Cast On A Cupcake

Apple squares

2010-11-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Another entry for the Kitchen Corner's November Bake-off!

This recipe is taken from the King Arthur flours website, but we used to make a very similar thing when I worked at Nabolom Bakery in Berkeley.

The pie crust recipe is to die for. There are lots of recipes out there for crusts, and they don't all involve as many ingredients as this one, but this one is just so buttery and soft and flaky and delicious, that this is the one I am writing in my own personal cookbook to use from now on. It's that good.

Also, there is no excuse to use pre-made pie crust. Homemade is ten times better, easy, and without any weird preservatives.

Pie crust ingredients:

2 1/2 c. flour (I bet the crust would be even better with pastry flour!)

1 t. salt

1 t. baking powder

2 T confectioner's sugar (I used regular cane sugar)

2 T buttermilk powder (I used nonfat milk powder)

1/4 c. vegetable shortening

10 T very cold butter, cut into small cubes (about 1/2")

1 t. vinegar (cider or white)

6-10 T ice water

By hand: whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and milk powder. Using two butter knives or a pastry cutter, cut in the shortening until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Ad the butter pieces and cut in until the mixture looks like coarse sand, or the butter is fairly evenly distributed. Add the vinegar and a few tablespoons of water at a time, mixing until the dough is chunky and fairly cohesive. I find it's easiest at this point to use my hands to smush together all the dry flour and get the dough together into a ball.

By food processer (much easier): add the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and milk powder to the bowl and pulse for a few seconds. Add the shortening and pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse for about 10 1-second spurts. Add the vinegar and the water, a few tablespoons at a time, mixing after each addition, until the dough comes together in a rough ball.

Both methods: Divide the dough into two balls, one with 2/3 the dough and the other with 1/3 the dough. Shape into discs and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (up to 20 hours).

Apple filling:

About 1 dozen apples

1/2 c. finely chopped pecans

1/2 c. sugar

2-3 T ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375.

If you have a fancy apple corer-peeler-slicer, use it to core, peel, and slice at least a dozen cooking apples. (Cooking apples are more tart than eating apples, and better for baking). Otherwise, use a knife to core and cut about a dozen apples into thin wedges. I don't peel the apples if I'm doing it by hand, because it takes too long, and the skins give the pie a great color.

Take the bigger disc of dough out of the fridge and unwrap it on a floured surface. I leave the plastic wrap on top of the disc and roll the dough out underneath the plastic. Roll in one direction, then turn the dough 90 degrees and roll in the other direction. This ensures the dough doesn't stick to the rolling surface. Roll until the dough is in roughly a 9x12 rectangle. Transfer the dough to a 9x12 baking dish, but don't worry about rough edges or gaps - just pinch of dough from where there's extra to fill in any gaps on the other side of the dough.

Fill the dough with your apple wedges. Sprinkle with pecans, cinnamon, and sugar.

Roll out the smaller disc of dough, and drape over the top of the apples. Seal the edges as best as possible (perfection is not needed here!) and make six small cuts in the crust to let steam out.

Bake for 45-60 min, ensuring you don't burn the crust.

I let mine cool for a few hours before serving for dessert, and then I had another slice for breakfast.

Popovers with Apple Butter

2010-11-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

For the Kitchen Corners November bake off!

My wonderful husband made the popovers and I made the apple butter. I'll start with the apple butter recipe, since it takes longer.

First, you need to make apple sauce. Or, you can buy a jar of apple sauce and skip ahead, but seriously, making apple sauce is so easy.

Core, slice, and peel several pounds of apples, or enough to fill your largest, heavy bottomed pan. I used my giant Le Creuset. Add about one inch of water to the pot and cook on medium heat until the apples have broken down and are all mushy. This won't take as long as you think.

Then, either pull out your fancy food mill (but if you have a food mill, why are you looking to me to tell you how to make apple sauce? You probably know how to do it way better than I!), or a mesh strainer and a wooden spoon. Spoon the apple mixture into the strainer and press it through the strainer. This is hard work. Enlist a friend to help, if you've got one handy!

Now you have apple sauce! I put some into a jar and stuck it in the fridge- no need to boil it or worry about canning if you only have one jar, and six housemates. It'll be gone soon enough, with no worries of botulism.

To turn the apple sauce into apple butter, put the remaining apple sauce into a smaller heavy bottomed pot, or, better yet, into a crock pot. Add a cup or two of sugar or some frozen concentrate apple juice, and some cinnamon and other autumn-y spices that you love. Cardamom would be a wonderful touch. Cook for 12-24 hours, until the sauce is very thick and brown. Make sure you are cooking on the lowest heat possible.

Now, let's make popovers. It's best to snuggle in bed in your pjs and wait for someone else to make these for you, but if you have to do it yourself, here's how.

Preheat your oven to 425. Spray a popover pan or a muffin tin with nonstick spray and let pan heat in oven for two minutes.

Blend one cup all purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3 eggs, 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon melted butter in a medium bowl, until the consistency of heavy cream.

Cut 2 tablespoons of chilled butter into 1/2 inch pieces and place one into each cup in the preheated muffin tin. Place the pan back into the hot oven until the butter is bubbly.

Remove pan from the oven and fill each cup halfway full of batter. Replace pan in the oven and bake 20 minutes. This is important: Do Not Open The Oven Door To Peek.

When twenty minutes have passed, rotate the pan in the oven, reduce the heat to 325 and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

Serve with warm apple butter. I promise I won't tell if you eat them all.

Pumpkin Cornmeal Biscuits

2010-10-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

For the Kitchen Corners' October cook/bake-off!

I bought a sugar pumpkin at The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island, a wonderful place in Portland with farms and farm stores and haunted corn mazes and u-pick peaches, corn, and berries. It's where we went the day before my wedding to pick flowers for the tables.

Yesterday, I cooked the pumpkin and made an Indian Pumpkin soup, but still had pumpkin puree left. The soup wasn't awesome, so I didn't want to enter it into the cook-off, so I baked up some biscuits today.

The recipe comes from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics (and if you don't know Moosewood, you should), and was super simple and easy to make. These muffins happen to be vegan, but not all the Moosewood recipes are though most are vegetarian. I bet substituting butter for the margarine would not be detrimental, and I think adding an egg could only improve the consistency of these already delicious muffins.

1/4 c. margarine
1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 T. brown sugar
1/2 c. pumpkin puree (fresh, or canned, but not pumpkin pie filling)
3/4 c. plus 2 T. apple juice or cider

Preheat the oven to 425. Generously grease a baking sheet or cover with parchment.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the margarine. Add the brown sugar and mix until lump-free.

Whisk together the pumpkin and apple juice or cider. Pour into the flour mixture and stir briefly, just until well blended.

Drop the biscuits by 1/4 cups onto the baking sheet, 1-2 inches apart. Bake for about 20 minutes until puffed and very slightly brown around the edges and a toothpick tests clean. Serve immediately.

In the middle of baking I unexpectedly discovered my aunt from New Mexico was in town, and had to run out to spend a lovely fall afternoon exploring the city with her, leaving my incredibly and understandably stressed out room mate in charge of taking the biscuits out of the oven, resulting in their well-done status.

Projects!

2009-07-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Just as I say I'm transitioning into wedding blogging... I knit something!

My cousin is due this week - the first baby of the next generation in the family - and I used the occasion as an excuse to knit an oh so adorable Tomten.

The pattern is an Elizabeth Zimmerman classic. I have her book "Knitting Without Tears" and this is my first project from it.

I used some Shibui sock yarn in Peacock (I think that's the color) that had just not been working out as anything else. It clearly wanted to be this sweater, as it knit up nearly perfectly. The pooling you see on the arms is from the additional skein I had to buy to make it through the arms. Now I have enough leftovers to make a cute pair of booties. Probably not for this baby, but one of the other three that will be born in the next six months!

This patttern is fantastic, and pretty easy. No crazy shaping or stitches - it did take some imagination to figure out how to sew the arm seams to the underarms, but really, it just works.

The next project is not knitting, but making the backyard ready for a wedding (we're into the four week countdown!!). Right now, we're working with this:

While it's pretty green, the bed is full of weeds. We took out everything that was planted there, and nothing we planted grew! So, Roomie Liz and I bought a ton of flowers to plant in there:

Foxgloves, hydrangea (four different colors!), a gorgeous red rose bush (that might go in front actually) and a bunch of shade loving annuals.

I also have these to dress up the plain old fence with:

I'll post some "after" shots when it's all pulled together. Cross your fingers for big improvements!

Goin to the Chapel

2009-06-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Well, actually, we are getting married at home.

Last month, I asked if any readers would like me to blog about wedding planning, and a few said yes. Unfortunately, I have not blogged since then. Mike is out of town for the next two weeks, so maybe I'll take this time to post our wedding inspiration on the internet for all to see.

First up, an overview of what we are planning, and a preview of posts to come.

Because we are who we are and we want our wedding to reflect that, our wedding is going to be inexpensive (by industry standards) and every detail is planned with an eye towards sustainability. Most elements are thrifted, homemade, or scrapped altogether if neither is possible.

Source: gathered photos from el internet. I don't have specific links, sorry!

We are getting married at home.

We are having a friend marry us. One to do the ceremony, perhaps another to make it legal. We might actually go to the courthouse. This is still being figured out. Maybe I'll do a longer post on this topic soon.

We (Mike & I & friends) are making all the food for the wedding night dinner!

Our housemate is making the cupcakes.

Source: unknown, apologies!

Mike's friend and his band are playing post-dinner dancing music.

Out other housemate designed the invitations, which we printed at a local print shop on 100% recycled paper. There were no reply cards or envelopes, cutting down both on cost and wasted (in my eyes) paper.

He also is making playlists for dinner music & post-band dancing. Another friend is putting her incredible love for all things Frank Sinatra and post-war era to work making a pre-ceremony playlist for cocktails & lawn games.

My step-mother-in-law and mother-in-law are carefully scouring thrift stores for complete sets of vintage china and dishware.

My mom is making my dress!

Source: A Backyard Wedding
(I'd really just insert myself into her wedding, if I could. I'd bring Mike and all my friends, too.)

We're going to a local farm to pick produce and flowers for eating and decorating.

Most of the lawn decorations will be plants planted about our yard.

We're shuttling our guests between the house and their hotel in a 22 passenger van to cut down on cars & save our neighbors from a parking nightmare.

If everyone is interested, I'll do a separate post about most of these details.

Then, there is also the most important detail - Mike! Perhaps I'll post our vows when the whole thing is said and done.

What's Going On Here?

2009-05-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

Something strange is happening... I can't quite make it out...

Oh! Hello there!

Would you believe I haven't knit a stitch since January, and today I whipped up one of these adorable little guys?

Well, it's true.

A combination of a crazy busy semester and my brain focusing on wedding things instead of knitting things led to a complete halt in all things knitting.* Until now. When I realized I have at least four pregnant friends, all of whom will soon have tiny little feet that need covering! (Well, that's not quite true- my friends' feet won't be shrinking, but my friends will soon have babies who have tiny little feet in need of covering.)

The semester is over, and I have one week of vacation before I start my summer job. I plan on making as many booties as possible in the next five days.

Ready, set, go-go-gadget-baby-booties.

*Ahem. Sorry for the four month lapse in blogging. If anyone is interested in wedding-related things that have nothing to do with knitting or baking, speak up in the comments and perhaps something can be arranged that would involve posting at a more frequent interval. ;-)

Did I Promise You Some Buttons?

2009-02-15T23:34:00.001-08:00

*Ahem*

Sorry about the recent ridiculously long absence. In my defense, I haven't knit a stitch since we last spoke.

The sweater is the February Lady Sweater, the yarn Brown Sheep Worsted. Needles, size 8.

The verdict... eh. I don't see what all the fuss is about. It looks really good on other people online, but on me, it's more linebacker than hip, swingy cardigan. Perhaps its just too big, but I don't have the time, energy, or inclination to reknit it.

Luckily, I am co-directing a big charity auction for school one month from now, and have a lovely handknit sweater to donate!

PS- I wouldn't hold your breath for more frequent posting. I'm barely staying above water this semester- with the auction, four seminars and two lecture classes, plus all the wedding day-dreaming I'm doing, I have no baking or knitting to share and no time to share it!

February Lady awaits buttons

2009-01-05T14:10:00.001-08:00

February Lady awaits buttons
Originally uploaded by castonacupcake

The annual tradition of knitting a sweater over winter break continues. This one was finished with a week to spare!

As long as I can get out of the house to buy buttons...

Snowed In!

2008-12-22T19:15:00.000-08:00

Since I last posted, we've gotten another 14" of snow! Portland hasn't seen this much snow since 1968, or so they say. We're most definitely snowed in. Not even the garbage collectors or the mail carriers have been by in days!
I've started on my second annual Winter Break Sweater. This year, I chose the February Lady Sweater (Rav link), which bears a striking similarity to last year's sweater. Top down, garter stitch raglan with lace bodice. Maybe I'll branch out in 2009 and try something different. But, because I'm the last person on the planet to cast on for the FLS, I'm just running with it.
Lamb's Pride, because I had a gift certificate and a specific gray in mind. Even though I desperately wanted Malabrigo or Dream in Color, the yarn shop didn't have gray Malabrigo and doesn't carry Dream in Color. So I settled for a wool/mohair blend. I think it will work out just fine.

And, lastly, a momentous occassion.
My very first (successful) pair of socks have finally worn through! They got felted (you lie, Lion Brand!), and I think lasted longer than they would have otherwise. Mike got two years of good, hard use out of them and I think this is a man who deserves another pair of socks.

Maybe even a sweater, now that the curse is broken!

Dec 15, 2008

2008-12-14T21:03:00.001-08:00

Dec 15, 2008
Originally uploaded by castonacupcake

It snowed today! Not quite three inches and the whole city shut down. There was a sign on the highway, telling everyone chains were required in the Portland metro area.

I drove to church this morning and felt pretty good that my winter driving skills lived up to all my talk about other people not knowing how to drive in the snow.

Since Portland has no plows and no sand trucks, and it's not supposed to get above freezing until Wednesday, which means the snow is not going anywhere, school is canceled tomorrow!

Playing Catch-up

2008-11-30T14:57:00.000-08:00

Oh jeez- almost a month since my last post! I am so sorry.

There actually has been knitting going on around here.

I started & finished a Koolhaas with yarn my mom gave me last year. Handspun from North Carolina! It's single ply, and gives the hat a nice fluffy aura and plenty of comfy squishiness.

I meant to be knitting the hat to donate to an auction I am co-directing at the law school, but I ended up loving it too much to give it away! So, I immediately cast on for another.

This one is in Cascade 220, in the color "straw wheat" (I think). I bought a sweater's worth back in the spring and when it arrived, I decided it was too bright for a whole sweater. So, I made a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend for Christmas (no photos yet, sorry!) and started this hat.

I am planning on knitting a cropped sweater out of this yarn anyway. I have 5 or 6 skeins left, and just have to pick a pattern. And finish up Christmas knitting.

This holiday weekend has been quite relaxing and (mostly) wonderful. We spent Thanksgiving at our house with roomie Liz - 12 pounds of turkey for the three of us!! It was an amazing traditional feast, and a great day. We swore off the internet and computers all day and challenged ourselves to play every single board game we own. We made it through 5 or 6 games- not nearly all we own, but a big chunk anyway!

