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Holleeeeeeeeeee crap has work picked up! But I’ve been formulating how I’d do this for some time. (Writing book reviews is a new thing for me so I write this entry quite timidly. )

These are the books I was able to finish in 2011.

I started 2011 with a wonderful book and ended it with a wonderful book. (These books are listed in reverse order. Started with The Help and ended it with The Inconvienant Wife. I don’t think I’ll write a review for EVERY book I read. I enjoyed many of them to an extent. Some I didn’t. There are some that fell in between for me.

Theme – Time Periods

You’ll see with me that I looooooooooooove me some historical fiction. Very rarely do I read a book that’s set in current times. I wish there was a historical fiction area within the fiction shelves. We can’t get everything I guess

Redfield Farm: A Novel of the Underground Railroad by Judith Redline Coopey. This book centers on the Redfield family before and after the Civil War. The book’s main character is Ann Redfield. She is part of a large Quaker family and takes a maternal role in her family when her mother passes. She gets so used to this role that she forgets about her personal life because she is too busy worrying about how others in her family are and how she can best support them. Her family is part of the Underground Railroad in the mountains of Pennsylvania. She comes across a wide variety of characters with a wide array of motives, both black and white. The reader can quickly understand just how dangerous yet important it was to assist slaves to freedom. For that, I found this an interesting read. After the Civil War, as we know, the movement on the Underground Railroad came to a halt and I feel the book quickly did as well. The narrator says her story from 1905 so after the Civil War the next four to five decades are quickly brushed by to the book’s end. That was the only disappointing part of this book. Four out Five Stars.  Read November 21 – December 5

When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt – I LOVE books about immigration to the United States. I always think of my family members on my maternal grandmother’s side who came here from Slovakia in the 1880s.I found myself conflicted from time to time with it though. It seemed there were times reading it when I couldn’t help but just want something GOOD to happen to her. Then again, being an immigrant in a new country can’t ever be easy. It certainly wasn’t for single women in the 1880s in America so I had to tell myself that it was probably more realistic than anything. People took advantage of immigrants. Sisters came over here looking for siblings, sometimes not finding them. The main character, Irma, trains to be a doctor through her journey to the West Coast and it was very interesting to read the various kinds of treatments people received. Four out Five Stars.  Read February 28 – March 19

City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling. OH HAI HISTORICAL EPICS! I loved this book. It’s pretty hefty–almost 600 pages but I still enjoyed it. This book covers about 150 years of the settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan. Its pace was pretty fast but new characters were introduced to keep my interest too. Sometimes I was disappointed to see some of the characters drop suddenly but I was quickly introduced to new characters.

This book was interesting because, like “When We Were Strangers,” the characters were medical professionals from the 1600s-mid 1700s and the descriptions of the medical procedures were quite fascinating…and sometimes gross given the fact that utensils were hardly sanitized  (I’m hardly a germophobe but using utensils on me that are housed on a wooden table? NO!) Another example is that one of the characters does some experimentation with blood transfusion. Because this was before Charles Drew’s blood typing, the experiments went tragically wrong.

This book got me hooked on the idea of historical epics. Swerling has three more books in this series. Lil apprehensive about the second book. 500 some pages–20 years or so.  Four out Five Stars.  Read August 13 – September 17

Theme – Narrators

This was an interesting year for narrators! That’s for sure!
Room By Emma Donoghue. This is the story of Ma and her five year old boy, Jack. They’re prisoners in a shed-like Room where a character named Old Nick comes to “visit” to have sex. Sounds horrifying doesn’t it? Ma was kidnapped years prior and held prisoner. Eventually she gave birth to Jack and it’s the two of them living in this Room. My mom sent me an email on a Thursday saying “You MUST read this book!! I’ll loan it to you tomorrow so you can read it this weekend–you won’t want to put it down.” I read a little bit about the book and went “whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?” But like a good daughter I read it. It was such an interesting read because it’s written from the point of view of Jack, a five year old, who, as you can imagine doesn’t understand how wrong and complex their situation is. It took a while to understand things going on in the book–for example every afternoon they have a “screaming contest.” It took me a while to figure out they’re screaming for help and not just playing a game. But I got to understand Jack’s point of view and couldn’t stop cheering them on through the book. I highly recommend this book! Five out Five Stars.  Read January 13 -19 (that’s pretty quick for me!)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Guess who narrated this book?? DEATH Sounds ominous, no? But, yeah you might laugh at this, it ended up being a great book. And one that was uplifting!

