My M.I.A. Mea Culpa

I haven't been here much, which is lame. I haven't forgotten that I promised you all a giveaway, but I haven't gotten around to doing it just yet either, which is double lame.

But - I'm here for just a second to give you my paltry reasons why, or perhaps more fittingly, why not.

El numero Uno - Ta Daaaaaah! I'm opening a shop! Or, to be more accurate, Billy and I and two amazing business partners and fellow urban farm nerdz, are opening a shop! The amount of paperwork, legal filings and mandatory workshops that a new business owner has to complete are cray-zay NUTS, but we're getting 'er done, lining them up and knocking them down, etcetera, etcetera.

Eastside Urban Farm & Garden Center plans to open its doors to our farming, homesteading, and DIY'ing friends and neighbors in February 2014. (Hooboy does it feel nice to finally let that cat out of the bag!)

'Tis Bazaar Season - And I know you know what that means. It means I'm the lady who is fervently knitting dishcloths in the waiting room at the orthodontists office, scouring Pinterest for organic soap and sugar scrub recipes and wrapping bars of goaty-good soap waaaay into the small hours.

The Universe has been Ever-so-slightly Uncharitable this week past month or so - Lots and lots of personal craziness has been raining down upon our little family and the families of some of those nearest and dearest to us; more than there is any kind of time to go into detail about here, but suffice it to say that the old adage that "bad things come in threes" - Yeah, I wish. Bad/crappy/really, really, unfortunate things are coming in half-dozens at least, but we're still kickin'. I'm up all night rocking back and forth with worry (while knitting, wrapping soap), but still hanging in there.

And so, you know, ergo, my absence.

I'm going to try to check in more often, and I have a few new knitting patterns to post, I just have to carve out the time. Oh, and the giveaway - DEFINITELY still happening. :)

Thanks for your patience, mis amigos.

Fall Done Fell

In the space of a week we've gone from humidity, thunderstorms and 80 degree temps to falling leaves and pea soup fog in the mornings. Fall has arrived in Boggy Hollow, and with it, as ever, a nearly-endless list of stuff that needs doing, yesterday.

As a bit of strategery, I am posting my to-do list here in the hope that the threat of an on-the-record public shaming will serve as motivation for me to get my crap together and not, say, take a nap with my puppy.

Hope springs eternal.

Chelle's end of Summer/Fall To-Do list:

*Finish harvesting the garden - tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, lemon balm, garlic chives, runner beans, pumpkins, cylindrical beets, sunflowers, chamomile, calendula, breadseed poppies, Fall raspberries

*Forage - apples, crab apples, pears, walnuts, hazelnuts, hawthorn berries, rose hips, dandelion roots, mushrooms?

*Can/Freeze/Dehydrate - Spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, tomatillo salsa, pumpkin puree, hard cider (apple, pear, hawthorn, etc.), wine (rose hip, hawthorn, raspberry), egg noodles (using beets, basil, etc.), pumpkin ravioli, chamomile, lemon balm and calendula for tea and soapmaking, dandelion roots (for bitters), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, beet chips, beet greens, compound herb butters (basil, lemon balm, garlic chive), Scarlet Runner beans, 3 "surplus" roosters, 2 tom turkeys.

*Ferment - Cider (for ACV), wine, sauerkraut

*Make - At least 2 more batches of soap - one with goat milk and one vegan, re-batch soap trimmings, knit at least 2 dozen more dishcloths and 6 pair of bike helmet earmuffs

*Set up/Organize - The new pantry/storage room shelving - oy. This will probably involve a trip to IKEA, better known in our family as the Yuppie Modular Cattle Chute from Hell. Uff da.

As if that weren't enough, in addition to my regular Mom duties, a friend and I are in the process of starting a new business that entails real estate deals, meetings with bankers, tons of market research, paperwork and spreadsheets out the wazoo and a big, fat, healthy dose of sheer panic. Good times!

