I made this shawl last fall for the new Tension Magazine and it’s finally been released. This narrow shawl was worked in Filatura di Crosa Superior, a very fuzzy cashmere silk that was lovely to crochet. It’s a filet-crochet style pattern that shifts organically from triangles (hence the isoceles) to diamonds (double triangles) and back to triangles at the end. It’s been a season of shawls. I have had three in the works for most of the winter, and now they’re all finally done and will be released in one form or another over the coming months.

Before I sent off my shawl, I got my friend Erica to model it for me. Here’s another one:

You can find all of this chilly photoshoot in the slideshow below. Luckily the Orca Books, where we finished up, has hot coffee!

If you haven’t been sucked into the world of vampire fiction, you can just consider my newest pattern something sweet for Valentine’s day and spring.

$4.00

This scarf celebrates my love of hearts and my love of vampire fiction–especially Charlaine Harris’ novels, The Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries. Sookie sometimes wears a little scarf around her neck the morning after an encounter with her vampire-amour Bill. I thought, in February it’s even cold in Louisiana, and she might like something with a little warmth. I know I would. So this bandana-esque scarf was born.

Fold the scarf and wear the point in the front, side or back. Worn close around the neck, the scarf will keep you warm and hide any little “love bites.”

The scarf was made using center increases which gives it a nice diamond-y shape and the hearts are simple fillet-crochet designs, which can be easily memorized once you’ve tried the chart out once.

We’ve been in Anchorage for the weekend attending the Folk Festival there, we performed and jammed and generally had a good time making music. We got back last night and I’ve spent the day un-packing and re-packing because tomorrow I leave for Friday Harbor to attend Cat Bordhi’s Visionary Retreat. I’m excited to be returning and working more on self-publishing. There are going to be some great knitters and writers in attendance this year, some who I’ve met before and some who I only know online. I can’t wait to meet and work with everyone.

Yesterday we got a huge dump of wet, wet snow, the city almost shut down which is saying a lot for Cordova. The snow removal machines (And James who seems to be constantly shoveling our BIG driveway) have had a very hard time keeping up. Snow keeps falling off the roof (roofalanche!) and piling up in front of our windows,  so we get a lot less light in the house during our short days, but the view outside is very pretty now that its gotten a little colder and the snow has slowed. I’m just hoping everything is cleaned up by the time we fly out on Sunday.

Meanwhile, even in the thick of the snowstorm people were out in droves walking through the foot-deep slush in town shopping and generally having a good time. The Net Loft was busy yesterday and several friends stopped by and we did some exchanging of gifts. I gave my friend Angela a little Noro scarflette like the one I made myself back in May.

Angela gave ME this adorable little handmade doll by an Alaskan artisan. The doll is a weaver and has a little in progress basket in her hands. She’s also wearing a Kuspuk which is a traditional native Alaskan garment.

I haven’t mailed this little scarf yet, and the recipient may or may not be reading this blog post, (I hope she likes it when she gets it!) but Colleen was kind enough to model it for me. The scarf is made using the snowflake garland pattern from Red Heart, I made it with Brown Sheep Bulky and a USM hook, and added the tassels at the end.

Finally, I re-discovered this custom colorway of Three Irish Girls Gallenas at The Net Loft on Wednesday, and had to get it to make some small ornaments for gifts. This is the heart from simplebeans.

I hope you’re all finding a little time to crochet during these busy weeks. I’ve been saving this skein of handspun from Blonde Chicken Boutique since I bought it last spring. I’m thinking of making my Elsinore Woods Scarf [Ravelry Link] with it this evening if I get the chance. The scarf pattern is in the latest issue of Inside Crochet (issue #5).

I’ve now been in Cordova for a little over a year, and I’m enjoying being able to attend some favorite events from last year for the second time. Tonight was the Copper River Watershed Project’s Berry Festival. It’s a pot-luck dinner where everyone brings berry-themed appetizers, drinks, salads, entrées,  and of course, desserts in order to celebrate local food. Last year I brought berry-pear custard bars, this year I was imagining a blueberry cream puff, but I didn’t get to experiment with the pâte à choux – the special dough used with cream puffs and éclairs, and since I’d never made one before, I thought it might be a bit risky to test it out on a crowd. Instead, I came up with a sweet roll filled with some salmonberry-nectarine jam that my friend Becca made. You can substitute any kind of jam for the filling.

