Summer Blanket

I finally finished (and gifted) my Big Project of the summer: a blanket for my niece's dorm room.  She's one of my fave nieces (of literally 30 or so nieces and nephews), and I'm super proud of her for working so hard that she had her choice of schools to attend.  She may be going to the wrong SEC school, but I can probably overlook that and still be proud.  Maybe.  I guess.

This blanket was knit partly while watching endless episodes of Covert Affairs and Deadliest Catch, and partly in the car on a road trip (the car being the only place with enough a/c to make knitting a blanket in the summer even remotely bearable).  (Note to self: in the future, do not decide to wait until the hottest summer on record in the history of EVER to knit a huge blanket.)

link to the ravelry project

I chose the colors to match her dorm room and just kinda fooled around with parts of different zigzag patterns until I came up with something I liked.  I used Caron Simply Soft, which is not widely considered to be a super-awesome fancy yarn but knits so consistently, washes so easily, and is for real soft - one of the best choices for blankets, I think.  Also, it's fairly cheap, which - let's be honest here - factors into my yarn-buying decisions quite a bit.  The stripes follow a double fibonacci sequence, because I find it visually appealing and also I'm a huge nerd.

I'm psyched to say that she loves it, and promises to send pics when she gets her dorm room all set up.  Hooray!

this is what the blanket looks like when folded over a chair in front of a window

this is what the blanket looks like on my bed (clearly the colors were not intended to match anything I personally own)

Catching Up

I realize it's been a good little while since I posted anything here.  That's not because I haven't been knitting and reading and whatever else it is I do, but because (a) I've either been out of town or home trying to entertain a 6-year-old, (b) I spend most of my free time desperately applying for jobs, and (c) I've gotten a bit caught up in the slow day-to-day sameness of summer, and I'm just recently snapping back into a more productive mode.  This involves numerous knitting projects, baking, trying to turn my office closet into a closet office, and catching up on the 17 grocery sacks of cheesy romance novels my mom has passed on to me over the past few months.  I tend to have way too many things going on at any given time due to my inability to complete a project without starting a new one halfway through (I feel I can blame this on my being a Gemini), so I'm not really prepared to post much right now.

However, I did complete this pretty lace scarf as a birthday present for one of my favorite ladies ever.

Ravelry Project (with link to pattern)

For my first experience with lace knitting, I think it went fairly well.  I definitely had a few false starts due to not having any clue what I was doing and to the slightly difficult nature of Lion's Microspun, but I conquered both!  I tried blocking for the first time as well, which was definitely much more simple than I had expected.  All in all, it was a gift I was excited to give, and I hope my friend enjoys it!

Blocking

Happy Birthday, Cowboy!

Yesterday, my amazing wonderful baby boy turned six.  And while I'm a little sad that, at six, he's really not such a baby anymore, he continues to amaze me every day.  One thing that continues to amaze me year after year is his ability to make a decision, plan it out, and stick with it - which is not something most small children are known for.  But this kid, three years running, has decided during summer what he will be for Halloween, and his Halloween costume leads into that year's birthday party theme.  So last October he dressed up as a cowboy (which he actually decided on 11/1 of the year before), and yesterday we had us a grand ol' cowboy party.

Every cowboy party, of course, needs hats - enough for children and adults alike:

And every party must have snacky food, which is generally the same every year ...

... except this year, you might notice, I've added what has become a Pinterest party staple (the lack of green M&Ms might be due to the fact that green didn't seem to be a very cowboy-ish color.  Then again, it might be due to the fact that I used all the greens when I made these for St. Patrick's Day):

There was a cow-print cake as well - from Publix, of course, because as I'm sure I've mentioned, it's the only kind of cake I like.  Our favorite Publix baker didn't (in my humble opinion) quite live up to the expectations I had of her, considering some of the seriously kick-ass cakes she's made for us in the past, but it was tasty and pretty cute considering that she made it from a crappy cell phone photo taken of an even-more-crappy napkin scribble and texted to my mom.  And for once (thank goodness) ALL of the cake was eaten on the day of the party - which means it's not presently sitting there staring at me, begging to be eaten.

The best part, though, was the candy table.  Each kid got to eat as much as they could sneak past their parents (one oh-so-sweet toddler was repeatedly caught eating the Sixlets like cereal), and I made sure they took as much candy home as they wanted.  Or more.

I had tons of fun playing Martha with the name tags and candy cards as well as the birthday boy's banner (which, to his delight, will probably hang in our kitchen for weeks):

It's almost impossible to get the coloring right with my yellowish lights in my yellow kitchen!

We grown-ups drank a fridge full of beer (thank goodness our fridge was fixed on Monday), and I made sure everybody's children got at least their fair share of sugar (a year's worth per kid, probably), and the weather couldn't have been more perfect if we'd ordered it up for my boy's special day.  And y'all, there were slap bracelets.  Awesome day, wonderful people, and a rad party that I hope my kid remembers at least until the next one.

Happy birthday, cowboy.

St. Patrick's Day Treats

Every year, my parents throw a St. Patrick's Day party.  In days long since past, I would most certainly have turned up my nose at hanging out with my parents on what is mostly a drinking holiday, but I'm old now, with neither a life nor any remaining alcohol tolerance.  So to my parents' house we went.  In trying to be helpful (because one wants to help one's parents as much as possible when one is essentially jobless and needs to stay in the good graces of people with money who also happen to be one's landlords) I volunteered to make the desserts.  Mind you, I'm no baker; I can follow a recipe well enough, but I don't really know what I'm doing.  It all seemed easy enough on Pinterest, though, so I figured I'd give it all a shot.

