Oscar knows how to savor things.

This has been a lovely holiday season so far. I don’t usually like the holidays that much. Most years, I’m stressed out about what presents to give people, clamoring for time to knit things for others and some for myself, and the usual family quibbles. This year, some of that stress was assuaged when my family decided we would draw one name each and get a present for just that person. I like this for multiple reasons. We over-commercialize the holidays, and focusing on just one person means that you can put more mindfulness into the “perfect” gift for that person.

This year, I drew my dad. Last year I knit him socks, and since I think that is about the only thing I could knit that he would wear, I decided it would be a non-knitting year for me and the family present. Even less stress. Although, I’ve seen so many cute hat, shawl, accessory patterns lately (and have designed a few myself) that I would have been nice to draw my mom, sister, or brother’s girlfriend. They’re the ones that really appreciate the handknits.

Besides family gatherings, I’ve also been socializing a lot. This year I’ve made a lot of great new women friends, both knitters and non-knitters (but be sure I’ll try to convert some of those non-knitters) and I’m very grateful for all of them. I’ve been to quite a few potluck/gift exchange gatherings, double date nights, knit nights, and old friend reunions. I’ll be making these cookies for another potluck tonight, and they are really delicious. My extrovert self is supremely happy.

As for knitting news… I just bought the pattern for the Stripe Study Shawl after seeing the lovely one recently knitted by Erin. This shawl is designed by Veera, who also designed the Still Light Tunic (aka my favorite finished garment) that was my NaKniSweMo challenge.

I’ve been working on the Sky Sweater. I love it so far. I’m worried about the potential neck itchiness factor with the turtleneck and the Creative Focus Worsted together. I’m going to wash the sweater with conditioner when done in hopes of softening it a bit. Any tips? I’m three needle sizes smaller than the recommended to get gauge. I know I’m a loose knitter, but this is CRAZY. I know it’s me too, because the yarn’s ball band has a size 7/20 sts over 4 inches gauge and I’m on a 3 to get 22.5 in 4 inches. Sheesh. Knitting any tighter than I am hurts.

I’m enjoying the construction of the sweater. The horizontal band is really fun. I wasn’t sure how it would work in the pattern, but then I got there and it all made perfect sense. The pattern has a substantial amount of shaping, so even though it’s stockinette, it hasn’t been boring at all. I think it’s going to be extremely warm, which is a plus.  My fella likes to keep the heat on 60 degrees aside from space heaters to help in the rooms where we spend the most time. Really, all my yarn purchases are just a way to help the planet, right? Do you think we could get the government to subsidize this in some way? Hmmmm….

Did you just say to yourself, “Hey, don’t I need another slouchy hat?” Of course you did. Betwixt is knit from a bulky weight yarn on U.S. size 10 (6mm) needles, making it a relatively (4-6 hr) quick gift for someone else or yourself! The yarn is SMC Tweed Deluxe, but any bulky weight yarn intended for needle size 10-10.5 would work well. Almost all skeins of yarn come with a recommended needle size and gauge on that needle size written on the ball band.

The hat fits snugly to my head, and the alpaca and wool make this a warm creation. I had been eyeing this yarn at my LYS for a couple of weeks and finally decided it needed to be a hat.

The SMC Tweed Deluxe is also very nice to knit with, and readily available online or if you call my LYS we can tell you what colors we have in stock. At this time, we definitely have the color shown (7112 Brown/white), as well as 7144 Grey/wine, and 7114 Black/White. The yarn has a single color at the core and another color wrapped around it like netting. It’s quite unique.

People always seem to enjoy the sneers and funny faces. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

You can buy the pattern directly here: or read more about it on Ravelry here.

This baby is FINISHED. I started Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers last February or March. After setting her aside for numerous other ventures, she is finished. I reknit the collar several times. Lesson to be learned: hey, read the full pattern. Then read it again. Then read it one more time.

That collar is totally worth it.

I knit this in the exact yarn called for in the pattern, even the same color. That’s how much I like Amy’s taste. It’s Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in Tupelo. It’s not the softest yarn ever created, but it sure is warm. I think alpaca makes me itch. Just a little.

A lady never forgets her first set-in sleeves. They were relatively drama free. I did all the other finishing and weaving in of ends first, then I watched this Berroco video that is narrated by Cirilla Rose and shows how to make a very nice seam. They weren’t scary, despite the groans I’ve heard emitted from women in the yarn shop about how much they don’t like these sleeves.

