New Interweave & Ravelry

I have nothing to post at the moment, but I will very shortly! I just wanted to say that the new Interweave has like 10 things I totally want to make/wear. Check it out. I might just have to pick up a copy.

Also, I'm on Ravelry now . . . and I'm thrilled! I'm sure the novelty will wear off, but I do feel like the catalog of my projects allows me to see what I want to work on next and what I've made. Since I tend to knit for others, I sort of lose sight of what I was working on. Also, I'm obsessed OBSESSED with looking at patterns.

Progress! Well, A Start

There you have it, kids! I cast-on for the HelloYarn/Spunky Eclectic handspun sweater explosion. And then.....I couldn't stop knitting. This stuff is so soft! I'm knitting this up on US3s. I used a provisional cast on so that I could easily knit those live stitches up with row 6 or so of the body, in order to get a nice tidy hem edge - hem edge done with Jamiesons. I switched to the handspun, which I am working in 1 x 1 rows - it's blending beautifully!

When I swatched for this I worked it in 2 x 2 rows of alternating colors, but it seemed a little bit too stripey for my liking - I would rather have VERY DISTINCT stripes than the semi-stripes these 2 together were giving me. It's a rather loose gauge, but it has a wonderful hand to it. I started some shaping decreases, which will go for a bit. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the top - crewneck, V-neck, etc. But I have plenty of time before I get there.

Meanwhile, I'll be teaching this week - Non-Adhesive Bookbinding. Anyone need a handbound blank book? I'll have about 8 teaching models by the end of the week. This teaching, of course, is cutting into my knitting time - I don't want to put this sweater down!

I'm Spinning As Fast As I Can! Soon, Knitting.

I finally finished spinning up the "Harvest" colorway from Spunky Eclectic, and I am now well on my way to swatching for a simple pullover. This will use the previously spun-up "Bog" colorway from HelloYarn, and for insurance I'm using a bit of Jamieson's Double Knit Shetland that was given to me. Care to take a look?



Here they are basking on some of the remaining snow - FINALLY some pictures with natural sunlight! I'm loving how these colors work together, and I'm hoping that knit-up they will look just as wonderful together. I've been in need of a basic pull-over for sometime, and I need to take on a good mindless big project - this seems ideal. I'll be following the directions from Elizabeth Zimmermann to make it up as I go along.

I also received my January club installment from Spunky Eclectic - lovely Icelandic wool that I promptly spun-up! Also basking in the sun:



This will probably be a part of my cousin's Glittens - I'll have to combine it with something else - I'm not sure what yet. It seems it'll be incredibly strong and wear well as glittens - strong, warm, TOUGH. Love it.

So there is some knitting on the horizon! After all, it's almost February ;)

Spinning and...thinking about Knitting.

I've been thinking a lot about knitting, and spinning as well. Reading, researching, investigating. It is January after all - my traditional non-knitting month. I'll think of it as....planning for the future. I've been making lots of lists, and considering what I'd like to accomplish with my stash-busting. All the while making more stash:



This is some HelloYarn fiber (not club stuff) in the "Bog" colorway. I had 8 ounces, which, when spun up, game about 650 yards or so. I haven't washed it yet to set the twist, but the whole batch was perfectly balanced right off the bobbins. I'm making my way through some "Harvest" colorway roving (Spunky Eclectic) in the hopes of working up a striped sweater of some sort - just a simple lazing around pullover, I think, in soft autumnal oranges, browns, ochres, greys, greens. I'm about halfway through that bunch, and hope to be done this weekend.

I haven't *only* been CREATING stash - I've been busting through it like nobody's business. I quick-like-a-bunny completed that handspun Baby Surprise Jacket:



Doesn't look a bit finished there, does it? It's pretty magical, I gotta tell ya. With just a couple of origami folds you end up with this:



I ran out of the handspun with pretty much just the button bands and bottom rows to finish up. I went to the stash and found a bundle of perfectly matching red Wool/Cotton, and it was *justenough* to complete the sweater! I most highly recommend that everryone make one of these - so fast, super fun, super easy. I've got some cute little green buttons to tack on to this, but my interest in sewing on buttons is pretty minimal (see also: Ireland sweater, Amanda's China Sweater, numerous bags, laptop case, etc etc). I'll get to it soon enough. At least in this case I actually HAVE the ideal buttons.

hey cupcake!

