Scarf lady

I have a tendency to fall in love easily. With places, that is, not people. I still remember my first affair--I was 14 and I left the US for the first time after my parents agreed to let me do a mini-study abroad trip to Mexico.  I remember stepping outside of our hotel the day we arrived in Mexico City and falling hard (figuratively, not literally). 

Eventually the strong feelings I had developed for Mexico City were replaced when after college some girlfriends and I decided to tour Europe by train carrying only 1 backpack apiece.  Those of you who know me will know how out of character it is for me to travel sans makeup or hair products.  Thought I had great flirtations on this trip with Paris, Munich, Bamberg, Prague, Venice, Milan, Florence, Rome, Madrid, Sevilla, Gibraltar, Granada and Toledo among others, it was Barcelona who truly captured my heart.  The coast, the restaurants, and the Gaudi structures--I was smitten for many years.

I was fortunate to find a job that fuels my love of travel, and I have found that when I fall hard for a new city, it is hard to resist bringing a piece of it home with me.  And that piece is usually in the form of artwork.  A few years back, and I had a business trip that left me stuck in Hong Kong for almost a month, and I promptly fell in love again, this time with the most amazing place I had ever seen.  It helped that I had plenty of time to explore with three full weekends and a very solicitous tour guide at my disposal, and I came home with some true treasures including a set of monochromatic paintings I adore.

At that point, I decided my walls were full, so when I fell in love with Berlin a couple of years later, I opted for a traditional Christmas pyrimid over a modern abstract painting.  Since that time when I feel I absolutely must bring back a momento of my latest infatuation, I try to find something a little non-traditional, and of course my A-#1 rule is that I absolutely must be in love with whatever I buy.

A few months ago, I was briefly reunited with my first love.  On my way to Venezuela, I had a short meeting in Mexico City, and as we drove through the streets, I reminisced about the last time I had been there.  Though time was short, I did have a few hours to shop in the international terminal of the airport.  And sure enough, I found the perfect recuerdo--a beautiful brightly-colored, hand-painted silk scarf from the design house Pinela-Covalin.The color and pattern reminded me at once of all that I loved the first time I "met" Mexico.

Last month, I found another pair of to-die-for scarves in Colombia.  This time by designer Ana-Cristina Bojanini.  Now the thing is, I am not a woman who wears many scarves.  And the ones I do wear are of the keep-you-warm-in-winter-knitted variety, not the cleverly-knotted-at-your-neck-as-an-accessory type.  Maybe I am looking for a change, and maybe I secretly hope to become the type of woman who does wear scarves.  Maybe wearable art is my latest trend.  Either way, look for my scarf collection to grow along with my art collection.

The coolest thing I have ever seen...

The tree of life carved in salt.  More correctly, carved into the wall of a salt mine, complete with a real boy climing on it.

This is in the Catedral de Sal (Cathedral of salt), Zipaquira, Colombia.  Zipaquira is a salt mine with a Cathedral about 1km below the surface of the mine.  I had the opportunity to visit when I was in South America last month.  My tour guides were a wonderful family (this is their son Andreas) that I met through work there.  I will write more about my (mis)adventures in South America another time.

A dark, cold, rainy night...

Here in New England, we have been enjoying a very hot, humid summer.  The thing that always surprises me about New England summers is that just when the heat peaks, all of a sudden you have this one day where it starts to rain.  Rather than just clearing out the humidity, there is a little hint of a chill, letting you know that fall is just around the corner.  Today is that day.

I must admit, I am not ready for fall.  The seasons are short here, except for winter of course, and I am just not ready for it to be winter again.

The upside is, the change in weather motivated me to start a new project.  I realized that although my original goal was sock-related, I have not done many socks lately.  So I chose a yarn from the stash and a pattern from one of my new sock books (I recently bought three!), and I cast on Cookie A's Asymmetric Cables from "Sock Knitting Master Class".  It is going a little slow, mainly because my left hand keeps cramping up.  I am having more and more trouble with this as time goes on. 

I started crafting really young, and used to spend hours and hours crocheting with really tiny thread.  I always figured the time would come where I would no longer be able to use my hands the way I would like, and I fear that time is coming.

