On the Road to Spring Quiltalong - Week 1

Wow, what a week! I broke half my craft table last Monday night, unfortunately before I'd cut the corduroy squares (but thankfully after I'd managed to get the yardage ironed!) So yeah, it wasn't looking like the easiest week ever, piecing all the strips together on one half my regular work space...

So, I only managed to get 7 strips pieced together so far, but here they are!

It's a little tricky keeping the nap of the corduroy going only in one direction, but the print is a little easier to manage, I'm trying to keep the pattern intact. So, instead of just turning the strips around when I piece them together, I'm assembling them differently. 

Half get the regular treatment of rectangle then square (5 times for each strip,) and the other half start of with a square patch, and then I add the rectangle. I tried to be clever in my construction because I'm so obsessive about details on the back end of finished items (that is to say later, when I'm using them/looking at them!)

Big thanks go to DH, who fixed my craft table for me last night! Yeay!  Here's links to my first post about my quilt, and the inspiration - Randi's Quiltalong.

FO Friday - Solitude Scarf

... aka Yet Another Malabrigo Montego Bay Scarf, this time with fringe! (Here's the first MalaMontego Bay I made, for my MIL!)

For the last bunch of months this yarn was half of a Flutter Scarf, but I just wasn't feeling the ruffle end out of this yarn - 100% merino wool. The ruffles demand a drapier fiber content, something like silk, bamboo or alpaca; and to be truthful, they looked a little awkward. They just hung there, instead of draping nicely; so I never finished the second half.

The reason I picked Solitude for the name was two-fold. First, my husband and I'd just received a Peter Lik photo of the same name* we'd bought for his new home office, and the colors are to-die-for gorgeous! Secondly, I've been a fan of Nina Simone for a very long time, and the song Solitude seemed to really fit with what I felt at the time I knit it.

When I started this scarf, I was really hoping to get the job at Lorna's Laces. It didn't work out for me this time, and so I decided it was okay to be selfish, and knit something just for myself. (I have a bunch of gift knits going right now.)

And then, the Ravelympics hit me, or rather I got obsessive and couldn't hold myself back from them. Fast forward a couple weeks, and here I am now - with a finished scarf and a blanket that's a quarter done. Hahaha...  
That's how I roll, folks - always unpredictable, even to myself!

Specifications - see this scarf on Ravelry!

• Pattern: Montego Bay Scarf by Amy Singer (from Interweave Knits Summer 07)
• Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Brisa (one skein, including fringe)
• Needles: Knit Picks Interchangeable Zephyr needles, US size 5 (3.75mm)
• Date started: Thursday, January 28th 2010
• Date cast off: Tuesday, February 23rd 2010
• Date completed: Thursday, February 25th 2010

*To see Solitude on Peter Lik's site, you'll need to visit the horizontal panoramic gallery (linked above and here - and click on the piece 5th from the left and all the way at the bottom (Wg197 Solitude) - be careful! His photos are a total time suck, even more so in person! Don't say I didn't warn you when you end up finding an amazing photo you totally love! LOL

My Fourth Blog-iversary!

Wow. It feels so surreal to type this. I feel like I've traveled so far over the last bunch of years, and I haven't really gone anywhere! Haha! When I first started writing, I had no idea what I wanted to get out of it. No clear picture in my mind, just a hope that I could share my creativity with a community. Even though my ride has had it's ups and downs, I really hope this next year I'll be able to find my niche. I know it's there, I've just struggled to find it for a while. Wish me luck!

WIP - Bauhaus Throw Blanket

When I caught the Ravelympic bug, I knew I wanted to pick a large project... and I'd been kicking around this idea for a beach-ey, by-the-sea version of this Bauhaus blanket for a couple of weeks. So, I decided I was going to knit a whole blanket, 4 pieces with seaming and all, in 16 days. 

I know, you're sitting there saying to yourself, "Kari, why on Earth would you think of such a thing?"

It's because I'm a masochist, or at least that's as close I've been able to come to an answer on that one! Theoretically speaking, it would have been accomplish-able... that is, until I decided to dye my yarn, and didn't bother getting around to it until halfway through the Games - whoops!

Ok, so now I'm going to try a new approach - I'm going to keep posting about this one until it's finished, and hopefully I'll want the damn thing done so bad that'll be enough! Haha! It is an easy enough project, I just need to keep at it, and I hope my fellow bloggers can help keep me motivated!

Right now, I'm a quarter done with it... only knit one square. I really hope I have more to show off next week! Cross your fingers for me!