I will be redoing my little crochet button loops, but that’s for another day. I should have made them a little bit longer.

Um, we took a lot of pictures. Or at least my fella did.

I freaking love this sweater. I will wear it every week until it is no longer cold.

Ripping the collar.

I consider myself a pretty decent knitter, by no means an expert, but consistently capable of putting out fairly good pieces. I started the Larch Cardigan last February or early March in the final days of winter. Then it got warm and I promptly put it in a drawer in favor of more weather-appropriate pieces. When I unearthed this beauty to finish, I was excited. A nearly finished sweater. All I had to finish was the lovely shawl collar in 1×1 twisted rib. I ripped back the collar a bit to a spot that was recognizable. I reknit, this time taking careful notes since I knew our time together would be interrupted by my NaKniSweMo project.

After NaKniSweMo I merrily returned to Larch to knit, thinking I had full understanding of the instructions. I was nearly finished with this lovely collar, a 1×1 twisted rib (twisting both the knit and purl stitches=an arduous task), and then I counted my stitches. Why hadn’t I counted earlier?! Sheer confidence (or stupidity). I was about 55 stitches over what the instructions said I should have! I misread things. The instructions had one part that said “pick up 6 along right neck edge, then 6 along left neck edge, then repeat last two rows x times more” then “Pick up 4 stitches at end of each row x times,” and I doubled the picking up 4 stitches and the picking up 2 after that misunderstanding that a repeat was a single row, rather than both the right and left sides. ARGH!

So, I ripped back. Then started at a new place. Knitted again. Went over again because I was confident that I remembered correctly. I don’t have an explanation. I can do simple math. I promise. It just eluded me temporarily. Really, the instructions aren’t unclear. I think I have a different row gauge and I’m also sticking more stitches in than there are supposed to be because I have more rows to begin with. I think the most important thing to do now is to get the right number of rows in, so my collar doesn’t grow to crazy heights, and just do however many stitches at the end of each row that it takes to get there. Here I go again. I won’t let this get me down and I really want to finish. It’s getting very cold and the sweater has a lot of alpaca in it. Besides, I already have the yarn for this and this waiting…

Does anyone else make a fake seam when there is none? Larch is seamless, but I put in a purl stitch in the midst of the stockinette to look like a seam. I don’t know if it helps keep things in place, but I like it.

I also got a lovely yarn bowl in a recent holiday sale with local artists. I love the color.

Back to ripping…

NaKniSweMo 2011 is finished. I completed the Still Light Tunic, which is essentially a dress out of sock weight yarn. I am pleased. This yarn is a gorgeous delight to knit. I used Ella Rae Lace Merino in Mustard.

There was a moment of panic and stalling when I got to the second sleeve and realized I was running low on yarn. Several people on Ravelry have mentioned that the skeins were less than 100 grams when they weighed them. I did not think to weigh the skeins and plunged in confidently because I had at least 200 yards to spare when I started. When I was about three inches from the end of the second sleeve I realized I would run out. I cast on some socks to comfort myself in the meantime.

What would become of the precious pockets, last to be knit? I found some in mustard available at Loops in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is not that far from me. I frantically called them and asked them to check the dye lot. I was not that lucky, but Pat and Gina were very kind and sent me a skein that arrived the next day. Since I was already knitting from two skeins throughout the project to avoid pooling, there was not a drastic difference in the sleeves, but when I look at the pockets (knit from just that new ball), I can tell that dye lot is much more green.

One problem I had with the project was a small ridge that formed as I switched yarn from ball to ball. This is in the back and can be seen in the picture above. This did not go away in blocking as I had hoped, but maybe it will in subsequent washes. The Ella Rae also grew a bit more than I expected when I wet blocked it. I smooshed (technical term) it into the measurements as much as I could, but I might try to dry it just a wee bit next time I wash it. The yarn label says it may be washed on gentle, so I may risk a tiny bit of drying too.

Other than a couple of small flaws, I love this piece. I loved the challenge of the deadline of NaKniSweMo to encourage me to finish something in a timely manner. I think as I get more experienced with knitting I’m better able to tell what kind of projects I will love to wear. Though this is over a mile of stockinette to knit, I really enjoyed the soothing motion, the gorgeous yellow green sliding through my fingers, and the finished product.

