Ply Away!

Today was session two of Caroline Learns to Spin, where I learned how to ply. Here is the evolution of my very first skein...
Singles (wrapped on tennis balls)

Plied on the spindle

Me holding the skein

and the wrapped skein...


It came out very even, and is 40 yards, 7 wpi. We plied it using a variation of a method my mom learned from Jenny Bakridges. Instead of placing the singles in flower pots and pulling them from there, we constructed a makeshift version with boxes weighted down with books (easier to do in a library than flowerpots!) and put the singles in there to pull from. Think I've got the hang of it now... Thanks Jenny for the method! And thanks to my mom for lesson #2!

Damn Cat update

Ok, so my husband found the other ball of my spinning under the bed. I knit up a little square of acrylic for Max to play with instead, but he is not interested. If he got into my stash, he would probably help himself the nice hand dyed yarns, or anything with silk or cashmere in it. At least he has good taste.
Speaking of taste, we are making Green Chili Stew for dinner. Every September, a friend of ours sends a box of hatch chilies fresh from New Mexico, and Scott roasts and freezes them for year long use. Doesn't this look yummy?

As a foodie who appreciates the best of both high and low brow, sometimes I get cravings for things like Velveeta & Rotel Queso dip. Velveeta is not part of my typical shopping list, so I asked a young lady at the store where I could find it. Her response was "Velveeta... Is that an imported cheese?" Oh boy...
Since socks are on my list for things to work on this year, I indulged in some stash enhancement at Pins and Needles today. I'm excited to start on my pink socks...

Damn Cat!

This is Max, one of our two cats

He looks like a sweet cat, but don't be fooled. He has a thing for fiber, and it is starting to cause some problems. Let's document the history...
Sometime around New Years, Max discovered two balls of Qiviut on the dining room table and carried them around the house while we were asleep. I found them (fortunately intact) in my husband's office and our bedroom. Just for the record, these two rooms are nowhere near the dining room. The Qiviut is now safely stored in my craft room.
Episode two occured about a week later when Max found some Frog Tree Alpaca and decided it would be good to wind it, spiderweb style, around the entire house. I'm sure it can still be used, but it could take hours to untangle it...
The latest episode was discovered today, while taking stock of my recent spinning and getting things together for my plying lesson with my mom tomorrow. I discovered that Max had now taken a ball of singles and adeptly hidden it somewhere. So instead of two of these, I have one...

If this cat had opposable thumbs, he'd be quite a fiber artist.

Crocheting is hard!

This weekend, i finished piecing together my silk sweater from Luxury Knitting.

I've been working on this since April, on and off, but the hardest part has been crocheting the trim around the edges. I'm still working on the fringe - crocheting is not a natural act for me, and takes so much concentration! I'll stick with knitting. The sweater is knit in Prism plied silk in Antique. The fringe is Prism Chenille Silk.

Another friend had a baby this weekend so the latest round of hat and booties is going out the door. These are the patterns from my LYS in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

Now it's back to crocheting the fringe...

Bugs

I seem to have caught a nasty bug. So has my husband. I have caught a stomach virus, and my husband has caught the syndrome of the need to watch sports on tv. Its unclear when exactly Scott's virus began (mine began on Sunday), but I've been noticing for the past few weeks, Sunday bring the drone of "i want to watch football". Interestingly enough, Scott demonstrated no interest in football when we were dating or engaged. Perhaps it is related to our ridiculously large television - it even makes me want to have a superbowl party (well, not enough to actually have one, but almost). I take no issue with watching college basketball, but this football thing has thrown me for a loop. What's next? Golf?
My days at home have given me some time to do some spinning. However, I've found that crafting while ill can lead to disappointing results, so no pictures today!

The Slanket

A few months ago, I saw the Slanket on Daily Candy. It seemed so cool - a blanket with sleeves, so you can use your arms but still keep warm. Ideal for knitters, soduku players, etc. who are always cold (i.e. me). After my ongoing commentary about the coolness of the Slanket concept, my MIL sent me one for Hannukah and it arrived this week. It is just as fantastic as I imagined - perfect for sitting on the couch, staying toasty and knitting. I'm not sure it'll work with spinning, but my spinning is in such nascent stages, I could be totally wrong. So, for any fellow knitters who also get so cold that they need a sweater in the freezer section of the grocery store, consider this a slanket recommendation.

