Raspberry cupcake afterthought

That is a mashup title and maybe I don’t have the hang of it.  Mashed thusly are (left) raspberry coat pinned together for the most part; (middle) super yum cupcakes for old folks; (right) finished Hello 80s Socks!

We shall begin with the raspberry coat, shall we.  What you see here is the body sewn up and the hems pinned in preparation for hemming then lining.  Of course I still need to sew the lining together.  I’ve decided to bag the lining rather than doing a more high brow application by hand.  I finally realized that I’d been dragging my heels on this coat construction because I didn’t want to choose the “wrong” method to construct it.  That meant I didn’t make the darn thing at all.  I resolved to just do it – it’s not going to be the coat of the century but it doesn’t really have to be.  It’ll be (hopefully) a nice warm coat for winter and I’ll have made my first coat.  I can build on my coat making knowledge next time based on this raspberry coat of today.  It’s the Nike “Just Do It” sewing philosophy.

The middle pic of a scrumptious cupcake is one of a batch I made for Mom’s xmas party with her crew.  I opted to make chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  Both recipes are from Paula Deen and are delicious.  The cupcakes are dark and moist and so easy to make it’s embarrassing.  The frosting is this recipe and I added an extra teaspoon of vanilla and a bit more powdered sugar to make piping it easier.  30 cupcakes off the assembly line.  The best part was putting candy canes in a baggie and smashing them up with a meat hammer to make the festive decoration.  Gotta love a meat hammer.

The right picture means it’s official:  The 80s are OVER!  Yup, Hello 80s socks are done!  My first afterthought heel socks turned out well.  They also fit very nicely so I’ll have to add them to the sock knitting rotation.  They look especially nice with the striping sock yarn.  You get a bullseye heel effect with the stripes.  The socks are fraternal twins rather than identical.  They were identical pretty much up until the last heel when I guess I did one more row and ended up with smudge of purple on the last heel bit.  I could have ripped the whole heel out and started over, but NO!  It’s fine.  I do not live in Crazytown.  Vesper Sock Yarn is still yummy in case you were wondering.

Well the 80s are over so I’ll be taking down my Billy Idol and Adam Ant posters and digging out some flannel plaid for the emergence of grunge.  Later I’ll be watching Pretty in Pink on my automobile sized VCR.  Awesome!

We

Raspberries and oranges

No, the title isn’t a recipe – it’s my project names.  Sounds delicious though.

First up are a pair of Spey Valley Oranges!  I made sure I took a picture of the rainy steps to contrast with the sunny orange yarn.  The pattern is Spey Valley from Nancy Bush’s Knitting on the Road.  I made the socks as written by Nancy since she knows a thing or two about socks.  They came out great and I learned how to make a Vikkel Braid.  Easy!  The yarn is The Periwinkle Sheep Watercolors Sock Yarn in the Jack colorway.  I think I got this yarn at last year’s Rhinebeck so I’m glad to have them finished for this year’s festival – even though it should be nice and pleasant weather this year.  These socks fit great with the heel flap heel and decrease toe thingie, but don’t those 2.5″ toes look crazy long?  That’s the pattern, but I have super short little toes and tiny feet so 2.5″ is a serious chunk of my sock length ;-)  They are cute though.

The raspberry reference in the title is for my Raspberry Coat.  I know you thought I’d have that whipped out by now, but that coat is a ton of work and I am super procrastinate-y about it.  It doesn’t help that it’s not even alittle bit cold outside.  Nada.  What I have done on the coat is make and fit the pattern, cut out the wool and most of the huge huge huge amount of interfacing.  I need to fuse all that on the wool and cut the lining next.  Then marking, machine set up and buttonhole tests.  Then, and only then, can I sew.  It’s rather like painting a room, the majority of work is prep.  Can you see why I procrastinate?

And in the orange theme of this post, I’m thinking this sunny salad will be delicious today.  I’ll report back!

Most random ever

In an inadvertant effort to produce the most random post ever, I give you the below collage:

The upper left is one of a pair of completed Summer of Socks 2011, Medallion Lace in the Crapshoot colorway from Periwinkle Sheep.  I thought I’d use the heel flap called for in the pattern and while it’s fine, I still like my short row heel and toes better.  Live and learn.

