There's something different about the atmosphere in the house on a Sunday with no engagements.
A quietness.
And on a wet day, a willingness to hunker down and enjoy the domestic.
A little bit of Grand Prix watching and new sock wearing (well, one new sock anyway). I think I'll go and cast on the other one. Click clack, enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Want to see a 4 year old trying to look enigmatic?
I'm not so sure - he looks vaguely in pain to me. But who am I to say.
Went on a post pay-day yarn buying spree today for my ready-for-winter project. A Sarah Dallas Blanket Cardigan. Not that I'm wishing the summer away or anything. Through frankly, with hayfever this bad, Autumn will be most welcome. At leat when my yarn arrives I can hide from the pollen indoors and knit.
Happy weekend.
This weekend, the planetary alignment of a snot-ridden child and a mother only recently out of hospital found me in Whitstable with only the junior element of my brood. But things were not entirely as normal. There had been an invasion.
Knitted graffiti - all over the place.
And while Johnny played on the beach
I did a little knitting of my own.
You can't tell what it is? Why, it's a beach hut cosy of course. I kid you not. A group project, that I am very much looking forward to seeing completed.
Dis cupcake doesn't taste very good.
Just for fun, from One Skein.
Project ingredients:
One book (on loan from Monica)
Circular needle
Pencils, sharpened at both ends to substitute for DPNs (strangely effective)
Fuzzy wuzzy wool, which makes me think of a favourite childhood poem of mine...
I made a little felted bowl, which just makes me happy.
But it has already been colonized.
So it's a good thing I've made two more. Even if felting them in my machine makes the utility room smell of rank sheep. But that seems a small price to pay. I have visions of a whole rainbow family.
Woe betide anyone who fills them with potatoes for chitting though.
What could be better than a sunny Sunday spent in the strawberry patch?
They always taste amazing straight off the plant.
I ate so many I gave myself stomach ache.
Luckily, the boys are made of sterner stuff (or are a little less greedy).
But I think the evidence on Mark's chops may have blown our cover at the pay station. When the man said "You've got a lot of washing to do", I thought he was referring to the fruit, but it seems he may have had an eye on my laundry pile.
The first strawberry picking session of the year seems to signal the official start of Summer for me. I've got some freshly made scones waiting for me downstairs and a bowlful of berries in the fridge to try a go at the Tessa Kiros strawberry jam recipe from 'Apples for Jam'. But before I go and get stuck in, I need a bit of inspiration.
The scrapstore yesterday yielded these cones of chenille - the colours were totally irresistible, but I'm slightly stumped as to what to do with them. Any ideas? I had intended to knit with them, but they have zero elasticity and the swatch I tried didn't look great.
When Alice mentioned a while back that she was thinking of organizing a masterclass at Loop, I begged shamelessly to be allowed to go. And today was the day!
And not only did I learn to make buttonholes, and wrap stitches and weave in my ends and mattress stitch and set in shoulders, but I got to do it all with a whole bunch of lovely folks from blogland.
Oh yes, Alice herself, workshop and picnic planner extrordinaire; Kristina, who puts up with my nagging her to start a blog with remarkable good cheer; Tracy, the fastest knitter in the west and award worthy quiche maker; Monica, my partner in crime on Saturday too (more on that next time); and last, but certainly not least, Val, who I was overjoyed to find is every bit as fun in real life as she is in print and makes a mean stitch marker.
I wonder if there is a collective noun for bloggers? A meet? Or perhaps a babble?
There was way to much jollity going round for me to remember to take any pictures, which is a shame, because we had a very photo worthy picnic in the park, as well as a good drool over the bounteous riches of Loop. Although I do feel we slightly let ourselves down with our lack of yarn purchased. It's probably the fault of learning a whole load of finishing techniques - we might actually have to complete a few things before casting on something new!
