Knitting

Coffee Cup, Big Six and Book Love

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES/IN THE KILN

My WIPs have been reduced the past couple of days, I wish I could say that they’ve entered FOville but, no, they’ve been frogged or otherwise put on hold, mostly because I just wasn’t satisfied with them. Life’s too short, right? I’m still working on an Olivia Petit sweater in a larger size, much larger and now I remember why I prefer to knit baby stuff. I have to admit though, that it’s knitting up much, much, much faster than the original Olivia, due to, I’m sure, my finally figuring out the pattern and not having to knit and then tink or frog.

I decided to include a pottery WIP today, my first (sort of) recognizable object, a really, really big coffee cup.

Glazed and ready for the second firing

GIRLS RULE!

I call this photo “The Big Six”. Grown-ups are, left to right, our niece Julia, her mom and our sister in law, Patty, Mr. Iknead’s mom, Mema and my baby boy, Jordan. Aren’t the matching dresses the cutest things??

(L to R) Lila, Mollie, Marin, Harper, Susannah and Annabelle

Right after this picture, Harper put a cigarette butt in her mouth. Yuck x1000000000

BY THE BOOK

I’m currently deeply engrossed in Gwen W. Steege’s The Knitter’s Life List. This particular book is from my local library, but I’m seriously inclined to buy myself a copy, just because I love its lists, pictures and fiber people profiles. Off to stalk this book online….

Don’t forget to check out the Small Things Yarn Along.

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light. Albert Schweitzer

Knitting

One for the History Books, An Honor, An Award

April 23, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS

The 2013 Coleman family reunion bash has come and gone and I think it’s safe to say it was a unqualified success. Everyone played nice (but we always do) with lots of baby admiring, kid chasing, laughter, way too much food and just all around catching up. I’ll be posting pics for a while, there are at least a couple hundred, but don’t worry, I’ve no intention of subjecting you to photo after photo of people, places or things that are only interesting to the people actually in the picture. First, though, I finally got a pic of the Sprout in the Olivia Petit sweater. Oh.My.Gosh.

Lindsey and Annie – The first twigs on the Coleman Family tree

I can’t believe they have babies of their own now!

SUCH AN HONOR

I was so surprised and honored to learn that nothingbutknit2 nominated me for a Leibster award. Keep reading to get the skinny on this very cool award.

The Leibster Award is given by bloggers, to bloggers, and its purpose is to highlight blogs with under 200 followers that deserve a look. Encouraging people to visit blogs that others enjoy seems like a great initiative. The rules for the award are pretty straightforward:

1. Post 11 facts about myself.

2. Answer the questions given to me by the person who nominated me.

3. Invent 11 questions to ask people whom I wish to nominate for the award.

4. Choose 11 people (with fewer than 200 followers) to give this award to and link to them in my post.

5. Go to their blog and tell them.

My 11 Facts:

1. I’m an only child.

2. I have three grandchildren, all girls.

3. I’ve been married to Mr. Iknead for 33 years.

4. I am recently retired.

5. Before I was old and creaky-boned, I was an aerobics teacher.

6. I’ll try anything once.

7. I learned to drive on a stick shift.

8. I’m an unrepentent homebody.

9. I love to fish – but strictly catch and release.

10. I played bassoon in high school.

11. I love a challenge.

My 11 Nominee Answers

1. Favorite color? Any shade of purple.

2. Childhood punishment? Spanking.

3. Favorite book? A tie – Stephen King’s The Stand and Betty Smith‘s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

4. Dog or cat? Both.

5. Party theme? Come as your favorite book character.

6. My favorite actor/actress? Diane Keaton.

7. What have I learned recently that surprised me? People describe me as “artsy”.

8. Have I ever done anything illegal? Yep.

9. Hardest thing ever done? Ran the eight mile leg of a relay marathon.

10. Title of my autobiography? Still Crazy After All These Years.

11. Easier to give up chocolate or TV for a week? Chocolate.

My 11 Nominee Questions:

1. Fiction or nonfiction?

2. Favorite dessert?

3. What was the last book you read?

4. What’s your favorite music genre?

5. Do you know how to swim?

6. What do you have a burning desire to learn?

7. Birth order?

8. What’s your guilty pleasure?

9. What’s your favorite thing to knit?

10. What would be your dream job?

11. What would be your dream vacation?

My Nominees:

The Mommy Life 101

My Knitting Circle’s Blog

wife*mother*disciple

Your Mess, His Message

Take a few minutes to check out these blogs, I hope you like them as much as I do!

