Sticking a Toe In the Water

Well, not exactly a sprint at this point...

I've started my Baudelaire socks for the Tour de France Knitalong. Started both of them at the same time, actually. And yes, if you look closely at the picture, you'll quickly realize that they don't match.

For once, that's on purpose.

Start number one involved my Sz. 1 Addis and the increases as specified in the pattern. And then it involved some disappointment. The yarn, needles and increases just weren't melding together in the kind of yumminess I was expecting. I'm using Koigu for the first time and I've got to say, so far I'm kinda disappointed. I was looking for 'sproingy' and I got 'crunchy.' The yarn seems really rough and tumble, especially as I was coming off some super soft Wooly Boully yarn that I'll show you later.

I decided to try the larger, pointier Sz. 2 Knitpicks and I'm much happier with the feel of the stitches, although there's still the crunch factor. Not to be a princess with a pea, but I don't like the feel on the needles.

Just for my records, I ended up increasing on every row as opposed to every other row and went up to 68 stitches. I like the fit of this toe but I probably should have done some straight stockinette rows before jumping into the lace, just to put the lace a little further away from the end.

I suppose I'm rather nonplussed at this point. I still really like the pattern, love the yarn color and am okay with the progress on the larger needles. I'm trying to meet some major writing deadlines in the next two weeks so in all honesty, it's likely I won't even get the first sock completed, let alone a pair. I wouldn't be surprised if I need to rip this first start and try a different combination of yarn and pattern. As wiser knitters than I have noted, ripping is just a chance to do more knitting and we like to knit.

I'm giving this project one more night to impress me before it goes into the break-up pile.

Anyone with Koigu experience? Does it soften up? Is the crunch a good factor in the final product? Am I just being overly-sensitive?

Tour de France, Buffalo Style

Yesterday, a group of hot men in very tight pants set off from London for an intense test of endurance, will and physical prowess. Today in Buffalo, a girl in baggy jammies will plop herself down with her knitting needles for a frantic three weeks of sock knitting. Will she stick to her project or will she wander off the path to sample from the vines of other WIPs? Will she be able to navigate the tricky road of a sock pattern with multiple sizes? Will her fingers blister or her behind bruise as she races against the clock to put two new stockings on her toes?

Although the world will not be watching our version of le Tour, the knitters’ version of the race of races promises to be c’est magnifique. The pre-race blogging has already been impressive (a dictionary of French terms AND a catalogue of hotties to cheer for? Um, yum…). It sounds like the knitting is going to be even yummier.

I’m competing in the green jersey section, for speed. This will likely be the only time in my life I get to call myself a sprinter, so I’m enjoying every minute of it. My goal is to complete a pair of Baudelaire socks in Koigu. If I happen to enjoy a tail wind and complete those, I have some Sweetgeorgia sock yarn in the Paris colorway which I may also dip into. Or there’s always that French Market bag that I’ve wanted to do. But being realistic, completing the single pair of socks is likely a challenge enough for now.


As part of the race hoopla, our local paper ran an article with area bike tours. The second part of my race challenge is to complete at least two of these tours in the upcoming weeks. I’d like to do more, but as they require crossing into Canada and the bridges are being uptight about documentation, I may be confined to Stateside routes. Nonetheless, hopefully my Baudelaires will be displayed in a variety of scenery on their road to completion.

Happy knitting and riding!

Giving Thanks

Although this isn’t the time of year set aside for giving thanks, I wanted to take a chance to thank Kathy from Pink Chalk Studio for the cutest little pincushion she sent my way. If she’s not already on your reading list, go visit her blog. Great pictures and tons of wonderful information. Her tutorials are amazing!

Now doesn’t that make you want to sit down with a nice cup of coffee and a quilt project? Hmm, might even inspire me to sit and sew down a binding on a quilt that needs to be gifted. If you’ve ever had to sew a binding on a flannel quilt in July, you’ll know that’s really saying something about the inspiring abilities of the pincushion!

I recently volunteered to do some test sewing on a new pattern that Kathy put out, the Note Taker.



This is a great project that I’d highly recommend to anyone interested in sprucing up her office supplies. As I was working, I was reminded of many of the Amy Butler projects from her recent book (for more reasons than just the need for Timtex), so if you’re a fan of Ms. Butler’s work, you’ll enjoy this one.

Unintentionally, I went into the stash and came out with the perfect Project Spectrum color scheme. I haven’t been doing a very good job of participating in this group but oh well, such is the crafty life.

I think I see more of these in my future. If you’re on my Christmas list, you might be seeing one of these in your future as well!

Just a few knitting notes:

* Today is the last day to sign-up for Mystery Stole 3. Go, go, go if you haven't already. Even if this isn't a good lace moment for you, give it a look-see. I plan to start this one around September 1 if anyone wants to do a late to the party unofficial knitalong.

* I think you have until tomorrow to sign up for the Tour de France Knitalong. You have three weeks to knit on anything "French," to be interpreted as you see fit. (Okay, I admit that I'm just in it to see all the pics of cute riders that they're posting!) I'll post about my plans tomorrow but wanted to give you the necessary links if you want to add some new groups to your list of things to do.

How I Spent my Summer Vacation Contest

Not only was June my birthday month, but it also was my second blogiversary! In typical fashion, I think it’s time to celebrate these events and ignore the fact that I’m late to the party, even my own party.

I wanted to put something together to reflect the way I’ve been spending my summer without making this too stressful on anyone. Stress and summer just don’t get along, do they? (We’ll ignore my previous post where I confessed to be a stress ball 24-7…)

So the contest is simple. I have four prizes that I’ll be compiling this month. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. You get an entry for every comment left between now and Wednesday, 25 July so come back often and visit my little corner o’ the internet. (My side of this bargain is to do my darndest to blog every day between now and then. I miss writing here when I go into hermit mode.)

What you want to know… the prizes…

I’ll be putting together packages around four themes. The contents will be determined somewhat by what I find in my shopping expeditions between now and the end of July and somewhat by what I think the winners would enjoy. Pics to come every now and then for inspiration.

