The Knitting on Top of the World Knit-a-thon

Heading Toward a Big Day!

WOW, lots of stuff to share with you guys!  I also wanted you to know, that I will work on getting some photos of the sweaters with me actually wearing them -- I have some company coming soon that might be willing to help out with a little photo shoot!

Sorry for the radio silence; I had an unexpected computer glitch last week.  I went to type a blog entry, and found out that all my files and photos were... gone!  Wiped clean! 

My home computer has been sort of threatening to give up the ghost, but when it did, HOLY COW!  It shocked me a bit - just to think losing all those photos since I started the blog -- actually, all my photos back to 2007!  As well as all my documents, and my financial records, and my unbelievable yarn and knitting project spreadsheets!

LUCKILY, I saw this coming; my computer has been making funny noises, and has been running really badly.  So, a few months ago, I got this online backup dealie from Carbonite.  I had so much stuff on my hard drive it literally took almost a week to complete the initial backup.  So after hyperventilating a bit after I realized my docs were gone, I crossed my fingers, found my Carbonite account info, and requested a download.  Again, it took a few days, but my files are back!  Every last one of them!  What a wonderful, wonderful thing, off-site technology that really works when your own on-site technology doesn't.  Anyway, we are back in business around here.  (sorry for the unsolicited plug, but really.  Backing stuff up is really important, and I sleep better now knowing that when my computer dies for good, all my goodies won't die with it!)

As for the Big Day mentioned above - this upcoming Thursday, May 10, I'm turning 50!  Yes, that's right - a half-century, as my son has pointed out to me on numerous occasions (ahem...).  My beloved sister Susan is flying out to spend a week with me, and my knitting buddies Renay and Eva are planning a spectacular weekend knitting retreat, centered around the Lake Elmo Shepherd's Harvest festival, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!  I'm even going to take a week off of work, so that I can relax, enjoy a long weekend knitting and laughing with my friends and my sis, and then will spend a few extra days at home just enjoying my sister's company. 

So, I've been trying my darndest to catch up at work to the point where I can actually take from May 10 - 16 off the clock and just relax, and take a deep breath, and step into my second century with a modicum of grace and composure.  And in addition to work, some sort of weird cleaning-out bug has hit me.  I have been trying to get my house ready for company --basically, since everything in life takes a back seat to knitting (as you may have noticed :D), just the cleaning part can take hours!  However, I got distracted on Friday night and decided to clean out a drawer in the bathroom.  Which led to all the drawers in my bedroom.  Which then led to every cupboard in the kitchen.  And then the fridge... and sorting the spices, and throwing away old medicine, and going to the laundromat to wash the big quilts... And what started Friday night is still going on, and I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface!  I haven't touched the linen closet, or the file cabinets, or the garage (YIKES!)  My entire recycling bin and garbage bin are filled to overflowing. 

And I haven't even started vaccuuming yet!  (Don't you find it amazing the lengths to which I will go to avoid turning on that vaccuum?  Maybe I was a spider that got inhaled into one of those contraptions in a past life or something...)

It is AMAZING how much unused stuff I've accumulated in this house in the past seven years since we moved in.  The point of storage spaces like drawers and cupboards is to put things away nice and neatly; but in my case, I have come to the realization that I barely open most of my cupboards and drawers because they are filled to bursting with stuff I basically never use. 

It is also amazing when you go through your cupboards in the kitchen and look at the dates on everything - time must move more quickly when you get older, because those bottles of salad dressing that I thought I bought just a month or two ago have expiration dates from 2010! 

It is very nice, I must admit, to have a fridge so clean that the glass shelves gleam as if they were brand new.  So for this brief and shining moment, I will enjoy this false sense of being a neat and tidy person.  But you and I know the truth -- life is short, and there is a lot of knitting to do!

I'm still plugging away on the motifs in the Lisbon Lace Pullover, but haven't been home much, and find I can't knit them on the bus (too fiddly).  So I've finished some more baby stuff!

This is a little boy's hoodie (called the Playdate Hoodie) from a pattern on the Lion Brand website, for my friend April, who is due in early July with a little brother to keep her daughter Hazel company:

It is made out of Lion Brand Recycled Cotton Yarn.  The photo doesn't show them very well, but the buttons have these tiny little blue trains on them.  They were left over in my sewing bin from when Nathan was a toddler, but at 15 he has sort of moved past the "choo-choo" phase.

And this is the Strawberry Sideways Cardigan, which is like a reverse-Einstein Jacket for babies - the sleeves are knit from one cuff to the other, and then the skirt is knit downwards.  I made this for our baby-blogger, Adeline, who will be 2 this fall and needs a fashionable sweater and hat to keep her cozy (or so I decided - never having had a baby girl for whom I can knit, I'm having a blast with my friend Kristin's!)

This is also a free Lion Brand pattern.  I decided to knit it out of their Lion Brand's Martha Stewart yarn called Extra Soft Wool Blend.  It is a 35% wool/65% acrylic blend, and really springy, glowing and soft.  I LOVED knitting with it, and bought a bunch of it on sale at JoAnn, as it is perfect for making washable baby knits, and it comes in those classic Martha rich-lady pastel colors like this soft green.  That hat is from a free Classic Elite pattern called "Minnow Merino Daisy Chapeau."

I made the edging a bit spiffier on the garter stitch sweater, by purling the last stitch in every row, and slipping the first stitch knitwise.  This makes a nice chain-loop-looking edge.  And as an extra bonus, this edge is especially nice for seaming, as you can mattress-stitch it up into a nice flat-looking braid that lies really flat (nice not to have bulky seams, especially on a baby garment!)

I think I'm going to make quite a few of these sets for the latest baby boom among my friends - they make perfect mindless bus knitting projects, and are just beyond adorable, IMHO.

In other knitting-related jaunts, I went to The Yarnery, a wonderful/famous yarn store in St. Paul, and learned that the people who work there just collaborated on their first book, Wearwithall- Knits For Your Life, which you might have seen recently around the "knitblogosphere." 

I can picture making almost everything in this classy book, and have started on the sweet baby afghan already; I found a great deal on Berroco Comfort Chunky, the softest-ever acrylic, perfect for a baby afghan (Garter stitch triangles sewn into a square with a garter-stitch border - I seem to be on a major garter-stitch jag lately!)

I also fell madly in love with a shawl on display at the Yarnery which was designed by Theresa Gaffey, one of the book's designers, called The Seaweed Stole (the pattern is not in the book but it is on Ravelry), which takes four skeins of Louet KidLin Laceweight.  Just breathtaking, and really long and lush - something an extremely tall person I know (ahem, me actually) could pull off really well... So this is currently the project that is haunting my dreams.  Which means, as you know, that it is only a matter of time until four skeins of said yarn find their way into that self-indulgent madness that is my impossibly huge stash of yarny goodness.

I also felt myself drawn by an unseen force to the Yarnover event sponsored annually by the Minnesota Knitter's Guild, where I visited Lila and Claudine's booth, decorated by these wonderful sculptures of their store namesakes:

This store is in Mahtomedi, MN, not too far from Lake Elmo and Stillwater where we are staying next weekend, so I'm hoping we can fit in a trip to see it in person!

I visited my buddy Steven at the Steven Be/Yarn Garage booth and couldn't resist the following knitting bag:

(Tee hee!  It even cracked Nathan up...)

And of course, I had to fill it up with some yarn (this is Madelinetosh Merino Light, the stuff that the Mason Dixon Knitters used to make the Honey Cowl recently - doesn't it just glow from within?)

And then I met Lynae, the dyer of The Grinning Gargoyle, whose yarns were so lovely that they seemed to have layers and depths of color - like some freaky magical optical illusion.  She is a dyer based in Chicago, but if you aren't lucky enough to live near there or run across her at a yarnfest nearer to your home, you can find her splendid yarns at the Etsy shop (link above).

 

And here is what also found its way into my Zombie bag from her beautiful yarns:

The photos really don't do it justice.  This yarn may have to come to the office with me and live in a bowl to remind me on the hardest days that knitting is the sane center of my existence.

