Crafty Boy

For my birthday this year Aaron gave me a new carry-on bag, and inside the bag was a new swimsuit and a note to pack accordingly. He was whisking me off for a week in...?? It was a surprise. I'm not sure if I was more excited or frustrated. I almost convinced him to tell me where we were going, but at the last minute I decided I would regret it so I just let it be a surprise. I had to wait three whole weeks to find out. He kept telling me that I would find out whenever we got to the airport...he failed to mention that we had a connecting flight, so I went to the DC airport all excited and ready to find out where we were going and he hands me a boarding pass foooooor ...Charlotte, NC. Um. My frustration mounted.

Anyway, the point is, another flight and a few hours later, we ended up here:

In case that huge Red Stripe advertisement and the insanely turquoise sea didn't tip you off, that's Jamaica.

Jamaica! And entire week in Jamaica! Oh yes, it was amazing. Our hotel was on the cliffs, so every morning we would come downstairs and get some fresh Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee,












and then take a dip in our gorgeous private swimming hole.




The place we were staying was called Blue Cave Castle (for reals!)


and when we were coming back from snorkeling our boat was followed by dolphins (for reals!)













And there was seaside/seagoing horseback riding (did you know horses can swim with their riders clinging to them??)
And unbelievable food and gorgeous sunsets.

And cocktails and rum cream and Red Stripe. Lots of Red Stripe (yes I took several pictures of my many Red Stripe bottles. I'll spare you.)

And then, on the next-to-the-last day, this happened:

AARON PROPOSED!!!
Do you see that ring? At first I couldn't tell if he meant it because it wasn't a diamond and also because I was 100% surprised, and I kept saying "Really?!? Are you sure???!"
And then I started breathing again and I managed to say yes :)
So yes, the ring, ah, the ring. Isn't it lovely? It's handmade by this couple who lives in the forest in Canada; Aaron had it custom-designed so no one in the world has anything like it. There's this very thin inlay of lighter wood around the band, do you see it? I have no idea how human hands can make something like it. But, it's perfect.

So, what we have learned is that Aaron* is extremely good at plotting and secret-keeping (he later said he'd been planning this trip since March or April). And also that he is pretty romantic. And crafty.
And also I'm about to become that girl that can only ever talk about wedding things. Yippee!



*my future husband! Holy cow!

Free wedding garter patterns!

One of my dear friends at Stitch 'n' Bitch is Juli. She is simultaneously a mom, a small business owner, and one of the most stylish people I've ever known. Her business is selling fabulous, unique, 100% handmade wedding garters. How cute is that??

Recently Juli decided to offer free garter patterns on her website; she designed her own knit garter, and then we worked together to design a crochet version. Both versions are super-simple, super-cheap, and, I think, pretty adorable as well. We had looked around for the right yarn together but in the end Juli came up with the idea to use ribbon, which really sells it for me.
What do you think? (check out the knitted one too, the ribbon is precious)

If you don't have any imminent need for a handmade wedding garter, be sure to check out Juli's blog anyway; she's starting to offer a weekly style column which I'm really excited about.

***
I'm making some changes to this blog, did you notice? I'm still working some things out but I hope you like it. I feel like I'm in a season of big changes/improvements...more on that soon ;)

We knit because we love it.

You know how they say there's a difference between a "process knitter/crocheter" and a "project knitter/crocheter"? I'm almost 100% project-oriented.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy the feeling of the stitches, or having something to do with my hands, or seeing the piece come together as I'm working on it. I love and adore those things. It's just that I only ever pick projects that I want to have. I don't pick things to work on to learn new techniques or stitch patterns; if I learn those in the process of making something beautiful, that's fine. But I'm always oriented towards the end product.

(This is true of everything in my life actually. I'd be much happier if I were more Zen about things. But I digress.)

This has the tendency to make me a very impatient crafter. I have a very low tolerance for a large swath of boring repetitive stitches to slog through. And, since my goal is to have a beautiful end-product, I have very, very little patience with myself when it comes to making mistakes or executing new things imperfectly.

On the other side of the personality spectrum is my knitter/crocheter/yogi friend Elspeth. She taught herself to knit...left-handed. And working side-to-side instead of turning the work. Basically she made it up as she went along and worked it out and she makes beautiful things, but more importantly she loves doing it.

This makes her a patient, happy, fearless crafter.

(This is also pretty much true of everything in her life. Is knitting always a microcosm of personality?)

One night at Stitch 'n' Bitch a fellow knitter was having one of those familiar breakdowns, frustrated and aggravated and ready to throw the darn thing against the wall and snap the needles over her leg (surely we can all relate). Elspeth looked up from her (patient, happy) stitching and said, calmly and cheerfully, "Remember! We knit because we love it!"

I am officially attempting to adopt this as my crafting motto. Or mantra, more appropriately.

A few weeks ago Elspeth moved to Boston to start grad school. (I think we're all a little or a lot heartbroken. But obviously also excited and happy for her.) In SnB DC tradition we all secretly made squares to put together a blanket for her as a farewell gift.

Traditionally when these things get made, what happens is everybody knits squares, and since I, up until recently, was a pure crocheter (pure non-knitter), I would crochet the border and that's all I would contribute. I was always happy to have some little piece I could contribute. But this time I could really knit! I was told that others would be crocheting their squares, so I could "just crochet some too", but I was determined.

I am not a skilled knitter; I knew that everyone else's would be a lot fancier, a lot more interesting, a lot, well, better. But I wanted to show what I could do, even if it wasn't much.

So I made these:

(apologies for the cruddy pictures, I only managed to get them when they were blocking in my dark basement)

The one on the left is eyelet lace. I do realize this is the easiest lace pattern on the planet, but man when I figured out how to do it I was so stinking proud of myself. Seriously. I e-mailed people to brag. So I know it's not that fancy. But Elspeth is the one who told me that lace was hard but I should do it. She's never considered anything too difficult not to try, including joining the Peace Corps (which I admit would scare me quite a bit) and teaching herself to knit on dpns (which terrifies me). So in honor of her I tried something new, just to see if I could.

And it turns out I can.

We miss you Elspeth. Happy first week of grad school!

to have and to hold

A few weeks ago, one of my oldest and very best friends got married.

As most crafters I'm sure can agree, this kind of major event can cause one to go a little bananas. The day she told me she got engaged I started searching for patterns (I finally picked this one); I started ordering yarn that week. I wanted something beautiful, unique, slightly ambitious, luxurious. I wanted something that could become an heirloom. As my dismayed boyfriend watched the yarn pile up around me and the blanket squares multiply, all I could say to him was, "You're lucky none of my friends have gotten pregnant yet. Then you're in real trouble."

I have to say I was a little worried that what I was making just wasn't quite good enough, not quite special enough. How can I accurately reflect all the years we've had together, all the nights talking and the trips and the parties and the tears and [yes this is a very sentimental blog post] in one single little gift?
I've known Anne since we lived across the hall from each other as freshmen in college.
Since then we've criss-crossed the globe, sometimes together and sometimes only in parallel. We had crushes on boys (sometimes the same ones.) We went to school. We graduated and got jobs. We grew up (although somedays I feel like I, for one, have a lot more to do in that department.)

So I worked my little fingers to the bone, hoping to create something perfect. The squares were coming out all weird and warped and I was worried. The yarn (a wool/bamboo blend) felt a little too...fibery, in some parts. The color was listed as "polar white" which is exactly what I wanted, but when it arrived I discovered it was more of an ecru color...I panicked about that too.

Then I started blocking all of the squares and oh. my. god.

I have blocked things before, but never before this project have I experienced just what a transformation it could be. The squares turned into...squares. The flowers looked like flowers. The yarn turned into this unbelievably soft, exquisitely silky material. The color looked exactly like champagne, with an added bit of sheen from the bamboo. I love you, blocking.

I was so excited about the project at this point that I spent seven, yes, seven total hours seaming the thing over the course of two days, because I was so excited to give it to her.

She took pictures when she got the blanket home:

I am so, so happy with that. Those pictures make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That blanket laying across that warm yellow comforter is how I imagine Anne and Ben's guest room looking someday, the place where I will stay when I come to visit, wherever they are, wherever I've been.
I really hope Anne and Ben love it.

I love you girls.

Happy wedding Anne!

Letting go of project guilt

I have a confession to make. I hate "finishing". I hate doing anything to my projects other than stitching them. That's the fun part. Sewing on buttons, seaming, weaving in ends, etc., all those little "finishing" details, drive me nuts and make me seek out seamless, buttonless patterns. The moment I hit a button-sewing obstacle I become the world's laziest crafter.

Ravelry is doing a lot to show me just how incredibly lazy I can really be. I have a skirt that I made from the CrochetMe book.

"in progress" shot...ha

I vaguely remember working on it...once...long ago. I remember crocheting it, I remember it being all-but-finished. Ends woven in and everything, just needs some buttons. It's been sitting in my Ravelry projects at 95%, just waiting for buttons. I've been pointedly ignoring it. It was actually sitting in a box hidden away behind my couch. Last week I decided to look through my projects and Ravelry tells me that that poor skirt has been waiting for a button since March 2008. Oh Jesus. Yes I am that bad.

It was then that I realized, "oh wait I hate this skirt". That's why it's been so long. That's why it's hiding. I would have sewn on a button by now (surely, right?) if I had liked it at all. But as soon as I was done with the crocheting I suddenly had this insight: "Why on earth would I have ever thought that a thick, shapeless mini-skirt crocheted in acrylic be at all flattering on me?" Seriously? Crafter, know thyself! Wrapping a pound of heavy-duty Red Heart around my, let's say "generous", thighsection is probably the worst possible clothing choice I could make.

I want to be clear, I have no problem with the design itself. It worked up fast, it was cheap, it looks fine, it's a perfect beginner project, and it turned out exactly as the designer intended: a cheap, durable skirt for someone adorably petite to wear while bike-riding. I was lured into making it for myself because it looks so damn cute on the model in the book; the problem is, it looks so damn cute on the model in the book because she's the model in the book.

So for over a year I've had this project sitting there, making me feel guilty every time I take up another project, ruining my crafty self-esteem and threatening to wreak havoc (again) on my body image.

This is Knit(or Crochet) for Yourself June (per declaration of Katie), so in the spirit of that, I am officially tossing this project! Frogged! Ripped! (Thrown away!) I believe this is in the spirit of the month.
I am now an un-project-burdened girl.