How The West Was Spun

Blog Book Tour: Nourishing Knits

I was delighted to be asked to be a stop on the Blog Book Tour for Kristi Schueler's book, Nourishing Knits.

I've known Kristi for several years, and she designed a gorgeous shawl for one of the Shakespeare in Lace clubs, so I snapped up a subscription to this eBook of hers, since I already knew I liked her design sense and style.

Nourishing Knits is a collection of 12 knitting patterns and 12 accompanying recipes for all sorts of lovely things. There are a lot of pretty accessories, but Kristi's also thrown in some full-sized garments like the Ciabatta Sweater and the Ginger Vest.  My personal favorite is the Ganache Shawl (all photos copyright Kristi Schueler).  I think this would be gorgeous in a handspun yarn.

The patterns lend themselves nicely to being worked up in a variety of different yarns that you might have on hand, and several of them are small enough to be perfectly suited to a special skein of handspun.  I think both the Bordeaux scarf:

And the Cornucopia Cowl:

would be great in handspun yarns.  All of the patterns have detailed yarn gauge/weight information to help figure out what skein of special handspun lurking in your stash would be a perfect match for the patterns.

The accompanying recipes are for all sorts of yummy things like a cranberry-gingerbread cobbler, a great basic almond buttercream, and a knock-your-socks-off black bean chili. Each recipe is themed to one of the knitting patterns. 

As you would expect from her other patterns, these are very well-written, thoughtful and detailed.  They are accompanied by gorgeous photographs that beautifully illustrate the garments and recipe items. I loved the concept of a cook and knit book.  This one is filled with lovely examples of both and I can see myself making a lot of the items in this book.  I'm delighted I was asked to share some thoughts on this collection with you!

All for now.......

Resolutions

I don't tend to make resolutions per se, as I think they tend to be an area where you can get yourself all stressed out over perfection, but I do think the turning of the year is a nice time to think about what you would like for yourself in the upcoming 12 months. 

My online friend, Rain, opened a new Etsy shop last year, and she has thrown herself into making some gorgeous art/jewelry pieces, and has really put herself out there in terms of doing things outside her comfort zone and going to shows, and working really hard to make her dream be a 24/7 livelihood for her - something which I wholeheartedly applaud.

She is offering a special, custom-created piecethrough her Etsy store for the next month or so, which, if you have something you'd like to strive for in the upcoming year, might be a nice personal talisman for yourself. The basic premise is a charm-style necklace to wear - but you get to pick one word that sums up what you are striving for in the next 12 months.  Maybe it's an attribute, like Patience.  Or maybe it's something like reminding yourself to get up off the couch occasionally - "Move".  Or maybe you have a special word that means something to you that you'd like a daily nudge to remember more often.  In addition to having that one-word charm, you can pick 1, 2 or 3 gemstones (there are 3 individual listings in the shop, depending on which you'd like), and a second silver charm with an emblem on it.  Rain has lists of the available gems you can pick, and a list of emblems.  (The photo below is courtesy of her Etsy shop.) 

I think it's a great way to kick off a new year!  And with that, I'll be taking a few days off to have a little staycation here with D until 2012.  Happy New Year!

All for now......
 

Ten

I definitely will not get another four 4-oz braids spun between now and Saturday night, but I did break the 10-pound mark for my fiber spinning in 2011 challenge.

The last braid for 2011 is Shetland wool from Two If By Hand.  The colorway is "Death and Texas".

The finished yarn came out as a worsted 2-ply yarn, with 192 yards/4 oz.  I'm thinking probably mittens for this one, but it's going in the stash bin for a while before I get to anything with it.

All for now...

In the "Nick" of Time

Hah - it's a pun... get it?  St. Nick?  (sound of crickets chirping)

Anyway.

I think we are ready for the holiday weekend.  White Christmas snow?  Check.

Escapees from the Santa's Reindeer Relocation Program (on steroids), aka elk?  Check:

There were two.  The one above is a very mature male.  The "little" one was still pretty daggone BIG.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season to all my readers!

All for now......

More Ennea Patterns

A couple more new patterns that are in the Winter Ennea Collective magazine for y'all.

The first is a super simple lace scarf.  This takes very little yarn, and if you have a special skein of handspun or a commercial beaded yarn, you can zip thru this on large-ish needles and even get it knit in time for Xmas this weekend.

The Ponderosa Snowfall scarf:

I used the beaded yarn I spun up from a 4-oz braid of BFL earlier this year.

The Diamond Dust Tam is another quick knit. I used about 150 yards of a nice soft Aran/heavy-worsted weight merino for this one.  It's not a super floppy tam, but big enough if you have curls to be able to work with those.

And a shot of the interesting cabling on the crown, which is awfully fun to knit up.

All for now.....

Winter 2011, Ennea Collective

The newest Ennea Collective magazine is now available on line!

I have three patterns in this edition, but I'll be highlighting just one today (the others to follow tomorrow).

This is the Crevasse Shawl

It's a fairly simple crescent-shaped shawl featuring bands of a subtle handpaint and bands of lace inserts of a semisolid pewter gray.  The bulk of this shawl is just plain ol' stockinette, so it's a great travel project and would make a nice vacation knit.

