fabric therapy

Lately, the sunsets...

...and sunrises...

...have been gorgeous!  It's one of the benefits of getting up at 5 a.m. and getting my day started.  By the time my workout is over, the sun is coming up!  I still like to get in at least one good hike with Todd every week...rain or shine. 

There's a lot of standing water left over from the recent flooding, and these ducks are taking full advantage of it!

I love seeing mating pairs.  It means that soon we'll be seeing...ducklings!!  I am definitely missing our "goz" this year and am looking forward to seeing the local 'littles' a bit later this spring.  Meanwhile, we saw signs of other creatures around.  Lots of beaver activity around the water.  They're loving it! 

I'm thinking about relocation more than hikes and pretty sunrises, though.  Our temporary stay in an apartment has stretched on for many months, since we haven't yet found the right property.  Being in such a small space is tough, and being without my 'extras' is even tougher.  One thing that's extraordinarily hard is not sewing and quilting.  My fabric - and machine - are in storage, and I'm starting to feel a little surly about it.  Buying new fabric helps. 

Recent favorites include May Belle fabric from Penny Rose...

...Guest Room by Moda (the pinks are not nearly as bright as they appear here!)...

...and Garden Variety, also by Moda.

Check out this amazing quilt made with Garden Variety!

Not only have I been purchasing bundles, but I've been picking up random fat quarters at a steady pace.

More than any other color, I have accumulated a lot of mint.  But I've also been drawn to reds and navys, which will make an amazing quilt someday.

Our apartment is so full that I'm resting my feet on sacks of fabric while I work at my computer, so I'm trying not to buy too much more until we move...but I can't resist a thrift store, and I definitely have a fondness for strawberries.  This bone china cake plate was MINE for $3.

I think it's so cheerful for spring and even early summer.  I can't wait to put it in my (future) kitchen!  That day cannot get here soon enough!

The cats don't mind our cozy quarters one bit.  They always seem to find room to stretch out, usually in my lap.

Every day, Tabitha snuggles in for "biscuits and gravy" - kneading and sucking - usually on my arm.  She hasn't changed much.  The photo on the left is from her kitten days...the one on the right is from last week.  ;)   

My sweaters all have little yarn snarls at the inside elbow bend, because she kneads vigorously there for sometimes 10 minutes at a time.  I don't mind, though.  Totally worth it.

Have a great week! 

Trip the Light Fantastic

Sunlight hitting the leaves in our yard this time of year is SO beautiful.

We've had a lot of cloudy days too, and the trees look just as beautiful to me.  Every day I think, "This is it.  They've peaked.  They cannot possibly be any more colorful."  But somehow, they are.

The front of our house looks the same in all seasons, because of the evergreen plants surrounding the front door...

...but taking a step in any direction is pretty festive!  I just love this time of year.

Bosewichte is in full hibernation mode.  This is where he spends most of his time:

Tabitha is always on the move, though.  Checking things out...

...or finding a way to insert herself into the middle of my work, inch by inch.

 

Yawn and stretch.  What, I'm not supposed to be on the vintage fabric?  Who, me?

 

We did have some news this week and shed many tears over it.  Someone trapped and killed our little beaver family:  Agnes, Augustus, Pepita, and Pepito.  We talked about some of their funny exploits and said a prayer that they didn't suffer too much.  In memoriam:

To end on a positive note, I'm passing along the recipe for THE BEST APPLE CRISP EVER.  I've tried several recipes and this is, by far, the best.  Let me qualify that by saying that I didn't actually eat any, because I'm still no sugar, but it smelled amazing (I have a very discerning nose), cooked well (apples sufficiently soft), and Todd raved about it and told me: best ever.  I modified it slightly by adding some nutmeg to both the crumb and the apple filling, and I zested half a lemon into the filling as well.  Give it a try!

Have a great week!

Foxglove Love

First, let me get this out of the way.  BEAVER BABIES!

All right, now that I've got that out of my system, I can move on to the main event:  I finished my cardigan.

The pattern is FOXGLOVE by Kate Davies.  It's knitted in the round, bottom up, until you get to the armpit.  Then you put those stitches on hold while you knit up the arms and attach.  Finally, you knit some connecting rows and begin the chart for the foxgloves. Then the neck, and finally, the steek.  Steeking, remember, is where you reinforce stitches on either side of a center stitch so that you can cut through the fabric without any ends unraveling.  That's the theory, anyway!

Here's the cardigan pre-steek:

There are many ways to steek a sweater, but I chose a crochet steek.  Basically, I found the center stitch (not easy in that sea of maroon), and crocheted up one side and down the other, securing the right stitch leg and then the left stitch leg of the center stitch with the leg of the neighboring stitch on either side.  It's not pretty, but it doesn't have to be - it will never be seen. 

Basically the steek pulls the stitch apart and reveals the ladder center.  This is where you cut.

My steek held, except for two places that started to unravel.  I quickly reinforced them with matching thread and they held nicely.  How exactly does it work?  I'm not sure.  It seems impossible that one crochet stitch would hold in all of those tiny unraveling threads.  It does, though!

 After the frightening experience of the steek, you move on to the relatively easy creation of the button band.  You pick up and knit X number of stitches along the front edge (well in from the steek) and do a simple ribbed stitch for 12 rows.  Repeat on the other side.

The steek edge naturally folds under and is hidden.

Then all you have to do is sew on buttons, weave in ends, and block.  I was a nervous wreck about the fit.  The 2 sweaters I knitted earlier this year are both poor-fitting.  One has wonky shoulders and a fiddly, unraveling v-neck, and the other is just too small.

This sweater, though, fits pretty well!

Here's some detail of the yoke:

I'd prefer it to be slightly more fitted, but I guess it will be perfect to layer with this winter.  I think it will be a long time before I knit another sweater out of such fine yarn, but I'm looking forward to making another one soon, but with thicker yarn.  I have been drooling over Stonecutter, and it's knitted, thankfully, with pleasingly thick worsted weight.

After having lost a total of 5 trees and many branches and limbs, the work here is about finished.  Our tree guys have been amazing and regularly put in 12 - 14 hour days.  I made them some cookies to thank them for their hard work.  Since we're out of all chips and I only had peanut butter in the house, I decided to make Averie Cooks' Big Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies.  They're huge - only 6 per cookie sheet!  They bake up crisp on the edges and soft in the middle.  Nice peanut butter taste.  Beautifully crinkled tops.  I worried that the centers would be too raw, so baked each batch for 12 minutes.  Next time I would go down to 11 minutes.  I prefer the less crisp version.

Have a great week!