enough to go inside my jacket. Both good things to remember for when I make my next pair or warm mitts.

Frugal or cheap or just crafty?

2011-01-28T08:18:00.001-05:00

They say you learn something everyday. Well, while I'm not sure that's true about today, I did learn something back in December. Did you know that they have 50% off days at the Goodwill?

Okay, so that's nothing special or exciting, but it does have to do with this post. Because when I was in the Goodwill just a week before Christmas to look through the kids books and shoes (man, does my niece ever love shoes!) I ended up coming away with this:

You are probably wondering what this ugly XL sweater has to do with anything. Sure I got for the low, low price for $3. But who in her right mind would buy it?? If you aren't wondering that, you should be!

Well, I didn't buy it to wear it. I bought it for the cheap wool. Does that make me cheap? Or frugal? Or just plain crafty? I'm going to go for the third. That's the one that makes me feel the best at least.

Out of the unraveled wool I was able to make a hat, mittens and the biggest scarf/cowl thing in the world.

Here's the hat!

As you can probably tell, it's my own random design. A random cable thrown in for fun. And even more fun: another pompom!

The best part about this pompom is that because I made it with previously used wool, the strands don't stick straight out, but curl. I think that's pretty freaking cute.

Pretty ugly

2011-01-24T19:32:00.000-05:00

Do you remember being 6? or 4? (It's hard being 4 as I'm learning via my nephew...) When someone would say something, "Yeah. She's pretty. ... pretty ugly!" (Or it's hard being 22. ) and then think they were the coolest person in the world for figuring out that put down? I remember that one.

Well, in this post when I talk about pretty ugly, I'm not really referring to that. More like, when something is so ugly, or so different that you think it shouldn't work and then it just DOES!

So awhile back I was chatting with steph, who send me the pic below and said: "... look at the hat attached. ... It's so super ugly but it's to the point of being freakin cool."

(Picture from... Well, actually, I don't know where Steph got it from... but somewhere. I didn't take is.)

Well, I immediately knew that I *had* to try to make her one that was just as cool. So I raided my mismatching yarn leftover from old projects. I put it all together. Made a random pompom (I used to hate pompom, but I think I'm coming around after this hat!). And voila!

My ugly version of the hat!!

Um... yeah. It's ugly isn't it? When I finished this hat... I almost didn't send it. It sat on my desk for a week+ and I kept thinking, I just didn't get the so ugly it's pretty thing right. The colours are TOO different to work.

And then it started to grow on me. Look at it for a moment. The weirdo combinations will start to grow on you too. I promise!

Although maybe it's about the girl in the hat looking like she likes it. Because the review: "you know it really isn't that ugly :) " and "You are so right about it growing on you, when I first saw it I was like wow that's pretty ugly and the more I looked at it I was like that is fun!!!"

So yay for being able to use scrap yarn and make something ugly into something... well, still sorta ugly, but more importantly is fun! You know, I like it so much, I might just try doing this again.

Pipix

2011-01-09T14:51:00.003-05:00

This isn't the sweater I was planning to make my nephew this year for Christmas.

I was going to make him this super cute vest. I even started the super cute vest while on my way to Vancouver. I was a good ways into it when I realized my gage (although I did a swatch) was totally off. Very off. But rather than rip it out... (because ripping out knitting is like ripping my heart in two.) I turned that start of a sweater into a scarf. (One I haven't posted about yet.)

I also found that I didn't have the desire to restart the same project. So I went back to ravelry and found a new sweater to make him. I wanted something bulky so that it would knit up quickly. It did go quickly. Although not quickly enough for me to finish by Christmas. But still - good enough! (He already had enough gifts under the tree anyways. And more importantly what 4yo wants a sweater when he could get toys?!?!!)

But I'm pretty happy with it. I might have done the buttons a little differently had I truly thought about it and not just followed the pattern. (Actually I think I misunderstood the pattern cause something just didn't seem right there.)

But yay! Now another year of Christmas sweaters is complete! I'm already looking forward to next year. (But glad I get to craft some other things in the meantime.)

(wow. did you notice I put a lot of stuff in brackets in this post??)

Arts and Crafts

2011-01-03T17:39:00.000-05:00

When it comes to arts and crafts, I was never very good at the art part. You want me to knit you a hat or sew on a button or make a gimp bracelet (cause who doesn't want a gimp bracelet?), I'm your girl. But you want me to draw something... Not happening. The only thing I ever got good at drawing was electrical circuits in University. I wouldn't call that art.

Yet, every Christmas something comes up in which I try to be artsy. It just happens. Normally it ends in disaster, but this year, I'm actually fairly impressed by my Christmas eve midnight efforts. (Yeah. Took me awhile to get a pic of this...) I don't ever really want to see another piece of construction paper again, but I think I did a pretty good job at this one:

This is how my siblings and I told my mom about her Christmas gift: a family picture. (Not sure why I put myself in a pink skirt...) You'd think that would be a boring gift, but with my family it is not an easy thing to manage. We've been planning it for 4 months! Last year we took a picture, with someone holding my younger brother's HS graduation picture (he's like 25, so not a recent pic) just so that he was "in" the picture.

So, that was my art for 2010. I have one more 2010 craft still to come. The nephew sweater is finally done!! Now I just have to get a picture of it.

Blogiversay 3!

2011-01-01T09:00:00.003-05:00

Happy New Years to you! Happy 3rd blogiversary to me! I feel a little like: has it really only been 3 years? and it's only been 3 years! at the same time.

And with the blogiversary and New Years comes my knitting year recap. I did this last year, and found it interesting, so I thought I'd post my stats for what I made this year:

Hats - 18

Sweaters - 5

Scarves - 6

Shawls - 1

Headbands - 0

Socks/Slippers - 0

Bags - 0

Baby Afghans - 1

Mittens - 2

Dish cloths - 3

other - 3

All of those numbers are down from last year. (Except I made my first shawl, so that number is up.) With a long trip, and moving and WAY more soccer in the mix, I just haven't spent as much time knitting. But that's okay. It's still been a great year.

And here is one last craft from 2010. Aof the cardigans I gave for Christmas to my 2yo niece.

I hate to say it, but I hate it. I hate the sweater that is. The colour is okay... (not great...) but the result is just gross. Don't you think?

It bunched under the arms. And the collar is weird. And I'm not a huge fan of crocheted sweaters... But I'm going to blame the pattern. Not me. No. It's not my fault! Really... Probably... Perhaps? Luckily my niece is the cutest thing since this, and if anyone could pull off this ugly sweater it's her!

But all in all, it's been a good year. Hopefully there are more good crafts to come!

All the best in 2011!!

YVR hat

2010-12-19T20:50:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm back in Ottawa, (brrr! it is cold here! COLD. Like, I've been contemplating BUYING mittens. BUYING. How wrong is that?? I guess I know what I'm knitting myself next. Let's just hope I can hold out until after Christmas!) but I have another Vancouver knit to brag about. Look!

