peace and joy

 

Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating today!  We had planned to trek to Minneapolis to celebrate Christmas with my family, but my sweet Kylie cat has had some health problems, so at the last minute we've decided to stay here in Chicago.  The vet has prescribed three pills a day, and she needs to be kept quiet and monitored. Kylie's so happy to be home from the vet, and she's all curled up in a heated cat bed that was a thoughtful gift from a friend.

 -----------------------------------------------------

I'm still chugging away on the handknit gifts. Spending Christmas in Chicago is actually giving me a bit of grace time here! Snow is gently falling, the tree is lit up, and cookies have been baked. 

The cabled earflap hat is off the needles!  I'm modeling it along with the Awbrey cowl in their unblocked states, as I'd like to wash them before giving them as gifts.  I'll add braids to the earflaps, as per the pattern, post blocking. Details for the cabled cowl are here.

Pattern: Snowboarder Hat that Rocks, by irishgirlieknits

Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky, "Mariposa,"  ~ 1.5 skeins

Needles: Clover US 10.5 bamboo circs (16") + DPNs

my ravelry project page

Notes:

The yarn is just delightful to knit, and the pattern is clear and easy to follow. The cables are a bit complicated, so you can't just zone out, but they're not too tricky. I worked 3 pattern repeats rather than 4, and it's plenty big. I'll definitely be knitting this pattern again, as I want one for myself!

elvishness

Lots of holiday cheer in the last few days! Now I must pay the piper and finish grading papers this afternoon and evening. Some highlights:

- knitting holiday gifts

Pattern: Acorns, by Melissa LaBarre

Yarn: Orange Flower Superwash Merino Worsted, in "Cadet" (3/4 skein)

Needles: US 5 and 7 bamboo circs + US 7 dpns

my ravelry project page

 Notes:

 Wonderful squishy yarn in beautiful blues!  The pattern is very well-written, and seeing the acorns emerge is delightful. I still need to block this, but the next few days are going to be hectic, so I'd better document it now.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pattern: Awbrey (free!), by Stacey Simpson Duke

Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky in "Mariposa," 1 skein

Needles: Clover US 10.5 bamboo 16" circs

my ravelry project page

Notes:

This truly was a quick knit, and the thick cables are super cozy. The Russian lace bind-off that Stacey suggests is easy and very effective.  The slightly flared shape is perfect -- it keeps the top (cast-on edge) from being saggy, and allows the bottom to flare out a bit where your neck meets your body.

My first time using Malabrigo Chunky!  Wonderful stuff -- very soft and cozy, and less fragile and prone to pilliness than the worsted since it has more plies. I love this colorway in the skein, but I was afraid that it would look horrible knit up.  As it turns out, it's still lovely! 

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm knitting a cozy cabled hat with earflaps to match! These cables are more complicated, but they're fun to work. The pattern's another freebie -- Snowboarder Hat that Rocks by Irishgirlieknits.  So cute! I was halfway through the fourth repeat of the cable pattern when I noticed that it was looking awfully tall; I ripped back a bit to do just three repeats before starting the decreases.  I'll definitely knit this pattern again!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

- listening

Low's Christmas EP, a (post)modern classic. Low hails from Duluth, by the way. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

- watching

Paul watched Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas many times when he was a kid, but it was all-new to me this year! In a word, awesome. It's a Jim Henson piece, with plenty of Appalachian folksiness, mixed with a battle-of-the-bands with some super-psychedelic rockers. Very sweet, plus you can see forerunners of many Muppet Show characters. 

We also watched The Holiday, which is a mixture of treacle and charm, with bad acting by Cameron Diaz in particular. That said, the set designers are geniuses  I want to move into Kate Winslet's darling cottage in Surrey posthaste. Plus all the meta bits about movie-making were fun. I rather think that if casting had been done differently (Diaz and Jack Black), this could have been a great guilty-pleasure romantic comedy.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

- decking the halls

We decorated the tree while sipping fresh grapefruit juice & gin cocktails concocted by Paul and listening to the Magnetic Fields.  A very hipster Christmas, I suppose.

P.S. Have you read Neil Gaiman's piece on persuading his parents to get a Christmas tree yet?

summertime blues

Some people like knitting socks in the summer since they're so lightweight and portable. Other people prefer lightweight summer tops. Not me -- I'm more of a lace-knitting girl once the temperature goes above 80.* I'm working on a Checkerboard Lace Scarf, a free pattern from the Purl Bee:The yarn is Malabrigo sock in Cote d'Azure. It's lovely to work with, has a gorgeous sheen, and the dark blues are very rich. I'm not sure I'd actually use it for socks.

