Little Gift Ideas

If you read Sew Mama Sew’s blog, you know that they do a lovely job collecting tutorials, resources, and general information about sewing. My favorite two things about Sew Mama Sew is that they do a round-up every year called Handmade Holidays, with tons of ideas for gifts, both to make and to purchase. The second thing? Giveaway day! I am not participating this year- I’m sure there’s plenty up in the sewing room I could put up for grabs, but the house is currently under construction and I don’t have the energy to focus on that. I guarantee participation next time, and meanwhile recommend you check out the giveaways currently going on (try the sewing giveaways here for a start.

But regarding Handmade Holidays… I love their ideas, and have used quite a few of them in the past. These are a few things they called out this year that I would like to add to my own crafting list!

- Classic Fudge from the Brown Eyed Baker which is a simplified but yummy-sounding recipe. Who wouldn’t love to receive fudge under the tree?
- Ducky House wrote up a great tutorial on pj pants that look comfy and easy. I’d like some now, please: Don’t Get Out of Bed
- Sparkle Power’s pillow cover tutorial makes it look almost too easy to cover a pillow form with gorgeous fabric. I would like a stack of them in my own living room, thanks.
- I keep promising to make Reusable Snack Bags for some of my eco-friendly buddies. Maybe soon, thanks to this tutorial from we wilsons. I would probably send them in an Easy Lunch Tote from Cotton + Cloud.
- LucyLou’s graphic depiction of how to make yummy and sweet chai mix is as funny and pretty as it is delicious-sounding.

I probably won’t make any of these for this year, myself. But thanks to Sew Mama Sew for the ideas… and you just never know. Once the home repairs are done, I could really get back to my stitching.

Things that make me happy, non-wedding edition

We’re getting back to normal, if our lives could ever truly be considered “normal.” My current knitting project is a huge departure from the last four and a half months of lace- I’m working on G’s sweater and it’s stockinette as far as the eye can see. Pretty stockinette, in incredibly soft alpaca, of course. But miles of stockinette (in sport-weight yarn) nonetheless.

Because of the relative simplicity of my knitting, and my desire to actually finish it by Christmas (unlikely, but possible), I thought I’d list out the things that are making me happy right now. Not the big things I’m thankful for… but the little joys that I’m all about right now. In no particular order.

- Alpaca is still the softest fiber (next to cashmere), and I have a strange love for picking out the guard hairs from the work in progress. It’s delectable to pull out the long, straight fibers and leave perfectly even stitches behind.
- Our living room is entirely empty, but for the sofa and love seat, because George’s general contractor friend Eugene is (at this very moment) installing recessed lighting and patching the hole in the ceiling. I am equally joyous at the thought of no longer having a hole in my ceiling… and having a living room bright enough to craft downstairs more. I am so excited by this that I am thinking of picking my cross stitch sampler back up again in a few weeks. I am also joyous because the room is empty of clutter, and we will probably get to rip up the carpet as well. I LOVE hardwood floors. And my allergies do, too.
- Knitting stockinette is meditative, and I don’t have to keep track of anything. Perfect for when I have to take the metro (normally rare, but nice yesterday and today). I only have to do something different every sixteen rows- and the difference is just a make one at each end of the row. Compared to lacework, this is like sleep-knitting.
- Playing Rayman’s Raving Rabbids 2 with my dear friends. And remembering that my camera will shoot video. Sweet, delicious blackmail historic record of my husband’s fine dancing skills.
- I ordered yarn, because of a Black Friday sale. I’m going to make these Viper Pilots(Ravelry link), in the recommended colorway… but the yarn has SILVER SPARKLES in it. Also? Will be knit while I watch the last season of BSG. Don’t tell anyone that I still haven’t actually seen it, I’ll lose my geek cred.
- Book club is tonight. But the first rule of book club is you don’t talk about book club.

We’re discussing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which I found to be very disturbing in parts, but absolutely engrossing. I read it on my honeymoon, almost entirely while sitting by the pool at our hotel. It’s a rough life as a newlywed.

Thanksgiving

I’m not online this Thanksgiving, because I’m cooking for my first K family dinner. OK… that’s a bit of a stretch. Since we just got back from the honeymoon, I got a mostly pre-prepared Thanksgiving dinner from Whole Foods. Don’t be a hater, we’re only five people and I couldn’t bear the thought of all that shopping, or a big bird!

But since I plan to spend this day with my new husband, my charming father-in-law, and my new (darling) aunts, I thought I’d leave you with a few thoughts on thanks.

I am thankful for my husband. It makes me smile each and every time I call him my husband. May I say the same in 30 years.

I am thankful for my family, enlarged with new relatives and people who might as well be relatives. Every one of them has treated me like they’ve known me forever.

I am thankful for friends, old and new, who have seen me through the rough times, and joined with me for the celebrations.

I am thankful that we have more than enough of what we need, and enough of what we want. Thankful that I have a world of crafting to keep me joyous and calm and a creative person. And thankful, most of all, for the love I see everywhere around me as we move into this holiday season.

The Bride Returns

Get this, folks. I barely knit on my honeymoon. In fact, I knit on the plane on our way to Miami, and in the plane on our way home. And technically I knit a couple of rows one evening, but that’s it. Basically? No knitting on the honeymoon itself.

There’s only one explanation for this, of course. I was far too enthralled with my new husband to focus on just about anything else. Well, that’s part of the explanation. It’s also fair to say that I was drinking and eating or sight-seeing just about every waking minute. And reading. I didn’t knit by the pool- I read a delicious novel (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I highly recommend… if you can handle some violence against women, for the sake of the story). 600 pages is a lot to read, and between that book and my sweet and sexy husband, well. I know when to put the needles down.

The reason behind those reasons, however, is that I brought a size 7 and a size 6 needle to swatch for new-hubby’s sweater. The pattern calls for a 5, and I always knit too tightly! Sadly, the end of wedding stress has apparently relaxed me too much, and the 6 and 7 resulted in WAY too loose a gauge. So I probably would have knit more, if I’d just brought along a size 5… And in fact, one of the first things I did this weekend, back in Arlington, was pull out one of my new Addi Lace 5’s and get to swatching. Perfect gauge, who’d have thought? This means I’ve officially cast on for my first husband-sweater, a week into our marriage. Not bad, really, and if you count the big swatches I started on day 1!

I’m also working on the Girl Friday for me. I think I’m up to the armhole decreases on the back, which is decent progress.

People have been posting copious wedding photos to our wedding Flickr account, and I’ll surely post some good professional ones here, once we have them in-hand. But just to show I know my priorities, this was me, my sister, and my mother staying calm my last night as a single woman.

I didn’t end up wearing a shawl myself, but here’s one showing the girls, bedecked in Mikaiya Originals.

And did I mention I made my veil? It worked out pretty well in the end.

I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful wedding day, or a more wonderful groom. I’m feeling pretty lucky, and very loved, and I had no idea being married could be such a constant delight. Thanks for sticking with me through my silly younger days, blog readers, and my bride-to-be nervousness. Now that the day is behind us, I feel incredibly ready to greet the future. I always figured I’d like being married, but I had no idea how comforting it can be to have a whole new family- both the new extended family I’ve gained by marrying into the K family, and even more so the new family that is the two of us. Mr. and Mrs. K. What better initial could I have, as a knitter….

When I’m Married: The Queue

Before I get into the meat of the matter, I’m just going to throw out there that getting married is awesome. I love my friends, and can’t wait to see the whole family and buddies from so many parts of my life together in one room. And what can I say- the kitchen goods people have been generous to gift us will be well loved and used! Mostly we haven’t opened any wedding gifts yet, which is George’s doing, not mine- I’m all about tearing off the wrappings! But I figured shower gifts were fair game, and last night Bridesmaid Jo and I made pumpkin ice cream, thanks to a generous gift from two of G’s close friends.

Wow. I owe those ladies some ice cream loving in return. I’ve never tasted something so delectable in my life. It’s a good thing that making ice cream involves 15 hours of freezing, then making it, then letting the container COMPLETELY defrost, before washing. Drying completely. Before starting over. That means there’s a solid 3 day interval between ice cream sessions- and hopefully more. Because this stuff is sinful! The recipe was just a basic frozen custard recipe, from the booklet that came with my ice cream maker for the KitchenAid. I’ll think about posting it, or at least a variation, at some point.

