Episode 8: At the Lake

Hello, welcome to another week (this time very short) of the spinningknitting1 podcast. I hope that you enjoy this week, I kept it pretty short and sweet. My family and I went to the lake this long, Labor Day weekend, so I recorded and edited while we were still there, so the background is different yet again. I also didn't have all my projects to show, since I wasn't at my usual abode, so forgive the lack of projects (I still had three, just not seven like usual).

There were no FOs this week. Instead of doing a ton of knitting I spent my time going to a couple job interviews, and then accepting a new job! I'll be working at a before and after school program at an elementary school. I go to training this up coming week and I'm super excited!

Since I didn't bring all my projects to the lake, I spent a lot of time working on the Hippy-Hippy Shawl by Gabrielle Vezina. It's a free pattern on Ravelry, and I am making it out of fingering weight yarn, instead of the DK called for in the pattern. I think that I am going to do the lace edging in the brown that I have been striping throughout the shawl. I am using US Size 2 Karbonz needles, on a 40" circular. I am enjoying working on this shawl, even though there is a lot of plain stockinette, and it takes forever to get through a row by now, since the rows are so long. The long color repeats are Knitpicks Chroma, and the brown is a mystery acrylic that I found at a crafting consignment shop.

I put a little bit of work on my chevron cowl. This is a pattern that I am making up as I go along. I provisionally cast on 100 stitches, using a crochet cast-on. Then I have been working a chevron stitch in the round, and I have been holding two different skeins together. One is Mille Colori by Lang Yarn, and the other is Berroco Comfort sock weight. I am using a 16" US Size 4 needle for this. I will keep knitting until it is long enough to go around my neck, and then I will kitchener stitch the two ends together.

I also put just a little more work on my ballband dishcloth blanket for Project Linus. I am using a US Size 7 needle, and the green is Red Heart with Love in the Lettuce colorway, and the variegated is Red Heart Super Saver in the Primary colorway. I should be done with this blanket in time to donate it to Project Linus this month.

As a bonus project here on the blog, I thought I would include a recent picture of my Crackerjack scarf that I am making this season to record the Kansas City Royals' season. The royal blue is for wins at home, the powder blue is for wins on the road, the gold is for losses at home, and the white is for losses on the road. As you can see, there is quite a bit more blue than gold or white, so that's always a good sign. I'm working this on US Size 6 needles, with Plymouth Dreambaby DK.

In addition to knitting, and going to school and going to interviews, I also read this week, quite a bit. I talked about two books that I have been reading this week. The first one is by Debbie Macomber and is A Good Yarn. It's a pretty light story that is about three ladies that are taking a class on knitting socks in their local yarn store, and their background stories, and the shop owner's background story, and just a glimpse into the lives of other knitters, so that's kinda a fun read. The second one is Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado. It is just a series of character vignettes that expand on stories from the life of Jesus and different places in the Bible and just really brings them to life. I really like his writing style, and think that I will be reading more of his books.

Finally, the thought for this week was about how important it is to stay positive and flexible, and just trying to keep a good attitude. That's all for this week, I hope you'll join me next week for the weekly update on spinningknitting1's podcast.

Finished Projects

I recently went to the local big box craft store, which everyone knows can be a dangerous adventure, and I located their fat quarter batiks. I would just like to start off with the full disclosure that I love batiks. I love graphic prints. I think that these are wonderful things that need to be celebrated and be made part of decorating and accessories all around. So, in order to do my little part I purchased enough gray fabric to line all the bags that I planned on making, and then picked out zippers, and then picked out fabric that coordinated with the zippers. I realize that this may sound a bit backwards, but when you think about it, there are far more fabric choices than zipper choices, so I thought that it was safer to pick out the thing with the smaller selection, because I didn't want to end up with awesome fabric and having to get a boring black zipper to go in them. I also added a handle to these box bags, because it seemed like a good idea. So, there is that too.

I think that they turned out really cute, and was quite pleased with them.

Then also last night I finished a hat for my friend K, and she will be getting it whenever I see her next, hopefully on Sunday at our young adult group. So there is that too. It was made with Plymouth Coffee Bean, which is a worsted weight. The construction of the yarn was really interesting, it was a three ply with one of the plies being slightly thick and thin so it gave a slight bit of texture to the finished hat as well as just some visual interest that I liked. The pattern was a free pattern off of Ravelry, the "big fat cable hat". I really liked this pattern, and thought that it was written out really well, and that it turned out really cute and slouchy. I am seriously considering making some more of these for Christmas and other similar occasions.

And finally this afternoon I finished another bias scrap blanket for Project Linus. I liked how it turned out, I just made it from scraps on a US Size I crochet hook, single crochet increasing until it was about three feet on a side and then decreasing until I reached a point. Unfortunately, Project Linus meet-up is on Sunday and it looks like this will be the only knit/crochet blanket that I have finished, I do have the bargello quilted one that I showed previously, but I really like to turn in more yarn based blankets, especially since I have received yarn donations and I like to have a good turn around on those so I am not just hoarding it. (Even though the donations are usually just Red Heart Super Saver, so it's not like there's a whole lot else I can do with them, it's still nice to have a fairly quick turn around on those sort of things.)

I finished For Calvinism by Michael S. Horton, and while I thought it was a well written book, I don't think that it necessarily convinced me that Calvinism is the way to go. There seemed to be some parts in the logic where he didn't really answer the question proposed and just skirted around the issue in order to arrive at the safe conclusion that supported his answer. So it was interesting, but I don't know that it accomplished it's goal. I started The Case for God by Karen Armstrong, but am not really far enough into it to say one way or the other how it's going to turn out, it is interesting so far, but that's about all the insight I can give to it.

Spindle Spinning

I finished a thing! I have been working on a big spindle spinning project, not huge like a sweater quantity or anything, but a pretty big project, for me anyway. To start off I would like to state that I have issues with making my singles anything much thinner than a worsted or aran. Most of the time I get a bulky or even super bulky. So I wanted to try and get a sock weight yarn on a spindle. Not only that but I wanted to get a navajo plied sock yarn on a spindle, and I got closer. I think that I got around a DK weight, so that's closer. I got around 130 yards from 4oz of BFL (Blue Faced Leicester). It was in the Scrambled on the Insides colorway by Nerd Girl Yarns. I like how it turned out, and I think that I am going to make some kind of slippers with them.

I spun it on my Kundhert spindle that is 1.3oz, and it is my favorite spindle by far. I really like the weight at how it spins. I am planning on going to a spin-in at Chillicothe, MO in April, and am wanting to get another spindle there, just to try out another one, but I am definitely going to get one in this weight range. I am also considering getting another turkish spindle, because I like the one that I have, but it is just the knitpicks one, and I like when my tools have just a little bit of embellishing on them. Makes them feel nicer. There is going to be a tool trade at the spin-in so I am hoping to find some good deals there.

In other news I am still reading For Calvinism, although I am almost done, and will likely finish within the next few days. I am also reading New Monasticism by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and it is an interesting read that has given a history of the monastic movement, and now is getting into how principals of monastic living can be applied to the church as a whole. I also went to the library yesterday and got The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which is the book club book for the March book club, so I don't know anything about it, but it looks like it will hopefully be an enjoyable read.

I did a lot of math yesterday in order to figure out the sleeves on a sweater I am making. It has a bottom up construction, where the body and the sleeves are knit separate and then joined and the shoulders are knit. I've finished with the body, and my arms are just not shaped like a normal person's, I have shorter arms that are rounder, so I had to increase quickly in a short amount of rows in order to ensure that the sleeves will indeed fit me (which is important to me considering that I have invested a fair amount into this yarn).

I also have a time frame for getting my products professionally photographed for my Etsy shop, and so everything is on track to get it all up and running in March, which will be awesome!

Little Things

Well, it's been just over a week, and honestly, I don't have that much to show for it. I did finish Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans, and thought it was a very interesting book. My only complaint is that it wasn't long enough. I wish she could have gone into more detail in some of her interviews. Other than that I thought it was really interesting to read about someone attempting to live out the biblical decrees in a year.

I am still reading For Calvinism by Michael S. Horton, and I'm over halfway done with that book. It too is really interesting, but there seems to be some manipulation of words in order for them to make their points seem nice and logical, like they are stepping two steps out in front of you without letting you see how they go to their position, and then just saying "Trust me, look, I'm out here, it must be ok". Which I don't particularly like.

I've also started listening to the Daily Audio Bible in addition to the three pastors that I follow through their podcasts. I think that his voice is soothing and I find it interesting to discover all these stories that happened in the Bible that I wasn't really aware that they happened, or details that are left out when they teach you the stories as children. I don't really listen to the commentary or the community call-ins, but I think that it is nice to just listen to the Bible being read every day. I think it makes it easier for me to keep going, and I had to catch up quite a bit, since it is now February, but I am now caught up and intend to keep listening for the rest of the year.

I created a "new" bag design yesterday. I'm not the first person to ever invent a box bag, I know, but I did make them bigger than the normal box bag, and I made them in a way that they are lined and the zipper is in at first. I will be putting them up in my Etsy shop. I think the prints that I used are cute and that overall it is a nice little bag, big enough for a medium sized project. I have some more zippers, so I will be making some more of various sizes pretty soon as well.

