Elemental Stitches

A Week in Instagram & The Coming of Fall

It is the third week of August and I have felt the first signs of Fall.  While walking Brae to her first day of school I noticed the early morning fog has a deeper wetness to it.  The clouds threaten rain even though we shouldn't have a drop until Halloween.  By mid morning the fog is burned off by the sun, who seems to have realized the coming of the dark half of the year, and is burning hotter then ever to make up for the cool summer we have had.  By nightfall the wind picks up, cardigans are slipped over bare shoulders and flipflops are traded for socks.

A couple nights later while I was figuring out dinner I had a sudden craving for a warm and hearty potato leek soup.  Not something I would normally make in the summer.  It's a soup firmly anchored in my fall and winter menu.

Then last night, while sitting in bed, a craving for apples hit me so hard I had to go downstairs and eat one immediately.  My first apple in at least 6 months.  It just so happened that I saw beautiful apples at the market earlier that day and was drawn to their beauty like a moth to a flame.  I bought a few for my daughter's lunch, but never intended to eat one myself.  Apples are my fall & winter thing, they taste the best in season.  Fresh from the fridge it was cold, crispy and sweet. 

If I were still living in the high desert I would be looking for the first sign of fall in the scent of the north wind.  It has a wet earth, deep forest smell.  One of woodsmoke, falling leaves and the faintest hint of arctic ice.  It appears in September right when my Mom's apple trees are ready to harvest.  We could guesstimate the start of Fall by the ripening of those apples. 

I imagine it takes at least a decade to get to know a place that well and I have yet to learn the first sign of Fall here in the SF Bay Area, but I am guessing it also begins with a craving for apples.

Photos - All taken by me on my new and amazing iphone using the Instagram App.  Links and descriptions for each photo are below.

1.  Summer Flowers  2.  Banana Almond Butter Shake. 1 c milk, 2 tbsp nut butter, 1 banana, ice.  Blend until thick & creamy.

3.  My friend's cat was over for a visit.  He really liked the chickens.  4.  Swing Socks, recently finished.

5.  Deep Chocolate Brownies  6. Everyday Lunch - Avocado, turkey, tomato, lettuce, and cucumber on whole wheat bread.

7.  What natural dye should I use for the Kalajoki socks?  8.  The garden.  Over 40 lbs harvested so far.

9.  We have 2 new quail, a boy and a girl.  Thinking baby quail and eggs.  They need names.  Any suggestions? 10. Darwin, my favorite chicken but probably a rooster.  Bummer.  Check out the adventure.

11.  My first ever home raised organic free range chicken egg laid by Ladyhawke.  12.  I am freezing loads of tomato sauce this year.  Recipe from Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis.

Yarn Along - Getting Back in the Swing

This Summer has completely screwed my blogging.  But I think I am getting back in the groove.  Brae starts 1st grade in about 3 weeks (OMG!) and I have lots of plans for getting back to it.

I've been thinking about this blog all summer.  Where it is going?  What is the point of this blog?  Since I moved all my food and gardening news over to Shoots and Roots I have been at a loss of what to write about here.  But I realized that there is so much I want to document in my life that doesn't belong on Shoots and Roots.  This blog is first and foremost about documenting our days, what we accomplish and how we live our lives.  Hopefully in the next few months I can explore this more.

The above photo is one I took a week or so ago.  I am joining in with Small Things and her yarn along group.

BTW, that book 15 Minutes Outside is awesome.  Lots of creative ideas I haven't come across before.

Happy August!

Blackrose Socks

A year ago I didn't really understand the hullabaloo about knitting socks.  I would read Yarn Harlot's hilarious and passionate posts about her sock addiction puzzled as to why socks were so great.  They are socks people.  No one even looks at your feet anyway. 

Then I made the Sea Clover Socks and the Blackrose Socks.  Now I understand.  Its not the utilitarian construction of socks that is addicting.  It's creating a work of art.  It's the small portable size, the teenie tiny stitches, the intricate designs that are just enough to exercise my brain, but not enough to overwhelm.

Blackrose (my ravelry) is a beautiful and simple pattern.  A panel of 17 lace stitches cascades down the side of each sock with everything else in stockinette.  It's is the perfect compromise between "mindless knitting" and "you better fricken pay attention knitting".

With a few pairs of socks under my belt I only have one question. 

How do you all keep your gauge consistent when working on a long project?

My socks are always slightly off with one larger then the other.  I know my mood makes a difference in my gauge.  Stress knitting = tight stitches.  Bedtime knitting or relaxed knitting = loose stitches.  Is it because I don't block my socks?  I don't have a sock blocker so I haven't bothered to do it.  I've read that knitting two at a time solves this problem, but I haven't learned how to do that yet.  Is it hard to learn 2 at a time on your own or should I find some kind soul to show me?

