Mmm...

So one of the great things about being home (aside from the obvious top two reasons -- spending time with family and getting to do more knitting) is getting to eat Mom's cooking. Dining hall food leaves a lot to be desired, and right before I come home I start making lists of different favorite dishes I want during break. Mom's been making some delicious things since I've been home, and I've also been trying my hand out more in the kitchen -- good life skill to learn how to chop, bake, etc. Every now and then, I think to snap a picture. So in lieu of knitting updates (and knitting definitely has been getting done, but no photos yet ... that's coming soon), here's a sampling of some of my favorite food since I've been home. And at the end of the post, my first recipe!

Popovers. We use a King Arthur mix, which is really great. We discovered popovers when were college hunting for me, had to mail order a popover pan, and have been making them ever since. We like them best with almond butter.

Thanksgiving stuffing. Mom makes up a different stuffing recipe every year. They are all delicious, but this year was one of the best. Featuring dry cranberries and shiitake mushrooms.

Butternut squash and sweet potato soup with spinach-cranberry-walnut-feta salad. Both were simply delicious.

Homemade salsa. This is one of the things I miss most at home. Salsa from a jar just doestn' compare. I love the fresh cilantro!

This is the banana bread last night. I looked at some different recipes, then un-vented. I was pretty proud of this ... I've never made up a recipe before. And it's already half eaten, so it seemed it went over well! And it's not super high in fat -- only two tablespoons of butter in the whole recipe! So I've included my first recipe if you want to try it out.

Katherine's Un-vented Banana Bread
1 c. white flour
1 c. wheat flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 smashed bananas
1 egg
1/4 c. milk
2 TBSPs melted butter
2 TBSPs hot water
chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine all the dry ingredients -- I used 1 c. wheat and white flour, but you could just use white if you're not into the whole wheat-y thing. In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Add the milk, butter and hot water and mix. Pour the wet mixture and bananas into the dry mixture and mix just until everything's incorporated. Fold in walnuts if using -- and I would recommend you do! I couldn't, because my sister doesn't eat walnuts, but I think it would have been so yummy with them. Pour in a loaf pan and bake at 325 for 45-50 minutes -- knife inserted near the middle should come out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

What's on the stove for tonight?
Mmmm .... better get cooking!

Gretel'd

Over the summer, in one of our many yarn buying bouts, I ordered some yarn to make Ysolda's Gretel. Finally, at the end of this term, I got around to casting it on. I started the project during my finals period which was actually a huge mistake -- all I wanted to do was knit on Gretel, not study. Once I got home, I finished it up. Sadly, it's my only completed project from the term. There was a mitten disaster, the completion of one sock, and one evening of half-hearted work on the vest. Clearly, one of my New Year's resolutions should be to knit more at school. But without further ado, here are the specs of my tweedy Gretel.

Pattern: Gretel by Ysolda Teague (and on ravelry)
Size: Regular Tam
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed in 09
Needles: Addis in sizes 6 (for ribbing) and 8 and Knit Picks Options in the same sizes for the smaller bits
Start date: 21 Nov 2008
Finish Date: 27 Nov 2008

I loved loved loved this yarn. I wish I had enough extra cash to buy enough of it for a sweater -- but that probably won't be happening anytime soon. It was really a pleasure to work with. I also thought the pattern was extremely clear. It was my first time knitting from a Ysolda pattern, but there are sooo many things of hers I want to make. Slouchy hats in general are just so fun to make (which I guess is why they're popping up everywhere), and even though I'm not sure if they look the best with shorter hair, I still think this hat is adorable and hopefully will get lots of wear out of it back in MN.

Gift knitting and further work on mitts happening this evening. Hopefully will have some more finished objects soon!

Back to your regularly scheduled knitting ...

So, some terms I'm better than others at keeping up with the blog than others, and this past one was obviously not one of them. It was a crazy term, and sadly, I got (of course) less knitting done than I anticipated.

