I switched to smaller needles than this time, and it worked perfectly! The cables are squooshier and cozier, and I managed to knit the whole pattern this time using just one skein of yarn.
PSA
Melissa LaBarre, AKA knittingschooldropout, is having a pattern sale (25% off) through 12/20. It's just her self-published patterns (not ones in books or through yarn companies), and some very lovely ones are included. For example, I have a Crooked Paths hat underway:
The yarn is madelinetosh tosh merino (in "saffron") -- it is bleeding like crazy, not just on my needles while I knit, but all over my white shirt. Boo. :-( We’ll see how much good a wash with vinegar does… Great pattern, though -- very fun to knit.
Next I'm casting on for Acorns (which comes with instructions for both worsted-weight and chunky versions!). The Christmas budget is a bit leaner than usual this year (due to acquiring Jeep #2), so it's handknit hats for everyone!
A road trip to Minneapolis last weekend made for excellent crochet time. Three of the four granny squares are off the hook:
I'm still loving them, but the autumnal colors no longer seem quite so apropos after we saw 9" of snow fall while I was in MN. The snow was just beautiful, and I got to trim the tree, decorate the china hutch, and bake pfeffernüse with my mum.
- Jane Richmond is having a 50% off pattern sale. Hurray, as I've been eyeing the Oatmeal Pullover pattern for quite some time, and winter break seems like the perfect time to knit one.
I'm not sure if the stars aligned correctly last year, or if I really concocted the best variation on buckeyes / peanut butter bonbons ever. These received RAVE reviews from everyone. People at parties asked who made them and then grilled me on my recipe. I received emails asking for the recipe.
The secret? They're vegan. Also, mix everything very thoroughly.
Melt Earth Balance. Using a hand or stand mixer mix melted Earth Balance with peanut butter. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Roll into balls, chill 1 hour.
Melt chocolate and paraffin, dip balls into chocolate. Chill.
My new Johanna quilt from Garnet Hill arrived today! I love it. The prints are designed by Snow & Graham, a local Chicago company, and the mix of modern prints and black paired with a traditional design make for such a cute and different look.
- These super cute knitting-themed note cards at Papersheep would be a perfect gift for a knitter! I found these via Design*Sponge and immediately ordered some.
I baked carrot cupcakes for a birthday gathering for Paul that we hosted last weekend.
The carrot cake recipe was unremarkable, but I do want to share one tip. I added 2 tsp. orange zest to the cream cheese frosting, and it was quite nice!
I'm crocheting some autumnal-looking granny square covers for throw pillows for our downstairs den. The yarn is some long-stashed Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, and I'm using a D hook, which feels TINY! Usually I crochet with worsted or chunky weight yarn.
My Greenfield cardigan is in time-out right now, as the first sleeve turned out enormous. Crazy big. My gauge is spot-on, so I'm very annoyed. I'd love to wear this cardigan over winter break, though, so I'll have to rip way back and add a whole bunch of decreases.
I loved the contrast between the sweet roasted squash and the crispy bacon. Be forewarned, though, that this is a complicated recipe -- lots of dirty pots and pans, plus a rather odd recipe for white sauce. Lots of flour, no butter -- the sauce itself tasted a little weird and floury, but once incorporated into the recipe it was just fine.
Notes:
This went very quickly, and I used a super cozy and squooshy yarn. Alpaca gives me both the sneezies and the itchies, but doesn't bother Mom. I didn’t check my gauge, and I ran out of yarn during the decreases as a result. I tweaked the pattern a bit to make it work, and it still looks great! Next time I’d use smaller needles, especially for the ribbing, and maybe have an extra skein of yarn on hand.
I've never really mastered the art of taking photos in the mirror, but here's a rough idea of what it looks like.
- Has anyone seen Guy and Madeline Sitting on a Park Bench? If so, what did you think? It's a recent indie film that's part documentary, part musical, but it had a very limited release and isn't on netflix yet. It sounds fascinating.
- Amazon has made it possible to give e-books as gifts. Huzzah, huzzah! More info here. Paul recently built 3 big bookcases for our downstairs den, and dealing with that has reaffirmed my desire to keep using my Kindle. Some books benefit immensely from physicality -- cookbooks, knitting books, art books, things you want to treasure forever or lend out to friends -- but half the books I read don't fall into those categories. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo simply doesn't deserve shelf space in my library for all time.