Other sources of joy - my son Nathan got his braces off this week (YAY!)  It is SO nice to see that smile again, metal-free.  And here he is with his Brave New Workshop Youth Performance Group - today was the final show of the season, and the graduation party for the 5 seniors who will be moving on from the group.  He is the smily extremely short-haired guy in the center back:

I think this class is what kept him sane through his freshman year of high school, which is done in just about a month.  He is going to take the summer session of the Improv class, and maybe do a week class as well and hang out with me in the office again, as we both enjoyed that last year.

Well, I'm very excited and happy to be nearly at my birthday, and SO looking forward to having a retreat with my friends.  I even was asked to pick a spa treatment for Friday !!!!  (ME!  at a spa?  I chose a body wrap, as it sounded cozy and less embarrassing than a full-body massage...)  I'm going to work a half-day on Thursday, and then go get a haircut, and then a pedicure, and then get my sister from the airport, and then we'll go to dinner in the city with family, and then WHEEE!!! we're off!  I promise to take lots of pictures and tell you all about it!

In the meantime, here is another springy photo I wanted to show you - a robin made a nest right beside our front door.  Unfortunately, she didn't stay to hatch the eggs, but I managed to get a photo of them after she had been gone for a whole day (I didn't want to disturb her). Such a pretty color combo, the gray-brown twigs and that unmistakeable blue.

Between this nest, and the new baby ducks and geese on the lake, and the blooming lilacs, and the trees full of tender baby green leaves, spring is all around me and filling me with hope.  May you find yourself smiling and happy with your life as well!

XOXOXO,

(older but better) Mary

 

Some Easter Sights and Sounds

I really enjoyed my visit recently to Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm in Harris, MN, an honest-to-goodness farm where they grow vegetables, fruit, and Easter-like creatures such as sheep and goats.  And they make maple syrup, and honey from their own hives, and goat cheese... AND you can join their vegetable CSA (community supported agriculture - for an annual fee you get wonderful boxes of over 50 different kinds of vegetables on a weekly basis for the entire growing season; AND you can also join their new fleece CSA, if you would like to have the fleece of a sheep to wash, card, spin and knit (skills which I would appear to lack...)!  I am tempted to buy a share, but I don't know how to spin so I would have to find someone who would like me to donate the fleece to them. 

Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm is one of several farms featured in this wonderful book:

... which I highly recommend - wonderful recipes for vegetables and fruits, and photographs, and a real sense of the beauty and richness of life on these small local farms across the country.  Such a treasure, just a bit over an hour from my home, and I never even knew it.

The farm is owned and operated by Robin Rodabaugh and Gigi Nauer, and they have interns who stay with them to learn how to do everything on the farm, from growing vegetables to birthing baby lambs to milking goats.  My brother's first wife, Nancy, lives just down the road and became friends with Robin and Gigi when she bought a used pump from them.  She was kind enough to invite me to one of their Sunday wool days, where they help teach people how to process clean fleece into yarn.

First, we had to go visit the new baby sheep!  Here is one with its mom - if that isn't a perfect Easter photo, I don't know what is!

These little ones were almost brand-new, and still a bit wobbly on their legs.  It was a rather cold and drafty morning, so they were snuggling near the wall to get out of the wind.

Two more, a bit older but still pretty tiny.

Some of them were also black.

There were also some turkeys- I can't even describe how colorful and strange their heads are; almost iridescent, like a fish, but with a funny red thing that hangs down between their eyes. 

This fella was Mr. Goat.  Apparently it only takes one goat to make a LOT of little goats.  This one had the kind of confidence and savoir faire usually reserved for a movie star.  He sauntered right up to the fence to meet us, as if to say, "Hey, Ladies.  I bet you find me irresistible, too!"

He gave our fingers a kiss..

And then I said, "Oh, c'mon, handsome - won't you strike a regal pose for us?"  And, just like that, he did!

 

Here is Nancy with one of the goat babies (there must be a word for baby goat - kid?  I don't know, I'm no farm girl and it has been too many years since I read my fairy tales).  The tiny goats were really skittish and jumpy, and this one must have jumped so high, he jumped right out of the pen.  Nancy, who is far more gifted with animals than just about anyone I've ever met, gently coaxed him to her, and captured him to return him to his pals.

Then, he made the most perfect little bleat -BAA-AAA-AAH! -- but tiny, like a high-pitched, sped-up version, that we both cracked up and Nancy had to give him a hug.

They were exceedingly adorable and hoppy.  Like bunnies with hooves.  And baby horns.

Then we went inside to meet Robin, who was making some really wonderful vegetable stew and chocolate crinkle cookies, and Gigi, who was helping one of the visitors use this strange, nail-bedded thingy, which I don't remember the name of, but which helps take the little bunched up braid-looking bits of washed sheep fleece and break it up into puffy clouds...

So it can then be fed into this, a drum carder, which combs all the fibers so that they lay in the same direction, eventually making a sort of batt of them which can be then be spun into a single ply of yarn.

This is Robin, showing Nancy how to spin.  You can see the puffy cloud of combed fleece on her lap, and her deft hands are sort of feeding it into the spool atop the spinning wheel, which is operated by pressing a foot pedal.  You need to be careful to keep the wheel going in a single direction, and you have to get the knack of feeding the yarn just right so that it doesn't get too thick or too thin, break, or twist up. 

I had NO skills at all - something I would need to sit down for about a solid week to master, I'm sure.  To me, it was like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy, while also keeping a gentle, even rhythm with your foot.   (Can I just say, I found this hilarious!  I must have knitted my way through enough yarn in my life to reach to the moon and back, but apparently I can't make the stuff!  I'm tempted to try a drop spindle - not so many moving parts, and maybe this would give me a better feel for it...)

Here, Robin is teaching the two interns, with a brown fleece, and they are making a thicker sort of yarn.  I didn't figure out if it was thicker because of the type of fleece, or they way they were spinning - LOTS to learn about this craft that is not immediately apparent to me.

Nancy sat down and had a go, and she just seemed to have a natural knack for it.  I was very envious. 

 

I noticed this beautiful quilt on the stairway railings.   Robin built the house herself, and it is just warm and cozy, and perfect.  I wanted to make a pot of tea and stay for hours.

Here is one of the visitors (AAARGH, why am I so bad with names?)  She came to learn how to process the fleece she had bought in the wool CSA, and is holding some of the finished product just off the drum carder.  The picture doesn't do it justice - it was soft as a breath, and had this gentle radiance. 

I have to say, I feel another craft coming on...

 

Nancy also took me to her own home and farm, and introduced me to some of her critters.  This is Lincoln, her handsome red horse.  Lincoln was kind of bashful; or maybe he could just smell my fear.  (After all, how often is it that I encounter a creature even taller than I am?)

This little fella, Chester, was more my size.  I didn't even know they made horses this size!  He was twice as big as the little pygmy horses I've seen at the zoo, but not much bigger than Nancy's wonderful Newfoundland, Sammie.  (When Sammie ran up to my car, my immediate thought was, "OH NO!  I didn't know they had a pet bear!"   Then he put his huge block of a head right into my car window and gave me a nuzzle.  At least Newfoundlands are friendly bears.)

Chester is a rescue; Nancy has been helping to heal him from an illness to his hooves suffered because his last owner, who bought him as a sort of pet, didn't feed him properly.  When she got him, he couldn't walk, but now he is on the mend.  Unlike skittish Lincoln, Chester came right up to me and sort of leaned against my legs, like a big old dog does when it wants you to scratch its hips.  I obliged, and Chester gave me moon-eyes, and I was in love.  I asked Nancy if we could bring him into the house so he could sit on the couch next to me and get cuddled while I watched TV, but evidently horses don't do that sort of thing.

Here is the fancy rooster - my camera doesn't do justice to his beautiful plumage.  They were just walking about, right under the horses' hooves, but the horses didn't seem to mind them, and they had no fear at all.

Nancy was having a busy day; their water had been out for four days, and she had to get ready for her birthday celebrations that night, so I didn't stay long.  But I think I'm going to go back to the next wool day at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm and have another go at that spinning wheel.

I hope you are having a lovely Easter; I'm home nursing a possibly-broken toe (fell down at a Panera restaurant on the stairway leading to the upstairs seating, and covered myself head-to-toe in tomato basil soup.  Which is really too bad, because I adore that soup, and now I'll be too embarrassed to ever go back there again...) 

