Where has the time gone?

It's a bit embarrassing, this. Disappear for months on end, all the while working fastidiously on projects in the background.

But there ya go.

Some things of import: cats are still adorable, but no longer kittens, of course. Still producing stellar breadstuffs on a weekly basis. Latest is whole wheat sourdough, which is not only fab when uber-fresh, but enjoys a second life when the stale bits are made into savory bread puddings or added to soups.

But what you really care about, if you care at all, is the yarnstuffs. And I have been making stuff, cranking it out, some dismal failures, like the Anthro Inspired Capelet and Rosa's Sleeveless Cardi Jumper:

 some lovely as all get out. See?  Just to be clear - the above failures are my fault, not the patterns or the designers.  The capelet was way too small and the cardi, way too big.  I plan to revisit both.  Stuff that went well include the Tea Shawl from Lion Brand, Tosca by Dora Ohrenstein, and a couple of Animekko cats, made as gifts...

 

But for some reason, I've lately glommed onto a desperate need to complete the UFOs what have been cluttering my new and fabulous workroom. They are piled in the corner like turds. And really, they deserve much better.

 So here is one of the first, rescued from the turd pile and quickly completed:

That's the Scalloped Cowl from Lion Brand.

Below is the hibernating Shipwreck Shawl.  Distressing side note:  My Knitpick's circular cable snapped right below the connector on the damn R train, freeing a bunch of stitches in its wake!  Sorry Knitpicks, but I'm pissed off about that!!!  I mean, what the hell?

And here's the kicker: This isn't all!  I've also been trying my hand at needlefelting, urged on by the gift of a gorgeous Japanese book on the same.  Started by making some beads, then graduated to what was supposed to look like a clog, but ended up looking like Grandpa Simpson's lost slipper.  Ah, well. 

And there are more projects, too!  Here's hoping I get and keep my ass in gear and get back to posting weekly...

Snail Update

So here it is: EZ's Snail Hat, in all its badly finished glory! I made more errors on this than even I care to admit, but there ya go. It started well, but finished crappily. But I was thankful for its warmth on some of the colder days this past week, and I will continue to wear it as Winter dictates.

And because it went rather quickly, I started on the Maltese Fisherman Hat, another EZ pattern from the Knitter's Almanac. The below is a squashed side view. As you can see, it's basically a helmet that will end with a "tassel of your dreams" to quote Ms. Zimmerman. I actually have plans to embellish this sucker considerably. I find its resemblance to WWII knitting projects in its utilitarian design quite charming. But it looks like it might be a fun backdrop to some rather quirky treatment, a la Cabinet of Curiosities. Lard News:
And if you are keeping score, we are now down about 7 pounds total since starting with weightwatchers. I'm still finding it easy, overall, so I'm sticking with it. I'm clinging to grandiose dreams of going sleeveless this summer and of not chafing my thighs as I walk. Lofty, I know, but these are the dreams that can move mountains. Of lard.

Creatification

Geez, where to start?

Well, let's pick up where we left off a couple of posts ago. My KnitPicks needles have arrived in all their speedy, non-kinky glory! I LOVE them! What a difference they make in ease of knitting. I mean, holy cow! Well done, KnitPicks! Buh-bye, Susan Bates -- you will be relegated to stitch-holding and little more. I have struggled with your horrendous kinky cables long enough!

Forest and Frills Shrug by tiny owls knits

In the meanwhile, as much as I was enjoying making the Nicky Epstein Roman Holiday Shrug, my mind started wandering and I've started making this Forest and Frill shrug by tiny owl knits instead (her completed version is above and the section of mine in progress is at the top of this page). It is the very definition of easy-peasy, and I need me some quick gratification. And if that ends up being a stashbuster AND involves some pretty crochet edging to boot, so much the better. I'll get back to Nicky later.

In a topic switch, I have been thinking about my parents a lot lately. Part of it is how I miss them, part of it is how I am having a harder and harder time mentally conjuring my mother (she passed in 1985, so it's been a while), and part of it is how much like them I am turning out to be. For instance, my mom was a knitter and crocheter and made up a lot of her own patterns. I remember this beautiful blue crocheted coat she made me when I was about 12. It had Juliet Sleeves, a particular favorite of mine, and was long and oh-so-hip. She loved to garden, cook and to experiment with new foods, spices, herbs, and cooking techniques. So I know where all THAT comes from!

