The Confessional

So...I'm supposed to be in spin class right now. But, I'm not. I'm not even sure how that happened, but I never made any attempt to go towards the gym after I left the office this afternoon. Just headed straight to the freeway and home. I have no excuses, except if I try really hard I might be able to blame it on my bad lunch. We'll go with that and call it a day. We'll also ignore the fact that I just put a bottle of wine into the freezer to chill.

I also have something to get off my chest. See these slippers:

These are Christmas presents for B's parents and his great aunt...but not for this coming Christmas. Nope. These are for last Christmas...that they received last week. I am SUCH a bad daughter-in-law! This project started innocently enough about this time last year when I cleaned out my closet and found several lovely wool sweaters of the late 80s to early 90s variety. One even had a couple holes.

I set about the process of felting them and researched how to turn them into slippers. I had grand plans of designing them myself, but no matter what I did, I just couldn't get the shape right. This project quickly turned into one of those pre-Christmas nightmares and I was running out of time. And right about the time I realized that there was no way they were going to make it to their destination in time, I realized the fallibility of the Google search: your results are only as good as your search.

Needless to say that Martha Stewart came to the rescue with these easy felt slippers. Unfortunately, a Plan didn't mean that they actually got made. And a few days turned into a few weeks and the next thing you know, you have a wonderfully seasonally inappropriate Christmas gift for your in-laws in September. EXACTLY what I was going for!


I ended up using wool from four different sweaters (and I still have quite a bit left over) and because of their thickness, I did most of the sewing by hand. I also added these groovy grippers to the bottom of each pair with fabric paint as I have no interest at being the cause for anyone's broken neck or hip.


I think they came out pretty good, although there is one pair I managed to get into the sewing machine that doesn't lay as nice as the other two pairs. I do plan to make a pair for myself, but when? I have no idea. Maybe someday when I have long since forgotten about how long I made my in-laws wait for their Christmas presents.

Sarabeth Revisited

You may recall that Sarabeth was a slightly altered, stripey version of the Peanut Dresses, which I designed and knit especially for, and named after, B's adorable niece. As I knit this dress I had a feeling these stripes in these colors would look great on this little cutie, and lookie here- I was right!

I'm so glad to see...well, that it fits, first off. You know you can never be sure until you see it on. But it does, it looks great on her! (Phew!) And I love that Sara's mom told me that she already bought a coordinating, long sleeved t-shirt to layer with this, so she can still wear it when it gets colder. (I can't wait to see it over a pair of jeans!)

Who can resist how cute she is...oh and please- don't even get me started on the shoes! A girl after my own heart!

All in all, a successful knit, I'd say! Not bad for my first (well, first and a half) design. Most of all, like many of us I am a complete sucker for seeing gifted knits being worn. Is there any greater satisfaction? YAY for modeled knit gifts!

PS: Thank you so very much for your lovely compliments on Carmelita! I'm so thrilled with that thing. :)

Seraphim

I don't even know how to start this post, because I don't honestly know if I have ever felt *this* way about another knit. So, I'll simply start with a photo.

Seraphim is almost like a dear friend. She represents a lot of hard work before I even purchased the yarn, since I used this Koigu indulgence as a bribe to get me back to the gym. In fact, this shawl represents 12 consecutive weeks of spin classes.

She then became a dear companion to me during my summer of long hours and overtime at the office. I knit her almost exclusively during the few hours of knitting time I had from the beginning of July, when she accompanied me to Idyllwild, until the end of our vacation on Labor Day. In between those bookended vacations, she was there for me on my lunch breaks and during my virtually non-existent evenings.

Generally, the magic of knitting lace reveals itself during final blocking. However, for Seraphim it was the moment I took her out of her Euculan bath. I can't even put the way it felt into words. The closest thing I can come to is that felt the way I always hoped the clouds might feel. I was so shocked, there *may or may not* have been a vocalized response that went along with it. I say "vocalized" because it was definitely more "sounds" than "words". In fact, Jenny even came into the bathroom to see what the heck was going on.

However, my amusement with Seraphim didn't stop there. Upon taking out the blocking pins, she revealed her true beauty. Miriam, this was truly an inspired design. I love the combination of it's simplicity and ornate details. I feel like a princess when I have her on and I love the feel of the Koigu when it is draped over my arms. There is nothing I don't like about this shawl.

(BTW: These are what B calls 'dainty' hands, which I was instructed to make for this photo.)

As for the details, I knit this Seraphim on size 5 needles using approximately 900 yards of Koigu KPPPM in the speckled colorway #716. When I purchased this yarn, I went back and forth with how many hanks to get and even sought Mim's advice. 5 would make me 25 yards short of the maximum yardage requirement. Surely 5 would be enough, right? It seemed silly to buy an entire 6th hank for 25 yards. In the end, I did because I knew I could bring it back if I didn't need it. However, as I got to the second to last row of the last chart and held the end of the 5th ball in my hand, I was really glad that 6th hank was there to dip into.

I was also very pleasantly surprised with the way this colorway knit up. I am generally not drawn to the speckled KPPPMs the way I am to the standard variegated colorways. However, this one spoke to me and I am truly delighted with the way the color laid itself out, very even and very un-speckled in my opinion.

All in all, Seraphim may be my most favorite thing I have made. And I highly recommend using a luxury yarn/fiber for this knit...even if you have to go to the gym 12 weeks in a row to earn it!

Three Things

Number 1. I don't think I've ever done this before, but here it goes...I am recommending a book that I have not yet read through its entirety. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is a humorous glimpse of a thirty-something woman who leaves everything behind to find herself during her travels to Italy, India and Indonesia. I think I've only read 40 pages (the author is still in Italy) and I'm hooked.

Number 2. I attended a memorial service last Friday to pay respects to a father of an acquaintance. I think I cried during most of the service. He was a criminal defense attorney, son of immigrants, a decorated navy officer (he joined the military in response to the deaths of his many cousins in an English town during WWII) and most importantly, a loving father and husband. He always smiled, never complained, and saw the good in EVERY person. Despite my cynical inclinations, I want to be like this man.

Number 3. After overcoming the thought of knitting "cups" for a baby halter top, here is the finished project!

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

Nonnahs spoke a couple posts ago about 're-entry' following a vacation. I generally like to give myself a day or two to settle before going back to work after a break or a trip, but I don't feel like I have true re-entry issues...that is, not until this last vacation. Maybe it was the level of work and productivity we had been running at all summer. Maybe it was the fact that we no longer have an imminent deadline we are working towards at the office...just the next day. I don't know. What I do know is that I have felt weird and I've had trouble doing normal stuff like emailing and blogging. Consequently, I have a thousand things to post about and have needed to post about for weeks. In order to save you all, I figured, once again, photos are the best option...

First, I've finally begun to put into practice 'my plan' to supplement my t-shirt wardrobe with some skirts. So far, I'm pleased with the results. They are fun and quick to make, have fit in well with things I already have (except shoes, I really do need a new pair of brown shoes), and are actually serving to inspire my future knit projects (a side-effect I wasn't expecting). It's even more fun when you get he opportunity to sew with someone else...

This is a skirt that makes me happy. It is certainly not "cute" in the fashion sense.

But this makes me happy:

Here is an example of one that came out fairly well, even if I had to attach the elastic 3 times. It goes with 4 of my t-shirts, so it's doing it's job. (btw - see what I mean about the shoes?) (And what is with that dude behind me? Sheesh, you can't even take an FO photo in the office without getting harassed anymore.) Both of these skirts are basic A-lines using Sew What? Skirts as an inspiration.


I also finally managed to take a photo of the Amy Butler wide-leg pants I made from In Stitches. I wear these all the time and have fabric for another pair...that I may even work on this weekend...

I also finally finished a dish/wash cloth I had on the needles for a ridiculous amount of time. I actually put this away as part of my UFO roundup at the beginning of the year and decided to take it out and finish it for August's UFO Resurrection Challenge contribution.

It got stalled out because I had planned to make it more of a towel than a dishrag, but it had been one of the things that led to the trouble I had with my hands last year (cotton on straight needles). When I pulled it back out, I realized that it was pretty much a prefect size...especially once it was washed. So I knit a couple more finishing rows, bound off and ended up with a nice little addition to my grandma's 92nd birthday haul:

Now one of the things I am most excited about is that I finally organized my stash! I was dreading seeing it all in one place. But when I needed to locate the last two balls of yarn I needed for my Seraphim shawl and I had NO idea where they were, I knew it was finally time to take on this project. So, a couple Saturday's ago (blogless) Dr. Nyl came over, we took it all out, photographed everything, and re-packaged it by project type. Honestly? It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be and I feel really good about my stash. It was nice to see what I have, be reminded about what I plan to make with some of these, and consolidate out some of the things I know I will never use.

Finally, as hinted in our retreat wrap-up post, I finished Seraphim.

And I blocked it...

Now, I just need to take a couple more photos (preferably where I don't look like I've recently been run over by a tractor) and I will have a FO post to share!

FO: Carmelita

ETA: Re-posting after Dis noticed all but one of the photos had disappeared from the original post. And what good is an FO post without photos...

Well, well, well...what do we have here?

Carmelita! Can you believe it? Mim, are you in shock? This must have been the longest shawl-in-progress...ever! All my own doing, of course. I would highly recommend this pattern to anyone! Said pattern, of course, being Miriam Felton's Icarus Shawl, originally published in the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. The pattern is also available in the upcoming The Best of Interweave Knits book, and through Miriam's shop. I used Misti Alpaca Lace in 7300 Maize and US3 needles.

You may remember that I started this shawl last summer as part of The Amazing Lace...if you can remember that far back, that is. So, while this shawl was technically on the needles since last June, I would approximate the actual knitting time at around 4 months (still pretty pathetic, I know).

This was all new territory for me- my first lace project, my first shawl. And I will admit it took me longer than I anticipated for me to get into the swing of things and get my lace knitting rhythm. There were good times and bad along the way, but the journey was a great learning experience from start to finish. Even when I thought I knew what I was doing, I found mistakes along the way. Some I could live with, some I could not. I lost count of how many times I ripped and restarted this shawl and how many times I backtracked and re-knitted some sections. Once it was so bad, a friend had to rip for me. Thanks again, Julia!

Even after I was done with the knitting, it was hard to picture what I had on my hands until blocking began. Thanks to Dis and Nasus and a velour blanket at Casa Malibu for their assistance during this process. While us girls indulged ourselves silly all day on Saturday, Carmelita was busy getting her block on.



Blocking is fun! I was thrilled to see the details emerge and take shape.

This was an admittedly (and somewhat embarrassingly) frustrating process for at times, but I was determined to finish this shawl one day...even if it killed me. Especially once I saw Andrea's shawl in person, I knew mine wouldn't be in the WIP pile forever.

Thank you all for your encouragement along the way. I know it's just a little lace shawl, but it's a pretty big deal to me. Now that all is said and done, I am able to look back on the journey with fondness and a great sense of accomplishment.

The end result is so rewarding. I love this shawl. Leftover proof of mistakes and all. I'll wear it with pride.
And now, with my love of lace firmly in place, I look forward to starting my next shawl! I may or may not already have my yarn and pattern picked out...

Retreat Year Three: Malibu

Since founding this blog in April 2005, we have observed a tradition affectionately referred to around these parts as our Annual S&B Summer Retreat. The theme from this year’s retreat was ‘indulgence’, complete with good food, a great location and phenomenal company. We’ve been to a spa in Ojai, a boutique hotel in Manhattan Beach, and this year…we found ourselves at the beach in Malibu. We spent the weekend at the cozy hotel of Casa Malibu along the 101. Our room was literally over the sand with the waves breaking a stone’s throw from our balcony. And when you bunk three people (from three different households) into one room, this indulgence becomes surprisingly affordable (a big plus in my book)!

Since I find that often times a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few of our favorites from this past weekend.

View from the lobby towards the beach. You can see our room on the left (the door is open):

View of the courtyard:

The ocean (duh):

We lived at this table (and the patio's corresponding lounge chairs) all day on Saturday:

Remember when I said 'indulgence'...we meant it. This was our lunch on Saturday. We don't mess around!

Fun in the sun:

This, my friends, was the view from our room...I told you we were close. The roar of the waves was deafening at times, and yet soooo relaxing.

This weekend also saw a couple premiere events. I don't want I don't want this to be too much of a spoiler, but a couple shawls may or may not have had their FO photoshoots. Their official reveals are on the way...

And as usual, when we get together, we tend to be a little silly. See we try to have each other's backs and when whole (soft shell) crabs unexpectedly come in the middle of your risotto, sometimes you need some help de-spiderizing your dinner. I guess maybe I should give this whole kid thing another look because apparently I'm a natural at cutting up food for other people:

There was also a lot of knitting over the weekend. Nasus made some great progress on a cute baby top, cups and all (oy!). Nonnahs did some massive swatching for a new project. And I am one square closer to finishing my Manos blanket.

Opportunities to spend this much quality time together don't come often enough, but we've remained committed to making it happen at least a couple times a year. We're pretty proud of ourselves for keeping up this tradition. You could almost say it makes us giddy!

What I Learned While On Vacation

This, my friends, is what my dog does during the day while we're at work.

Thankfully, this was along the lines of how I wanted to spend my week off, so it worked out. (Yes, we went on walks, too.)

After the madness at work over the past couple of months, our benevolent bosses decided to close the office for a week, to allow an exhausted staff some much needed R&R. Extremely nice of them, don't you think? (A tear or two may or may not have been shed when we first heard the news.) All I wanted to do was a whole lot of nothing! I didn't want to go on a trip; I didn't want to schedule activities, no. I wanted to rest! In spite of myself, I managed to straighten up the house a little, cook some, meet a couple of friends for lunch, organize my stash, make great progress on Carmelita, and even sew! Yes, you heard me! I did document some of my vacationeering activities, don't worry. I'll post more about them when I'm fully re-acclimated. Re-entry, you know. Gotta take it slow. First thing's first- like getting used to waking up to a 5:15am alarm again. *yawn*

For now I just want to report that I had a splendid time hanging out at home (until last Friday when it turned miserably hot (understatement of the year). Now, it's back to work (and, mercifully, air-conditioned space- at least during the day), back to Blogland, back to "normal" life.