I made good progress on this scarf while watching The Dark Knight. The best part was seeing Chicago in the film; I'm afraid that it was a bit too yucky for me. I could barely stand to look at either the Joker or Harvey Dent, and spent much of the movie with my eyes glued firmly on my knitting, waiting for Paul to tell me it was safe to look up again. The plot seemed convoluted and awfully long, too, but that may be because I kept glancing away!

------------------------------

Also in the works...
Paul and I are planning a trip to Portland, Oregon for the end of July. Anyone have any suggestions for Portland favorites? Microbreweries, wineries, yarn shops, gardens, hiking trails, coffeeshops...

------------------------------

I'm also working on a Sage Remedy Top; I do have a few qualms about this one. This may not be terribly flattering, but I love the feather and fan detail at the neckline. It's very possible it may end up looking like a maternity top. I skipped the ribbing on the bottom and worked a garter edge instead to prevent rolling. I'm using Lorna's Laces Fishermen wool in "denim," which looks much nicer (and less variegated) in real life than in the photo.

------------------------------

* How's that for a priamel? Here's my favorite priamel, from Sappho 16:

Some men say an army of horse and some men say an army on foot
and some men say an army of ships is the most beautiful thing
on the black earth. But I say it is
what you love.

-- Trans. Anne Carson, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

two nights at the opera

Well, two opera scarves... these took a little longer than two nights to knit, but they were pretty darn quick nonetheless. I knit these for our moms.

for my mom:

Yarn: Mirasol Yarns Hacho, #306, 2 skeins
Needles: Clover US 8 bamboo straights

Notes: I cast on 32 stitches for this. The scarf's on the shorter side, but the width is perfect. The yarn is a springy merino that feels soft in the skein, but feels a little crisp or dry while it's knit up. It washed well, with little-to-no bleeding. I didn't block it very vigorously.

----------------------------

for Paul's mom:

Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino, Stonechat, just under 2 skeins

Needles: Clover US 9 bamboo straights

Notes: I cast on 29 stitches for this one. I should have done 32 to get a bit more width; I didn't use the full two skeins, and it's a little too long. I washed it in lavender Eucalan, and I had hoped not to have to rinse it. The yarn bled like crazy in the wash, so I ended up doing at least 3 rinse cycles. It's not nearly as soft as it would have been un-rinsed -- it feels crisper than the Silky Merino Ishbel in teal that I didn't have to rinse. On the plus side, this has a lacier feel that I really like.

My favorite opera scarf is still the first one that I knit (out of the Plucky Knitter's lusciously soft Merino Cashmere Sport), which has found a home with Melissa of Owl & Acorn for "Pay It Forward." I'd love to have one just like it of my very own -- there's another skein of that same yarn in Captain Wentworth (dark blue) that just might work.

Here's Kylie on her tuffet:

She loves pillows and down comforters. She'll perch atop them, or even use a pillow as a headrest, just like a human.

seeing double?

It has been busy, busy, busy around here. Some of it has been "good busy" -- a rooftop BBQ with a view of the Chicago skyline, a trip to the Dixie Kitchen (recommended by Pres. Obama when he was on 'Check Please!', a local PBS restaurant review show, back in 2001), braving the rain for Dark Lord Day at the 3 Floyds Brewery, a $5.50 matinee of Adventureland... [sidenote: I didn't know it was possible to see a first-run movie for $5.50 in Chicago. 3 cheers for the Davis in Lincoln Square.]

How I yearn for the semester system where the end would be in sight already, though! Alas, the spring quarter marches on until mid-June. Somehow I'm actually making a dent in my backlog of knitting projects to block. This is actually feather and fan shawl #3, knit during an exceedingly cold stretch this past winter.

Pattern: Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl, by Sarah Bradberry
Yarn: Noro Cashmere Island, 5.5 skeins
Needles: US 8

Notes: Love the pattern -- so much so that I've knit 4 of them. The yarn is soft and cozy due to the cashmere content; however, I miss the sheen of Silk Garden from my previous feather and fan shawls. I would go a needle size larger next time. Also, apparently I really need a haircut.
With that, I think it's time to take a break from shawls (esp. feather and fan ones) for a while.

