Celebrating Earth Hour with Cedric

We had a lovely Earth Hour this year. Most of the neighborhood was very dark, and we lit a lot of candles. I knit, Paul read, and also took this photo of Cedric celebrating with us:



Timson was afraid of the candles. He gazed at the stars out the window.

Satchel rather than purse

What started out to be a purse has ended up as a wonderful satchel, the perfect size to carry around my netbook, or magazines, or books, or knitting project, or quite a combination of any of them:



The lining fabric is one of the Miyabi fabrics from Sentimental Studios for moda, and I sewed a tube to sew into the strap to line it:



Since I wanted to see nothing but the beautiful right side of the fabric, I took my time sewing two pockets, one large one with a zipper, and a smaller one for pens & pencils:





I just love it. It's a bit larger than my other purses, for when I'm taking along a knitting project, or my netbook, but smaller and more comfortable than larger satchels and backpacks.

It's the second project from the birthday yarn that Paul got for me so long ago, before all those hand injuries, and I'm really excited about starting the next project with the warm gray Karabella DK Merino Silk--I'm swatching for the Essential Cardigan--we'll see!

Hexacomb Cardigan

It's finally finished--my Hexacomb Cardigan. I made it with two inches of positive ease, out of Rowan Handknit Cotton (seven skeins), because I wanted a loose, boxy sweater for hot weather--not for wearing outside when it's hot, but for when you walk inside from the hot weather into an overly air conditioned building, and need a little something over your shoulders, maybe even buttoned up at first against that chill. Also, I think it will be perfect for when the breeze first comes up at nightfall after a hot day, and you need just a little something over a tank top to prevent that slight chill.

So bring on the hot weather. I'm ready!

Cedric visits Alma and collections storage

Cedric had a grand day out--he got to accompany us on a tour of the work being done to San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's scow schooner, Alma. My coworker, Gina, was also there, modeling her hard hat (we're librarians who get issued our own hard hats!):



We got to go aboard Alma, and Captain Jason told us all about the work being done, and it was very interesting! Cedric is standing on new wood, and the older looking wood in front of him (under the tools) is part of the work done on Alma in 1992:



After our tour of Alma, we got to tour some of the collections storage, and Cedric was so excited to learn what it would be like for him to live in a museum, and be an object in a museum collection--he would be assigned a special number, and photographed in a very special way:



Cedric thought retiring to a museum would be a wonderful way to live, but not for a long time--museum objects don't get outside much, although they go get to travel if they're lucky enough to be loaned to another museum for an exhibit. Then, they get to meet lots of people who visit the exhibit. Until then they lead a very restful existence in their special home. Right now, Cedric likes traveling too much to think about retirement.

February Hat

I call this my February Hat, because it's still so cold out that I want a warm, wool hat, but it's also the month that the plum blossoms emerged in the garden, looking glorious, and there are still winter winds coming through, causing the "snow fall" of their petals.

The pattern is "Tigress Hat" by Kim Salazar, but I wanted more of a cloche, so I added a row of stockinette before the crown, and two more rows of stockinette before the brim, and it fits down over my ears, keeping them warm. The yarn, Rowan Harris Chunky, is much softer after a cold water soak and blocking. The hat used almost all of the skein, 75-80%.



The flowers are crocheted in DMC Cebelia cotton thread size 20, with a size 11 hook, with pink embroidery floss around the center to evoke the look of the plum blossoms. The pattern is the flower part of “Narrow Violet Edging,” from Rita Weiss’ Crochet Edgings.

A shawl, a scarf

I started out knitting the Vine Lace Shrug (free download on Ravelry), aiming to use up some stash yarn, Classic Elite Bam Boo. The pattern is based on Barbara Walker's "Vine Lace" (from her Treasury of Knitting Patterns) and looks gorgeous in the Bam Boo.

As I knitted away, using up the stash, I realized the length wasn't quite right to sew up the shrug--it's a gift for a dear friend who's shoulders measure the same as mine, but her arms are shorter, since she's only ten years old!

So I made a fastener, so she could wear it as a stole, sewing a covered button and a long, tube "button" together, and inserting them into one of the lace holes:



It slips in and out without deforming the lace, so if she wants, she can take the fastener out, and wear it as a scarf:

Refining the crackers

I've made the crackers dozens of times now, and found that they're even better if you roll them out twice as thin. That is, the recipe tells you to divide the dough in half and roll out two large squares--I've found that they're even better if you divide the dough in fourths, and roll out four large squares. You have to remember to pay attention to the ones in the oven--being so thin, they can brown too much very quickly, but they're so much better thinner. They brown evenly, and each and every inch is crisp.

I've also given up on the scoring and trying to get them square--we just crack them up into pieces. It's faster to the table that way!