My dad, on the other hand, was an ideas guy. Nothing charged him up like a book that challenged the standard notion of world. During my daily visits with him, we'd talk about ocean exploration, outer space, history, homeopathy, radionics, dowsing, and alchemy. He loved to surround himself with books (and he did!) and was at his happiest immersed in ideas or tinkering with his experiments. To the very end of his life, he never lost his enthusiasm for his books and ideas. So it should be no surprise to those who knew him that I am afflicted with this same disease. I am surrounded with books (though of a different nature than my dad's), and am happiest when immersed in them or tinkering with my needlework, jewelry work, arty, foodie, or costumey pursuits. Oh, or traveling.

All of which is a long-winded way of getting to talk to you about this week and why I'm so excited about it.

First, I received a book this week that I'd ordered from a Dutch bookseller called "Zelf je kleding haken," by Lis Paludan, author of the wonderful "Crochet History and Technique." I saw one of the projects in it on ravelry and thought the book was a little unusual in its design approach. And kids, it is positively filled with wonderful ideas for those weilding the hook! Is it dated? Yes, absolutely. Are the ideas big enough to be translatable into more contemporary versions? Again, yes. Is it in English? Hell, no. But it is beautifully illustrated, complete with clothing patterns in the back of the book, so the savvy hooker should be able to glean the ideas needed into their next project.

For example, these mittens look fresher than a lot of new stuff out there:

And this jacket, while clearly dated, is a fascinating shape that could be easily updated:
Also, I bought the new issue of Vogue Knitting, which has some extraordinary patterns in it, including Elizabeth Zimmerman's amazing Snail Hat, Jared Flood's cabled gloves, and the amazing work of Sandra Backlund. I love almost everything in this issue, and only wish I had the time and talent to make all of it.

Sigh.

While shopping at KnitPicks for my needles, my fingers accidently added Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits to my shopping basket. I have no idea how that happened! :-) But what a fantastic book! I cannot recommend it highly enough! I love Wendy's website, Knit and Tonic, and her senses of humor and style. As a result, I'm once again trying to figure out how the hell I'm supposed to grow the limbs needed to do all the projects I want to.

Sigh again.

Clothes. I love clothes. I've worked for years as a costume designer, and I adore weird clothes, new clothes, old clothes, you name it. But I have this crazy predilection for buying the most boring clothes imaginable. In my youth, I'd come up with the craziest outfits. In my old age, I'm two steps away from buying jogging suits for my husband and me to wear to the mall. It's sick. So I am looking to change up what I've got, creatify, if you will, my existing wardrobe into something new and distinctive. Except that I'm not starting with my existing wardrobe, I'm taking a pair of grey striped pants that my husband wants to chuck and turn it into something adorable for myself. Here they are as they currently exist. I'm thinking skirt (so bloody obvious, though, isn't it?), possibly jacket (saw something like that in a Roman boutique last month), but think I'll try for the thing that will likely have more wearable results. So skirt it is.

Back to books for a minute.

I mentioned the new old book from the Netherlands before. Here is a book from England that I am enormously fond of. It's dated, yes, but positively brimming with ideas and techniques that are literally crammed into its pages. Lookie!


So this week's loaf is in the oven (is it just me or does that sound like a euphemism?), a seeded rye, and it's heavenly scent is teasing my nostrils as I write. Later today, I'll make apple bread for the man to enjoy for the week.

On the diet front, for those keeping score, I'm down around 4 pounds. Not a huge amount, but respectable. I know from experience that the slower losses tend to take hold a bit better. So slowly I go...

Till later!

Obsessed

Ohmigod. This knitting thing is already waaay out of control. The hundreds of vintage patterns I have with knitting along with crochet suddenly make sense to me. (Way) more than half the patterns on ravelry suddenly represent possibility, not roadblocks. And I've spent more time than I care to admit downloading free pattern after free pattern.

