Out with the Old and In with the New!

Happy 2006! It seems the holidays have taken heavy tolls on many in (just to name a few) blog land so here is hoping that 2006 is better year for everyone!

Like many of you, I’ve taken some time to look back on my knitting accomplishments this past year. I don’t have nearly as many FO’s to count. It was definitely the year of felting and of small accessories for me. I did start out on the path to some garments, but kind of dropped the ball when it came to finishing. Actually I’m finding that I have quite a number of unfinished items hanging around now with the new year.

I have an ever-so-close to being down Skyway Scoop, I have two socks without mates, one mitten without a mate, one lace shawl somewhat in progress but needing tinking to try find the error, and one long sleeve pull-over sweater that I suspect is about 1/3 done, but got sidelined when the pattern wasn’t quite specific enough and I waited for a response from the designer for a few weeks and then was caught up in other “must complete now” projects which were followed closely by the holiday knitting.

I’m sure some of my decrease in FO’s can be attributed to the taking on of these larger projects than I had tackled in 2004. I also suspect some of it can be attributed to having added spinning to the list of fibery pursuits as well. In fact, I’ve spun 264-yds of singles and 1594 yds of 2-ply. This excludes all the spinning done in the class I took in Boulder in August. Because I was one class from having a double major with math, I had to do a little further figuring…

264 yds + 2 * (1594) + 1594 = 5046 yds to pass through the spinning wheel, assuming that 2-ply yarn is exactly half of the singles, which isn’t quite true, but close enough. That is just shy of 3 miles of fiber which would nearly get me to the SnB watering hole of Catalyst Coffee! Though I do wish my wheel hadn’t been collecting dust so much during November and December, but that holiday gift thing kind of kept me away. Now, I’m itching to get back, but can’t make a decision on what fiber to use…

While it seems to me that I didn’t accomplish as much as I would have liked, I did manage to release four knitting patterns for sale as well as two free patterns in 2005. That isn’t too bad and I have to say for being a rather low rated and new knitting blog my sales on the sock patterns have been pretty good. So, that is something to be proud of.

As I mentioned previously, I do have some goals for 2006. But, before I jump into those headlong, I’ve decided to heed the cliche - out with old and in with the new. I’m declaring January as clean-up month. Now, I don’t expect to get everything that is on the needles wrapped up, but I would like to complete the mates to the two socks and the mitten by the end of the month and perhaps finally finish Skyway (though I have to say I’m not so excited about that because firstly it is quitely likely going to be much too big now that I’m 35-lbs lighter and it is a tank top and it is January). I’m going to try my best to only allow myself to cast on for a hat for DH’s birthday until those lonely socks and mitten have mates. Though making of said hat might not happen either since he isn’t wearing the scarf he had specifically asked for last year for his birthday. I haven’t decided yet and his birthday isn’t until the 25th so I’ve got some time to decide if I think it’ll get used and if DH is worthy of the soft, yummy alpaca/silk/merino handspun goodness. (Given that with the assitance of mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa paying a little over half of the total I will have this new knitting chair and ottoman [in a different color] in the upstairs where there is sunlight in 8-10 weeks, he probably does deserve it, but he has a beret he wears all the time and forbode me to knit a tam for him last year and I’m not sure he’d wear a stocking cap much and when I mentioned gloves which I was first planning for when I spun the yarn he didn’t seem too interested in those either… - how is that for a run-on???)

This weekend, DH brought to my attention that fact that my sister hadn’t forgotten me for the holidays (which I wasn’t upset about as usually she gets around to sending something when my birthday comes around in April and she started a brand new job just two weeks ago and was moving so I wasn’t expecting anything on time). But, it seems she enlisted DH’s help and it all somehow involves Woolen Treasures. However, she set it up, then needed to call them presumably to pay for it and when she gave the go-ahead to DH he was sick so never got over ther. So, he has promised me lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in Loveland tomorrow which is right up the street from Wool Treasures and then we’ll be going over there to obtain this mysterious gift that DH has been teasing me about all weekend long. He has assured me that I would love it and that he helped her (I’m presuming in ways beyond forgetting to pick it up)… So, probably some fun fibery news of some sort will be ready to report on tomorrow.

Tagged!

