Introducing the Leading Bird Shawl

Music has always been a big part of my life - singing in church as a child; piano, then harp lessons; choir and marching band in high school. It's been years since I've picked up a pair of cymbals, my harp is currently living in a closet with a half-dozen strings missing, and most of my singing occurs (quite loudly) in the car. Music is still a big part of my life, I just mostly sit on the appreciative side of the stage these days.

When I find a musician I like, I tend to be loyal for the long-haul. Like many people, I feel in love with the Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard's music in the film Once. I was lucky enough to see them perform live as the Swell Season back when I lived in Chicago, I bought the second album on release day, and was saddened when the band broke up.

For some reason, I didn't pick up on their solo work right away, but when I caught wind of Marketa's second solo release Muna, I listened to a live stream online and was immediately hooked. The album was both lush and airy, and almost felt like sacred music (quoting the entirety of the Lord's Prayer in one of the songs helps). Even more, the album just felt like winter to me.

Long time followers of my design work know that Marketa has provided inspiration before, being the catalyst behind the Marketa Mitts I did as part of my Knitscene collection back in 2012. Once again, upon hearing the song "The Leading Bird", and more particularly, seeing the accompanying video, I was inspired.

With the Leading BIrd Shawl, I wanted to capture the mood of the video, which, to me, was both rustic and graceful. Quince & Co.'s alpaca/wool blend Owl, was perfect yarn match. The shawl itself is simple to knit. A half-circle with pi shaping means there's long stretches of simple knitting - making this a perfect on-the-go project. The lace details are worked as elongated stitches in the body and dropped stitches in the border, the with extra space created by dropped stitches giving the border a gentle ruffle-like quality.

A special shout out goes to Bristol Ivy, who provided some invaluable feedback when I was coming up with the border. Sometimes, simple is best.

The sample used ALL of 5 skeins (600 yds - worsted weight), so pick up an extra to be on the safe side.

The pattern is available for $6.00 USD from the following online shops:

Quince & Co.    ||    Ms. Cleaver Creations    ||    Ravelry

If you knit it and participate in social media, use #quinceleadingbird to share! I'd love to see your version!

Curious if I captured the feel of the song? Check out the video below and let me know if you think I got it!

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December

If I had to describe December in a word, it'd be full.

Full calendar, full bellies, full hearts. 

Some highlights for me were decorating cookies for Santa and taking LMC to see Portland Ballet's Nutcracker, where she was totally engrossed in Act I and conked out and slept her way through Act II (though not for lack of interest).

In the midst of a hectic baking schedule (2 types of cookies, gingerbread cake and peanut brittle), I managed to make several gifts too, including my bi-annual cross-stitch family portrait (inspired by this year's Halloween costumes), a knit hat for LMC in the hopes of seeing something other than the doggie hat on her head, an ornament for my knitting group's annual swap and  two tutus, because you can never have too much tutu. But the gift that I'm most proud of making is my little Children's book, which I wrote and illustrated for LMC.

As I said, it was a full month, and while I wouldn't call January "empty" I am looking forward to getting back into a quieter rhythm. 

Indie Design Gift Along 2015

Knitters!

This year I'm participating in the Indie Design Gift-Along.

What is that you ask?

It's a massive pattern sale + knit-along featuring the work of 335 designer from 30 countries, with over 5,500 knitters from around the world participating! It's all hosted over on Ravelry, and here's the official description.:

What is Gift-A-Long? It’s a multi-designer promotion to help you kick your holiday gift-making into high gear!

The Indie Design Gift-A-Long is a 6 week long KAL/CAL of holiday gifts made from patterns designed by a rather extensive list of independent designers. From Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm US EST - Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US EST tons of indie designers will be discounting between 5 - 20 of their patterns 25% for this event. Use coupon code: giftalong2015. 

Once you’ve got your Gift-A-Long patterns, we encourage you to join a relevant KAL/CAL! (For instance, if it is a cowl, please join the cowl KAL/CAL.) To join, simply write a post in the KAL/CAL thread you want to join, including the pattern name you will be knitting and a link to your project page. KAL/CAL participants are eligible for lots of lovely prizes but you gotta post to win!

KAL/CALs will run from Thursday, November 19th at 8pm (US-EST) through our New Years Eve party, Thursday, December 31 at midnight (US-EST), plenty of time to knock out all your holiday knitting and crocheting. We have games, tons of prizes, great conversation, and a lot of fun, so pull up a chair and join us! Please use #giftalong2015 to tag your social media-ing!

On your mark…get set…. GIFT!!

I've got 13 patterns for sale as part of the Gift-A-Long, all specially selected as quicker knits, perfect for gift giving. You can get them for 25% off in my Ravelry shop from Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm US EST - Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US EST - just use the code giftalong2015

The Gift-A-Long is a great way to kick your holiday knitting into high gear (and you can win tons of awesome prizes) so head on over to Ravelry and sign up!

(Stats infographic courtesy of 80skeins)

Pecan Oatmeal Apple Crisp (and Apple Abundance)

So we went a little overboard on the apple picking this year and picked a ton on our annual trip to Ricker Hill a few weeks back. (also we went on a weekday, so we had the full run of the bounce houses to ourselves and had to take advantage of that!) So even after two sizable pies, I still had about a bushel left and no gumption to make more pie, and so, enter crisp! This recipe is a mashup of three different ones, so it has a little bit of everything in it, which makes it totally delicious.And it's a big batch recipe (3 Qt baking pan), so it means that I'm down to only 2 dozen apples now!!

Filling

• ~10 apples, peeled and chopped
• 3 Tbl sugar
• 1.5 Tbl cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbl orange juice

Topping

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups flour (Up to 1/2 cup can be whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbl white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1.5 sticks salted butter, softened
• 1 cup chopped pecans 

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F

Place all filling ingredients into a 9x13 (3 QT) baking pan and mix together. Adding more apples as needed to fill pan.

In a separate bowl, mix all topping ingredients, except nuts, together until they make a consistency like wet sand. Mix in nuts as desired. Sprinkle topping loosely over apple mixture.

Bake for ~ 50 minutes until topping is browned and apples are soft.

Serve warm with ice cream 

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Gingham Archer

So before I got sucked into the depth of Halloween sewing and prep, I actually finished a pretty major sewing project for me. I love a good button-up, especially a gingham button-up, but I don't often sew them because of all the pieces/time required.

But I've been seeing all of the beautiful Archer shirts popping up over the sewing blogosphere since it's release, and I had some beautiful grey gingham in stash so I put sewing an Archer for me on my list of goals for the year, and there you go.

This was my first experience with a Grainline pattern, and while I wish I had sprung for the printed pattern (not a big fan of the printing and taping), I found the drafting and instructions solid. I've only made a few button-ups, but this was my best go at a collar stand yet, which was a good thing, because I had zero fabric to spare. As I said, I was using fabric from my stash and I had 3/4 yard less than recommended. By scrapping the pocket, I managed to fit everything, just barely, onto my yardage. Leaving me only with teeny tiny scraps left over. Even so, I still did some pretty decent pattern matching. Thank goodness the gingham was small scale!

Most the interior seams are covered nicely by the yoke, but open ones I just kept simple and zig-zagged. I'd probably go for flat-felting on another version. 

Would I make another? I think yes. I like this version, but I don't love it. But I think most of my issues could be easily rectified in version two.

 I didn't make a muslin and the fit isn't quite right. I cut a straight size 12, but ended up grading out my seams for more room in the hips. The finished fit is good in the hips and bust, but I find that there is way too much fabric in the waist. I'm not sure if it's just a boxy cut, or the heaviness of the fabric, but especially in the back, it's too much.  Fortunately, because I didn't flat fell my seams, I can take it in pretty easily, which I haven't gotten around to yet.