But now I'm back at home until New Years, and Mom and I have been casting on non-stop. I have a serious cast on problem ... I love the excitement of the new project. So though I have at least one finished item to show off, and I know Mom has a few, for today, we'll just show off two new projects.

These are going to be little fingerless mitts (the cuff is worked flat then joined in the round -- this picture is from the day before yesterday, and we are now both done with the cuff). We're using this Daisy Mitts pattern and the called for Madelinetosh yarn in Bark and Ginsing (spelled all funnily). Can I take a moment to gush about the yarn? It is so so soft. And though when we were winding it up, there were quite a few knots/imperfections, the beauty of the colors and the softness of the yarn make up for it. We've had the yarn and pattern for awhile, and the urge to cast on struck Sunday night because, as we were working on our other newly begun project, our hands were freezing so we decided something had to be done.


Which brings me to our next project ... after I saw this a few months ago, I just could not stop thinking about it. I loved the garter, the noro ... and even though I don't wear kerchiefs, thought that it would be a very cute addition to my wardrobe. Right before I came home, Mom ordered the Noro Silk Garden sock as a little present to have when I came home, and we've both gotten a pretty good start on them. I don't know how big we'll make them ... I keep wanting to get to the next color in the Noro, so it may end up a bit bigger than the original. That's mine on the left, and Mom's on the right.

So after a long hiatus, knit two tog should be (hopefully) fairly active over the next month or so. We've got tons of knitting plans for my break (a box full of Peace Fleece arrived yesterday, and we are just waiting to get our hands on a copy of Knit.1 to make this sweater) so hopefully they'll be lots more to come. Stay tuned!

Say, it's our blogiversary...

I went outside today with the intention of doing a little knitting and maybe writing a little post on some socks I've been working on. When I opened up the old laptop and signed into Blogger, I thought to myself, you know, our blogiversary will be here soon, I wonder when. So I checked it out and, what do you know, it's today. So here's a disclaimer before we get started. This is not really a blogiversary-worthy post. It snuck up on Mom and me, caught us unawares, so maybe later this week we'll do something special. And for now, you can check out the socks I'm making.

These were supposed to be an anniversary gift for Alex. Our anniversary was exactly two weeks ago, and I had exactly one sock done for him that day. I started these a little before Ravelympics, and between trying to (unsuccessfully) get the vest done and not being able to work on them when he was around (which was a lot), the going was slow. Now that he knows about them, hopefully I can finish the second sock soon. Guys socks just take so much longer, and I keep getting distracted by other things (like impromptu scarf projects).

The pattern is for a garter rib sock from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. Not the most exciting thing, to be sure, but I think it looks nice, and it's a good mindless project. I also absolutely adore the yarn. It's Emily Parson's sock yarn, Sophie's Toes in the "Thanks, Dad" colorway. I am absolutely in love with it. The colors are just so gorgeous. In fact, my favorite part of the whole sock is the sole ... the yarn just looks so great in stockinette:

Isn't that just beautiful? I would like to get some more of this color and make myself a pair of plain stockinette socks in it. Mom and I both got some more of her yarn in her shop update last week, and I'm so excited to use it. Plus, I have some other lovely colors of Sophie's Toes sitting around, begging to be knit up. If you like sock knitting, you should definitely check out her yarn ... she has semi-solid stuff and variegated, and it's all just lovely.

Well that about covers things I think. Mom and I had gathered some serious steam working on the back of Dr. G's, but hit a snafu which resulted in ripping back down to the body. Maybe we'll be able to finally get them finished up this weekend....

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend and is enjoying the four day week! Happy knitting!

Purple rain, purple rain

The vestiges of Tropical Storm Fay have hit Virginia, meaning we've had pretty much non-stop heavy rain since yesterday afternoon. The chill of the rain, the start of school and everyone's constant talk of the coming of fall have all forced me to come to terms with the fact that autumn is indeed on its way, meaning I have to return to Minnesota in a few short weeks. Luckily, I will at least have some hand knit goodies to keep me toasty as I long for the comforts of home. (And bonus, they coordinate with my new black North Face fleece!)

I made this hat on a whim way back at the beginning of the summer, when the days (and, incidentally, my hair) were longer, and the whole summer was spread before me. If only I could return to those days!

The pattern is the popular Foliage by Emilee Mooney from Knitty's Fall 2007 issue. I chose the worsted weight hat, and used the yarn called for (Malabrigo) in the Pearl colorway. It was very fast and fun .. only took two afternoons to make. Once I made it, I realized I didn't have a scarf that would match with it. A quick visit to the Loopy Ewe fixed that though ... I ordered some more Malabrigo in darker purple to make a coordinating scarf (so things wouldn't get too matchy-matchy). I've had the yarn sitting around for a few weeks. On Monday, I was particularly stressed and upset, so I decided I needed a new, simple project to cheer me up. So I started on a simple moss stitch scarf.

I've never done moss stitch before ... for a long time, I thought moss and seed stitch were interchangeable names for the same thing. I really like it though .. the bumps of the pattern sort of remind me of little berries which is appropriate since the colorway I'm using is called Sweet Grape.

Here's one more shot of the scarf ... you can see the stitch definition better. And I just couldn't resist including another because I'm proud of the pictures I took today while Mom was at the office. Usually, I can't get a decent picture unless I go outside (and the rain precluded that). The flash always messes things up, and I can never seem to get the right amount of light, natural or otherwise, in the photo so that I can take an indoor shot with no flash. The other day, Mom suggested we try out her bedside table lamp. I did it today, and it worked! The color is accurate, I didn't have to use flash, and no blurriness! Woohoo!

Today would be the perfect day to stay in and just knit, knit, knit, but there are errands to be run. So I'm off to face the rain. Happy knitting ... and if you're around Virgina, good luck staying dry!

AHHHHH!!!

We got Wollmeise! Our first 2 skeins!


Woo!

Socks and more...

My mom's 65th birthday was on August 8. So I bought her a new nightgown, made matching Pom Pom Peds and got her some new DVDs...all thing essentials for a cozy night in. Kat made a trip to New York in June for a history conference and was lucky enough to visit Purl Soho. She and and I decided we wanted to buy Hand Jive Nature's Palette to make the peds from their blog, The Purl Bee, and bought enough, we hope, to make 4 pairs all total. My mom's are blue with pink trim and Kat is making a pair in the reverse as a secret gift for now. She'll post hers later. My mom was pleased I think, and they were a quick and fun knit and I liked how they turned out. Our second set of pairs will be chocolate brown and yellow...two of my favorite colors.

I am including a few pictures of th peds as I put Kat's life at risk taking them. I had this idea to take pictures of her feet dangling...from a tree...and I am afraid she suffered minor bumps and scrapes from the ordeal of getting in and out of the tree. Sorry Kat... (to see all the injury-causing photos, visit me on Ravelry).

This morning we had lovely french toast, veggie bacon and fresh peaches from our trip to the market on Saturday. We all ate out on the deck taking advantage of one of the last carefree days of summer. Yummy.

In Ravelympics news, we are almost through with the body of our vests. We are making Dr. G's Memory Vest designed by Through the Loops. I have about 12 of the 13.5" done and Kat is right behind me. We are knitting the vest in the round up to the armholes and then flat knitting. At some point I really want to learn to steek and give that a try. Barring a miracle, I don't think we'll finish on time but we keep trying. During Ravelympics I have had work and a week of vacation and getting both of my daughters ready to start college. Ocean Eyes, their 6-year old brother, starts first grade tomorrow...so it's been a busy couple of weeks and we've worked on our vests when time has allowed. Keep your fingers crossed...

Going for the Gold

As we're over a week into Ravelympics, it seems appropriate to give an update with some pics. These were taken late last week and sadly, our vests have not grown much since then due to a very busy weekend that included a surprise mini-vacation (how lovely is that?!)

Seeing double? That's Mom's on the left, mine on the right.

We're using Louet Riverstone, and the yarn is quite lovely. I'm pretty excited that I like it, because I bought a whole bunch in a pinkish tan color to make Lucy in the Sky.