So, there you have it. My next 12 weeks, chock-full of farm housewifferey (did I just invent that word?), lava-hot mason jars and self-imposed stress and deadlines. Hold my feet to the fire to get this stuff done, guys and gals, because that nap is looking better with each passing minute.

To Market, to Market

I've been running around today trying to put the finishing touches on my crafts, produce and what-not before getting up bright and early tomorrow to sell my wares at the annual Love our Local Fest here in Olympia.

I somehow got the bright idea to make a bunch of my homemade egg noodles, using our eggs and our produce, as if I wasn't busy enough. Now I'm looking at pulling late-nighter/all-nighter #3 in order to get all of this pasta rolled, cut, dried and packaged. Oof! But on the up side, isn't it pretty?

Egg noodles made with our Cylindra beets

As much as I look forward to going to and spending the day at the market, I gotta admit, I'll be a little relieved (and probably sleep for 24 hours straight) once it's done. August is already so busy around here, it'll be nice to get in quick breather before the school year starts up again.

Come and see me tomorrow if you're a local-yokel. ;) Olympia's Love our Local Fest

August Exhaustion

This morning I woke up to a fiery-hot pain in my shoulder. In fact, my entire right arm feels fit to fall right off. I think I've managed to figure out why...

...I've been knitting. A LOT.

...picking, washing chopping, slicing and grating dozens of pounds of squash.

...cutting and trimming up fifty-bajillion bars of soap.

...hand wrapping and labeling those same fifty-bajillion bars of soap.

Yes, my house is in ruins right now, but aren't my knits and soaps purty?! That 40ish pounds of squash that I put into the freezer last night is a different kind of purty. I feel very pleased with my level of productivity, but madre, my arm! :\

Get Ready, Get Set...

...commence freak-out about whether or not I'll manage to get my stuff ready in time for market day. :\

Either way, I'm all signed up to be a crafter/farm vendor, so whether I have 2 tomatoes or 200, I'll be there! Come on down and see me!

Knitting Project: Little Ladders Dishcloth

Yet another in my endless series of simple dishcloth patterns, Little Ladders is based on the slipstitch tweed stitch, with one small modification. After you get a row or two into it, it becomes blissfully mindless. :)

Little Ladders Dishcloth

I make these dishcloths using worsted weight kitchen cotton and size 8 straight needles, but you can go bigger or smaller easily, as your yarn or gauge calls for.

Cast on 40 sts

Rows 1-4 - Knit all sts
Row 5 and all odd numbered rows - K2 *Sl 1 wyif, K1* to last two sts, K2
Row 6 and all even numbered rows - K2, Purl across to last two sts, K2
Continue repeating as in rows 5 and 6 until the desired length is reached, minus 4 rows.
Last 4 Rows - Knit all sts
Bind off loosely and weave/tuck loose ends

Sl 1 wyif = slip one stitch with your yarn held to the front, as if to purl

Knit away and enjoy!

Please excuse the less-than-stellar photo quality. I had a sleeping pooch in my lap. 

Setting Goals for Farm Income - Phase 1

In the past few years I've read dozens of books about how to sustainably, efficiently and effectively make money from your backyard garden/small urban farm. I always walk away from those books all charged up about how we're going to run our farmstand, and what all we can offer up for sale there. Then crazy things like last May's car accident happen, and we suffer a big ol' setback. Not this year - I'm determined.

Someday, it'd be lovely if this farm alone provided us with enough income so that Bill could retire from his real job and work here at home instead, side by side with the new and improved me, milking goats, weeding the garden and picking apples. I'm not really sure exactly what it would take to make that happen though.

If you're a fan of the show The Fabulous Beekman Boys, then you'll know that they have been working toward a similar goal as us. Somehow or other, they arrived at the conclusion that they'd have to sell a million dollars worth of food/soaps/farm tchotchkes in order to offset Josh's nine-to-five income and allow him to work on the farm full time. I'd love to know how they came up with that number, and I'd like to figure out exactly what our magic number is, but I don't have the faintest idea how to work that out.

