Sweater update

Just a quick update on Chris' sweater.

Only 2.5" left to knit in the round before I can bind off!

I'm just about finished with one sleeve! Then on to the final sleeve, assembly and the collar.

As you have probably guessed, I've sort of dropped out of the 2011 Sweater Challenge. I should be completing sweater 3 by now, not still working on No. 1.

But I'm fine with that. I've been enjoying myself anyway. And I do have yarn for the second sweater, which I hope to start before fall. :)


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FO and cardi

I finished these gloves earlier this week. I've sent an email to my friend and hope to have these in the mail in the next few days.

I made the fingers longer than the pattern called for in my Hubby's Fingerless Mitts pattern. Hopefully these wool mitts will keep my friend's husband warm in their much colder climate!

A quick update and pics of Chris' cardigan. I'm knitting the back now and will start on the left shoulder next. The sleeves are knitted in the same pattern and then sewn on later.

The right shoulder is already completed, as you can see.

I really like this pattern and the shape of the stitching. I have yet to get bored! The pattern repeats every 16 rows.

After the cardigan is finished Chris will be able to wear it inside or out, showing the lattice (right side, which is facing) or the hollows (wrong side, seen on the left). I like the lattice-side the best.

Chris picked out a blue yarn for the collar. I can't wait to see what the color combo looks like when I've got them all stitched together.

As a side note, I really want to get a new wide-angle lens for the Nikon D50. Chris passed down this camera to me a few months ago when he bought a D200, but the glass on the D50's lens falls off! So I've been afraid to use it and it's been sitting in its case.

I really prefer the D50 much more than the Canon PowerShot I've been using. Case in point, check out these horrid photos I also took today of the gloves and cardigan.

Now, I know a good photographer can do just about anything with any camera. But I've never professed to be a good photographer -- only a decent one. And, darn it, I take photos as part of my job, but you wouldn't know it by these horrible photos! (I use the Canon for work.)

Having a good camera really does make a world of difference. :)

FO: crocheted wool beret, other updates

I finished the beret in the past week but haven't been home during daylight hours to snap a photo for you.

Here it is. Please forgive the poor lighting; the funny, close-up of my head; and the bad photo styling. I'm doing what I can with what resources I have!

I think this would look better with a lighter weight yarn. This is also wool, so I'm sure some washing will felt this right up.

The pattern is by Jennifer L. Appleby and is from Interweave Crochet's Winter 2007 issue. I found it to be a fun, quick pattern, though there were a few mistakes in the pattern copy I have. Either that or I managed to create more treble crosses than the pattern called for, but that didn't mess up any of the other steps and the pattern came out without much trouble.

Here's a close-up of the brim and the treble crosses. I like the contrast between the two.

I would definitely recommend this pattern!

Using the same yarn (Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool) I'm making David A., a friend, a pair of fingerless mitts, using my Hubby's Fingerless Mitts pattern.

David's hands are longer and wider than my husbands, so I cast on 40 stitches (for a large size) instead of 36 (medium). I may knit more than 40 rows before beginning the thumbs and palm sections since David's hands are somewhat longer. I don't know how much longer I need to make it though.

A knitting/crocheting goal for the year: six sweaters! What's Needlin' Ewe, which I wrote about here, is hosting a 2011 Sweater Challenge and I think I'm going to participate!

The store is challenging knitters and crocheters to complete a sweater every two months through December 2011. That means six sweaters in 12 months. Only one of them can be a baby or child's sweater; the rest must be adult-sized garments. They can, however, be summer, winter or fall garments and that includes tanks and cardigans!

I have several patterns running through my mind and I'm trying to decide which ones I want to tackle.

Grosgrain's Embellish Knit Month

Just peaking peeking in quickly to say "hi." I've been busy working on Christmas projects, a fall sweater (need to get that done a.s.a.p.!) and Christmas shopping.

While this as been going on, I've also been enjoying Embellish Knit Month over at Grosgrain. I love seeing how Kathleen alters various sweaters and cardigans she find at thrifts stores. It's very interesting and inspiring.

I especially like Day 8's cardigan. Kathleen added a flowerdy chiffon on the inside and a woven trim around the edge. Gorgeous! (Yes, I said flowerdy. I'm from the South, yo!)

Go check it out:






I'm also anxiously waiting for the new CraftSanity magazine that Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood has been working on for a bit. She gave a quick update today and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Cold Weather = Sweaters!

It was cold enough today for me to put on a sweater!

The first sweater, in fact, I've ever knitted.

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Note the "I Voted" sticker on the collar. I cast my absentee ballot today. Make sure you get out to the polls on Tuesday! If you can't vote that day, there's still time to cast an early ballot.

Photos of scarf, sweater and tomato update

One down, one to go
I finished the first of two scarves last night:

This alpaca yarn feels so good and it's so pretty. It's going to be hard to turn this loose for Christmas.

Chris said I should buy some more alpaca yarn and make one for myself.

The pattern uses a traditional ripple pattern that is commonly found in afghans. I think it translates beautifully into scarves.

I can't wait to see how the other scarf turns out. It's colors are just as pretty.

Photo update
Here's the sweater all washed and blocked. It's no where near as stretched out and frumpy as it was last weekend when I completed it.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Green is definitely my color.

I'm also glad I didn't sew the collar shut. I think I like it open. Do you?