I saw something similar to this when I was walking the streets of Vancouver (only in white) and I decided to make it. This blue was the only yarn I had with me, so this is what I used. & I like it!

If I were to make it again I'd probably only do one cable and I'd make it bigger. 10 or 12 stitches wide rather than 8 stitches.

But all in all, pretty good for a random pattern completely made up. (We all know, I've had some disasters!) Now I just actually have to finish my other Christmas projects! It's looking unlikely that it's going to happen! But I still am hopeful.

Vancouver!

2010-12-10T12:11:00.004-05:00

I love vacations. Sure. Who doesn't, right? It's a great time to get out and see new things and do things you wouldn't otherwise do. It is also a chance to do MORE of the things you already do. Just in a different location.

I've been in Vancouver/Seattle for the past week and have been having a freaking fabulous time! I think in the past week I've centupled (initupled?) my coffee intake. When in the Northwest and all... And thus I've learned that, yes, I still don't like coffee. Lattes, sure. As long as they have good flavour to them.

But I do still love chocolate. On Monday we went on the Theo Chocolate tour and it was SOOO worth the $6. I'm sure I ate at least that much, if not more in the samples.

And the chocolate was sooo good. So good in fact that that I think I bought like $50 worth of chocolate. (Christmas gifts. ... really... they're Christmas gifts.)

Plus, the tour was educational as well! If you are in Seattle, you have to go on this tour!

And although it has been a little rainy... I don't mind too much. It is Vancouver after all. That's why I brought a rain jacket!

Okay. But onto the point of this blog. This vacation has also given me the chance to finish a few knitting projects. Like my Hermione hat! (you know... the hat she's wearing in the graveyard scene) It didn't turn out great... but I like it.

This is another pattern that came from my head. Here's what I did:

CO 80 sitches.

Join and K1, P1 for 1 inch

Then repeat Row1-4 until it measures 6 inches. (Or longer if you want a longer hat)

R1: K1, P1 to end

R2: K to end

R3: P1, K1 to end

R4: K to end

Then... I wouldn't follow my decreasing method. It was very random. Just decrease as you normally would for a hat.

Being me, I'll probably make a better one. One that will hopefully look better once it's done. But for now it is my go to hat. (Every time I wear it I want to go see the movie again. What's better than that!?)

Re-sewn

2010-12-01T19:24:00.000-05:00

Wow. I can't believe that it's already December! How did that happen? More importantly, how is it December, and I'm only done one of my many Christmas crafting. This might turn out to be ugly!

Unfortunately, I don't have a good excuse. But I do have a few random craft (among other things...) to show for my busy-ness. Like this hood-type-thing:

This one took me a whole, about 15 minutes. Okay. Maybe twenty. Because this hood is 100% reused. Even the i-cord. Even the button!

As you may recall, this isn't the first time I've tried to reuse an old sweater, but I do think it's the time it came out the best. (Okay. Almost anything would have turned out better than those other times! Those were some bad crafts that I don't think have ever been used in real life.)

For this hood, I took the sweater, but it at the seams and then along the top. I picked up the stitches and then sewed it. Voila! I'm planning to line it with fleece to make it warm enough for the winter.

Tassels

2010-11-23T18:29:00.006-05:00

Can you guess where we are?

Yup! Just about to watch Deathly Hallows (Part 1). Look at all those lovely scarves!

(Note: I didn't make the Slytherin one. Richard bought his.)

But how nice that it's almost a perfect set! Once I make Adrian his Hufflepuff scarf it will be one of each! Oh... Well... once I do that and once I actually finish Corrie's scarf. Can you tell it's not done?? Yup. She was nice enough to wear it unfinished. (Really! I will finish it! Promise!)

But those are my first tassels! I've made pompoms before, but never a tassel. I like 'em! In fact, I think the make the scarf. Don't you?

Even with the half completed scarf it was an awesome fun time! Love, love, loved the movie. I can't wait to see the next one and get to dress up all over again. :)

Petit Lapins

2010-11-14T07:30:00.001-05:00

It has arrived! The time when I start to show off what I'm making the kiddies for Christmas! Here's the first cardigan, made for my youngest niece:

You may recall that I made something ridiculously similar last year. ... Yeah. It's the same cardigan... only the lace patter is different this time. And the colour. And really? It's so cute on N and that I wanted to make one for M.

(PS - as you can see... I found my camera. It took me a LONG time with lots of looking... and I found so many other things while looking. My winter boots! {phew} Fifteen dollars. Some old CDs. ... but I finally found it. Where? you ask. ... you'll never guess. In the middle console on my car. You know... between the two seats? Whatever possessed me to put it there I'll never know. But at least it's been found!)

Oh where oh where has my camera gone?

2010-11-05T17:14:00.002-04:00

So.... Yup. It's finally happened. My messiness and randomness has caught up with me and I have officially lost my camera. And by lost I really mean I put it somewhere and I have no idea where that place is, but it's somewhere and I haven't been able to find it, but it should turn up at some point in time. But until then it's anyone's guess where it is. Thus, for now, you'll just have to imagine all the cute things I've been knitting. Really. I have something to show. And once I get the camera back, I promise I'll post about them! Promise.

Hmm... Maybe I'll commandeer a camera tomorrow when I go a-visiting.

nanowri...snow?

2010-10-31T10:53:00.004-04:00

Yup. It's happened. I'm not ready... but it happened.

This morning I woke up to SNOW. It's cold, it's wet and (in a way) it's beautiful. But it's still snow! And it's only October!! I mean, I knew when I moved to Ottawa that I wasn't going to have Bay Area weather anymore... but I'm not sure I realized just how EARLY I'd be dealing with snow. I haven't even unpacked my boots yet. I still have to find full on mittens. I only have my fingerless ones unpacked! Ahh.

But at least I have hats. An abundance of them it seems. Like this new one that came in useful this morning.

So this is a totally weird hat. I made it with more free yarn from my grandma. Thus... I didn't have enough for what I originally planned. I got more than halfway through and then ran out. So I frogged it back and made up the rest.

As you can see, it's a mixture of knit and crochet. Normally crochet sucks up yarn, but with the huge holes it actually worked out pretty well. Once I was just about out of yarn I switched back to knitting for decreasing along the top.

So there's my new it's snowing hat. Just in time for November and all of the snow that is forecast for this week. (Cause we are supposed to get MORE?!)

Speaking of November... It just happens to normally be one of my favourite months of the year! How could it not be when I'm in the middle of doing this awesome event? Seriously - if you've never tried it, you don't know what you are missing. This year will be even more super awesome because this fun lady and I are collaborating! I have a feeling it is going to be hilariously amazing.

I'm still going to post at points throughout the month. I have a few project that are near completion and I hope to get one up every Friday. (Or for some of you firday.) But based on recent history we'll see how that goes!

(And what do you think of the new banner? I love it. I didn't make it, but I still love it. And I'm still working on trying to make a better layout for the blog. Give me time. I am not good at artsy stuff... although I try.)

Halloween in Norway

2010-10-24T09:53:00.003-04:00

When I saw the hat pattern for From Norway with Love, it's totally understandable why I wanted to make it. What isn't understandable is why I decided to make it with orange.

What is up with that? Isn't this the most obnoxious hat you ever did see?

So I will be keeping this one. I don't know who else would wear this! And to be fair, there are some good things about the ridiculous colour combinations. 1) Cars will be able to see me when I go running. 2) No one's going to steal it. 3) I have an orange hat just in time for Halloween.

But I liked the pattern enough that one day I just might make another one.

Orange

2010-10-11T21:40:00.000-04:00

The trees are changing colour. There are butternut squashes on the table. The morning air has just enough of a nip that I want to wear a light scarf.

Fall is really here!

And that means it's time for me to bring out the sweaters! For the first time in seven years I'll get to actually wear fall and winter clothes. It's exciting! And exciting to finally pull this out:

I've been sitting on this sweater since the spring. (not literally sitting mind you... it's been in the closet) I was happy with it when I finished it back in May, but for some reason (the colour mainly) I thought it was better left until fall.
You may recognize the yarn from another project I made. Luckily I had enough to make this too. I really like it.

And now that fall is here, it's time for me to bust out some more I think!

Kleptomania

2010-10-03T17:06:00.004-04:00

I can't explain it, but sometimes there are just projects that I *love* to knit. Sometimes they are the randomest things too. Some are easy. Some are hard. Some are because of the yarn. Some are because of who I'm going to give it to.

I just started one of those projects. I'm in love with it.

It's hard to explain why. I don't love the colour. (Free yarn from my Grandma. She gave me some of her stash last weekend because she can no longer knit. :( ) And I don't love the raglan increases, but I am in love with the image of the FO I have in my head. It's going to be so CUTE!

But really, I have no idea how this is going to turn out because this is another one of those patterns that I'm making up as I go along.

See... I have this problem. It's a stealing problem. Yes. When it comes to knitting I'm a kleptomaniac. I stole so many things for this sweater. I stole this lace pattern.

I saw the little bunnies in another pattern and thought - I should use that. So I am! I stole of the body from a sweater I gifted last year for Christmas. And I think I'm going to steal a few other ideas for the sleeves.

But that's how it goes with knitting. Isn't it? See something. Love it. Use it. Make it into something new. I just hope my stealing ways turn to profit, cause this could be one cute Christmas gift.

So it begins

2010-09-20T15:13:00.002-04:00

So it begins. Christmas crafting!!

My list is smaller this year. Last year I decided to make every single person in my immediate family a hat for Christmas. The kiddies got cardigans. And my brother and his gf got mittens. It doesn't sound like a lot, but trust me. Ten hats, three cardigans and two sets of mitts (all different patterns) took me a long time!

This year? Well, I just don't have time to do all that. But I'm still going to make the kiddies their cardigans. I gotta! It's tradition! And if I'm lucky I've got a few other things I'd like to make and gift as well.

And this is the first one! Isn't this crochet hook the best? I don't know why, but I love love love how it says it's worth 10c. I have no idea which relative I inherited this specific hook from, but I love the fact it comes a different era. I wonder what this crochet hook made before it came to me. And I wonder what I'll make now that it's in my possession.

Only one way to find out. Keep crocheting!

Autumn!

2010-09-13T08:30:00.002-04:00

Is anyone else out there wondering what happened to summer? I swear, two weeks ago I was wearing tank tops and shorts. Now? Today I had to look through my sweaters to figure out which one I wanted to wear! And last weekend it was so cold that I wore a toque on my run. (Seriously. I did. But maybe that's just cause 6 years in Cali made me a wimp...)

But I can't say I mind the cooler temperatures. I'm looking forward to fall! I haven't had a real fall in sooo long! I'm looking forward to the changing of the leaves. And fall veggies! (I already made pumpkin muffins this weekend!)

And! I'm looking forward to fall/winter wearing my wardrobe. Including new hats!

Like this one I crocheted over the weekend. I got the pattern from here. I've made a few of her hats. Not surprisingly this one was just as well written and understandable. I just had to make them into an adult size!

Those mods?

1) I did double crochets rather than half double crochets. (This was more by accident than on purpose, but I think it helped.)

2) I did an extra row of increasing for the crown of the hat.

3) I did 10 repeats of the shell pattern

(Another great thing about fall? I feel like I can spend all day curled up with a good book.)

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this hat. Now I just need it to drop one or two more degrees and I'll be wearing it all of the time.

For Grandma

2010-09-10T08:35:00.000-04:00

I have an awesome Grandma. Seriously. I love her. She turned 95 this summer and she still lives on her own. Sure, she has help. She's never driven a car, so my aunt takes her to do groceries and other errands. But my Grandma still does all her other housekeeping tasks. She cooks for herself. Cleans. Gets up on chairs to get her good teacups down. (Giving all of US heart attacks meanwhile.)

So when I was knitting this dishcloth at my parents a while ago and my mom mentioned Grandma would love one, it wasn't a hard sell. I was doing it to use up the yarn anyways, and pretty much anything I can do for my Grandma, I'm there.

I mean, considering my knitting love probably does mainly stem from my afghan love - an afghan my grandma made me by the way. So, I kinda owe the woman my life and my love of knitting. Two very important things. Right?

Thus Grandma, next time I see you, expect this to be coming your way!

I gots me some AMAZING jam!

2010-09-03T08:10:00.006-04:00

It's no secret that I love bread. Toast in particular is a favourite of mine. Well, the toast I had this morning for breakfast was the best I've had in a long while. Why? Cause it was topped with some *awesome* jam exchange jam!

Thank you Steve for sending me so much amazing looking jam! I think he even said most (all?) of the fruit comes out of his So-Cal backyard garden. How cool is that?

I love the jars and I love the labels! And they all look so tasty! I had a hard time trying to decide which one to open first!!

I mean, don't they all sound amazing?? Green Fig Preserves, Apple jelly, Mulberry & Cranberry and Ginger-Plum. Which one would you open first?

In the end, I went for the Ginger-Plum. I have a crazy love for ginger so that tipped the scales. And while I didn't find it overly ginger-y (Um... maybe because I could probably eat ginger raw...) I did *love* the taste of this jam. I immediately went back for seconds. :)

So thank you Steve for sending such amazing jam! I'm so happy we got paired up. I can't wait to try the rest. I'm sure they will be just as great!!

Dishcloths and Jam

2010-08-31T13:00:00.000-04:00

Blog? Hunh? What's a blog? Wait, I have a blog??

Oh yeah. ... totally forgot about that one.

