Yarn Along

Yarning along with Ginny, sharing a current knit and current read...

I was so sure that I'd have my Textured Tunic finished by this week, but I ended up taking the Omelet shawl with me on our little road trip across the state for a wedding over the weekend instead of the sweater. I did make great progress on the shawl, but I haven't done much on the sweater because of that. I did get a little time yesterday to get pretty close to finishing that second sleeve, but I need another hour or so to finish it.


And then comes the seaming.


I'm a seaming wimp, I have to admit. I can do it, but I seriously do just about anything to avoid seams. I'm trying not to do that this time around. It's only sleeves right? And then weaving ends and adding buttons.


I'm reading a few things right now (Naamah's Blessing and Patchwork Style) but I'm also back to my beloved mitten book. I started looking at mittens back in June but never actually got to them. This time I'm starting to think more seriously towards fall. The boys need a few pair each and I definitely need some... now to decide how much color work I'm actually interested in doing for little guys that may just lose their mittens as fast as I can knit them...

Becoming a Knitter

I've been asked a few times about knitting- how to get started, how to learn new techniques, how to learn to knit lace- and I thought I'd tell you a little about how I got started.

I've been knitting since the fall of 2008. I kind of tried it out once or twice before that but because it didn't work right the very first time I tried it I abandoned it. Maybe I should admit here that I'm a recovering perfectionist. I've been known to be a habitual hobby starter and not so much a hobby stick-with-it-er due to that darned perfectionism, but when I tried again in 2008 I was determined to really learn.

I started with Knitting for Dummies and decided that I didn't want to "make" anything- that set my expectations too high for something I was just learning. So I cast on a certain amount of stitches (maybe 40 or 50) and went for it, knitting row after row after row until it felt automatic.

Then came the endless purling- which I was convinced I would never be good at.

After that I tried a couple of dishcloths- a knitting friend recommended that I try that next and while it was good to learn the yo (yarn-over), I wouldn't recommend using cotton yarn that soon. Your materials really do matter while you're learning and cotton isn't very forgiving. I also turned out a few patterned dishcloths that required knitting AND purling on the SAME ROW and I thought I'd die before finishing one properly.

It was at this stage that my husband said, "Aren't hobbies supposed to be relaxing?" as I muttered to myself and ripped out mistakes only to re-knit and have to re-rip...

But I was determined, so I went forward.

I made a few little baby things, a few projects here and there, and then I read my first Elizabeth Zimmermann book (Knitting Without Tears) and felt like a light really went on. I can't explain it fully, but it changed the way I was thinking about knitting in general:

You can always take it back out if you make a mistake.

If it doesn't work you can just try again.

What a relief! This informs my attitude on pretty much everything crafty now.

So I went for it- mittens, cardigans, sweaters, shawls, scarves- and I know that somehow I'll sort out what I need to know as I learn more about knitting. There have been certain projects that have really stretched me as a knitter and helped move me in a certain direction, but I certainly want you all to know before I start waxing poetic about my knitting knowledge- I've learned everything I know from books, ravelry, youtube videos and the videos on knittinghelp.com. I'm soooo not an expert, just a girl who seriously loves to knit and doesn't mind feeling a little dumb while I learn something new.

So I'm planning to answer some of those knitting questions I've been asked later in the week. If you want to ask something please comment with your question so I can include it in that post!


For more on becoming a knitter:

Getting Started (Part 1)
Getting Started (Part 2)

Strawberry Lemon Preserves

I have to say first that this was the most yummy smelling thing we've made in the last several weeks. My kitchen still smells like strawberries and lemons.

These strawberry lemon preserves were made following a recipe from Canning for a New Generation. I really love this book. Easy to follow directions, recipes organized by season, and it includes recipes for vegetable canning, not just fruit. I have a real thing for cookbooks organized seasonally (Rustic Fruit Desserts got me stuck on cookbooks organized this way) and that makes certain cookbooks trump others in my heart.

Looks like we needed to try to get just a little more foam off the top...

Kristen asked how we were canning our strawberries this year. The plain strawberry jam we canned is freezer jam with a packaged pectin. This is the way we've been making our jam for the last few summers, but I've been reading more about canning without a packaged pectin, and now I'm leaning that direction. The strawberry lemon preserves are the first fruit I've canned without packaged pectin and it was pretty simple.


We have a lot of plans for canning without a packaged pectin this summer, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Yarn Along

Yarning along with Ginny again this week...

Back again this week, this time without contortionist photos. I gave Ender a quick talk this morning about how to aim the camera, stood him on a chair and told him to go for it. Not too bad, right?


This is the Textured Tunic, totally unblocked, fresh from being wadded up in a pile while I work on the sleeves. We've been watching all the Harry Potter movies over the last several days in preparation for HP7 part 2 on Friday so I've been working on the sweater every time we watch. We watched HP6 tonight and I made it about 3/4 of the way through that first sleeve.

And yes, my extra skeins are IN my project bag this week. No "out of yarn" emergencies in the last 7 days. We'll see how long until I have to reset the counter.


Reading wise? All I can tell you is what's on my nightstand waiting to be read.


The past week has been a bit of a blur between the birthday party, a husband down with bronchitis, all the strawberrry canning, a child down with pneumonia, and a few organizing projects I should NOT have started while we were in the middle of all that other stuff.


On my nightstand waiting is Naamah's Blessing and Patchwork Style. I've started them both but haven't gotten far. I'll get back to reading after getting through this work week and finishing up a few projects.

Strawberry Jam

Our kitchen has been quite busy the last few days!

We were finally able to get our hands on some strawberries this past weekend and we took the opportunity to restock our supply of strawberry jam. Last year we made 8 half pints thinking that it would be enough since Ender and I are the only serious jam eaters in the house, but Ezra joined us in the jam eating and we gave a few away... so we ran out around February even after trying to be careful in how we used it.

So this year we made jam plans.

And not just more strawberry jam. We checked out a few different books from the library and I ended up buying Canning for a New Generation. Ender and I have been through that book many many times in the last two weeks and let me tell you- that boy has serious plans.

:: Plain strawberry jam

:: Strawberry lemon preserves

:: Strawberry rubarb jam

... and plans for blackberry and cherries and peaches if we should come across good ones.

We spent Saturday making the plain strawberry jam:

And ended up with 7 half pints and 1 pint, just because I ran out of half pint jars.

Total miscalculation on my part.

We're planning another10-12 half pints of jam from the strawberries because as much as Ender and I love to eat jam I think we love giving it away just as well.