Happy Spring & Sea Clover Socks

I know I am a couple weeks late but HAPPY SPRING! 

I have been spending lots of time in the backyard, working in the garden or knitting in the shade with a cup of tea.

I have also been cooking & photographing up a storm for my cooking blog, Shoots & Roots.  It's up running away with itself.  I am having so much fun telling stories and photographing the food I am cooking.  I love it. 

I finally finished my Sea Clover Socks!  The pattern is by Kate of Confessions of a Graveyard Gypsy.  Here is my ravelry page for the project.  I used Hazel Knits Artisan Sock yarn which I loved knitting with.  I remember it being kinda pricey ($23 on her website) but I would definitely buy it again.  Maybe in a green next time. 

I picked this pattern because it was super challenging.  I really wanted to see if I could do a difficult pattern start to finish.  I began the first sock last year in July and finished it in November.  At one point I accidentally knitted far too many decrease rows around the gusset of the foot and had to rip back several rows.  I totally screwed the ripping back up and had to take a break until a lovely lady from our knitting group helped me pick up all the stitches I had dropped and put them back in the right order.   What a sweet patient woman.  Bless her heart.

The second sock knitted up easier and faster then the first, as it always does.  However, I found that I only wanted to work on it when I was stressed out.  As if the difficulty of the pattern put some of my other life stresses in perspective and calmed me down.  By the time I was nearing the toe I couldn't wait to be done with the whole thing.  I grafted the toe and pulled both socks on only to discover the first sock was a bit larger then the other.  After pulling my hair out trying to figure out what I did wrong I realized that it was my stressed out knitting.  It is much tighter then my relaxing day knitting and I need to keep that in mind when I am working on gauge sensitive projects. 

So you expert sock knitters out there.  Can this be fixed with some aggressive blocking of the smaller sock? 

I am guessing it can but I havent had the guts to try it yet.  I would love to hear some input on how I might fix this.

Happy Knitting!

Winter Warmth

Since we moved to the central coast of California I have been forced to deal with bone chilling, freezing wet cold that seeps into your core and chills you to the bones.  We don't have this kind of cold in the high desert.  In the desert the temps dip below freezing every night and the wind gusts at 40 mph several times a week, but its generally dry and the cold is interrupted by warmer daytime temps which get into the low 70s on a good day.  Somehow I got away with wearing tank tops to school under my jackets all winter long.

Now, wearing only a tank top under my coat would be crazy.  I would be shivering in my boots in minutes.  To walk my daughter to school in the morning I wear jeans, a tank top which is covered by a long sleeved shirt, a heavy jacket, a cowl pulled up over my chin, and a hat.  I even wear my hair down as an extra layer of warmth against the cold.  My bare hands retreat inside the arms of my jacket to keep my fingers warm. 

But you know what?  I have fallen in love with this rainy wet weather.  I love the stormy gray clouds, daily scattered showers and the early morning fog that rolls into the bay dampening the noise of the city and forcing us to slow down on our way around town.  I love when the rain splatters against the windows and overflows the bird bath in the yard.  When the heavens break open and we get more rain in a couple hours then the desert gets in two years. 

My jacket is not able to keep my hands as warm as I like and its kinda weird to walk around with your hands missing!  So last week I finished up a pair of Susie's Reading Mitts (Ravelry Link Here) and I ADORE them!    These mitts have taken care of my cold hands and turned out to be the most beautiful thing I have ever made!  The gentle variation of cream and brown looks like falling snow on a bare winter forest.  I got lucky with this yarn.  It seems like it was made for this pattern.  I used Cascade Eco Duo in #1711, an all natural variegated color pattern.  Its the same super soft yarn I used for my cowl a couple weeks ago. 

I wear these mitts all the time now.  While reading, walking my little one to school, or taking winter photos.  They keep my hands toasty and my fingers free to do whatever page turning or button tapping that needs to be done.  Now all I need is a matching hat.

Finished Knits

I am working on my dress are you?  You have until this Saturday Jan 8th, 2011 to finish and post your link!

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Solstice, Brae's birthday, Christmas, and New Years slid by so quickly I hardly had a chance to enjoy them.  Instead of visiting family we were visited by many friends who we haven't seen since winter quarter started at their colleges.  Some stayed for a couple days, others for a week, and one more is staying for a couple months while his son is in the hospital nearby. 

