Knitting away...

It's been a beautiful weekend here in Columbus. I love that it's perfect sweater weather right now. Fall is my favourite for colours too - you can wear more grey, black, browns and dark blue without being accused of being depressing.

D and I have been enjoying the local arts scene - we heard the Columbus Symphony perform Beethoven's 9th symphony (chorale) on Friday night. I haven't been to all that many symphonies, but I thought it was amazing. The conductor was so enthusiastic I thought he would fall off his podium at several points. The Ohio Theatre itself is a gorgeous old venue that's really worth a visit. Afterward, we went to the Elevator Brewery & Restaurant for drinks - also a great spot to check out. It's huge inside - you'd never guess looking in from the street.

Saturday was shopping day, which I always enjoy because of the new observations to be made about food products and how they're different from Toronto (e.g. enormous selection of instant potato products - including instant mashed sweet potatoes - as well as an entire aisle of frozen french fries and pizza). D enjoyed browsing the wine aisle and found a bottle of Ruffino Chianto for $7, which is usually sold for about $14 in Toronto. Yes, alcohol is cheap here. Good for hosting parties.

Inbetween all our socializing and errand running, I have managed to make progress on the khaki jacket. The back and right front piece are done, and I'm just staring the left front panel. I'm a bit worried about the amount of flare at the bottom - hopefully it won't be too floppy once it's seamed up. The other problem I noticed is that the double moss stitches seemed to be a tighter gauge than the stockinette portion (I was probably pulling too much) but maybe it will even out after blocking. I have seen some really nice versions out there like this one and this one - seeing theirs is a good kick in motivating me to hurry up on mine.

I also started another pair of socks...they will be more Monkeys:

Bunny and Bear

Yarn: Bernat Satin
Needles: US8
Pattern: Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Happy Weekend! This week flew by rather quickly and brought a major change in weather - wool sweaters, jackets and socks were needed. Wasn't I just eating turkey in a sundress 5 days ago?

Thanks for all the luck wished for my interview. It went well and I think they really liked me, so we'll wait and see. It's all dependent on whether I get licensure or not (a whole other story), but it was a good experience and good practice for my interviewing skills. I'm not sure the position is the best fit for me, but it's nice that someone was interested in my resume.

Last night and today were spent finishing the backs of the dining room chairs, so I won't post another entry about those. Let's just say that I'm happy with how they turned out and that burning my palm with hot glue was a minor sacrifice.

I'll leave you with another completed project for now until I have more new stuff to share. Here is bunny and bear from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (love this book). The bunny now lives with Owen, and bear is still looking for a home. I think I know who he will go to.

Fish Pie

Well, today was a completely unproductive craft day. But productive on the work front, which is a good thing. I left the house this morning with D and walked to Cup O' Joe to start my 'work day' - doing a little prepping for my interview. Admittedly it was quite a lot of fun and I realized that I am really looking forward to working again (seriously). The prepping was only supposed to take a couple hours at most, but ended up consuming my entire day because I had to research all these things that are different in Ohio than in Toronto, legislation and licensure-wise. I've got it mostly figure out, I think. I guess I'll find out tomorrow!

On that note, since there is no new progress to show, I am posting my fish pie. I made it a while ago and it was so cute (I realize this might sound quite awful, describing food that is shaped to look like the food inside as cute, but really, it is) I had to photograph it. The recipe is from the Foodnetwork. And I only made the fish part, not the sauce and potatoes. They look tasty though.

The Happy Hostess Apron

Wow, two posts in two days! I suddenly have time on my hands again and I haven't even gone to my interview yet. I will prepare for it on Wednesday, which means today I can craft some more!
Last Friday I saw the cutest hostess apron in the Short North, and thought, what a great idea for my friend S, who was hosting Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. It was made out of a thin cotton material, like quilting fabric, in two contrasting pattern/colours. It was also ridiculously priced considering it was really just a rectangle with a waistband attached to it. It did have a nifty tag that really sold me on the merits of a hostess apron.

So, as any handy crafter would do, I decided to make my own version of it. When I was picking up supplies for my upholstery class, I spotted some really cute, colourful prints and bought a half yard of each (I was tempted to get a several other prints but decided I should probably stick to one apron for now). I have been on a big orange and pink kick lately.

Pattern: None really - measurements taken from an apron I already had.
Fabric: Cotton canvas decorator fabric, 1/2 yard each (Braemore Designs)
Source: Fabric Farm Interiors

I didn't take measurements when I was making this, so this is really more of a general guide.

Instructions:

Cut out a rectangle for main apron bit, wide enough so it wraps a little around your hips. Mine was about 27-28" I think. Hem the sides and bottom.