The vests have been mostly smooth sailing except for the fact that we just haven't had that much time to devote to them. Last week, everyone was off work for some vacation at home time, and you'd think that'd be the perfect time to get lots of knitting done. But every day we were off doing something different. However, we did our best to squeeze a few hours of knitting in each day ... we even knit at a go-cart track, watching our little Ocean Eyes drive a go-cart for the first time! But as Mom observed during the week, vacation sometimes seems like the worst time possible to get knitting done. There are always so many other things you're supposed to be doing.

So hopefully this week we can make a big push and get these vests done! Keep your fingers crossed for us!

In other knit two together news, it's time for another episode of Look what the mailman brought....

First up, from the Loopy Ewe:

Four skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Mineshaft, two for each of us :), and...

Two skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Sweet Grape for a scarf. We've become total Loopy addicts ... if you haven't checked them out, you definitely should. We just love Loopy!

From the new Dizzy Blonde Studios:

One skein for each of us of Goldie and I splurged and bought Michelle as well. La included little retractable tape measures .. isn't that nice? The yarn is just gorgeous ....

And (yes, there's more) from Sunshine Yarns:

Harry Potter-inspired yarn ... we each got a skein of Luna (1st and 3rd from left) and Dobby. Once again, it's lovely yarn.

As you can see, we seriously have a problem. All of that yarn came between Thursday and Saturday. Can you tell we have similar yarn tastes? Always ordering duplicates ... and we're just waiting on the Blue Moon Fibers update so we can do even more damage!

Hope everyone's enjoying August ... can't believe it's already more than half way gone. Look for a post from Mom in the next few days!

Deadline Knitting

When I start thinking about Mom, me and deadline knitting, I realize it's not really our strong point. For instance, awhile back we posted our plans for spring break knitting -- Ms. Marigold and Juliet. I was home, I think, about ten days for spring break, getting ready for a term abroad and honestly thought that with Mom working and me running around preparing we could finish two sweaters. Now, we did finish one, Juliet. But not within the week. There were hold ups, froggings, etc. Mom finished, I think, shortly after I left, but she has since decided to rip out some of the length. And mine languished for awhile in a ziploc bag on a shelf in my hostel, then was finally finished. It's another one of those projects that slipped through the blogging cracks this spring, so here it is:

Juliet by Zephyr Style
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky in 025
Needles: Addi Circulars size 10 1/2
Start/Finished: some time this spring....
Buttons: wooden from Loop in London

I really liked this sweater, except that I really don't like chunky knits so much. I think lots of times they tend to look sloppy. The yarn was very soft, but, if I recall, a bit given to splitting. But the pattern was fun, and I like the end result. I don't quite know when to wear it though. The yarn is super warm, but the sleeves are so short .... maybe wearing it over a turtleneck or something in the fall would be my best bet.

We bought some yarn to make another version in a smaller gauge (inspired by this version) which I think would be nice, and more practical for wearing in the spring/early summer. But overall, a very satisfying project.

What prompted this reflection on deadline knitting? Mom and I cast on Friday for the Ravelympics. We're both making Dr. G's Memory Vest and so far, the going has been slow. Friday was busy, so we didn't have time to do anything but cast on, and we promptly ripped our cast on out Saturday morning and re-did it using long-tail method. We're knitting the vest in the round instead of in pieces, so the rows are pretty long. This is my first time really doing any cabling, and it has really been a bit hard on my hands. Hopefully though, the pace will pick up soon, and we'll have some nice in progress shots to show you.

Speaking of pictures, I'd like to take this opportunity to say a word about ours. Mom has been doing almost all the photography, and I think she's doing quite a wonderful job. Just wanted to make sure she got credit for all the lovely photos we've been posting lately :)

Wish us luck in the Ravelympics ... hopefully we'll make it to the finish line!

Look what the mailman brought!