How I Spent my Summer Vacation

Wreadin’ and Rightun’: You just can’t escape the book learnin’, even in the summertime. This prize will be the fun kind of book love and will include things like a pretty journal, some new pens, tea or coffee treats and a book I think the winner will enjoy. Don’t worry, I won’t give you Dickens unless you’re a sick and twisted individual like myself who likes big, fat books about misery and absurdity.

Craft Time: Didn’t you just love craft time at camp? Bring on the popsicle sticks, baby! Don’t worry, we’ve evolved and this prize will reflect the winner’s interests. Expect a handmade goodie or two and of course, supplies for your crafting hour (or seven).

Come on Baby, Work Your Body: Although I’m certainly not training as hard as some of you nuts (who are totally inspiring to me as I read your blogs and sip my latte in the air conditioning), I am trying to get out and about this summer. You won’t have to do sit-ups to earn this prize, but it will give your inner Jane Fonda a treat or two. There will be goodies for everyone, even if you prefer your exercise routine to focus on walking between the sewing machine and the ironing board.

Leavin’ on a Jet Plane: This summer I’m lucky enough to see our lovely country from sea to shining sea. For a Midwestern girl, any ocean sighting is a big deal, but two in a few months is pretty gosh darn exciting. This prize is still in the formulation stage, kinda like a summer vacation where you know where you’re going but have absolutely no idea what you’ll find when you get there. Possibilities include a gift from my upcoming travels to the Pacific, general travel supplies for your own journey, or a virtual vacation to my home turf by way of treats from Buffalo. Don’t worry, vegetarians, I won’t try to ship you any of our famous wings as personally, I can’t stand the nasty little buggers.

So, to kick things off, say “hi” and let me know how you’re spending your summer. Any goals or big projects? Exciting trips? Fun reads for the beach or pool?

So You Say It's Your Birthday...

The beginning of wisdom is the beginning of discipline. ~Solomon

Last week I had the good fortune to usher in my thirty-first birthday. Unlike last year’s fete, this year I celebrated quietly with a night at home, knitting and thinking. I hope I didn’t put off my friends and family with my generally misanthropish nature, but I just felt like being alone with a clear calendar and some yarn.

So, in the spirit of my contemplative night home alone, I decided to indulge in a self-reflective post to get myself back into blogging.

The nice thing about a summer birthday is that it’s like a half-way point to check in on those New Year’s Goals, hit the restart button and get a fresh start when everyone else is in the midst of blowing diets at barbecues and sloughing off any self-improvement projects by spending hours lying at the pool. Not that I’m not doing those things too, but at least I get the chance to see how things are going and where I need to kick it into high gear.

So… about those goals…

Improve my Health

1. Go to a personal trainer once a week and exercise on my own during the week.

I’ve stuck with the trainer and have even kicked it up to twice a week for part of the summer, but the regular exercise hasn’t been happening as much as it should. There’s just always so much going on that I feel like I have to choose between work and the gym. I think this is just the nature of the grad school beast and I’m resigned to just hanging in there and working more on the workouts once the writing pressure eases a bit. So much for fitting into smaller jeans for fall…
2. Bring athletic activities such as biking, swimming and hiking into my regular routine.

Well, see above. I did buy my bike this spring and have been using it on my errands about town. I’m thinking about signing up for the Tour de France knitalong and making biking a certain number of miles part of my goal. Of course, this also corresponds with a writing deadline on July 29 so we’ll see if this actually pans out.

3. Devote time to regular meal planning and cooking.

Yeah, not so much. This is what fall is for, right? To be continued in September…

Improve my Intellect

1. Work on my dissertation at least one hour a day.

An hour? Only an hour? Out of necessity, this has taken over my life. I’m actually okay with that. I want it to be over, my advisor wants it to be over, my family wants it to be over, yeah, you get the picture. Write, write, write… then write some more.

2. Increase my professional activity with conference attendance and submission to journals.

I can’t really talk about it, but I got three big ol’ points in this area. If I really get going this week, I may even make some headway on a fourth. Still much more work to be done, but I feel like things are finally starting to move.

3. Read twelve non-dissertation books.

I have no idea where I stand on this goal. Do knitting and sewing books count? I did some reading while home in January and somewhere around here there’s a novel I started as a “fun” book. Who am I kidding? I think the only way this one is going to be checked off come December 31 is to revise it to say “Read 12 magazines, skipping the majority of the articles and only looking at the pretty pictures and make-up tips.” Oh well, next year…

Improve my Domestic Life

1. Avoid yarn and fabric purchases and minimize other expenses as much as possible.

I’ve done fairly well with avoiding shopping and purchases, especially of the crafty variety… except for that trip home in April when I went a little nutty with fabric sales. Oh, and except for that trip to Chicago when I found a great little yarn shop with a great sales bin… And I might have slipped up at the fabric shop in New Jersey… Basically, if I just stayed home, I’d be okay.

Honestly, this has been a big deal for me and something I’ve wasted a lot of thought upon. Since I started Ravelry, I’ve been slowly cataloguing the stash, a project which is either quite fun or quite disturbing. I feel guilty for having so much yarn and fabric, especially when I come across something that I honestly forgot I had. But… I also enjoy crafty purchases, especially unique finds like hand-dyed and specialty yarns or Kaffe Fassett prints that pop up here and there. I guess really I have a love/hate relationship with my stash but overall, I know I’ve cut down both my trips to JoAnn’s and my splurges at the regular yarn shops to nearly nothing so I’m pretty proud on this one. Eventually I’ll start to see a difference in the size of the stash… maybe.

2. Throw away or donate one item to charity every day.
3. Complete one cleaning or organizing task a day.

I’d put these things together as pretty hit or miss. I’ll get inspired and toss together a bag for Goodwill and then forget to drop it off until it sits in my car for a month. I’ve cleaned out a few dresser drawers or boxes in the storage room, but nothing consistently or nothing significant enough to really see or feel the progress. I’d love to just dive right in and start tearing apart my closets but at this point, I know I’m procrastinating more than cleaning. This will be something to work on over the next year. It really helps to think about the possibility of moving in a year as inspiration for at the very least, not adding more clutter to the chaos.

