Knitting Superstitions

So...close...that it actually looks like a sweater!

Olivia (still blogless) and I are almost done with our sweaters. We just have to seam them together.

In fact, if we had worked on our sweaters instead of driving to Target to purchase a grill and have an impromptu barbeque last night...we may have been done already.

But those burgers, potato salad and chocolate chip cookies were worth it! Plus, I need to keep my energy levels up for all that seaming.

On a different note, do any of you believe in knitting superstitions?

I recently wanted to start a sweater for a friend's baby that is almost born. My friend is Jewish, and in her culture, it is bad luck to buy anything for a baby's room before the baby is born. My mom told me I should wait too, before starting.

However, I have heard contradictory stories that a baby cannot be born until a sweater is finished. And I'm not too superstitious, especially after looking at that list of superstitions. Oy vey. What is a girl to do?

What if I start knitting and put extra well wishes into each stitch? Or can I just start knitting a sweater but for no baby in mind?

I love babies, and would not want to unintentionally hurt one, or make a future parent feel I impacted their baby's health in a negative manner. In the meantime, I'll tell my friends to let me know when I can start making stuff, until then, I'm going to wait.

I would love your input, as I'm quite curious for the poll results.

Happy Birthday, Tracy!

I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to my best friend, Tracy, in Chicago!

She is one of the most generous, kind, loyal and beautiful people I know.

However my life may change, she will always be there, and I know I can always count on her. Here are some of the reasons why she is one of my favorite people:

She let me keep my milk in her fridge after mine broke when we were freshman in the dorms at Indiana University -- even though she thought I was kind of scary. (I was a bit surly at the time...move-in day was rough)

She dragged our friends to watch me sit the bench when I played water polo my freshman year.

When she was in kindergarten, she tried to beat up an 8th grader who had made fun of her older sister (much to her sister's chagrin and embarrassment...but what courage!)

Tracy shared her parents and family with me, and made me feel not so homesick that year.

Only with Tracy can I spend a whole day watching really bad Kevin Costner films, eating popcorn and have the best Saturday ever.

She has been my travel companion on numerous road-trips; Indianapolis to Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Lauderdale to Philly and the infamous trip from Indy to Las Vegas...when my car broke down on a mountainside in Utah and we had to drive in a flat-bed with a tow-truck driver named Mike, whose first words to us when we got in the car were,"You girls ever been so drunk you couldn't walk straight?" Did I mention it was also snowing?

She's a brave girl who has lived in Chicago, London, a sorority house, and New Zealand and Australia.

She let me cry over boys not worth crying over. And she'll sob along with me though episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

She's always on my side, even if we both know I'm not necessarily right.

When I called to tell her Andrew had died, it was unspoken that she would fly down to be with me for the funeral. Not only for me, but for my family, and because she loved my brother too.

Because she's the type of friend you don't expect to ever have, and they understand you completely.

We travelled through Europe together for two weeks and were still friends. And invented 'alter-egos' to make the long train rides funnier.

She knit me a scarf!

Happy Birthday, Tracy! I hope your day is wonderful.

P.S. If you print this out, can this count as your card? Just kidding. But it may be a few days late...not kidding! xoxo.

Correspondence

I've always been a letter writer. Or "working on my correspondence" as my friend Trathen and I preferred to say. There's nothing better than jotting down a thought or letter that has been in your head, or saying things that you would be embarrassed to say in person.

I myself love receiving letters from friends or family, and have saved just about every single one. My friend, Clara still writes me letters on a regular basis, which makes receiving all my bills a bit less stressful.



Before I ever quilted, I fell in love with this address book by Denyse Schmidt, quilter, artist extraordinaire, who was unbeknownst to me at the time.

I was really interested in the quilts that were modern and graphic. To me, she broke the standard rules of what a quilt should look like or be about. It could be whatever you wanted. You could create a graphic piece of art in a quilted form. I don't know if I would have had the desire to quilt had it not be for Ms. Schmidt.

*Keep in mind that at the time, I didn't realize how many types of quilts are out there, and the history of that lovely craft!



Design Sponge had a great post on Tuesday about Denyse's home. It's linked here if you want to check it out. It makes me want to buy a house, a letterpress and restore furniture...someday.

I'll have lot of knitting progress to show you all soon! Enjoy your Friday!

Grandma Huber

Florida was fantastic. I didn't get much knitting done, but spent a lot of time with my family and best friend, Brooke. I also had a piece of cake, pie or key-limey goodness with every meal for 4 days.



I didn't get much knitting done, but spent a lot of time with my family and best friend, Brooke. I also had a piece of cake, pie or key-limey goodness with every meal for 4 days.

I read The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. There's a reason that book is so popular right now. Go out and buy it...or borrow my copy.