Caroline learns to Spin!

When my mom and I went to Rhinebeck in October, I acquired a lot of roving. A lot. Romney. Merino. Merino with stuff like Silk, Angora... (and accidently Merino with Acrylic). Undyed roving, dyed roving. You name it, I got it (or more accurately, my mother got it for me).
Now, this isn't unusual for many people who go to the Sheep and Wool Festival. However, for someone who had only recently expressed a mild interest in spinning, it was probably a bit much. For a few days, I experimented and ended up creating a minor disaster using my lovely top whorl spindle and some romney. Then I gave up, because clearly I had no idea what I was doing.
But on Sunday my mom and I had Spinning Lesson #1...
Here is mom teaching me how to attenuate the fleece











And here is some of my first spinning, when I let go of the roving at an inopportune moment and it all got stuck together...

My mom lent me another spindle, and I got started on something with some color. It's not even at all, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it...

Big Loser

I'm not one for resolutions. If it's time for a change, it's time for a change - no need to wait until New Years. However, right now happens to be time for a change, and it coincides with the time of year when lots of people make changes. After a honeymoon during which I indulged in every kind of turkish delight possible, including the better part of an entire lamb (ok, well I'm not sure, but its probably a fair estimation) and another six months of enjoying all sorts of food made using all our registry loot and fairly inactive life, its about time to start eating with some discipline and getting my tush back to the gym. I've rejoined weight watchers online, and am participating in the biggest loser contest at my gym at work. With some work, hopefully I can get back to my pre-wedding buff shape...and fit back into some items of my wardrobe that are now just decorations for my closet since they are way too small! Too bad knitting doesn't count as exercise...

Happy New Year!

For the past few years, we have been celebrating New Years with a fantastic dinner with a few friends. The annual indulgence is organized by my husband's best friend, and we enjoy amazing wines and food, and everyone gets to cook, bake, etc. This year's highlight was a bottle of 1985 Leoville Barton - yum. My contribution was an apricot souffle with a bittersweet chocolate sauce from last week's New York Times. I'm getting into souffles lately, having made a bittersweet chocolate souffle back in November. Next on the list is fig souffle, which is something I had a number of years ago and would love to recreate...
On Saturday, we stopped by my mom's house, and she lent me a few knitting books and three DVDs. Who knew there were knitting DVDs? The books are Simple Socks Plain and Fancy, Knitting Vintage Socks and Cool Socks, Warm Feet. The DVDs are from Lucy Neatby's Sock Techniques 1 & 2, and Knitting Essentials 2. I'll post some reviews in the next few weeks. Its great having a mom who is a librarian and a fiber person, because she has all sorts of references for knitting and spinning! Of course, if it takes a while to return them, I may have an overdue fine to pay!

Commissioned Work

We just returned from a few days in Dallas visiting Scott's family, specifically his mom, sister and brother-in-law and our nephew. One of my favorite things about traveling is the opportunity to visit different yarn stores. My wonderful Mother-in-law, knowing my interest in (or perhaps obsession with?) all things fiber, had scouted out an excellent yarn store, The Woolie Ewe. Huge selection of all sorts of stuff! Here is my stash enhancement...

Our trip to the YS was spurred by a request from our nephew for fingerless gloves in the colors of the Atlanta Falcons. Pretty cool request from a six year old! Here he is modeling a semi-finished glove...

These are made using Cascade 220 on a size 7 needle (5 sts/in), using the pattern from Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. Our nephew consulted on the design, and implored me to finish my dinner quickly so I could come knit some more. He is really excited to get the finished pair in the mail next week! Such enthusiasm!
Oh, and my MIL also gave me a super cool book for Hannukah - Alterknits. I can't wait to try some of these cool patterns...

Swift Breeze

I was just winding some yarn, and my husband asked me to slow down because the swift was creating too much of a breeze!
So, I'm starting to make some progress on the gift scarf, and ready to get started on my hat and mitten combo. Here is the scarf so far...

It may need a little something else, so I'm thinking about adding this mohair as a fringe on one or both long sides of the scarf. They seem to work nicely together.


