Adventures In Knitting

 One of my prizes from the fair was a $25 gift card from 3 Kittens Needle Arts so Dave drove me over there this weekend to spend it.  What a fabulous store!  One whole section of the store was devoted to tapestry, cross stitch and needlepoint supplies.

 They stocked a large selection of different yarns and weights, plenty of books and patterns and probably the largest and most well organized selection of knitting needles I'd ever seen.

 On the upper right of this photo, you see all the Cascade 220.

They stocked plenty of Dale of Norway, Jamieson and Smith, Noro, etc.  I didn't see any Lopi but I was also in a bit of a hurry because Dave was good enough to drive me and he was patiently waiting.  I could have wandered around in there for hours looking at and touching all the yarn.

They didn't stock any Koigu but I found quite a few awesome substitutes.  I have fallen in love with Madelinetosh yarns and got 2 skeins, as well as a skein of Koigu-like Hazel Knits, and 2 skeins of very Koigu-like Claudia Hand Painted in the 50% off bin!  I got a set of size 00 needles for bead knitting.  They stocked size 000000 (!!!) dpn and I had never seen any smaller than 0000.

We also went fishing last weekend and I brought my knitting on the boat.  I did fish for a while but I feel bad sometimes because poor Dave baits my hook and takes the fish off for me and he doesn't get a lot of fishing done himself.  I spent some of the time knitting and it was a great afternoon.  I'll admit I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to handling the fish.  I couldn't even put my thumb in the fish's mouth to hold it up for a picture and not because I thought it was gross.  Believe me, as a nurse I've had my fingers and hands in some nasty things!  The fish were just so wiggly and strong and they'd scare me and I kept dropping them.

London 2012

 Mother planned another great trip this year which also included my 10 year old niece Ava.  She has always loved hearing about our prior trips to London.  When she was 4, she actually told her pre-school teacher, "My Grandma is going to London to see the Queen."  My parents have a London coffee mug in their cupboard and that was always the glass she wanted to drink from.  Mother promised her years ago that when she was 10 she'd take her to London and by gosh, she did.  Mom did her homework and basically got her a free airline ticket between her frequent flier miles and her Delta Sky credit card credits.  Her transportation was cheap because she can ride the Tube for free.  We rented an apartment for a week and a half and had a great time in Merry Olde London.  This is of course Big Ben and Parliament and behind that is Westminster Abbey.  She was thrilled of course and even though I'd been there before, so was I!  London never gets old.

 I'd never ridden in The Eye before which was something we did on this trip.  All I can say is England should have absolutely no national debt because of this thing!  There was a huge line both when we got on and got off and it was $20 a crack to ride.  It was worth the price of admission though.  The wheel never ever stops, it just slowly goes around.  There is a security check when you get to the front of the line and they bunch you into groups of about 20 or so.  Then they herd your group up to this large platform ramp thing and the pod comes along, the doors open and a group steps out, staff step in with mirrors to security check the pod, and then your group steps in--all while the wheel is moving.  The pods were air conditioned and it was an awesome view of the city.  You can see Big Ben in the lower right hand corner of the photo.  The Eye is right across the river from Parliament.

We also took a day trip out of London to Salisbury to see Stonehenge which I'd also never seen.  There were a bunch of Druids and Morris dancers inside the stones when we were there.  That is one combination platter I wouldn't order.  We civilians had to stay behind the rope but we did see a Latvian Harley Davidson enthusiast promptly escorted out after she stepped over the rope and touched the stones.  At almost $30 per ticket, that was an expensive stunt to pull. 

We explored the town of Salisbury a little as well as visited the cathedral.  This church is the tallest spire in the UK and leans almost 28 inches to the east.  The adjoining museum houses the Magna Carta.  We learned that even though Salisbury had secret plane manufacturing facilities, the town was never bombed during WWII.  The German pilots were given strict orders not to bomb Salisbury because they'd use the spire of the cathedral as a landmark and then follow the rivers up to London.  While we were inside the church, there was a full orchestra and choir rehearsing pieces from Haydn.  Hearing that glorious music made the space even more magnificent.

