Thanksgiving Dress

Months ago I purchased a new dress pattern for the small fry.  It is the School Photo Dress by Oliver + S.  At the same time I bought my first ever Liberty of London print with this pattern in mind.  I cut the pieces out right away and they sat waiting patiently for me to actually start sewing them together.

Patiently waiting...

I had to actually commit to finishing this dress for our girl in time for Thanksgiving to force myself to make time for it.  And it turned out so, so well. All the credit goes to the genius behind the pattern writing at Oliver + S.  I cannot say enough good things about the way the patterns are written and the little pointers that they provide to enable a novice-ish seamstress to create a nicely finished product.

Nearly finished

A few of the dress details are particularly nice. The inset kangaroo pocket in the front is so fun, and although the print hides it, it is a really neat little detail.  It will be perfect for collecting acorns or little toys.  The other thing I love about the dress is this little funnel neck, or stand up collar.  It feels like an adult garment's tailored detail and it adds charm to the whole piece.  (For those thinking about making this, check the pattern out on the link above.  This is one view of the dress, the other option has a ruffled neck and ruched sleeves.)

Pockets for friends, or rocks, or acorns, or...

The fabric is lovely too. I have a personal penchant for navy blue and I am smitten by the little splashes of turquoise, pink, green and red in this print.  It washed and pressed really well and I hope that it will wear well too. All that being said, I think if I were to make this again, I might choose a solid color. There are some nice details in this pattern that are well camouflaged by this busy print.  The yoke is a nice detail.  The sleeves have a bias cut cuff and the pocket without the animals sticking out is almost indiscernible. And they would definitely be more evident in a lighter color or a solid.

I wish I had time to knit up a quick little sweater to go over this, but that might be a bit ambitious in two weeks time.  In the meantime, I'll try to find some red Mary Janes for her to wear and some tights to keep those little legs warm.  And I need to sew in the hook at the zipper and a button on the back of the collar.  Hope your Thanksgiving day plans are coming together too.

Grand Central in Chicago

Those lovely girls I met in New Hampshire this summer, the ones who inspired me to start this blog... met me in Chicago last weekend.  We decided after leaving New Hampshire that we didn't want to wait a whole twelve months before being together again.  So we gathered in the windy city for a long weekend that happened to coincide with a Vogue Knitting event.

And here's what I learned.  Chicago still remains a fantastic city.  It falls a little short as a "retreat" destination when compared to the peace and seclusion of Squam Lake, but it was wonderful in the way that Chicago always is – the "L", State Street bustle, Millennium Park, Lake Michigan and Garrett's popcorn.  But the best part of the trip was truly the people. We had a great time and picked up right where we left off.  (We missed the few of the original crew who couldn't join us...)

While we were there, we decided to do our own little knit along.

We're knitting darling-Natalie Selles' Grand Central cowl.  And most of us are using some amazing Jill Draper yarn.  Fantastic combination of pretty and easy to remember pattern (well written too) with perfectly plied and gorgeously dyed super wash wool.  They were also our Squam connection at the Vogue event, as they were together in a booth at marketplace in all their creative glory.

Grand Central Cowl

Perfect Caramel Color

I finished this gem in less than a week.  And I think you should start one too.  And it's just decided to be chilly fall here in the "Lou"... perfect timing.

Fake smile for the knit picture – cheesy

Boo!

All aglow on Halloween eve.

Last night we carved up the pumpkins that my parents grew.  And we came up with some happy jack-o-lantern faces.  There's something nostalgic about slimy pumpkin guts, toasted seeds and the aroma of candle smoke and pumpkin flesh.  It makes me want to eat candy corn and drink apple cider.  I hope your trick or treating excursions are successful. Happy Halloween friends.

Once

Last month I had the opportunity to run away for a weekend with my sister.  She's the kind of family that you'd pick if you got to pick your family - I just love her.  And I'm fortunate to have such a good friend in her. We flew to New York city for the weekend and had an amazing time.

New York is a place like no other.  I don't think I really appreciated that until this visit.  (The only other time I had been there was as a penniless college student, so that was a different experience entirely.)  The energy created by that many people – different kinds of people – in one place creates an atmosphere that is wonderful.  I loved it.

We spent a great amount of time just enjoying each others company, without kids or husbands in tow. We ate amazing meals, gawked at a few celebrities, shopped a little, biked central park (succeeded in making it from the bike rental place to the park without becoming Manhattan road kill – bonus!), and went to a Broadway play.

The play is what I want to tell you about.  It was phenomenal, and I cannot get it out of my head.  We saw Once. We didn't do tons of homework and we bought half price tickets two hours before the show in Times Square. And what a happy accident it was that we saw this show.

The play started in the most organic way – as a bar on stage serving cocktails to audience members with what looked like pickup musicians playing stringed instruments.  And then slowly as the audience returned to their seats with drinks in hand, and the musicians assembled a little more cohesively and before you knew it, the play had started.  I was swept off my feet before the first line was delivered.