On the Road to Spring Quiltalong - The Start

I read Randi's blog regularly, so when I caught in my RSS feed that she was organizing a quilt-along I knew I wanted in. And then, the Ravelympics hit me, and I set super high expectations for myself... I think it was a good lesson in juggling my biggest craft priorities right now, and I'm really pleased to share with you my very first quilt ever - and the first progress pictures of it! Yeay! :)

I decided to use the fabric I won in Spoonflower's first contest. The colors weren't quite right (which is odd, because I'd proofed the printed fabric before that, and hadn't made any changes to my pattern file;) and it's been sitting around my craft room ever since. So, when I read how much fabric I'd need for this quilt my mind immediately jumped to the 2 pieces totaling 5yds of my cocoa squiggle stripe print. It was a bold decision, to use only one print fabric, instead of the ten different prints as suggested. But, I have a very good visual brain that helps me to see things in my mind, almost as clear as pictures - and I knew my concept would work. (Not trying to sound arrogant, it was also the novelty of making a quilt with my very own fabric print!)

The keystone to my plan was to keep the neutral squares plain in color, but texture-rich; the chocolate fine wale corduroy works beautifully, and I had about a half-yard of this teal denim. It's smoother than the corduroy, but the color worked so well with my print, and I love a bit of bold contrast thrown into the mix! Plus, only having a tiny amount of the teal gave me a great design challenge of exactly where I'd place the teal squares!

I had to back my own print with muslin, it was too transparent next to the other, thicker fabrics. Good thing I had a bunch of it in my fabric stash! It was a lot of extra work to double the HUNDRED rectangles I'd already cut; but in the end, I think it'll be worth it - when I'm not nit-picking about how I could have made it better - to death!

So, there's my fabric picks (I wanted to photo them all done & cut, but I still need to pre-wash and cut the corduroy.) I haven't quite decided on the backing fabric, but I have a few options (including more of my own cocoa squiggle stripe fabric, yeay!) I'll also need to decide on binding, but I figure I can make both of those decisions a little farther down the road, hahaha!

Ravelympics 2010 - Wrap Up

To be blunt folks, I'm a great big loser. 

But, I'm alright with it this time... I knew the project I'd picked was a large one, and throwing the dyeing into the mix really messed my game up. This time, I'm just a participant, but I'm still determined to work on, and finish my Bauhaus Throw. (And hopefully, soon!)

So, to wrap it all up, I've knitted one square of four, and dyed 2/3 of my contrast yarn to the right color. I was really hoping I would get the dye part right on the first try, but alas, I must over-dye one skein to match the intensity of the other 2. 

Theoretically, the knitting part is easy-peasy - it's just a garter blanket, so I could get it done quickly; just not today. And, although I'm a little disappointed to not have met my goal this time; I'm really happy to have at least participated - we can't all win every time, right?

So, did you meet your own Ravelympics goals?

Ravelympics 2010 - Update

I was so set on not joining in this round of the Ravelympics, but of course I got myself sucked in! And naturally, I had to pick a much bigger project, because I finished so much in 08... 

This time around it was to be a Bauhaus Throw, from Craft; zine's blog. I didn't have the recommended yarn, but I did have a ton of Elann Silken Kydd hanging around since I let the deadline for my Milkweed project lapse without finishing it. 

I had to go up in needle size to get gauge, but that's really nothing new for me. These days, it's only a needle size or two, but when I first started knitting, I had a stranglehold on my yarn, and would regularly go up 4 or more sizes! Tension counts, folks - take it from me!

And, to make it that much more difficult, I decided to dye half of my ivory yarn into a seafoam blue green for the contrast color. Which, really wouldn't have been that hard, except I totally procrastinated it, like entirely! And then, to make matters even more complicated, I managed to dye all 3 skeins a slightly different shade of blue, even though I really tried to get them the same shade. Meh...

So, I'm 25% done, and the Olympics close in 3 days... I don't think I'll make it to get my own gold medal, but I hope I can still finish my new blanket. Even though it's kinda static-ey, it's very soft, and SUPER light weight - so I hope it will be a good knit to have spent time on for my home. 

Better late than never, eh? :)

Comment Moderation - Now On...

I've had to turn on comment moderation, as there's a been a large spat of spam links popping up around here lately... I hate to do it, because I hate those robot foilers with a passion; but I hate going back and deleting spam comments even more! So, I hope you all can bear with me, and still leave comments - I really appreciate them! And sorry for the change, I really didn't want to do it, but I feel my hand was forced.

Moleskine Notebooks & a Candle for moi!

