one potato

Bermuda baby

2010-09-03T14:25:00.005-04:00

Our good friends in Bermuda welcomed a beautiful baby boy and I made them this quilt. I wanted him to be wrapped in the colors of the island whether he was there or away. It's a little hard to make out, but the base color on the front is a very pale green and the binding is a light brown with cream dots (both from Purl). I absolutely love this one.

(Click on pics to see bigger versions, I am having some technical issues!)

Pattern: Marquee from The Modern Quilt Workshop (inspired by this).
Fabrics: From the stash.
Date completed: August 2010.

The back.

Block detail.

Who can resist a little owl?

My first quilt

2010-04-18T15:44:00.003-04:00

When I was about 13 I decided I wanted to make a quilt. Having no idea what this entailed, I settled in with a pile of pink and purple fabrics (what else), pinking shears, a spool of white thread and a needle. I painstakingly cut out piles of squares, and then commenced sewing them together. By hand. With no regard for seam allowances (of which I knew naught), ironing, backstitch, or really anything else.

After finishing one row of squares, I set forth on the second row. When that was done I eagerly set both rows together and still remember the crushing disappointment when I discovered the squares did not line up in the slightest (see ignorance of seam allowances, above). I think I put my quilt down for at least a year at that point.

At some later point, still while in middle or high school, I picked it up again and slowly assembled the whole mess, and then put it in a closet never to be seen again until last week, when my mom unearthed it while cleaning out the basement. I am so thrilled it's survived! Yes, it's a hot mess, but I can't wait to wash it (it's got some questionable stains, possibly from sitting with festering dressmaker's chalk for 20 years), patch up some holes and make it into the quilt it always wanted to be. Maybe one day I'll even get over the color scheme.

Auction Fail

2010-04-16T13:38:00.003-04:00

Last night was the auction at my friend V's son's nursery school and my quilt was on the [silent auction] block. I was led to believe that the clientele would be a bunch of high rollers looking for an excuse to throw a lot of money around in the name of benefiting their children's education, and that the handmade items historically sold very well.

Well, they started the bidding on my quilt at $37. That's right, $37 for a one-of-a-kind, completely hand-made quilt. I don't want to get too high on my horse, but, really? That barely covers the cost of materials. Did I mention I completely hand-stitch the binding? I mean, I realize no one who doesn't sew realizes what that entails, but I didn't realize quite how poorly it would translate.

After 2 hours there were a whopping 3 bids: $37, $42 and $57. How. Depressing. As this as unfolding I was updating my dear friend M, who particularly loved the quilt, and she flew to the rescue, all the way from Pittsburgh. With only minutes left in the silent auction, she called V, asked her to make a telephone bid and won the quilt for $150. It will now have a happy home with a fellow craft-lover who is having a baby this summer. I am so touched that M did this, and really feel pretty bad that she laid down so much cash for something that the "market" (or at least the market of West Village mommies and daddies) obviously valued at 1/3 of the price! But, I am also so pleased that it's going to someone who will truly appreciate it.

In the meantime, lesson learned: no more charity auctions for the moment. Le Sigh.

Seamus' Quilt

2010-04-10T14:27:00.002-04:00

This is a very belated baby present to a kid who is now over 3 months old. Oops...

I used a pattern called Venetian Dream from Fons & Porter Easy Quilts, Fall 2009 issue. I made a bunch of modifications, including leaving out the outer border and decreasing the number of squares. I love how it looks finished, but unfortunately this was quite a project because there are no shortcuts to piecing the squares (e.g., no sew-three-strips-and-cut-across to make magic like some other fun patterns). So, it took a lot of attention and many many little seams.

The prints I used for the big panels are from the Frolic line by Wendy Slotboom (which I ordered from Fabricworm, although it seems they are all out). I love the squirrels!! The spaceships and other little squares are from my stash and alas, I don't remember their origin. The gray solid and border (which is pale yellow with teensy white polka dots) are from Purl, bien sur.

There are more details of the individual squares and their super cute fabrics here.

(Hopefully) sold to the highest bidder!

2010-04-03T17:19:00.003-04:00

My good friend V is a member of her son's coop preschool and asked me to make something for their annual auction. The proceeds support the school. Her initial request was a knit hat and mittens but I said I'd rather make a quilt.

The tricky part was that since the item was for sale, I had to come up with my own pattern; I didn't want to risk infringing on anyone's copyright. I'm very pleased with the result!

The quilting is pretty light - only a row of loops across each of the linen panels. The fabrics are from the California Dreamin' collection (purchased here), Jay McCarroll's Garden Friends Collection (purchased here), and others from Purl Soho and the stash.

I was originally going to do all rows of the colorful fabrics but was afraid it would be overwhelming and would not apply to a broad audience of potential purchasers, so I toned it down. Of course, that was after I had cut all the rows of colorful fabrics so I have enough left over to make four more of these (and I just might).

Now hopefully everyone will think any wonkiness is just homemade charm and pay top dollar for it...

A Matchbox Rainbow

2010-03-07T21:40:00.002-05:00

We spent the weekend at my parents' house where my mom has painstakingly gone through my brother's (now vintage) Matchbox and Hot Wheels car collection to find all of the ones with opening doors, hoods, trunks and sunroofs and polished them off for the child. Needless to say, he's in hog heaven at Gamma's house (and not for this reason alone - where else does he get undivided attention and all the juice he can drink?). After I grew bored of endless trips down the car ramp and mini 50-car pile-ups, I made us a little car rainbow.

PS: It seems you can't get a modern day Matchbox car with opening doors anymore - where's the fun in that?!

California Baby

2010-02-02T21:24:00.004-05:00

My crafty friend M had a beautiful baby girl in November. I know it's crazy to make the quiltmaker's daughter a quilt, but I loved these fabrics and they had to go to sweet Lila in California. Of course it took me 3 months to get the thing out the door, but better late then never. Whoops.

The design is inspired by my Counterpane Quilt and this. I did loopy quilting in the open spaces which was really fun. The fabrics are from Fiber Notion and ye olde stash.
The back is this delicious organic cotton from Purl Patchwork that got so soft after I washed it. So cozy for a new baby!

A Poppy for Baby J

2010-01-24T20:10:00.008-05:00

Baby J turned one yesterday and we were pleased to attend her ultra-cute birthday party. As a gift we gave her a doll stroller (critical for a girl on the go and summertime entertainment) and a doll to occupy it.

The doll is from Hop Skip Jump's lovely Poppy pattern. I have loved her stuffies for a long time and was so excited when she started publishing patterns. I enjoyed making this one a lot more than my usual stuffed attempts. The pattern was very clever and the end result is just so sweet! I used a snap on the back of the reversible smock instead of the recommended button, since I was putting it together at the 11th hour and have yet to attempt buttonholes on my new sewing machine, plus, who wants to miss an opportunity to hammer in a snap? My only stumbles involved turning the pieces right-side out after sewing. I am apparently quite inept at this task. In fact, for the smock I had to slice open part of the seam along the neck to get the panels righted. This was ok, though, since I was planning to topstitch around the whole kaboodle anyway and it turned out great.

Hurray for Poppy! I can't wait to make another, this time hopefully in some wool flannel like the pattern suggests.

Magoo finds a home

2010-01-17T15:25:00.004-05:00

My good friend H had her second baby on Christmas Day. Her first is a week younger than ours, and needless to say he did not get a handmade gift. So, I was resolved to knock one out this time. The only problem is she is a self-proclaimed "not quilt person". I wasn't in the mood to knit something, so I landed on stuffed toy.

Introducing: Magoo.

I am a long-time reader of Melly & Me and love her stuffed creations, so I was excited when she started publishing patterns.

I retired to the stash to find appropriate fabric for a monkey, and surfaced with some orangey corduroy I bought from a fabric shop that was going out of business a few years ago. A little of this and a little of that, learn to applique and embroider, and presto: Magoo was born. If only it was that easy... I must remember for the future this thing that I have already learned many times before: I hate making stuffed things! This is not meant to be any reflection on this pattern - it is well written, clear, cute and wonderful in every respect. But ugh, stuffed things... all the pieces and the tracing and the turning and the stuffing (oh how I hate the stuffing!). And then after all that the thing sits there with no face for weeks like a stuffed zombie, because I am too afraid to sew it on and create creepy not-cute stuffed animal face (in this instance I am actually pleased with the face, and thank goodness for that).

The only change I made to the pattern was to sew the arms into the side body seams rather than sewing them on to the outside afterwards. It was only a little tricky dealing with them stuffed inside the inside-out body when I was sewing it up, but I liked not having to deal with them afterwards.

Upon unveiling my monkey the husband immediately told me it was "weird looking", and upon further inspection I discovered I had aligned poor Magoo's ears with his cheeks rather than alongside his eyes as intended (hopefully he cannot hear all of this criticism as a result). The husband said I must fix this. I said it was impossible as I could not bear working on this small beast for another moment.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over. And despite the fact that I did not enjoy it, I still have plans for just one more stuffie, but first I have to forget how much I enjoyed (ahem) doing this one.

The Quiltmaker's Child Gets a Quilt

2010-01-03T20:13:00.004-05:00

While I was pregnant I didn't make a single thing. The child seemed to sap me of all creative juju. This meant that any baby born within 6 months of ours received no handmade gifts, nor did my kid get a thing. Slowly the creative juices started flowing and I started catching up, but it was not until this summer that I got around to making the child his own quilt. Then it took quite a while to get it on the wall, but at long last it went up this weekend, and I love it! Now we just wait to see how long it takes him to try to pull it off the wall.

Also, wanted to share a picture of Baby J sporting her Christmas pajamas. A perfect fit!

Everyone needs PJs

2009-12-23T10:15:00.003-05:00

My oldest and best friend, A, lives allllll the way out in Portland, Oregon, which is entirely too far away from the East Coast. She generally comes home for Christmas and we and our other oldest friends spend Christmas Eve together over buttery potatoes and steak at our friend J's parents' house (J, mother of Little J, recipient of a certain pair of pink pajammies).

Well, A's 9 month old son, L, has been a delightfully adorable child... except for the part where he pretty much refuses to sleep. After 9 painful months, L's parents have absolutely had it with him and are taking their two week Holiday vacation to sleep train the pants off of him in his very own crib, rather than coming home for the week. Everyone is very disappointed (save L, who has no clue, although who will be disappointed upon learning he is going to be whipped into shape).

Since A will be alone with little L this Christmas, I sent them a care package. It included two books for A (The Man With a Wooden Hat and A Far Cry From Kensington), a book for L (Five Little Monkeys), hot chocolate mix, chocolate chip cookies (Vegan, because L is allergic to eggs) and a homemade pair of pajamas to inspire L to sleep sleep sleep!

The husband helpfully pointed out they looked like the curtains Julie Andrews used to make playclothes in the Sound of Music (and truth be told, I did buy the fabric originally to make curtains for the child's room), but I had to go to the stash and work with what was available.

Hopefully everyone will get some rest and they can come back home soon!

More zig zags

2009-12-11T21:18:00.005-05:00

Continuing the great baby boom of 2009, Baby F arrived in London this past Monday, almost 2 weeks late. Needless to say, his parents are glad he's out.

Baby F's gender was unknown until he made his appearance so I had to go with something gender-neutral, and I hope this red and orange ensemble succeeded. This is my second Zig Zag Quilt - I love the way it's assembled and the process of arranging the triangles.

Some very special pajamas

2009-12-09T17:33:00.003-05:00

My friend J has a lovely family tradition: on Christmas morning every year she and her grown sisters gather around their parents' Martha-Stewart-would-be-jealous tree and tear into their Martha-Stewart-perfectly-wrapped presents in their festive matching pajamas. This has been going on since they were babies, and now for the time J will be bringing her own Baby J to Baby J's first Christmas. Big J declined her mom's offer to provide matching Christmas PJs for Baby J, but was dismayed to find that all of the festive holiday baby jammies (or sleeper deepers as they are now known in our house) were sold out when she went searching.

Me to the rescue: I offered to whip up a pair of baby pajams from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. We chose the fabric together - the cutiest pink flannel snowmen I ever did see paired with matching hot pink stripes, all rushed to my door from Flannel Queen. I absolutely cannot wait to give them to her this weekend - the are so freaking cute. I just pray they fit. Assuming they do, Little J's cuteness paired with their lovely Christmas morning will make for some great photo ops.

I also added a little tag to the back of the pants with Baby J's initials and the year, so she'll know which way is front and of course for the keepsake value:

Welcome Baby G!

2009-11-17T20:26:00.006-05:00

When our friends D and L announced they were expecting a baby I set straight to work on their baby present. This little bean has been long anticipated and although we weren't going to know the sex, the quilt had to be perfect. I chose the Zig Zag Quilt pattern from the Purl Bee and used a mix of orange and turquoise prints that I hoped would be gender neutral. Little baby G (a girl) made her appearance on November 5 (an excellent birthday, if I do say so myself, and I should know) and she is just beautiful!

Even more so than her blanket, if I'm being honest.

A detail of the edging and the quilting:The back, packed with Heather Ross' Mendocino:
Little did I know, but L's family has a special thing with seahorses, so the fabric choice was perfect!

All fabrics from Fabric Worm, Purl Patchwork and my stash (source sadly long forgotten).

Super Pink

2009-10-18T15:33:00.007-04:00

It's been a long time coming but I have a few new things to show which have been held up by poor lighting and the necessity of secrecy.

The lighting situation hasn't improved (grim weather here in NYC) but the time had come to give this little guy away so I just had to deal. This is my long-ago started Hop Skip Jump Quilt. I actually finished all but a foot of the binding over a year ago, but since it had no recipient, I wasn't motivated to wrap it up. Enter a new baby girl for my good friend V, and I sprung into action.

This is actually the first real quilt I ever started, and it took me over 2 years to finish! Of course, I would do a million things differently if I were to restart it now (the quilting for one - I stitched in the ditch around each of the color blocks), but I do love it and hope it will keep the new babe warm and snuggly. Word is it's going to be hanging above her crib, which I take as a huge compliment.

And speaking of which, City Blocks got installed above the crib of its recipient and I think it looks great!

I'm going to wait for some good natural light to photograph the other two things I have to share (and another baby to be born), but stay tuned.

Lincoln's Baby Quilt

2009-07-12T19:54:00.003-04:00

My best and oldest friend, A, gave birth to a beautiful (and enormous) baby boy at the end of April. I have been beavering away on his baby quilt and am going to give it to him when I visit them in Portland next weekend. I know the colors aren't exactly babyish but neither is she, so it should be a good fit. These are some of my favorite stash fabrics and I'm glad they are going to a good home!

The pattern is from a quilt class I took at Brooklyn Mercantile with Michael Michalski back in the fall, and I supplemented my stash fabrics with some from the shop.

Quilt front:

Quilt back:

Embroidered name tag on twill tape:

Heather Ross Sundresses

2009-06-20T22:51:00.005-04:00

Two sweet little dresses for two sweet little girls.

All fabrics from Pink Chalk Fabrics.

All over but the quiltin'

2009-05-17T15:58:00.004-04:00

City Blocks, waiting to be quilted.

City Blocks for Baby C

2009-04-12T12:42:00.004-04:00

My friend, M, had her second baby a few weeks ago. Many months before, she put in an order for a baby quilt and even bought a pile of fabrics at Purl Patchwork. I spent a long time hemming and hawing over the right pattern, since M is super crafty and creative herself. I settled on City Blocks because it is simple and modern, would showcase the fabrics she picked, and didn't require me to supplement with too many additional ones. I have 12 blocks done but need more. Here are the three colorways, though:

The blocks will all be oriented in different directions and I plan to free-motion quilt it - my first major free-motion project! Before then, more sewing and more practice...

Free Wheelin'

2009-03-25T14:15:00.004-04:00

I finally took my free motion quilting class this weekend at The City Quilter! I have been counting down for months. I even toted along my trusty little Janome Gem so I could practice on that, seeing as the Bernina 440s they have for classes bear nearly no relationship to its elementary ways. (They both had needles, thread and a foot peddle, but after that the comparison ends.)

We started with "wind":

And moved on to "water":

But I am truly a squiggle girl at heart - it felt totally natural to me, probably because it's always been my boredom doodle of choice:

There were attempts at stippling in there too, but I need, oh, a few hundred hours practice before that technique will be ready for prime time.

Now I just need practice materials - after a little more muslin, I'm thinking a big expanse of some pretty fabric so I can practice maneuvering something large through my machine's short little neck. If it turns out decent, perhaps it will become a gift for a [very forgiving] recipient!

Another Jane's Quilt

2009-03-15T20:55:00.005-04:00

I've been waiting to post this until it was done and gifted to the recipient, and somehow 6 months snuck by since my last post! Whoops.

Anyway, this quilt is for my friend J's new baby, Baby J. She arrived in January but the quilt wasn't finished until this week. I love it, and it goes smashingly with Baby J's navy nursery, if I do say so myself. I'm quite proud of myself - this is the most complicated thing I've patched together and it is so exciting when the corners line up!

Fabric: From Purl Patchwork
Pattern: Sweet Redbird by Liberty Star.
Started: Hmm, Fall 2008?
Finished: March 2009

I added a little tag for the recipient, which is embroidered on twill tape.

A couple more pictures here.

This weekend I'm taking a free motion quilting class at City Quilter with my new crafty friend, M, and I'm super excited to break free of my straight line quilting! She's way more advanced than me and already knows how to free motion, but I suppose everyone can use a refresher.

Jane's Quilt

2008-09-21T21:06:00.003-04:00

Pattern: Easy Lap Quilt from Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Karol.
Materials: Purchased at Brooklyn Mercantile and Fiber Notion, both in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Completed: September 2008.

I have spent nearly every day of my maternity leave hanging out with or talking to my new friend R, whose daughter Jane was born the same day as our little Sam. Together we have attempted sing-a-longs, roamed the park and obsessed over sleep (and our children's seeming disdain for it, day or night).

When I saw these Dick & Jane fabrics I had to make a little something to thank R and Jane for all of the good times.

Here are a few not-so-good pictures, but trust me, it came out really cute!

Lovely little curtains

2008-08-11T09:21:00.002-04:00

Pattern: Cafe curtains. My own pattern (if you can call it that).
Materials: Nani Iro fabric purchased at Purl in July 2008. Umbra tension bar and drapery rings.
Completed: August 2008.

I made these quickly one night and could have been more careful cutting the fabric on the grain. Because I wasn't, when they are closed they are a little wonky and don't hang quite straight (should have taken the time to do this, I guess). They are also a little skimpy - I only used one width of fabric and they barely cover the window when closed. Apart from all that, when they are open I'm ok with them.

Gift for a fit friend

2008-08-09T12:27:00.003-04:00

Project: Yoga Mat Tote from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter.
Materials: Fabric purchased at Purl in the spring of 2007. Drawstring is a clothesline from the local hardware store.
Completed: June 2008.

Look what we made!

2008-05-14T16:01:00.006-04:00

Sam

Born 4.25.08, 9.57pm
8lb, 22 inches

I think that's a reasonable excuse for a really long blog absence, no? Now that we are starting to emerge from the haze of midnight feedings I am beginning to contemplate new projects. Hopefully we will soon be visited by the Regular Nap Fairy and productivity can return to this neighborhood.

A cozy day for all!

2007-12-25T12:15:00.001-05:00

Is this thing on?

2007-12-24T08:58:00.001-05:00

I wasn't sure Blogger would even let me back in after my egregious blog absence. It seems my last post was almost 4 months ago (I'm sneaking in 2 days shy of 4 months...). In the meantime...

I finished my pink scarf:

I sewed an elephant for Baby J:

New hat for Baby B (you can see he loved it):

And nearing the finish line on a sweater for him too:

Sweater for new Baby K:

And coasters:

Phew.

The truth is, though, I've been working on something else really big... a person (Two Potato, as C calls him)! That's right, we're having a kid at the beginning of May. While I was spared morning sickness and crippling fatigue, the bean sapped me of all creative energy and it only returned a few weeks ago. Now I'm playing catch-up.

Have happy holidays everyone! Hopefully it won't be another 4 months until you hear from me again!

Sleeve #2 and Trim

2007-08-26T21:33:00.000-04:00

Let me tell you how fun it was to cast on 332 stitches for that border strip and then pray I didn't jam anything up in the stitch pattern.

Now for assembly!

Sleeve one...

2007-08-21T17:53:00.001-04:00

And sleeve two halfway done!
Operation Finish Baby Sweater Before Tangled Yoke Yarn Turns Up is a go.

Hopping to

2007-08-11T17:10:00.000-04:00

With the new fall knitting magazines out I'm feeling the need to gitty up on my current knitting projects. I really don't like having that many WIPs going at once, so I'm trying to knock a few off the list so I can start new ones in good faith.

For the fall knitting, I've decided to start with Eunny's Tangled Yoke Cardigan from the Fall 2007 Interweave Knits (for non-ravelrers). I am sure I will be in good company in knitting this, considering it's been queued on Ravelry 460 times and counting. I decided against starting with the Placed Cable Aran, which I also adore, because I think I'll get more wear out of the cardigan; I have little opportunity to wear big heavy wool sweaters in my life, it seems. My yarn order is placed, but the Felted Tweed is backordered for 3 weeks! Bother.

However, this is an excellent opportunity to set a deadline for finishing some lingering knits. I would most like to knock off the Dolly baby sweater I've been laboring on since March. There is no reason a baby sweater should take 6 months! It took me 5 months to knit the two front pieces and one week to knit the back, so that's an improvement. I'm also blocking them as I go because they knit up to shriveled stockinette bits of nothing and that's no fun.

I started sleeve #1 today. This pattern has repeatedly bugged me - I'd rather they take the extra space to write out the reverse shaping than telling me to figure it out myself. It's not rocket science, but it's annoying. Also, for the scalloped edge on the sleeve (which is adorable), I'm instructed to lift 8 stitches over the first stitch on the left needle. I started doing a whole operation with my crochet hook before I realized slipping them over one at a time was just as good, and a thousand times easier. At the end of the scalloping I had 49 stitches and they tell me I'm meant to have 50. For the life of me I have no idea where the missing stitch went - the row is not that long and I can see everything I did, and all of my numbers line up. An error in the pattern? I'd like to think so, but there is no errata to be found for Jaeger patterns anywhere on the Internets. I mean, are they really that good at writing patterns? Suspicious. At any rate, I fudged and carried on. I know the infant will not care, and if the second sleeve winds up the same then I'll be vindicated. Isn't the scalloping cool? I love it.

The great West Coast yarn tour and wedding fiesta

2007-08-09T22:38:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was my best friend's wedding in Portland, Oregon. Before heading to Portland, we made a stop in San Francisco to catch up with some friends and the city in general. While the Boy worked, I made it my business to visit every yarn store I could think of; I only missed one that I know of (don't tell me if there were others).

My favorite is Imagi-Knit. Since my last visit they've almost doubled the square footage of the store. It's like every yarn shop in NY rolled into one - everything from Koigu to Brown Sheep, all under one roof. I was so overcome I forgot to take a picture, although I did not forget to take home these gems - that's two skeins of fabled Seasilk in Rose Garden. It is so soft and yummy that I carried it around the store like it was my little toy puppy.

I exercised restraint - that was my only purchase despite the fact I hit the Urban Knitting Studio, Artfibers and Noe Knit as well. Urban Knitting Studio was nice but a little austere for a knitting store. I loved the feel of Noe Knit, though - warm and inviting with lots of people lounging around in comfy chairs and at a big table.

I also cruised through Britex in San Fran - Oh. My. Goodness. This place was amazing. The colors! The selection! The organization! I just had to take a picture of their zipper wall - have you ever seen so many zippers so well arranged?! When I go buy zippers in NY I have to dig through a decrepit box marked "blue" which has zippers of all lengths and hues arranged as though they've sprung from Medusa's scalp. I came home with all manner of thread, twill tape and elastic but there was so much fabric I couldn't get my head around buying anything but a remnant of flannel! Shameful, I know.

While in Portland I hit the Dublin Bay Knitting Company, which was lovely and inviting with a beautiful selection. I also poked my head into the Knit Knot Studio and was dismayed to find an old favorite, Lint, is closing its doors! The place had clearly be ransacked by the time I got there and it was sad to see it all cleared out.

Lest you think nothing was accomplished but shopping, I did sew up this little number before I left. The bridesmaids' dresses were a lovely shade of blue shantung and I had no purse to match. So on the morning before my flight I chopped up the hem of my skirt (left over from alterations) and made this little zip pouch which has grosgrain ribbon accents and is lined with cream cotton. It's a little wonky because I rushed the zipper, but it did the job of holding my lip gloss and the bride's perfectly!

Sadly, it's the only scrap of the bridesmaid dress that I still have. After our flight home, my Boy and I idiotically waltzed off the plane without our garment bag, which the flight attendant had helpfully hung in the first class cabin (far, far away from where we were sitting). Nestled in said bag were the Boy's best suit, his dress shirt, my dress from the rehearsal dinner (which I adored and wore only that once) and my bridesmaid dress. We realized our error when we got to baggage claim but by the time I sprinted through the airport, convinced someone to give me a security pass, went back through the metal detectors, stripped off my shoes and had my water confiscated, the plane was no longer at the gate and gone was our black, plastic, completely nondescript and unidentifiable garment bag... with close to $1000 of clothes in it. I am still so mad I could spit. C0ntinental is purportedly looking for the bag but as each day passes with no word, I'm losing hope. There is an outside chance it will wind up in their warehouse in Houston but I'm not holding my breath... because if I did, I wouldn't be able to scream at the top of my lungs "I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!!!"

Procrastination

2007-07-29T17:11:00.000-04:00

Ravelry is fantastic for a lot of things, one of which is procrastination. In order to avoid doing work and writing my bridesmaid speech (which I'll be delivering next week at about this time, god help me), I thought I'd better photograph and catalog all of my stash yarn. This took the better part of yesterday afternoon, and I discovered I have (a) a bunch of sock yarn I will likely never use, (b) one very small sweater's worth of Cotton Glace, and (c) a gojillion oddballs (sometimes two balls-worth) of every conceivable yarn weight, none of which match each other. So I organized my yarn drawers and put oddballs in plastic bags by gauge and now it's all tidy, although no more useful. Yippee! Does this mean I can buy more yarn?

Now then, is there anything else I can do around here to avoid writing my speech? Oh right, block a half-finished baby sweater and commence obsessing over the new Interweave Knits.

I finally finished the second front of the Dolly baby sweater which I've been working on for months, despite the fact it's only big enough for a baby. As I've said, the yarn is Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4-ply and it's being scratchy and splitty and generally not so much fun. Plus the pattern is one of those "reverse shaping for other side" jobs which drives me bananas, especially when the first side's pattern includes a lot of "do as set for the last 10 rows 8 more times but decreasing every 2 rows 4 times and then every 6 rows 8 times," etc. etc. Do what?! I can read a pattern, but this makes my head hurt. When I finished both fronts they were little shrively pink bits and I had no idea how big the sweater was going to be, so I was eager to stretch it out for a blocking. Of course, now that I see how big the sweater is I still have no big the average baby is, so it was not much help, although it does look pretty all flattened out.

As for Interweave, I'm loving these two designs:

I'm already envisioning Beaverslide for the first one... Yes Arwen, I see you lurking on the shelf, giving me the evil-unfinished-sweater eye, and quit it! If you were more fun to knit we'd play more, but for the meantime you are staying put.

Happy travels and happy marriage!

2007-07-26T10:06:00.001-04:00

This past weekend I threw a shower for A, my true "BFF" since our first day of kindergarten. Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to host it at my parents' house (that's not the bad part) and prepare all of the food, favors, decorations, etc. etc. myself, with the help of mom and dad, of course. Oh, and make her gift.

The theme for my gift was Happy Honeymoon Travels - she and her beau are off to Bali for 3 weeks after the honeymoon where they will hopefully engage in some much-need R&R.

Gift #1: Quilted Eye Mask from In Stitches:
This one went even more smoothly than the last one, although I did get a little aggressive with my seam allowance trimming which caused some heartburn when finishing. The reverse is the cream and black striped fabric you'll see below.

Gift #2: Passport Wallet from the Summer '07 issue of Adorn Magazine.
(You can click on the picture for notes in Flickr, my new favorite thing, second to Ravelry, of course.) This project had a lot of steps but I love the result! I lined the outside with flannel plus heavyweight interfacing. The rest is done according to the instructions. I also got to use my new snap setter! Now that is good fun. Sadly, my first attempted snaps were torn off straight away by my dear husband when I went to him to solicit praises on my handiwork. I suppose it was a good test run - I learned I have to hammer harder, which I know the downstairs neighbors really appreciated.

Gift #3: Tote bag inspired by Lotta Jansdotter and Amy Karol
The outer design is of course borrowed from the every day tote in Simple Sewing. However, I also lined it with the cream/black fabric and sandwiched flannel in between the inner and outer layers and the handles (suggested by Miss Karol in Bend-the-Rules Sewing). This makes for a squishy, substantial-feeling bag and I love it!

And so did the bride!

Here are a few more shots of my domestic goodness:

Now I've just got to write my toast and I'll be all set...

PS: I'm off to San Francisco and Portland, Oregon next week for wedding festivities. Any suggestions on must-visit crafty places?

A Variety of Obsessions

2007-07-17T22:41:00.000-04:00

I have two new obsessions:
1. Ravelry.
2. Flickr.

Let's start with Ravelry. Obviously I'm not the first to cry its praises but I LOVE this thing. If you're not already signed up, go get yourself on the waitlist. I have now spent hours uploading all sorts of things, browsing around, admiring other people's stuff and having endless fun. If you're on there, go find me ("onepotato") and let's be friends.

The new obsession with Ravelry then required me to bite the bullet and get a for-real Flickr account. I have actually been resisting this for a long time. I don't love dealing with Flickr and kind of sigh every time I click on a picture and it launches me over there. However, since uploading a ton of photos and beginning to organize them (they are still a shambles, but I'm getting there), I'm becoming a fan. So come be my friend there too!

Right, now back to the crafty stuff. One of my projects is top secret and I will show it next week. I have also been slaving away on my Frost & Flowers shawl. I still love it but fear this project is e-n-d-l-e-s-s. I am not even done with the second ball and have an entire skein left to go. I will persevere. My goal is to be done by Stitches East this fall.

I've also been working on this sweet little baby sweater from the Jaeger JB29 baby book. The yarn is Jaeger matchmaker merino 4-ply. It's a little rough for baby knits, in my opinion, but I think a bath in Eucalan will sort it out. It's slow going as well, though - size 3 needles like the lace. I'm not loving the pattern writing either, so this little item takes a lot of focus, which I don't have when rolling home from work. I fear the recipient will be 3 before I finish - I'm making a 12-18mo but she already looks too big and she's only been around for a couple months!

Got Gocco?

2007-06-29T12:30:00.001-04:00

I myself am not a Gocco user but I know there is much love for them in blogland. So, as a PSA, I wanted to let you all know that that it seems they are available once again, at least at Paper Source.

Go forth and print things!

Pod for my Pod

2007-06-25T16:42:00.000-04:00

Oh dear I am such a blogging delinquent. Looks like it's time for what's becoming a monthly post. I have been making things, honest!

A few weeks ago I got a new iPod Nano as my trusty Mini was getting full and the screen was beginning to do funny things when I went outside. Clearly this meant a new carrying case was in order. Inspired by Julieree's, I set to work. Unfortunately the first attempt was too small. The Pod looks like it's wearing waders and each entry and exit from the case required much wriggling about. Note the crazy patchwork pattern is not by design - I just had to keep adding pieces when I realized it was too tiny. The next attempt, however, was a success! Instead of cutting the two sides out of separate pieces, I used one long strip of patchwork and lightweight quilt batting folded in half, eliminating the bulk of a seam on the bottom.

Finally, look what came in the mail! Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing! I'd almost forgotten I'd ordered it. What a fun book! The layout is really cute and the pictures are great. There are actually only a couple of things I'd make, unfortunately, but I am really psyched about the great technical advice. There are tips on providing stability to a bag without interfacing, how to trace patterns and all sorts of other good tidbits for which I find I'm always combing blogs and the internets - now they are all gathered in one handy place that doesn't look like a pile of ratty paper on my shelf. Money well spent!

Given my prior history with the post office, I just have to share how this book arrived. I ordered the book from Amaz0n. You know how it usually arrives in a box, shrink-wrapped to a piece of cardboard? Well, I opened my skinny little apartment building mailbox to find a piece of cardboard and the book, barely attached to said cardboard with the shredded remains of shirk-wrap folded in half and wedged inside. No! Box! No envelope! Nothing but a naked book! I am in awe that the thing actually arrived and relatively unscathed. But really, what gives??

Back

2007-06-03T16:13:00.001-04:00

We are back from vacation. For anyone who can swing it, I highly recommend the two week vacation. You feel just about human again at the end of it.

We saw things like this:

and this:

and also this:

We also ate a lot of this:

Really, quite fantastic.

Very little knitting was accomplished on the trip. We actually spent most nights reading, which was wonderful. I finished Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky and am halfway through Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, both of which I highly recommend.

Before I left I did finish the now-christened Square Bear, who was given to Baby J yesterday. I made the legs and body in the round without any seams using a turkish cast-on for the toes (each leg was knit separately and then joined in the round in sort-of accordance with the pattern). When I got to the chest I stopped going in the round and split the front and back as though it were a raglan sweater. I knit one paw in the round and then got concerned with how it would attach to the body so I frogged and knit them flat. It turns out I probably could have made these in the round too; next time. I always feel like my knit bears wind up with a kind of cranky expression, but Baby J's dad seemed to love Square Bear so I guess he turned out alright.

Yesterday I also stopped by Purl and got myself some of these much-discussed Addi turbo lace needles. They are indeed quite excellent! I have a very neglected Peacock Feathers Shawl on the needles and have been bemoaning the inadequacies of my Inox needles. I blame them for a dropped stitch some time ago that resulting in the tinking and reknitting of 16 rows (at close to 200 stitches apiece, it was a bona fide nightmare!). Since then I have not been on good terms with Peacock Feathers. Hopefully these needles will renew my interest in finishing her! Unfortunately I do not enjoy the yarn and the rows are soooooo long and prone to mess-ups, it's just not that much fun to knit. :(

I also have a lot of sewing projects in the wings at the moment too, so I hope work behaves and I'll get some time to get cracking!

Shut eye

2007-05-07T07:11:00.000-04:00

Last night while I was supposed to be reviewing a hedge fund agreement (yes, it was Sunday) I thought my time would really be better spent sewing an eye mask for my upcoming vacation. The prospect of vacation is pretty much the only thing getting me through these days, to the point where I'm really looking forward to the red-eye flight to catch up on some sleep sans blackberry. Now that, my friends, is a sad state of affairs.

On red-eyes I am generally super aggressive about getting to sleep, asap. This means Tylenol PM as soon as I sit down, bandana tied around my eyes, earplugs and the death stare to any flight attendant who dares ask if I want a drink or petrified dinner. When I saw this eye mask in In Stitches, it had to be mine. So I dragged out the much-neglected sewing machine and set to work. I guess lack of practice pays off, because there was no seam ripping! I'm very pleased with the finished product. I'm not generally a pink person but when I saw these fat quarters at Purl, I was smitten. My topstitching still needs some work but it's overall acceptable given the 4 layers of quilt batting I had to work with. Yes, the finished product looks a little like quilted aviators, but I will be the chicest chica in coach with these babies. Vacation - bring it on!

Swapperific

2007-05-05T13:56:00.000-04:00

Best swap package. Ever.

Keri of Knitty Gritty Thoughts has initiated me into the world of swapping and I may become a junkie. She's totally spoiled me!

Look at all this fun stuff! I love everything. First, the yarn. G-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. It's Shaefer Yarn's Andrea - over 1000 yards of the softest laceweight silk. Not easy to find, even in NYC! The color is Greenjeans, and the tag says it's "one of a series of colors developed just for kids - or for the child in you." Why this is the case is unclear because the colors form a sophisticated blend of pale teal, violet and sage. Just beautiful! I can't wait to use it. It will be reserved for an extra special project, TBD.

Next, Soak wool wash in a lovely scent I've never smelt before. I look forward to trying this in place of Eucalan (sometimes I'm just not in the mood for lavender, you know?). Plus there is chocolate and chai tea (which I love) and adorable embroidery patterns and a teeny tape measure.

Oh! And don't let me forget the beautifully crafted bag in which I can tote my favorite magazines (and knitting) to the coffee shop. I love the patterns, love the dimensions, love the whole thing!

Thanks Keri!

Now, in case you were under the crazy impression that something could actually arrive at my door via the U.$. Postal Service without a hitch, let me disabuse you of this notion. This box of goodies actually made its appearance last Thursday, but no one was home to sign and I was left a pink slip. The slip indicated if I signed and left for the postman, he would bring back my package. I left it on Friday but one of my [helpful?] neighbors brought it back inside the building before the mail was delivered. I left it on Saturday, and it disappeared, with no sign of my package. I finally called the P.O. on Thursday inquiring about its whereabouts, and the guy actually laughed at me when I told him I'd signed and left the pink slip, as said slip instructed. "You left the slip?!" He said, incredulous, "That NEVER works!" Thank you Mr. Postman. So then I called the automated 800 number of the good old U$P$ and it told me my package was returned to sender. Then I called the P.O. back to chew them out over this and they discovered my package, right there, undelivered. And so, I went there this morning and waited on line for 1/2 hour, all the while watching this TV they've installed which spews amateur videotape propaganda of people saying how great the post office is. All's well that ends well though, because I have my box, and a new story about the mail.

What a fun surprise!

2007-05-04T07:19:00.000-04:00

How exciting to find this in my mailbox! I didn't even know it was coming. Love all of these things! If only my Arwen was finished so I could start another sweater in good faith...

Top Secret White Thing - Revealed

2007-04-28T22:21:00.000-04:00

Welcome Baby J!

Besides work, one of the things that has kept me so busy for the past few months is this until-recently secret gift for my friend C's new bundle of joy. My mom and I embarked on our second tag team baby blanket effort with a mountain of Rowan Wool Cotton* and miles of stockinette ahead of us. This is the Lace-Edged Cuddle Blanket from my beloved Simple Knits for Cherished Babies.

Mom and I split the work, each knitting 8 ten-inch squares. Although I knew the assembly would be beastly, knitting the squares individually made for a very portable baby blanket project - each square was the perfect size for subway knitting and I could finish one in a week's commuting time.

Next came the steam-blocking and sewing together, which took the better part of a weekend. They are arranged in a checkerboard of knit and purl sides and the seams are top-stitched so the blanket is totally reversible.

The job was not done though - there were still close to 150 inches of lace edging to be knit and sewn to the assembled blanket! The lace knitting was quick work but the seaming was tedious. I used these handy seaming pins for the first time, which were very useful.

I just love the finished product. It is so soft and quite elegant, if I do say so myself. I hope it is well used by Baby J! Her mom has already told me she has visions of draping it over J's bed at college. For the meantime, though, I think they're focusing on 3 hours of consecutive sleep.

---
* You might notice the choice of color is in direct response to a certain other psychedelic-colored blanket Mom and I knit last year.

Bear legs

2007-04-08T13:16:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you just want to knit a bear. There are a lot of patterns for knit teddies out there and I've made a couple, but this one, from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, is a favorite. I love the proportions and the simplicity. It makes an elegant, petite teddy. That one is cashmere, but this one is silky Blue Sky Alpacas sportweight.

One thing I dislike about knitting stuffed things is the assembly. Even the most perfectly knitted pieces can match up into a mess if you don't take super care to assemble them properly. I suppose this is also true for knit garments, but errors are more evident in little things. Plus, who wants to spend so much time piecing tiny bits together when the knitting itself takes so little time? This pattern is knit in 7 pieces (!!) - forget it!

To save sanity and keep things interesting, I decided to revamp this little guy to be knit in the round. Sometimes seams are important to add structure, but for such a little stuffed thing they were unnecessary and just added opportunities for sloppiness. For the legs I used a Turkish cast-on (often used for toe-up socks; great tutorial here) and then switched to double-pointed needles to continue up the leg. I did the two legs separately, cutting the yarn on the first to do the second. I then joined them to knit the body in the round, like you would do if you were knitting a seamless sweater and needed to join the arms to the body for the yoke (i.e., knit across the front of the right leg, cast on 2 stitches, knit across the front of the second leg, continue around the back and do the same across the backs of the legs). It worked great! I will also knit the arms in the round but I am going to seam them on because I think there the seams add shape and character.

Just the thing to liberate me from my knitting rut!

Rut

2007-04-01T11:37:00.000-04:00

I've been in a bit of a knitting rut recently. I have a few projects on the needles that aren't making me excited and no thoughts on what I want to knit next. Of course, I have a variety of patterns on the shelves, but a lot of them are sweaters and with spring coming I don't feel inspired to start a heavy sweater. My usual go-to is lace, but I already have two lace shawls going so I should really focus on those. This morning I picked up Arwen again to keep plowing through the sleeve, but I tire of the loooooong rows making up the front and sleeve. In the meantime I've been keeping my hands busy with cross-stitch.

The other morning while brushing my teeth I was consumed with excitement over a potential use for the linen I bought a few weeks ago. I've been seeing links to this zakka pouch tutorial all over the place. What better for the base than lovely linen? So I wound the yarn before going to work, despite the fact that my morning schedule does not allow for such diversions and I was left running through the neighborhood for the train.

I swatched all week on the train and am currently working on this swatch in linen stitch (well-matched for linen, no?). It's creating almost a woven fabric, which I love. Unfortunately, though, it is hard work on the old hands - there's no give in the linen and it is rough and twiney and I can only bear a few rows at a time. Making an entire bag base like this will be time consuming. Maybe I'll just make some swatches and sew them into things. Or maybe I'll weave some on my handy Weavette and see where that goes...

In other news, I saw adorable Baby B yesterday and the not-so adorable state of his earflap hat! It got tossed in the washer and dryer accidentally and wound up a little felted and shrunken. It also had a little run-in with some velcro. Ouch. I think it could have been worse - the yarn is Karabella 8, which is purportedly washable, but I would not recommend putting it in warm wash and dry.

Problem solved - he'll just wear the hat inside out now. I almost like it better like this. However, now he'll need a new hat for next year because all that growing room has been shrunken right out.

Snip snip

2007-03-26T16:59:00.000-04:00

Do you ever write a whole blog post? When you haven't written one in over a week? And it takes you like, half an hour? And then you post it and Blogger pukes on you and it all gets lost? Yeah, I hate when that happens.

Anyway, it's been slow going here at One Potato. Long work hours and daylight savings time have meant little time to make projects and even less time to photograph what has been made.

This weekend I finished cutting out the rest of the fabric for my Hop Skip Jump quilt. It's a good thing this quilt is wonky by design because if it wasn't... well it was going to be anyway. There were definitely some errors made as I raced through piles of fabric with my friendly rotary cutter. I trust that it will all be ok and am deluded into thinking the sewing will take way less time than the cutting. It will at least be a thousand times more fun. Oh cutting, how I despise thee.

This week I also got my blue laceweight cashmere from Hipknits. In the ongoing conspiracy being waged against me by the international postal system, the first shipment did not arrive. (Please advise me immediately if you see a UK or US postal worker with a powder blue cashmere shawl anytime soon.) However, the kind people at Hipknits sent a replacement and it came within a week. The color is well represented on the website and it's so pretty!

Finally this weekend I took a field trip to Purl Patchwork with my friend S, who has recently redone her kitchen and plans to adorn her bare wall with a big swath of beautiful fabric stretched over a frame. After coffee and sustenance at Once Upon a Tart, we chose a large repeating print with a bittersweet orange background and bird silhouettes and a butterfly and flowers. I can't find it on the website, but trust me, it's awesome, and will look fantastic on the wall. I may just have to invite myself over for dinner.

Toys but no toy time

2007-03-15T11:39:00.000-04:00

Goodness me it's been over a week since my last post! Work has been kicking my butt lately, which means no time for knitting or sewing or anything but working and sleeping, and certainly no time for blogging.

However, I'm going to sneak in and show you some of the fun goodies I picked up last weekend during a day with Mom in New Jersey.

First stop was Mom's new favorite knitting shop in Montclair, Stix'n Stitches. Chef recommends! I wish I had some pictures. This place is great - tons of beautiful yarn, lots of books and a really friendly atmosphere with plenty of space to sit and knit. I picked up some Louet linen:

I realize I can probably get this at my local yarn store, but it seemed particularly intriguing at this shop for some reason. Who knows what it will become... Mason Dixon handtowels? It seems a bit rich to me to handknit towels, but I bet it would be really soothing.

Next stop was the Rag Shop. I'm sure this is of little excitment to people who live just about anywhere else in the country, but in NYC, where we have access to everything, it can be a major ordeal to get the most basic sewing supplies. Generally, it necessitates a trip to the garment district, which is great, but not super convenient, especially when many stores are geared for the trade and only open 8-5 on weekdays. So, I stocked up on zippers and bobbins and other fun things. Joy!

Now if only I had time to crack open the packages and make something!

My little fairies

2007-03-04T13:41:00.000-05:00

I had a hankering for some cross stitch this weekend and began excavating from my trove of unfinished stitching projects. I enjoy doing cross stitch, but I have never had any use for a finished project... they're always a little too country kitsch for my decorating aesthetic, if such a thing exists.

Nonetheless, I am totally smitten with these little Flower Fairy kits. I first found them at John Lewis in London six years ago and since then have completed five, with one more in production (the last one of the pictures does not have all of the outlining done) and two in the wings. They keep releasing new designs and I keep collecting them (my source is www.sewandso.co.uk since I no longer live close to the beloved John Lewis). I just noticed some new designs which I had to have, so I'd better get cracking on finishing my current stash!

