sunshine

Finally, a sunny day when I'm at home and can take pictures! I'm puttering around the house in my PJs when I should be reading books and articles on literary theory. Ah well, it's nearly Christmas.
I knit these slippers using Mission Falls 1824 wool last year, and they're holding up marvelously! The seaming's a bit of a pain, but they're cozy and snug. Plus I feel rather elven as I wear them. Not as elven as Pam's cute new Elf Shoes, though. ;-) Anyway, if you're looking to knit up a quick holiday gift, I do recommend the pattern.

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I'm using Knit Picks Palette for my wee mittens, and I'm quite taken by the color combination:

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The scent of fresh-baked cookies was in the air chez Caffeinated Yarn over the weekend.
I tried something new as well as an old favorite. The little circles are a variation on Sarah's peppermint cookies on the blog Handmade Homeschool (which I found via Mary Catharine's post). I substituted 1/4 C. Penzey's natural cocoa powder for 1/4 C. of the flour. Yum! I used my usual powdered sugar icing, adding a dash of mint flavoring.

A few years ago I tested many recipes in a quest for the perfect sugar cookie. The winner is from one of my mother's old church cookbooks -- Peaceful Pantry, from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minnesota.

Grandma's Sugar Cookies
~ Ilah Robbins

1 C. butter
1.5 C. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3.5 C. flour (sifted if you're feeling fancy)
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter; add sugar gradually, creaming until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Sit in vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together; add gradually to creamed mixture. Chill thoroughly (at least 3 hours). Roll out on well-floured surface to 1/4" thickness. Cut in desired shapes. Bake on cookie sheet covered in baking parchment 6-8 minutes at 375 degrees.

Tip: fill each pan with the same shape so that the cookies bake evenly

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Frost with a basic powdered sugar/butter/milk/vanilla icing.

read. knit. repeat.

Father's Day weekend found me in beautiful Minneapolis. Perfect weather made for a relaxing weekend -- going for walks, sitting on the patio, visiting family, and playing with dogs. I almost had a stowaway on my trip!
Yep, that's Kylie cat in action.
When I visit home without Paul, I revert to my old ways. Lots and lots of books.Here's the cream of the crop from my past couple weeks of reading. All of these I highly recommended. Cryptonomicon is Paul's favorite, and Staggerford is by Jon Hassler, a Minnesota author. Alicia (Posie gets cozy) is also reading the Mary Stewart books right now. They're quite charming and definitely a product of their times.

More blue ("air" ) knits in progress:

Take 2 of Plain or Flowery Slippers
Mission Falls 1824 wool, aster

Take 2 of my owl vest pattern

This time I'm using Rowan wool cotton, my new favorite yarn for baby knits. If only it weren't so pricey! I picked up these 2 balls from Laura's destash a while back. I had to go down a needle size (4) to get a fabric I liked. The first version was knit with Elann's Peruvian Luxury Merino Superwash, a pretty thick DK-weight. So while DK works for the pattern, I wouldn't recommend sportweight after all, and I think you could easily get by with a worsted weight yarn like Cotton-Ease or Comfy.

ruby slippers

So I planned to knit up these slippers for my Mom and put them in the holiday gift stash, but I'm not sure I can give them away!

Pattern: Plain or Flowery Slippers, by Sarah Hughes
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 wool, poppy, 2 skeins
Needles: US 6 Knit Picks Harmony circs (love the Harmony needles!)

So cute and cozy! I really like the Mission Falls wool. It's one of the best superwash wools I've worked with, and the color selection is fabulous. It's a heavy worsted, much thicker than Cascade 220. It's neither plastic-y (Swish) nor scratchy (Lamb's Pride superwash). These slippers fit my big ol' size 9 feet much better than the pocketbook slippers I knit last fall.

So, do I make these flowery or leave them plain? Any thoughts? In Sarah's original pattern she includes a flower that's very fiddly; she recently wrote up another flower that looks more my speed -- the Simple Knitted Rose and Leaf.

