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Did anyone watch Lost last night? Our recording cut off the last minute or so.
What did Richard say to Dan?

Thank You Scarf

I had an audition last week and when I asked my friend Kirsten if I could pay her in knitwear to be my accompanist, she said yes.
So, as a thank you for her great work, I made her this scarf.
It's just a little spring scarf, more of an ascot really, made from one ball of Malabrigo Laceweight in color Lettuce. I held the yarn double. I wanted the scarf to be a little more substantial than one strand could give me, also I wanted to get it done in less than a month.
This construction is the same as the Candle Flame Scarf I made for myself last fall.But I made the pattern look a little leafier (is that a word?) and made the whole scarf a little more narrow.
This was a super fast knit, and I think I need one too. The colors in Malabrigo are terrific!
Have a great Monday!
Jess

I'm it!

Paige tagged me with a fun one.
Here's the rules:

1. Take a picture of yourself right now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.

2. Load the picture onto your blog.

3. Tag three people to play.

I didn't do any primping, as you can see. I am just coming in from toiling in the yard at this point.

The newly tagged are

Jen, Anna and Sarah

Now you're it!

Beginnings

I am very happy to say that Spring seems to have arrived here in Saint Paul.
With Spring comes some lovely things, like knitting outsideunexpected bloomsand the beginnings of a gardenI am going to try to focus on these nice things rather than the fact that with Spring, we also have arrived at the beginning of motorcycle tinkering weather, which means that at all hours we will have a symphony of roaring engines from across the alley.

Enjoy the weather today!
Jess

On the Radio (Oh oh oh oh oh)

Caritas is going to be on the radio on Sunday April 26 at 6:00 PM.
A local community radio station, KFAI, has a weekly show called the Wave Project.
Folks can come in and take over the station for an hour and do whatever they want.
We will have a couple of recorded pieces and some talking, but the bulk of our show will be us. Live. On the Air.
Please tune in at 6:00 on 90.3 or 106.7 FM in the Twin Cities, or it will also be online at www.kfai.org.
They archive their shows for 2 weeks, so please give us a listen!

You know how I dislike photo-less posts, so here is a little bit of spring.

Earth Day

I celebrated Earth Day today by repurposing a paint-blobbed pair of pants into a skirt.
The pants had really wide legs and they were too big for me.
I cut the pant legs off about at the thigh, cut away one of the seams on each piece to have two flat pieces, then I sewed them together with the cuffs at the waist and put in darts to fit.
I hemmed the bottom and I have a new, really comfy, knit skirt, and it only took about 30 minutes.

I also embellished a favorite tank top with some pictures of a plane and clouds.
I have had this tank for easily 8 years, and I love it, but clothes don't last forever, and I had a big hole in the front.
I decided I could extend the life of this piece if I just covered the hole.
I have a co-worker who has gone a couple of times to workshops with Alabama Chanin and I was inspired to use an old t-shirt (that had also seen better days) to make some applique.These didn't take long, and they are super fun to wear.
Happy Earth Day!
Jess

Totally Awesome!

I am a child of the 80's. I was born in the 70's, but I don't remember much.
Yesterday the Hug-a-Bugs and my husband spent the day looking up cartoon theme songs from the 80's.
This morning we all were bonding at the breakfast table, singing the theme to Gummi Bears, Thundercats and Transformers.
Damn. Cartoon theme music was awesome back then!

why do I even bother

I just mopped my kitchen floor, only to have 8 muddy feet romp through and leave a trail of muddy mess.
Honestly, the one time I try to clean...

Springtime ramble

I was unable to stay indoors this morning. The weather was divine.
During my semi-weekly 50 minutes of solitude, I took a walk down by the river and I turned left instead of my usual right.
I found a waterfall I never knew existed, and the little stream that feeds it.
The path runs out on either side of the stream, so one must cross over at a number of points.
I actually crossed the stream by walking over a log. I felt just like A Girl of the Limberlost,
at one with nature, and surrounded by beauty. O.K. this place could use a little more green in the landscape and a little less brown, but you get the idea.

The best part of my explore were the sounds.
I was literally less than 100 feet from the road, but all I could hear was running water and the occasional bird.
It was so very peaceful.
What a delightful way to spend the morning.

Jess

Vest Complete

Thanks for all of the lovely comments, ladies!
That made my day.
I didn't end up finishing the vest last night, but I did finish it this morning.
Here it is-It even fits!
Here he is spinning,Here is the younger looking studious and thoughtful.
Happy Thursday,
Jess

Spring Outfits

With Easter part one only a couple of days away, I sewed like the wind, and I have the dress and sweater both finished for the Elder Hug-a-Bug's Springtime outfit.
As I was sewing the dress, my Younger Hug-a-Bug asked if he was going to get a new Springtime outfit too.
I said 'Of course!" and quickly cast on yesterday for a vest with some stashed 1824 cotton.
I filled out the color scheme with some new balls, and here we have the beginnings of the Springtime Vest.I have been working almost non-stop on this bad boy, and I should finish it tonight.
Hello, Lost? We have a date, You, Me and the Needles.
Happy Spring!!!
It's gonna be moderately warm this weekend!
Yippee!

Luck

I was out on a reconnaissance mission to look for stuff to fix up our house the other week with my Mom and the kids and we ended up in the artsy underbelly of Northeast Minneapolis.
I took a bunch of photos in the salvage yard, though none of them came out due to the constant kid-induced jostling, but I did get these. I would like to go back and get a better one of the fish, this guy is about 8 feet tall. Superb.

Bonnie

I finished the Elder Hug-a-Bug's sweater. It is Bonnie by Marie Wallin from the organic cotton kids collection from Rowan. It's written for the purelife organic cotton, but I used Calmer.
She picked out her own button, and I think she likes it.

Spring Break

So it was Spring Break around here, thus the week-long radio silence.
I didn't realize how different it would be just taking out a half-day of Pre-K each day.
We went on some outings, went to the Gym, inexplicably missed going to the zoo, but we did visit the Valu Thrift and I got this terrific painting for $1.91.
I did a lot of knitting, but without too much documentation.

I have been having a terrible time photographing my knitwear lately. I finished the Tangled Yoke about 2 weeks ago, but the light was never right, or the photographer was not cooperating.
I have been wearing it, despite its lack of buttons, and I love it.
I am also making the Elder Hug-a-Bug a sweater, it was to be for Easter, but I found out that she is getting an Easter outfit from my Mother-in-Law so I guess she's getting a Tuesday outfit instead.
Time to take the girl to school,
See you soon,
Jess