Instead, because I really need to set an attainable goal for myself after this past year of missed opportunities and failure, I'm starting low - $5 per day.

Even before we get our farmstand up and running, I figure that I can produce at least $5 worth of salable product each day with my knitting. A single dishcloth goes for $4, and I can easily turn one out per day. A pair of bike helmet earmuffs can also be done in about a day, and sells for $15, covering me for three days if I should somehow fall behind. It is an extremely small goal, but, when regarded in the context of a full calender year, gives me over $1800 worth of knitted inventory to offer at my bazaars and online. Assuming that 50% of that is profit, I can make us $900 doing something that I thoroughly enjoy and that relaxes me. Pretty cool!

And so, that is what I've committed myself to so far. When I have a clearer idea of how much honey and wax that our beehives will give us, how much produce we can grow and sell, and how much soap we can produce with our goats milk and homegrown botanicals, I will set production and income goals for those areas as well. But for now - small, teensy, microscopic potatoes are all that I can honestly commit to. Every successful business has to start somewhere, right?

Bazaar Season Breakdown

I learned a lot with last year's bazaar season - affordable, useful objects sell, and spendy-ish, upscale items don't, at least for me. I tried to learn something from that and to focus my time, energy and money on making more of the items that seemed to be in demand last year - washcloths and bike helmet earmuffs, while eliminating the high-end (and high overhead!) apparel items that didn't sell - scarves, mostly.

So this year, I made roughly triple the number of washcloths as last year, 35. We sold all but 7 of them. We sold roughly the same number of bike helmet earmuffs as last year, but, same as last year, the "feminine" colors (pink and purple) didn't move. Lesson learned - people like their noggin warmers in gender-neutral brights and earth tones.

Our Booth at Lincoln Winter Market

I did not offer any jars of jam for sale this year, as I'm not sure that a) With new cottage food laws in place, and me not yet certified, that my selling any sort of prepared foodstuff would be be entirely legal, and b) $3 for a half pint jar might sound like a reasonable price to the buyer, but the maker/sellers breaks even at best.

This was our first year making and selling our soaps and accompanying frou-frou. The soaps, especially the Homegrown Lavender, sold like hotcakes, even at $5 per bar, and with a LOT of competing soapmakers at both bazaars. Ours was the only goat milk soap that I saw for sale though, so between that and what I think of as our handcrafted, cute, genuine factor (imperfectly cut bars, hand wrapped packaging), I think we did pretty darn well and recouped our initial investment in soapmaking supplies and materials.

Our very first batch of soap - Orange Cream

The accompanying products (scrubs, fizzes) weren't super sellers, but the profit margin per sale makes them worth keeping. I'll make a few next year, but focus more on the soaps and washcloths, as they are they main attraction.

Another note with regard to the goats milk soap - we made a few potentially valuable contacts with some fellow crafters and soapmakers who expressed interest in buying/trading for some of our goats milk to include in their products (NOT to consume!). Imagine this goat thing actually paying for itself someday - crazy! Maybe I can use this to justify my longing for alpaca/fiber goat/sheep ownership to the spousal unit? One critter at a time...

These numbers are rough, as I'm admittedly a shoddy record keeper. Just to give you an idea of how a tiny, homegrown hobby can maybe(?), someday(?) grow into a small business...

Last years sales - $185
This years sales - $326.75 (Plus another $50 incoming for custom orders)

So, we doubled our sales from last year to this. With any luck, next year we double this years numbers at least.

We hope to get our farmstand up and running sometime between now and next Summer at the latest. Hopefully the products, business cards and relationships that we made and exchanged at these bazaars will be something of a springboard for our little stand. I think we've discovered a niche, now to expand on that, explore further ventures and make a little money while doing what we love. The future is bright. :)

Knitting Project: Zig Zags Dishcloth

Yep, another dishcloth pattern! I guess they're kinda my thing.

                          

These are so quick and simple to make and people honestly love them. These are my absolute best sellers, year after year.

