anti-depression cowl

Let's be honest. The news sucks lately and has for a while. Facebook has become a super depressing place full of people you know all sharing new and horrible headlines in tandem and generally the present and future are more uncertain than usual.

I needed a fucking break.

So I quit Facebook and only check the news twice a day just to save my state of mind. I want to be happy and fun for my lovely baby, not bone-crushingly depressed and horrified at all times. He might not know what's going on but he can feel my vibes and don't try and tell me he can't.

With my newfound free time since it was no longer being wasted on the internet, I bought myself a watch so I could free myself from the tether of my phone (baby schedules) and cast on the brightest, happiest most mindless project in the world. This project.

My life was instantly improved, not even kidding. Plus it turned out so cool! I may just have to make another for myself. Maybe next year I can justify adding yet another cowl into my rotation. Plus double stranding is my current obsession so it was extra fun.

Pattern - my own
Berroco Peruvia Quick - Blanco
Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light - Edison Bulb

pussy hat

A friend of mine put in a special request for a pink hat with two pompoms for her daughter, beyond that I had total creative freedom. Best kind of request right? Little did I know I was going to have the damnedest time finding pink yarn because everyone else was also knitting pink hats. I legit didn't put two and two together until long after the yarn had arrived. Ridiculous. And amusingly enough she had her daughter wear it at the Women's March and sent me pics! It was awesome.

I used the same pattern as for Seti's hat from earlier in the season because it was such a fun and fast knit and I knew firsthand that it stays on bobbly kids' heads well. I changed the top a bit to make two especially sturdy spots for attaching pompoms though. Super minor change but it made a big difference, the mods are on its Ravelry project page. Any excuse to make more and crazier pompoms is fine by me.

Also please note the fucking fabulous Fringe Supply Co. stitch marker holder db got me for Chirstmas. Sadly it's out of stock because it was a limited run, but she still has this very similar one. Not going to lie, I have that one too. Coming up on three years with it and the natural leather just gets more beautiful. Hell yeah for fun supplies!

Shoots-n-Ladders Hat by Ainur Berkimbayeva
Madelinetosh Chunky - Neon Pink & the pompom is Neon Pink, Edison Bulb and Button Jar Blue, and the white is Berroco Peruvia Quick in Blanco

seti's epic birthday sweater!

My little man is a whole year old. Well over a year at this point, but this was made specially for his first birthday party. I wanted to make a nice, insane, birthday sweater and I'm pretty sure this meets that criteria.

This is the third sweater I've knit up using Purl Soho's Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan pattern because the finished garments are so cute. The first time I knit it I wasn't the biggest fan of the construction but after doing it a few times the pattern really makes a lot of sense. Seti now has one in all three sizes and I'm considering moving up to maybe sport weight or dk to just keep making him more as he outgrows them. I should probably move on to a new pattern for my big boy though :'(

This was definitely a winner. He's worn it to death and it's held up great. Plus it's so fun and silly people always comment on it. Party time!

Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan by PurlSoho
Madelinetosh Tosh Sock - Electric Rainbow and Edison Bulb

catching up

I don't really know why I stopped blogging, I missed it. I'm going to try to be better about it because it's fun and there are plenty of finished projects on this end to share. In 2016, a year I was taking care of an infant full time, I finished 22 things. Maybe all the time for blogging was spent on making more things than usual?

So here goes, back on it in no particular order!

holiday gifts

This reminds me of the year I relearned how to knit in college because I didn't have money for gifts for people. Oh Freshman year... I thought I was poor then! HA! Student loans were just an abstract threat!

Anyway, it's almost nice to be put in the position to make gifts again. I get to think nice thoughts about whoever I'm knitting for as I do it and it's been a really positive experience. I'm actually looking forward to the holidays more than usual because of the extra excitement of giving people I care about things I made especially for them. SO without any further information (because you never know who's reading *wink*) Here are some pretty things I've knit up so far! More details once the gift getters have gotten their gifts, too many details would be gauche right?