Liesel Meminger is a foster kid living with a couple with older children outside of Munich in World War II. This family, as you can gather, goes through a lot during World War II and Liesel gets through it by stealing books. The reader sees her go to school, get bullied as students do and we see her befriend a boy down the street. They quickly become friends. But she doesn’t even tell him that their family has a Jew living with them. We see how each character is affected by the influence of Nazism in Germany and how that motivates their actions or lacktherof. I do not want to give away too much of the plot but I highly recommend this book. Five out Five Stars.  Read March 29 – April 26.To those who might have read this–Do you think it’s accurate to have this book classified as “Young Adult?” Why or why not? I’ll be curious to see what you think.

The Soldier’s Wife By Margaret Leroy. This, unfortunately, was not the most enjoyable book because  of the narrator. As one can guess this is written from the point of view of the soldier’s wife. It wasn’t until my father complained about the tense of a book he was reading that I could pinpoint the issue I was having with this book. He complained that the book he was reading was written in the present tense. BINGO. I grabbed my Kindle and realized that this book was written like that. Not only that, but it was also first-person present tense. Because of that, the writing was often dull. “I go to the store. I pick fruit.” That might sound random but try reading 400 pages of that. I found it difficult to relate to this character because there was no context to it. If this wife was writing about her life during the second world war, we might have gotten some kind of hint to motives or rationale. Two out Five Stars.  Read November, 2011.

Theme – Characters
There are some characters that I get mad at, that I cheer on and that I still think about to this day (Like Jack and Ma in Room). These are some stories with some pretty interesting characters.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I really related to the characters of Skeeter Phalen (the main character) and Celia Foote. The book starts with Skeeter graduating from Ol’ Miss in 1963. That’s rare in and of itself because most of her girlfriends are already married with kids. Skeeter on the other hand is set to be a writer with her Bachelor’s in her hand. She suggests a bold move–interviewing the maids of white families in Jackson Mississippi and then writing about it. Sure it’s not marching in Birmingham with Dr. King but this character picked the thing she was best at and did her part in helping a societal problem. I appreciated Celia Foote’s character because there are times when I judge people too quickly. If you take a look at her, whether it’s the picture in your mind or the actress who plays her in the movie, you might instantly assume that there’s nothing there. (I happen to believe that they got her character very well in the movie) She’s gorgeous, has a nice house and husband. But underneath it, you still see pain. There’s more depth to her than you might initially think.  All of the women in this book have a strong foundation and story behind them. I loved the characters of Aibileen and Minnie as well. They were brave just sharing their experiences with Skeeter too! Five out Five Stars.  Read December 25. 2010 – January 3, 2011.

An Inconvenient Wife By Megan Chance. Set in Guilded Age New York City, we are introduced to Lucy and Henry Carleton. The first scene (I imagine what I’m reading in my head as a movie, almost, hence the word “scene.”) has these two talking to a psychoanalyst to try to cure Lucy’s hysteria. As people in the 21st century, our definition of hysterical is very different than that of the 1890s. You go on to read that Lucy simply wants more–more companionship and more to do. The restrictions placed on women at this time were frightening! There was a tightness in my chest for Lucy. If a woman back then did not seek pleasure in organizing a home, there was something wrong with her. If she sought sexual satisfaction, she’d be placed in a mental institution where the conditions were far from healthy. During this book, various mental health specialties along with their societal value were described. One of the doctors, Dr. Victor Seth, introduces the couple to hypnosis, which was a very new field then. Through this, Lucy starts to come to terms with childhood issues and feelings, some of which she’s gotten over and others she hasn’t. As I was reading it, I just couldn’t help but feel sorry for Lucy and all the restrictions society was placing on her during this time. Very interesting read! Five out Five Stars.  Read December 15 – December 25.

I want to get better about reviewing books while they’re fresh in my mind. (I struggled with some of these reviews, trust me, because I read them a while ago) Hopefully my confidence about writing clear reviews will increase as my love of reading grows daily. so many books out there!

Well…2011 ended on a fairly low note on the knitting front. Must. Step. Up. My. Game.