With a plane ride ahead of us this week, lots of knitting opportunities, I hope to finish the scarf and make some good progress on my mittens and hat. Even though they are technically hannukah presents, they are for my dad and step mom who we won't see until close to New Years...
Last night we ate at Mesa Grill for Scott's dinner. We hadn't been to a Bobby Flay restaurant before, and it was quite good. Our appetizers included a Duck Pancake (braised duck wrapped in a blue corn tortilla) and tuna tartare nachos. For entrees, I had scallops with green chile, black trumpet mushroom grits, and Scott had lamb in an ancho chile sauce. Everything was great, but I wasn't really a fan of the spicy chocolate parfait. Anyway, it was a really great ambiance, the service was great, and all in a all a very good meal. Did I mention the margaritas? They were yummy...

Caution - Deep Frying ahead

About 10 years ago, I decided to host a Hannukah dinner for several friends who were also nowhere near home for the holiday. Admittedly, Hannukah is a really minor holiday, but not having a nice home-made latke dinner really stinks. Although my intentions were good, the evening ended before it really began with a grease fire, and a visit from the heroic members of the Houston Fire Department. There was some damage, and the apartment complex kindly replaced some cabinets and repainted. It was an ordeal, and ever since, I've been a bit gun-shy about the ole potato pancakes.
So tomorrow night, I'm going to undertake this adventure yet again. Even though I've made tried this a few times since the great fire of '96, it could be ugly. Happy Hannukah, and stop drop and roll to all!

HD House

Over the past week, the total number of inches of screens in our house has increased dramatically. Based on my calculations, we now have a total of 143 inches of screens in our house, between TVs, computers and laptops. I was already floored by the 40" flat screen tv that my dad gave us for Hannukah, but two day's ago, Scott's new computer arrived, bringing an additional 24" of screen space. It makes our old computer, which used to seem nicely sized, appear totally puny. All that said and I'm working on the little ole lap-top...
This past weekend, we did a lot of our holiday shopping. I've decided to (quickly!) knit some gifts - recipients to be revealed once projects are completed. Anyway, here is a photo of my holiday gift stash, soon be a scarf, mittens & hat. The multicolored yarn is an Artyarns Ultramerino colorways, and the brown and green are Frog Tree Alpaca. You may notice that the different colors of Frog Tree are two different weights in this picture - that would be because I already had the brown, and didn't realize that I picked up the green in a different weight. Also, turns out that one is made in Bolivia and the other in Peru...

do i really need another hobby?

Something that has been on hold for the past few years (since I had knee surgery in '04) is horseback riding. Today Scott and I visited a barn that happens to be practically around the corner from the house, and I scheduled a lesson for Tuesday! I've tried on my britches (a little tight) and my paddock boots (just fine). Haven't gotten around to my boots, but they are bound to be a bit snug around the calves. I can't really say that I need another hobby, but this will have the added benefit of a little exercise too. Tuesday will be interesting - I bet I'm totally rusty, and I'm planning to be sore on Wednesday...
I realized today that my silk sweater, which is almost finished, has been sitting around for awhile waiting to be sewn up. It is taking FOREVER to seam. I spent about an hour sewing up one side, and I'm going to do the other tonight if it kills me, while watching our new TV which should be delivered any minute now!

Baby Presents

Some of the recently finished projects are off in the mail. Our friends in Portland recently had a new baby girl and I also knit some goodies for her big brother.




I'm now working on some socks for Scott, and I can't seem to get them the right size. I've taken the first one out about four times. I've abandoned the toe-up approach, and now just trying the conventional method from the Ann Budd book. They seem to be too big, but I'm not excited about ripping them out again. So they will just be a little large. As a sock amateur (the socks pictured above were my first pair), it may just take some more practice...

The Finisher

Last week I think I earned the title of "the finisher". I finished three projects - Baby Hat for Beta, the Cashmere Scarf and my pink and green gloves. I'm quite pleased with all of them, however the Cashmere Scarf turns out to be a bit of an issue for its recipient. After one day of wear, my husband was covered in white and green fuzz. Covered. I didn't really think about this because it didn't really shed on me while it was being knit, but it seems to be really attrached to Scott's wool coat. I am now looking for potential solutions...
But the other projects are great, and the gloves will keep my hands warm once this global warming-induced indian summer cedes...

