angry chicken

finished hat (first color work)

It felt so good to finish my first color work project, this fair isle hat. There are a ton of mistakes in my chat reading, but I love it anyway. If you repeat a mistake enough times, it's a design feature, right?

I'm back onto Cypress now, I project that has been on hold for about a year. I am having fun getting back into it. I'm not sure if I will wear it, it's a bit hobbit for me and I only feel hobbit about 15% of the time. I'm thinking it might look nice with a sheer blouse under to lighten the look a little. Then I'm onto this Icelandic sweater, which will be epic for me.

unrelated:

I have been exercising a lot lately, I was during the holidays—and then got sick and took a break. I have started up again and feel so much better. This exact time last year I had a horrible herniated disk and was helping Grammie though awful chemo treatment and I just remember how hard it all was physically and emotionally. It all feels very different this winter. I feel so grateful everyday to have my body back—strong and healthy, and that Grammie is doing better.

I have been doing cardio every other day, but was nervous to go back to yoga, because so much of what I do involves bending forward, which isn't good for my back even now. I got a tip from a few friends about Barre 3 online workouts and love it so far. I signed up for the 15 days for free deal. I do the 10 minute workouts in the mornings and they make me pretty shaky, in a good way. I plan to tack on a 10 minute workout in the evening, but so far I haven't. I was doing the 7-minute thing but I do worry about injury and the micro movements of the Barre 3 workouts just feel a little safer for the way I move. I also tend to get in laughing fits with the 7-minute workout thing if anyone is in the room, which they usually are. This is why I don't take classes at a gym. When I have, with friends, it's pretty disruptive. I just can't keep it together at all.

easy brunch and some links

I made some chocolate-chip scones and raspberry-cardamon-oatmeal muffins last weekend for a brunch date. Fruit and almonds were on the side along with coffee and juice. The scones were plain, I just added chocolate chips to the dough and cinnamon-sugar on top. For the muffins I used plain white flour, but I decreased it by 1/2 cup and added 1/2 cups oats, about a cup of frozen raspberries, and about 1/4 teaspoon cardamon. Not too much of that spice— I love it, but the kids don't. Well, they do, but only in small amounts. These muffins were a winner for sure. I was going in to use whole wheat flour for both of these baked items, but got all crazy and went for the white flour because it was a brunch date. I'm living on the edge.

Two things made me laugh out loud over on the Rumpus this week-

Buddhust Nun Pema Chödrön Rewrites the Classics, by Kristy Eldridge

I read a lot of Pema (too much?) and I thought this was so dang funny.

Ted Wilson Reviews the World #213—Monster Energy Drink

The Ted Wilson column makes me laugh really hard every time I read it. I usually read it out loud and never know when I will crack up and lose it and have to stop reading but I always do.

 

knitting with color

One of my knitting goals that was brewing last year was to try fair isle knitting. I then proceeded to not try it, knitting two sweaters instead, and then turning back to cross-stitch at the end of the summer. I recently got all excited about trying a Lopi sweater and knew it would be unwise to try color work the first time on a sweater project. So, while I wait and plot my sweater, I am working on this hat—the pattern is from the excellent class over at Creativebug.They reduced their monthly fee for unlimited classes, very cool and very affordable!

So, the hat is going well. Except that I totally messed up the pattern, but more on that in a second.

My knitting history: I tried to get serious about knitting a few times, the first when I was about 18, and then again at about 20. I knit a few hats. In my late 20s in Seattle I took a real knitting class and the wise teacher (seeing I hadn't really clocked many hours knitting) taught me to pick and told me to knit that way. I was throwing until then, but because I was never serious about knitting, switching to picking wasn't a big deal. She told me one day, I'd be happy I knew both. Especially for color work. Thank you wise knitting teacher!

So, holding two colors in two different hands is not a big deal. My tension needs work, as does my concentration, because I have since totally screwed up this color work pattern, but you know what? I'm not taking it out. Because it's still pretty and I am proud of it and I just think it will still be a great hat, just not a perfect hat, and that's just fine. It's a practice project that happens to keep a head warm, it's a win-win as I see it.

I am very tired because last night I went down a knitting rabbit hole and have still not come out the other side. I found The Fringe Association, by Karen Templer. I am sure I am the last knitter to know of this site, right? But wow. I love it so much. She has a shop, and interviews, and wonderful taste, and a ton of info and some free patterns. This Beginning to Knit series had me up all night.

art class - Alexander Calder

We focused on Alexander Calder for art class (at home) recently and had a really good time. They loved working with wire and I had some in a small enough gauge that the girls could sculpt with it without hurting their hands. I used the same book in this post, it's my go to book for art projects and learning about artists. I have posted quite a few of our projects and try to make sure they are all in the Learning category on the blog, so you can see them all. I need to go back and add some more probably.