Upper right is the line drawing of Burda Style 11-2008-116 coat that I’ve begun tracing off for use for the Raspberry Coat.  I thought I’d shorten it about 18″ for a mid thigh length.  I am currently 1/3 of the way through tracing off the pattern from the most irritating Burda pattern sheet ever.  Hey Burda, I’d pay $20/year more if you put LESS stuff on each pattern sheet.  You are a bunch of crazy bitches over there in Germany.

And the giant picture of my big toe is my totally unprofessional pedicure (self administered) using the crackle nail polish I’d been hankering after.  I used Sally Hansen Brisk Blue with Ink Splatter Crackle over top.  Love it!

Summer kicks

Despite having to work a few more hours because of the summer travel rush, I do still have a bit of crafting time.  In fact I finished my first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks 2011 love in.  These bright socks are knit from my favorite Vesper Sock yarn in the Sweet Water colorway.  I think these are more parrot than sweet water, but that’s perhaps because I knit on them in several tropical destinations in the Caribbean (work, not fun).

The knit pattern is a variation included in the Summer Spirals pattern.  This variation is Spiral Wave and is a bit more subtle with the waving considering the loud yarn I chose.  I wanted a small pattern that wouldn’t conflict with the bright, tropical colorway.  I think this worked out nicely and the pattern was quite easy for road knitting.

Heel and toes are my usual short row method and I must admit I’m fond of a loud pair of socks.  No, I don’t usually wear them as socks out of the house so they don’t need to knit from “normal” and “appropriate” colors.  Though come winter, these may just get a wearing under boots.

My last sewing project (Beignet skirt) turned out well, but the quick pics I took of it were bad.  Stay tuned for better piccies.

Delicious rain

Oh Columbus, you are a delicious one!  Today I began a really crap-tastic work trip, well technically today is fine, the next two days will blow hard.  Such is life.  Today is our focus though.  I think those TNNA atendees past and present will recognize Jeni’s Ice Cream in the center and the left represents my lunch from A Taste of Belgium - a crepe filled with goat cheese, spinach, red peppers and balsamic glaze.  It was very delicous.  Jeni devotees may wish to know that my ice cream dish is three mini scoops (from left clockwise):  brown butter almond brittle, Rockmill Golden Ale and apricots and cardamom lime.  I am not an ice cream person but after hearing all the praise I went for it and was glad I did. So very good and not too sweet.  In fact I would love to work my way through their inventory as a fact finding kind of thing.

Now it’s some Summer Chill on Pandora and knitting the first pair of Summer of Socks in the comfy hotel bed while watching the rain.  Tomorrow and the next day will be icky, but today was delicious.

 

More tropical waves

It’s actually brighter than the bad iphone pic suggests and I adore this colorway!  Doesn’t it remind you of  parrots?  The yarn is actually the yummy Knitterly Things Vesper Sock in the Sweetwater colorway.  Perhaps Sweetwater was the name of her childhood parrot?

The socks are for Summer of Socks 2011 on Rav, which is just knitting a pair of socks a month for three months.  I kind of already do that so it’s not a big stretch for me, but I like the concept.  There are suggested sock patterns that you could follow, but you can just do your own thing if that works for you.  I opted for one of the variations of Summer Spirals, the first suggested pattern, since I wanted to use my Vesper Sock yarn.  The bright colored stripes didn’t lend themselves to the cabled pattern (though it’s not technically a cable – just crossed stitches) but there are two variations given with the pattern and I chose Spiral Wave.  The Sprial Wave just puts some texture into the sock but doesn’t compete with the stripes.  Easy enough to travel knit, yet interesting enough to keep the knitting going.

Clearly I’ve still got parrots on the brain from my night in San Juan as they had a big cage of parrots in the lobby of the hotel.  Don’t you love those open air Carribean hotel lobbies?  Muy tropical!  Viva los loros!

