The Weekend Report

The joke in the Pacific Northwest is that summer starts on July 5th but I feel we're in the thick of it now.  We've taken advantage of our last few weekends and have been road tripping and exploring and camping and brunching like its our job.  The hubs has been charming and full of funny jokes and stories and every outing turns into an adventure.  Like the time we bought 24 bottles of organic lemonade.  Huh.

My library queue of available titles is turning against me.  I now have books coming out of my ears and a careful schedule of when to actually check them out so as to prolong the time I have to read them.  I had forgotten what it's like to always be in the middle of a book and to be able to get away so quickly into another world.

The sweater I'm working on is in limbo.  I tore it out and started it again on smaller needles (size 1...I think I might be insane) to get the gauge the pattern calls for.  I have asked three experienced knitters for help and have gotten three different answers which worries me.  I may just have to stubbornly get through this without further consultations.

I want to take a summer break from work.  These long, sunny days with nothing more pressing than a library book and a knitting project to occupy my time are good days indeed.

A Beautiful New Year

I have to admit that I wasn't too jazzed about the new year.  I have a huge work project due in a few months and am dreading the long march to the deadline.  Being in 2013 makes it reality that the end is near.  However, we're 4 days in and this year is not as grim as I had feared.

My one resolution for the new year is to be more intentional about bringing beauty into our every day lives.

This resolution was born when we were cleaning up for Thanksgiving and one of the items on our checklist was to "make sure pot holders are not gross" and then we went into Thanksgiving with one presentable pot holder.
I realized at the same time that my kitchen towels are approximately 10 years old and belonged to the hubs in college and were purchased specifically because THEY ARE SO MASCULINE.  Ten year old masculine college boy towels are not my idea of beautiful and I feel like someone should rip up my Woman Card for allowing this situation to occur on my watch.  I have been asleep at the wheel, folks.
I don't mean beauty to be just things that can be bought with money.  I want to appreciate this beautiful state where we live.  The first few days of this year have been startlingly, blindlingly clear, and cold.  My morning commute takes me through a little valley and yesterday it was frosted and filled with fog.  Breathtaking.  I resolve to be more aware of nature.

Twenty-twelve was a good year for us, full of firsts.  Our first full year in Washington, our first time hosting Thanksgiving, our first trip to NYC, and so many other things.  They are the reason we are so grateful and excited for 2013 and looking forward to a beautiful new year.

*photo by Ryan

Soup Eaters: Lasagna Soup (Life List Update)

(new recipe as per Autumn goals)

The ‘g’ is not silent in this soup.  Also, ‘soup’ in this case is actually spelled ‘souppe’.  Why should shops have all the fun?

 I have been trying out some new recipes lately with mixed results.  Very mixed results.  Turns out it only takes a couple of dinner bombs to make a mediocre dinner seem awesome, so I have that going for me, which is nice.
I found the recipe here and used chicken Italian sausage instead of regular Italian sausage.  You could probably use regular ground beef if you wanted.
Oh, yeah, and instead of diced tomatoes I used squash and instead of noodles I used bread cubes.

JUST KIDDING.  I can follow recipes…

 Mmm, mmm, soup!

Life List: Autumn Edition (Time to Get a Little Crazy)

I know I said that the main thing I learned from my Summer Goals was to keep it small but we just went through a major move and there are a lot of things that feel like they can be a new start.  I find myself making goals with capital letters and exclamation points.  Like,

1. READ DON QUIJOTE! IN SPANISH!
   
2. LEARN TO CROCHET!
   
3. TRY NEW RECIPES!
   
4. GO ON A WALK EVERY DAY!
   
5. MAKE CRÈME BRULEE!

Then of course, there are my quotidian goals that take up most of my time:

1. get a job
   
2. keep the dishes done, floor swept, bed made
   
3. get a job
   
4. think of something other than toast for supper
   
5. get a job
   
6. don’t get lost

I think a nice blend of the EXCITING and mundane will see me through this beautiful fall season.  Or wait, is it Christmas already?

Summer Goals Review (Life List Update)

This summer I set 9 goals for myself and even though I didn’t get through all of them, I'm happy with what I accomplished and definitely feel more capable as a result.  I’m looking forward to beating the pants off making some goals for Autumn!

In review - my Summer goals:
1. bike to work more often than I drive (on this sweet little commuter)
Ah, the biking to work…after I entangled my favorite skirt in my bike chain and had to make an emergency wardrobe change/laundry cycle, I really let this fall by the wayside.
2. make a lap quilt (maybe kinda like these ones)
Check. 
3. sew some simple skirts (maybe starting with one like this?)
Check, check and CHECK.
4. make raspberry rhubarb jam (then my husband really will love me forever)
Boom. Done.
5. read Moby Dick with my husband (then we'll see how long forever is)
Yeah, this didn’t happen.  The husband has been hounding me for years to read ‘Sunnyside’ by Glen David Gold and I just can’t bring myself to.  I started it many a time but can’t get into it.  He stipulated that I had to read ‘Sunnyside’ before we read Moby Dick.  We’ll see…
6. get more sleep (I suspect this will be the most difficult)
Nope, although I am presently sleeping 8-10 hours a night and I love it.  I’m probably catching up on 3 years worth of sleep.
7. knit my way through my newly accumulated yarn stash (neck, I promise to keep you warm this winter)
Yarp, and I have MORE cowls as a result.
8. paint our living room coffee table and side table (eek)
I’m saddened to say that this did not happen either and now we have no garage or place to paint.
9. keep my blog updated on my progress with all of these things!
Suc-cess.  I did keep updated with meeting my goals but not with my failures as I had also intended to do.

