days #5, #6, and #7: 30 + 1 handknits...

the 30 + 1 handknits project is a week old today! happy birthday, little project, you! a week in, and i have only two sage pieces of wisdom:

• i apparently have way too many articles of clothing in my closet as a whole. this isn't really a revelation, but it has certainly been underscored for me with this here project. i find myself pulling out handknitted items i haven't worn in over a year - and, presumably, handmade clothing should get the MOST play amidst all the random made-in-china pieces o' junk, right?
• i started working from home a few months ago, and even though i had the best of intentions at first, i've begun defaulting to jeans and cozy slippers. all day, every day. and that's just sad. it's been kind of nice forcing myself to take an extra minute or two to think about something fun and creative and color-related each morning before the craziness of the day takes over. i also recognize it's a total luxury to even have the alone time and peacefulness to have those few minutes each morning. i forget that sometimes in the busy-ness of life and all the projects i have swirling in my head all the time.

anyway, enough with that. bring on the handknits!

day #5: Beatnik by Norah Gaughan, completed in december 2010. an old friend from high school found a ton of this lovely avocado yarn at a thrift store in chicago for, like, 50 cents a skein. he bought it and sent it (and a ton of other colors) on down to me. so sweet of him, so i had to make something fantastic. i can't praise this pattern enough - it just makes such a lovely little vintage-y sweater.


i also got my first christmas present of the year in the mail: BACKYARD POULTRY magazine! iknowright?!


day #6: Pegboard Lace Tunic by Caroline Bautista, completed april 2009. this is one of those things i never ever ever wear. why? no idea, because now that i've worn it again, i kind of love it.




day #7: Frond by Norah Gaughan, completed in march 2009. two norah gaughan designs in three days! gotta love it. 




for good measure, we've got a couple christmas projects complete. here's a cross-filled cross stitch room sign for my nephew...


and a pouf pillow for the nephew!

living simply...

• for a rainy day: some interesting looking articles on living more simply.

• speaking of simple, check out this fantastic little knitted toy: squarey. i'm thinking maybe one of my relatives needs this little guy.

• and, not so simply, charts and graphs and all sorts of pretty data on why people are occupying all sorts of cities these days.

• so what are the simple things? street art that makes your heart swell: BLU and david ellis collab.

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

• feet and bodies that move in ways that don't make sense and are the most beautiful: pumped up kicks/dubstep.

things i like, house edition...

first, though, i want to BE this guy - the KO Hip-Hop Cello-Beatbox Experience: Julie-O.


and who doesn't need a beatboxing chipmunk in their lives? this has not failed to make me laugh yet.


also? our new house!!!


i brought a frozen pizza, prosecco, and strawberries for our first dinner at the house on friday.


i love the idea of handing cocktails and what-not through this little window. that's what i'm channeling here, at least.


chris putting together our lawn mower - a FANTASTIC push mower which i already love and adore!


pretending to examine our first giant lowe's receipt.


baby robin in the backyard:


my big sunday project: tearing up the turf (in the rain) to plant our ingenious (if i do say so myself) squash trellis area. we planted sunflowers in between, too.


my hair gets curly when doing hard labor in the rain.


and, for good measure, i finished a new mini-sweater.


knitting is fun.

latest projects of the life variety...

looking for houses. looking for jobs. eating salads and dishing about the latest haps. planning art opening trips. planning gardens. feeding the worms. living more sustainably. and knitting things!

this is an accurate representation of me at my house on any given night (oh, and my new favorite sweater - knitted with the girl friday pattern and eco wool).


a cozy winter sweater... just in time for spring. that's how i roll.




also, for my mom's 60th birthday, i had her pick out a pattern and yarn color for whatever sweater she wanted. she picked the melrose peacoat, a wonderfully easy, fun, quick pattern. it fits her BEAUTIFULLY - although, sadly, i didn't get a pic of her in it when i gave it to her a couple of weekends ago. still, here it is, the full view:


scrumptious, cotton-blend, bulky yarn = dream knitting.


in other news, i will soon be snorkeling with fishies in the us virgin islands! i required a floppy sunhat for the trip:


and some sassy shoes:

new favorite knit!

made with peruvian hand-dyed yarn using the alderbrook pattern - amazing, cozy, squishy sweater. love love love. note: i'm having a hard time editing my photos because i love this thing so much... lots of photos ahead.