Buffalo

I’m in Buffalo and no offense to the natives here, but why do you live here?  It’s going to snow today and it snowed yesterday.  I’ve been told of lovely springs and summers, but seriously – how nice can they be?  Ok, enough ranting.  I’m sunshine deprived having been given a hotel room facing the interior courtyard overlooking the charming urine trap of a pool that the screaming children are currently enjoying.

I made the best of it after the screaming kiddos woke me up by ordering a surprisingly well cooked breakfast and busting out my very spring-y knitting.  I’m using a self striping spring green sock yarn and my basic sock recipe to knit up my own portable springtime.  The yarn is Gradient Self Striping Sock Yarn from Evermore Studios’ etsy shop and it just makes me happy looking at its fresh green color.  Cute right?

And Buffalo, you are on notice – I want to see leaves on trees and no snow next time I come here.  See what you can do.

Blooming

It’s no secret that I love spring and cherry blossoms can instantly make me happy.  Around these parts everything is blooming and allergy sufferers have begun stocking up on their meds.  Yay!

We have been having “weather” lately, mostly rain and winds – with a smidge of hail the other day and I’ve worried that my blossoms are a sodden mess.  Driving home from the airport the other day allowed me to survey the blossom population north and south of the Golden Gate, and happily I can report that they are just fine.

Since I’ve got blossom fever I thought I’d show you some pretty blossoms from around my house.  First up is my current sock, a simple short row sock made from Vesper Sock Yarn in colorway Wild Berry.  I’ve scratched out the “Berry” on the label and written “Blossom” since that is obviously a mistake   See how the yarn matches the V-day flowers that are still alive and kicking?  Clearly more Blossom than Berry.

Next is a blossom earring (I do own both of them btw).  I’m pretending it’s a cherry blossom even though the card said made in India.  They must have cherry blossoms in India, it’s a huge country fer-pity-sake.  Of course my iPhone cover is a cherry blossom homage too.  I thought I’d troll etsy for some cherry blossom necklace fun, but as I already own two blossom necklaces I thought I’d just window shop.  But isn’t this and this fabulous?

Today my spring-like fun will take the shape of making lemon bars.  I came across an intriguing recipe and want to see how it compares to my perfect lemon bars.  Stay tuned for lemon fun!

The Pile

Here is the knitting equivalent of a to do list.  Mine is called the pile.  These are projects that will vie for the available knitting time.

The yellow area is Maia, an almost finished Maia it must be said.  If my memory serves me correctly, I could probably have that little shawl done in a day or so.  Hmmm.

The pink blob is one almost complete Azure sock which actually has a deadline of next week to make is NON belated birthday gift.  That may become my priority knit for the next few days.

The small gray thingy is some ribbing for my version of Drops 116-9.  My version will be a pullover with long sleeves, but I love that Norwegian pattern for the yoke, so that’s staying.  I’m making up all the other bits of the pattern and sadly those are still in my head.  This one may take awhile.

Those are just the knitting tasks.  There are so many more things to do when one comes home after a couple weeks of working neglect.  Maybe I should become a list maker?  Or an insomniac?  Both unlikely.  But stay tuned, something’s going get made around here.

The pink continues

In an earlier post I confessed that I lost a bet (eight years ago) to a friend who’s a talented potter. She’s a bit of a hoarder with her gorgeous pottery and I’ve only got one of her pieces in the 25 years we’ve known each other.  Well back to the socks, when I nag her for a pot she always brings up the socks I owe here.  To get back the moral high ground I finally (!) got around to making Jen her socks.

The pattern is Cookie A’s Cubist Socks which is free just by jumping through a very easy hoop or two.  Very much worth it!  The yarn is Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints in colorway 9883.  I enjoyed both sock pattern and yarn, though I did change the heel flap to shortrow heels and toes.  Of course!  The shortrow change does interfere with the last bit of pointy pattern of the heel chart, but I don’t think that’s a biggy.  I hate heel flaps, so losing the bit of pattern is a small loss. I think no one would even notice anyway.

So they’ll be gifted and I’ll hopefully get a pot in return.  I mean moral high ground is good, but I’m after an amphora.