Yarn Crawl

New Place

I just moved to the city last month and love it. It's part of an overall change in my life which is all about letting go things that no longer work and embracing what I want in my life. I feel so energized! Sometimes I say I should have done this years ago, but I believe things happen at the right time, when you're ready. In many ways, the past five years have all gotten me ready to be open to this time.

And now that's enough philosophy. Here are some of my great new views, which make me happy every day. I feel like I have a little bit of vacation in every day, in getting to see the lake every day from my windows. I cannot wait for summer! I have some more furniture coming today, after which I should have all of it and can take more complete pictures of every room. I still have a sewing and knitting room (that was a requirement) -the plus is now it has a lake view!

Here are my views from the living room:

Back, with Knitting!

I am back to blogging! I have been working on a top-down sweater called Mary Jane, that was published originally in Twist Collective but was designed by the ladies at Zephyr Style (always known for their fun, top-down knitting candy!) Here are pics I was able to take before work. The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh DK. More later, I'm starting slow :)

Knitting Update

Long time no post - I finished Rocky Coast, but the sleeves came out freakishly small, even after blocking, so I have to reknit those or find someone with very skinny arms to give it to!

Here is my latest project - Mary Jane, designed by the Zephyr Style gals.

I'm using Madelinetosh Tosh TK in "Oxblood" for this and making the 32" size. Usually I'm not a big fan of puffy sleeves but they aren't too extreme, and I think they will be cute on this.

close-up of the "snakeskin" stitch pattern

I started this the day before Thanksgiving (a few days before we went to Cancun) and separated the sleeves off on the plane trip home last Wednesday. So it's moving fairly fast, considering that I haven't been seriously knitting on it. I gave up on finishing the Sampler Afghan before Christmas, but I have all of it knit and about 75% of it sewn together. There's a huge border that has to be done around the entire blanket, though, and it's become a very un-portable project, so I can't really work on it much.

Another Simplicity 3775

Here's another finished Simplicity 3775 dress - I modified the crew neck version of the pattern the same way as the V-neck one, and eliminated the neckband piece, just coverstitching all of the hems.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Thanks and Moving On

Thanks to everyone for their comforting words about Gilda. She hadn't been herself for probably the last six months, so I feel good about the decision. At first they thought she was just dehydrated Friday night, so then they put her on IV fluids overnight in the hospital. Then she perked up and tried to eat and immediately vomited. After some debate about how safe it was to put a cat of this age under general anesthesia, we decided to have them do so and use a scope to see if she had a blockage. Then they found a massive tumor in her esophagus which had recently grown (as she was eating before - they say these types of cancers in cats are very aggressive and can grow in a matter of hours.) We decided it was kindest just to give her the injection while she was still sleeping and not wake her up to see her awake again just for our sakes. We are having her cremated (alone - that was another slightly macabre option, to have her cremated with other pets) and will be getting a paw print sculpture along with the ashes sometime in a week.

So now I'm done. After crying for two days, I am ready to move on.

Yesterday I made something new in the pressure cooker - bratwurst. First we (now Jim is getting into this wonder machine!) browned the bratwurst in the pressure cooker in a little bit of olive oil and a bunch of chopped celery and onions. Next we put in two bottles of beer and some "boiler onions" cut into fourths, plus some petite Yukon Gold potatoes (about five) and set the cooker for high pressure for six minutes, but then we let the pressure release naturally to lock in the flavors more. Everything was SO.GOOD. The only thing I would do differently is to put bigger onion pieces in there because they mostly dissolved while cooking. Jim mashed up the potatoes for himself, and I made a sandwich with my bratwurst with a few onions and some horseradish mustard. Quick, easy, and cheap. Not to mention delicious! Jim is loving all this stuff.

Goodbye to a Dear Friend: Gilda 10/31/93-10/15/11

The sad day I knew would eventually come has arrived today. We had to say goodbye to our sweet kitty Gilda this afternoon. After almost eighteen happy and healthy years, her journey is now over. She took a turn for the worse quickly yesterday and today it was time to let her end her suffering. I'll never forget her and how much she added to our lives. I will always love our special kitty and no one can replace her.

There are so many pictures I have of her that I've collected during our time together, but here are just a few of the happier times:

My sweet love.

Sleep well, my darling.

Another Successful Pressure Cooker Experiment

Last night I got home and was STARVING plus had a headache all day. I wanted some comfort food and neither Jim nor I felt like going out. It was dreary and raining out on top of everything, and Jim wasn't really hungry as he had a late lunch. So I decided to experiment with the pressure cooker, without a recipe. I figured, if it doesn't work, I can always just eat cereal for dinner (something I do when Jim's not really hungry, especially when I'm in the mood for comfort food - that and pasta with lots of parmesan cheese are my two faves for that kind of mood.)

So here's what I did. I got two frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts out of the freezer, thawed them out in the microwave on the "turbo defrost" setting, and then fired up the pressure cooker. Mine has a "browning" feature, so I put that setting on and put a tiny bit of olive oil in the (nonstick) pot. Jim buys minced garlic by the 55 gallon drum (well, not really, but it's a decent sized container) and so I put about a teaspoon or so of that in there. We always use that instead of chopping garlic and it's actually a bit stronger than using fresh garlic for the same measurement, so you use less. I lightly browned the two thawed chicken breasts in the garlic and olive oil for a few minutes on each side.

