apple pie

it’s rainy and 46 degrees out today.

i decided it is about time to clear out the fridge and pantry. i find apples…. just a little on the wrinkly side. then i decide to bake…. very unlike me.....

percy is monitoring the garden for the heron who is stalking our pond fish and opal is in the land of nod.

so i bake.

thank you to the food network’s ‘mom’s harvest apple pie’. i am only missing the orange zest and cranberries but i am happy to make use of our huge walnut stash and aging raisins.

oh and yes i did use frozen pie crust (but hey, it was in the freezer and it only lasts up to 2 months).

my favorite little person in the whole world....

....yeah ok. the sweater is too big. but isn't he handsome!

i livescribe.

and as it turns out i livescribe for knitting.

as a gift i received this fantastic smart pen. it may be smarter than me, as at this point in our relationship, it talks to me but i am not yet comfortable talking to it.

this weekend i had a fellow knitter contact me to ask what my alterations were for a pattern i had knitted around 4 years ago. i know how sad i am, but this was a reminder. i pulled out my books of knitting notes (there are many books) and retyped the pattern with my modifications (listed row by row in my notes) … sadly only to loose them when the (my) computer had... well it had let me down.

i retyped the modifications.

that is when i realized how friendly my mac and i could be. with my smart pen i rewrote my notes for “francesca”. i will continue my knitting notes in this same journal.

for what it is worth~ this is my new knitting library.
☺

it is wrong... it must be..

today in san antonio it is 80 degrees.

it is wrong... it must be..

our camellias are blooming?!

a little sparkle

i went through a phase of buying a lot of this yarn because well… i really loved it. now i am desperate to find projects to make with it or i will just have to admit defeat and pass it on to a better home.

the best thing about it: fantastic gold christmas tree tinsel woven into the wool.

pattern details:

francesca by martin storey (book classic woman)

8 skeins rowan soft lux
needles: us 6 & us 7

i am omitting the beads. need to face the fact that beads & glitter might be overkill.

darn..

i also think i will do away with the neckline tie (for obvious reason). i am not too keen on the sweater look either so i think i will alter it to make it a cardigan.

given that there are only maybe 2 days in south texas that it would get cold enough to knit with this heavy wool it is now or never. :)

argh! to love or not to love....

a lot of issues for a small little green sweater.

i call it gavin's GREEN alfie.

gavin's GREEN alfie was meant to be a christmas gift. alas it was not meant to be.... the pattern is from sublime #613. the front is worked in two narrow strips and the center boarder and collar are worked at the end.

i used colourmart 100% extra fine merino

size us #3 & #6 needles.

issue #1: my dumb fault. washed prior to knitting in warm water. i thought i was being cleaver so it would not shrink once knit.

new knitting rule: hot water + wool = ball of felted yarn mess.

issue #2: contacted sublime as pattern reads funny.. when working the left front armhole the pattern begins taking the decreases at the armhole edge for the first 3 rows and then takes the decrease on both sides (decrease one stitch at the beginning of the next (x) rows.) i think it should that read at the armhole edge for the next 7 rows~ which is how i knit it. looking at the picture in the book there is no shaping where the collar attaches. (did not hear back from sublime so i am not sure what the patterns intentions were.)

issue #3: had to frog the collar and start again. the collar begins 11 cm below shoulder shaping. after finishing it the neck was too small. ended up re-knitting the collar and joining it 14 cm below shoulder shaping.

a learning process.

and the answer is yes.... to love. for you little gavin in a nice bright color for you to enjoy.

happy christmas!

totally made up on the ‘fly’

sitting at the airport and inspired by the domestic abilities of my dear chi, armed with take-out-boxes of homemade treats to keep me focused, my trusty knitting bag and the realization that it truly is the week of christmas~ i take my husbands advice to write out the always better-late-than-never cards.




the goods: frog tree fingerling weight 100% suri brushed

size 3 needles (all i had at the time)

c/o 13-14 sts
knit every row until desired length.