But even as is, it's super comfy and looks good under a sweater, so it'll get a lot of wear.

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Happy Halloween (Hold Onto Your Hat) !

I'm a former theatre kid and I sew, so suffice it to say, I love Halloween. Socially acceptable excuse to spend way too much time on costumes? I'm in! (In another life, I'd totally be a cosplayer). 

This year, I wrangled the whole family into it (except Steinbeck, who holds no truck with costumes). One of LMC's favorite characters is Alice In Wonderland, thanks to some pop-up books and the Royal Ballet version. It doesn't hurt that I have a deep abiding love for all things Alice myself, and am happy to encourage it. So the theme was an easy choice. (Second option was superheroes - which might still happen for Free Comic Book Day). LMC got to be Alice (obviously), I had a red dress in my closet that made the Queen of Hearts a simple choice, and Mr. Cleaver decided he wanted to be the Mad Hatter. 

LMC's costume was the most detailed. It's McCalls 6187,  and there's not a piece on this thing that isn't gathered, lined or trimmed. But it is adorable. The apron is, somewhat oddly, part of the bodice and attached, and the apron strings are a bit long, but otherwise it was time-consuming, but a relatively simple sew.

The whole dress is Kona Cotton, so it can be thrown into the wash easily should she decide she wants to add it to regular wardrobe, which is what happened to last year's Olivia dress. The sizing is 3T/4T, so it was a wide on her, put the apron ties kept everything in place. I hemmed the skirt as narrow as possible so she can wear it for a while. Since it's Maine, we threw a long-sleeve tee under the whole thing and then added my Belacqua cardigan when it got chilly. 

Mom and Dad's costumes were much simpler. I bought a pair of striped tights, made a crown out of glittery craft foam and punched some holes in a old deck of cards for the collar. The collar was a bit tricky to wear, I had to pin it to my hair to keep it up, but it really pulled the whole thing together. 

For Mr. Cleaver, I sewed him a quick bow tie (and learned how to tie one!). The pants he had in his closet, the velvet blazer is mine, the hat was from Amazon and the shirt and socks we picked up for cheap at Goodwill. I also took the opportunity to purchase a pair of pink flamingos, which I have always always wanted, so we could reenact the croquet scene, which I think was LMC's favorite part (that and getting to use the fancy teacups). The hedgehog was the first thing I ever needle-felted. 

We took LMC to about 8 or so houses to trick-or-treat then spent the evening handing out candy. We got 105 trick-or-treaters before we shut it down, ate a Halloween cupcake and collapsed into bed early. 

As for holding onto your hats? If you've seen Curious George: A Halloween Boofest as many times as we have, you'll know what I mean. ;)

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Pumpkins at Smiling Hill Farm

We got a late start on our fall activities thanks to some serious colds, but we're getting there! We made it to the pumpkin patch on Sunday, and the apple orchard on Wednesday, so we're all set on Autumnal produce. 

We Cleavers are creatures of habit and tend to go to the same places every year - so this is LMC's third year at the Smiling Hill Farm pumpkin patch. It's always interesting to see what's different with each round - what is she most interested in? (Answer: rainbow ice cream), what isn't she digging? (Answer: that incident with the turkey has made her nervous about all barnyard fowl).

It's also fun to get the random recaps that she'll spout out days or even weeks later, when she sees something that reminds her of her little adventure. 

I'm hesitant about pulling out the carving knives just yet, so we painted our pumpkins again this year. I didn't put on any sealant first, so they're already peeling, but I think they're beautiful anyway.

We've hung our bat lights and have been watching Curious George A Boo Fest on repeat, which means she goes around wishing everyone "Happy Halloween, hold on to your hat!" We're thinking about making a No-Noggin scarecrow this weekend. I have to admit of all the children's programming, I like Curious George the best (which is good, because LMC loves him).