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Speaking of knitting for my mom, Gust is nearly done! I'm knitting it much longer than the pattern calls for. I want Mom to be able to really wrap it around her neck. I'm still loving the yarn -- The Plucky Knitter Merino single ply merino lace. As soon as I bind off (which should be within the next day), I'm sending off the leftovers to Joline as part of brainylady Alison's laceweight leftovers swap.

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More baby knits for the gift stash:

Pattern: February Baby Sweater, by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton, "Hiss," 2.25 skeins
Needles: US 5 bamboo circs

Notes: While my gauge swatch was close, I forgot to take into account how loosely I knit lace. So the finished cardi is a little bit cropped. I'm hesitant to frog back the bottom and add a couple inches, but I probably should.

I followed the pattern very closely this time. Next time I'd put the sleeves on waste yarn and knit the body, then come back and knit the sleeves in the round. EZ doesn't mention the buttonholes until you should have already made a couple. I just went with one button.

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The 5 (more like 9) Hour Baby Sweater now sports a white grosgrain ribbon.

December already?!?

A winter storm dropped 5 inches of the white stuff on Chicago last night. Paul and I went for a moonlit walk in the snow, and it was absolutely magical. Our neighborhood is mainly comprised of 20- and 30-somethings densely packed into condos and apartments, so it was a delightful surprise to see people out throwing snowballs, building snowmen, and walking their dogs.

The quarter is almost over; I've been too swamped with grading and schoolwork to post, although I have desperately wanted to and there are plenty of things to share. The grey dreariness of November is also to blame -- decent photography has been nearly impossible. The reflection off the snow really helps with the photography.

Inspired by brainylady, I knit up a pair of pocketbook slippers. What a fast and easy pattern!
They don't look too much like slippers, do they? Here's an action shot:

Project Details

Pattern: Pocketbook Slippers, a free pattern from Knitwits Heaven
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Superwash, less than 1 skein (maybe 150 yds?), Blue Diamond
Needles: US 7 Brittany Victorian walnut, the old pretty dark brown ones that are discontinued
(one of mine is held together by Scotch tape -- very classy)

These are incredibly easy, and the results are interesting. A little odd, but also strangely charming, possibly even elven. They're cozy, very stretchy, and they fit my size 9 feet quite well. I used a skein of Lamb's Pride Superwash that had been marinating in my stash for quite some time, courtesy of Micki.

Next time I would try the modifications by Miss Twiss, available here. Why? The button is very cute, and the button/strap combo looks much nicer than the lumpy seam in the original pattern.

What else? I'd go down to size 6 needles; I might even use a heavy worsted. These would be heavenly in Malabrigo, but superwash seems like a better idea for slippers. Especially since these would make great quick gifts (esp. combined with other cozy things, like fancy hot cocoa mix and a wintry mug).

Why, oh why isn't there a superwash yarn as soft and lovely as Malabrigo? Any suggestions, you guys? My stash contains hardly any worsted weight superwash.

I'm working on a very basic stockinette watchcap from Charlene Schuch's Hats On for my dad. He's a no-frills kind of guy. The yarn is Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran Tweed, in a dark blue (surprisingly enough, not purchased in the big WEBS sale).
The unfortunate part? This is a horrible thing to knit. The dark blue is hard to see, the tweedy bits in the yarn are hard on my hands, and the Knitpicks metal circs are killing me. And it might be too big. At least it's just a hat and should be over soon. :-)

Marianne sent me a lovely pair of fingerless mitts for the Fall Fingerless Mitts swap:
It's the Miss Potter pattern from Yarn Forward, and they're absolutely perfect for me. I've been wearing them a ton already, even at the very cold library while typing. The yarn is Freedom Spirit by Twilleys of Stamford, and it's quite nice and woolly. I've never seen it in the US! Marianne sent loads of other thoughtful goodies, too, which I'll share in my next post.

Another nice surprise -- the new Knitty is up! I quite like the Matrix mittens.

Back to grading term papers...