pi shawl - my first lace knitting project!

Amazingly, I decided to do this at Thanksgiving and had it done a week before Christmas. Yes! This is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi Shawl from the Knitter's Almanac. I have wanted to try this for years now, and I was prompted to finally do it when I found a cone of 100% virgin wool at a local thrift store - for fifty cents!!!

With lace I don't know how much the needle size matters. I did not use her recommendation (which is always loose anyway), I just used what I had on hand - number 5 (?) circular needles. The following picture was taken just after a great deal of cursing and perhaps a couple of tears.

I dropped a stitch and kept going without knowing it (curse you lace!!) only to discover the error when the diamonds were not lining up. Yes. I had to examine every stitch in a 200+ stitch area to discover this issue. I really really thought about trying to cover it up. But taking the high and painful road I decided the frogging was the best course. And Pipsqueak was there to comfort me. And to try and play with my fragile frogged lace.

This is when I finally started on the lace edging - that was exciting! Incidentally the rest of the project was error free. Wowzers.

And juuuuust as soon as it was off the needles...

Boy does he love wool. My next big project has got to be a Pipsqueak blanket. Here is the unblocked shawl sans Pipsqueak:

I really liked it all ruffly and unblocked. I was almost tempted to leave it like that :( I am glad I blocked it though since it was a super special gift for my mum-in-law. And holy schmanoly did I have to use a bunch of pins. I literally had to use every pin I owned - even had to take some out of projects I was working on.

See how preeeetty? I was so pleased with how this came out. The wool was a bit rough and scratchy, plus I'm sure it had a germ or two from the thrift store (the store WAS called the litter box). I googled how to soften wool and found a neat tip - right after washing it with woolite, soak it in hair conditioner dissolved in water! I would not have thought this up on my own, but it actually does make sense - and it works! I used a lot of conditioner though - I could definitely tell a difference, but it doesn't turn it into merino wool or anything.

I would totally do this project again...with a tad bit more caution knowing how invisible dropped stitches are in lace. And here is the happy recipient modeling it at Christmas!

We were at the Bilmore House and it was freezing. This certainly came in handy, and someone even commented how nice it was! Next I need to show you the other last minute knitted gift I made for Craig - I whipped up a hat that I had wanted to knit for a long time...turns out it was just the right gift because he had forgotten his normal hat and was panicking. It really was freezing! That is a beautiful house though - if you have a chance to see it I do recommend it.

goats milk soap & organic cotton cloths

I have no idea why I've taken such a long break from my blog - I have had fun though! The best Thanksgiving ever (despite losing my granddad), tons of crafting, sewing and knitting, tons of cooking, and Christmas tree decorating and hanging out with Craig and Pipsqueak :) I am way behind in sharing my creations, so here goes!

My eldest sister got married this year (happy dances!), so for their wedding present I decided to knit up some organic cotton washcloths and pair them with homemade goats milk soap.


The cloths were very relaxing to knit - easy and elegant. Blocking is the real trick to get them to look neat and tidy.

I wrapped the soap in tissue paper and topped them with some stickers I had been saving since I was a teenager (yes I save stickers).

I also wanted to give her a little something sexy and special for her bridal shower, so I whipped up a lacy thong from some wonderfully soft and washable green merino wool from Knit Picks. I definitely want to try knitting that pattern with silk to see what a difference it makes.

I tucked the knitted goodies, and a few other good smelling goodies, into a patchwork drawstring lingerie bag. Note about this - use thin fabric! While the patchwork looks nice, the fabric is a bit too thick to gather nicely for this size bag. Next time I'll use some very thin cotton or silk.

More to come soon! This past weekend was so very fun - I made monster cookies (several dozen!), baked bread (awsome recipe here - more on this soon), cooked up some bolognese sauce (13 cups worth - my freezer is stocked with cookies and sauce!), and worked on a very special knitting project for my mum-in-law. Altogether relaxing and wonderful. This holiday season is shaping up nicely!

soup, gardening, etc.

After months of trying to find and order the right ingredients, I finally got around to making the first recipe from my Williams Sonoma Asian cook book that H gave me years ago. Yes years. I tell you though, the wait was worth it - this udon noodle soup is to die for. One of the things we miss most about NYC is our local Japanese restaurant where we always got udon noodle soup. This involves boiling konbu (seaweed), then adding bonito flakes (fish flakes), then straining, then adding a bunch of flavors like rice vinegar and soy sauce, then pouring over scallions and noodles. Yum!

A couple of weeks ago, H and I planted a rain garden with his leadership group, which was so much fun!!! I can't believe how much I miss gardening. What thrilled me most was how much H enjoyed it. We have lots gardening in our future...

You can read our little local article about it here. This is really the first time I had ever heard of rain gardens, so I'm just now learning all about them. I'm excited to learn more and someday plant my own :)

This is another gorgeous quilt from H's grandmother. She made it using free fabric samples from Sherwin Williams way back in the day. To me it looks like something from anthropologie - I love it! It's also very light, making it the perfect blanket for the coming summer months.

In other news, I'm still working on that painting for my mom...as you can see in the picture above I've put strips of fabric in and around the crevices of broken glass - genius! Mom actually thought of it which was just a stroke of brilliance. I plan to use this technique again in future paintings. It is so much more interesting a solution than grout or modeling paste.

And take a look at this mess:

What a cutie! I had this purring monster waking me up all morning today. I've got to remember to play with him more before bed...

Painting Again

This painting was fun from first inspiration to final glaze. I got sudden inspiration to sew a funnel in a canvas and tack it to the back of the frame - this way I would get a mysterious receding hole. Then somehow I felt like I had to have something funky growing out of this orifice. Then I thought about how I needed a Christmas gift for my brother and his wife - bingo!

I knew based on their tastes that the colors had to be dark and rich, plus I had gotten my SIL to give me her defective pottery to smash up for paintings - enter the lovely shards you see in the painting.

They are glued down, which was not my first pick on how to attach them. I had first tried "sewing" them down with some nylon thread, but it kept snapping against the sharp edges. I do want to try sewing chunky things to paintings in the future, but I have to make sure they're not sharp. I've been thinking about doing something like this since 2001 when I saw the huge chunks of colored glass (grapefruit sized) wrapped up in wire to form the garden gate at Peggy Guggenheim's museum in Venice. I really must figure out a way to wrap up cool treasures in ropes to form a loose painting surface...

I made the frame for this little painting out of the top bar of the bead curtain my sister gave me in college (I love having power tools handy). It gives a funky shape to the edges which adds to the assemblage feel.

I even signed this one. I usually don't like signing for some reason. I know a lot of artists have a problem viewing their work as a commodity to be sold, and that somehow money is unwelcome in the true creative process. I feel somewhat this way about signing my paintings. In a way, I feel like they are independent creations that transcend the need to be claimed. It seems to me that it would detract from thet piece - tie it down somehow to slap my name on them. What do you think? Does it lessen a work of contemporary art to have a signature? I get a self conscious feeling when I imagine people in museums looking at my painting and noticing my signature on the piece. I would MUCH rather have my name on a little white card next to it on the wall. Perhaps I'm still flenching after seeing so many cathedrals in Italy plastered names of the sponsors and artists. Doesn't the greatest art go beyond all that? But I digress.

The reason I signed this one is because it felt right and special when giving to my brother and SIL. I might feel more like signing my work generally if I can come up with a really cool way to do it. Albrecht Durer's signature is very cool - same initials as me...mmm....

The tree in this painting was really fun to sketch out and paint. I really allowed myself not to care so much about how this painting came together. When I allow myself to incorporate chance as part of the process, and to not worry so much that I overly control the work as it progresses, I find that the result is more satisfying and usually more visually stimulating. I like being surprised as I go - for example, I first painted in the tree with raw sienna because it was the first tube of paint I reached. Once I did the over painting with a dark mixture of blues and reds, I left a few slivers of the sienna to show giving an interesting detail when you look closely. I have some progress shots somewhere that I might post soon so you can see how it looked at various stages.

As much as I love oil paint, it is difficult to beat the instant gratification of acrylic. This is painted entirely with acrylic. It's fun to play with thinned down layers of color over texture. It was especially important to use in this piece because I had to travel with it very soon after I finished it :)

I like to think of this as a collaboration of sorts with my SIL. The pottery is so integral that it would be hard to imagine without it. I never thought of a title for this painting - that's another weakness of mine. I always feel REALLY self conscious about my titles. They either sound way too corny or they don't actually communicate anything important. I hope I can improve on this.

More to come soon!

Teacup Potholder Set

I am so thrilled to share this fun project. I made this set of potholders for my eldest sister for Christmas. I have a similar set I bought ages ago and still use all the time. The little teacups are especially useful for getting hot bowls of soup out of the microwave.


All the fabric is recycled from old clothes, and the flowers were embroidered using this wonderful embroidery blog for guidance. The multicolor yarn was a Christmas gift from my SIL, and the leaves are from recycled yarn from an old scarf.

Isn't it just so fun? I think I might make a few more of these to put in the shop.

I have more to share still, so stay tuned!

Christmas Place Mats

I finally get to share the Christmas presents I made! My mother is crazy about place mats, so it seemed like great fun to sew her a patchwork set. These are made using the salvaged fabric from wallpaper sample books and other hand-me-down fabric from family members. The whole idea started with a way to make the most of that beautiful cardinal


I started with the patch above - I was so thrilled to work with festive, Christmasy patterns. It was ridiculously fun. It was also much harder than I anticipated picking out fabrics from such a limited supply, and working around very limited sizes. It made me realize what quilters in the 30's were going through - the origins of patchwork coming out a scarcity of materials. When that is actually the case, it really makes each patch so much more valuable (and mistakes that much worse!!!) The place mat below, you can see some squares of fabric with a log cabin and bears - that was from the extra special wrapping around a bar of soap! Mom gave me that a few years ago and thankfully I hung on to it :)


This squirrel place mat changes up the overall patchwork pattern because I was running out of stuff to make my stars. This way though, I was able to use the scraps from the other mats and have two odd mats in the group of six - helps to keep it exciting :) This bird was the other odd mat:


For the backs, I decided to use a beautiful green woven fabric from Belgium my mother has had for years and years. She recently gave it to me to do something with - and here it is:


With lovely fabric on both sides, these are reversible. Here's a shot of the place mats in their natural habitat - they match her Christmas table theme so well!

I also made some place mats for H's mom - pictures of those plus other gifts coming soon :) It's like Christmas all over again!

two color mittens

Believe it or not, I knitted these mittens about two years ago and never managed to get pictures until now. I'm brilliantly organized you see. This was a Christmas gift for my mother which was finished at the last minute, then quickly wrapped and stuffed under the tree. I knitted these while sitting in a New York laundromat. Ha! Those days are far behind me now, thank goodness.

I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's instructions and pattern from Knitting Around. You can see I staid true to her color choices as well - these pretty well match the ones on the cover of the book.

I used the leftover yarn from my first knitted hat, which H happened to lose. Ahem.

The green i-cord cuff trimming is possibly my favorite detail - this was leftover from my first baby sweater. Incidentally, I'm just realizing I haven't posted any pictures of those projects. brilliantly organized I say.

I am particularly proud of these mittens. I love the scandinavian style, the soft flowing pattern, and the gentle colors. If I ever move back north, I definitely need some of these to stay alive.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to share pictures of the Christmas presents I prepared for this year (and actually took pictures of).

In the meantime...Merry Christmas :)