Make yourself some socks instead of shop! Or shop for sock yarn…no judgement. This Black Friday I’m releasing Tuxedo. This pattern is a toe up lace sock, done two at a time and magic loop for the sock adventurer. The sizing is custom as you go. I love knowing all of the elements that go into sizing a sock, and these type of custom patterns are helpful for that learning process. You better understand the construction of the whole piece when it’s over.

The lace is a very simple repeat that you can easily memorize, and it is stretchy enough to accomodate several foot widths. You can also add additional stitches on the leg and continue until you are able to use all of your sock yarn.

I made these out of Malabrigo Sock, aka deliciously buttery merino, in a color called Alcaucil. This color is shown as a dark green on their site, but it actually appears to be much more black in person. Regardless of the color differences, the yarn is heaven to knit touch while you knit.

The pattern is available on Ravelry. You can read more about it here or but it directly by clicking on this button:

Photos by Matt Petty.

Ty-Dy sock yarn by KNIT ONE crochet too.

My fingers will travel a quarter of a mile down this 100 gram strand of wool as I knit one stitch after the next, shaping and forming toes, heels, legs, and cuffs. My fingers have committed this route to memory, so much so that I only need to know the width of the foot, length to the heel flap, and total length of the foot. My fingers do all of the rest of the thinking. This is comfort.

This is color 1364.

It’s day 13 of NaKniSweMo and I’m feeling totally confident about being able to finish in time, or possibly even this week. As I was working on the increases, each row became painstakingly long and I feared that I was making no progress. Friday night I was able to set aside the 122 stitches for the pockets (see indentions in pictures) and now this baby is FLYING.

I’m at least 4.5 inches into the last 10 before the bottom ribbing. Even though this is my second blog post for the day (which feels strongly like a procrastination tactic…ahem, school) I felt I should post today at the time of the picture to show the accurate level of progress.

I’ve had a few days where I wore my hands out with trying to knit too fast, or just knit too long. I think I’ve been going off and on for at least 6 hours or so today, and everything feels pretty good. Maybe this is all just making my hands stronger.

I’m now feeling confident that this tunic will make it to a couple of Thanksgiving gatherings. I just won’t take it off when it’s done…

The leaves and light were being cooperatively pretty and it was a gorgeous 70 degrees out today. I probably should have spent less time knitting. Oh well. You can’t stop progress.

Pumpkin and dark chocolate bread pudding

I don’t normally attempt to A) make sure I write recipes down or B) share them with the world, but what the heck. I love making bread pudding and I thought I would share this pumpkin-laden dish in the spirit of the pumpkin-laden upcoming holidays. We’ve been getting our vitamin A in the last week and a half with this and a large batch of pumpkin soup inspired by Knitxcore’s pumpkin soup post. So here is my recipe for Pumpkin and Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding:

Ingredients:
About 4 cups of bread cut into 1 inch cubes to fill a 9×9 baking pan. We used homemade whole grain wheat bread.
4 oz Neufchâtel cream cheese
1 cup pumpkin pie mix
1 cup half and half
3/8 cup agave
4 eggs
4 oz Ghirardelli 60% Cacao baking chocolate

Put cubed bread into 9×9 baking pan. Break chocolate bar into small chunks (or use chocolate chips) and sprinkle evenly over the bread cubes. Soften cream cheese and put it and all remaining ingredients into blender (or use hand mixer) and blend until completely mixed and smooth. Pour over bread and chocolate mix. Store in refrigerator overnight to allow bread pieces to soak up mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Eat heartily.

We ate this with a scoop of Fage Greek yogurt to cut the sweetness. It was satisfactory. Enjoy!

We are lucky in Arkansas to have upper 50′s and 60′s (Fahrenheit) weather right now. It’s balmy, with an earthquake (yes, earthquake) here and there. We’ve had two earthquakes that we could actually feel in the last few days that originated in Oklahoma. It’s pretty freaky, but mild so far.

Here are some pictures from my neighborhood:

Oh, and for a NaKniSweMo update…

This color defies me when it comes to rendering it correctly on the screen. In real life it’s gorgeous and alternates between looking more gold sometimes and looking more green at others.

I’m almost through the first set of increases. It’s already day 8 of this challenge (yikes!) out of 30. I feel I should be further along, but alas, other life happens. Last weekend my hands were throbbing after a Sunday full of hours of knitting. I begged the fella for a hand massage, and like the good fella he is, he graciously obliged.

I’m still happy I chose the Still Light Tunic. I think she’s going to make me feel pretty when this is over, and maybe I’ll even finish in time to wear it to Thanksgiving events. I am nothing if not an optimist!