Tom and I had a blast watching Brae open all her presents and have spent many frigid afternoons watching her ride her new bike in the driveway.  We have had a hard time finding a well fitting helmet.  Anyone know of a good kids bike helmet? 

I did my best to separate the holidays from her birthday, which falls on Dec 24th.  Its tough, but we just try to make Christmas Eve all about her and not about the holiday.

There was no way I was going to knit all my gifts this year.  I didn't want that added stress so I kept it simple.  My sister wanted a pair of fingerless mitts so I made her a pair of Thanksgiving Day Mitts.  The pattern can be found here at TwinKnits.  Or on Ravelry.

I finished these in just a couple days of knitting.  The pattern is simple, but not so simple that it becomes tedious.  The cable pattern is very similar to the Star Crossed Beret & Cowl patterns.  I might make myself a set one day using all three patterns.  I knit with the super soft and squishy Spud & Chloe Sweater yarn which I will definitely use again. 

Brae was the only other person who received something knitted this year.  She was in desperate need of some warmies.  I used the Legwarmies pattern by Alana from Never Not Knitting.  The yarn is Debbie Stoller's Alpaca Love.  A nice inexpensive yarn I found at Michaels. 

I also made matching fingerless mitts.  I winged it with a generic mitten pattern modifying the tops to make the mittens fingerless.  It worked out perfectly. 

I had planned on a matching hat but didn't get to that.  Its on the list for this month.  Ice has moved in and is chilling us to the core on the way to school every morning.  My new cowl has been great at keeping away the chill.  So great that I have plans for a hat with the same yarn. 

More on that soon.

An Old Free Pattern Renewed - Toms Crossed Cowl

Remember the cowl I knitted for Tom back in Fall of 09?  I have been wanting to make another one since then and I finally had a chance over the holidays.  I went to my favorite yarn shop, Green Planet Yarn in Campbell, Ca and came across three beautiful skeins of Cascade Eco Duo.  At the time I would have sworn that Shalom, a gorgeous sweater I have been wanting to knit required Eco Duo, an Aran weight yarn, but I was wrong.  It needs Eco Wool, a bulky weight yarn.  So there I was with three soft as Peter Cottontail skeins of yarn just dying to be knit into something.  And it would be a shame not to have it next to the skin.  Since the Bay Area rain is freezing me to the core I decided a cowl and a new pair of fingerless mitts (pics coming soon!) were in order.  As for the third skein.  Any ideas? 

I made a few changes to the original pattern.  Enough that I rewrote it for you.

Tom's Star Crossed Cowl

- One Ball of Cascade Yarns Eco Duo or other aran or worsted weight yarn

- 16inch US9 Circular

- Row Marker

- Cable Needle (CN)

Gauge is not too important but in case you need it mine was 5st = 1 in, in pattern stitch.

If you would like to make a larger, loose cowl just increase your cast on stitches by multiples of 9 stitches.

Pattern

Cast on 90 st and join in the round being careful not to twist your stitches.  Place row marker.

Rows 1-5:  [k1,p1] Repeat to end of row.

Begin Pattern Stitch

Row 1-4:  Knit all stitches.

Row 5: *Slip 3 to CN, hold in back, k3, k3 from CN, K3.  Repeat from *

Rows 6-10:  Knit all stitches.

Row 11:  *k3, slip next 3 stitches to CN, hold in front, k3, k3 from CN.  Repeat from *

Repeat Rows 1-11 three times.

Next 4 rows:  Knit all stitches.

Next 5 rows:  [k1,p1] Repeat to end of row.

Bind off loosely in 1x1 rib stitch [k1,p1] and weave in ends.  Learn how to bind off in rib here.

I know all our Pacific rain has buried half the country in snow, so I am constantly reminding myself to count my blessings!  I hope you are all staying warm!

Swapping

Last month I did a swap with another blogger Tanya from Washington State Apples.  She is living in Germany and writes about her travels on her blog.  I was completely thrilled with the goodies she sent me and devoured a bunch of the chocolate and the noodles in the first couple days.  Thank you Tanya!

Are you wondering what Kirschkerne are?  When I saw it I was like "what the...??"  Then I read the little tag (not the german one, the one Tanya wrote me).  Cherry pits, used for heating packs.  You know the ones we usually make with rice, buckwheat or flax seed and you throw in the microwave.  In Germany they are using cherry pits which are washable and work great!  I love it!  The noodles made it into a cassarole one night for dinner.  Tanya please tell the egg guy that California gives his noodles two thumbs up.

Isn't that box pretty!  I love the little spools of thread and the silver clip in the corner.  A little touch of old world.  Speaking of old world, check out this spectacular doily.  

