..Also, a New Look!

Yeah, that's right. The blog has a new look in honor of summer! Enjoy, dear readers.  :)

A New Love

Yeah, that's right. I've found a new love. Not that the boyfriend wasn't enough, but this is the kind of love that comes in robin's-egg-blue bags and keeps you happy for hours and days and months and years.

No, it's not Tiffany's, silly! It's Pins and Needles, my new favorite store (that I happened to just wander into for the first time this afternoon)!

Long story short, I have wanted to knit SockPixie's February beret (which can be found here) for a looong but didn't have the time during the school year to pore over the pattern, and didn't own the correct size needles OR have the necessary yarn lying around. So after realizing that I've been home for 6 weeks already and have accomplished absolutely NOTHING, I've decided to knit it, whee!

Of course, there was still the problem of not having any of the necessary supplies. I was about to order some good-looking stuff online when my mom reminded me of this cute little shop in town that specializes in knitting and needlepoint supplies, so I dropped in this afternoon. It was such a pleasant experience! The woman in the shop was incredibly helpful, especially for a baby knitter like me, and helped me pick the right yarn for the gauge called for in the pattern.

Isn't it delicious? 

I settled on a Dream in Color yarn in a turquoise-ish color called Superwash. It's hand painted so it has this nice, subtle shading to it, and it's super soft!

The woman in the store then taught me how to wind the yarn into its own little self-contained spool, and even let me open a pack of needles to test my gauge! It was actually awesome she did that because I needed to go a needle size down from the one called for in the pattern. AND she said they are always available to help if I get stuck, which will definitely come in handy as I am tackling an I Cord and grafting live stitches (eek!) for the first time. Needless (needles?) to say, I am very happy with this new find.

Look! My own tamed yarn-ball!

Also I lied a bit, I guess. My friend has lent me three seasons of 30Rock, and after a brief watching hiatus I am back at it in full force. In the past two days I've watched two-thirds of the third season and finished a scarf I've been working on. Now, I know what you might be thinking. Berets? Scarves? Aren't these winter clothing items?

Well actually yeah, I guess they are, technically. But to be fair the scarf is lace, so it would be perfect for cooler days like today! Where it is only in the low 70s! I'm actually wearing a light scarf right now. Anyway, check it out:

The pattern is from knitzofrenic-- I found it and decided I had to knit it, even though I didn't have a recipient in mind, but after a couple of weeks of my mom walking past and cooing every time she sees it I am sure it will have a happy home while I'm at school.

This scarf is super easy to knit. Seriously. This was only my second lacework project but it's essentially four rows repeated over and over and was painless to memorize. I didn't look at the pattern past the first five or so minutes I started working on it-- it's that simple! There's no gauge either (because it's a scarf), so I was able to use some of the random yarn I have lying around the house/have inherited from my great-grandmother. The scarf is still super curly in the picture because I still have to block it, but it's going to turn out beautifully. 

Confession I

Okay, I have a secret that I need to tell.

I know I've billed myself as a knitter, and I am, really! I love to knit. I find it relaxing, and I'm constantly learning how to do more things.

Secretly, however, very secretly, I HATE to purl. Purling is like the ugly duckling of the knitting community. Actually, it's more like the evil twin. Knit stitches are easy, nice, and tidy, but purling is unruly and many kinds of difficult. Not only does it take much longer for me to purl than knit, I never remember between projects which way to wrap the yarn so that the stitches aren't a pain to work with on the knit side.

Actually, I guess I have two confessions to make. Also secretly, I've never actually learned how to properly hold knitting needles. I'm sure that knitting and purling both become much quicker and easier enterprises once the fingers, needles, and yarn are fully in place and ready for action. I, on the other hand, am a mostly self-taught knitter. I learned when I was in middle school and didn't yet have the smarts to look on the internet-- I learned by watching my friend Louise and just copied her motions without paying attention to the technique.

Looking back on it, that was a dumb move. Not that I ever knit with other people, but I'm afraid that if I did I would be judged right out of the room. Their thoughts would go something like this: "Oh! What a silly girl! Her fingers kind of look like spiders. Fat, ugly spiders. Are they getting caught in the yarn? Wait, spiders don't get caught in their yarn. Spiders weave things, not tie knots. That seems awfully silly. I wonder who taught her that awful technique??"

And I would be all embarrassed, and my fingers would probably freeze up like they do when I'm nervous, and it would be a complete mess.

Okay maybe I've exaggerated my predicament a bit, but still. Learning knitting technique is on my list of things to do. Eventually. Right behind the illustrious activity of learning to purl.

There is almost nothing as good as a cold glass of milk.

Seriously. A glass of milk so cold that as you pour it the outside of the glass starts to sweat, and you want nothing more than something sweet to go with it. And really, that sweet thing is what knocks your glass of milk totally out of the water. Think about it-- imagine eating a piece of tart, or a heavy-duty brownie, or a red velvet cupcake with your tall, delicious, creamy glass of milk.

Which brings me to an announcement-- I'm baking this summer! Here's the sample plate I brought in to a local market:

Don't they just look scrumptious? This plate has sour cream cupcakes, chocolate sour cream cupcakes, heavy-duty brownies both with and without nuts, and a tart with black cherry jam, and they're only some of the many goods I bake. I don't ship orders (yet), but if you're in the tri-state area feel free to contact me for orders and we'll work something out.

And now.... back to the kitchen!