424: knit, knit, knit

Last night, I *finally* made it to Wednesday night knitting club, where I got to see Julia for the second time (our first was nearly a year ago, making cheese with the homesteading girls), and I got to officially meet Martha (whose work I've looooong admired, especially those fantastic gauze scarves!), and Sarah and Anna and Jess... These ladies are incredibly talented, which is good, because it will nudge me out of my comfort zone and into some wonderful projects I've been ogling for much too long.

For now, my first attempt at something new:


I made my first baby booties, though this moniker is a bit deceptive. Instead, I wound up with something more like toddler slippers, which is what I've rechristened these quick garter stitch slip-ons I mailed to my godson Christian. Together, the slippers took less than two hours to make.

Yarn: off-white kitchen cotton
Needles: size 8, bamboo
Pattern: Glamour-Baby's First Booties (free, Lion Brand website)

Of course, I have been informed, that Cookie Monster had to first wear the booties before Christian could and five minutes after donning the slippers, he slid on his little tuckus on the slick kitchen linoleum. Whoops.

416

I still feel pitted, scooped out, but I was just emailing my husband, and I said: You know, I think I see a little shaft of light, a little gleam, catching dust, making things sparkle. It's small, but it's there.

It always seems so strange to me when I feel bowed low like this, when everything is heaviness, heaviness. Part of it is my body's refusal to do what I want it to do, though I'm finding ways to be patient and realize the whole process is important and I need to be present to it and its myriad needs, and part of it is that kind of February slump. I've never been one who is taken with that pink hearted holiday; many of my earliest years with the man who became my husband were spent in the high-panic, high-stress of V-day (producing The Vagina Monologues on college campuses). So to me, February is simply the month before March, which is the month that belongs to my husband and spring break, but also has the honor of being the month where I fear I might explode for all the snow that packs us in. Winter is so ridiculously long in these parts.

One of the practices that has kept me tethered to this earth is making: I've just finished a series of [secret presents] for [someone who reads this blog], and I've found a few sewing projects I might take on over spring break. I've recently been led to the work of Ella Pederson from Amber's oakmoss blog, and I've been oohing and ahhing over her creations and the view of the world from her lens.

I brought a larger [secret present] for [another someone who reads this blog] with me to campus today; it's bulky but still fits in my canvas tote, and once I'm done with essay-writing and intern-duties, I plan to settle into the office's little nook, a wall of bookcases, a low lamp, and a love seat, and knit. Knit and breathe and think about that little ray of sunshine, the thing I pin my hope upon, my hope of getting out of this funk.

411: safe in the milkweed pod

A while back, I think I mentioned The Milkweed Project, and my own humble efforts at putting together a piece for the exhibition. Well, my installation is complete, and we measured it at book club: one hundred and forty six glorious feet of fuzzy yarn on its chilly way to Sheboygan to be assembled with other bits of a milkweed pod.

I bought the yarn something like a half dozen years ago, intending to make a lap blanket for a couple's wedding. I was to be a bridesmaid. But they never married, and I made a little something else instead.


These days I'm keeping my hands busy while watching old episodes of Northern Exposure and new episodes of Ace of Cakes. I'm fully aware of how strange my new cycle of medication makes me feel: my hormones are off-the-charts, though Ryan is patiently keeping up, keeping close, making me radiate from within. Every night I whisper to whomever-is-up-there (is it whom? I can't believe I'm a comp. teacher): Don't let me forget how lucky I am.

359: my first felting project

I glanced at a few coin-purse patterns on the internet and adapted to make one of my own. This isn't meant to be a guide for others felting, but rather, a chronicle of my own journey--my first felting project, which turned out as any first project usually does--a charming failure.

However, if you want a guide, Knitty has a really excellent one!

With a worsted-weight wool, I cast on thirty stitches and worked in stockinette stitch for about six and a half inches. I used size six needles (bamboo are my favorite), which was likely too small for felting, but still, a part of the process and learning experience.

(PS: That clean floor? I would say it was a birthday present, but really, it's because one of our dogs [ah-hem, one guess--why, yes, it was Z] got into something and was sick all. over. the kitchen floor, and I suppose Ryan not making me clean it on my birthday was a kind of gift.)


When I got to where I roughly wanted to stop, I began to decrease using k2tog and p2tog, one on each end to create the flap. I love the way st st rolls--it reminds me of a little gnome hat in this stage.

In retrospect, if I try this particular project again, I'd slow the flap down; when you see the final project, you'll note that the flap is incredibly mealy looking, and I doubt any coins would stay inside this little thing. Perhaps one could consider it a film case (rolls would fit nicely in there) or chapstick / lotion holder.


I matched up the two sides up and sewed. I opted to put purl-side in because other patterns I've seen with mixed wool and acrylic will show the knit side, but this is also the side the lip curls out with, which adds to the lumpen final appearance.


The button is one of those extras you get tied to a new dress shirt, and though I love my button collection, I don't think I'm yet ready to deal with functional buttons on felted objects. But because of the end-product, it wouldn't be difficult to slip something into the project without even opening the meager flap.


Above, with a few washes to go.

I think, with this one, I'll use it as a kind of wrapping for a real gift. I hesitate to throw it out (what a waste!) but it's not worth keeping, so this is my compromise.

I've already cast on to make another attempt, another variation, and the person who receives this lumpen wrapping paper can know that tossing it is OK, and that this person will be the receiver of actually nice felted objects in the not-too-distant future. But this one is still given with love. As wrapping.

313: zucchini bread

Without a doubt, one of my biggest weaknesses is cake-y bread. Banana, blueberry, anything that is also good in muffin form. Today, I bring you one of my favorites, in celebration of seasonal eating: zucchini bread.

Recipe kindly passed along to me from Ryan's mother; it's a childhood favorite of my husband's.


Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups unpeeled, grated zucchini
- 1 tsp vanilla
- (optional: 1 cup raisins, 1 cup nuts)



1. First, you grate two cups' worth of zucchini. This is especially good for those overly large zucchinis in the garden you somehow forgot to pick; I'm sure I'll find myself in that place in September.

I love grating fresh zucchini--it's so perfect and wet and ready. It zips along the grater, snicksnick, piles up in such a satisfactory way. Of course, I'm still finding some in my hair, but that's only because I am one of the messiest folks this side of the Mississippi.


2. Then, beat four eggs with one cup of oil. I have a handheld mixer, but I did this with a whisk. After all, I did just mention four eggs and one cup of oil? May as well burn a few calories while making it.


3. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.


4. Add to egg mixture, alternating with zucchini. Stir in vanilla (and raisins and nuts--I didn't use them, but others might like the added kick).

5. Divide into greased and floured 9 x 5 pans.

6. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

7. Let stand at room temperature for ten minutes, then turn out on a rack to cool.

Ryan enjoys his zucchini bread with butter; I like mine with cream cheese. I might try it with honey. It's wonderful plain too.

For a healthier alternative, checking out this article from Cooking Light on filling fiber.

310: thinking about making

I've found some projects I much admire recently, and instead of leaving them open as tabs to daydream about, I'm collecting the links here, to share:

- I've been doing my own projects using Brittany needles; thinking about stocking up
- A Friend to Knit With's fingerless mitten collection
- these Knitty pattern for fingerless mittens: Dashing and Fetching
- Needles Edge: love the baby kimono and booties
- on Ravelry: little hearts
- thinking of ways to turn these little leaves into ornaments or mobiles, a forest nursery (when we have children, I'm thinking the bedroom theme I'd love the most is the woods--so important to me growing up, those walks in the woods with my dad, so important to where we live now and how Ryan and I spend our weekends)
- mmmm, knit strawberries
- possibly attempting this Cape Cod pullover for Ryan for Christmas
- the ever-loved Saartje booties
- wanting to copy this Cirque du Soleil hat
- admiring the knit patterns in this etsy shop
- wanting to attempt to sew my own free-form creatures after seeing this rabbit rattle
- lusting over the yarns at the backwards loop
- I have some Kidsilk Haze I'd love to use on this shawl (on Ravelry)
- admiring this Medusa Cowl (on Ravelry)
- I know someone I want to make this honey cowl for...
- maybe I can use Cranberry Quiltworks to finish off that quilt I started eons ago...
- this felt bunny looks adorable
- and these little chicks are so sweet too
- and these hanging birds
- and this sweet stuffed rabbit

186: Knitted Cloths

In the recent years, it was scarves. Endless garter stitch scarves.

This year, it's washcloths, dishcloths, whatever you wish to call them. Here are some shots of the ones I made for the holidays and the links to the patterns, should you feel so inclined to make one of your very own:

For Grandma: Obama and Hummingbird.


For Chelsea: Don't Mess With Texas.


For Dad: Armadillo


For Mom: Eiffel Tower


For my Parents-in-law: Paw Print (we don't need to discuss my whoops on this one)


Kelly's son, Christian: Skully and Big Rig

(All the red comes from a cone my mother in law passed along to me--and I still have a lot left!)

173: Science Museum of Minnesota

Today: our field trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota, bringing along Brianna to the Twin Cities, meeting Lane and Angie. CSI exhibit: following a crime scene, peering into microscopes, comparing fingerprints and the shape of footprints, learning about blood spatter. Elsewhere in the museum: swabbing for germs, touching a tornado (and watching it dissipate), competing in science trivia, gawking at dinosaur bones and fossils (my favorite), watching a rubber ducky pummeled by waves, remembering what it was to be eight or nine and wanting nothing more than to be swallowed up by the facts of science, the magic of long-ago.

More museum images here.


Dinner with the same good company, brie and green apples, spicy wings, the smushy texture of rice burgers. Oh, and the lights of downtown St Paul! A small ice rink, our fingers tingling from the cold, the statue of F Scott Fitzgerald keeping company with the nutcracker across the park.



More from today:

Found a quilt I had been hunting for days. All it needs is the final hand quilting, and I intend to get that done just as soon as my last two Christmas projects come to a close (which should be just in time for the actual holiday). This quilt was originally going to be a double sided pillow for Yvonne, a woman who was like a second mother to my sister and myself as we were growing up, but she died of cancer before I could finish. The lion for bravery and the turtle for patience. Now, I hope to finish it as a quilt for one of her grandsons, and I'd like to send it out early in the New Year.

The car luck continues. As in, bad luck. As we were returning home, I heard that crack, the sort that one hears on a pond as the ice eases, but instead, it was my windshield, splaying one way and then the other. Fortunately, the crack is on the outside and along the dash. And though I'm a little nervous at the idea of it traveling without being fixed, Ryan has to take it to the cities tomorrow as his is still in the shop and he needs to get to work. One thing I can say about these (now four) car issues, the frozen pipes, the lost lens to the eyeglasses, the garage door malfunctioning: neither one of us is in a tizzy over it. How easy it would be to swirl into a fit of frustration at these misfires, but the truth of it is this: we have each other, we are loved, we have a home, we are happy. Good family, good friends, good love. A crack in the windshield just keeps things spicy. Or rather, chilly.