Friday we decorated our mantle (I love having a fireplace!!) and hung some lights up outside.

Then, yesterday, after a fairly grumpy and cranky morning and a rejuvenating walk through the arboretum, Mike gave me a ring and asked me to marry him!

We've been engaged since July when I asked him, and I've (especially lately) been really wanting a ring from him. It's a gorgeous deep red stone on a sterling silver band. We both expect these rings to be worn only until the wedding (in a year an a half), so the soft metal isn't a problem. His is sterling silver too, and I think they really look lovely together!

Reading period starts next week, so don't expect to hear from me until right around Christmas!

Have a lovely December, everyone!

Super Secret Knitting

2008-11-07T17:37:00.001-08:00

Attention: If your name is Mike, STOP READING NOW!!

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Is he gone?

I've been working on some super secret knitting for Christmas. Luckily, Mike has been spending nearly 12 hours a day working with the marching band at a local high school for his student teaching, so I've had a lot of time to knit when he's not around.

I wanted to knit him a stocking last year, but just didn't have time. This year, I am much less dedicated to my schoolwork. And, I received a gift of red and green wool yarns, one skein of each. Perfect for a stocking!

The pattern is the Falling Snow Stocking from Jennifer Hoel. I'm making a few modifications: contrast band with Mike's name in white, short row contrast heel in green, and continuing the small snowflakes down the foot. I'm also planning on a contrast, perhaps short row, heel.

Mike finishes marching band this weekend, so I'm knitting my little heart out to get this done!

Thank you!

2008-10-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, the Placed Cable Aran Sweater!

I feel a little guilty now that I didn't post a full FO post on the sweater. Without further ado, the full details. (To see the sweater in question, look to the post below this).

Pattern: Placed Cable Aran, from Interweave Knits, Fall 07
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool, about 5 (maybe?) skeins, in color 4009 (Aporto).
Needles: US 8 / 5 mm circulars
Started: August 19
Finished: October 16

Modifications: I left off the cable design from the back of the sweater (easier to tell front from back, so I won't be afraid of wearing it backwards!), knit in the round, and added some simple waist shaping. I think I did 5 paired decreases and then five paired increases. After blocking, they ended up in just the right place!

I knit the sleeves to the suggested length, 17" I think, but when I tried the sweater on (pre-blocking) the sleeves were about 4" too short! I unpicked the bind-off and knit down four inches. After blocking, the sleeves were too long, but after a few days of wear, they are now just right.

I love this sweater. It was so easy, with minimal finishing. Sew up the sleeves, attach em, and weave in some ends! I highly recommend knitting this in the round, if you're inclined to do such things.

The yarn is great - Cascade 220 wool is a good standby. The color is amazing, a deep bright blue with flashes of green if you're looking at it in the right light.

All in all, a resounding success!

I apologize for not responding to everyone's comments individually - I have not figured out how to get Blogger to give me the email addresses of those who comment. But please know I greatly appreciate each and every comment and compliment! Thank you so much!

A Wool Sweater in Time for Fall

2008-10-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

I finished a sweater! And I've been wearing it constantly since I finished it! But, I'm a slacker-blogger and have neglected to share it with you.

I finished it last week (except for two ends I've since discovered I forgot to weave in) and Mike snapped some photos while we were on a walk with our room mate's dog and Mike's aunt and uncle who were visiting for the weekend. (Hi Renee!)

It's the Cable Aran. And I love it. I love the collar, the color, the cables, everything!

I left the cables off the back and had to extend the sleeves by 4" and it is now the perfect sweater! Just in time for fall.

It's definitely fall.

2008-10-04T16:23:00.001-07:00

It's definitely fall.
Originally uploaded by castonacupcake

Knitting: Go!

2008-10-03T09:52:00.001-07:00

I've been so delinquent in my blogging! I truly apologize. Fall is here, and I've been knitting.

First, the cable aran. I finished both sleeves last night (debate knitting) and am about to pick up the stitches for the neck. Then, it's just finishing!

This isn't the world's most illustrative photo, but I think it shows one important thing: it fits! I think the rolling hem makes it a leeetle too short, but hopefully a good blocking will correct that. I also didn't do the maths to place my waist shaping exactly where my waist is, but at least it isn't an entirely shapeless sweater.

Next, gift knitting!

I sent these out last week, so hopefully they have arrived.

My friend Damaris (check out her awesome cooking blog, Kitchen Corners) asked for a cupcake toy for her two year old back in the beginning of the summer. I finally sat down and cranked this baby out two weeks ago. Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and a cherry on top. Yum!

The booties are good luck booties, as Damaris wants a baby girl when she gets pregnant again.

Funny story: one of my professors has granted me permission to knit in class. The day I brought in the booties was the day we were discussion gender nonconformity and transgender legal issues. I felt so conspicuous, knitting highly gender-conforming and gender-stereotype-enforcing bright pink baby booties. However, hopefully that class just infused the booties withe kick-ass gender nonconformity vibes and the (as yet still wholly potential) baby will wear them, no matter its gender, and will grow up in a gender equal society.

Here's hoping, anyway!

Placed Aran Cable front

2008-09-21T11:13:00.001-07:00

Placed Aran Cable front
Originally uploaded by castonacupcake

Yesterday we made our first fire in the fireplace and I curled up with some law books. When I finished those, I made a soup and sat down to make some serious progress on the Placed Cable Aran Sweater.

It was such a relaxing and productive day. Just what the first day of fall called for.

In Which I Ramble On About Some Things On My Mind

2008-09-16T06:11:00.001-07:00

I really apologize for the lack of postings recently. Life is just getting in the way - of both blogging and knitting!

Fortunately, my seminar professor gave me permission to knit in class, and yesterday I was able to complete about four inches of the front of the sweater I'm working on! I love knitting in class- I stay focused on the discussion, and because we don't have to take notes (a huge relief in law school), I get to make productive use of the time!

I don't have a picture to show you because Mike just left with the camera- he's going on a bike ride tonight, which he's very excited about.

I tried knitting socks again out of the Shibui and it is just really not cooperating. I think I might have to give up on the yarn - at least the first few yards. I've now knit it up into the cuff of a sock at least four times, and it has just lost its spring. I am also so frustrated with the pooling! I may have to stop buying Shibui, it's just impossible to knit with and not get ugly pooling (not my socks, but an example of someone else having the same problem with the same yarn).

It just doesn't matter how many stitches you put on the needle, if you alternate skeins, what needle size you use- nothing will stop this yarn from pooling, and it is driving me crazy.

Especially since I have a lot of gift certificate money to use up at Knit/Purl and everything else they stock is ludicrously expensive. Maybe I'll see if my gift certificates contain enough money for a sweater's worth of malabrigo and call it a day.

Except, I've just joined BlueGarter's group, Knit Local, which is a network of knitters striving to knit from yarn produced from local sheep, mills, spinners, and dyers. And Malabrigo, as delicious as it is, comes from Uruguay (I think- somewhere far away, at least). Unfortunately, as it always goes, local yarn is way more expensive than yarn from, say, those online yarn repositories- they're like the CostCo of yarn stores, and I just can't help buying from them because of the price.

Oregon has a great resource in the Oregon Wool Grower's Association, a directory and community of local yarn and fiber producers. I plan on doing some poking around in there and hopefully planning some projects based around that yarn.

Which Comes First?

2008-09-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Chicken?

Or the egg?
For us, the chickens came first. On Monday, we went out and bought two Araucana chickens from a family in Washington. There was some drama when we got the chickens home- we got one in the coop and the other managed to get away before we could get in inside. We chased her down Monday evening, then gave up after we got her out from under a neighbor's deck, but lost her in the bushes.

Luckily, yesterday the one who got away came back! I was at school, but the roomies chased her down and caught her. Less than 6 hours later, these two eggs were in the nesting boxes in the coop!

Can you see the light green tint in the shells? Yummy.

Also, check out these yolks.
Delicious.

Back in the Saddle

2008-08-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm knitting again! It's marvelous, just sitting in my chair, listening to the radio or watching a movie, and knitting away.

I'm working on two new projects, having essentially abandoned the Eliza Bennett until I have the patience to work out the sleeve cap shaping.

Up first, a new sweater! From the Interweave Fall 2007 magazine, the Placed Aran Cable (or, if you'd like, a Ravelry link). A lovely Cascade 220 color, deep blue with flecks of green. This should be a fabulous pullover with a great cowl neck. Lots and lots of stockinette (I'm knitting it in the round), and then some fun cables.
And next, a pair of socks, using Grumperina's Helical Stripes technique. Using the ever-pooling Shibui sock yarn in Peacock and some leftover Shibui in Canary yellow. So far, I love them. I forgot to do all the k2tog I meant to when I switched fromthe ribbing (and size 0 needles) to the stockinette (and size 2 needles), so I'm going to rip back all the stripes you see and start over.

We spent most of the day yesterday working on building a compost bin and a chicken run. (By "we" I mean "Mike with about an hour of help from me") Right as we were starting out, we noticed these little guys in the neighbor's tree.

We know you're getting chickens, and we want your eggs!!

Coming Home to Roost

2008-08-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Pooling = bad.

I started work on a pair of Monkeys using some delicious bluegreen Shibui sock yarn. It was nice to be working on a project again, as I hadn't knit a stitch since finishing the Charades (below).

Unfortunately, as you can see, the Shibui + 64 st pattern = hideous pooling death.

I ripped back, adjusted the stitch count, and tried again. Same result. Boo. The socks are currently sitting in time out in my knitting basket, and I'm again casting about for something to knit.

In some exciting house news, we got a chicken coop tonight!

Now all we need are some chickens! We're debating whether we'll get baby chicks (super cute) or older pullets (fresh eggs now!). But whatever chickens we get, they'll have this beautiful home.

Another thing we have is a really cute cat. I hate when bloggers just post photos of their cats, as a regular feature, but I promise I won't do that.

Hello- I make very cute facial expressions!

Let's Play Charades!

2008-07-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

One word. Two syllables. Sounds like parades.

Pattern: Charades, from I May Be Knitting a Ranch House.

Cast on: June 17

Finished: July 27

Yarn: Whimzy Pinzy Creations 2 Socks At Once, in Tea Roses. A beautiful combination of pink and lavender, in a wonderfully soft superwash merino.

Needles: Us 2 Addi turbos

Notes: I felt like these took forever, but I think taking a 3 week vacation in the middle of knitting a pair of socks makes it feel like longer.

The Charades pattern is simple, easy, and make a beautiful finished product. I love these socks, and will probably make another Charade at some point, after I get through all the other sock patterns I have on my list!

I finished the first sock while in Europe, and knit the second mostly on the plane on the way home. I forced myself to sit down and work on the other sock last night, and discovered I only really had the toe left! I finished in an hour or so, and did the photo shoot tonight before dinner, in some excellent light.

I love that our mantle makes just about the perfect light box (the first photo was taken there). I'll have to buy some new yarn to take its portrait there!

Europa, Europa, Cont.

2008-07-28T18:18:00.001-07:00

When we last left our weary travelers, they were in Florence, admiring the beauty that is Michaeangelo's David.

Next stop... Nice, France! We took the train along the Italian coast to Genoa, paid our respects to Christopher Columbus, and continued along the French coast through Monaco to Nice. Nice is very nice. The water is bright blue and warm, the waves are fun, the antique market is great, and the fountains are pretty. There are better beaches around (Nice's are rocky - smooth rocks, but fist sized rocks nonetheless), and there are less touristy places around, and there is probably better food around (see the "touristy" part), but all in all, a lovely place to spend a couple of days.

We took a day trip to Aix-en-Provence, to see the Provincial countryside and a smaller town in Provence. We missed the flea markets, but did see some lovely fountains.

And then onto Paris!! The train to Paris was wonderful- the French sure know how to run a train system. (President Obama, please take note.) The first thing we did was run straight to the Eiffel Tower. Then, of course, we ate some bread and wine. This cafe looked out at the Seine and the Ile de la Cite.

In Paris, we stayed with a wonderful French family who had been Mike's host family when he studied abroad in high school. Although he hadn't seen them in almost a decade, the family was most welcoming and friendly. We stayed in a guest cottage on their property, and they even took Mike & me up to their vacation home on the North coast on the English Channel. It was very windy and cold the first day (reminded me of the East Coast, Cape Cod area), so we took advantage and flew a kite. A double-stringed stunt kite, even!

On Bastille Day, we took advantage of the Louvre having free entrance, then took a boat ride down the Seine at sunset. We got to see gorgeous light on all the old buildings and bridges. Then, right when the boat got back to its dock, at the base of the Eiffel Tower, the tower light up with sparkles and the fireworks show started! I don't have any photos because my battery was dying and I don't have a tripod, so fireworks photos don't come out very well. But, you'll just have to believe me that it was the most amazing fireworks show I've ever seen!

All in all, it was a magical, wonderful vacation. We took over 1,200 pictures, and I narrowed the show down to 250 over on Shutterfly. Feel free to wander over there if these few photos have whet your appetite for more.

Welcome Home!

2008-07-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

What a trip! I had an amazing time, and have many wonderful stories to tell and photos to share. Not so much knitting, though. I finished one Charade and got through the heel of the second.

First things first. We left our camera in Boston in our frantic rush to make our plane, which we realized was taking off much earlier than we thought. Like, five hours earlier. We realized this 45 minutes before it took off. Luckily, the people at Aer Lingus rock and got us on the next flight, 1/2 an hour later. And luckily our friends in Boston also rock and express mailed our camera to us in Tuscany. Which is where these photos were taken.

We stayed at Spannocchia, a family run agritourism farm / bed & breakfast, that is preserving the 700 year old Tuscan farming way of life, and working to be totally sustainable and self-sufficient. And they make the best olive oil I've ever tasted in my life. So amazing.

The photo on the right is a castle we hiked to called The Castle That Only God Knows, and it's where (wait for it)... Mike and I got engaged! I asked him on top of one of the towers. It was beautiful and romantic and wonderful, and we managed to keep it a secret for the whole rest of the trip until we met up with my mom and brother and told our moms and siblings at the same time. Magic.

Then we went to Rome. We saw the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Other things we saw included the Palazzo Venetzia, much art at the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, the Trevia fountain, and delicious wine. I wish I had gone to Rome right after high school, when I knew more about art.

While Rome was beautiful and all the old buildings were amazing, it was also very hot and very crowded. I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed all the other places we went to.

Florence was our next stop. We saw the Duomo, which has many more amazing things about it than just its dome, and the David, which is incredibly impressive. We ate some amazing paninis in Florence, and also saw some recreations of Leonardo's inventions (a bicycle and a drawbridge) and a page out of one of his sketchbooks. I loved Florence and would definitely go again.

Stay tuned for more...

My bags are packed...

2008-06-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well, no they're not. But we are leaving on a jet plane in 5 hours. We're off to San Francisco, then Boston, then Dublin, then Paris, Bologna, Siena, Rome, Nice, and back to Paris, Dublin, Boston, Star Island, San Francisco, and finally, home on July 20.

Needless to say, I will not be blogging while I'm gone.

I will however, be knitting!
Charade, in Tea Roses by Whimzy Pimzy Creations, and some Shibui in Dragonfly (I think - I didn't check the label). The Charades should get me through at least one international flight and overnight train ride. Hopefully the Shibui will get me through the rest of our travelling!

Have a wonderful July- I'll see you on the flip side.

Magic Loop 4-Eva!