Earlier in the week I had them look at Calder artwork, we read about him from a few books and watched an animated biography about him I got from the library, Alexander Calder (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists). This is a great series by Mike Venezia, for not only artists but presidents and scientists, too. They are short and fun—good for the younger kids.

To make these, they drew pictures and twisted the wire flat on the paper and either stuck it into styrofoam blocks or wood blocks we drilled tiny holes into. The cut out paper elements add wonderful movement. The kitty is ridiculously cute and modern at the same time—it cracks me up.

I have learned that this all goes so much better if I do a art project, too. I don't usually finish it, and that's fine. Working along side them and being able to stop and help them is perfect. It keeps me busy and quiet so I can leave them alone and not suggest too much. And it's fun, of course.

hand pie brunch

Four different types of hand pies were served for brunch with my brother yesterday. I made a double batch of dough earlier in the week. I rolled out, filled, and baked them when I had time. They are perfect for leftovers, the fillings can be almost anything. For brunch I made a ham and cheese, an apple sausage and cheese (just grated cheese and chopped meat, that's it) and a cinnamon apple. I cooked chopped apple, butter, and cinnamon sugar a little first. I also made a pies filled with a super thick caramelized mushroom cream sauce that I had made for a different dinner earlier in the week. These pie work best with no more than about 1/3 cup of filling—which is perfect for me because I like to save even the smallest amounts (too small for another full meal) perfect for a hand pie filling. The recipe for the dough I used is in the last post, but I made 8 pies with that recipe, not 10.

I like to bake them right way, then freeze. To serve these for brunch I took them out the night before and heated them for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven Sunday morning before serving. My brother was smitten. I noticed he took some home, too. The girls enjoyed these filling much more than the quiona ones I made first, but I like those, too.

I have starting knitting my fair isle hat, after two attempts failed—the yarn kept breaking! I am working from my stash and don't really know what I am using, but I just feel good using something up. However, breaking yarn is not cool. I am also stumped a new sewing project. I have too much clothing as it is. I love all my clothes and don't even get a chance to wear what I already have, which is why I love sewing for the girls, so maybe a quilt, next? Or something for Grammie.

Anyhoo, I am going to focus more on teaching the girls to sew, I think. They do a little already, (especially with Grammie) but now they are old enough to start and finish a project on their own, with help, and I think teaching how to actually finish something is huge. It's so satisfying to complete a project. A long project, something that takes more than a day. Sewing often is much faster than that, but you know what I mean. The two older girls just finished their first cross stitch and they are so proud. They started them over a year ago. I framed them and hung them right away. Seeing them focused on their little hoops with a needle and thread in the evenings breaks my heart in two with joy.

hand pies

I was compelled to make some handpies after seeing Erin's on Instagram. The recipe is here, from Mad Hungry. I didn't make the chicken pot pies this was used for on the Mad Hungry site, but instead stuffed them with quinoa, garbanzo beans, and a cabbage, fennel, kale, carrot slaw, heavy spiced with garam masala. The pastry recipe says it makes 10, but 8 seemed better to me. The dough is so easy to work with. Not healthy, mind you—butter, cream cheese, and white flour, so I tried to make the filling a little more nutritious, to my daughters' dismay. Any filling would be good in these I think, savory or sweet. I baked them and froze them and Pete takes them to work. The girls have requested a different filling next time.I think they are delicious.

I'm feeling a strong urge to bake, It's dark and wet out. Right now, an oatmeal batter bread is rising and a knitting project is starting—a fair isle hat, to get me started on color knitting before my big project, the Icelandic sweater. Last year I went from never having knit a sweater to knitting three. This makes me very happy.

happy 2014!

Happy after the holidays!

We made it through. It was a lovely but tiring December—6 Nutcracker shows with all three girls dancing this year, and then the holidays and then a bad violent bout of the norovirus that hit all 5 of us at once. It was pretty terrible—the house just sort of shut down for two days, but we recovered. We then went to the Oregon coast after we all felt better and it was so warm, sunny, beautiful and relaxing. We all needed it so much.

The girls just chilled out with some needlework they hadn't worked on in a long time and I finished a cross-stitch piece that I started last year, which I am very excited to have done. Delia learned how to make balloon animals which was really fun and so her. Taking them all home was cumbersome and I have no idea where she stashed them in her room now, but you'd think I'd know where over 20 balloon animals would be in the house, but I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to.

I spent some time thinking about new projects I want to try this year and I realize I can't think very far out, only what I want to do next. I really want to try and knit with multiple colors this year, and am very excited to try a Lopapeysa sweater. I went back and read all of Kay's great posts on her lopapeysa sweater obsession. I try not to bug her too much about knitting, but knowing I can makes me so happy. It's kind of like knowing a superhero, it just feels good to know she is out there when I need her. With a cape, knitted of course. Or a shrug. Or, duh—a cowl, what was I thinking? Of course it's a cowl. I think I will try this wonderful free pattern here.

Portland knitters, does any LYS sell Istex wool for these sweaters?