Also of note- to substitute for pumpkin pie spice, it’s mostly cinnamon, with a hint of ginger, clove, and nutmeg. In case you think you have it in the house, and then don’t. Like me.

Now, back to the subject. When I’m married… I will no longer be working on nonbloggable things! This year I have NO intention of knitting for the holidays. I am still getting ready for the holidays, never fear- I’ve purchased a number of things for the ladies in my life. And I’m getting ideas for the guys. But not a single one of them is getting a handmade gift this year- or at least, not handmade by me.

When I’m married, I am going to start crafting for the sheer joy of it again. No deadlines, no due dates, and no goals other than my own! Here is what I have queued up for our first year (or two) of marriage- because it can’t all be honeymooning.

Before I get very far, I want to focus in on my patchwork. Specifically, I want to finish my Storm at Sea quilt top! I started working on it at the quilt retreat over a year ago now, and it’s been largely untouched since then. I’m a little nervous about trying to find all the pieces, since in between then and now I’ve moved. And my sewing room? A disaster. No matter, it’s still a huge priority for me! I want it done, and hanging on the wall. Pronto.

Of course, knitting will continue pre wedding, post wedding, forever as far as I know. My first queued up project? Girl Friday from the last issue of Knitty. I purchased the yarn for this project already- to my delight, I didn’t have enough worsted weight in my stash, which gave me the opportunity to buy some new! I ended up going with Knit Picks, since I needed it to be an inexpensive project. This is in large part because the other sweater I have queued up is for hubby-to-be. And he has good taste in yarn.

I’m making him a zippered cardigan, which we saw and loved in the Webs catalog. The pattern is from Blue Sky Alpacas, and G requested that I make the sweater exactly as-is- so I’ll be using the rust and brown alpaca yarn. It should be cozy to knit, and incredibly warm once completed! I think he underestimates the powerful heat of alpaca, but it should be a sharp-looking jacket for the colder months. I’m just very excited that he actually wants me to knit a sweater! He isn’t normally much of a guy for handknits- he appreciates my knitting, but he tends to wear sporty clothing. Lots of Patagonia, and fleece, and running shirts. I’m really happy that we both like a pattern, and that I will finally be able to ignore the curse with impunity. Just to make sure… I’m not even buying the yarn until we’re home from the honeymoon! Or at least- not until after the wedding ceremony.

With the Olympics coming up, I definitely plan to participate in the Ravelympics. I completed a sweater during the last Olympics, start to finish, and I think I will up my game this time by making something slightly more complicated. I might actually use George’s sweater for that purpose- if he can handle waiting that long to wear it! If not, there are other options in the queue. Maybe my Kauni cardigan… the fingering weight would definitely make it a challenge, but the color changes would definitely keep the fingers moving!

That or I have the yarn for a super awesome cabled sweater, maybe the Must Have Cardigan everyone was knitting a while back:

There are also a bunch of unfinished objects that… I really want to finish. This sweater:

Another sweater that’s about half done:

There’s my Monkey socks:

And, when I’m finally over my lace overload… there’s that cashmere.

But for now, I’m still knitting nonbloggables. I will be awfully glad when the last one is blocked and ends are woven in- so much for finishing before November! At least I’ve been attending knitting group again- I can’t believe I skipped out for months. They’re so supportive, and so nice! I guess I really am committed to Arlington, now that I’ve chosen Arlington Knotty Knitters for my regular weekly (or twice weekly) knitting group. I don’t imagine George will ever leave this town- so I’m glad I’m finally setting down roots of my own!

Hot Paprika Chicken Soup

I’m still going on nonbloggable thing 4. There is no way I can knit myself a shawl. Instead of crying myself into a corner, I blocked nonbloggable thing 1 and thing 2 (I still need to weave in the ends… bah).