2008-06-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

My knitting has slowed to the speed of molasses in January since finals time and the move. I don't know what's wrong with me- I don't have anything to do after work, so theoretically, I should just sit in my backyard and knit all evening, but I don't.

Since I'm uninspired by the Boot Socks (and my substitute yarn is too cottony and not wooly / acrylicy enough, so I have to find a different yarn with which to finish off the foot of Sock #2) and I can't bring myself to figure out the sleeve-cap shaping on the Elizabeth Bennett cardigan, I cast on for some more socks last night.

Except I had left my Addi circulars at my office, attached to the Boot Socks, so I cast on with dpns. I used to love dpns. I swore by dpns. I scoffed at magic looping.

No more.

Five needles, ten needle tips. No thank you.

It's all magic loop, all the time for me now.

I may have to skip over to the yarn shop on my lunch break - it's one block away and I haven't gone even once yet! How's that for self control? - and use my gift certificate to stock up on Addis. (The G.C. is from helping out with inventory back in March. $40 for four hours of yarn fondling? Yes, please.)

Me! Me!

2008-06-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

I may or may not have posted a rule at the beginning of this blog, stating I would never answer a silly questionnaire just to fill up a blog post. Well, consider that rule amended. I was tagged by lupinbunny for this one. That makes me quite excited, because I love her blog and aspire to her gardening and sewing greatness!

"The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer."

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was a sophomore in high school, 14 years old. School probably hadn't let out yet, so I was probably reading my yearbook, thinking of creative things to write in other people's yearbooks and trying to figure out how to get a cute boy to sign mine. I was also scheming how to meet these guys. Don't judge me.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
Figure out the shoulder shaping on Elizabeth Bennett, go to the farmer's market, vacuum the carpets, have some friends over for board games.

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Chocolate chips; honey dijon Kettle chips; stove-top popcorn with nutritional yeast, parmesean cheese, oregano, cayenne, and garlic; apples; Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Pay off my house, get another bike for cruising around town, travel (Australia, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, and a return trip to Mali are on my short list), pay for law school without any more loans and pay off my existing loans, donate & invest.

5) Places I have lived:
Ann Arbor, Michigan; small town New Hampshire; small college town Massachusetts; Senegal; Berkeley, California (and some in the north bay); small rural town California; Portland, Oregon.

6) Jobs I have had:
Working at a homemade candy shop, drive-through bagel shop, TJ Maxx, receptionist, payroll assistant, administrative assistant, Pelican (waitress, hostess, garbage hauler / compost expert / landscaper, front desk supervisor at a hotel), baker, and law clerk.

7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:
Jenne and George, Claudia, Molly, Feministy, Neither Hip Nor Funky

Presenting... my home!

2008-06-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

We finally have internet in the new house, so I can share some pictures!

These are just snippets- I haven't gotten the house in a clean enough state for long enough that I can take pictures to share with you! But, we do have furniture in all the rooms and can stop trawling Craig's List constantly.

The view - The mantel (wood burning fireplaces! Two!) - Our bedroom

Banana muffins (new gas stove!) - Reading chair - Flowers on the table

The bathroom and cat - Baker's cart - Dream stove

All in all, we absolutely love this house. We couldn't have asked for a better home. As someone who hasn't lived anywhere for more than six months since my first year of college, I am very excited to nest and be here for many years.

I've also been knitting, although not as much as I imagined. I thought once finals ended, I'd have the Elizabeth Bennett cardigan finished in no time. But you'd be surprised (or probably not surprised!) at how much time moving and starting work takes up!

I had the cardigan out blocking a few days ago (back and two fronts), and took pictures, but apparently I deleted them before uploading. Ooops! Photos soon, I promise.

Now that I have internet, nothing can get in my way!

Home Sweet Home

2008-05-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

This is our home. Apologies for the small picture. Our camera (specifically the cord connecting the camera to the computer) is packed somewhere, and this is the photo from the listing).

We got the keys yesterday and made a fantastic celebratory lamb dinner on our new gas range. In our new kitchen. In our new house.

It feels a bit like that ?Talking Heads? song - This is not my beautiful house! This is nt my beautiful wife! How did I get here? Or something like that.

Anyway, it's fantastic. More pictures when there are fewer boxes in my life.

J'ai finis!

2008-05-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

Two things: baby booties (just in time- the baby is 9 days old today!) and my first year of law school! Wooohooo! The baby booties are way cuter than law school, so let's cut straight to the chase.

I got the buttons from Bolt, a fabric store in NE Portland. I love them. I hope Allison and her baby Evan love them, too!

The buttons stirred up a bit of controversy in the "boys-don't-wear-pink" crowd, but I think two things: Number One. Who cares? Babies will not be harmed by the color of button they wear. I promise. Number Two. Marching Elephants! Every baby should be adorned in marching elephants. All babies are cute, and all babies deserve cute buttons.

The pattern is Saartje's Bootees (pdf), an incredibly popular pattern. I'm not the world's biggest garter stitch fan, but it's a stretchy stitch, which is good for growing baby feet.

The yarn is Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Beach Glass, leftover from my Embossed Leaves.

I've also been working on my Knitting Law Students Summer Knit-along project, the Mrs. Darcy sweater. I'm calling mine the "Eliza Bennett" because she's not ever called Mrs. Darcy in the book (I don't think) or in the amazing BBC version, just in the Keira Knightley version, which was not that great. So, Eliza Bennett it is!

This is the back.

I know a black wool sweater doesn't seem like a very summery thing to knit, but I'll be working in an air-conditioned office, starting Wednesday, and my current black cardigan is getting quite ratty.

Feliz Seis de Mayo!

2008-05-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

I know I missed the actual holiday, but who doesn't love a margarita any day of the week?

I'm probably being very annoying with all these non-posts lately, and I apologize. Just two and a half more days until end of finals and real life can begin again. And by real life, I mean beginning my internship and moving into the new house. But hopefully I'll spend at least some time knitting.

Also- go over here and enter the blog contest! Tell her castonacupcake sent ya. I really want that green handspun from Brooklyn Tweed. Also, finding potential summer reading material is good, too.

I took some photos of recent knitting and posted them on Ravelry, so if you're a raveler and feel so inclined, you can check that out.

Indulge Me

2008-05-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

I can't handle this- I want to be knitting, not studying! Whoever invented one-exam-to-rule-them-all style finals deserved to be poked in the eye with a very sharp knitting needle. Grrrrr.

I have my first final tomorrow (Contracts) then one Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week. Somebody put me out of my misery.

End of whining. Thank you for your indulgence.

The Science of Wool

2008-04-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

I have nothing interesting to share- I'm still studying, but I snuck off this weekend to Arizona to see my dad, the grandparents, my brother, and my aunt, and it is much too hot in Arizona to knit much.

However, I started wading through my Bloglines tonight and found this amazing post about the science & chemistry of why blocking works the way it works. Really fascinating stuff.

Go read it!

Embossed Leaves- A Surprise FO!

2008-04-22T21:12:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Embossed Leaves, from Interweave Knits Favorite Socks
Yarn: Hazel Knits' Artisan Sock in Beachglass
Needles: Begun on my cantakerous Brittany US 2 dpns, finished on some marvelous Addi Turbo Lace circulars. I love me some magic loop.
Time: Just under a month. Begun before spring break in March, finished before finals in April.

Notes: This is a surprise FO, because as I may have mentioned, finals are right around the corner, and I cannot begin to tell you how unprepared I feel. (I'll give you a hint: REALLY unprepared.)

But, Mike was gone this weekend, visiting a high school friend who was in a pretty serious skateboarding accident, so after a long day of studying, I found myself staying up late, watching The Smartest Guys in the Room, and finishing these socks Saturday night.

I spray-blocked them on my feet Sunday, which was probably not the smartest idea, as we were experiencing a cold snap. Not the best time to be sitting around in wet socks.

The pattern was easy to memorize, which I liked. I changed the heel - the pattern is written for a strange stockinette heel with a garter stitch edge. I knit the first heel that way, then discovered it was super baggy. I ripped it out and knit a nice, tight slipped stitch heel, and all was well.

I really love the star-toe. I love how it finishes off each petal of the final pattern repeat. It does make my toes look a little flat / square, but I can live with that. I've heard people have concerns that a star-toe won't be comfortable to walk on, but I have no complaints so far.

My one complaint with the pattern is how large the leaves are. I was expected a smaller lace pattern, I guess. Also, I found it really hard to hold the three purl stitches between each pattern repeat tight. I ended up with some laddering, and some fairly large holes where the pattern called for a k1,yo,p1. I found it easier just to lift the stitch below on the next round instead.

All in all, some lovely socks.

Back to the books.

For Me? You Shouldn't Have!

2008-04-16T16:37:00.001-07:00

Apologies for the recent absence - life has snuck up on me!

I gave my oral arguments last night, which means the first of my five classes is over for the semester! Now, I have two weeks and two days until my first final (gulp!), so I'm not making any promises for posts, knitting related or otherwise until the middle of May.

However, once the middle of May rolls around, you can expect some very exciting posts, because... we're moving! Into a house! That we'll own (at least partially)!

In celebration, when our offer was accepted a few weeks ago, I bought myself three sweaters worth of yarn from the Webs sale. For less than $5 a skein, I just couldn't help myself!

L to R: Cascade 220 in Blue Teal Heather, Black, and Lemon Yellow, and flowers from Mike!

The Blue Teal Heather is for the Central Park Hoodie, to replace a well-worn cabled hoodie that is rife with pills.

Black is for the Mrs. Darcy Cardigan, to replace a well-worn and mostly fulled black cardigan.

The Lemon Yellow is for the Placed Cable Aran, just for fun!

(Apologies for the Ravelry links, non-ravellers)

Mrs. Darcy will be first, for a Summer Knits Knit-along with my Ravelry group, Knitting Law Students. I admit, it's not very summery, but I'd like to be able to have a nice, handknit cardigan to combat office air-conditioning.

Excitement!

Star Toe!

2008-04-05T21:11:00.001-07:00

I think I'm in love.

The color in this picture is completely off and washed out, because I took it at 9 pm. But look at the beauty of that toe! It's called a "Star Toe." I love how the decreases follow the pattern.

Mom - if you ever knit socks, you should find a pattern with a star toe- it's right up your alley!

Sock progress

2008-04-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

I've got two pairs of socks on the needles, both from the book Favorite Socks.

They're not exactly both "on the needles" per se, since I'm using just one circular needle for both socks, but they're both in progress.

I finished the heel flap on the Boot Socks on the plane on the way down to California, then realized I had forgotten to pack another ball of white yarn to finish the foot. Oops!

Luckily, I had packed completely new yarn! Hazel Knits Artisan Sock yarn in "Beachglass." Perfect for vacay in sunny CA.

I'm doing the "Embossed Leaves" socks, and really enjoying it. The pattern just flies by. When I actually work on them, which hasn't really been happening since break ended.

There's also a Hazel Knits knitalong going for these socks, which is a joy. I've never done a knitalong before! It's fun to see other people's yarn choices and hear feed back on the pattern.

We're all in agreement that the heel as written is pretty baggy and not very good. As written, it's a plain stockinette flap with a garter stitch edge. I knit the whole thing, then ripped back and reknit it in a slipped stitch heel with fewer stitches. It looks like it will fit better now, and be stronger.

Snow?! WTF, mate?

2008-03-31T23:24:00.001-07:00

Apparently, it snowed / hailed/ sleeted just about every day in Portland last week.

It snowed / hailed yesterday and today as well. There was even accumulation (a dusting, as they say). WTF, Portland? I'm ready for magnolia blossoms, sun, flip flops, daffodils, leaves, and sunglasses. And more than ready to put away the socks & fleece jacket!

Let's revisit spring break, for some sunny goodness.

PS- If anyone reading this is thinking about moving to Portland, but scared to because it might not be as sunny and wonderful as California, please pretend you didn't read this, and continue wanting to move to Portland.

FO: Hexacomb Cardigan

2008-03-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Hexacomb Cardigan, from Interweave Spring '08
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft, in grey and blue.
Needles: Clover US 6 circular
Size: 35" (M)
Cast On: February 16
Last end sewn in and button sewn on: March 21

Notes: The pattern is great and well-written. When blocking, the sweater looked like it would fit a seven year old, and I bet it would. However, it fits this 24 year old, and I"m going to wear it.

I wore it from the moment I sewed on the final button, and approximately every other day while on spring break.

I only button the top two buttons, as the model in the magazine does, because the fabric is stretchy and the button band bulges and gapes with all the buttons done up.

The bad parts of the sweater are entirely my own fault: different dyelots in the top of the back and one sleeve. I keep pointing it out to people, but I'm sure no one would notice if I didn't. I am also likely the world's worst stitch-picker-upper, resulting in some holes along the neckline and uneven edging. However, I count this among the three wearable sweaters I have made, each with their own quirks.

I also cast on for a pair of Embossed Leaves, in my Hazel Knits yarn in Beachglass. The leaves are a lot bigger than I expected, and the heel in the pattern just seems lazy. I may rip it out and go with a tried and true (and less baggy-saggy) heel instead.
Coming back from spring break (and break itself, spent in the old stomping grounds of Berkeley) makes me detest school all the more. I long for a life of sun, restlessness, walks in the hills and flowers, baking, and time spent knitting, chatting, and giggling with my dearest friends.

Knitting for Change

2008-03-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

These Boot Socks were made for walkin'...

Yes we can, si se puede.

We were lucky enough to get tickets for Obama's speech, kicking off primary season in Oregon. And, just before we left to go this morning we heard on the radio that Bill Richardson would be joining Obama for a surprise announcement... He endorsed! Hooray!

No Country for Old Sweaters

2008-03-14T12:11:00.001-07:00

I sewed on the sleeves last night while watching "No Country for Old Men." That's a crazy movie. This morning, I finished sewing allllll the ends.

I spray blocked it and it is now pinned out (just the body) and drying on my desk.

We're going to a viewing of a house today - thinking about going in with a friend of ours on a large house for an investment / communal living. It seems a little surreal to be considering this while in the middle of grad school, but everyone else thinks it's a great idea. Also, it's a beautiful house, in our neighborhood, and it'd be so much fun to do.

This afternoon, I plan to head to the button store to finish off the cardigan.

Dirty Pretty Things.

2008-03-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

Guess which is which.Pretty tulips and sun.

Dirty ends. All of them. This sweater looks like a fringe coat. Ugh!

Pretty no-knead bread! (But not the 24-hour one)

Pretty new skis and a view of Mt Hood. (This isn't the best picture- the skis fell over right after I took it- augh!- but I like how it shows how clear the day was!)

Uh-oh

2008-03-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

I finished a sleeve! Stockinette goes so quickly. But... do you see the problem? No? Look closer...
Can you see it now? That faint line right in the middle of the photo... How about if I hold it up to the light?

The dreaded wrong dyelot!! Noooo! (Cue crash symbols and lightning flash!)

I'm not sure what happened, though, as I double checked and I got all the same dyelot! The shoulder of this sleeve is still slightly greyer than the rest of the sleeve and body. Ugh. At least it is only slightly off, right?

Kitchen Surprise

2008-03-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful evening in the kitchen yesterday.
A friend of mine had a birthday yesterday, so after class I whipped up two dozen cupcakes.
But first, I needed dinner.

Rosemary-garlic roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, and brown rice. I think this might be the first ime in my life I've ever made rice correctly. It's a very difficult task for for me.