Thanksgiving Menu

We've finalized our Thanksgiving menu. There will be six of us here - my and Scott, Scott's mom, my dad & step-mom and my brother. We'll probably have food for twice that many, but that's the point, isn't it?
So, we'll be feasting on the following:
Turkey from our local turkey farm
Oyster Stuffing
Gravy (made from turkey broth and a roux from the pan drippings)
Cranberry sauce - my brother is making this, so not sure of the specifics
Sweet Potato casserole with marshmellows
Wild Rice, Cranberry and Walnut salad
Peas
Green bean recipe from today's NYT
For dessert we'll be enjoying Pumpkin Pie Brulee and Nantucket Cranberry Pie (the Laurie Colwin recipe from Gourmet). Scott also will be making deviled eggs and my brother is supposed to bring cheese as a starter.
Still need to make the shopping list, but this should be fantastic! Gobble Gobble!!!
Tonight we are making Spaghetti and Meatballs - it's simmering right now...

Photo Albums!

I took a fantastic class this weekend at the Center for Book Arts. Fantastic seems to be the word of the moment - I'm using to describe everything lately. It used to be "outstanding" but that left my vocabulary after a lot of mocking a few years ago by a friend. Someone's going to get annoyed with "fantastic" and that'll be banished too... Where did my vast vocabulary go?

Anyway, the class was great. We made three different album constructions - pamplet style, side sewn and accordion. We learned a lot of techniques, and our teacher Barbara was really knowledgeable. She gave us handouts too, which is helpful because otherwise I'll get 3/4 of the way through trying to recreate one of these at home and be totally lost...
One of the outcomes of my class is a shopping list for a trip to Talas. More like a wish list, but a few must haves, like a leather punch, a spring divider (the thing I thought was a spring divider turns out to be a compass) and some cover weight paper.

In the meantime, I've finished the Baby Hat for Beta, but still need to sew in the ends. Here are pictures of the hat and the matching booties. It will remain on the WIP list until all the ends are sewn in though...

These are knit in Koigu KPPPM and KPM. They are super quick patterns that I got from my LYS Pins and Needles, that work great in Baby Cashmerino and Koigu. They make great presents, and a lot faster than sweaters and blankets!

Short Ribs and Scarves

Not much is better for a fall dinner than maple glazed, porter braised short ribs. We made these last night and they were fantastic. The recipe is from the book "All About Braising" by Molly Stevens. Tons of fantastic recipes, and each has a wine suggestion. Unfortunately, because I'm on antibiotics for the never ending ear infection, I couldn't have much of the Barolo that Scott opened. I bet I take this stuff way to literally and probably could have had a glass without any problems.
I've accomplished a lot on one of my current knitting projects, a cashmere scarf for my husband. This is the third scarf I've knit him in the 2 1/2 years that we've been together. The first was a bit of a disaster - alpaca in a wide rib - because it's a) too warm and b) gets all bunched up. The second is worn often (pictured below), and this one is what I'd call a "comissioned piece."

This is a pretty luxurious scarf - I'm using Karabella Boise and at my mother's suggestion knitting a K1 P1 rib on size 8 needles. Its knitting up pretty quickly, which is good because I've put this off for a long time and Scott's been really patient. Here is how far I've gotten so far...

crafty launch

So here we go! I'm launching this blog, much to my husband's dismay, to document some of my crafty projects. I'll also be posting about fabulous food, both that we and I cook and that we eat elsewhere, and our life in the sleepy hamlet of Cranbury, NJ. The main attraction in this "town" is Cranbury Pizza. Yum.
Who is Crafty Caroline? I'm a 30-something, NY born and bred, Jew with WASP-y heritage, who has lived in Texas, North Carolina, Paris and Tokyo who likes to do crafty things like knitting and making handmade books. I enjoy practicing yoga, and in theory I enjoy going to the gym. My husband and I got married in June, after two years together. I am an HR manager for a large company and my husband is a photojournalist. While one might think that this would result in fabulous pictures for my blog, but I've been told that I'm responsible for my own photography ("training ground"). I'm the person who cuts off people's heads in photos, so this could be interesting... my husband apparently does the same thing, but on purpose.
We also have two cats - Max and Frances. Max is a bit needy, and likes to sit right next to me and Frances is pretty independent.
So that's me in a nutshell. Tomorrow I'll start posting some crafty stuff...