I also finished a simple cowl that I made by modifying a stitch pattern so that the floats were on top of each other. It made a really squishy fabric, but because the three ply of the yarn is so busy you can't really see the patterning in the stitches, but that is ok, I still think it's cute.

I also finished a striped hat that worked up really fast, and I think turned out really cute. These I wouldn't mind doing on commission in a million different colors, and there's not too many patterns I can say that about, I just really like this hat blank pattern and all the different color work that I have been doing on it. I think that it is interesting and really fun to whip up a hat in just a few days.

In other news I was exploring in my stash area and got down a bag of what I thought was disasters from the past, and inside there were actually some nice and interesting creations that I think I'm going to put in my Etsy shop. And most of them were done with handspun, so that makes them extra special. I was really thrilled. I was expecting just disaster after disaster and instead was pleasantly surprised all around. I will be posting pictures of those finds next time I post.

Finishing Things

I have been quite busy working on things. I finished several things, including one of the books that I was reading. I finished reading Against Calvinism by Roger E. Olson. I thought that it was a good argument against Calvinism, hence the title, but I'm not sure that it totally convinced me, but it didn't really provide very good explanations of alternatives to Calvinism, but just presented problem with the Calvinist theology. I recommend reading it if you are interested in Calvinism, and haven't made up your mind about it, but don't really know anything about it. (This is where I was coming from). It's very informative and good at explaining things, and at a few points almost feels repetitive, which really helps to drive the point home for me personally.

Now I'm reading For Calvinism by Michael S. Horton. Which is the other side of the coin as far as the Calvinist debate goes, just presenting the Calvinism theology with a more positive light, whereas Against Calvinism was an argument against it at every turn, and it was hard to picture why anyone would believe it in the first place. For Calvinism I hope is going to answer the question of why people believe and embrace Calvinism, not that I have decided which side I fall down on, but it's still important and interesting to learn about.

I'm also reading A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans. It's a book about how she spent a year following all the biblical laws literally and how she discovered things about herself through following the laws. I think that it's interesting, and I'm learning a lot about different Biblical women that I had never heard of, and I am interested in the Bible, and finding someone that scoured the Bible and found all references to women in order to figure out what it means to "live biblically" is really interesting to me. She writes in a very approachable style, and has her own blog, where you can read about different things. She links different pages of her blog in the book, so I think the two are coordinated, but since the book was written several years ago she's probably not writing about being "domestic" anymore.

In other news I finished a scarf that was two strands held together, I'm calling it "Dirty Snow". It was a strand of white boucle with bits of color and then a strand of lace weight that striped between light blue to white to dark blue to tan to brown and then all the way back again. I like how it turned out. It's just a strip of garter stitch, but I thought that any patterning would be lost in the boucle, so I thought it best to just keep it simple, and not have a lot of complicated things going on.

And then here's a close up of the scarf, where I hope you can see the strand of the lace weight. It had a pretty good halo and was also metallic. 

I also finished a hat, knit with mill ends of sock yarn, and it was striped, and I knit it on my size US 2 Karbonz 16" needles. I did about 2.5" of ribbing, 2x2 ribbing. Then I did a simple mesh stitch that I made up. It was a row of eyelets, and then three rows of plain knit. It was knit in the round, and then I did my normal round decrease at the top to close up the hat.

And then finally I made a baby quilt for Project Linus. It was a along time in the coming, and in the last two nights I finished piecing, put on a border, and then quilted it and put on the binding. And I learned that while I am not terrible at long-arm quilting (my mom has a long arm quilting machine), I am absolutely terrible at sewing straight enough to put on binding. It's quite challenging for me and I'm not really sure why. It's a bargello pattern, made by Jodie and some of her other patterns are available at the Project Linus Kansas City Chapter website. 

And then here is a close-up of the back just so you can see some of the quilting a little better. There are little flowers traveling all the way around the border, but because the border is so busy you can't tell that it's quilted at all unless you are feeling it.

So there you go, everything that I've finished in the past few days. I also cooked up a storm yesterday, and now have enough food for several days. Today I'm going up to Angelika's Yarn Store, and I'll be seeing some new friends, and then I'll be going to Matthew's Ministry, which is a ministry for adults and children with special needs. I'm really looking forward to it, I enjoy it a lot.

Crochet, Bake, Knit

Hello everyone! It has been an exciting day of nothingness here at my house. Yesterday I spent the day chilling with my grandparents, and managed to get a scarf done and a hat started. This is the scarf, and I'll save the hat until it's finished.

