Monthly Archives: May 2012

How hot was it?

Posted on May 30, 2012 | 9 comments

Maybe a little *too* hot to be knitting with worsted. 96 degrees, and the humidity was right up there. But I tried!

We went to St. Louis to celebrate my father-in-law’s big birthday (no numbers, per his request). It’s definitely summer in St. Louis! While we were there, we took in a Cardinals game. Cards won against the Phillies, 3-8.

Dad (Neil) had a birthday greeting on the scoreboard, which was pretty cool. (As I said, no numbers. It was his ??th birthday.)

I played with the picture a bit. Maybe not exactly how it happened, but this sums up the event:

And when I came home, look what was waiting for me!

3 skeins of polwarth/silk dk weight yarn from Sincere Sheep. I bought a subscription in the {Among Friends} yarn/pattern club that she’s doing with Knitted Wit, but I didn’t need to knit yet another version of my Pointer Hat and Mitts (my design is the first offering in this club). I have a hankering to knit a sweet little cardigan for me, and this should give me enough to do so. I’m thinking of Thea Colman’s Vodka Lemonade, Cecily Glowik MacDonald’s Goodale, or Jennifer Thompson’s Garden Cardigan. Goodale is the KAL at JimmyBeansWool right now, but I’m not sure I’d like the shape on me. The Garden Cardi has leaves, and I always love botanical elements. Currently the Vodka Lemonade is winning my affection, but I’m not sure I love the collar. I do love that it’s top down and very customizable for length and shaping. What do you like? What I really like right now is that everything is possible! Beginnings are always fun.

But first, I need to finish the worsted project! Luckily, the Portland weather is a bit more cooperative for this.

And this! Someone yarn bombed the stop sign by the school. It wasn’t me, but I like it. Looks to be at least a size 15 needle…

Did you knit over the weekend? What’s on your needles?

9 Comments

Posted in Knit, travel

Tagged cast on, st louis

Love is the worst(ed)

Posted on May 24, 2012 | 3 comments

I’m currently having a little love affair with worsted wool. In this particular case, Malabrigo Merino Worsted. It’s wonderfully wooly single ply worsted that comes in a huge assortment of colors, from semi-solids to interesting variegateds (some of which are too exciting for me). It’s also a little prone to felting, which can be a good thing, sometimes. I hope to make the most of that property, soon.

(Whales Road, Polar Morn, Oceanos)

(Violetas, Colorinche)

I went on a little color spree, because I need some colors to play with for my current project. (This doesn’t count as stash; it’s a design project, right?) I’m not a big fan of variegated yarns, but combined with a semi-solid, they tone down nicely and make it so I don’t have to choose a lot of colors for a mulit-color project. One variegated plus an appropriate semi-solid makes me look like a color genius! Which I’m not.

Spring is definitely here in the Pacific Northwet, and we had a remarkable spell of warm sunny days. But we’re back to rain and chill, so I’m still happy to be knitting with worsted weight wool. It doesn’t even matter that much when it’s warm out, because I mostly knit accessories, and they’re not too hot for knitting here on most days.

Which brings me to a little worsted project you may like. This is my Rockaway 2-Way Beach Beanie/Cowl (ravelry link). I designed it for Created In Oregon: A Knitter’s Datebook 2012, published by Pico Accuardi Dyeworks. Sadly, PAD is out of business. (I loved their wonderful worsted that I used for this design.) Luckily for me and you, though, this means I can offer you this pattern now instead of waiting until 2013.

One piece, worn two ways. It’s a hat! It’s a cowl! And it’s cute. It’s named for Rockaway, the beach town where we have Crafty Mom Weekend every year.

(PAD Worsted on the left, Dream in Color Classy on the right)

A perfect little thing to knit right now, even though it’s worsted. Go to the pattern page or follow the Ravelry link if you want to play along.

One more item: The exclusive on Pointer is up, so that pattern is available through Ravelry download now, too. Another fairly quick knit before summer really sets in.

Any hot plans for the weekend? I’ll still be knitting with worsted, even though it’s supposed to warm up!

3 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit, malabrigo, rockaway beanie/cowl

What’s cooking?

Posted on May 18, 2012 | 11 comments

A couple new designs in the works, but nothing to show yet. I really like both, though, and look forward to sharing them with you…eventually.

Who’s cooking?

Last Sunday, it was the boys. They moved the waffle station outdoors because it was a spectacularly beautiful day.

They turned out great! Waffles, blueberry compote (trying to use up the rest of last summer’s blueberries before this summer’s crop), bellinis.

Yes, the yard looks pretty bad behind there. After brunch, the next phase began: Yard cleanup. This is the only thing I ever want for Mother’s Day, help in the yard!

We got the garage and shed roofs de-mossed and swept, and lots of weeding done.

(perspective is everything!)

And then we relaxed with dinner in the newly presentable space. Ahhhh.

Grilled scallops and shrimp on a bed of angel hair pasta and vegetables. No real recipe, but here’s the cast of characters:

Cooked angel hair pasta, drained
2 cups chicken broth, simmered with shiitake mushrooms and a bit of soy sauce
Stir fried vegetables: 3 heads baby bok choy, 1 red pepper, 1 cup snow pea pods. Add some sesame oil for depth of flavor, a couple ginger slices and some red pepper flakes for zing. When partially done, add some water and soy sauce, and steam until tender/crisp.

Pour the broth/mushrooms over the pasta to keep the pasta from getting too sticky (don’t make pasta too far ahead, or it will just be soggy). Assemble in shallow bowls: pasta/broth/mushrooms, top with veggies, lay the lovely scallops and shrimp on top. Eat!

ETA: I made this again, but no broth, just the stir fry, heartier pasta (so it doesn’t get sticky), and the scallops. We had to pan sear the scallops in olive oil and butter because it’s winter! Pour any liquid from the scallop searing pan into the pasta and veggies. Even better, I think.

11 Comments

Posted in foodies!, recipe

Tagged mother's day

Road trips, and swatching

Posted on May 12, 2012 | 7 comments

The week has flown by! The weekend is here and I’m still on last weekend, which I began at Menucha Retreat Center in Corbett, in the Columbia Gorge. This is spring on my side of the mountains…damp and cool.

I always walk the labyrinth at Menucha. It helps me quiet my busy mind, and focus. A meditation and a revelation, perfect.

I don’t remember ever seeing this much color in the mosaic stones before. I guess all that moisture can have its advantages.

And Diane became a new spinner! I’ll pass along a spindle to her; I have more than I need.

I went home Saturday night, and on Sunday morning I headed to the other side of the Cascade Mountains with my friend Vickie. We went to Kahneeta to hang out with her mom in her mom’s new RV. Nice digs.

The landscape is completely different over there, sunny and dry.

The cattails reminded me of spindles, with their loads of fluff.

The cottonwoods were shedding their loads of fluff, too, and it made me think I should try to spin that…

With all that fluff going on, you may ask if there was any knitting. Yes, a bit.

I’m going to call this swatching, mostly because I’ve completely frogged it. I’ve started and ripped three times now, as I hone in on what I want from this piece. There have been a lot of “aha!” moments. I’m about to start my last (I hope) rip, because now I think I know exactly what this needs. This time. Real swatching would be smart, but I get so excited about getting started, I just jump right in. Oops. We’ll just call them “very large swatches.” At least this yarn can put up with repeated froggings. I may be impetuous and lazy, but I’m stubborn, too, and I will prevail…

The original colors, below. It turned out that the pale green in the variegated didn’t pop against the gray, so I had to choose a new background. It’s Violetas, also in Malabrigo worsted.

On our way back over the mountains, we stopped up at Timberline Lodge for the view. Here’s Mt. Jefferson from the parking lot:

(Love that sky!)

And Mt. Hood out the back window of the lodge, near the bar.

The bar window is pretty cool looking, too.

And now mama bird is home, for a while.

What’s up for you this weekend? I think the boys (young men) are going to help me whip the back yard into shape. It’s Mother’s Day, and that means they’ll do it, even if it’s not their favorite thing to do! Don’t worry; I’m making a fabulous dinner as their reward…

7 Comments

Posted in pattern design, spinning, travel

Tagged kahneeta, Knit, Menucha, swatching

Oh, the joy…

Posted on May 4, 2012 | 6 comments

of a new project on the needles! I’ve felt overwhelmed by choices lately; those empty needles saying, “Pick me! Pick me!” How to decide what to cast on? I really need something fairly mindless as take-along knitting, but the siren song of a new design project is calling more loudly than anything else. So here’s the yarn…

I love the grayed green that plays so nicely with the rose. Luscious!

How about you? Do you need a new project? Something for Mom, perhaps? Lorajean (Knitted Wit) has some really cute pedicure sock kits in her Etsy shop, Falkland sport yarn and pattern and nail polish, lots of different colors to choose from. There’s still time to knit them, or just give your knitting mom the kit!

Not into pedi socks? There’s enough yarn to make regular socks instead, if that’s your way. The best part is that it’s my pattern, ZigZag Lace Pedi (or not!) Socks. They look like this:

Here are a crop of Falkland sport socks, including (l to r) Seafoam Sock, ZigZag Lace Pedi Sock, Entrelac Sock.

Come cast on with me! What will your new project be?

6 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, knitted wit, pedi socks

Crafting Balance: Knitting and Music 3KCBWDay7

Posted on May 1, 2012 | 9 comments

Day 7 of Knit and Crochet Blog Week is all about crafting balance. The original question had to do with knitting and crochet, but I don’t really crochet much. I use it for edgings and now for steeking, but don’t really intend to go much further. I’m a knitter! And an occasional beader, too.

But I do look go back and forth between knitting and music. You can tell from my blog header that making music is important to me. Music is the reason this post is late: Sunday was a music day for me, and I needed some time to recover.

My knitting has taken a back seat to music for the past couple months. I was so moved by my experience in Nicaragua that I wrote a song about it. I was inspired by the warmth of the people in the Nicaraguan village where we worked, and also by the group that I was with. The other inspiration was the moon. In the northern hemisphere, a crescent moon looks like the letter C. Closer to the equator, that crescent moon looks like the letter U. It’s the same moon, but it’s all a matter of perspective. The song is called “Grace Unforeseen,” and here are the lyrics (link to recording below lyrics):

Grace Unforeseen
Words/music © Michele Bernstein, 2012

God sent us to meet you, to lend you a hand
We started as strangers; now we are friends
We don’t share a language; smiles were our words
We met each other through the grace of the Lord

The moon shines on me, and shines on you
As you gaze at the moon, maybe I’m gazing too
We are friends around the world

Your lives are so humble; so are your homes
You made us feel welcome, with smiles so warm
“Pueblo” means village, people not a place
Your wealth is each other, your families’ embrace

The stars shine on me, and shine on you
As you wish on a star, maybe I’m wishing too
We are friends around the world

We thank God for water, sunshine, fresh air
The gift of each other, people who care
God calls us to service, in giving, receive
From sisters and brothers–grace, unforeseen

The sun shines on me, and shines on you
God smiles on me, and smiles on you too
We are one in God’s own world

We celebrated our trip in church on Sunday, and I sang this song with some friends. I had a technical issue with my recorder on Sunday so this version (link to recording) is from a practice session. We were outside on a sunny day; you can hear the birds and kids wandering through.

If you look at the word amateur, you’ll notice that the root of the word is love; amateur musicians pursue music out of love for it. I won’t say we’re ever perfect, but we love what we do. Before recorded music, the only way to hear music was in real time. You could go to a performance, or you could get together to make music. It was perfectly natural. Now that we have recorded standards, it’s much more intimidating to make music; we think we have to be as perfect as the music we hear. But music is so ephemeral. At the end of a song, do you remember a fleeting wrong note, or the overall feeling that was conveyed? I’m still learning to get past my perfectionist tendencies, and I think I’m getting there. Finally!

Thanks for reading along. The third annual Knit and Crochet Blog Week has been fun for me, and I hope it was for you, too.

And how was your weekend?

9 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Knit, music

Tagged 3KCBWDay7, Knit, music