Lent 2011 - Day 33

This weekend was the first true spring weekend we've had so far. It was beautiful and sunny and everyone in our neighborhood was out working in their yards. Mr. Cleaver and I were no exception (we don't want our new neighbors thinking we're slackers!). Of course I'm sure the neighbors though I was cutting quite the ZsaZsa Gabor in Green Acres figure, sweeping and raking in a skirt and boots.

My favorite was meeting the little girl across the street, who greeted me with: "Hi! We don't have to wear coats!"

In addition to yard care, I got in some sewing on my Beignet Skirt (shell is finished) and went to the Great Maine Bike Swap and picked up a vintage Sears 3-speed, which I'll share some photos of later this week  - it's very me.

In the evenings, Mr. Cleaver and I have been re-watching Season 3 of Mad Men, which inspired today's outfit a bit. I love all the scarves the women wear and while I have a decently-sized scarf collection, it makes me want more!

Scarf: Mervyn's (back when it existed)

Long-sleeved tee: gift, from Kohl's I think

Brocade Pencil Skirt: Burdastyle Alexis, made by me.

Shoes: Bass Outlet

Catching Up

Last week was a wonky week for me - between getting back from the DC trip to the snow on Friday - it was just weird and disjointed. In the midst of all I didn't feel super motivated either in dressing or taking photos, so all I have for Lent proof is these two. Don't worry, you're not missing anything.

Lent Day 21 (above):

Necklace: Sears

Cardigan: Joy by Kim Hargreaves, made by me

Tee: Target

Wool circle skirt: made by me

Shoes: Clarks Outlet

Lent Day 22:

Sweater: Gap

Skirt: Granny skirt, drafted and made by me.

Boots: Naturalizers, Macy's

My seedlings are doing well. Almost everything has a little seedling now (except the mint). Up until a few days ago, though there wasn't a hint of activity on my peppers or tomatoes. The soil was too cool, methinks. Then while driving, Mr. Cleaver mentioned that the despite the cool weather, the sun made the car really warm. Only in Maine, he said, do you drive around with the window cracked in 38 degree weather.

His comment gave me an epiphany, and immediately when we got home, I put my tomato seeds under my clear glass cake dome, and voila! within a day seedlings!

My other big triumph of the week was finally cutting out my Beignet skirt yesterday (the blue twill is the shell, the polka dot is the happy happy lining).

I spent some quality time in JoAnn's yesterday and picked up two patterns, some notions, the lining fabric and fabric for two more projects - including the pattern and material for a new casual skirt. I'm putting my plans for pants on hold and as soon as I finish the Beignet, I'll dive into that skirt pattern, because really, the denim skirt needs a break!!

Introducing: Domenic

To ring in the start of spring, I'd like to introduce my newest pattern, Domenic.

Domenic was inspired by my little cousin once removed. When I found out he would be soon be joined by a little sibling, I told him I'd like to knit a toy for his little brother or sister and asked him what kind of animal he'd think they'd like. After a little thinking (and a little encouragement from mom) he decided resoundingly - a duck!!

Domenic is knit in the round from the bottom up and features a short row tail. The wings and beak are picked up from holders and worked using the magic loop technique. Knit seamlessly in a sturdy cotton yarn, Domenic can handle a lot of cuddling and go in the wash.

The Stats:

Finished Size: 11 inches/ 28 cm tall.

Yarn: (MC)1 skein Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Solids in 18010 Yellow:  200 yd/ 184m per 113g/4 oz skein; 100% Cotton. (CC)1 skein Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Multi in 19605 Creamsicle: 150 yd/ 138m per 85g/3 oz skein; 100% Cotton.

Scraps of black or dark-colored yarn for eyes. Several lengths of scrap yarn

Gauge: 20 sts and  26 rows = 4”/ 10 cm in Stockinette on size 6US/ 4 mm needles.

Needles & Notions: Size 6 US / 4 mm circular needles in 24 and 40 inches. Set of Size 6 US/ 4mm double pointed needles (Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the correct gauge.)

Removable Stitch Markers Tapestry needle Polyester stuffing

You can queue up the pattern on Ravelry or you can purchase the pattern here:

$5 USD

Pink, Prosciutto, and Peas (Lent Day #15)

Back to work today in something a bit more subtle pink than yesterday's outfit.

Necklace: Cameo locket, gift

Tank: Express, gift

Cardigan: Express Outlet, purchased a bazillion years ago.

Skirt: Granny skirt, drafted and made by me.

Wool Tights: Warmlegwear.com

Red Shoes: Clarks

I'd also like to give shout-out to Mr. Cleaver for being super helpful in this Lent challenge, from taking photos minutes before work, to giving second opinions on shoe choices. (You're right, the red is better here).

In other pink-related activities, inspired by a how-to article in the April 2011 issue of Everyday Food, I cooked my first risotto tonight. I added about two slices of shredded prosciutto and about a cup to 2 cups of frozen peas to their basic recipe. It was delicious, if a tad salty (when Martha says low-sodium chicken broth, Martha means it!)

Both Mr. Cleaver and I really enjoyed this dish and are thinking of countless other ways to enjoy it (shrimp and asparagus anyone?)

Red Bird, Blue Bird (Lent Day #13)

One of my favorite things about the new house is the absurdly large number of birds that live in the trees in our yard. I've spotted chickadees, tufted titmice, blue jays, cardinals, hawks, grackles (I think), woodpeckers and more. This morning I spotted my first robin. Quite fitting for the first day of spring (and more fitting than the current snowfall).

For today's outfit I pulled out an old sewing project. I had this skirt in the "to mend" pile, but don't remember what needed mending. It might have been that I wanted to hem it differently. I was pleased to discover I had done a really good job lining and finishing this skirt - despite having made it a long time ago (over 2 years!!), before I had started focusing on finishing.

