Huzzah for the shopkeep!

I want to knit all of the baby things.  When I search around on Ravelry for projects, I'm drawn to the itty bitty little baby things, and the cute little stuffed animals and dolls.  I'm really into these crochet dolls right now:


They're by lalylala designs and there's a whole series of them.  I'd like to get one of these under my belt before nugget is born so I can hopefully make a whole fleet of them.

Enough of that pie in the sky knitting stuff.  Let's get down to brass tacks.  I made a trip to Shall We Knit? at the beginning of the month to buy yarn for baby soaker pants, knitted pants, and also to support my hexipuff addiction:

Mostly Sirdar Snuggly (with a Wendy Peter Pan thrown in for colour variation) for some baby pants:



 The ol' standby, Cascade 220, for diaper covers:

 

And a little something pretty for me, some Madeline Tosh Light Unicorn Tails for hexipuffs:





























I whipped up my first diaper cover in a couple nights of knitting.  This will be an easy and mindless knit to plug away at.














These are Milo Soakers by Kristen Rengren from Vintage Baby Knits.  They are knit flat and then sewn at the side seams.  Easy peasy, and a very satisfying little knit.  I have enough leftover from this green pair to hopefully combine it with another colour for a striped one.



What do you think, blue and red for one and yellow and green for another?  I'm trying to keep the colour combinations as baby gender neutral as possible.  I chose bright primary colours instead of blah and boring "baby" pastels.  One, because they're more fun for me to knit, and two, because they are meant to soak up "liquid", which we all know is not bottled spring water.  I can only imagine how disgusting a light-coloured pair of these would be after one wearing.  Gross.

I have to hunt around for lanolin to lanolize these puppies.  That will be a fun adventure, I'm sure it will be sticky or greasy too.  I'll bring you along for the ride when I get to that point.

I also made some baby pants.  As of this morning, I bound off that second leg and grafted the crotch hole.  I still need to weave in all the ends from my colour changes and stitch on the monster face.





The red mouth on the bum is soon to be a monster face, with eyes and teeth and everything!  These are Das Monster by Hronn Jonsdottir, to fit a baby who is 9-18 months.  I have no concept of baby sizes, so I will present these to Tam Tam and she can put them on nugget when s/he is the right size for them.

These were a quick knit too, nice and mindless once you got passed the monster mouth.  I totally have enough yarn in each colour to make another one.  A friend of mine from college just announced that she's expecting a baby in August, and I think she would really love these.  She might get a pair too.

Aside from finishing up these projects, I'm getting back in to spinning.  The speaker at the Guild meeting on Tuesday was telling us all about natural dyes for yarn, which she happens to use almost exclusively on her own hand spun yarns.  When she passed around sample of her yarns, it tickled the spinning itch inside me and I immediately went home and dug out my wheel for a little action. 

I haven't touched my wheel in almost two years, ever since we moved and my flyer got knocked against something and a piece of it snapped off.  It was still hanging on by a tread, so I very gingerly clued it back in place this week, and it worked like a charm!  To be extra safe, I also contacted Gemini Fibres (they're north of Toronto, I've seen them many times at the KW Knitters Fair as a vendor) to ask if a replacement piece can be ordered.  My wheel is my mom's, which she purchased in the 80's.  It's an Ashford wheel, but the ones Ashford sells now aren't a perfect match (the closest one looks to be the Ashford Traveller).  I sent a picture of my flyer to the kind folks at Gemini and told them all I know so they can hopefully make a recommendation. 

In the meantime, I spun some yarn yesterday!  I took a 50g hank of roving that I bought on a knitting field trip years ago and finally turned it into something.

I spun it, plied it, niddy noddy'ed it, washed it, and hung it to dry (weighted down by a Star Wars coffee mug). 



Isn't it pretty!?!?



I think this may get turned into some delicate and pretty fingerless mitts for Tam Tam.  She loves pink more than life itself.

And also while I was at the Guild meeting, I borrowed a book for my next project.  Doesn't everyone need a knitted cat?  Spoiler: these may or may not be your Christmas gift from me.



Did you know yesterday was Pi Day?  I made butter tarts to celebrate.  You better hurry up and ask for one, they're getting all cold and eaten.