Ever since I found ...love Maegan's blog, I'd been drooling over her designer clothing, purchased discount via Gilt.com. Now, I haven't found that many clothing items that work for me yet... but I happened to snag a set of these moleskine notebooks - one each month for the year, and color coordinated! They're so small, and I find myself actually recording more of my creative thoughts and ideas, instead of forgetting them forever like I used to! 

 

Gilt is a free membership retail site, with crazy insane deals on tons of luxury goods. They only keep they're steals up for 36 hours though, so you have to be pretty quick! 

I also just got an Ember candle from Jimmyjane (again, from Gilt) and I have to say, it's like a spa in a candle. Lychee and Lapsang tea, the scent is intoxicating, and I can't wait to try more from this brand in particular!

Hello!

Hello ve tüm Türkiye'den yeni okuyucuların hoş geldiniz! Seninle tanışmak memnunluk duyarım. Blog okuma için teşekkür ederiz!

I've been featured on 10Marifet before, for my Beach Vase tutorial, but I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to all of my new readers from Turkey! I've always wanted to make more friends, globally - and I hope I get the chance to soon!(I also hope my Turkish above wasn't too terrible!) Thanks go to 10Marifet for featuring my Cashmere Ruffles Scarf.

Another note entirely - I didn't get the job with Lorna's Laces, which was very sad. Thanks so much to all of you who commented, I really appreciate it!

Where life takes you...

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much our lives can change for the positive, when we open ourselves up to the scary vulnerable state that is change. Especially us women... we want the change alright, but it also scares the crap out of us. There should be a "Crappers, I'm sorry" message for when my brain blanks. Seriously.

The reason for all of the thinking, (for all 3 of you who care! lol) is that I have a job interview on Friday. It's informal & with a small business, and the woman on the phone seemed wonderfully down to earth, friendly and honest. I use the phrase "down to earth," because she's Beth, who runs Lorna's Laces*. I will repeat that, for those of who who couldn't do the math there... I - me, awful blogger, etsy shop failure, small potatoes me - have an interview with Lorna's freakin' Laces this week! They make the best yarn!

I might even be able to put the year I spent on college in Fine Arts to use, so how bout that?!? Yes, Mother, if you're still reading my blog, you were right, it does count for something. Hhmmph.

So, I need some virtual hugs people! My support system at home is limited, and I hate burdening my awesome sister too much with my neediness (or my DH, who works so hard so I can maybe grab an opportunity like this one!) Even sappy cheerleader comments would be appreciated at this point! And, thanks for reading this and maybe thinking of, or posting. I know just how life gets in the way of best intentions.

Best wishes for a wonderful 2010 to the whole Craft-Blog-World!

Shirley, June, Karrie, Adrienne - you are the kindest friends a girl could have, even though we're all so far away. I hope I can talk to all of you again very soon, even if I do get a 9-5 job again soon. I know it's my fault we haven't talked, and I'm so sorry!

Jenn, I didn't mean to exclude you, I just hope I tell you more how much more I appreciate our relationship in person, than to need to do it on the blog - but for giggles sake - visit Jenn's Unblog. She's got the best blog concept, she posts inspiration content, and has nearly twice the posts I do!

* here's the obligatory Ravelry link - Lorna's Laces Yarn

Recipe - Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark

My sister was recently kind enough to bring over a bit of her (now famous!) chocolate peanut butter bark. Let me tell you folks, this snack might be the best sweet treat ever - but I'll let you try it out, and then tell me I'm right! LOL Anyhow, it may be one of the easiest food crafts I've ever tried, plus it has the added benefit of being both beautiful and super tasty! It's almost too pretty to eat. Almost...

Ingredients -

• Graham crackers (appx. 14, depending on baking sheet size)
  
• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (I like chips, as they're easier to measure and melt)
  
• 3 oz white chocolate
• 1/2 tsp real vanilla extract* (I added this myself, as I add vanilla to all desserts!)

Tools - 9x13 baking sheet, foil, microwaveable bowl, offset spatula, mini squeeze bottle

(Prepare tools & ingredients before assembling! As it finishes faster than a freight train, and you'll want everything right at hand.)

Line a  9x13 baking sheet with foil, making sure to cover handles. Layer grahams onto sheet, covering as much space as possible. I found that they fit really well this way, but your container may be a different size. (Yes, I cheesed and was one graham cracker short for my photos, please don't hold it against me!!! They taste just as good, I promise!)

Melt semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter, and stir til smooth (and spreadable.) Add vanilla, stir in and spread over grahams with an offset spatula, making sure to cover as evenly as possible.