I hope all of your holiday prep has been as pleasant as mine, the season is young!

fingerless gloves aka the gloves I KEEP LOSING

These things are possessed by some weird energy. I'm convinced. I made a grey pair about 6 or 7 years ago and never lost one once. These things? I finished them less than a month ago and have lost one or both, IN THE WILD, FOUR TIMES. Both in Philadelphia and Rhode Island. What is that?! This is ridiculous. Probably only made more ridiculous by the fact that someone somehow always find them. Mixed in with leaves on the street of the same color, five or more houses down from where they were dropped... and by myself, Dillon and two other people. Like what is that? I'd have something other to say about them but the fact that they're on the loose is by far their most interesting attribute. I knit them up with long discontinued Mission Falls 1824 wool which I bought in bulk in Northampton at Webs not a month after it was discontinued and whipped them up in a mere 5 days which is pretty quick. They're warm, they're brownish (what was I thinking?) and they kind of almost don't clash with my now three year's old "new" winter coat.

Happy fall all, I hope your gloves prove to be more boring than mine!
PS. The pattern is a heavily modified version of some pamphlet I bought in like... 2005. I've been meaning to write it up for a while so maybe I'll get around to it soon because there rule and I've knit 8 pairs now!
PPS. Yes I look like a lunatic but I mean... WHY SUGARCOAT THE TRUTH???

acid wash

This summer was way too hot and I don't miss it, but I do miss wearing matching acid wash with my babe.

Mom jeans and overalls for the win.

Shorts - American Apparel
Overalls - Vintage Osh Kosh B'Gosh

knitting spreeee

Ok so this is actually the first of the recent projects I finished so I'm not sure why I forgot to post about it. A few years back I knit myself one of these in a nice light green and I wore it into the ground I liked it so much. So when it occurred to me that 9 of the last 10 projects I'd knit were for other people, I decided that this year as a treat to myself I'd just make a freshy in a different color and I'd bump it to the top of the queue. Amusingly I worked on it mostly while watching the Netflix Slow TV special about Norway's national knitting night. It was ridiculous, but who has time for anything less than ridiculous?

Anyhow, I like it a lot and it just has to cool off a little more so I can wear it. No rush. I like fall as much as the next person but I also like the whole in-between weather that the Earth seems to have skipped this year.

Joan of Arc by Saskia de Feijter

Malabrigo Merino Chunky - Frank Ochre

Also I really need to figure out where to take action shot project pics in this house! I don't even want to tell you all where these are taken. I miss my lovely photographer and the fabulous sparkly stuccoed deck wall of our last place. I'll figure it out, even if it means stuccoing a wall in the yard.

another day, another cowl

I really should stop knitting these and get to some of the more involved projects I have planned to gift people!

These work up so fast though...

No promises haha.

Pattern is my own (my sweet, my precious...) Sorry I couldn't help myself.
Berroco Peruvia Quick - Blanco
Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light - Button Jar Blue

yearly peony

I take a pic of my peony bouquet from Db every year and this year is no exception. So here we are, a very Caravaggio-esque photo of a particularly beautiful five peony bouquet. This pic is from June of course, I wish peonies bloomed until now! We actually have three peony bulbs coming in the mail as I write this so hopefully next year I'll have some garden peonies to post, too!

Something pretty for everyone.

cutest hat for the cutest head

Seti is all set for fall! I scored a puffy coat and mittens from Patagonia's 'clearing out last year's line' sale and now I've made him possibly the coolest hat I've ever seen. It fits awesome, was a really easy knit and I finished it in only four days. I'll definitely make this pattern again for baby gifts because it turned out so nice. The pattern itself is laid out really oddly and was a little harder to use than other patterns, but not too bad. Also I suggest swatching if you make this one because I think the designer might knit a bit on the loose side.

Seti may be just shy of 11 months but he has a really big head so I made the 2 year size and it's just right. It'll maybe last the season, but if it doesn't I can always pull out the crown decreases and add a cable repeat which is really easy. Made a crazy pompom, DONE.