Which means there is only one thing to do this quiet Easter evening -- have some cocoa and watch an old movie, while getting some knitting done!

Have a great week, you guys.  Here's hoping you live near enough to the country to see some baby animals yourselves.  It just made me so happy, to watch those baby lambs and goats.  Sort of restores your hope, somehow.

 

XOXOXO, Mar

 

Many (Completely Random) Things I've Been MeaningTo Show You!

I have been swamped at work (MAN can that job get in the way of my knitting sometimes :D)  But I think about you every day, and have sort of gathered up this assortment of things.  As I go through my workaday life, I'll take pictures on my cell phone and think, "Oh, that would be fun to share on the blog!"  So what follows is an (almost entirely random) set of photos and stories about what has been going on in and around my life for the past two weeks.

First of all, thank you all so much for your kind notes about our Libby; Nathan and I were both very touched that you reached out.  We miss her every day and are doing our best to appreciate Madeline more, and to help her adjust to single-dog life.  She seems less sad, but is still a lot more clingy than usual.  She very much likes her new doggie bed, with her new silly monster blanket.

I also bought her a long purple stuffed dachshund toy with sqeakers in it; I gave it to her and went to cook dinner, and by the time I got back to the living room this was all that was left of it (you can see the little squeaker bubble - tee hee!):

As my work overload continues unabated, I don't have much progress to show you on KOTOTW stuff.  I finished the Senorita's Floral Pullover except for the floral embellishments.  I am waiting until after my big deadline next weekend to finish the flowers and attach them to the pullover, along with the decorative red scallop edgings for the godet inserts:

I also looked through the rest of KOTOTW to see if there was some relatively straight, uncomplicated knitting projects I could skip ahead to, and get started while commuting; I started the Egyptian Isis Tunic, and the Great Bear Zip Tunic, both of which have lots of straight rows of stockinette.  I'm really enjoying this one.  I decided to stitch on the V's on the bottom and upper stripes via duplicate stitch, but I did the motif in the middle with intarsia. 

My friend Brandon sent some incredibly cute pictures of his baby girl, Finley, including this one where she is making a very droll expression:

I was lucky enough to meet her in person yesterday, and she is tiny, calm and smiley -- everything you could wish for in a baby girl, indeed. 

I had a big closing at work; in addition to her full-time job, my friend Eva is also the Vice President of Gilda's Club Twin Cities, Inc., our local chapter of the Gilda's Club organization.  When GCTC was hunting for the right space to open their first Gilda's Clubhouse, I asked her if I could please-oh-please be their lawyer and help with the purchase (and my very generous law firm, Lindquist & Vennum, P.L.L.P., agreed to donate my time on a pro bono basis!)  After a very looooooonng due diligence process, we finally reached the finish line this Wednesday and closed the on the purchase of a sweet little 7,300 sf building to turn into a Clubhouse.  Between sellers, lenders, GCTC members, brokers and closers, about 14 people attended the closing at my office, many of us wearing the signature Gilda's Club colors of red and black.  It was far more emotional than your average real estate closing; before getting down to the nitty-gritty of signing documents, we went around the table and shared some stories about how cancer has affected us or the people we love.  think the sellers were very moved to realize that their beloved building would be used by and appreciated so much in future and would serve the considerable psychological and social support needs of people dealing with the challenge of cancer. 

GCTC also had a volunteer appreciation event last week, and I received an unexpected new comer volunteer award, which I didn't expect (I didn't even have the chance to write my, "I'd like to thank the members of the Academy" speech!)   But now I have a beautiful reminder on my desk of one of the most satisfying transactions of my career.  After all, it isn't every day a real estate lawyer gets to use her powers for good.

Nathan and I received a special care package from Russia!  Our exchange-student friend Anastasia sent us some Italian and Russian sweets in a box labelled "Noyta Pocchi" which maybe means express post or something.  We went to Target to pick up some more Oreos, Jelly Bellies, M&Ms and chocolate treats to send right back!  (I wish I had thought of sending some of those written candy hearts in time for Valentine's Day; but then I don't know if Russians celebrate Valentine's day - hmmm....)

This Thursday I attended a meeting for ULI (Urban Land Institute) and heard Ted Mondale speak about the state's plans to do a better job marketing the Twin Cities as a great place to work and live.  Minnesotans are really terrible at tooting their own horns, and as a result most people picture the Twin Cities as a sort of unlivable frozen tundra/swamp with lots of snow and mosquitoes.  It is actually a beautiful place to live, and we need todo a much better job at getting the word out.  So I will henceforth try to be less mocking about my adopted home.  After all, we have some killer yarn stores, and perfect sweater weather for most of the year!

Anyway, instead of concentrating on what Mr. Mondale had to say, I was mesmerized by this woman sitting in front of me who had lovely red hair swept up into a bun, held together by two sticks topped with giraffe heads (I love giraffes - they are sort of my totem animal, being so tall and all).  I introduced myself after the meeting and told her how I admired both lovely hair and ornaments, and asked if I might take a picture.  The lovely Ms. Alison Bell, who works for the Metropolitan Council, was happy to oblige.  She told me that she used to work with the Peace Corps in Africa and had multiple sets of giraffe sticks, and would be happy to give me a set (!)  Now I just need lots more long hair.  Oh, and some Irish heritage to make it red...

The Mondale event was at the McKnight Foundation's offices, which are located in the ruins of an old flour mill on the banks of the Mississippi River.  The Foundation had a beautiful art display by an artist named Cynthia Binger Boynton, a member of the board who was about to retire.  There was a little plaque relating the story of the pieces, which were all inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretel, and started with a picture she had drawn at the age of 5.  I just thought they were both beautiful and fascinating:

My wonderful friend and fellow dachshund owner Kassia (for whom I made the tiny Audrey Hepburn) surprised me on Valentine's days with candy and this adorable luggage tag:

Simply adorable.  Kassia manages to find dachshund-related gifts of every sort.  I think that she would be amazing at one of those Hollywood jobs where you have to find objects to create movie sets, as she seems to have an unending ability to find obscure and perfect things like this.

I bought my friend Renay that new book of knitted cats for Valentine's Day and walked down the street to deliver it after my big closing.  Renay was wearing this lovely hand-knitted vest, which I immediately coveted fiercely, until I remembered that Renay weighs maybe 67 pounds and can thus wear a bulky knit like this and still appear lithe and thin:

Speaking of knitting by others, my sister finished her Catkin!  (Mine is on hold until my work project is over with, sigh - so much for a January knitalong!)  Here it is being blocked last weekend.  I asked my sister for a shot of her modelling it, but she is in San Diego this weekend teaching at a real estate law boot camp, which sounded like fun until she told me that it ran from 9 AM until 10 PM.  Not much time to enjoy San Diego, apparently...  I love the colors she chose, and can't wait to see her wearing it!  My goal is to get mine done by May so that we can wear them when we go to the Lake Elmo Shepherd's Harvest festival together!

 

I read an article in a knitting magazine about a man in Texas who lost his family and was living on his grandfather's abandoned farm, and making a living selling hand-knitted bears on Etsy.  I thought that I would buy a bear to lend him some support, and also because I thought our guest-blogger baby Adeline might appreciate a new friend:

And finally, some Legos.  My son Nathan has a Lego city on the credenza in the kitchen/dining room, of this row of buildings.  Lego recently issued a kit for the same row of buildings in miniature, which is pretty cute.  I'm thinking I would like one for my office, being a real estate lawyer and all:

Anyway, in the full-size version of the city, he sets up these little vignettes with various figures, doubtless for his own amusement.  But I check them out now and again and they really crack me up. 

Here, for instance, is SpongeBob's friend Patrick.  Judging from the guy coming up behind him with a sword and a wand, I think he is in trouble:

The mini-figure of me looks to be in quite a predicament; I'm apparently facing off with Voldemort, who has the ghost of Davy Jones from Sponge Bob swirling about his head:

This guy sort of cracked me up; evidently he is on sentry duty, but decided to enjoy a Popsicle while on the job (you'll note the teeth marks on his helmet; unfortunately Libby thought Lego mini-figs made great chew-toys):

This is my current favorite.  Nathan and I are listening to Harry Potter in the car during rides to school and on errands, so we talk about the books a lot. Evidently the valiant Dobby is defending Harry (with his owl Hedwig cowering behind him) from Lucius Malfoy, while standing atop the train to Hogwarts!