My other favorite day trip was a train ride to Dover to visit Dover castle and the WWII tunnels.  Dover has always been a significant location as a fortress and military outpost.  The castle was interesting with it's intact buildings and walls and mock ups of medieval living, but I enjoyed the WWII tunnels the most.  This was the sight of the historic Dunkirk evacuations, aka Operation Dynamo.  Hundreds of thousands of allied troops were isolated and surrounded without supplies or transport on the beaches of Dunkirk.  The Germans were bombing any and all rescue attempts and the Allies couldn't risk their large hardware.  In the end, civilian fisherman and merchant boats rescued thousands and thousands of troops and brought them back to Dover.  They were blessed with both calm weather and German inactivity for a few days and got the job done.  We toured the tunnel that served as command center for the mission as well as a hospital tunnel.  The tunnels were dug and used before WWII during the Napoleonic wars and used after WWII in the 1960's as a Cold War regional seat of government.  The weather was rainy and cloudy when we were there so we were unable to see France.  We did get to see a bit of the White Cliffs of Dover.

I loved all the WWII memorabilia and picked up a few items.  I wasn't going to get the thermos because I already have one that size and it was L17, but I found one that was reduced to L13.60 because it had a slight dent in the cup!  Whoo-hoo!  I also never knew the British TV show "Dad's Army" was set in a fictitious town similar to Dover.  I will be getting that on my Netflix.

We were so busy with our daily activities and day trips that we had time for only one yarn shop, but I picked a good one!  We went to Loop which was quite easy to find.  We rode the Northern tube line to the Angel stop and then followed the signs about a block to the Camden Passage and there it was. 

It was a lovely two story shop that was well stocked with tools, notions, books, patterns and help.  Lots of designer brands as well as plenty of English brands.

It was very busy in the shop!

We bought a pattern book written by one of the proprietors of the shop and all the pattern examples were in the shop which was nice to assess the garment size.

I also bought a beautiful book of embroidered Estonian gloves.

I bought a skein of Madelintosh for a baby sweater in the Loops book and 4 skeins of Quince and Company linen yarn.

They also sold Sajou threads and scissors.  I so wanted to get an Eiffel Tower pair...but they were over L50.  So instead I bought the charming L8 pair instead.  We also visited the Liberty store where I got some Sajou ribbons and a few knitting tools.

My other favorite purchase was this herb grinder from the Tudor Kitchen shop at Hampton Court.  It is beautiful burled wood and filled with thyme.  Ava learned a lot about Tudor life, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I as well as Queen Victoria. 

My mother Queen Elizabeth III planned yet another great trip!

It. Is. Done.

 I finished the invitations, stuffed them, addressed them with cheating printed labels, stamped and sealed them.  I have to get a few more stamps but these babies will go out in today's mail.  I can't brag that these are anything fancy.  We went with Wilton invitation kits for our announcements.  I was pleased with the kit and the price and once we going, they weren't so painful.  I remember the days before we had decent home printers and you had to order your announcements and have them printed and then all the inner and outer envelopes, etc.  Such a production.

And while we're on the subject, I wanted to share my collection of wax seals.  I have always loved the medieval idea of sealing correspondence.  These were picked up all over Europe on different trips.  They make great souvenirs because they're small and pack well, they're beautiful and unique and they can be used and enjoyed all your life.  I think my favorite is the green/blue glass one on the left.  It is Venetian glass that I purchased while backpacking IN Venice in 2001.  Two are thistle designs, one is a Celtic knot, one is a flourish design, and the rest are all K's.  I have a K I bought at St. Paul's Cathedral years ago and last month in London, we visited St. Paul's again where I bought an A for my soon to be new last name.

Brudekrone

 My brudekrone arrived in the mail 2 weeks ago!  I have always dreamt of a Norwegian wedding crown ever since I was a little girl.  We are not having a traditional Norwegian wedding by any means but I do want to have some Norwegian and Czech traditional elements present on our day.  Norwegian bunads, or traditional costumes, have delicate jewelery distinct to each of the 19 counties in Norway.  This jewelery is called solje and is made of silver or gold with dangling "spoons" of gold or silver.  Solje is beautiful and handmade but it is also very expensive.  There are a few Scandinavian gift shops that will rent out their crowns for weddings but for some crazy reason, I thought I'd be able to own one.  I regularly checked eBay and didn't find anything.  I did come across a few museum caliber antique crowns in Norwegian auction catalogs but it seems the only place to get a non-antique crown is ordering one from a solje goldsmith.  I contacted one such goldsmith in Norway and to purchase and ship a new crown to the US would cost over $2,000!  That is just a little outside my budget.