The scarf was made using the honeycomb stitch of tunisian crochet on a size P hook. The yarn is Wool-Ease Chunky by Lion Brand Yarn Company. I like how it turned out, it's not really big enough to be much more than an accent piece thought, but it would add a pop to someone's wardrobe, and the grey makes it neutral enough to go with more than just a lime green coat or sweater or something. 

Then this morning I made (drumroll please), cinnamon rolls! They are gluten free and from a recipe found at the Recreating Happiness Gluten Free blog. My pictures are not as scrumptious as hers, but they taste delicious! This is the first time that I have been able to have gluten free dough that turned out yeast-y and gooey like a real cinnamon roll, so kudos to her! They were awesome! I think I would take the dough by itself and make dinner rolls (just cook balled up dough so that it's pull apart, but without the cinnamon filling, obviously), it was that good! So here's the picture of how mine turned out....

The link to this recipe is here (Recreating Happiness Gluten Free). It's really great, I encourage you to try it on a boring afternoon. I will warn you that the dough is very sticky and can be tricky to roll into the cinnamon rolls (hence some of mine are a little ugly, they tore when I was rolling them up). But the end product is well worth it. Also, this recipe is entirely from scratch! So you will need quite a few ingredients, but honestly, I had everything in my cupboards already and didn't have to go get anything, so based on my experience I would say that all the ingredients are fairly common, especially if you have been baking gluten free for any length of time. 

While I was waiting for my cinnamon rolls to bake I finished another cowl, made out of Mega Brushed by Premier Yarns, it's 100% acrylic, and I held it double and used a size 13 needle. I used the basket weave stitch, using a pattern that I improvised for my friend when she was making cowls for her family this past Christmas season. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, I think it will wear well and be very warm, it will be going up on my Etsy store in March along with everything else that I have been showing on here (except for the Project Linus blankets, of course). 

Other than that I have been listening to sermons by different people about the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism, and think I am leaning toward Arminianism, but am also torn about determinism, because it seems to make sense in a sort of way. I am still reading Against Calvinism by Roger E. Olson, and Mythologies by Roland Barthes. How I have been reading Mythologies is that I read through it and just underline any word that I may not know (which tends to be slang, it's a philosophical, yet contemporary book, it's hard to explain). Afterwards I go through with the translator on my phone and look up any words that I had underlined previously. I think that this will reinforce my vocabulary and also strengthen the vocabulary that I am able to recall and use, not just the vocabulary that I am able to recognize, because I find that those are two different things. I also found out just yesterday that the community college in my metropolitan area offers courses in Chinese, four separate semesters, and I am seriously considering enrolling in Chinese in the fall, it's too late of course for the spring semester, but that will be something to look forward to. 

So that's it!

New Projects

So, now into the juicy stuff, there are several projects that I have been taking up to fill up my time. But first, let's look at what I finished this morning, and a new blanket for Project Linus that I finished a few days ago.

This scarf was done with the honeycomb tunisian crochet stitch, with gradient yarn that I dyed myself, it was lopi wool from iceland. I think it turned out quite nicely. 

This is a green blanket with scrap yarn accents that I finished for Project Linus. The center square was double tunisian crochet stitch. The green triangles are single crochet with decreases to make the triangle shape, and the borders are all single crochet as well. I have an affinity for the single crochet triangles right now, don't ask me why, I just find them addicting.

In addition to crafting I have been reading quite a bit. I recently finished 2159 by Criag Borlase, it was an interesting read, giving the history of Christianity, and I thought it was intriguing. Currently I am reading Against Calvinism by Roger E. Olson and Mythologies by Roland Barthes. I am reading Against Calvinism because I am becoming more interested in the deeper theological perspectives than just the shallow interpretations that I have grown up with. I am reading Mythologies because it is a book in French, and I need to practice my French, and Spanish, because I am currently trying to learn Chinese, and currently have a vocabulary of about 60 words (which is not a whole lot, but you have to start somewhere, and I am pretty happy with that number). Anyways, I need to not lose my fluency in French and Spanish just because I have started a new language.

To learn Chinese I am mainly relying heavily on youtube videos. There is a test called the HSK that is an international test that ranks your ability in Chinese for non-native speakers. I have been watching flashcard videos to learn the words. I have been watching grammar and pronunciation videos to better give me a fuller picture of the language. I also purchased a textbook of Beginner's Chinese, but it has not been able to hold my attention as well as the videos (which, I'm not sure why, I think it's because the audio is missing and I'm still lacking in being able to picture and hear what the words sound like from the pinyin alone). I also downloaded several free smartphone apps that have flashcards that have been helping me with my vocabulary.

Tonight I have Spanish tutoring, so I need to figure out my lesson plan for that. Other than that, that's about all that I am doing. So, stay creative everyone!