9 posts tagged “norah gaughan”

I just did something incredible: I made soup in five minutes. Those of you who know me in "real life", as they say, or just on Facebook know that I have a VitaMix blender and I have been known to blend odd mixtures, or at least things other people don't want to drink. I haven't used it in a while for some reason but I got some fresh red chard at the Farmer's Market on Sunday and I have a jar of fresh raw cashew milk so I decided that it was time for green smoothies in the morning again. This morning's creation was 1 cup raw cashew milk, 1/2 a small avocado, 1 apple, 4 strawberries, a couple handfuls of red chard leaves and a squirt of agave nectar and it was delicious and very bright green. Getting the blender out and making stock the past couple of days (vegetable one day, chicken the next) reminded me that one of the things that impressed me about the blender before I got it was that the demo guy made soup in it while I stood there so I decided to give it a try. Stefan was asking for tomato soup and the recipe book that came with the blender had a recipe for Tomato, Onion and Cheese Soup. So I made that.
It's 1 large tomato (I used 4 small ones), 1/4 cup onion, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1 Tblsp tomato paste and 1 cup low sodium broth (I used homemade vegetable) in the blender on high for 5 minutes. That's it. I may have used too many tomatoes (2 probably would have been enough) and the onion was a bit too much for me but otherwise it was good. I am definitely going to try it again. I will either reduce the onion, buy sweet or red onion or take the extra few minutes to saute the onions. I might actually use chicken broth if I did it again, to add more flavor. But... how awesome is it that I can put cold ingredients in and get out steaming soup in such a short amount of time? The only downside (other than me rocking some serious onion breath right now) is that the blender sure is loud running for 5 minutes.

In NaNoSweMo news I am up to 5 inches of my sweater. This sweater has an inset front panel but I didn't see any reason not to knit the two fronts and the back in one piece so that's what I'm doing. That makes it difficult to photograph. But here goes. (Plus, you're getting iPhone photos for the next little while until I can figure out why my iPhoto hangs up when I try to export to Flickr.)
I am doing some calculations on the back to add more decreases to the waist and then I'm going to go down to the instructions for one size smaller on the back. I find that if I do that I get a better fitting sweater that doesn't bag in the back. Not bagging is good! I think it's going to work but I need to remember to pay attention to the decreases and bindoff at the shoulder so that I end up with pieces that are the same width at the shoulder. Instead of paying attention to the sleeves from the pattern at all I'm going to do a top down set-in sleeve which will make it faster (no sewing it in!) and hopefully a better fit. My last Norah Gaughan sweater had very snug sleeves. I wondered why they were so slim and then I read a note from Norah on Twitter:

Paraphrased: A slim sleeve makes for a flattering garment. But! Knitter, know thyself =)

Well, I know myself and prefer a less slim sleeve! I'm glad it's not just me though.

In honor of finishing two things and in spite of my Hempstream pullover still not being done I started a Pucker (Rav link). The pattern is written for a worsted weight yarn (5 sts to the inch) and I don't have any sweater quantities of worsted weight yarn that would work so I'm using DK weight yarn (5.5 sts to the inch).  I picked a larger size than I would knit for myself normally based on the change in measurements from using a thinner yarn. The size I picked calls for 1100 yards of the recommended yarn and I have 1370 of my thinner yarn. I'm feeling anxious that it's not enough. This half a ball of stockinette has resulted in about an inch of sweater.

We won't even talk about how much time that inch of sweater took either. After four inches I get to start decrasing, but not all that much. We'll see how far I get before I decide this isn't such a great plan.

I had a class with Cat Bordhi today and aside from learning all sorts of things about sock design and lots of tips for perfect toe-up sock cast ons and how to make your SSKs tighter she gave me some advice for becoming a sought-after tech editor. I am going to follow her suggestions and see how that goes for me.

So, what did I buy? The first day, I bought buttons for  my February Lady Sweater. I walked up to the Button Lady booth with the sweater and said I needed buttons and she pulled out the most perfect green/brown horn button from her vintage buttons box. Fifty cents each!

Perfection. Thursday, I also bought the Woolly Thoughts book on modular knitting ideas from the Village Spinners and Weavers booth.

I was ogling Norah Gaughan Vol. 4 and the flower child sweater. Foolishly, I didn't pick up the yarn for it right then from WEBS. I did get the booklet and on Saturday I ordered the yarn (in a lovely teal color). The other yarn purchases happened at Bobbin's Nest Studio's after Stitches party. I got one ball of Panda Soy solid to coordinate with a variegated color that I have so I can use the solid for the toe, heel and cuff. My impulse purchase was ten balls of chocolate brown Vickie Howell Craft yarn. It's really pretty. I don't know what I'm going to use it for yet. I couldn't not take it though. I love that color.

After all of this my stash number is now at 44394.5 yards or 25.2 miles of yarn. I just finished a whole sweater, but that's still up a mile since my last calculation. That's somewhat disappointing!  Ah well, head down, keep knitting!

Here are a few more pictures, including one of how I did the hook and closures. Initially I sewed them directly to the knitting but then they pulled something awful when hooked so I sewed on a strip of bias tape and sewed the closures to that. I think it looks much better.

I enjoyed knitting the skirt of this sweater most of all. I am already looking forward to my next Norah Gaughan pattern.

