Tag Archives: hap blanket

(almost) FO: hap blanket.

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I’m on a roll. Yesterday, between writing the first paragraph of something that will be a draft of the first chapter of my dissertation (yay!), and attending a colloquium on campus, I bound off the hap blanket I started months ago as a wedding present for C and A, who got married at the end of November. I’m so happy with how this turned out. I even cuddled with it while watching Colbert!

I’m really happy with the size, pre-blocking, and I bet I’ll get another inch or so in length and width when I block out the feather and fan border. All that remains is to weave in the ends and give it a soak — which means, C and A, you should have it before it gets too hot in Florida…

No actual knits in this picture, but I snapped this because I’m wearing my new pashmina, which was the gift all of the bridesmaids received at M’s wedding last weekend. The color is lovely and surprisingly versatile, and the shawl is so soft.

And here’s my silly dog again. His friend Tango came over last night after I got home from campus, which meant he slept very deeply, and did not want to get out of bed this morning. Instead, he wanted a belly rub. I know, Boh. TGIF.

Time to get to work. Happy Friday to you!

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biscuits, boh, and an almost finished blanket.

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This is how Tuesday started. Sweet, sweet dog.

Tuesday was a constant struggle for productivity. Finally I gave up for awhile, and instead, made these incredible yogurt biscuits from one of my “Heidi” cookbooks, Super Natural Every Day. You can find the recipe here. These were AMAZING — and surprisingly easy. Maybe the tastiest biscuits I’ve ever made. I didn’t use a food processor — instead, I just used my pastry cutter to work the butter in, and then mixed with a wooden spoon. I also did a pretty half-assed job of pressing the dough into a thin square and then “cutting” (I tore) the dough in half and stacking them to repeat again. I was skeptical that my efforts would yield results as fluffy, flaky, and light as Heidi promised…but these were everything I hoped they’d be.

I ate them with some butternut squash that I’d been meaning to roast. But since the oven was otherwise occupied, I cooked the squash on the stove, simmering it with a little bit of olive oil, butter, and water, covered until tender, and then taking the lid off to brown it up with a bit of sage, which is still struggling to stay alive on my porch.

And here’s a close up. I reheated these for breakfast and dinner on Wednesday, and they were almost as awesome as they were right out of the oven. I’ll definitely be making these again.

And here’s that hap blanket — so, so very close to being done. C, if you’re reading this, get excited. I really only have a couple more rows to knit, and it has my full attention again now that M.’s wedding shawl is finished! I’m excited to bind off and block this — it is so scrunched up on my circulars that I can’t fully appreciate it.

Can you tell that I really need to start writing a paper? I can always tell — my blogging becomes extra wordy and descriptive. Time to direct that energy into today’s to-do list!

another post from last week?

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Hi, folks. Rooster here. Another doozy of a week — the start of classes (including mine!), and the work of adjusting to a new routine, a new commute (from the lake house), a new pattern for Boh. Here’s hoping I’ll figure out where blogging fits into all of that very soon. All went well this week, but there’s just so much to do. And I’ll keep attempting to cross things off of my ever-elongating to-do list after I write this post. Guess what? I’ve got (gasp) photos of actual knitting!  (Though the knitting occurred last week.)

Here’s that vanilla sock in Plucky yarn I started earlier this month. I began the toe decreases on a bus almost two weeks ago, when I was headed to a bachelorette gathering. I only had super short hiya-hiya circular needles with me, and the decreases were not so fun to try to work with those — just not enough give to comfortably do ssks and k2togs, and the bumpiness of the bus didn’t help. I really should put this back into my bag (with the dpns I need to keep decreasing), especially now that my commute involves a short bus ride each morning and afternoon!

And here I am, working on the border of the wedding hap blanket I’ve been knitting…ahem…as a gift for two lovely people who got married in November. I’m so close. C+A, it’ll be done soon! Promise!

And I’ve got big plans for this yarn. Wedding shawl plans — for my best friend. She’s getting married in March, and she picked the yarn and the pattern. More on this soon. (On today’s to-do list? Wind this yarn!)

I’ve been wearing handknits, especially my cowls, this week. I love this wurm cowl so, so much. Handspun around my neck is one of the best things I can think of right now.

