family - Mixed Martial Arts and Crafts

WIP Wednesday: SGT Riff socks

Posted by Vanessa on October 3, 2012 at 2:17 pm

Oct 032012

In keeping my oath for my Year of Projects, I want to finish up my unfinished objects/works in progress. And since the Sergeant’s birthday is next month, I want to finish his socks. Here’s what I’ve managed so far:

Click on the image for the pattern

I’ve started the twisted stitches for the legs but I’m only about seven rows in. I’m really hoping that these socks fit. So far they have but I still have my doubts. I’m going to keep checking because I’ve promised him for the last two years that he’ll get socks. While my ideal deadline is to finish by his birthday, I’ve got Christmas as a fall back.

He knows I’ve got a test knit on the needles and I’m knitting up my own hat pattern that I want to release by December, so I’ve got quite a bit to do that I can’t divulge too much on here. And that’s not counting the non-crafty personal projects I’ve got going on.

Tomorrow is another immunoglobulin infusion and hopefully I can knit through that. The nurses give you an antihistamine and Tylenol before they start to help prevent an allergic reaction. Basically, that’s like taking a Tylenol PM so I end up nodding off soon. Plus, they tend to put the IV right in the crook of my arm so it’s difficult to knit with out making the machine freeze up and start beeping.

For more Works in Progress, check out Tami’s blog.

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FO Friday: Olivia’s Wurm Hat

Posted by Vanessa on September 21, 2012 at 3:01 pm

Sep 212012

It’s done! And it’s awesome.

wurm hat

I love the hemmed brim. I think I’m going to do that for all of my hats from now on, instead of ribbing. It’s nice and slouchy which is what Olivia wanted.

Here are the deets:

Pattern: Wurm by Katharina Nopp (it’s a free download!)

Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina

Needle size: US 4 for the brim and a US 6 for the body.

Modifications: None. I made the largest size for Oli’s fat head.

Ravelry page for this project is here. I’ve got a few grams left of the yarn so I might make a matching cowl for her later. Though she’s asked for a crocheted Psyduck for Christmas. It’s too cool not to do, but we’ll see if I get around to it.

For more Finished Objects d’arte, check out Tami’s blog.

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WIP Wednesday: Olivia’s Hat

Posted by Vanessa on September 19, 2012 at 2:52 pm

Sep 192012

I’m almost done!!

Olivia's hat

Her birthday is on the 28th so I’m ahead of schedule. It should be done *fingers crossed* and in the mail this weekend. I’ve got to remember to sew in a “made by” label that I have and print out one of Underground Crafter’s funny “I made this please don’t felt it” care instructions.

For more WIPs, check out the party that’s happening on Tami’s blog.

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WIP Wednesday: Wurm Hat

Posted by Vanessa on September 12, 2012 at 9:40 am

Sep 122012

My niece Olivia’s birthday is on the 28th of this month. I asked her what she would like and she said that she would like another hat. I had gifted her the Mating Deer hat I made during chemo but it was too small for her rather large noggin. This time, I have her actual measurement (24″!) in hand and I’m now better equipped to make her a hat that fits.

Brim of Wurm Hat

I just started Wurm but it’s been a fun knit so far. I actually had planned on knitting her this very pattern for Christmas while in treatment but by that point, doing anything more complicated than stockinette was out of the question for my chemo brain. The yarn is a wonderful yellow green from madelinetosh’s pashmina line. The colorway is suitably named, Olivia.

I rarely knit as a gift but she is quite knit worthy and I am honored she asked for a hat. Or a Pokemon. She might get a Pokemon for Christmas. Maybe.

For more WIPS, check out Tami’s blog!

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The Family that Knits Together…

Posted by Vanessa on September 4, 2012 at 5:06 pm

Sep 042012

Are you from a crafting family?

I am. My parents were from the “make do and mend” generation. My mother especially enjoyed sewing clothes but, as she pointed out, even in the 1950s and 60s sewing was still a requirement for most things.

My father had some formal schooling but he trained as a cobbler as a young boy. He sold his shoe repair business to work a factory but he still enjoyed working with his hands, especially on model trains.

Mom taught me the basics of crocheting and knitting. She taught my sisters too.

The 1980s weren’t kind.

Did any family member teach you to craft?

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My Family/Mi Familia

Posted by Vanessa on August 30, 2012 at 4:24 pm

Aug 302012

My cousin, Jorge, put up on Facebook some old photos of my dad’s side of the family. One of them was a photo I’ve never seen before of my mom on her wedding day.

Can you believe she never really considered herself to be pretty? Can you believe I also have the same self-esteem issues? Like mother like daughter!

How she met my dad is a great story that I love to tell anyone who will listen and since y’all are a captive audience, here goes!

Picture it. Gibara, Cuba, 1957. A 16-year-old girl has returned home after living with family friends following the death of her mother. Her older sister received a letter from a new pen pal but is no longer interested. The girl says that she’ll write to this man. He’s also Cuban but from Regla, a city near the capital of Havana. The girl has other pen pals, particularly one in Mexico, but none intrigue her quite so much as this man.