The music itself filled the theater and I felt completely immersed in it. All the actors played instruments. Set in Dublin, the story was lively and lighthearted at times and melancholy and heartbreaking at other moments.  The music and actors had me completely engrossed.  There was humor that kept things light, but at the core, the story was about love.  Once was a glimpse of the intersecting paths of two people... you'll have to go watch to find out more.

So if you have plans to visit NYC anytime soon, do try and fit this into your schedule. (And don't be afraid so save a few dollars on "partial view" seats.  It turns out the partial view is from the far side of row two.)  If you can't get to the play, look for a copy of the movie.  I watched when I got home, thanks to my friend Laura and it was also wonderful.  I'm a new fan now of Glen Hansard. 

Soon I promise to be back with things that I have actually made... since that was the original point of this blog.  But I just had to tell you about Once.  XO

Things to remember...

Today I want to share ten simple lessons.

1. If you've lost your glasses, check the top of your head.
2. Keep your elbows off the dinner table.
3. Don't shake an uncapped bottle of salad dressing over new carpet.
4. Do your best to master your native language. Grammar counts.
5. Love your pets, and only let the outdoor pets in the house when dad's not home.
6. Keep learning, it doesn't matter what, just pursue whatever intrigues you.
7. Read good books.
8. See as much of the world as you can.
9. Sing loudly and with conviction just to see your teenage daughters cringe in embarrassment, they'll laugh and love the memory later.
10. Be unfailing in your willingness to love and support the people who mean the most to you (even when they are wrong and hard to love).

Happy birthday mom. I love you.

Apples and Pumpkins

Summer is officially over here.  The leaves are turning, the mornings are decidedly cool and dark and we broke down last week and had to kick the heat on for a few especially cold nights.  And now we are making plans for halloween and thinking about the coming holiday season and shuffling summer clothes into storage and digging out the winter garb.

Halloween is going to be fun this year.  The small fry is two and she is infinitely more interested in carving pumpkins, dressing up and (last, but certainly not least) candy.

It's fun too see the whole family get enthusiastic about holidays again with these little people to share them with.  This summer my mom planted half  a dozen pumpkin seeds in her herb garden.  In short order it became a pumpkin garden.  We spent a weekend at the farm a bit ago and the kiddos spent some time scouting ripe pumpkins and ordering my dad to cut and pass them out into the lawn. They are perfect, just waiting for funky faces to be carved into them.  We brought home seven of them and I think the total crop will yield around 30.  And all from a little envelope with half a dozen seeds in it.  How fun!

Halloween, here we come.

We're going to wait a week or so to cut into these beauties.  Their shelf life is seriously shortened once their carved.  And I've been successful to date from keeping our voracious city squirrels from chewing holes in them.

In the meantime, I have done a little fall baking and  I wanted to share the recipe.  It's got to be the world's most simple and unpretentious cake recipe and it's perfect for fall.  It was given to me by a friend, and I don't know the original source, but it's probably one of those tried and true recipe that is eons old.  I hope you enjoy it.

Fresh Apple Cake

4 cups apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup oil

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Spread (the fairly thick) batter evenly into an ungreased 13" x 9" pan.  Bake at 350° for 45-55 minutes.

Happy fall, friends.

Retrospective - Vertical Garter Jacket

I'm going back in time a bit with this project.  I knit this little sweater in 2010. 

Finished knitting just waiting for a wearer...

I was a brand new mom at the time.  Our girl arrived on the scene early - not just a little early - and we spent a considerable amount of time as a fledgling family in the NICU.  While she slept and grew and learned to breathe, I watched and hoped and worried and knit. It turns out there is isn't a lot to "do" when you are in that spot, so I kept my hands and mind a little preoccupied to keep my imagination from running to it's darkest corners.

And in the end this sweater and few others were turned out.  The small fry turned out too; more importantly.  She's worn and outgrown most of them... but this one just fits this fall.

Busy rearranging the doll house

It's a very nice little jacket.  It is knit out of fingering weight yarn (Louet Gems) and the resulting fabric is relatively fine.  The garter stitch creates a little more weight and give than stockinette would have which makes it warmer and free moving.  And although at the time I thought that the sleeves were going to be too long, it turned out that they are perfect.  It did take what seemed like forever to finish, and I remember wishing that I was a faster knitter, but it was worth it in the end.

The only modification I made was post-knitting.  I added two rows of tiny elastic around the neck.  The neckline kept growing and growing and the small fry is a little too young to pull off the exposed shoulder look.  It's worn fairly well.  The only thing that I have noticed is a little damage on the hems.  The ends of the knitted rows seem to be a bit more fragile than the edge of a cast-on or bound-off hem. So I see that there might be a little mending in my future.  It could also be that my girl is a little harder on her hand-mades than she used to be.  But that's all as it should be when you're enjoying year two.

Cozy trifecta - fireplace, furry friend, and hand knits.

It feels strangely therapeutic to write now about where this sweater began.  I might just post about the others here too someday.