Look what the mailman brought could be quite a regular segment here at knit two together. We order yarn online a lot for a variety of reasons which maybe aren't worth going into at the moment. Anyway, look what we got today:


The yarn is Cascade Venezia in Turquoise and Tan/Brown. It looks really lovely .. has a bit of a a sheen and feels nice. Can't wait to cast on! We ordered this from Jimmy Beans Monday and it arrived today! We love yarn stores that ship quickly .. if you ever need to know who can get you the yarn you want to you the fastest, give us a shout.

We were planning on using it to make this, but looking for the pattern on ravelry, stumbled across the Grand Plan Capelet from the same book and may change our minds completely. Either way, we are making some sort of wrap thing that will be predominately light turquoise with the warm brown as trim, and there's a very specific reason for this. Sunday evening, my mom, sister and I were watching Sweet Home Alabama. In one scene, Reese Witherspoon wears a knit wrap in basketweave stitch that is turquoise with brown trim. We both really liked it. I wanted to try to design something similar, but Mom, in the interest of saving time, wanted to find some sort of pattern that we could use. We couldn't find a basketweave wrap, and considering neither of us really even ever make wraps or shawls, I ended up agreeing that we should just pick a different wrap pattern but use the colors we liked so much. So sometime, in the near(ish?) future, keep your eyes out for some sort of wrap ...

Alright, that's a wrap (sorry couldn't resist the pun) for our first "Look what the mailman brought." Considering we already got some beautiful sock yarn this week, and more is on the way, you'll probably be seeing more snaps of what has come in the mail soon ...

Summer Nights

One of the things I love most about being home in the summer is the evening time. Everyone's off work, there's no rush to get a certain little 6 year old in bed on time and the dinners are late and delicious (like the other night's for example -- kalamata olive hummus with pita, tabouleh and grilled butternut squash).

There's another thing to love about summer nights. Its when most of our knitting happens. Even now when my summer job has come to an end, or on the weekend, say, not that much knitting happens during the daylight hours, and it's not for lack of trying. Take today for example. Today, I had a plan. I was going to get up, finish the toe of my first Pom Pom Peds (pom pom footies are very in at our house currently), continue swatching for my Ravelympics project and do some work on the project-that-must-not-be-named. And how much of that has happened? You guessed it ... absolutely none. I was completely sidetracked by my first encounter with Twist Collective and spent the whole morning drooling over so many gorgeous patterns (and these adorable socks, too).

The same thing happens to Mom and me on the weekends. We're going to knit .. but there's that one thing we were going to look at, and suddenly, we've been on Ravelry for two hours (and ordered some yarn to boot). But no matter what, the evenings are our time to knit. We pop in a movie (or, if it's Wednesday, watch the newest episode of Project Runway!) and lately have been getting at least a few hours in before bed.

And besides, sometimes some really great stuff happens during summer days. The other day, my little brother and I made these together:


Whole wheat chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. He had a great time baking, and I had a great time helping him. I hate that I miss that sort of thing while I'm away at school. And the other bonus is that the cookies are low fat. Most of the butter is replaced with applesauce (only 2 TBSPs for the whole batch) and they're absolutely delicious. Mom and I have been trying to watch what we eat and exercise, and these are a perfect almost guiltless treat for those summer evenings when a sweet tooth hits. We used this recipe, but used whole wheat flour instead.

Lots of knitting has been going on, but I don't have any photos to show. We're getting geared up for the Ravelympics and also trying to finish up pom pom peds to be gifted. So the next post, I promise, will have some actually knitting to show off.

Until then, happy knitting (and training for the Ravelympics)!

Tea Time

So our Augustas are almost complete! After working on them in all our spare time this weekend (which, sadly wasn't much ... you always think you'll get more knitting done than you actually do it seems...) we are oh so close. Mine are completely done, but pom pom-less (and we all know that the pom pom really adds that extra punch) and Mom just has her little red cuff. After working so hard this weekend, we took a little time for tea this morning ... freshly made English Cream Tea scones (courtesy of one of King Arthur's delicious mixes) and kiwi pear green tea. It was also an opportunity to break in our new tea pot!