About 2 weeks ago, Snow tagged me with the knitting meme about the projects you’ve knit. I’ll go ahead and play, but I must warn you that since I’ve only knit for two years it probably won’t be the most exciting set of answers you’ve seen in knitblog land…

Make a List of all the Different types of items you’ve knitted and completed:

1. Dish Cloths
2. Wash Cloths
3. Scarves (garter, lace, multi-directional, seed stitch, etc.)
4. Tank Top
5. Socks (mostly variations on a rib, but some lace as well as many clog/sandal versions)
7. Hats (felted, fair isle, ribbed, cotton, fruit, baby, etc.)
8. Bags (lots and lots of felted, but a non-felted one as well)
9. Mittens (plain and fair isle, though only one fair isle, the mate is waiting patiently to be CO in the new year)
10. Bracelets and Necklaces (lace)
11. Gauntlets
12. Gadget Accessories
13. Christmas Stocking

Of all the things you’ve knitted what was your favorite type and why?

I *love* socks! I love that I can just plug in a stitch pattern I saw on a sweater in a restaraunt or in a magazine or catalog and do a little math and have my own original pair of socks. I also love the portability of them. I actually usually have one in my glove compartment so when I’m stopped at a train I’m not so irritated and instead can get a round or two knit. Often, they are easy enough that I can also knit them when visiting friends or watching a movie/TV etc.

List the types of items you haven’t finished yet, but intend to either finish or knit at some point.

1. I need to pick up and knit the edging on one arm and the neck of Skyway Scoop
2. I need to do the arms of Wear Everywhere Pullover
3. I need to tink back until I’m on track with the Leaf Lace shawl
4. I’d like to do cables this year
5. I’d like to do more colorwork this year
6. If it is in the budget, I’d like to knit a few sweaters for myself this year
7. I *really* *really* want to conquer this block I have with lace shawls. I love the idea of lace shawls, but so far, I’m 0 for 2… I must, must get over this!

Have you ever knitted anything that at one point you had sworn you would never take the time to knit?

First, I thought it would be sooo stupid to take all that time to knit socks when they are so cheap. But, like most others who have tried them, I’m in love. They are a relatively inexpensive sort of knitting project and because of their portability they are in some ways faster than other projects even though they contain roughly the same number of stitches as larger projects. Plus, I can make them to fit my feet perfectly. I’ve also found that the heel flap variety don’t rotate on my foot so the heel is on the front of my ankle like most of my commercially made socks.

Second, I never thought I’d do colorwork. I thought I’d leave it to the machines. But working on that first Mitten from Halland really grabbed me as did working on Grandpa’s Alpaca hat. Now, I’m thinking of an outrageously colored beret with perhaps equally outrageously color mittens to somewhat coordinate and wear with my new parka. I’m not up to committing to something like Torino (though I have to say I love the pattern) yet. First, I think I should finish a more basic sweater in my size But, it may just be on my list for 2007, you never know!

If Snow thought she was one of the last ones to complete this meme, then I must definitely be the last seeing as it is two weeks later. So, I’m not going to play the popularity game of specifically choosing people to fill out this meme. Instead, I’ll just leave it open. I found it kind of a nice aid for me to start formulating my knitting goals for 2006. So, if you haven’t done it, please feel free to do so and leave a comment here so I can check out your answers to the meme!

Happy Holidays!

Emma and I wish you a wonderful holiday season of whichever variety you celebrate. We have visitors arriving tomorrow and then we all will be venturing to our final holiday locale together, so I shall be neglecting the blog until next Tuesday probably.

Save travels to those traveling!

Ready for Sweets???

Like any good Minnesotan Scandanavian/German small town, the emphasis of holiday eating was definitely on the sweets! Part of my inspiration for the sweets to offer up at the tea was the fact that I haven’t been home to partake in the consumption of our traditional holiday treats since 1999 and while we try to make time to make at least one item from my line up of traditional treats it just isn’t the same without ALL of them, LOL! I actually didn’t get to make all of them as my body had other plans for me and limited my baking adventures. But no one will leave hungry. If you do, it’s your own fault, LOL!

I spoke very nicely to DH last week and got him to make his famous cream scones and lemon curd in the morning while he was also baking cardamon coffee cake for his own party that evening. That is not one of my family traditions, but rather an activity that DH and I like to partake in together and it’s traditional for afternoon tea! I cheated a bit on this front and bought some double devon cream and pumpkin butter for putting on the scones. So, go ahead and help yourself while they are still slightly warm!

Oh, and in case you are thinking I’m a huge overachiever (okay, so I kind of am) I DID NOT PAINT THE CHINA! Though, a unanimous vote amongst the atendees said I could have… *sigh*

Here, we have a traditional Swedish cookie called Pepparkakor or Pepper Cookies. It is similar to a ginger snap, but much thinner and with many additional spices - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, mace, orange zest etc. I *love* these, though I must find a way to make them without all the work of rolling the dough as that proved to be a bit too much for my ailments. I think these are Amanda’s favorite and she likes them with some pumpkin butter spread on them. Like yesterday, the recipe will follow for those interested.

