She Sells Sea Shells

Progress!

If you've never heard of English style paper piecing quilts, they are awesomely tedious but also produce absolutely beautiful, and seemingly effortlessly aligned, quilt squares. When I was pregnant with H, my mother-in-law gave me a sampler kit that was perfectly timed for my short stint of bedrest. It produced this little sampler.

I enjoy tasks that are the opposite of tedious. Give me a big ole batch of fabric and I'll cut it into squares  and sew strips to make a quick tied quilt. My friend in Massachusetts introduced me to machine paper piecing, and it produces the same effects with none of the tedium. I swore I'd never do another by-hand paper piecing quilt again. That is, until our local fabric shop posted a picture of their newest quilt kit, Hex on the Beach. First, the name, love it.  Second, the beautiful, mesmerizing flow of undulating colors with simple prints let me know that I'd be able to put this baby anywhere in my house and be in love with it. But I see it in the sunny corner of my bedroom draped over a chair with a fat knitting basket beside it. You can see it now, too, right?

Here's what it will look like after I baste fabric onto one thousand little hex shaped pieces of carstock, and then stitch those little hexes together one thousand times. Yes, one thousand. I should be able to lay this baby over my lap and knit just about the time I'm an octagenarian. It's pretty addictive, though, so realistically, I hope to finish it before next fall. I love the pattern of quilting that was chosen for the sample with a simple curvy line that recalls the gently lapping waves. 

Image courtesy of tulapink.com

Speaking of waves, I'm in the throes of planning our summer vacation in Maine. The ocean is calling my name!

Edgar the Peaceful

About six months before we moved from Massachusetts, we decided that when we got to Walla Walla we'd get a dog. I started obsessively (shocking, right?) scouring the interwebs for dog rescues and other ways to get my mitts on a pooch that was a puppy no longer, was socialized, housetrained and didn't have a history of abuse. I talked to a number of breeders who advertised that they sometimes have older labs available, in addition to the local humane society and animal rescue organization.

Because I started my search months before we moved, it was all very premature, and felt a little silly. Once I was contacted by my friend about Dailey, I stopped looking and didn't keep track of who I'd contacted or what they'd said.

Fast forward, and the last few months of doglessness have carried with them the good and the bad. Floors that are not being constantly swept of dog hair: good. Solo nights and weekends sans canine companionship: bad. We first thought our next dog would be a puppy and had slated that fun to begin next fall. After the rush of the holidays, I started contacting local breeders so that I could get on their list if necessary and go through the application process, meet the parents, etc. I have had a lot of misgivings about going the puppy route at this juncture, the biggest being the babe's age. I think the boys like the idea of having a puppy a lot more than they'd love the realities of nipping teeth, chewed on toys and pee everywhere.

I recently signed up for my second full marathon (Santa Barbara in November, yikes!), so in thinking about getting a dog, I knew that having a running partner would be on my list of priorities, and may even motivate me to finally run in the wee hours of the morning. (Yes, I'm ridiculously afraid of the dark.) However, I was still planning for another 9 months of a pet-free home.

At the beginning of January, I spoke with a breeder in town (really, they're trainers who breed occasionally) to see if they had any older dogs available, or could foresee having any available soon. I got a tingling in my gut when I realized I'd spoken to her when we still lived in Massachusetts and that one of the three she had available was the same she'd thought would be a great fit for us then, but had contacted me before we knew about Dailey to say that her husband was just not ready to let him go yet.

We made arrangements for me to meet the three dogs they were willing to re-home on Monday and then I brought J and the boys out to meet the dogs and that serendipitous pooch feels like a perfect fit. He's incredibly well trained, mellow and just a sweet boy. We already had a weekend at Grantastic's house planned for next weekend, so we'll be officially bringing him home on Sunday. From my first meeting with him, I knew he'd be ours. I tried to be reserved until the boys had met him, but really I'd already placed him in our home in my mind. His name (that he's called, not his registered name) is Edgar and, like all of my boys, it's the name of a king. So, without further ado, meet Edgar the Peaceful.

H is over the moon!

Bossy Beans trying to point out a piece of treat left on the ground

She's Crafty..

'Pheonix' red baby alpaca, photo by Knitcessity

Whew! It's January, finally! The holidays this year were a blur of yarn and activity. The majority of November and December saw my kitchen counter piled with an assortment of wooly, cashmere goodness and my newest obsession; bulky baby alpaca. Knitcessity on etsy has the most gorgeous colors available for a really reasonable price!

Last year we went on vacation just before Christmas, so the whole season felt condensed and we only got to enjoy our tree for about a week. This year, I was determined to have everything up in the first part of December. Such a good intention. My mom came to watch the kids for me and commented 'Your neighbors must hate you. Nice pumpkins on the porch Sally Henny Penny, did you notice everyone else has their Christmas lights up?' Did you notice I don't care? Oh wait, but I do. So the next day I hauled the garbage can over and evicted my pumpkins and gourds and placed a lovely winter wreath on the door and cedar and holly on the mantle. I was even on the ball enough that I'd ordered hooks for our mantle for the stockings the month before but then realized...oh yes, stockings. I have three kids now, not just two. So, I pulled out the strips of fabric mid-December and whipped out another (really two more, because I accidentally made two of the same side) quilted stocking. They still don't have names on them, but I wouldn't want to leave myself with nothing to do next year, now would I? (Note my sad poinsettia on the left-of course I didn't think to water it) I also finally got around to sewing the fabric storybook for Jack that I bought before he was born, but it's good I waited because it was slim pickin's for Jack under the tree.

On the business side, I've been knitting the Hannah Newsboy by Pepperberry Knits for my etsy shop for some time now, so when I got a request to create a hat that was based on the pattern, but had some adjustments, I was excited for the chance to change it up a little. The customer had seen a hat that she loved on a movie, and was able to find the hat but it was not longer being made or sold. Sending me a screen shot and some ideas of the changes she'd like made we worked together to create the perfect cap. I added about 1.5 inches to the body of the hat and several rows to the bill to make it larger. I was so nervous to send it to her, but was elated when she loved it. (so much that she ordered four more!)

Slouchy newsboy in jet black Baby Alpaca

Slouchy newsboy in grey 100% cashmere upcycled from a sweater. I love using upcycled cashmere as it usually results in a garment that has that velvety feel of your favorite pair of jeans.

At the same time, I had a friend contact me about creating an advent calendar for her out of mini stockings similar to those found at Garnet Hill. Again, it was something I hadn't done before, so I was really nervous that what I created would not match their vision since I didn't have a concrete example of a prior work. I found a baby sock pattern and gathered a bunch of yummy cashmere and wool sock yarn and started knitting. And knitting. And knitting. At about forty-five minutes per stocking, plus the time to affix cute clay disc numbers I found on etsy it was definitely a big time investment so I was so happy when she got her package in the mail (on December 1st, naturally) and texted me that it was exactly what she wanted. Of course, I didn't take the time to photograph it, but here it is on her mantle...so cute!

The last day of school for the big boys was December 18th, and I had planned to make a cowl for H's teacher and Charlie's teachers plus the director of his preschool. H's teacher had clicked through my email signature to my etsy shop earlier in the year and purchased a cowl for one of the other first grade teachers and commented that she loved them, so I filed that away. Filed it away until December 17th to be exact, when I pulled out my yarn and cast on. I made her cowl that evening and then gave Charlie's teachers a 'voucher' for a cowl in the color of their choice. They both picked red, so they'll be getting a bit of knit goodness in the lovely color featured above. I've found several fun cowl patterns on ravelry for bulky yarn, but still love the Pepperberry Poppy (which I've blogged about here). I am going to knit the infinity version of it for myself...someday. 

For H's teacher, I chose the pattern I used for the Ramona (in the post above as well) but in super bulky yarn, so only one repeat of the pattern instead of three. I dub thee The Grape Gatsby.

Lastly, the Caret+Chevron socks that I posted about when I started them. In a fun little circle of events, my sister-in-laws mother contacted me when I posted about them on facebook asking if she could buy them once they were finished-but no rush. I told her I'd be happy to, and got some measurements so they'd be a great fit. Coincidentally, I'd been thinking of making them for my sister-in-law as I've been planning to make a pair of socks for each of them for awhile. Within the week, my sister-in-law emailed me asking if she could buy them for her mom for Christmas; I love when something is just meant to be. But then I had to completely avoid talking to her mom about the socks, refrain from posting progress pictures of facebook (huge for my woefully oversharing self) or even talking about them. All the while I was afraid her mom would think I was a huge flake who just forgot about them. I'm really happy with how they turned out, even though I frogged back several times to get the heel to look good. The handpainted yarn from Sitting Tree was so wonderful to work with!

And in case that wasn't enough crafting for a couple of weeks, I bought a kit for the most divine lap quilt. It's English paper piecing and will be super tedious, but the fabric is amazing and the chevron pattern sucked me in. Stay tuned for that one, because it's gonna take a long time to finish so there will be several posts along the way. 

Did you make any gifts for the holidays this year? Any gifts you're currently working on? Something amazing for yourself?

Give Us This Day

Every pet owner knows that chances are, their pets will not outlive them. When we made the decision to adopt an eight year-old dog, we did so knowing the risks. Honestly, when we first got him I was far more nervous about my ability to not be crawling out of my skin at the thought of pet hair all over our house than I was about, what seemed like, the very far-off prospect of dealing with his loss. I was secretly relieved when both the vet and trainer said that it would not be good to have him up on the furniture or bed because it would be hard on his joints. I will never be the type of pet owner who spoons their dog under the covers in bed. And I will always be the kind who throws up in my mouth a little bit when other people talk about doing it.

However, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the pet hair (aside being a lot of work to keep up on) was just a part of him. And, oh how I loved him. I'm sitting here just three hours after getting home from the vet's office where I sat and stroked that huge, lovable, loyal (and yes, a little stinky) head for the last moments of his life. With Jack in the ergo sleeping, the boys at school and J at work, it was as it is the majority of the time; just me and D, also affectionately know as Sir Licks A Lot, His Nervousness and Our Dailey Bread.

On Thursday, when I dropped him off at the vet, I was just waiting to get a phone call saying that he'd swallowed an entire lego village (even though he never ate the kids' toys) or he'd somehow eaten a cloth diaper (even though there were none missing) because there had to be a silly explanation for his random vomitting and sickness. Sadly, there was no silly explanation, just the one you don't want to hear. As I stood on a Friday afternoon stirring a giant pot of soup, I was digesting the words that came streaming into my ear; poor prognosis, risk of ruptured spleen, tumor, cancer-the one I wasn't quite ready for came along. Euthanize. What a cold, hard word.

J and I decided to bring him home for the weekend, and I'm so glad we did. It gave us all a chance to digest the news, as much as was really possible it's still so surreal, get pictures, give him some love and say good-bye. This morning I loaded him into the car when I took the kids to school, had them give him a squeeze and a kiss as they each got out, and drove with dread to our appointment. As I walked back in the house afterward, I looked around and realized just how much our home centered around his being here. Then, when Jack went down for his nap and the house was just too quiet, I turned to my friends Ben & Jerry and consoled myself with some S'Mores ice cream, because I had almost forgotten to be an emotional eater.

I'm not sure how long it will be before I feel ready to have another pooch in our lives, but I know that it will happen. I also know that every other dog we have will be compared to him, which isn't a bad thing, but it would be a sad thing right now. Thanks sweet D for giving H a best friend in a new town, and our whole family the chance to love you for two years.

The Curse of the Bambino

No, I haven't suddenly become a crazy baseball fan. But this post is related to socks, and cursing, so there you have it.

Earlier this month, I joined a knit-along for a pair of Caret and Chevron Socks, which I was knitting top-down. I love trying new things like knitting while sleep deprived, or seeing if working from the wrong chart will still result in the correct pattern for your size. (Hint: Neither worked out.)

I'm the kind of girl who has some turquoise splotches on her beige carpet because I don't use silly things like drop cloths while paintings. I also never use a 'lifeline' in lace knitting, which makes frogging back tricky at best. Once I correctly navigated the first two repeats of the lace chart (after I ripped back and started over for the correct size of course) I didn't need to have the pattern with me anymore, which meant I could work on the socks while waiting in the pick-up line at school, while watching The Colbert Report or while pretending to supervise my big boys at the park.

After I got going, I was at the heel turn before I knew it and prepped to attempt my first short row heel with wrap and turns (abbreviated WNT). Short row heels are not my favorite because they always end up a little wonky. However, since this is a knit along I decided to play nice and work the pattern as written. A fellow knitter linked to a youtube tutorial by Cat Bordhi,* which shows a clever way to conceal the wraps when they're knit together. My heel was looking pretty good until I realized that in my tired state, I'd 'unwrapped' stitches that weren't actually wrapped. I considered ripping back and doing it again, but it looked like these socks were starting to turn into a practice pair, much to my dismay.

The foot went super speedy, thanks to my new 8" addis (who knew they made them that short?! It's circular sock knitting to the nth degree of ease!) and brought me to the toe. I no longer cared about playing nice, because I didn't want my toe to look as wonky as the short row heel, so I proceeded to do my normal toe. Then I put the sock on and...it was too short. Blerg. I took the 80 hours it takes to thread your needle back into the patterned row just before the toe so that I could work another round of the pattern. I grabbed the yarn and ripped back. To find that my needle was one row off on half of the sock. So I took the needle all the way out and started to tear out my stitches. Round after round of work was wound back onto the ball of yarn and I planned to just start the sock over again. It's not like I'd spent precious time on that sock. No, it would all be fine. I was winding faster and faster as my frustration mounted until...I realized that when I came to the heel, the stitches would be split between instep and heel stitches and I'd be able to easily find my place...plus have the chance to redeem my heel. Yes, yes, that's what I'd intended all along! Who wants a sloppy old heel anyhow? Not me, certainly.

After watching the tutorial again and being sure to work the heel in the daylight hours, with big boys at school and the babe asleep for limited distractions, all of a sudden it was 2004 (come on Red Sox fans, I know you'll be with me), the heel was turned and it was on to the foot. Success.

*Funny story, I never saw the part 2 until writing this post, which shows how to conceal the wraps correctly for the purl side. Needless to say, my second sock will have an even spiffier heel.