Another Happy Customer

This holiday season I have decided to make one of my family members a knitted object. In years passed this burned and failed. My family would much rather get gift cards than something I put my heart into. That is fine, I know where I stand... on the complete other side of everything in life. My dad mentioned that he would really like a knit hat while he was watching me make something in the recent past. So I took that as a subtle hint he wanted a hat. I found this really cool yarn with the thought that he really might not like it. After it was knitted me and many people decided it was really not manly enough for the dad persuasion.

My coworker Martha was the happy recipient of the hat!

Now only if my dad will react the same way to the manly blue tone hat that I made him....

Hey look, I finished another sweater.

I left this project behind when I left for Alaska. I took the time today to weave in the ends and sew some buttons on it. Hopefully I will have really nice pictures but for now you get the iPhone in the mirror trick.

I'm John, here's my report.

I love Almost Live. This was a show like Saturday Night Live but focused on super local Seattle-regional topics and skits. One of the bits they did was a news recap commentary by John Keister. As I was watching it I started to notice the AMAZING SHIRTS he was wearing. This one here inspired me to start capturing them....

I mean it is a collared shirt with freakin' ties on it!!! Okay more for you to marvel at:

Sven's Sweater

My friends Kim and Beth had a little boy named Sven Loren earlier this year. Perfect time for me to get my baby sweater knitting on. I FINALLY finished the project and sent it in the mail. Since they got it now I get to post the pictures. It ended up being wider than I thought but I hope it is fine. Kids don't care, right? Sven will be able to wear it once he is two or so. Plenty of growing room!

Team Jersey!

I joined a bike team this year. I didn't design them but I am pretty stoked for our pink team jerseys.

Purple Tweed Sweater, the Beginnings

Once again I am embarking on making another sweater. I vowed to use up the stash of yarn that I have accumulated over the years but I couldn't resist. Occasionally I browse Brooklyn Tweed because Jared Flood makes some pretty amazing patterns. I stumbled upon a cardigan from their new book and I knew I had to make it.

I love the golden yellow color of the example but I feel like whenever I knit with that color it never comes out as I really want it to. Rather I went with Rowan's Felted Tweed in a purple color. It is a color that I love and I tend to wear regularly.

Here is the collar of the sweater. I messed up the gauge a couple of times but I think I have it now. The safety pins are the markers for the right and left yokes, the arms and the back. The sweater is worked top down. I think I will finish this one on the ship in September/October.

Oh here is a picture of a cute puppy:



Not mine but I want to keep him forever.

Yay! Pete's Bike!!!

The Mighty Golden Narwhal

It has been a while, I know. I have been making stuff but at the same time riddled with guilt because I hadn't finished little Sven's gift. I sent it off in the mail today and I will post pictures when Kim and Beth receive their gift.

My buddy PeterFuckingStone is going to Burning Man. He enlisted my help in pimping out his ride. I couldn't be more excited. Decorations and bicycles?! Rad! His theme is El Darado. I wanted to make a flag for his bike so when he is out and about people can find him and he can find his bike. Pete came up with the Narwhal. The sea's unicorn?! Epic! So I set off to make the flag and success.

Pete and I also spray painted his bike gold. I will post pictures of the Mighty Golden Narwhal tonight.

Super secret project.

My friends Kim and Beth had a little baby boy on the 31st of March so I am working on the coolest sweater I will ever make. I am plateauing right now. Calling it. I will post a picture of it when they have gotten it in the mail. For now wait with baited breathe.

Grandma's Birthday Lounge Pants

My grandma's birthday is on Monday and the family is getting together to celebrate. That forced me to think of something that I could make her. I decided to make a pair of lounge pants. I hope they fit. Grrrr. No one answered the phone when I was trying to call. Fingers crossed.

"Put a bird on it!" Beat you to it.

Mission accomplished!

Guess what? Last night I finished my sweater. Just in time to wear it out to the Stube to show it off to my friends. Here is a quick picture that I took just before heading out. I promise more pictures to come.

I am literally tying up the loose ends now. I am dusting off my shoulders for sure.

Lazy Waffle Sunday

The absence of writing on this blog is due to the fact that I have been working like a mad woman to finish the dang sweater before it gets too warm for me to wear it. Well mission almost accomplished. To ward off the great depressive mood that I was getting in because the Huskies lost today eliminating them from the NCAA Tourney (thanks for throwing it all away in the last 15 seconds guys) I went to work seaming up the sides of the sweater.