These are pecan crescents. I called my grandmother for her recipe only to find out that it comes from the tried and true Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It’s the Sandies recipe, just with the dough rolled into logs and curled slightly, LOL! Go figure

Come Thanksgiving, my aunt Karen is not allowed in the homes of any family or church member without a tin of these chocolate covered carmels in hand. If she doesn’t have them in hand she is sent home to get some, LOL! They are that good. Well, her’s are that good. I’m afraid I need a bit more practice making them at this altitude, but they were good anyway. (You can see the lemon curd there in the upper left corner).

We ended it with some Ost Kaka fresh from the oven. Everyone liked it! I didn’t get a picture of it though, I forgot. Though you can see the cheese curd I made for it as it is straining here. I’ll share a cheater recipe for you that doesn’t involved making your own curd if any of you would like to try it.

I had hoped to also have my great grandmother’s sugar cookies and homemade lefse, but it just wasn’t to be. Though Ashely and I are hoping to make some lefse before Christmas sometime, but for sure this winter at some point. But, Snow helped out and brought some maxi-fours (rather larger than normal petit fours) from the famous area Bavarian bakery and Amanda brought Ferrero Rochers (which we actually didn’t open so I brought them to SnB on Monday night).

Continue reading for recipes…
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Okay, Now That Everyone Has Arrived…

Please, have a seat. We can all squeeze around the table there. Oh, you haven’t met them yet? On the left, the bubbly one with the dark hair? That’s Amanda, speed knitter and spinner. On her left, with the pixelated head? That’s Snow, our resident lace knitter extrordinaire. Next up is Ashley, fair isle knitter and steeking expert. Lastly, on the right is Linsey, the Manos knitter.

I offered a choice of Winter Blend, White Tip Earl Grey (this is amazing and doesn’t get bitter if you over steep it), Peach Ginger, or Pear tea for everyone, but they all agreed on Pear. It’s a black tea with Pear flavoring. It’s my favorite, but The Tea Table only orders it when she gets enough request for 1-lb. And, while it is my favorite you know how long a pound of loose leaf tea would last me? So, I hope you like Pear tea! Though I have little bags for individual cups so you can choose any of those I listed above if you would like or if you would prefer an herbal I think I have some in my tea cupboard as well.

While the tea is steeping, let me tell you about the savory items on the table…

There are four different finger sandwiches. They are all on sourdough cocktail bread and (with the exception of the salmon) have been lightly buttered with a sweet European style butter on both sides to provide stickiness and a barrier against sogginess.

From left to right we have watercress, tomato, cucumber, and salmon spread. With the tomato and cucumber the big secret is to slice and salt and let sit for an hour or two to get rid of excess moisture. It keeps the sandwiches from getting soggy.

These are Swiss Leek Biscuits. Don’t they look wonderful? I think everyone was quite enamored of these and you won’t believe how incredibly easy they are! The most culinarily challenged person will be able to make these and impress others!

For this week’s self-portrait head here,

For salmon spread and the swiss leek biscuit recipes, continue reading…
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Self Portrait…

Click to see this week’s…

Snow-filled Weekend!

No, the northern Colorado front range did not get snow as forecasted. But, I got to spend time with Snow TWICE in one weekend!

First, she heard that it was just DH & I for Thanksgiving so she invited us to join her band of merry makers on Thursday. And, a wonderful day it was. I had a big dinner planned and most of the groceries purchased to make a special meal for DH & I already, but since DH is vegetarian I don’t usually get the oportunity to have turkey - let alone pie (and 3 kinds at that from a legendary local bakery which most people just cannot compete with) and fart loaf!

Following for the food fest (I was actually pretty proud of myself for not overindulging much and staying comfortable full) G planned an outing for the late show of Pride & Prejudice. It’s no BBC mini-series, but was it was pretty good (there will be a more thorough review at some point this week at Culture Catalog - probably later today).

Then, on Saturday I cooked our delayed feast and invited SIL3 over as we discovered on Thursday that the remaining siblings were scattered throughout the state on Thursday and we had assumed she had gone to celebrate with her boyfriend, but had not. DH was not feeling well (we think he *might* have given himself food poisoning trying a bit of his homemade cheese from a batch that wasn’t cook quite properly - don’t worry he’s kept careful track of these things and won’t be giving out wheels from questionable batches). I think he’d learned that if it doesn’t smell like the type of cheese you made it probably isn’t a good thing to try a bite. So, I got to scratch one dish of the day’s meal and made a feast for SIL3 & myself. It was great and I sent some leftovers home with her so I’m not eating only thanksgiving leftovers this week. I have plenty but will be able to mix them up with other things.