Cut out a 2-inch wide strip about 80" long of contrasting fabric for the waist and ties. I had to cut 3 strips of just over 26" and attach them all together. Fold in half, right sides together, and stitch a 1/2 inch seam around each end, leaving a big gap in the middle (about 27" or a little bigger than the width of your apron). Turn the ends right side out and iron the whole band flat. Now iron a 1/2 inch seam on the gap edges so you'll have a guide for the next part.

Then you attach the waist band like bias binding (here's an explanation)- match the right side of the band with the right side of the apron and stitch a 1/4 inch seam. Open it out and iron, then fold it so that the waist band wraps around the main apron. Then you do a 'stitch in the ditch' to attach the back of the band to the apron. I added a zig zag top stitch along the whole band and then attached a pocket (this may seem like a dumb comment but make sure the pocket is big enough for your hand).

You're done!

Minimalist Cardigan

Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan by Ruthie Nussbaum
Source: Interweave Knits Fall 2007
Yarn: Plymouth Galway Worsted,3 skeins (~650 yds)
Needles: US 8

I finished this cardigan a couple weeks ago and am only getting around to posting it now. It's been far too hot to wear even a short-sleeved cardigan, much less a densely knit one. I really enjoyed knitting this one - well written instructions and simple moss stitch that can be done while watching last season's Desparate Housewives back to back.

I made this out of stash yarn, which meant only 650 yds, hence the lack of 3/4 sleeves (I tend to buy yarn without having a any sense of how much I should buy, or what I will use it for). I'm mostly happy with the fit, and the parts I'm not satisfied with are really my own doing. I think I should have used the suggested yarn or something finer (given that I am a tight tight knitter) or knit at a looser gauge (but that would have required major pattern recalculating) - my gauge was exactly as the pattern asked, but produced a fairly dense (and warm) fabric which causes the whole sweater to rise up and down when I lift my arms. Oh well. The collar was cleverly done - sewn up with a Kitchener stitch at the back of the neck. More projects to come!

Orange Swirl Weekend

Hello again! Did you miss me? No posts since Tuesday, and that's because I actually got busy the rest of the week. Most excitingly, I got called for my first Ohio job interview on Wednesday! It was a great morale booster, a small connection back to the professional world.

On the craft front, I've moved on to another project. Knitting took a back seat this week. After we arrived in Columbus I decided to recover the dining room chairs for a different look (we bought a modern-looking white couch which made the chairs look very out-of-place).

Our dining chairs are quite old, I am told, and have seen several owners in their life. Here is one of them before the chair makeover:

On Thursday and Friday, I spent time stripping the old fabric off and found some interesting things under all the staples:

Some interesting brown corduroy, some light green vinyl...

Some straw (!) and fleecy cottony padding held down with little nails.

I had my upholstery class this morning at Fabric Farm Interiors (dining room slip-seats). This class was a great introduction to simple upholstery. The instructor was incredibly helpful. It was fun, informative, but hard work! The instructor made it look super easy and when I got to practicing, it looked rather...lumpy. Timewise, I did not expect it to take me TWO HOURS to cover two chair seats. Lumpy ones at that. I'm handy, I'm crafty, what the heck? Anyhow, I managed to finish by noon. Lucky for me, the instructor had done my other two seats as class demos. And although the class was only for seats, he was kind enough to write out a step-by-step plan for how to deal with the chair backs too. Fantastic.

I didn't take any pictures during the upholstery class because I didn't want to look silly, so you'll have to live without seeing the new insides.

Anyhow, here is D attaching a seat:

The post-makeover chair. Isn't it pretty? There is something Klimt-esque about this fabric that I really like.

After my class, D and I went to the North Market to pick up some veggies and have a quick lunch. We spotted a fabulous Harvest Pumpkin vest (can you spot it?) in the veggie stand:

D says it made his day.

It's Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday, and in recent years D & I have always enjoyed delicious turkey-fest at his parents place. I think being away from Canada (yes, 6 hours over the border makes all the difference) has me more excited and needy about having a turkey dinner with friends (some sort of identity crisis thing according to D). Happily, we will be having yummy Thankgiving dinner at S & J's tomorrow: a Springfield, Ohio free-range bird with all the fixins. The only thing that is a bit disconcerting is the temperature - it's a humid 90 degrees here, and I'm wearing a sundress with 45 spf sunblock on in October. Something's just not right about that.

Happy turkey weekend!

Monkey Toes

Pattern: Monkey
Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool
Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm)

Hello! Not much crafting news to post about since the birthday cake, besides starting the left front panel of the khaki jacket. So, today I am sharing a sock project I finished earlier this year.

This is the now famous Monkey pattern by Cookie A. knit with Fleece Artist Sea Wool. Last time I was on Ravelry, about 1800 people had made these socks! I can see why - these were a fun and fast knit, and I loved loved loved knitting with this yarn. Fleece Artist makes the most beautiful handpainted yarns ever - rich gorgeous colours to oggle over. yum. I would buy a skein in every colour if I could. And they're Canadian (based in Nova Scotia) which makes them even better!