Just joking. But it's been so long since I've blogged that it feels like I've forgotten about it. I have the general excuses of being busy. (My go to excuse...) But so many things have been keeping me busy and not blogging. Things like CAMPING! So much fun!! :) Things like my garden. Things like soccer 4 nights a week most of the time. Things like having a TON of tiny homegrown pears to use up. (Well, grandma-grown pears.)

I used some of those pears to make jam:

The pear jam is the one on the left. Doesn't it look yummy? It is! I'm so proud of it!! It's cinnamon/ginger pear jam. And once I was done my mom took the spatula to the pot and cleaned out every last drop. She loved it too!

So the jam above is for the Steph Chows 2nd Annual Jam exchange. Yay! I love jam exchanges. :) I'm sending Pear jam, peach jam, blueberry jam and cucumber sula. (Cucumber Sula is a family recipe that makes a relish. I don't love it, but the rest of my family does...)

And I'm also sending two granny square dishcloths. Com'on. I can't not send something I knit.

Not the cutest thing ever, but I thought they were cute in the simple old-fashioned I-just-made-jam sort of a way. Right? Plus, SUPER simple to make. I'm still liking simple these days.

So hopefully my jam exchange buddy enjoys my jam. Can't wait to see what I get! :)

Easy is good

2010-08-11T07:16:00.003-04:00

In case y'all hadn't noticed... I've kinda been in a crafting slump of late. That's why it took me a month to finish this bolero! I just haven't felt inspired to knit or craft recently. Maybe it's because it's SUMMER. Or maybe because I'm so busy with a super secret project. Or because I play soccer 3 times a week. Or perhaps it's because I'm turning !30! . Um... no. I don't think that last one is it...

What ever the reason, I figured I'd do the only sensible thing there is to do. Go back to basics.

Garter Stitch!

I decided to make some dishcloths. You can't get more easy than that! Good thing they are super cute!!

But be prepared to see a lot of simple little projects over the next little while. I'm hoping they will pump me up and inspire me to do more exciting stuff!

That's Hew to you

2010-08-03T06:16:00.006-04:00

I'm finally done! This bolero/shrug thing has taken me a month, but it's worth it. I think I love it!

I made a few modifications that I'm not sure I'd do again. I slipped the first stitch at the start of every row on both the body and the collar. I thought on the body that would make it easier to pick up one stitch while adding the collar. It didn't really. For the collar I thought it would make the edge smoother and lie flat. The jury is still out on that one.

The thing I like the least about this sweater is my fault too. From reading other people's notes, I added 12 sts under the arms. Big mistake. The sweater is bulky there now and you can see the shirt underneath. See. -->

So next time I won't add so many stitches, and then I think it'll be perfect! Now I have to block it. But first I'm going to wear it.

Hew

2010-07-29T19:04:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I've been BUSY! And it's summer... I don't feel like knitting all of the time. I know. GASP. Did I really just say that??

So what am I working on? Well, those socks are still on the go. And I started some arm warmers last weekend. And then I frogged them because they weren't turning out as I'd hoped. But I'm going to cast them back on. I promise I have a pattern in my head that is dying to be made.

I'm also working on this shrug/bolero thing:

I have been for almost a full month!! (I got the pattern from here.)

Thus far, I think I'm going to love it! In fact there's been at least three times when I've gotten dressed in the morning in the morning and totally wished that it was done so that I could wear it! I already have an outfit planned!

The only thing I don't like about this bolero? That I was too stupid to understand the pattern. It's a top down sweater. No problem there. I've made tons of those. But this one? There was just something about the pattern I didn't understand.

It was that you add on the collar AFTER you've knitted the rest. See how I'm knitting up the collar now, picking up one stitch on every RS row? Ingenious. But a note about that might have been nice.

But I'm so excited to get this one done. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I'll have a finished project to blog about. Finished project? Imagine that!

Summer weekend

2010-07-19T06:57:00.004-04:00

Oh summer weekends!

They are the perfect time to visit friends, go for a long run, good talks, make jam, see a ridiculous movie, drink ice tea, eat outside, talk about future endeavours and so much more!

And based off of my Friday night drive, it's also the perfect time for high speed chases, resulting in very, very, very slow traffic.

And by slow traffic, I mean stopped. As in, I turned off my car and was standing at the side of the road for at least 30 min. So, tip for long drives: always have knitting close by! You never know when you'll get the opportunity to do a few rows. Yup. That's right. I stood knitting at the side of the road on Friday night. Needless to say I got one or two weird looks, but whatev. I thought it was a good use of my time!

Side note - don't knit while driving. I think the police might not like that very much...

But onto one of the things I made this weekend: raspberry jam!

Isn't it beautiful! And isn't that cute round jam adorable!? I want to eat it up! The jam and the jar.

I can't wait to try some for real.

Yay for summer weekends.

Too HOT

2010-07-11T16:12:00.001-04:00

Well, summer is finally here. Sure summer officially starts on June 21, but it wasn't until this past week that I felt like it was really SUMMER. Why? Lots of reasons, but the biggest one? The Heat wave! It was HOT this past week. Too hot to sleep hot. Dare I say it? Too hot to knit hot!

So since I haven't crafted anything in a while, I thought I'd show what it hasn't been too hot for.

My parent's garden:

Isn't it beautiful??

With all this heat and a few rain showers here and there it's starting to produce like crazy. I don't think that mere words can describe my excitement about eating all of the produce. We already have beans, peas, spinach, lettuce, green onions, green tomatoes, and my favourite:

Raspberries!

And yes, they are as yummy as they look. I taste tested about 100 yesterday just to make sure. Guess who will be making raspberry jam soon!

I love summer! Hope you are enjoying it too.

Just Cause

2010-07-03T21:18:00.003-04:00

Do you ever find yourself doing something... and you don't know why? Like playing hours upon hours of free cell? Or what is that other game called? Bejeweled? I'd like to say I'm one of those people who cleans the kitchen when it's already clean. I'm not. But sometimes I do do things just cause... Mainly knitting. Like this!

But what is up with this hat? It's kinda ugly... Why did I make it? I don't know. I don't need another hat. Especially not in these colours.

In this case, the only reason I made this hat was because I wanted to be knitting. My fingers wanted to do the action, my mind wanted the getaway that knitting (when I don't have to follow a pattern) provides. So randomly looking through my stash I saw this lone ball of yarn and somehow it just made sense to make a simple hat. The pattern, yo and all, came from my head and what I remembered from the multitude of other hats I've made.
Simple!

What am I going to do with it? Probably not wear it... Or at least I won't wear it that often. But that's okay... Sometimes you just do something, to do it.

Little projects

2010-06-27T15:23:00.003-04:00

Having just finished a pretty freaking huge project, I'll be honest with ya... I haven't really been in the mood to craft these past week. There's just been other things to do. Like pick strawberries and make jam! And finally get out for a bike ride. And hang out with my brother. And read a book or two.