I am trying out one of my skeins of "A Verb for Keeping Warm" Superwash Sock, and it is not quite what I expected.  First, although it is supposed to be merino, it does not have that silky, merino feel.  It actually feels much more like leicester wool (though not BFL.  More like the rough, boiled wool you think of with sweaters from the 60's), but scratchier than superwash.  Also, the color is bleeding all over my hands as I knit.  I am hoping they soften up with washing, but worry the color will bleed enough that I will lose a shade or two.  Which is too bad really, because the color of this skein is a gorgeous variegation of plums, reds, and purples.  It also does not have very much elasticity.  My ribbing is stretched out just from the knitting and does not really snap back.  I think the lack of memory in the yarn is also slowing up my knitting a bit as I have a hard time inserting the needle into the purl stitches, and that does not usually happen to me.  Besides that, my week of being sick during and after my South America trip really drained my energy, and I just have not had the will to knit much.

I hope to finish up sock one tonight, and maybe sock two in another day or two.  The pattern is easily memorized, so I am moving a bit faster than I did the first day.  At least I have my glorious chilly, rainy day to inspire me.  Hurrah for fall! (Even if it does mean winter is coming...)

It's done, it's done!

I first learned how to crochet when I was almost five.  My mother was expecting my sister, and she would sit in the afternoons and crochet granny squares for an afghan.  I always wanted to be doing whatever she was doing, so I harrassed her continually until she gave me my own hook and some yarn and showed me how to do it.  When I became very proficient in the chain stitch, and started chaining my chains, I graduated to single crochet.  The first real project I remember clearly was making a custom blanket/cape for a stuffed dog when I was in the hospital with apecdicitis at the age of 6.  Before long, my mother taught me how to read patterns, mainly because she was tired of having to show me everything one by one, and I was off and running.

Shortly thereafter, I learned how to embroider.  The crewel phase was in full swing, and I still have a box full of framed stitchery, along with some very nice pillowcases complete with crocheted edgings.  There were a lot of crafts that came in and out during this time.  Plastic canvas, origami, sewing, and rag weaving just to name a few.  Over the years, I went throught papercraft, soapmaking, making my own lotion and cosmetics, candlemaking, decoupage, stained glass, and jewelry making.  And of course, there was flower arranging and cake decorating, frequently combined.  I worked in a floral shop for a while, and for a period of time I made swags (it was a 90s thing) for everyone I knew.  By request, of course. 

At the age of 8, I decided it was time to learn how to knit.  My mother did not knit, so I checked a book out of the library and taught myself.  I spent a good portion of my childhood knitting and crocheting along with many other kinds of crafting. I used to have what I called "starting moods" and "finishing moods."  I would become very passionate about a project, usually an afghan (I made a lot of those growing up), and I would work on it furiously for days or weeks.  Then my mood would change and I would need a new craft for a while.  I would get the itch for something new, or I would have an idea that I absolutely had to try, and the old project would be set aside, sometimes for months or even years at a time.  After a while the finishing mood would strike, and I would dig out a project and work until it was done.  I have one afghan that I call the five-year afghan.  I only worked on it when I was home sick from work or school, so it took me five years to finish :) (Aran crochet in panels, and to this day one of my favorite pieces even if it is made of acrylic yarn).

For along time, I was all about the crochet.  I did afgans, clothing, baby blanket edgings, baby sweaters and booties, lace, and sold a number of sculptural crochet pieces during my late high school and early college years.  A few years ago, however, I suddenly had an urge to return to knitting.  About a year later, I finally caught the sock bug (I will confess this is mainly because I fell in love with sock yarn and had to break down and make socks to justify buying it), and I have been all about the knitting ever since.  I don't know if it is because I am leaning towards smaller projects, or if I am more focused in my old age, but I tend to finish one project before moving onto the next one now, with a few rare exceptions.  I will admit, if a project is left siting, seaming is usually involved...

About a year ago, I stared my first big piece of lace--Jarod Flood's "Willoughby."  I got about one third of the way around the edging, also known as the really tedious part, and I had to put it down for a while.  Then a while turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and well, you get the idea.  A few weeks ago, I got hit with a burst of "finishing energy"--you know, that mad urge to wrap a project up.  And, if I am perfectly honest, this was also partially motivated by the fact that I really wanted my #6 lace needles for another project.  At any rate, I picked it up, and I worked on it a little, then a little more, and on a plane trip from Bogota to Caracas, I finally made some major progress.  Then from Caracas to Boston, via Houston, I finally finished it.  I am so very happy to have this done once and for all, and I truly love the piece.  Here it is in blocking.  Yeah, me!

Now, the down side is that I found all sorts of horrendous mistakes in the first few repeats of the border, and I am horrified I did not rip them back right when I started.  Normally, I would try to fix them even at this point, but there is no way in--you know what--I am going to take out the whole border.  So I will just remember to wear it mistake-side down.  But it will still always bug me...