There is no such thing as a “self-made” person….Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success. George Matthew Adams

Knitting

FO Friday Quickie

April 19, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF THE NEEDLES, INTO FO FRIDAYVILLE

I cast off Laura Spradlin’s Grrlfriend Market Bag yesterday, just in time for pics and this week’s FO Friday post. Super pattern, super bag. Nice and stretchy to hold whatever you fancy. I had some orphan balls of Sugar and Cream, so that’s what they became. My only thumbs down on this project is that personally, Sugar and Cream yarn is really hard on the joints in my hands. Much of this is just age related arthritis, but every time I knit with Sugar and Cream or any other 100% cotton yarn, my hands suffer and I can only do a few rows at a time before taking a break to let my hands rest. Other than that, I’m really happy with how this project turned out.

Grrlfriend Market Bag

Don’t forget to visit Tami Ami’s FO Friday blog for more FO inspiration!

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein

Knitting

Getting the Band Back Together

April 18, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

TOGETHERNESS

About 24 hours from now, the official Coleman Family Reunion 2013 will commence. We have a lot to catch up on – in the past three years, we’ve grown by six, our grands and the St. Louis branch grands – all girls, age three and under. I’m looking forward to lots of girly giggling and princess playing, as that’s the Papoose’s favorite thing and she’s a tad on the bossy side at times. Festivities start with a cookout at Babydiva’s house tomorrow evening and will wind up Sunday, when the St. Louis branch heads home and the Little Rock branch heads for the couch and a nap. Party on!

WHEN YOU COME TO A FORK

in the road, take a picture. Seriously. I was walking on Monday, there was this fork, just laying in the middle of the sidewalk. I walked about four more steps, decided I didn’t really care that the people driving by probably thought I was nuts, backtracked and took a picture. I mean, really, how often does one really, really come upon a fork in the road. Anyone besides me and Mr. Iknead remember the old Johnny Carson/Teri Garr skit, the one with a map and at some point Johnny would point to a map and say, “when you come to a fork in the road”? Hilarious. Or maybe you just had to be there.

This is the actual fork in the road.

I’m always seeing bizarre things on my walks, I’ve started carrying my phone for picture proof that yes, I really did see it. On a walk last summer, a black chicken ran across the road in front of me. Swear. I think Mr. Iknead had seen it before and had actually gotten a picture. If he did, I’ll post it.

There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day. Alexander Woollcott

Knitting

WIPW 04/17/12

April 17, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

I’ve been able to rein in my knitting ADD, at least for the moment, trying really hard not to veer off into the ozone with knitting projects. I’m working on Knitty‘s Interlocking Leaves socks in the oh so pretty Shibui Poodleskirt color and I also started another Olivia Petit sweater, this one in a larger size. Oh yeah, I’ve been knitting up dishcloths at Bigmama’s request and they’re a nice break from those long rows of Olivia.

Interlocking Leaves

Olivia Petit 2.0

In case you’re wondering, that’s a set of frosted glass windchimes that I was too lazy to put away this morning, thus their debut on WIPW 04/17/13

FIELD TRIP

Babymama and I, along with Babydiva, Bela the standard poodle and Josie Pug have plans to visit the dog park this afternoon. I’m expecting it to be loads of fun, and am right now charging Mr. Canon’s battery (sounds kind of nasty, doesn’t it?) to document all the fun. Look for pictures to be posted later this week.

Don’t forget to visit Tami Ami’s WIPW blog and check out all the neat WIPs!

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow. Anthony J. D’Angelo

Knitting

Getting My Hands Dirty and Bread Love

April 16, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

GOING TO POT

I’m still love, love, loving my pottery class and look forward to it every week. Yesterday, we learned about building with coils and how to use an extruder, which is a really quick, easy way to make them. Takes a little bit more upper body strength than I have, but by standing on a stool and leaning my weight on the handle, I can get the job done. Here’s my pottery WIP from yesterday – with emphasis on the WIP! I’m starting to feel more comfortable with the clay, catching on to how it feels when it’s too wet to add details (too wet clay is floppy and will slump and collapse) and then how it feels when it’s dry enough to hold the details or embellishments added. Cool stuff, I think.

I didn’t get to finish this little pot, I want to flare the sides more and then narrow and smooth the top; since I’m in a class at the Art Center, I can come and go at the pottery studio when I want, not just at class time. I may go later today and work on it a little more, maybe experimenting some with different sized coils and bases. I love this!!

FROM THE OVEN

The Sundried Tomato Basil bread was such a success that I want to share it. This isn’t my recipe, so to give due credit, the original was submitted by girlversusdough on tablespoon.com. She has a baking blog, girlversusdough.com, one I’ve enjoyed following.

Sundried Tomato Basil Bread

1 cup warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp chopped dried basil

1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 2 cups of the flour and all other ingredients to the batter and mix with dough hook until just combined. (I used the paddle attachment and it turned out fine.)

2. Add remaining flour 1 tbsp at a time until dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.

3. Remove dough from bowl and place in a clean, lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

4. Punch down risen dough and shape into an oval, stretching from the top of the loaf to underneath the bottom. Place shaped loaf in a lightly greased 8×4 inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is ready, bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. So good!

Thanks girlversusdough for sharing this recipe, it’s delicious!

The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated. William James

Knitting

Think Out of the Breadbox

April 13, 2013April 13, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

THE TOMATO BASIL EXPERIMENT

Babymama and I went to lunch earlier this week and I had my first taste of tomato basil bread and now I’m hooked. I’ve baked bread off and on for years – mostly traditionals- whole wheat, rye, white, etc. so today, I’m stepping out of the breadbox (a little baking humor) and trying my hand at a Sundried Tomato Basil Bread recipe that I found on the Tablespoon website.

Success! Simple recipe, great flavor. This one’s going in the recipe box to be baked again and again. With cheese, fancy mustard and smoked turkey – two words – different and delicious! Such a pretty loaf!

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. Buddha

Knitting

FO Friday 04/12/13

April 12, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

DATELINE THURSDAY, 1400 HOURS

I’ve been plagued this week with startitis and have had a hard time settling down to any one project long enough to complete it. So far this week I’ve started another, larger Olivia sweater, a pair of socks for me and a knitted market bag and with two more days left to go this week I can’t guarentee I won’t start something else. All this and the Sprout’s new Olivia sweater lacks only buttons.

OFF THE NEEDLES

Olivia is finally, actually, happily done! I found some cute buttons this week while cruising

Hobby Lobby

and I think they’re perfect. I’ve always loved purples and greens together and these buttons allowed me to indulge in my favorite color combo. I’m so excited to be unveiling this sweet sweater! Now all I have to do is get a photo of the Sprout modeling it.

Olivia Petite Sweater

Pattern from Quince&Co.

Don’t forget to visit Tami Ami’s FO Friday blog for today for more FO Friday treats! I’m always impressed and inspired and I bet you will be too!

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. A.A. Milne

Knitting

Cookie Heaven, Josie’s Disappointment

April 11, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

NOT HALF BAKED, NOT HALF BAD

I’ve not done much baking blogging here in the last little bit, I’ve been obsessed with other, newer and sexier ideas and things, but today I wanted to share the Iknead family’s favorite cookie recipe. I hope you love it as much as we do.

BEST EVER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES – REALLY

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli bittersweet chips and dump in the whole bag)

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir flour, salt and baking soda together and put aside. Beat butter and sugars at medium speed until blended and creamy. Add vanilla and eggs, beating well after adding each egg on low speed until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by tbsp onto parchment covered cookie sheet (this just makes for easy clean up, parchment is not essential) and bake 9 to 11 minutes until golden brown. Cool on rack and enjoy!

I baked a batch of these yesterday morning at Mr. Iknead’s request and decided to photograph them and share the recipe. Josie Pug is EXTREMELY interested in anything that goes on in the kitchen and was underfoot the entire time, as usual. I know better than to put Josie within snatching distance of cookies, but I got distracted by something and she sneaked out the door behind me. Before I realized it, this is what went down:

Cookies? What cookies? Just smelling the flowers is all.

Oh! You mean these?

Well, maybe a little taste.*

*No pugs were harmed during this photoshoot. Much to her disgust, I chased her down, took the cookie away, trashed it and banished her from the yard. I kept pushing her away but she got away from me on the last photo.

**Chocolate is extremely poisonous to dogs, the smaller the dog, the less it takes to sicken them. Please keep chocolate, any chocolate, out of their reach.

Make the most of yourself for that is all there is of you. Ralph Emerson

Knitting

WIPW 04/10/13, Yarn Along and Sock Pattern Lust

April 10, 2013April 10, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

I decided to give myself a little break from fiddly stuff for a bit and have been knitting up dish towels instead, finally using some of that Sugar and Cream that’s been in the stash for lo, how many years. My current favorite is the Yarn Over Cable Cloth from Dishcloth Boutique. After just a couple of repeats, I’d memorized the four row pattern, a welcome relief from having to look from pattern to knitting and back to pattern.

I’m getting the sock knitting itch again, I just wound some new Shibui Sock from Yarn Mart and am pondering patterns even as I type. I have a couple of ideas – Spring Forward or Kew, both from Knitty. Love them both, maybe I’ll flip a coin. Here’s a look at the new Shibui –

This color is called Poodle Skirt and how cute is that??

