Book Review: Knitting Yarns

The book Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting was added to my wishlist as soon as it popped up on one of my Amazon searches.  Thankfully, my Godmother checks my wishlist every year before Christmas and this little gem found it's way into my home.

Knitting Yarns has about 25 short stories that detail the author's memory or connection with knitting. As with most short story formats, the book is extremely digestible. Most of the writers focused on how or why they learned to knit, or a time when knitting helped them through a personal crisis. I finished the book in about 3 days of leisurely reading and I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys knitting AND reading.

Knitting Yarns also had me thinking back on the very first time I learned to knit. I remember it quite vividly.  I was in college, sitting on the floor of my dorm room with the yarn in my lap and the printout "Learn to Knit 101" instructions on the ground in front of me. I sat cross-legged, bent over my needles and squinted to decipher the drawings representing how a knit stitch should be properly executed. My hands were starting to sweat, not out of nerves or frustration, but rather the fact that my university kept the dorm room at a temperature mirroring the weather of the Hawaiian tropics instead of the northern Pennsylvania climate where we were located.

About 30 minutes in, my roommate had given up and moved to her desk to do homework or peruse Facebook. I still remained on the hard, concrete floor determined to make progress on my first row.  I gave it another 20 minutes, and I was suddenly overcome with an extreme amount of rage and I hurled my purple aluminum knitting needles across the room.  What happened next is proof enough for me that the universe certainly does have a sense of humor.

A male friend of mine, Carl, was walking by my dorm room when I broke out into my fit of rage. Since the door was hanging open, he stopped to ask me if everything was alright and if there was anything he could do to help.  I explained that I was trying to learn how to knit, but after 50 minutes of determination, I had gotten very skilled at casting on, but I couldn't seem to make the jump to knitting.  Carl smiled and said, "Oh. Didn't anyone ever tell you that the first row is always the hardest?" He picked up my needles and handed them to me and said, "cast on however many stitches you want, and I'll do your first row. You can watch me."

I took the needles out of his hand and cast on 20 stitches of red and black yarn.  I then watched Carl knit my first row with extreme ease and grace. He handed the needles to me and said, "Here you go. It's your turn."  I took the needles from him and clumsily knit the next row. Despite my fumbling, awkward handiwork, I was enchanted and encouraged by my skill. After I completed the second row by myself, Carl headed out to go to a party. The training wheels were off and I was on my own.  Over the course of the next week, I knit every chance I got.  I added stitches, I decreased stitches, I dropped stitches, but I kept going. After one week, I had my very first scarf which I proceeded to wear everywhere I went.

I just found my first scarf the other week when I was cleaning out my knitting stash. I pulled it out and looked at the wonky size and the holes that the dropped stitches created. Then I looked down at the handmade sweater I was wearing. It was remarkable how far I had come in 8 years. I refolded the scarf and tucked it into a basket. Now, when I'm working on a project that is complicated and I'm ready to throw my needles across the room, I will pull out that first scarf and remember the improvement I know I am capable of.

Thanks for reading,

Care

Haste makes waste, but so do the knitting gremlins

Remember during my last post when I showed you the bright red socks I was knitting for the Hubby? Here, I'll refresh your memory.

Looks totally innocent, right? 

Well, I'm knitting along on them, just enjoying the heck out of the fact that I'm just about done.  I love my husband, but knitting plain old stockinette socks makes me want to scream. Anyway, I'm knitting along, I hold the one sock up to the other to see if I'm ready to start the toe.  Lo and behold, yes, it appeared I was, indeed, ready to start the toe. So I did all of the decreases and grafted all my stitches together.  I tossed them to my husband who held them up and showed them to me.  The sock I had just bound off was a solid half inch shorter than the other sock! 

In that very moment, I wanted to weep. I was frustrated. I apologized over and over again to my husband. (In hindsight, I'm not sure why I did that... it wasn't as if he was DEMANDING these socks.  I made them because I love him and want his feet to be warm.) 

I begrudgingly ripped out the toe and re-knit the foot.  While all of this frogging and re-knitting was occurring, I may have said some not-so-nice things to my dog, Beaker who just wanted to sit on mommy's lap while she was knitting.

So instead of starting a sweater, I finished a sock twice yesterday and here they are now. 

Ta da!

And now I get to start my sweater.  Which is also... red. I'm sensing a theme here.

Thanks for reading,

Care

Sheep to Shawl

Sorry this post took me so long to write.  Life has been crazy around here and working a retail schedule is hellish because there is no consistency.

Last Wednesday was the 35th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show Sheep to Shawl contest.  Basically, this is a competition where teams of 4 or 5 have two and half hours to shear a sheep, spin the fiber, and then weave a shawl.  Each team consists of 3 spinners and a weaver and some other teams have an alternate or a dedicated carder. I have had the opportunity to watch this event live for the past 4 years now.  It never ceases to amaze me how a team of people can take one sheep, 2.5 hours and create a work of art. Competing in this event is definitely on my 'bucket list.' 

