Natalie Knits

It has been a long time since my last post, and I wish I had been better about keeping up with what has been going on. May was overwhelming because I had to finish up the academic year and my prelim portfolio for my program. This included putting together a syllabus for a class I want to teach, writing lectures, and revising papers on the theory and methodology in my area of psychology. Luckily, I found out last week that I passed, and the prelim is now officially behind me. I needed the good news last week, too-- June didn't quite turn out the way I had expected, because my grandmother got sick and was admitted to the hospital, and last week she passed away. As a result, I was in Cleveland quite a bit, and then back in her hometown in Pennsylvania. I got back to Ann Arbor this past Sunday, and I'm still settling back in. It feels like I had been gone for a year, and I'm glad to get back to my work and knitting.
It hadn't really been an occasion for picture taking (or celebrating, though I did have a lovely birthday celebration with my family last week). But I did have one funny knitting related story to share. I've been working off and on for a while now on another scribble lace scarf, with a deep violet (almost eggplant colored) mohair yarn and a shiny green, brown, orange, and white yarn making up the scribbles. When my grandma was in the hospital and my family was staying with her all day and night, it would get a little rough sitting in the room for so many hours not doing anything. I finally decided to pull out my project and get a few rows done, and looked for an empty chair in her room to sit in. All the chairs were filled, so I sat in the extra wheelchair in the corner of the room. I didn't think much of it, but my uncle Joel saw me sitting in the wheelchair and knitting, and cracked up-- he thought I looked just like a little old lady and offered to wheel me around so I could show everyone what I was working on. I suppose it was a funny sight, and we all needed a laugh. I did make some progress on the scarf, though it has a ways to go. I've found it hard to knit such fine, slippery yarn with the big, dull bamboo circular needles. Slow and hard, but worth it in the end-- I love the scribble lace I made last year for my mom, and can really picture myself wearing this one in the fall.

I'm back home after a long weekend away visiting family in Pennsylvania. The weekend involved lots of driving, but it was all worth it. I will have more details about that soon-- including the amazing pottery shop we visited and the knitting I got done in the car.

During the many hours on the road I had time to think about what I've been working on, and how easy it is to let time slip away without documenting my progress. In the last year I've made 4 sweaters (two for myself, and two as gifts), a number of scarves, handspun yarn, and other fiber-related projects. I haven't been good about blogging (or ravelry-ing) these projects, and this week I am going to catch up on posting about past work. There are so many interesting and inspirational things I see that I think would be perfect for the blog, but too often I'll just start to write a post in my head, and it never materializes on the blog. So my July 4th resolution (I can make one of those, right? Who needs to wait for January 1st??) is to post more regularly, and document my projects and ideas in "real" time.

Without further ado, here is the sweater I made over spring break (modeled by my sister, Olivia):

Pattern: Drops 103-1 Jacket in Eskimo
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky

This sweater was so fun to make-- it went very fast, and was simple in design. I swatched before casting on so that I knew how to adjust the pattern for the yarn I used. I find that if I swatch (and block the swatch) then I rely pretty much on measurements and calculations for size. So far I would say I'm 4 for 4-- each sweater I've made has fit the intended wearer very well! I'll definitely chalk some of that up to luck :)
I plan to post more pictures of the sweater on ravelry, so check it out over there for more details-- my ravelry name is "NatalieS."

This past weekend we took a mini-roadtrip through Ohio and Pennsylvania to visit family. It was a wonderful trip, even though we were on the road a lot we packed a lot of fun in. First we headed to central PA to the home of my sister Lindsay's future in-laws. They have an amazing house in the mountains that they practically built themselves. Lindsay's fiancee, Matt's birthday was on the 4th, and they had a party, complete with beerpong and lawn games, and camping.

Matt's parents also have a small barn with a goat, Rudy. Simon didn't know what to make of Rudy-- we've never heard him bark so much!!

The highlight of the trip for me, though, was the stop at Penn's Creek Pottery. The building is an old water mill that has been converted to a studio, and the pottery there was to die for.

I was so inspired by this color combo that when I got home, I went right to the studio in Ann Arbor to glaze some of my bisqueware in a similar pattern. On my pots I used nutmeg (a rich, tan color) and Daria's floating blue, my favorite deep blue. I can't wait to see how they come out!

On the way home J, Simon and I stopped in to see my grandpa, the 5th was his 83rd birthday!
I also managed to make some progress on a certain someone's christmas sweater on the trip-- pictures of that to follow soon!

This is the Minimalist Cardigan from the fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. I used Cascade 220 for the project, and I think it was the perfect yarn. It was easy to work with and held up well, but still had a nice drape to it. This was a gift for my sister, Lindsay (who is modeling the sweater in the photos) for her birthday. I meant to have it done for her birthday, January 1st, but it didn't quite work out that way-- so I hand delivered it to her in Boston when I went to visit in the spring.

This week I stopped by one of my local yarn shops, Busy Hands, and found that they had the most luscious yarn on sale-- Malabrigo Silky Merino. 50 grams, 150 yards, 51% silk, 49% merino, silky, soft, warm-- it is THE perfect yarn. And the colors are to die for-- lots of bright colors, though I gravitated toward blues and greens.

The yarn shop owner told me that Malabrigo has had a fire in their warehouse, and that it will be months before they are up and running again at full speed. So sad! There's more info about it on their website, www.malabrigoyarn.com
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The colors I have above are (from left to right): Madre Perla, Green Gray, Azul Azul, Acorn, Machu Picho, and Smoke.

I have visions of a clapotis, and numerous cowls (inspired by Lolly) and arm warmers, particularly as christmas gifts. This yarn is so gorgeous, I can't wait to get to work on it-- and in the meantime, I'm happy to just sit and look at it!

This has been a long week-- I am trying to finish my thesis in the next few weeks, and I just finished the latest round of revisions. To take a break, I was catching up over on Mason Dixon knitting, and they had linked to the best distraction I've seen in a while-- a website that takes your photos and puts them into their template to make a "new" picture.
I am a big fan of the old fashioned ones! (and, as always, of Simon!)

Finally, I made one for my friend Molly. She has 3 cats, and loves them dearly-- but I do have photographic evidence that she's cuddled up to my dog. Caught red-handed!