But before I get to that I want to share with you my waffles that I made today. Jenny's mom and dad gave me a waffle iron that they no longer had a use. I have been wanting an iron like this for quite a while because it reminds me of hiking in Norway. When I would go walking or hiking in the woods you would occasionally run into cabins selling treats. One of these treats were waffles that were heart shaped and covered in whipping cream and fruit. This is before I knew I couldn't have dairy and when I didn't mind overlooking my gluten intolerance to fit in and eat something tasty. I found this recipe that is gluten free and vegan.

Ingredients:

• One large banana, mashed
• 1 3/4 cups soymilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 2 cups gluten free flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup pecans

Directions:

1. Mix the wet stuff with hand mixer
2. Add in the four, baking powder and salt. Stir until mixed but still lumpy
3. Add pecans
4. Grease up waffle iron, heat that baby up, and add 1/2 - 3/4 cups of the batter onto the iron and let it do its magic until it stops steaming (about 5 minutes)
5. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD RE-GREASE THE IRON BEFORE MAKING ANOTHER WAFFLE OR IT IS A HUGE MESS (Not like that happened or anything)
6. Enjoy the goodness and happiness that is life.

Now back to the sweater... where was I? Oh yeah, I finished seaming up the sides. I still need to finish blocking the collar. It seems that I made the collar a bit too long but I can fix that when I am sewing it on.

Catface photobombed me. Psh.

Yep, lazy Sunday indeed. Not quite ready for the work week but looks like I will be doing some reading on the bus these days.

Day 18 Trials and Tribulations

For the love of God. That is all.

Okay not really. Today is the 18th day of working on my sweater project and boy it was quite a day. First I figure out while I am working on what I believed was the left front panel on the sweater to discover that I was shaping the collar of the sweater backwards. In the best terms this causes the horses to face the wrong way. To fix this problem I would have had to rip out about 6 inches of hard work so I decided to live with my mistake. It is handmade and unique.

I am dealing with it.

Today I finished my second piece to the sweater: the right panel!

No that is not a snake! That is the finished front panel. Yeah it looks a bit goofy because it is curling in. To remedy this I used a process called blocking. It is where you get your piece of knitting wet and then shape it into the form you want. For me it was getting it not to turn in and to lay flat. So that is what I did.

Much better. While I was at it I decided to block the back. This was a terrible idea of my self-esteem. It caused me to realize how enormous this jacket is. I can lay down on it and have ample room. What does that mean? Well I bet you anything this jacket will wrap around me twice. Thanksgiving sweater anyone?

Guh. Sadly, I don't think blocking can make something smaller. What can I do? Try to felt it? This is what happens when you have a wool sweater, you throw it in the washer and dryer and it comes out small. First this wool I am using is a superwash which means it is machine washable. Eff. Secondly, if I did that and messed it up completely I would be super sad too.

Minor bumps in the road. I am going to keep on working this project as I have and hope for the best. Maybe it won't look terrible belted. Maybe I can channel my inner grandma and come up with a way to fix it. I am too tired right now to think about it.

Here is a picture of my cat.

Day 12 Progress, Sweater Name, Sweets and a new blog idea?

Heyo! Twelfth day of working on my sweater jacket and I have finished the back! This is the biggest piece of the whole thing. Not bad I must say. I have the right and left lapels and the collar left... still a bit of work but I am hopeful that I will finish. One thing I have noticed is that it is very long. I guess that was the point but I am short. I think that I could have gotten away with only two repeats of the horse pattern but you know what, I am not changing it and I will wear it either way. Hopefully it won't make me look like a child.

This weekend I was talking to Jenny about how much I had done on this project and we inadvertently came up with a name for it. I was telling her I was just about at the part that I was making another round of horses. I am not sure how it came up but I believe that Jenny exclaimed, "Bands of Horses!" Giggles. So there we have it. We are champions of the puns.

Speaking of Jenny, I made some cookies last night that she wouldn't be able to eat (wow great transition). I found this recipe at a blog called Tofugazi called Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows. It appears that the recipe was reblogged from another site. So freaking good. I replaced traditional Tyanne-hate-filled flour with gluten free flour. It was like a peanut butter cup on crack. Sorry that you were the butt of my joke earlier, Jenny. Poking fun at a nut allergy is no joking matter. I have done some research and it appears that ThingsThatJennyCanEatAndTyanneCannot.blogspot.com is still available so you can rub it in my face. (I am assuming that Jenny reads this. If not, totally not offended.)

Day Ten, almost done with the back.

Work gets in the way of my knitting.

Not lying, it is true. But without work there would be no knitting. Must keep my priorities in line here, people! Serious work has been completed during my commute and while my computer is thinking.