You just never know what might be going on in the little town that lives in my dining room.

I hope everything is going very well in your little towns!  Before you know it spring will be here, too, which for Minnesotans means shedding the extra layers of coats and hats and mittens.  Somehow I always feel like I've lost all this weight by May, when in fact it is mostly just a lot of extra woolens.

XOXOXO, Mar

Just keep knitting, just keep knitting...

Goodbye to a Very Dear Puppy

I'm not going to lie to you; these have been two hard weeks.   I have Dory the fish singing in my head again, but instead of "Just Keep Swimming," I've changed the words to, "Just keep knitting, just keep knitting, What do we do? We knit!"  If work weren't so busy, I think I would have just stayed home and knitted the entire week.  Maybe while drinking gin and tonics.

We had to say goodbye to one of our dachshunds on Monday.  Libby, my red-haired tweener, was having a very hard time with the onset of kidney failure.  I never had dogs as a kid, and never had to make the decision to put one down before.  SO sad.  My kind brother, Geoff, drove us to the vet and helped me through the hard day.  Nathan was very sad and wished I could have postponed it longer. We all just spent the past week just trying to get used to her not being here, but it is going to take some time, I think, for us to grow used to being a one-dog family.  I think Madeline will like the extra attention, but she has been confused and is having trouble sleeping, missing her sis.

Libby was a rescue dog; a friend of mine at work who got both of her dogs at a rescue shelter up in Mora, Minnesota, told me that they had a dachshund up there that nobody wanted.  Mora is in farming country, and dachshunds aren't seen as very useful on a farm (which surprises me a bit; they are every bit as good at taking care of mice as cats!)  Anyway, we had had Madeline for about a year, and I was worried that she might be lonely during the day, so we drove up to meet Libby thinking we'd just meet her and come home and consider having two dogs; but of course we bought her and brought her right home that very day.

She had been abused, apparently, and was very afraid of men.  Although she was 3 years old, she wasn't potty trained yet.  She hadn't ever been walked on a leash, and wasn't familiar with the world outside; and she had been fed only human food, with the result that she weighed almost 30 pounds, instead of her natural weight of 18.  So, we slimmed her down, took her on lots of walks, gave her love and tried to make her feel less anxious and afraid.  Madeline tried to teach her dog things, like how to sniff at stuff outside, and chase after squirrels and rabbits.  The two of them were very adept hunters (or, rather, Madeline was a very adept hunter, and Libby was willing to eat whatever she killed!)

Libby eventually grew a bit more trusting of men; I accomplished this by giving all the dads on my street pocketfuls of dog treats to tempt her with as we walked by each evening.  Although it took over a year, eventually she got up the courage to approach them.

Food is a big temptation for all dogs, but Libby always ate anything she could find as if it might be her last meal ever!  She even managed to jump high enough to get bags of potatoes or bread off the kitchen counter sometimes when I wasn't paying attention; I swear, that dog knew how to levitate! 

I think her happiest day occurred when one of us accidentally left the door ajar on the freezer I keep for storage in my laundry room (this might have involved someone getting a popsicle; I'm not naming names!)  Anyway, I couldn't find her anywhere one morning when I got out of the shower, and then I heard some scrabbling behind the laundry room door - and there was Libby, surrounded by torn-open orange Stouffer's boxes and empty black trays; I think she ate her body weight in mac and cheese, swedish meatballs and lasagna!  She looked up at me so dolefully, her tail wagging as if to say, "I know, I know, I'm a bad, bad girl -- but that was SOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!"

She had a sort of skin rash on her belly, under her arms, and in her ears, that would flare up whenever she was anxious about something (well, her steady state was anxiousness; but things like company, fireworks, loud noises, other dogs in the house, any change in the routine would really escalate her fretfulness).  She would scratch and scratch to the point where she was scarred; tears in the skin would be come infected, which would itch worse, and then she'd just take skin off in patches, fur and all.  We tried everything we could think of to treat it, keeping the infections at bay with antibiotics.  I would sometimes rub cortisone cream onto her and wrap her tightly in a blanket so she couldn't lick it off, and just hold her for an hour while she snoozed and it soaked in a bit.  The only drug that kept it to a manageable level, where she wouldn't actually wound herself, was cortisone.  The vet warned me that it would eventually lead to kidney failure, but we decided that it would be better to have a short and happy life without the constant frustration of scratching and infections.

It was a joy to take care of Libby and watch her blossom from a fearful, unhappy and misunderstood little creature into a loving, happy, affectionate ball of joy.  She gave us almost 6 very happy years, and gave her sister Madeline someone with whom she could alternately squabble and cuddle.  She pushed Madeline out of the way when she wanted petting or thought food might be at hand, but dutifully licked Madeline's ears each night to recognize her authority as first dog of the household.  Libby followed me around the house like a little shadow whenever I was home, and managed to take very good care of me indeed.  It was a gift and an honor to be the human she loved and trusted most in the whole world, and I will miss her like crazy. 

Other People's Knitting Progress!

Well, in addition to everything else that was going on in the past week, work just went bonkers.  All of my deals started coming to a head at once, a bunch of new matters had to be opened, and I was filling in for a partner spending the week in St. Thomas.  For the first time EVER, I missed my monthly knitting night (I know; no photos or nuthin.  So sorry; I needed to come home and be with Nathan and Madeline this week.)

To top it all off, I have a huge looming work deadline for a project at the end of February, all of which means, other than catching a few rows of black stockinette stitch on the Senorita's Floral Pullover, I don't have much to show you in the way of KOTOTW knitting progress!

However, my sister Susan is nearly finished with her Catkin shawl:

I think she is blocking it this weekend; I'm looking forward to photos of her modelling it!  (I think mine will unfortunately have to wait until after Feb. 25 when life resumes its normal contours...)

I am also part of a new monthly knitting group at my friend Wendy Ethen's title company, Guaranty Commercial Title!  One of her employees and a brand-new knitter, Michelle, just finished her first sock!

Isn't that great?  A lot of people's first socks don't even resemble socks, but hers is perfect!  (Totally cool jacket, too, by the way...)

Well, our winter continues strangely non-winterish.  Our snow mountain in the center of the cul de sac isn't even 5 feet tall yet!  We are all at the stage where we are wondering if this is all she wrote, or if March is going to end up being one constant snowfall...

Whatever your winter is doing, stay warm, don't slip on the snow, and take some time out to knit!

XOXOXO, Mar.

All Dressed Up With Someplace to Go!

I had a busy week of work, helping Nate while his dad is out of town (he is doing GREAT in high school; he really seems to be enjoying it more!), and watching while things get steadily busier on the real estate front.  I ended up having to work about 6 hours this weekend, which really cut into my knitting time! :D  Oh well, I'll take being busy over worrying about staying employed, any day! 

Besides, I actually felt like I had a sort of social life this week!  Last year, I had invited some favorite clients out to dinner and to the orchestra, and we enjoyed it so much I scheduled another evening for January. Our firm used to put on an annual event for clients, with a catered dinner and a talk by one of the musicians, but now we just sponsor the Minnesota Orchestra and receiving a certain amount of tickets in exchange.  As this kind of event is much more my speed than a Twins game, I try to take advantage of the tickets when I can, inviting two clients and their spouses.  Since one of those clients is Eva, one of my best friends and knitting buddies, we always have such a lovely evening.  Last year, my sister was in town, so I had a date, but this time, I went stag.  Then Eva's husband had to cancel because of a work event, so we invited Renay(!)  (Sort of like knitting night, minus the knitting part!)   We went to a nice French restaurant called Vincent just across the street from Orchestra Hall, and then enjoyed a concert (Brahms; Peter Sirkin playing the Piano Concerto No. 2, and then his Symphony No. 1; Brahms is my favorite composer, although perhaps after 2 glasses of wine one should not go to see a concert by the composer who wrote the word's most famous lullaby...)