I recently posted a similar pattern, the Chevrons Dishcloth, based on a stitch that I learned from a knitting encyclopedia. This Zig Zag dishcloth has a more compact design, and the line runs vertically through the piece, rather than horizontally. 

                           

Not that it'll set the world on fire, but I'm proud to say that this stitch pattern is a GGG original. So, enjoy. Happy knitting!

Zig Zags Dishcloth

*Cast on 36

Rows 1 & 2 – K all sts

Row 3 – K2 *K3, P1* to last 2 sts, K2

Row 4 – K2 *P1, K1, P2* to last 2 sts, K2

Row 5 – K2 *K1, P1, K2* to last 2 sts, K2

Row 6 – K2 *P3, K1* to last 2 sts, K2

Row 7 – K2 *P1, K3* to last 2 sts, K2

Row 8 – K2 *P2, K1, P1* to last 2 sts, K2

Row 9 – K2 *K2, P1, K1* to last 2 sts, K2
Row 10 - K2 *K1, P3* to last 2 sts, K2

Repeat rows 3-10 until desired length is reached, less two rows.

Last 2 rows – K all sts.

Bind off loosely.

If you find any errors or have any questions, feel free to drop me a line. If you want to forgo the knitting and buy some finished dishcloths, you can find me on Etsy as Postmodern Milkmaid, or shoot me an email/leave a comment and I'll hook you up! ;)

Knitting Project: Chevrons Dishcloth

Our family uses these primarily as dishcloths (and as goat udder-washer-uppers), but there's no reason that you couldn't use these as washcloths too. I use 100% cotton, and try to stick to patterns that are simple enough to memorize (no looking back and forth from the pattern to your work all day), and "nubbly" enough to really get in there when you're using these to scrub the holy heck out of something - be it dishes, your face or...goat parts. ;)

This is a fairly new design for me, but it has been selling well, and with the chevron design craze (search chevron on Pinterest and see for yourself) I thought I'd better capitalize on this good thing while I could. But, it'd be rude to keep such a fun and easy knit to myself, so here you go, the Chevrons Dishcloth.

The pattern gets lost a little on variegated yarns, as you can see from my crummy cell phone picture. I'd recommend solids for this pattern.

*Needles: size 7 straight needles (I use a 24" circular needle, so I can smoosh my work into the middle of it when I set it down, as to not drop stitches off the needles. It works!)

*Yarn: 1 ball Kitchen Cotton, such as Sugar 'n Cream or Coolspun Cotton

Cast on 36 sts

Rows 1 & 2 - Knit all sts
Row 3 - K2, *P1, K3* to last 2 sts, K2
Row 4 - K2, *K1, P5, K1, P1* to last 2 sts, K2
Row 5-  K2, *K2, P1, K1* to last 2 sts, K2
Row 6-  K2, *P2, K1, P1, K1, P3* to last 2 sts, K2
Repeat rows 3-6 until piece reaches desired length, minus 2 rows.
Last 2 rows - Knit all sts
Loosely bind off all sts.

You can eliminate the first two and last two rows of knit sts, as well as the k2 at the beginning and end of each row if you do not want a selvedge edge. I think it makes the cloth look more finished though. ;)

That's it! Happy knitting!!!

Knitting Pattern: Climbing Vines Dishcloth

I've been knitting like a fiend lately, stockpiling inventory for my bazaars and farm stand, as well as for Christmas gifts. This is a little dishcloth pattern that I improvised, which I call Climbing Vines, as it reminds me of the fields of tall and narrow hops vines that we passed on our drive through Eastern Washington. It is a breeze to knit up, and the finished cloth looks pretty sharp, if I do say so myself!

What you'll need:

*Cotton, linen or hemp yarn, about 60-70 yards (I use Sugar & Cream kitchen cotton most often, because the price point keeps my costs reasonable.)

*Pair of size 8 straight needles, or a single size 8 circular needle.

