Winter Knitting

It's winter, and I'm on vacation, so I've been knitting non-stop!  I've been planning projects and going through my stash and generally having withdrawal symptoms if I'm away from my needles for too long.  I bought a new book with the LYS gift certificates I received for Christmas...Coastal Knits.  I am in love...I want to make so many of the patterns.  I also bought yarn for a new sweater for me, Plain and Simple Pullover.  I'm going to knit it in a beautiful grey yarn from Palouse Yarn Company.  But for now, I'm focusing on finishing Christmas presents (yes, still!) and knitting for the plethora of babies expected in 2013!

Preschooler Sweater #1

Preschooler Sweater #2 (Matches Mama's!)

Inca Hat (From Itty-Bitty Knits)

The cloche I knit for myself on the way home from Bend!

 

Knitting Weather

To say I am disappointed with the weather this year is a bit of an understatement.  After a promising Thanksgiving weekend with lots of snow, we have had nothing in the way of precipitation.  It doesn't bode well for the water year, and it doesn't bode well for our frame of mind!

But, given that we have limited options for playing in the absence of snow, my knitting needles have been busy!  I had a yarn-centric holiday, with visits to three different local yarn shops:  Paradise Fibers, Little Knits, and of course my home town favorite, The Yarn Underground. 

The result of these pilgrimages is that my stash has increased in volume, with some really gorgeous yarn! 

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these two skeins of Araucania Lenga, a cotton blend, but I am thinking a nice scarf or hat.  It was on sale at Paradise Fibers and I couldn't resist.  Paradise Fibers has grown a lot since it existed in the basement of my friend Kate!  I was overwhelmed with the selection of both yarns and notions.  The real jaw dropper though was the $70 hank of bison yarn!  I was really interested in it, as my grandfather who just passed away loved bison, but I didn't know what I would use it for and any project I could think of would require two skeins at least!

I am so in love with this Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that was a Christmas present, and purchased at Little Knits!  I have in mind making this sweater with it!   

Here is the Christmas present from my husband.  I have been picking up and putting down this yarn every time I go into the Yarn Underground and I finally have a project for it!  It's Joseph Galler Prime Alpaca and I'm going to make this cardigan, as soon as I finish my two current projects.  


I also just finished a plethora of Christmas gifts for others:  four hats in all!  The name of this hat is "Foliage" and was in the Fall 2007 issue of Knitty.

Check out the detail of the pattern!  It was fun to knit and not too challenging, although I made several mistakes (can you spot any)??

I also made the Twisted Reversible Hat by Dorothy Jane for a friend of mine using locally spun yarn (Feline Fibers) purchased at the Yarn Underground.  I like it so much I think I'll make one for myself at some future date! 

I made the Girls Lacy Sun Hat for a toddler friend of mine.   It turned out well, despite several do-overs. 

So what am I knitting now?  I am trying to finish up a baby gift.  The baby is already here, but that's how I roll--never knit a newborn size!  I'm also making this sweater for myself and love a quick knit on bulky yarn!!

The Fourth Day of Christmas

...Felt like a Monday, mainly because I went into work (and got things accomplished!) in the morning.  But I also managed to finally finish some Christmas gifts I've been working on (please, no snide comments, I still have eight days left!).

Flax seed +

Dried lavender +

Fabric =

Lovely Little Yoga Eye Bags!

Short Days

The days now are painfully short.  Maybe not Alaska short, but short nevertheless.  Short enough that I want to sleep all the time.  Then I kick myself for any moments slept during the day because it reduced my exposure to daylight by a non-insignificant amount.  Fortunately I live with a toddler that prevents that from happening very often.  So in the meantime, I've been trying to focus my energy on making the house cozy and bright, to the extent that's even possible.  To that effect, I bought paper white bulbs at the Winter Market on Saturday and began to force them using any receptacles I could find.  It's hard to take pictures, even in the middle of the day due to the low light.  Too dark without the flash, too glaring with it.  But I'm looking forward to floral loveliness in a few weeks!

I've also been knitting like there's no tomorrow--winter always puts me in this mood.  Plus, I am trying to make a lot of Christmas gifts this year.  I've been working on the hat below for about a week, and it feels like I've ripped out more stitches than I've put in.  The pattern is just knit two, purl two on an uneven number of stitches, but if I'm not paying attention (or the light is too bad and I can't see), I tend to loose track of what I'm supposed to be doing next and the pattern gets wonky. 

I'm also making yoga eyebags as gifts.  I'll take more pictures when they're done, but here's what the outside will look like.  I'm going to stuff them with flax seed and lavender from my garden.  These little beauts sell for $15 online...hmmm.   

Well, that's all for now.  I think I'm going to go knit.  Or sleep.

If I Only Had Some Henchmen...

I am a closet Martha Stewart fan.  I admit it.  In fact, I even like her better after the whole prison thing.  I think that experience mellowed her out a bit.  Which she needed.  

Earlier this month, I had the unfortunate luck of being in an airport.  Flying in December is less fun than flying any other time of the year, which is saying quite a lot.  In means making decisions such as whether to take your heavy coat even though you know you won't need it at your destination but you could possibly freeze your butt off standing on the tarmac waiting for your gate checked bag while en route.  It also means flying with people who almost never fly, or in fact, even get out in public very often.  Needless to say, flying in December is to be avoided at all cost.  

So buying a Martha Stewart magazine tends to be my guilty airport pleasure.  I bought the December magazine, which turned out to be mostly a tribute album to the 20 previous years of Martha.  But Martha did succeed in taking my thoughts away from crazy airport passengers.  She did this first on page 6, where she presents her December calendar.  Of course I was duly impressed that she had all her packages mailed in time (Dec 10), doesn't forget buy fresh Mistletoe (Dec 22), or make pate a choux puffs (Dec 24).  However, I did have to laugh when I saw her workout schedule:  Dec 2, 4, 8,9,16,18,23, and 30.  Apparently Martha has as much trouble setting up a regular workout schedule as the rest of us mortals.  But I digress.  

As I posted previously, I have given up looking for cookie recipes.  But that did not stop me from falling in love with her barks and brittles.  I decided to make them for my neighbors for Christmas gifts.  The recipe (one version found here) is very easy, although I should have looked it up online first because the magazine version does not tell you to make the bark thin.  Mine ended up a little on the thick side, which probably won't bother any chocolate lovers.  I made bark with peppermint, crushed cashews, sliced almonds, and peanut butter. 

Cashew bark (left), and peppermint bark.

Peanut butter-milk chocolate almond bark

The problem with M.S. recipes is that there is always one step that is a bit tricky.  You know, the step that would be easier if you lived in Manhattan and could shop at international grocery stores, or if you had a personal assistant named Victor, or if you had, as Martha does, a legion of henchmen to actually do the hard work for you.   That step in this recipe is the wrapping.  Not having the fancy boxes Martha used, I tried wrapping the barks in parchment paper.  Note to self:  tape does not stick to parchment paper.  I instead used plain white paper to wrap around the parchment paper and seal the barks.  Of course, touching the bark melted the chocolate just a tiny bit, which got onto my fingers, and then onto the paper.  I do not know how the henchmen handled this issue; I just washed and dried my hands a lot.


In the end, I think they turned out OK.  But I won't know for sure until I see the reactions of the neighbors.  If the new neighbors stop waving to us, I'll know...

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wrapped barks.