So Hopefully pictures of Augusta, pom poms and all, will be up soon. Until then, check out our finished Shibui Toe-Up Socks. We finished them quite some time ago, but Mom has decided to redo her cast off to make it a bit more stretchy. We've been trying out this cast off for toe-up socks, and so far, it seems to be working just wonderfully.

Toe-Up Sock by Anne Berk
Yarn: Shibui Sock in colors 3602 (left) & 4201 (right)
Needles: We both like socks on two circs .. we used Addis, I think size #2

This was our first time doing toe-up socks, and our first time knitting with Shibui. Toe up is so nice ... no worrying about picking up gusset stitches, and the yarn was just gorgeous. I don't know if the pictures even do it justice ... Mom's look like strawberry fields or watermelon slices, and mine remind me of cool blue water ... it really seems like you could almost dive into it. Anyway, we love the socks, and the pattern was written so clearly .. great for our first toe-up sock!


So stay tuned for more sock posts (and other accumulated FOs) ... we're becoming regular sock addicts here at knit two together. If we didn't have so much yarn for so many beautiful sweaters, we might abandon other forms of knitting all together!

August(a) in July

So, it's been an embarrassingly long time since the last post here at knit two together. And I could make lots of excuses, but that involves stolen computers, broken cameras and just general summer madness to really go into. However, some knitting has definitely been going on! Right now, Mom and I are working on one of the cutest pairs of socks I've seen ... Through the Loops' Augusta (rav link here).

This is our first time knitting with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, and we both love it -- we've already bought more to make some striped socks. I love the unexpected color combo of Augusta and the simple lace pattern (which isn't super visible in the picture). We've both finished the first sock and are well on our way on the second ... maybe we'll even finish up this weekend.

Sock fever has hit our house. Mom and I had never done much sock knitting, and now we've become quite obsessed. And here's the sock that started it all (at least for me) ...

The London Sock (loosely based on this)
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Wasabi Squeeze
Needles: 2 Addi circs size #2

So, as you might guess from their name, these were made during my time in London ... I actually finished them up to calm me down after my computer was stolen from my hostel (knitting really has an amazing ability to calm, no?).

I tried to follow Black Dog Designs Picot Eyelet Sock (but left out the eyelet obviously ...) It wasn't the best first time sock pattern just because it assumed you'd made socks before, but it was a great learning experience. They're by no means perfect ... I definitely need some gusset practice ... but they're my first pair and I love them!

There's been more knitting than that going on this summer, but where's the fun in revealing it all at once? So for now, happy summer sock knitting!

What happens when Mom comes to town ...

So Mom just spent a FANTASTIC five days with me in London. While she was here, we hit up every knitting store we could and cast on/worked on Orangina in the moments we weren't running around. We also went to some delicious restaurants and, most importantly, had scones with clotted cream every chance we got.

Up until Mom's visit, I think I'd shown some admirable self-restraint as far as yarn purchases (or any purchases for that matter...) went. But when she came, I threw caution to the wind and bought more yarn in a 3 day span than I ever have.

So, without further ado, the purchases... (I apologize for the photo quality .. they were taken very quickly on a bed in a hotel room before Mom packed the yarn up to take back to the states ... I was over the weight limit on the way over here, so she tried to take some stuff back for me so I don't have that problem again.)

Purchase 1 (from I Knit London): Garthenor Organic DK, 8 balls of the marled and 3 of the solid brown. I'm thinking of making a cardigan and using the solid for the ribbing, button band and little elbow patches.


Purchase 2 (from Loop): Savannah DK ... Mom treated me to this one .. the yarn is quite luxurious .. I felt very spoiled. I got the three skeins pictured ... I'm thinking either a hat and handwarmers or some sort of cute little summer tank.

Purchase 3 (from John Lewis!): 5 balls Rowan Damask. Ok, so who knew you could buy Rowan and Debbie Bliss in department stores here?! We were shocked! Mom and I both got some of this (she got a lovely green colorway) and are going to make some sort of tank. Maybe the lacy tank from Last Minute Knitted Gifts or the Razor Cami that I saw on six one seven's blog today.