I didn't want to leave, but it's good to be back in Philly so that I can see Mike, enjoy this spring weather and finish the baby quilt. Oh that's right...and my sweater which is actually almost done!



Remember this hat? It was done and looked great. I decreased so that it made a nice twirly star on top and fit exactly how I wanted it to.

But I wasn't in love with it.

However, my darling cousin, Cara loved it. I had wanted to make her something, but wanted her to pick out the yarn and project. She responded that she wanted a hat just like the one I was wearing...in the same yarn.



Well, that hat snapped right off of my head and right onto her gorgeous one full of hair that will soon be donated to Locks of Love.

That was a quick project! I'm always glad to find a happier owner to something I feel tepid towards. It looks much cuter on her too, but that could be the fact that she's twenty and beautiful and has the longest lashes of anyone I've met.

While we're speaking of knitted items and my cousin, Cara. I must show off our grandma's best scrap yarn ripple afghan that my aunt gave to me, much to Cara's dismay.



My paternal grandma was an amazing knitter and crocheter. She taught me to crochet as a child, but I couldn't pick up the knitting. I thought it a task impossible, akin to juggling. Ha.

Grandma Huber grew up during the Great Depression, and everything was saved of course and re-used. Over her life, she must have made so many projects, including gorgeous sweaters with intarsia, and she let us choose the colors. In fact, for the sweater that she let me pick out the yarn ended up being "pink and puh-ple". (Mind you, God-awful purple that I wanted. Look at the picture again and find the ugliest purple on the afghan...yes, that's it!)

For some reason, my Aunt Sissy decided that I should have this particular afghan while I was visiting them in St. Louis during college.

Thank you, Aunt Sissy. You don't know how much that meant to me...and it was a crappy year of heartbreak (wink).

It is so colorful and crazy and I loved it immediately. All the scraps of yarn are from projects that my Grandmother worked on over the years. Some of the ripples are felted now, the few that were wool. There's a hole in it where my cat caught her claw and I had to cut into the blanket, which almost made me cry, but of course I did it.

It is one of the most treasured items to me because it is one of the only things I have from my Grandma. Being a knitter myself makes it even more special.

And Cara is still jealous, five years later. But I don't feel to bad for her, since Aunt Sissy is making a new one for her.

Long Weekend in the Sub-tropics

I'm off to Ft. Lauderdale for a long weekend to see my cousin Kelly get married where I will get to wear this adorable dress pictured below. (Filipino fan not included, but absolutely necessary for impromptu cheesy photo shoot).

When I bought the dress, the girl at the counter said,"Girl...you're gonna look like Pocahontas in this dress!" Thank you!

How convenient that I have a quilted map to show you where I will be going...

I'm hoping to finish the back of my sweater for the second time by the time I return to Philly. It's about 1/3 of the way done.

Atlas Shrugged -- "Yes it's a quilt of the world!"

As a crafter / weekend-artist / knitter / maker of all things, I tend to show love with homemade things. Not all the time, but for certain special people, I want to spend the time and energy to create something.

It can start with an idea, a letter composed in my head, or a picture that I can see clearly in my mind, and I just need to bring to life through an illustration, an apron, a book, or in this case--a quilt.

A friend of mine just adopted a beautiful little girl from Ethiopia. This friend also happened to be my first boss in Philly. She has really helped me out alot, given great advice, food, fabric samples and friendship. She will also make a wonderful mother, and I'm so happy for her and her new daughter.

I'm always interested in seeing the design process...so here is part of mine.Idea in head for months...work trip to Manhattan = a trip to my favorite fabric store where I came home with a some cotton-y goodness after eating 2 cupcakes and Korean food with my friend Kathy Jean.

Stay late at work to utilize AutoCad and the plotter to create a full scale template of the 45" x 60" baby quilt. This was also an easy way to avoid sketching out 4 very large continents or bribing Mike to do it. Laid it out and realized that decision making is not always my best quality... Doubted the fabrics I selected and started sketching out options. Pick one after feedback from my esteemed boyfriend.

Pared the palette down as originally intended and narrowed it down to these:

Well....okay. AND these. (It is a kid's blanket after all, we need some texture and color!)

Then, I just kind of "wing it" (while maintaining excellent craftsmanship!) and let the project unfold. (Side note: I just quoted my father, who during movies says to stop asking questions and "let the story unfold". The horror!)

I started quilting on Friday, and the 'quilt sandwich' is in progress...as well as some self-taught embroidery. I'm keeping the stitches small and tight so that little fingers will not get caught in it.

If you know me, you know that I take my work and myself VERY seriously...as demonstrated in an old photo below (big wink!).

I think it's going okay so far, "just winging it" in an orderly fashion...Props to my boy Mike for helping cut out the Mediterranean coast.

P.S. As I was looking at the childhood picture of myself, I jumped because I was mirroring the image. That is my pose and expression for painting, drawing and typing! Awwwww.