Be*mused

Elf mode

I'll bet a lot of you know what I've been working on from my photo...at least one of you does!  The eventual recipients, as far as I know, don't know about Be*mused, but as more than one blogger has discovered, you never know who might be reading, so please don't reveal my project in the comments.  Anyhow, patternwise, so far, so good!  I was humming along when I hit a wall digging around my stash for some linen-y fabric to use and couldn't put my hands on it.  Hate when that happens.  Did I de-stash that last summer?  I can't imagine, but in any case, JoAnn's is now added to the errand list for tomorrow.

Are you looking for some gift ideas to make?  Yesterday someone emailed requesting my pillowcase pattern so I decided to link to my old posts on this project and offer the instructions again to anyone who'd like them.  They're easy to make, easy to personalize with all the specialty fabrics available today and who couldn't use a new pillowcase?  (And if it's not their taste, at least they don't have to wear it!)  Read about them here and here and let me know in the comments if you'd like the pattern. 

I have been antsy all week, buzz, buzz, buzzin' with new ideas and projects in the queue.  I told you those recent trips made a difference in my outlook and I wasn't kidding!  Now to just get a handle on holiday prep.  Why can't these creative bursts be timed better?

One last thing.  You must click over and check out this in-progress quilt.  *swoon*

For your viewing pleasure

Aside from the 10-hour drives which bookended our Thanksgiving trip, we had a wonderful week.  And honestly, the travel days weren't that bad...pleasant weather and surprisingly light traffic.  Fifteen of us (from Ca, Pa, Va, Ma, In and Oh) spent several days at my sister's, eating, playing cribbage & Pictionary, watching football, movies and a tape of those recent hoarding episodes from Oprah. (Imagine a roomful of slack-jawed disbelievers.)  Lots of walks to make room for the next round of dips & snacks, meals & leftovers, muffins & pies.  Probably like most of your Thanksgivings. 

The Renwick       

But the week wasn't all about turkey and muffins.  Before everyone else arrived at my sister's, M & I ducked out for a spectacular day in Washington, a city we've spent a lot of time in since Molly & K both went to college there.  First stop, the Renwick Museum, where we saw the current show, Going West! Quilts and Community.  I'd wanted to see this exhibit since I read that it had been curated by Sandi Fox, author of two of my favorite books on 19th century quilts, Small Endearments and For Purpose and Pleasure.  Well worth the trip, I'd recommend the show if you're going to be in D.C. before the close of the show in mid-January.  Sadly (for you,) no photos allowed.  The show's companion book does include all of the show quilts (and more) with accompanying essays on over fifty quilts brought to or made in Nebraska in the late nineteenth century.

Next stop, the National Gallery.  I tend not to check beforehand what special shows are scheduled here because I know I can always enjoy a few hours wandering the permanent galleries.  I never made it to those on Tuesday, though.  When I saw the Edward Hopper show advertised in the lobby, I headed over to the East Building, tout de suite.

Again, a wonderful show (a good review here) which will be in Washington until January 21, 2008, after which it will travel to Chicago.  (Glad I caught it last week as it's looking like I may never get to Chicago. *sigh*)  Over recent years, I've marveled at the ingenuity of museum gift shop staff in developing product tie-ins to blockbuster shows.  I thought I'd seen it all until I came across this display of cloche style hats in the Nat'l Gallery gift shop.

One more enthusiastic recommendation...and you don't need to travel to the Capitol to see it!  The day after Thanksgiving always starts out somewhat lazily for us, with people slowly emerging from sleeping areas throughout the morning, sort of hungover from the all-day visiting, eating and playing of the holiday.  Conversation eventually gets around to *what are we doing today?* and this year we agreed on movies, two at the same theater, to accommodate different tastes and ages.  I joined my nieces at Enchanted, the new Disney flick about which I knew nothing.  Highly recommend!!  Drawing from the classic Disney princess story theme while concurrently poking fun at it, it starts out animated but quickly moves to live action, set in New York City.  Despite its predictable outcome, the film is clever, funny and perfectly cast.  Find a kid and head to the theater...it's the first film I can recall attending where the audience burst into spontaneous applause at the end.  Even RottenTomatoes is giving it a 93 today! 

