(nearly ) Wordless Wednesday

Details forthcoming!

Winners and some DS projects

Well, winners have been picked via rng! Our winning numbers were #8, #1 (really? that's pretty rare!) and #25. So, the winners are: Susan, Chawne and James-Linda (Who is actually, Linda)! I've already got addresses from all three, and will be sending out the shawls this week.

Thank you so much to all that entered. It was fun hearing about your current craft obsessions! It feels good to get a few of these FOs out of the closet (and it also allows me the freedom to cast on for a new shawl soon! It's a sickness, I know.)

I wanted to share a couple of projects with you, which have DS Quilts in common.

I, personally, do not love the entire DS Quilts first line that came out, but I do love the print I used in both of these items very much.

First up, I made this skirt from Butterick pattern 5613.
The reason you're not viewing a modeled shot is because it looks frumpy as all get out on me. I think you have to be a size two to be able to pull this off, due to the gathered waist.
I thought it would be a good "masking" choice, but no, it adds more than I actually have around the waistline.
Not good.
I'm debating whether I should try to salvage it. I do love the style, and maybe I could pull it off if I reduced the amount of gathering at the hips. It has pockets, which are pretty awesome!

Until I make up my mind, this sits unhemmed.

My other DS project is a win, though!

I bought Anna's Gathered Clutch pattern awhile back, and finally tried it this weekend.

I used Kona Daffodil, Annie's Farm Stand Seed Catalogue, and the DS Quilts print, as well as a vintage zipper from the stash. This was a great pattern, and I will definitely make more of these in the future.

P.S. Thanks to my sweet boyfriend, I have AC in the car again! It was a little cheaper than expected, and I didn't have to suffer in the August Houston humid heat.

FO: Cable Car Hat

One last FO for the year:

I cast on for this hat at the airport in Dallas on a Saturday, and finished the following Wednesday in San Francisco. I've dubbed it the Cable Car Hat. The pattern is Relm by Brooklyn Tweed, from the Fall/Winter 2008 issue of Knit1. I used less than a skein of Malabrigo in the lovely Sealing Wax colorway. I made some modifications, mostly to conserve yarn and to make the hat less slouchy.

I used a size 7 circular throughout, instead of switching needles after the brim.

Then, at the decrease section, I did the following:
Worked Row 1
Skipped rows 2 and 3
Worked rows 4-7
Skipped rows 8 and 9
Worked rows 10-11
Then:
(p2, ssk) repeat to end
(p2tog, k1) repeat to end
k2tog repeat to end
k next row
k2tog, k1 repeat to end
k next row
k2tog repeat to end
Seam 10 remaining stitches

Although it's pretty cute on me (modest, I know!), I gifted it to Beth, Elliott's sister (and mother of the adorable Oliver) this weekend. She'll get better wear out of it in DC this winter. And besides, I can always make another hat. That's the beauty of being a knitter, right?

Raveled here

By the way, it's my birthday today! I'm 29, for the first time.

San Francisco: Muir Woods

Have you ever been to San Francisco?
Jill and I visited six years ago to celebrate her 21st birthday. For this trip with Elliott, there were some new-to-me sites, and some revisited favorites. Muir Woods was a new attraction, and I'm so glad we went.

Muir Woods is incredible, and we were lucky enough to have good weather for our early morning visit. Instead of renting a car and dealing with parking, we chose to go with a small tour group (there were only five people in our van), care of Extranomical Tours. We had about two hours to spend in the woods, and I made good use of my time and camera.

What struck me the most about the woods is that certain trees were positively glowing. I'm guessing it was a combination of the moss and sunlight.

Postively beautiful. Elliott and I walked along the trail for almost two hours, pausing to take pictures (pretty frequently) and enjoying existence.

It's a very magical place. I definitely want to go back someday, just to make sure the magic of these giant trees still exists.

I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed.

Oliver makes me happy when skies are gray

I was lucky enough to see Oliver again this weekend, and, good news!

He, along with his awesome parents, Beth and Kyle, are moving back to Texas next year. Hopefully, this means Elliott and I can see them more often.