One of the few things that turned out in real life just like on Pinterest.  Definitely making these again!

Cookies.  I didn't really love these; I'm still searching for a favorite sugar cookie recipe. 

I'm not a huge fan of cupcakes (or cake, for that matter, unless it comes from Publix) but they're easy and cute and I'm told most people love them, so I made two kinds: Bakerella's Green Velvet, because literally every single post I saw recommended that recipe, and some Coke Cupcakes, because I had a box cake mix that was perhaps 2 or 3 years old (no telling why I bought it in the first place).  Coke Cupcakes are just a box cake mix plus 12 oz. of whatever kind of Coca-Cola you prefer (I used Sprite to match the color of the cake).  Not half bad.  

Sprite Cupcakes (I guess I didn't get a photo of the finished version)

Seriously Green Velvet (+ beer, a baking necessity)

Master Photographer, I am not ... but the crappy decorating job is visible enough. 

Boy Knits

Knitting for boys is not always as fun as knitting for girls.  Easily available (at least for me) yarn seems to come in two color families: Baby Pastel and Ugly.  Luckily, my kid loves both, so I was able to accommodate him when he requested some socks - and these socks, I think, somehow manage to fall into both categories.  No offense to the yarn-maker-folks; I'm sure there are people out there who love this yarn.  It knit up nicely into some socks, but the colors, well ... they're not for me.

Ravelry Project (with link to pattern)

Believe it or not, they even fit!

I had a bit more luck with the vest: the color choice was constrained by the fact that needed to match his school's uniform.  I found some grey, which goes with everything, and some navy, which is one of the colors he can wear.  I had to add tons of length to the pattern to fit my long-and-lean kid, and I didn't have the right needles for the neck band so that doesn't quite match the rest, but otherwise I guess it turned out okay.  In any case, it fits and should fit next fall, and it's useful, which is the whole point of making stuff.

Ravelry Project (with link to pattern)

The seaming was a bitch; I'm amazed that it turned out fairly well.

More stuff that actually fits!

Mitts Galore

I love fingerless gloves.  I love to wear them, and they're super-easy to make. They are great practice for double-pointed needles, and I've used them to learn fair-isle knitting and cables as well.  I hope that everybody else loves them as much as I do, because I plan to continue making them as gifts until I get sick of them.  Luckily (for me, as the gift-giver), my mom's office is frigid, so she requested a few pairs:

stranded mitts

Hint: making up the pattern as you go is only okay if you actually make a note of what you're doing so that you can duplicate it on the second one.  It's slightly less fun when you have to frog it and start over because you have absolutely no clue what you've been doing.

She thought those were a little fancy (and, um, a little small - also a risk when you make up a pattern and don't bother with little things like gauge) and requested another pair.  These are plain indeed, but are soft and comfy and were finished in a day:

thanks to mother for the photo, since I neglected to take any

And because I had not made enough already, and also because it looked like an easy pattern and a chance to figure how cables, I made these as well:

Toshette pattern (Ravelry link)

momma's first cables

Farrow Rib Scarf

I'm still trying to figure out this whole blog thing.  I am (as usual) in the middle of a billion different projects, so I thought I'd go ahead and post the sole project I've finished lately.

I had a lot of fun with this one.  A family friend requested a scarf - no particular color or pattern, so I got to try something new and clear out some of my stashed yarn.  I love the look of variegated yarn, and it's fun to knit, but the finished result is usually way too busy for me - which makes it great to use on things for other people.  I used a farrow rib (or mistake stitch), which was super easy and fast.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King!

My kid, being 5 years old, loves parties.  Less typically, he loves learning.  His teachers regularly report having to remind themselves that he's just a kid; he speaks like an adult and knows what he's talking about.  Also, he has been reading for years, and understands and retains information on a level most adults will never attain.  I have my theories as to why E is smarter than all the other kids; however, this is not a parenting blog so I'll not get into it here.  We'll just call it superior parenting and move on.

Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  E has read a few books about the civil rights movement and has certainly been exposed to civil rights history, having gone to school in the shadow of Ebenezer Baptist Church and having lived in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward.  One of my favorite moments as a parent was when E (perhaps 3 at the time) exclaimed, "I'm from Georgia Atlanta, and Martin Luther King, Jr. built this city on rock and roll!"  Anyway, E decided on Monday that we absolutely MUST throw a birthday party for Dr. King.  Unfortunately, his parents were lazy; we did not have the party until Friday, and no noisemakers or decorations were involved.  But we did make cupcakes (strawberry with chocolate frosting), and briefly discussed Dr. King's contribution to society.  I can only hope that Dr. King would have appreciated the cupcakes consumed in his honor.

Gotta start somewhere.

All the cool kids are doing the blog thing, right?  So.  This is as much for me to keep track of various projects and events as it is for me to share them.  Especially now, as I wait and hope for one of the many job seeds I have planted to grow into a decent salary with some benefits, I have lots of projects and possibilities jumbling around in my head.  I will detail them as they come ... perhaps.  There's always the very real possibility that I will get completely sidetracked and forget I ever started this blog.  We'll see.