More handspun around my neck. Remember when I made this stripey shawl over the summer because I was sick and didn’t have the focus necessary to follow the instructions for the Daybreak shawl? (One of these days I’m going to actually knit that.) I love the colors, and the drape of this fabric of loosely knit singles is fantastic. And I love how it sort of goes with this cardigan I picked up on clearance at Banana Republic when I was visiting my parents for Christmas.

And then there’s this guy. No knitting in this picture, but an extra dose of cuddly sweetness. I’m happy to have Boh to keep me company as I tackle a draft of a grant application today…

cowl time.

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Like Hammer time, but not.

It’s official, folks. For the last several weeks, the weather has mostly been the kind of weather where you CAN wear a cowl, and you won’t be too warm. Today, though, is the first day where I feel like I NEED to wear a cowl or some other form of hand-knit goodness around my neck. I’m declaring it officially cowl time. Please adjust your behavior accordingly. (Boh will wait.)

Or maybe he’ll just continue to supervise the edging on my hap blanket.

I’m about seven rows in — so far so good. Happy Friday!

picking up.

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Well for one, stitches. (Time to start knitting the edging!)

Also, work. I’ve managed to get a decent amount of reading done since Thanksgiving, which is good. (I’m not counting today…)

And myself, too. I bought some holiday booze this week — a small indulgence, a reminder that fancy things can be just for me. You know, like extra olives and good gin while cooking dinner. I’m trying to remember to be good to myself. (B. left a year ago today. And what a year it has been — my exams, moving to the lake house, writing the dissertation prospectus, all this research travel. I think I get an extra gin-soaked olive or two for all of that.)

Picking up….? I’ve got nothing for this one. Boh looks pretty happy with the pace of things around here. Can you believe it will soon be December? Stay tuned for more pictures of the hap blanket edging. And give yourself a treat. You deserve it.

 

heels and a hap.

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Crazy, right? I tend to always vote for sensible over sexy in the shoe department, but I’m attending wedding #4 (of 8 this year) next weekend, and I realized that I do not have non-summery shoes suitable for black-tie-optional affairs. (And, you know, teaching. I’m teaching a course I designed this spring, and I figure that being the “instructor of record” might warrant tall shoes. It could also be that I am missing M., a friend currently traveling the back roads of the deep South for research. She wears tall shoes.)

Anyway, I ordered two pairs, and decided to keep them both. Here’s the first pair. I actually wore these to the coffee shop earlier this week to “practice.” No wipe-outs. And I feel awesome in these shoes. (Years ago I would have shied away from shoes like this, both for practical — a broken toe from my rugby days — and political — as affirming certain cultural ideas about prettiness/beauty — reasons. The toe has healed, though, and while my politics are perhaps more radical and feminist than ever, they’re also more nuanced.)

So, I love them. And while they aren’t the most comfortable shoes I own (hello, flip-flops), they’re for me, and nobody else, and I think they’ll give me that extra boost of confidence I’m realizing I need to attend so many weddings this year by myself.

Speaking of which, also on the wedding to-do list was to decide on a gift. Ages ago I thought I’d knit a pinwheel blanket, which seems to be my go-to wedding gift knit, but when the time came to cast on (okay, really the time should have come a few weeks ago), I just wasn’t feeling inspired. I really like the idea of giving a lap blanket because it is cozy (perhaps cozy enough for two — and certainly cozy enough for two newlyweds) and not super gender-specific. This next wedding is the wedding of one of my best guy friends from college, so I want to knit something that feels like it is for him (though I also really like the woman he is marrying, and think they are a great fit).

After a lot of digging around ravelry, I settled on the Hap Blanket, by Ysolda Teague. I’m using two greens — a greyish green heather, and a deeper olive/army green for the contrast color, both in Cascade 220. I’m following some super thoughtful mods I located on a few projects: provisional cast-on, and revised numbers for worsted weight yarn. I don’t think I’ll have this done in time for the wedding, but I’ll bring it to knit on the plane, and then I can send it to the bride and groom shortly afterwards. (They’re getting married not where they live, so I feel like sending it to them at home is best.)

I love squishy garter stitch. So cozy and warm and home-y. Other things that fit this description?

Garlicky chard and toast. Also, this guy:

Yep. I love this dog. Boh and I are going to settle in for an evening of knitting on the couch. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!