30 Before 30: September '12

I love candy corn.  I have to be careful because I can eat a whole bag of it by myself .   I saw these guys at the grocery store, bring on October!

Another month has flown by and I'm here wondering what I've accomplished on my 30 before 30 list.  This month I've decided to list all of the things I've accomplished first and then list all of the things I am currently working on and finally the things I haven't started.  Here we go!

Accomplished:

*12. Start dying yarn to sell

*15. Crochet a doily throw

*17. Sew a pair of jeans

*18. Grow Veggies in the Apartment

*19. Learn to can

*21. Go fruit picking

*23. See Eve 6 again

In Progress:

-2. Learn to duck dive (This will be put on hold till our trip to Oz in December.)

-3. Get Apartment in Order (I'm thinking about inviting some friends over for dinner to light a fire under my bum to get this goal moving.)

-5. Turn my Etsy into a source of Income

-8. Pay down student loan by 6,000

-26. Learn more about photography/my camera

-27. Make a me made wardrobe/ stop buying clothes

 To Do:

1. Go on Honeymoon

4. Compete in a Surf Comp at the Shore

6. Open a Roth IRA ( I should just do this.  It will take all of one hour to complete.)

7. Get Health Insurance

9. Sew a “Chanel” inspired jacket

10. Go to London again

11. Publish a book of knitting patterns

13. Learn to cook tofu well

14. Design Cable Heart Cardi

16. Sew a quilt

20. Knit a circular yoke sweater

22. Go on a road trip with a good friend

24. Brew beer

25. Start Vlogging

28. Go to Vogue Knitting

29. Go to Maryland sheep and wool

30. Get a new tattoo

Looking at these lists I have to remember that I am only 6 months into my 30 before 30 and I've accomplished 7 of my 30 goals.  That's about a goal a month and that works out pretty well in the grand scheme of things.  The goals that are in progress are all goals that will take me a while to accomplish, but It's nice to see that they are getting done.  What's interesting about those goals is that they all will take some time. A great example of that is my student loan.  I wish I had $6,000 to drop on one payment, but that's not going to happen unless I some how come into a lot of money at once.  I must be content paying my loan the old fashioned way, one payment at a time.  Although I am paying extra every month and am ahead of my payments by 3 months I'm hoping that this will all add up to me being debt free sooner than later.  

My to accomplish list is long, but a lot of those goals are just a matter of time and energy, like the sweater and the cable design.  I just have to plan ahead, hunker down and get it done.  I'm sure in 30 months I'll be able to check all the boxes on my goals.  

Wedding Anniversary Dress

Mine and Simon's second wedding anniversary was yesterday and we both had to work so we've made plans to go out to a fancy pants dinner on Friday.  Of course this gives me a great excuse to sew something fab for our night out.  Here are my thoughts.

My gold Anda dress fit so well and looked so awesome on that I want to make another version of this dress.    I have just the fabric for it too. 

I bought this amazing floaty smoky blue crepe from a fabric store that was going out of buissness.  I was planning on using it for a fancy Sorbetto, but have changed my mind.  There are tiny vertical stripes of shiny threads running though the fabric that I am going to sew another Anda out of this material.  

There was one problem, what to wear under this shell.  The fabric is so transparent that I will need to wear a slip or an under dress.  That's exactly what I plan on doing, making a slip to wear under the Anda shell.  

I found the shiny silver rayon fabric at my local fabric store and thought it would look perfect under the smoky blue fabric.  

I was right they are the perfect combination.  The silver of the slip dress really accents the shimmery threads running through the crepe fabric.  

I'm planing on using the top piece from the Jane nighty set from Burda Style to make a customized slip dress.  Something simple that will really set off the great fabric and shape of the Anda.  I will have pics up as soon as we go out to our fancy pants dinner.  I better get sewing!   

Officially Fall

Rittenhouse Square Park on the first day of fall. 

It is now officially fall according to the calendar and I am very excited about it.  I love the fall, the weather is cool and crisp and you can where jeans and boots and of course sweaters.  I know I've been raving about fall for what seems like all month, but it actually feels like fall is here in Philly!  This may be one of the first Septembers where the city still doesn't feel like its stuck in August.  Our apartment isn't sweltering and we even took the AC unit out of our bedroom window, we even have a blanket on our bed.  I know this may all seem very silly but I can now knit with wool without a fan on me and sweat pouring off my hands.