Don't you agree that wisks (whisks?) are the greatest kitchen implement? I have a whole jar of different sized whisks- extra large, medium, small, tiny, and baby. Ideal for a plethora of kitchen tasks! (I just like this picture. I didn't actually use any whisks for dinner preparation.)

Ok, now that the tummy is satisfied, let's get to the good stuff. Cupcakes!!

On the left, S'mores Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. And on the right, Fireworks Cupcakes from my new cupcake book. Both are vegan, although I think there might have been a typo in the recipe for the Fireworks... I'm pretty sure they needed eggs to be the right consistency. They were good, but the texture of the batter was not what the recipe specified.

And in Very Exciting News, I bought skis today!!! They were super on sale, end of year clearance, and I got skis + boots + bindings for less than the original cost of the skis! Pictures when I get them from the shop. (They're these ones, for the curious.)

Progress

2008-03-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

I made a commitment to knitting progress this week, and it got me a cardigan!

Well, an almost cardigan. At least the hexagons are done and it's just stockinette for the sleeves and garter for the border. And then the ends... all the ends!

Mike has also been crafty this week. Our house is quite lacking in the closet department (one in the bedroom and an awkwardly placed small one in the living room) so we've been having trouble with coats and sweatshirts and bags flung willy-nilly about the house.

Solution: stick some assorted knobs, handles, and a sprinklerhead onto a gorgeous old piece of crown molding, and you've got the greatest shelf / coat rack ever.

I also got a set of hooks for the bedroom.

Fresh Like Springtime

2008-03-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

Whew! What a month! I don't know what happened in February, exactly, but I seem to have been too busy to post. I haven't been knitting much, but I have been writing my Appellate Brief (a big, semester long paper, that culminates in Oral Arguments in April!), getting a job for the summer, and trying to get funding for that job. Plus, you know, those other four classes I'm taking.

Last night I found myself with a free Friday night- no plans, no pressing schoolwork, nada. So, of course, I made cupcakes and spent three hours knitting on the couch!

I got a gorgeous new cupcake cookbook in the mail from Mike's wonderful mom, and made her basic cupcake recipe, using some frosting that had been languishing in the fridge.

These make me feel like springtime!

Also making me feel like springtime (aside from the gorgeous sun and 60* days we've been having!) is the Hexacomb Cardigan. Due to my lack of knitting time / pure laziness last month, I'm only just now splitting to work on the shoulders. It's a neat pattern, but I'm running into some trouble on the neck shaping - there are 37 stitches, but 8 stitches in the pattern... I'm sure it will work out, but is something I couldn't visualize while watching "Six Feet Under."

Boot Sock & Hexacomb

I also finished one of the Uptown Boot Socks. It will be interesting to see how these come out. I started using stash yarn, two hanks of it. I thought they were the same fiber content, but one is definitively woolier than the other. Then, I went through one and a half of my little balls for the first sock. What to do?

Well, last weekend Mike and I went to a romantic B&B, north of Mt Hood (two years together!). I had noticed a small yarn shop when we were walking the downtown for dinner one night, so the next night we went into town early and made a stop at the yarn shop, Knot Another Hat. I had my sock with me and the woman working helped me look around and find a matching yarn. I got some undyed Licorice Twist, which looks pretty close. The first sock is quite softer (more cotton? more acrylic?) than the second sock, but I don't mind.

I had meant to finish these socks up for an auction tonight to raise money for summer stipends for law clerks (see above, looking for funding for my job), but I didn't feel right about donating socks made out of mismatched yarn. Also, I only have one sock done and the auction is in 3 hours. (See above, no time to knit last month.)

Hopefully, I'm back and will have more regular posts and knitting updates!

Love Fest, in Photos

2008-02-17T10:40:00.001-08:00

Flowers from my mom!

Delivered on the 15th, so they'd be more of a surprise, and less work for the flower shop.

V-Day b-fast.

French toast, soaked overnight, and mimosas.

V-day dinner.

We spent three hours cooking and ended up with an Indian feast! Cashew curry lamb (from the farmer's market), potato samosas, and dried fruit rice pilaf. The curry was delicious, but decidedly un-photogenic. We did not, in fact, eat cat vomit for Valentine's Day dinner.

New yarn, and a new pattern.

Mike's dad is in town for the International Film Festival, and has been very generously taking us out to movies & extravagant meals all week. I was going to the Knit / Purl sale right after a movie, and he handed me some money for my yarn! I got Cashsoft by RYC, a mix of cashmere and cotton, and had a little leftover so bought myself some Addi Turbo circulars, to replace my shitty size 2 dpns that keep breaking and are absurdly long.

The yarn is awesome, and I think this is going to be the softest sweater ever.

And,thank you and welcome to all my new readers and commenters! I don't always receive your email address when you leave a comment, but I try to respond if I can (by tracking you down on Ravelry, for example). If you've left a comment and I didn't respond, I apologize- I promise I loved what you said and am so grateful you are reading my words!

It's a gorgeous spring day today, so I think I'll try doing some reading outside!

A Day for Love

2008-02-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

Nothing is better in this world that waking up with a purring kitten, a lovely man, and a mimosa in your hand. I love Valentine's Day, especially when my first class is canceled and I can spend some extra time in bed and then have a special French Toast breakfast.

I tried to send my Valentines out early- I had them all ready to go the first few days of February, with cute heart postage stamps, and lettering with my set of rubber stamps, and I slid them into the mailbox with love for everyone in my heart.

Then, tragedy struck about three days ago.
Yes, the post office returned my Valentines, canceled the stamps, and smudged the ink. All because my cute little cards, so adorable in their small size, do not meet minimum size standards. Well, you'd think the USPS would be glad for any mail it could get. Harumph.

So, instead of just a few friends receiving Valentines, you all get one! And the internet triumphs over the postal service once again.

The point of it all

2008-02-11T15:22:00.000-08:00

This blog is called Cast on a Cupcake, right? So you come here looking for both knitting and cupcake content, yes? Well, today, I'll make all your dreams come true.

First, with some knitting.

Tea Roses - the whole package - Beach Glass

I was seriously craving some bring pink sock yarn for Valentine's Day. And Sonny and Shear was having a 25% off sale. The Tea Roses (Whimzy Pinzy 2 Socks @ Once) looked close to what I was looking for, and the Beach Glass (Hazel Knits Sock) was just too gorgeous to pass up. Now that I've received it, I like the Beach Glass far more than I like the Tea Roses. I was looking for something more like this (which ends up like this when knit- unfortunately every store in the entire internet is sold out. Boo).

And second, with some cupcakes.

Coconut Lime deliciousness

Oregon passed a domestic partnership law that was supposed to go into effect January first, but someone got an injunction against the law, delaying its implementation until a judge could take a look at the law. Well, a judge looked at it, said discrimination is wrong, and allowed the law to go into effect February first. Unfortunately, that was a Friday, so the law really went into effect on the third. Long story short, my friends were among the first 50 couples in line at city hall on Monday, and got their domestic partnership in Oregon!

They held a marriage reception / party on Saturday night, and I promised them some approximation of Key Lime Pie cupcakes. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World had these Coconut Lime Cupcakes, which were a dream to make, and came out beautifully, with the help of my decorating bag & the assistance of my friend Katie. (Someone has to taste the frosting & lick out the bowl!)

The cupcakes looked a little amateur next to the bakery-wedding cake, but they disappeared by the time I left the party, and the grooms had to shelter a cupcake in their refrigerator to make sure they were able to eat at least one. An unqualified hit!

Brightening your day, one mug sweater at a time.

2008-02-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

Remember my friend Claudia? The one whose blog I told you to go read if you wanted witty anecdotes? The one for whom I made a mug sweater, to replace those silly cardboard sleeves you can put around your paper coffee cup so you don't burn your fingers?

Well, said wit and said mug sweater have combined for a touching and witty tale involving a university co-op, morning coffee, and an impressed unimpressibly hip co-op worker. Hie thyself to her blog to read the story, then come back here, refreshed and awed by the greatness that are university co-ops, for some knitting content.

I've picked up some stash yarn out of my rather large, inherited, acrylic stash and started some socks! I figured, while I'm waiting for the bulky wool to dry (seriously! It's been over a week. Portland is just that wet), and since I bought that book of sock patterns, I should make one.

I don't have enough of the white to make a whole sock, so I'm doing a blue cuff and perhaps toe, and a white body of the sock.

They're both some sort of acrylic mix - I know, I did the burn test! I think the white is cotton / acrylic and the blue is wool / acrylic. They're the same weight, t hough, and it's stash knitting, so I'm happy.

It's the Uptown Bootsock (Ravelry) from Interweave Favorite Socks.

I also gave into a serious yarn craving last night. I've been trolling the Destashing forum on Ravelry, and got a hankering for some bright pink sock yarn for Valentine's Day. Didn't find any on Ravelry, but got a tip that an online yarn shop (Sonny and Shear- too cute!) had a 20% discount. They also happened to have the perfect shade of pink. And also a gorgeous aquamarine I couldn't pass up. Scratching a yarn itch feels so good.

FO: Endpaper Mitts

2008-02-02T12:28:00.000-08:00

Pattern: Endpaper Mitts, by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Shibui Knits Sock, in Finch and Midnight
Needles: US o (2.00mm) Brittany white birch dpns and 2 1/2 (3.00 mm) Crystal Palace bamboo dpns

Notes: They fit well, and they're pretty! Success.

The "seam" tends to slide around to the back of my hand, but I think that has to do with my hand shape, and not with the gloves.

It's a great pattern, easy to follow, and with beautiful results.

I don't know how to knit with my left hand, so my colorwork tends to move verrry slowly, as I work both yarns in my right hand. Pick the blue up, knit the stitches, put the blue down, pick the yellow up - whoops, they got twisted! - knit with the yellow... you get the picture. It's actually not too terribly slow, but it'd be faster if I learned Continental knitting. As long as this is working, though, I probably won't take the time to learn.

I like these because they cover my whole wrist, but aren't so long they'll get stuck on my sleeves. I knit another pair of fingerless gloves (in red! acrylic) but they're nearly elbow length, so fairly useless when I'm wearing long sleeves.

I haven't actually played piano since I was about twelve.

I still have about half a skein of the Finch yarn, and a quarter skein of the Midnight... I'm pondering about what I can use these for... maybe someone will have a baby and I can make baby socks!

The rest of today is dedicated to making up for my slacking off this whole week. Step One: go to the public interest career fair. Check. Steps Two-Six: finish scholarship applications, finish trial brief, teach self in personam and quasi in rem jurisdiction, teach self about modifications and changes to contracts, soak sheepy-wool to get the sheepiness out.

Ready, go.

I'm Knitting a Sheep

2008-01-31T21:34:00.001-08:00

This yarn! It's literally a sheep. It smells like a sheep, it feels like a sheep, and it looks like a sheep! Complete with sticks, oils, and maybe a stray lamb or two.

I counted one of the skeins and I've got about 125 yds / 8 oz of wool. So, I've got about 625 yards here. I swatched tonight, on a size 8 and a 10. The 8 gets gauge exactly for the Cozy V-Neck Pullover With Deep Ribbing (Ravelry) from Fitted Knits (not Ravelry), which is a book I bought and from which I have yet to knit something. However, I'm supposed to use a needle two sizes smaller than the 8 for the ribbing, which is the majority of the sweater, and my wrists hurt from just knitting those two swatches.

Do you like my swatches? And my cute little label?

The swatch on the 10s wasn't much easier on my hands, although they are now quite soft from the oils in the wool. Does anyone know if I can wash this yarn before working with it? Is that bad? Should I just proceed as is and enjoy the feel of down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness wool?

Also, I think this yarn deserves some cables, so I should do something other than the V-Neck Ribbed Pullover. And to preserve my hands and to make the most out of the yarn, I think I should use size 10 needles.

The ball ended up the size of my head!! I had to wind the second half of the skein by hand, because my ball-winder maxed out. This picture is now my avatar on Ravelry, because it's too hilarious not to. That is some bulky yarn, baby.

Tonight's dinner: homemade pita chips, hummus, and broccoli-cheddar soup.

PS- Anyone know anything about html and why, after the pictures, the text switches to single spaced? I like it better double spaced, and I've looked at the code, but I can't figure it out.

Score!

2008-01-29T22:19:00.000-08:00

I was trolling Craig's List last night, minding my own business, and happened on a post advertising "Linen & Handspun Wool Yarn to Knit, Crochet & Weave - $8." I emailed the woman, and stopped by tonight to check out what she had. What she had was a trunk full of single ply wool and various and sundry cones of linen, tweeds, and a lot of unidentifiable stuff. She was selling it all for $8 / lb. I walked out of there with 5 8-oz. skeins of single ply wool that smells and feels like sheep. Yummy! And who could resist a cone of lace-weight mohair?! No one with a knitting soul.

The haul.

Gratuitous close up.

After weighing it all up, the total cost was $25. $25!!! Perfect for a poor little student. I'll use the wool for some sort of chunky, lovely sweater- and if I need more, the woman told me just to send her an email and swing by for more!

The mohair will be for socks, most likely held double. I plan to try my hand at dying with this as well. Mike has requested more socks, and with this much yarn, I could knit socks for the whole family, the kitten included!

I also baked last night. Delicious Chocolate Chocolate (er- Carob) Chip cookies, from The Post Punk Kitchen (that taste exactly like Nabolom Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies). Have I told you about these? They're yummy, easy, delicious, and good for you. I think the flax seeds definitely cancel out the canola oil and sugar. Definitely.

I also finished and blocked the Endpaper Mitts. FO post when the sun comes out and I'm home during the day! Perhaps tomorrow will be the day, if it snows like they're predicting.

We had a two hour delay on Monday, due to snow. Half the public schools in Portland were outright canceled. There was literally less than 1/2 an inch on the ground. These west coast folks are snow wimps. Back where I come from, we drove ourselves to school in 5' snowdrifts, uphill both ways, no snow tires, and no chains. Ok, just kidding. But we certainly don't cancel school for a dusting of snow.

PS- I changed the comments so you can post a comment anonymously, meaning you don't have to have a blog or an account to comment. I'll be moderating the comments though, so you might have to wait a bit for your comment to show up. Maybe this will bring some of these mysterious readers my mom tells me about out of the woodwork.

Familial Undertakings*

2008-01-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

I believe I just contracted with my brother to knit this:
The Dillon family sweater. Apparently, our ancestry traces back to this clan. I've always been skeptical of our Irish / Scottish roots and erred more towards our German ancestry, but my brother's red beard might be enough to convince me. Maybe I'll even get some Irish street cred if I pull this off and knit it before I'm 85.

This company will either sell you a handknit sweater for $200 or the yarn and pattern to make your own for $90. Keith gets more than 50% off the price of the sweater, and I can never again complain that I have nothing on the needles.** I told him I couldn't guarantee finishing this before his 30th birthday (he's 22).

I tried to make a sweater like this once. I bought a boatload of Red Heart Super Saver acrylic yarn and set out. I think I got about 5 rows through the pattern before getting horribly and utterly lost and confused. Hence, all the green, acrylic things I've since knit (Ravelry links), and several still untouched one-pound skeins lining the bottom of my yarn chest.

Just the fact that I intended to make an Aran sweater out of Red Heart should indicate about where I was on my knitting trajectory.