 I've also been prepping LMC for costume wearing in the hopes that she'll actually wear her costume I'm making (since the wear rate of things I make for her is dismally low). What are you going to be for Halloween? Alice! What's mommy going to be? The queen. What's daddy going to be? The hatter dance! (Close enough).

I love prepping for Halloween.

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Tried and True Review: Slow Fashion October Edition

A Tried & True Review, where I look back at old project and discuss how it's held up since I made it, both successes and closet rejects, in an attempt to show how my projects have stood the test of time and/or to learn from the mistakes of my yesterdays.

The Original:  Waltz in Grey and School House Tunic

Made: June 2011 (4.25 years old) and September 2011 (4 years old) (you'd also think my hair doesn't change much either...)

Update: If you follow along in the sewing or knitting social media worlds, you've probably heard of Slow Fashion October by now. If not, the short version is that it's taking the month of October to think consciously about our wardrobes, how do we add to them?, what is enough?, how does making your own clothes influence that? etc.

I've been thinking about a lot of these topics for a while both in these Tried & True Reviews and in my post on Ethical Fashion and why I started making my own underthings.

It's week three of Slow Fashion October now, with the theme of LOVED: proudest accomplishment / most loved item / most frequently worn item / thing you saved up for / investment pieces / thing you worked a long time on / oldest thing that’s still in rotation. And I thought it would be as good a time as any to feature my two most frequently worn makes in a Tried and True Review.

If it's fall or winter and that top is clean, there's a good chance I'm wearing it and even if it's not clean, I'm probably still wearing the cardigan anyway.

Fit: In truth, I really should have knit the next size of the cardigan up, so the collar doesn't really fold back as far as it should, but I just give it a firm blocking whenever I wash it and it's an open cardigan anyway, so it doesn't matter too much. The tunic fits well, though sometimes the armband elastic feels a bit snug.

Style/Materials: The cardigan was knit out of an undyed alpaca/nylon sock yarn. It takes a licking and keep on ticking (as they say). It's a bit itchy on bare arms, but the beautiful natural grey color goes with pretty much anything, which is why is gets worn so very much. The fabric for the tunic is in gingham (my favorite) and is a thick cotton that feel almost like a dish towel, it's just ridiculously cozy. As for style, I still feel like the tunic looks vaguely like maternity wear (and I made a bunch during my pregnancy), but if I throw a more fitted cardigan over it, it doesn't matter as much.

Construction: The tunic was a simple sew, but the cardigan took forever to knit. I've had to replace the thread button loop on the tunic once and the yarn is starting to pill a bit, but both these pieces have survived four years of hard wear and will last for many more. Well worth the effort.

Lesson(s) Learned: Positive ease is a good thing in a cardigan.

Final Verdict: Something doesn't have to be perfect to be your favorite.

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Adding A Ribbon Backing to Your Knit Button Band

Why Reinforce A Button Band?

Both of my recent pattern releases, Lady Heartrose and Prairie Wife, suggest that you use ribbon to reinforce the button bands. If you're one of those knitters who hates finishing, you may think why bother?  You certainly don't have to, most of my sweaters to date don't have any kind of reinforcement, but there are several reasons to consider it. 

1. It will keep your fabric from curling (though ribbing may already take care of that).
2. It will help prevent gaping at the bust if you intend to button up.
3. It will help prevent the button band and button holes from getting stretched out over time.
4. If it's a steeked piece, it can cover up the cut ends of yarn. 
5. It's a nice little surprise inside the cardigan and looks really pretty!

What Supplies Do I Need?

1. Your blocked cardigan.
2. Approximately 2 yards of a sturdy ribbon, such as Petersham, Grosgrain, or other firmly woven ribbon, that just as wide or slightly less wide than your knit button band. If you're doing something like a long sweater coat, measure the length first. (The ribbon used in this post is from Vintage Ribbons on Etsy). 
3. A sewing machine with buttonhole capabilities. (You could always sew the buttonholes by hand, but this tutorial won't cover that).
4. The buttons you are planing to use. 
5. Needle and thread to match your yarn.
6. Pins or clips.
7. Seam ripper or button hole cutter.
8. Fray Check (optional).