Speaking of wine:  I received this interesting bottle of wine for Christmas from my friend Wardo; we met right at the beginning of law school and became close friends, and still keep in touch.  He is a partner in a San Francisco firm, and married a wonderful woman named Melissa.  We were pregnant together with our babies, and then I moved to Minnesota; they ended up having a total of 3, and now are raising their family while both working as attorneys, which has got to be a challenge!  

Anyway, this bottle of wine had such an interesting shape, and I don't usually feel comfortable drinking at home much; Nathan took DARE very seriously and looks at me like I'm a grave disappointment to him whenever he seems me with a glass of wine in my hand.  So I brought it along to the restaurant to share with Eva, Renay, and my other guests, Richard and Melissa.  The waitress told us that the sommelier saw the bottle from a distance was just THRILLED, and couldn't wait to tell us all about it!  Apparently, this type of Italian wine, called Gattinara, was the favorite of the Pope; the bottle is curved to fit right into the palm of his hand.  The sommelier also shared with us that, according to the legend, after having a glass of Gattinara, you are absolved for any sins you might commit for the rest of the day!  (Sort of too bad we all spent the rest of the evening feeling snoozy and listening to Brahms; hardly sin-worthy behavior...)

I decided to dress up properly for the evening, and wore a velvet dress and my new Florentine Shrug Shawl:

It was a big hit at work; all my pals who are following the KOTOTW Project were so happy to see it finished, having seen me working on it for the past 3 or 4 months.  And I must say, I felt very elegant, and cozy.  The yarn is an incredibly soft blend of merino and cashmere.  (Note to self:  Find more excuses to dress up more often!)

I've finished the side inserts or "godets" for the Senorita's Floral pullover, about half the flowers, and the decorative edgings that are stitched to the side of the godets.  Although the pattern uses only two of these, I decided to make four total, so that I can decorate both sides of each wedge-shaped insert. The pattern was really fun, requiring you to knit one stitch, slip it back onto the left-hand needle, and then slip the 8 next stitches over it, which creates those little arches.  I'm now worrying that I won't have enough of the main color of yarn (black) to lengthen the sweater as much as I'd like (darn you, extra 2 1/2" waist length). So, I'm knitting a few balls and calculating stitches per row and rows per ball to deduce whether I'll make it, or whether I have to hunt up some extra balls or start again with another black yarn.  It is too bad this Rowan Calmer isn't being made anymore.  It is a stretchy cotton blend, and it feels like it would be very comfortable to wear against the skin, but lighter than a pure cotton yarn. 

My Catkin is coming along; I have finished the first section, and am now ready to start the second, middle band, which is all textured stitches in the lighter color.  My sister, Susan, is much farther along with hers:

I'll have to check in with Renay to see if she can send a photo of how she is coming along.  I am guessing that if this is a race, however, Susan is going to beat us both!  She has already finished the middle section and is on to the very bottom, which is striped like the top, but has these intricate balloon shapes made with slipped stitches - very intriguing.  The gauge swatch (wisely) contains one of these, which got me over my fear of trying to make the pattern nicely.  Once you tackle that, you realize you can totally make the whole thing.  The instructions are beautifully, carefully written, and have really nice multicolor graphs.  I'm going to look up other patterns by this designer, Carina Spencer, as I've enjoyed making this one so much.

It was an icy, rainy morning, but I braved the sleet to have breakfast at Little Oscar's with my friend, Regina.  I had to stop a few times to scrape the ice off the windshield, as the wiper fluid was just freezing up, and the weather was too cold for the heat on the inside of the glass to keep it from turning into a solid film! 

Regina and I meet for breakfast a few times a year, and we always have the best talks.  She is also someone I met through work, and has become part of my "professional women's knitting group," (PWKG is a hard acronym to pronounce!)  Regina took to knitting really easily and quickly.  She jumped right in and figured out how to make gauntlets, and is working on some scarves.  She sent me a photo of this cozy cowl (which is perfect for weather like we had today, actually!)

Well, I'm off to knit a bit more before I go to bed.  Tomorrow morning promises to be an icy, snowy mix; part of me hopes for a blizzard, so Nathan and I could have a snow day!

XOXOXO, Mar.

Two more Finished KOTOTW Projects!

WOO HOO! Hard to believe that the first month of the new year is already past - it has been a bit of a whirlwind, getting back into the swing of things at work after a lovely break, and getting Nathan geared up for all the papers and tests coming due at the end of his second quarter of freshman year.

First up: I want to show you some long-awaited FOs!

 

 

I finished my friend Kassia’s belated Xmas present, a tiny Audrey Hepburn doll out of a book called Knitted Icons by Carol Meldrun. I made a little pearl necklace and tiara out of some beads, and her dress is made out of felt, belted with a satin ribbon at the waist.  Kassia was just thrilled with her gift! To say she is an Audrey Hepburn fan would be an understatement. Her entire desk is sort of a shrine to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, decorated in a pink and black color scheme. I accidentally erased the photo of little Audrey in her new home, but I’ll go upstairs to visit Kassia this week to take another one.

 

January 13 was the deadline for scarves for the 2012 Special Olympics Minnesota winter games. My various knitting pals and I made at least 15 scarves; I took a picture of some of them just before I had them delivered across town:

 

I get such a big kick out of seeing the different patterns everyone comes up with. It would be amazing to actually see the entire stadium of participants, all wearing different handmade scarves, all individual and different like snowflakes.

 

January Knitting Night

 

We had our first knitting night of the new year, with some new guests. I somehow managed to forget my camera (naturally) but my lovely friend Renay took some photos of us all settled down and knitting away in our favorite Starbuck’s. My friend Ann’s beautiful daughter came and started a cowl, which she finished less than a week later; her mom said she was texting with her friends that evening who wanted her to come join them, but she texted back that she was having too much fun with her mom’s knitting group (!).  Ann is working on a cupcake baby hat; the top uses speckled pink yarn, which looks just like frosting with spreckles on top!

 

 

 

Another new knitter named Ann joined us, although unfortunately we didn’t capture a photo of her; she diligently learned how to cast on and is working on her very first knitted scarf. Ann has some kids in after school sports, and is looking forward to having something to keep her occupied during those long hours in the bleachers.

 

And Kitty also joined us -- she and Eva have known each other for over 20 years, and it was really fun to see them laughing with each other, and sharing stories with us. After a long knitting hiatus, Kitty is working on a soft scarf for her husband, and might have a UFO or two stuck away somewhere with which she needs assistance.

 

Here is Eva modeling a wonderful soft cowl out of Sublime yarn; she had already made one of these in a soft gray, and her niece promptly swooped it up during the holidays, so now she’s made another one to keep! I love Eva’s smile. This woman literally cannot take a bad photograph:

 

 

 Unlike yours truly, unfortunately.  Here is the finished KOTOTW project 29, the Florentine Shrug Shawl. It is so wonderful to have this finished – that was a LOT of embroidery! I really did enjoy it, though; it brought back memories of when I used to do needlepoint and counted cross-stitch. I sort of lost interest in both because the finished products are decorative but not useful. Something about the fact that knitting produces clothing, bags, blankets, and other useful things is part of its great appeal for me. Here are front and back views; I’m hoping to wear this with more appropriate clothes to a concert this week, and will try to get a better photo for you.

 

Project No. 31 – Damascus Dream Dress

 

I finished this dress last night:

 

 

I lengthened it a bit; I think it looks better on me than on the mannequin, so I’ll try to get a “live” shot of this one as well.

 

The collar on this one was so interesting. To make it, you first knit 4 pieces with 3 tabs on each end, and then you weave the tabs together at each corner:

 

 

The bottom hem has a picot edge. To keep it from curling up, I picked up the live stitches, purled a row to create a turning ridge, and then knitted a hem which I stitched down inside using sewing thread and stitching very gently, so as not to create a ridge. Then, I picked up stitches along the turning ridge and followed the instruction for creating the picots. I think this will hang flatter without that rolling problem I always have with my stockinette stitch edges.