*Scissors & Crochet hook for finishing

Cast on 36 stitches

Rows 1-3: Knit

Row 4: Knit 3, *P1, K3* to last 4 sts, K4

Row 5: Knit 2, P across to last 2 sts, K2

Row 6: Knit 4, *P1, K3* to last 3 sts, K3

Row 7: Repeat row 5

Repeat rows 4-7 until piece measures your desired length, minus 3 rows.

Last 3 rows: Starting on wrong side, knit all sts.

Bind off loosely and tuck in ends.

Finito! :)

Knitting Project: Decreasing Rib Capelet (part deux!)

It isn't hard to tell when I like a pattern, because I make one for everybody and their cousin, whether they like it or not. This ribbed capelet definitely falls into the category of "knit now, figure out who it's going to later" projects. ;)

The first of these capelets was made for my friend, Mrs. P, last winter, and was modeled by my Livy-doo.



My most recent capelet was for young Miss. HB, who was gracious enough to model it for me. :)



I sort of inadvertently made two capelets in my attempt to make Miss. HB's one. Effort #1 was waaaaay to small, but by the time I realized that not even the give of ribbing would make it work, I was already halfway done. So I went ahead and finished it, and gave it to another lil' buddy of mine. Now she & HB are a matched set. :)

I have this project up on Ravelry, if you'd like to read more of my rambling notes or follow the link to the original pattern, check it out here.

Next up is a modified version of this capelet, more of a cape, really, for Miss HB's little brother.

30 28 Hats in 31 Days

My challenge to knit 30 hats in 31 days for the Period of Purple Crying's educational campaign against Shaken Baby Syndrome has drawn to a close, and I missed my goal by thismuch - two little hats, to be exact.

Still, 28 hats in a month is still a respectable number. That's an over-sized kindergarten classroom's worth of heads that will hopefully be rendered both warm and safe via my hats and the information provided to their parents about how to safely deal with episodes of intense crying. I feel pretty good about having done my bit in that. :)

I'm slightly relieved to have a break from my frenzied knitting. I think that no one is as relieved to see me reach the end of this challenge as my husband is. He saw my staying up late, knitting on the go and otherwise shoehorning yarn and needles in every spare second I had as a small but omnipresent stress and distraction. I'll say this for it, it was my chief downtime occupation this month. My normal sitting-on-my-tush chores, like folding laundry, have suffered somewhat from being sent to the back burner for 4 1/2 weeks. Fear not, crunchy towels and socks - Mama's back! ;)

A picture of all 28 hats, followed by some close-ups of a few of my favorites of the lot. :)






This is actually a self-striping sock yarn. It was a breeze to work with and I loved not having 7000 ends to tuck in!


The eggplant


I've been calling this one Boysenberry Swirl. Does this hat look like a dish of Fro-Yo or what? ;)

Knitting Like There's No Tomorrow

But there is a tomorrow! And if I don't finish at least one hat before then, I have officially fallen behind the curve to reach my goal of 30 hats in 31 days. I'm about 7 1/4 to the good. Here are the finished (but not tucked) seven -


Simple cables, stripes, the eggplant, preemie ribbed stripes, purple knot-top, simple two-color, lavender and navy stripe

I'm having a bit of trouble making primarily purple hats that look suitably boyish. Any thoughts?

Are you knitting, crocheting or sewing along with my challenge? Show us your hats! :)

Knitting for Babies - 30 hats in 31 days?

Since our Farmer Feed Thyself Challenge has been indefinitely postponed due to underwhelming garden production, I've decided to take on a different challenge for the month of August. I'm going to try to knit 30 newborn baby hats in a month.

Why, oh why would I want to knit my ever-loving booty off in the middle of summer, you ask?

I'm knitting hats as part of a newborn hat drive for an educational campaign called The Period of Purple Crying.

The organization's goal is to educate new parents and caregivers of infants about a normal developmental stage (from about 2 weeks of age to 4 months) in which babies cry more often and more intensely, which they refer to as "Purple Crying". Knowing that this is a normal behavior, and knowing how to properly cope with the frustration that a wailing baby can cause is a critical step in reducing instances of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma in infants.