Jaw dropping, isn't it.  It's so fine that it is staying in its little box.  Only to come out when I want to admire its beauty and stare in awe at each of the itty bitty stitches.

My new bag has gone several places with me keeping my books and knitting safe.

And part of this scrumptious ball of German yarn has already been turned into these.

Which are keeping my freezing tootsies toasty.  The pattern is the Pom Pom Peds from The Purl Bee and is one I can see myself using again and again.  The only change I am going to make to the pattern is to add a few more rows of ribbing at the ankle for a slightly longer cuff. It was so fun to watch the colors come alive.  The color palate comes from paintings which are shown on the side of the ball.  You can see this one on the ball above.  I would love a ball using the colors from Van Gogh's Starry Night.  Anyone see one of those?

Thank you again for swapping with me Tanya!  I hope you enjoy your goodies!

 

Autumn in California

We donned a new hat and warm sweaters this evening for a little walk outside.  Autumn is much more colorful here then I thought it would be.  I figured this is the city.  They would have planted all Fruitless Mulberry trees or something.  But no, it seems like builders and landscapers used a bit of forethought when planning the neighborhoods here.  All of the color makes the city look a little like a painting.  Here are a couple pics from our walk.

I think these beautiful leaves belong to a Persimmon tree.

The new hat is a version of the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret.  I tried to make a smaller version to fit my daughter, but it didn't turn out like I expected.  It certainly is not a beret.  Overall, it came out fine.  It looks similar to the original, but this one sticks up a bit more.  I am not sure an adult would love the look but its cute on this kindergartner and we both love it on her.

Christmas Make and Do

Am I really thinking about the holidays?  Have we really lived in this house 8 months?  Time flies by so quickly, it seems like we have lived here only a few months.  This is the first year where Tom and I will not be spending the holidays visiting relatives and I find myself cuddled up on the couch in the living room imagining where our tree will go and where should we put the stockings since we don't have a fireplace.  I know everything is going to be perfect because we are here together in our own place.  Last year Tom spent the holidays in San Jose working while I was in Southern California with my daughter, Mom and siblings.  It was very hard to spend that much time apart, especially during a holiday, which is why I am so excited about this holiday season. 

I've been writing down a list of things I want to make for my little one this year.  Like most kids in America, she has far too many plastic dolls and toys taking up space in her closet.  As a matter of fact I plan on getting rid of a lot of that stuff she never plays with (we already started with a mountain of naked hand me down barbies) and replacing them with more of what she really loves.  Dress up clothes, books, play kitchen toys, art supplies, and doll clothes. 

Toy Craft List

-Felt Food - I already started on this.  I have 3 carrots, a bulb of garlic, some bow tie pasta, and a zucchini finished.  Plans for more veggies, a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly, sushi rolls, tea cakes, cookies, and much more are already in the works.  I have found some great tutorials from

• Chasing Marcus
• Helping Little Hands - Look at the left sidebar for a huge list of felt food tutorials
• Felt-o-rama - Again the list is in the left sidebar
• Lit'l Brown Bird's Passion

-Dress Up Clothes - The princess dress I made a couple months ago for our sew a long has been a huge hit.  Its amazing its still here too.  I forgot to tell you about how it got completely covered in my little ones blood when she fell and cut her head.  By some miracle we got all the blood out and my daughter is fine.  I was hanging up all her play dresses the other day when I thought about turning the project for this month into another princess dress.  I think there is a lot I could do with it, so that is tentatively the plan.  I would also like to squeeze in a crown somewhere.

- Legwarmers, hat, mittens & maybe a cowl - Okay, so this is probably to make me happy rather then her.  I figure she loves when I make her things and if I make them pink she will be happy.

- Socks - Believe it or not, she has requested hand knit socks.  I can't say no to that.

- Doll Clothes - I am not sure what to do here.  She has specifically requested barbie doll clothes but I honestly have enough to knit this year.  Maybe I can fit a few in late at night.  Here are lots more clothes too!

- Doll Crib & Dress Up Closet from Ana White - Remember the coffee table I built with my friend Tina?  I am pretty confident that if I could build that table then I can build this adorable Doll Crib and a Dress Up Storage Closet.  Ana is posting new toy ideas to build for the next month! I am sure there will be more things added to this list. 

That's all for my kid craft list.  Isnt it enough?  I also have a whole list of holiday decor I want to make as well.  I got out our puny holiday decor box and realized that all we have left from our two moves last year are ornaments.   That just wont do!  I will be posting pictures of what I am working on and how I am decorating over the next few weeks.

What's on your holiday craft list and what are your decorating plans?