I had such a great time while Mom was here, and now I really can't wait to head home (in a month!). It was so hard saying goodbye to her on Monday. We had such a wonderful time frolicking about the city and, of course, obsessing over knitting...

Right now, I'm on holiday in Dublin. Going to try to scope out some knitting stores, but it seems they are outside of the actual city. Will have to see if I can make it out there. Hopefully will have more pictures up soon. My camera appears to be broken (and I've only had it since August!) but I'm going to see if I can get it repaired tomorrow. Wish me luck!

The Grass is Greener ...

Yesterday the sun was shining (something I've learned to really value during my stay so far in London), and I decided that I should take advantage of this rare and possibly brief break in the rain and head into the great outdoors. And by great outdoors I mean, of course, the tamed nature of one of London's many lovely parks. I grabbed the sock I'd started and headed for Hyde Park and was absolutely in awe of it. I found a nice bench with a view of all sorts of tulips and other happy flowers, and spent quite a pleasant hour knitting. This my first sock ever, and so far, I'm loving making socks. Which is a good thing since a) I already have a stockpile of sock yarn and b) I joined Sundara's Seasons Yarn Club, so I will be getting plenty of gorgeous sock yarn over the next year (I already have the Tulip sock yarn .. it got delivered to my house right after I left, and I can't wait to see .. Mom has promised to post some pictures soon ...)

Isn't Hyde Park lovely?

Today I went to my first ever knitting group and met so many lovely women. Knitting with a group was so fun, and they reassured me about my sock and I now have successfully turned the heel! I'm so excited. I'm thinking I will stay up late this evening to pick up gusset stitches (although I should be working on a paper ...) But I'm just so excited about the socks! I will have more pictures (maybe even of a finished sock?) soon!

On a completely different note, I had another first this week .. first celebrity sighting. I saw Jeremy Northam at a production of The Importance of Being Earnest. It was all I could do not to jump out of my seat and go tell him how great I think he is. Just thought I'd share...

Hope everyone's having as exciting a week as me. What I'm most excited about though is Mom's visit in two weeks! Don't you love when things are looking up?

Finally Cobbled.

This post is a long time in coming. A really really long time. It seems as if so many circumstances conspired against this post ever happening. But, without further ado, here is a finished project I'm really proud of ... my first real sweater when it comes down to it... the famous Cobblestone Pullover!

Pattern: Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood, Interweave Knits Fall 200
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes
Needles: Knit Picks Options -- to be honest, I forgot to note the size of them
Started: Late December 2007
Finished knitting: Early February 2008
Armholes/Ends woven in: Late March 2008 (shameful, I know)

(check out more pictures on Ravelry)

So making this sweater and then finally getting the chance to blog about it really is quite the saga. I initially cast on around exam time of my fall term -- late November. But I kept getting the gauge all off and had to start over. I put that off until around Christmas time, and before I had to go back to school right after New Years, I had the body and sleeves done and joined, ready for the yoke. It went so quickly! But then going back to school, I could barely work on it. My work load was very heavy and to make matters worse, it was a gift, and the giftee was always around when I had free time, making it hard for me to spend any time on it. I was shooting to give it to him for his birthday at the end of January, and when I realized that it wasn't going to happen, finally revealed the sweater with half the yoke done so I could work on it around him and give it to him for Valentine's Day. Then, I didn't weave in the ends etc. for quite awhile -- til I was home for Spring Break because while at school I don't really have a good way to block things ...

I enjoyed working on this sweater so much -- it was a lot of firsts for me. Most importantly, it was my first "serious" sweater. I've made little cropped cardis and shrugs and the like (ok, there was one full length cardigan, but I never sewed up the seams because I really disliked it ...), but this was my first real sweater. Also my first time doing short row shaping and Kitchner's stitch. I loved the seamless design ... I'm very spoiled ... I've never made a seamed sweater and it's looking like it's not going to happen anytime soon..