all sorts of yumminess.

with my chi and her most fantastic kitchen within grasp at last… here comes the homemade version of the vosges caramel marshmallows.

truly one of the greatest things on earth.

why i am happy....

those i miss...

today i will have a corndog....

i will look forward to a pint at the tam with your friends.

i will remember you by your stories.

i will miss you.

one year older....

hey i was woken up early by opal barfing on my pillow.

it soon got better~ but should birthdays really ever fall on a monday?

highlight- my itouch (sadly the iphone is not compatible with my current cell phone cancellation policy). but without the mobile capability of the iphone the itouch is equally as cool. yes.. i even put stitchminder on it.... beware fellow knitters~ technology is on my side.

thank you my friends for every last wonderful birthday wish. and thank you ms. chi for the flowers that you send every year that make me happy.

little g's mathching grandpa's 70th b-day scarf

the dog motif is taken from the dougie dog scarf by Lucinda Guy in her book handknits for kids: 25 original designs for boys and girls. i made the adult one for my father’s 70th birthday and so i made this for my nephew to sport around with grandpa. the little man’s is single stranded and grandpa’s is double.

details: pattern: manly scarf by jennie.

1 skein kraemer yarns tatamy tweed dk (same as grandpas)

.2 skein kraemer yarns tatamy tweed dk in electric blue

.01 skein harmony in cream for the embroidery details on the dog- a gift from sarah.

1 button

notes:

decided pocket should have a button. ~thank you leigh for these fun star buttons you gave me!~

knit using a single strand. the end scarf is 6 inches wide rather than 8 inches double stranded on dads. the finished length is 53” in length... some nice young man at the car dealership yesterday tried it on for me for size (perfect!)

oh my. adding the pocket stressed me to some degree. in the end i chose to knit the pocket into the scarf and add the pocket back for a neater front finish.

done :)

popular

pops gave me some love for my macbook air screen protector. so, in turn i took the screen measurements and of their laptop computers and made them each one.

for syl i appliqued a birdcage... not the real thing but much less messy.



for dad i went simple. i only added a seam binding (boiltex seam binding~ vintage pre 1950’s) border in a darker blue to the wool felt.

if only i could get the mitered corners correct....

sigh.

for pepper.

our little man enjoyed his ornamental cabbage for a nap. today i bought a flat of them from shades of green.

i know he would have enjoyed them.

why i love my birthday…

yes it may sound selfish but to be honest this is my favorite time of the year. years ago my mother would celebrate my birthday with a pumpkin pie.

since then i love everything about the fall and i am lucky my birthday falls in the season.

my dear boston friend sent me john & kira's “chocolate fig pumpkins” for my birthday this year with wonderful handmade and great crafty goodies which make me smile!



what a lucky girl i am.

oh sad, oh sad that i can write this.

this is my finished father’s 70th birthday scarf.

i will be giving pops the scarf when all the kids go home for thanksgiving. i can blog about it because i am certain that dad has never seen my blog. so no chance of ruining the surprise…..

...as he is now seventy years of age i am ok with this.

details:
manly scarf (ok lame name) pattern can be found here
thank you jennie for the free pattern!

3 skeins kraemer yarns tatamy tweed dk (750 yards) ~ my choice of a cotton blend tweed in a dad like color (walnut)

size 8 needles

knitting double stranded.

(note: a nice project to take on the go. i will be making the same scarf in a 6yr old size with the same yarn and a doggie pocket. that way grandpa and grandson can enjoy together)
:)

i picked a project that would use the first pair of needles dad bought me. a nice hand made size 8 made from walnut (hence the color of the yarn.)

end project 70in. long. so i ended up using 3 skeins of yarn in the end (instead of two) to get the length.

will use the same yarn for my nephew single stranded on a needle size 5. let’s hope it works out!

today i feel like....

