Friday, Friday: 5.15.2020

Happy Friday!

This week felt SO LONG to me. The beginning seemed slow, at least, and then yesterday and today sped up with meetings, activities, and mask-making for work in advance of some community food distribution tomorrow. In the middle of it all was some really good stuff.

This week:

We polished off the last of the BEST strawberries that a wonderful friend had dropped off.

B and I had some great conversations and are making exciting progress towards achieving some goals we’ve had for a while.

I started a new personal finance book that has made me laugh out loud multiple times (in a good way).

I made great progress on my Things of Spring cross stitch and finally feel like I’m getting in the groove with those tiny stitches.

I got two more succulents in the mail!

I ventured way outside of my neighborhood to pick up some decent sushi for the first time in two months.

I made a bunch of recipes from the Nom Nom Paleo cookbook. (Yum)

One of my elephant bush plants that had started to wither started making a comeback with a little more sunlight. There’s likely a lesson there.

I have plans for a pretty productive weekend, but we’ll see how that goes! I am really stoked for our local farmer’s market to re-open with socially distant vendors and to pick up some pre-orders I put in this week. I miss our local market so much.

Happy weekend everyone!

From My Stash: Icelandic Minis

Today is the one year anniversary of my trip to Iceland. It’s hard to believe that it has already been a year since I packed my oversized camping backpack, boarded a flight, and landed in a country where the sun doesn’t set until 11 PM and where 45 degrees in May is considered balmy. Where nearly all of the vegetables are imported and where cities feel like they haven’t aged in years.

That trip was big for me for so many reasons, but a highlight that I still treasure the most while traveling with my group around the western coast was the afternoon we spent learning about Icelandic traditions of natural dyeing with Gudrun Bjarnadottir. (You can read all about that day and the incredible people we met here.) I got a chance to purchase these mini skeins from a local wool cooperative outside of Reykjavik, naturally dyed by local artisans and made out of, of course, single ply Icelandic wool. Unfortunately, these skeins can’t be found online, but you can find naturally dyed Icelandic wool in full skeins at Gudrun’s Etsy store, or by searching for Hespa yarn, and a very similar single-ply base in the wool called Einband.

I still remember SO VIVIDLY standing in that co-op agonizing over which of these skeins to bring home because each of the dozens of shades on display was so lovely and I had such a hard time choosing. I have a lot of dreams for what I would like for these skeins to be but even now, a year later, I am perfectly content admiring them and making as careful of a decision for what they will be as I was in choosing them in the first place. Their colors haven’t faded even a bit from their original beauty and I know that they will be skeins or finished pieces that I will share with my loved ones for many years to come.

New Favorites; Stone Knits Colorwork Socks

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I love knitting socks for so many reasons. They are often made in fingering weight (my favorite), they are portable, they are the ultimate example of custom fitting a garment to your unique body, they are cozy, and they are endless opportunities for inspiration and just plain fun. I will knit a pair of socks I would never make a sweater out of, either because the pattern or color is really busy or bright, or if I’m not sure how it would fit. They also make great gifts, because the recipient will always be endlessly impressed with how you made those socks?!

I discovered Stone Knits within the past year, and she makes some truly amazing colorwork socks. I haven’t actually dove into much colorwork in my socks beyond the world of contrast heels and toes, but I am very excited to get into it. I find that colorwork stays a bit tighter because of the floats that you carry behind the knitting, and even the best knit socks have a tendency to stretch a little from their perfect fit between washings. I imagine it is also a great way to try out different kinds of colorwork and color combinations before committing to something similar in a larger garment. Her designs are whimsical and fresh and always really fun to look at in my Ravelry favorites. Highly recommend if you’re looking for something extra botanical for your feet this summer.

What I listen to while I craft

Part of the funny thing about sharing your crafts online is the focus on the finished object being created, rather than the process of creating it. On some level, this makes sense - would we create if we weren’t excited about what was coming at the end of our making? But it is fun to get peeks into people’s process, too. This is where the magic is so often found. I thought it would be fun to share a brief round-up of the things I like to watch and listen to when I’m in the zone of creating something new.

A lot of my knitting is done on our sofa, at the end of the workday when B and I unwind. Our go-to shows are The Office, Parks and Rec, old re-runs of Jeopardy on Netflix, Saturday Night Live, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. If B is doing something else or I’m by myself in the evenings, I LOVE The Crown, Law & Order: SVU, the Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise (definitely a “guilty” pleasure), Gilmore Girls, or pretty much any food documentary. And, I love knitting podcasts. Recently I was introduced to Fruity Knitting which is so great, and I’ve watched Melody Hoffman, the Woolly Mammoth Fibre podcast, Drunk Knitter, Kammebornia, and the Gentle Knitter podcast for a long time. I have a local group of friends who like together and knit, but during the week and in times such as this, it’s really fun to hear from other crafters about what they’re working on.

When I sew, if I’m winding yarn for a big project, or otherwise working in my office, I really enjoy listening to podcasts to keep me entertained while My iPad is being used to display a digital sewing pattern. I really enjoy the new A Beautiful Mess podcast, Crime Junkie, Fair Folk, and any good personal finance podcasts! I also love listening to old episodes of the Woolful podcast from several years ago, although she’s not making them any more, as well as the old Knit.FM podcast. My two current favorite knitting related podcasts are the Proverbial podcast from A Verb for Keeping Warm, and the Local Wool podcast.

Sometimes, I really just need music to get in the zone, and when that’s the case I bop around between a lot of different things. My recent favorites are the Soft Focus playlist on Spotify, Chance the Rapper, Father John Misty, Sylvan Esso, and a couple of indie playlists on my own Spotify account. I have a record player in my office, and when I’m in the mood it’s really fun to listen to Illinois and Michigan by Sufjan Stevens, and a couple of Copeland albums from when I was in high school.