 

So now I’ve started on Project No. 32, Senorita’s Floral Pullover. The side edges have inset godets. I’m adding about an inch and a half to the length of the pullover to compensate for my long waist, so I lengthened the godets a bit. The flowers are the same pattern used in Nicky’s Vogue Knitting anniversary scarf; they are made out of garter stitch with a row of eyelets created after the third stitch of every other row; the points are made by increasing a stitch at one end every other row six times, and then decreasing six stitches and repeating. Then, when you have made 5 points, you cast off and run the castoff thread through the eyelets and pull it all together. The little 3-stitch part becomes the central flower, and the points make petals on the outside, kind of like a daffodil. The centers of these flowers will have beads stitched into them, and then they are stitched along the front and sleeves of the finished sweater.  I have to take a 2-day seminar in a week or so; the timing is perfect for this project, as the body of the sweater is mostly plain stockinette!

 

Hmmm – 17 projects to go. I am hoping to finish by Christmastime, but that is a tall order for one year! You never know, though.  It depends on so many factors – how busy I am at work (blessedly, the real estate market is picking up around here), and how much time I will have left in the evening after struggling through math homework with Nathan (sure wish he had inherited my brother’s math-whiz skills…)

 

The weather is getting colder, too! I was sitting in a coffee shop yesterday reviewing some cases and knitting away. I realized that I was wearing hand-knit socks, a hand-knit sweater, a hand-knit scarf, and that I’d brought my hand-knit roses bag, and a hand-knit hat – I’d literally surrounded myself in my own handknits! No wonder I felt so happy and serene! The coffee shop was in Nordeast, a part of the city with lots of artists’ lofts and galleries. I was just sitting there sipping tea, and suddenly a man, an older gent, tapped on my shoulder saying I’d caught his eye walking down the long alley behind the Thorpe building in my bright purple coat and scarf, and that the contrast of the purple with the blue of my jeans and the flowers on my bag made such an impression on him. He closed his eyes, and the purples became oranges and ochres. Anyway, he saw me there when he came in for a cup of coffee, and while I was sitting, reading and knitting away, my polka-dotted reading glasses on my nose, he had sketched a little picture or two of me on the back of a business card:

 

Such a funny little thing to happen, but it made me happy.

 

XOXOXO, Mar

 

Belated Happy New Year!

A belated happy holiday to you all! Thank you for the kind comments on my last post. Steven Berg is indeed a wonder -- and his newest store is featured in the new Vogue Knitting! I'm so proud of him and all he has accomplished. I went to wish him a happy holiday and learned that he is on his first vacation (indeed, his first week off!) in over 3 years, someplace warm and tropical. I'm so glad; he deserves a nice break!

 I hope you enjoyed the last days of 2011. We’ve had some restful, quiet holidays at my house, but this one is one of the most serene I can remember. Even my job cooperated! Work was quiet enough to allow me to stay home Thursday and Friday; I was able to cope with the few issues that cropped up quite easily, while still getting some knitting done :D (Time off from work = best Christmas present ever!)

We had a Thai food feast for Christmas, thanks to the culinary talents of my sister-in-law, Mary, and my brother Geoff, who brought over a make-your-own spring roll bar, chicken skewers and peanut sauce, some wonderful beef-lemongrass stew, coconut rice, and pad Thai, all home-made and delicious. I made a frozen key lime pie for dessert which was quite the treat (the recipe is from Nora Ephron, and is on the Martha Stewart website – highly recommended!) It was nice to have a lighter feast than usual (Okay, I admit; 5 courses is hardly light, but at it wasn’t the usual stodgy rich foods you might associate with more standard holiday fare…)

 

My niece Amanda brought her dog, Kenzie, who is a regular at our house on holidays; she is a very dignified and lovely puppy and a welcome guest.


Rowdy was there, our old housemate doggie; I didn’t manage to get a current picture of him, but Aaron was showing us snapshots of Rowdy's puppyhood on his iPhone, so I’ll share one of those (just adorable - love those ears!):


And of course, the dachshunds, Maddie and Libby, were also there, overexcited at all the company and staying right by my feet where they felt safe (we live a pretty solitary life, Nathan and I).

 

 

 

 

I knitted my brother Geoff a simple cowl as a gift this year; just made it up, 2x2 ribbing and a woven tweed stitch. He is allergic to wool, so I made it out of this lovely Cotton Bamboo Worsted hand-dyed yarn from Three Irish Girls in a color called “corkboard”.



I think he looks quite handsome in it!

 

We had another family gathering on New Year’s Day at Geoff’s house. Mary and I made soups and breads this time, and I baked a lemon cheesecake for dessert (yum!) Mary, Geoff and I have decided to really go to town this winter with our massive cookbook collections; we’re hoping to find some really good soup recipes. Soup works out really well for work lunches – you can freeze soup in containers and bring it to work frozen so it doesn’t spill in your workbag, and then let it thaw during the morning, and then microwave it the rest of the way at lunchtime. Plus, there is just something comforting about having food I’ve cooked at home while at the office; it is part of my usual annual pledge to take better care of myself, body and soul.

I really enjoyed making homemade bread on New Year's Days – I love to bake yeast breads, mixing and kneading the dough, watching it rise. After putting it in the oven, I always try to leave the house for a walk just so I can come back and really appreciate the wonderful scent of fresh baking bread in the air – yummm!!!

 

But I hate to admit, I always feel a bit wistful on New Year’s Eve; maybe everybody does, as it signals so clearly that time is passing by.  I was home alone this year, as Nathan was at his dad’s, so I watched  some favorite old movies - It's a Wonderful Life, Enchantment, and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.  

Sigh.  I hate to sound like Ms. Lonelyhearts, but it would be lovely to have someone with whom I could spend the holidays, someone special for whom I could knit or to whom I could give a special gift. My sister in Germany mentioned that for Christmas, her boyfriend Burkhardt gave her a trip to the Caribbean… sigh again... 

 

So, I’ve been feeling a bit ashamed of myself, at having to try so hard to keep the green-eyed monster at bay. I'm doing my best to focus on all the good and hopeful things in my life. After all, every new year brings with it new possibilities, a new chance to get it right, whatever “it” might be; work, parenting, friendships, relationships, how to make really good spaghetti sauce, exercising more, catching up on my New Yorkers... I will turn 50 this year, but there is still time in life for so much more, so I shouldn't waste the time I have left feeling blue.

 

The gift of a bit of extra days between Christmas and New Years didn’t go to waste, on the knitting side of my life, at least. In addition to plugging away on the Florentine Shrug Shawl embroidery (I tried to take a picture of it with Libby in the foreground, below, but she sneezed!) (Madeline is that lump underneath the blanket to the left):

 

 

...I finally lined the knitted bag I had made for my niece Amanda a year (or more) ago! The pattern is from the Noni Medallion Travel Bag; I turned the graph sideways and just used the middle motif.

 

I think the thing that took me so long with this project was getting over my intimidation with this fancy Elna sewing machine I bought about 6 years ago, and still haven’t figured out. It is a really fancy quilting machine with 99 different stitches; it can evidently embroider, and even can stitch the alphabet. But it also has a different threading system than I’m used to, and I have somehow been afraid to delve into the instruction book.

 

It turns out that it isn’t so difficult to figure out, once you actually look at the instructions and threading diagrams (ahem…). Anyway, now that I have it figured out, I need to get the rose bag and some other projects lined! Anyway, to finish this one, I put plastic canvas in the bottom to square up the shape, and lined it with striped fabric, with pockets in a coordinating floral print. Now I’m just waiting for the handles to come in the mail and we’ll be good to go!

 

 

I finished a Gudrun Hat and Neckwarmer set; I went hunting on Ravelry to find a pattern for a big winter hat that wouldn’t smush my hair too much, now that it is curly. My hair is still damp when I leave in the morning, which isn’t a problem in the summertime, but in winter, as I live in Minnesota, waiting at the bus stop with wet hair could result in fatal exposure to the elements (!) The hat came out too big even for my large head, and I over-steamed the neckwarmer, inadvertently turning it into a sort of muffler. But it still works just fine to tuck into the neck of my purple coat. I think this will get a lot of wear this year.

 

 

I finished a long scarf/shawl knit lengthwise, about 400 stitches on a size 10 needle, alternating 6 rows of stockinette stitch in Kauni, a Shetland wool with long-interval color changes, with 6 rows in Schulana Kid Seta, a yarn similar to Rowan Kidsilk Haze. This is just like the scarf Renay made recently, but I made it a bit shorter (hers had 475 stitches and about 11 stripes, I think) because I wanted mine to come out wider (mine has 15 rows). I am supposed to felt it now, but I think I may just wear it this way this winter, and maybe felt it when it gets washed along with my other handknits in the spring.

