FO: Shalom Cardigan

One reason I was not very productive during Socktoberfest was because I got distracted. Awhile back, thanks to friends and white wine, I got the courage to completely frog the first sweater I ever knit. I planned to let the yarn sit, but once it was nicely balled up and stored away I felt lonely for it. Strange I know. The sweater had been in my closet for about 5 years, definately since before the twins were born, just sitting there. It was never worn. But once it was gone I started missing it. So I began the slow process of reincarnation.

The yarn re-knit beautifully, and I'm happy to say that my skills have mightily improved since I first knit that sweater. The new piece is the Shalom Cardigan. It's a great staple to add to my fall/winter wardrobe. It nicely layers over a long-sleeve t-shirt, perfect for those days when it's too chilly to wear one on it's own. It is 100% wool so it is also quite warm. Good thing it's short-sleeved and a cardigan. It adds just the right layer of warmth and color.

This was my first attempt at doing anything larger than kids clothes or accessories (socks, hats, mittens, shawls, etc.). It required a lot of work, and a lot of faith. I took measurements, knit a gauge swatch, used a calculator, and probably most importantly knit from my gut. The final garment mostly turned out as I had hoped.

The only hitch - the same one as from the original sweater - was that this yarn is heavy and thus wears long and drapey. When I soaked the sweater for blocking it spread all over the table and I gathered it up best I could, but there was no denying that the finished cardigan was about 8 inches longer than before I soaked it, and about 7 inches longer then I planned for. It's also bigger overall than it needs to be (that second button isn't pulling - I made a wonky buttonhole on accident). It's ok with me. Had this been my first time knitting with this yarn I may have gone back and taken off a few inches to shorten it up. But I'm happy with it and so it stays. It may not place me on any knitter's 'best dressed' list, but it surely identifies me as a knitter. I'll gladly wear it. I'll wear it proud.

Socktoberfest Round-up

Socktoberfest came and went and here's what I have to show for it. Two finished socks, but not a complete pair. I will work my way towards complete pairs with the goal of finishing by the end of the year. I am in love with both these socks and look forward to wearing them. If I had more fashion gumption I might just wear them as a pair, mis-matched and all. But such as it is I don't. And they will remain members of the single sock society for a bit longer.

Once the pairs are complete I'll go into more detail about the patterns and yarn, but I would be remiss if I didn't give a quick 'thank you' to Kirsten from Through the Loops for her '09 Mystery Sock KAL sock pattern. It's truly a work of art.

Wag the Dog (or Happy Halloween)

This years Halloween costumes were sewn in a two-day event. One day to buy the fabric and cut the pieces, and one day for assembly. I relied on the help of this pattern, but adapted it to my own kids' tastes. The suits are made of polar fleece, which was perfect for our 40 degree weather.

They asked to be dogs for Halloween. Specifically, they wanted to be their favorite stuffed dogs. One is all black, and the other brown and white.

I've made costumes for the twins every year since they were born. My youngest daughter uses their old costumes, or thrifted ones that are part of the general dress-up collection in our casa.

I enjoy sewing (bags, quilts, pillows, etc.) but I don't entirely enjoy garment making. For me, kids costumes fall somewhere in the middle. So, having a interest in sewing puts me well on the road of making our own costumes. However, I also feel an overwhelming desire to make their costumes. I want my kids to remember the creative energy - as zany as it is - that surrounds dressing up for the land of make believe. But, there is more to it than that for me. For my kids they are just costumes, right?

Yet, I'm not sure what this 'more' is. Is it because my Mom sewed costumes for me and my brother when we were young? Is there tradition buried in the piles of thread and fabric scraps? Or is it something more global? Or more personal? Something that ties in to values I hold about art and craft and society? Values I hold about mother/parenthood?

In a way, I feel that making costumes is a personal statement about our culture and our choices. By making costumes - and knowing that they will be worn over and over and over again, and not just on Halloween - I choose to reject the idea that we live in a disposable society. The amount of waste produced by our family alone (a family that tries its best to recycle, reuse and repurpose as much as possible) is staggering. Often times I need to get rid of half of what I bring home from a store just to use an item: the packaging and the bag(s) it came in. So I find small ways to push back against this reality. I make or thrift cloth napkins. We make school lunches with re-usable containers. We buy in bulk. We use our own shopping sacks.

I was forced to think this issue through when a friend of a friend said, "I bet you're the kind of mom that makes your kids Halloween costumes, right?" It was a kind remark. It was intended to celebrate and support my creativity and motherhood. However, I was discomforted by the remark and I didn't figure out why until later. Making my kids costumes is less a sign of love for my kids than it is a statement about how we consume/use in our society - especially around holidays. Lots and lots of parents purchase costumes (handmade and otherwise) for their kids on Halloween and they don't love their kids any less than I do mine.