Even so, it didn't take that long for my fingers to start itching to knit. Like a marathoner needing to run, my fingers felt like they were getting lazy. I decided to compromise. I didn't want to start another big project, so I decided to make a little one. One that I could start and finish well within the time frame of a World Cup soccer game.

With this little key cozy, that was easy!

I've had this pattern in my ravelry queue for months now. (pattern from here.) And now I finally got around to doing it. It was fun, and fit the key to my parent's house without any mods required. Super fun! Too bad I don't have other keys that need colour coding, cause I would definitely make this pattern again.

Wedding gift! A QUILT!

2010-06-20T08:42:00.004-04:00

As you should probably realize by now, I'm all about giving people homemade gifts! Christmas, weddings, babies, birthdays and unbirthdays too! Really, any day is a good day for a homemade gift. But special occasions are more fun!

So when I got the invite to this very awesome girl's wedding, I knew I was going to have to make her something pretty special! Really special!

So since a friend of mine has been offering to teach me how to quilt, I figured this was a great time to learn how! And I have to say it turned out pretty nice for a first quilt!

I have to say right off that quilting is very, very different from knitting. It requires a whole other set of skills. I knew from the very first task that I was WAY out of my element.

When knitting the first thing you do is choose a pattern and the yarn. Similarly you have to choose a pattern and material. Only when choosing material there is now colour matching, minor colour coordinating, pattern matching and material placement. Let's just say it's a good think I had help and guidance on this step - and every single step - of the process!

Translation: Any part that is perfect, was probably the part my friend made. What isn't so perfect (like how I went through all of the layers a few times when I was hand stitching the border... Oops!) was done by me.

Because there are still some sewing that allude me. For example:

Does this look like an excessive amount of pins to you?

It probably would have to me the first block that I quilted... but it was HARD to get the two layers to lay flat enough so that they could be quilted together.

The pinning is probably what was the hardest and what took the longest. I backed it in a fleece that was warm and fuzzy, making perfect for the new spouses to curl up under in the winter and watch some tv. ... It also make it fussy to work with.

But it was worth it. And I'm pretty proud of the quilt. In fact, I love it! (I especially love the polka dot material!)

So, to end: Congrats Steph and John! All the best in your life together!!

(In case you are interested, I got the basic pattern for this quilt from here.)

Sewing!

2010-06-15T07:29:00.004-04:00

Sometimes you gotta try something new. How will you ever know if you like something unless you try it? New foods, new friends, new locations, new activities can all lead to an exciting adventure or discovery.

My latest new thing? Sewing!

Err... not that I've never sewn before... I just don't do it a lot. (I've never loved it in the past.) And this new project isn't just sewing. It's Quilting! Quilting definitely needs a capital Q. It's a lot of work! And it takes a long time! I've been working hard on this project. For about 2 weeks and hopefully soon I will have a finished project to share!

I think all of the hard work has been worth it! I'm very excited about it! Very, very excited by it. (So when I post about it, even if you think it's ugly please say nice things... :) )

(The above picture is my short test runs after threading the machine to make sure it was threaded correctly. It's not hard... but it's a pain to seam rip something quilted.)

Summer socks

2010-06-08T17:12:00.004-04:00

Just a quick crafting update. I'm making socks! Look at 'em!

Obviously they are not done. This is just what socks look like when you are doing them from the top down and you are done the heel. It might look weird right now, but trust me, this is what they are supposed to look like.

Unfortunately I don't really like the colours I've matched together for the stripes (I don't like the variated with the solid) but not much I can do about that now... Hopefully they will look better when they are done.

Math

2010-06-02T07:33:00.004-04:00

I was thinking about why I love crafting the other day. I came up with a lot of reasons, but one I think might only be true for some crafter. Not all crafters, but some crafters. Geeky crafters mainly.

So why do I love crafting??

Obviously crafting is a great way to be creative!

I adore knitting and seeing something spring out of nothing more than just a simple ball of yarn. Wearing it/showing it off is fun too! It's a great way to show off your personality because what you make is unique to you. Even if you follow a pattern exactly, you still get to choose the colour of yarn.

Yes, I love crocheting because the repetitive motion is calming and a great stress reliever.

Of course, I like crafting because I like to give homemade gifts!

And there's just something about x-stitch and seeing it slowly turn into a picture that is pretty cool.

But one reason I love crafting, that I never thought would be the case? Math.

Yup. I love crafting, because at it's core, is mathematical. Just like Bach's music (maybe all music?) is mathematical. Or is a combination of mathematical and creative genius.

For knitting, you have needles and yarn and knowing how many stitches per inch you have you can knit enough to go around your wrist or head or neck or shoulders. The mathematical side of you can figure that part out. (as shown in the picture above.) But it's the creative side of you that adds the cables or lace work or flourish that makes a project unique.

But when you think of it, those flourishes are often mathematical too. Lace work is done in a pattern. It isn't just random. It's done with a purpose. Cables too. You set them so they are evenly spaced around the project.

Again, even if you are following a pattern, you have to be able to count. Go math its simplest!

I even find a way to make x-stitch mathematical. I noticed the last time I was working on a project that I'd in my head be trying to figure out how to use the least amount of floss. It's not like I was worried I was going to run out, but it was kind of a competition with myself. Is it better to go over two and up four or over three and up three? All because it gives me math.

And that, my friends, is why I knit and wear a GEEK button on my Ravenclaw scarf.

Traveling Woman

2010-05-06T09:45:00.000-04:00

When I was in high school, I spent my summers reading. I was never a big reader until I was about 13, but after reading one great series I was hooked! You couldn't keep me away from the library!

Summers were the best. I had a few hours of tutoring work, but otherwise I was free to read to my hearts content. (yeah... I probably should have had a more demanding summer job. My life was pretty cushy back in those days) I'd curl up on this chair on my parent's porch and just read the day away. (Or I'd sit in the backyard, or under the apple tree... you get the idea.)

In the spring and autumn months I'd do that too. Only then I had less time and I'd wear this ugly cardigan that for some reason I was very attached to.

Yesterday I did the same thing. Only yesterday I put this shawl around my shoulders. It's my first shawl! (If you don't count the shawlette that I made for Corrie for her wedding.) It's a pretty pattern named Traveling Woman. The pattern is fairly simple and very easy to read.

I lightly blocked it, but I think I need to do so again so that lace design will stand out. I'm not great at blocking, so I was fairly tentative when I did it. I think I need to be more willing to stretch it into the definite peaks along the edge.

But, thus far I really like the results!

I loved the yarn when I bought it, didn't love it as I was knitting it (I was worried the colour was too dark), but am back to liking it. It's green with a little bit of a shine to it. Now I like it so much I'm considering wearing it to this year's weddings. Only... I don't think I have a dress to match it. (Maybe that just means it's time to go dress shopping. :) )

Weekend Armwarmers

2010-04-30T09:15:00.000-04:00

I've been wearing arm warmers all week. (I'm wearing some right now as I type!) Some days I wear them just because arm warmers are cool, and other days because the weather's been cold.