After browning the chicken breasts, I added a can of cream of potato soup* and a can of milk, two cans of water, and some uncooked small shell pasta (about half a small rectangular box.) I immediately put the lid on and set it for high pressure for six minutes. It took maybe three or four minutes to get up to high pressure, then it cooked the six minutes. I released the pressure with the quick method (just pull the valve up and the steam comes out) and opened the pot. The chicken was cooked but the pasta was still al dente and the sauce/soup was too liquid and I wanted to thicken it up. So I decided to put it back on high pressure for three more minutes and that did the trick perfectly.

It was delicious! Jim even had some and we had lots left over as I made too much pasta. The chicken came out really moist and tender that way, and the garlic flavor really made it all come together. With a nice glass of Duckhorn cabernet, it was just what the doctor ordered. I will definitely be making it again some weeknight!

*When going through the cabinet to find an appropriate cream soup for this adventure, I kept coming up with cans that were expired. Like WAY EXPIRED. Like 2002 expired. I obviously haven't cooked with cream soup in a while. We ended up tossing out eight or nine cans before finding the one that we had bought more recently that we used.

Unsolicitation and Inspiration

I got an unsolicitation* today from one of my co-workers about one of my wrap dresses today. We were washing our hands in the ladies' room and she told me how much she loved my dress, and wanted to know where I buy all of my great dresses. I hesitated for a second, as I haven't really been broadcasting that I make my own clothes at this job (just not wanting to overshare, as people don't really do that here.) Then she quickly said that I didn't have to tell her if I didn't want to, and so then I said, "I sew all of them myself". Her jaw dropped open in disbelief, and she said that she had wondered because all of them are so great and so unlike anything you can find in stores, and that maybe when she retires in a few years and has more time, she also will learn how to sew her own clothes. It was a good moment. I think it may have made me seem more relatable, too, as this is someone who I don't really have a lot of day to day interaction with.

*unsolicitation [un-suh-lis-i-tey-shuhn](n) - a unsolicited compliment on a self-made garment. Origin: my friend Elizabeth, circa 2009-2010

In other news, I've been inspired by Sheila's knit fabric version of the beloved B5147 sheath dress made from the same fabric that I used for the S3775 I posted yesterday (this sounds like code or something). She sent me a picture of it and I promptly decided I needed to try making my own. I re-ordered a fresh pattern of B5147 on Ebay to start from scratch on that, as I'll go down a size and also do my "smallest size possible in the shoulders and neck" trick to make it in a knit fabric (but still lined, with sheer knit) version.

I have no pretty pictures today, so here's a great photo I took on our helicopter tour of Maui back in 2006. Enjoy!

Revised Simplicity 3775 TNT

For a while now (probably two years) I've been making and remaking my "TNT" (tried-n-true) pattern of Simplicity 3775 in various versions. V-neck, round neck, short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve. But I never was able to get it to be wearable without the need for a cami underneath because the neckline was just too low for me, and the empire seam hit me too low on my torso instead of just under the bust. It was very wearable that way, with a cami, but not spot on perfect. Then I tried making it in a size down allover, which was a little better in the shoulders/bust/neckline (still not un-cami-able though - new word) but a little too tight everywhere else.

This was because I really wear a pattern size 12 (like a 6-8 in RTW) in almost all patterns, not a 10 (more like a 4-6). However, all of my petite-ness is from my shoulder to my bust, not anywhere else - about 1.5" shorter than standard, which is a lot when you're making pattern adjustments. My underarm to waist is standard length, or maybe a smidge - 1/4"-1/2" - shorter than standard. What I've been experimenting with lately (to great success) is cutting an extremely small size (6 in pattern sizes, so I don't know, maybe a 0 in RTW?) in the shoulders, neck, neck facings and the cap of the sleeve, then a pattern size 12 everywhere else.

Here is one of the results of my experimentation:

To make the changes, I re-bought this pattern in the 4-12 pattern size range so I could start from scratch. Previously I had shortened the midriff piece, but that wasn't really accomplishing the objective so I actually left that at standard length on this go-round. Just cut the 6 at the shoulders, neck/facings and cap sleeve and 12 everywhere else. This one is on the long side, because I didn't shorten the skirt piece and just hemmed it on the coverstitch machine as is, with a 1/2" hem. I have since shortened the skirt pattern piece by 2" and made another one and it was just perfect in length.

I'm trying to keep these posts relatively short so that I don't burn out, and keep the process manageable, but I have one more thing to share today. I love the new Lucky "Sofia Boot" jeans in the super-stretch fabric. They really aren't that "boot" in the leg, still pretty narrow, and they are cut just right - a little higher in the back so you don't give unwitting shows to onlookers when bending over. Super super comfortable, but fitted at the same time because of the super-stretch fabric. Sweet-n-Low/Sweet-n-Straights used to be my favorite of their jean styles, but these have taken the prize. I just bought two pairs of them, and a pair of their Tomboy style as I liked their straight fit.

Rocky Coast Cardigan - Progress Pic

I finished the body (without the ribbing for the collar, which comes last) of my Rocky Coast Cardigan. Now I have to work on the sleeves. Here it is so far. I used a pale green shade of Rowan Kid Classic for it, a somewhat unconventional choice but I wanted it to be somewhat light and airy like the pattern pictures show. I've never seen the original yarn, The Fibre Company Organik, that they used for it, but I thought Kid Classic was a good fit.