Overall, it was good for me to have a deadline to hold myself to and it was very rewarding when I was able to cross things off the list.  The main thing I learned was to keep it small – either have quite a few small projects or just a few bigger projects and to keep positive!

Kah-nitting (Life List Update)

(Almost through these goals this summer – wait, is summer over?)

I have a hard time knitting in the summer.  There are so many other things I’d rather be doing.  Like eating a bowl of cereal, for one.  Love cereal.  Also, there’s just something so cozy about knitting in inclement weather, which ND specializes in.  I managed to crank out two projects this summer, giving up many a bowl of cereal, but it’s got me in the mood for some snuggly fall knitting.

(Ignore my chin trauma – I had a little bike accident last month)

This is a scarf pattern that I got from my dear friend Gina, who visited us earlier this summer and shipped home a 12 pound box of yarn after a long road trip and just a few visits to yarn stores across the country. A girl after my own heart.
It’s a baktus scarf but mine doesn’t really look like anyone else’s that I’ve seen, which leads me to believe I probably did something wrong.  It’s mushier…the middle point on mine is more of a soft curve and one side is really stretchy and my stitch tension was all over the map.  I think it had to do with my choice of yarn – a bulkier cotton – and also the fact that I am not fluent in Knit-Speak.  YO? K2TOG TBL? SSK? Gah. 

On an unrelated side note, my sister and I saw this funny quote in a used book store last weekend:
-Do you know what IDK means?
-I don’t know.
-UGH! No one knows!!
Har har.


Earlier this year, I made my first hat.  Then I made one for my sister because I like to share.  Except for really good pieces of pie or the last piece of bacon and probably a lot of other stuff.  Actually, I hate sharing.



Anyway, I liked this hat pattern with the cable so much, I turned it into a cowl!

(Ignore that weird string sort of hiding – I still have to weave it in)

I’ve had this super cozy merino/cashmere yarn for a little while and it was perfect for this project.  I have a deep and abiding love for chunky yarn.  Everything is better chunky.  Except for me.  And that happens when I hog pieces of pie and bacon.



It’s super warm – the equivalent of a log-fire-and-hot-cocoa for my neck.  You’re welcome, neck.  And chin, you can hide out in there too.

So, that’s it for summer knitting!  It’s all about autumn from here on out!

Skirt Round Up (Life List Update)

(rocking these goals this summer)

My closet is filling up.

Help.


This skirt was salvaged several years ago from the clearance rack of a boutique that was going out of business.  It had a busted zipper, which my mother-in-law's seamstress friend cheerfully replaced for free.  In the end, it was just an awkward ankle length and I didn't wear it very often.  So, I chopped off the top and put in an elastic band and hey, presto! new skirt.  Except that it is very full and tends to be a bottom revealer in the North Dakota wind.  Maybe if I had a princess bottom I wouldn’t care.  But I don’t, so I do.




I am obsessed with this skirt.  It was a mid-length skirt that I found among the piles of my grandma Edith’s old quilting fabric and it has the most wonderful hand stitched blind stitch hem.  #amazingGrandma.  The original elastic waist was shot, so I cut off the top and added a new waist to make it a little shorter.   It has become my go-to summer skirt.  I love that my grandma made it but I also had a tiny hand in making it wearable.
 



This was my first attempt at a circle skirt and I may have shed a few angry tears while hemming this sucker.  Or a lot.  And I maybe made Ryan wear the skirt while I circled him, snipping off pieces, TRYING to make it even.  #patientlovinghusband.  The fabric is some that my grandma gave me from her collection – caraaazy floral with a definite sheen to the fabric, but it makes me smile when I wear it.




More 70s floral!  I call this the Burning-Eyeballs-Skirt.  I followed this great tutorial for a child's skirt, but upgraded the width and length.  I knew this skirt would be more practice than anything but sewing with vintage orange floral seersucker nearly gave me a seizure.  It has definite flaws as an adult skirt - the waistband and front pleat are too narrow - but I still kind of like how it turned out.



This skirt is the same pattern as the Burning-Eyeballs-Skirt but with some modifications - I doubled the width of the waistband and the inverted pleat and added a 3 inch hem.  I didn’t realize it until after I made this skirt, but the original pattern authors posted a Q&A here that addresses some of the updates for an adult version.


I’m glad I had some success with sewing simple skirts after my first underwhelming experience!  I think I might be hooked.  I have a few more ideas I’d like to try and one of our local fabric stores is having a major sale through the end of August…so, Ryan better consider cleaning out some room on his side of the closet.  I need it.

A Quilt For My Grandma Edie (Life List Update)

(Part of my efforts to work through these goals this summer)

Meet my Grandma Edith.



She’s the one in the middle.  Cute, right?  Those are my aunts with her and that lovely little group of ladies made me a quilt for my high school graduation.  In like 2 weeks.  Because my grandma innocently asked me what I would like for a graduation gift.  (Just a note to all friends and family – not a good idea to ask me what I want because a)I know exactly what I want and b)it’s probably expensive or c)extremely labor intensive, like a quilt.  Loveyouallsomuch and consider yourselves fairly warned).
My grandma has always made quilts and we had some around when I was growing up that were made from my grandpa’s old work shirts and uniforms.  I love those quilts – they were made of dark brown and blue squares and were heavy, dense and super warm.  My grandma even has a ladylike quilt that she made as a teenager.  Every single stitch is hand stitched and impossibly perfect.  It boggles my mind.  Seriously.  My grandma is all kinds of amazing.

It was one of my goals this summer to make some simple lap quilts like the ones over at The Purl Bee and since my grandma recently gave me some fabric from her stash to play around with, I thought I would make her a little lap quilt as a thank you.



I love how it turned out and I hope my grandma loves it too, but there were times when I was working on this that I felt like screaming.  And screaming. And screaming.  And possibly never stop screaming.
 Like when I had to re-thread the needle practically every time I moved it over to stitch down another little section.  Or when I can’t sew in a straight line to save my life.  Or when my bobbin jammed like 5 times in row.  Or when I died from boredom from sewing SO SLOW with my walking foot.  (I totally may or may not have tried to play Angry Birds on my phone while sewing with that stupid thing.)

But when all the screaming stopped and I had a cute little quilt, it was so worth it.  I may even attempt another one in the hopes that someday I can make a full quilt and be like my grandma.

Rhubarb Jam-a-lam-a-ding-dong (Life List Update)

 Make rhubarb jam. Check.  Make husband fall madly in love, again. Check.





My dear soon-to-be (in a year!) brother-in-law graciously brought over 3 pounds of rhubarb from his mother’s garden for me to make this jam.





So, I chopped it up, dug out some frozen raspberries and strawberries and let it simmer.  And simmer. And simmer some more.





Until it turned into fruit lava.  There is seriously nothing scarier than heating sugar to high temperatures.   MAKING JAM AND LIVING ON THE EDGE.


But I survived.  And the jam is good.  Real good.  Sometimes I surprise myself.

Shiver Me Timbers, I Made a Garment (Life List Update!)

(This is part of my ongoing efforts to meet these goals by the end of the summer)

I made a skirt.

I'm not in love with it but I done it!  With pockets.

I feel kind of meh about the whole process.  It seemed like a lot of work and frustration for a final product that I don't like.  I followed this tutorial, which was perfectly lovely, had I followed it more closely.  I was also following along with this other tutorial...which incidentally, makes a slightly different kind of skirt.  Don't ask me why I tried following two differing tutorials.  I just thought double the help = double the success.
I need to learn to not wing it when I've never done it before.  (That loud HALLELUJAH was my husband who asks this of me every time I try new recipes.  In my defense, I can't help it.)
The fabric is not my favorite but it met all of my initial requirements: inexpensive, light cotton, not transparent and not hideous.  The skirt fits a little poofy/baggy for my taste and I really struggled with making an outfit of it because it felt so frumpy.  And while I embrace a little frumpy, this was beyond my frumpfort level.  (AHAHAHAH...oh, sorry)

I had fun wearing it once but I don't know long it will last in my closet.  I don't got no room for skirts who ain't gonna pull their weight 'round these parts.

So, for next time: follow a single tutorial faithfully, no pockets, narrower through the hip, smidge longer and better fabric.  Hoo-ah!

Life List: Summer Edition (I Have Goals, People)

I think it's so inspiring and satisfying to see people achieve goals but I don't know why.  See Maggie's mighty life list here.  It will make you happy and probably inspire you a little bit. Her goals have helped me realize that things don't just happen.  People don't just up and run a marathon or decide it might be kind of nice to drop 50 pounds or to take a trip to Italy.  They make it a priority and they train/diet/save for it and then they do it.

Here, I set forth my short-term summer BHAGs.  That is a fun little acronym I learned at my fun little job from my super fun upper management.  A BHAG is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal...and yes, I consider sewing two pieces of fabric together to be an audacious goal.
I'm really hoping that by sharing them with you all, it will make me more accountable because the person that I'd like to be does all of these things with aplomb.

This summer, I would like to:

1. bike to work more often than I drive (on this sweet little commuter)
2. make a lap quilt (maybe kinda like these ones)
3. sew some simple skirts (maybe starting with one like this?)
4. make raspberry rhubarb jam (then my husband really will love me forever)
5. read Moby Dick with my husband (then we'll see how long forever is)
6. get more sleep (I suspect this will be the most difficult)
7. knit my way through my newly accumulated yarn stash (neck, I promise to keep you warm this winter)
8. paint our living room coffee table and side table (eek)
9. keep my blog updated on my progress with all of these things!

I'm serious about keeping on track with updates, so stay tuned!