Oliver is seven months old now, crawling and teething.

He's a very animated baby, and I had to delete many blurry photos from my camera, as his action was sometimes difficult to capture. I'm not complaining.

I enjoy being in his company, and seeing him grow, each time we visit.

FO: Pebble Forecast

My plan was to have this finished in time for Oliver's Texas visit last month. As I was nearing the end of the knitting, I started thinking it might not be big enough for him. While he was here, I put it around him to check. Although it won't fit him for very long, I hope it will be a good transition piece for the cool fall in D.C.

If you remember, the yarn was some handspun I purchased from whimsyknits on Etsy. I found the perfect little blue buttons (I still need to sew on the top buttons). The pattern, Pebble, is so easy to follow, and I've already cast on for a second in Malabrigo Worsted, also for Oliver.

The only modification I made was to add twelve extra rows before binding off the buttonhole and edging rows. It's no wonder this is such a popular pattern on ravelry. It's darling!

I love knitting with handspun. It makes me want to get a wheel, which I've been trying to avoid (only because I already have to split my crafting time between sewing and knitting!). I have less than half an ounce of the handspun left, so this is a good one-skein project.

In other handspun news, I was able to snag a skein of Sam's (aquaknits) handspun from her etsy shop, GLBLF. I just love her style. I truly feel my stash always needs at least one skein of handspun!

Raveled

Progress: Pebble

This handspun, purchased from Whimsy Knits, didn't stay in the stash very long. I bought it originally for a hat or scarf, but after seeing the Pebble vest (inspired by Cobblestone), I knew it would be my next gift to Oliver, Elliott's nephew. He's about four months old now, and he'll be visiting Texas for the first time this month. I'm excited to see him again. I'm hoping he hasn't grown too much, so that he can fit into this vest! This is a DK weight yarn, which is what the pattern calls for. I didn't add any width, but I added about 12 rows to the length.

I'm a few inches past this picture, and I plan to start the straps tonight. This yarn has Shetland in it, and my plan, should I run out, is to purchase a skein of Jamieson's yarn to finish. At this point, I'm pretty sure that won't be necessary, but it never hurts to be prepared.

If it doesn't fit the little guy, I'll knit another in worsted weight while he's in Texas, and I'll save this one for another baby gift.

Buttons have not been selected yet. Any suggestions?

From my fella

Elliott sent me a very sweet gift on Friday. Literally and figuratively. He sent me some Critters from Divine Delights. He knows I love little animals, and they're just so cute! They are petits fours, and there is an assortment of animal shapes (each one is a different flavor). There are kitties (I can't bring myself to eat those!), piggies, frogs, chicks, fishies and moose.

I still have a few left (in the fridge to help them last a bit longer).

DC Sojourn

How can you not love baby feet? They're so wrinkly; an old man's feet, really.

His name is Oliver, and he has a full head of hair. It was great to meet him, and we had a great trip.

I'm not done going through my pictures (I took more than four hundred in three and a half days!), but here are a few of my favorites so far:

The Willows are so beautiful, but I was hoping to see some Cherry Blossoms. It's a little too early for them.

The National Museum of the American Indian

This was such a beautiful building. We enjoyed wandering through the exhibits.

I'll have more pictures of the monuments next time.

FO: Muddy Maroon Cardigan

The cardigan is done. I have pictures to prove it. Pictures of me wearing it. Wanna see?

Now with 100% more smirky face!

We went to D.C. this week to meet the new baby (the squirrel sweater was well received!), and I convinced my guy to snap some photos of me while we were seeing the sights. Speaking of, I've got some vacation photos to share with you as well.

I'm really not digging the hair in this picture, but that's what new haircuts are for, and I've got one coming up soon.

The handspun yarn yoke is Mud Creek, which I received as a gift from my good friend Sarah. It's been in the stash for two years, and I just wanted to find a pattern that would really showcase it's beauty. I think this sweater accomplishes that. Elliott helped me choose the body yarn, and I think the maroon Northampton, also from the stash, is a great choice. I started this sweater in December, over my Christmas break.