Gobble, gobble

Wouldn't these make great Thanksgiving napkins?  It's not going to happen this year, or any year, honestly...too pretty to wipe your mouth on.  These are wonderful tenugui, cotton hand towels that I picked up on my recent visit to Japan.  Although they can be found everywhere around the country, this company prints the most lovely designs which seem to change seasonally.  (Or at least the selection at my favorite shop does.)  The towels are very popular and there are several books published in Japan on various uses of tenugui including sewing/craft projects.  In doing some quick interent research for this post, I found this website...abunai!! (Danger!)  Look at the pears. *swoon*  Needless to say, with our last-minute travel prep to attend to, I quickly retreated and left many webpages unvisited.  But I did bookmark.  Heh.

We'll be heading out soon but I promised to share another muffin recipe before I left.  Of all of my baking, I made these last and the house still smells wonderful.  (They'd be delicious served warm with homemade applesauce.) 

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and, if it applies, safe travels for you and your families!

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Gingerbread Muffins

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup packed lt. brown sugar
• 1 TBSP ground ginger
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda, sieved
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly butter 12 muffin cups. (I use paper liners.)

2. Combine flour, brown sugar, ginger, baking powder, baking soda and cloves in a large bowl; stir until well blended.

3. In separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, molasses, oil and egg.  Add to dry ingredients all at once and fold until evenly moistened.  Do not over mix. (The key to good muffins!)

4. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake until edges start to pull from sides and a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 20 minutes or so.

5. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

6. Try to resist!

What time is it?

Time to put aside the knitting and sewing for a while!  As I've mentioned before, I'm the muffin aunt at our annual Thanksgiving family get-together, which spans several days.  Although the output always looks impressive, I try to do them all at one time, assembly line fashion.  One good afternoon usually does it (into the evening, occasionally.)  Eight dozen muffins and a couple of pans of dessert bars.  I considered baking today (I freeze everything before we go), but my shopping trip this morning took a little longer than expected, so tomorrow's the day.  Stay away from my kitchen...there'll be a definite fog of flour dust in the air!   

In past Thanksgiving posts, I've shared the recipes for the big family favorites, almond apricot muffins and chocolate chip muffins.  (A minimum of two dozen each is required, by popular demand.)  But it wouldn't be Thanksgiving breakfast without an assortment so this year I'll make gingerbread, crunchy oat & cranberry and date nut muffins, too.  I'll have to think about which of those to share this year while I'm baking.  What's your specialty at Thanksgiving?

Edited to add:  It never fails. The realtor just called to make a showing appointment...for tomorrow afternoon.  Maybe I can squeeze in a few batches of the most aromatic muffins beforehand. *sigh*

Put down your needles and step away from the mitten

I thought I may have met my stranded knitting waterloo the other night, sitting in the midst of a nest of tangled yarn, all strands leading to the project in my hands.  Continuing into the body of the mitten, the long floats required by the new patterning were slowing me down and the more I knitted, the more I was losing my rhythm.  Arghh.  Why did I choose one of the most complicated designs to knit first?  I put it down and worked on squares for Kay.

I seriously contemplated stopping there at the cuff and knitting a plain stocking below for holiday use.  But it nagged at me.  I've been lusting over Latvian mittens for years and if I stopped on this project, I might lose my steam.  The next morning, another lightbulb moment in the shower...rechart the mitten body with a different, easier pattern.  (I'm going to electrocute myself in there one of these days!)  After poring over mitten pics, I found a small motif that actually was a repeat of the center of the snowflake in the cuff.  A few little mockup color studies later and I had decided on a simple, 8 square repeat.

Can you believe these great little graph cards M left on the kitchen counter this week?  Talk about timely!!  Much better than a floppy piece of paper to work from.  Something similar could be made by mounting graph paper onto a small piece of cardstock.  Or you could make friends with an engineer.

I couldn't wait to try the new plan.  I tore back several rows to the cuff pattern and started working from the new chart.  And promptly realized that despite its simplicity, it has the same long floats and three-color rows.  Sheesh. 