- Shalder, from The Shetland Trader Vol. 1. I'm jonesing after the Quince & Co. Lark yarn (perhaps glacier or peacock?) for this pattern, but I must resist until another sweater (or two) is off the needles.
- Leaving, from the new Twist Collective. What a great overall issue! I'm always a bit surprised by how expensive each pattern is, though. A $5/pattern limit is firmly entrenched in my brain; I wince at anything above that, especially since whole books full of fabulous knitting patterns are so affordable.
- Little Owls, by Susan B. Anderson. Just too cute! Plus you all know I'm an owl-addict.
Still way too much going on chez Caffeinated Yarn for my tastes... to borrow from brokeknits: blah, blah, dissertation, blah, blah, scholarship application, blah, blah, the sound of deadlines whizzing past me, blah, blah... Plus some serious family health issues and lots on the calendar, including good things like a rather posh wedding yesterday (huzzah for top-shelf open bars, btw). One thing at a time, I suppose.
I did, however, manage to photograph a shawlette. This was knit a while back but mysteriously hasn't appeared on the blog previously:
The yarn is soft and lovely, but perhaps a little more variegated than is ideal for this pattern. It was a pretty quick knit, although the feather-and-fan lace pattern is not handled in the most user-friendly way (cough, there may have been a wee bit of tinking, cough). The shape is great -- it really wraps around you nicely.
BTW, please don't think I'm too enamored of 1990s country-style oak furniture. We live in a world of hand-me-downs, as my in-laws have done a lot of redecorating in the past few years. The stuff's solid and dependable, though, so we're sticking with it until we can afford to replace it with furniture we really love. It's the "reuse" part of the "reduce, reuse, recycle" slogan ;-)
I love the finished project -- it's a great shape, a useful size, and the graceful curve of the border is delightful. That said, it wasn't that fun to knit. The pattern is definitely aimed at the perfectionist who wants all the details to be just so -- mirrored increases, special types of yarnovers, etc. I am just not that kind of knitter. My life provides me with enough small details to stress out about already! If I'm going to be super picky about details, there had better be some fancy lace in play, not basic-looking stockinette with a few yarnovers and garter rows.
The yarns were nice to knit but not remarkable -- both are springy merino wool with a fairly tight twist. The Yarntini might be a little thicker than the Plucky Knitter yarn. I wish that the grey were just a bit more even and less splotchy. The combination of the two colors makes me very happy, though -- sunshine on a cloudy day.
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Today has been unseasonably glorious for November in Chicago -- upper 60s, sunshine, a light breeze. Lo and behold, what did I see while driving home?
A city worker wearing a jaunty Santa hat while repaving our street.
Other terrifying signs that people are starting in on the holidays way too early:
- Christmas carols blasting from the outdoor speakers at the gas station
- Trader Joe's is pushing its specialty holiday goodies. The upshot, though, is that Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's are amazingly delicious.
This past weekend had its ups and downs, so I'm doing my best to accentuate the positive. We sold the Malibu (hooray!), spent a great night in Lincoln Square with friends (love the Poor Man's Black Velvet at the Bad Apple -- Crispin cider + Left Hand Milk Stout), and Paul managed to find the elusive last bin of my winter sweaters in the storage closet. I felt like Rory Gilmore as she's reunited with her sock drawer after the big European backpacking trip ("Hello, boys!").
As soon as I popped up from my comfy reading chair to grab a mug of hot apple cider last night, Kylie Cat cozied up in my giant granny square afghan and promptly feel asleep. So sweet... it's the best time of year for cat snuggling. This afghan is my favorite project ever, hands down -- knitting, crochet, or otherwise.
Does anyone follow a schedule like this? If so, what do you think about it and how do you make it work? We tend to sacrifice huge blocks of valuable weekend time to cleaning, which is productive but not exactly fun.
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- Garnet Hill has some cute sheepie things that would make perfect holiday gifts for knitters:
- Cooking Light's Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta is slated for tonight's menu (provided that I get enough done this afternoon). I'll let you know how it turns out!
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- These Owl Bootees are absolutely adorable, plus gingergooseberry graciously shares the pattern.