So why did it take so long for me to post about it? Well, had to have the photo shoot of course, then I was running around getting everything ready for my term abroad. Once I got to London, I realized I'd forgotten my computer charger at home. Now, after two weeks of limited computer access, I finally have a charger!

I'm still getting used to life in London and have found a knitting group that I'm going to start going to sort of weekly -- my first time is this week, so hopefully it will go well! Mom and I both have finished Juliets that we'll be showing off soon, so stay tuned for those! Happy knitting chaps!

That's a Wrap.

About a week ago, I taught a girl on my floor to knit. She had bought some GGH yarn from the only place in town that sells yarn, and I had some serious yarn envy. It was a really pretty dull yellow-brown-taupe sort of color, and I was really tempted to hop into town and get some myself. The above project was born out of similar circumstances. Last term, I taught one of my friends to knit, and she'd picked out some Malabrigo to learn with. As I showed her how to cast on using the Malabrigo, I fell in love with it. I wanted to take her fledgling scarf and run with it, keeping the soft yarn for myself. So this, coupled with the fact that here at knit two tog, we strongly believe in fiber therapy, led me to buy (and when I say me to buy, I really mean Mom giving me the money to buy...) a ball of Malabrigo a few weeks ago when I was feeling overwhelmed with work and sort of down with the intention of making one of those neck warmer things I'd seen peppering people's blogs. I couldn't decide what stitch pattern to use. I tried a couple of things that didn't work out for one reason or another, so the beautiful little ball of malabrigo lay abandoned in my room until Wednesday when Mom sent me a link to this Scrunchable Scarf. I decided that the stitch pattern would be perfect. So here it is ... the scrunchable neck warmer:

The Scrunchable Neck Warmer
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in 26 Continental
Needles: KnitPicks Options Size 7
Start date: March 12, 2008
End date: March 15, 2008

This was a super fast project, perfect for working on when I didn't feel like studying for exams. I absolutely adored the malabrigo! And the color was just fantastic. So I cast on 38 stitches (two for selvage). The pattern was just k2 p1 and I worked it until where I wanted the buttons to be, then used EZ's instructions for 1 row buttonholes ... my buttons were fairly large, so I made a five stitch buttonhole. The buttons came from a local shop, Digs, which I have mentioned before. So it wasn't anything difficult, but it made me happy to knit and I'm thrilled with the finished project, so I wanted to share!

Finals are coming up for me, so posting may be a little scarce over the next week -- but Mom might have a finish off to reveal and I still have an old finished object to share! Happy knitting!

Big Weekend

So, ideally, this post would have happened Sunday. Or Monday or Tuesday. Or Wednesday or Thursday. Even Friday. I had a grand plan to show off what Mom got done over last weekend, plus throw in a finish off (well, almost...) that I've been just dying to share. But there too many late nighters trying to get work done and seemingly no time for blogging. So alas, a week late, check out what Mom got done last weekend:

Above are the popular Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies, found online at epicurious.com and featured on the Today Show. Apparently they went over really well at home, especially with the boys in the family ... I just wish I'd been home to try some of that chocolate-y goodness. But Mom's promised to whip up another batch when I come home (two weeks and counting ... here we come Ms. Marigold and Juliet!)

In knitting news, Mom got the Boy's Garter Stitch Yoke Sweater all joined in the round!

Since this photo was taken last week, a lot more progress has been made on the raglan decreasing. Mom hopefully will have an update on her progress soon! I don't have much to share ... I've been knitting along on my Wear Everywhere Pullover but since it's still just a tube in the round, I guess update pictures aren't that exciting. Also, knitting time has been a bit short this week, last night I was too tired to get much done, and I've been working on a summer fellowship application all day today .. but maybe I'll have something exciting to share soon. I could show you my big finished object, but think I'll save it for another day. So, until then, I'll leave you with a lovely Gerber daisy and wish you a knitting-filled weekend!


P.S. The picture above is of a t-shirt that I got in my stocking this year.. thought some other knitters might enjoy it. It's from a little shop in the town I go to school in, but you can check them out/order online (that's how Mom got it for me ...). They have knitting and sewing tees that really amuse me.