I won’t give excuses because I’m proud of what I finished up. Reasons why numbers are down:

1. We moved. Many of these items were in storage for approximately 2 months
2. I fell in love with reading…again (expect a “2011 a Reading Wrap Up” soon)
3. Life. It happens

So as a round up, I finished:

• 1 Shawl
• 1 Adult Cardigan
• 4 Pairs of Socks
• 1 Hat
• 1 Cute Toy
• 1 Cowl
• 2 Christmas Decorations
• 1 Sweater
• 2 Baby Items

Did I want to complete more? Absolutely! Haven’t we all??

So. Moving forward, on this, the 9th day of 2012, I plan:

1. To make more of a dent into my stash. My friend, Lindsey, calculated how much yarn she has and is making attempts to put a dent in it. She even went so far to calculate how many miles of yarn she has. I did too. But I won’t share that calculation on internets. Needless to say I want to make a dent in my stash. Won’t go so far as declare a yarn diet. Let’s face it. It won’t last! but I do want to make a dent. I hope to try to develop a widget or something on the right side of my blog to keep track of how many yards I’ve knitted.
2. Knit more. Of course.
3. More specifically-SOCKS! I’ve been so enamored with intricate fair isle patterns be it for Christmas stockings, baby cardis or adult sweaters. I must never under-estimate how much socks are appreciated. It’s getting cold out! Jermaine and I need socks and like with #1, I hope to keep a tally on the right side of this blog to keep track.
4. I want to be more decisive about my knitting. There have been some cardigans that just didn’t make the cut. I need to make those decisions more definitively instead of them just waiting around in my projects box. Life is way too short to be working on “meh” projects. (That, ladies and gents, you can put on my tombstone!)

In light of #3 (Technically, it was 2B but whatever)

I present you with socks I hope to finish really really soon:

• The first one is the Through The Loops Mystery Sock. So much fun. Join in the fun! (it’s fabulous to let yourself be surprised. Really. I don’t think we let ourselves be surprised much be it through knitting or life. There are clues every week of January. Since I’m knitting them two at a time, I hope to have these completed by the end of this month.
• The middle one is Cookie A’s Pointelle sock. I’ve wanted to make this one since I received Knit. Sock. Love. Went stash diving (GO ME!!! ) and found this nice lighter toned sock yarn. It’s such a fun pattern. I hope to have sock numero uno done soon.
• The third one is a pair of fabulously loud socks I started last spring. I’m not proud. I started them in the car with our wonderful realtor while we were driving to various houses. The first sock has been complete for a while. The second one gained momentum over the holidays so yaaaaaaaaaay!

I am someone that likes keeping visual track of my goals. Hope to make myself more accountable to them this year!

…and they went to the same recipient!

Meet the newest member of our family. Michael William O’Neill, son to my cousin and his sweetie wife, Jeannie.

wook at thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!

Random question: Say your cousin has a kid. What genetic relationship do you have with it? I’m a little sick of saying “my cousin’s and his wife’s kid.” Cousin twice removed sounds impersonal.

So yes. I am COMPLETELY comfortable with being a crazy aunt to lil Mikey. Let’s just make it simple shall we?

Mike is serving in Afghanistan and he was able to come home to see his son born on December 7, 2011 in the wee hours of the morning.

And since knitters view babies as their own personal Barbie, I made two items for him.

Jeannie asked for a stocking cap for the little guy. Surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre. Why not? IT’S FOR CHRISTMAS TIME!!
So I made this:

Pattern: The Duketer – Stocking Cap by Jenny Wiebe
My Ravelry Project Page
Yarn(s): Loops & Threads Charisma
Colorway(s): Red and Green
Needle(s): US 10 – 6.0 mm
Casted On: November 27, 2011
Casted Off: November 29, 2011
Modifications: None

And this is him wearing it, two days old:

Which one is bigger? Mikey’s head or the yarn ball I put at the end of it?

Secondly, I knit Mikey a sweater to show off his Irish heritage:

Pattern: Trellis by Britta Stolfus Rueschhoff from the Knitty Spring, 2005
My Ravelry Project Page
Yarn(s): Cascade 220 Superwash
Colorway(s): Green Heather
Needle(s): US 6 – 4.0 mm
Casted On: December 8, 2011
Casted Off: December 18, 2011
Modifications: None

I made a mixture between the 6-12month size. And let’s just say he has some time to grow into it

So this wraps up 2011′s finished objects. Ended on an adorable note.

I have been brewing many future blog entries of my 2011 Wrap Up and Plans for 2012–knitwise, stashwise and readingwise.  What are your goals for 2012? Maybe there’s something I didn’t think of.

I have finished my Christmas stocking:

And now only two more to go!