What's up with that? Com'on. It's almost May!

But even if it wasn't cold, I would wear these arm warmers. In fact, I have worn these to work many times. They're by far my favourite of all the pairs I've made and bought! (And that's saying something.)

I saw the pattern here, and loved it. Who doesn't love Dr Horrible?

Unfortunately, I had to do a lot of modifications to make them as awesome as they are. The main problem I had was because of the yarn I chose (it was pretty stiff), so I do not blame the pattern. But here's what happened:

Doesn't it look cute? This is the result from the first time I knit this sucker up. Cute, cute, cute. (The first time I made them all the stripes were blue, but then I realized I wasn't going to have enough blue to do both, so I added the white stripes. Perfect. And stylish? Jury's still out on that one...)

So, they looked cute when sitting on a table, but not so much when they were on my arm.

Look here:

Look at all that extra yarn. Yuck! They didn't fit at all. They practically fell off.

So I frogged them. But first I used my markers to figure out how many stitches I would need where to make them fit (assuming no stretchiness). (See two pictures above.)

With that recorded, I set out and knit them again. And this time I didn't knit them straight, like the pattern suggests, but knit them on the round. So much faster for me. And I decreased/increased where needed. And VOILA! Added the flap and buttons (love the buttons too), and that's what was needed to make my favourite arm warmers.

Retraction

2010-04-27T08:09:00.000-04:00

Well... remember how yesterday I was mentioning that spring was here. It seems that I jumped the gun just a little bit. I got snowed on while out running this morning. Yup.

Although I was loving the spring weather, I can't be too upset. This just means I get to wear a scarf today.

Spring is... well... it's sprung

2010-04-26T13:58:00.000-04:00

I love tulips. Really, I truly do. I don't know if it's because I'm half Dutch or because I grew up in Ottawa. Or both. Probably both. And because my parents have always had awesome tulips out in front and seeing them bloom meant that it was really and truly spring.

Well, as you can tell, spring has sprung. And sprung with a vengeance!! One day the tulips were just buds.

And two days later when I came back for another visit they were in full bloom!

I love tulips. All the different colours and sizes and breeds.

Know what else is blooming? This afghan. Yup. Another one. People just keep having kids! So I keep having to make them.

There are worse things that could happen.

I got the pattern here after seeing it on craftgawker. It's fairly simple and it looks pretty cute. It's a little slower than I would like. I love afghans that practically crochet themselves! That is not the case with this one. But thus far, I do like the result... so I can't complain. (Err... I can't complain too much.)

Oh. And I was on a roll with the flower photography, so I took a picture of this flowering tree/bush my parents have in the back yard too.

No one knows what it is. They look like apple blossoms, but the tree doesn't produce any fruit... So for now we are stumped by this tree.

Keeping Warm

2010-04-17T09:13:00.001-04:00

Well, I have to say: it's nice to be back in Ottawa. Sure it's raining today. So, the high is 6C (42F). That just means that I get to wear woolens! I already wore this new scarf thing yesterday!

When my HTB-SIL* saw it she said, "I like. But it can't actually keep you warm."

Well, it only took 15 seconds of her wearing it to prove that it does.

It's a crazy simple pattern. (ravelry link) Just straight knitting with some bind off and cast on thrown in there to make the different loops. And although I was really only making it to use up this yarn that I had left over from other projects, I really like it. I might just wear it again today!

So that's one upside of moving. I totally get to wear knitted things more often. (Okay... Summers here are hot. I won't get to wear things then.)

Down side of moving? (Cause there is always a downside): Things that break in transit. Goodbye painted bowl. I loved you.

* HTB-SIL = Hopefully to be Sister-in-law. Love her!

Moving

2010-04-14T10:15:00.000-04:00

I'm moving! I'm moving today in fact. Right now!
And in honor/honour of that, I've made two lists. One for the top 10 thing I'm going to miss about California (Please note that all of these 10 would be people/groups of people, so I left those off.) and one for the top 10 things I'm looking forward to about being back in Canada (Please note that this one does include people/groups of people... cause really - I'm moving to be closer to family. It is the number one reason).

So without further ado:

Top 10 thing I'm going to miss about California/Bay Area:
1. Trader Joe's. This one isn't listed too high. It will be the hard for me to lose TJs. I don't know just how I'll live without Ginger Granola. Or Gingerbread box cake. Or their frozen section. Or cheap eggs. Or the dried fruit! Or fresh salsa. TJs is on of those places that just makes me happy. TJ I will really, really miss you.
2. Public Library. This one also isn't too high on my list. Sure there are libraries (almost) everywhere you go, but I love my library. I will seriously miss the return system at the MVPL. Automatic returns people! And if you want a book, you request it, they buy it! I think of the 30+ books I've requested over the years, they've turned down my suggestion once. Once! I am going to miss my little library. It feels like home to me.
3. Weather. I am very spoiled being able to a) run outside all year long. b) swim outside all year long. (I love swimming outside!) c) wear sandals 10 months of the year. d) sleep with my window open for 8+ months of the year. (I've LOVED that!)
4. Mountains. I love mountains. I'm really, really, really going to miss seeing the mountains. I'm even going to miss the hills. They are just sooo nice. They make me so happy.
5. Camping. Yeah. There's camping in Ontario, but it lacks #4. Mountains. And it has something we don't really have here. Mosquitoes. And Ontario has them in spades.
6. Events. There are sooo many more concerts and events to do here. I've said to people before - "If you want to see someone perform, it's not a question of if they will come to the area, it's when." Pretty much whomever you want to see, will be performing somewhere in the area sometime. And I'm going to miss the Sharks too. I know, I know. I'm going back to Canada. Sorry. I'm a Sharks fan people. Funny that I was never into hockey growing up, but now I love it. No matter where I go, I think I'll stay a sharks fan.
7. Tivo. If you have a tivo, 'nough said. I'm going to have to watch commercials again? I'm not going to have 5 episodes of Jeopardy! at my fingertips at all time? Whatever shall I do?
8. Free shipping. I'm really going to miss all of the internet shopping you can do in the US.
9. Advance greens. Sure, they make traffic lights take longer, but man advance greens sure make driving easier. You don't have to gauge whether or not you'll be able to get through the intersection in time. You know! You have the right of way. Oh! And on the topic of driving I'll include diagonal parking spaces. I love diagonal parking spaces. I understand why they totally wouldn't work in winter snowy parking lots. I will miss them!
10. Mexican Food. Yum. And you know that caucasian mexican food is nothing like Mexican Mexican food.

Top 10 things I'm looking forward to about Canada

1. Family day. (i.e. Saturday.) In University, my brother and I had family day - a day where we'd get together and hang out. (I know. Aren't we so Mayberry? Love it.) We'd bike to the farmer's market. Or bake pies. Or watch movies/tv. Or anything, but together. That tradition has continued with the rest of the family, but I haven't been around for 6 years to participate. So sad. I am so looking forward to being a sister/daughter/aunt/BFF in person.

2. UWEELRS in person. (i.e. Book club) This can now happen with a mug of tea in hand rather than over email. (Which has also been great! Don't get me wrong...)

3. Weather! I miss rain storms. I miss thunder and lightning. We get the wimpiest storms here!! I'm actually sort of looking forward to having seasons. I miss the crispness there is in the autumn air. I love nice long summer nights. And winter things! Like skating outside. And making snowmen. And, although I've never done it much in the past I think I could really get into cross country skiing and snowshoeing for good forms of exercise.

4. Camping. More specifically, canoe trips. I've missed these! I would love, love, love to go on a canoe trip this coming summer. Any takers?? Seriously - call me.

5. Gardening! Fresh produce from the backyard!! It's like my own CSA in the backyard! (Watch out fam. I'm going to be baking you zillions of rhubarb cakes and pies in just a few months!)

6. Getting the accent back! I was informed while in NZ that I've lost my Canadian accent. I still say 'eh?' but have lost some of the homeland twang. I have to get it back! (I almost find it funny when I can hear my parent's accent. But in a way I miss it.)

7. Similarly, but not exactly the same - Not having to translate things in my head. Okay. So American English and Canadian English aren't so different. But soon I won't have to think about whether it's honour or honor. Or check or cheque. Or if I'm supposed to say College friends or University friends.

8. Again on the same note: the metric system!! I like miles, but I've never really gotten very good at Fahrenheit. I get it, but it takes me awhile. It will be nice to not have to think about it!

9. Bulk Food. I don't know why there are no bulk food stores here. Is it odd that I'm looking forward to being able to buy spices, oatmeal, flour, chocolate and anything else you can think of in bulk? I hope it's not weird, cause I am looking forward to it.
10. A new job. Maybe this should be higher on the list... I am looking forward to a new job. ... When I finally find one. Eek. But I need a change in life, and I think a new job will help there. So I hope I get a good one!

So, wish me luck on my move. I am quite nervous about it. And only time will tell if this is the right decision. But I feel it is.
Thank you California for 6 fabulous years. I'll be back to visit.

So long. Farewell. Auf Weidersehen

2010-04-11T11:22:00.000-04:00

The other day my roomy called me over to look at a few things that she found on etsy that she liked. Man. There's some great stuff on etsy! Well, one of the things she liked was a newsboys hat. She told me that she loved it so much that she was going to buy it, to which I said: "Hells no. I'm going to make it for you!!"

Honestly, does she not see me knitting/crocheting every day?? Does she have so little faith in my knitting ability? Does she not know that I *love* making things for people?

The hardest part was to decide which pattern to make! In the end I used this one and made this:

I don't love the result, but the roomy seems to like it well enough. And I'm glad! Because it makes for a great farewell gift.

Yup. That's right. I'm moving. Only 3 days until I have to be packed and out of the apartment and on a plane back to the cold white north! I can't believe it. It's scary and exciting and scary! But hopefully, mostly exciting. (There will be a whole post about this soon...)

But back to the hat. I've actually made three now. One of my other friends saw it and said she liked it, so it was a no-brainer to make another one. They are so fast to crochet up! It's a fun, simple pattern, and I wanted to do a better job on the 2nd one. Not sure if I accomplished that... but I hope I did.

Plus. These days I'm loving things with button.

2010-04-05T15:13:00.000-04:00

Look! New fingerless mittens!There's just something about fingerless mittens that I love!

I made these mittens based off of the Juniper Mittens pattern (from this blog). And Wow! What a fast knit! I cast on as the ferry was leaving port in Picton, and by the time we arrived in Wellington? I was done one! (I noticed halfway through the ferry ride that I had a nice old lady watching me knit and I wanted to say something to her... but then didn't. I couldn't tell if she thought if she thought it was cool or weird that I was knitting.)
I finished the 2nd during random moments here and there in the car and suddenly I had a pair of fingerless mittens.
Fabulous.
Even better - styles in NZ are so different that I almost felt normal wearing my arm warmers there while walking through Auckland. Here you don't see them very often, and I sometimes feel self conscious wearing them. There - I think they made me fit in. :)

The one thing I don't love about this pattern is the lack of a gusset. It's just a straight tube. The fake ribbing does mean that it's stretchy, but I really do prefer tighter mittens.

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

2010-03-29T23:27:00.000-04:00

I wonder why it is that I think pies are worthy of a post. Cakes - no. Cookies - definitely not. It's funny, cause pies aren't that much harder than cakes. But whenever I make a pie, I'm proud enough of it that I feel like it deserves a mention. This one especially!

It's a chocolate pumpkin pie and I made it for my work's pie contest. How cool is that? This is the third annual contest!

I didn't win... but I thought my pie was pretty tasty!

I mashed two recipes together and did this:

Pumpkin Chocolate Pie

Graham Cracker crust

2 Cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (about 18 crackers)

1/2 Cup unsalted butter, melted

1 Tbsp white sugar

2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 - 5 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugars, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Firmly press mixture into bottom and up sides of a deep 9 1/2" pie dish. Bake until firm. 8-10 min.

2. Removed from oven and sprinkle chocolate over bottom of the crust. Return to oven to melt. About 1 min. Spread chocolate in a thin layer on bottom and up the sides. Let cool.

Pumpkin Pie filling

3/4 Cup white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

dash nutmeg

2 eggs

15 oz can of pumpkin

12 oz can of evaporated milk

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Combine sugar, salt, spices in a small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in a large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into COOLED graham cracker crust.

3. Bake for 55-70 min. (I baked for 55 min and then continued to check on it every 5 minutes until the center was firm.)

4. Chill.

Garnish with a drizzle of melted semisweet or milk chocolate.

Simple Gathered Scarf

2010-03-28T02:20:00.000-04:00

I took two balls of yarn to NZ. Both grey. With these two balls I made a set. One hat. One pair of fingerless mittens (to be posted). And this scarf.

I'm not in love with it. I started it in the Auckland airport and was more than half done by the time I landed in the San Francisco airport. Easy pattern!

That said, it's just sort of boring. It was a little boring to knit. And it's not overly lovely. What do you think? It does have some texture to it. And I like the small ruffles that result... but it doesn't really have much wow factor. Maybe the fact that it's grey doesn't help. Maybe it's going to be a good go to scarf because it will match a lot of things. ?
It was perfect for knitting on the flight. I didn't have to look at the pattern. Almost ever. I read it online. Wrote it out quickly. And after the first round through, I just kept going until the ball was done.

But now that I'm back, I am looking forward to knitting something that takes a little more concentration! :)

I'm back!

2010-03-24T01:35:00.000-04:00

I'm back from my trip Beside Down Under. Did you miss me!?