Now I really have to go and have a long hot soak in the bath, because I feel like I walked across half of London on a very sticky day carrying a hugely heavy rucksack. Maybe because I did, but I'd do it all again tomorrow given half the chance.
Do all men have unphotogenic feet or is it just mine? Hubby's socks (my second pair) got finished this weekend and I've been attempting to get him to model them for a photo opportunity, but to no avail. This was his idea of an arty pose.
There is no hope.
So my next knitting project is for me. Inspired by this. I've cast on.
The green vest is done. But the weather is so grey and horrid that I cannot take a reasonable photo of it. These will have to do:
Thanks so much for your shoulder seam pointers. I tried the kitchener method, got in a hideous muddle and decided I could live with a 3 needle bind off instead. It doesn't look perfect, but it's fine.
In fact, the same could be said for the whole thing. I love the yarn (Manos del Uruguay in Colour 2364), but I'm not sure it really was the right choice for the pattern (Gesta from Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton Hand Knitting Collection Book 2). The original uses a fuzzy Noro, which I couldn't get hold of, but I'd imagine comes out far softer looking.
Also, if I were more experienced, I would have figured out that being a ribbed knit, this stretches a lot. I could have gone down a size quite happily - there's room for a leprechaun in here as well as me. My edge stitches are far from perfect either, but I'm going to wear it anyway. And the best news is I have enough yarn left to try a little knit bowl which I plan to felt. Very excited about that.
The greatest thing about learning to knit is all the new tricks I keep acquiring. I learned how to wind the skein into a centre pull ball. Very nifty. I know this is old news to you seasoned knitters, but these little things make a difference. How did anyone learn to do anything new before the power of google?
You see, I wasn't supposed to do anything quite yet with the new wool I acquired at the weekend, but it was so green, so tempting. One little swatch wouldn't hurt. And then I had to see if the centre pull ball really worked in action. And then if I had understood the decreases in the pattern correctly. Well, you know how it goes. Now the back is done so i want to just finish up the front to make sure they come out the same size.
And it would be handy to have a little vest this time of year. So snuggly. But I've hit a brick wall with my friend and knitting muse
google. You see, I haven't bound off the shoulder stitches, because I had the good (?) idea of grafting them together instead. I learned how to do Kitchener stitch on the socks. The only thing is, the shoulder is in ribbing (K2,p6). Can I kitchener it? I looked up rib grafting, but I learned far more than I wanted about bone surgery and nothing useful about knitting. Help!
As the wind howled on Saturday night I lay in bed hoping that no trees would fall on the train line and ruin my escape to London. I had plans to meet up with Alice and (soon to be blogging) Kristina and I think if I hadn't made it, I would have wept.
These sanity days are hugely important to me - just the chance to have some precious time as an adult without responsibilities.
So, we mooched round the National Portrait Gallery, and had lunch at Ottolenghi (very highly recommended) and visited Loop. One of those everything and nothing days.
And today I am back at home, but I've remembered who I am and I am happy.
And I have some yarn for a new project...
Clothespins? Clothespegs? Whatever you call them, I've had them on my mind of late. Outdoor drying weather is approaching (Alice is obviously a hardier specimen than I am, because she told me her washing was on the line today, but I'm clearly a fair weather pegger).
Up until last spring I was wedded to my tumble drier. I bought it when Mark was born and had fallen deeply for it's rotating charms. But Amy wooed me to the washing line last year and to my surprise, I loved it. The steady rhythm of bend, shake and peg. The smell of the outdoors on your sheets. The few quiet garden moments stolen in the middle of housework. And now, the chance to compose a haiku too.
Because Amy's blog also provided this idea. Some letter stamps, a heat set ink pad and my boring old pegs. Wash day joy. And face it, with boys like mine, every day is wash day round here.
Although some items will still need more gentle handling. The Klaralund - she's all stitched up, worn in and ready for her first launder.
First there was the selection of a novice sweater pattern , then the anticipation of the yarn shopping trip before I could do as much as cast on a single stitch.