Since I can’t get my usual excitement out of my knitting, because even the prettiest things become a slog after the tenth repeat, I’ve been just knitting without purpose. Almost, dare I say it… bored. I love how the things look, but I am so over lace!

And to add insult to injury, I’m sick. Went home early on Friday feeling cruddy. Didn’t seem too bad over the weekend, but Monday was a rough rough day. Lots of sniffles. Lots of ickiness. So last night I went home and made myself a special soup, to help drive out the cold. In true fortuitous fashion, I had every ingredient in the house already, and you probably will, too. The recipe comes from George’s friend Sasha’s father. It’s just a simple recipe from College Inn, doctored slightly. Since I can write it from memory, and since between the soup and my dose of Nyquil the cold is at bay… I thought I’d share! This is not a veggie verson, but you could easily substitute vegetable broth and skip the chicken (or add a meat substitute, or maybe beans) for a vegetarian version. I don’t really recommend that, however- with this much spice, you need a serious protein or it’ll be too spicy to eat. Did I mention? This sucker is HOT.

Hot Paprika Chicken Soup, to clear your sinuses and cure whatever ails you
a pad butter
2 tbsp olive oil
medium onion, diced fine
1 garlic clove, minced
1 celery stalk, chopped
3/4 cup green pepper, diced (as always, I used some of my tricolor pepper blend- prepping ahead is handy!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 tbsp hot Hungarian Paprika (if you can’t handle spice, I’d recommend 1-2 tbsp.. this is VERY spicy- if you can’t find hot paprika, use at least 4 tbsp regular paprika)
1/2 cup long grain white rice
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 cans chicken stock (if you’re sick, you could probably use the sodium… otherwise, go lo-sodium)
1 cup cooked chicken, diced small

In a medium to large stockpot, heat the butter and oil. Saute the onion, celery, garlic, and bell pepper 3-5 minutes until onion is transparent. Add the paprika, salt and pepper, rice, tomatoes, and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer, covered, 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the chicken (if not pre-cooked). After the soup has simmered, add the chicken and let simmer uncovered 5 minutes, until the rice is tender and the soup is heated through.

That will clear your sinuses right out. Best served hot, immediately, with a full glass of water and a side of reality tv for full healing effects. It thickened up a lot when I forgot to take it off the heat while I ate- more of a chunky chicken chili than a true soup. I’m thinking it could be thinned out with more chicken broth and reheated quite easily, however. Bon appetit, and to your health!

Nonbloggable Progress

Last night, I blocked Nonbloggable Thing 1. It looks SO VERY LOVELY. Any doubts I ever had? Completely gone. I think all four projects are going to be stunning, if I can go by how the first one is looking!

But let’s just take a moment here to sob over the amount of time it takes to block lace. It is unbelievable that I spent an hour or two yesterday, lying on the floor and crawling around, blocking a shawl. And that’s with using blocking wires for the straight edges! Goodness. It better block fanTABulously.

I tidied up the craft room just enough to find room to block it, and to get at the ironing board. I pressed the double hem for the cake table overlay for the wedding, and pinned it, but between the enormous amount of pressing and the blocking time, it was too late to actually sew my topper hem. Guess that’ll happen later in the week!

The DIY is flying around here. Favors have been secured. Sewing has been commenced. I am more than halfway through Nonbloggable Thing 4. And tonight I’m going to my local knitting group, to work on it some more!

I still wish I had time to knit myself a shawl for the wedding. But maybe I could do this garter, at least, in the time remaining to me?

Rock it Out

I really want the Beatles Rock Band video game. I love the Beatles. Always have, always will. My favorite songs have changed, sure… but their music has been the soundtrack for most of my life. I think my favorite Beatles song of the moment would have to be Here, There, and Everywhere. But I’ve had my phases- Blackbird for a while (probably when I was playing the guitar on a frequent basis). Yellow Submarine… a lot younger.

