No regrets, Coyote.

Hi! I've moved!

To http://noregretscoyote.tumblr.com/

Please come visit me there!

FO: Petrie

Reunion was amazing! To paraphrase my friend Chris, heaven is a Kenyon dance party. (In the case of this weekend, a 6 hour dance marathon!) It's so renewing to see old friends, and it's even more special when you get to see them in the place where you first formed your bonds.

When we got home, I felt the need to tidy up a bit, and that's when I pulled this Petrie out of my knitting basket and decided to finally sew up all the hems. It's a great pattern - simple, elegant, and well written. And flattering to the bust and waist in a way that many knitting patterns aren't! (Look how amazing it looks on all these different knitters!)

This is the first time I have knit anything with a hem, and I really like the weight it gave the fabric and the way it helped the neckline drape nicely. I used 6 (I think?) skeins of Berroco Mica from Webs. And made the second size. I could definitely see myself knitting another of these. And I'm also motived to fish out a few more of the UFOs floating around this house. Who knows, maybe they'll all turn out this well!

Reunion

This weekend we are in Gambier for our 5 year reunion at Kenyon College. That means Adam and I have known each other for 9 years and been together for 5! Our first wedding anniversary is coming up, too, on June 20th. Here are some old photos for your viewing pleasure. I love you, sweetie!

 

Memorial Day Weekend

Some shots from our trip to Michigan for Memorial Day weekend. We helped my sister and her boyfriend move into their new house! It was really fun and we got to spend Sunday afternoon on their boat. I got some great shots of the boys goofing around as the sun set - I really like the light in these pictures.

Kris used to be a gymnast - he still has some moves!

Adam is more the dreamy liberal arts type.

Shirt #2 - Grey Linen

Here's my second attempt at that Simplicity pattern. I'm not super keen on it - I'm thinking of removing the sleeves and adding armhole binding to this version, too. Do you think they're too poofy? Adam said it looked like I was wearing shoulderpads.

 

I hate to feel like I'm wasting nice fabric on something I probably won't wear very much. Although maybe with some wider-leg pants and higher shoes?

Green Tomato Salsa

Made with tomatoes and cilantro from our first CSA basket from Fresh Fork Market. Thrown together with help from my favorite cookbook. Popular at our damp but lovely Memorial Day gathering of friends last night. (And there were lots of other really yummy contributions there, too!)

• 1 large Jalapeno, or whatever kind of pepper you like, seeded
• 4 medium cloves garlic
• 4 medium-ish green tomatoes, roughly chopped (could substitute tomatillos, or any other tomato)
• 1/2 a small white onion, roughly chopped (scallions would work too)
• a handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground pepper

First I whizzed the jalapeno and garlic in the food processor, then added the rest of the ingredients and pulsed until they got to a salsa verde - type texture. That's it! I like my salsa finely chopped like that, but this would also be really tasty just chopped by hand with a little care. Enjoy.

Summer Wardrobe Project

After a year of unemployment (officially a year, as of May 17) and constantly wearing the same five t-shirts, two sweatshirts and two pairs of jeans, I decided to take a break from most of my knitting and sew myself some clothes from the fabric stash so I can look and feel a little more put together. It's actually been really fun so far - it's interesting to see how quickly my sewing skills have returned & improved now that I've been sewing almost every day.

This is my first attempt at Simplicity 2614, a Threads pattern, made from some bargain bin cotton from Hobby Lobby for a total cost about about $4. It's a bias-cut, pullover pattern, which I like - I'm not fond of the idea of summery hot-weather clothes with zippers, but I'm probably just weird.

I added multicolored buttons down the front seam of this version, and used self-fabric facings and bias-tape. I've since made a version with 3/4 sleeves - will show that to you in the next post. 

I feel like I've got good momentum so far with the sewing, and I'm keeping my eye out for JoAnn's sales to add to my pattern collection. Tomorrow and over the long weekend Simplicity patterns will be 5/$5, so I'll be headed there!

In Memoriam

So part of the reason I've been so busy this spring has been dealing with the illness and death of my uncle. He'd been unwell (and unhappy, I think) for a long time, but it's still hard. Growing up, he was my idol - a cool English professor who sent me great books and my mum beautiful bouquets and lived far away in an exotic place called Calgary.

(That's my uncle on the left, my dad on the right.)

One of the things we found while preparing for his memorial service was this children's version of Don Quijote, which he apparently read for school in 1962. I can remember reading this often with my sister when we were small. It lived on a little bookshelf in our shared bedroom, and apparently I inscribed my own fancy initials in it at some point. This is the kind of stuff he had us reading when we were still in elementary school!

I'm re-reading the "grownup" version now, and thinking of him and how he influenced my intellectual growth my whole life. I also got to keep his pocket watch, on the back of which is engraved a quote from a letter Wallace Stevens wrote to his wife: I had my shirt turned back and my chemisette flung back, precisely like that corsair of hearts, le grand Byron, and I breathed!

I'm happy to carry it now, and to think of him, younger and happier himself, stumbling upon this stirring passage while reading through lots of boring letters for his thesis. I miss him.

Hi.

It's been a long winter - unemployment, lack of sun, depression, death - I had a long fallow period where I didn't feel any creative spark for knitting, sewing, blogging, or anything really. But after some time in the sun, some readjusted expectations, and a lot of meditating on all the good things about life (which is pretty perfect, after all, except for the job thing), it's coming back to me.

The reason I started blogging in the first place was to keep track of all my creative hobbies, and to share them with anyone who might be interested. I figure that reviving the blog goes hand in hand with trying to nurse that creativity back to life and might encourage me to keep at it.

While I was in the backyard taking these pictures today the wind kept wafting the light scent of apple blossoms around me, and I couldn't get this song out of my head, Wide-Eyed, Legless, from Laura Veirs' album July Flame. I've been listening to it a lot and it provokes such a yearning for summer in me that I have to remind myself to slow down and enjoy this spring, too.