Tag Archives: blocking

scones and sweaters.

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Self-explanatory, no?

scones

Heidi’s maple syrup scone recipe was super easy, and incredibly delicious. I even called my mom to tell her about it. Maple syrup is a big thing around here, so I can get jars full of different grades of local syrup at the co-op. This recipe perfectly highlighted that hard-to-describe but oh-so-good maple syrup sweetness. And it is quick enough to make impulsively. And then ruin your dinner by eating one (or two) moments after the scones come out of the oven. You’ve been warned.

Next up: 28thirty is blocked! And dry! No buttons yet, but I have some options, and am waiting for some of last week’s ebay purchases to arrive so that I can play around with size/color. Here are some rooster-in-the-mirror-wearing-the-sweater-even-though-the-sleeves-are-still-damp weekend pictures. (Apologies for my hyphen abuse today.)

28thirtyblocked-blurry

28thirtyblocked-closeup

28thirtysideblocked

28thirtyblocked

Also, I really love this picture:

amytiltedpic

Trying to take pictures of yourself using the hold-your-arm-out-at-a-ridiculous-angle approach occasionally yields unexpectedly delightful results.

I’ve also made some significant progress on Whisper:

whisper-sleeve1

boh-whisper-sleeve

Boh thought about knitting a few rows this morning, but ultimately decided that he’d rather take a nap.

I lengthened the sleeve to about 9.5 inches so that it falls just past my elbow, thinking that when I block this, I’ll get a bit more length. I’m into a big stretch of stockinette, which makes this project perfect for some of the lectures on my list this week.

I woke up with the sun today, well before my alarm. It has been awhile since I’ve done that, as the winter sun rarely appears before the appointed wake-up time. The days are lengthening now, and I like it.

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rains/pours.

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Lots of knitting and posting this week, folks! (Me? Hiding? Procrastinating? Never.) First up, 28thirty, gloriously blocking on the kitchen table:

28thirty-blocking

I won three or four lots of buttons yesterday on ebay, and I can’t wait to play around with color combinations. Right now, I’m thinking big red buttons, but we’ll see…

For some reason, the catharsis of casting off just makes me want to knit more! I dug into the bag that goes everywhere with me for my toe up socks, and realized that I only had a few more inches to go on sock #2. A few hours of decompressing from a very productive Monday-Tuesday and voila! Socks!

socks-fo-chair

Although these socks are not perfect, I am thrilled with them, and I may be a toe-up sock convert! This is my first toe-up pair, and believe-you-me I did some serious wrangling with the cast-on, heel instructions, etc. before discovering knitting by bicycle’s tutorial and experiencing an a-ha moment. The heels do not match, and I can’t quite figure out why. Neither looks wrong, exactly, but they are not the same. Also, my loose bind off is not loose enough. Something to work on.

socks-fo-3

socks-kitchen

Maybe I’ll do a wrap up post on these sometime in the future, but for now, these puppies are on my feet! Notes on my stitch count, etc. can be found on the project’s Rav page or in an earlier blog post. (Confession time: I haven’t even gotten around to weaving in the ends and tidying up those little holes that show up sometimes when you turn the heel…)

“feeling” productive.

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The keyword there is “feeling,” folks. Yesterday was such a day: only a few hours of academic work was completed, but I managed to go grocery shopping, make all sorts of deliciousness in the kitchen, teach someone to knit, and attend reading group.

smashed-chickpea-salad

Smashed chickpea salad, adapted from Smitten Kitchen. (Shocking, I know.) My version lacked olives and bread, to make it a sandwich, but this was even better than I expected.

bread-and-brownies

More applesauce bread (I’ve been making at least a loaf a week lately) and Mark Bittman’s basic brownies — I know I’ve posted these before, but it has been several months since the last time I baked them. These were for a friend’s birthday. and they were every bit as good as I remembered them to be. And so easy! Why aren’t you making them already?

snowing

Yesterday afternoon, after several days of green grass and muddy walks with Boh, the snow began to fall again, in huge, wet flakes. Yay!

oscar-blocking

Progress on the baby sweater. At last. The ribbed baby jacket is blocking, and is almost dry. This afternoon, I will sew the seams together and weave in the ends. I ended up making a buttonhole in case I go that route, and after looking at snaps yesterday, I think I’d prefer a bright button. If I can’t make it to the yarn shop, I may swipe the blue button from my gathered cardi. We’ll see…

Time for coffee and actual productivity, instead of just feelings of productivity!

carnage.

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This guy:

Saw this, a bee-yoo-ti-ful Sunday Market Shawl, blocking:

and, in the middle of the night, decided to do something like this:

A few more pictures of the carnage:

I stayed up REALLY late trying to finish this for a dear friend’s birthday — unraveling the dropped stitches took forever. This is beyond repair — or at least my capacity for repair. There are at least four shredded sections of the shawl, and I can’t bear to unravel what’s left right now. Back to the drawing board? I still need a birthday present — was hoping to give this to her over the weekend.

Hard to stay mad at this dog. Sigh. At least today is Friday.

housekeeping.

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I was tired yesterday — too tired to really focus on most of what I am working on — so instead, I did some knit-tidying. You know what I mean. One of the bibs I finished a few weeks ago still needed…something.

I added a deep teal flower to match the button.

Then, I wove in the ends of the pinwheel blanket, and laid it out to block on my bedroom floor.

And then…

It was that kind of Monday.

blocking.

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Inspired by Mick at Much Adored — and by the arrival of a much needed weekend, I knit the last 5 rows (I know, I know, ridiculous that I left so little to complete) of the second sleeve of my Debbie Bliss Bolero Jacket, and began blocking.

blocking.jpg

The sleeves are looking a bit big to me (I say that like I’ve done this before) — but I’m intending for this to be a cozy shrug-sweater, so I hope it will be fine.

I let the pieces dry overnight, and this morning, though still slightly damp, I decided that the front pieces and the back were dry enough for me to seam the shoulders and begin picking up a million (okay, 226) stitches for the all-the-way-around ribbing that makes this sweater so cute. No pictures of that yet, but now that I have picked up said stitches, I am hoping to complete this before the cold weather leaves us entirely.

Lucky for me and my sweater, I woke up to a sprinkling of snow on the ground. I’m off to a place that likely has snow — and a crackling fire in the wood stove — for the rest of the weekend.