Noro Silk Garden: Colour 228 for Klaralund by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton
Then learning to block and sew up the body seams all while keeping my fingers crossed that the thing actually fits me.
Now I am waiting waiting as patiently as I can for the sleeves to finish drying so I can sew them up and attach them
I might have a finished sweater to show you soon. If my boys can bring themselves to stop squabbling or getting up to feats of impending mortal danger for 5 minutes.
On the other hand, my idea of shortening the sleeves to three quarter length might totally backfire, in which case we'll see how good my ripping out and re-doing is.
The compulsion to knit has caught me in it's grasp. It started with hats. Yes, plural because they were quick and easy to make, the whole family got one. Mark even got one with pompoms.
And then I met Kristina, who had a guilty yarn stash secret she wanted to offload. Lucky me!
So I made a table runner (with very wonky edges). I'm still learning okay?
And I think I could become seriously wedded to hand knit socks. Although it may take a while before my drawer is this well stocked.
Hell, I've even applied to join Ravelry, so I must be serious. But I am surprised at myself, because knitting takes a loooong time from idea to finished item and quick projects are more my normal style. And boy is it an expensive pastime.
Particularly when (egged on by Monica) I spend an obscene amount of money on Noro and beautiful needles. That was a fun shopping trip!
But I figure you may as well enjoy the experience. This is destined to be a Klaralund sweater, because I fell in love with Tania's. But it may be a while in coming.
I think knitting is my lesson in enjoying the process rather that focusing only on the end product. Now I've got to go, because my fingers are starting to twitch again.
This sock knitting caper - you're having a laugh aren't you? How ridiculously hard is it to juggle 4 needles? Now I know how Johnny feels when I give him spaghetti for supper.
I thought I would just soldier on through the baggy cast on, diabolical tension issues and mysterious appearance of an unwanted stitch. But I knew it was definitely time to begin again when I found this.
Round 2 is commencing shortly. I WILL do this (but maybe I need a class, because the you tube tutorial route is proving a tad unsatisfactory). And, to be fair, perhaps tackling socks as a second knitting project is a touch over-ambitious.
But you clever knitters who whizz through socks without a care? It's just not funny to make it seem simple. Humph.
Feels like we're entering the home stretch now. A little bit of wrapping to indulge in, some last minute distribution and the big day will be here.
In a small bowl, combine flour, 1/2 c. cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.
Beat butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add flour mixture, 1/3 at a time, beating on low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 to 24 hours or until dough is easy to handle.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Remove one dough portion from refrigerator; keep remaining dough portion refrigerated. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Sprinkle work surface with sifted cocoa powder, repeating as needed. Roll each portion of dough into a 9 inch long rope on prepared surface. Twist into a pretzel shape and place on a cookie sheet, 1 inch apart.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until just firm. Cool on the cookie sheet on a wire rack for one minute, and then transfer to to the wire rack to cool completely. Repeat this process with the remaining dough.
Finished the hat. My first knitted garment. Woo hoo.
Blood, sweat and tears people. Really. Well not the tears part, or the blood actually. Okay, so I'm prone to exaggeration - it's a minor flaw. Bad hair is worse, far worse and I'm seriously guilty of that. I also seemed to be labouring under a number of misapprehensions with this project.
Misapprehension #1 - I could get away with knitting a swatch straight from the skein. Swiftly re-assessed thanks to Johnny and the fateful words - 'Dis just like spaghetti Mama'. After two hours of untangling, I wound the damn ball.
Misapprehension #2 - Having failed to find the specified 60cm circular needle at the biggest knitting show in the face of the earth, I figured I'd just use an 80cm one. It won't make my life much harder will it?
Misapprehension #3 - despite his total lack of excitement at my new found skill, hubby would be won over by the gorgeousness of the finished article. Hubby found modeling new hat in previously unconsidered configuration.
Do you think I could sell them on etsy? My family, not the hats.