While ambling about in the garden I was struck by this flower:

Not sure what it is, but it fits with the color scheme of the Opera Scarf that I'm whipping up for my MIL for a certain holiday that's coming up on the horizon:

Malabrigo Silky Merino in "Stonechat"

a few new / new-to-me knitting patterns that are tempting me to cast on...

- Sarah Shepherd's Sage Remedy Top

- Heidi Kirrmaier's Buttercup (free)

- Linden Heflin's Baby Sophisticate (free)

- Kristen Kapur's Ulmus (but it's a shawl! must. resist.)

snow day

March came in like a lion; apparently it's going out like a lion, too.
Yesterday's rain turned into snow overnight. I awoke to a wintry wonderland. My poor daffodils were all set to bloom!

------------------------------

Oh well, a few good things to keep our spirits up:

• The rain put no damper on a fabulous show by the Fruit Bats at Schubas last night. I expected a more mellow show, but they really rocked. Highly recommended! The older woman (seriously, 60+, how great is that) standing next to me waved a fruit bat finger puppet during her favorite songs.

• Ysolda's Whimsical Little Knits book arrived on my doorstep over the weekend, and it's just precious. As much as I love the convenience of pattern PDFs, there's something wonderfully tangible about leafing through a real book.
• My second Ishbel is nearly complete! The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino in Teal Feather. [I'm still seriously behind on blocking and photographing FOs -- the other Ishbel is first in the queue.]

• Capricha in another one of her trademark "cat yoga" poses. See those little paws peeking out?

• I made it to the Bohus exhibit at the American Swedish Institute while I was in Minneapolis last week. It was neat to see all the sweaters, but my expectations were a bit too high. I wish I had made it to the kick-off event with all the classes and lectures.

The Turnblad mansion, home of the American Swedish Institute

Mmmmalabrigo madness

Finally, a Just Enough Ruffles scarf for me. It was hard to give the last two away, so now I have one of my very own. I love this shade of Malabrigo -- Pigeon, a very soft light grey-ish blue. It made for great comfort knitting while watching a couple "guilty pleasures" movies, Music and Lyrics and Love Actually.

-----------------------

My cowlneck sweater, almost a year in the making, is finally off the needles.
The horizontal stripes produced by the variegated yarn aren't very flattering, but the fit is absolutely perfect, and it's soft and cozy. Lessons learned:
1) don't use variegated yarn for sweaters
2) it's well worth the time to measure sweaters that fit me well AND to swatch carefully :-)
3) adding some extra length was a great idea

There's still finishing work to be done, then I'll post a modeled picture.

a cookie a day...

The Christmas knitting isn't done yet, but I took a break from it during an especially stressful point last week. I picked up the Malabrigo cowl neck sweater that has been languishing shamefully in a corner since last March:Half-done with the second sleeve... This is a minor triumph since I procrastinate knitting sleeves. I have no fewer than 3 sweater bodies that just need sleeves. Perhaps I should start knitting sweater vests? Unfortunately I think they'd be rather unflattering. What has really helped me this time is thinking of the sleeves as mini-scarves.
I picked up some Malabrigo for another Just Enough Ruffles scarf. This one's destined for my MIL, who requested an apple green scarf. Now Malabrigo calls this color "apple green." My internal color-ometer is going off, though -- it seems more like an acid green. Any thoughts? What springs to mind when you think of apple green?

The tree's going up tonight, and I have big plans in the baking department. In December 2006, I posted a cookie recipe a day from the 15th through 24th. How about a trip down memory lane?

Dec. 15, 2006: my German great-grandmother's Pfefferneusse recipe

Capricha in her standard winter pose

bring on the holidays...

I'll be ready! I saw the first snowflake of the season on Sunday night. OK, it was more like the dreaded "wintry mix" (talk about a euphemism) than snow, but I'm still glad I got a head start on my holiday knitting a couple months ago.

Since I apparently can't bear not having Malabrigo on the needles, I cast on for another cabled scarf right away:

It's the "Inner Truth Cashmere Scarf" from the old Magknits. I managed to find the pattern via the Wayback Machine here. The pattern's fun to knit -- row 5 is a tiny bit counterintuitive, but you get used to it after 2 repeats or so. Malabrigo's as thin as I would want to go on the yarn -- otherwise the scarf would be too narrow for my taste.

On Sunday I headed over to Arcadia for Franklin's book release party! It was great -- he even read a couple passages from the book. BTW, It Itches is downright hilarious, and would make a great holiday gift. Doesn't Franklin have lovely penmanship?

I also managed to meet up with Bobbi (AKA Krafty 1), who was friendly, chatty, and wonderful.

Speaking of books with marvelous illustrations...

Long-time readers of Caffeinated Yarn are aware of my Edward Gorey fixation by now, I'm sure. I picked up Amphigorey Too at a charming and well-stocked used bookshop (Bookworks) right near my apt. Paul and I were on the way home from drinks, and I saw it in the window and just had to stop.

I ordered Lucky Jim through Paperback Swap, and I didn't even really look at the cover when it arrived. Paul, on the other hand, immediately noticed and asked if it had an Edward Gorey cover. Yes, indeed! What a treasure.

Today it's Capricha who's trying to keep me from getting work done. Case in point:

Oh well, at least she seems to like the hat.

Pattern: Unoriginal Hat, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Leticia --
unmarked colorway (sugarplums maybe?)
Needles: Clover US 10.5 bamboo DPNs

Notes: This yarn is super bulky! It seems more like pin-drafted roving (not sure if that's the right term) rather than "yarn." It's super soft and nice to work with. This produced a much larger hat than my first version. In fact, following the Yarn Harlot's decrease instructions resulted in a hat fit for a Conehead. I ripped back a few rows (to the end of the repeated section), k2tog-ed all the way around, and ran the yarn through. It looks just fine on.

Next time I'd cut a row or two out of the repeat section so that I could do the pretty decreases as written.

home again, home again, jiggety jig

Home again, after a long weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia. Williamsburg was very pretty, although the fall colors weren't really out on display yet. The downtown has a very "Disney" feel -- extremely clean. If you had to form judgments based upon the current incarnation of colonial Williamsburg, you might surmise that the colonists had obsessive-compulsive disorder (esp. re: germs and disorder) as well as plenty of money to spend on trinkets, seafood dinners, and decadent "Death by Chocolate" desserts.

The motivation for the trip was a friend's wedding. My bridesmaid dress was too large for me, and my hairdresser gave me big (southern belle?) hair. Despite my personal appearance trauma, the wedding went well and had its intended effect (*marriage*). The highlight was visiting a beautiful winery, sipping wine on the veranda, and petting the vineyard cats. No photos of that, I'm afraid.
The only knitting accomplished over the weekend was the start of a Besotted scarf (pattern by the oh-so-talented Adrian), in Malabrigo merino worsted in "amoroso":
Great pattern , lovely soft yarn... a match made in heaven. I have, however, miscrossed a cable for the first time. One of my X's is wonky. I contemplated ripping back or performing surgery, going so far as to check out the Yarn Harlot's words of wisdom as well a tutorial at I Need Orange. You know what? I'm going to leave it. For me, knitting isn't about perfection. In almost every other area of my life I aim for perfection -- and it's a necessity when it comes to correct citations, clear examples, all that good stuff. In my knitting there's room for a mistake or two.

Poor Kylie Cat must have missed us over the weekend. She has been my little shadow for most of today! P.S. See how big her ID tag is? I think she looks like Flava Flav. That's one of the perils of ordering ID tags off the internet sight unseen.

lesson learned

How to block a baby hat? How about using a small mixing bowl?So far, so good...

Pattern: Vine Lace Baby Hat

Designer: Sandi Wiseheart (which must be one of the best last names ever)
Yarn: The Plucky Knitter, 100% Merino Single Ply Fingering, "Woodland Brown"
Needles: US3 Brittany birch DPNs
Size: Newborn

Hmmm... not so good after all. Looks more like very odd yarmulke. Embarrassingly enough, I didn't know how to pronounce that until I was 19. There was exactly one Jewish kid in my grade in my entire Minneapolis suburb (which was not small), and somehow traditional head coverings never came up in casual conversation.

I'll have to block this again before sending it off to Sarah. The newborn size is quite small indeed, so I would recommend knitting the largest size if you want it to be worn more than once. The annoyance of the YOs at the beginning and end of the needles has motivated me to learn magic loop or 2 circ's.

Mr. Greenjeans from the new Knitty is on the needles. I'm using Malabrigo merino worsted in "Violetas", and the yarn is as marvelous as ever. Some of you may remember it from my ill-fated attempt at the Hourglass sweater. A cardigan will see a lot a more use. I'm a big fan of the YOs along the raglan increases.
My knitting group met at my place last night since our coffee shop was closed, and it was great fun. Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares were absolutely yummy. It also inspired a frantic cleaning frenzy! It's so nice and clean in here now.