Pattern:A NEW Mom’s Christmas Stocking by Dorene Delaney Giordano from her Ravelry Store (Note – This is a toe-up pattern)
My Ravelry Project Page
Yarn(s): Patons Pure Merino.
Colorway(s): Purple and Gray.
Needle(s): US 3– 3.25 mm
Casted On: November 5, 2011
Casted Off: December 4, 2011
Modifications:  Like with the previous stocking, I wanted to make it bigger. I based the instep on 60 stitches (3 pattern repeats) and the sole on 40, making the total stitch count 100 and not what the pattern stated-100.

This made the fabric VERY dense so towards the end of knitting it, it was a rather rough knit! But I still like the final result:

I just love stars so I knew this pattern had to be the one for my stocking.

I am not entirely sure I’ll get Layla and Luna’s stocking done in time for CHRISTMAS DAY but I hope to get them done within a months time. I’ve started on Ms. Luna’s:

She is a kitty that loves being in the center of attention. She has a super hero complex as well. So I found it only appropriate to use bright colors for her.

Layla on the other hand is a very gentle soul. Calm and soothing colors were required to match her personality however the combination still had to provide enough contrast for the stranded pattern to be visible. And yes, I’m sure plenty might say I was definitely over-thinking what colors I would use for her. I wanted to get it right though. I finally found it:

Seeeeeeeeeeeee….soothing colors but will still provide some wonderful contrast.

Have a great weekend everyone. Knitters, getting all those handknits done for the holidays? What all are you making for loved ones?

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

I haven’t completed as many finished objects I would have liked this year but I did complete one big one

This project didn’t take as long as you’d think. For about three months, it stayed in a box from the move. I packed it up in late July and unpacked it in our new home. It stayed in my box o’ WIPs mainly because of:

They. Never. End.

All these ends. Now I know knitters from centuries prior just tied them and let the wool felt. Great. But my control freak tendencies had an image of a hole growing when I’m away from home and then the unraveling started. So yeah. I wove them all in. As one can imagine, it took a long time.

Pattern:Autumn Rose Pullover by Eunny Jang from Simply Shetland 4: At Tomales Bay
My Ravelry Project Page
Yarn(s): Long story. See below.
Colorway(s): Long story. See below.
Needle(s): US 2½ – 3.0 mm & US 4 – 3.5 mm
Casted On: May 8, 2011
Casted Off: November 20, 2011
Modifications: I made everything longer. Longer sleeves. Longer torso. If I were to do this all over again, I’d pull the neckline up. Kinda wish I did that. That said, I’m still quite proud of the end result. I wore it to work once but I think it’s more suitable to wear with cords at home. It’s just too warm for my office that runs a little warm anyway.

I had to pull out the neckline and redo it. But hey…as a result, I learned the importance and purpose of a neckline cuff. I picked up about 80 extra stitches along the neckline and the sweater practically fell off my shoulders. Re-did it and the new neckline helped bring the already long neckline more together. Phew!

Now colors.

I love the Knitpicks Autumn Rose Mineral version of this sweater. I even ordered the yarn in Knitpicks Pallete kit for this sweater. Turns out, I wasn’t all impressed by how thin the yarn was running. The resulting fabric wasn’t as strong as I’d like it. So I converted the Knitpicks Mineral kit and used Brownsheep Naturspun Sport. Below is a chart.

I really enjoyed knitting this sweater with this yarn. Naturespun Sport is a more full yarn resulting in a more dense fabric.

I consider this sweater to be a significant feat. First full fair isle sweater for an adult. I made significant modidifications in length and they were done well. I had expressed some issues with the sleeves and from what you can see above and below, they do, in fact match up.

While I might not be 10000% pleased with the long neckline, I’m still quite proud of myself. Gorgeous feminine sweater that fits me quite well I’m very much looking forward to applying the lessons I learned with this sweater to Venezia

I love this time of year. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Cooler weather. New Years. LOVE IT.

I think, though of all the holidays during this time of year, I like Thanksgiving the most. It’s likely because of the spirit of it. Too often we live in a world where we focus on the negative and let it destroy our days. And, trust me, I’m just as guilty of it as the next person.

This holiday makes us (or at least it should) realize the wonderful things we do have in spite of X, Y, Z.