Tomatoes galore!
I canned six more quarts of tomatoes this morning! I can't believe how many tomatoes we've gotten this year.

We didn't tie the plants up, so many have been lost to rot because they sat on the ground too long or we overlooked them as they hid underneath leaves and stems.

We also had a lot of ants, roly polys (pill bugs) and slugs we had to fight tomatoes for.

I've canned 2 quarts of tomatoes with chilies, 17 quarts of diced tomatoes, 1 pint of diced tomatoes and 3 pints of salsa. That is a blessing!

That doesn't include the quart of basil-garlic tomato sauce we made earlier in the summer to can with the peach chutney disaster (had to throw out all 7 pints because it burned and tasted awful; apple cider vinegar does not substitute for white wine vinegar!) and canned peaches (1 quart).

Canning tomatoes and sweater update

This weekend I canned 7 quarts of diced tomatoes and 3 pints of salsa, loaded with peppers -- jalapenos, a few cayenne, banana peppers (sweet and hot) and some green pepper.

 (All photos by E.A. Seagraves. Do not use without permission.)

One quart didn't get quite full of tomatoes, so I topped it off with water.

I also finished my sweater! I still need to wash it and block it before I wear it.

The collar is supposed to be stitched together in the front, but I didn't like it. So I clipped it and decided to let it hang.

The sweater is "Tanglewood Pullover" by Beryl Hiatt and Linden Phelps from the book "Handknit Style II."

Chris and I also picked out some fabric for some other Christmas present projects and I started crocheting other gifts last night. Here's the fabric we picked out (not sure why the photo is uploading sideways):

We picked the fabric up from Mountain Plain Fabrics in Hillsville, Va.. It mostly carries quilting material so the selection isn't that varied as far as fashion fabrics go, but the fabric they do have is beautiful and the staff is incredibly helpful.

I can't wait to stitch this fabric up and present them at Christmas!
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Here are the knitting book and preserving book for the projects above. I highly recommend both. The sweaters are superb and the Ball canning book is full of useful tips and recipes.

   

Hubby's shorts, some tomatoes and brie dessert

Current projects

I haven't undated with any photos of my current projects, mostly because none have been finished in awhile!

For the past two weekends I've worked on a pair of shorts for Chris. I am using BurdaStyle's Jochen pattern. This is the first time I've used a print-at-home pattern. I've been using the traditional tissue paper patterns, which I use to trace out the size I need and then use that.

Let me tell you, I think I like printing out the pattern so much better. Because I've got the pattern saved on my computer, I don't feel the least bit guilty in cutting off the larger sizes. If I need a larger size, I can print it off.

I also don't spend hours taping together tracing paper and tracing out the pattern I need.

The downside is printing at home does use a lot of ink and paper. I did use the back of recycled paper so that helped somewhat. And recycled printer paper lasts longer than tracing paper because it's thicker. Still a bummer about the ink though.

I am using remnant material that Nannie gave me. I really liked the fabric, but didn't have enough to cut all pieces out of it. So, luckily, I had a blue in a matching shade and it works perfectly for inside pockets. Thanks to Ferny and lonemoose, BurdaStyle members, for the idea!

(Please do not use photos without permission.)

This is the front pants leg and pocket./Photos by E.A. Seagraves

With this pattern, which is actually a really nice pair of slacks that I've altered into shorts, I had to learn how to put in a back pocket. It took a while for me to study it and figure out what I needed to do, but I think I handled it okay. What do you think?

I hope to finish these before it turns cooler. All that's left is the center seams, waistband, zipper, buttons and hemming.

I've also been working on this sweater since February. I'm knitting on the collar now. So it'll most likely be finished before the fall.

Tomatoes

I have to say, despite early nibbling by deer, rot and insects, our garden has been a success! Look at this haul.

I plan to can these this weekend. Probably can more diced tomatoes and some salsa. I canned 2 quarts of diced tomatoes with chilies and 4 quarts and 1 pint of diced tomatoes the other weekend.

A dessert to try

For my birthday earlier this week, we bought a small wheel of brie cheese. I turned four triangles into dessert last night with left over egg roll pastry I had on hand and blackberry jam.

I got the idea from the web, but can't seem to find the two recipes I'd found before.

I basically placed the brie in the middle of the pastry and topped it with jam. Then I folded it up and placed the folded side down. I sprinkled it with brown sugar and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

It was very tasty! You should give it a try.

Kimchi quesadilla, new knitting needles

So, I did it. I made kimchi!

I've eaten a lot of it already. Here's my third kimchi quesadilla. It makes a great, light lunch.

I truly recommend trying out the recipe if you have any cabbage you need to cook up.

Unrelated news:

I'm just about finished with the Tanglewood Pullover sweater I've been working on forever. According to Ravelry, I've started the project Feb. 27. But I haven't been knitting since then. I put the needles down for a couple of months.

My sweater is going to be all green. I can't wait to wear it this fall!

All that's left to finish is the second sleeve, stitching everything together and knitting up the collar.

While in Cincinnati a couple weekends ago, Chris and I stopped at a yarn store suggested by Chris' aunt — One More Stitch.

I wanted to pick up a size 5 circular knitting needle for the sweater's collar and I didn't have one in my knitting supplies.

This store is HUGE and is filled with a lot of beautiful yarn and needles. If you happen to be out that way, stop by and check them out.
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The Tanglewood Pullover is found in this book: 















For some Korean fare, check out this cookbook: