One week of Whole30 down, and a finished sweater!

Nanook in Plucky Primo Worsted - Peep Toes

I finished my Nanook, blocking it up, over the weekend. My husband was impressed - I personally love the collar, but it feels a little wonky between the floppy collar and raglan sleeves. I am still deciding if it needs a button to close or what - but overall it is done. I got the yarn for my 40th birthday from my knitting penpal, Christine - and it only took me, oh, 9 months to knit. Yet, I am not deterred, I have ordered yarn for a Shellseeker up next. I am knitting a little baby hat in the round to check my gauge. I almost forgot how awesome little instant gratification projects are. I have no babies in my life currently, but it is fun to knit a simple little stockinette hat. Nice. And good TV knitting.

In other news - I have finished the 8th day of my Whole30 challenge. Wow, it's been really different eating for me - no bread or dairy - makes me feel confused about what to eat. I am calling today "hollow leg" day, the first day I did not feel satisfied, and I wanted to poke around for food all day. I did slip and ate a couple of small chocolate eggs, and was rewarded with a big headache - so for the sake of staying on the wagon, I am telling myself the eggs totally caused the headache. Overall, it's been fun researching food and making new things. I made home made mayonaise and chocolate chili this week, which is surprisingly good for breakfast. And seriously, have you tried kale chips? If you haven't - you should - they are awesome, and my kids, who typically hate all things green, love them too - score!

In addition to the food piece of the program, I tried hot yoga for the first time and it was a. maze. ing. Except that I am a little thick and didn't realize it would be "hot" yoga and wore long sleeves - hello, lesson learned! This program has really helped me get my foot in the door to a new yoga studio, for which I am grateful.

Lastly, I saw On the Road yesterday at an indie theater and while it was crazy and manic (um, kind of like this post), I think I enjoyed it. My friend and I both walked out saying we didn't hate it, we didn't want our two hours back but we weren't sure what happened in there. I did a little research on the net today and I think I'll read the book next - I mean Kerouac is kind of a classic, right?

5 jelly beans and 2 cheetos...

I attended a listening session Saturday at Dragonfly Yoga to learn and attempt to commit to Whole 30 for a month, coupled with yoga and meditation. Truth be told, I needed something to get in the door. I really miss yoga. I attended for years, hurt my back and have been mostly looking over the fence since. It makes me sad when I think of how proud I was to be able to do yoga, challenge myself yet allowed one injury brought it all to a screeching halt, mostly because I was scared. and I have made lots of excuses. So I want to try this little mini jam session and re-examine my commitment to yoga, to food and to myself. Not to lose weight (though it couldn't hurt) but to feel better, sleep better, maybe gain some confidence. Fingers crossed.

Whole 30 appears to be an offshoot of the Paleo diet - or caveman diet. I am not into weird trendy things, but I admit, I am curious. When you think of all the processed things that I shove in my pie hole - it's a wonder I can get out of bed:) Yes, I am a diet-coke-a-holic. Well I am not getting any younger and I am curious - so I want to try this - just to see if I can find a middle ground between fast and furious junkfood eating, and super clean. So far, on my first day - I have thought of little else, just food. I did a "cook up" yesterday, cutting up and roasting veggies and chicken to hit the road this week. But yet, hence my title, I have snuck 5 jelly beans and 2 cheetos - I totally didn't have to but I did, it was weak. I think I am still calling it success, for me.

In other news - I am ready to soak my finished Nanook - all done at last. Now I am itching to cast on for a Shellseeker by the same designer. Of course, the yarn I want to use, Plucky Sweater, is slightly thinner than the worsted it calls for - I think I may power ahead anyways - Plucky is having a blog update tonight. I have 4 skeins of Rapunzel, a lovely yellow coming my way - and now to come up with a pairing color - I am thinking aqua to make for a fun summer sweater, that probably will not be cast off until next winter, but that's how I roll.

Thanks for listening, I mostly wrote here tonight to serve as a confession, a reminder and a kick in the pants.

Gratuitous spring-y yarn photo:


Plucky Classics in The Lollipop Guild

Free to a good home...

So I have decided, I am not a spinner. I have a huge destash of fiber going on over at ravelry in hopes of culling the herd a bit. I am thinking about selling my wheel, but am not ready to commit to that just yet, it is so danged pretty. However, I have this huge bag of scrappy bits of fiber from a scraptastic swap I was involved in some time ago. There is probably at least 12 oz of little bits and bobs. Free to a good home, and I'll pay shipping in the US. The scraps make a cool handspun. Please leave me a comment if you would like to adopt this squooshy pile.