Suddenly, the needles inherited from my mom have a new prominence in my workroom, which, by the way, is beginning to slowly look more and more like a place to create, not one to hide from prying eyes.

What's happened to me?

It's fun to be able to look at sites like brooklyn tweed and knitty with at least some crude understanding of what the hell is going on. And, with the help of YouTube and the many kind people who share their infinite knowledge and experience, it's possible for even a rube like me to learn a new trick or two.

Hot Damn!

But worry not, I've not given up the hook nor my hard-won title of SubwayHooker, but it is so, so, very sweet to be getting somewhere with a new old craft.

Knit Knews

So I've been blabbing about this knitting thing for a while now and thought it high time I actually show you some of what I'm working on at the moment.

First up is the Colors of Tuscany scarflet thing by Nicky Epstein, which for the record, bears little resemblance to the original.See? Not even close.

That said, I'm pretty pleased with how easy this was to make and that I did it without screwing it up.
Next up is a Lion Brand pattern for a simple cabled scarf that I'm making for a friend, ostensibly for this Christmas, but who knows when it will actually be completed?


Also on the sticks is the Aurora Borealis sweater in Twinkle's Weekend Knits book. However, I am making so many changes to the pattern as I go (and frog), that I don't want to cast blame on Wenlan Chia's lovely pattern by associating my lame attempt with her original. But it's based on that, so there ya go.

And while in Rome, I started on Nicky Epstein's shrug (coinky-dinkly named Roman Holiday Shrug, I kid you not). It is so freaking beautiful! But I used a totally inappropriate yarn that made a horrible squeaking noise as I knitted, so I pulled it apart until such-like time as I can dig through the ol' stashola and find one that is better-suited to such extreme beauty.

By the way, Nicky's book, Knitting on Top of the World, is pretty awesome. But if it's too rich for your blood, this pattern is in the latest Vogue Knitting. Woo Hoo!

So, while I'm off from work until the 5th, my personal challenge is to do the following projects:

• Finish bastardizing Twinkle's Aurora Borealis Sweater
• Make Roman Holiday Shrug - the most beautiful shrug, ever
  
• Make that amazing Layering Cardi from Crochet Today noted in my last post
• Finish Aran Cable Scarf for my friend

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

A Leather Pokebonnet

Nah, I haven't made one...yet. But if I keep up these Sunbonnet Sue-esque endeavors, I may have to.

Let me explain.

On Saturday, after purchasing a couple of Mason jars that I needed in order to create the starter culture for some Chevre I've been hankering to make, I set about baking some banana-cranberry bread. Yeah, that's right. I'm making cheese. I'm baking bread. That Mason jar to the right of my bread? That's the starter culture for the cheese. So that's Saturday. Come eveningtide, I'm continuing on my quest to finally get knitting through my thick skull. So I spent Saturday night in this, one of the world's great cities, sitting on my ass knitting. And watching Primevel. Whatever.

Sunday was spent ignoring the marathon and baking the SECOND LOAF OF BREAD in the weekend. Oh yeah. A remake of last week with the cunning addition of romano cheese. And DEEE-lish it is, too! So of course, we had to try it, warm from the oven, with my HOMEMADE butter. Am I possessed? Wait, there's more!

On the urging of my beloved rockpoolcandy, I bought a drop spindle and roving (why, Blue-faced Leicester, thanks for asking) from the Sheep and Wool Festival. I'm in the process of splitting the roving into a manageable weight before I actually spin. (Note to husband - I want a spinning wheel for Xmas - for serious).
How far am I from whittling? Or from starting an urban taffy-pull? Is weaving far off? Is my front yard too small for sheep? Can you grow corn in a window box? What about lacemaking?

Okay, I want to talk about knitting for a minute. Now, you all know I LOVES the hook, right? But ohmigod, it is so exciting to get to even this minimal level of literacy with the sticks! I haven't finished this frigging scarf yet, but already I'm scouring ravelry for knitting patterns thinking, why the hell not?
Despite the obvious errors in the pattern above, I'm thrilled at the results I'm getting on this bloody scarf. I'd admire it if someone else wore it, let alone make it.

Who the hell am I?