As if I thought that kid could be any cuter, the giant colorful pompom bobbling around is just absurd.

Shoots-n-Ladders Hat by Ainur Berkimbayeva
Madelinetosh Chunky - Murakami & the pompom is various, but the white is Berroco Peruvia Quick in Blanco  which is the best pompom yarn I've found.

canning!

Oh man, I've been on a tear. As soon as peach season hit I was like, oh man, I need to make preserves RIGHT NOW. So I busted out my fabulous new Le Creuset dutch oven and made some jam! In the past few weeks I've made sauerkraut, pickles, spicy dilly beans, mixed stone fruit jam, peach jam with cinnamon, pickled garlic cloves and hot pepper relish.

So good.

While a lot of what I've made so far has been pickled, I get most excited about any excuse to use my new dutch oven. My Vavó would always slip me money when I'd visit and the gift money I'd get from her or my Madrinha was special and I'd save it for something I thought they'd approve of. So after hoarding 10s and 20s for probably 15+ years, I finally settled on investing in a really nice 5qt Le Creuset dutch oven to cook for my family with. It was pretty hilarious handing over all the bills they'd given me over the years, crisp and flat, all marked with an initial so I'd know who they were from. The cashier must've thought I was batshit because it was kind of a big deal for me. Its maiden voyage was my favorite of my Vavó and Aunt Connie's (my Madrinha) recipes, the famous chicken soup everyone in my family simply refers to as "sopas", and every time I've used it since it makes me smile. I mean how could it not? It's beautiful but the sentiment makes it even more so.

I'm sure there will be many more future jam pics taken in this.

Recipes (with exception to the hot pepper relish) all from Food in Jars and Food in Jars: Preserving by the Pint. Highly recommend!

knitting again, it's not 1000 degrees!

When I say this summer was the hottest summer ever, there is actual scientific proof it was. And it felt like it. And it was INTENSE.

But it's cooling off (barely) and finally there are signs of summer ending in the crickets singing, cooler evenings and late summer flowers and fruits. Day dreamzzz.

So here is a thing I'm knitting for my good friend Jo (as usual) and I'm loving every second of imaging a world where people will be able to wear something for warmth. I hope this finishes up quick because after having a new baby for a while and the whole summer thing, I've got quite the queue!

summer

This summer was both absolutely amazing and kind of awful. We had some really lame luck with our house, some sadness and some stress, but we also had our amazing babe Seti experiencing all our favorite things for the very first time! And I've got to say it even though it's cliche, it was magical. It was so so cool taking him to the beach and to NH and showing him all the best of everything. His wide eyed wonder is so pure and beautiful. That kid is the shit. He's cooler than all of us. So that being said, here's our new beach family foot portrait.

Summer is good. I hope you all had an amazing one, too.

sprang

Spring rules. When I imagined having a kid, spring was what would come to mind. Teaching them about all the plants that are coming up, the flowers blooming, the new bird songs. It is just as nice as I imagined. Little man has already gotten to smell lilacs, feel lots of different leaves, play with bubbles and a pinwheel... so fun. Besides just hanging with him there has been a TON going on. Db travels for work a lot more now than ever before (go figure) so I'm on solo baby duty around the clock pretty often. Our house is slowly coming together finally which is nice. I'm trying not to beat myself up about it taking way longer than anticipated because only insane people move when they're 38 weeks pregnant. Of course there are still a few boxes stashed under the kitchen table 6 months later, but we're getting there. Last weekend we painted Seti's room and this coming weekend we'll paint the trim. Basically every paintable surface in this house needs to be painted which isn't the easiest thing to do when your kid only takes half hour naps all day long. I AM TRAPPED BY A NAP SCHEDULE. Even considering that we've had some nice spring moments; chillin' in the park, going for drizzle walks to watch the flowering trees shed their petals, getting dirt under our nails (Db isn't into that one but Uzo, Seti and I are), general yard hangs.

Spring is the best. I leave you with a petal river on the annual prettiest rainy day of the year.