childbearing hipster

Lately

Lately, I've been making some stuff.

I've made some good progress with bread: adding a dollop of wheat gluten makes every loaf a little fluffier, and I have gotten some great results with brushing my crusts with egg whites--so much so that in lieu of wasting eggs, I've just started buying cartons of egg whites.

Mostly though I've been making socks. I hated sock knitting the first time I tried, but now I'm liking the process and the way it allows me to learn new techniques without having to make something big.

This was my first real pair of socks--I call them Sockamole, because they remind me of my favorite way to make guacamole (avocado, salt and pepper, minced red onion and lots of lime). They took me a few weeks in bits and pieces, and the original pattern is Sara Morris's "Slightly Twisted Sock" (pdf here), which has mock cables at cuff, heel flap, and along the toe seam. So much fun. The yarn is Noro Sock, which is expensive but worth it.

Then I tried my hand at a two-needle sock, in worsted weight (so, more of a slipper sock, but they fit under my Dansko clogs), and learned to read a chart. I was not a very quick learner: I had to tear the sock out several times before I gave in and learned to trust the chart and just follow it as written. Even with all the false starts, they only took a couple days and I strongly recommend them as a quick one-ball project (Cinderella Sock at Knitty.com)

Now that I know how to Trust The Chart, I went ahead and started a sock I've been craving for a while--a thick elaborately cabled kneesock from last fall's issue of Interweave Knits, the Tyrolean Stocking (pattern can be downloaded here for $5.50).

I've finished the whole leg of one sock and am midway through turning the heel and when both socks are done, the plan is to dye them with Kool-Aid, but I'm also taking a break from it because the sock yarn I ordered with some of my birthday money came, and I owe my sister about a million presents.

So, here's what she's going to get when they're done (Hey, Sis!).  The yarn is in colors that just scream her name, and the pattern just happened to be from last year's Beltane issue of ¡TheAnticraft! and it was Beltane when I cast on, so I call that a sign. Vinnland socks, making progress:

There's something very funny to me about the fact that right this moment, I'm making stock in the crockpot, the dishwasher is washing my dishes for me, my bread is rising in a machine--but I'm making socks from scratch.

Sweater Finished: now back to our regular knitting already in progress

Taking a Break From Knitting to Knit Something Else

I'm approximately two thirds of the way through my Christmas knitting, which puts me pretty well on track (yay!). But I'm kind of sick of the yarn I'm working with and kind of sick of not being able to brag about my hard work because the recipients will see it.

So I just cast on a palate cleanser that's the polar opposite of what I've been working on. Super bulky yarn, big needles, bright color (I'm working it in green). Whichever kid of mine claims it is going to love it. It'll probably be finished before the end of the week, and so will my current Christmas project, after which I can move on to my next Christmas project and knit myself stupid.

Baby Kimono pattern available free from Lion Yarn.

Bling-y Stitch Markers

I'm working on Stefanie Japel's Ubernatural sweater, on size 15
needles. None of my stitch markers are big enough for the sticks, so I
had to improvise. Loops of yarn just slipped through the stitches on
the needles. Loops of ribbon were better, but kept coming untied. I
was all set to drop the project until I could track down some big
markers, but then I hit on the idea of raiding my jewelry box. A few
old rings later and the sweater's moving right along.

We Got Hats

It's been cold and I've been unmotivated to work on anything I can't finish within a couple of hours, plus I have a lot of lone balls of lovely yarn not getting any play. Hence, hats.

This is the "Sparkle Hat" from the original Stitch 'n Bitch book, minus the sparkles since I couldn't find a local source for large-holed paillettes. So let's call it the (not) Sparkle Hat. It's for me, but Molly's modeling it. It was made with about half a ball of Lion Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in "grass" and took about three hours to whip up on size 10.5 dpns. It's a great pattern and a great hat, I highly recommend it especially if you've never knit in the round.

Next I cracked open some Reynolds Lopi to make this skully for Dug, whose head requires coverage since he's not covering it on his own. After measuring and checking gauge I worked four rows in k1p1 rib in the blue yarn, then switched to the lovely dark brown and worked in stockinette stitch. The decreases form a kind of swirl at the top. Dug has already placed an order for more hats in more colors.

This super-simple beanie was made as a gift for my friend Alisyn. This single ball of lavender-grey Cascade Pastaza has been sitting in my stash for almost a year and it was ready to be something. I thought she'd like the color and the amazing feel of the wool/llama fiber blend. It's essentially the same as Dug's Skully, but with different proportions.

This is the dragonfly button, which I threaded onto the yarn before I cast on. I just went ahead and purled it into the hat when it seemed right to do it.

The Cable Skully was a second gift for Alisyn--and a second hat made of Pastaza yarn, this one in a nice bright pink. It was my first experiment with cables, although they're mock cables, made without a cable needle. When stretched, the purls between each cable and the stockinette sections look like dropped stitches, and it's really pretty.

I finished something!

Finally, man. A finished object.

The Phyllis scarf was an attempt to do two things: Actually complete something, and use up some stash yarn.

I chose four coordinating yarns from the stash: the Crystal Palace "Valentines"  that I used for the Lavagirl hat, a pink and gold chenille tape yarn from some random Wal-mart trip (their "NOBO" house brand), a ball of Moda Dea Gleam in "Rubelite" (a pretty blend of mohair and metallic with a fuzzy ribbony texture), and an anonymous bargain-bin ball of really gorgeous variegated wool--a single ply twist on the dark red/pink spectrum.

I used the welted fantastic stitch pattern, size 10.5 needles. Each stripe is anywhere from two to six rows, and I tied off the ends to leave a 5" or so fringe down one side, making it kind of boa-like. I knitted until I ran out of something, then I bound off and called it a day.

Bay Area Hat

This was a quickie project I whipped out because a lot of the time I'm a process knitter and it doesn't matter if anything gets made, but suddenly I had a project knitter moment, where I just wanted to finish something.

This is that crazy recycled sari-silk yarn, hand spun in Nepal, that I've been seeing in yarn stores and catalogues and finally found a skein of in an oddball bin. The nature of it is so Northern California--it's the epitome of trustafarian elegance, the only thing that could make it more "bay area" is if it somehow could be vegan (but it can't, it's silk). It's also light enough to be multi-seasonal and yet still warm enough to actually be functional. I used the same pattern that I used for Molly's Lavagirl Hat, an easy ribbed beanie with one seam (I am afraid of double pointed needles).

Total rich hippie chic. I can't wait to wear it skiing.

And this picture was taken using the Photo Booth function on my new MacBook, which is awesome. Molly had to jump in, of course.

Easy Being Green

I'm about 3/4 through my current knitting project. It's a sweater vest of my own design. I decided to reinterpret the classic preppy pink-and-green colorway in olive and pale pink, and to subvert the classic preppy urge to put insignia on things by adding a cute little skull, but down near the waist instead of the traditional left-of-the-chest.

So here's how that's going:

In a simultaneous homage to both the Ramones and summers in the Hamptons, I call it "Muffy Is A Punk"

And in the grand tradition of multiple irons in the fire, I'm swatching some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan that found me when I was rummaging through a clearance bin. It's very soft and fleecy feeling and I think it might want to be a top-down raglan sweater, once I figure out what gauge it wants to be.

Isn't that a divine shade of green? I suppose the transition to warm weather is drawing me to working with green a lot.

Baby's First Tattoo--All Done

There are some faults and mis-steps. I suppose that is how you can tell it is handmade. By an amateur.

These look more like birds if you squint.

Lavagirl Hat

All done, only took a couple of hours total. Good fun.