In other familial undertakings, my mom is crazy. Evidence: every year she does what is called the "Penguin Plunge." She and her teammates swim in the Atlantic Ocean in February. Did I mention she lives in New Hampshire? I think those are the prima facie elements for crazy (law school talk, in full force!).

However, I support this crazy. Because it is a fundraiser for the New Hampshire Special Olympics. Her team is a team of doctors and nurses, and they're currently in 4th place for their fundraising. Help a good cause, and encourage the crazy! As my mom says, every $1 counts. Which is good, since that $1 will be coming out of my loans and I'll be paying it back at least until I finish this sweater project.

Click here to donate.

*Apologies for any morbid connotations. Although, it may be just me, since I've been watching Six Feet Under recently.

**Although I reserve the right to complain at any time. And knit sweaters for myself while knitting this beast. J/k Keith- I'm totally excited to take this on.

Sportscast

2008-01-25T08:13:00.001-08:00

What a week! Even with the day off, resulting in just three days of classes, this week was terribly long, and I spent most of it seriously considering dropping out of school. I think the worst of the second-semester slump has passed, though, and I'll be sticking with it, and not being so grumpy about it.

One strange feature of the week were all the sports I watched! There were the two football games on Sunday, which I watched at a friends house, with lots of junk food and champagne. I worked on the Endpaper Mitts there, and got about 4" knit before the food, football, and drinking kicked in to end the knitting.
Wednesday we went to see The Decemberists play. This doesn't count as sport, but it was an event on a schoolnight, and the one that may have dragged me out of my funk. It was a fantastic show. They're my favorite band, and Portland is their hometown, and it was just all around fantastic.

Then last night I went to see the Portland Lumberjax play. Who knew there was a professional lacrosse league in the US? The game went into overtime, 11-11, and the sudden death finish was very exciting, as everyone in the crowd would have gotten free donuts at Krispy Kreme if the Jax had scored 12 goals! Unfortunately, the Colorado Mammoth scored first and everyone went home sans donuts and a little dejected.

Some other exciting things about the evening though: we got in for free (a woman who worked at the Rose Garden approached us with her extra comped tickets, for the swanky Club Level!), and we sat next to this guy:

Lumberjax superfan!!
He gave us all high-fives every time the Jax scored.

Mike's out of town for the weekend, and I have big plans to sit on the couch and knit! Goal: finish the Endpaper Mitts by Sunday.

I also have a telephone job interview this afternoon with an affordable housing advocacy group in Oakland, for a summer clerkship. Fingers crossed!

2008-01-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

I don't have classes on Fridays, which in itself is awesome. This being MLK's birthday week means that this weekend is a 4-day weekend, which is even more awesome. It's only Saturday, and we've already been bowling, been to a great party / fundraiser, I went shopping downtown (and bought a really cute shirt at the library store- it says "I'm a friend of Ramona" as in Ramona Quimby!) and I finished the first Endpaper Mitt.

I haven't blocked it yet, but I think it still looks pretty good.

Baking!

2008-01-16T21:26:00.001-08:00

No knead bread, from the New York Times in November 2006. So easy, so delicious, and so beautiful.

1 c. whole wheat flour

2 c. all purpose (or bread) flour
1/2 t. quick rise yeast
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. water

Mix dry ingredients together.
Add water.
Mix to form a shaggy dough.
Cover in plastic wrap and let rise for 12-18 hours in a warm place (about 70*).
Pour risen dough onto floured surface.
Fold four times (as best as possible).
Flip over, seam side down.
Sprinkle with flour and wheat bran.
Cover with floured cloth.
Let rise another 2 hours.
1/2 hour before baking, turn oven to 500*.
Place cast iron pot (or oven safe pottery bowl!) & lid (or pizza stone!) in oven as it preheats.
When oven is hot, pour dough into pot (or bowl) and cover.
Bake covered for 30 minutes.
Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.

Yum!

Peanut Butter Cookies, from the New Best Recipes.
Rolled into a log.
Covered in plastic wrap.
Frozen.
Defrosted.
Sliced.
Yum.

The Last Night

2008-01-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

Classes start tomorrow. Yuck. There goes all my knitting time, all my time for sleeping in, watching movies, and mucking about online. Le sigh.

However, to get me through this difficult time, I have some new yarn!

90 yards of handspun, luminous blue bamboo from Cast One On in Welches, OR

We attempted to go skiing on Friday, after hearing all week about how much snow was falling on Mt Hood. Halfway up the mountain, it starts pouring. Turns to big flakes as we pull into the parking lot, so we're hopeful. We were there for night skiing, so we thought it would stay snow as the temperatures fell. No such luck. We were soaked through after the first two runs. Then my lift ticket fell off, so we decided to just call it a day. Luckily, we were able to exchange our tickets for vouchers for another day this season, so not all was lost.

On the way to the mountain, we stopped at an adorable log cabin yarn shop that I had tried to shop at over New Years while we were up at the condo. I don't know what I'm going to do with this yarn, but it was just calling out to me. I couldn't not buy it!

180 yards of handspun wool, a gift from my mom from the Folk Art Center in Asheville NC
*ETA: correct origination of yarn

This came in a box with my winter coats and Christmas tree ornaments a while ago, but I've just now photographed it. It has a lot of depth in the color- blues and purples. The color is exactly what I was looking for when I was buying yarn for my mom's Foliage. When she was here, I gave her a choice of yarns- this one she bought me, or the Indigo Malabrigo. She chose the Malabrigo, and the Foliage came out beautifully. I don't know what I'll use this yarn for, but it will be gorgeous when I do use it, I'm sure.

Adventures in Photos

2008-01-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

Adventure #1: (Nearly) vegan birthday cakes, ironic Christmas presents, and new cake decorating sets.

My friend Charan celebrated her (second) 25th birthday yesterday, so I baked her a cake. I got Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for Christmas (along with Vegan Vittles and, from Mike's grandparents who clearly don't know me very well, The Hamburger Cookbook), and I used the recipe for the basic Vanilla cupcakes, but baked it in my new springform cake pan, and used butter instead of margarine. The frosting is the basic Vanilla Buttercream from the same book, again, with butter instead of margarine. Yummy!

Adventure #2: Swatching! I never swatch. Never. I think it's a waste of yarn and time. I'd much rather be working on the actual project!
However, I'm making Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts and needed to decide whether to do a yellow background or a navy background. I think navy (er, rather, Midnight).

I really like the colors together- I got the Finch when I bought the yarn for the Minimalist, and the Midnight yesterday with a gift certificate Mike got me for Christmas. We both really like the colors together, so I'm trying to think of these as Starry Night and not Hannukah. It's like putting red and green together- you can't help but think of Christmas, even if it's July.

Adventure #3: More Christmas gift certificates!

An enormous, lap sized tome of the complete novels of Jane Austen. I have visions of being curled up in a nice overstuffed easy chair, snuggled in with a blanket, the fire crackling in the background, this book open on my lap, Lizzie Bennett dashing over the moors to Mr. Darcy's estate... but switch out the overstuffed chair for our garage sale recliner and the fire for our electrically-troubled ceiling light. (Our house has been crazily dim this whole winter and I finally went out and got new lightbulbs, to discover that fully HALF of all our lightbulbs have been burnt out!! I replaced them all, and all the sockets that were burnt out seen to have some sort of electrical problem that results in flickering and buzzing when the lights are on. Mike says he has an idea to fix it.)

And, Interweave's Favorite Socks! I'm quite excited for this one, as I love all the projects from it I've seen on Ravelry.

To sum up: Christmas gift certificates are great, because you get to keep getting new stuff for so long! Christmas cameras are also great, because you get to show everything off!

Contest!

2008-01-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

Help me win some yarn!

I entered some photos of the Tree Jacket into a contest to win some yarn- the people with the most views win! So go check it out and help me get some yarn!

Please, and thank you.

FO: Foliage

2008-01-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Pattern: Foliage, from Knitty Fall 2007
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Indigo, about half a skein
Needles: US 8 circulars
Started: some time last week, January 2008
Finished: January 6, 2008

Really fast, cute hat. And Malabrigo is amazing. Why anyone would ever make a hat out of anything else, I don't know. However, I don't think I could justify making anything bigger than a hat, since I can only afford one skein at a time.

The pattern is great, but once I got into the lace section (beyond the crown increases) I had a really hard time following the pattern. I made at least one mistake in just about every round. It was very frustrating. However, I was able to go back and fix everything, so the finished project is error-free!

And, I actually followed the pattern exactly as written, which may be a first for me. If I made it again, I'd only do 2 1/2 repeats of the pattern and 5 rounds of ribbing at the end, because this hat is way too deep for my head! I think it's the right circumference, but it covers my eyes when I try it on.

The hat took just under 1 ounce of yarn, leaving just under 1 ounce left. I might be able to squeeze another hat out of the remaining yarn, especially if I make the next one just a little bit smaller.

Now, the only thing I have on the needles is a camera case for the new camera. (I hope you're noticing better pictures!) It'll be my first experiment in felting, so we'll see how it goes. I'm planning on hand-felting as I really don't want to spend the money on using the washer for a little camera case.

I have one skein of ShibuiKnits sock yarn in Finch (a lovely bright yellow color), which I now realize is definitely not going to be enough for a pair of socks. I have a gift certificate to Knit/Purl, where I bought the yarn, and I think I might get a second skein in another color (Peacock, Midnight, or Mulberry are the three I'm considering) and make a pair of Endpaper Mitts.

Also coming up is Danica, which I'm going to make in Paton's SWS (so it will look similar to this one [Ravelry link]). I got two ball winders for Christmas, and exchanged one of them for the yarn. I'm still waiting for it to arrive, and I can't wait to try out entrelac!

FO: Tree Jacket

2008-01-07T16:32:00.000-08:00

(Excuse the funny look on my face - it was quite cold today!)
Pattern: Tree Jacket, from Zephyr Style
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold, Classic AL in Aged Wine, 8 skeins
Needles: US 8 circulars
Cast On: 12/23/07
Finished: 1/6/08

Notes: I made my goal of finishing this sweater over winter break- and with one week to spare! I raced along on this, at a speed at which I suppose normal people knit when they don't have school all day then piles of homework to do.

I used the lace as written for the neck, then blocked it straight. I used the modified lace pattern, found on Ravelry, of [k2tog, yo, k1, yo, skk] for the body. I also decreased 10 stitches the first ten rows of the sleeves (dec 1 each side of every other row), then followed the sleeve directions as written.

Perhaps because I was knitting so fast, I made a number of silly knitting errors. I kept knitting into the stitch from the row below, and didn't catch all of those mistakes soon enough to drop the stitch and fix it, so there are a few wonky places. Luckily, I think I will likely be the only one who examines this sweater close enough to find the mistakes.

The collar is less cowl-y and more turtle-y than the pictures in the pattern suggest, but it's still loose enough to work. I really like this sweater, and the yarn is a dream. How could you go wrong with baby alpaca and merino?!

I also finished the Foliage hat while the Tree Jacket was blocking. I didn't get pictures of that today, so I'll do a post on that some other day. It's far too big for me, so I hope it fits my mom! I only used about half the skein, so maybe if I modify the pattern to be smaller, I can squeeze another hat out of the same skein for me!

Sweater Update

2008-01-06T16:12:00.001-08:00

... aaaand we're blocking! Finally!

We cleaned up all our crap from Christmas and vacation, vacuumed, and I finally had a surface on which to block the Tree Jacket. I laid it out on the table and sprayed it with the spray bottle we use to punish the cat- she was staring at the sweater, wondering what it had done that was so terrible to deserve such a spraying! I didn't want to soak it, because things take FOREVER to dry here.

I'm trying to straighten out the lace on the collar, but I don't care too much if it stays twisted. I'm lengthening the body a little, and just trying to even out stitches.

Once it dries, I'll sew up the sleeves and have it finished for my first class on Monday!

Heaven, I'm in Heaven

2008-01-05T22:23:00.001-08:00

Why didn't anyone ever tell me how wonderful Malabrigo is? It's amazing!
I started my mom's Foliage hat out of a skein of Indigo Malabrigo Merino Worsted I got with my Tree Jacket yarn. The yarn is amazing. The pattern... not so much. I only have a set of four size 8 dpns, so I had to make do on the increases, then my size 8 circular is 29" so I'm semi-magic-looping, and it is impossible for me to keep track of the lace pattern. I had to do the first row after the increases four times! And I've had to go back and fix at least three more rows since, and I'm not even through one repeat of the pattern!!

Granted, I shouldn't be trying to knit lace in the round while watching Heroes. I admit it.

Another wonderful thing that happened today: two of my good friends here in Portland had the civil ceremony portion of their wedding (dress / cake / family ceremony to come in a year or so), and it was wonderful to be able to share that with them. It was the first wedding I've been to where the couple were people I really know and care about. I'm very grateful to have been a part of it!

It also was helpful in kicking off my resolution for 2008: Drink more champagne.

This is the cake I made for their engagement party. I got two decorating kits (frosting bag & tips) for Christmas, so decorations will be better in the future.

In Review

2008-01-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

January
Several Cupcakes, gifts for birthdays and Valentines
Verdict: Perfect, and the inspiration for the blog.

Ice Princess Headband, for Laura
Verdict: Great.

February
Squirrel Mittens, for Liz
Verdict: Great. She loves them, and I loved doing the colorwork. I didn't know much about picking up stitches or weaving in ends and left the ends way too short and gaping holes at the base of the thumbs. Oops.

Buttony Sweater, for me
Verdict: Boo. Yucky acrylic yarn, poor fit, worn very infrequently. Not even worth frogging.

March
Unbiased #1, for me
Verdict: Great. Holds my wallet perfectly. The strap stretched out considerably and I'm still thinking about adding a button or some sort of closure.

Long Socks, for Mike
Verdict: Perfect. Mike wears them nearly every night to bed and tells me almost daily how perfect they are.

Red Wool Socks, for me
Verdict: Meh. The heel flap is about an inch and a half long, and the turned heel is about an inch wide. They're very uncomfortable for walking, even just around the house.

April
Birthday Cupcake, for Rachel
Verdict: Perfect. Pink and white birthday party theme, pink and white cupcake. Induced the proclamation by Rachel's boyfriend that he was "an island if pain surrounded by a sea of cute."

Birdie, for Puppy (Liz's best friend, her stuffed dog)
Verdict: Great. Easy, quick, cute.

May
Anastasia Socks, for Emily
Verdict: Great. Wonderful, springy color, and an easy pattern for my first socks out of sock yarn and on small needles. I could have gone even smaller, but I felt like a giant gorilla.

Unbiased #2, for Mom
Verdict: Perfect. She loves it, and says she gets compliments on it all the time.

Baby Booties, for Deborah's baby Faust
Verdict: Great. So cute, so tiny. Sehr gut!

June
Jaywalkers, for me
Verdict: Perfect! I absolutely love them. I wear them when I need to feel extra special (like the first day of law school and the first final)- kind of like wearing your lacy lingerie under a t-shirt, just to feel better about the day.

Lelah, for me
Verdict: Great! Since I knit straps instead of inserting elastic, I could have decreased or added some darts or some kind- it's a little baggy in the boobs. I might go back and shorten the straps and add some elastic in the sides.

August
Rainy Day Socks, for Anne
Verdict: Perfect! I used up some old stash yarn on a fun and interesting, but quick and easy, pattern and gave socks that fit to a wonderful friend. Couldn't ask for anything better.

Swell, for Mike
Verdict: Perfect! Much like his Long Socks, he wears this hat practically every day and tells me just as often how perfect it is.