Following that massive cooking and cleaning frenzy I went to Snow’s house again for knitting and conversation. We were of the delusion that we could watch a movie, but it just wasn’t happening. We’re all too talkative, LOL! I also discovered that g’ma’s mohair lace seaman’s scarf is not a good visiting project. I kind of already knew this, but I made such amazing progress on it on Wednesday night at DH’s write-in that I thought it would be okay. However, in the two hours or so I was at Snow’s I only got 1.5 pattern repeats and the seed stitch edging and BO done. I’m going to try real hard to not cast on for the second mitten until I at least have this gift off of the needles.

It is SnB tonight and I’m looking forward to hearing of everyone’s holiday adventures over the weekend. Two of the gals were on rather lengthy road trips for the holiday and I’m sure they will have stories to tell. I will pull out the provisional cast-on for g’ma’s scarf and start the ribbing sometime today and I’m sure I’ll be able to handle doing the ribbing while visiting and listening to tales.

I have no pics for you and I’m sorry. However, yesterday was spent cleaning and decorating. I’m still not done. I’m doing it in stages, but now I have to alternate cleaning and decorating with baking, for I have a holiday knitting tea to put on Saturday afternoon! I’m not usually much of a baker. I prefer cooking to baking and DH is the opposite so that usually works out well. However, I’ve planned the menu for the tea to give me an opportunity to par take in recipes that are special to me at the holiday time and we haven’t really done that before, despite my not spending the holiday with my family since 1999. Not to mention DH is involved with the last days of NANOWRIMO and trying to complete his novel, but his being sick this weekend has put him quite behind. So, it’s up to me and I’ll be able to do it just fine, I just don’t enjoy baking as much as cooking.

I hope all those who celebrated this weekend had a wonderful time!

I’m Forgetful…

I forgot to mention that I jumped on the Self-Portrait Tuesday bandwagon. Since it is dealing with photography I’m posting it over at my visual art blog. But, over the weeks you’ll get some new views of who I am (besides knitting) if you head over there. http://www.artistisrow.com/designedlykristi/blog/ Or you can subscribe in your favorite blog reader with this URL http://www.artistsrow.com/designedlykristi/blog/atom.xml

My first self portrait is up there now.

Also, if anyone is interested in knowing a bit more about the Swedish tradition in my family of making Ostkaka, you can learn more about it (and see a pic of the fresh cheese curd) here.

We Have a Mitten!

I have completed my first colorwork piece. Okay, so technically it is only half of a project. But, I did it! I’m soooo excited and I *love* it! It even fits my semi-man-hands (of the things I got from my dad, it was his hands and his depression - thanks Dad!). It seems my floats were tensioned well as there is still some give to the fabric. I did run into a little trouble though…

The book recommends using k2tog and ssk for the decreases at the tops of the mittens. However, some of the ssk decreases threw off the pattern a bit. From what I can tell of the photos of the mittens in the book this was not a problem for that pair of mittens.

It isn’t drastic and I certainly won’t be ripping back this mitten. But I’d like to know for the other mitten and perhaps any future colorwork projects (yes, Ashley, I’ve been bitten and there will be more in my future) I’m wondering if there is a better left-leaning decrease to use or some manner in which to reduce this problem?

Oh, and it didn’t give directions on what to do for the final round when you decrease to one stitch between the 3 “seam” stitches on each side of the hand. So, I did a centered decrease as described in some of the patterns in Stahman’s book. So, I slipped two sts together as if to knit to the right hand needle, knit the last stitch and passed both slipped stitches over that one together. It looks great! I’m proud of myself for remembering that somewhat more subtle centered decrease.

Also, thanks to all of you who have signed my Frappr map! Some of you I knew were out there reading, but many of you I did not know. So, I have several new blogs added to my “test drives” folder in Sage. I look forward to watching your knitting and spinning over the coming weeks and months.

I hope all of those celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow have a pleasant and safe holiday!

Eight?!?!? :-(

The locations of the last 100 visitors to the blog according to my web stats.

My stats say I have many more visitors than 8 in four days, yet my Frappr map is rather sparse…

Please leave your link (if you blog) in your shout out so I can visit. And, you don’t show up unless you leave a shout out… Please won’t you sign it???

Harry Potter is good! As usual some liberties were taken to get it to fit. But, all in all, a fun film!

Next week there will be a bunch of fun fibery things to share. I’m having soooo much fun preparing for it!