I always love hearing from others about how they craft and what keeps them company while they make, and I’d love to hear from you as well.

Mother’s Day

My mom is one of my favorite people in the entire world. She is kind, she is infinitely patient, she is goal-oriented, she is fiercely loving. She never missed an opportunity to make a day special for her four kids, and I still remember so vividly every minor holiday that we would wake up and she would have the table set with fun goodies and a celebration of the day (including the obvious minor holidays, and also like, Groundhogs Day and Veteran’s Day). She really made every moment so special.

My mom taught me to sew when I was in elementary school and we’d make all sorts of clothes together for my American Girl Dolls. She loved to match me and to match my sister and I together with both store-bought and homemade creations. She is always SO excited about the various things I have knitted, crocheted, or made for her over the years and is my number one fan in the projects I take on. She is only getting better and better with each year and I am so grateful for all that she has done as my mom. Happy Mother’s Day, mama!

Friday, Friday 5.8.2020

Happy Friday!

This week was the first full week of Me Made May, and I think I managed to wear something handmade almost every day this week. The weather here has been unexpectedly cool, so I even got to put a few sweaters into the rotation before they get packed away for the summer, tucked into their bins and awaiting the fall and its golden days.

This week:

• We switched up our eating habits a little bit and it felt pretty great not to eat sandwiches every day.
• I took a chance on an old website and managed to find an embroidery kit out of stock most places in my hands by Friday and ready to be stitched into something amazing.
• I committed to sewing some masks for students that I work with and braved the curbside pick up at two craft stores.
• I slept really well.
• I started a new project that’s been on my heart and mind for, oh, years! I can’t wait to share more.
• I discovered a vine growing on my window made it to the inside and I’m temporarily counting it as a new plant baby.
• I started sewing a dress.
• We went on a walk near our neighborhood and picked some wildflowers.
• I watched my cats continue to snooze their lives away.
• I remembered the amazing excitement of stash diving.
• We drank pour-over coffee almost every day.
• I caught up with a dear friend.

All things considered, not a bad week at all. I hope you are doing well and have lots of wonderful things on deck. And happy Mother’s Day to all of the amazing moms out there (especially mine)!

Knitting Plans: May 2020

Since it’s already May 7, I figured it was high time to share my knitting works in progress for the month of May! I am trying to keep a good variety of different knitting projects going right now to keep things different and interesting. The summer time is always a fun time for me to cast on many small projects to pick up or put down for all of the different ways that I want to knit, whether that be outside, or while hanging out with friends, or in the evenings, or at the movie theatre (speaking from past, not current experience, obviously. But I am hopeful!).

Still in progress from April is my Terrace Wrap, above. I’ve only knit a few rows on this in the past month but as the weather warms I believe I’ll continue to make progress and I do really look forward to wearing it. Every time I look at the finished photos of this wrap I get so inspired.

New to my needles is my next V-Neck Boxy sweater by Joji Locatelli. I knit my first one of these sweaters in 2018 and I LOVE wearing it. It’s super cozy and easy to wear. The construction is really interesting to start, casting on for the whole back of the sweater, and then picking up each side of the “v” and knitting down until you join the two fronts together with the back in the round. Because you cast on so many stitches, it has a drop-sleeve effect and so the sleeves are really quick to knit, and then the whole rest of the body is just mindless stockinette. Swoon. I so wish that I could go to the movie theatre with this knit, it would be perfect to work on while seeing the newest Marvel movies with B. Maybe someday. I’ve just gotten through the v-neck portion and joined for the round, so it’s just stockinette for miles and miles here on out. I’m knitting this sweater with Linen Quill by Purl Soho, which is a blend of wool, alpaca, and linen and is really light and has this beautiful texture that I love seeing form before my eyes. I love that slubby, neppy, texture in wool and think this will be an instant favorite, even if it is completely impossible to photograph.

Watchers of my recent Instagram stories will know that last week I pulled this sock yarn out of my stash and was chatting about how I was reallly excited to cast on a pair of socks with this yarn, Mondim by Rosa Pomar. I purchased it last October when I was in the Seattle area and am really excited to work with more natural sock yarns this year (this one is next on my list to start a pair of socks!). I went back and forth on several pattern ideas but in the end I just cast on a vanilla sock in my preferred measurements: US 0 needles and 56 stitches. The marled and speckled texture of the yarn made it difficult to make out any definite patterns but I plan to knit other pairs with this in the future in one fo the solid colors offered by Rosa. These are already maximum cozy and make me want to drink a giant pot of hot cinnamon spice tea.

Beyond these three projects, I have SO many ideas and things that I am excited to cast on, but I’m trying to pace myself just a little bit. I figured out this week that I have the yarn in my stash to knit several projects that were on my wishlist, but that I didn’t think I had the right yarn to complete, including the Grandma shawl, and a short-sleeved version of the Ranunculus sweater. These, of course, in addition to the short-sleeved sweater I have some gorgeous Echoview yarn set aside for, and my Icelandic wool sweater, and some other Rose City Roller socks...it’s going to be a very woolly summer and I can’t wait. :)

Inspired by

Happy Tuesday!

Here are a few things that are inspiring me this week.

This mending is so beautiful.

I love the idea of “framed” plants for a gallery wall feel!

So saddened to hear about the closing of Elizabeth Suzann. So inspired by their work in the world of fashion and sending hope to them for what the next chapter will hold.

I am continuously inspired by the artwork of Phoebe Wahl.

I haven’t crocheted in ages, but this pattern makes me want to get back into it.