 

 

I like that the alternating stripes are sheer and opaque:

 

I’m also making a tiny Audrey Hepburn for a friend from work (kinda late on that Christmas present, I know… but it will be adorable!)

 

I started a couple of commuting projects as well. A “scribble scarf” from the “recipe” in the first Mason Dixon knitting book, in some sparkly silver gray Kidsilk Haze and some beautiful Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon in grays and blues:

 

 

And finally, I also started a feathery lace shawl (from an Irish Shreier pattern in Exquisite Little Knits) out of Schulana Kid Seta in a beautiful blue:

 

I know, I know – too many distractions from the KOTOTW project. Maybe the winter nesting instincts came along with a bit of startitis this year :D

 

 

I'm looking forward to a happy and productive new year -- after all, 2012 is the year when I intend to cross the KOTOTW finish line, so it is time to get cracking!

 

May your New Year bring you many happy surprises, and lots of time to knit!

 

 

 

XOXOXO, Mar

 

 

 

There’s Fabulous, but THEN There’s…

--- my friend Steven Berg, who owns The Yarn Garage and Steven Be Studio, yarn store/communities in Rosemount and Minneapolis.  Steven celebrated his _____-eenth birthday last night with friends and fans in true Steven style with a pre-show party at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis, followed by a presentation by Ballet of the Dolls of “Nutcracker – The Lost Act.”

Steven was dressed in true Steven style:

I especially liked the boots:

And here we are hamming it up as usual; he was very impressed that I got dressed up (well, dressy for me, anyway) in my old black leather mini-skirt:

And I was very impressed that it still fit!  Yay!  (I am very conscious of my fiftieth birthday approaching (sigh).  At least I can still rock a miniskirt with style!  (OK, maybe I can’t, but no one at the party reacted with visible horror or an outburst of laughter, so I took that as a good sign…)

In addition to this last party, it has been a busy December so far – so many social events for work and various trade associations, etc., that I have to admit, I’m feeling like I’m going to have to be a hermit for about 8 weeks just to recover.  I am literally small-talked out at this point.  I’ve been to two separate annual economic forecast meetings, hosted by Stewart Title and SIOR, and by Urban Land Institute; I’ve been to two fundraisers for Gilda’s Club Twin Cities, Inc.; I’ve had drinks with WoWE (Women of Wind Energy) and a firm Christmas party; and numerous client lunches and dinners.  PHEW!  Now it is time to take a deep breath, and catch up on holiday preparations.

Today I FINALLY decorated the tree (OK, it is a fake tree, I know; I just hate killing trees, and am not crazy about the smell of pine. There, I said it.)  Among her many lovely gifts, my friend Renay gave me this lovely ornament – filled with blue yarn, of course:

And Eva had these beautiful decorations made for each of us by a local artisan:

Here is Nathan’s special ornament this year; a felted penguin from the Textile Center:

So cute!

And finally, here is a present from Nicky from a year or two ago -– these felted slippers came out much larger than any human feet I know of (except maybe my nephew’s, but they are not exactly his style), but I think they look perfect over the fireplace – you know, “the stockings were hung by the chimney with care…”!

OH, and I just remembered – I’ve been meaning to show you this great yarn artwork that was at my hair stylist’s salon, Haus Salon on Nicollet.   The artist’s name is Hot Tea:

And his current art showcases various uses of yarn!  Either wrapped:

Wrapped and painted (these panels are in front of a photograph of a subway train, like graffiti:

Strung from pins (remember string art from the 1970’s?)

Or, my favorite, a hanging rainbow of strands of progressive lengths:

This was hanging directly above where the customers get their hair washed, so as you relax and enjoy someone washing your hair, you get to look upwards as this glorious view (of yarny heaven)!

I mentioned this to Steven, and he said that Hot Tea is going to be doing some murals for him – I can’ t wait to see them, and will be sure to show you as well!

Knit, Swirl:

Steven has the trunk show for the new book Knit, Swirl by Sandra McIver at his stores now:

My sister and I want to do a knitalong of one of these.  I even got to try them on!  Including the actual cover sweater!

Pls. excuse the goofy expression.  I think these sweaters show great promise, and especially like the fact that they cover the butt.  Not that I'm ashamed of my behind, or anything, but I like long jackets in the cold weather here. 

Speaking of knitalongs, my sister and I are going to knit a shawl on Ravelry together in January called "Catkin" by Carina Spencer.  I figure I am far enough along that I can fit in another project (especially considering we're entering into seeerious winter here, so knitting season is upon us!) 

And finally – ½ of a Ta-Daaah!

As of this afternoon, I finished embroidering exactly half of the Florentine Shrug:

Isn’t it lovely?  I love the colors, and the soft yarn, and am enjoying the process.  However, my joy at having finished the sleeve is somewhat undercut by the realization that I now have to do it all again on the second sleeve.  Completely. From scratch.  (But, you know how the second time you do things, they tend to go more quickly?  That is what I’m hoping, anyway...)

I hope your holidays are coming along, and that your gifts are bought and wrapped, and that your cookies are baked… oh, who am I kidding!   We are ALL likely still in the midst of it all!   Don’t forget to set down with a cup of tea and watch an old Xmas movie and knit – you deserve some holiday relaxation, too!

Lots of love to you all,

Mar.

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag!

Another finished KOTOTW Project  - No. 32, The Spanish Rose Trellis Scarf!

I have to say, I REALLY liked the experience of making this piece, from the knitting to the felting to the sewing together.  Fun to make, and also incredibly fun to wear, as it is such a show-stopper!

I kind of lost track of time while felting the scarf; I think I should have taken it out of the washer more quickly, as it got a bit too short.  Ah well, that is just a good excuse to make another someday.  Maybe with a different color of roses!  That trellis stitch is addictive!  And the rose pattern just works out so well, I can tell I will be making those a lot more in future.  You sew them into a spiral shape before felting; I also used a sewing pin to hold the spiral in place a bit when they were drying to "set" the rose into the shape I wanted, and they held their shape perfectly once dry.

As I had mentioned, this pattern reminded me of one of Nicky's all-time "greatest hits," the rose trellis bag!  I have yearned for this bag ever since I first saw the pattern, and have been wanting a large knitting bag that is actually knit (!)  (Really large - considering how much stuff I usually bring to Knitting Night!)

So while it was fresh in my mind how to do the trellis stitch, I decided to tackle the trellis bag project as well.  For yarn, I used Ella Rae Mega for the black and green main colors, Plymouth Yarn De Aire, doubled, for the contrasting leaves, and Reynolds Bulky Lopi for the roses.

 

 

I thought this project would be quick, but it took a surprising amount of time. Before blocking, it was HUGE -- I joked with my friends that it was big enough to fix 8 dachshunds!  After the first complete 2-rinse wash cycle, it was still at about the 4-dachshund level, so I sent it through again, and now it is just right, about 2-dachshund size. (Although I don't really intend to carry my dachshunds in it, that gives you an idea of the capacity.

I still have a few more roses to sew on, in fact!  It is a bit difficult.  I had to hunt around for a really long sewing needle to make it through all the layers of felted fabric.  And I poked my fingers to the point where they bled (YOUCH!) 

I just sort of pinioned them down using long tacking stitches, anchoring right through the rose's edges down through the bag edge and back. 

I also wanted the bottom to be solid and firm, so I sewed in a piece of plastic cross-stitch canvas that I trimmed into an oval shape:

Here it is all sewn in, on the turned-inside-out bag.  This works really well for giving a knitted bag some structure, so it will stand up (when filled with stuff), and the bottom won't sag when it is filled up with yarn.

I also intend to line it; I picked out some quilting fabric that I thought would work well.  I'm going to make some pockets, too, for needles and various knitting tools and toys.

I am parTICularly proud of the side seams; I took care to make the pattern edges consistent so that they would be mirror images of each other (this seems to have been the biggest challenge, reading through the notes of people on Ravelry that have made it already, so I was forewarned - ahhh, the wonders and wisdom revealed by the new universe of Ravelry!)