So in no order, this is what I’m thankful for this year:

It's icing, children. And thinking about this picture, taken a few years ago, I can't remember how we both ended up with icing on our faces. hmmmm

1. My amazing husband, Jermaine.
I pride myself on not being one of those women who needs 4 dozen roses sent to her on Valentine’s day but that doesn’t mean I’m not my own special brand of crazy. We’ve been through a lot together and because of that, he has been my calm when I’m anxious. He is the best exit buddy a woman can ask for.

2. Layla and Luna
We adopted them from the PG County Humane Society. You see all these tear jerker commercials about how we should save dogs and cats from a terrible life on the streets. While that is absolutely true, that’s not one of the main reasons why we adopted these girls. Sure it’s one but it’s not the only one. We wanted the companionship that came with kittehs. Shoot! They’re a wonderful source of entertainment as I’m sure they feel the same way about us. There are days at work that are so crazy and busy that the ONLY mammals I want to see are them because they don’t care about the craziness at work. All they want is to plop on your lap and purr, which, in turn, is quite calming.

3. Family and Friends. They put up with a lot and are always there to offer advice and laughter and appreciate my odd sense of humor. (pics were listed in alphabetical order: dad, mom/ray, rose/debbi, random group shot of Jermaine, me and Jess painting our home)

4. My job. I know I’m not out curing cancer or at a soup kitchen like I might have wanted to do in high school but I think I found a very comfortable nitch. Do I want to retire from this job? no. But I’m doing exactly what fits with my strengths according to many career tests I’ve taken. I help the underdogs and I feel like the information I provide my coworkers is a great benefit to my organization. I’m learning a great deal and I continue to and that’s a great feeling. The mind is an incredible thing if always challenged.

5. My health. Yes. It’s ironic that I state this as I’m getting over a cold that’s been a real pain in the ass, if I might be frank. But with this, I realized that I’m thankful for: A-The last time I got sick like this was in early 2009. So two and a half years without a cold certainly is not reason to complain. B- I have sick leave and a boss that encourages me to use it (when appropriate, of course. Like this past week when I hardly had a voice). C- I have insurance to cover me if this stupid cold progressed into something worse. So yes, I’m thankful for my health and that I have the resources to take care of my diabetes. (That’s my insulin pump featured above.)

6. Our new home. Jermaine and I bought a house this year and we’re having fun making it our own. (Yes I know that’s technically a pic of the cats but it’s their new bay window!)

Our Loot after a day at MDSW (this was yarn between me and three of my knitting buddies)

7. Yarn. Need I say more? But I think I will–I am thankful that I have time to be creative.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Be sure to think about what you’re thankful for and tell everyone close to you that you’re thankful for them. That is what the holiday is about…not how authentic your cranberry sauce recipe is.

Laura

We adopted Layla and Luna in 2005. Back then, I was quilting more than knitting. I started picking up knitting more seriously at the weeeee end of 2006. By the time 2007 came around, the knitting bug hit hard and it became my primary craft. Then, in 2008, I said, out loud, “You know honey, it would be great if I knitted each of us a stocking for Christmas.” Cute idea right?

And naturally I didn’t actually start one till 2009:

Note: This pic was taken 8/23/09

I’m not proud. It took Jermaine and me buying our house to realize I really really wanted all of us to have a stocking this Christmas.
Jermaine’s, I knew, would be the most difficult. His name is just too long–8 letters. Why does that make a difference? I wanted our stockings all to have our names shown on one half of the stocking. Jermain’s name required about 70 stitches, so that doubled would make for a 140 stitch stocking. Depending on what yarn I’d use, sizing and shaping would vary.

So there’s that fine line between one hand where I make him a stocking out of fingering weight yarn, size 1 needles and it taking forever OR, on the other hand, I make him one that ends up so big it can fit Luna.

I then found designs by 2 Sticks and a String on Ravelry and I knew these were the patterns I wanted for our family stockings! I grew up with stockings a little bigger than her planned schematic but overall, I really like the designs!