Improve my Overall Life

Search for happiness in every day, opening my eyes to new opportunities for joy wherever possible.

Nothing like a lofty goal hidden in simple language, right? In general, I feel my current attitude is better and I feel more optimistic, but eh, truth be told, on many most days I want to choke people, splurge on thousands of dollars of yarn and fabric and a million Oreos, and give up writing entirely to live a life of mystery and debauchery. I guess life at the moment is a constant struggle against stress. I’m a worrier by nature and being a grad student provides so many opportunities to run with that frame of mind. Will I finish the diss this year? Will I get a job? What do I need to do to improve my chances? Where will I live? How much weight should I lose to look nice in my interview suit? I need to eat healthier and cook more. Maybe organic, yeah, go organic. So expensive. How can I afford this? Must make more money. Can’t work any more hours and get writing done. Must cut expenses. What can be eliminated? Must list things on ebay. So much to be done, so much to be done. Oh, and friends and family… do they know I’m even alive? Add being social to the list… and blogging… and … and …

I’m really working to shut down that inner monologue of insanity but it really is a constant battle to shut it off. I guess it’s pretty obvious to any of you who read this that when I disappear from the blog, I’m not doing so well at turning down the volume on the stress voice in my head and I’m off freaking out somewhere. Best to be silent rather than subjecting you all to that, trust me!

But the thing that’s improved in the past year is that I can eventually shut it off. I can get myself in a complete tizzy and then jump out of it, at least to some degree. I’m learning when I need to be quiet and when I need to stay home by myself. I’m accepting that I will only be able to get to so many knitting and sewing projects a year, will only be able to workout so many hours a week, will only be able to keep up with my friends once in a blue moon, and will only be able to keep the apartment clean enough that the health department shouldn’t be called in for emergency evacuations. (Aren’t you glad that you’re just reading and not planning to visit?)

I'll always have more plans than hours in the day and more desires than energy or funds to make all those dreams come true. I suppose with age comes the wisdom to accept those unfulfilled desires as a sign that my resources are being devoted to those dreams which are truly important. It seems that for me, the process of maturing has been a process of choosing to let things go, give things up, release pressures and responsibilities. It seems counter-intuitive as we're supposed to increase our lives as we age, bringing in new pursuits and activities. That certainly has been the case to a certain degree as I've expanded my knowledge of the world and what it has to offer, but the moments which have made me feel truly "grown up" are those in which I've been able to say, "Thanks, but no thanks."

I suppose this is all in how you spin it as I could just as easily say that I'm focusing my life to become more specialized and skilled in my chosen pursuits. Rather than dabbling in a million crafts, I'm trying to improve my skills in just a few. In the place of training for a decathalon, I'm just working out enough to keep the heart pumping and the jeans fitting. Does it also work to say that instead of keeping up on email and maintaining a clean home, I'm becoming a messy hermit but choice? I suppose the idea of choosing your focus only goes so far...

Anyway, all in all, I’m pretty happy to be starting on 31, or at least as happy as a grumpy worrier in the midst of a dissertation can be!

And enough of me, I've got a contest to present, thanks to offer and some actual knitting content for the next post!

Under the Boardwalk

No beach knitting on my weekend escape but lots of pretty scenery.

Congratulations, Joe and Hilda! It was a gorgeous weekend!

It's 5 o'clock somewhere...

... or perhaps I should say that it's 5 o'clock everywhere, at least for the next four days. There will be beach and sun and knitting and trashy magazines and junk food and drinks involving vodka. Oh yeah, and a wedding...

There won't be modeling of a finished shawl. Changed my dress plans and came to my senses about the actual time needed to complete each of those charts. I figured since I was really enjoying the process, no need to rush through it at the end just to make a self-imposed deadline. I'll do modeling shots on the "beach" at Lake Erie. It's kinda like the ocean, right? Well, if you squint really hard, ignore the toxic water and minor details like say, seeing the Canadian shoreline in the distance. We're Americans, we can ignore Canada, right?

Anyway, will return with a new energy for blogging, writing, and keeping my nose clean... hopefully. Oh yeah, and a contest for my blogiversary.

Just a few announcements:

- Mystery Stole 3 sign-ups are going on until July 6. Clues start June 29. I know there's absolutely zero chance of me keeping up with the group, but it's fun to play along. Last year the finished stoles were amazing and I imagine this year's design will be equally inspiring. If you're a lace knitter, you should give it a try. (FYI, link above is to the very, very talented designer. You have to sign-up through Yahoo Groups.)

- Ravelry really is all that and a bag of chips. I received my invite last weekend and have only had about an hour to play so far, but it's going to be a really great tool. If you're in the queue, do get started getting all your Flickr photos whipped into shape. I haven't been keeping up with the uploading and it's going to be time-consuming now to catch up. I'll post more once I have time to play.

Off to slather on the SPF 60+ and think about nothing more serious than the latest issue of Cosmo and what flavor ice cream I want to eat for dinner! Margaritas for everyone!

Little Boxes

This week my Netflix fix included Weeds, the comedy about the suburban, pot-dealing widow delivering a bit of chemical escape to her fellow private-community-dwelling pals. At first, I skipped this one, finding the whole concept a bit too contrived in its methodology of bringing up stereotypes and then, oh surprise of surprises, inverting them. There are a few groan-worthy moments, but overall, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at just how smart and funny this show really is. And for the time-challenged among us (um, that would include pretty much all of us except for those bored, rich housewives with nothing to do outside of daily Pilates class, a weekly PTA meeting and ordering about the maids), I give it many, many stars for being cute and clever in bite-size, less-than-30-min. chunks.