Baby sweaters everywhere...

I promised some pictures of the FOs from June.  I have been on a bit of a baby sweater binge as of late.  Of course, I do have a lot of babies to knit for right now.  Anyway, here are the bright Maile sweater and the long-awaited Unisono sweater.

Both should be off to their new owners this week.  I have been making a lot of raglans because I hate finishing.  I often will finish the knitting in days, then let a project sit for months before I seam it up just out of sheer avoidance.  I have decided I also hate sewing on buttons.  Not the sewing itself, but trying to avoid knots (and to me it never feels secure enough without a knot) and hide all of those little ends!  How do the rest of you do it?  It seems there is never a neat way to add the buttons and I am far too disorganized to plan knitting them in.  I am considering trying snaps on my next kid project.  Not as many cute options as buttons, but I won't stay awake at night in fear that my cute buttons have become a choking hazard for the progeny of my close friends and family.

I have also been trying to finish things more neatly.  After reading up on finishing techniques I attempted reinforcing my button bands and hems with hem tape.  I love the look, but hate how uneven the hand sewing looks on the knitting.  I am pretty good with hand stitching, and my stitches look like they are all over the place.  I may have to try machine sewing, though I really don't want to see the stiches from the front, and I can't see how that would be avoided.  Perhaps there is a way to knit it in?  I will have to think on this a bit.

My stash runneth over...

Do you ever go through those periods when you just feel like you are failing at everything?  That is how I have been feeling lately.  I can't seem to finish up a project at work, I am not losing weight despite starting an exercise program and watching my diet, and my yarn stash is still completely out of control.

Two weeks ago I had my first dinner party in my new house.  Now, I say new as I have only lived here for a little over 2 years.  Yes, that is right--it has taken me 2 years to get my house in order enough to have people over.  That and to find friends to have over, but that is another topic entirely.

I bring this up because that means 2 weeks ago my house was company ready.  And part of the company cleaning was hiding away all those little items that become every day clutter.  I left only 2 small baskets of yarn out on my shelves because like most fiber hoarders, I find it kind of decorative.  And do you know what my guests said?  Every last one commented "Gee, you sure have a lot of yarn!"  And they saw only the tip of the iceberg. 

Saturday I was hunting for a particular color of yarn, thinking I surely must have it in my stash.  So I started piling all my sock yarn on the floor.  Then I decided it would be good to get reorganized and re-inspired at the same time, so I went into all the nooks and crannies where I had stashed my yarn pre-company.  Folks, the result is not pretty:

Yes, my gluttonous ways are still Way. Out. Of. Control.

I am starting to feel overwhelmed.  The pressure and guilt of this many unfinished projects is starting to get to me. Am I in danger of being the subject of a future episode of "Hoarders"?  Of course, yarn seems a much more pleasant thing to be buried in than old newspapers or junk.

Now the upside is I am engaging in some true stash-busting.  Hiding in the bottom of one of my yarn baskets was four lovely skeins of J. Knits superwash merino DK in a beautiful purple/lavendar colorway called New Jersey.  I remembered buying this yarn on closeout and buying it specifically to make a Helena sweater for my friend who was pregnant at the time.  I do believe that child is a toddler now.  I am happy to say Helena is close to 2/3 completed, missing only the sleeves and edgings after a day and a half of pretty intense knitting.  Sadly, my hands are cramping and I am feeling some burning in the tendons, which means I will have to give then a rest for a day or two lest I overdo, but I am excited to have Helena on the way out the door.  Even though I did the 2 years olds size, I will only use up 3 skeins, and will be left with a little orphan skein.  At least it is one more thing out of the stash, though.  Right?  And I must say, the JKnits yarn is fabulous.

I also discovered a whole lot of Hempathy.  2 batches of 10 skeins each, to be exact.  How long have I had this?  The price tag says $5.00, if that tells you anything.  I have white and aqua blue.  I think I may have to make a Strafford Tee this month as well, if my hands don't give out on me.  And 2 batches of four skeins each of Rowan Kidsilk Haze.  I think there was a butterfuly dress in mind at one point.  It would look awful on me, but it is a cool pattern and looks fun to knit, so I was going to do it anyway.  You see, this is why I have a stash :)

May and June catch-up

When I started this blog, I was so anxious to post I had to limit myself to twice a week.  Now I am lucky to get in one per month.  I don't know if it is just that summer is my busy time of year with work, particularly May and June, or if I have the lazy bug these days, but here is my catch-up post for May and June projects.

