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.
We had a little surprise snowfall on Tuesday. It wasn’t in the forecast. Traffic got snarly (PDX isn’t used to snow), but I whisked DH out to Edgefield for the night, as planned. This was my Christmas gift to him.
Edgefield used to be the Multnomah County Poor Farm, a long time ago. Now it’s a property owned by the McMenamins, who take old places and make them into fun and funky pubs, restaurants and resorts. There’s a lot of art on the doors and walls. I love the knitter in this painting. I also saw her in another painting, in which she was knitting the chess board as the players played.
My friend’s mom, Sharon Nesbit, is a local historian, and she wrote a history of Edgefield. Here’s her door on room 3.
And portrait, too! I love her title, Queen of Troutdale.
I have another connection here. My friend Dawn Phelps McConnell used to paint for McMenamins. She passed away two years ago, from cancer. There’s a portrait of her in one of the hallways. (excuse the flash; it was dark)
We had a lovely stay. Snow makes everything a bit magical.
We enjoyed music down in the Winery. The walls are glass, and there are barrels behind one set of windows, and stainless steel vats behind the opposite windows. A really cool space.
My favorite amenity? The soaking pool at Ruby’s Spa. We had to don our snow boots to go down the driveway to get there. But it was worth it! I loved how the steam rose off the hot water.
There are a lot of great nooks and crannies in which to hang out, read, knit, whatever. I did do some knitting. I’ll show you next time. But here’s the obligatory 2009 FO mosaic, to tide you over. Whoops! I see that my log cabin blanket made it in there twice. Sorry. But it was a big project! I was surprised to see that I finished it in January; I thought it was a 2008 FO.
I see a lot of repeat items here, and a lot of small items. Time for a big project! I want to knit a sweater, soon. I’ve ordered yarn, and can’t wait to cast on. Soon.
Christmas was grand. Christmas eve found the boys still scrambling to find a gift for me. They had lots of ideas, but nothing was panning out. They drove all over town for days. At 3:45 p.m. on Christmas eve (with us due at a friend’s for dinner at 4), DH bailed them out by suggesting that they sign me up for next year’s Single Skein Club at Twisted. Everybody wins! I’m looking forward to it.
Gift knit update
Let’s see. I gave the broken garter stitch cowl to my friend Carole; I chose the color with her in mind. I designed the cowl for next month’s knit party at Twisted. She’ll be helping with the party. The cowl comes full circle!
I gave the red cashmerino cowl to my pastor. I hope she likes it. Christmas eve is a busy night, with two services; I’ll catch up with her next week. (The Day Old Pastries sang at the family pageant service and led the congregational music. Fun! Then I went to the late service, too, to just…be.)
I gave the blue Quincy hat to my niece; I thought it would be cute on her. My sister says that it frames her face perfectly, and now she wants one, too. For her birthday. In red. To match these fingerless mitts that I made for her.
As soon as I saw this yarn I knew that it had to be fingerless mitts for her. It’s Mirasol Tupa, 50% merino, 50% silk. The color just glows. These pictures don’t quite capture the depth of color, though.
At first I thought I’d do a heart design, because she loves hearts. But then I decided to go with an OXO cable for a hugs and kisses theme, because it suited the yarn better. I’m really pleased with how they turned out. And she loves them. I’ll be writing up the pattern soon.
During the design process (and fine tuning), I also made a pair in white, and I gave them to my mom for Christmas. I wanted her to have some new mitts to replace the Fetchings that have gone AWOL. I can nearly make these in my sleep now! And I’ve become a master at cabling without a cable needle. I have a photo tutorial in my tutorials section on the sidebar, and if I get to it, I’ll make a video one, too.
So now my needles are pretty empty! I’m looking for the perfect red yarn for my sister’s Quincy, but haven’t found it yet. And I want to cast on something for me, but I can’t quite commit to the Heather Hoodie yet. Don’t know why not. I went to the yarn store to order the yarn, and didn’t. Hmmmm.
Oh, there is one little thing on my needles. I’ll tell you about it next time…
Ready or not, Christmas is coming. I’m as ready as I’m going to get. Tonight is a whirlwind of activity, and then we’ll have a quiet Christmas morning. Bliss.
I’ve knit several gifts this year, although I didn’t set out to do so. Knit just happens! My favorite one is a new design, and I can’t show it until after Christmas. But here’s another version of one of my cowls. This one is knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky, and it’s lusciously soft. A gift for a non-blog reading friend.
The Cashmerino Chunky is a lot lighter than the Malabrigo Chunky, so this was knit on a US 9, as opposed to the 10.5, and on fewer stitches. It took about 1.5 balls of yarn (50 gram balls). I loved knitting with this yarn.
Mookie wishes you a very happy holiday. We’ve celebrated Hanukkah, and are about to celebrate Christmas. Which reminds me, I still have to go get her a new catnip slug to put in her stocking. She loves them.
Almost as much as she loves this Log Cabin blanket that she’s claimed for her very own.
Did you finish all your gift knitting? Is it time to start something for you? I’m still toying with the idea of a Heather Hoodie (ravelry link), but I want it to have sleeves. I have a skein of Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky to swatch, and if I still like the idea after swatching, I’ll order a sweater’s worth of it. What do you want to knit next?
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.
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