:: vessels ::

Over the past month I acquired some fantastic new vessels*. Some given, some found, and one purchased. Now I'm having fun filling {and emptying} them.

:: The given ::
A cloth sandwich bag sewn by Nik. It makes lunchtime funtime.

Some fantastic pottery made by my sister Kris. So beautiful and useful ~ one's filled with candy, another with jewelry and the third should have a cactus, but I accidentally left that in PA {their native ground}.

:: The found ::

This amazing {and heavy} set of metal office drawers. Found by the dumpster at school ~ imagine how excited I was!
The pictures are a bit dark, but I couldn't wait to photograph it before filling it with goodies.

The drawers don't have a top, but I'm sure my pop can come up with something beautiful and made of wood. Along those lines, this could make a great little work table for some of my crafts ~ keeping the supplies in the drawers. OR We could add a butcher block top for use in the kitchen and the drawers could be filled with spices or utensils. fun fun!For now the unit is under my bed, still giving access to the drawers, but making the lack of top not a big deal.

This next vessel was a surprise from my parents' barn. We don't know how long it was there, but it's been a while. With a little research, we found out that Peacock was a company that shipped fruit {mainly grapes} from California. I've replaced the grapes with yarn {of course}.

:: The purchased ::

I found this lovely little mustard jar in the imported foods section of the grocery store. It's filled with sweet mustard from the Bavaria, Germany. Needless to say, this is the vessel that requires the emptying, but that shouldn't be too hard. I spent a couple of weeks in Bavaria one December, hopping from one Christmas festival to the next. Opening this mustard immediately transported me back to a breakfast we had of white beer and white sausages. yum.

The jar's made of glass and here's a familiar can for perspective.


*I think I'm using this word a bit liberally as none of my vessels are boats, blood vessels, found in xylem, or people, but I do have a bowl or two*

Retaliation

**ETA: I just finished this post and noticed another Schu trying to survive the cold.

Holy cold. I'm retaliating the only way I know how::

It's a mobius cowl! Wrapped around my neck twice. So comfy I wore it to sleep last night.

This was made with some Malabrigo scraps {the white/light blue rows} and Misti Alpaca Baby Me Boo {the blue variegated rows}; it's a cozy combination of alpaca, wool, and bamboo!

The pattern's from A Treasury of Magical Knitting ~ the Sage Rhythm wrap without the fringe.


If it gets too warm around my neck, I can unwrap it and wear it like this::
This is the first mobius cowl I knit for Nik a couple of years ago ~ that time a blizzard struck and we were trapped in the house, knitting without electricity for four days... it looks like there's a correlation between extreme winter weather and mobius knitting!

Soundtrack Wednesday

No video, but some great words. Click here for the day's song.

It's from Tom Flannery, a songwriter from Scranton, PA. Yes, good old PENNA.

Good Stuff

It's only been the last couple of years that I've made resolutions. I'm big on resolutions that focus on the creative and social sides of life. And for good reason... when I have loads of work to do, it's ok to spend an evening grinding spices and slow simmering a sauce, because, Hey! I have a resolution to keep!

The {food} resolutions this year::
(1) Expand and improve my quiche making
(2) Get a little tart; learn to make some fantastic tarts
(3) Make some great Indian dishes... my first results blogged here

I was lucky to make some of resolutions clear before the holidays, and received the goods to support my goals::

Kitchen, I have my eye on you.

I have to say, the world works in mysterious ways. See that Tartine cookbook up there? My brother gave that one to me, little did he {or I} know that I'd be eating at Tartine a week later.... and really, I didn't make the connection until I returned to Boston and had some time to browse through the book. IT'S AMAZING, just like being back in their shop. Full of extra deep quiches, bread puddings, lemon bars. So much good stuff.

When in San Francisco, stop by Tartine for lunch. You'll have a hard time getting a table, but you won't be disappointed!


If you're looking for an authentic Indian cookbook, I can't recommend Classic Indian Cooking enough. It provides a thorough description of ingredients and methods before you get to the recipes. It's one of those cookbooks that's fun to just sit down and read. During these cold, dark winters, I love to treat myself to a cup of chai. I was excited to try the chai recipe in the cookbook, but before I even got to it, Angry Chicken posted this link for Chai Concentrate! I bought the sweetened condensed milk yesterday and am going to whip up a batch this afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes.

While wondering around the Bay Area after Christmas, I came across this delicious Indian treat::It's a spicy, nutty Indian candy made made locally. A little bit like peanut brittle, but better!

There are a few new links to my side bar {look right}. One is a cooking blog called Whisk Kid ~ this is a new-to-me blog full of fun recipes and beautiful photos. How could you go wrong with a cake like this:: Rainbow Cake!

And one more food link that looked too good not to share. Here's a salad to balance out the heavy food in this post:: Vietnamese Salad. It calls for raw bok choy. I tried some in my salad last weekend, and I'm a reformed bok eater ~ from now on it's out of the soup and into the salad! *enjoy


Other resolutions?

~Remember that violin I got last year? practice, practice, practice!

~Crack open these puppies {also from my Christmas list}, and start sewing!::

~Stop biting my nails... so not all of the resolutions are fun, but it's about time to follow through on this one.

Hold me to it.

The view from here ::

I showed you my refurbished desk before. Check it out here. A little update ~ the desk's treating me well, and a new keyboard was purchased to ease my computer woes!

Now for another corner of my room, my bed::The throw pillow is covered with a print by Masha D'yans. good stuff

I added a new piece of artwork recently ~ the burlap coffee bag hanging on the wall over the bed. I'd like to use it for something crafty, maybe one of these wonderful burlap baskets. I knew that the coffee sack would nag at me if I just left it as a "to-do", so I put it to use, and now there's no nagging! Plus, the coffee sack does a perfect job of adding some texture and dimension to what was once a big blank wall.

Opposite my bed there are two huge, old windows that face the roof of a quaint New England church. Here's the bell::

And here's the steeple::...I haven't opened the doors, but I'm sure it's full of people.

Having that big, blank roof out my window is almost like having a "weather rock". If the roof is wet, it's raining. If it's white, it's snowing.... and that last one is the most fun. There have been a few times this winter when I've woken up in the middle of the night to a white roof and was psyched knowing that city was blanketed with fresh snow.

Wednesday Soundtrack

Like the Chieftains' Christmas album, George Winston's December is a family favorite during the holidays... but for me it's a year-round favorite, particularly when I need some background music but don't want to be distracted by words.

Thanksgiving by George Winston, enjoy*

Parade of Christmas Crafts {sweaters}

And finally, any respectable knitting parade ends with sweaters. I have to admit, my goal was one sweater for each sibling but I fell one short. But hold me to it ~ one more Christmas knit will come off the needles year.

~ Kris' Tunic ~ This pattern is from Twinkle's Big City Knits by Wenlan Chia. I love the pattern ideas in the book, but wtf Wenlan? Why did you, your editors, whoever, think it was ok to write "knitted measurements" rather than, say, "body-sizes"? When the sweater I want to knit has a 14 inch waist and 25 inch bust, how the hell would anyone know if it's going to stretch to their size? NO CLUE.

Needless to say, when it came to knitting this sweater ~ third time's a charm.
This was knit with Lion's Brand Thick and Quick on US 15 needles for the body and US 17s for the neck. After all of that knitting, I forgot to write down my modifications, but I've put in a request with Kris. As soon as I have them, I may have to cast on for another for myself.


And unfortunately, I left town soon after giving, so I have so very few shots of the sweaters being warn by their recipients... Sarah, help?

~ Sarah's sweater ~ Sarah's Christmas list included a not-too-secret hint for an "old man cardigan". When I saw that request, I immediately thought of the last old man cardi I knit ~ this trellis for Madeline. Knitting this the first time produced such great results, that I figured it was worth the challenge to take the baby pattern and adapt it to an adult size. Truth be told, it was extremely easy ~ just use some bulky yarn and bigger needles. Cast on for the child's medium {as written in the pattern}, and started knitting. The only real differences were in length {longer body and arms} sleeve circumference {the original pattern lacked shaping in the sleeves, so I adjusted, making them fitted}, and finally, the collar {I added in a few short rows to give it some extra room to fit around the larger neck area}. Next time I think I'll even make the neck a little bit wider; I knit it 11 stitches wide, as written.
This pattern is written in pieces, but this time, like last, I eliminated as many seams as possible {knitting the sleeves in the round and the back and front sections in one piece}. I had to sew the sleeves to the body, but next time I'd like to try eliminating these seams too.

The last sweater? That would be Jeff's. He requested it years ago, and having this request hanging over my head was the impetus for the sibling sweaters this year. Eek, then one excuse led to another and I decided to give him the bag of yarn instead... I'd like to say that I've cast on, but he's still holding on to that bag of yarn!

Make way for the clean-up crew, our little parade is over. And with the {joyful}weight of the holiday crafting off my shoulders, it's time to turn my sights towards new year's creative goals and resolutions. Happy New Year*