I, however, had benefited from some time away from the mitten while I puzzled out a solution, and picking it up with a new attitude made all the difference.  No problemo now!  And I like the new little pattern better than the original.

       

Be there or be square

Calm down, I'm still knitting the mitten.  We're striving for some balance in life, right?  It's been too long since I've contributed to any charity knitting so when Kay put out the call last week for 4" sock yarn squares, I knew this was the project I'd been waiting for.  Aside from benefiting the most worthy of causes, Oliver's Fund, the knitting can practically be done blindfolded and uses up all of those sock yarn leftovers that have been accumulating in the bottoms of project bags.  This is my waiting-for-the-tea-water-to-boil project, sitting in a basket on the kitchen counter, easy to pick up for a few quick rows at a time.  (Great for those long phone-chats-with-sisters, too.) 

In the 'she who giveth, receive-ith' category, while digging around in a dark hole looking for sock yarn scraps, I found this fairly recent issue of Piecework, somehow separated from the rest of my knitting library.  Not only had I forgotten about it, but in the sad tradition of so many magazine junkies, I don't think I ever even read it.  Is My Face Red!  (That was the name of an 'embarrassing moments' column in some pre-teen mag I used to read back in the day.  Anyone remember the magazine?  It's not a contest...just a brain-freeze moment.)

Anyhow, after quick perusal I could see that I needn't have spent all of that time fiddling with mitten calculations last week.  The cover mitten, pattern included, is a women's medium, knit in Finullgarn, charted as shown but perfect as a basic pattern in which to plug your favorite ethnic colorwork.  Additionally, there are articles on historical Estonian mittens, other Scandinavian knitting traditions and profiles of several contemporary knitters working in these styles.  Although the Piecework website seems to be out of stock, Nordic Fiber Arts has the issue in stock, if anyone's interested.  I know that many libraries carry Piecework in their periodicals, as well.

Ok all of you sockknitters out there...go over to Mason-Dixon Knitting and get the details. (A few more questions answered here.)  Any number will be most appreciated and they couldn't be easier to make and send...just pop them in an envelope!  Knitting stamps not required.

USA 2007 holiday stamps

Smitten

So, the question of the day is, how many times must I relearn the same lesson?  The obvious answer seems to be, *many*.  The last time I mentioned my mitten saga here, I was busy poring over books, knitting swatches and taking notes on gauge results & pattern calculations, all in preparation to knit myself some Latvian mittens, the final frontier in my patterned knitting adventures.  I have small hands (5 1/2" wrist) and my challenge was trying to attain a gauge small enough to make wearable mittens that would still have that dense, multicolor patterning that takes my breath away.

    

I always seem to experience my lightbulb moments in the shower.  During the day, I usually have something on in the background...radio, tv, music...but I don't sing, so perhaps the shower is the only time it's quiet enough to hear my own voice of common sense.  And indeed, several days ago, I heard it loud and clear, screaming at me, "You're doing it again. Put away the calculator and the notes and just start knitting!"  (Actually, my inner voice rightfully used some harsh expletives which really caught my attention, but have been edited out for sensitive readers.)

I cast on at the first opportunity and haven't looked back.

I did learn quite a bit from my reading research, mostly focused on these five well-thumbed-through books.  However, I've found that I'm so much more able to understand the fine points and suggestions in the books after I've started tackling a new multi-color knitting challenge.  Information that completely escaped me on first reading definitely *clicks* once I've had some experience with what's being written about.

So here's the lesson that I've learned again.  If you've always wanted to try this type of patterned knitting, cast on and start a piece for the sheer fun of it.  Without expectation of wearing it.  Get that?  Without expectation of wearing it.  If your first effort turns out perfect, great!  Go forth and multiply!  (Or at least, make its mate.)  For me however, the layers of expectation on such a first project are almost paralyzing...gauge, strand tension, color selection, pattern adaptation...all while hoping they'll fit properly!  Sheesh. 