Boxes full of deliciousness

 Merry Christmas Eve, readers!  Here comes your daily dose of holiday cheer in the form of the insane amount of baking I've done in the last two months.

Every year since Fuzzyhead and I have been together, we've given gifts to all of our extended family at Christmas time.  You may know from your own experiences, that buying presents for aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents is murderous awful work, because you see these people twice a year and have no idea what they want/need or what they would appreciate.  We've opted for consumable homemade gifts every year, because who doesn't love to stuff your face at Christmas?

In the past, I've made red pepper jelly for everyone, an assortment of jams (where everyone got one big jar and one little jar of different types of jams), and a mix of different tasty things, including homemade marshmallows, chai tea concentrate syrup, a spice rub trio, and tea blends.  This year, I went the baking route and made up boxes of tasty treats for everyone.  I can tell you right now, I will probably never do this again.

I started the process in October, when I chose all the recipes I wanted to make, based on things I've made in the past, and various other recipes from my favourite magazines and websites.  My all-time favourite magazine is the 2011 Better Homes and Gardens special holiday release called Food Gifts.  It's amazing.  You can find most of the recipes online, but the magazine is so nicely put together with lots of ideas for presenting the food in bags, boxes, and containers.  Martha Stewart is my other go-to, since it's rare that I come across a bad recipe from her.

My baking list included:

-Gingerbread men (Martha Stewart)
-Chai spice sugar cookies with vanilla glaze (Better Homes and Gardens website)
-Classic shortbread (Martha)
-Decorated sugar cookies (Martha)
-Peanut butter marshmallow squares (general internet search, it's only three ingredients so any recipe will do)
-Toffee-topped chocolate ganache tarts (BHG magazine)
-Lemony-glazed shortbread (BHG magazine)
-Pink Lady Squares (general internet search, these are also so common that any recipe will do)
-Homemade marshmallows (BHG magazine)
-Snickerdoodle thumbprint cookies with apple butter (a Martha recipe, but I added the snickerdoodle part and the apple butter)
-Red velvet whoopie pies with cream cheese icing (BHG magazine)
-Pumpkin spice cookies with brown butter icing (Martha Stewart website)

That's twelve different types of cookies.  And it took me months to get it all done.  I started making the doughs, for the ones I could make ahead and freeze, in late October.  I banged out the sugar cookie, chai spice cookie, gingerbread men, and the pumpkin cookie doughs and wrapped them up in the freezer.  Next I started making the other things that could just sit in the freezer, like the marshmallows, the lemon shortbread, and the red velvet cookies.  In the last two weeks, I really kicked it up a notch and was making or baking something almost every night.

I bought 5 dollarstore containers that were long and flat to stack cookies in the freezer, and those are all full.  I have a few things stored in the fridge, and a couple on the counter in other containers (the regular shortbread and the thumbprint cookies, which are fine at room temp).  I've only handed out 6 of the boxes so far, and I made enough for 25 of these little treat collections.  I'm looking forward to a time when my freezer will be empty again.

Now, let's stop worrying about the process, and enjoy the final product:

Clockwise from top left - marshmallows, lemon shortbread, chair sugar cookie stars, regular decorated sugar cookies, peanut butter marshmallow squares, chocolate tart (no toffee), gingerbread men, and pink lady squares.

The liners I picked up by chance at Michaels when I was buying bakers' twine.  They were from their "Celebration" line of accessories, and it was the only one on the shelf.  They're grease-free, and came in two different pretty patterns.  There were 25 sheets in the package, and it was only $5.  It was fate.

This box is mostly the same as the one above, except it has thumbprint cookies in the bottom left corner.

Again, mostly the same, but this one has red velvet whoopie pies in the top middle, and pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing in the bottom middle.

These first four boxes were for my co-workers, who all appreciate my baking throughout the year.

I hummed and hawed long and hard about the perfect container for the cookies.  I wanted something with a clear window in the top, but that would have cost more than it was worth.  I started my search online at places like the Container Store, but their boxes would have cost me upwards of $30, before shipping.  I only needed 25 boxes, and many places forced you to order by the 100's to get the best price.

My solution was G.T. French paper here in town.  They sell wholesale to all sorts of places, but they're also open to the public.  I walked in there one day after work and bought thirty 9"x"6"x2" boxes for a whopping $6.  The man who helped me was hesitant that the size I chose would be big enough, but I knew I wasn't cramming them full to the brim, and I made small-ish sized cookies for that very reason.