 And then I met Karen!  I found a woman on Etsy who was selling solje jewelery.  At first glance, I thought this woman clearly didn't know what she had because she was selling brooches that should cost well over $200 for $40.  Upon closer inspection, I learned she MADE the jewelery out of silver plate components.  I contacted her and sent her pictures of the rental crown from Ingebretsen's and asked if she'd ever made something similar.  She spent a weekend looking around for different components and agreed to take on this project.

I didn't have time earlier today during daylight and tonight took these absolutely ghastly pictures of this beautiful crown.  These photos do it absolutely no justice.  I don't know how many times I have gotten it out to look at it.  I swear I am going to wear it to the grocery store.  I told Karen she needed to take out an ad in Viking Magazine but until then I will tell anyone who will listen about the beautiful crown she made for my wedding.  Thank you again Karen!

Fair Winnings

 Yesterday was the last day of the Ramsey County Fair and this morning I picked up my knitting on the way home from work.  I am very pleased to report that 6 out of my 7 entries placed in their lots and my bridal purse took home the champion ribbon for the knitting class!  This was my first time exhibiting at this fair and now the pressure is really on for next year because there is no where to go but down from here.

 

 

I had to post a picture of my knitting moment of glory on display.  I am going to enter this in the State Fair next month!

Wedding Flowers

 I spent much of last evening cursing this wretched heat and sitting on the floor playing with silk flowers.  Our wedding is not until the end of September but getting this done will be one less thing to worry about later.  Plus we have a wedding pile in the corner of our living room and it is getting larger and more unorganized so this helped a little.  As happy as I am to be getting married to Dave, I can't help but feel this wedding business is for the birds.  I have never wanted a royal wedding and I have been to enough weddings in the last few years to know that they involve months and even years of planning and they're over in minutes.  When it comes down to it, I'm also very cheap!  I refuse to pay someone to plan it for me and I cannot justify spending a fortune on a cake, a party, and a dress which is really what a wedding is when you boil things down.  I think what I do love the most about weddings, at least in our family, is getting to see people you haven't seen since the last family wedding or funeral.  That being said and working within the tightness of my pursestrings, I am trying to pull together a wedding that won't look shabby and will bring our extended family together.

I am the last unwed cousin in my family and I never put much thought into wedding planning/costs because it never loomed on my horizon until now.  I have actually been brought to tears in researching venue rates, catering expenses, photography packages, florist fees, DJ's, etc.  All that and THEN you will spend the most money you've ever spent in your life on a single garment that is the wedding dress.  It goes on and on.  Needless to say, we are chipping away at different things and trying to do as much ourselves as possible.  Case in point, flowers.  I went to Joann Fabrics around Memorial Day when they were having sales on silk flowers and still spent around $120.  I see absolutely nothing wrong with silk flowers but quality silk blooms can be pricey.  I am willing to spend the money though because I don't want people to be able to tell from across the street that my flowers are silk.  After last night, I can see why florists charge what they do.  I sat down with my flowers and stripped all the leaves off and cut them apart and trimmed the stems and then you have to reattach leaves closer to the bloom and tape up the stems.  After all that fussing you start arranging them together with your greenery that you've also cut up and separated and start wiring and taping together your stems.  I made corsages for our mothers, boutonnieres for Dave, his groomsman and our fathers, and bouquets for myself and my sister who is my matron of honor.  They really looked nice enough on their own but I wrapped them in a little ribbon to perpetuate our chosen colors and that put a nice finishing touch on them.  I can't imagine doing this the day before an event with perishable blooms and praying they'll hold up throughout the day.

I wrapped the large bouquets with some blue Czech ribbon I got when we went to the Festival of Nations.  His family is Czech and mine is Norwegian so this was a nice way to add some of his ethnicity into the trimmings.  I have some wider Czech ribbon that I bought years ago with Melissa at the National Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids.  I will decorate our guest book with that and I'll post pictures of that when I get around to it.  I just got off the phone with my sister and she teased me that by posting pictures of my flowers, I am giving away all my secrets!  I am just so proud of these that I couldn't help but share them.  Also, I am taking knitting to the Ramsey County Fair on Sunday and I already looked to see if they had a silk flower arranging category and they don't!  I totally would have entered these!

