knitting kitchen

In 2007, I knit Mark a sweater based on sweaters I had seen in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  He was playing in a vintage base ball league and I thought it would be nice to make one in his team’s colors. I dyed the yarn the appropriate shade and knit like crazy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take many pictures of the sweater (which he does still have and wears often). Here is one:

Since this picture was taken, afterthought pockets were put in and the buttons were changed to Indian Head Nickles turned into buttons (we bought them at the flea market).

Watching the Olympics, I was struck by the outfits the American athletes wore.  Did you see this? There’s no big polo pony on mine, but I ripped off paid homage to the BHOF first.

In some crazy pay back scheme, I knit a copy of RL’s Opening Ceremony Knit Hat.  Helena Bristow, owner of Clever Knits, has the pattern up on Ravelry for free already.  I knew from looking at the pattern that it was going to run big so I didn’t use Cascade 220 as suggested. I used St. Denis Nordique (isn’t that appropriate?), and smaller needles, then cast on last night.

I made some other changes to the pattern. I knit the lining in cotton so it isn’t scratchy. I made a purled hem for a neat fold line.

Detail of lining and hem

I deleted a couple of rows of white so it wasn’t so long (it still is). I knit the white on blue pattern all the way around in case I can’t find a flag patch. And I changed the decreases at the top so they frame the pattern with double decreases and are neat and tidy.  The Nordique is lovely yarn and even though I knit the hat with 4s and 6s, I you can still see the blue stranded behind the white in some lighting. Ah well.

I once knit M a Dale of Norway ski hat and when I saw the Olympic hat online, it looked similar in size. I’m considering making the hat again using 2.5mm and 3.5mm as I did with that hat. I also used Heilo and was all excited to knit the hat again in that yarn. When I hauled it out of my stash (of course I had the right colors and amounts?!) I realized the yarn is almost indistinguishable from Noridque.

I have been busy making other hats for no apparent reason. Here are a couple:

Also a wimple

and some socks

Needless to say, the coffee table is taking a hit

Or so it would seem. I made the first one from a Knit Picks kit I bought more than a year ago. Olivia liked it so much, she took it from me before the ends were woven in and before the tassels were put on.

I liked making the hat so much, I decided to make one for my neice, Julia. I down-sized the pattern from 160 stitches in circumference to 140. I eliminated three of the pattern bands too.

Here’s Julia wearing the chullo. Julie, another neice, is wearing another hat I made last summer.

Next it was time to make a full-sized chullo but without the pattern bands that make the hat so tall. This one is still in the pile of knitted object that are looking for their rightful owners (anyone out there named Juliette?).

Another neice, Kiona, needs a chullo too. That’s how this one happened. It’s from Charlene Schurch’s book Hat’s On! This book is one of my most used and best loved knitting books ever. It’s the kind of knitting that never goes out of style and you can do over and over.

This last chullo began as a gift for the daughter of a friend. I think she said she wanted a chullo that was either black and purple or red and white (black and purple offer little constrast). When I went hunting for yarn, I really wanted to use some crazy bright Noro for it’s color-changing properties. Then I needed a solid to set it off and I came back with Lopi Lite in cream. Nothing like what the young lady requested so this is in the ‘yet to be owned’ pile. I do think I know who might need this one, however… friend Deb’s daughter Julia (do you see a trend here?).

I’ll have to go back and knit the black and purple or red and white chullo for Kathy’s daughter. But before I do that, I think I’d better cast on a chullo for nephew Julian!

Our New Year’s Eve traditions are a little different. We go outside at midnight and set off rockets. This year it was snowing and the moon was almost full.

Afterwards, each person burns a list of prayers and intentions for the new year.

Today, it’s back to work and school. Here’s hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday!

I often feel as if I don’t have enough free time. In truth, there will never be enough time to learn, do, try, and make all the things that entice me.

As you can tell from the previous month, blogging has been a victim of the time shortage. Obviously, other people aren’t feeling the pinch. I’m so jealous.

In December, Olivia turned 16 years old. As our gift to her, Jessica, Mark, and I transformed her blue sky-with-clouds painted room into the orange room of her dreams.

For years, Olivia has begged us all to allow her to paint her room orange. She shares her room with Alle and Alle wasn’t all that hot for orange. Now Alle’s away at college, Syracuse University no less (Go Orange?!).  So in a matter of a few days of frantic painting, bookcase building, and general mayhem, Olivia got her orange room.

It’s difficult to tell what the actual colors are from the photo, but that’s pretty true to life. Depending upon the time of day and the weather, the room is anywhere from a pumpkin color to blazing sunset. Jessye and I decided that we wanted the walls to be graduated shades of orange from ‘a squash orange’ to cream. After the walls were done, we went back and added whiplash curves in shades of orange. The original idea came from a photo of an Art Deco room in Belgium and somehow transformed itself into a cracked-out teenager meets Morocco.

