house on hill road

Rose Hill Hat

Here is my hat.  And here is the pattern.

I saw a hat in the Garnet Hill catalog last winter that was similar to this.  It was made of cashmere and had a price tag to prove it.  I thought I would try to make my own version of it and then lost the photo.  Imagine my surprise when I saw it in the catalog again this year.  Right away, I decided to give it a go, but I used my new most favorite yarn, Malabrigo worsted, instead of the cashmere.  I had this pretty pink on hand and for lack of a better name, I am calling this the Rose Hill Hat.

It's an easy hat.  Some garter stitch, some bobbles and then full speed ahead with the stockinette stitch.  I haven't written out a pattern to share before, so if you do make it and  - gasp! - find any mistakes, let me know and I will correct them.  I put the pattern in a pdf that you can download here or over in the left side bar.  I am extremely grateful to Tracy, who didn't think twice when I asked her to take my camera and photograph it for me.  She also graciously let me use one of her shots for the pattern - thank you so much, friend.

Go on, get knitting.

Friends, Family, Pretzels and Beer

This past weekend, we traveled to Wisconsin for my cousin Dallas's wedding.  On the way there, we made a pit stop in Madison to see Tracy and Nate.

The two hours went by super fast - we had such a great time.  Tracy and I are total dorks - in the best way.  If you don't believe me, look here and here.

Saturday, before the wedding, we went and toured the Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls.  Lucky us, we had a private tour from none other than Jake Leinenkugel himself.  I guess it pays to have friends in the beer business. (Thanks Dad!)

Yes, that pretzel was just as good as it looks.  Of course, the Fireside Nut Brown was even better.

We had a great time at the wedding - the bride was beautiful and we danced a ton.  Sunday morning, we drove 10 hours home.  I managed to screw up my tangled yoke in the car, but made a recovery after not allowing any one in my family to speak to me while I untangled it.  I'm past the cable, ready to start the short rows.  Cross your fingers for me.  I really need to be finished with this.

Have a great day, everyone.

The three and a half hour quilt

I took this pile of stuff and made a quilt.

It's a whole cloth quilt meaning that it isn't pieced at all.  I used 1 1/2 yards each of two 60" wide fabrics.  The green gingham is on one side, the floral on the other with a nice layer of cotton batting in the middle.  I spray basted it with 505 to save time and then did some free motion quilting.  I evened up the ends and set it aside.  This part took 2 hours.

I cut the pink and green polka dot into binding strips, pieced them and then pressed them using my clover bias tape tool.  I zig zagged the binding on.  This wasn't ideal.  It would have looked way better hand sewn, but time was of the essence.  I had to rip it out a couple times.  This part took 1 1/2 hours.  Then it went in the washer and dryer, got boxed, wrapped and dropped off for my neighbor's baby shower this weekend.

A quick and highly satisfying project.  And pretty damn cute, too.

Full circle

That Leslie.  She's gave me a gift without even knowing it.

If you haven't knit her Toasty mitts, or her Toast wrist warmers for that matter, grab some yarn and cast on.  I love making these - they are comfy and easy.  They are also a fast knit - it took me about four hours per pair.  Perfect for the carpool line, or all those sports practices where you sit and wait.  They are even more perfect for me because amazingly I can knit them without much strain on my wrist.   These are my three finished pairs - all in Malabrigo worsted.  From top to bottom, the colors are tortuga, frost gray and pink frost. 

I've started the fourth pair and there will probably be more after that.  I told you I was a one trick pony, and I wasn't just talking about the yarn.  But I digress.  They aren't all for me.  I'm keeping one pair and giving the rest as gifts.

Thank you, Leslie.  I am sure my friends will thank you too.

One trick pony

I cannot get enough of this yarn.  It's Malabrigo and it's a dream.  I'm on my third pair of mitts using it and the hat I knitted last week was with it too.  I sent some to Emily because I am sure that you can't help but get your knitting mojo back if you have this yarn in your hands.  I abandoned my February lady sweater after the power came back on, but now I am motivated to get back on it.  I should fess up and tell you that I am contemplating scrapping what little I have done and starting over with Malabrigo.   It's that tempting.

Charmed

Thanks for laughing with me about the Heineken film.  I appreciate all the film tips.  I'm headed to Target tomorrow and am going to take a look while I am there.  Fingers crossed.

Remember how I said I have a hard time finding my cell phone in the bottom of my bag?  No more.

I bought myself a cell phone charm from Blair.  It's so cute, it kind of kills me.  It jingles when I'm digging in the bag so I can find the phone now.  Yay!  She has a few more in her shop - they are very reasonably priced.  If you don't want one for yourself, maybe as a small gift (or stocking stuffer) for someone you know.  She has some charm bracelets for sale, too.  They'd be a great gift - I have one and I adore it.

Back tomorrow or Monday with the hat pattern.  I'm waiting on my photographer....

I like green, but not around my photos

Imagine my excitement when Fatty came home last night and gave me this:

Awhile back, I had mentioned that I was looking for a Polaroid camera.  I am always in awe at the wonderful photographs that I see over on Flickr and wanted to give it a shot.  Of course, the film is not being produced any longer and so it is hard to come across.   Fatty found all of this at work, where they used Polaroids to take photos of beer displays before they went digital.  I was feeling pretty lucky and was antsy to get shooting.  I knew exactly what my first shot was going to be.  I slung the camera over my shoulder when I walked the girls to school and on the way home took a photo of my favorite path.

Not exactly what I was expecting.  Who knew that there would be Heineken branded film?  Not Fatty and not me.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised since it came from the beer guy.

It looks like I am in the market for film.  Any suggestions other than Ebay?

I'm here...kind of

Hmmm....I haven't felt like blogging much.  I'm not sure why.  It may have to do with the teenage vampire books that are consuming my time.  Such a guilty pleasure....

When I wasn't reading this weekend, I managed to get the studio mostly cleaned up.  I thought about posting a before picture and then chickened out.  It really was that bad.  I have a pile of unfinished projects staring me in the face and a larger pile of fabric that still needs to be sorted out.  Normally, the mess doesn't bother - it's a creative wonderland, in some ways.  I can see what I have and I fling things about, getting excited as I see new possibilities and then - wham! - I am creating as I go.  This time it's different.  The mess has been keeping me from the sewing machine and I am trying to change that.

I did manage to piece all 96 arcs for my single girl quilts.  Yes, quilts plural, as in more than one.  They are both twin sized, going in Kate's room.  Anyhow, I put one of each square together as incentive to get going on these.  The fabric on the right is going on Kate's window seat which was built well over a year ago, painted about 6 months ago and will finally be getting a cushion in the next few weeks.  I am not making the cushion so it will probably actually get finished unlike some other things!  Ha!  And as I look at this photo, the squares aren't laid out correctly - the balance is off somehow.  I'll have to do something about that.

I have been knitting - I even designed a hat and am writing up the pattern.  But there are no photos of the finished one yet.  It's too bloody hot here - in the 80's.  When the temps dip later this week, I will show and tell.

Back to Bella and Edward.... 

Cleaning never stood a chance

Well, the studio is still a mess.  A very big, horrible, never been seen before type of mess.  I never even climbed the stairs to contemplate cleaning it.  I bought some yarn and then I decided to cast on a new project.  The way I look at it, cleaning can wait.  Plus, knitting is much more fun.  And small projects like these are satisfying my compulsion to knit without hurting my wrist too much.  It was a win-win situation.

Happy weekend everyone!

What's cooking?

It's been a slow week, crafting wise over here.  OK, I take that back.  It's been a slow week, crafting wise, since Sunday afternoon when I sewed up a storm.  I've knitted a bit, but the rest of the time, I have been cooking.

We went apple picking last Friday and Saturday night, I made Ina's Apple Crisp.  Emily told me to do it and then someone else I know said that it was her favorite recipe, too.  So I did.  And it was good.  Really good.

So good that I ate it for breakfast the next morning.

And it was lunch too.  That good.

We still have tons of apples left so I am going to cook up a bunch of applesauce tomorrow.  I don't follow a recipe for that - I just cook the apples with some water.   Easy peasy.  I don't like adding sugar so I don't.  It'll go in the freezer right next to the jam.  I am also going to make this apple cake.  Doesn't that look fabulous?

The latest Everyday Food has some really good recipes in it - if you don't subscribe, you might want to buy this one.  It is the best I have seen in a long time.  There are lots of great recipes in there - the chicken tacos will be a staple around here, for sure.  Easy, inexpensive and liked by all four of us, even the picky eater.  We made the pot roast on Saturday and it was really good, too.  Both the tacos and the roast were done in the slow cooker - bonus!  There is a fabulous section on dark chocolate desserts that aren't too taxing.  Leslie, I am thinking of you here.

Enough rambling.  I have a studio to clean out.  I have big sewing plans this weekend so I have extra incentive to get my little space organized and spiffed out again.  Wish me luck.

A tree for Melissa's forest

This is my block for Melissa's month in the Virtual Quilting Bee.  She asked for trees.  I was definitely inspired by this tree Liesl made.

I'm happy with how this came out.  I hope you like it, Melissa.  And I hope you still like me when you see the back.  The geometry was a smidge tricky in parts.

Sunday

I'm sewing today.

What are you doing?

Finally

I took this photo last night right before I went out the door to plants some mums.  The days are definitely getting shorter.

The Halloween decorations are up.  The nights are cool and crisp.  It was still dark when we started the walk to school today.  I am wearing a new corduroy skirt and a cozy sweater.  I thought about boots, but it's not time quite yet.  The girls are snuggled up on the couch, watching a movie.  School's out until Monday so we are going apple picking tomorrow.

Thanks for showing your face,  Autumn.  I have been waiting all year for you.