I just duplicate stitched over the existing bits of yarn, and it came out great. The only way I can tell is that the new yarn is whiter than the old yarn, because the red hasn’t run on it yet. Good as new!
And here’s the repaired cuff of my sweater sleeve:
The color is a pretty good match. I couldn’t quite get the new stitches to look exactly like the bound off edge, but I think this is good enough. Here’s the detail on the yoke. I really love this old sweater.
Back to your regularly scheduled knitting! Have you ever repaired your knits?
This is the cuff of my favorite sweater, Sky Lights. I knit it in 1993, right after the Teen was born. It was a kit from North Island Designs; I don’t think they exist under that name any more. I made it big and oversized, to wear over leggings (yes, we really did that back then). I’ve worn it a lot. The yarn is either BartlettYarns or Harrisville Tweed; I can’t remember. I’ve gotten a lot of wear from it. But this is what I saw when I last went to put it on.
Oh, dear. I have a little job to do. And while I’m doing that, I have another, too.
I made these socks last winter, when it looked like it would never stop snowing. It’s not really sock yarn; it’s KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Worsted that I had lying around. Every time I wash these, they shrink and felt a little bit more. But they’re still comfortable. My clogs must rub right here, though. There’s barely a thread holding it together.
I have more of this yarn, so I’m going to try darning it after dinner. Wish me luck!
Here’s what I made for dinner. I was quite happy with it, and so was the family. Perfect winter night supper!
Sausage/potato/kale soup
SERVES 6
Ingredients
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb turkey hot Italian sausage (if you can only find mild, add 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes while browning)
3 large russet potatoes, sliced in 1/4 inch slices
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
3 14 ounce cans chicken broth
2 cups water
1 cup half and half
1 bunch kale (stems below leaf removed), cut in 1/2 inch ribbons crosswise
Directions
Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large pot (soup pot). Slit sausage casings, remove sausage. Brown sausage (and red pepper flakes, if desired) in oil. Remove sausage from pot. Add the other Tbsp olive oil to pot. Saute onions and garlic until onion is soft. Add chicken broth, water, sliced potatoes and smoked paprika. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until potatoes are done, about 15 minutes. Add sausage , half and half, and kale; simmer for another 10 minutes. Enjoy!
But there hasn’t been much knitting this last week!
Last Monday I participated in a service day for the Backpack Program. We packed 420 weekend lunch bags, which means 840 lunches. This program provides lunches for low-income children who are at risk for hunger. The program began in the fall of 2008, serving 10 children, and quickly grew to 30. It now serves 60 children, and the current goal is to serve 100 children for the entire school year. It’s a cooperative effort of four local United Methodist churches, and has grown to include community volunteers and school groups.
I love that people of all ages volunteer for this program.
The Day Old Pastries led some singing after the lunch packing. We’re a group of friends that like to play and sing together, 6 guitarists and a mandolin player. Occasionally a guitar gets swapped for an accordian! We were all acoustic that day (no amps, no mics), and it was folkie fun. I recorded it with my Zoom H2. (This little stereo digital recorder is fabulous; it’s easy to use and works well.)
The annual Seattle to Portland Yarn Train arrived in town on Saturday, bringing Seattle knitters down south for a yarn crawl. I couldn’t meet the train because I was rehearsing with the Day Old Pastries, so I met up with Kathy at Knit/Purl.
I met Kathy last summer at the Sock Summit Ravelry party, and we’ve been bloggy friends ever since. She was with her friend Chandria, and Denise, whom they met on the train. I offered to take the three of them across town to Twisted, my usual stomping grounds. But first, I needed to check in at the PDXKnitbloggers’ home base at the Starbucks kitty corner from Knit/Purl.
Susan was just back from TNNA, and she had a samples of her entire new Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn. Judy was trying to choose two coordinating colors for a design project. It was difficult, because they were all gorgeous!
We did make it over to Twisted. As we pulled up, my phone picked up a text message. It was a tweet from Twisted: “Love Stinks! Spend your Valentine’s day hexing your crappy ex with our Voodoo Doll kits! (Then go on a date with someone way hotter)” That made me laugh out loud. We went in asking for the voodoo dolls, and here they are, modeling in front of the wall of sock yarn.
Kathy bought some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran to make a Pippi hat. It will be her first color work. Fun!
I also ran into Debbi and her friend Susan, and Sharon (but I forgot to take her picture, sorry).
All that yarn shopping is exhausting! We had a very late lunch at Costello’s, down the street, and then headed to Yarnia. I’d never been to Yarnia before, so this was an adventure for me, too.
Yarnia is like Build-a-Bear for knitters. You choose thin fibers/colors you want to put together, and they are wound off together onto a cone to make the yarn of your dreams. Denise was in heaven! She got exactly what she wanted for a shawl project. With sparkle in it, of course. Here’s the winding machine in action. (There’s a cone of shiny stuff on the floor, feeding into the yarn on the cone, but I didn’t realize it when I was filming.)
There wasn’t time to visit any more yarn stores, so I chauffeured the happy knitters back to the train station. And I realized then that I didn’t buy any yarn at all! I’m just not much of a stasher. It was a fun day.
Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the States. Are you participating in any MLK Day activities? I’ll be at a workday for the Backpack Program; they provide weekend lunches for needy children at a local elementary school. (For some children, a federally-sponsored school lunch is their main meal of the day, and there is no school lunch on the weekend.) The Day Old Pastries will lead some singing at the event. If you’re local and looking for something to do, it’s from 1 to 3 p.m. at Woodlawn United Methodist Church, 1425 NE Dekum, Portland, 97211.
The devastating earthquake in Haiti is on our hearts and minds. People are coming up with many creative ways to raise money to help. Me, I’m sending money *now*.
Ravelry is making it easy for designers to donate proceeds from pattern sales towards Haiti relief efforts. I’m in. All proceeds from now until Valentine’s Day (February 14) from online sales of my new pattern, Hugs and Kisses OXO Cable Fingerless Mitts, will be donated to Doctors Without Borders. Because really, we need to show some love for our neighbors.
You may remember these fingerless mitts that I knit for my sister’s Christmas gift.
I finished editing the pattern yesterday. It’s been tested by some of the wonderful test knitters in Ravelry’s Free Pattern Testers group. (The FPT group is a great resource.) I’ve included links in the pattern to my new tutorials on paired lifted increases and cabling without a cable needle. You can see all my tutorials on my tutorials page.
More information about the pattern is available here.
We had our knitting party at Twisted this weekend. The party was a fund-raiser for our local high school. We had 16 participants. Most, but not all, had knit before.
Our projects? The As You Like It cowls. Lantern Moon blondewood needles. Malabrigo Chunky yarn. It’s like knitting with chewy linguine, so luscious.
Oh, and desserts. Lots of desserts. A stellar cheesecake served with chocolate truffle sauce and/or blueberry compote (recipe below), lime bars, fruit, chocolate…
Lots of knitting going on!
That’s Carole in the apron. She’s my party kitchen wench. We do projects together and have a lot of fun. And she makes the world’s best cheesecake. She doesn’t knit, though.
Carole’s DH Scott, the PTA president, knits! I taught him many years ago.
Don’t you love Amy’s shirt?
There was only one knitting faux pas of the evening.
Join, being careful not to twist…oops.
Thanks to Twisted for having this party with us!
I made blueberry compote with berries from last summer’s crop. This one turned out particularly well; it thickened enough by itself that I didn’t have to add any cornstarch.
Blueberry Compote
2.5 cups frozen blueberries, unthawed
1/3 C sugar
1/3 C water
1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
Combine 1.5 C berries with the sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until berries burst, about 10 minutes. Add remaining berries and lemon juice. Continue stirring; cook until compote thickens, about 8 minutes. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Serve warm when you’re ready!
You’d think that these were molded onto my feet, the fit is so perfect.
Oh, wait a minute; they were! Please excuse the wrinkly sock marks on my feet; I was wearing my Shur’tugal socks with clogs, and racing for daylight. I didn’t have time for the sock marks to go away. If I had waited, you’d only get this picture:
I love how these turned out. I forgot to note which was left and which was right, so I just decided. Aren’t these just the cutest things you’ve ever seen?
French Press Slippers by Melynda Bernardi
Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Raspberry
Size 15 (!) needle
Mods: I followed katec4b’s no-sew mods (Rav link). If I were to make them again, I’d modify them further to not come up quite so high in front. And I’d knit the strap a little longer, so I wouldn’t have to worry that it felts faster than the slipper itself.
I’m teaching a Pippi Hat class tomorrow (Thursday) at Twisted. There’s still a little room. If you’re looking for a fun project, call the shop, register, and come on down!
It’s a busy knitting week. Our high school fund-raiser knitting party is at Twisted on Saturday. We’ll have a project, yarn, Lantern Moon needles, and dessert. Lots of dessert.
Just a small one. Or a big one, depending on how you look at it.
I’m making myself some slippers. I love this color; it’s been living in my stash as leftovers from some long ago project. Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, the color is called Raspberry. I finished knitting these last night.
I mentioned this deal-breaker to Cristi, and she kindly forwarded me a link to katec4b’s Ravelry project page, which gives instructions for adapting this to be knit seamlessly. Perfect. I bought the pattern, downloaded the mods, and knit away. And now the fun begins. On to the washing machine!
I’ve been doing a lot of red knitting lately. There are my sister’s mitts, and these slippers, and I’m working on the red Quincy hat that my my sister requested. This is it so far; it’s Lamb’s Pride Bulky in Red Hot Passion.
Unfortunately, I’m going to frog this bit, and start over. The color is perfect with the mitts, but the Lamb’s Pride Bulky is a lot heavier than the Classic Elite Ariosa. The Lamb’s Pride Worsted is a lot lighter. So I’ll refigure the gauge and use this Bulky, and see how it turns out.
I’ve also ordered some Lamb’s Pride Bulky in Black Cherry for a cardigan for me. More red. A deep, dark red. Is red my new blue? My new purple? No, it’s just red. And I like it.
Find my patterns on Ravelry: Michele Bernstein Designs
Here are some of my favorites, and the newest. Many of my designs are also available through my Payhip store.
PDXKnitterati 