The little purple hats will go home with newborns, along with information on identifying and coping with Purple Crying. The idea is to have a reminder right there on your sweet baby's noggin that his or her crying is ok, and like all developmental hurdles, shall pass in time.

Knitting is my therapy anyway, so knitting to save a life is practically nirvana in my book. ;) I encourage you to join me in making as many wee little hats as you have time to make - knitted, sewn or crocheted. The guidelines for the hats are as follows -

•Caps should be made using clean and NEW YARN any shade of PURPLE yarn. Other colors of yarn may be incorporated into the cap, but a shade of PURPLE should encompass at least 50 percent of the cap.

•Yarn and thread labeled, as "baby friendly" should be used for caps.

•Infant heads come in a variety of sizes. As a general rule, caps should have a circumference between 10.5 - 13.5 in. and a height of 5-6 in.

•Please refrain from including “pom poms” or any type of strap to secure caps to baby’s heads. These pose a potential choking and/or strangling hazard to babies.
You can find patterns for PURPLE Caps at www.clickforbabies.org under the Knit Section.

Finished hats can sent to any of the hospitals listed on the clickforbabies.org website. Mine will be divvied up between Legacy Emanuel in Portland, where a family member works, and Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, where my oldest was born. Please knit, crochet and sew along with me and use your creative energy to change lives!

FYI - I'm starting early. 3/4 of a hat done so far. 29 1/4 to go! :)))

Scarlet, the Chirping Knitter

Most of my posts lately have been knit-centric, mostly because at this time of the year, pretty much every year, my life becomes knit-centric.

I learned to knit when Olivia was a toddler, about 9 years ago, from my husband's Aunt Janet. Yes indeed, I learned to knit from Janet Jackson. How many people can say that???

Ok, ok, she's not that Janet Jackson, she's way better. :) She taught me one of the most useful and satisfying skills that I have, and I've since been able to pass the joy of knitting on to others myself, most recently, my baby girl, Scarlet.



I was showing her the knit stitch, and when pulling the new loop of yarn through the existing stitch, I advised her to keep her right hand needle in contact with the left hand needle, so that the stitch wouldn't slide off. I told her that they should rub together like cricket legs.

Later that day as she sat knitting, I heard her mumbling under her breath, talking herself through each phase of the stitch, upon reaching the "cricket legs" phase she whispers "bbeeeeed-deet", in imitation of a cricket's chirp.

Just when you think you can't love your kiddo anymore, they become hyper-focused little knitters, chirping in earnest. My heart is fit to burst with sappy love over this girl. I am one proud mama today. :)

The Maniac Manic Knitter

Ten days 'til Christmas, and I still have three projects left to finish and four to block. Why do I punish myself so?

Today's project was an earflap hat for one of Olivia's teachers who is a MAJOR San Diego Chargers fan. Here's my baby, the Football Fan Earflap Hat-



I improvised/designed/whatever-you-want-to-call-it this hat myself, so there is no proper pattern to post, at least at this point. I'm hoping to write it up soon, but in the mean time, the basic project outline is up on Ravelry.

Ok. Falling into bed now. I get to wake up bright and early with kiddos, then dive head-first back into Craft Cram-a-thon 2010. Woohoo!

Knitting Project: Decreasing Rib Capelet

My lovely and talented friend, Kris, over at Quilted Simple made this lovely capelet and sang the pattern's praises, most importantly to me, that it was a quick and fun to knit. And it was! Here is my finished capelet (which is actually more like a poncho-let), modeled by the talented, beautiful and not yet fully awake, Olivia.



You can find the original pattern here. Like Kris, I made a few modifications, which in my world is usually code for errors, but most of these were actually intentional.

My changes-
I cast on 195 stitches, which is 30 more than the largest size given in the pattern, because I fell in love with a yarn that was smaller (DK weight) than the bulky weight yarn called for in this project, and naturally also used smaller needles, size 8 rather than 10.5. I also made a cowl neck (6 inches long) instead of a turtleneck, and switched all the way up to size 13 needles to make the cowl, because I tend to knit a little tight.