neck down:


oh, hi!


collar folded over:


the neck ALLLL the way up.


this yarn is so super scrumptious.


fun buttons - i really should block this... but i'll probably wear it tomorrow instead.

i love all things fall...

fall means leaves! and pulling out forgotten favorite scarves! and hats! and sweaters! and mittens! jewel-toned flowers and tiny gourds!

this essay pretty much made me chortle out loud - and, yes, i do feel this way about fall (warning: lots of swearing): "IT'S DECORATIVE GOURD SEASON, M*THERF*CK*RS," by colin nissan.

leaves!




expeditions!




fun new knitted articles of clothing!


sweater dresses! my first "real" sweater dress (i.e. wool, turtleneck).


goofing with the work ladies!


hotel bed jumping tests!


and i've been stuck on this beautiful, sad song. mirah, "archipelago."

sometimes there are entire weeks that are pretty darn good...

this be one of them!

things i REALLY, REALLY like today:
- this amazing time lapse project of various locations in chicago - 5,300 pictures. beautiful! it makes my heart hurt! i love chicago.

Summer Sped Up (A Chicago Timelapse) from Josh Kalven on Vimeo.

- friends from long ago getting in touch to tell me they found TONS of new wool yarn for, like, 50 cents a piece at a thrift store, all in varying shades of green, thinking of me, then going back to buy an entire shopping cart of yarn to ship to me! seriously, it just made my day.

- an entire set of amazing origami on flickr, including things like this:

a knitting post?! what-WHA?!

yes, indeedy. i've been working on the february lady sweater, which just doesn't lend itself to instant gratification. or maybe i just forgot about the stamina required to knit a full sweater. regardless, i'm a ways along, so i figured it was time to record the current state of affairs.

look at how pretty! i actually went with a more muted color than i'm used to (ahem). of course, it's still purple. knit up in cascades 220 heather in rainier.


and i was "commissioned" by thomas to knit up a pot handle cover. i had some noro kureyon leftover, but i wasn't sure how much... turned out it was ALMOST enough, so i doubled to work by doing two separate layers rather than holding two strands together. ah, well. just need to felt these giant wool condoms, no, i mean, pot handle covers up, sew them one inside the other, and voila!

other articles of clothing that don't fit the weather...

i finished these a couple of weekends ago when i went up to chicago for step two of my tooth fixing process. i'm making one of these for jes, then sending one up to ian, who loves it, but i'm not sure how it will look on a boy's head.


clearly too hot to be wearing a wool cowl. my face looks really weird here. is that really how my face looks?

hats and other clothing that doesn't suit the weather.

on friday after work, i headed over to the new local yarn store to get some nice, soft, cotton yarn for a chemo hat for my friend. she is currently mending from surgery, but they found that the cancer has spread to at least one lymph node, which pretty much just sucks because she's such an awesome, amazing, wonderful woman. i started this hat friday night and just sewed on the button today! i love it so much that i'm making one for myself.

i used crystal palace's maizy print doubled up and the pi topper chemo cap pattern - the yarn is made out of corn (and elastic)! despite what you might think about corn yarn, it is ridiculously soft, and i couldn't turn down this colorway. i was getting so frustrated with the baby colors of most finer, cotton yarns - pink? baby blue? no, thank you.




just me being silly. oh, and the button.


i also just finished the nob hill shrug for myself. i'm pretty happy with it, although it has to be put away until the fall. i used a much larger needle size to make it more lofty and less structured/thick. i'm pretty happy with it, but time will tell how much use i get out of it! i'm not necessarily a shrug kinda gal. (oh, and those jeans? i got them for $3 at goodwill at their 50% off sale! woot!).




now, it's time to fold some laundry and start packing up books! i'm moving, peeps!

one day, two posts! an actual knitting update.

so before i left, i did everything in my power to finish my lemon and orange test case of the incredible raglan sweater pattern. i managed to get the entire body done, and just had two little sleeves to get done. not much, right? right! so upon returning from europe, i decided i'd better just finish it already. done and done! i'm really quite happy with it, although i did the neckline kind of screwy, not realizing what was going on with the pattern until it was too late. ah, well - that's why it was a test case. and a very wearable test case it is!



i look weird here (and strangely shapeless), but you can see the whole thing at least.


you know... an arm detail.


me looking impish and quite pleased.