 While recently in Fargo, Mom and I went to Prairie Yarns to see what we could see.  I got some sock yarn and this and that but I saw this baby tank top hanging up in the store.  The model they had was pink and I've never liked the color pink, but I just loved the design.  The tag said it came from Debbie Bliss' book "Special Knits" and I knew I had that book at home.  The example used Spud and Chloe yarn so I bought some in this cornflower-type blue shade.

 This was such a pleasant quick little knit and I have always liked Debbie Bliss.  This should fit a 12-18 month old, according to the pattern.  This is the front with a teal organza ribbon laced through the eyelet row.

The back has one buttonhole for a keyhole closure and of course I used a shell button from Grandpa Maynerd's button box.  I don't think I will get this in the mail before the trip, but Leah has plenty of time to wear this.

I like bags.  I have a lot of bags.  And I'm going on a trip so I needed a new bag.  I truly did because I took the same bag for the last 2 or 3 trips.  This is the wonderful original Amy Butler Messenger Bag pattern--not to be confused with her High Street Messenger Bag pattern--in a canvas floral print.  I just love the colors of this print.

I used a coordinating green for the reverse of the strap and for the back pockets.  I made interior pockets this same size in the muslin lining too.  I bought this fabric for last year's trip but never got around to sewing it in time.  I will use this bag later this summer when we go to the Minnesota State Fair.  I've said it before, if you are going to be running around on foot all day, this is the best bag to take with you.

Pink Booties

 My niece Leah was baptized last weekend and my sister hosted a lovely brunch.  She asked me to make mints for the occasion and I was only too happy to oblige.  I think we need more occasions to indulge in cream cheese mints!  This tin is the ideal size for a double batch of mints and I have paper doilies to separate the layers that are a perfect fit.  I get excited about things like that--it must be the Hyacinth in me.  This tin was purchased years ago in London in Sainsbury's.  It came filled with chocolate biscuits.  I have to admit I bought it for the tin but the biscuits were a delicious bonus.  And did I mention I am heading back to London...tomorrow?!?  I.  Can't.  Wait.

 My mother made yet another beautiful hardanger baptismal gown for Leah and Lisa requested the embroidery be done with gray perle cotton.  I never would have thought of that and it was absolutely stunning.  I made another pair of felt booties to go with it.  They are exactly like Erik's except for the ribbon.  This is just a printed grosgrain ribbon from the craft store and worked fine but I'd wanted a Scandinavian woven pink ribbon.  I had some that was RED and white but it was too bold for a baptism.

And here are her little feet in the booties.  These are just the right size for a 10ish week old baby.

Something Blue

 I finished my "something blue" for the wedding.  Granted we still haven't set a date but hopefully that will all be squared away next week.  I have a feeling there are going to be quite a few "something blue" items!  ;)  It has always been my favorite color.  I also want to be like Queen Elizabeth and have a purse over my wrist at all times on the day.  I thumbed through a bead purse book I bought years ago in London and found my inspiration in one of the pictures.  This is what I came up with and they really aren't as fussy as they seem.

This was knit on size 0000 needles and size 5 DMC variegated pearl cotton thread.   It is beautiful thread but is kind of expensive at almost $3/skein.  My old apartment was very close to Hobby Lobby and I was in there at least once a week looking for clearance sales.  I had stockpiled quite a few skeins of this in different colors when it was reduced to 52 cents/skein.  I also had almost 10 packs of size 10 color-lined blue seed beads that I had snapped up on clearance.  My hoard also contains a number of sew in metal purse frames just waiting to be filled.  And yes, you guessed it, they were all purchased at ridiculous clearance prices from Hobby Lobby.  All the frames I bought were from BagLady, Inc.  The frame on this purse is nickel plate.

Kitchen Fun

 Once again I was suckered into ordering from King Arthur Flour with free shipping but it is always worth it!  I treated myself to a jar of Nielsen-Massey vanilla paste this time.  This is a batch of kringla dough and you can see the flecks of vanilla seeds.

We had Dave's parents over for supper last week and I made stuffed mushrooms for one of the side dishes.  The recipe is Julia Child's and was so good!  They were nice because they could be combined and stuffed ahead of time and then roasted just before serving.  I was amazed at how simple ingredients become such a complex dish.  These are stuffed with sauteed onions, breadcrumbs, Swiss and Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and a tiny bit of tarragon and I already had all the ingredients in my pantry.