So some of you know about my quiet-but-intense predilection for cupcakes... Visiting Billy's every time I go to NYC, for example, and discovering no fewer than THREE cupcake bakeries in Asheville, N.C. when I was passing through there in August. Imagine my chagrin to discover last summer that Austin had ZERO - count 'em - ZERO cupcake bakeries (unless you count grocery stores, which I don't). But wait, what's this? Last week when I paid a visit to the legendary Hill Country Weavers on a whim, what do I spot RIGHT NEXT DOOR? You guessed it - a cupcake stand!

hey cupcake! is one of many Austin businesses that are run out of these old sno-cone trailers - there's a creperie and a real Sno-Cone place, all within a square mile or so. So guess who's got a cupcake for lunch today, hmm?

I hate to be coy...

...and cut my face off, because that's one of the blogging tropes I most dislike. You know, I'll tell you strangers everything about my intimate life, but I'll call my husband by his first initial and I'll cut my face off, preserving... what? I don't even know. It's like not hearing the concluding notes of a long symphony. You strain to get there, to get to the wrap-up. I don't want to see your neck without seeing your face. It's just... wrong.

However, I am starting to appreciate how difficult it is to take a photograph of yourself if you can't figure out how the self-timer works. I cut my head off accidentally, not on purpose. So I'm deliberately sparing you, in fact, only my wattles.

Now then. The sweater! First FO of 2008, and a fine, fine pattern from Knitknit, designed by Joelle Hoverson. Didn't bust any stash because I ordered it specially for this project.

The facts:

Started: mid-December 2007
Finished: 17 January 2008
Pattern: Joelle's Favorite Yoke Sweater
Designer: Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight in Brick (3 skeins)
Needles: US2 circular

This was a very easy and pleasurable knit. As predicted, the ribbed waist does not create the illusion of slenderness there, but I don't really mind. It's comfy. The only thing I am not crazy about are the light shades around the yoke. When the yarn arrived, I could see that one of the skeins had a very light pink clump in the middle of the red. I was a little surprised that they'd sent it as part of a larger order - it would be one thing if you had a single skein with some variation, but if you have three skeins, and only one has variation, it's gonna be weird. I would say a good rule might be: if you've got a chunk of yarn that represents less than 15% of the whole, and it's more than 50% different than the other 85%, look for a skein that matches a little better, eh? But as Stacie and I independently decided, the weird part would best be used up top, and I really don't think it could have come out any better than to have a little lightening around the yoke.

Now, for SocKAL 2008! I will attempt to catch up with Stacie on Marie Antoinette, or as I am thinking of them, Jane Seymour.

Some thoughts on recipes and recipe boxes and oh yeah, some knitting

Lately I have been cooking more, and looking at more food blogs and recipe books, and I have noticed something. Cookbook writers and food bloggers will go on. Gluten-free Girl, for example, who has a really excellent recipe for pasta sauce that runs to a whole page, takes a paragraph to say "heat up some oil in a pan." That's just for example; I see a lot of gooey rhapsodic undisciplined length in food blogging that makes me think about recipe boxes.

Remember them? Our grandmother and mothers used them, because all their recipes fitted on little cards. That's what I'm nostalgic for these days. And about the time I was savaging a stack of food-blog printouts with my red pen, subliminally editing things down to recipe-card size, Kay got a notion to run a recipe-box contest.

If you stayed awake during first semester econ (I know I did, out of sheer terror), you'll know that the day Kay decides to have a vintage recipe-box contest is not a good day to shop eBay for vintage recipe boxes. Kay and Ann have the power to make or break whole economies; everybody knows that. Nevertheless, I was able to secure one I liked for $2.99. Plus shipping, of course; that's how they getcha.

It's actually sort of semi-vintage; it's from the 70s, pretending to be from the 30s. The 70s really had a thing for the 3os, which is why I love the 70s. That and the fact that I'm from the 70s. Anyway, it's got a really nice view of Niagara Falls on the side of the box, which adds class. (Up top is my dad's recipe for bran muffins; it's one of the few examples of his handwriting I own. It's precious, though I prefer how Ed Brown's come out.)

So I hear we're in for a wintry mix this weekend, and I plan to spend it organizing my recipe box. Because I finished my Joelle's Favorite Yoke Sweater. Yay! There wasn't much light today; I'll have to take a picture tomorrow.