I used various stamps from my collection to decorate the plain white boxes, and tied them closed with bakers' twine.

I also added a little "from the kitchen of..." sticker (I have a few different stamps that say things like that, so I stamped out a few onto mailing labels) so everyone knew they weren't junky store-bought cookies that I jumbled together in a box.  Fuzzyhead was concerned that some people might not appreciate all the work I did if they didn't realize they were all made by me.

In total, I made about 615 cookies/bars/tarts.  Phew.  And a Merry Christmas to one and all.

Onward,

vrock

Rhinebeck planning, SQUEE!

It's October, it's getting cold outside, and I'm going to Rhinebeck next weekend.  Let that sink in for a moment.  I'll wait.

I'm going to Rhinebeck!  The holiest of all holy knitting events, and this little kid is going.  Catherine and I booked our place on a bus tour in the summer (mildly sketched out at first, we blindly sent money to a stranger and crossed our fingers that it was legit and not a knitting scammer), and we leave on Friday morning. This is where we are going.  I'll wait again while you check it out. 

I've been getting emails every week from the organizers of our trip with reminders and itineraries and I'm super psyched.  I'm even excited for the 9 hour bus ride to get us there, where I can knit and chat and read and eat car snacks.  I've been trying to focus on what I actually need to get while I'm there, since I didn't buy a single thing at the Knitters' Fair this year.  Catherine and I are meeting up on Thursday to go over vendor lists and project plans - we'll be keeping each other on track and on budget.  I really think being accountable to your buddy is necessary at a place like this.  It's way too easy to bring a credit card and just stop thinking about how much you're spending.  Here is my project list that will require purchasing yarn at Rhinebeck:

• Knitted pillow shams in a bulky weight yarn (preferably roving style), mentioned in my last post here 
• Baby bunting bag for my hair dresser who is expecting a baby around the new year

• Possibly getting yarn for a sweater project for me, I'm leaning towards this:

 It's called "Paulie", and I'm in love with it.  I can see myself wearing it at my go-to fall and winter sweater, and likely wearing it at work

• Sock yarn, any and all.  If it's cheap or pretty or it's being sold by the pound, I'm going to be all over it.  I don't have any patterns in mind, but it doesn't matter.  I always need sock yarn.

Aside from actual projects I'm planning for, I will also be on the lookout for awesome project bags, accessories, and knitting-related things that I need.  I've seen a knitter or two sporting a knitting needle gauge necklace, and I want one real bad.

I'm setting myself a budget of no more than $400, although I'm not picky about what I have to get from that amount, and none of the projects on my list need to be done right this second with only brand new yarn.  I will be bringing a reasonable amount of US cash with my for general spending, but I hate going to the trouble of getting US cash and then not spending all of it (and refusing to lose money by selling it back to the bank), so I'll also be using credit cards.  Expect an epic blog update later this month.

In regular non-Rhinebeck knitting news, here's what I've been working on.

Rock Island shawl is DONE.
 

 

It's too pretty.  I wish it was for me.  I'm debating whether Tam Tam will get it for her birthday or Christmas.  Her birthday is coming up at the end of October, but I have something else planned for that (horseback riding!  Shhh, don't tell her).  I've already taken this shawl everywhere without the joy of actually wearing it - it came to the first Guild meeting of the year for Show and Tell, I entered it in a Fall Fair contest and won first place, and it came to regular knit and chat night.  Right now it's neatly folded up in my stash baskets, waiting for me to decide its fate.  I'm leaning towards Christmas.

My Cuff au Lait fingerless mitts are DONE!  I don't have a picture of the finished pair, so you'll have to settle for a picture of the left finished mitten.  Get over it.

I like this picture because it looks like I'm holding the ball of yarn between my fingers.

I'm working on Fuzzyhead's Christmas socks - a manly man's pair of socks in semi-solid black, in a railway stitch.  How masculine.  The stitch pattern is from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, one of my favourite sock books, but modified with a toe-up construction.  

I'm really curious to see if the rows of knit stitches will even out with blocking or if they will stay a little wonky.  