In other news - I gave spray basting a try. After seeing Lucyandnorman does it, I figured it was worth a try. And since all of my pins are basting together another quilt I haven't finished...I wanted to try this. First let me say - it was a bit of a workout scurrying around the quilt, and hard on the knees - but that goes without saying whether you pin or spray. The true test will be the sewing, I'll be back with some opinions on that. Hopefully sooner than later. But you never know.

We are busy this week between work, spring break, a bathroom remodel and my oldest turning 13! (where does the time go?) We kicked off the week long celebration with family over the weekend. I feel this photo of my nephew sums up the day in a nutshell::



He thought it was a plate lickin' good time!

Crazytown...

Something really annoyed me today - so I came here and wrote it all out, a serious rant, and you know - just the act of putting it in words made me feel a ton better - so I will spare you the details. Silly relative stuff. Thanks for being a potential sounding board, it helped a lot!

So, here is what I really came here to share...



This is the pouch I sent out to my partner in the Pretty Little Pouch Swap over on flickr. I learned a) I need to make one for myself and b) I may be addicted to those little dumpling pouches (the one with the dog on it). So much so that I have an extra here for the first taker - if you are interested, leave me your e-mail so I can connect with you for an address, and I'll send one off to you for fun (and to make room for the next one).

edited to add the tutorial that I used for the dumpling pouch - you can find it here.

I have really turned back to quilting and sewing lately - I go in such streaks of knitting or not, quilting or not. I have a tiny attention span or I am fickle - or both. In the knitting realm, I am on "sleeve island" as I have heard it so eloquently described on a sweater - the Nanook. Actually, if I were to be honest, I am merely on the edge of the island looking at it - wondering if I can make the trip. I have to pick up stitches, and I am anxious about the whole process. I hope to report back in a week that I have started trekking across this desolate place. It is just holding me back right now - no progress.

I also wanted to share a new book. I plowed through The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. I enjoy her books but they occasionally "miss" for me. This book had a connection to the Holocaust which haunted me. I studied it a great deal in college and I have continued to watch and read everything I can about it, with breaks, as the topic is really tough. Well, this book was no exception. Even though I know it is fiction, gosh, the subject is so hard. It's hard to imagine that dark time in history, the depths humankind can sink to. Anyways, the book kept me up at night a little, but I did enjoy it, and felt that it had some historical value. Jodi is coming to my area in two weeks, I hope to have her sign my copy.

works in progress...

I am not sure if the intrigue started for me on instagram or was this blog post over at lucyandnorman...but I am finding myself in the thick of a quilt along of sorts - a scrappy trip around the world quilt. It employs a very cool technique explained over here at Quiltville - and takes me back to my very first quilt in 1994 - which was also a Trip around the World and done with the same technique. It was a feat in ugly greens but it still hangs on my wall as my first big sewing project. So it ends where it begins - I am back to a trip around the world with scraps galore. And I really love the way it is coming together - crazy fun colors.



I imagine can call it scrappy all I want, as if to imply there are just scraps being used here - but truly, I am cutting 2.5" strips off bigger pieces of fabric, some coveted ones even - so "scraps" maybe a stretch. But using up my stash is what it is all about.

I really need to weed out awful fabrics from the early-mid 90's, even if it breaks my heart to send them to Goodwill - I need to make space for the stuff I use and stop having a museum in my sewing room, right? I need to break up with Thimbleberries. I don't typically make resolutions - but culling the stash might be a necessary one.

So continues the stash busting...



Ida's Hat pattern in various Plucky Knitter Traveler yarns - the skeins were born to be Camp Town cowls, but ah, to hell with destiny. There is one rogue red in there - a Blue Sky Alpaca silk that is at least 8 years old - but, in the interest of stash culling, I feel especially good about using some of that. The whole kit and caboodle has a lovely drape - I'm excited to see if maybe THIS is the hat I can actually wear without looking like a dufus. *fingers crossed*

Holiday handmade wrap up...

Whew, it's been ages. So long that I came to blogger and it took me a few minutes to figure out how to start a new post. Yikes.

I have been feeling nostalgic as the season comes to a close. I took down the holiday decorations and as I was putting the ornaments away, I thought about which ones would hang on my children's trees one day - as I was wrapping carefully the ones from my own's mother's childhood tree, and even one from my mother-in-laws tree. I have the lucky gift of collecting history - somehow, people tell me stories. Mostly elderly people will tell me a story. I think because I am interested - in history in general, but real and personal history is always so interesting. So anyways, I kind of know the stories behind the ornaments I have been entrusted to curate. Tucking them all away made me think about that, the stories that need to stay with the ornaments. Stories that I hope my children are interested to hear one day.

Okay where was I going with all of that? I think I have been feeling nostalgic in general - figuring out what needs to be done, what is important. And truly, those handmade gifts that I give and sometimes even get, are the most special. So I wanted to share what I have been up to leading up to Christmas.


