A Sweet New Year

I don't usually post about non- knitting things, but last week, I made an apple tart for Rosh Hashanah and I was pretty pleased about it.

First I started with a mix of apples. A few Gala and a few macs, so that I had some sweet and some tart:

I was lucky that I didn't need to use all of the apples, so I got to eat a few of them! :) They were delicious. I mean, they were Gala and Granny Smith (oh, I crack myself up). But they were still delicious!

Here are all of the ingredients, waiting to be made into a tart:

A few closeups:

The recipe called for apple brandy, but the guy at the liquor store said I could use regular brandy instead of apple brandy because I had the apples in it themselves, so I did, and it saved me from having to buy a $20 bottle of apple brandy that I would probably never use again.

The pre-cooked tart:

And the tart after it came out of the oven:

It was pretty darn delicious if I do say so myself.

Blocking Lace

I have never really blocked before. But I made this shawl for my mother, and it was all lace. I used silk yarn, and I knew that it really needed to be blocked. So I'm blocking. I followed the instructions on the Yarn Harlot's website and on Eunny Jang's website. I sort of combined the two. And I soaked. And I pulled. And I pinned. And pinned. And pinned. I think I have nearly 300 pins in this shawl. I hope it's dry by the morning.

Oh My God, I Love the Lace

Lace has always intimidated me. I made an entire shawl that I wound up ripping because I didn't know about blocking (it may still have been too small, even if I did block it). But then I started making the "Simple Elegance" shawl by Krystopher Dixon. Oh my goodness is it lovely. It's only a 16 line repeat with the even rows being purled across, so it's not too intimidating to get through a whole repeat of the pattern. I bought two skeins of the Tonos Pima Silk for it, and the first skein brought me 29 inches of pattern. So total, it would be about 5 feet long, pre-blocking. I have called the store to see if they have one more skein - I would love for it to be a little longer than 5 feet, but I'm okay with it being five feet if they do not.

But I am loving working the pattern. I am loving that a few little yarn overs brings me this fabulous curvacious pattern snaking up the yarn.

Frogging, Frogging, Frogging

I finished the baby blanket for my friends who had the baby. It was supposed to be a square. You start off with three stitches and increase one stitch each row until you reach the midpoint, then decrease one stitch each row until you get back down to three. See? Square. Mine? Um, not so much a square. It sort of looked square if you held it up but if you tried to fold it, it wouldn't line up right. So I ripped it. Ripped the whole darn thing. I tried blocking it, washing it in the washing machine and pinning it, steam blocking the heck out of it, killing the acrylic, the whole deal. Didn't work. So I ripped it. It was mildly painful, but not so bad because I hated the way it looked. I will re-do it as a regular striped blanket (with the stripes going the long way to look more like pinstripes). And I have a baby outfit and the shrek hat to give her right away, so she'll just have to get the blanket when she gets it.

Under the Gun

I don't know why I always do this. I am always knitting under the gun. Friends of mine, L and S are having a baby (well, now, have had a baby). They are big Yankee fans, but it didn't occur to me to make a yankee-themed gift for their baby, so I made the Cotton Candy Jacket I mentioned on June 5th. And of course, at the shower, she mentioned something about how the baby, regardless of gender, would be a Yankee fan. So I started a Yankee blanket. Her due date was 8/9/10, but she had the baby yesterday. A little girl, everyone is happy and healthy. And now, I'm under the gun to finish the Yankee blanket! I'm more than halfway done - it's one of those where you increase until you reach x inches across and then decrease in the ensuing rows.

Pumpkin

My mom always called me "pumpkin" growing up. And now, I have a friend who is pregnant and is due on October 27th. So I made her a pumpkin hat for her baby. If the baby is early or on time, it will be perfect for Halloween. If the baby is not on time, she may just have to tape the hat to her belly for that day :)

Knitting at the Movies

Tonight, I have plans to meet a friend for dinner and a movie. I haven't been to a movie in a very long time (being that it is an expense I am trying to avoid). So mostly, if I watch a movie, it is at home. The lights are on, and therefore, I knit. Now, I'll be going to a movie, in a theatre, in the dark, with a friend. Who will most certainly look at me as though I am completely bizarre if I attempt to knit in the theatre. I'm wondering if it is worth trying anyway :)

Babies, Babies, Part II

H's shower is Sunday. I finished the baby sweater for her:
and a baby hat: I have one and a half booties done. This is the one. Not the half. I love both the hat and the sweater, but I don't love the booties. I think I am going to see if I can find a different pattern to make for her. I used Lion Brand's Baby's First and although the yarn splits sometimes, in general, I really liked working with it. It's part acrylic and part cotton, totally machine-washable, and it's bulky, so it knits up quickly. I think I must knit really tightly, because I knit the sweater on size 10s, which it calls for when you use dk or light worsted yarn, and this is definitely bulky. I wish I didn't knit so tightly because I like the way things look when the knit is smaller.

Overpackaging, anyone?

And we wonder why we have so much landfill. I bought these big balls of yarn at Amazing Savings a few weeks ago. The yarn is very much like the old "Trellis" which I think has been discontinued, but which I loved using for a shawl. So when I saw these, I pounced on them. I was thinking "320 yards isn't *that* much - there must be something in the middle." Oh, was I right. There was a HUGE styrofoam ball in the middle. These pictures are in reverse order and I can't seem to get them flipped around right now, but what you have (bottom to top) is 1) the box of yarn, 2) the big styrofoam ball from the middle, 3) the wound ball of yarn and 4) the wound ball of yarn next to the original box.

Argh. If I didn't love this yarn so much and if it were still available from whatever company made Trellis, I would have returned these all right away. But I'll still be annoyed by it...

Babies, Babies, Babies

So two of my friends are having babies. I wasn't really expecting baby showers. One is Jewish, and Jews don't traditionally do baby showers (I was especially surprised because L is particularly superstitious, but I guess gifts trump superstition for her), and H lives abroad and I figured she wouldn't be able to come back for a shower. Wrong on both accounts. So one is June 19 and one is June 27. I'm making the Cotton Candy Jacket from the Better Homes and Gardens Hip Knits book because it is the easiest sweater ever. And it's downright adorable. It's all made in one piece and then you just seam up the sides. I do think that the arms need to be a little longer than they call for in the pattern, and the hood needs to be much smaller. So I'll modify. But the good thing is that I'm almost done with the first sweater. I just have to make myself finish it before I start the second one, because I'm really ready to be done with the first.

Someday, I'll think about these things in advance and have lots of baby sweaters made ahead of time like most smart people do...

This is the sweater:

And this is the close up of the super-cute button: