around the house

Calendar from Little Canoe

While I don't think these pictures are particularly flattering to this little space in my apartment (I don't think there is a flattering way to capture the apartment, so that might just be a moot point) I did want to share a couple pictures of my new calendar!  I haven't had a calendar in years but when I saw this one in a post from the Skunkboy Blog I knew I actually wanted one!  Each month has these wonderful illustrations of vegetables that are in season.

Taking these pictures also forced me to clean up my little shrine to coffee.  I pared down the knick knacks on top of the shelf and cleaned up the ones that were staying.  That probably hasn't been done in about a year.  Oops! 

wip wednesday: opaline

Opaline on Ravelry

One of my Christmas presents to myself was a skein of madelinetosh pashmina in the Opaline colorway from Webs.  I generally do not like variegated (is that the word I'm looking for?  Should I use handpainted?) yarns.  I generally do not like how they knit up, it usually just looks kind of cheesy to me.  BUT.  The colors in this skein were so pretty that I just couldn't resist, and I wanted to try a madelinetosh yarn.

My next problem was finding a pattern that was simple enough that the color variations in the yarn wouldn't overwhelm me.  Problem partly solved with the Sand and Sea Shawlette (Sass!) from Coastal Knits, so the book ended up being another present for myself.  But that just led to another problem: the pashmina is heavier than the yarn called for in the pattern.  So in my usual way I blindly forged ahead and started the shawl on size six needles anyway, figuring if I couldn't get the shawl out of the one skein I'd buy a contrast color for the edge. I should be able to make a reduced lace section with what I have.

I've become so obsessed with the color changes in this shawl that within five days of starting it I'm already two rows from finishing.  Last night Don told me I've been watching too much TV, but really I just wanted background noise for obsessive knitting.

iz for al

 Iz for Al on Ravelry

This is the first finished object of my winter birthday knitting!  Perhaps I should call it winter-and-spring birthday knitting, but I'll be averaging about one birthday knit per month for the next few months.

I really love this pattern, it's so very clever, and I love clever knits.  I'm so glad Andi Satterlund of Untangling Knots gave away a couple of her patterns as a holiday gift. My color choices make my version look bizarrely similar to her original, but grey-on-grey is the palette that the birthday recipient liked best.  I'd like to make another for myself (probably not until next year) in coral and cream.  Or navy and white?  Would that look too much like a nautical flag??

Of course while knitting I didn't read the part of the directions that said "do not pick up wraps."  So for the first half of the cowl I awkwardly picked up all of my poorly done wraps.  For the second half I found the shadow wrap post on Socktopus.  Of course you can't really see any of the wraps in the seed stitch, but I know how much nicer the second set of shaping rows are.  And the silver lining is that now I've had so much short row practice for when I get to the miles and miles of ribbing on my shawl collared sweater.

wip wednesday

Shawl Collared Sweater on Ravelry

This is a teaser photo if there ever was one!  I've been working on this sweater since November.  If/when I finish it, it will be my first wearable sweater.  When I first learned to knit way back when I tried to knit a sweater and it was disastrous.  I didn't make a swatch, so I knit the entire sweater and didn't realize until The sweater was seamed together that it was about three sizes too large.  Then I might've ripped it out and done the same thing over, except only two sizes too large.

I'm having the opposite problem with this sweater.  I made a swatch (many swatches) and didn't like the hand of the fabric when I got gauge. So I lazily calculated it out so that with a larger gauge I'd get something like a medium sweater while following the numbers for a small.  But!  Now after binding off the hem I'm worried that the sweater will be too small.  Woe is me!

greyscale

Greyscale Norby on Ravelry

I put all of my "for fun" knitting on hold a few weeks before Christmas, so I was surprised to be able to finish this Norby I was knitting for myself before the end of 2012.  It's made out of two shades of leftover Charlemont yarn from hats I knit in 2012, one for me and one for my sister.  Falling in love with the Valley Yarns Charlemont was what got me to like going to Webs instead of just feeling overwhelmed when I was there.

 

When I bought the pattern earlier this year it was to make the hat for a friend.   I knew I wanted one for myself but didn't know if it would every happen.  I'm still not quite sure how to fit the hat in with the rest of my "cotton candy femme" wardrobe, but I like it a lot.

And I LOVE these tassels!! I didn't put tassels on the first Norby I made.  The directions in the pattern are fantastic.

I'm claiming this as my final finished project for 2012, even though the tassels didn't go on until the beginning of this month.  We'll see what fun knitting this new year brings!  My Christmas present to myself was bunches of really nice yarn!

work in progress wednesday

I love this light grey and mint green color combo!  If I were knitting this for myself (I'm not, it's some of the birthday knitting I was talking about) I would scrap the nice grey-on-grey palette I have planned and switch to this.

(Wah, I accidentally deleted this post!!!  I can't figure out if there's a way to retrieve deleted posts, so here is is again.)

christmas knitting

Well, better late than never!  I didn't do very much holiday knitting this year, mostly because I didn't do very much gift giving.  For someone who loves giving and receiving gifts as much as I do, I sure hate Christmas (bah humbug).

For R with Love on Ravelry

The most effort intensive gift I made was this Veranda Tam from the Webs catalog for my sister (pictured happily wearing her hat).  This hat is gorgeous, I just hated the row 10 cables for some reason.  I found them so obnoxiously fiddly.

 

When I bought the yarn for my sister's hat I bought a second skein in blue to make one for myself but found those cables so annoying that it's put me off wanting to knit this again anytime soon.  Maybe next year.

The Brother Hat on Ravelry

I also knit a hat for my brother, but his wasn't quite so fancy.  I knit it in Malabrigo Twist, which is the very first Malabrigo yarn I've used, and it was so nice!  Definitely a yarn I would like to use again.  The color is called Paris Night and I was a little worried that it would be too exciting for an eighteen year old boy when I bought it but I think he'll like it.  I actually haven't seen my brother yet for the holidays so I finally sent the hat in the mail to him this weekend.  I have other small gifts for him when I see him.

B Mitts on Ravelry

The last gift I knit was a pair of fingerless mittens for Don's sister.  I knew it would be difficult for him to pick out a gift for her so I offered to knit something instead and it worked out perfectly because she loves them!  The hat for my brother and mitts for Don's sister were so nice, easy and calming after knitting my sister's hat.

Many of my friends have winter birthdays so I've already moved on from Christmas knitting to birthday knitting.  I love giving birthday gifts so this isn't nearly as stressful to me as the obligation of Christmas gifting.

2013

The world didn't end in 2012!  Hurray and happy New Year!  We had a very quiet night here; we went out to see some friends at the bar but were home by 11.  I only barely stayed awake to see the new year cuddled in bed with Don and the puppy.  After that, with my responsibilities fulfilled, I promptly fell asleep.

I do have some 2013 Goals that I would like to share to keep my self accountable.

1. Use this space

I've started working on this goal a little bit already.  As for near-future goals, I'd still like to post about the knitting I did for Christmas.  For the year, I'd like to continue posting, aiming for 1 or 2 posts a week.  I'd like to do some design work on the blog (spruce it up, make it pretty).  Maybe make some blog friends, get some readers?

2. Train the puppy

We've started reading My Smart Puppy as a training guide and we're going to sign up for puppy obedience classes.  Backy's not very well house trained and she's very nippy.  Neither of these are good.  'Nuff said.

3. Start running again

I started running this past summer but stopped about a month in.  I'd like to pick it back up again and take Backy running with me.

4. Cook more meals

I started today by making smoked salmon chowder! This goal feels difficult because I like cooking, but Don is an incredibly picky eater.  I have to stop feeling guilty about cooking things just for myself and leaving the rest as meals for work.  Maybe do some light meal planning?

5. Clean the house

Hate cleaning, like living in a clean house.  Wah wah wah.  I need to get better at maintenance cleaning so that cleaning isn't an ordeal.

That's it!  I don't feel the need to make any crafting or knitting related goals.  Those activities happen so easily that any goal I made would look more like "put the knitting down and clean the damn house."  And that's not a fun goal.  Some it-would-be-nice goals are: use my sewing machine more often (get the poor thing serviced!), and figure out a small, craft related, income augmenter.  Just not anything that makes me hate a hobby.

Happy 2013!  May the games begin!