I've been sort of completely ignoring Manon. I sewed in the first sleeve and it stinks. I need to take it out and redo it. I think I need to practice more on my sewing in of set-in sleeves. Rogue worked nicely but so far I haven't found it that easy or fun to do. Bah.

manon's sucky sleeve

I also tried to crochet a hat for my friend's daughter this week and it was enormous! I'm having an off week, other than Niels' sweater, which continues to be lovely, I think.

I think it is much improved. I am so pleased that I've actually cut yarn and woven in ends. The back of the neck seam is also sewn. I've knit one sleeve but my gauge is totally off. I knit the stockinette portion of the body combination style which is different than my circular gauge, apparently. It appears to be looser because I have 4.5 st to the inch on the body but 5.5 on the sleeve. I'm reknitting the sleeve on larger needles, or rather on even larger needles. I had already gone up one needle size.

On the stash front, I finally fell down on my deal with Kristi and now owe her $5. I went into Purlescence on Thursday for a bit of knit night and Sandi and Nathania presented me with bags and bags of Panda Soy to go through. It's Crystal Palace's new sock yarn, 49% bamboo, 33% soy and 18% elastic nylon. Gorgeous colors and so incredibly soft. I thought I had a bit more leeway than I do, apparently because these three tiny balls put me over the edge. Oops.

THe color is even more gorgeous in person and I don't regret it one bit.

As you can see I got all the way to the shoulders. The loose bit on my shoulder is the back of the collar which needs a three needle bind off and to be sewn down. I didn't want to do that part, though, until I was certain that I was going to keep it as is. Right now, I am certain I am not. I took it in to Purlescence  so I could get Sandi's advice. She's given me good tips on where to change the shape of a garment before and she came through again. I have a plan now which, unfortunately, involves ripping back to the ribbing above the peplum. Here's the plan:

1. Plain st st after picking up for 0.5 inch (with the decreases I already added in at the back).
2. Then 2 inches worth of short row bust darts in the front.
3. The total heigh of the st st (aside from the bust darts) should be 3 inches.
4. Don't forget to redo the decreases of 4 st total (2 in 2 rows on each front) right before underarm bind off.

That might not make sense if you haven't knit this pattern or don't live in my head, or maybe both? If not, sorry, let me try to explain. I knit the size of the peplum (the triangles) that I thought would fit my bust. I know my bust measurement is skewed to the front so after I picked up the designated number of stitches for the back and both fronts I decreased evenly across the back so that section has the right number of stitches for one size down. Then, after knitting what I thought would be a big enough bust, I decreased four stitches in each front to make them match the backs after I knit the portion after the armhole. If I hadn't done that the armhole would have been too big and I wouldn't have had the right number at the shoulder when I got to the three needle bind off. Knitting the backs and fronts in all one piece and finishing the shoulders with a three needle bind off were things I added in to avoid more seaming and also because I'm not sure what is to be gained by having that short side seam.

So, that's what I've been doing recently. Lots and lots of Manon. In stash busting news I sold two balls of All Seasons Cotton to someone on Ravelry because she needed the dyelot I had, which brought my total used or destashed since starting my deal with Kristi to 1447 yards. I also think I have been totalling the wrong column in the stash spreadsheet Ravelry exports for me. No wonder it seems like I didn't have enough yarn! According to the most recent export I have 59,145.10 yards or 33.6 miles of yarn. That's a big difference, eh? Luckily, as soon as I'm done with Manon that will be one mile less. I'm going to have to stick to this deal for a while. What I'd really like to do is stick to it until all of my yarn fits into the four bins I had stacked in the living room and isn't expanding all over the house anymore.

Wish me luck!

Last week Anabel and I had a mini dyeing party. She wanted to dye some curtains and I had some undyed Panda Cotton and Henry's Attic Soie Naturelle that I wanted to dye and some Henry's Attic Riviera that I wanted to overdye because the hanks were two different shades and I didn't like the color. Here are before pictures, notice my very cool homemade PVC niddy noddy!

And here are after pictures. The very dark purple is the Riviera and the orangey-red is the Soie Naturelle. The two two-tone hanks are Panda Cotton.

These aren't real after pictures because the yarn is still. Not. DRY! Right now they are spread out on a drying rack with a fan underneath and they are progressing much more quickly towards being dry. I like the purple of the Riviera (sorry, Cookie) but I'm a bit disappointed in the silk and the Panda Cotton. Both have lightened significantly as they've dried. Ah well, it's my first try. Maybe I'll get better, if I get up the nerve to try it again. The rinsing was endless.

In other news, I started a new sweater project. On Thursday evening I was talking to Anabel about my failed sweater projects. Well, failed as in I don't wear them: Tomato and Ribbi Pulli. She encouraged me to think about the projects that I've made that I do like and wear, in other words: Rogue. She asked me what it was about Rogue that I liked so much. I've decided that two of the biggest selling points about Rogue for me are that it's All Seasons Cotton, which I love knitting with, and it's a cardigan, which I find easier to wear. So after talking to her I went home and started a new cardigan in All Seasons Cotton, Norah Gaughan's Manon. So far, I love it. I hope my love continues. I think it will, I also really love this color and how the yarn looks with the cables and texture.