When I packed up my bag to come to work I packed up my knitting thinking that I would only have time to finish the second row of horses if I was lucky. So I only brought the colors to do so. I am headed down to Olympia, Washington for a concert (yeah, far travels for a school night) so my bus commute would be only one way, cut in half. Well I did not anticipate that my computer would be slow and the IT guy would walk into my cube and disconnect my network for funs. As you do. So long story short, I finished the horsies and had to stop.

Progress Day Seven: Stunted by my inability to predict the future.

Sweater progress, Day 5

This picture was taken at the end of day 5. My hands are starting to hurt. Mer.

Progress on Sweater-Jacket

So I have started taking pictures of my progress on my sweater and uploaded it to my Flickr account.

Day Three: Horses Complete

Day Four: Still working on back panel. Almost have the first repeat finished.

Now I am not sure about the colors that I chose. The grey is a little bit too dark and it is hiding the details of the other colors of the sweater. Sad but I really can't do anything about it right now. I have also learned that I really don't like working with more than two colors at once. Takes me forever and the yarn gets tangled up.

Even with these minor shortcomings I really like how it is turning out. I am still excited to be working on it and I really want to get it done so I can wear it around!

Ambitious Sweater

Off I go starting an overly ambitious project. Standard. A few months back I stumbled upon a Japanese fashion magazine to get inspiration of new styles. I saw is really sweet, chunky western-inspired sleeveless sweater. I loved it and knew that was something I would like to make. I searched and searched for a pattern that would make what I wanted with no such luck.

My friend Annie and I went to a yarn shop to get some supplies that she needed for a pattern. I went because I love yarn and projects and I was in the car. As she went to get stuff she needed for her project and I bummed around in the store. They had an array of Debbie Bliss pattern magazines. I found one called "Land Girl" which each pattern was inspired by 1940's designs. Flipping through the book I found what I have been pining for: a sleeveless sweater with a western motif! It is called the "Sleeveless Jacket" , it is a fair isle pattern and has horses on it! I didn't buy the book and the yarn right away. I slept on it talking with Annie and Brooke about the pros and cons. The pattern calls for a lot of yarn and I really wanted to start saving some money. I searched for yarn alternatives and found they had a 100% wool yarn at the store that was a few dollars cheaper than the one that was called for in the book. The enjoyment that I get out of knitting overcame my hesitations and I got the book and most of the yarn (I didn't buy it all at once because I am looking to spread out the cost over a few months).

I started the sweater last night and I am about two inches in on the back now. I hope that I don't get burnt out with the project and never finish it. This is one of the things that I am learning to overcome. I think my excitement of having a really sweet sweater will overcome my inhibitions. Fingers crossed.

The plague of 2011 and a new skirt

I am still recovering from what I would like to call the plague of 2011. It took me a full week with this flu, no joke. I got it on Saturday night and I was in bed for the duration of Sunday, Monday and most of Tuesday. The only thing that got me up was knowing I needed fluids. I was ready to tie a small rescue satchel around Catface's neck and make her go on a Lassie mission. Luckily I survived but my head is still congested and ears are plugged up. I was able to be a little sociable this weekend but I still feel like I am not ready to hit the pool and do some swimming. Joy.

I did have the chance to make a wool knit pencil skirt. It's green and black herringbone and it turned out quite nice.

Marimos!

I have a new plant in my life. They are marimos or ball seaweed. They are an aquatic plant that grows in Iceland, Japan, and other places around the world. They are really, really neat. I am going to bring them to work because Catface likes to drink out of it. Pictures!

Hiatus

So right now I am burnt out of making things right now. My creativity ebbs and flows. I am on a reading kick though. Want to start a book club? Well you can read along:

Currently digesting:

• "Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities and Our Health-and a Vision for Change" by Annie Leanord

In the queue:

• "Where's My Jetpack? A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived" by Daniel Wilson.
• "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick

I have provided the link to my favorite bookstore in Seattle though I have decided to become a fan of borrowing books and going to the library. Seattle Public Library has come out with a really cool smart phone application which lets you search their inventory and place holds on books from your phone. Rad!

Terrarium Class!

Last night Annie, Rashaun, Jenny and I took a class at the Palm Room in Ballard. The class was on terrariums. So much fun! Maybe it was because we had the instructor all to ourselves because no one else showed up or maybe it was the fact that making our own self sustaining tropical ecosystems is rad. Either way, we are starting a terrarium club. This is where we all pool money to get supplies for our hobby. Phew I was feeling like I was running out of them.

Very first terrarium ever! I can't remember the plant names but the big one was called a spotted something or other, there is a tiny fern type plant and some moss.


This one is a lean mean terrarium. I the plant is a climber type and it has some rocks for company. I should have trimmed it down to it could venture around the vessel. We will see how it does.