Hurray, it's Friday, a morning when I get to work at home in my PJs, sipping all the coffee I want from a real mug rather than spilling coffee from my travel mug all over my Jeep as I groggily trek to campus. :-)
Perseverance used to be one of my strong suits. Now I'm not so sure... this quarter has been a little too busy for my tastes. Just as I'm slowly but surely chugging along on my research, I'm also making steady progress on my Greenfield cardigan. I'm to the leaf details just before the hem:
The bright color has become more and more appealing as the trees in my neighborhood are stripped of their foliage. I dazzled/repulsed one of the girls at knitting night on Wednesday as I spit-spliced the yarn. She'd never heard of spit-splicing before, which surprised me, as it's incredibly useful (in addition to being a little disgusting). So if you haven't tried it before either, now's the time to go for it! I don't think anyone likes weaving in ends. Just make sure you're using something that will felt -- no cotton, acrylic, superwash, etc.
Over the weekend Paul and I were reminiscing about the amazing Decemberists' show we saw two Halloweens ago. The band came onstage dressed as characters from The Shining, which was awesome, esp. since the show was (quite oddly, I might add) at the very-conservative Wheaton College in a chapel. They have a new album -- The King is Dead (perhaps homage to my beloved Smiths?) -- coming out in January, and you can download a free track here. Yes, that is Peter Buck playing the guitar. :-)
I'm back from another whirlwind trip to Minneapolis. My dad turned 70 (!!!), and we had a lovely family party. Sadly I forgot my camera, so no photos of the 2-layer devil's food cake that I frosted and decorated with candy corn and the like. There's something so festive about a fancy layer cake!
Most of the weekend was spent with family, but I did manage to meet some dear friends for Sunday brunch at Hell's Kitchen. Their peanut butter is just as amazing as everyone says. I bought a jar for my parents, and I'm planning to make it myself sometime soon (recipe here)!
All that garter stitch for my Greenfield Cardigan is beginning to seem interminable:
I've divided for the arms, and am now chugging along on the increases after the waist. It's going to be cozy, but that's one heck of a lot of K stitches.
Kylie tried out her new harness and leash recently! When I first put it on her, she melted into a kitty-cat puddle on the floor and refused to move. Once we got her out on the deck she was emboldened and did some exploring. Too cute. We haven't tried Capricha yet, as she's a bit faster and more curious.
I'm a notorious over-packer when traveling, and while my new-ish Kindle has helped me carry fewer weighty tomes, I still need to change my ways. One thing that I thought might help was a smaller (cute!) carry-on bag that I'd feel motivated to use. While this Orla Kiely number was calling out my name, its high price tag didn't work with the budget. I found this Le Sportsac Weekender at Marshall's last week, and it worked like a charm for my Minneapolis trip.
My first time traveling with just a carry-on since 9/11!
There are lots of baby showers on the horizon, so I'm back to knitting wee little sweaters and the like. This is my favorite kind of knitting -- baby knits go quickly, use small amounts of yarn, and let you try out new techniques, as well as styles that are just too twee for grown-ups. Here's a Pebbles baby vest in progress. Just a couple more ends to weave in, plus buttons and blocking.
This doesn't take much yarn at all! I'm using a skein of Brooklyn Handspun Instant Gratification DK-weight merino sock yarn that has been marinating in the stash for quite some time. The colorway is "slate." I actually think I could squeeze a second vest out of the skein, too! Really a neat little (free) pattern -- I like the garter stitch details. We'll see how well I like sewing on all the buttons, though.
This is a busy week. The start of the quarter has seen me running around like crazy, including a few frantic, crabby days. Poor Paul... our suburban Ikea odyssey (to look at bookcases) was not our best Sunday. That said, almost every Ikea trip makes me nuts. I always feel a bit like a salmon swimming upstream, surrounded by all the carts, frantic people in decision-making mode, and cheaply-made goods.
The Elsie cardigan was hastily blocked and finished (with little white flower buttons), just in time for a certain someone's first birthday:
Yep, it's too big... and it was too darn hot to get good modeled shots of a baby in an overly large wool sweater on an 85-degree fall day. Hopefully her mom will send me a better photo this winter!
The design reminds me a bit of the February Lady Sweater, without the lace, but with a bit of waist shaping, plus that cute leaf detail. The yarn is Kimmet Croft Softie, which is 25% angora and really neat (plus it's from Wisconsin). I think it's woollen spun? It has little bits of VM, which don't bother me, and the yarn really blooms and changes texture when you wash and block it. Yes, I actually did wash and block my swatch for once. Mia sent me the yarn a couple of years ago, and I'm so happy to be using it!