Anyway, the whole point behind my recommendation is that the theme song for the show is wonderful and is completely stuck in my head. (If you haven’t heard it, go here for the lyrics.) Since I’ve been walking around humming “Little Boxes, Little Boxes” to myself, I’ve been thinking first of the points the song and show make about our positions in the world and interactions with people and the stereotypes around them. When I haven’t been vegged in front of the TV this week, I also had a few dates with some perfectly nice but perfectly sheltered suburban boys who clearly had some “little boxes” of their own. There’s probably more to say about that, but I think I’m just going to leave it with this rule for future dating: If you’re scared to come into my neighborhood at night, you’re too uptight for me. And no, I won’t walk you to your car. My neighbors won’t eat you. They might give you a much-deserved hard time for being an uptight suburbanite, but you’ll make it to your vehicle safely if you don’t pass out on the sidewalk like a ninny. Humph…

The second, and more knitting-relevant, “little boxes” point to cross my addled brain is on a much more literal level. I never realized how much of a thing I had for containers… boxes, jars, baskets, bags, all these little treasure chests sitting inconspicuously on the edges of bookshelves, tucked into the corner of a chair, hidden away inside larger containers. I suppose I like the illusion of organization and control, all those boxes lined in a row, but I think it’s more about the tiny bits of treasure that are too dear to toss, too insignificant to know what to do with.

Perhaps this is a crafting thing, the knowledge that those little bits are often just the perfect touch for a project or perhaps they’re the inspiration for something much larger, something that may not even incorporate that tiny sliver of ribbon or small scrap of flannel. Of course, we’ve probably all had the experience of forgetting what is lurking in our little boxes. Sometimes you just know that you have beads that you absolutely must use, but a search under lids and inside pockets everywhere yields everything but those special sparkly bits. Most often, I get frustrated in my search, give up and hit the store for more tiny bits, promising myself that I’ll do better this time, putting my extras away in the perfect little box which will never get lost and will always be remembered. And the cycle of storage, search and loss begins again…

In a rare moment of fortuitous crafting, I happened to open one of my special little boxes around the same time I discovered the pattern for the Spring Things Shawl and just after I purchased the very yarn the pattern calls for, even in the same exact color as the pattern picture, frighteningly enough. A project was born.

If all goes well and my needles take on a never-before-seen speed, I’ll be wearing a beaded shawl to a beach wedding next weekend. Granted, I didn’t bother counting the beads after I discovered them to even see if I have enough stashed away to complete the project, but where’s the fun in that? I’m just planning to knit merrily along, smug in my capacity to finish off leftovers from a previous project while simultaneously taking on my first ‘real’ lace.
Last night when I finally got to the beaded section, I did a massive hunt through all my assorted tool bags for that miniscule crochet hook that I just knew I had holed away… just in case. Oh so many little bags to dig through. Just as I was about to throw up my needles in despair, there it was, hidden amidst all the missing stitch holders, point protectors and odd tape measures that I’d forgotten about entirely.

I’m not sure I should declare this publicly, but so far, this project is coming together ever-so-nicely. Maybe the enchanted little boxes have been conspiring to help the crazy lady who feels the need to store every six-inch piece of scrap yarn. Perhaps this is actually just a tease put together by all my clutter as word has gotten out that I’m doing my darnedest to either use up my stashes or start posting weekly on eBay. I can just hear them, “Oh, we’ll put together one nice thing for her. She’ll start paying more attention to us and opening up all sorts of little boxes to see what’s inside and how it can be used. The next thing you know, she’ll embark on some grandiose scheme and that’s when we’ll get her. We’ll shuffle our contents so she can’t find anything at all, she’ll have a crafty breakdown and run to every store in town with credit card in hand, ready and willing to fill up every little box, bag and jar will tiny bits of unknown origin and design. Each tiny bit will beget 20,749 other tiny bits and nary a completed object will be found.”

Yeah, I worry myself too when I imagine talking little boxes planning an uprising. Best stick to just finishing the shawl and planning some beach knitting for next weekend. I think I’ll only tackle the stash one little box at a time.

Give and Ye Shall Receive

Earlier this year I sent Lone Knitter an afghan for her charity collection and I was a lucky winner in one of her drawings. Yay for pretty yarn and what looks to be a really useful book of sock patterns!

And We're Back...

Cue local TV announcer with the cheap suit and cheesy toupee.

“Well, it’s been a week of mysterious sightings of the lost and unknown among us, folks. First, Loch Ness Nellie decided to come to the surface for a little sun and some film time. Then, that blogger who never blogs, Leslie, actually put up a post. Who knows what could be next. I’d keep your pets and children away from the woods because I’m sure Big Foot is sure to emerge any day now. And now to Charlie for the weather…”

Kinda went missing there for a bit. Wish I could start out by announcing that I had won the lottery, found true love with the gas station clerk who sold me the ticket, been passed on my dissertation in the hopes that I’d donate a new library wing to the university, ran a marathon just for kicks and knit twelve pairs of socks on the plane to our exotic honeymoon on a private island. Wouldn’t that make a great blog post?

Actually, the weather has just been rather warm and I’ve actually been working so when I’m not trying to blather on about Dickens, I’ve been escaping to the waterfront on my bike. The shore of Lake Erie isn’t always picturesque, but at least the breeze is nice.

So, what have I been up to?

Baby Blanket

I used the same hexagon idea as the afghan I sent to Lone Knitter to crochet a baby blanket out of recycled yarn that I reclaimed from a lovely but unflattering sweater. (Yeah, I know, nearly unreadable sentence structure there. Yep, and I teach English to the youth of America. We’re all doomed.) I intended for the edge ruffle to be a little more ‘ruffly’ but I was worried that I’d run out of the navy yarn as I was trying to use skeins from the stash. Easy project and fun to see the stash shrinking. Now if I could only get my hiney to start shrinking, we’d be in business!

Back Porch Sewing

I spend many, many of my summer hours reading and writing on the back porch. It was time to update the cushion covers so I put these together, again from stash materials. Perhaps the most exciting part of this project for me was the fact that I used absolutely all of the orange floral fabric and all but maybe ¼ yard of the plaid. I found this at some point on the clearance rack at JoAnn’s and probably just bought what remained on the bolt. It’s disturbingly gratifying to go stash diving and not have to repack anything away.