Let's see some pictures, shall we? 

Sorry for the blurry cell phone picture.  This photo was taken as the teams were setting up their displays, looms, wheels, etc.

 Here you can see one of the looms warped and ready to go.

This little love gave a huge amount of fleece for one of the competing teams. I'd say enough came off for about 2.5 - 3 shawls!

Here is the competition in full swing. I just love the colors on that loom in the foreground.  Interestingly, that team's theme was Pennsylvania wines.  The yarn on the warp was hand dyed using wine from some of Pennsylvania's wineries!

During the competition, I worked on sock #2 for my hubby.  That sock turned out to be a huge problem child and I'm still not entirely what went wrong.  You'll hear more about that the next time you drop by.

Thanks for reading,
Care

2014 Knitting Goals

Last time, I told you all about my health goals, but this edition of Knit w/ Care is all about my knitting goals for 2014.  I fell short of my goals last year, so I'll just add it to the list again this year! 

1. Learn to design my own knitting patterns.  (This is my hold over from last year.) I LOVE knitting socks. They are probably my most favorite thing in the world to knit.  However, when I knit socks for my husband, I am very limited with what I can do both pattern and color.  Often times, it takes me forever to finish a pair of socks for him because I'm just doing plain old stockinette stitch and it's BORING. I have an idea of something in my head that I think he would like, but I need to figure out how to get that idea out of my head and onto a sock. 

2. Compete in and challenge myself with the 2014 Ravellenic Games.  This competition is formerly known as the Knitting Olympics (but is no longer called that due to a cease and desist letter from the Olympic Committee.)  I competed 2 years ago during the summer games and severely underestimated my knitting ability.  This year, I'm hoping to challenge myself like never before.

3. Spin more.  I have all of this wonderful fiber just waiting to be turned into yarn.  I must work on making that happen. 

3 (a). Use my own hand-spun yarn for a project.  I've never done this. I think that this one will help my spinning get better.  By actually using the things that I'm making, I'll know what adjustments will help get a better end product.

4. Generally, make more things. I was disappointed in my production numbers last year. This year, I'm hoping to blow production numbers out of the water.  I'm off to a relatively good start... I'm hoping to have the first finished object of 2014 to show you tomorrow! 

Whatever your passions are, I hope you are setting some goals for yourself. 

Thanks for reading, 

Care

New Year, New Goals

Every year, I try to set some new goals for myself. I really dislike calling them resolutions because it sounds so strict to me.  If I call them goals, and I slip along the way, it's alright to get back on the wagon because you aren't going to change a lifestyle overnight.

This year, in addition to my own goals, my husband and I have a joint goal: eliminate as much processed food as possible.  This means that we are trying to eat things that we prepared with our own hands.  For example: If I want to have bread, instead of just buying a loaf of bread at the store, I will take the time to make my own bread. Our hope is that this connects us more to what we are putting into our bodies which in turn, makes us feel better physically.

Last night for dinner, we had roasted chicken and a winter vegetable medley (carrots, parsnips and brussels sprouts.)

Yum!

In an effort to be healthier AND save money, I'm using the left over chicken carcass to make a homemade stock for future dishes. 

Since we are currently getting freezing rain here at the house, I'm snuggled under a blanket with Beaker and I'm working on my own personal goals for 2014 (most of which involve knitting.) As soon as I get them sorted out, I'll share them! 

Thanks for reading, 

Care

Beaker's homemade dog treats

In the midst of all of the holiday madness, I've neglected the blog a little bit.  Oops. However, as promised, I'll let you in on my doggie treat recipe that Beaker uses to give gifts to his friends.

We didn't take pictures when we made them, but here's a picture of Beaker instead.

Isn't he a cutie?

This year for Christmas, Beaker made 3 different types of doggie treats.  They were: Pumpkin, Chicken, and Peanut Butter and Banana. 

Beaker doesn't use a precise measuring system while making these treats, but the basic recipe follows below.

Pumpkin Treats

About a 1/4 of a cup of Pumpkin

1 Egg

Approx. 2 cups of whole wheat flour 

Beat the pumpkin and egg until smooth.  Slowly add flour until a ball of dough forms.  Turn dough out on a flowered surface and roll to 1/2 inch thickness. (Again, with Beaker's paws, rolling dough isn't very precise so don't panic if it isn't exactly a half an inch.)  Cut into a shapes and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

The recipe for the chicken and PB & banana treats are exactly the same but instead of the pumpkin substitute the following: 

Chicken

- 1/4 of a cup of Chicken Stock

PB & Banana

- 1/4 cup of Peanut Butter

- 1 VERY RIPE medium banana, sliced

These treats were enjoyed by all of Beaker's friends this holiday season (even the picky eaters in the bunch.)  Please note that since these treats contain no preservatives, it's best to keep them refrigerated.  Also, baking for only 30 minutes will give these treats more of a "cookie" consistency and less of a hard "biscuit" consistency. 

Thanks for reading, 

Care (& Beaker)