Winter in June – How I Stay Sane During Bay Area “Summers”

Oh, the joys of living in San Francisco. The weather is hardly ever quite right. While my family and friends living in Texas are reporting temperatures well over 100 degrees, it has been cold and raining off and on for the past week. I suppose you learn to love it, and it certainly pays off in the actual winter months.

I recently treated myself to Julie Hasson’s new book Vegan Diner and have been eager to try some recipes. Even though it feels so wrong to be making soups and stews as the rest of the country eases into the first weeks of summer, I can’t help but crave comfort foods when the weather gets so dreary. So, I decided to try the recipe for veggies and dumplings.

I really enjoyed this recipe, and it was so easy to put together!  I can’t wait to try more from this book; I have my eyes on the  the mac-and-cheese, reuben, and Philly cheesesteak sliders for future meals.

I refuse to completely abandon hope that warm weather will come to San Francisco. If it doesn’t, I’ll never get the chance to wear the Comment (Norah Gaugah Vol. 6) tank I’ve been working on for the past week.

After knitting Watershed I had decided I wanted to work something a little more mindless for awhile. It’s a lot of stockinette.

Luckily, I had just enough Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton in my stash for this project. If you’re not into subbing you’re in luck, the pattern calls  Berroco Bonsai (97% bamboo, 3% nylon) which is a vegan yarn!

So that’s about how my life has been since finishing up the semester. A lot of cooking, knitting, and glancing wistfully out the window wishing for warmer weather. What are your summer plans?

Completed Watershed Cardi

As I mentioned earlier, I finished my Watershed Cardi while I was in LA! It was such a fun project and took hardly any yarn at all.

I am very happy with my choice of the hand dyed Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Worsted Cotton, it really makes it a wonderful little layering piece for the summer. I can see myself wearing it over tank tops and dresses for the next few months.

The lace and scalloped edging isn’t as hard as it looks, just be prepared to work in the lace pattern on both sides!

Overall, I’m quite happy with how my Watershed came out. I would even consider making another as a gift sometime since it’s a fairly quick and inexpensive project, but still looks impressive. I think it took me about two and a half weeks from cast on to weaving in ends. Not bad!

New Project for Spring – Leaf Beret

I got a little over halfway though my Gretel Tam (posts here and here) when I ran out of yarn. D’oh! Luckily Yarnia still had all my ingredient yarns in stock, so while they’re winding a new cone for me I decided to cast on for a new beret. This one is the Leaf Beret from the Spring/Summer  2009 issue (and final issue) of Knit.1. My mom (hi mom!) had been hinting pretty hard lately that she wanted a cute beret, but since she lives in the South where temperatures are already nearing 90 degrees it needed to be something lightweight and breathable.

Lucky for me, the pattern calls for Classic Elite Yarns Cotton Bam Boo, and I already had two balls if the Heron Blue in my stash! I get really excited when I don’t have to make yarn substitutions. Plus, this yarn is amazing; I really love working with it.

Despite the yarn being a pretty fine gauge, the hat is going pretty fast! I think I might wind up making myself one someday.

Are you knitting anything fun for summer?

It’s Spring & There’s a New Issue of Knitscene!

After 3 terribly long weeks of winter, spring appears to have finally arrived in the Bay Area. And perfect timing, because I was getting awfully sick of my stuffy fall/winter wardrobe. I’ve lived in Texas or San Francisco my entire life, and while San Francisco never gets that cold I still haven’t gotten the hang of dressing for temperatures below 60 degrees on a regular basis. That’s why I just love spring and summer, I get to pull all of my vintage sun dresses out of the back of the closet and get to knit beautiful, lightweight things. I know most of the knitting world is focused on knitting warm garments out of warm yarns, but I’ll take tank tops, short sleeve sweaters, lace, and knitting with lovely fibers like cotton, linen, and hemp.

So of course, I’m bound to be excited when my favorite knitting magazine, Knitscene adds the first ever summer issue (on stands April 19th). I can always find at least a few patterns that make buying the magazine worth it for me, and this issue is no exception. Here are a few of my favorites from the preview:

I never leave my house without a cardigan; Windsor looks excellent for those days when there’s just a little bit of a chill in the air.

Windsor Cardi

I don’t usually do pullovers — they make me look frumpy — but this neckline and silhouette look totally manageable. I’m fighting the urge to buy yarn for it.

Sackets Harbor Pullover

This shawl looks so cute and easy to wear.

insignia shawl

I love the scallop detail and the way the model is wearing the shawl in this photo, but I’m not entirely convinced it would easily stay on my neck. Also, I’ll take that blouse while we’re at it.

figurehead shawl

You can view more of the preview here. Be sure and let me know what you’ll be making from this issue!

 

Kitties and Cardigans

I’m not going to lie, I haven’t been knitting much the last few weeks. It’s been oppressively hot and the idea of doing anything besides napping is incredibly unappealing.

I am about halfway through the back of the Who Me? Cardigan. It’s knitting up quickly, and maybe when it cools down, or my landlord benevolently installs air conditioning in the apartment, I’ll pick it up again.

Who Me? Cardigan Back

I’ve also been a little distracted by this little lady:

Basil

Meet Basil, the newest addition to the TreeWool family. She’s about 3 months old and was adopted last week from San Francisco Animal Care and Control. She and Cooper already get along splendidly and can sometimes be spotted snuggling together when they’re not playing, which is just about all the time.