...is no life for me.
A life wiithout yarn is close to what my actual life has been like recently. It's sad but true. I was very busy the first two weeks of Feburary. Feburary is the start of the fiscal year in retail (at least in my retail employer's calander) plus the department I work in is very busy for the first two weeks in February. The upside is that we did very well. Beat all the other stores in the area and came in second company wide when measured in percentage of sales over goal. My bosses boss came by on Saturday to congratulate us on our performance.
Aside from the insanity the is retail, life has been hectic. I am the principal grocery purchaser, meal planner and cook. While I enjoy this- really, I get to use recipies and ingredients that I've never had the courage to try before, it takes a lot of time. And when time is limited, cooking for a family of five takes priority over knitting for my own sanity.
Though my sister has recently come into possession of a serger, which she has graciously shared with yours truely. It will make sewing less time consuming and more productive. I have yet to use if for any major projects, but I have some slated. I keep telling myself that on my next day off, I will make a pair of pajama pants for my mom. Fabric bought and washed, pattern created, pattern altered, fabric cut and marked. Now all I need to do is place fabric, serger and myself in the same place for an hour. Tuesday- that is my next day off. It will happen then...
I have also started the design prosess for a quilt. I have not finished with the last quilt I blogged about, but I need to start the next one to have it done by the time it needs to be. I've already got the fabric for the background- batiks ranging from light grey to deep purple-y grey. I am still looking for a verdant green that would be a striking contrast to the greys, but no luck this far. In order to get the project started, I think I will postpone the search for the perfect green to get the rest of the quilt designed and pieced. Then I will find a green and applique it on.
Work continues on the fair-isle vest. Though between that and the current pair of socks (Skew from Knitty Winter 2009) (Forgive me, I'm to lazy to hyperlink to the pattern right now.) I craved a different project done on larger needles. The solution: a bag knit in worsted weight cotton on size three needles. That's only <b>one<b/> size up from the size two needles in the vest, or the size one needles for the socks.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Recent FO's
Here (in no particular order) are some recently finished projects. Ok, these are all of my recently finished projects.
I've also made some progress with the fair isle vest. I'm off of work this week, so I hope to get the knitting done before I go back...
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A day of new concoctions
Today's free time was spent in the kitchen. I did get to work on my white blouse, got the collar attached and centered!
But back to the time in the kitchen:
Dinner was "Twice Baked Potato Hotdish" (I'm Minnesotan, I'll admit it). I took leftover baked Idaho potatos and leftover boiled red potatos, scooped out most of the innards into a bowl, and placed the skins in a 9x13 inch pan. To innereds I added: chicken stock, milk, shredded colby-jack cheese, garlic powder, shredded pot roast and a little crumbled bacon. That all got whipped together and poured on top of the potato skins. The pan went into a 350* oven and baked for 25 minutes, then I added more cheese to the top and baked for another ten minutes. Served with a side of roasted butternut squash and supper was delicious!
Dessert was another matter. Along with the squash and red potatos, I picked up zucchini from the farmer's market. I remembered that I had a recipe for zucchini cookies. Usually when I make a recipe for the first time, I follow it to the letter, but not this time. Instead of the butter it called for, I substituted canola oil and applesauce. (I once read somewhere that you can substitute applesauce for shortening in recipes.) I used half brown sugar (the recipe called for all white). Then at the end I substituted small chunks of apple for the raisins. After spending an hour in the refrigerator (like the recipe said) I pulled the bowl out of the fridge and noticed it was more like cake batter than cookie dough. I added just over half a cup of rolled oats to thicken the batter. It was still soft, but didn't run when put on cookie sheets and popped into the oven. They baked up fine, they have good flavor (cinnamon) but have the texture of muffins and not cookies. Next time: half butter (as called for) and half applesauce, less baking soda, more zucchini or apple. I did like the richer flavor that the brown sugar added.
Also on the agenda for kitchen time is to mix my own masala (chai) spice mix. Oh, and to make and can my own applesauce to use in future cooking adventures.
I'm continuing to work on the corrie fair isle vest, and am itching to start something new. Something that doesn't involve multiple colors of yarn. Maybe the pattern of Firefly? Or maybe I'll finally start Aeolian, but to have an involved colorwork project and my first lace project at the same time? That could be a little much.
I'm also trying to finish a cross stitch design that I thought up. It's a birthday gift for a friend (her birthday was last week) and I know she'll love it. I'll post pictures after it's been gifted.
But back to the time in the kitchen:
Dinner was "Twice Baked Potato Hotdish" (I'm Minnesotan, I'll admit it). I took leftover baked Idaho potatos and leftover boiled red potatos, scooped out most of the innards into a bowl, and placed the skins in a 9x13 inch pan. To innereds I added: chicken stock, milk, shredded colby-jack cheese, garlic powder, shredded pot roast and a little crumbled bacon. That all got whipped together and poured on top of the potato skins. The pan went into a 350* oven and baked for 25 minutes, then I added more cheese to the top and baked for another ten minutes. Served with a side of roasted butternut squash and supper was delicious!