Meanwhile, melt white chocolate into a small squeeze bottle (usually in the candy melt section of the craft stores,) but be sure to keep it quite warm! Chocolate can "set" in these bottles, making it impossible to squeeze; melt with the lid off, and take care to keep the spout open (I like a toothpick for this task!) You can really decorate the tops any way you like, but I prefer toothpick marbling - and here's how I do it.

With the squeeze bottle, make vertical lines on the chocolate bark. They don't have to be perfect, but I like them better slightly closer together, for the marbling effect.

Squeeze as much out of the bottle as you can, trust me it makes clean up easier! Be careful not to fart too much air out onto the bark though, as it makes terrible little pits in the semi-sweet! LOL

Once you've got the squeeze bottle mostly empty, take a toothpick, and run it horizontally against the vertical lines; alternating first down, and then up - to create this pretty marbled effect.

It's so easy to do, and yet it looks so complex! Love it!

Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Cut into pieces either before or after chilling, your preference. My sister likes to keep hers in the fridge, I leave mine out on the counter. It only lasts a few days, but with chocolate and peanut butter, I dare my husband (or anyone else's, for that matter!!!) to resist... Muahahaha!

Alternatively, you could use the squeeze bottle to decorate your bark any way you like! Write your family's names onto it, draw flowers, a checkerboard - or anything you can come up with! Crafts like these really lend themselves to people's unique creativity, I think; and I hope you'd agree!

FO - Little Niece's Dress V2.0

I had to work a lot of math to size this up to 2-years, but I think it was worth it! I love the simplicity, it shows off the colors beautifully. My niece isn't really 2 yet, but I wanted to ensure this one fit her longer than the first version! Haha!

I think it will also work nicely in the coming colder months, as my sis can put her in a long-sleeved jumper/romper underneath. Then, it will hopefully still fit her in the spring! (I know, I know, a longshot - but we'll see!)



It's nice to have such a selection of washable wool on the market, especially at Knit Picks prices! (This yarn was a sale score! Yeay!) I wanted to make sure it was washable, as babies can get so messy!

I have to apologize to my sister, because I just took it over!!! Sorry, Jenn (and Elinor! I really didn't mean to take so long photographing it!!!)


Specs - see it on Ravelry!

• Pattern: Little Sister's Dress by Tora Frøseth Design
• Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in Martinique x4
• Needles: sz3 Addi Lace (magic loop for the beginning,) sz5 dpn for extra-stretchy cast off
• Cast on: September 4th, '09
• Cast off: September 30th, '09
• Completed: October 13th,'09
• Delivered: Dec 1st, '09
  

FO - Pretty Cashmere Cowl Thing

knew the instant I saw the Yarn Harlot's Pretty Thing cowl pattern, just which yarn I'd use for it. 

I had one skein left of Handmaiden's luscious 4-ply cashmere in Glacier, a wonderful blend of arctic icey blues, beiges and soft greys. Love it! Couldn't help but buy it on a trip out with my sister, a year ago or more! Haha!

Anyhoo, I didn't bother swatching for this, and yet miraculously I've ended up with a cowl that fits beautifully! Yeay! It flares more at the bottom, so I've flipped it upside down, but that's just personal taste. I even added a repeat in between the purl ridges at the center, and still had over 10 grams left of this yummy yarn!

It's a super fun knit, even though it's only charted (not written out.) I stumbled a couple times with it, but I would imagine I could knit another in a couple of hours; now that I'm more familiar with the pattern. It looks to be a great gift pattern, too - as it takes a mere one ball of yarn, and is a super cute accessory!

Specifications: see it on Ravelry!

• Pattern: Pretty Thing by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
• Yarn: Handmaiden 4-ply Cashmere in Glacier 40gr apprx.
• Needles: size6 4mm (cast on with sz7 4.5mm & cast off with sz8 5mm)
• Cast on: Friday, October 9th, 2009
• Cast off: Monday, October 12th, 2009
• Completed: Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
  

*Fancy lettering from Daily Drop Cap - so fun!

Buy My Fabric?!?! Yeay!

Today's the day, and I can hardly believe it! Spoonflower's opened a shop, so I can sell my fabric designs, along a gazillion others, which I'm sure is why the site's a little slow. Don't worry, if you want Cocoa Squiggly Stripe, my very first ever repeatable fabric design - you can buy it right now! I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am about this, and I can't wait to see how it's used! (Please email me, or you can upload to my Flicker group.)

It might be worth mentioning that I won Spoonflower's first ever contest with this design, way back last year! (It feels like so much longer, somehow...lol) I have a recent print of this, on their new fabrics, and they look a lot better than a print run I did a few months back - so I'll try and get pics of the new stuff, for those who need to see the print on real fabric before they buy!