(UFO's L to R: Spring Things Shawl, Quilt to Bind, Mystery Sewing Project)

I feel like my craft output has really been limited lately but I suppose that’s a good thing as I’m pleased as punch to finally have the chance to be outside without snow boots. I’m still chugging along on several unfinished projects and itching to start something new. I started (but of course didn’t finish) a post for the summer goals contest and realized that I’m in kind of a crafty limbo at the moment. This year, I’m trying to stick to finishing projects before starting new ones, taking care of gift making, and using stash materials. I’m definitely in a ‘slogging’ point with most things, miles and miles to stitch before I blog. I also am working on projects with a deadline, although aren’t we always working on a birthday/holiday/big fancy event deadline? The shawl needs to be finished for a wedding in TWO WEEKS, as does the hand-finishing on the quilt, I still owe everyone last year’s Christmas presents and I have several plans for sock projects that I intended to start ages ago. I do feel like I don’t want to get all hot and bothered over something new until these things are off the needles. Although, I did receive a package in the mail this week that is sooooo tempting. More on that tomorrow. *sigh* The difficulties of life as a crafter…

Man, if only I really could win the lottery and hang out on a private island for a few months, maybe then I could start to see real progress on using the stash and finishing my queue of projects. Until that happens, guess I better just try to keep slogging through the WIPs and blogging more than once a month!

Tote Bag Lady

Now that my schedule has let up and I feel like I can breathe a tiny little bit, I need to catch up some of my finished objects.

Shocking friends and family alike, for the first time maybe ever, I mailed this year's Mother's Day gift on time. At least a little bit of good came out of having a sick day at the sewing machine the weekend before.

I made a simple tote bag out of cowboy/cowgirl fabric using iron-on fleece on my outer pieces. Just for the sake of keeping track of these things, I based my bag measurements on View A from McCall's pattern 3894 and improvised the straps based on other tote bags and what size scraps I had leftover. Simple bag but fun results!

Pics to come... guess I was so excited to get it in the mail, I forgot to snap some images. That's what I get for being on time with something!

On the second version of the bag I made for a friend's birthday, I used decorator weight fabric for the exterior so I matched it with a medium weight iron-on interfacing. Both projects were made using supplies entirely from the stash, which goes to show how big the stash is if I can wake up sick on a Sunday morning and complete two items without ever changing out of my jammies!

I met Christina through a secret pal exchange awhile ago and as she was such a great pal, I wanted to send her a small thank you present. She's a great knitter and I have a sneaking suspicion that she's the kind of gal you'd want at a party... all calm and nice with her knitting until she starts telling stories about jumping out of airplanes and speeding down the road on her motorcycle. She's the only person I know who has earned the right to have something made from the great biker-skeleton-hell-raiser fabric from Alexander Henry. The whole time I was sewing the nice, well-mannered Amy Butler tote bag I kept giggling at this insane fabric. (It's probably a good thing I live alone.) I also made a matching notions bag lined with kitschy knitting fabric but again, seem to have forgotten to take a picture.

These fairly simple projects are such a fun way to let the fabric shine. I definitely see more like these in the future. There's a biiiiiiiig stash in there that needs to be toted right on out of the storage room so there may be tote bags for all for Christmas this year!

Brain.Full.Now... Too. Full...

Well, nine knitting hours later, I can finally say that I’m a little tired of talking, thinking and doing stuff with sticks and string!

The Guild workshops were great and I thoroughly enjoyed picking up all the tips and tricks she had to offer. In the first session, we covered top down raglans and started our own mini cardigans. Getting a neat little comparison of the different methods of increases was worth the price of admission. Who knew that you should match your increase method to the fiber content of your yarn? The second workshop covered finishing techniques, skills that I could always improve. Edge stitches? Yep, I read about those somewhere… and promptly forgot to use them.

By the time I got to our monthly knitting group last night, I was pretty much spent so I gossiped instead of stitching and was, for once, perfectly content to let the needles stay in my bag.

I think my brain was soooo full of knitting, actually, that it’s thrown off my sense of balance.

Today in my torture session with the trainer she brought out the infamous medicine balls for a little fun, or um, embarrassment. The instructions were for me to sit on one of the exercise balls, catch the medicine ball she tossed at me, then extend for a back bend, touching the floor with the weight above my head and then coming up in a crunch before tossing the ball back to her. Okay, preschool exercises here… catch, toss, back bend… no biggee…

Or so I thought until I do a back bend, get dizzy and honestly fall off the stupid exercise ball, flat on my face in the middle of the gym. Excuse me, please ignore the idiot who clearly hasn’t earned her sneakers.

Summer Vacay Here I Come!

School’s out for summer! Only something as glorious as summer break could make me channel my inner Alice Cooper. Technically, this doesn’t really change much of anything for me as I haven’t been in classes (teaching or taking) all year and I will be continuing my usual writing job throughout the hot and sweaty months. But… I’ll be doing less of them, so there. And… I won’t have to fight for a parking spot. And… whatever, it’s close enough to being a summer break that I’m celebrating!

Now to tackle that list of things that I’ve ignored for the past month of work and illness insanity, a list so long that I may get it done before the pesky undergrads return in the fall if I really hurry. (If I owe you an email, work project or just basic contact, be on the lookout. I’m trying to return to the land of the living but it may take me awhile!)


This weekend I kicked off my summer celebrations with some wild and crazy cleaning. Before my eyes close tonight, laundry and dishes will be caught up, the floors will be mopped, the porches will be swept and who knows, I may even be totally wacky and dust or file the stack of papers sitting on my desk. But then, if I put away the papers, I may have a clean desk and actually have to do some dissertation writing. Maybe I’ll procrastinate on that a little bit longer…
On Friday night, our guild hosted Maureen Mason-Jamison for a trunk show before her three-day teaching stint. From looking at her website, I wasn’t sure if she was my cup of tea. I’m not really an “artsy” dresser who can pull off mitered square jackets or wild colors. I get images of those whacked out, hippie-fried art and English teacher stereotypes and I quickly scuttle back to my safe wardrobe of black pants and grey sweaters. I occasionally throw in an unexpected bit of color here and there, but I tend to stick to solid colors and tailored lines, nothing too foofy, nothing too flashy.

Wasn’t I surprised when by the end of the evening I was dreaming up Kaffe Fasset-inspired colorways in which to knit a mitered square vest. I managed to take a deep breath and cool down my brain long enough to realize that maybe I should try wearing a bright scarf before I plunge into a complicated colorwork sweater jacket, but nonetheless her talk was wonderfully interesting and inspiring.

I took away several great tips and am really looking forward to Monday when I’m taking two workshops with her, one on finishing techniques and one on top-down raglans. She really has an eye for fit and adding tailored details to her garments, something that doesn’t come across as well on the mannequin shots on her website as when a real person models the garments. She had members strut their stuff wearing her trunk show samples and it was amazing to see what looked like a basic, boxy piece turn into a flattering, structured garment when given live arms and shoulders to fill it out. One of her lessons was that since the brain always processes warm colors before cool, you should design colorwork pieces with the warm colors in the center of your body and keep the cool shades to the sides. The brain will focus on the peach or pink and won’t register as much of the purple or blue, making you appear slimmer and narrower. And if our knitting makes us look skinnier, doesn’t that mean fewer hours at the gym and more hours on the couch knitting? Pass me my needles and a cupcake!


The other aspect of her talk that was inspiring was her sense of play and whimsy combined with studious design. On the one hand, it was clear that this was a woman who thought about her work down to the tiniest, tiniest detail. She didn’t just knit, she studied knitting. She briefly mentioned learning about Japanese buttonhole techniques as if she was learning a whole new craft. Shoot, I’m pretty darn happy if I manage to get the right number of buttonholes thrown into a project, let alone how they look around the edges! Yet, on the other hand, she never made those details tedious or boring because they were part of a larger program where she would wake up and decide to knit a hat, rummage around until she had just the right colors and go for it. Even then, though, her play is always part of a program to get to a wearable garment, maybe just not wearable for a boring grad student who loves her plain grey sweaters.

Too often I think I get caught up in “good taste,” quilt or knitting designs that are practical and resemble what might be featured on the shelves at Macy’s. I love looking at color and playing with design, yet only recently have I really started challenging myself to do projects which may not follow all the rules of subdued presentation or neat order. I still want to avoid the “artsy”-flowing-hippie-robes wardrobe as it just isn’t me, but I’m enjoying breaking into new territory like my latest quilts out of Kaffe Fasset fabric (to be shown this week) and the Lizard Ridge afghan pictured today. Maybe if I line up the warm colors in the center of my afghan, I can use it on the couch while I’m knitting and it will make me look even slimmer as I laze about. Hmm… pass me another cupcake while I think about it!


A few years ago I took an introduction to sweater design class, came up with some sketches and basic numbers and, of course, purchased the yarn. Last summer I realized that I had absolutely no idea what my swatches meant or where the pieces were in my plan so I frogged it all and dumped the bag in the stash. I have a feeling that before Ms. Mason-Jamison leaves town, I’ll be restarting that project.

Trying

A few months ago our Knitting Guild hosted a night of mini-workshops where members selected a short course taught by some of our expert members. Small groups of us worked on everything from learning to cable to making tube socks. I took the opportunity to try one of those things that you see but just don't know quite what to do with... wire knitting.






Um, don't expect me to make any of those pretty wire votives any time soon.


After awhile I suppose I got it but I'm pretty sure I didn't really enjoy it. As with any new skill, it was slow and tedious. I'm sure that it would improve over time but for once, I met with a craft that I just didn't feel the need the pursue. Would I give up time with angora or alpaca to break out the wire? Um, no.


My sentiments were pretty much shared by everyone at the table. It was a resounding, "Well... that was interesting, informative, and now I'm pretty darn sure I don't need to add that to my knitting repertoire."


The cool thing about the whole evening was that we all tried something very different, gave it our all for a short while, met with varying degrees of success, and ultimately felt comfortable giving it up at the "trying" stage. In nearly all the classes and workshops I've taken, crafty and otherwise, we may say that we're okay with just "trying," but that's rarely the case. Some people just get it, they take to the task like ducks in water, whipping out a quilt before the instructor even finishes the pinning process or publishing a paper on the subject while the rest of us are still trying to decipher the introduction to the beginner's book. Others struggle through the designated hour or two, frustrated and almost angry that they wasted their time with something they weren't meant to do. Whether they trip over their step in an aerobics class or throw down their knitting needles in disgust, the effort of "trying" is entirely lost energy, never enough to please the student or the instructor who wants all the pupils to leave the room happy and content. We may tell youngsters to just give it a go, but really, I've never seen a group of 10 women sit around a table and be perfectly content with just "trying."

Perhaps it was the comedy of our trial, the fact that we were the only table who were offered safety goggles at a knitting event. Perhaps it was the general group failure where none of us had to glare jealously across the room at the person who was a natural. Perhaps it was because we were trying something entirely outside the frame of reference for the room. We weren't like the cabling class who had to look out and see three or four gorgeous sweaters made by members who had the gift of the twisted stitch or those struggling with double point needles while frustrated by members ogling the latest socks to hit the scene. No one walked by our table to patronizingly tell us, "Hang in there, you'll get it." No, the group pretty much looked at our wire cutters and pliers and walked slowly away, wondering what on earth we wanted to try that for.

So for an hour or two, we kept trying. We all improved. We all came up with all sorts of things we could make with this new skill. And then we all agreed that we didn't really plan to make those things. The evening's effort was enough and we'd leave the wire creations to our talented instructor. We tried, we knit, and we walked away without a successful project or the need to hit the craft store for new supplies. Sometimes it's nice to just try.

Quilt Camp Redux

Thanks to all of you who sent out virtual search parties. I went home to see the family for a short visit and am still recovering. (Kidding, mom… kinda.)

You know how it is, vacationing… such an exhausting way to spend time! I think all that time having fun did a number on my immune system because all I’ve done since being home is cough and sputter. Now that I’m back, I’ve got a ton of catch-up to do so hopefully Ill be able to keep the blog a’going a bit better.

Back in the dark and blustery days of February, my mom did her usual Saturday check-in phone call from a place near and dear to our hearts… quilt camp. As I may have been a wee bit on the grumpy and jealous side, I told her to book me a bed because in April, I was hopping on a jet plane and treating myself to a few good days with a fabric-induced high. Just to keep the high going a wee bit longer (at least until I get the credit card bill for the fabric I purchased), thought I’d write a recap of our outing. This will probably take a few posts, as I’m a little, well, wordy. I’ll try to make the tale worthwhile with a picture or two along the way and maybe some knitting posts tossed in for good measure.

So, to begin…

In the heart of rural Illinois, otherwise known as the middle of stinkin’ nowhere,* lies a blissful, peaceful lodge perfect for a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend retreat with needle and thread.

Pshaw… nothing relaxing about it.

Once a month, the Kinderhook Lodge hosts 20 women and their fancy-pants sewing machines, bolts and bolts of fabric, buckets of baked goods and enough rotary cutters to chop off fingers till the sun don’t shine. If you have an image of quilting bees as quiet affairs with demure grannies sipping tea, let me assure you, this isn’t that kind of quilting bee. Those grannies are downright lewd, especially when they’re determined to finish that $##%@ quilt around 3 a.m.!

The weekend shebang kicked off around 3.30 a.m. on Thursday (yup, that’s o’dark thirty… and yup, I’d been packing until midnight, you can do the math on that one) when I had to haul my tired behind out of bed to catch my flight. Since recent Leslie travel adventures have included major delays stuck on the runway, a missed trip due to booking incompetence (my own, of course… can’t figure out how to read a calendar), and lost luggage, I got to the airport with time to spare. Even thought I was going to luck out with an entire row to myself for the first leg of the journey until a nice, confused elderly woman was escorted to join me. No problemo, she stays over there, I snore over here with room to stretch.

And then she brought out the cat…

True confession time, I’m not a huge pet person. I know there’s something genetically wrong with my cold-as-ice heart that I don’t love cuddling up to the furry ones, but I just don’t particularly care for them. Anyone still reading or have you banned me to the nether regions of hell yet?

It was pretty clear that this was not a frequent flier and the poor lady didn’t speak English, so I took a deep breath and made peace with the fact that the cat she was holding in her lap was her security blanket and even I can’t begrudge granny her beloved furrball in these circumstances. I tried to close my eyes and pray that the thing didn’t throw a fit upon take off or I’d have to get out my knitting needles and defend myself from flying claws.

Well, remember that part about it being really, really early? I had decided to delay my caffeine fix until after the first flight in the hopes of getting in a few more minutes of shut eye and, more importantly, to avoid using the loo on the plane. (I saw a CSI episode once where the blue toilet water from a plane killed a guy so I have this weird fear of causing damage on earth with my tinkle in the sky… anyway…) Point being that without my daily jolt (or twelve) I may not have been firing on all cylinders in my assessment of my seat partner.

As the engines start whirling, I figure I best keep at least one sleep-encrusted eye on the tabby beside me, just in case I need to make any fast moves to protect myself. Good thing, too, because as I look over, the lady moves from gently petting her little one to sticking her finger into fluffy’s butt to flip the switch.

Fluffy came with batteries.

Now, on the one hand, the idea of a robotic cat as opposed to an unpredictable feline with claws was somewhat comforting. Unless the thing pulled a Chucky on me and turned demonic, how dangerous could a toy be? And then I realized that I was sitting next to someone who was clearly terrified of flying, confused about what the flight attendants were saying and temporarily without juice to her electronic friend. Now this could be an interesting flight.

Lucky for us all, a limp, battery-less Fluffy was enough to keep everyone calm and the minute we were in the air, the flight attendant came over and let Fluffy be brought back to life. Hallelujah for small resurrections. The freaky thing purred all the way to DC.

Unfortunately, the second leg of my journey wasn’t quite so pleasant. Again I got to share my row with someone who was not enjoying the friendly skies. Only this time, no battery-operated device calmed things down. And things certainly needed to be calmed down. In particular, Mr. Stinky’s digestive tract needed some major calming.

For three hours on a somewhat bumpy ride, Mr. Stinky churned out enough gas to keep us afloat Hindenburg-style just in case the engines gave way. Add that much yucky to the air filtration system and well, it was a very, very long ride.

And that was only the start of my journey…

More to come about the weekend for those of you at home who wish to keep the fabric flame alive. Looking forward to checking out all your blogs and seeing everything I've missed the past few weeks. Happy Cinco de Mayo to all. Wishing you buckets and buckets of margaritas!


* “Middle of stinkin’ nowhere” = no Starbucks for miles and miles. Think deer munching in the front yard kind of place, a description intended to be praise. As I sit here writing while listening to my neighbors on one side fight over whose turn it is to do the dishes and neighbors on the other side prepping food for today’s big hockey game, the middle of stinkin’ nowhere sounds pretty darn wonderful!

Project Spectrum: Green

Anyone care to place a bet as to how many times I'll be pulling this out?

Spring Thing Shawl - I stumbled on this pattern using the exact yarn I bought on a whim in Chicago, seemed like the lace gods were giving me a hint so I'm giving it a go. I'll be the one on the knitalong struggling along at the end!

I'm really hoping to finish this for a June wedding but certainly not betting on it.

Off the Needles

I suppose it's a good problem when you have a list of finished projects to be blogged. Our perpetually grey skies have been not-so-good for the photo taking and oh-so-good for the sitting on the couch knitting.

At least the cold weather is giving me more opportunity to wear winter gear... like my new scarf.

Pattern: Midnight Purl's Diagonal Lace Scarf

Yarn: Ellen's 1/2 pint; silk/merino blend; 1 skein

Needles: 7 Addis - With this yarn, I'd suggest using a blunt needle to avoid snags on the silk.

Dates: March - April 2007

Notes: Yum... silk and merino in my favorite colors. Easy but interesting pattern that works well with the hand-painted yarn. Overall, a big woo-hoo for a quick one-skein project! Definitely a keeper if you're looking for a fast, pretty present idea (or a new scarf to make the never-ending winter a little brighter).

Pattern: Adapted from an Interweave Pattern from several years ago, taught at the Elmwood Yarn Shop

Yarn: Plymouth Galway, assorted colors

Needles: 10.5 circs

Dates: Fall 2005 - April 2007

Notes: This one sat for a long, long while as I procrastinated about lining it. I kept dreaming up "perfect" schemes for the handles, pockets, drawstring, etc. but finally just said to heck with it, put something in this bag and put it to use. Perfect? Far from it, but so far I've gotten compliments every time I've used it. There's a lesson in there that my perfectionistic/procrastinating self is avoiding. I'll think about that... later. Certainly after I've agonized over a few more unfinished projects!

This was my first fair isle so I'm a little proud of it. Felting helps the pride as it erases all the bumps and lumps in the washing machine. More pics here.

And of course with the finishing of projects comes the starting of projects...

1. The Spring Things Shawl - Definitely more on this when I actually start knitting the lace... but don't worry, I'll spare you all the bad words that will come along.

2. What can I say, I'm a joiner...

Mmm... New Socks

Pattern: Spindle Socks from My Fashionable Life

Yarn: Looped Back Cascades colorway, DK weight (colorway best represented in top picture)

Needles: Knitpicks Sz. 2

Dates: March 2007 - Project Spectrum blue

Notes: The only good thing about the return of winter is the chance to wear thick socks for a bit longer. I enjoyed knitting these and found them very fast. I finally got cabling without a cable needle, yay for new skills! My only modification was to make all the cables go the same direction on the second sock. So, they technically don't match, but hey, I'm no stranger to non-matching socks.

Insert random story - In college, I was not exactly a frequent visitor to the basement laundry. There was waaaay too much to do to be bothered with such nonsense, especially when underwear was cheap at Wally World. When I came home, I'd load up the car with all my dirties and put mom's machine to the test. (Sorry about that, mom. And sorry I was still doing that when I was in grad school and living five states away...) My first semester I returned from Thanksgiving with what I thought was enough clean laundry to make it to Christmas. My sock supply ran dry just before finals and at that point, I was too freaked out with studying to even bother buying more. Luckily, my packrat ways came to the rescue and I was able to pull out all those mismatched socks that were lingering at the bottom of the drawer, waiting for their long-lost mates. I took, and aced, every final that semester wearing socks of two different colors. Being the superstitious student, I washed those mismatched socks and saved them for every finals week for the rest of my college career. I may have looked like a complete fool taking that advanced linguistics exam, but the A was worth it!

Back to the socks... I've got another pair of these in white on the needles, awaiting a visit home to measure my grandmother's foot. My original intention was to do both for Project Spectrum pieces, but we'll have to extend that white/grey/blue deadline a bit. I have a tentative goal to do a pair of socks for each color group, but we'll see how that holds up. Goodness knows there's stash yarn for each color group! Here's where I need some help though.

I bought this yarn from The Lone Knitter's etsy shop, Woolly Boully, and am not sure what pattern to use. It's gorgeous stuff and such a unique colorway that I want to really show it off. How do you match up your sock yarns and patterns? I'm leaning towards something fairly plain to make the colors the focus. I'm also thinking non-lace but maybe that's just because it's cold here and I fear having to march through the snow in July with holes in my socks. Any suggestions?

Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych!

Happy Easter!

When I first started teaching in Buffalo, one of the hardest parts of my job was learning to pronounce the last names of my Polish students. I'd go down the list and if they ended with "-ski," I knew better than to even try to spit out all those syllables without vowels. I'd apologize and smile and they excused me, assuring me that it was a local skill that I'd acquire in time.

Yesterday I visited Buffalo's famed Broadway Market, a haven of all things Polish and Easter. I've heard for years that this indoor, urban market was de rigueur for people all over the area. Families have their own traditions for when they go get their butter lamb and placek.

Children anxiously anticipate what color they get for their yearly painted egg.

Suburbanites who wouldn't dream of entering the big, bad, scary city line up and fight for parking spaces so they can go in and elbow people who dare come between mom and her sausage. And speaking of sausage, woah, pounds and pounds of it coiled into giant piles in refrigerator cases. When we were there, the crowd had thinned from the peak morning hours, but I still heard someone say he had waited for over an hour to get just the right sausage for the family festivities. The most popular booths had been sold old for hours, but the ones that were still operating were calling out orders over microphones to teenage boys who were moving so fast, I don't see how they weren't cutting off fingers and toes as they whacked off the requested poundage, wrapped it in butcher paper and tossed the coil to another guy with knife at the ready. Not exactly like picking up Jimmy Dean's at the grocery store, that's for sure.

While we skipped the sausage, we couldn't even think about walking past the cannoli stand without indulging. My friend Rachel is a wee little mite of a girl, 5 ft tall when she's stretching, but boy oh boy does she love her food. In true foodie fashion, she gasps at bakery cases and moans over restaurant menus. Now these were no ordinary cannolis. These delectable delights required two hands and in my case, two days to consume. Rachel, however, really enjoyed her cannoli, downing a treat the size of her head in a matter of minutes. I'm guessing she went home and straight into a sugar coma, rising only to fix French toast from the challah she purchased and then back to baked-good-induced lounging.

This isn't the best picture of Rachel as we're still bundled up in our winter gear and walking around with hat hair, but you get the point, big cannoli. Ah, the joys of a white Easter...

Bread and chocolate... what could be better? After seeing the hordes carry out these loaves of placek, we had to ask what it was. Although the vendor looked at us as if we came from outer space, after all only aliens wouldn't know about placek, she took pity on us and gave us each a slice to try. I don't think I even finished chewing before I requested a loaf to take home.

The chocolates were made by a local company who hand-pours their easter bunnies and sugar eggs. Mmm... dark chocolate eggs with mocha buttercream filling...

I couldn't resist this beauty, a handpainted Russian egg. From what we could figure out, the symbolism of the designs on the eggs differs slightly between the various countries represented and each uses a different technique to paint the wooden eggs, but all were quite beautiful and unusual. Nothing like the plain ol' Paas dyed eggs of my past!

While it's hard to believe we left any food group untouched, on the way home I regretted skipping the pierogi. Although I'm not sure the prune pierogi we saw will ever make its way to my table, I think some good cheese and potato ones will warrant a return trip.

While I still can't pronounce those Polish names, I'm certain that there will be more placek in my future! Whatever your Easter tradition includes, hope you all have a good holiday weekend!