Click on the pictures to see more detail.

Now, I'm not a "fairy" person - I had little interest in them as a child and never read the popular Flower Fairy books. But I love the colors, size (about 5"x7") and detail in these and also just the idea of them - they are so sweet! I have no idea what I'll ever do with them. I think they'd look cute framed in a little girl's room or maybe assembled into a quilt (which no one would be allowed to touch, ever). Until then, they will continue living undisturbed in my closet.

Praise be!

2007-03-02T15:19:00.000-05:00

Well look what the cat (or mailman) dragged in! No, your eyes do not deceive you, it is my long lost pattern from Phildar. I placed my order on January 22, had much back and forth with Phildar regarding its whereabouts, got extremely cranky, they resent it on February 16 and it arrived yesterday. Based on the postmark, this is the second shipment. I was beginning to think it was never going to come and that I could not face another 12 rounds with Phildar (nor did I think they would believe me, and for good reason). In the meantime, I hope someone in the U.S. Postal Service is knitting themselves a lovely sweater.

The reason for all of this fuss is the Swing Jacket. I think it will be a good chance to both knit and try my hand at a little sewn garment construction by lining the jacket. Plus, it's extremely cute and currently in all of the shop windows. I'm sure I'll finish it just in time for it to go out of style.

And so, another project joins the to-do list!

Who's got the best mom and dad?

2007-02-28T09:56:00.000-05:00

I do I do!

As I've mentioned, I want to make the Hop Skip Jump quilt from Denyse Schmidt's book with my palette of adorable pink prints. I love the projects in this book, but I have come to hate the fact that one must enlarge the patterns 400% in order to make said patterns. One would think this is a straightforward task, accomplished with ease by anyone with a photocopier or certainly by the experts in the local copy shop. Au contraire... apparently a degree in rocket science and advanced training in the ways of the copier are required.

After many false starts at my office copier, I surrendered to our local copy shop, where the guy told me that he could only enlarge the pattern 212% (unhelpful, thanks) and then that he could enlarge 400% but it would be spread across 4 pieces of paper. That seemed fine; I could deal with cutting and assembling the pieces, if only it was possible to know how much of one piece overlapped with the next! After splurging $1 on this enterprise, I abandoned the plan.

Dad to the rescue! Lucky for me, my dad runs a sign business and therefore has a huge 40-inch-plus printer. I scanned the pattern page, emailed it to him and he blew it up to 400% perfection (foot included for scale). Hurray! Now I just have to cut the pattern pieces and the fabric, a task which I've been meaning to do for two weeks now. Maybe this weekend will be the one...

My mom delivered my pattern sheet to me when she came to lunch last week. And look what else she brought! The cutest little post-it note holder I ever did see. Those are knitting needles and yarn embroidered on the front.

Best of all: it's refillable. This is a big thing for me - as a child I never wanted to use up my crafty stuff. This was particularly true with crayons - I only used them until the tips started to get dull. Why this was the case is beyond me - my parents were never ones to deprive me of creative supplies. However, as a result, I have a number of untouched Crayola boxes in my possession, plus countless Hello Kitty stickers, colored pencils, heart- and pony-covered stationary and various other treasured bits of childhood that will hopefully be enjoyed by my future offspring at some point. One day, though, I will show you the trove of glass beads and embroidery floss I unearthed the last time I was home, which I'm now mighty glad I hoarded those many years ago!

It's time for a healthy breakfast!

2007-02-24T09:50:00.000-05:00

Coffee with a brioche.

Berlin scarf pattern. Malabrigo worsted in pink frost held together with Alchemy Haiku silk-mohair. Original inspiration: Craftoholic's pink garter stitch scarf.

All together, a perfectly balanced Saturday morning breakfast.

Cowly

2007-02-22T06:58:00.000-05:00

Delicious: that's what I'd like to say about my fab new cowl. There was a time when I thought these amputated turtlenecks were weird but I am a convert. I love my cowl.

Pattern: Cowl from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
Materials: Cashmere sock yarn from Hipknits, purchased at Loop in London, size 4 circular Addi Natura needles.
Modifications: Yarn substitution.

This is the perfect transition scarf when you don't need your neck fully swaddled but want a little something to keep out the wind.

And just in case I haven't raved enough about the yarn, let me say it again: love the color, love the hand, love the post-wash feel of this yarn. Plus, it goes on and on and on - look at this wad I have left! Does a girl need two cowls? She just might...

Patchwork Pouch

2007-02-19T19:16:00.001-05:00

In addition to the desktop organizer I whipped up this little number over the weekend. I was inspired by these beauties over at Hip to Piece Squares (a new blog find for me, and I am totally enamoured).

After all the fussing with the desktop organizer, I decided to throw caution to the wind and do some haphazard piecing with scraps I had lying around. So with no planning, I just cut, sew, cut, sew and on and on. It was really liberating! I pieced and pieced until I had something about 12" x 6" and then cut it in half. I then quilted both pieces, again in a totally unplanned fashion while also practicing some topstitching techniques (how close could I get to the seam without falling in?). Finally, I assembled the pouch using the basic pattern from popular how-to-install-a-zipper tutorials you can find on twelve22 and u-handbag (we also made one of these in my intro machine sewing class under Liesl's expert tutelage).

I love the result! I am especially proud of the little zipper stops along the top. When I make another quilted pouch I'll make the lining a little smaller than the outside pieces; even though the quilt batting is lightweight it takes up space inside, resulting in a baggy lining. But otherwise, I love this little guy!

Straightening up

2007-02-18T13:04:00.000-05:00

This weekend I finally set to assembling my desktop organizer from Amy Butler's In Stitches. I had previously cut all the pieces and thought I had everything I needed. I was planning to use heavyweight fusible interfacing as the stiffening agent, although Amy calls for her beloved Timtex interfacing (seriously, does this lady own stock in the company? It's used in so many of her patterns).

After not following my cardinal rule of reading all of the instructions before commencing, I set off only to realize my "heavyweight" interfacing was not going to do the trick - not only did I not iron it on at the right time because the instructions did not advise ironing (rightly so, as Timtex is not ironed), but there was no way it was going to be stiff enough to result in a box of any kind. Crisis ensued, but was resolved by a quick trip to Brooklyn General Store which carries loads of fun fabric, yarn and roving, but also all materials called for in Miss Amy's patterns. Naturally, ample supplies of Timtex were in the house. I'm so glad I went to find it because it is way different from the heavyweight fusible interfacing - it's almost like very light styrofoam-meets-fabric versus the comparatively mild stiffening produced by the ironed interfacing. All was looking very nice and good: pre-Timtex crisis I had assembled the inner and outer shells of the organizer, I had Timtex, what bad could happen?

Now, I have read of the turmoils of assembling Miss Amy's Weekender Bag, which also uses Timtex, but I figured the desk organizer was just a bitty little thing with far less muss and fuss. I'm certain this thing doesn't compare to the Weekender, but make no mistake, Timtex is a workout! There was no small amount of wrangling to get the piece fed through the machine properly. In addition, turning Timtex inside out on multiple occasions is a great way to (a) build up your biceps and (b) poke yourself in the eye.

Despite the fact that the pattern pieces were cut to the perfect size and I was super careful with my seam allowances, it still didn't come together precisely right. For starters, the inside lining is all floppity in there - it's too big, because it's cut and sewn to the same dimensions as the outside, yet it's occupying less space since it's not stretched across Timtex and another layer of heavyweight fabric. In addition, somehow I didn't have the 3/8" of outer fabric hanging over the top of the Timtex inner shell when that was put together. Oh, and my topstitching is super wonky and the whole thing kind of bows out at the sides. And I couldn't figure out how to put the handles on without injury to myself.

However, despite its flaws and imperfections, my desktop organizer has corralled and camouflaged many of the bits and bobs wandering around my desk. Plus, packed with stuff it seems to sit up a little straighter. In fact, as I sit here looking at it I think it's not half bad... but don't look for me making another one anytime soon!

Stash, meet your new friend

2007-02-15T23:42:00.000-05:00

Stash, meet 2200 meters of hand-dyed pale blue cashmere laceweight from Hipknits. This is the laceweight version of the sock yarn I'm using for my cowl, which is turning out downright delicious. It's en route to me, all for only £18! Now the dollar is weak weak weak against the Almighty Pound at the moment, but we are still talking less than $40 for all of that cashmere! Plus, shipping is INCLUDED! Even overseas! Basically, it's insane, and you should all go forth and buy some.

Lord knows what I'll do with it... 2200 meters is a boatload of lace. Maybe one of the giant circular shawls from A Gathering of Lace? Hey, it's cashmere, I'm sure I can put it to some productive use.

Big fight

2007-02-13T10:18:00.000-05:00

I am in a big fight with the good people at Phildar at the moment. Three and a half weeks ago, I ordered a magazine from their website. The site says that if your order doesn't arrive within two weeks, contact them, which I have done... about 8 times. The only contact option is through an online form - there is no phone number - and it seems they only respond to email on alternate Tuesdays when the sun is shining.

Their first email response to my inquiry said to contact them if the package didn't arrive after two weeks (more than two weeks had already passed, so wasn't that what I'd just done?). I responded accordingly, and their second response revealed they had omitted my state from the package address. They suggested perhaps someone else from my house accepted the package? (No.) Or maybe I could call the post office to see if they had it. Call the post office! Have you ever tried calling the post office in New York City to see if they had a misplaced envelope? Sometimes I go to the post office and they can't find the stamps! (I'm not kidding.) Clearly, not a feasible solution.

Despite my response to their suggestions last week and my pleas to replace the order (with promises to return any duplicates received), I have had radio silence on the other end of the line. Really, I am very very annoyed.

Update: Apparently my rage has been successfully telegraphed to the good people of Phildar and they have today informed me that they will be resending my pattern! Not clear if my State will be included this time, but here's hoping. Keep your fingers crossed!

Because I really needed more stuff...

2007-02-11T22:30:00.000-05:00

What's a weekend without a trip to Purl? Because you know, I don't have enough craft supplies.

This time I had a mission: I wanted to make this desk organizer from In Stitches. I have no desk drawers and a vast amount of crap on my desk which needs camoflauging, immediately. So, off to Purl to get some heavyweight cotton.

I am going to use the same fabric on the inside and out since there was really no other heavyweight that coordinated nicely (all of the heavyweights were big bold patterns like this one). Somehow I wound up with way more fabric than necessary. I probably have an extra 3/4 yard. I'm sure I'll find something to do with it...

Just when I thought I was going to safely exit with only what I'd come in to purchase, I was seduced by the adorable pink fat quarter bundles in the window. Clearly, I must make a pink baby quilt, and pronto. And so, I came home with this too, which will become Hop, Skip, Jump from Denyse Schmidt Quilts.

Of course, all I had time to do was cut the fabric for the organizer and didn't get to sew stitch one. Looks like that will have to wait until next weekend. The good news is I am getting much less fearful about taking blade to fabric. I do wish I could resurface my office floor with a self-healing rotary cutting mat. How great would that be?

Arwen's got back

2007-02-10T18:17:00.000-05:00

One Arwen back: Done. Although the instructions tell me to bind it off, I left it on a stitch holder because I am sure I can find some way to join the fronts and hood without sewing the whole mess together. I wove in the ends as I went along and gave the piece a steam blocking to prevent loss of momentum when sweater-finishing malaise sets in.

There is still much to go, and I'm a little bored, although the cables on the front help a bit.

My new Interweave Knits arrived today too. I like the new format - the photographs of the knits seem clearer and make it very easy to see the pieces. Unfortunately, they also make it clear there is nothing I want to knit in this issue. This often happens to me with spring/summer patterns - I don't love cotton yarn or whispy lightweight knitted things. I've only been through it once, but this issue also seems to have a lot of long tunic-y things that do not work well on my not-tall body.

I'm still powering through stockinette land. My cowl is nearing completion! Maybe then I'll have some interesting show-and-tell. Otherwise, much work and not much progress to report around here, although I'll show you my new fabric friends once they are out of the dryer and ironed.

Kit

2007-02-06T06:45:00.000-05:00

I love supplies. Love. Them. In many ways, they are better than yarn (stashers, hold on to your hair). You can use your crafty supplies on all of your projects. When a project is finished, the fun is not over - supplies work just as well on the next one! The right supplies make any crafty endeavor easier. They can also open up a world of new project possibilities (who can deal with lace without stitch markers?). For example, you may have noted my affection for my bias tape maker - it's ingenious in its simplicity, produces a neat and pretty finished product and drastically reduces the effort needed to produce the same result by other methods. I'll put bias tape edging on anything that will sit still long enough!

This weekend I acquired a fantastic new bit of kit - the cutest crochet hook ever created (Chapstick included for scale). I often prefer to weave in ends and other finishing with a crochet hook instead of a tapestry needle. Problem is, crochet hooks, particularly the skinny-especially-useful ones, like to escape from my knitting bag and apartment like it's their job. Imagine my delight when I saw this little gem at the counter of my local yarn shop. The best part is it fits in my little pouch of critical knitting supplies - no more escapee hooks!

Along with my knitting I always tote a small zip pouch full of knit tool goodness. Here's my kit, clockwise from left to right: (1) row/stitch counters (three may be overdoing it, but at some point all were in rotation, plus the little blue one has a loose dial and likes to lose count so it's really just along for the ride), (2) safety pin-like stitch markers (for securely hooking onto particular stitches), (3) two other varieties of stitch markers (one that slips on the needle and one that hooks into the knitted fabric), (4) my new baby crochet hook, (5) Chibi needles, (6) my mom's old spring stitch markers (these are purely sentimental and I can't resist a little plastic box), (7) retractable tape measure and (8) collapsible scissors.

I also have a little problem with pattern collection... but that's for another day.

I can see clearly now

2007-02-04T12:17:00.001-05:00

I finished my eyeglass sleeve and after various challenges, I'm very pleased with the result.

Pattern: My own.
Materials: Bits of two fat quarters. Lightweight quilt batting. 25mm bias tape maker. All materials from Purl Patchwork.

My initial plan was to fold my long piece of quilted fabric together lengthwise and bind the side and top edges in bias tape. Unfortunately, this resulted in a really messy edge and I couldn't figure out how to miter the corners or make the bottom of the long edges look neat. I wound up with a chicken-and-the-egg problem where I would tuck one thing, creating a raw edge at one spot and then I'd instead tuck the other thing in creating the reverse of the initial problem. Hard to explain, but trust me, it was a mess.

My solution was to edge all the way around the piece while it was flat and then ladder stitch up the sides. This resulted in a very neat finish. My sleeve will be the perfect way to tote my reading glasses around the office!

This project was also a great chance to continue practicing my quilt binding technique without committing to a whole quilt. I again used the one-step technique in The Modern Quilt Workshop. This time it came out much neater than my double-pointed needle case. I learned from the ladies at Purl that I needed to pin the edging down every inch or so and I learned from my sewing machine that I should wait until the pin slid right up under the presser foot (but BEFORE it got up to the needle - no sewing over pins!!) to remove the pin, which resulted in the fabric staying where it was meant to be. There are definitely some imperfections, but I can see how the technique will keep improving.

I'm committing today to some stockinette and to dreaming up my next sewing project.

I've got problems

2007-02-03T15:30:00.000-05:00

I found out a few weeks ago that I need reading glasses - it seems 10 hours a day of staring at my computer and fine print has taken its toll. I was mildly bummed, but quickly realized this was just a great opportunity to get some cute specs and craft up a handy eyeglass case! The glasses came with the usual clamshell-type case but this was too big and too noisy to snap open and shut in meetings - I need a quiet and stylish sleeve.

Last weekend I made this quilted panel for the exterior. The plan was to fold this long piece in half and do quilt binding on the long edges and along the top. The binding took several iterations to execute, but let's put that aside for the moment to discuss the lining debacle.

My initial thought was to line the case with one of the eyeglass wiper clothes they gave you at the optometrist. Little did I know, these things are unsewable! My machine spit, sputtered and then tried to jam the whole piece of fabric into the needle well as punishment. Oooookay, I get it. One possible explanation is the fabric is a dense jersey knit, not woven, and I definitely don't have the right needle. But putting that aside, I think it's made of polyester or plastic (or steel?) and imbued with some cleaning chemical. No dice.

The next idea was to fuse the mutant fabric down with some double sided fusible interfacing and not sew it into the side seams. I'm sure you know what happened - it refused to fuse. Perhaps I could hand sew it? No, getting pins through was as hard as sewing.

Next stop: cotton lining. I cut it out this morning and went forth to iron it. My recently-purchased and generally fabulous iron proceeded to belch brown crap all over it. I decided (sewing perfectionists look away now) that it was just in the lining so who really cares, right? I then proceeded to destroy the lining fabric anyway by sewing and trimming it 300 times. First I basted the wrong side of the lining to the wrong side of the exterior, folded the whole sandwich lengthwise, and tried to bind down the long sides. Although I folded in the edges, this still left a raw edge that at the top and bottom that just didn't look finished. I undid all of this and decided to sew the right sides together and turn it inside out. Of course, by this point I had trimmed way too much from the edges to have enough width to be able to then sew up the side seams. Out that came! Sorry I have no pictures of this saga; I was too busy madly ripping things and cursing at the iron.

Now I have a new plan and it's working... hopefully tomorrow I will have a finished eyeglass sleeve!

Yarn on the Half Shell

2007-01-31T12:41:00.000-05:00

Sheldon. I waaaaaaaaanit. How cute is this guy?! He's the perfect project for all of that craptastic Kn!tpicks Shine I have left from the Mitered Square Blanket. And lo, I should have just enough of the two greens! (Flash forward to me cursing and throwing needles in a few weeks when I run out and Sheldon has 3 legs.) I believe this is the first time I have stash yarn that matches project requirements exactly. Even better, it's stash yarn I want to banish!

Plus more exciting news: there's a new way to get rid of my oddballs! They can take a one-way trip to the land of the liberty bell. Interim House, an addiction treatment center in Philly, is looking for yarny donations.

Where's that metrocard?

2007-01-30T23:01:00.000-05:00

I have a nasty habit of misplacing my slippery little metrocard. I prefer not to keep it in my wallet because I don't like excavating and opening my wallet in the middle of the subway station. So, I usually keep the metrocard in an inside pocket of whatever bag I'm carrying. Then I wind up fumbling around like a madwoman the turnstile while some guy in a suit barks at me to swipe the card or step aside. I used to have a handy plastic sleeve for my card... but I lost it.

Inspired by my old sleeve, I wanted to make a little slipcover for my card to give it some more substance in the pocket and make it easier to find when I'm groping around and suits are hollering at me.

Behold, the metrocard sleeve. You might recognize the fabric from my DPN case. I measured my metrocard and doubled the length plus a 1/4" on all sides. I cut out two pieces of fabric and a piece of heavyweight interfacing. I ironed one piece of fabric to the interfacing. I then sewed wrong sides together, turned things inside out, folded the whole mess in half and sewed up the side seams right up close to the edge. I'm particularly proud of the little notch in the top - it's the first time I've sewn anything curved on my machine! Ok, so I used the needle wheel to hand stitch each stitch. But it's curved, so there.

In the Land of Stockinette

2007-01-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

Knit. Knit. Knit. Knit. Knit.
Purl. Purl. Purl. Purl. Purl.

I do try to make only interesting things, but sometimes I strand myself in a land of stockinette. I've got nothing against stockinette. In fact, the reason I get stranded is that I love its simplicity, its smooth finish, the neat little V's... but a girl does begin to long for a cable, yarnover or twisted stitch every now and again. Alas, it's all knit for the moment. At least it goes quickly.

First up is the cashmere cowl. Here she is perched in the office window. This is my subway project and it's a perfect commuting endeavor. Heck, I don't even have to purl! I just knit around in circles while attempting not to doze off. The yarn is delightful and the cowl is growing at a respectable pace (it's actually grown since this shot). I think I'm about halfway done.

The next item is Arwen. She waits for me at home on the couch. I'm about 6" into the back and done with one ball of yarn (only 13 more to go! Gray yarn be gone!). At least Arwen includes the excitement of purling the wrong side - wahoo!

My secret white project is also stockinette. It's been occupying quite a bit of knitting time but unfortunately it's secret. Maybe it's not such a loss though - how much stockinette can a blog bear, and white stockinette is surely off the spectrum of boring!

Tomorrow: the fun little sewing projects I whipped up this weekend and a completely stockinette-free post.

Retail therapy

2007-01-28T15:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my friend C and I hit Manhattan with a major shopping list. Many fun things were purchased.

The first stop was School Products, where C snatched up two pounds (!!) of gorgeous charcoal gray cashmere merino on a giant cone to knit herself a Flicka. It promises to be fantastic. I also picked up another hank of big fat cashmere to make a hat for my friend V. I used this yarn on my so-called udon hat (which I have yet to photograph). I love that hat, but I think I'll go down a needle size because the stitch turned out a little open, it's a wee bit big and most importantly, my dear V has a little tiny peanut head.

We then headed down to Purl Patchwork where I purchased various unphotogenic bits and bobs including lightweight quilt batting, heavyweight fusible interfacing, cream cotton and sewing machine needles. In addition, somehow I am incapable of leaving there without one or two colorful scraps of fabric and this trip was no different.

It was then on to Purl. I saw this beautiful pink garter stitch scarf in Malabrigo and was smitten. I'm not ordinarily a pink person but I just loved that scarf and when I saw some Malabrigo on eBay, home it came. Unfortunately, it arrived a bit more cotton candy than anticipated. No matter, a little rose mohair should do the trick. I'll hold them together, the mohair will melt into the Malabrigo and my pink will be divine.

While at Purl I also picked up some Fibre Company Terra for my mother in law (hi mom!). She is going to be making a mobius wrap thingum with some Noro Silk Garden I have left over from my Lady Eleanor wrap. The Noro colorway is discontinued #34. Bizarrely, this colorway has elements that blend almost seamlessly into a number of Terra colors. I chose one green/purple that almost disappears into the Noro and one wine/purple to bring out the purple in the Noro and add a reddish element.

Speaking of Lady Eleanor, here she is. I finished this last summer and she stays in my overly air-conditioned office where I rarely have a camera handy to photograph her. The pattern is from Scarf Style by Pam Allen. I highly recommend this project! I get many compliments on her.

I will share some photos of works in progress tomorrow, including two small sewing projects. On the knitting front, things are progressing, although it seems I've signed myself into stockinette hell for the foreseeable future.

Swatchy

2007-01-25T13:46:00.000-05:00

I have a pile of gray yarn that haunts me. I think it is cursed. It occupies a twingey little spot in the back of my brain that itches every time I purchase another skein of anything. "What are you doing?!" It says. "Why don't you love me? What will become of me? Sniffle." Grah.

Oh how I loved this yarn when it first came home with me. It was destined to be the most beautiful cabled sweater from a Rebecca magazine. So what if the gauge wasn't even close - I was going to make it happen! Never mind that at that point I had never altered a sweater pattern to make it fit, or really tinkered with much of anything. Never mind that I knew going in that the English translation of the German pattern had some sort of error and the chart was wrong. Big deal, this was going to be fantastic.

Here is the yarn in its first life as the Rebecca sweater. Sorry for the dark picture, it was taken before I knew any better. It almost makes me teary to look at - the cables are so pretty! I knit the back and one sleeve. I knew deep down there was no way it would fit... it was only about 34" around and the Girls need more room than that. Not to mention that since the gauge was totally off I had monkeyed with the depth of the armscythe to deal with the cables but did not do similar monkeying for the sleeve cap, which was way too shallow.

When I finally came to terms with reality, I ripped, and washed and hung to dry, and fortunately the yarn did not seem too disturbed.

The next incarnation was another cabled sweater - Saltwater from Rowan Classic Beach. I hate the beach; I should have known this would not work out. (You can see a beautifully executed version here, though.) I don't even think I have pictures of this. I had decided to do some waist shaping and shorten the ribbed section, but was too lazy to do the real math (clearly learning nothing from the earlier experience). Back to the frog pond. This time, the yarn was a little less accommodating, although I only killed two balls or so.

When Interweave Knits arrived last fall I saw Arwen. I must admit I was not completely besotted with the sweater but I thought the reversible cables were interesting and, more importantly, I could get rid of this grim pile of gray yarn!! In the meantime this sweater has developed quite a cult following. It was not until I saw this one finished over at Juju's blog that I decided I could really get behind this sweater.

So, I have been swatching. I think I made a mistake in the cable, but I think you get the point.* I'm going to make it smaller than recommended because it will never be worn closed and the finished measurements in the instructions have the front cables overlapping. I might add waist shaping... then again I might just knit feverishly to make the gray yarn GO AWAY!

- - -
* Note to self: Do not knit half a swatch of reversible cables, fail to mark your place, and attempt to resume on the subway while balancing your magazine, overstuffed handbag and coffee in your lap and barely having enough space to bend your arms.

Double Pointed Needle Case

2007-01-21T17:35:00.000-05:00

My double-pointed needles needed a home, so I designed and executed this double-pointed needle case and it came out better than I could have imagined! I was initially going to make the case over here, but I got befuddled thinking about it and was forced to set out on my own.

My case has an inner pocket with appropriately-sized slots for all of my DPNs and some extra spaces for sizes I will likely acquire one day. The pocket and back are lined with lightweight interfacing to give them a little substance. The top of the pocket and the entire outer edge are trimmed with bias edging (although not cut on the bias). I made the whole thing 10" high because while most of my needles are 6" long, a few sets are 8" and this is an equal opportunity case. All of the fabric, thread and the button is from Purl, bien sur.

If anyone is interested in trying it themselves, here's what I did. Click on any picture and it will get bigger.

Ingredients
You will need fabric for the pocket, inner lining, outer lining and edging for both the inner pocket and the outer edge. You can choose any combination you like. You will also need some fusible interfacing. Cut fabric as follows:

Inner pocket:
Two pieces, each 5.5" x 15.25"
One piece of fusible interfacing, 5.5" x 15.25"
One piece for bias edging, 2" x 15.25"

Inner lining:
One piece, 10" x 15.25"

Outside:
One piece, 10" x 15.25"
One piece of fusible interfacing, 10" x 15.25"
Pieces of fabric 2" wide totalling about 57" in length (I did this by cutting four 2" x 15" strips)

Matching thread, or not matching, if you are me.

You will also need a button and a scrap of fabric about 1" by 5" for the closure. You could alternatively use ribbon or elastic or yarn or anything else your little heart desires.

Finally, I used muslin to make a template for myself. You could use some scrap of fabric or paper as well.

How to

Wash and iron your fabric like a good little seamstress. Cut out your pieces as described above, being sure to stop and admire your handiwork.

Iron your interfacing to the wrong side of one piece of the pocket and to the wrong size of the outside fabric. Set aside the outside fabric.

To make the bias edging for the top edge of the inner pocket, I would recommend using a bias tape maker. You don't have one you say? Buy one. I'll wait...

Alright fine, if you don't have one, you can still play but it's less fun. Fold your 2" strip in half lengthwise with the wrong sides together, so it's 1" x 15.25". Iron the crease. Then, open it up and fold both long raw edges in toward the center crease and iron these down. Now, fold the thing again lengthwise and iron. You now have a 1/2 x 15.25" strip with one folded edge and the raw edges folded in toward the middle.
Grab both pieces of fabric for your pocket and the edging you just made. Lay the piece of the pocket with the interfacing right side down so the interfacing is up. Lay the other piece of pocket on top with the wrong side down (now the interfacing is sandwiched between two pieces of fabric with the right sides out). Then take your bias edge and tuck the top edge of the pocket into the opening. Pin this into place. Go forth to the sewing machine and top stitch 1/8" in from the open edge of the trim.

Alternative #1: Custom-sized pockets. You can use this approach if you want to customize your case for your repertoire of needles. The muslin (or paper or other scrap fabric or whatever) will be used to make a guide for how far apart to stitch your pockets. First, use a pencil to make a line 1/2" in from the left edge of the muslin. This indicates where the edging will be. Then, line a book or ruler edge along this line and hold it firm. Take your first set of DPNs and snuggle your needles up against that edge, keeping them all flat on the table. Make a pencil mark on the other side of the needles (see picture if this makes no sense). Continue to do this along the length of the muslin, shuffling the book/ruler along and lining it up with your last mark and moving up a needle size each time. You can approximate the distance if you don't have a set of needles in a particular size but think you might one day need space for them. For example, I don't have 000s, 4s, 8s, 10s or 10.5s, so I approximated the pocket size for these sets.

Alternative #2: My pockets. If you can't deal with this and just want a case that will fit sizes 000s through 11s, skip the above and make the following hash marks on the front of your inner pocket. First, make the line 1/2" in from the left edge because you will still have an edging. Then, measuring from the 1/2" mark, make hash marks at the bottom edge at 1/2", 1", 1-5/8", 2-1/4", 3", 3-13/16", 4-3/4", 5-11/16", 6-3/4", 7-7/8", 9-1/8", 10.5", 11.5", 12-5/8" and 14-3/8". You will have a little more than 1/2" left hanging out at the end, but this can be trimmed later. I know this seems insanely precise, what with the 16th of an inch and all, but I wanted a really snug fit for the needles.

Pin the outer pocket to the right side of the inner lining, lining up the raw bottom edges and being sure your hash marks are face up. Machine baste a 3/8" seam around the edge of the pocket to hold it in place.

Using the thread of your choice (I used one that blended into the color of the pocket), stitch a seam 1/2" from the left edge of the pocket. Backstitch at the start and finish of this and every seam. Then, using your muslin as a guide and marking the next seam (or just moving over to the next hash mark if that's your style), stitch a seam again down the pocket. Continue seaming along until you've done all of your pockets. I was anal and checked my needles in each pocket as I went along.

When you are finished with all of the pocket-making, trim the right edge of your fabric sandwich to a 1/2" seam allowance.

Retrieve your outside fabric (it's the one stuck to the interfacing) and put it right-side down on the table. Put your inside lining-pocket ensemble right-side up on top of this, so the interfacing is sandwiched in the middle. Pin it all together and baste a 3/8" seam around. If you are really nuts like me, you can pick out the basting around the pocket bottom.

If you are using ribbon, yarn or some other creative closure, you can skip this step. Otherwise, take your little 1" x 5" scrap of fabric and follow the bias edging process in step 3 (without the bias edge maker) so that you have a skinny little strip. Try not to burn your fingers on the iron holding the thing in place as you press. Return to the sewing machine and, with great patience, sew about a 1/8" from the open edge. Then return to your ironing board. Fold the strip in half and press a light crease. Open up the strip again and fold each end perpendicular to the strip and matching the edge along this middle crease. Press more aggressively in this shape. I think if you look at the picture it will make some sense, hopefully. Email me if not.

The bias edging for the outside edge is prepared the same way as for the inner pocket, so go do that (you can see excellent instructions here for how to link the short lengths of 2" fabric together). Attach the bias edging using your method of choice. I used the one-step technique in The Modern Quilt Workshop. Another method is the one described at Heather Bailey's (this is sort of the way I did the edging on my potholders, although following the instructions in In Stitches). Now, I don't know enough about quilting to know whether these are proprietary ways to do do things, so I don't feel comfortable reiterating them here for copyright reasons. But, if you don't want to buy things, Heather Bailey's approach is easy and free (and actually produces a neater result than my method, although I'm sure if I did a better job my way works fine too). Whatever your approach, be sure to pin your closure under the bias edging at the midpoint on the front of your roll.

You are almost done! Put your needles in and roll or fold the case however you like. I chose to roll, but could just as easily have folded in quarters or thirds. Pull your closure loop until it's taught and use a pencil or fabric marker to put a dot inside the end of the taught loop to mark where to sew your button. Sew on said button and voila! A custom case for your precious DPNs. This could be easily adapted for straight needles or crochet hooks too by varying the height and using the muslin technique to determine the width of each pocket. I leave it to you to go forth and be creative. Enjoy!

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions - this is my first time writing up a tutorial so while it makes perfect sense to me, it may be gibberish to the masses.

Snow Day!

2007-01-19T11:36:00.000-05:00

Ok not quite a snow day... but there was snow, and it is a day, so technically it is a snow day. I woke up to big fat snowflakes floating about outside. By the time I walked out the door for work all that was left was this sodden mess, but I think we can still agree that Brooklyn is beautiful in the snow.

Now to the real matter at hand: mittens. Finishing those Anemois has made my fingers itchy for more fair isle, and specifically more Koigu fair isle. After ripping the disasterous pink socks I have a batch of hot pink Koigu at the ready. I rummaged through the stash and unearthed this buttery yellow from an abandoned baby sweater. I only have one skein so using it as contrast color on fair isle mittens is the perfect project. I don't necessarily know if I would have bought these two together, but I think they pair up nicely.

This time I'm going to use a more traditional pattern than Anemoi. I made these mittens last year using the Frostrosen kit from Nordic Fiber Arts (by the way, they've updated their website so you should all go have a look). When my friend M saw them, she requested a pair in a brighter color and softer yarn. I think hot pink Koigu should do the trick! This time, I'm planning to carry the contrast color in my left hand and see how the yarn dominance situation works out.

Although I am very excited about this new project, I am going to behave and not start on it until I've made some serious progress on the cowl. Unfortunately, it's only about 1" long right now, so that could be a while.

Cowl me

2007-01-18T00:04:00.000-05:00

I've got cowl on the brain. Once upon a time I thought these things were weird and useless but now I must have one, and pronto.

Fortunately, I've got just the yarn for the job: delicious cashmere sock yarn I picked up at Loop in London. When I put it on the swift for winding I became skeptical... the colors seemed clumped together and the yarn had sort of a crispy texture (which was hard to feel in the skein because it was twisted up very tightly). Things did not look promising. Silly, silly me - the yarn cake is a delight and the swatches are even better! The colors knit up nicely without a pool in sight. Of course, it remains to be seen if this continues across 130 stitches rather than 30, but I am optimistic.

I had originally earmarked this yarn for the lace cowl from The Purl Bee, but things were not gelling (note that color in this photo is way off). I started it on 6's, which were too big for the job, and in any event I didn't feel the lace showcased the yarn color or texture; it was all a muddle. The yarn is pretty enough to be featured in something simple and elegant, so I returned to the straight-forward cowl in Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

I swatched with needles 5, 4 and 3 (4 and 3 were in one swatch) and then gave them a Eucalan bath. I know it's been said time and time again, but I am a believer: Wash. Your. Swatch. People. The linen-y quality disappeared, the yarn became buttery soft and each stitch plumped up beautifully. The swatches also grew about half a stitch per inch. I decided on the 4's, but didn't have a pair of circular 4's in the right length so I had to order them and wait impatiently.

Now that they've arrived I have a new commuting project and soon a snuggly new cowl!

My first meme!

2007-01-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged by Liesl! My first meme! How very exciting: six weird things about me. Let's see now...

1. I do not like getting into an unmade bed. Since the husband gets up after I leave for work (and hates making the bed with the fire of a thousand suns), this often means I make the bed when I'm ready to go to sleep, and promptly unmake it by hopping under the covers.

2. I was an art history major in college, then a mainframe computer programmer and now I'm a tax attorney. People who know me agree that items two and three are weird, for me.

3. I don't do my own taxes. See #2 for why this is weird.

4. Last December I broke my big left toe running for a conference call and now it does not bend. My podiatrist noted now I will never be a ballerina on pointe. As if that was going to happen anyway...

5. Speaking of toes, mine like to be kept together at all times. I hate hate hate when something gets between them. In fact, it was only two years ago that I began wearing thong flip-flops, and this took daily toe training. It's still not my favorite.

Now the issue of who to tag... since I don't know if anyone is really reading this and it's quite possible I'm the last person in creation to be tagged with this meme, I will tag some commenters - Veronica, Lisa and Chelsea you're up!

Updated to add:
6. It appears I cannot count (I posted this with only five weird things). This is weird because I play with numbers a lot in my job, plus I'm 30, and have had at least 27 years of practice with the counting, particularly numbers one through ten.

1+1 = ??

2007-01-15T17:30:00.000-05:00

I have been immersed in the maths today. I have two little design projects going on and they are burning many brain cells.

First on the agenda is a sweater pattern I am overhauling for my friend L. She has a black meshy wrap sweater that she adores, and she wanted to knit another in order to give the first an occasional rest. We found a borderline suitable pattern at Suss Designs (back when it was open in NYC). The only problem was it had dolman cap sleeves instead of long regular ones... and it was too short.... and it was not the right yarn. ("What's left?" you might ask. Not much.) We bought the pattern, went home, and I retired to paper and pencil.

The original sweater was knit side-to-side (beginning at one sleeve and continuing across the back). This was necessary to decrease gradually into the long skinny taper that wraps around one's middle. If it were knit bottom to top, like a normal sweater, it would be necessary to bind off many stitches very quickly and the sweater front would not ease into the wrapping piece smoothly.

I started with the sleeves. L had previously completed an Hourglass Sweater on which I'd helped modify the sleeve width. We were happy with those, so we decided she'd use those sleeve dimensions to knit a flat sleeve, cast on stitches on each end to make the front and back, and basically knit across the shoulder to the side of the neck. She would then put half of the sweater on a stitch holder to be grafted to the back approaching from the other side. Clear as mud? The whole thing was so complicated I had to make up a three-dimensional model! Well, after 9 months of knitting, L has birthed two sleeves, and now I have to get my tail in gear and figure out how the rest of this is going to come together.

The next project is a double-pointed needle case. I was originally going to make this one, but I wanted to be sure there was enough space for my collection and a little extra to spare. So, I decided to strike out on my own and do a custom job. If this works out, maybe I'll draw up a little tutorial. The basic idea is a wrapped up thing with slots for each set of needles and bias-edging across the top edge of the needle pocket and around the entire outside. There is no top flap because it just sits in my craft basket and doesn't really need to travel. Closure is to be determined at a later date. In order to determine the length of the roll, I started by measuring and marking the width of each set of DPN's across a piece of muslin. I measured that, drew some pictures, did some calculations and took a deep breath. At this point I've bravely cut out all of my fabric and ironed interfacing to various bits. I am a little nervous about my calcs, so I made everything a little bigger so I can trim in the end.

There was also some serious swatching this weekend for my cashmere cowl, but I am waiting for the proper needles to arrive until boring you with further details.

Warm hands and feet

2007-01-14T17:02:00.000-05:00

Things have been in high production mode here at Chez One Potato. This weekend I finished the Boy's socks and the Anemoi Mittens.

First, the mittens. I think I've established that I'm quite pleased with these. I blocked the second one yesterday and my goodness Koigu grows when wet - I got very concerned because the sodden blocking mitten was about 1/2" longer than it's previously blocked mate. I got so nervous, in fact, that I reblocked the first mitten, only to discover it too grew (and then shrank). Thankfully, they match. Not much else to say, except that I took them for a test run outside and they are soft and cozy. These will be going off to a friend in the mail and I'll be sad to see them leave.

Project: Eunny Jang's Anemoi Mittens
Materials: Koigu KPM purchased at Purl. Knit on size size 2 (2.75mm) Crystal Palace Bamboo DPNs. This produced a blocked gauge of about 10st/1".
Modifications: I'm not sure if this is really a mod, but I used a tubular cast on found at this tutorial rather than a regular tubular cast on. I also didn't use smaller needles for the cuff because I thought it was going to be too narrow, and I think this was the right decision for my hands.

Next, the socks. When I got to the end of sock two I discovered my stitch count was off. I made the executive decision that no one cares, since socks live in shoes, and I carried on. It was just a little error (I think I forgot to move some stitches around before starting the toe) so it didn't make a difference, or at least not one I could see. As soon as they were finished the Boy put them on and did not take them off for two days. So, I think they are a success.

Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces in Mineshaft. The pattern led me to believe I would need 3 skeins but I used less than two.
Modifications: Substituted a short row heel. I know it's sacrilige to change a Nancy Bush sock pattern but I thought the heel flap would be uncomfortable and the Boy was already skeptical about the knitted socks.

Now that these are done I am swatching for a variety of new projects but I'll discuss later this week. However, I will show you this pile of goodness that arrived this weekend. That's the last you'll be seeing of it for a while, though, because it's for a top secret project. Stay tuned!

Paint a pot

2007-01-11T13:43:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago some girlfriends and I decided to go for brunch and to a paint-a-pot place in the City. I am a big fan of paint a pot - it's like being back in the craft shed at camp (I am a former arts and crafts counselor). However, before going to paint a pot in New York City one must mortgage one's house and pawn the family jewels. Now I understand there's rent to pay and profits to reap, but please people.

First there is the cost of the actual item. Usually I blink more than a few times before plunking down $14.99 for a mug, much less one that needs glazing before I can even drink out of it without toxic repercussions. After selecting the least offensively expensive item in the store, one flags down the store attendant who aimlessly wanders to the table and proceeds to ramble an incomprehensible list of rules and regulations regarding use of glaze, which colors absolutely cannot touch, which colors are hidden in the back and which colors will cause lead poisoning. Funtimes! She then inscribes your name on the bottom of your $3,000 unpainted item and disappears.

Now these ladies have special "underglaze" pencils that write like a pencil and will not burn off in the kiln. I am a big fan of using these to do cute drawings on the piece and then using minimal color to highlight. However at this outing, the woman informed me that the pencils were "really really expensive" and therefore I was not permitted to use one. I reminded her that this mug and the entire activity was "really really expensive" and shouldn't the cost of a few scribbles with her precious pencil be included? But no.*

The dirty little secret with NYC paint a pot is that you pay a fee per half hour! Please note that at least that much time elapses while the shopkeepers wander around searching for hidden glazes and marking your initials on things. So, by the time you get started you are exasperated and settle on painting the whole thing like Rainbow Brite just to get glaze to ceramic and get out of there for less than fifty bucks.

All of that said, we did have a fun time and I am very pleased with my mug! In the end I didn't wind up using the coveted underglaze pencil and instead stuck to the fine-tipped glaze bottles. It's always tempting to overdo things at paint a pot, but I think I kept with my design sensibilities, if only because it's not in day-glo colors.

As for knitting, I'm so close to done on both the mitten and Boy's socks!!! Note that this picture of the mittens does a good job of showing the benefits of a good bath for fair isle. Look how lumpy the one on the left is!

Finished projects mean new projects! First on the sewing agenda is a double-pointed needle case like the one featured at dogged knits. As for knitting, I have been eyeing Rambling Rose over at Woolflowers. I have a big pile of unloved gray Karabella Aurora 8 that needs a home...

------
* Note: The woman proceeded to abandon said pencil on the table and completely forget about it, so we all got our money's worth.

It's take your swatch to work day!

2007-01-09T22:01:00.000-05:00

Since I am never home during photo-taking hours (i.e., daylight) during the week, I was forced to take my little swatches to work today. Here they are scampering around my office.*

These are the product of my new 2x2" Weavette, part of the Oddball Eradication Project of 2007. Cute, no? One is Koigu from a baby sweater and one is School Product cashmere from my udon noodle hat (which I have yet to photograph but which is delightful and kept me super toasty today to and from the subway).

Now then, these little weavies are cute but what the heck am I going to do with them? Of course I desperately wanted the 4x4" Weavette but that is apparently out of stock throughout the universe due to a mention by Martha Stewart a year ago. So I am settling for this little thing. The Boy helpfully pointed out that I will have to make a million of these in order to produce anything useful. Not to mention the seaming alone will kill me. However, I have been fantasizing about sticking them to things with double-sized fusible interfacing. Possible? I will experiment and get back to you.

- - - - - - -
* I waited until my officemate was out before I staged and snapped these, lest he think me completely insane.

Potholders: Finito!

2007-01-08T10:49:00.000-05:00

I finished my potholders! It took an age I tell you, but I love them. After my dear Boy went and got me more thread on Friday night, I ran out again on Sunday and had to go back to the City to procure yet another spool. Quilting is quite a thread-consuming activity. There were definitely some hiccups along the way for Potholder 1 but things improved with Potholder 2 - I think I only ripped one seam and all of the sewing went a lot more smoothly. I basically assembled all of Potholder 2 on Sunday plus finished the binding on Potholder 1. I have become much better friends with the sewing machine through this project. Apologies in advance for the poor artificially-lit pictures; it was dark when I finished last night and when I left for work this morning.

Pattern: Square Pot Holder from Amy Butler's In Stitches.
Materials: Fabric, thread and advice from Purl.
Modifications: I hand-finished the bias edging on the front of the potholders. The book has you machine-sewing top-stitching around the edging but this resulted in a really messy finish for me and made the entire potholder look sloppy. I talked to the lovely ladies of Purl and they suggested blind stitching down the edge. This came out beautifully (apart from some slight puckering which I can live with). The only issue, which they warned me about, was that it took f...o...r...e...v...e...r - about 6 hours of hand stitching. My hands actually ached last night. But it was well worth it - they look delightful!

Things that need improving: I am not much of a sewing perfectionist yet. So, there are some wonky seams and it turns out one potholder is not quite square due to some aggressive trimming in an effort to get the edging in place. The mitered corners are also a small disaster, but they look neat and clean, if not exactly miter-y. Overall, I am quite pleased with them and can't really believe I made them! I especially love the quilting.

While at Purl I also picked up a 2x2 inch Weavette. I don't like having a stash and make every effort not to keep one around. All told I think I have stored away yarn for three pairs of socks, one baby sweater and two adult sweaters (both of which were started and ripped for various reasons) plus the odd gifted skein here and there. However, I am quickly amassing a vast number of leftover oddballs and they are stressing me out. I thought I might try my hand at weaving some of these into little squares and finding some productive use for them. Suggestions welcome.

I also made some serious progress on Anemoi #2 and the Boy's Socks. I hope to knock the socks off this week, assuming I can stay awake on the train to work on them.

***
PS: To answer a question on yarn dominance in the mitten, if you click on the palm picture from my last post to make it big, you can see the blue is kind of "absorbing" the white. The white stitches are supposed to make clear diagonal lines across the palm and instead they are like dotted lines. Also take a look at Tres Chic Veronique's mittens - she does a good job of explaining the issue and she has some helpful pictures. As Ann Feitelson explains in her book The Art of Fair Isle Knitting, you are meant to keep the background color in your right hand and the contrast color in your left. This allows for the proper color to dominate. All I know is I do it the other way around and in finely detailed areas the contrast tends to get consumed by the background. Make sort of sense?

We have mitten

2007-01-05T11:15:00.000-05:00

I finished one of my Anemoi mittens and I love love love it! In these pictures it's still wet and blocking, but I couldn't resist the hand model shot. The Koigu softened and loosened a bit during blocking, and of course a good bath makes for happy fair isle.

I've been reading a lot about yarn dominance and it is definitely in play here. I knit continental, so I prefer to keep my more heavily-used yarn in the left hand and the contrast in the right. As is evident in the palm shot, the blue background dominates the white. I considered switching it up in the other mitten, but I'm afraid the difference will be unpleasantly significant. So, I think I will save that for the endpapers.

To avoid second mitten syndrome, I've already cast on for the mate. Remember how it took me 6 hours to cast on? Try 5 minutes this time; I'm a regular Italian tubular cast-on expert.

I've also wound up my freshly bathed Koigu. Delicious!

This weekend, though, I have big plans to get more thread and finish the beloved potholders so my friend doesn't have another birthday before I give her this year's gift.

One sock two sock

2007-01-03T08:07:00.000-05:00

Pink sock... well alright there's no blue sock and now there is no pink sock either.

I've been reading all of these wonderful new year's resolutions around blogland and frankly, I don't really have any. Sure, there are the standard ones on my list, but just focusing on crafts... well I think I'm pretty happy with my crafting life, I just wish there was more time for it! However, one thing I could improve upon is ripping out what I don't like.

I made these socks last year. They are the Embossed Leaves from Interweave Knits Winter 2005. Love the pattern; do not love the socks. They are too big, the cast-on is like a tourniquet and since completion they have sat in a drawer. In fact, I didn't even weave in the ends on one of them. Koigu's too pretty to sit in a drawer (cue Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing: "Nobody puts baby in a corner").

And so, out came the socks. A little twist around my Niddy Noddy, a little soak, a little drip dry and soon this girl will have a fresh batch of Koigu. I'm thinking a pairing with a stashed ball of pale yellow for some endpaper mitts... or perhaps a matchup with the Velvet Leaf.

While we're on the subject of pink. Uterus #4 was gifted this weekend to Pending Mama C. I threw in some chocolate because really, what else does one need during pregnancy besides a womb and chocolate? (Not that I would know, but regardless.)

Perhaps some actual knitting photos tomorrow. Anemoi #1 is on a roll!

Look, I'm quilting!

2007-01-01T11:01:00.000-05:00

First of all, Happy New Year!

And second, I'm quilting I'm quilting!

Yesterday I called up Purl to discuss my quilting hardships and wound up sprinting out of my house with my swatch, batting and muslin in tow to make it into the shop for some advice before they closed at 3. Can we all just praise Joelle for a moment? She's made a quilter out of me. She hauled out a machine, tried quilting my swatch (no problems, ahem) and suggested I dismantle and clean the whole thing, which she also demonstrated. It was very encouraging to see quilting actually occur, right there on my sad little swatch, and I went off rearing to go.

I got home and gave my machine a very through once-over. And then: quilt magic. Hurray! I think the cleaning definitely helped but what probably helped even more was actually lowering the walking foot onto the quilt sandwich. I know, I know... this is in the "check to see if your machine is plugged in" list of questions for the customer service reps, but you see, my sandwich seemed so fat and wedged under the foot it didn't seem like putting down the presser foot would actually do anything. Oh, except pull the fabric through and prevent stitches from piling up underneath. Duh.

I happily quilted the top of the potholder and half of one of the hand covers. And then, disaster - NO MORE THREAD.

I am so bummed! I was right there, in the store, with all of the miles of thread, just yesterday! And I bought none! Not to mention it's rainy and grim here today and the perfect day to bond with my sewing machine and my last day of vacation and I can't finish my stinking potholders! Sniffle.

Well, I guess I will have to find some other project with which to occupy myself today... there must be something around here.

In knots

2006-12-30T14:35:00.000-05:00

On to the potholders and my first foray into quilting. On to knots and broken needle! I am discouraged.

Now then, I am trying to figure out this quilting thing on my own. I have used the quilting foot on my sewing machine once, but not for quilt-related activities. Unfortunately, I have no friends or family members that quilt and can sort me out. But it all seems simple enough: make a cotton batting sandwich and sew - what ever could be the problem? Silly, silly me.

Actually, let's start with the good part - this is the top panel of the potholders. The fabric cutting went off without a hitch and the seams matched up [on the second go-around]. In fact, I am very proud of my center seam!

And then, the trouble began. Back to my batting sandwich - I did some test lines and got a variety of mediocre results. These are all sewn with different tension settings. Shortly thereafter the tip of the sewing machine needle snapped and hit me in the middle of the forehead. I began to fear the sewing machine.I replaced the needle. I donned the Boy's clear-lensed biking glasses for eye protection, and I bravely returned to the needle-throwing machine, with which I was now in a big fight.

And then... this chaos. Aiyiiii! What is this madness? Note, this did not happen only once. Do I need a different needle? Thread? Project?

For the moment the dear sewing machine is going back on the shelf and I am sticking to knitting needles, which are far better behaved.

Pardon me: I've just made the cutest thing ever

2006-12-29T12:24:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right. I've made the cutest thing ever - the apron from In Stitches. The fabric is from Purl, of course.

As mentioned previously, it took quite some time for me to get up the guts to cut and begin. My anxiety was reinforced once I actually started sewing, when the very first pieces I put together had been measured, um, "creatively", and I had to re-cut one (fortunately, a small one). There were also a few surprises along the way, such as too much fabric left here and there. A little trimming fixed those. I think it's the Elizabeth Zimmerman approach to sewing.

I am SO pleased with the result. I learned so many things - hemming, pleating and following sewing pattern directions to name a few. If I did it again I'd use interfacing in the waistband to make it stiffer and prevent the darker skirt part from showing through. I also didn't realize that most of the stitching would be top-stitching over the blue trim, so I chose a green thread, which looks fine, but I might have gone with something to match the blue. The topstitching on the waistband is a little wonky but I am almost out of thread on my bobbin and it hardly seemed worth threading a whole new bobbin to redo it when the recipient certainly won't mind.

One question to anyone who's made this or knows something about sewing - according to the directions I folded the bottom trim in from the short edges by 1" and then down from the top 1/2". When it was sewn altogether it left this little hole along the edge. Seems to me the 1" fold-in should have been bent around the back of the apron and enclosed the edge, and no hole. Does this make sense? Is anyone out there who has a thought? Hullo? Hullo?

Also, a big shout-out to my dad who solved my sewing-machine-is-busted crisis with his suggestion that perhaps the bobbin was wound back on itself and not feeding correctly. Apparently bobbin technology is similar to fly reel technology (who knew?).

Now I have the confidence to begin on the matching potholders!

Hats in action

2006-12-28T14:56:00.000-05:00

Baby B got his new hat today. As soon as his mom opened the door I knew it would be too big... and it is. I knit the ear flaps upwards of the brim so he could turn that up and get a little more wear out of it. I think he likes it.

And Mama V graciously donned the Fishtrap hat for a little photo shoot in the West Village. Now if only it would get cold enough so I could wear the hat.

In other news, I've been taking advantage of my days off to hit some of the new and not-so-new yarn stores around the City. Last night it was Knitty City on the Upper West Side. I had heard good things about this place and they were true! Cute store, nice sales people and a broad selection of stuff. I browsed for a good long time and no one bugged me. I just had to take this home - Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Leaf. The picture does not communicate the depth of color, despite my and my camera's best efforts - the name is about right. It's like the richest pine tree you ever saw. A velvet pine tree. What I will do with it is unknown. As I've mentioned, I'm not the biggest sock fan. It will have to be something though...

I am also up for a little stash-busting this week. First on the list is this little beastie that I got from School Products at Stitches East this year:

Delicious udon-noodle-fat cashmere. It will be a hat. (Note: I have not worn one hat yet this season but will now have knit two.)

And this is one of the gems of the collection. Hand-dyed cashmere sock yarn from Loop in London. First off, this place is good fun - go if you have the chance. It's adorable and well-stocked. This yarn is by Hip Knits. Since I have no great love for socks I knew this was destined for something else. I've decided on the Lace Cowl from The Purl Bee. I think it will go smashing with my new cream hat repertoire. PS: The yardage on this is insane! 500 meters! Hurray!

Tomorrow: Hopefully a finished apron.

Hats off to me

2006-12-27T11:47:00.000-05:00

Baby ear flap hat: Check!
Pattern: Loosely based on the beanie in Simple Knits for Cherished Babies.
Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8 from School Products.
Modifications: Cast on more stitches due to different gauge. Tubular cast-on for brim. Added ear flaps inspired by "Kim's Hats" in Last Minute Knitted Gifts, also with some modifications (I did four rows decreasing at either end and then did decreases at each end of each row which created the cupped look). I also stitched his initial on the back, so he's easily identifiable in a crowd.

Baby B is going to try it on tomorrow so let's hope it works!

Fishtrap aran hat: Check !!!
Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmerman's Fishtrap Aran Swatchcap from Knitter's Almanac.
Yarn: Brooks' Farm Four Play, purchased at Rhinebeck.
Modifications: That would suggest there was an actual pattern to follow...

Yes, that's right - I finished the twisted stitch beast. I sat down and knit furiously right through Pride and Prejudice and now it's all over but the blocking (which is in progress). As I've complained, this was not my favorite thing to knit. There were so many stitches to move on every cabling row (i.e., every other row) that it made my hands hurt. Plus, I'm a girl who likes order and instruction in her knitting. I did not particularly enjoy winging the crown shaping, although it came out nicely enough. In the end, I am pleased with the hat and it looks great on my head, if I do say so myself (modeling pictures tomorrow when it's dry). Added bonus: I have at least half the ball of yarn left. It will not become another Fishtrap hat, sorry folks.

Also blocking: The Boy's Bubble Scarf
Pattern: Bubble Scarf from Scarf Style
Yarn: Silky Tweed by Elsebeth Lavold
Modifications: None!

I finished this scarf over a year ago. The Boy wore it almost every day, and it was in desperate need of a bath and a block. So here are some shots of it reblocking. I loved working on this - great pattern, great yarn and great finished product.

Baby needs a new hat

2006-12-25T21:43:00.000-05:00

New yarn it is! I was in the neighborhood and had a store credit, so I made a stop into School Products on Saturday and picked up some Karabella Aurora 8. I thought this would be the ideal yarn for a warm winter baby hat because it's merino and soft, yet also washable.

Baby hat - straightforward, yes? Of course I have to make things difficult. First off, I thought I would continue on my tour through tubular cast-ons and use one for this hat. Second, Mama has requested ear flaps. So the initial plan was to do a tubular cast-on using waste yarn and keep the ear flap stitches on the provisional yarn rather than picking them up. Math was done, gauge was guessed, and I was off.

After a few missteps with the cast-on resulting from attempts to watch tv and pick up stitches in dim light at the same time, things were moving along nicely. Per the usual I was a little concerned with the inflexibility of the edge but it seemed serviceable. However, after a few inches I just felt like it was going to be way, way too big. While I was shocked to learn the actual girth of the baby head (did you know they are close to 17" at 5 months?! I have an adult friend with an 18" head! And before you get snarky, she is very smart), this was just too big.

Out it came.

I decided to attempt again with fewer stitches and the Vogue Knitting tubular cast-on "A". Success! The cast-on is less tidy than Amelia's but more flexible and frankly, baby won't mind. I'm loosely basing the rest of the hat on the beanie from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, one of my favorite baby books. I then plan to pick up stitches inside the brim and knit down for some snuggly ear flaps. Stay tuned...

Sparkly bright

2006-12-22T07:26:00.000-05:00

I'm a sucker for Christmas decorations. I walk by this tree at the Bloomberg building at 58th and Lex each day on my way to work. I think it's among the more tastefully decorated in the City. No bells, no whistles, no animated singing sculpture things (yes, I'm looking at you Bl00mingdale's...).

I will be off the blog for a few days. However, I'm on VACATION (!!!!) next week and planning to get all sorts of crafting done. Goals for the end of the year include finishing my Fishtrap Aran hat and the apron. Also, Baby B has grown his noggin right out of his hat and his Mama V has requested a replacement - with earflaps. I must consult the stash to see if there's anything suitable, otherwise, more yarn for me!

Happy holidays!

Big Green

2006-12-21T13:45:00.000-05:00

This is another finished object from the past, and one of my favorites. I call her Big Green.

Big Green is sort of my anti-poncho. I wanted to knit a poncho back when they first came back into vogue, butI was afraid I wouldn't finish it before they went out of style (note, that has yet to occur, but I was skeptical). The pattern is from Scarf Style by Pam Allen. The yarn is Silky Tweed by Elsebeth Lavold and I got it for an absolute steal on sale at Purl about two years ago (this was good because I used around 15 skeins and didn't have a drop left). I love knitting with this yarn - it's tweedy and rugged, yet it isn't filled with nettles and other vegetation and it's not rough on my hands. I know it's boring to knit the pattern in the same color as the picture in the book, but I did just love this green so what could I do.

Big Green took about a year to knit - she's made up of four garter stitch triangles that grew from five stitches to 375. My husband calculated there are over 100,000 stitches! I lost interest in about half way through, then picked her back up, then lost interest again, and finally finished her while studying for the bar exam (when all I could handle was garter stitch and lots of it).

She's assembled with a three-needle bind off between each triangle. One corner-to-center seam is left unseamed, then you pick up stitches up the seam and down the other side and knit a few stockinette rows to make the pretty rolled edge.

I love to throw her on over a light sweater or denim jacket in the spring or fall. And I always get compliments on her! (Such as the guy in the DMV, decked out in Giants regalia from head to toe, who was hoping I'd knit him one... but that's another story.)

I guess I have accomplished something

2006-12-20T07:37:00.000-05:00

I always feel like I'm getting nowhere on all of my projects but turns out this here blog is helpful for showing that's not the case! I only got to knit for 15 minutes yesterday, but look how far these two pieces have come since their last appearances!

First, the Anemoi Mittens - I've reached the chart! They are still as much fun as ever. I never get tired of Koigu. Unfortunately this project is not very portable - between the five needles, two balls of yarn and 8"x11" chart, I feel like I'm taking up half the subway when I work on this. Sadly, this means it isn't getting so much love right now.

Next, the Frost & Flowers Scarf. I just love love love working on this thing. It is so soothing, and I love the pattern so much that I have to stop every row to admire and pet it. I'm actually another repeat further along than shown in these pictures. This thing is going to take forever though - it doesn't feel like the ball of yarn is getting any smaller and I still have two more to go!

As for that Fishtrap Hat... um... uh... I don't know what you're talking about.

Fuzzy pink uterus

2006-12-19T10:10:00.000-05:00

I am no great fan of Lambs Pride yarn, but I do think it has one fantastic use: the fuzzy pink uterus.* Every girl needs one, no?