Berry Sweet Rolls

Dough (made in a bread machine)

1 c. soy milk
1/3 c. orange juice
3 T canola oil
1/4 c. non-hydrogenated margarine (I use earth balance)
1/3 c. sugar
1 t. salt
3 c. unbleached flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. yeast

Add all ingredients to your bread machine in the order listed. Set machine to the dough setting. When the dough is just about done, prepare the filling.

Filling

1/2 c. salmonberry-nectarine jam (or any flavor of berry jam)
1/4 c. non-hydrogenated margarine
1 small handful of slivered almonds

Heat jam and margarine in a small saucepan until margarine is melted and whisk to combine. Remove from heat.

Assembling Sweet Rolls

When the dough is ready, roll it into a large rectangle approximately 1/4″ thick on a lightly floured surface. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, and sprinkle the almonds over the filling. Roll the dough up lengthwise, as tightly as possible and pinch to seal. (The seal might not stay, and that’s ok). Prepare a pan to hold the rolls by spraying with oil and lining the bottom with parchment paper. (I used a 14″ cast iron skillet, but any baking dish should work). Using a clean piece of thread, cut 1″ rolls and place them into your baking dish. Cover the dish with a towel and set in a warm place to rest for 20-30 minutes.. Preheat the oven to 375F. Bake the sweet rolls in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until lightly browned (or until internal temperature of the rolls reaches 160F).

While the rolls are baking, prepare the frosting.

Blueberry Buttercream Frosting

1/2 c. non-hydrogenated margarine
2-3 c. powdered sugar (or enough to make a thick frosting)
1 T. vanilla
zest of 1/2 an organic lemon
1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 c. slivered almonds for garnish

In a mixer, whip the margarine until fluffy, add the powdered sugar and whip until you have a smooth frosting. Add vanilla, lemon zest and blueberries, adding a little more powdered sugar if necessary to maintain consistency.

Frost the rolls as soon as you’ve removed them from the oven. Sprinkle with slivered almonds. Serve warm. (Note: I had a bit of frosting left over-it will keep very well in the fridge for the next time you’re making sweet rolls.)

Back in February we took the kids to Anchorage for the weekend. It happened to be Valentine’s day weekend, and we had a nice time going to movies (Coraline for Selma and Me, I can’t remember what the guys saw) and doing things you can’t do in Cordova.  For instance, we saw moose (four of them!) roaming in the hotel parking lot:

We learned there are rules about this sort of wildlife appearance in the city:

And of course we made safety a top priority:

On the ferry to and from Anchorage I worked on a Valentine’s gift for James. He liked my Valentine Hat and wished for a not-so-pink hat for himself. I did finish it not too long after Valentine’s day, but never got a picture of it until today because he ran off with it so quickly.

It’s done in crochted fair-isle and I improvised the pattern as I went.

The wool is Jaimeson Chunky, which is rustic and sturdy and perfect for an Alaskan hat. You might be able to see that I concentrated all of the increases into a couple of rounds in the crown of the hat. I did this so I wouldn’t have to worry about increasing in pattern on the sides of the hat. It did work out, but it looked ruffly for quite a while and I just had to have faith that it would smooth out when the hat got to the right size.

By the way, it was a beautiful and warm day today (in the low 60s!) but when you’re heading out to fish in the evening it never hurts to wear your hat. Keeps the bugs off as well as keeping you warm.

James caught three sockeye salmon which he’s cleaning now. Since this post began with a photo of snow, I’ll end with a slideshow of our exploration of Orca Inlet today at low tide.

Last week I was thinking it would be fun to make something valentiney, and then while I was working at The Net Loft, I re-discovered the Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted semi-solid colors. This combined with the fact that I’m currently taking a knitting class in designing nordic mittens led me to try out a stranded hat with the new yarn and Valentine theme. I’m considering it a warm-up for the crocheted fair-isle bear sweater I’m about to start. I was out of practice doing crocheted colorwork, and I had to play around a bit with holding the yarn to get a comfortable technique. I ended up holding both colors in the left hand.

