lazy sunday

I love a lazy, sunny Sunday. Today is turning out to be one of those, which is a relief since I've been in kind of a bad funk for the last couple of weeks. (It's nothing clinical, just some anxiety about the coming year mixed with a little homesickness. I think I'm better now.) Today, Stuart has been quite productive in the kitchen, making sandwich bread and ciabatta - with Daniel's help, of course. Daniel absolutely loves to help in the kitchen (especially if it involves appliances that plug in). We're planning a scrumptious dinner of homemade noodles with meatballs and from-scratch tomato sauce, Stuart's ciabatta, cucumber salad with homemade yogurt, and baked figs stuffed with ground walnuts and cinnamon. This last item on the menu is definitely among the more exotic things I've tried, but Whole Foods had little baskets of fresh figs and I couldn't resist buying some, even though after yesterday's farmers market trip I was staggering back to the bike with my arms full of fresh, local fruit.

I even managed to forget the household chores for a bit this afternoon. Because it's hot today, we went to the pool, where the kids so exhausted themselves they both slept for an hour after we got home. During that time I pushed the messy kitchen, the pile of unfolded laundry, the not-yet-srubbed bathroom and the trashed guest room to the back of my mind and I sat myself down on the back deck to do a little knitting.


(Do I ever look like a 31yo housewife.)

Except for the occasional whiff of our foul-smelling compost pile, it was really very pleasant. This was my view - the swimming towels drying on the deck rail:


Droopy herbs:


And a few woodpeckers tap-tap-tapping on the large maple tree, but they don't stand still for pictures.

Clearly, I don't have much new to show you, but here's a picture of my current knitting bag:


And the left front of Keelin, which I realized just half an hour ago that I haven't been crossing the cables as frequently as I'm supposed to.


The charts are a little confusing that way, since one part of the pattern has a 12-row repeat, while the cables have an 8-row repeat. Instead, I was crossing the cables every 12 rows and I didn't notice until now. Since I've finished the back and gotten up to the armhole of the left front, I've decided to just live with it, even though I think the original pattern looks nicer. At least I'm consistent. I'm also a teeny bit concerned this is going to be a little small. Before blocking a knitted piece with twisted stitches and cable crosses, it's just hard to tell, and if anything, knitting stretches, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

That's all from here. I still haven't started the Sweet Peasy sweater for Anya, or written up that pattern for her hat and mittens, though I should soon, seeing as fall is nearly upon us. I did open up Excel at one point (b/c someone recommended it for charting) and stared at it for a few minutes, thinking "How on earth can I use this to make a chart?" (clearly, I never use Excel). I'll figure something out, eventually.

random on a tuesday

1. I've started a new project:



This is Keelin from Chic Knits. I have to admit I've bought a few patterns from that site with the best intentions of knitting all of them (of course), but I believe this is the first sweater I've gotten around to starting. So far, I like it. The stitch pattern is quite intuitive and easily memorized, so I don't even need the instructions now until it's time to shape the armholes. This is a good thing, since I do a lot of knitting while watching the kids in the back yard or playing seemingly interminable games of hide-and-seek in the basement.

2. Before that's done, I plan to start a new sweater for Anya, Sweet Peasy (rav link) in her favorite color, yellow. I plan to use the yarn I have leftover from that hat and mittens I designed.

3. I waaaaay overestimated how much yarn I would need for that hat and mittens, which is why I have enough left to make her a sweater.

4. Well, she wants a scarf, too, but scarves are pretty boring and I'd rather make a sweater.

5. I will, I promise, get to writing up that pattern soon. Dee suggested using excel for charts and since we have excel already and it will therefore cost me nothing, I'm going to noodle around with it and see if I can get it to work. If not, I'll take the plunge and buy some software (I've gotten a couple recommendations about that, too, and thanks for the suggestions, all!)

6. I wish I had more knitting to show you, but I don't. I'm a one project at a time gal lately, which makes for slower blogging, but fewer unfinished projects lying around. Also, doing one thing at a time gives me a sense of control in my domestic life, and that's something I need at the moment.

7. Summer is ending, and that makes me sad. I know that as a knitter I should be all excited to wear warm sweaters and knit with wool without getting all sweaty, but instead I'm mourning a little bit the end of long days and weather warm enough for swimming and water balloons and vacations to look forward to.

Friday preview

Thunderstorms and pouring rain have bolloxed up our plans to swim this morning, and actually prompted tornado sirens about an hour ago. Daniel, who loves gadgets of all kinds, helped me make hummus in the food processor (for supper) and puree tomato sauce in the food mill we bought this morning. These activities thrilled him to no end. I've been doing some serious work in the kitchen reorganizing the dry goods, mixing up pita bread (to go with the hummus) and cleaning up the huge mess we made. And now I'm allowing more TV than I should because it's Friday and it's raining and I just don't care.

I did finish a hat and mitten set for Anya, and after much coaxing, she agreed to a little photo session this morning before the deluge. Here's a blurry preview for you:



The design is my own and as soon as I get my act together (and figure out the best way to do a simple cable chart or two) I plan to post the pattern here. I don't know how long that will take, honestly. I just get so busy with the kids and the kitchen and the laundry and all that stuff that I don't have much time to sit at the computer and do anything more time-consuming or complicated than web-surfing and lame blog posts. But I will get to it, eventually.

Meanwhile, my plate is all cleared and I think I'm ready to start a new sweater for myself. I just have to decide which one!

socks for Joe

My little brother turned 30 in late July. I made him socks for the occasion:



This, I'm afraid, is the only decent picture I could get before giving Joe his socks. We met in Oklahoma a couple of weekends ago for our cousin David's wedding. There was quite a bit of car knitting on the way down (Guthrie, OK is a loooong way from Madison!) and I finished the socks our last evening in the hotel. I was literally kitchnering the toe as I walked down the hallway to meet the extended family for pizza, and I couldn't find a pair of scissors to cut off the ends, so Joe had to do that himself. Also, they didn't get wrapped up and I didn't have a card. Good thing we don't stand too much on ceremony!

Pattern: I used Glenna's 3x1 ribbed socks as a basic guide.
Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll Tonal in the color kindling. The color changes are supposed to be subtle, but I would argue to the contrary, at least with this colorway. It's all brown, though, so I think it's okay. I've come to terms with the pooling as well.

Joe wears a size 11 or 12 shoe, and I cast on 80 stitches with fingering weight yarn, so these socks were about all I was knitting for a good 3 weeks, hence the relative non-activity on this blog. That will change, I promise. I have been designing some simple winter accessories for Anya, for which I intend to post a free pattern shortly. Which reminds me: can anyone recommend good charting software that isn't too pricey?