MR. CANON AND ME, WE GETTIN’ TIGHT

Beginning to feel much more comfortable with Mr. Canon and today, it took only about 30-45 minutes to remember and do what took hours yesterday. Josie, Mr. Canon and I just may take a field trip tomorrow morning, especially if the weather stays as beautiful as it has the last two days.

Photobomb by Josie

BY THE BOOK

My Yarn Along contribution today is Stephen King’s Under the Dome, in preparation for the mini-series scheduled for sometime in June. I’m still technically reading Annie Dillard‘s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, but haven’t picked it back up since Monday afternoon at the library. I’m planning to get started again this afternoon, the weather is predicted to be stormy and this seems like it would be a good book to cocoon with.

DON’T FORGET TO

Visit Tamis Amis’ WIPW blog for more WIP goodies and Ginny Sheller’s Yarn Along for lots more book and yarn love. Prepare to be inspired!

The better part of happiness is to wish to be what you are. Desiderius Erasmus

Knitting

New Skills, Accomplishments and Food For Thought

April 9, 2013April 9, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

OLD DOG NEW TRICK

I’ve been thinking for a while about working on my photography skills – what skills haha – so this Sunday afternoon, I got the manual to Mr. Iknead’s fancy schmancy camera and did a little reading. Really, cameras nowadays (this one, anyway) have a much higher IQ than I do. What I learned mostly was where all the buttons were and what they did. OK, so far so good, photos look pretty good and the Mr. Canon and I are getting acquainted. Next up, transfer pics from Mr. Canon to Ms. Dell, which took me what felt like forever, but really a couple of hours, to figure out, but still, mission accomplished. Final step: Upload to Flickr, which, again, has taken me a couple of hours to figure out, with their fancy new uploader, but again, mission accomplished. Finally, it dawned on me that I needed to update my browser and then, I could drag and drop to my little heart’s content. Done and done. Here’s a few of my first attempts –

I could get into this whole photography thing, like I need another hobby!

BY THE BOOK

My reading/listening is all over the map the past week or so, ranging from Stephen King’s Under the Dome to Annie Dillard‘s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I started Pilgrim at Tinker Creek yesterday, just a few pages in, but am already enjoying it. She writes about learning to unsee the obvious and find the hidden in nature, which I find compelling, especially when she writes about stillness and the frenetic activity underneath it. Like I said, compelling.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

FINALLY, SPRING

The past few days have been absolutely, positively gorgeous – short sleeve and sandal weather. I’m finally motivated to do something- anything-outside. The sunshine and breeze during my morning walk today felt like such a gift after so many cold, rainy, windy days when I literally had to force myself to just get out of the house. Thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow, but I’m living in today and it’s lovely. I’m letting tomorrow be tomorrow.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what they had to teach; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. Henry David Thoreau, “Walden“

Knitting

FO Friday, Blogs and Monkey Pool

April 5, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF THE NEEDLES OR TGIFOF

The Monkey Pool socks are finished as of yesterday. The Parakeet yarn was amazing to work with, unfortunately, the pattern I started out with, Spring Pools, not so much. This was totally my fault. The pretty pattern was lost in the busy colors on the yarn. Of course, I decided this AFTER the first sock was finished. So, I changed canoes so to speak in the middle of the stream and the second sock is a Crazy Monkey, making these a pair of Monkey Pool socks.

FYI – I tried to post a link for the Parakeet yarn but can’t read the name of the web address on the label. Sorry about that. It’s from The Great Adirondack Yarn Company.

L – Spring Pools R- Crazy Monkey

I’m still on the lookout for the perfect buttons for Olivia. I’m going to Goodwill today to search for some I can repurpose and if not, then I’ll continue my stalking. This search has motivated me to start stockpiling buttons that catch my interest and since I’m a diehard collector, the house will be awash in buttons in no time. Besides, I think buttons are cool. Speaking of Olivia, she’s blocked and ready to receive the final touches, an applied I-cord (which I’m going to need help with) and, of course, the buttons. I’ll show her off as soon as she’s officially totally completed, FO Friday or not!

SHAMELESS PLUG

While you’re blog surfing, please check out these two, which are near and dear to my heart, wife.mother.disciple at susiemom.wordpress.com and The Mommy Life 101 at kcoleman1009.wordpress.com. As mentioned in another post, these blogs are Bigmommy and Babymama’s first blogs ever and we all know, especially with blogging, a little encouragement goes a long way! Thanks in advance!

Another blog you don’t want to miss is Tamis Ami’s and since it’s FO Friday, it’s full of FO goodness. You’ll be blown away by the creativity of us fiber freaks, I always am!

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. Erich Fromm