Measuring and Marking your Ribbon

The first thing to do is measure, cut and mark your ribbon. To measure, lay your finished and blocked cardigan on a flat surface. It's very important that the piece is blocked, otherwise the band may be too short. Match the length of your ribbon to the length of the knit band and add an extra inch or so to each side, enough that you can fold it under to make a neat edge (as seen above). Cut a second piece of ribbon to the same length and set aside. The unmarked ribbon will be used to back the button side of the cardigan. Now we'll mark the buttonhole side.

With the ribbon flat against the buttonhole side. Place a pin at the top of each knit buttonhole. If you have a patterned ribbon, you may be able to use the pattern to make your placement more exact/even, but it's more important that the pins line up with the actual knit buttonholes.

Testing the Buttonhole Size

Using a scrap piece of ribbon and the buttonhole feature on your machine, test out your buttonhole size to make sure the button can fit through easily. The ribbon button hole is likely to be a lot longer than the knit one. 

Once you have confirmed the proper size, mark the ends of the buttonhole on your ribbon (the top being the pin you already put in). 

Use your machine and sew the buttonholes on the ribbon.

Finishing the Buttonholes

Before you slice into them, double check that your buttonholes still line up. If they do use a seam ripper or buttonhole cutter to open up your buttonholes. Adding a drop of fray check to the buttonhole as desired. Set aside to dry if using fray check for the recommended amount of time. 

Attaching the Ribbon to the Sweater

Fold over the top and bottom of the ribbon, whip-stitching closed as desired, then making sure that the buttonholes line up and both the ribbon and the button band are flat, pin or clip the ribbon to the inside of the button band. Starting on the outside edge, whip-stitch ribbon to knit fabric. To help keep the stitches even, use the knit fabric as your guide, here I did one stitch per knit row. Work your way down the outside edge and up the inside edge, making sure the ribbon lays flat. Unless your button band is very wide, there's no need to tack down the ribbon buttonhole around the knit buttonhole beyond securing the ribbons at the edges.

For more detailed instruction on how to whip-stitch see DMC's embroidery guide).

Repeat process for button side. 

Sew on buttons on across from buttonhole and you're done! Enjoy wearing your snazzy-looking and sturdy button bands!

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Lady Heartrose - PDF Pattern

$8.00

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Fair Times, Fun Times

I think I say this every year, but I love fair season so much.

This is a big turn around from my feelings on the county fair when I was a kid, and never got to go on any rides and had to represent my dance studio on hot awful concrete stages, or at it's least appealing, that one time in high school I volunteered to do an anti-drug puppet show from beneath a folding table. Then, the fair was always an obligation, but as a grown-up - it's way more fun, and as a parent? A blast!

A grand time was had by Cleavers young and old, but Little Miss Cleaver, who is tall enough now to ride the rides, had the best time of all I think. She particularly wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, and had a blast going up and down and up down. The Carousel took second place in her affections, I think. 

Speaking of placing things, I knocked another item off my bucket list by winning a blue ribbon at the county fair. I entered in two categories - pie (other) and coffee cake (quick). My Blackberry Pie with Lemon Streusel got me the coveted blue ribbon and my Prize Coffee Cake netted my a third prize (knocked down by "Way too much cinnamon" and my inclusion of some wheat flour which made it "heavy"). My efforts also netted me a check for a cool $8. Not too bad for my first try. It appears that if you want the really  big ribbons you have to go in for the sponsored contests, so I may try my hand at one of those next year. 

 We petted all sorts of animals and marveled at giant pumpkins, ate junk food, got poop on our shoes, and braved ourselves against the chill. Another fantastic day at the fair. 

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