You can, of course, knit it using commercial sock-weight yarns, but Ginny of FatCatKnits (who dyed the original roving) has put together a kit to spin it yourself.  She's offering it in a couple of different fiber bases, at a 10% discount for the fiber pack to spin it up in the original colors.  (You get to pick the fiber!).

We had a lot of fun photographing this one.  D and I took it with us when we went to Colorado a month or so ago for our little vacation, and found a pretty little aspen grove to photograph this (and my other projects) in in the late afternoon, when the light was great.

Always helpful to have a cute puppy as part of the modeling crew, although I probably coulda done without quite so much tongue.

All for now......

Weekending

We had a really nice, relaxing weekend.  Other than getting our woodstove chimney cleaned (and perfect timing too, as we are getting a winter storm here today with several inches of snow already!), D and I puttered around the house.

For my Xmas present this year, I've asked D to build me a work table/desk for my office.  I have a small desk my computer lives on, but I wanted something where I could store in-progress project bins and organize things I'm swatching for, and be able to lay out notes-to-self and printed tidbits where I wouldn't have to constantly be moving them to deal with work at my day job.  He was off on Friday, so he popped down to ABQ in between storms and got all the supplies for that.  It's going to have a butcher-block maple top and then a sort of partner's desk design with deep shelving at each end (that can each hold two 12x12 bins), and tall enough I can either stand to work at it, or use it with a stool.  The base is made out of cherry, and he's already got the shelving cases cut to size and trial-fit.

I finished up the first of the 2012 Shakespeare projects on my plate.  No pics of that for a bit (March '12), but I am really happy with how the shawl turned out.  It blocked out beautifully, and I am quite pleased with it.  So... since I had a few extra hours in my day waiting for the chimney sweep yesterday, I hauled out the cabled mittens I've been working on, and finished up the first one and started on the second one.

My plan is to get the second mitten finished up here in the next day or so, and then start on the hat.   I'm hoping to have this set done and a pattern written up by the beginning of the new year!

All for now.....

All Things Austen

Today is Jane Austen's birthday.  And in honor of one of my favorite author's special day, I thought I'd share with you some Austen themed things today.

If you haven't seen it already, run out and pick yourself up a copy of Interweave's Austen Knits 2011 special publication.  Not only is it packed with a ton of great knitted projects, there are also several great articles and a fun contest (you'll have to look for that on your own).

A sample of my favorite knits from the magazine include (all pictures copyright Interweave Press):

Kristi Schueler's Elinor Tunic.


Annie Modesitt's Kensington Mitts.


And Sharon Fuller's Picturesque Cape:

If you need even MORE Jane to celebrate while you figure out which project you'd like to cast on first, consider looking into the entertaining series of Jane Austen mysteries (here's the first one to get you started).  I feel sure the bright and witty Miss Austen would have had NO trouble tackling crime-solving if she had the chance in real life.

Enjoy!

All for now....

WIP Wednesday: December 14, 2011

Really an FO post for today, as I finished up D's watchcap.

Nothing fancy - it's 2 x 2 rib knit for 9 inches, and then a quick set of K2tog concentric decreases in stockinette for the top.  The yarn is from my shop - DK Aerten (80% SW merino, 10% nylon, 10% cashmere) in the Raven's Wing colorway, which is more black than it appears here.  We are having another gloomy, overcast morning.   I knit this up on size 7 circulars and DPNs. 

I basically knit two complete hats - knit the first one, and the picked up the same number of stitches along the cast-on edge to knit a second complete hat so it's doubled and very warm.  With the hem folded up, he's got 4 layers over his ears. 

Just in time too - we had an awfully wet, slushy snow here yesterday. It's supposed to go down into the teens tonight/tomorrow, with another storm coming in for the weekend.

All for now....

Book Review: Your Eight O'Clock is Dead - Kat Jorgensen

While I am still plugging along on zee Sekret Knitting, I have been doing a fair amount of reading as well.

One of my on-line friends and a lace-club member recently published the first in a series of mysteries which are set in Richmond, VA, where she lives.  Your Eight O'Clock Is Dead is Kat's first book in the series with more to come in the next year or so. 

This is a great easy read - nicely paced and an interesting cast of characters.  It was particularly fun for me, having spent my high-school years in Richmond (my folks still live there) to recognize the scenery as Kat unfolded the story.  The mystery begins when our heroine, Becca, arrives at work at the 2-psychiatrist practice she works for, to find one of the patients (sorry!  clients!) slumped dead in the waiting room.

That begins a fast-paced romp that takes Becca to the end of her wits, which, despite their seeming scatter, wind up catching the killer in the end.  The supporting cast includes her ex-military grandfather and his cat, a coupla hunky love interests, the slightly off-center psychiatrists in the office, and a few other memorable supporting-role characters. 

A little bit slap-stick and a lot of fun to try to figure out the mystery along with Becca, I enjoyed reading this for some easy weekend entertainment.  I'm looking forward to seeing what Kat has on tap for Becca in her next book!

All for now....