And with this, I present Jermaine’s finished Christmas Stocking:

Pattern: A NEW Dad’s Christmas Stocking by Dorene Delaney Giordano from her Ravelry Store (Note – This is a toe-up pattern)
My Ravelry Project Page
Yarn(s): KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Sport
Colorway(s): Aurora Heather (green) & Dove Heather (white/gray)
Needle(s): US 1 – 2.25 mm & US 2½ – 3.0 mm
Casted On: October 7, 2011
Casted Off: November 5, 2011
Modifications:

1. This pattern was based on repeats of 20. So to add some width because of my preference and because of the length of Jermaine’s name, I expanded the stocking to 120 stitches, as opposed to the 80 it called for. So for the instep, heel and “leg” portion, I used size 2.5 needles. After the border on the top, but before Jermaine’s name, I changed to size US 1-2.25 needles and increased twenty stitches evenly by making one stitch after every six stitches. I was concerned that the stocking sizing would look off but with the needle size decrease, everything coincided nicely.
2. 120 stitches made for an awkward heel flap, so I ripped it and did a short row heel (I mean it’s not like Jermaine is actually going to wear this. It’s for stuffing present(s) in! ).
3. I also did an i-chord bind off. This was a first time doing this bind-off for me. Sure, it’s not the quickest one in the world, but it gives the stocking a very nice edging. It’s curling over a little bit, as you can see so perhaps I should go up a needle size the next time I use it? I don’t know.  But this certainly won’t be the last time I use it.

I know this project came with a lot of false starts. (Did you notice the first pic? How there’s no gold in the final stocking? That was Jermaine’s request and I was more than happy about that. Never been a fan of golds/yellows/oranges.) But I am quite pleased with the end result.

Annnnnnnnnnnnd I’m half way done with my stocking

No soon did I insist on blogging more did work pick up. Opps.

Well work pays for the yarn habit so it therefore trumps blogging.

I finished a cowl, though! yay!

One of my favorite things to do on Ravelry is to stalk friends in the “friend activity” feature. I know using the verb “stalk” could allude to not-so-great associations but I’m really just like keeping track of people’s progress on projects and what they’ve queued. Knitting inquisitiveness, if you will.

So my friend Sarah, I noticed, magic linked Knit Picks Chroma and I clicked for more information. Don’t know why…I just did.

Turns out she needed test knitters for her loverly cowl, the Tiled In Cowl.

I was able to help her with the test knitting and this was my final result:

Pattern: Tiled In Cowl by SJ from her Ravelry Store
My Ravelry Project Page
Yarn(s): Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight & Handmaiden Fine Yarn Casbah Sock
Colorway(s): Sweet Pea, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight, Rockin’ Sock Club installment from May, 2010 & Kaleidoscope, respectively.
Needle(s): US 3 – 3.25 mm
Casted On: September 14, 2011
Casted Off: October 1, 2011
Modifications: none

Here’s a closer-up version of the cowl:

The pattern is written wonderfully. AND I even learned a new skill–carrying floats:

Carrying the pattern yarn

Carrying the background yarn

So learning that alone made this process very very worth it. I was taught it real quickly once. Then I forgot it. This pattern requires about 19-stitch floats so I felt the need to re-learn it. Because I learned a new skill, I very much appreciated the process of knitting this cowl.

If you’re getting the impression that I’m not too pleased with the final result, you’re right. IT’S NOT BECAUSE OF THE PATTERN but more because of the yarn selection.

The designer flat out says in the pattern “Pick a multi-colored yarn with long color repeats.” And what did I do? I pick a colorway, that, while gorgeous, has only two-inch color lengths.

So Final Thoughts:

• Wonderfully written pattern.
• Take the designers advice–Use yarn with long repeats.
• That said, be mindful of yarns that are single ply. I was nervous about using Chroma and/or Mini-Mochi because they do not tend to hold up when you use them to sew ends down. (I casted off for a sock using Mini-mochi once and the yarn kept falling apart.

Go see for yourself and buy this wonderful cowl pattern

I’m a slave to boring cotton tops. It’s what I like, what can I say. God knows I’ve gone into stores bound and determined to change but the other tops just aren’t me. There are super sheer, too loud, too frilly–too not me.

So perhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaps I should just wear my cotton tops more smartly??

There was a time when I bought a necklace at New York and Company. I wore it to work and got mad compliments! And I have to say it certainly did something for the look!

Then I got to thinking–I’M CRAFTY! I CAN MAKE SOME NECKLACES! Granted the last one I made, I’m pretty sure, was made out of macaroni and my poor mom was the recipient but hey….I can still make some!