Two years ago, I just could not manage two-color knitting with such lightweight yarns as the recommended Satakieli and Finullgarn so I practiced with worsted weight Lamb's Pride and made a Christmas stocking.  I finally attempted a mitten when the Selbuvotter book came out.  On that piece, I got the hang of working with lighter yarn, but my gauge wasn't consistent.  Feeling more confident after that, I then cast on the little bird mitten from the same book and not only maintained my gauge, but refined my ability to continue the pattern from mitten to thumb.  Another leap forward. 

Now on to Latvian knitting, which I've been lusting over for years and can't seem to put down.  Progress.

Cheddar snack

 

The schoolhouses are coming along.  What started as a small, six block project is now morphing into a small-ish nine block quilt, mostly because of those little bias plaid squares.  Need more of those!  It's gloomy and dark here today (hence, the marginal pics), a typical, blustery November afternoon, but that cheddar is throwing off its own glow, isn't it?  Actually, it's maybe one notch past cheddar, venturing into that ever mysterious *cheese food* category, a true, saturated orange overlaid with a tracery of red vining.

When I first came across this fabric, I jumped at it and took 2 yards...more than my usual stash addition.  It was immediately obvious that it was one of those colors that would spark a patchwork design, even in a small dose.  Though its design is definitely reproduction 19th century, it's subtle enough to use with a wide variety of pieced work styles.  I brought it home, washed and ironed it right away, anxious to add it to the stash.

And then I went back the next day and bought yards more.  Sometimes you have to act on gut instinct.  I still can't believe I left some on the bolt.

Coincidentally, this week Lucy posted her wonderful, in-progress Tumblers quilt, made from fabric shared by internet quilt friends from around the world.  I knew Lucy was partial to cheddar and since I had so much of it, I had to share some of my favorite with her.  Can you find it? 

And if you're more into Kaffe Fassett fabrics than repro prints, go check out Mrs. Schmenkman's recent house quilt top.  It's a winner.

Back in the saddle

Like a lot of you, I'm guessing, I've been an avid reader of magazines for years, always hungry for new ideas, continually on the hunt to feed my voracious visual appetite.  When this issue of Country Living was published in February of 1985, its cover article rang all my bells.  Colorful, graphic folk art living in a clean, uncluttered city apartment.  Over the years as I occasionally culled through my issues (alas, usually to make room for new ones,) I'd rip out favorite pages and file them for reference.  Decorating, recipes, antique quilts.  This past summer while prepping for the move, I went through them all and dumped most.  And came to a surprising conclusion.  For all of the trends I've enjoyed watching come and go, I really could have stopped with this issue.

   

I love this room!  While I'd now edit out some of the *stuff* and change out the couch and pillows, the basic premise is definitely my style.  Fresh flowers, ethnic and contemporary folk art, lots of books, rag rugs and a mix of new and antique furniture, all against a clean, light background. 

The cover photo always grabbed me, too...a view of the apartment's entryway.  That quilt and its audacious cheddar background!  How could I have resisted all of these years?

I've had a great week, tearing up the sewing room again.  And knitting, too.  Lots of evening mitten work.  Casting on, casting about.  Rip, rip, ripping.  But not what you think.  Now that I'm finally comfortable with two-color knitting, I want to really get serious about making pairs of mittens that I could actually use.  As in, would fit me.  Somewhat, at least.  And therein lies the rub.  Trying to find the right mix of stitch number, needlesize and yarn and then translating the complicated patterning (another thing I love...that wonderful, densely complicated patterning) to fit my small hands.

I've found the yarn...Finullgarn.  Wonderful color palette, a little more heft then the Satakieli (or that may just be in my head because I prefer the color range so much more.)  And since I have a hard time knitting two colors on slippery, metal dpns, I can't go any smaller than a size 0 in bamboo, wood or Inox.  So that's yarn and needles.  All week I've been playing with stitch numbers, casting on and knitting up, measuring against earlier tries, calculating, notetaking, referencing a teetering stack of mitten books.  And ripping out.  But not disappointedly...definitely in the spirit of research, which is pretty much concluded now.  (Lots to share, if there are prospective patterned mitten knitters out there who'd be interested.)  Now, on to some actual mittens!