Marie Grace Designs

Quick update

Seems I’m busier than even I realize. School, of course, takes up most of my functioning brain cells and leaves little to the rest of my existence.

I seem to roll along with various projects...some school related, some knitting related, and I get in a groove when all these things just seem to fall into place. All goes well until I start to question WHY things seem to be going so smoothly and then I realize its because I’ve been doing all the fun parts and not doing any of the need-to-do parts.

A clay volcano is terrific but at some point you need to get it off the table and reclaim the vinegar for the salad dressing.

Knitting is wonderful but eventually you need to go back and decipher all those chicken scratch notes and make something tangible out of it.

So here’s a peace offering for my knit design karma....

Element will soon be available as a pattern at The Garter Belt and also as a kit at Yarn Botanika.

The Little Lady is looking mighty grown up nowadays isn’t she?

Monday

So today was our first co-op day for the year. Everyone had a relatively good day even if we were reminded that not all kids are cute and sweet and not all parents are helpful. Like any other situation that involves people sharing responsibilities there’s always the few who carry a bit more. There’s always a few with a list of excuses a mile long. And there’s always a few who are deliriously happy for no apparent reason whatsoever (I like those people the best).

I talked primary colors with little people and played volleyball with not-so-little people.

I had a packed lunch with other adults which is the closest I’ve gotten to a lunch date in about 4 years.

The kids saw some friends they already knew and met a few new ones.

Tater stayed in the preschool room and didn’t cry....she asked for me....but she didn’t cry. (I walked past the preschool room about a thousand times and gave up my free period to go outside and play with the preschoolers so you tell me who can’t let go.)

There was no knitting today but I plan to grab a quiet hour or so tonight.

I got a few things accomplished over the weekend including a very rough and incomplete sketch of my idea for a dressy jacket for an older girl. The Little Lady would wear something like this. A little fitted bit not overly so. A neat and tidy cuff and collar that isn’t stiff and stuffy. Could be worn over a shirt with jeans or with a skirt.

Here's the plan

I do not claim to be a good sketch artist.

I’m not sure why I’m so drawn to things like English smocking and Celtic quilting. It just seems so orderly or simple but still has a definite style that can’t be mistaken for anything else.

Sometimes I think the chaos of my real everyday life pushes me to look for tradition and simplicity elsewhere.

I’ve done a good bit of sewing and smocking and every now and then that shape and style tries to work its way into my knitting.

This kind of long coat has been on my mind for a while but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. I’m still not sure if raglan is the best way to pull it off but I’m going to stick with it for now and see how it goes.

Someone asked if the long coat will be in girls sizes and I thought about it for a while and just don’t think it will be the kind of thing you can get a 10 year old to wear. I’m planning it more for the little girls to wear with long dresses and the like. It will probably be more for sizes 1-6.

That said the question did prompt me to fiddle with the idea of an older girls somewhat dressy jacket. Something more fitted and not nearly as long. I even did a sketch but still have some things to ponder before I’d call it feasible.

Just for fun.....

Here’s a Celtic Knot quilt I started...oh...I dunno.....a year ago. Its all hand sewn bias strips and really cool to do if you like puzzles. One of these days I’ll finish it.

I have a ton of things to take care of the next few days. I still need to get some writing done. Monday is our first co-op day for this year and its going to be a busy day of helping all the kids get to where they need to be and settled. Turns out Tater won’t be the youngest after all so I’ll be teaching K-2 art and K-2 science instead of hanging out with the preschoolers. My final period of the day will be with the teenagers for a free period so I’m hoping to spark some interest in an impromptu knitting class....if not they can entertain themselves and I’ll do the knitting. I'll have a free period with some of the other parents too so there will be knitting at co-op at some point.

Utilitarian can be really cute!

Viola! Simple and warm. Great yarn and an easy knit.

I know there’s about a million little jacket patterns out there but Tater needed a new fall jacket so I had to do number one million and one. There’s enough yarn left to do up a hat too.

I know I’ve gone on and on about Llamajama wool before but I gotta tell ya I love this stuff. I do some designing for Llamajama so, of course, I recommend the yarn but I wouldn’t design with it if I didn’t like it. Obviously I don’t have a problem with yarn shopping.

The wool is 100% merino and very soft, not scratchy. Tater has very sensitive skin and eczema and this wool is fine for her. It knits up quick at 3.5 stitches (on 5mm needles) to the inch and comes in terrific hand dyed colors. I really appreciate that there are solid colors and multi-colors that coordinate. It washes very well and isn’t prone to pilling.

The pattern will be ready soon and will include sizes 2-12.

Next up is a long wool coat. Something a bit dressier.

I find that as my girls get older...

I am completely out of touch with what is concerned “in”. I couldn’t pull together a hip outfit if my life depended on it.

Rare is the article in my wardrobe that doesn’t go with jeans. I have more football t-shirts than most of the guys I know. I don’t even own dress shoes. The only shoes I own with a heel is a pair of black leather boots (that I wear with my jeans).

I don’t normally think about it too much but recently I’ve begun to get a little uncomfortable with the frumpy mom stigma.

I took my older daughter shopping and it never ceases to amaze me the things that are intended for my 10 year old to wear.

Then I caught Tater with one of my hair clippies stuck into a few strands of renegade hair on the side of her head the other day. She looked like a cyborg gone awry.

I asked her what she had on her head and she said “I’m being a mommmy...like you” and tottered off with a naked baby doll under her arm.

Hmm.

Not really what I was going for.

So maybe I can keep the jeans but be a bit more adventurous with what goes with them? Baby steps ya know.

I’ll be sending the numbers over to The Garter Belt sometime this week if all goes well.

And for those who asked, yes, there will be a pattern for Taters wool jacket very soon too.

Weekend project

So last week its 60 degrees out and I go digging through the closet looking for a jacket for Tater. Her flannel hoodie jacket I made her still fits ( I’ll get ya some pics....did you know I’m a whiz with the sewing machine?) but one jacket is never enough.

Besides, I’ve had this purple wool sitting here waiting.

So I whipped up a jacket over the weekend and wouldn’t ya know it......it was 84 degrees out yesterday. Same is expected for today.

So while the new wool jacket hangs out waiting for fall to get here and stay here we’ll talk about pockets.....

I don’t really like the sewn on pocket. Sometimes they are a cute embellishment but I strongly prefer a utilitarian pocket.

Make 2 pocket linings and leave them on holders. Work your way up the front of your jacket (or whatever) until you reach the spot where you want the opening of the pocket to be.

Now simply replace some stitches (the same number of stitches as your lining) with a lining.

Here’s one reason I love wool. No freaking out over stitches that try to unravel. They just sit there all nice and attentive.

Put the front stitches you slipped off the needle onto a holder.

Continue working your jacket (or whatever) as usual. Part of the finishing will be deciding what to do with the live stitches that will form the opening to the pocket. Usually ribbing or whatever you use to finish the front bands is a good choice. You'll also need to whip stitch the pocket lining to the inside of the jacket.

Tips, Recipes and Other Advice You Didn’t Ask For

Installment #1:

Make snack bars!

So school is in and whether you homeschool or not you’re gonna need snacks for the heathens or there shall be a mutiny!

Forget those boxed snack bars. They’re expensive and you get like 6 bars?!? That’s one snack for my crew....I’ve got a better plan.

This is my own version of a “granola bar” recipe. You know it must be quick and easy if I can do it. Its really just a base you can use to add ingredients to.
1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
1 cup peanut butter
6-8 cups of dry whatever*

Put the honey and sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir regularly. First it will melt and blend. Eventually it will start to bubble.

While you are waiting for the mixture to start to bubble put all your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Also line a large jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with wax paper.

Let the sugar/honey mixture bubble gently for one minute. (Not longer! Your bars will be hard if you cook the base too long!) Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Mix until peanut butter is completely melted. Dump this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until completely coated. (This is more like mashing that stirring).

Now dump the entire mess onto your jelly roll pan. Even it out over the pan as much as you can with a fork. Place another piece of wax paper over the whole pan and press the mixture FIRMLY. A good roll or three with a rolling pin is not overkill.

Let everything sit and cool for a while. Cut into bars. Its easier if you use a large smooth blade (like a butcher knife) to score the bars rather than try to cut.

Store in a container or zip bag. Freezes well!

* The best dry base for snack bars is dry cereal. It can be anything from corn flakes to rice krispies to oat flakes. Using just the cereal makes a great cereal bar. If you want something a bit more interesting add anything from chocolate chips to dried fruit, nuts or seeds. I tend to throw in a helping of wheat germ when nobody is looking.

Our favorites:
-Rice Krispies and oats. After you press it all into the pan sprinkle mini choc chips over the top.
-For apple cinnamon bars chop up dried apple and mix in. Sprinkle cinn over top of warm bars.
-Mac Daddy and I like dried cranberries and raw sunflower seeds in our batch.

Knitting content...

I’m sort of in between projects but not really. There are a few swatches and a few small things OTN. I’m going to narrow down the choices over the weekend or at least put them in some sort of order. That whole “one project at a time theory” is hard to stick to!

If it feels like wool....

It didn’t take much. NFL on the TV, a few leaves sprinkling the back yard and a night that was cool enough to make me get up and shut the window.

That’s all it took and I was out the door and down the road.....an hour down the road....to the big shop with cones of wool on the shelves.

With visions of all things cabled and toasty dancing in my head I made a bee-line to the Harrisville. I even knew what color I wanted (Highland Rose).

There’s nothing better than 450 yards of a traditional wool on a cone. Not a hank, not a piddly little 50 gram ball. An entire half pound all wound up just waiting.

There are things that come close, though. Like a 50/50 Llama/wool blend from Wool in the Woods. The colors caught my eye, the fiber cinched the deal.

So, I’m off to sketch and doodle and put post-it notes in the pages of Barbara Walker among others. It’ll be swatch heaven around here for a little while.

In between swatches I need to do a bit of pattern writing and get some nice pics of the latest finished projects. I do believe there’s still a stray raglan around here somewhere too.

Why do we whine when there are 2 sleeves?

How many times have you grit your teeth and dragged your feet across the floor and groaned out “ I have to do the second sleeve....uuuuggghhh....aaaarrrrggghh....bbbbllllaaahhh” ?

Somehow you had this great feeling of accomplishment because the front is done, the back is done and a sleeve is done. The moment you realize you have to do another sleeve it goes from accomplishment to I’m-never-gonna-get-this-damn-thing-done.

And socks? Not that I knit socks. Cause I don’t. But I’ve heard about a million and one obsessed sock knitters admit to having a bag of single socks stuffed somewhere.

Did they not know there would be 2 socks involved?

Besides, if your going to spend the $ on really cute and colorful sock yarn (which I don’t) and take the time to knit one sock (which I don’t) wouldn’t you want to make the pair so you could...ya know....wear them?

I hear the price of good sock yarn can be rather steep and that there are balls of yarn out there that when knit in the shape of a sock will result on everything from tiger stripes to watermelon slices. Maybe its the curiosity of seeing a particular design develop that intrigues these knitters. Maybe just one sock is enough to quell the curiosity.

Me? I want 2 sleeves and 2 socks (not that I’ll knit the socks).

If the thought of 2 sleeves looming on the horizon throws you for a loop try putting them both a circular needle at the same time. If you really hate it try doing the sleeves first instead of after the body pieces.

I don’t know what to tell you to do with the socks.

Wake me up when September ends....

The Towers came down in September, I lost my husband and my kids lost their Dad one September and now The Croc Hunter (read that: Superman) is gone too.

September sucks. What kind of legislation does it take to skip a month on the calendar?

I hold my breath every year when I flip the calendar to September. Seems the more I try to just get through like its any other month fails miserably. There's always some lingering crap or new crap to mess it all up. I was just telling Mac Daddy (read that:The-Man-Who-Puts-Up-With-My-On-Again-Off-Again-Moods-In-September) a few days ago that I just want to enjoy fall this year. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.

Knitting, however, is good even in September.

My version of the Yarn Botanika project is all finished up and waiting for its photo-shoot. In the mean time I snuck it into the growing pile that is finally working its way to being a finished object of the sweater persuasion. I just need to finish the sleeves and get it all put together.
I’m thinking the two might go together nicely.