Ballet Slippers, for Jackie (on commission)
Verdict: Great! Super cute, and super great yarn. I'm not sure how well they actually stay on Jackie's feet, since I've never seen them in action.

September
Ribbed Lace Shrug, for me
Verdict: Great! Exactly what I was imagining when I decided I wanted to knit a silver shrug for a southern California September wedding.

October
Minimalist, for me
Verdict: Perfect! I love it, it fits perfectly, and I love the accidental pouffed sleeves.

Coffee Coozie #1, for Katie
Verdict: Great! The picture is terrible, but the end product was great.

November
Coffee Coozie #2, for Claudia (on commission)
Verdict: Perfect! The picture is better, and the end product was too. Claudia reports from chilly DC that her fingers are cool and her chai are hot.

My So-Called Scarf, for me
Verdict: Boo. Not enough yarn, so the scarf is too short and too skinny. I wear it when I don't feel like wearing my monstrous 7' long acrylic scarf.

Fetching, for Shannon (on commission)
Verdict: Perfect! Used up some stash yarn (Minimalist leftovers) and made a good friend happy!

December
Ribbed Socks, for Keith
Verdict: Perfect! Love them, and my guesses at his foot size were right!

Squishy Earflap Hat, for me
Verdict: Perfect! Love it, and wear it nearly everyday.

Tessellating Socks, for Mom
Verdict: Perfect! Excellent yarn, colors, and pattern. A great distraction from school and a great filler of time in the post-finals lull.

Totals:
Boo- 2; Meh- 1; Great- 10; Perfect- 13
Gifts- 16; Me- 10

2007's Final FO

2008-01-02T10:36:00.001-08:00

The mystery socks I've been working on since October! I got the first one done in November, then didn't even cast on for the second until finals ended Dec. 20. Mom arrived Christmas Eve, and I had the socks done, boxed, and wrapped Dec. 23.

Pattern: Tessellating Lace Socks (Ravelry link), from Knitting the Light Fantastic
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM in 456 (2 skeins)
Needles: Clover Bamboo US 0's

Notes: Love the yarn! Love the pattern! I'd never worked with Koigu before and it was fantastic. Lots of sproing, which is perfect for socks, and beautiful colors. I found the yarn during a Sunday afternoon of coffee & knitting back in the fall, and it was the perfect blend of colors for my mom. I attempted Monkeys with it at first, but there was some major pooling and the pattern was a little too ambitious for my law-filled brain.

I started the leg in the large size of the pattern, since it's not a very stretchy pattern, then decreased to the medium size for another leg repeat and the foot. (I decreased by skipping the yo's in one row of the pattern.) The yarn pooled the same as it had for the Monkeys in the large section, but then settled nicely into a beautiful variegation for the medium sized parts. Luckily the pooling happened in a visually pleasing spiral, and there isn't a dramatic change to the variegation.

Mom loves them too.

Sweater Speedster

2007-12-31T13:11:00.000-08:00

I am racing along on this sweater! It's amazing the different between knitting socks on US 0s and knitting a sweater on US 8s! So much faster.

I measured the body of the sweater against a comfy old sweater I have, and it still turned out a bit short. I don't really want to pick out the cast off edge and the ribbing, so I'll try to block it out. The fabric is stretchy like woah, so it should work out.

We skiied all day yesterday, in a fantastic blizzard. On our last two runs at 3:30, we were skiing in fresh, knee deep powder. It was amazing.

The view this morning after the blizzard.

Happy New Year, all!

Vacation's All I Ever Wanted

2007-12-29T18:34:00.000-08:00

Mike's mom and my mom both came up to Oregon for a Christmas / New Year's vacation, and we celebrated Christmas with a nice meal and presents on the 28th. In knitting related gifts, I got a swift from my brother, and two ball winders, one of which I will return. I also got a gift certificate for a cute downtown LYS, which I am very excited to use!

In non-knitting presents, I got two vegan cook books and a hamburger cookbook, from Mike's grandparents. It was a strange juxtaposition, especially since I don't eat hamburger! Two other exciting presents were a stove top popcorn popper and a cake decorating kit.

For Christmas dinner we had wonderful brussel sprouts, a beer and almond braised fish, and I made a delicious fudge pecan pie, with homemade whipped cream. (I'll post the recipe links later, when we have a better internet signal.)

I've been diligently working on the Tree Jacket, to meet my goal of finishing by January 14, when classes start. It's going really well. I made a few mistakes on the garter stitch section - the garter stitch section- but hopefully I'll forget and it won't be a problem when I finish.

I used the lace pattern as written for the neck, and it twisted a little, so I'm using the alternate lace pattern for the body. K2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk.

The yarn is a more cranberry-colored than this picture shows, but this is as close as I could get.

We also (as promised) got a new camera, and these are the debut photos! I hope the photography actually gets better around here...

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T20:27:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas, from our little family, and our little tree! It's a little late, but still Christmas here on the West Coast. We're keeping the spirit alive for a few more days, and opening presents when Mike's mom gets here, on the 27th.

And my lil' bro, enjoying his Christmas socks! Look at that beard!

Sweater progress: I'm just about to finish the second ball of yarn, and am almost to the point of putting the sleeve stitches on holders! I felt very Christmassy today, wearing a bright green sweater and knitting a bright red one. Pictures tomorrow, maybe.

Early Christmas

2007-12-22T12:52:00.001-08:00

A package came in the mail today.

Many packages have been coming in the mail recently, actually. Our little tree is sitting atop a rather large pile of presents and Amazon.com boxes, which we were instructed not to open until the moms come and wrap whatever goodies are inside. This box, today's box, however, did not come with such instructions. So of course, I opened it!

Boy, am I glad I did! Thanks to my most wonderful of brothers, I now have a gorgeous swift. He opened my present last night, so it's all fair. (The socks fit, thank goodness, and I impressed into his mind how important it is that the socks are not for skiing and they must be handwashed.)

Mike didn't get how the swift worked so I wound up a skein of Malabrigo I got last week (Indigo dyed, and fabulous). I loved it. And so did the cat. Winding yarn is going to be a family affair, I think. Me to wind, kitty to get in the way, and Mike to keep the kitty out of the way!
Don't even think about it, Kitty!

I got myself a Christmas present too. In addition to the Malabrigo.

I haven't had hair this short since high school! I got about three inches cut off last week, and decided it was too boring to have gone to the stylist for the first time in at least a year, for the same haircut I already had! So I went back and told him to take it all off. I love it. And so does Mike ;-)

I love this vacation thing. Yesterday, I spent the entire day working on the last remaining Christmas gift, which was also the first one I started. It's amazing how much knitting I get done when I can actually sit and just knit, all day. Delicious. I'll post about this wonderful project next week, after it gets delivered.

The Hat and the Holly

2007-12-16T18:07:00.001-08:00

Pattern: Camo Earflap Hat
Yarn: Classic Elite Alaska in Apres Ski, 2 1/2 skeins
Needles: US 13 circulars
Notes: I used a much bulkier yarn and higher stitch count than the pattern called for, so I largely made it up as I went along. Two earflaps, cast on to connect with twice as many stitches in the front as in the back, knit for six inches or so, decrease evenly and cinch shut!
As soon as I finished sewing in the ends and braiding the tassels, this hat went straight onto my head. It has pretty much been there since! I've been coveting Mike's hat, and seriously needing a hat that would actually cover my whole head (Ravelry links, sorry).

I love that it took just 3 hours to knit this up. Or would have, if I had ordered enough yarn the first time. Luckily Webs is amazing and got my second order to me within a week, and even still had the right dye lot!

I love the tassels, the thickness, the color, the earflaps, the fact that even without a crochet edge, nothing rolls! The next picture shows the color fairly well- blue with threads of varying shades of purple throughout.

Just as I said it would be, this is the perfect hat.

I wore it to the Farmer's Market today, which ended up being perfect, as there is a large and lovely holly hedge right there! I don't think I've ever seen this much holly- it's really lovely!

The house keeps getting more and more Christmasy- we've got the tree, and presents, and even a cat in a festive bowl! Oh, that's not a tradition in your house?

Well, as of today, it is in ours!
!

Three things

2007-12-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

No. 1: Has everyone seen these? Knitting stamps! I bought them the other day, and I didn't even realize they were knitted until I got them home. They're not just images made to look like knitting- they're pictures of items knitted especially for the stamps! Too cool for school, USPS. (Image copyright USPS, 2007.)

No. 2: My soon-to-be-finished Best Hat Ever! Squishy and delicious with earflaps and tassels! It's Classic Elite Alaska, knit on huge circular needles. The first two skeins got me this far, and I had to order a third to finish it up. I sped through this, all in about an hour. With a high of 26 degrees today, I certainly wish this hat was complete.

And, No. 3: Mike was on NPR's Talk of the Nation yesterday! The theme was maps, and we love maps. One wall in our bedroom is actually covered in maps. Our friend, who he talked about, also loves maps. Last year, there were a whole bunch of us (maybe ten, total?) who moved to the San Francisco bay area. Five of these friends lived together and when anyone came over, we'd draw a map of "our" San Francisco. Each map was unique to each person's experience of the city. Then, our friends hung the maps up on their wall. It made for some really cool decorations.

One down, three to go.

2007-12-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

I'm talking about both presents and finals.

Yesterday I took my first final and celebrated by going up to Mt Hood and doing some night skiing. It was fantastic. Now, just three more agonizing three-hour finals left to go.

When I got home from skiing, I sat down and finished up the toe on my brother's second sock.
Pattern: My own, 2x2 rib with slipped-stitch flap heel.
Yarn: Alpaca Sox in gray
Needles: Brittany US 2s (2.75mm)

Notes: This yarn is fantastic. Although I've begun to wonder if I picked out something too delicate for my outdoor-leadership, wilderness EMT, ski patroller, hearty, kilt-wearing brother. I'll have to remind him (daily) to handwash these babies.

I hope they'll be big enough. I had Mike try them on, and there's some extra room in the toes. Hopefully enough to accommodate size 10 feet!

Usually I do heels and toes using the short-row method, which I really like. I'm not sure why I decided to do a heel flap, but I'm glad I did- there's a lot more room at the ankle, making these socks easier to put on.

I kitchenered the toes closed, only messing up once on the first pair. I'm not sure why, but I always get lumps on either end of my kitchener seam. Hopefully that will go away with wear.

Now, I'm off to memorize arcane property law and try to find some time to finish up the other gifts I have in my head.

Also, I want to apologize for the pictures on the blog over the past six months. As you may or may not remember, the camera broke on our trip across the country in May. Being essentially unemployed students, we've been muddling along with a digital camera sans screen, but Santa has promised me a new camera! In a couple of weeks, we'll all be able to rejoice in better pictures.

Study Aids

2007-12-09T15:11:00.001-08:00

Exhibit A: Pumpkin cheesecake, rosemary Christmas bush & sunshine.

Exhibit B: (L-R) Civil procedure outlines, FRCPs, handknit socks, latte, snacks, caffeinated tea.

This is post #100 on the blog! Celebratory retrospective to come.

A Strange Light

2007-12-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning, seeing a glow from underneath the bedroom door. Cautiously, I opened the door and stepped out into the living room. What is this? Did we forget to turn the lights off? Unplug the tree?

No! The sun is out! A rare, strange occurrence. Quick! Where's the camera? Grab the yarn!Here's the Elsebeth Lavold for the Tree Jacket, in Aged Wine.

And some extra bulky yarn for a comfy, cozy earflap hat for me. Classic Elite Alaska in "Apres Ski".

Are finals over yet? Can I knit now?

Rewards

2007-12-07T19:03:00.001-08:00

It's a good thing I don't have my heart set on beating the curve with my grades this semester. I'm not very good at the whole focus-on-nothing-else-for-nine-hours-straight kind of studying. I can do about two hours before I need to take a break with some mindless yarn-surfing.

Classes ended on Wednesday, and my first final is Tuesday. Then it's a final every third day for two weeks. Yuck-tastic.

I'm plugging away at my brother's socks in my self-prescribed downtime. I'm about to turn the heel on the second sock, and then I can send those off to VT.

I decided that as a reward for myself, I'm going to knit a sweater over break. I picked the Tree Jacket, which is a pattern I had to buy, a first for me. I went to Webs and, after a thorough perusal of all the yarn on sale & clearance, decided on some Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL in a cranberry-color. The yarn for it (and a nice chunky earflap hat, also for me) arrived today, and it's taking all my self-control not to cast on immediately.

I've got finals and Christmas presents to finish!

Chill Friday night

2007-12-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

There are very few things in life I perfer to an evening of Scrabble and knitting.

The socks are a Christmas present for my little brother. (I hope he's not another closet reader of my blog.) He works winters on ski patrol in northern Vermont, so these are some comfy alpaca socks for him to slip into when he gets from work and his feet need a break from big chunky wool ski socks.

Mike tried them and and says they're comfy. But my little bro has feet two sizes bigger than Mike, so I just have to hope I made the toes long enough!

The Scrabble game was great. I was beating Mike, which doesn't happen often, until the kitten jumped up on the board and scattered tiles everywhere.

Finished & Gifted

2007-11-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

The Fetching mitts I was working on before Thanksgiving were done and wrapped up in time to give them to my friend when she arrived from Boston. We're both very happy with them. She didn't bring them camping with us, which is fine by me, because now they are still nice and new for her!

Pattern: Fetching, from Knitty, Summer 06
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in Garnet, leftover from the Minimalist (Ravelry link)
Needles: Inherited aluminum dpns, size 6 or so

Notes: Great, fun pattern. I'll knit a pair up for myself one of these days. I have a pair of elbow-length fingerless gloves, and the length is just so annoying for long-sleeved shirts and jackets.

I did four repeats of the cable on each wrist, and the cables are all going the same way. The pattern has the cables mirroring each other on each hand, but I think that's a bit much. I don't like having to figure out whether a mitten is for my left hand or right hand.

These photos were taken at 7 am before taking Shannon to the airport. That would explain the silliness, but Shannon and I are silly like this all the time. She's a wonderful friend!

On a non-Fetching related topic, I just learned I have several lurking blog readers! It's always fun to know who shows up and reads, since without any comments, I have no idea whether anyone is actually reading! I mean, I have BlogStats to tell me, but that's just not the same.

So, c'mon guys (Dad, Melissa, I know you're out there!), leave a comment, even if just to say hi!

The Epic Tale of an LYS

2007-11-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

I'm in the library, where I am supposed to be studying (my Contracts book is actually open in front of me) but I've been so neglectful of this blog! I don't expect to have much time, or sanity, to post until finals end (just before Christmas), but I will try not to abandon you totally.

I have a wonderful LYS story to share. Every year for Thanksgiving, I get together with a dozen or so of my family of friends from a fantastic summer job. This year, we camped in Redwoods National Park in northern CA. Five of us drove down from Portland, in a fantastic camper van (Jimmy) and food to feed 18 people for five days.

We stopped for gas in Grant's Pass, at a station that just happened to be next door to a knitting shop! While we were filling up, I thought I'd just pop over and see what the shop had to offer. My friend Becca came too.

Walking in the door, we were greeted by a large table covered (covered) in knitted objects, finished, and in various stages of progress. In the next room was all the yarn and in the third room, the patterns and needles, etc. The four women in the shop immediately started talking about how wonderful it was to see teenagers (teenagers!) knitting.