Lacey Anklets made from The Plucky Knitter Feet in Edwardian

These were given to my mom. I always labor over what to make for her (it's kind of expected) and each year, end up with a pair of socks. I am not sure if it is by coincidence or on purpose (though knowing the cunning of my mom, it's the latter) she will leave socks I have handknit for her handily laying over the laundry basket, or this year on the mantel of the fireplace(!) so I can see them as a reminder of how much she enjoys and wears them. She is a careful caretaker - so each year, a new pair to the collection.


a stack of cowls - Avery in Yarntini, Gaptastic in Malabrigo, and Gaptastic in Lion Brand (?)

I had a stack of homeless cowls. There were three and now there is just two. I wrapped them all up for my sister with the caveat that she had to choose one. It's hard to pick for someone else, so I gave the job to her. She picked the gray Gaptastic, which I totally expected - it really is a good fit for her, and her warmest winter jacket. Now I have two homeless cowls - I am sure someone has a birthday coming, or I'll need one to go with something. I made the blue one with myself in mind but then, my knitting penpal, Christine made me a much nicer, bigger one in a more perfect blue.


A reading pillow made of Mendocino Fabrics by Heather Ross...

We drew names at my parents house, for a $15 thoughtful gift, I chose my own child. Well, I blew the budget if I count the project but I figure it was from my stash, so I don't have to count it. It is based on a tutorial here. It as fun to make and right under my daughter's nose. She said that it matched a quilt I had made her - which was so funny since I was "making it for a baby at work". Of course, my oldest daughter didn't miss a beat to point out that she has never received a quilt - so that may well be the next project of 2013. I have 5 blocks done so far to share at another time.

Lastly, I made moonshine - why yes, I did. It is so good and potent - you need to be careful, I am not a big drinker but could see a whole mason jar going down the hatch if I am not careful.


Based on this recipe - I added a cup of Salted Karmel Stoli Vodka for good measure (since I did not have vanilla vodka) and you can really taste the little depth it adds. I gave small jars away, and once people my dear friends stopped complaining about how stingy I was and had a kick, they understood why it's best to start small.

Apple Pie Moonshine is a good time to remind everyone that the next season of Justified premieres on January 8.

on being a good sport...

Hurray - my husband and I enjoyed a weekday off together to travel to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game. My love of the Cubs is genetic...I was born into a Cubbie-loving family - my dad would listen to Harry Carey (Holy Cow!) on the radio while tuning into a fuzzy game on WGN on our old console TV. I had Cubs shirts as a kid and named all of my elementary school kickball teams The Cubs. I even wrote a letter to the ball club when I was 11, professing my undeterred love for the team, and they sent me a signed baseball. Imagine the thrill of getting that big envelope with the Cubs insignia, clearly bulging with a ball. I still have that ball nestled in my underwear drawer to this day - it's faded, but it just reeks of childhood for me. So, I was pretty stinking excited to go to the game - the cherry on top for my husband was that they played the Brewers - which I am ashamed to admit are his favorite. We each had our teams' shirts on, knowing it was going to be a long train ride home for one of us. Well, the Cubs knew I was coming - they had lost the first 3 games of the series (not to mention the sweep by the Brewers last week in Milwaukee) - but they pulled it off - the Cubs came back from 9-3 to win in the bottom. of. the. 9th. Bedlam at Wrigley. My husband and I don't fault each other for being loyal - so it was an amicable trip home - we enjoyed Chicago pizza and I made a grand effort at not being smug. All in all, a very good day. (Except for the terrible little bastard rottenest little boy ever that was my neighbor throughout the game. I wanted to cry because this little this jerk was behaving so badly, so I was glad to feel that perhaps he was my cross to bear for the win in the end.)


I saw this on the way home from church and had to share it. Bucky Badger from round hay bales. This little hobby farm (Busy Barns) makes my day every time they come up with some new type of critter to display. Badger football started yesterday - so it was quite a big day in Wisconsin. Badgers and beer - booyah!

Since I claim to have a knitting blog::

I have jumped on the Rayures bandwagon. I have a number of things to finish - but somehow, I needed to start this. The Plucky board on ravelry is just lit up with people working on this and comparing notes. (Plucky is having an update tomorrow at 9am EST, just saying) It is a simple knit - a big tube sock really, that will one day be a cowl. It's kind of exciting to plan colors - there will be at least 7 in all. Can't wait - and it will be good vacation knitting, double digits to Disney World for our family. I think I am the most excited.

And one final quandary - this pattern, the Tova by Wiksten. It is all over blogland. I want to make it so badly, even though I think my curvy body may make it look maternity-esque. I have been debating on this for several weeks, maybe months, and THEN, Jeni B of In Color Order offers a class at the Sewcial Lounge, which is local to me...it so feels like a sign.