... no?

Well, I suppose I did have my automatic posts going on while I was away, so that makes sense. I'm glad you liked the Olympic hats!

I have so much to tell about New Zealand. So many little stories, but I'll only share one now.

New Zealand has a lot of sheep. I've heard numbers like, there are 7 sheep for every 1 person in NZ. So, as one might imagine I was really hoping to buy some wool as a good NZ souvenir. Good idea right?

Well, the only yarn I saw in the three weeks that I was there was made in China! WTF? How disappointing is that? I couldn't even find a real yarn store!

In NZ's defense I didn't have a lot of time to look for one. I looked some up online, hoping to get to one in Auckland, but they were all too far away from the downtown area that I was in and I thought I'd have to see at least one shop with NZ yarn. Nope.

Oh well. The rest of the trip was incredibly, crazily amazing! Not one complaint here. It is such a beautiful country and I loved traveling with my bro& his family.

And luckily I brought two balls of yarn from home. I made this hat on the flight, but didn't have much chance to wear it there. The weather was too nice.

(Sutro Heights Hat pattern here.)

But my niece liked playing with it, and it is she who is modeling it. Yes me and my 1yo niece can share this hat. It's way long on her and just the right length for me. And with the ribbing it stretches to almost any head size (and was still a little bit big on her).

And best thing? When she got bored with having it on her head? The hat became a puppet. And that obviously was even more fun. :)

So, glad to be back! And I have a few other finished projects to share in the days to come.

#4 - Fairisle

2010-03-17T12:13:00.000-04:00

Project #4. The last of my Olympic watching hats! :) I hope you've enjoyed them!

This one was by far the hardest. (Okay. It was still pretty easy...) Why? Because the colours are worked all the way through the decreases. And because I had to flub the pattern I got here because I was trying to change it on the go to be a kid's hat. Did I succeed? Not sure.

Because of that my tension isn't very consistent throughout the hat. Look at those long tails around the top. Ew. It looks like a horrible rat's nest. (Compare it to the red fake fairisle hat and you'll definitely see a difference!)

Still, of al of the hats, I think this one looks the best. It probably looks the best because of the pattern around the top!

So there we go. My 4 colour work hats. Which one did you like the best.

#3 - Candy stripes

2010-03-11T14:02:00.000-05:00

I totally changed the pattern of this hat!

I had to because of the yarn that I used. It's supposed to have a whole other set of white stripes on it. The hat would have been totally the wrong size had I done them!

My thoughts: I like the ribbing (k3, p2) and the feel of this hat. But again, I'm not sold on the colour combination. Funny how for the frog hat, I didn't like the definite contrast in the colours. For this one I wish you could see the difference between the white and pink a little more.

#2 - Swirls

2010-03-06T11:57:00.000-05:00

While I'm not sold on these colours, I love this hat.

It looks very Hallowe'en-ish.

But I do love the swirls back and forth. And it knit up super fast!

I also really like the fact that the pattern comes with instructions for how to make it so that you can't see the start/end of a row. It's called an Aunt Jean invisible jog. Easy to do, and it makes the hat so much nicer. (Doesn't have a bad name either! :) )

The only thing I would change about this hat is the ribbing on the cuff. It's k4, p1. I don't like how wide the sections are. I like it when they are more uniform.

But all in all, a good hat!

#1 - not even fairisle

2010-03-01T18:23:00.000-05:00

It begins. Three cheers for colour work projects!!!

See how this hat is two colours? See how it's not stripes!?

Funny thing? This hat is a fake!! At least it's a fake when it comes to colour work.

To make it you really only have to be able to knit with one colour at a time. How is the pattern done? You slipping some stitches (not knitting them in that row) but knitting others with the contrast colour. Can you tell by this picture?

Genius! Pure genius I tell you! (I got the pattern here.)

So hat #1 is a success! I love the results. (Even if I did make a small mistake in it...) I love the crisp lines in the design. All in all, a great first colour work hat.

Colour work

2010-02-24T23:17:00.000-05:00

I realized it while making this hat that I don't do a lot of colour work.

(I made this to get rid of stash yarn. Really... Not because hats are go-to knitting for me. Or I am in a hat rut. Still...)

Almost everything I've made in the past year or so (other than the rare project) is one colour. Or at most - it has a stripe in it. Like above.

So I asked myself, 'Why don't you do more colour work?' I really enjoyed making the frog hat, and I know my fairisle needs practice so I set myself a goal that during the Olympics (which I'm loving! Especially now that Canada is winning some medals. :) The winter games totally make me want to learn how to x-country ski! Only I might not be coordinated enough. ... anyway...) that I would concentrate on doing some colour work projects.
So over the next few weeks (while I'm on vacation. yay!) there'll be some posts on that theme. I've already finished three hats and the fourth is almost done.

I think you'll like 'em. I do! They've all been pretty successful. Similar, but different. You'll see. And you'll have to tell me which one you like the most. :)

Crane

2010-02-19T19:29:00.000-05:00

Some people get cravings for food. Out of the blue, you want pizza/chips/kumquats. Something. Sure. There are times I really want a gingerbread cookie, but more often than not, I suddenly want to start a new random craft.
Last night from nowhere came the desire to try to make an origami crane. Yup. I think happens to only me.

But luckily I have a bunch of origami paper on hand (left over from the kirigami Christmas gift I got last year), so I got to try.

Well, it's not the prettiest crane if you ask me... but it's sort of crane like.
And you know what they say: if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Redone scarf

2010-02-18T16:01:00.000-05:00

Scarf Update! Thanks for the comments! Based off of them, I frogged the ugly scarf! And this is the result:

Better? Well, I at least think the colour combinations are better. And the stripes definitely look better when they are even. Right? At least this scarf is kinda cool.

Unfortunately, now the scarf is a little short. I ran out of yarn... and the purpose was sort of to use some stash yarn, so buying more yarn doesn't really make sense.
So that's the way it goes.
It's not perfect, but I do like it at least. If I was still hating it, that would be cause for concern. And I feel I can gift it without feeling like I'm giving a 2nd rate gift.

Frogs

2010-02-13T17:42:00.000-05:00

This post is about frogs, but this time it has nothing to do with ripping out projects. I actually knit frogs!

Aren't these froggies cute? Well... actually, I like to pretend that they are salamanders. I wanted to use scrap yarn I had leftover (from here) and red seemed to pair well with black, so I knit it up! And that's when I realized just how in your face the red/black combination would be. They don't look much like frogs, do they? Hence the pretending they are salamanders.

Because I used scrap yarn, I ended up having to slightly modify the pattern to make it the right size. With those modifications came an error. Totally my fault! Two of the frogs face the same direction.

Could have been worse, right?

(Please ignore the fact that this is a hat... It was just too cute to resist! And it used up stash yarn!! I had to make it. But in case you are counting hat total for 2010 = 3.)