What does all of this mean?  It means a few things.  Apple season is on its way, so the apartment will be filled with the smell of apple pie, apple sauce and apple butter.  Three of my favorite apple items.  It will also mean the return of the slow cooker, so there will be many meals of chilli, beef stew, mac and cheese, and bread pudding.  On top of that it will be ideal bread making weather.  I will be able to wear some of my favorite sweaters as well as knit a few new lovelies.  It will be cold enough for scarves and fingerless mitts soon, and I can pull my leather jacket out of the closet and hang it by the door.  Ok, I said a few, but maybe it means a lot of things to me.

Grapes at the farmer market. 

Another reason I love the fall is my birthday is in the fall.  October to be exact and while I am creeping closer and closer to 30 I am excited about turning a year older.  I think 28 is going to be a good year for me I can just feel it.  There are a lot of things going on this year in my life and they are all exciting and all really starting in the fall.  For example my new job at TD at Plays and Players really takes off come October and I'm still at Theatre Exile for their second show The English Bride (I love being in Exile).  My parents are also coming to visit me around my birthday.  They haven't been to the city since 2008 when I first moved here.  So I say bring on fall, bring on crisp nights and hardy meals, bring on the colors of the leaves and the smell of cinnamon.  I'm ready. Lets do this.

Stitch Guide: Old Shale

We've been knitting a lot of feather and fan lately and it's time to change it up.  This stitch is called Old Shale and it is the more masculine version of feather and fan.  To achieve this stitch pattern you are essential knitting feather and fan, but you are swapping yarn overs (YO) for make ones (M1).  

What's a make one?  A make one is an increase that allows you to maintain a solid fabric.  With old shale you still get the ripple effect with out the lacy look of feather and fan.  This is what makes it a great stitch for someone who isn't into eyelets. 

How does one execute a make one (M1).  It's really simple here's what you do:

Using your left hand needle pick up the bar that runs between the stitches in the row below from the back .

Knit into the bar on the left hand needle making sure that the bar twists into a new stitch. 

Ta Da! You just increased one stitch with a M1 increase.  Easy Peasy.   Now on to the stitch pattern!

Just a quick reminder all feather and fan stitch patterns are written for a multiple of 18 stitches.  The same goes for old shale.  

Old Shale (a more masculine lace)

Worked Flat

R1: *(K2tog) 3x, (M1, K1) 6x, (K2tog) 3x*

R2: Purl All Stitches

R3: Knit All Stitches

R4: Purl All Stitches

Worked in the Round

R1: *(K2tog) 3x, (M1, K1) 6x, (K2tog) 3x*

R2: Knit All Stitches

R3: Knit All Stitches

R4: Knit All Stitches

Don't forget our other F&F stitch Patterns

Feather and Fan, Feather and Fan II, And Feather and Fan III

First Custom Order Part II

My custom order is complete and is being sent off today.  I'm excited to send these lovely hanks off to their new home and hope that the client loves them as much as I enjoyed dying them.  These pictures don't do the colors in the yarn justice, but I figured you could at least get an idea of how awesome this yarn is. 

Here's a close up of the original hank of yarn .  The color is called Night Watch.

This is a shot of one of the custom hanks. 

  

First Custom Order Part I

I just recently landed my first custom dye order from a client.  It's been so much fun to dye a sweaters quantity of yarn and I've been taking photos to keep the client updated so I figured I'd share them here and let you see what's in the dye pot.  

Here are the five hanks of DK merino bare naked.  How scandalous!

The yarn took a nice relaxing soak in my bath tube before being tossed in the dye pot. 

My tools of the trade.  I will only be using three colors of dye for this order. 

Steeping in the dye.  This is the first of three rounds of color for this dye lot.  

As soon as the hanks are dry and ready to go I will post the final product.  My client also said that they would send me a photo of the finished sweater.  I can't wait to see it and will hopefully be able to share it here on the blog. 

Fall Surfing

That's right I'm off surfing today.  Simon and I both have today off so we took advantage of the warm weather and the fact that the beaches will be less crowded to go catch a few waves.

I have mixed feelings about fall surfing.  Right now I'm totally fine with surfing the water is still warm and the air temp hasn't dropped too much.  But in a few brief weeks the water temp will cool and so will the air temp.  The water will be warm than the air and getting out of the surf will be difficult.  The waves however will be getting better and better.  The winter is peak season, but we don't own winter wet suits (which I've read have a lining of merino wool in the).  So as soon as the water temp gets down below 54 F, and I can't get warm when I get out of the water I hang my surf board up on the wall till Spring.  Does this mean I'm less core than other surfers? Probably.  Does it concern me? Not really.  I surf because I enjoy it and I have a sneaking suspicion that I would not enjoy winter surfing up here on the Jersey Shore.