I went to Beadazzled in Dupont Circle and came back with some loot:

And last night I finished my first necklace:

The red beads are recycled glass and the black ones are graduated ones that increase in size. (Forgive me, I’m still wrapping my head around this new craft’s terminology)

It feels odd to start a new craft but I gotta say–that book I bought: The Absolute Beginners Guide: Stringing Beaded Jewelry is a wonderful resource! It’s got about 20 necklaces to make with instructions written in gradual order. Nice baby steps. You use more tools but this craft certainly isn’t as intimidating as one might think. Give it a try next time you need a change of pace!

we just moved

The move went very very well. We are about 97% unpacked with some few stubborn boxes here and there. This is starting to feel like home now and both of us, as you can see, the kittehs are quite happy here:

Our kittehs look out their front screen door

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what else I want this blog to be other than a digital scrapbook of all my finished objects. My life is so much more than that. I might hesitate writing about events in my life because they might involve people that do not want to be talked about online. I can’t say I blame them. Or perhaps maybe I think too much – Do people really care about a book I just read and absolutely loved? But this is for me first and foremost. I have readers, many of which know me in real life, some do not. If they don’t care about a particular topic, it is totally within their right to move on to the next blog listed in their Google Reader account.

[which reminds me...I have to work on my confidence in writing book reviews! I have read some really fantastic books lately too!]

ANYWAY!

This is a knitting blog and in my attempts to improve my writing in my professional life, perhaps this can help me share my thoughts on knitting and all the things that come with it.

My knitting buddy Carol mentioned this in a blog post a few months ago:

I did a blog post a little while back about some of the similarities I noticed between the quilting blog world and the knitting blog world. One thing I’ve seen on a lot of quilting blogs lately is a “Process Pledge.” The Process Pledge is a vow to not just “show finishes or occasionally confess about our moments of indecision, but chat openly and often about our works in progress, our inspirations, and our moments of decision,” to quote one blogger.

She went on to talk about writing a knitting book but it got me thinking about the knitting process. I know of various times in this blog where I have some hesitations about writing about Works In Progress Entries. It just comes to this: They’re not as fun. Let’s face it. What if you post a picture of a work in progress and four inches have been completed. Next week rolls around and you have done a whopping additional 2.5 inches to it. Wow. Not all that exciting.

But there are decisions you make as you knit something that would be interesting for your fellow knitters to know. I always appreciate a good heads up about charts or yarns for example. I like reading friends’ reviews of books. So why not add my own?

So I start now, in this new chapter of my blog, showing off my Featherweight Cardigan project.

At first, I’ve been so hesitant about such a pattern. There are thousands of projects on Ravelry and I noticed that a lot of them are sheer. And if that’s what people want, then FINE! More power to them. But from my point of view, I questioned the point of a cardigan so thin. My friend Darsana, who has made four, I’m pleased to note, mentioned that there are times in her office when it feels like a meat locker indoors. It’s not the time for a heavy sweater because it’s often summertime with ACs jacked up so high. I started thinking that and I said to myself, “Yuuuuup….I can see myself needing a few summer sweaters for those times.” She modified the pattern, too, to add more shaping to it. As you can see, many, have found these mods helpful.

One can’t take bulky yarn and knit this pattern. At the same time, I wanted to see more finished ones with fingering weight yarns as opposed to the laceweight it calls for. My friend Cam recently finished one that I just fell in love with! Let’s take a moment and gawk at her lovely cardi, shall we??

Sure, she used fingering weight yarn but you can’t see through the cardi. It fits her wonderfully and I particularly like the ribbing collar. It gives it a very nice border. She added length to the torso, which is something I’m probably going to have to do as well. All in all, a very well tailored cardi. Ms. Cam can probably wear this to the office if it gets too cold with the AC or she can wear it hanging out with her man on the weekends.

Ok I’m starting to sound like one of those announcers on a makeover show when they start talking about the clothes they picked out for the person.

So I started knitting one with Dream in Color Smooshy. This pattern can sometimes turn into a bore because it’s, for the most part, straight stockinette. But I am particularly interested in how the yarn I picked changes every so slightly:

This is just the swatch I made a few weeks ago but it still kept my interest. This is the progress so far:

The specs of purple, lighter blues and even some hints of green if you look close enough just make me giddy!

I plan on making this with Darsana’s modifications too and adding length to the torso. Haven’t made a decision about whether I want full sleeves, like I usually do, or go for more snug  and more fuller and longer ones. I usually go for longer sleeves but perhaps 3/4 length ones will allow it to look more professional and tailored? I don’t know. (I’m on this professional self-improvement stint as you can probably tell. I want to write better and look better and perhaps….maybe…feel more confident? I digress though)

Up next will be a finished test knitting cowl I did for my buddy, PAKnitWit!