I was wearing my recently finished So-Called Scarf (FO post to come), and the women picked up on that. The owner of the shop asked me what stitch it was, and I told her the name of the pattern. this is where the story gets crazy. This woman (Susan) started to berate me about how knitting is an ancient art, handing down through the generations and we do a disservice to our ancestors if we abandon the stitches for patterns. And, if we use patterns, we don't actually learn the principles of knitting and don't actually know how to knit. Plus, we're evolutionarily at the top of the chain because we know how to use tools, and what are you doing, using double-pointed needles for socks?! Didn't anyone ever teach you the magic loop?! Or using two circs?! Or just two double-pointed needles?! This is blasphemy. You aren't using your tools correctly, you have no place on the evolutionary scale!!

At this point, Becca and I are just looking sideways at each other and trying to gauge how quickly we can escape.

The UPS man comes, and Susan starts to jump up and down (jump up and down) out of excitement, splitting her pants in the process. We have no idea what was in the box.

She comes back to us and asks what we're making and buying. I'm not buying anything, but I've inspired Becca to take up knitting again. She selects some sport weight alpaca, and asks the owner what needles she should get. We get another lecture about tools, and gauge, and then she asks me if I'm a "flicker" or if I "manage my line in my right hand." I have no idea what she's talking about. She makes me knit a round on a sock she has lying out on the table, and determines that since I hold my working yarn in my right hand, I am not a flicker (continental style, I suppose) and am therefore not a knitting snob.

Since Becca wants to make wristwarmers, the selection of needles was a long process, complete with Susan pulling out pattern books. We finally convinced her that since Becca hasn't knit in a long time, she will be knitting them flat and then seaming them, so regular old circular needles will be just fine, and no pattern, cables, or short rows are necessary.

Susan then begins to try to explain to Becca how to cast on, and we tell her that I will be helping her in the van, and we don't need a knitting lesson right now, thank you. However, when she learns I do a long-tail cast on (which apparently isn't even a true long-tail cast on, but it's what my mother taught me, so I'm totally carrying on the tradition of my ancestors, lady), she freaks out. She makes me learn some crazy "Dorothy's cast-on" for socks, which she says will blow my mind. (I'm mildly impressed, but I'm not unhappy with my regular cast-on, so I'll keep using it. Plus, I can't remember this mind-blowing cast-on.)

Mike has since finished filling up the van and come into the store, trying to get us to leave, but he can't handle Susan's craziness and immediately rushes back to the van. Susan is in the process of telling us that it is too bad Becca and I aren't named Susan that that we don't have another friend named Susan with us, because when there are five Susans in the store, there is an automatic "Five Susans" Sale of 10% off.

Finally, Becca gets to pay for her yarn (without a 5-Susan-discount) and needles, and then we begin the process of winding the skein into a ball. Susan again rails against big-city snobby yarn stores that make you pay to have your skein wound (I've never encountered one of those), which again, leads to a discussion of yarn-snobbery.

With the skein safely wound and the yarn paid for, we try to make our escape. The last straw comes when Susan runs off to start the water boiling so Becca can boil the cable of her needles so it's pliable. Finally, we tell Susan we actually have four more hours of driving to do have three people waiting in the car for us, and really, we don't have time for her to boil water for us!!!

We make our escape and make plans for an extensive blog post. And that, my friends, is the story of the Knitting Beehive in Grant's Pass, OR. If you ever go, make sure to bring your four friends named Susan.

The Giving Season

2007-11-15T17:15:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to the Thanksgiving break. Let's not talk about the quiz I have to get through in Constitutional Law to actually get to break.

For the past several Thanksgivings, my family of friends has gotten together to camp and celebrate Thanksgiving together. I joined the fray last year in Big Bend, in Texas, and this year we are all traipsing out to Redwoods National Park in northern California. Three friends are flying into Portland this weekend and we're driving down on Wednesday. (Classes? What classes?)

Yesterday, I remembered one of the friends, who is flying in Sunday, asked me to make her a pair of wrist-warmers for the trip. Yikes! I pulled out the devastated skein if Cascade 220 from my Minimalist and deftly untangled it, wound it into a ball and cast on for Fetching. By about 10 pm last night, I had 2" completed.

I worked on it over breakfast this morning, and while waiting for my carpool. When I got home, I raced against the setting sun to try and bind off before the light disappeared for a good picture. Clearly, the sun beat me. But not by much! **ETA: I changed the photo, because this one is better. And more accurate of my life!

I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's Sewn Cast-Off for both the top and the thumb (finished after this picture was taken) for extra stretchiness. I really like these, and I think I may have to make myself a pair. But after I get through my list of gifts.

Also exciting was receiving an Urban Outfitters catalog in the mail. I usually just shop online, in the sale section, because I'm not crazy enough to spend $98 on a t-shirt that looks like it came from Goodwill.

However, they do usually have very cute and hip things, and I do live in Hipster City, USA. What drew my eye tonight was this lovely sweater. It looks simple enough, and I'll be trolling Craftster and Ravelry for a knock-off pattern written by someone far more talented than I. (Than me?)

Knitty, not Witty.

2007-11-13T21:52:00.000-08:00

This is just weird. Milk? In yarn? I'm not convinced.

Moving on.

I finished a commissioned piece! Claudia, a kick-ass, radical, genius, and inspirational friend from undergrad, requested a mug coozy of her own, after seeing the one I made for Katie. Now her hands can stay nice and warm, but not scalding, and she can move one step closer to a sustainable life, free of unnecessary paper-mug-holder-things. (Although let's not get into a discussion about the sustainability of acrylic yarn, svp.)

I couldn't find any paper mugs to model this coozy for me, so I used a pint glass from our alma mater. If I were as witty as Claudia, I'd say something witty here to end the post. Unfortunately, I can only help you out with knitty things. If you're looking for witty things, go read Claudia's blog.

Fan Girl

2007-11-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

Today I went out for coffee. I expected I would get to the cafe before the person I was meeting, so I brought along some knitting. Halfway there, I realized I was wearing my awesome knitting t-shirt and my Minimalist Cardigan. Luckily, I got to the cafe second, so I didn't have to face the decision of whether to be Knitting Girl, wearing a knitting t-shirt, wearing a handknit, and knitting, all at once.

We sat outside and a guy walked by asking for change. We told him we didn't have any (which was true) and he walked away. As he left, he remarked that he liked my sweater. Perhaps in a moment of TMI, I said, "Thanks! I made it!" (I don't know if any of you feel the need to tell everyone who remarks on something you happened to have made that you made it! but I do. Probably because I'm so shocked I actually like something I made enough to wear it.) He turned around and looked more closely at my sweater. Then he said it really needed a button. Or maybe a zipper, which are really simple to install, you know. Then he asked if the seaming was the hardest part. I said yes, and he said it looked like I had messed up on the shoulders (which, technically, I did). They just didn't look right. He then proceeded to talk about how matching a straight line to a circle is hard, because of physics and equal and opposite reactions. Eventually he walked away, revealing he wasn't wearing any underwear and was in dire need of a belt.

Two for you, one for me

2007-11-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

In the midst of my many small holiday projects, I started a new scarf for myself. It's My So-Called Scarf, out of some yarn I got in Berkeley, back at the Great-Yarn-and-Fabric-Binge of 2007. I originally got the yarn with a hat in mind for Mike, but he was disdainful of the brown / blue blend, so the yarn has languished in my stash, moving across California and then up the coast to Oregon.

Unfortunately, it looks like 100m (2 balls) are just not going to be enough. So far, I've got 12" of scarf. I'm already through the first ball. I just don't think a 2-foot scarf will cut it.

I'm using US 10.5 (6.5mm) needles, instead of the 11s called for in the pattern, and the fabric is really dense. I could rip back and go up a few needle sizes, or Mike has suggested making it into a neck-warmer, which might actually be a good idea for biking through the winter.

The stitch is great though. It's really rhythmic, and I got into a nice groove while watching Viva Las Vegas last night.

I've got a commissioned gift FO to share, but I just put it in the mail yesterday and it has to make its way all the way across the country to DC. And I don't even know if it had enough postage to make it. Let me know, Claudia, so I can share it with the world!

Extreme Makeover

2007-11-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out a new layout.

What do you think?

The Craziest of Gangs

2007-11-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

Me and my friends on our way to the Halloween party. Let me give you the rundown.
A Dinosaur. (Down in front) A Battery (of the pair salt & battery... assault & battery!). A To-do list. The Right to Arm Bears. A Giraffe. A jellyfish.

We were in front of Burger King, waiting for the bus, entertaining the patrons.
And a close-up of the giraffe, which won first prize at the costume contest! Mike spent all day being crafty and sewing up his costume. He started at 9 am with a sheet and ended up with this at 3 pm.

Oh, the horror!

2007-10-31T07:44:00.000-07:00

There's a crime scene is my living room!

Luckily Mike cleaned this up before I got home, so my tender little eyes didn't have to see the bloodshed our little kitty caused.

That is the remaining nearly-full skein of Cascade 220 from the Minimalist Cardigan. I haven't ventured into the yellow bag where the yarn awaits its final fate to see how much can be salvaged.

I had it in the bag to work on my first end-of-finals / surviving law school / holiday present. We went to a town hall meeting about a $54mn spending package to improve the streets of Portland for pedestrians and bikes (3 people have been hit and killed while riding their bikes here, in the last three weeks alone). First of all, it was lovely to go to a town hall meeting and feel like a part of the community. I've been so transient since high school, and it is nice to feel like I'm settling down to one place.

Second of all, it was lovely to sit at the back of the room, listening to the presentations, getting all the inside gossip from the woman who's lived here for 39 years, and knitting away.

The result is this: A Mug and French Press Jacket for my friend Katie (who I hope does not read my blog - look away Katie!)

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in Garnet
Needles: my go to some kind of metal, size 7 or 8 dpns from my mom's stash
Notes: Since I don't have five needles of a dpn set large enough for this pattern, I attempted to use four and still follow the directions. I came up with a very large disc, much too large for the bottom of any coffee cup I know. So I frogged.

I tried again, but still, it came out all wrong. So I frogged.

Then I gave up on the idea of a mug jacket with a cute little button to go around the handle, and settled on a simple coffee cup sleeve. In the end, all I used from the pattern was the stitch pattern. I really love the smocking, and it's a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Katie drinks a ton of coffee- at least a latte a day- and while she usually uses a real mug, sometime I see her with a paper cup. This sleeve helps her cut down on at least a little of the paper usage, subbing in for those cardboard sleeves to help keep your fingers from burning on the cup.

Apologies for the terrible picture. It's 8 am and the sun hasn't risen yet. Also, the camera screen is broken (still).

As for the wonkiness of the sleeve... I can only direct you to the carnage witnessed above.

Look Ma! I finished my sweater!

2007-10-20T13:39:00.001-07:00

Yaaaay, sweater!

I'm clearly very excited to be wearing my new sweater. One would think that being outside, in the cold drizzle, would make me this happy. However, I LOVE this sweater. It came out just perfectly.

Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan, from Interweave Knits Fall 07
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in Garnet
Needles: Rosewood US 7s

Notes: I thought I might be taking on more than I could chew by picking a sweater to knit during my first month of law school, but it turns out I was wrong. This sweater was the perfect thing to take my mind off school and case books and memos. I could pick up my knitting and an hour or two later, have a finished sleeve!

The pattern was easy to follow and progress was quick. I'd never seamed for real before, so I looked up some tricks online and decided to use the back-stitch method, since the fabric is pretty thick. I think I did it right- let's talk again after I've worn the sweater a few times.

I made the 34" size, and I probably could have made the next size up for the front panels to drape as they do in the Interweave photo, but the shoulders and sleeves and back all fit perfectly.

I love cardigans, and I usually wear them open, or maybe with just the center button buttoned. I might put a clasp on this, but for now I really like it the way it is.

Look for this sweater worn exactly the way I've got it on now- over jeans and a regular shirt, or perhaps looking a little profesh for a trip to the downtown community development law firm where I just started doing some pro bono work.

I have something else on my needles now, but it's holiday knitting for one of my most dedicated readers, so check it out on Ravelry if you're curious.

I've got other holiday ideas for people who don't read the blog (I think) so I'll try and get those projects going so I have something interesting to write about.

The Hard Life of a Sweater

2007-10-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

Monday, I was just a bunch of parts, waiting to be made whole.

Tuesday, I came together and took a field trip to the spa! Aaah, it's wonderful to just...

The today, I took a nice long bath.

Maybe tomorrow I'll make my public debut...

Love,
The Minimalist Sweater

On Finishing

2007-10-16T18:41:00.001-07:00

The knitting is done, but now I have to finish it.

I've never learned how to properly sew up knitting.

This will be an adventure.

Kitty Luuuuvs Cupcakes!

2007-10-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Over the course of this week, we've discovered that our kitty absolutely loves cupcakes.

First, on Tuesday, a law school friend came over to study. She offhandedly commented that she wanted a cupcake. We convinced Mike to make us cupcakes, which he agreed to if I would make the frosting. Deal!

While we were enjoying our cupcakes (a little on the disappointing side- not so flavorful cupcakes with not so flavorful frosting), Arlo decided she wanted in on the action, too. (Apologies for the green-devil eyes in this shot. The red-eye fixer on iPhoto doesn't fix green eyes... go figure)

Then, last night we were sewing up some pillow covers for the giant couch cushions we got to remedy the incredible uncomfortableness that is our futon couch. I keep my straight pins in a cupcake that I knit up last winter. Mike had mentioned once that Kitty got a hold of the pincushion and went crazy, but I had yet to see if with my own eyes. It's intense. There's hissing and spitting and feverish running about the house.

Do you see the fierceness in her eyes? We think she might be incredibly mad at the cupcake because all the pins in it prick her as she attacks it, which make her think it's attacking her back. I'm going to knit her a pin-free cupcake to test our theory.

In non-kitty news, we had brunch at a friend's house on Saturday. Her condo has an incredible kitchen, but unfortunately she's more of a take-out kind of girl. Mike and I have been promising her that we'd come over a cook for her, and Saturday was the day. We brought all the ingredients over (except salt and oil), plus a waffle iron. Turns out, she doesn't have any bowls or measuring cups! We used drinking glasses and an ice cream scoop to measure, and some large cereal bowls for mixing. It was hilarious.

Luckily, brunch turned out fantastically, complete with excellent company. We went all vegan, since one friend doesn't eat eggs and the other is lactose intolerant. I found an excellent recipe for Lemon-Corn Waffles, and vegan sticky buns (I can't find the link right now... sorry!) All was delicious, and adequately measured.

Taking a Deep Breath

2007-10-05T16:42:00.001-07:00

This was that week they warn you about before you start law school. Among other things, I had a quiz today in Constitutional Law. Just 10% of the grade, but with all the stress flying around, you'd have thought it was an enormous midterm!

So, this chilly, gray afternoon, I'm taking it easy, listening to the radio, and knitting, finally knitting.

Lazy Fall Saturday

2007-09-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Fall is officially upon us. It's been gray and rainy, with a chill in the air, for the past few days. It's been nice to pull out the sweaters, slip on the corduroys, and snuggle up with a cup of tea.

After doing some pro bono work in the morning (keeping an eye on the police at an anti-war march), and slogging through some Civil Procedure, I rewarded myself with an apple pie.