I found the wood buttons at Joann's a couple of weeks ago, and finished sewing them on last week, in preparation for the trip.

The pattern is Melissa LaBarre's very famous Garter Yoke Cardigan, which can be found in the 2008 Fall/Winter Knit1 magazine. The pattern is very straightforward. I really didn't make any modifications, except that I knit the sleeves differently. The first sleeve is a little too loose around my upper arm, as I prefer more fitted sleeves. When I knit the second one, I started decreasing more rapidly to achieve that look. They don't match exactly because of this, but it's not really that noticeable. I cast on with the Northampton and knit three rows with it before switching to the Mud Creek. I'm really please with the way it turned out. I can actually see myself wearing this, and that's not the case with some of the items I've made in the past.

I've decided not to cast on for anything new right away. I've decided to follow in yarndude's footsteps, and tackle a looming UFO.
My Central Park Hoodie, started in June 2008 is going to get finished. Just in time for summer.

Raveled

FO: Squirrelly Baby Sweater

Is squirrelly even a word?

Well, whether it is or not, these buttons are definitely squirrelly, or squirrel-ly, if you prefer.

This is the baby sweater for my fella's sister, who was induced last night, and has probably had the little guy or gal by now.

I get to hand-deliver the sweater to the new addition in the next few days, and I couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out. Since the parents chose not to discover the sex ahead of time, I tried to knit something that could work for either gender. When I found the squirrel buttons on etsy, they just fit. The yellow and brown yarn is Elsebeth Lavold Cotton Patine. The blue is Cotton-Ease. I used less about half a skein of each.

The pattern is easy to follow, and the variations I've seen on Ravelry are just lovely. Several people chose to do applique, and I considered it, but I felt that the stripes + applique would be too busy. The knitting went quickly, but the total duration for the sweater was about 2 months. This was mostly because I knew my deadline, and I procrastinated on the finishing. Story of my life. Plus, finding the perfect buttons took some searching. The only trouble I had was due to these very buttons. They were a bit too big for the buttonholes, but I was able to stretch them enough to fit.

Little baby gift

My boy's sister is having a baby in March. She's an awesome chick, and I'm excited for her growing family. I'm knitting up a quick and cute gift to send her way; she lives in Washington, D.C., so it may be awhile before I get to see her and the baby.

I'm working through the first sleeve, as you can see. I'm using Cotton Patine in Honey and blue Cotton-Ease, and I may use some chocolate Cotton Patine for the button band. Depending on how quickly I finish, I may knit a second sweater at the next size, for a longer lasting gift.

A happy girl

I'm a happy girl. Here's proof:

That, in my hand, is my new Nikon D40. It's lovely, and we've spent the last few days getting to know one another. She (I just feel like it's a female; is that wrong?) was a gift from my special fella, and I'm completely enamored. I'm still very much a noob, but I'm reading up on f-stop and aperture, and other camera-related jargon. It's fun to learn a new language!

P.S. This is a sneak peak of one of my finished Christmas gifts
(hint: it's on my head!).
I'll post a proper FO post soon.

Food Friday

I made turkey lasagna last Saturday night for my boyfriend (well, I ate some, too!). It was delicious. I can't bring myself to use bottled sauce, so I made up a pot of sauce, using yellow onion, red pepper, crushed and whole tomatoes, red wine, a pinch of sugar and salt, black pepper, garlic, cremini mushrooms, ground turkey, spinach and fresh herbs (oregano from my mom's backyard and basil from mine).

I used no-bake whole-wheat noodles, which worked well for me. I used a combination of fresh parmesan, mozzarella and ricotta cheese.

My only complaint is that the lasagna didn't stand up very well. Perhaps I need to thicken up my sauce with a little paste to accomplish a more sturdy lasagna.
Thoughts? Suggestions?

It was so good.
I made my standard garlic herb toast (topped with more fresh herbs and cherry tomatoes!) and a salad to go with it.

I drank a little Fat Bastard Merlot as well. Yum!

Food Friday: Sushi Date

How can I saw no to this?

That's a rainbow roll in the center, surrounded by unagi, salmon and tuna. It was so fresh and delicious!