I am so happy with how it came out! Now I can only hope like crazy that this will fit the intended recipient, or in lieu of that maybe her daughter. This paranoia about garments not fitting well has been the chief reason for my long-standing aversion to knitting clothes. If this one goes over well, I may have to rethink my position on that, because this was a really fun project.

Thanks again, Kris, for the inspiration. I hope to someday be half the knitter/mom/superwoman that you are! :)

By the way - I used 2.5 skeins of Cascade Yarns "Eco Duo" undyed baby alpaca/merino yarn in a light brown/natural twist, on a size 8, 40" circular needle, and switched up to a size 13, 24" circular needle for the cowl. This project took me just over 3 days of fairly intense knitting.

P.S. - I finally got my booty in gear and got going on ravelry. This capelet is posted here.

The Knervous Knitter goes under the Knife

I don't think that anyone would describe me as high-strung. Neurotic, certainly, but hyperactive, no. In fact, I may well be the embodiment of hypoactivity. Yet for the past few days I've been too wound up to sleep worth a darn, grinding my teeth and fidgeting non-stop because I'm nervous over a surgery that I'm having this week. I like to make it sound all Beverly Hills-y by saying that I'm having my sinuses "re-done", but really, I'm just having the inside of my face cleaned. Again.

The again part is where I think that the nervousness comes in. I'm no stranger to surgeries, but this is the first surgery (besides my c-sections) that I will have had twice. Forewarned may be forearmed, but it also means that you know exactly how awful things are going to be.

And so, I've found myself up at all hours, knitting like a fiend to both occupy my jittery hands and get myself as far ahead of the Christmas rush as I may before I'm out cold on a Vicodin cloud for a few days. I've been shockingly productive, whipping out 2 scarves and 3 dishcloths this past week. I'm keen to start up another scarf tonight, though I don't know if I'll finish it before the surgery, and know myself well enough to know that knitting and inebriation of any sort do not mix. I've had to frog more projects on account of one too many glasses of wine than I have because of my poor mathematical skills, and that is saying something.

At any rate, the original intent of this post was to extol the calming virtues of knitting, even upon someone as rattled as I. I fear though that I have strayed from my point a bit and instead have painted myself as a fruitcake with bad sinuses and a one-sided relationship with boxed wine. So, back to my point - knitting gives nervous hands something to do. Knitting satisfies my OCD-ish need for symmetry and order with it's patterns and incessant counting; it satisfies my weird need to be productive on some level at all times and, this week in particular, it has kept me from biting my fingernails down to nubs.

If you are a knitter and know of any tipsy-proof patterns that I can fumble through while recovering, send them on over or leave a comment with a link, purty please. I (and whomever eventually receives said knitted good) thank you in advance.

Smell ya later - I hope.

Michelle

Lost in my knitting...

...send in reinforcements in the form of quad-lattes and assorted colors of Debbie Bliss "cashmerino", please.

Seriously, I'm deep in the zone. I've been averaging one hat per day for the past week. I can't help it. Between the Fall weather, the warmth of the wood stove and endless Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns on Netflix, I've been a knitting fool, a FOOL I say!

If loving yarn is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

Here are a few pics of the hats. There are no patterns being posted at this time, this is just me bragging about actually starting AND finishing a few projects in a timely manner.

Project 1, Annie's Hat



Project 2, The Cupcake Hat



This is from The Weekend Crafter's Knitting, by Catherine Ham. The pattern is actually called Where'd you get that hat?!, but a) That sounds dorky, and b) I modified it by throwing the cupcake theme in the mix, therefore necessitating the new name.

It will be finished-finished when I can sew on the "sprinkle" beads, which will happen just as soon as my sewing box can be located.

Project 3, Boys' Earflap Hat - In progress



This may be for one of my nephews, or it may be for one of my friends' kids. The who wasn't really part of my plan, it was really more of a primal must keep knitting thing. It'll be like Cinderella's glass slipper, whoever it fits shall be the lucky winner.