I think the most difficult part about making an apple pie is deciding how to slice the apples. Growing up, we had one of those apple-corer-slicer-peelers, which was always the highlight of apple season for me. I'm used to thinly sliced apples for pie, but the cookbook (yes THE cookbook) said to cut the apples into 1/8ths. I thought those slices would be too big for eating, so I went ahead and sliced each apple in half, excised the core, and sliced the apples thinly, like an onion.

Tossed with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice,and a dusting of flour, those babies were ready to go.

After I trimmed the crust, and got the pie in the oven, I had a lot of leftover dough. I squeezed it all back up into a ball and rolled it out into a rectangle. I brushed some egg white on it, then generously sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, and tossed on some nutmeg and allspice. I rolled it up and put it in the oven with the pie. 20 minutes later, we had a nice little snack of cinnamon bites.

While the baking was going down in the kitchen, I snuggled up on the study chair with the first sleeve of the Minimalist cardigan. It was nice to be back with the familiar moss stitch, after the brief foray with the Ribbed Lace. The kitten has adopted the chair as her very own, so she was a bit put out to have someone else sitting in it. She took out her anger on the ball of yarn, at first. But then she just sat next to me and watched, not even going after the needles! What a good kitty.

New kitten and an FO!

2007-09-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to a wedding, and today we got a cat!

I was able to finish the shrug the night before the wedding, and it was nice to be able to enjoy the day without a frantic race to the finish with the knitting.

Pattern: Ribbed Lace Bolero
Yarn: Lion Branch Microspun in Sterling
Needles: US 7 (bamboo) & US 10 (aluminum)

Notes: This pattern was great. Very easy to follow, and with quick results! I didn't do the cables to finish off the lace section, because I was on a plane and I didn't have a cabling needle (or the patience) to do hem. I think it looks fine without. Finished was really easy, and the finished product was just what I wanted.

The wedding was in Orange County, and let me tell you how glad I am not to live there. We left beautiful, sunny Portland (riding to the airport in a convertible with the top down, even!), and arrived in rainy, rainy LA. Totally lame. As you can see, though, it was gorgeous and sunny by the time the wedding started. It was still chilly, though, so I was especially glad to have my shrug!

The ceremony was held in the Cal State Fullerton Arboretum, where Mike used to work. Before the ceremony started, we walked all around, looking for pretty places to take FO shots. This first one is next to a pomegranate tree. I thought they were apples, at first, because I'd never seen pomegranates on the tree!

Since the ground was all wet and soft from the rain, I was having a lot of trouble walking in my heels (ok- I have trouble walking in heels anytime), so I took them off. Mike told me this was a red flag to anyone who saw us that I was definitely not from the OC. It is fine by me to have that fact be readily noticeable.
Another way you could tell that I wasn't from the OC was by the fact that I made the guy giving us a ride from the ceremony to the reception (in a giant mansion, right off the set of The OC) stop off at our hotel so I could ditch the heels entirely and pick up the flip flops. I wasn't about to let fashion stop me from dancing all night long!

And that brings us to tonight, and our kitten. She was abandoned (along with the rest of her litter) outside my friend's work. He adopted her and nursed her (with a bottle!) before realizing he has serious cat allergies. And he lives in a studio apartment! We're probably not keeping her, but we're babysitting for the month, until our friend's dad comes to adopt her. Or we find someone local to adopt her permanently. She is so darn cute we might just have to keep her anyway.

Political Bake Sale

2007-09-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight I baked nearly-vegan chocolate chocolate chip cookies for a bake sale at school tomorrow. The National Lawyers Guild chapter is holding a bake sale to raise money to send to the legal defense funds for the Jena 6. (Nearly vegan because I accidentally used chocolate chips instead of carob chips. But I used canola oil instead of butter and flax seeds & soy milk instead of eggs. It's a great recipe, and the cookies came out very similar to the cookies we sold at the bakery in Berkeley.)

Now, onto the reason behind the cookies. I haven't been very political on this blog. I'm sure my (limited) readership is here for the knitting and the baking, since that's what this is all about.

However, in my real life, I'm a very political person. Politically aware, and politically active. And this is a very important subject.

Today (Sept 20) is a day of solidarity for the Jena 6, and students all across the country are raising money and wearing green and black to raise awareness. This is an issue demonstrating the continuing racism and injustice that plagues this country.

I'm posting the whole message from the colorofchange.org website, and even if you're just here for the knitting and baking, I strongly encourage you to read on and take notice of this tragedy. If you feel so inclined, please consider donating toward the cause of these students.
-----------------

Last fall in Jena, Louisiana, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."¹

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place"--but it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the odds are stacked against them. Together, we can make sure their story is told, that this becomes an issue for the Governor of Louisiana, and that justice is provided for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please add your voice:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/

The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were arrested for the theft of the gun.²

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.³

Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. Bail was set so high -- between $70,000 and $138,000 -- that the boys were left in prison for months as families went deep into debt to release them.⁴

The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.

Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jail for 22 years.⁵ Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bail this week.

The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. They will lose precious years to Jena's outrageous attempt to maintain a racist status quo. But if we act now, we can make a difference.

Please add your voice to the voices of these families in Jena, and help bring Mychal, Theo, Robert, Carwin, and Bryant home. By clicking below, you can demand that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served for Mychal Bell, and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against the 5 boys who have not yet gone to trial.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/

Thank You and Peace,

-- James, Van, Gabriel, Clarissa, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
July 17th, 2007

References:

1. "Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the ‘White Tree,'" truthout, July 3, 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070307B.shtml

2. "Racial demons rear heads," Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/yvh7t5

3. See reference #1.

4. See reference #1.

5. "'Jena Six' defendant convicted," Town Talk, June 29, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/ysxtgg

Other resources:

NPR: Searching for Justice in Jena 6 Case (streaming audio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11756302

Democracy Now! - The case of the Jena Six ...
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220

Too Sense: Free The Jena Six Now
http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-jena-six-now.html

While Seated: Jena Six
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml

Nooses, attacks and jail for black students in Jena Louisiana
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/28/144445/384

Justice In Jena, by Jordan Flaherty
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=12783&sectionID=30

The Perpetrator becomes the Prosecutor (and other related entries)
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/blog/

'Stealth racism' stalks deep South
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/6685441.stm

*** Michal Bell's conviction has been thrown out, but he remains in jail as lawyers decide whether to retry him as a juvenile.

Ribbed Lace Bolero Progresses

2007-09-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I haven't been bringing books home to do work this week. I've been getting enough work done at school, so there's no reason to schlep books to and from school on my bike, right?

And that means I can knit instead of study, right?

Right.

This is the Ribbed Lace Bolero I'm working on for the wedding on Saturday. I definitely procrastinated too long on casting on for this. However, DK weight yarn on US 10 aluminum needles is going fairly fast. The needles are really long- 14"!- which means I can't knit in any chair that has arms. The needles hit the arms and break my knitting-stride. Which I don't really have with this pattern, as all the yo's and the ssk's slow me down a little.

I am glad to be working on the lace part, because I did the ribbing on wooden US 7s, and the wood needles really hated this yarn. The fiber really stuck to the needles and made it hard to slide the stitches around. We're doing much better on the 10s, though. And aluminum needles aren't that bad.

If I start having a lot of work to do later this week, which I'm sure I will, at least I'll have the plane ride to LA for knitting time. And while Mike is out partying it up bachelor-party style, I can stay in the hotel and knit, granny-style. (Or go party it up with his mom, whichever ;-)

PS- Yes, we have two pencil sharpeners. Who knows why? I don't even write with pencils.

Dinner for Two...

2007-09-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

... Or, what I do when I don't bring books home from school.

Exhibit One: The last of our hand picked veggies. So colorful, so flavorful. I pan seared a red onion & cumin seeds (not hand picked), then simmered some green & yellow bell peppers and tomatoes with garlic, ginger, chili pepper, and Indian spices (specified by our great Indian cookbook). Sprinkle with garam masala and serve hot over rice.

Exhibit Two: Acorn squash "No wonder they call it squash"-ed bread. I made my own squash puree, then followed a recipe for Pumpkin Bread. I doubled the recipe, but obviously there wasn't enough baking powder to raise the loaves. Also, it lacks... something. I think it might be salt. Or maybe sugar. Or the delicious flavor of pumpkin. Mike suggested some apple butter.

Vegetable Love

2007-09-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

A friend from New York was visiting this week. He and Mike went camping all week, while I was in class (Boo) but when they came back and I was done with class for the week, we went to Sauvie Island to pick vegetables for dinner.

Caleb and Mike are both excellent cooks- Caleb is starting culinary school sometime soon- and it was the first time Caleb actually went to the farm to pick his own dinner, so he was especially inspired to make something scrumptious.

We ended up with boatloads of delicious veggies (including strawberries! In September! Who knew?) and Caleb went to town in our little kitchen. He did two types of baked acorn squash (chili-spicy and brown-sugary), pan seared red peppers and onions, and delicious green beans with mustard seeds and toasted almonds. It doesn't look very appetizing here, mostly due to my totally lame photographic skills, but I promise, it was the essence of delicious. It is the most wonderful thing in the world to go from field to dinner in less than four hours. At 5 pm these veggies were still eating from their mamas, and at 8 pm, they were giving each other high fives in our mouths (Caleb's metaphors). Incredible.

While dinner was focused solely on fall - acorn squash and pumpkin beer- we leaped back to early summer with dessert. Amidst Caleb's frenzy in the kitchen, I whipped up my Grandmother's strawberry shortcake. It's just a simple baking powder biscuit, but it's so flaky, so light... I can never eat strawberry shortcake with angel food's cake or whatever other people serve it with. For me, it's Grandma's biscuits or nothing. Strawberries in September! Amazing.

Today, we took Caleb to the airport and drove around northeast Portland, looking for yarn stores until Ikea opened. We needed some cushions for the incredibly uncomfortable futon in our living room. And those you just can't get on Craig's List.

We're going to a wedding next weekend and I've been planning to make the Ribbed Lace Bolero to wear over my dress since this summer! The wedding is in LA, so it's probably not going to get too cold, so I'm wearing a fun summer dress and these little silver heels I've got, and I had a dream of the bolero in a light, silvery cotton yarn. I went to (the awesome and amazing) Yarn Garden shop in SE Portland, but couldn't find the right yarn. I had to go to Jo-Ann's to get the cheap (and oh-so-wonderfully soft) Lion Brand Microspun. (I know, I know- I'm a bad knitter. I tried to buy from the LYS, I really did. We went to 3 yarn stores before we found one that was open. But if you don't stock the right color yarn, I just can't help you.)

I've never seen this particular strain of Lion Brand, and even with the ridiculous splitting action, I have to admit to liking it. The designer of the bolero used Lion Bran Cotton Ease, which I'm convinced only exists in other people's blogs, because I've never seen it in a store, and when I've looked for it online, I get told that it's been discontinued. Is it just me? Anyway, Cotton Ease is worsted weight and Micro Spun is sport weight, so I dropped to size 7 needles for the ribbing, but I'm going to go ahead and to the lace part on 10s anyways. Mostly because I don't own any 9s, which would be the logical size to use.

The photo is of my swatch for this sweater. Yes, that is my entire swatch. I really hate swatching. All I can think when I'm doing it is, "I could be knitting something for REAL!" So I tend to do as little as possible to measure the fabric, and then rip it right out to cast on for the project. This here was 20 stitches over about 5 rows. So far, though, I've managed not to make any completely egregious gauge mistakes. I also haven not actually knit that many things from actual patterns in which gauge, like, matters.

I'm Not Dead Yet!

2007-09-10T23:23:00.001-07:00

Just a note to let you all know that law school hasn't eaten me alive yet.

These are some gladiolas (gladioli?) Mike got for me at the Farmer's Market on Sunday. They are a gorgeous shade of bright red and really brighten up the living room. (I also have a vase of them on my desk.)

The silk painting is from a trip to China a few years ago- the large character means "Young people work hard for this beautiful world". It was a saying that resonated with me, after years of activism and organizing throughout undergrad. It also feels relevant now, as I work towards my law degree.

Bread and Roses

2007-09-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been a great good-bye to summer.

We started out going to the downtown farmer's market on Saturday, and walked away with armloads of fresh kale, spinach, peppers, corn on the cob, and a package of grass-fed, sustainable and local ground buffalo. The corn and the buffalo (made into chipotle burgers) are on the grill now.

We've been having some really excellent game nights with our new law school friends, and last night was no exception. We went through an entire deck of Apples to Apples cards, which is a first for me. Mike wanted to make cookies to take over, but he's been sick (he just started work at a daycare center, and he got infected with baby germs). So he took a nap and I made cookies. Delicious, soft, chewy, melty peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. As close to cookie-perfection as one can come, if I do say so myself. So perfect, in fact, that a full 24 hours after baking the chocolate chips are still melted. The recipe, as always, was from the Cook's Illustrated New Best Recipes book.

You might notice, lurking in the background of that delicious looking spread of soy milk and pb-chocolate chip cookies some other, mysterious, no so perfect looking cookie. Those are the cookies I made today. We had plans to go to a potluck BBQ for a law school group, and I wanted to make something for any vegans that might show up. The bakery in Berkeley had a great vegan chocolate cookie recipe, which I tried to fudge. I started with the recipe for triple-chocolate cookies from the Cook's Illustrated cookbook, and substituted carob chips for the semi-sweet chocolate and bananas for the eggs. I should have added more flour and cooked them for a bit longer. What I got were chewy, not-so-chocolatey, banana flavored blobs.

Delicious, yes, but I think they'd be better crumbled up on ice cream. Or maybe crumbled up with some Bailey's Irish Cream (or some vegan alternative) drizzled on top. Or both. But as cookies, they didn't work out so well.

Amidst all this baking, I even made a fair amount of progress on the sweater! This is the completed back and right front, lounging in the garden. This sweater flies off the needles, when I actually work on it.

Presents!

2007-08-28T16:51:00.001-07:00

Greeting me when I got home from my second day of law school were these lovely presents! In undergrad, they used to deliver flowers to the reception desks (from the olden days when you had to sign boys in and out of your dorm) and I would always walk past, knowing the flowers were never for me. When the flowers are delivered to your front door, there's none of that disappointment!! Thanks Mom, they're beautiful.

In the red package (with the adorable, and tiny, Lorax sticker), was a knitting shirt (Resistance is Futile) from the very talented (and local) NeitherHipNorFunky! She was having a sale, and I love handmade silkscreens, and I am surviving law school (so far), so I bought myself a present. She even sent along a postcard with some of her paintings on it! Not only is she a very talented knitter and silkscreener, she is a painter as well! Me? All I can do is read casebooks and knit a few rows a day.

I've managed to stay on top of my readings (it is only day two) and have completed all my work for tomorrow. Mike has a music lesson to give tonight, so I'm planning on doing a little Contracts work, due Thursday, watching L'Auberge Espagnol, and knitting! I've started the shoulder decreases on The Minimalist, and perhaps tonight I'll try to finish up the back. I'm still on the first ball of yarn- 220 yards in a skein of Cascade. It's amazing.

This picture pretty much captures the color, but makes it look like I have a very short torso. I do actually have a short torso, but I'm less square-shaped than this picture implies.

I do believe I picked the right pattern to be working on for the beginning of school. It's easy to pick up, and I don't mind doing only a few rows (or a portion of a row). I've just been picking it up right before going to bed- in bed, actually. My knitting basket has even migrated from the living room & office into the bedroom. We'll remedy that tonight with some serious knitting & movie time.