I also want to knit a quick brain slug for my Halloween costume this year.  Last year, I spent way too long and way too much money on a costume I will probably not wear again (which is too bad, because vrock as sexy hamburglar needs to happen again).  I'm working on Halloween day and I was searching for the perfect costume that is work appropriate, and not so awkward that I can't actually work in the costume.  I've decided on a brain slug on a headband as the perfect costume.  I can wear my normal work cloths and it doesn't require special make-up that needs to be re-applied or checked on all day.  I might even bust out my rarely-used crochet skills and try my hand at this little beauty:

 

Or support a fellow Guild member and make one of these felted slugs:

 

I'm also gearing up for Christmas, because I'm a giant nerd, and I look forward to this all year long.  In August, I wanted nothing more than to make a 2012 Christmas planner to keep track of all my crafty and baking and decorating holiday dreams.  The step by step DIY guide I followed is here, and it required a composition notebook, some standard paper crafting supplies, and Christmas themed scrapbooking paper.  Michaels let me down big time on the Christmas paper - in August, when they were already rolling out the Christmas ribbon and Christmas ornament aisle, they had not a single sheet of Christmas scrapbooking paper in sight.  Shameful.  How is a crafty gal supposed to get her craft on for a Christmas planner in August without Christmas scrapbooking paper?  I went back in early September and found exactly one style of Christmas paper (which I also happened to love), and my 2012 Christmas planner was born:

It has tabbies for all of the most important Christmas planning activities - a calendar to keep my on track, the list, the master Christmas card list with addresses, home stuff, and food.  

It even had a ribbon to tie it closed and keep peeping peepers out of the Christmas secrets.

Also, I'm firmly into the role of President at the Knitters' Guild.  If you haven't seen me strike passion in the hearts of Guild members, you should stop by and watch me in action at a Guild meeting.

And now I've got zombie-themed baking to accomplish today readers.  It's the season premiere of Walking Dead tonight dontcha know.

Onward,

vrock  

Keep your fingers out of your mouth

Happy New Year readers!  Today I created a "knitting 2012" folder for all my new pictures, and I didn't waste any time taking the first round of shots. 

Let's begin with a catch-up on one of my last projects of 2011:

  Finished, and had also been worn twice by the time this picture was taken.  The socks were accidentally washed in the machine (but not through the dryer thank goodness) and got covered in little bits of kleenex.  I'm the guilty party there, I regularly stash kleenex in my pants and sweater pockets for later use and then forget to check pockets before laundry day.  The socks weren't harmed in any way, and I picked off the white fluffies just before taking this picture for your benefit.  You're welcome.

I love the twisty design on a plain socks, it really lets the pretty yarn shine through.  This yarn was purchased in September at the KW Knitters Fair from Viola Fibres.  I hear that Emily, the name behind Viola, is taking a break from creating beautiful yarns, possibly forever.  I can't seem to find any information to support this claim on the interweb, but I'm concerned nonetheless.  Now I'm a sad panda, and I have to use and appreciate the yarns I bought from her.  More on that shortly.

I've been working on yoga socks, to keep up the inventory at the studio.  The two remaining pairs that I had at the studio before Christmas have been snatched up, and I'm still one pair short to fill someone's order for 3 pairs.  Here are my latest happy little campers, about half-way done the first sock.  The pattern is Blackrose from Knitty winter 2008.  I was searching for a lacey sock pattern that wouldn't drag me down.  For yoga socks, since I sell them for pretty cheap and I need to produce them quickly, I look for a single panel of pattern without many rows to the repeat.  This pattern is absolutely perfect - the chart is 8 rows, only 4 of which are pattern, and it's done over 17 stitches for a nice off-centre or centred design.  The rest of the sock is done in plain stockinette stitch. 

The yarn here is the rest of the skein of KnitPicks Tonal Sock yarn in "Gypsy".  I bought this yarn specifically for yoga socks because it puts the material cost to make a pair squarely under $5. 

And I finished a pair of yoga socks to add to the pile.  There ones are the same pattern as my lovely Viola socks above, but done on a simply yoga sock.  I also like this pattern for yoga socks - it's simply to follow and makes for a quick knit.  While I don't tend to use fancy yarns that need to be shown off with simple stitches, I think they are a handsome pair of socks in a pretty colour.

