MMM’13 Days 1-5
Yikes, this is getting tough. I really hope I don’t repeat the same 5-7 outfits. This morning (day 5) while getting dressed I realized, due to the warm weather (seasonal anomaly) I had to pick between 2 skirts and 1 pair of pants. Knitted woolen items are not going to work when it is 80+ degrees. Also, I re-found these timely Already Pretty posts: How to Look Awesome in a Photo part 1, How to Look Awesome in a Photo part 2, How to Look Awesome in a Photo part 3. But since I found these tips on day 5 and am dealing with the self-timer function 90% of the time (ok more like 85.7%). Day one was a bit disastrous as I couldn’t find my camera or the piece that holds my camera to my tripod (nope not together, that would be too easy) so I used my phone camera (thank goodness it has that dual front/rear camera thing going) – except I’m pretty bad at it, we are lucky you didn’t catch my finger pulling way from the button. Day two I decided to take on Patty the Snug Bug’s (who has dropped off the face of sewing blogging) and vaguely Wonder Woman-ish pose. It feels pretty good. And I started distracting myself with Dog who was curious about what I was doing.
I have one skirt and one pair of pants that I haven’t worn yet (plus another wool cardigan but that won’t work with our current forecast). And I still need to finish two skirts (hems, argh) and have two tops that are in process (cut out, partially together). That should help. I’m hoping something I make will soon become a TNT pattern but so far nada.
I like picnics
Inspired by my friend Sarah’s May goal of going on a picnic (or maybe in attempt to inspire her).
Last weekend we debated driving to the coast (above, September 2008) but decided to just enjoy the good weather we were having in town instead. We headed to the lilac garden since the lilacs were blooming all around us and I’ve been wanting to be in the park during the bloom for a while now. (I never had the timing right before).
We actually ate on the benches since we though our sandwiches might be more tempting than grass to our sheep/cow dog. And then we chilled on the blanket with a good book. Check out all that purple (and blond lump grazing):
We like picnics. I made a blanket/quilt just for picnics. Picnics are about food of course, but also…
reading (September 2010)
handcrafts (April 2012)
people (or dog) watching (April 2012)
Challenge Accepted
I, Michelle of Anotheryarn Crafts, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’13. I endeavour to wear one hand-made item each day for the duration of May 2013.
Eek! Since the first Me-Made month I watched along, envious of people diving into sewing clothes and loving their results. Clothes sewing was my first crafting love. I’ve wanted to sew my own stuff since I was 8 or 9. I used to do so (back when I naively skipped the muslim but garments turned out ok anyway), but in the last 10 years or so I’ve not been thrilled with my sewn results. However this year I realized that I do have some me-made garments and especially during “wool season” (in the PNW for lizard-me that is September through June at least) I often do wear handmade things (mostly hats and scarves but still).
June 2009, I realized that I was wearing a lot of handmade: sweater, skirt and bag.
Anyway, I decided to give this a shot, I started tallying my handmade garments and have:
- purple corduroy skirt (seen above)
- grey twill skirt
- February Lady Sweater (seen above)
- Blackberry Cozy Sweater
- Blue peasanty blouse
- Amy Butler tunic
- Juniper pants (and I really want to make more)
- scarves/cowls/hats/jewelry/socks
Plus the two skirts that just need hemming. And plans, oh I have plans. I’ve been stashing garment fabric and it is time to stop treating them as too-precious to use (well, except the teal wool houndstooth fabric, that is still too precious). That seems sort of limited, but I don’t think my sartorial choices can get any more boring than they already are with the endless days of jeans + t-shirts + sweaters that I currently wear.
Weekending with Yarn
A few months into 2013 and I realized that one of my goals is to take more classes, jump on more opportunities (like visiting every shop on the Rose City Yarn Crawl even if I do it solo). So when I learned that Sock Summit was no more (so so so glad I managed to experience the first Sock Summit) I stopped waffling about the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival and jumped on the class I had been eyeing.
We started the Saturday off our usual way, muffins, tea and ‘tubing (as we have call browsing online). Those muffins, btw, were delicious – I have a standard muffin recipe that I have memorized, but I tried a new recipe that involved folding about 2/3 cup of jam into the batter and baking at a lower temperature for a longer time. They turned out delicious if a bit sticky, with pockets of jam getting all caramelized near the edges.
I drove to Hood River on Saturday to take Carson Demer’s Ergonomics for Knitters class and experience a little bit of the CGFF. Because I was running a bit later than I wanted (muffins, internet…) I didn’t really have time to stop anywhere on the way there, I arrived about 25 minutes before my class which was just enough time to check-in, find the classroom and find a spot to eat my lunch. Then class, our classroom had a view of the Columbia River. Finally after class I went to the marketplace. Now, the CGFF has a lot of classes geared towards spinners and so the marketplace also is geared towards spinners. But there was also a good amount of handspun and/or hand-dyed yarn to purchase. The second booth I walked to I spotted what I wanted, but I was good and waited until I went around the entire marketplace. Then I was back in Lavender Sheep’s booth evaluating every fingering weight skein of the Mountain Sunset color that I could find. I settled on her Superwash Merino Wool sock yarn but was mighty tempted by a couple lace weights – I’m just not ready to go back to laceweight yet. And I totally forgot to go back to the BarMaids booth for a new travel size lo lo bar, luckily several shops in town carry that (but the booth at events always has the best scent selection). I don’t think I’ve managed to capture the color of this yarn in the dozen or so photos I snapped, so this will have to do.
And I headed home. I wish I had been a passenger so I could snap some photos of the drive, because it is such a pretty drive even when you stick to the interstate. But I did make a 2 minute stop on the way home at Multnomah Falls, because how could I not? I snapped this (things I take photos of too often: my dog, moss on trees and waterfalls).
WIPW: sewing this and that
On my cutting table: a stack of fabrics waiting to be turned into a quilt-back, a yellow skirt waiting to be hemmed and a grey skirt waiting to be put back together. Both skirts hit my crafty to-do list back in January, but with Me-Made-May 2013 just around the corner (which I haven’t actually signed up for yet) I’m feeling a crunch.
Rose City Yarn Crawl late recap
I wavered on whether or not I should do the yarn crawl. I spent most of last year on a yarn “diet”, trying to not buy yarn; but truthfully I still haven’t knit-down my stash to my satisfaction (frogging projects doesn’t help matters). But then that Thursday afternoon I thought, “I have the time now, so why not?”. I went and took some money out of the ATM with a goal of only spending that cash. I had a few things in mind that I was looking for (a few patterns I’ve been eyeing, a very specific skein of yarn). Due to my last minute decision this was a solo project. Being solo was one of the reasons I was hesitant, 18 yarn shops, a few on the perimeters of the metro area (in my eye anyway), it felt a little bit wasteful. Also, the first year I just went to a couple shops, and while I am decidedly an introvert, I still find it hard to do solo events when I am surrounded by groups of buddies. But I rallied my spirits, swallowed my pride and did it by myself.
I’m so glad I did. I visited shops that I wouldn’t have (even though sometimes I do go on epic yarn-hunts in the city searching for that perfect yarn for a project). And having some gorgeous nearly 60 degree and sunny weather didn’t hurt either. I visited all 18 shops, spread out over all four days (I also managed to go to PMQG’s all-day sew on Saturday too). And I splurged a little bit, but really I didn’t go very far over my initial budget. I got things I had been looking for (sock yarn, shawl pin) and things I had not (yarn, and my perennial weakness, buttons). I made mental notes of many yarns that I want to try…eventually. I feel like I have better sense of different shops strengths & weaknesses. I got to hold a two-week old lamb!
I am sad to say, however I didn’t get any good shots of places/things that aren’t yarn-related (like the very cool leaning abandoned house in the country, darn you rain + truck following me or the bridge in Oregon City). The haul:
Impulse yarn: Malabrigo Rastita in Indiecita. Planned yarn: Cascade Heritage Sock in White. Nifty notions from Hiya Hiya: pretty colored tapestry needles with bent tips (my fav tip) and interesting bulb shaped safety pins. A Shawl Pin. Vintage buttons. A fat quarter (I wonder how many yarn crawlers bought fabric). Patterns (it turns out I just got the patterns that were designed specifically for the crawl).
One of the things that attracted me to this particularly skein of Indiecita was the blends of blues and aquas. I knew from a past purchase of that colorway that it could vary quite a bit, and I wasn’t sure I’d find that combination again (or when). I never thought I’d fall for such a variegated yarn. Take a look (the shawl is knit out of malabrigo sock, but still):
Finished it Friday
My late Madrona Road challenge. No chance of prizes for me, oh well, I’m glad it isn’t a UFO.
See the earlier WIP here. I tried to make the puddles work, and to incorporate a little bit of selvedge from the fabric line, but it just wasn’t. So I simplified and finished it. I bought more grey fabric (Northcott though I don’t recall the exact color at the moment) just in case, but in the end I just barely eeked out the binding (2″ strip leftover) from my first yard. I trimmed it to be around 27″ x 29″ and now I need to decided where to hang it in the house. I should probably title it PNW Spring, though I called it Raindrops at show n tell last night.
Project stall
I thought Rosie the bear was going to be a quick knit. By yardage it is, but I’ve stumbled and stalled a few times on this project. Missing my deadline didn’t help (though if my SIL doesn’t say anything I doubt my niece will notice I got her first birthday present to her rather late).
I ended up ripping out half the head and reknitting it. I stopped to experiment with different increase and decrease methods, because for some reason I couldn’t keep them straight in my head and couldn’t bring myself to trust my trusted reference sources. My bear head is so much the better for my patience regarding this shaping.
And now I’m over the hump, both arms are done, Rosie just needs some end weaving, stuffing and eyes/nose/mouth embroidery. Hopefully I didn’t jinx myself with the word just.
One Pan Blondies (and yarn)
A couple weeks ago I had a hankering for some blondies. I have a few different recipes (Vanilla Garlic, Smitten Kitchen that I go to regularly, well as regularly as I make blondies) but I had also bookmarked this recipe, and that day it caught my eye because you only need one pan. A 10″ cast iron skillet (how awesome are 10″ cast iron skillets?). I did end up using a second pan to toast my pecans, but if I had decided on nuts ahead of time I could have done that before I melted the butter. Oh, and the other joy of blondies, it is a cookie you can make from frozen butter (I generally have a couple pounds of butter in the freezer) and it is so very adaptable to mix-ins. Since I didn’t quite follow theKitchn recipe I’m going to write out my version.
Blondies riffed from theKitchn Skillet Blondies
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup toasted, lightly chopped pecans (or your favorite nut)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup candied* or crystallized ginger, chopped (aim for chocolate chip size)
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Toast your nuts in the cast iron skillet in the oven. This takes around 5 minutes depending on the nut, shake a few times, sniff often. Remove the nuts from the pan and set the pan on the stove-top. Add your stick of butter and let it melt. Once it is melted add the brown sugar and stir (until dissolved says the recipe, mine never dissolved so I just made sure it was well mixed). While that happens grab everything else and chop or measure as needed. Pour and scrap the butter-sugar mixture into a bowl, let it cool a little bit before add the egg and vanilla extract. Add your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, espresso powder) and stir together. Mix in your mix-ins. The chocolate chips will probably melt a little bit. Pour back into the cast iron skillet, you will probably need to press it down a little bit to make sure the batter is an even thickness. Bake around 20-25 minutes. Let it cool before slicing.
* I’m partial to a Trader Joe’s product called “Uncrystallized Candied Ginger” and it’s generally sold along side their dried fruits (when they stock it at all, which sadly they don’t).
I already have plans for tweaking the next batch, but one thing that is definitely staying is the candied ginger, every bite I got with a bit of ginger was so awesome (admittedly, I am a ginger-aholic – but it didn’t scream ginger to me, just a nice warmth and zing) I sliced it into 12 or 16 wedges and only had a few leftover (the picture above is the morning after baking).
What about that yarn? Well I brought these to what is normally my knit night, though that evening my LYS was hosting a yarn tasting of Shibui yarn. We got to check out sample garments and play with mini skeins of 7 different Shibui yarns. One of the sweaters caused me to exclaim, “I want to swim in a bathtub full of this!” it was so luscious and soft and drapey. I didn’t get very far on my own swatches and so I’m still quite a bit undecided about exactly what combination I want to work with the most (or what project) but I think that Silk Cloud will probably be in that mix.
This photo below gives a slightly better representation of the three mixes I swatched so far.
I started with Staccato, then Staccato + Silk Cloud and then Silk Cloud + Cima.
Last Weekend
Last Friday it was sunny and 60 degrees, so I made an afternoon of it and treated myself to a couple of my favorite things in the city: Cool Cottons for fabric shopping and Cool Moon for ice cream.
Fabric for an impulsive new project, one stash-enhancement piece, an impulsive fabric piece, more grey to complete a project, and another owl print for my eventual owl quilt.
Strawberry Sorbet and Butter Almond Brickle. Not a particularly winning combo, but sometimes I pick two micro-scoops simply so I can indulge in two flavors.
On Saturday we lingered too long in the morning, and the weather turned from dry to wet on our walk to get waffles. Instead of turning back for home we carried on anyway. For the first time I noticed the yard with the huge garden had bee hives.
After eating our waffles, it was still raining, so we opted to head home instead of continuing to explore on foot as originally planned. The sky was misleading but pretty.
Directly above us it was raining and grey (the dark upper left corner is my hand trying to block drops from hitting the lens).
Of course we had forgotten our raincoats, so we got rather wet on our walk, my glasses looked like this.
This is the one thing I hate about wearing glasses.
I ran errands. And then I finally got to make a treat I’ve been dreaming of for a while, a savory small bite. I’m not sure when I bookmarked the recipe, and I was in such a hurry when they finished I never snapped a photo (also it was dark). Blue cheese savouries with rosemary-rhubarb jam (homemade last summer, I’m sure any jam that pairs well with blue cheese would work). The recipe has you roll them out into tiny round crackers, but I formed mine like thumbprint cookies and piped jam into the center. Due to the size my yield changed (IIRC I got about 60 “cookies” from a double batch) and the bake time was closer to 15-18 minutes instead of 10 (also they tasted better slightly over-baked than under-baked). They were delicious and received with rave reviews.
Blue Cheese Savouries ready for the oven.
And then our Sunday morning looked like this (it often does, really the only variation is what type of tea you will find in our mugs, that morning it was Mt Hood Vanilla black tea with a splash of milk).