Regardless, Olivia loves it and for whatever reason, being in there is a wonderful experience. I’ll restate my case for the healing power of color, and if it takes an orange room to quell teenage angst, so be it.

When the room was finished, it was just a few days until Christmas. Knitting happened. So did some sewing. One thing I managed to make (several times over — Merry Christmas to you!) is a purse organizer. The pattern/directions I used come from The Giving Flower blog.  Easy to make and pretty useful too.

Pockets filled and ready to roll.

All rolled up.

In a purse.

Despite my penchant for bags, I’m not a purse person. You’ll see me with totes, baskets, and backpacks, but rarely with a purse. My coworker Chris was bemoaning the fact that she had to carry the same purse every day because the idea of switching purses struck fear in her heart. “What if I forgot something important in the move?”

This led me to google ‘purse organizers’ and I uncovered a world formerly hidden from me. I like The Giving Flower’s pattern because you can easily customize it to fit the things you can’t live without (my 2 Moleskines, my fountain pen case, my Burt’s Bees, my iphone) and you can roll it up to fit whatever bag you’re carrying.  As mine is generally wadded up in the bottom of a larger bag, the next time around, I think I’ll add some elastic that will hold the whole thing together.

We did our completely handmade holiday again this year. It’s hard to imagine celebrating the holiday any other way. No trips to Walmart or the Mall. No debates over the appropriateness of foot baths or hand mixers for Aunt Betty.  Our continued appreciation of making all the stuff we give does come with this warning: making your gifts doesn’t necessarily mean spending less money. Anyone who has ever bought Cashmerino Aran knows what I’m talking about.

“It’s better to give than to receive” has been repeated often, sometimes even by me. This year, I scored pretty well, however.

Mark made me a fountain pen that takes my breath away. My photographs of it are lousy, but trust me, it’s a beautiful pen. He made it with art plastic we bought at the NY Pen Show this year.

He also made me a tam blocker. Usually I use one of our Corningware dinner plates. The tams take forever to dry because there is no air movement.

Olivia made me a hand (I have a collection of hands…)

Jessica knitted me a scarf in a leaf lace pattern with beads. Who knew she could knit that well? I certainly didn’t.
Alle made me a poster of this, changing the woman to be dark skinned. Our laundry room has a collection of vintage tin signs and this will be added to our collection.

One of my favorite gifts that I gave was this bear.

It’s a lousy picture, but the story cracks me up.

10+ (maybe 14+) years ago, I went through a phase of making teddy bears. I wanted to make a jointed bear our of fur and decided to practice using Debbie Mumm quilting fabric. I made the body, the dress, and the head. I attached all of it except for the head. Then I moved. Then I moved again. Finally, I cleaned. When I came across the bear head, I threw it out. Alle was bereft because she lovingly saved the body (and until that day, the head) hoping against hope that I would someday put it all together. She is nothing if not patient.

For Christmas, I pulled out some of the original fabric (does this provide some insight into my crafty stash of supplies??) and made another bear head. Trust me, it was the last thing she expected, and isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

It’s also about this

making time to do nothing more important than watch stuff burn with the people you love.

In case you haven’t left your house in the last month, let me tell you that every kid out there needs a tissue. What that means to me, is late evenings at work, making sure that every exhausted parent of every coughing kid has seen the doctor.

My point here is that there’s not much time for knitting when your evening starts after 7:30 pm. and your morning begins around 5:30 am.

The last couple of evenings only afforded me an hour or so of knitting time. M and I started watching Simon Schama’s The Power of Art.  We love Professor Schama in my house and have listened to or watched anything he’s bothered to share.  So after all the coughing, wheezing, and crying at work (mine, not the kids), I’ve managed to knit 9 rows in the last two days and learned a thing or two about Caravaggio and Bernini.

By the time I hit 43,728 stitches, I was pretty certain Caravaggio was one messed up bro. I love how he used real people to depict Important Biblical Subjects, elevating the model’s humanity. To me, it blurs the line between sacred art and every day life in the street.  I like the idea that it is the universality of the emotions behind Important Biblical Subjects that makes them sacred. Our pain at the loss which floods us at a death, connects each of us in a place outside of time, thus binding us together in the shared experience of our humanity.

The next night, M and I watched the episode about Bernini. As an artist, he pretty much rocked the marble. This civilized creator of fine art and friend of the Pope, paid a servant to slash the face of his errant mistress. Too bad I’m not a writer for Desperate Housewives. There is definitely fodder here for future storylines.

Caravaggio with his crazy beautiful and disturbing paintings and Bernini with his voyeuristic take on the on the antics of a saint beg me to ask the question: is it only possible for great works of art to be created by intensely unhinged individuals?

With that thought, on day 10, with a stitch count of  43,728, I present to you Scotland: