The wagon hath run me over.

June 9, 2019June 9, 20196 Comments

I’ve really fallen off the wagon with lots of things that bring me joy and it’s time to climb back into the driver’s seat. We’ve got a bit going on over here in my house; work is busy, we’re right in the middle of the birthday gauntlet, and Joshua is finishing eighth grade. I think it’s high time I get back into some good habits.

One of the things I’ve been slacking on is taking care of my body – eating well and getting enough rest. That’s just going to take a whole lot of intention and remembering that the easy eay out (hello Chipotle) doesn’t mean the best result in the run (hello tummyache). My eating habits have left me feeling out of sorts, which makes me not want to sew very much. I was starting to get in a groove, time to get my groove back.

I’ve really noticed missing blogging and sharing my progress on my makes. This feels silly to type, but I’ve been slacking on taking pictures. I enjoy seeing my making documented over time, looking back over what I’ve done, so I want to get back to that.

With all of that said, this isn’t my first reboot-montage, and it’s probably not the last, but let’s take a look at the last month or so…

I swatched for a new sweater. I swatched with a 3.25 mm (too big) and 2.75 mm (too small) before realizing that I had a 3.00 mm and it worked!

Joshua turned 14! I made a lemon cake with blackberry buttercream frosting. Joshua declared it the best cake I’ve ever made.

My brother and SIL came up for Joshua’s birthday and we went strawberry picking. I didn’t preserve a single one. We made strawberry shortcake that night and then flat out ate the rest. Worth it.

I got obsessed with a book series (A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas) and needed something to concentrate on while listening. I wound up binding this quilt (one of the things I need FO pics of)

The obsession didn’t end after the first quilt, so I got started on another binding. This one’s not done yet, but at least it’s good and started.

The garden is coming along nicely! See all that lettuce? That’s step one to taking care of my body a little more.

We seriously have a million tomatoes coming on. I am getting uncontrolably excited.

New sweater cast on! This will be a Beauty School Top by PoisonGrrls. The yarn is Backyard FiberWorks in Midnight – my sole MD Sheep & Wool purchase this year. In the interest of full disclosure, we were only there for an hour or so.

The kraut is really getting there. I tasted it last weekend – three weeks in – when Kevin said it stank but it wasn’t funky enough for me. I can never smell it till my nose is in the jar, but Kevin can smell it from a mile away it would seem. He’s not a fan.

A while back I cast on a pair of Rose City Rollers in some fantastic orange leftovers from Tempting Ewe Yarns, the colorway is Saftayy. Pretty stinking cute.

I did finish my Populuxe, but I haven’t taken pictures of it so I hadn’t worn it. I decided to just go ahead and wear it to work on Friday. It turns out I did a terrible job at sewing on the buttons – they’re all loose! – time for a fix and finally some FO pics.

I got a wild hair and decided to swatch for a No Frills. I can’t wait to show you the swatch, it’s heaven. (top) Lichen & Lace Marsh Mohair in Natural, (bottom) Hue Loco Spun Sock in Pop Sugar

That might not be everything, but I think I hit the highlights. This little photo trail is giving me some inpiration for getting back on the wagons.

Happy making!

Ambition.

May 15, 20193 Comments

Sometimes I like to set myself some arbitrary goals. Most of the time, rather ambitious ones. Saturday night, I was laying in bed thinking about the coming day. I thought about making a bit of a ridiculous to-do list and seeing if I could do it. I came up with a somewhat realistic, but really quite ambitious list:

Repot plants
Hem skirt
Start sauerkraut
Bike shopping
Finish sleeve
Procure groceries

Not on the list were call my mom, spend a bit of time with the kids, and catch Game of Thrones with Kevin. Cosi and I were up pretty early to have some coffee.

I got started with a bit of knitting and my mom called. We wished each other a mutual happy mother’s day and chit chatted about gardening and life and motherhood.

This picture was from last summer when I visited her, but I just had to share. After we got off the phone I managed to finish the second sleeve of my Populuxe 2:

Looking at my list, 2 of them required leaving the house with Joshua in tow. This was at about 8 in the morning, so I knew I had several hours before I’d see the whites of his eyes. The plants needed some rocks to arrive so that left the skirt and the kraut. Well, the skirt was daunting so kraut came up first.

I made a batch of Ava’s Hot Pink Kraut from the book Ferment Your Vegetables. It’s my very favorite and I think I’m just going to have to start a batch once a month for the rest of my life. I need it always.

Finally, I braved the teenager’s room to wake him for his early birthday shopping. At 5’10” he has fully outgrown his old bike. We had been poking around on the web and really just needed to go in and give the thing a test but he loved it and now we’re the pround owners of a bike with 28″ tires. This should be the last bike I purchase for him while he lives at home. Fingers crossed. We hit the grocery store on the way home and bam! my rocks had arrived. I had three succulents to repot:

Clockwise from top: Jenna the Jade (Crassula ovata), a brand new unnamed baby (Haworthiopsis attenuata), and George (Echeveria, maybe Perle von Numberg). I purchased George 2 years ago when I first moved to a window cubicle at work. Jenna was gifted to me shortly after as just a wee leaf poking out of some dirt. I purchased the haworthiopsis on Friday. After some very careful work, we’re looking a wee bit happier.

Everybody is now back at work, awaiting watering day tomorrow. The plants safely tucked away out of cat’s reach, I finally dragged myself down to the sewing room to hem the circle skirt. I marked it and serged the raw edge to trim off excess. I had hung it to allow any bias stretching to occur and it had certainly stretched out! There was 2-3″ of excess in places! After what seemed like forever – as a full circle, that hem is about 164″ – I finished the hem and my to-do list.

I even managed to sit down to eat with the family and watch GoT with Kevin. All in all it was a pretty productive Sunday. It felt good to get all of that done. Mostly they were just lingering projects that I never seemed to want to start. Sometimes being a little ridiculous with your to-do list can pay off.

The motivation wave has been riding high. I haven’t had much time, but I’m almost finished with the second button band. A neckband is all that’s left and I’ll have a shiny new pink sweater!

Happy {ambitious} making!

Progress.

April 18, 20183 Comments

Over the last week – week and a half, I have done a few things. One was to go to Columbus for work. It’s a great city to visit for a work trip, by the way. I had a great time.

But before that, last weekend after finishing my half moon oracle shawl, I worked on socks. During D&D I finished one, but then did something crazy… I cast on a different for a different pair of socks.

That April rainbow was just calling to me. I don’t tend to get second sock syndrome though, so I still went forward with the first pair–even if I knit a stripe or two here and there. I kept knitting on them on my trip, though it felt as if they would never end.

But, as all socks do if you keep knitting them, they did end at some point. As I do at home, I woke up early on the trip for some coffee and knitting time each morning. One morning, I put the toe in the second sock, and voila!

Now that they’re home, photographed in my traditional manner, the leftover yarn weighed and logged, and tucked away into my light box o’sox–they are truly finished.

The main yarn is Oh! Loops on the Ascot base in the Nerds colorway. I did a contrast toe in a mini from Nikki Slipp.

Once I finished that pair, it was full steam ahead on the rainbow socks. I’m absolutely dying over these. This pastel-rainbow, Easter-eggy goodness is just too much.

By the time we boarded the plane home, I was ready for the decreases. It’s a 49-minute flight and I had just enough time to knit the toe before we landed.

Last night, I kitchenered that sucker and wove in the ends. I managed to cast on the second, but didn’t even get through the first round before getting too sleepy to do anything else.

While I was gone, my sauerkraut kept on krauting. It’s getting nicely hot pink now, but I tasted it and it’s still got a ways to go before it’s ready.

Before I left for the trip, I did cast on one little thing. My Madewell! I’m down past separating for the sleeves so we’re moving along pretty well.

All in all, I’m getting some good knitting squeezed in these days. And now that I’ve returned to Maryland, it seems spring is finally starting to take hold. I can’t wait for my next outside project!

Happy making!

The waiting is the hardest part.

April 7, 20182 Comments

Since I’ve been home from our spring break trip, I’ve been itching for my favorite parts of spring and summer. Fresh veggies, farmer’s markets, canning… you get the gist. All the way home, I expected it to be time to get planting and time to hit up the farmer’s markets. Maryland is hot, right? Surely the produce stand would be teeming with plants ready to come home with me.

Of course, none of this was the case. It is chilly and early spring-y, the last frost is still a week away, and our county farmer’s markets don’t start till May. After this news, I spent a bit of time planning out my prosective container garden but it would seem that there are only so many ways one can make lists of plants. And so, I finished up the last ten rows and bound off my Half Moon Oracle shawl.

Ugh, it’s so pretty. The shawl is blocking now, and I can’t wait to wear it.

With that done, I still had some time on my hands this week. To occupy myself, I thought I’d clean up the kitchen to get ready for the canning. I started and had a difficult time stopping. I won’t bore you with all the details but even the freezer got cleaned out. I reorganized my canning accoutremont and have some pretty cabinets and clean jars all ready to go.

With all of that finished, I still felt like preserving something. Anything. And so I turned to sauerkraut. A quick pick up of some cabbage and I was ready to go. My favorite kraut from last year was a recipe from Ferment Your Vegetables, Ava’s Hot Pink Kraut.

I shredded my cabbage and salted it, and started working it.

After some elbow grease, time, and more elbow grease, it was ready to start packing.

To pack the would-be kraut into the jar, you need to really tamp it down. As you’re going along it kind of looks like there is no way it will all fit. To help get the job done, I use a “Pickle Packer” and I love it. It really makes the job easier.

Once all the cabbage was in, I added the weight:

And finally, the airlock.

And now, we wait. That seems to be my destiny around here. Wait for warmer weather, wait for the shawl, wait for the kraut. At least I have a sock to knit.

Happy making!

Year of Making: 2017.

December 31, 2017December 31, 2017Leave a comment

On the first day of this year, I decided to commit to one small thing: “put energy into a making project every day.”

At first, that meant a conscious decision to sit down with a project every day. Sometimes it meant sleepily knitting a few rows before bed so that I would keep my commitment. As I went on, it became easier and easier. As I got more in the habit of doing something everyday, I found myself reaching for my projects more and more.

I’ve kept track of what I’ve worked on in a spreadsheet. I’ve been more than a little curious to see how the numbers would shake out. It’s no surprise that I spent 342 of the last 365 days knitting. I tend to reach for my knitting more than anything else. On 266 of those days, I worked on socks. I love knitting socks so it’s not much of a surprise that three quarters of my knitting days involved socks.

I finished my box of socks a few months ago, but that didn’t stop me from continuing on. I’ve finished five more pairs of socks for myself since then. I love the look of them all laid out. This last pair was knit on Christmas vacation, so it hasn’t made it home to meet it’s new sock drawer mates.

When I wasn’t knitting on socks, I knit up shawls, hats, mitts, and even a tiny owl for my mom. I’ve spent a significant bit of time cross stitching, quilting and sewing. There were even a few days of canning, fermenting, and crochet thrown in. Looking back it feels like a productive year:

There is something about looking at a year’s worth of creating, thinking about how my hands knit every stitch, cut all the fabric, pitted every cherry. More than just the products of my hands though, my makes all feel like teeny time capsules, moments of my life molded into something tangible. Knitting socks at the beach with my family, figuring out how to sew my very first garment, picking cherries with Joshua.

Writing about everything has really crystallized that notion that there is a story in each of my makes. I love thinking about that and having the blog to look back at all of it.

Now that my year of making is coming to a close, I don’t believe I’m finished with it. I’m not sure that I will keep track of things daily like I have been, but that idea of putting “energy into a making project every day” still rings true for me. It’s exciting to think about a future full of years of making.

At any rate, I’ll be right here tomorrow, the first day of the new year, spending a bit of my day creating something.

Happy making!

100 days of making.

April 10, 2017April 10, 20172 Comments

On each of the last one hundred days, I have put time into making. Some days, it’s been hours and hours of knitting or sewing and others it’s been just a few rows on a sock before I fall asleep. All in all, it’s been a great experience so far. I’ve become much more mindful of my time and it’s become easier to squirrel away a few minutes to myself no matter where I am.

I keep track of what I do each day in a little spreadsheet. According to the spreadsheet, I have knit on 88 of the last 100 days. 88! That’s a lot of knitting. I think it’s easy to see where my passion lies. 77 of those included sock knitting. If you’ve read this blog before, you probably aren’t surprised—I do love my socks. There was a bit of shawl and hat knitting thrown in there as well. The rest of my days were spent sewing, quilting, and cross stitching, with one evening of kraut mixed in.

This is my first 100 days worth of finished objects. It’s a pretty happy lot to look at, if you ask me. I am by no means prolific, but I’m happy with my progress. In the first one hundred days of last year, I had made three pairs of socks, a shawl, and a hat. This year, I’m up to 16 FO’s! That’s quite the increase.

I always think of myself as a product maker. I want the thing—the shawl, the quilt, the jam—so I make it. It makes my heart soar to see all of the projects I’ve finished, to use them and love them. But one thing I’ve learned over the last 100 days is that the process is equally as heartwarming. Making de-stresses me and stokes my creativity. Writing this blog has helped me see all of the stories that are woven into every project I make and that has been a wonderful discovery.

