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

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

Divadom, Birthdays and (dare I say it?), Triumph!

April 2, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

GRAND DIVADOM

Babydiva’s first birthday was a complete success, judging by the fun that was had by all, even though it was originally planned to be an Easter egg hunt and having to move the venue inside due to rainy weather. She was (as always) gorgeous and carried her divadom like she was born into it, which she was. Great presents, great cupcakes, great company and great fun!

FIRST BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE

I’m positive I’ll have at least a gazillion more pictures, both of Babydiva and the Papoose and Sprout, just as soon as their mommies are able to slow down long enough to get them posted.

Party On, Papoose

GONE TO POT

Yeah, it’s corny but I couldn’t resist. Yesterday was my first pottery class and I have to admit, it was the coolest thing. The class, Beginning Handbuilding, is combined with another, way advanced class, Independent Study and it’s really neat to check out what the more advanced students are working on. The basic class is very small, four people and a teacher, two ladies about my age, me and a young guy (they’re all young guys now), a 25 year old self employed furniture restorer. I’m beginning to believe that creativity is a thread between some people, maybe like calling to like, because one of the first things we did after meeting each other was show off and admire tats. Three of the four students had them, probably not that unusual, it just struck me as interesting. Then, later in the class, the instructor saw my tat and asked me if I was a knitter, especially since it happens to be a ball of yarn with knitting needles. I told her yep and here’s the coolest thing – she said “me too”, another of the students said, “me too”, and two of the advanced students said, “me too”. Now, tell me that’s not awesome. Out of eight people total in the room, five of us were knitters, mostly hardcore too. It’s a thread, I tell you. Oops, sidetracked, we learned to make pinch pots, took a tour of the pottery department and learned a little about the different clays and different glazing techniques. I made a couple of butt-ugly pots, but hey, it was my first time. Next week, we learn more about glazing and how to use the slab technique to make a coffee cup. I can’t wait! Sorry no pics, too busy and distracted by all the stuff going on. Next week, promise.

ON THE NEEDLES

I’m aware that tomorrow is WIPW and not today, but I finally got a handle on the Olivia sweater, and lack only the sleeves in finishing it. I’m not ashamed to say that this pattern totally had its way with me, slapping and kicking me around (see Yarn Harlot‘s blog post for today, I totally get it), but finally I gained the upper hand and like a bully, once I showed no fear, it slunk off to sulk and get over itself. And, OMG, it was totally worth it, every second of every frog, tink and the blood, sweat and tears it generated. Here’s a peek at the back –

What did I say? Totally worth it, right?? Even so, the next time I get a hare-brained idea like, “of course, it’s just a month before Easter but three sweaters for the grands is totally doable”, I’d appreciate a good smack to the back of the head, just to snap me out of it. Unfortunately, most of us knitters are also enablers and I can already hear a chorus of sures, absolutelys and totally doables going on in background. Meanwhile, today’s only goal is a sleeve.

There are some things only intellectuals are crazy enough to believe. George Orwell (1903-1950)

Knitting

WIPW 3/13/13, A Bump in the Olivia Petit Road and Library Whimsies

March 13, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

I have a couple of things, as usual, in the process of knitting up, frogging or time out. The first one up today went through all three stages yesterday, the Lolita vest. Here’s what went down – Rewind to Monday evening. Happily knitting, patting myself on the back for doing such a good job of staying on Task Lolita, even when the new yarn on the block, Knitpicks Comfy Sport in Honeydew, was calling me out to get acquainted and get started on the sweater(s) I had planned for it. Final pat on the back and then to bed. On inspection of my progress yesterday morning, I noticed that somehow I’d gotten a few, surely not more than three or so, stitches off in the pattern and now part of the openwork was wonky and didn’t match up with the previous openwork. Tinked back to correct, fixed – still not right, tinked back and tried again – still didn’t suit me, tinked back one more time, reknit and finally produced something I can live with. Since it’s knitted side to side, at the moment it’s just a wad of knitted fabric, but the spring sunshine was too great to pass up this morning and I took a pic anyway.

I’ve hit a pothole in the road on the sweet Olivia Petit sweater and haven’t been able to figure out what’s going on. I cast on, did the set up row for the neck and raglan increase, so far so good, worked the next increase row and that’s where the wheels came off. Too many stitches when I went to count. OK, operator error, frogged and started again. Same thing, too many stitches. Must have misread pattern. Frogged and started again after going over the pattern with a fine toothed comb, counting and recounting, reading and rereading. Still screwed, went to bed. I’m knitting the smallest size, so I’m thinking maybe going up one pattern size will work. Please. Will frog one last time and start again. If no go this time, I’m swallowing my pride, taking it to Yarn Mart and letting them figure it out. Frustration overload.

BY THE BOOK

I finished an absolutely, positively wonderful book yesterday, I started it Monday and couldn’t stop listening until it was finished, An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11 Year Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny, by Laura Schroff. Goosebumps though the whole thing! Incredible heartache, incredible joy, incredible book!

AT THE LIBRARY

I’m a huge library fan and not just for the books; it’s a favorite place for me to sit, knit and people watch for an hour or so whenever I can and I’m always excited to check out the collections on display. This week was a particular treat, with a collection of pottery. Surprisingly, my iPhone pictures through the glass turned out really well. I’m disappointed that there was no artist or artists mentioned but that didn’t cut the cool.