While I was taking this photo of my girls I was reminded of the saying - popularized by the movie of the same name - Wag the Dog.

To 'wag the dog' means to purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance, to something else of lesser significance. By doing so, the lesser-significant event is catapulted into the limelight, drowning proper attention to what was originally the more important issue. The expression
comes from the saying that 'a dog is smarter than its tail', but if the tail were smarter, then the tail would 'wag the dog'. [From useenglish.com]

So, I'm starting to wonder if this is it. Maybe I am wagging the dog with this costume issue. I want to draw attention to the sustainable handmade/homemade movement and away from the costume. For me the 'more' seems to be my desire for a society that values the art of independent creating, and not cheap plastic.

Black Welsh Sheep, Apple Pie & Salad Dressing

Two weeks ago our family made our annual apple picking trip. I always forget how quickly this goes - within 20 minutes of being among the trees we had picked over 100 lbs. of apples. Yikes. I've been busy making apple sauce, apple pie filling, apple crisps and apple bread. Next year I will remember that 60 lbs. (or two and a half bags) will be just fine for our family.

Luckily the orchard we go to has some other fun things to do, aside from the actual picking. There's a pond to visit, various paths to explore, and grape, raspberry and blackberry vines. They also have sheep! A beautiful herd of Black Welsh Mountain Sheep to be exact.

I purchased this skein directly from the owner of the orchard, who also raises the sheep. It was locally spun at the Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill. The girls and I had been petting the sheep that this yarn came from just 10 minutes before - they thought this was pretty cool. It was also affirming to meet the woman that produced this yarn. She only sells her yarn at the orchard - if you are interested you can get in touch with her at Door Creek Orchard. She has a variety of undyed colors and yarn weights.

Yes, that's right - this yarn is undyed. This perfectly black color is straight from nature. As a knitter that is typically drawn to color and dyed yarns, using this black will be a first for me. I'm excited however. "Natural is the new black," I was saying all weekend. In this case, that is completely accurate.

I have slowly been working through our apples. This year I tried apple pie filling. I can't remember which blog I got this link from, but it was a great starter recipe. It gives complete directions, with photos. I also like the recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I found my Clear Jel here.

Lastly, I've been obsessed of late with making salad dressing. Not only does it taste WAY better and fresher than store-bought, it gives my girls something to do; something to head off the 5-minutes-until-dinner-and-I-don't-know-what-to-do-while-I-wait whining session. I fill up a jar with the ingredients and give it to them to shake-shake-shake. I found a ton of great recipes in Sara Foster's Casual Cooking and Lorna Sass's Complete Vegetarian Kitchen. Do you all make your own dressing? What are your favorites?

Fall is our busy time

When I flipped the calendar from September to October I took a big sigh of relief. We had made it through our busy month with full weekends and evening events. There was nothing on our calendar for October, save Halloween. It was a clean slate. I imagined all the knitting I could get done, and all the progress I could make on my dissertation.

I mentioned this to DH after a few glasses of wine, not realizing that his head was FULL of things we s/could be doing as a family to enjoy the fall. Pumpkin picking, apple picking, library story time (there is a special one for Dads, complete with donuts and coffee), hayrides, a train ride, the Fall Art Tour, sauce making, pie baking, raking, gardening/yard work, stacking firewood, fires in the fireplace, costume making, and the list goes on I tell you! I had a few of those same things knocking around in my head too, but all of them? Yes, he insisted.

So, now that it is mid-October I've realized - and processed - the fact that fall is our busy time; a time of togetherness. I've been managing some work on the dissertation, but the knitting is neglected at the moment.

I did start and finish Calorimetry. It's a fantastically quick knit and a very cute fall wardrobe item; great for apple picking. And it's perfect for folks with long hair: no worries about static building up, or a hat smashing all the body out of your long locks. I picked out a cute pearl button, but have realized that it's too small. I'm now on the lookout for a bigger button to keep it snug around my head.

Socktoberfest '09 was all the motivation I needed to use another ball of delicious Noro yarn to knit up some socks. These striped beauties won't be finished for quite some time, but they are fun to knit. I'm also learning how to make travelling jogless stripes - very cool. Usually when you make stripes, while working in the round, it's very obvious where you changed colors. One stitch is color A and the next is color B. It looks sort of like a stair-step at the point you change colors. But this new-to-me technique eliminates that and with a few twists of yarn and the help of a stitch marker the steps disappear. You can read more about the technique here.

The '09 Mystery Sock KAL is coming along nicely too. Admittedly, I'm only knitting one sock, but I'm managing to stay caught up with the pattern. It's gorgeous so far. I wish I had selected a softer sock yarn, but instead these will be hearty winter socks. Think very thick, bright red wool. No pics yet, and there won't be until after the sock is finished. I don't want to spoil it for anyone else that's knitting along too.

