Plus de plum?

So I bought 4 skeins of plummy Cascade 220 to knit Ester.  She took exactly 2 skeins (seriously, there was about 8 inches of yarn left over: it was awesome!).  I now have 2 skeins of plum 220 with nothing to do.  The question is, do I return it to the yarn store for a different yarn or colour, or, considering how much I adore this shade, do I knit another cropped sweater out of it?

I have had this faved on Ravelry for about a year now, maybe longer.  I don't have enough to do full sleeves, but I could probably eek out some little cap sleeves. But do I really want - or need, but really, when does "need" ever actually factor in to these decisions? - two cropped, cap-sleeved plum cardis?  Could it edge on too much of a good thing?

Meanwhile, my top-down natural grey eco-wool cowl neck is causing me headaches.  I've actually cut the yarn under the arm, and I'm removing the entire yoke of the sweater to pick up live stitches and knit it upward again, it looked so weird.  I really shouldn't mod patterns without doing my research first.  For your own edification, if you are wanting to knit a scoop neck raglan, the scoop should start at the raglan increases, not 2 inches in from them.  Just in case you ever need that information.  I could have really used it about, oh, ten days ago.+

ester

yikes! please ignore the messy kitchen.  :)

pattern: Ester
yarn: Cascade 220 in plum
mods: alternated the cable pattern from the centre out to make it symmetrical
verdict: awesome!

After searching around on Ravelry, I noted that a lot of people had trouble with the sizing of this cardi, so even though my measurements would really have me knit a size small or even extra small, I knit a medium.  I wanted it to fit like the sample in Knitty than like a small shrug, and the designer ,who also modelled the sample in the pattern, looks to be about my size and she had knit a medium for herself.  I'm very glad I did: the fit is just what I wanted.

I haven't steam blocked the collar yet, so it looks a little funky in the pictures at times.  I considered adding some short rows to add a little height to the shawl collar, and if I were to knit this a second time in a different colour I think I'd try that, just to see the difference.

I can't find my big kilt pin, so I'm wearing it closed with a ceramic brooch I used to wear on my shawl for my highland dancing dress.  I'm spying out penannular brooches on Etsy, though: I think one will be perfect for closing Ester.

And I'm adoring the colour.  Turns out plum is a fabulous colour with my new green eyes.  (Yes, they're newly green.  They changed colour from blue to green while I was pregnant.  Weird, no?)

cardigans remembered

For years, I was a cardigan afficionado.  I had many, many cardis in my wardrobe.  I just couldn't get enough of them.  Everytime I'd see one, I'd think "I need that cardi.  I don't have one like it!" 

I had one that was a Christmas gift from my grandmother while I was in high school.  It was a tweedy grey, tunic-length (past the hip) cabled cardi with large, round buttons and pockets.  When I first opened it, at about 17 years old, I didn't love it.  But I remember getting dressed for my first full day of classes in university at 19 years old, to go to my "elite" liberal arts programme with all the other nerds (I write with much love and admiration).  I put on an a-line skirt, my Doc mary-janes, a turtleneck and that cardigan, slung my brown distressed-leather book case over my shoulder, wearing my new funky glasses and my crazed, curly hair, and I looked quite the part of an academic.  I felt like myself, reveling in my geekery, knowing that I was finally peers with people who were actually my peers, people with whom I had much in common in thought and state of mind, not just proximity.

I loved that cardigan during those years.  Somewhere along the way I lost it or got rid of it.  It was knit of some sort of acrylic, so it wasn't particularly dear, but when I see long, cabled cardis sort of like this one of cosmicpluto's, I remember with fondness that big grey sweater and those sweet, wonderful years as an undergraduate.  They say you can't go back again, but if I could, I think I might, not to escape my current life, but to relive with greater enthusiasm and appreciation how delightful those times were.

It's...

...hard to believe, isn't it?

red is best

Borscht in a Christmas bowl.

Another Peanut Christmas

I finally made Peanut's stocking this year, too.

It was a lovely Christmas, full of family, and friends and a lot of time at the church.  A family party out in the country, with hours of music playing and singing.  A beautiful Christmas morning with just the four of us (I count Wembley, of course).  Peanut playing with the ornaments on the tree, asking to hear Christmas albums, exclaiming over a light wreath hanging in the living room.  And she adores her new rocking chair (thank you, Ikea).

Such a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

Another dress for Peanut!

I'm actually updating! Wow!  Still no knitting, I'm afraid.  For awhile there Peanut was going to sleep in the evening, and I'd knit for a few hours before she woke up for her first dream feed.  The last bunch of weeks, though, she's been finding 8-11pm a particularly fun time of day.  Lots of playing, lots of smiling and laughing and climbing of stairs, but not a lot of sleeping, so certainly no knitting for me.

There's been sewing, though!  I am so extremely pleased with this dress, I can't even tell you.  It's a little massive on her, and given her increasingly slow growth (what can I say, she takes after me) it will likely fit her for the next year...at least.

It's brown twill with rudimentary applique of flower petals and leaves.  The cotton prints for the petals and leaves were included when I ordered some totally awesome print corduroy for another dress for her (I'll have pics of it...someday!) and I was thrilled to come up with a way to use these little quilting squares.  It's the same simple A-line drafted pattern I used for her first twill dress, but with one buttoned shoulder instead of snaps on both.  The contrasting stitching is a variegated thread I found in a $1 bin at the fabric store, and it's just fantastic around the trim and for the topstitching on the applique.  I adore this dress, and plan to make many, many more like it.  And yes, I plan to open an Etsy shop to list them.  :)

Just because I think she's cute, here's one more:

Adventures in baked goods

So I've been wanting cookies for the past few days. But we ran out of flour, and while our neighbourhood is supplied with Italian and Vietnamese and Chinese food finds, it is sadly lacking in the way of an affordable grocery store for simples like plain wheat flour or eggs.

No flour. No eggs. No cookies? Hardly. Introducing Egg-less Chickpea Peanut Butter Cookies!

Here's my attempt at a recipe (since I don't measure and don't write things down, it is understandably approximate):

1/4 cup butter, softened
3 really, really heaping tbsp peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
dash vanilla
2 cups scant cooked chickpeas, well drained
2 heaping tbsp ground flax

Have your chickpeas cooked and drained. If you're using canned chickpeas, rinse them to remove excess saltiness. In a food processor, whiz up the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar. Add the chickpeas and whiz on high until it's fairly smooth looking. Add the vanilla and flax and give it another spin. If it looks like a very soft dough/batter at this point, leave it as it is. If it seems too runny, add a few more chickpeas to even things out.

Drop by tablespoons-full onto a cookie sheet (I used a silicon baking sheet to keep them from sticking) and bake at 375*. Now, I'm not really sure how long I baked them. After 10 minutes or so, I smooshed them with a fork, then baked them for another 5-10 minutes. The first batch baked for a shorter time than the second batch, and I think they taste better baked more than less. Remove to a cooling rack when they are golden brown and look fairly dry and 'done'.