I may be the only person to have actually made the Womb from Knitty. In fact, I've made three of them. It all started when my friend C was having trouble getting pregnant. Watching her go through all the testing and hope and disappointment was terrible. Finally I decided a lucky pink uterus just might do the trick - and it did! Soon after gifting the uterus, she got knocked up through IVF.

Since then I've tried to give a lucky uterus to each of my pregnant friends, although at this rate they are popping out kids faster than I can knit. I understand these are frequently toted along to the OB/GYN's office or petted for luck before a big appointment.

Here's Baby B with his (mmm... tasty):

Baby J's mama also got one. Now why don't you knit your childbearing friend a lucky uterus today?

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* When not in use, the uterine yarn gets quarantined in a plastic bag in the back of the stash, lest it shed its pink fuzz-spawn all over everything in sight.

Apronly

2006-12-18T16:16:00.000-05:00

I picked up these fabrics at Purl Patchwork last weekend to make a gift for my best friend's birthday. As I 've mentioned, I have a serious fear of actually taking scissor to fabric, so it took me a week to get up the courage to cut and about two hours of meticulous measuring before one fiber was severed. Plus, I had to measure, mark and cut without my trusty rotary cutter and mat because of the size of the pieces (although I'm sure a more adept sewer could have handled this). I resorted to cutting with scissors (gasp!), as instructed in the pattern. Drawing straight lines on hardwood floors is not easy friends!*

This is what became of the living room in the midst of the, um... fun (?). Apologies for the dark picture, this adventure lasted well beyond daylight hours.

In the end I finally got everything cut out. However, not one stitch was sewn! So much for having this finished upon the friend's arrival next weekend. Not to mention I didn't even begin cutting the pieces for the matching potholders. I guess this will have to be a belated birthday package.

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* Adding to the frenzy was a two hour tiff with my email server at work which was preventing me from emailing out a document I'd been waiting to send all weekend - in between each mark and measurement I would trot back to the computer, call IT support, scream at my screen, etc.

Shawl collar sweater - finished!

2006-12-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

This item was actually finished two weeks ago but needed some quality time with the iron to get steamed into shape. I'm pretty happy with the finished product. In the interim assembly, before for the collar was attached, it seemed like it was going to be better fitting. Now it seems a little big - the sleeves are a little longer than I'd hoped and the shoulders drop off my shoulders. I might add a hook and eye closure to make it closer-fitting. However, it's cozy and simple and I think will be a good addition to my work wardrobe.

Pattern: Shawl Collar Sweater from Jo Sharp Knit 1
Yarn: Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre in "brew", 11 balls
Modifications: Shortened sweater body to 21". Modified sleeves to taper from elbow to wrist.

Back to Square One!

2006-12-16T16:43:00.000-05:00

Finished object finished object! I finally got around to cutting and sewing the back for this little log cabin pillow. I love it! I was a little worried it wasn't going to be big enough to accomodate the 14" pillow form. Because of some, um, creative (?) measuring on my part, I basically had zero seam allowance. I thought the front was 15x15, allowing for a 1/2" allowance on all sides, so I cut my back appropropriately. Turns out the front was only a hair over 14x14. So I cut down the back. But when I sewed the two pieces of the back together it was suddenly smaller than the front. Grah!

At any rate, it went together nicely and the pillow snuggled right in. Per the usual, I have to get buttons, but hopefully I'll have time for a field trip from work at some point this week and I'll swing by the nearby button shop.

Don't the two look cute together on the couch?

Tomorrow: yet another finished object.

The Boy Needs Socks

2006-12-15T09:29:00.000-05:00

Little knitting and much working has been done this week. In the bit of knitting time I've been working on my Anemoi Mittens, but I will spare you the stitch-by-stitch development on that front and hold off on further pictures until there is actually something to see.

However here is a picture of my current commuting project of choice, socks for my husband. He never requested socks, and I frankly don't really love knitting socks, but occassionally I get in the mood and these socks were born at one of those times. Interestingly, despite his previous lack of interest, now that the socks are on the needles I am regularly hassled about the status of said socks, why aren't I working on them (when he sees me crafting something else) and various other inquiries about when he will get his now much-needed and long-delayed socks.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces in Mineshaft and the pattern is [I think] called Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. It is a very simple rib pattern but creates this fabulous egg-crate texture. Plus, the pattern includes clever calf shaping. I also really enjoy the yarn - I seem to be the only person on the planet who does not fall over sideways using a certain other beloved sock yarn, but I really like Lorna's Laces for my rare sock knitting escapades.

A note on pooling: I was reading Jessica's post on pooling the other day and it occured to me that I seem to be among the few knitters who enjoys pooling in their sock yarn. I'm not sure you can tell from this photo, but this pattern brings out fierce pooling in the Lorna's Laces, which I think looks like a vein running through granite. I find myself watching the colors swirl around the sock and waiting to see if they will line up again in the next row. This pooling sorts itself out in this yarn-pattern combo to become sort of stripey in the lower part of the sock (hopefully my foot model will agree to some shots this weekend).

I really should just finish these things...

This weekend looks like more working but hopefully I will have some time to finish that log cabin pillow and get into the charted section of the mittens.

Totally tubular

2006-12-13T14:14:00.000-05:00

Tubular cast on issues resolved! Mittens chugging along! Hurray! At this rate you are going to witness every last stitch of these girls from start to finish.

First, on my too-tight ribbing and cast-on edge: I went snooping around Miss Eunny's site looking for clues on my tubular cast on issues and realized my mistake after reading her pattern for Endpaper Mitts. In the Italian cast-on tutorial I was using, four "set up" rows of k1, sl1 wyif were included before the ribbing was started. Eunny's pattern also includes "set up" rows with a similar pattern. I was doing the set-up rows six times - six rows of slipped and twisted, hand squeezing stitches! That's way too many if you want any flexibility in the resulting cast on edge. Oh, and I fixed my gauge problems.

Now I am rocking along! I'm so excited! The cast on is really pretty and the ribbing is looking great. The only slightly agonizing part is the contrasting color purl stitch in the ribbing. I knit continental, so throwing a purl and using the contrasting color makes for some interesting finger acrobatics. However, my moves are slowly becoming more elegant.

Also, check out Diana's beautiful mitts over at Streets and YOs.

PS: Click on the pictures and you can see every last detail.

She made an itsy bitsy teeny weeny...

2006-12-12T11:46:00.000-05:00

...little fair isle swatch.

My oh my, it's so lumpy bumpy. I am out of colorwork practice! Actually it looked a little better after a bath, but still rather grim.

I didn't have any patience for swatching this because I am so antsy to get going on the mittens. Not to mention mittens are so small anyway, it hardly seemed worth it. But it was, since I was getting getting about 10st/"... 1.5 more than I hoped. Damn. I guess that explains the tubular cast on debacle as well.

The good news is this morning on the train I achieved gauge on my 2.75mm's! Huzzah. Tonight: Tubular cast on, the return!

Delft blue

2006-12-11T07:49:00.000-05:00

At the beginning there was beautiful Koigu from Purl. I'm always a sucker for that wall of color and memories of the ripped out mitten yarn from this weekend quickly went out the window (that will become something else, I promise). I was inspired by the colors of Delft blue ware. It's so hard to capture Koigu's colors accurately but these shots aren't bad.

Then, I cast on for the Anemoi Mittens. Eunny recommends a tubular cast on. Her instructions are incredibly detailed but don't describe this technique. No bother - although I haven't used it before, I am familiar... flash forward to 6 hours later when I have reknit the first 5 rows of these gorgeous mittens at least 6 times.

I started with Amelia Raitte's tutorial. It produced an lovely, clean, elegant edge. I recommend this tutorial; it is very easy to follow and yields great results. However, I could not believe my hand was going to fit through the resulting opening (you are instructed to cast on 56 stitches in a tubular cast on on 2.0mm needles; so I cast on 28, increased to 56 and went on my way). After a period of denial, I ripped.

Then I continued to the next approach: the Italian tubular cast-on. I saw Eunny note this on her blog when discussing the Endpaper Mitts, so maybe this was what she had in mind? It produces a more forgiving cast-on edge because you start with all of your stitches. I used the tutorial here (also recommended, particularly the little movie). This produced a more elastic edge. Hope! Here are some pictures.

But then I got to the set-up rows for the mitten ribbing... there are a series of twisted and slipped stitches which gathered in my formerly elastic edge and again made it impossible to fit my mitt in there. GRAH! Needles were thrown, rip rip rip. The husband was called in to confirm that yes, I was a good knitter and no, I was not going crazy.

I went up needle sizes, I went down needle sizes, I fiddled, I fudged. And finally, at the end of my rope, I emailed Eunny herself for advice (I really hated to do that - what does she need with me bugging her?!). We'll see what she says. For my own sanity, though, these need a time out until I hear back.

Updated to add: Eunny graciously emailed back and it appears all issues are my own. The twisted- and slipped-stitch rows are meant to prevent the tubular cast on from flaring, as it usually likes to do. I'm going to try just ribbing those rows instead to see if it helps. In the meantime I'm working up an itty bitty fair isle swatch and check that my gauge is behaving.

What Have I Done?

2006-12-09T14:59:00.000-05:00

Why did I think this was a good idea?

I've omitted the part where yarn stretched from room to room; it was just too depressing.

Most depressing of all? I don't have the right size needles to start my new mittens!

Hello frogger!

2006-12-08T07:58:00.000-05:00

I decided to take Cara's post from a few days ago to heart and not knit what I don't like. These mittens have been ignored on the WIP shelf for oh... a year? That's just not right. The pattern is from Nancy's Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia. Love the book, hate working on the mittens for unknown reasons. After seeing Eunny's drool-worthy new design, I got up the courage to rip. Or I should say, I got up the courage to contemplate ripping... they are as yet still intact.

I wanted to point out my little chart. I tend to knit a lot during the commute and usually copy and shrink my patterns so they don't get destroyed on the road. For this one I cut out the chart, pasted it to an index card and tied it to the mitten - hurray for portability!

So long little mitten! On to better things.

Read and Zip

2006-12-07T07:46:00.000-05:00

A little craft, a little literature around here today. Unfortunately my crafty time and my reading time overlap almost 100%, so it's hard to get much of either done.

I do love to read, and I'm super picky about my books. This one is a keeper - The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. I'm a great fan of the Booker Prize winners and nominees. I know, I know, this sounds incredibly pretentious, but somehow their taste coincides very nicely with mine.* I had read Fingersmith by Waters and also loved it. The Night Watch did not disappoint - it's told from back to front, present to past and is a wonderful story about young adults in London during the Second World War. The characters all seem like people I'd love to know. It's one of those books that leaves you wondering, days later, what those characters are doing. I highly recommend!

On top is the sewn pouch I made in Liesl's sewing class at Purl. It is just the neatest pattern - it basically self-lines itself as you go. This one came out just about perfect... sadly the one I did this weekend was a little less so, but I think that was because I was in such a hurry to see how it would look finished that I cut corners a bit. I'll post pictures on that at some point. I used the leftover red and pink fabric to make a pincushion for Liesl and one for myself. Now my mom and mother-in-law have put in requests for their own, so it looks like more are in my future!

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* Except for the 2003 winner, Vernon God Little. Oh my.

Frost and Flowers

2006-12-06T07:28:00.000-05:00

I've discovered a new productive use for the blazing sun that comes pouring through my office window midday - pictures of WIPs! I have been desperate for some daylight pictures after finding my sunny apartment is not sufficiently sunny to produce good knitting pics. I now have new appreciation for the beautiful shots of knitted goodness out there (BrooklynTweed, how do you do it?!). I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it.

After endless gray stockinette on my shawl collar sweater, my hands were longing for some lace (look away from that other half-finished lace shawl on the shelf... nothing to see there...).

Let's start with the yarn: 100% cashmere deliciousness from Hunt Valley Cashmere in Baltimore, Maryland. I discovered Hunt Valley Cashmere at Stitches East last year, when I purchased a gorgeous plum laceweight yarn in a shawl kit. The shawl pattern got the boot and the yarn became a flower basket shawl (pictures of that at some point, I hope). This stuff is hard to come by - the proprietor doesn't have a website or catalog, but you can find her by email. The yarn is soft, beautifully spun and totally affordable for such quality. I love it!

I got a kit for a frost and flowers lace shawl in an earthy oatmeal color. It's really going to be more of a wide scarf than a shawl, which I plan to snuggle around my neck for lightweight warmth.

Right now I'm only 1-1/2 repeats in, but with this yarn I'm perfectly happy to have more knitting ahead of me than behind me.

Read along

2006-12-05T11:00:00.000-05:00

There are few things that bring me more joy than new craft books. Actually, new books of any kind make me pretty happy. These two treats arrived this weekend.

The first is the by-now familiar In Stitches by Amy Butler. I was a little skeptical about this item but now that I have it in my mitts I just love it! It's beautifully photographed and diagrammed. Even better, the patterns are full size - a welcome development after the Great Log Cabin Pillow Snafu of 2006 (i.e., last week). I'm so excited to get started. I have all sorts of gift ideas brewing, and possibly a third pillow to go with my growing ensemble.

The second item is what I hope will be the sewing counterpart to my beloved Vogue Knitting (for the uninitiated, Vogue Knitting is just the best! Clear pictures, all sorts of techniques and a great starter stitch dictionary). The Complete Photo Guide to Sewing by Singer is chock full of clear, large, full-color pictures. It's hard for me to say if it will compare to Vogue Knitting at this stage - I don't know enough sewing to know whether the diagrams and descriptions are helpful or not, but I'll keep you posted.

I foresee a trip to Purl this weekend for new fabric ammunition...

Orange

2006-12-04T14:18:00.000-05:00

During the week I work long hours so it's difficult to make any real project progress. So, I hope to use those days to post pictures of some old knitted friends.

This scarf is simple garter stitch but remains one of my favorite standbys. The yarn is Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra. I knit it about two years ago and it's held up very nicely. It's soft and warm, and the fabric is dense and a bit stiff so it quite literally stands up to a brisk wind.

Project Runway: Baby Style

2006-12-03T14:06:00.000-05:00

When my friend M got pregnant I set to work creating a little sweater for her little boy to-be. This was no easy task, as M is undeniably a goddess when it comes to all things creative and classy. No acrylic baby blue puffball would do!

I settled instead on the elegant garter stitch cardigan from Erica Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies in Rowan Wool Cotton. I wanted colors that were soft, but would be suitable for what would surely be a very sophisticated baby.

Indeed, Baby J looks like quite the stud in his new threads, and from what I hear the sweater has even attracted attention from spectators on the street! What a lady's man!

The collar that may just choke me

2006-12-03T14:01:00.000-05:00

I am a big fan of Jo Sharp's designs even though they are sometimes hard to find in the U.S. I was particularly excited about her new book, Knit 1, and in particular the beautiful sweater on the cover. I decided to make the shorter version and even shortened it a bit beyond that. After miles and miles of stockinette, the sweater body is done. The collar is knit in k2, p2 rib, separately, and attached afterwards (it's that shriveled thing with all the stitch markers). Now all that's left is the attaching!

After two hours of weaving in ends and blocking of the collar this morning, I attempted to put it on four times. I am a real perfectionist when it comes to seaming and finishing and this thing was not cooperating. So it's been relegated to a heap on the couch as punishment. Sadly then I had to turn to some real work for the rest of the day so it seems I was punished too. Hopefully by next weekend this mass of gray will materialize into a gorgeous finished object.