Learning to Cable

Isn't the little coral sweater beautiful?  It's Mignon, a fabulous pattern from Loop London.  A big thanks to the wonderful ladies at In The Making for allowing me to borrow their display and window for a photo op! 

One of my knitting goals this year was to learn to cable and Robin at In The Making told me Mignon was perfect for learning and she was right!  I don't know why I thought cables were so hard but they aren't at all.  Just a little fiddly.  And Robin told me another secret too - I didn't have to have a cable needle (the store was sold out that day).  All I needed was a DPN and those I have.

The sweater was a delight to make and quick too.  This week, it will be headed to Lexington, KY for a special little girl who is scheduled to arrive in September.  The sweater has been finished for a couple of weeks but I keep putting off mailing it.  I'm so proud of it, I've been showing it off to everyone who'll look!

Here's another view, a little closer up:

The pattern is available on Ravelry or In The Making.   I used Cascade's Ultra Pima and I used just barely over one skein.   I think this is one of those good to have in your knitting aresenal patterns since it can be worn by a girl or boy, depending of course, on the color.

Reading and Knitting

Have you read Ann Shayne’s new novel, Bowling Avenue?  If not, hop on over to www.annshayne.com and check it out.  While you’re there, you can read the first chapter and get ordering information (you can also order from Books-a-Million). 

The novel is set during Nashville’s Great Flood and is about family.  Having read Mason-Dixon Knitting for years, I was familiar with Ann’s writing style.  And I was delighted to find Ann’s delightful turn of phrase and downright Southerness.  Oh, and you’ll find knitting in there too.  I found myself downright envying Ginna’s yarn stash. 

All the time I was reading, I kept thinking I should be knitting, so somewhere about half-way through Bowling Avenue, I found the perfect knit -the cowl from Churchmouse’s Easy Folded Poncho (I knit it separate from the poncho).  Round and round I knit, with my Nook propped on the arm of the sofa, pausing only to turn the page.  Before I realized it, I was finished with the book and the cowl.  It was a bit of a let down to be finished with the book (and the cowl).

In other knitting news, Mable.  I’m happy to report that it appears that both sleeves are the same length!  But I have a confession…..I’ve never sewn in sleeves so I’ve scheduled a private lesson at my LYS last Saturday morning to get some help.  Robin was a great teacher and made learning to put in sleeves fun.  

And of course, I did some shopping while I was there!  Mignon, Loop's new baby cardigan, came home with me along with some beautiful Cascade Ultra Pima.  The photo doesn't do justice at all.  The color is a beautiful, vibrant coral color (color #3767-Deep Coral).  So far, everyone's who seen it remarks on how beautiful the color is.  And the yarn is just a joy to knit.

There was a lot of talk (and some knitting) of Dull Roar's Bad Oyster in the shop and I decided that I needed to try it too so I bought the pattern and some Malabrigo Sock Yarn.

 So, there's a lot of new going on in my house.  Learning to put in sleeves, learning to make cables, and I'll be doing my first steek with Bad Oyster.  Exciting stuff, for sure.

Startitis to Overwhelmed to Sane Again

I'm sorry for the long silence ya'll.  At the beginning of May, I had a severe case of startitis which went right into being so overwhelmed that I was feeling frazzled which just made me feel frazzled in general.  Sound familiar?  Here's what I had going on:

The pink in the front is Mable, a baby sweater I'm making for a friend's new granddaugther to be.  I watched the daughter growing up so it's a pleasure to knit for her baby.  Moving on to the left is the Mohair Bias Loop.  I'm still not sure why I thought it'd be a good idea to join the Churchmouse KAL on Ravelry when I had so much other knitting going on.  Moving along is the Mitered Square Blanket.  And then Liberty.  Liberty has been languishing in my knitting bag since the end of February/first of March.  But it is becoming fairly well travelled.  It has travelled in my knitting bag to work, to Mother's hospital room, to the ER with my dad, a sacred harp singing in Nauvoo, AL, the knit shop in Cahaba Heights, and to Nashville.  I'm thinking of making a map of Liberty's travels.  And finally, the Easy Folded Poncho which just needs to be seamed.  Not shown in the picture are the two Baby Kimonos and baby hats I was making for a friend's new twin granddaughters.  The Kimonos needed seaming and ribbon closures and one hat had to be made. 

On Mother's Day weekend, I had an epiphany.  I needed to set priorities.  And the first priority was to finish the twins' kimonos and hats.  (The color isn't showing up well here but it's called Rosebud-I used Berroco Comfort)

Since setting priorities, things are going along much better. The next thing that has a deadline is Mable since baby Cadance is due at the end of this month.

By the way, I'm curious.  What are your "go-to" baby gifts?  I'm looking for mine but haven't found it so far. If I'm short on time, I make three hats in Comfort Chunky.  Right now, I'm experimenting with sweaters but I'm not sure that's gonna be it.

Sunday Dinner and a Recipe

Every Sunday, we have Sunday Dinner at my Mother and Daddy's house.  Here in the rural South, folks still call the noon meal "dinner".  Sometimes, it's just Mother, Daddy, and me and sometimes family or friends join us.  Sometimes, Mother cooks the meal, sometimes I do, and sometimes we cook it together.  But I almost always make the dessert.  Sunday before last, I made an old favorite, Cocoa Cake.  The recipe was given to me years ago by a co-worker.  She would bring it to work for covered dish dinners or just because.  She said it was her family's favorite cake and her grown children still requested it for their birthday's. (Sorry for the poor photo)

Cocoa Cake

Cake:
2 cups sugar
2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1 stick butter
1 cup water
3 teaspoons cocoa
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon soda

Frosting:
1 stick butter, melted
3 teaspoons cocoa
1 box confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
milk

Cake:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.
2.  Mix sugar, flour, and salt.  Set aside.
3.  In a saucepan, mix oil, butter, water, and cocoa.  Bring to a boil.  Add to dry ingredients.
4.  Beat eggs, buttermilk, and soda.  Add to cocoa mixture.
5.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Frosting:
1.  Mix butter, cocoa, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and salt.  Add enough milk to soften icing.

Yolanda's note:  sprinkles optional but I always add them to the top of this cake.  I love sprinkles!

Enjoy!

Attacked by Pollen

Spring is a happy time.  The weather is warmer, days are longer, and the flowers and bushes are blooming.  And in all the excitement of welcoming spring (and warmer weather), I forgot about my nemesis – pollen. This year's attack has been vicious and I’m just now feeling like I’m back among the living. 

You’d think that with three sick days off from work, several doctor appointments, and not much on my social calendar, I’d be happily knitting away.  But I just haven’t felt like knitting very much.   I did manage to finish one half done baby hat, one half done mitered square and I knit up another baby kimono.   But…..I have been reading.  A lot.  I’ve read seven or eight books and am currently reading another.  

I’ve felt better in the last couple of weeks and I’m happy to report that as of today, I've completed 23 squares for my mitered square blanket.  I’m a little worried though, that the colors won’t come together very well, that I should have planned better, and that one will need sunglasses just to look at it.  But despite these worries, I just keep pressing on and knitting squares.  Knitting those things is like eating Lays Potato Chips.  You can’t knit just one!

Off to knit another square!

Spring Is Here!

Spring has arrived here at Graves Gap Knitting!

Do Not Disturb

This week, I've all but hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on my back door after getting home from work in the evening.  Last Saturday, I snagged this copy of Downton Abbey, Series 1, The Original UK Edition at Target.  And I've been watching it EVERY evening this week.  I've been catching up since I somehow missed Series 1 when it first came on.  Well, actually I did see bits and pieces but didn't watch it through since it usually went off at 11pm and I had to be up early the next morning for work.

Anyway, I've been coming home and quickly doing my chores, and then settling down on the sofa in my jammies, a cup of Earl Grey, decaf, and my knitting.  It has been nice to be able to rewind (is that a word for DVDs?) and rewatch bits if I miss a phrase or gesture.

Someone at work who has never seen the show was asking me about it.  Where to start? This is Britist drama!  There's the superb writing, the cast, the costuming, the scenery.  And then there's all the little gestures and looks.  And then, of course, there's all the history. 

My cousin, Virginia, and I are planning a Downton Abbey Day where we'll watch Series 1 and Series 2.  I think we need to have tea and scones too. 

And finally, a big Thank You! to my local PBS station, APT, for showing Downton Abbey.