The finished pair, blocking on sock blockers and getting some air exposure on top of my swift.  I'm back at the studio late next week for the first class of the season, and I would love to have two finished pairs to pin to the board.  

While yoga socks are consistently in the background, I can also start thinking of all the lovely things I'll be making this year.  Top of the list right now is making something with my Viola yarns.  Remember this pretty young thing, also one of my finds from the Fair?  She is destined to be a shawl for Tam Tam, I knew that from the time I first picked her up.  This may or may not be a wedding shawl for Tam Tam (a ring is supposed to be making an appearance this year, but I'm not holding my breath), but I know she'll like it.

I decided on Brooklyn Tweed's "Rock Island" shawl for Tam Tam.  It's light and airy, a classic triangle, and I'm sure she'll love it.

I have yet to purchase the pattern, but it's at the top of my queue and my next big project.

Also on the list of yarns to use is my "Bruised Plum" from Viola.  I think it will be destined for a pair of fingerless mitts to wear at the office during the winter.  I've had my eye on Anne Hanson's Curling Neckwarmer and Mitts set for a while, I think that might do the trick.  Anne spoke at a Guild meeting a few months ago and I really enjoyed her designs. 

I know Christmas was only over a week ago, but I'm already thinking of ideas for this year's extended family gifts.  Fuzzyhead thinks I'm thinking too far ahead, but I know that my Christmas jams took hours and hours of time to prepare, and had to be done months before Christmas when the fruit was in season.  I just spent a few minutes tooling around the internet for inspiration, and came across some potential ideas:

• Homemade chai tea syrup - just add milk and heat, yum!
• Baking.  I've done this a bit in previous years, but usually only for a handful of people, not everyone.  Based on my counts for jams this Christmas, I need something for about 24 people, and that would mean a butt-ton of baking in December when I have literally no time.  The doughs can sometimes be made ahead and frozen, but our freezer capacity right now is pathetic (thanks a lot tiny Japanese robot fridge), and the actual baking still needs to be done within a day or so.
• Knitted ornaments.  A recent Vogue Knitting had a feature on colourwork knitted ornaments and I thought they would be a great idea, one for everyone.  There are a few flaws with this plan - Fuzzyhead pointed out that many of his family members don't do Christmas trees or have taken all the fun out of Christmas by having colour-coordinated trees (totally lame, right?  In a delicious Martha Stewart way, except homemade ornaments aren't acceptable), and it would mean all of the work falls on me for our joint gifts since Fuzzyhead doesn't knit.  This isn't terribly different from the jams - I made all batches of jam entirely by myself and decorated the jars by my lonesome - so I guess this one is still an option.
• Home-made baking mixes.  I found this idea in a magazine two years ago, and I had intended to do it this year but didn't.  Along with the jams, I was going to include gingerbread scone baking mix (just add liquid), but then I didn't.  It's still a good idea, so I'm keeping it on the pile

In case you're wondering why everything on this list is home-made, it's because I literally have no money, and I don't know most of the people I have to produce presents for very well.  Most of the list of 24 or so people includes aunts and uncles and cousins who I see once or twice a year, and it's too hard to think of things to buy them that they might actually want.  Plus, it's hella expensive.

Thoughts, suggestions, comments?  I really liked the jams/jellies I did this year, but I feel like people are expecting so much more from us.  We included smaller extra gifts for some people, and despite my hours of work on the jams, I think the more traditional store-bought gifts were better received. 

Onward,

vrock

Malkovich oreos

Happy Boxing Day dear readers!  On this sacred of all holidays, while I sit around the house in lounge-pants (thanks Santa!) and put away all my new toys, it's the perfect time to recap some holiday knits and gifts and how they were received.

A few weeks ago, during the over-scheduled weeks before Christmas, I made this little gal as a last minute contribution to the Knitters' Guild ornament exchange:

This is Holly, of Holly, Ivy, and Steve, a pattern I bought on Ravelry from Danger Craft.  I first stumbled on the pattern when I was browsing Etsy on the train home from my forced Montreal trip with Slim Jim.  I was severely strapped for cash at the time, and I couldn't even justify the $6 price tag for the pattern.  When at last a pay-cheque was tossed in my direction (let this be a lesson to you kiddies, always pay your caterer promptly), it wasn't until the weekend before the Guild meeting, so I didn't start Holly until Saturday night.  Sunday night had me out at a party (serving my dear readers, I never get to be the invitee at holiday events), and I had to stay up way passed my bedtime on Monday night to finish her.  In total I spent about 8 hours making Holly, but it should have been more - I cut the scarf way short when I realized how long that one element was going to take me.  I also didn't have white felt (or any felt at all actually) to make her teeth, no buttons for the eyes, and no stuffing to fill her, so I improvised.  Her teeth are stitched on with the same white yarn I used for the scarf, her eyes are made from tiny knots of brown yarn I had around the house, and she was stuffed with old plastic shopping bags.  Aside from a slight crinkle when you squeeze her, you'd never know.  Holly is a wonderful little stash-busting project, I used old yoga sock yarns I still had, plus some KnitPicks yarn from the Cupcake Mittens.  I still have boat-loads of this yarn left, and since Holly takes very little to make, I'm thinking I can bust out the rest of the gang and make an Ivy and a Steve.  My original Holly is long gone - she was snatched up quickly at the ornament exchange, and is hopefully sitting on someone else's tree right now.

And now, my crowning achievement in knitting for this year, drum roll please!

One FINISHED, neatly folded, and ready to be gifted Man's Cabled Cardigan:
 

This sweater was finished in late November, with buttons sewn on shortly after.  I followed the sizing for the man's small, which matched Fuzzyhead's measurements almost exactly.  My gauge was bang-on for stitches per inch, but not so hot for rows.  I only really had to think extra hard when the pattern told me to do something "every other row" or "for x rows" since my row gauge was not the same.  This caused the biggest trouble for the tops of the sleeves, where I had to made my own adjustments and still hope it would fit in the arm-shaped hole I had already made for the sleeve in the torso piece.  But as you can see here, it all came together swimmingly:

The sweater fits great, and I'm currently wearing it while I type this post.  He sported it around town yesterday to two different Christmas celebrations, and he'll be wearing it again tonight at the last run-around Christmas we have to do. 

Next up is another last minute project that I was thinking about and planning for months, so I guess you can't really call it last-minute.....except that I mailed it on almost the last possible day for mailing things to get it there before Christmas.  For this beauty, I learned to crochet from my wise and patience crocheting friend Catherine.  We stopped in at Shall We Knit? one night on the way to Thursday night knitting and I bought a skein of a heathered charcoal yarn for the hat (Cascade 220, what's up!).  I had a 4.5mm crochet hook in my bag and a pattern I couldn't understand on my Playbook.  Catherine and I somehow entirely missed the knit mob group that night, but we went to Coffee Culture by ourselves for some quiet crocheting.  I made real progress on the hat in that first night, and I finished the rest in two nights.  Fuzzyhead is modeling the finished hat here, before I wrapped it up for gifting to my friend Adam.

In the grand tradition of last year's red pepper jelly gifts for relatives, I made home-made jam for everyone on my list for Christmas.  I started the project in the summer, buying up canning jars when they showed up at the grocery store, and stocking up on pectin and sugar.  I chose to make strawberry jam when the Ontario strawberries were at their peak, but I didn't act fast enough to make the amount I needed before the precious two weeks of Ontario strawberry season were over.  For the rest of the jams, I made peach jam, and I did a couple batches of carrot cake jam in smaller jars for everyone.

The recipes for the strawberry and peach jams were taken right from the helpful pamphlet included in each and every box of Certo liquid pectin.  I dressed up the jars with a festive gold ribbon around the band, and a cutesy topper for the lid:

I found this "homemade goodies" stamp at Michaels during my crazy Halloween paper crafting obsession in November.  I cut discs from card stock I already had, and stamped them with brown ink.  They make the jars a millions time cuter.

The little carrot cake jams were all finished with holiday ribbon glued around the band, as well as the "homemade goodies" topper.  The carrot cake jam was inspired by a trip last year to the New Dundee Emporium for afternoon tea and scones, and I found the recipe here in a random google search.

In the same day I was tying ribbon around jars, I threw together a welcome gift for our new neighbours, who moved in on December 1st.  I had a Christmas cookie tin leftover from last year's gifting, so I wrapped up some red velvet whoopie pies I made that day for the Guild Christmas meeting.  Welcome neighbours!  Don't you wish you lived next to me?

Onward,

vrock