Blue Blazer: LL Bean Outlet

White Tee: Target

Butterfly Wing Necklace:  D. Cole Jewelers, gift from Mr. Cleaver

Brocade Pencil Skirt: Burdastyle Alexis, made by me.

Shoes: Bass Outlet

In other news, my Krona knitting patterns were featured today on the Quince & Co. Website. Much thanks to Pam for including me!!

It feels like forever since I've put out a pattern, but I've got something very springy currently in testing and it should be out by April 1st. For at least one reader of this blog it will look very familiar...

Lent 2011 - Days #4-6

So I took a bunch of photos of my outfit on Saturday (Day #4) (122 to be exact), but as I was wearing a sweater design I'm planning to submit for publication, I can't show any of them to you. But if it helps at all, I wore the same denim skirt all weekend. No Pants Tip #1: If you're not going to wear pants, you're going to need more than one weekend casual skirt-wear.

Day #5 (it was late - so I didn't feel like taking a real photo): Denim Skirt Black Wool Tights: WarmLegWear.com Slippers: French Press Slippers, made by me. Sweater: Vivian, made by me.

Early last week I finally felted the slippers I knit in October. They are super cozy and I've been wearing them non-stop when at home. It was worth all the spit-splicing I had to do to finish them!

No Pants Tip #2: Superman had it right after all. Do your tights have a tendency to migrate downward during the day? An extra pair of underwear on top of the tights helps keep them in place. (Yeah, I just wrote about underwear on the internet - that deserves a superhero pose)

Sweater:FLOGS jacket, made by me

Skirt: Anne Taylor Loft (gift from Grandparents)

Wool Tights: WarmLegWear.com

Boots: Naturalizers, Macy's

--

Unrelated to pants, I've been watching the news coverage on Japan, and have been really struck by the devastation, perhaps moreso than usual because I have friends in Japan. If you'd like to donate to something other than the usual Red Cross/Doctors without Borders, may I suggest joining my friend Carlo (and myself) in his donation to Shelterbox?

Everybody's Weavin' on the Weekend

Thanks to loaned warping board (Thanks Mags!), I got the loom all set up and and started weaving on Saturday!!

The loom came with a bunch of yarn cones, and I chose this neutral-toned mid-weight one (20 wraps-per-inch or wpis) as my first warp and chose an eggplant-colored thick-and-thin yarn for the weft.

Lacking a sley hook for getting the yarn through the reed, I improvised with an old club card, which worked really well.

I wanted to step it up a bit from my first woven scarf, so I chose one of the example draw-downs from Deborah Chandler's Learning to Weave. The hardest part was figuring out how to read the draw-down chart, after that the necessary threading and treadling is no more difficult than for a plain weave.

I'm working on getting a rhythm for treadling and beating, which is probably the most difficult part of the process for me at this point, but thus far, I've got about one foot of weaving done. I do think I may have made the sett (or spacing between the warp threads) too wide, but we'll see once I take it off the loom (and wash it).

Finished Object Roundup

I finished a couple of knitting projects last week, just in time to show them off this weekend. The first one, which which I wore to the NETA SPA- knit & spin retreat on Saturday was the FLOGS jacket I've been showing progress on over the past few weeks.

I love the finished sweater. It's super cozy (though it weighs a ton!). It's knit in Quince & Co. Puffin in Nasturtium, which is the smoothest bulky yarn I've ever worked with. I think the shape is great and rather flattering. If I made one change, it would be to knit the collar a needle size down, as it lost some of it's stand-up-ness during blocking.

These socks I started knitting in the fall last year as my travel project. I worked on them on my trips to Rhinebeck, Chicago, and Southern California that seemed to happen in ridiculously rapid succession and then didn't pick them up until about a week ago. The pattern is the Paul Atwell Socks, which I really enjoyed knitting (when I got around to it). The stitch pattern is easy to memorize, but it has a great effect for so little effort. The story behind the pattern (and the Family Trunk Project in general) is worth a read.

I've already got a new spring-weight sweater on the needles and yesterday I cast on a new pair of socks. Can't have those needles empty, can I?

SPA -Knit & Spin Retreat

On Saturday, my knitting group made the short drive up to Freeport for the annual NETA SPA Knit and Spin retreat.

We grabbed our spot in front of the lobby fire for the second (third?) year in a row and spent the day shopping, knitting, and spinning. With a brief break for barbecue.

I spent all my time spindle-spinning and I made significant process toward my 2011 Knitolution to spin 4 oz. and knit a shawl/shawl-lette. I only have about .5 oz of spinning left to do.

(This shirt should come with an asterisk -

*unless you're buying cashmere. Which I didn't, but someone else did!)

In My Studio: Before & Now

So one of the best things about the new house? I have my own studio.

(And whenever I say I'm going to my studio, I immediately think of this random reality tv moment I saw last summer. One, be forewarned, it'll get stuck in your head.  And two, it's worth it to watch to the second half of the video to see how context can change a song.)

I've co-opted the first floor bedroom, which used to belong to a baseball fan.

Thus far, we've only had the opportunity to remove the wallpaper (fortunately one easily-removable layer), so the room is far from finished, but I needed to set up and do some sewin'. So I figured I'd show it in it's current state.

The bears really make it.

There's great natural light during the day and there's plenty of space for my cutting table and all the other stuff. There might even be extra space, except...

there's one thing more: I bought a loom.

It's a 36inch four heddle Harrisville that I got used at a really great price on Sunday, thanks to a tip from Bristol. I haven't done anything with it yet except drool, but soon and very soon.

I'm so excited!!!