 I am in love with quinoa and found this recipe for small quinoa cakes.  They were a little time consuming but totally worth the effort.  I made up the batch and can heat up a few at a time with meals.  I'd eat kale like this any day!

And while we're on the subject of kitchen things, these are the flour sack towels I embroidered for Dave's niece as a wedding gift.  I hadn't made any of these in a while and had forgotten how fun they are.  They're kind of like coloring books for grown ups!

Babies and Big Boys

 We are having an extended family all-purpose get together this weekend!  My sister's family will be introducing their newest baby to the extended family, cousin Anna will be there with her new husband and in full pregnant bloom, my other three cousins have relatively new spouses, and I will be introducing my fiance to the bunch.  That is a lot of family activity!

 Part of the get together will be baby shower business.  It seems lately I've been working on baby things like crazy.  People I know have been popping like corks recently!  Lisa gave me the idea for 'binky clips' a long time ago and I finally got around to making them.  Kids these days have it so easy.  When I was a kid, we picked our pacifiers up off the filthy ground and put them back in our mouths.  Just kidding.

 These were made with simple grosgrain ribbon and suspender clips.  I got the clips at the fabric store and the ribbon I already had hoarded--would you believe that?  ;)  I cut a 12" strip of ribbon for each clip and turned under the edges.  I debated weather or not to actually sew the clip into the ribbon, but I worried about washing them and the clips rusting, etc.  This way they can be re-used easily for different things.  I cut a 1/2" piece of Velcro for each end of the ribbon and sewed the halves about an inch away from each other.  Then you fold the ends over and seal the Velcro--one end holds the clip and the other end holds the pacifier.

 No new baby around here can go without a baby sweater.  This was my second attempt at The Baby Surprise Jacket and I didn't swear nearly as much knitting this one.  This is such a clever pattern but it really takes a lot of faith because the original instructions can seem somewhat vague.  This was knit with a different colorway of the same cotton Boku yarn I used for Lisa's Surprise Jacket and I finished it with shell buttons.  Anna is having a boy in June so he should be able to wear this during the coming winter.

 I also knit him a star lace hat and booties out of some Kroy sock yarn.  I just love these patterns! 

 Did someone say booties?!?  Here is a whole PILE of blue booties!  I made a double batch of cream cheese mints last night.  Num num!!

 Does anyone else know what these are?  I was describing these at work and no one knew what I was talking about.  These were quite a big deal when I was growing up.  At any proper baptism, graduation, bridal or baby shower, wedding reception, confirmation, and sometimes just at fancy church luncheons--you had to have color coordinated cream cheese mints.  They're so simple to make.  It is just cream cheese, powdered sugar and flavoring/food coloring.  You whir these together in a food processor until very stiff.  Then you pinch off small bits, roll them into small balls, roll the balls into granulated sugar, press into rubber molds and then pop them out.  Freeze them until ready to serve.  My cousin is hosting the get together and if she made mints already, we will eat these the following day at my nephew's birthday party.

I can remember my mother had a whole bag of different shaped molds in the small cupboard above the stove.  As kids, we'd play with the cookie cutters, cookie press and her mint molds with play-dough!  I now have quite a collection of molds myself.  You can also use these to make shaped pats of butter but that might be too fussy even for me!  In our family we have always used almond flavoring vs. mint.  With the grit of the sugar, mint mints make me think of toothpaste.  And of course I made a double batch because I've already raided the freezer twice to sample them.  I think when my sister got married, we made mints two or even three times because we couldn't leave them alone.  When my mother was still engaged to my dad, she was driving home to southern Minnesota from Fargo with an entire Tupperware full of mints painstakingly made by her future aunt-in-law.  She famously ate the entire container during the drive.  And I don't think we've ever had a family wedding where someone didn't eat too many and got sick to their stomach.  They are worth it though!

 My little nephew Erik will be a big two year old boy this weekend and my sister is having a party for him.  One of the gifts I am giving him is a sewn Amy Butler Ditty Bag.  This is another favorite pattern and I've made quite a few of these.  There is no way to take a decent picture of this but it has a drawstring top closure, is fully lined, and has 4 pockets on the exterior.  It is a nice size to carry laundry, pack clothes, pack a lunch, or toys and books.  I got this Eric Carle fabric a while ago with Erik in mind.  The book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? has been a favorite in our house for a long time.