I began the hat at the top, and concentrated the increases instead of spiraling them throughout the crown so that I didn’t have to worry about changing colors and increasing at the same time. I also didn’t want obvious increase lines since the color patterning is what should get the attention.

I used the special tapestry crochet graph paper from Carol Ventura’s More Tapestry Crochet to initially chart the hearts. The slanted graph paper shows what the charts look like in crocheted stitches which don’t stack vertically, especially when worked in the round. I then transferred it to standard graph paper so it’s easier to follow while crocheting.

Then after working the heart chart, I worked even to create the rolled brim. (BTW, the mist on the lake behind me? They call that “frozen fog.” Selma and I think the back yard looks like Narnia under the rule of the White Witch.)

I didn’t write a conventional pattern, but I drew out the chart so if you want to make the hat too, you can.

I used a partial skein of skein of Lamb’s Pride in Creme (M-10) and almost the whole skein of Strawberry Smoothies (M-200). My gauge with a 5mm hook was about 4.3 sts per inch. The hat has about a 23″ circumference.

Starting with 6 sts, I doubled in the sts in the 2nd and 3rd rounds and again in the 5th. In rnd 9, I increased again in every other st, and in rnd 12 in every 3rd st for a total of 96 sts. I increased once more to 99 sts before beginning the hearts.

The chart represents 1/2 of the hat. So, you’ll continue each pattern row as you began to the end of the round. (The rounds are spiraled, but I’d recommend placing a marker at the beginning, so you can keep track.) The x’s mark the white stitches. Clicking on the chart will take you to its flickr page where you can download a hi-res version.

Like I said, I had to fiddle a bit before getting comfortable again changing colors. I made a little (low-quality) video so you could see what I ultimately ended up doing. It also demonstrates how to yarn over with the new color in the stitch before the color change.

Let me know if you have questions. I’d be happy to answer them. We’re taking a trip to Anchorage with the kids for Valentine’s day. It will be my first time on the ferry in Prince William Sound and I’m looking forward to it. We’ll be seeing the new movie Coraline based on the book by Neil Gaiman that Selma got for Christmas and loved, and we’ll be stocking up on chocolate hard-to-find groceries.

Lost.

One of the things I love about moving is getting lost. When I’m exploring a new area, I love to wander around back roads feeling my way and learning the area. I had thought that it wouldn’t be possible to get lost in Cordova, but it turns out there’s plenty of roads to loose my way on (even though, locals say “out the road,” as if there’s only one, whenever they’re talking about things away from town), and each one seems to offer a better view of mountain or water or rainforest.

Found.

Things in Alaska are expensive, things in Cordova, are about twice that much. In the general store, a bag of potato chips regularly costs $8.99. I was relieved to find a small Salvation Army store on the main street here in town. Yesterday we found an old electric piano there that Selma bought for herself for just a few dollars, and when she was trying out the piano, the cashier said, “are you a Suzuki student?” It turns out she was two about 10 years ago, and her teacher still lives in town, but stopped teaching when she had children. We called the teacher, and she’s going to take Selma on as a student.

Our first day here we got a call from Kristy (flickr), the wife of the Engineering Officer on the ship saying that there was a gathering to plan the upcoming weekend’s Coast Guard Day picnic. It turned out to be an impromptu craft session as well with knitting and crocheting, quilting and one new friend Pam (shown here hand quilting a beautiful stained glass quilt) showed us her handmade paper collection including some made from dryer lint! (We’re all going to start saving ours asap). Kristy is the unofficial photographer of the group, and she took this shot:

Finished.

When I was planning our x-country journey, I fantasized about not having work projects to do, and using the travel time to finish up UFOs. Well, I ended up taking on work instead, but I did get to work on a couple of small projects some washcloths to give as hostess gifts, and a shawl for a friend–this is my Antique Lace Shawl worked in Malabrigo’s new silk and merino yarn.

Returned.

James was due to return with the ship this morning. (The last time we saw him was the morning of June 11th). Last night at about dinner time, I got simultaneous calls from James and the ship’s ombudsman saying that they were coming in tonight instead. The family members of the ship’s crew gathered at a point along the sound to wave to them as they passed by, then we jumped in our cars and drove to the pier to greet them.