I can’t wait to see what the next 100 days has in store for me. We’ll be well up into July at that point so I hope there is a fair bit of canning alongside the socks in my next collage.

Year of Making Day 100: Sock knitting, what else?

Happy making!

Socks, lies, and video game.

February 27, 2017February 27, 20172 Comments

This weekend I set out to knit a second sock, attach the binding to a quilt, and make a drawstring project bag and a new notions pouch. How many of these things did I finish? None. Not a single one. I blame the people of Pelican Town.

Saturday afternoon, I decided to check in with my character on Stardew Valley. If you are unfamiliar, it is a Harvest Moon-esque farming game. I had a very enjoyable time planting crops, mining ore, and wooing one of residents of the aforementioned Pelican Town. I don’t play video games very often, but boy when I do, I play hard. I did knit a fair bit of sock this weekend, but mostly I played.

To make up for the lack of serious making, I present you with pictures of lovely things:

So close and yet so far. Tempting Ewe Yarns, Rainbow Brite, Countess Ablaze in Orange Fizz

Hand knit socks and Cosi kitty paws.

One batch of kraut is done! We had it on hot dogs Friday night and it was amaaaazing.

Oh and in an exciting turn of events, I won a prize! I’ve been participating in the Suburban Stitcher Rainbowalong and therefore, dutifully utilizing the #rainbowalong2017 tag. Anyway, Dianne—the Suburban Stitcher herself—selected a couple of winners from the hashtag and I was one!

The winning post 🙂

So much lovely!

Sucre Sucre mini art

I received the prize over the weekend and it is so rainbowy and wonderful! There’s a really cool unicorn rainbow bag and fun stitch markers from Kitchen Counter Crafter, a snowflake cupcake progress keeper from Sucre Sucre Miniatures, and a skein of beautiful Marigold Jen yarn. Many thanks to Dianne for this bounty of rainbow fun!

Well, I now have two days to finish my second pair of rainbowalong socks. Two days in which I not only have to work but work late one night. I guess that’s what I get but at least the virtual chickens are happy. Wish me luck!

YoM day 52: Sock and shawl knitting

YoM day 53: Sock and shawl knitting

YoM day 54: Sock knitting

YoM day 55: Sock knitting

YoM day 56: Sock knitting

YoM day 57: Sock knitting

Happy making!

Sometimes you finish things.

January 19, 2017January 19, 20175 Comments

Sometimes you don’t.

I finished my January socks! I knit them mostly on the plane from Baltimore to L.A. and back. I felt very good about the progress, but I have a teensy secret. They are 56 stitch socks… Normally I knit 64, but I was curious. Joshua’s socks fit me very well at 56 stitches so I thought I’d give it a try with my socks. I like them. The stitches pull a little so I need to wear the socks and see how they do over the course of a day. But, boy did they fly—literally.

The yarn is The Lemonade Shop‘s Simple Sock in the Goldfish colorway. I would knit a thousand things out of this colorway. Once I started knitting it up I could really see how varied and deep the color is, even though it is so subtle.

I started two kinds of sauerkraut. The recipes are from Ferment Your Vegetables by Amanda Feifer and are very easy to follow. I’ve tried to make sauerkraut before and it did not go well. I think my problem was weighting. I invested in some pickle pebbles for this venture, so fingers crossed that this batch works. It will be 2-6 weeks before I can report back on how the kraut has fared.

I started—and will not be finishing—two projects. I love the pattern for the Jelly Rolls, but these are too small and I’ve lost a little bit of my gusto for them at the moment. I just love a vanilla sock and my mind keeps drifting off and wanting to start a pair. I also started the Infinito Cowl, but I’m second guessing my color choices. I believe I’ll rip it back and change the teal out for another color.

Mulit: Hegehog Fibers in Genie, Orange: Tempting Ewe Yarns in Saftayy

Miss Babs in Forever and Natural

I’m in a rather impatient, frantic making mood. Things that aren’t bringing me joy aren’t getting worked on, which is just fine by me. It’s my hobby and I’ll frog if I want to.

YoM day 17: Finished Goldfish socks, cast on Infinito and Jelly Rolls, started kraut

YoM day 18: Worked on 4ish knitting projects—I’m telling you: frantic.

Happy making to you!

Knit 1, Make 2

Category: fermenting

The wagon hath run me over.

Ambition.

Progress.

The waiting is the hardest part.

Year of Making: 2017.

100 days of making.

Socks, lies, and video game.

Sometimes you finish things.