And, not for nothing, but the Manhattan Smiley's sale is on the horizon now, a half-block from my workplace. And I have a plan this year - I'm going for the luxe stuff, quality, not quantity. I have a few gifts I'd like to make and I'm finally at the point where I want my precious time to count -- to not waste it on cheaper, unpleasant yarns. They're fine for experimentation, but if I'm making a scarf for my BFF, it's gonna be a yarn that feels like heaven.

Okay, change of topic. I have two cents and need to spend it! Remember the old days when I used to wax poetic about Crochet Today? Pretend I never said it. I have been SO disappointed with them of late! Gone are the interesting, challenging projects. I guess they focus-grouped that puppy to only engage beginning hookers. Sad. It doesn't all suck, per se, but it's not the mag I used to look forward to. On the other hand, I was quite happy with the latest Interweave Crochet. The projects were really beautiful, some simple enough for the novice, others challenging enough for a more experienced crocheter. Maybe it all balances out. But I keep looking for the periodical that pushes the design envelope, and I don't really see it. Over dinner recently with my friend Crochet Insider, we lamented about the lack of magazines that really challenge their readers. I guess it's up to websites and books to be the source of all things edgy.

Hey, has anyone been to the new MADMuseum site yet? I'm, like, a 10 minute walk from them and STILL haven't hauled ass in there! And I've always loved that quirky building!

Okay, I think I'm done spewing for the moment.

Oh, except for this:

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OBAMA '08!!!!

Bread Success and Knit Knews

O happy day, calloo callay!

Got my ass out of bed at 7:30 to make my shaggy dough using bread flour, yeast, water, and salt. After two less-than-stellar efforts in breadmaking, I wasn't holding out much hope for this go-round. I let the mess rise for the requisite 4 hours, folded it, let it rest for 30 more minutes before plunking it in a hot hot hot dutch oven for 45 minutes. And what did my eyes see through that oven door? A golden-crusted beauty, rustic-y and rough-hewn, waiting to be eaten. First tastes showed a crust that exploded into shards in our mouths, but after letting the loaf think about itself for a while, the crust yielded to hard, chewy perfection. Add to the mix, I got to top it with my homemade butter, thawed from the freezer and melting into its beautiful crumb. Stupid as it sounds, for this Brooklyn girl, such an accomplishment is tantamount to starting a fire with little more than flinty rocks and kindling. Further experimentation awaits.

On the yarn front, more late-breaking news: I AM KNITTING A SCARF!

Sorry, I hope your smelling salts were nearby.

Yes, you read that correctly. Knitting. As in holy crapola.

Don't get me wrong. I still have 146 crochet projects in the works. But I have been struggling with getting to a certain comfort level with the sticks and am determined to do so. I don't think its bad to have more than one language. I don't think there's anything wrong with multiple pairs of shoes. Who doesn't like ordering off the menu once in a while? I mean, how was I supposed to resist this lovely pattern from Lion Brand, beckoning in all its elegance? It does all the lovely things that knitting does so beautifully...
I haven't even cast on all the stitches yet. And who knows when it'll be done? But consider it added to the heaving pile.

Anyone still there??

Hi.

You may have noticed an absence in blog posts for a while. Yeah, about that....I just haven't been up to it. But I'm working up the energy and will to start posting again. Oddly enough, or maybe not so oddly, I have been working on stuff -- not actually finishing anything, mind you -- but working on stuff. Actually took a weekend away (to the Hamptons, no less, la-di-dah) where a friend and I tackled knitting and I worked on my fat-bottomed bag. Yeah, that one.

But the main reason I wanted to post something was to send out a collective thank you to all my friends and readers who have shown me incredible and humbling support and understanding since the death of my dad last month. It's been rough, but the kind notes have meant more to me than I can ever say. I am touched that so many people have reached out to me with understanding and empathy -- people I've never met, some I've only met once or twice, and of course, dear old friends. All I can say is that what goes around, comes around. And I hope that if and when any of you need to be carried for a while, that you experience the wealth of support that I have done in the past weeks -- and that I can be there for you, too.

I'm going to start posting again, hopefully on a more regular basis. Maybe today, even. Stranger things have happened.

Thanks, everyone.