Delivered.

Our household goods arrive tomorrow, so I may be buried in boxes and off the computer for a while. I do not like unpacking, so hopefully, I’ll power through and get it over with quickly.

On Saturday, we attended the Hamilton College commencement ceremony because it was the last commencement where my dad would be College Marshall–the person who leads the ceremony and directs everyone. (Here he is calling the ceremony to order.) He retires this year.

Here he is after the ceremony. Do you think he looks happy to be finished?

He doesn’t look old enough to be retiring! He’s not actually going to stop teaching. As an emeritus professor, he’ll teach one course per semester, but not have any administrative work that goes with a full time job.

My dad is an English professor, and he is a huge influence on my career as a writer. His influence began when he read to me as a little kid–everything from nursery rhymes to Robinson Crusoe. He reviewed and commented on practically everything I wrote through grade school, high-school, and college; he’s taught me more than anyone about how to write.

Anyway, after all of the marching in at the ceremony, once the speeches had started, I pulled out a sock I was crocheting and began to work on it. Selma, who had forgotten the book she was going to read, was watching me intently, and after a few minutes, I handed her the sock. I had tried to teach her to crochet a year or so ago, but she wasn’t interested, so I didn’t push it. This time, however, I didn’t really teach her, I just gave a little non-verbal advice when she got stuck, and it all came naturally–I think the fact that I couldn’t talk (because we were in a ceremony) helped–I probably would have given too much advice and annoyed her. This way, I let her work it out on her own. I also think the smallness of the sock yarn and hook may have been a better fit for her small hands than worsted weight and a big 5mm hook. Here she is continuing her work at the picnic after the ceremony.

Of course, she has another new fiber love, she learned to spin at Maryland sheep and wool:

She also designed her very own batt on Rebecca’s drum carder:

So it will be interesting to see what keeps her attention.

Today the movers came and took away our express shipment including, (GULP!) all my stitch dictionaries. I’m feeling a little naked without them.

…is a tattoo parlor. Yesterday, Emily and I were taking a break from de-cluttering and went shopping for buttons. She dared me to get a tattoo, so…

GOTCHA!!!!

It’s really a “tattoo sleeve.” I’m not sure when (or why) I got this in the first place, but it’s one of the things we found when cleaning up. I think I’ll hang onto it for the kids to play with.

We’re leaving tomorrow to spend the long weekend with my parents. I expect to do lots of knitting, but little or no blogging, so see you next week!

I think that our house is kicking us out. Our phone has been intermittently going on the fritz, every time it rains, as a matter of fact. And last week our furnace broke. Someone came to fix it, but a few days later, it broke again. Oh, and all the rain we’ve been having flooded the basement (i.e. my studio), so rugs are piled on top of boxes and things that I had to move to allow the carpet to dry. Argh. We do have to be here at least another 6 weeks until the movers come, so the house and I are going to have to reach some sort of détante. Maybe a little feng shui is in order.

Meanwhile, I have a new hat design in the works… here’s a quick snapshot. I hope to be doing a photoshoot of this and a few other new projects this week that we’ll be debuting at TNNA in June. The yarn is a sock yarn from Pagewood Farm. It’s a hand-dye on a lovely sock base that is great to work with–this is part of a trio of knitting patterns I’m doing with Pagewood Farm that will include a scarf and a purse.

This weekend we had a break from many, many days of torrential rain on Saturday, and we took advantage of it by going to see the US Women’s soccer team beat Canada at RFK stadium in DC. We had front-row seats, and the kids really got to see the action. A few of the players were moms and their kids got to run out to the field and bring them flowers for mother’s day. Afterwards, some of the players came and signed autographs.

One of them, Kate Sobrero, who was carrying her son, Keegan, tossed Jay one of her signed Jerseys!

Of course, he had to put it on, right away.

If you’re a Heroes fan, you’ll appreciate this adorable Mohinder amigurumi doll created by Violet Anchovy. I love the sideburns.

She based it on Kim Werker’s Amigurumi Dude pattern at CrochetMe. Oh, and she’s made a Sylar one too!