At any rate, since I do not own the Beatles Rock Band game, I got out my copy of Guitar Hero and spent a good part of the evening a few days ago practicing a Muse song which I still can’t beat. But I was reminded of something, as I persistently practiced, bit by bit and riff by riff (to the dismay of the gentlemen of the house, perhaps). There was a time when I did play the guitar. When I would sit there and pick at a riff over and over again until I had it down, and my muscles had memorized it better than my mind ever could. Which is why I still know how to play Stairway to Heaven after a few minutes of messing around. I guess it’s also why I can still sing the beginning of my Torah portion from my Bat Mitzvah, 16 years later. Heh. Funny what you remember.

Besides this rocking of the fake guitar variety, of course there has been knitting. Nonbloggable project 4 is slow going, but absolutely gorgeous. So I’m pretty satisfied with it, at least thus far. I am a little concerned that it is going to take me until the very last moment to finish, but I’m half-resigned to that.

In other wedding DIY news, I have a bit of sewing to undertake for the wedding! I need to hem a table topper for our cake table, and the chuppah top. Pretty easy sewing, and I’m excited to actually get back upstairs to my machines again in the next couple of weeks. I have some serious sewing plans for post-wedding, too… but my post-wedding projects deserve a whole post of their own!

A Time to Bake

This has definitely been a thoughtful High Holy Days for me. Lots of reflection, lots of pondering. The services were good, the sermons wise and entertaining, and there really isn’t anything like singing Kol Nidre with hundreds of other Jews. Attending shul at the Sixth and I synagogue is an amazing experience- everyone there is there by choice, and the synagogue itself is so strikingly beautiful. As always, though, it is the sounds of the holidays that give me great joy, and seem the most powerful of prayers.

Of course, it hasn’t been all Yom Kippur around here. I did a fair bit of domestic stuff- I pulled on my Cinderella hat and scrubbed the kitchen and downstairs bathroom floors, baked another few loaves of challah (best yet! SO good!) and did some cooking and laundry. And of course, there was knitting! I finished nonbloggable project 3, to my great delight, and finished the first border on nonbloggable project 4. Hurray, huzzah! I am still on track.

We have a lot of wedding stuff going on, which I hate to duplicate here. But I will say this- I couldn’t imagine planning this, doing this, without my G. He’s been totally taking charge with our DIY projects and making them happen. He painted our monogram cake topper, and it looks really luxe now! More importantly, he’s been working on the chuppah. I would have been ok with a pretty low-key chuppah, but my G has turned it into a major project- not major in terms of difficulty or anything, but he’s made it so beautiful! I’m really excited to see it assembled and decorated. Now I just have to figure out what we’ll use for the covering. Obviously at this point I’m not knitting it!

Home Improvements

First- I found my camera again. I don’t even know how it got lost under the MASSIVE pile of papers in my craft room. No matter, it is back in action, and I am keeping it in my purse (with keys, wallet, work id) from now on. To prevent losing it for at least another month or two. I wish I had had it last weekend, so I could have documented my first real attempt at bread. I made challah, with the help of Bridesmaid J. It was awesome- and I’m officially excited to get into baking more. I think I’m still more cook than baker, though- I am more comfortable with veggies than yeast.

Second! G and I have some real home improvements to make- we need to fix up our shower, which means we might need to re-do all the pipes to the bathrooms, which means heck- why don’t we tear up the ceiling just a little more and put in track lighting in the living room? But I think that’ll be after the wedding (since the wedding is… looming…). So in the meantime, we have a few mini-improvements going on, to make life better! My darling lovely fiance took it upon himself to organize our linen closet in the upstairs hallway. I love it! Love love love it! He finished with the label-maker before I could get my hands on it, which makes me just a teensy bit sad. But he’s probably wise- I’d be dangerous with a label-maker. Next thing you know the members of my household would be wearing descriptive labels on their foreheads or something. So! Here’s the closet (which is actually the second one he organized- since he installed a closet system in our master bedroom months ago):

I also received my first birthday gift, which I opened up a week early. I’m so glad I did, since it’s already made the kitchen so much nicer! I received a lovely new dish drainer and dish rack from my parents. In bright red. Because we do have yellow walls in the kitchen- and if I can help it, it’ll all be yellow and red. I’m just waiting for my Le Creuset (in cherry red) to go on the pot rack and complete the look. Luckily, my primary color scheme works fairly well with G’s cobalt glass collection.