And least my daughter thinks that I've forgotten about her purple sweater I haven't. It's still on the needles and I'm making some progress with it. I've promised her it will be done no later than Thanksgiving. Today we are headed out for a fall train ride. It's an hour in the car, one way. Maybe I'll get some knitting done...I can always hope, right?

Sewing, Crafting and Beading

My twin nieces turn four next week so I quickly whipped up these colored pencil rolls during this past week. It took about 1.5 nap times: one day I cut the pieces and the next day I did the assembly and sewing. They aren't as detailed at the ones I made for my girls a year ago, but they sure are cute. Again, I loosely followed the pattern directions in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. I decided on a white linen exterior (two different fabrics) with a dark solid for the interior and I think it works. To my eyes that dark background really makes the colored pencils stand out.

At first I thought that making a solid interior would save time on the project. And it did. But it created an additional challenge too - I had no way of making sure that the pockets I sewed for the pencils were straight, or that there would be 12 of them. Using the patchwork interior, which is nicely sized to the pockets, is very helpful indeed. I know I could have used chalk, making pens, or any other assorted notions that sewing folks use to mark lines on their work, but I was working under nap time deadline and just went for it. Ultimately I wound up with 11 pockets for each roll. So what I lack in spacial estimation I make up for in consistency.

At the end of the week I couldn't shake the crafting bug. I grabbed the crayon box from the kids art shelf and began sorting the bits into paper liners for the mini-muffin tin. I popped them into a 200 degree oven for 18 minutes (although I can't be sure, I did it by sight). They melted down into a new set of crayons. Since this was a nap time project, I was pleasantly surprised when the crayons had hardened and cooled by the time the girls woke up. They were amazed that "Mama made crayons!!" while they were sleeping. I think that I will keep this little secret to myself and let my all powerful, mystical, omnipotent aura float around in their little heads for awhile (ha, ha). On another funny note, when DH came home he asked me how many peanut butter cups I had to eat to get the project off the ground.

During this same uber-productive nap time I also whipped up five stitch markers for my knitting. The two rings on the far left are what I have been using since I started knitting. They are flexible and accommodating, but not very aesthetically pleasing or inspiring. The only plus side is that I can easily find the bright green ones when they slip below the couch cushions at night. I picked up the first beaded one on the left at my LYS about two years ago. I used it the other week on the second wallaby that I'm knitting and I thought that the brightly colored rings just didn't do it justice.

Earlier in the week I went to the craft store, with the three kids in tow, to find supplies for a future knitting/beading project and quickly realized how naive I am about beading. There is a lot to take in when browsing the beading department (and when your kids are literally going in three different directions, and all screaming from true fear at the Halloween decorations looming around every corner). But I persevered and found everything I needed, including the long wires for this project. Luckily I had a stash of beads from an old necklace that broke a few years ago, and they work nicely as a set here. I raided DH's workshop for a needle nose pliers and off I went. I learned a few things, like next time I need to get longer wires, and I should probably make the eyelet openings larger (these only fit up to a size 7 needle) but overall I'm really happy with how they turned out. They are much prettier than those rings, indeed.

Socktoberfest '09

I'm pretty late to the game with regards to Socktoberfest. This month-long celebration of sock knitting has been going on since 2005 and this is my first year participating. Since I knit so many socks in general I thought I would join in this year.

First up is the pair of socks that I completed on October 2nd. I'm not sure that it's fair to include these as I actually starting knitting them in the middle of the summer, but they were completed this month nonetheless.

I used a self-striping cotton/nylon blend yarn and am really happy with the result. Actually, I can't quite believe that the socks match! I must have cast on for each sock at just the right place in the skein as each sock starts with the same striping pattern, and it continues right through the toes. The only difference seems to be the distribution of black 'spots' on each of the color bands. DH was quite impressed to say the least. So far the socks are wearing well, but a bit on the big side. And since they are cotton, they are slouching a bit towards my ankle.

Secondly, I've joined the Mystery Sock KAL '09. I'm excited to see these grow on my needles, especially since I have no idea what is coming next. We only get one clue at a time. In many ways it's refreshing not having the whole pattern in front of me, and only given to me in pieces. Regardless, I'm only going to knit one sock at a time so it may actually be next year before this pair is finished (smile).

Lastly, I noticed on the Socktoberfest '09 discussion board that there's a group of folks knitting up baby socks/stockings for an advent calendar. I'm re-posting the links to my project from last year for anyone that's interested in checking out this project. I'm warning you that even though I would consider this a relatively quick project it did take me over a year to complete.

I never claimed to be a fast knitter. Just a compulsive one.