Dessert was another matter. Along with the squash and red potatos, I picked up zucchini from the farmer's market. I remembered that I had a recipe for zucchini cookies. Usually when I make a recipe for the first time, I follow it to the letter, but not this time. Instead of the butter it called for, I substituted canola oil and applesauce. (I once read somewhere that you can substitute applesauce for shortening in recipes.) I used half brown sugar (the recipe called for all white). Then at the end I substituted small chunks of apple for the raisins. After spending an hour in the refrigerator (like the recipe said) I pulled the bowl out of the fridge and noticed it was more like cake batter than cookie dough. I added just over half a cup of rolled oats to thicken the batter. It was still soft, but didn't run when put on cookie sheets and popped into the oven. They baked up fine, they have good flavor (cinnamon) but have the texture of muffins and not cookies. Next time: half butter (as called for) and half applesauce, less baking soda, more zucchini or apple. I did like the richer flavor that the brown sugar added.
Also on the agenda for kitchen time is to mix my own masala (chai) spice mix. Oh, and to make and can my own applesauce to use in future cooking adventures.
I'm continuing to work on the corrie fair isle vest, and am itching to start something new. Something that doesn't involve multiple colors of yarn. Maybe the pattern of Firefly? Or maybe I'll finally start Aeolian, but to have an involved colorwork project and my first lace project at the same time? That could be a little much.
I'm also trying to finish a cross stitch design that I thought up. It's a birthday gift for a friend (her birthday was last week) and I know she'll love it. I'll post pictures after it's been gifted.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Fabric Shopping!
Today, my sister and I went shopping at a fabric warehouse. It's one of my favorite places to go shopping. It's also huge!! My sister was specifically shopping for twelve colors of batik fabrics for portions of a quilt she's designing. Just a quarter yard of each. While she was browsing the extensive selection of batiks, I was looking through the regular quilting fabrics. I showed remarkable self restraint and only purchased two yards of two different fabrics. The first is a dark green cotton quilting fabric with a printed swirl in a darker green. In the picture it is the one on the far left. The other three fabrics were purchased at JoAnn Fabric and Crafts. This fabric is designated for a wedding quilt for a friend. I think I found a pattern for it too. I will have to make slight modifications to fit the color scheme, but I like it and think it will work.
The other fabric I purchased on a whim (I know, it's a bad habit. I really need to stop.) Anyway, it's really cool:
My sister got everything she wanted, purchased eleven fabrics and pilfered one from my stash. I had planned on making a basic white blouse for work, but today turned out to be a color day. Oh, well.
Ta ta for now,
47stars77
Monday, September 20, 2010
Teaching and Learning
So in an unexpected turn of events, my sister (the crocheter) asked me to find a sock pattern for her to knit. She does know how to knit and purl, so she's capable of making socks with minimal instruction. The problem was that most of the printed sock patterns were far more complicated than she wanted. I was able to find a basic pattern with a ribbed cuff and ribbing down the top of the foot. The toughest part for her will be the heel, but I'm excited for her!
As for my projects, I'm working on the Carrie Fair Isle Vest from knitpicks. After settling on the right needle size I'm doing fairly well. I'm using a 40 inch circ, so I'm working using magic loop method. so far so good, though the opposite end of the round end does have some funny bumps because I carried the second color yarn a smidge to tight... That's what blocking is for, right? Pictures to come soon.
As for my projects, I'm working on the Carrie Fair Isle Vest from knitpicks. After settling on the right needle size I'm doing fairly well. I'm using a 40 inch circ, so I'm working using magic loop method. so far so good, though the opposite end of the round end does have some funny bumps because I carried the second color yarn a smidge to tight... That's what blocking is for, right? Pictures to come soon.
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Welcome, Oh unknown reader!
I'm starting this blog as a place to write about knitting, maybe even post some of my own patterns.
I knit whenever I can, that is when I'm not busy sewing, cooking, cross-stitching and the like. You can find me on Ravelry under the user name 47stars77.
I'm not the fastest knitter in the world, so often projects can take months to complete.
This will not be exclusively about knitting, I might also post about my sewing and cooking- maybe even some of my wacky concoctions!
For now,
47stars77
I knit whenever I can, that is when I'm not busy sewing, cooking, cross-stitching and the like. You can find me on Ravelry under the user name 47stars77.
I'm not the fastest knitter in the world, so often projects can take months to complete.
This will not be exclusively about knitting, I might also post about my sewing and cooking- maybe even some of my wacky concoctions!
For now,
47stars77
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