.... dad's fat cat.
it must be time to leave the new mexican food alone for a while.

apples

i grew up on my father’s orchard. while he no longer lives in the house where we grew up, his new orchard makes me just as happy. today we picked some of his apples. with around 27 varieties, i am not sure just what we picked but my favorite were these sweet arkansas blacks.

good ol' farmer dad covers every piece of fruit on his trees with a “fruit” stocking. there are many uses for the stocking: ladies fashion, criminal use or as a father’s effort to keep birds and other animals away from his fruit while they ripen.

and as it turned out it worked.

for dinner~ fresh picked apples with cheese

why i love upstairs on the square....

libations available on election night...

(note blue font coloration)

Bridge To Nowhere Combo $16

A Glass of Pinot Noir

with Susie’s Stacked Chickpea Fries & Housemade Ketchup

Sarah’s “I Can See” White Russian $9

Cheney Oyster “Shooter” (Duck!)

A Wellfleet Oyster in a Bloody $11

these can be enjoyed at my favorite boston restaurant upstairs on the square... if you go~ please have a drink for me!

happy halloween!

puppy love~ the results of a boston on a diet

~she is now one lean mean opal machine~

stupid creepy scary halloween stuff for sarah…

black widow headband

this pattern was written by an austin yarn shop owner and blogger stacy klaus. her shop (the knitting nest) participated in the hill country yarn crawl and has recently been voted best new local business by the readers of the austin chronicle.

the kit consisted of cascade eco + (an aran weight yarn made of 100% wool), the pattern and this great plastic spider.

sarah~ i am sorry i did not know your head size so i fudged it and made the pattern to fit a standard plastic headband the sewed it on to the plastic one…..


now for the spider i could not help but gluing it to a bobby pin. sarah i cant wait to see a picture!

...don't hate me...

hardly able to control myself….

overly addicted to ravelry is a bad thing.

i know this because not only do i not have time to knit~ i also have a wealth of pattern ideas to confuse things.

this is bad because i can easily sit in front of the computer and weigh the pros and cons about different designs (even if i have no intention of knitting them… who the heck needs a felted handbag?!) and neglect things like eating and sleeping.

my social network is a bunch of virtual friends.

should computers be such an integral part of my knitting obsession?.... to the point where yesterday i considered changing cell phone provider in order to swap my current pda for an iphone to run stitchminder?

i did good this weekend.
i walked around yarn shops (hill country yarn crawl).
i found a pattern book.
i bought the book….
(sadly i bought the yarn online)

‘mila tells me gavin likes bright colors…. what do you think ‘mila?

i am too excited for words and i can’t wait for this yarn to come

acl 2008

the fratellis
spiritualized
the kills
silversun pickups
the raconteurs
tegan & sara





of course there were more awesome bands, however faced with the kind of heat that would melt your mascara to the brim of your hat (if you were brave enough to wear any)~ it was safer to take multiple shade breaks armed with shade break essentials such as:
camp chair with beverage holder
beer (with koozie)
water
sunscreen
hat
festival foods (of whatever sort is available)


...of course, forget the heat when one can have jason pierce sign your acl program or even just shake the man's hand...

~see you next year acl~

portugal jenny

sick at home today. not like me to be sick so i am feeling very sorry for myself. (even though it really is only a cold). i did pluck up the energy to finish the last bits of jenny that have been awaiting my attention for some time now...

i have to say i really like it. it is hard for me to believe that this pattern is the same as my ravelympics 2008 sweater only with a few modifications.

details:
rowan ryc cashsoft dk- 6 skeins shade 506
needles: us 3 & 6
size: medium (due to gauge- would knit a small)

note: used one less ball than pattern called for. substituted rowan hand knit cotton with the softer cashsoft dk.

no modifications to the pattern except i left out the contrasting cast on at the bottom of the body and sleeves.

mostly knit in portugal and was on a real roll- very nice to knit and fun pattern but put it aside for my ravelympics 2008 beaded jenny.

the ribbon and buttons were bought in estoril at retrosaria fantasia- along with the other wonderful buttons i found there. such a wonderful retro haberdashery shop!