Apparently October's the time for comfort food! The greatest hits from the past two weeks are not exactly health food, but they're delicious:
- Squash, Bacon, & Goat Cheese Pasta with Basil from the kitchn
Sadly my fresh basil had gone south, so I had to settle for sprinkling in some dried basil. Fresh basil would elevate this from very good to awesome, in my book.
- Buffalo-Chicken Macaroni & Cheese
I made a half batch, since the original recipe seemed like it would feed an army. And indeed, the half batch made 6-8 servings rather than 3-4. I cut back on the butter a bit, and I cooked the chicken breasts myself, as rotisserie chicken is really high in salt (and as a former vegetarian I'm super grossed out by bones).
Yep, a quick weekend trip to Madison, where we watched the Badgers slaughter Austin Peay. Yikes, that was quite the game, not really fair (70-3).
Still, it was a beautiful fall day, full of Wisconsin spirit, Michael's frozen custard, and time spent with friends. My only regret is that we couldn't stay for Obama's speech on Library Mall in Madison.
Despite the craziness of the last couple of weeks (fall quarter has now started), I knit this little Elsie cardigan in Badger red (oops, I mean Knit Picks hollyberry). The crocheted loops at the hems are a cute detail, and they are very easy to do. Great, clear pattern by Jane Richmond. I just need to find buttons! Then I'll take better pictures. Our new apartment, while delightful in many other respects, doesn't have nearly as great of light as our old place, so photography is much more of a challenge now. On a related note, I have quite the knitting backlog to blog.
Besides being perfect for knitting, Badgers football, and long walks amidst the leaves, fall is perfect for tea. I found the Pumpkin Ginger Tea at World Market -- very nice, but best when made with 2 tea bags, especially if you're using a mug rather than a dainty tea cup (we're not really dainty people chez Caffeinated Yarn). The loose-leaf Bourbon Vanilla Kusmi tea, which I picked up in Paris, is absolutely amazing! Highly recommended -- I think there's a Kusmi tea shop in NYC here in the states, too.
It must be fall -- there's a cool, crisp bite to the air, my Jeep's covered in leaves, and pumpkin spice lattes are back in season. I baked pumpkin cream cheese muffins yesterday afternoon, and they turned out quite well!
The recipe is here. I added some extra spices in addition to the cinnamon -- nutmeg and cardamom. Ginger would be nice, too, or substituting 1 T. pumpkin pie spice for the 2 tsp. cinnamon. These are pretty light on the cream cheese filling, so if that's your favorite part, I recommend making a 1.5 batch of the filling. What else... I used half olive oil and half canola oil, as my olive oil was perhaps a bit more full-flavored than would be ideal.
A Whippoorwill shawlette (rav link), in the scarf size. I'm using the rest of the grey Plucky Knitter yarn from the contrast edging of my Damson, plus Yarntini in "honeytini" for a splash of accent color.
These are from the Renegade Craft Fair here in Chicago last Sunday. Sofia Masri makes these lovely porcelain earrings and pendants. I picked up two pairs of her earrings at last year's Renegade, too!
Sorry for the blog silence, but Paul and I were off on holiday in France! We spent a week in the Loire valley, sipping wine, visiting chateaux, and spending time with family, then a few days in Paris seeing the sights! Having a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast today was a real downer after so many lovely mornings of pain au chocolat. :-) Better for the waistline, though.
Here's Paul rockin' the plaid at the Arc de Triomphe. I got to trot out my terrible French, and it did actually improve (hey, I took 8 weeks of French 7 years ago, and I can struggle through journal articles, so I didn't expect too much from myself).
There's a pretty major backlog of knitting projects to photograph, blog, and ravel. Here's the first of many -- Hemlock Ring, from my mini KAL with Barefoot Rooster:
Kylie looks a little surprised at the woolly beast next to her. This was a joy to knit despite the hot weather this summer, and the end result is so snuggly. I can't wait to curl up under it with a mug of hot apple cider and a good book.
Notes:
I knit the larger size, and it's nice and cozy, perfect for fully covering your lap. Really quite fun and surprisingly quick to knit. Next time I'd switch to a larger cable for the last third of the blanket, as it was kind of crunched up on my needles. As usual, the Eco Wool softened up after a good soak in Eucalan. I blocked it lightly, not overdoing it with the pins.
Yikes, I can't believe it's mid-September already. So much to do! Remind me not to go on long trips at this time of year again.