I can't wait to bring this bag to my next knitting night!

Speaking of knitting night...

December 2011 Knitting Night:

Sigh - the last knitting night of the year.  We decided to do something different, and met at the Textile Center where Renay works.  We did a little shopping; they have AMAZING textile crafts for sale.  And then we had dinner at this great coffee shop across the street called Overflow, where there were comfy couches and chairs in front of a big fireplace.  I think we are going to have to meet there more often.

Kristin is working on a wonderful scarf out of a bulky alpaca, soft and cozy.  She also brought a photo of the adorable bootees she had finished for a friend's baby shower, and they came out really well!  It is so much fun to see how quickly she has learned to knit, and to watch her take on increasingly challenging projects.

Karen couldn't stay long, but had a chance to admire the tiny pieces of a green cardigan that Eva was working on.

I showed off my scarf - here I am apparently looking incredulous about something... I was very happy to remember that I have a purple winter coat to match my new scarf's roses.

And here I am being goofy showing off my new vest, which actually looks much nicer than this picture might indicate...

Renay made this wonderful striped, looooonng scarf out of a yarn called Kauni, with really long color changes, interspersed with stripes of something that I'm guessing is Rowan Kidsilk Haze, so those stripes are sheer and soft.

You can kinda see the sheer stripes in this photo (that is, while you are also admiring her great new glasses and fabulous new haircut, to boot!)

I love my knitting girlfriends; I always drive away from those evenings feeling renewed and happy, already looking forward to our next time together.  I knitted all by myself for years and years; decades, actually.  If it weren't for this blog, even people I know well wouldn't have realized that I knit, or that we shared this hobby.  And now a bunch of people at work are wanting to learn how as well; it is such a great way to make friends, establish a bond.  I know I'm sort of a crazed knitting evangelist, but it has given me such joy to help teach people how to knit, and then to watch them catch on and see their wonder at what they can create, and to hear their stories about the other gifts that knitting has brought them - a sense of calm, order, color, rhythm, comfort, to otherwise hectic disorderly modern life.

The Evening Gala Aran FINALLY Gets its Debut!

My firm's annual holiday party was last Friday night, and I decided to wear my beautiful pearl-bedecked Evening Gala Aran (since this annual dinner is about the "Gala-est" evening I have most years).  I decided not to go with the boa, thinking that might be a bit over the top for this particular event.  (But maybe if I go to an opera, hmmm...)  I also went out for a badly-needed haircut, to cut some lengths into it and get those curls curly again.

It was surprisingly heavy to wear, with all those pearls; I joked with my friends at dinner that I felt like I was wearing chain mail!  (Well, it wasn't THAT heavy).  But I felt just like Maria in the song, "Pretty, oh so pretty..."  What fun, to finally wear that wonderful garment out in the world.

Here's wishing you lots of fun wearing your own wonderful knitted creations, now that the season is right for woolies!

XOXOXO,

Mar

A Felty, Thankful Break

Thankfulness

Ahhhhh... the sheer bliss of 4 1/2 days out of the office, of not having to ponder a single legal question.  My mind has turned to marshmallow fluff, my shoulder muscles are so relaxed that my neck feels 4 inches longer, and my forehead is as uncreased as a baby's...

How I cherish holiday breaks!

Anyway, DESPITE the fact that I didn't host the Thanksgiving dinner this year (which means that the dust bunnies were safe for yet another weekend), it has been a quite productive few days.

First, I stole Nathan away from school a few hours early on Wednesday so that we could help with the Thanksgiving Meals on Wheels program at Cretin Derham High in St. Paul.  This program started over 30 years ago when a kind couple decided to invite 12 people to Thanksgiving dinner that they thought could use a good meal, and has grown over the years, to the point where this year a total of 18,400 meals were provided to those in need (!)  Thanks to the generosity of an army of people who give their time, as well as some truly generous and wonderful local food providers, including Hormel, which supplied the turkey this year. 

Nathan and I showed up around 2:00 and helped tape and stack almost 3,000 boxes (he comes in really handy for stacking the top layer!).

Then I went off to help peel hundreds of potatoes, and Nathan helped set up 48 tables out front, where the meals are transferred to an army of drivers the next morning, who distribute them throughout the city.    There were so many people that the evening's work was completed in just a few hours.  I didn't join in for the morning session this year, but according to my uncle Jack, everything went smoothly.  It also really helped that the weather was so mild - 50 degrees on Thanksgiving Day is a rarity in these parts.

I had a lazy Thursday, watching movies and knitting on my felted trellis bag, as our family celebrates on Friday instead.  So on Friday, I got up and made Nathan's obligatory pumpkin pie (the one part of the Thanksgiving meal he likes), sweet potato casserole (my own favorite -- I would gladly skip the turkey, but this is essential), and mashed potatotes, and green beans. 

And then in the early afternoon, we headed to Geoff and Mary's, where Mary had been cooking all day to produce this beautiful cranberry/blueberry pie:

And this magnificent turkey - she put it overnight in a salt crust with lemon peel and herbs, and then rinsed and baked it.  It was just perfect.

Here is my friend Laurie enjoying some pie, with Geoff (as always) hogging the dish-doing portion of the evening; he is wonderful that way.  I didn't catch photos of them, but Mary's nephew Brian and Nathan were there as well.

And here is my beloved Uncle Jack, the kindest person I know.  He devotes so many hours to helping other people, from the meals on wheels to lecturing at Hazelden (he's 34 years sober and has supported a lot of people in overcoming their addictions) to helping a dear friend get over the loss of his marriage and a cancer diagnosis.  But the best part about him is that he never loses his sense of humor, his great laugh, his faith in the world.  Whenever I am blue, I call him and he kicks me in the butt and reminds me of my blessings and helps me snap out of it.  I wish everyone were lucky enough to have a Jack in their life.

Did Somebody Say, Felting?

I know, I know -- I was supposed to use the break to finish embroidering the Florentine Shrug, but somehow finishing the Rose Trellis Bag seemed important; I knew I had to felt the Rose Trellis Scarf, and a Pignoli bag for my sister (check out the free pattern at Berroco.com), so it somehow made sense to get it all knitted up and have a felting party!  So, after Nathan and I came home Saturday night from a day at the Brickmania lego train club, I started felting away.

Here are the pieces of the Rose Trellis Bag pre-felting; I should have held it up to one of the dachshunds so that you could see how IMMENSE this sucker is, pre-felting:

And here are the pieces of both Trellis projects, all laid out to dry.  I used sewing pins to sort of hold the flowers in shape while they are drying. 

I am not quite sure what to do about the top of the Rose Trellis Bag.  It seems whenever I felt a bag, the top rim comes out all ruffly.  I even tried to hand-felt it tighter in the sink with soap and hot and then cold water, and it shrunk together a bit, but not enough.  I'm thinking I might try to run a thread around it and synch it up, and then try to felt it some more.  I know Nicky is visiting relatives in West Virginia for the holiday, but I'll check in with her, too, to see if she has any advice.

And here is my sister's Pignoli bag:

See - the top is a bit ruffly!  I'm hoping it won't matter for this pattern, as you synch it up along the top edge with cording.  The other unusual thing is that it is knitted in alternating bands of stockinette and reverse stockinette, but somehow these are almost completely invisible after the felting, although you can see them still on the one on the Berroco website (sigh - I hope my sister isn't disappointed...).  Now I'll just have to wait for it all to dry, and then I can do some assembling.

On Other Projects...

It occurs to me that I had better get cracking on the 2012 Special Olympic Scarves - the deadline is coming after the start of the new year.  But in the meantime, I've been working on the Damascus Dream Dress.  Here is the skirt portion. 

In order to figure out if I have enough cotton yarn to lengthen this portion, I had to get started on the woven neckline/bodice portion:

 

If I can get each side of the neck done with just about a ball or so, I should have enough to add an inch to the skirt. 

Well, in what remains of this last day of break (sniff, sniff), I need to do 5 loads of laundry, pay bills, and do a little cleaning.  Oh, and get going on embroidering that Florentine Shrug... (guess which of these will actually get done today!  Hint-- it will be the one involving yarn!)

XOXOXO, Mary