I started May strong with a quick pair of socks.  One of my dear friends gifted me with a skein of Tofutsies yarn.  I have never knit with this before, and I had it stashed in my computer bag when I found myself on an airplane with no project.  I remembered a simple lace pattern and started knitting away.  When I looked through my books later, the pattern is close enough to "Dead Simple Lace Socks" by Wendy Johnson, that I will credit that pattern even though I do them top-down with a slip-stitch gussetted heel.

I also had a very fun visit to Maryland the first weekend in May to celebrate my birthday with old friends and also to visit the MD Sheep and Wool festival!  I am a sucker for festivals, and this is one of my favorites for many years now.  My former roommate lives a mere 7 miles from the Howard County Fairgrounds, so every year I find an excuse to spend my birthday with my good friend and enjoy the festival at the same time.  This friend actually introduced me to the festival.  We were babysitting a neighbor's children for the weekend, and she mentioned there was this sheep festival down the road she thought the kids would enjoy.  When we got there, I said kids?  There is YARN here!  So now I go every year sans children, because it is much more fun that way :)

Of course I again overspent, stocking up on Tess's designer yarns, STR, and I splurged on enough Sunna for a new sweater for me.  So my yarn basket still runneth over, but I am feeling good about the number of projects out the door.

My other big project for May was a baby blanket for a dear friend who is becoming a first time father in July.  I made a second version of the Cot Blanket using 6 skeins from stash, but had to buy another 3 skeins to finish a border.  Since the bulk did come from stash, and the stash portion was completed in May (border yarn arrived first week of June, and was finished shortly thereafter), I am hoping it is not fudging to count this.  Here is the product in progress (top) and finished up (center, bottom).

The original blanket has three of the six squares containing some sort of heart motif.  I eliminated two of the heart squares and the plain square, and designed a sailboat, car, and argyle square in their place.  This was my first time actually sitting down with graph paper and mapping out the pattern (pathetic, I know. I make up a lot of stuff, but I usually wing it and play with it in my head until I get it to work out without writing it down).  I was surpised how long it took.  I spent a couple of hours just graphing and re-graphing the designs until they looked right.  In the end, I was really happy I did, though, so I won't have to go through the painful process of trying to re-create what I did from memory or photos.

In June, my baby theme continued.  I had a beautiful skein of STR I picked up in MD in May in a colorway called "Dreidel" (pictured above sitting on the completed squares).  As I arranged the squares for my Cot Blanket, I could not help but notice the colors of the yellow, dark and light blue, and even the olive green were a perfect match for Dreidel.  So I decided baby needed a sweater to match his blanket.

I got my inspiration from a new issue of Filati Infanti for a cute collared jacket.  I followed a pattern (mostly) for a ribbed jacket, but I changed a lot of things.  I knit as a one-piece raglan and added some length to the body and sleeves since I was using heavier yarn that called for in the pattern.  I added a ribbed button band after the body was knitted, and lined it with some groisgrain ribbon before adding some very cute airplane buttons.  I actually had some very cute sailboat buttons I used as the inspiration for the Cot Blanket squares, and they are nave blue and a perfect match for the sweater.  Unfortunately, I only had three, and could not find three more in a similar blue to match, so I had to find some new buttons.

My modifications also meant I ran out of yarn just after joining the sleeves.  Blue Moon only makes Dreidel over the holidays ('cause blue and yellow are sooooo Christmas-y??) so I jumped on ravelry and searched until I found a kind soul who had some in stash that they were willing to sell me.  Thank you KimS!!  The good news it, this counts as two skeins consumed :)

 

I also did a quick baby sweater for my new niece, Isabelle.  I met her for the first time in June, and she is sure a cutie!  I had this awesome skein of green/pink in stash, and my sister loved it, so I made a Maile sweater.  The bright colors reminded me of the tropics, and Isabelle's mom lived in Hawaii for a while, so Maile seemed a perfect match.  I will post a photo as soon as I sew the buttons on.  The yarn was an impulse purchase last spring during a work trip to Cape Cod (an awesome work trip, I might add).  It is called YaRn Studios, and was hand-dyed by the nice girl who helped me in the yarn store in Falmouth, MA.  It is also 100% superwash merino, so that should be soft for baby and easy to care for. 

My last baby project of the month was another simple raglan for another co-worker (2 co-workers, actually) who just had a baby boy.  This one out of Zitron Unisono, which I have decided is my new favorite yarn!  I will post photos of these last two shortly.