Things in Gibara and all of Cuba are getting tense. Fulgencio Batista is still in power but los barbudos, led by a young man named Fidel Castro, are trying to over throw his dictatorship. Neighbors are showing up dead or missing or worse. There are near daily attacks from helicopters over head. Her father has closed the town’s only bakery. The milkman refuses to deliver milk in the early morning. The postman showed up missing fingers. He was mistakenly blamed for planting a bomb.

But in the midst of all this chaos and terror, the seeds of love are being planted and are taking root. Here’s my photo, the man writes, I hope you like it. Perhaps, I’ll make a trip back home and see you?

Her heart skips a beat and her other pen pals, including the boy in Mexico, are soon forgotten. A friend of the man, who is also from the girl’s town, visits her. He reports back to the man that she is much younger than he is, however, she’s funny and bubbly and comes from a well-respected family in town. He’d be hard pressed to find anyone better.

The man writes to the girl that he’ll be visiting in February. And perhaps, if they like each other, she could come back as his bride? Things are getting worse in Cuba, her father points out. He lives in New York City, she thinks. Perhaps she’ll be able to go to high school there. Maybe even meet Elvis, her sisters say. The girl assents.

He arrives and they are wed on February 9, 1958. She is 17 and he is 29. Her wedding was the talk of her small town. The daughter of Angel, the baker, is going to America. It was front page news. The streets were flooded with people trying to get a glimpse of their taxi. She is going to America and honeymooning in Havana? A humble baker’s daughter?

It was like a fairy tale come to life.

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Happy Birthday Baby!

Posted by Vanessa on July 23, 2012 at 2:57 pm

Jul 232012

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post to make an important announcement!

Little Carter, my great nephew, was born last night at 9.30pm Eastern! He’s quite the heavy weight at 9lbs 8 oz and has a full head o’ hair. Just like his great auntie! Okay, maybe more like his Dad (love you, Josh!). So yes, I’m a great aunt at 27 and my mom’s a great grandmother at 72. Which makes my oldest sister a grandmother. I think this is the start of baby fever in our family.

Oy, seeing that in print makes me feel old.

Welcome to the world, little dude!

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Trip to Nashville Zoo

Posted by Vanessa on May 7, 2012 at 3:15 am

May 072012

My in-laws (one set anyway!) are in town this week. This has given us an excuse to finally play tourist in our new hometown. Yesterday, we trekked all over the Nashville Zoo. It’s been quite some time since I last went to a zoo and this one was pretty great.

We had brunch at Prime 108 inside Union Station, and boy did people know how to travel back in the early parts of the 20th century:

The roof is stained glass, which was hard to photograph but really beautiful. Why did we (globally, it seems) move away from making such fancy and pretty buildings? Imagine if airports were this nice. It would make flying a lot more enjoyable!

The zoo grounds were originally part of a small plantation and is now a historic farm on the zoo property. The original house is still up, it was built 1846 and renovated in the 1880s. I shall be moving into the house as soon as everyone’s backs are turned.

This is seriously, my dream home. Especially to sit on the porch and just knit in a rocking chair while sipping on a mint julep. I may or may not be wearing a hoop skirt or forty. Speaking of which! There was some knitted instruments on display!

Can you spot the hand carder on the table? Along with a small pile of cotton! This was inside the replica slave quarters. I’m surprised they had hand carders out, I know we did see a cotton gin in the back shed with the other old tools. I would have assumed that by this point, a farm that would have a cotton gin would also have a drum carder. Speaking of fiber, this is a farm and it’s just past lambing season. This cutie was born mid March:

Apparently, he’s a Cotswold sheep and in keeping with the “historical” farm aspect, it’s an old and rare breed. I named him Lamby McLamberson. I didn’t see any grown up Sheepy McSheepersons but I’m sure Mama Ewe was around somewhere. Sadly, no yarn or fiber is sold at the gift shop.

I know some folks don’t like zoos and they sometimes bug me. Then I saw this little guy peering out at us:

And I realized that we as silly creatures must be as interesting to them as they are to us. The whole meerkat exhibit was really cool. They’re funny little things, aren’t they?

Speaking of funny things, flamingos always strike me as quite odd and ungainly birds.

Ostriches don’t seem very graceful or elegant either. There was a pretty good selection of various tropical birds with quite a bit of room to fly around. This Hyacinth Macaw (one of several) has excellent plumage.

What a brilliant blue. The macaws were near the gibbons, I couldn’t get a good photo of them but they were howling up a storm. They were having a heated discussion about something that you could hear out in the parking lot. I would not want to be near a troop of them when they start howling in the wild. It was quite impressive and reminded me of some stitch n bitch groups I’ve been too.

With the in-laws in town, I haven’t been knitting much but I have managed to make a some progress on my WIPs. So be sure to come back then and in the mean time, check out the rest of my zoo photos over here.

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3KCBWDAY3 – Your Knitting or Crochet Hero

Posted by Vanessa on April 25, 2012 at 2:04 pm

Apr 252012

Bear with me, I’m going to be pretty sappy and cliched. My knitting hero is my mom (aww!) and my sister Maritza. It pains me to write that about my sister because, well, she’s a booger. They both knit and crochet but they’ve never really finished much. Mom’s ability to reverse engineer anything (both in sewing and in knitting/crochet) is as amazing as her inability to follow a pattern. I found a pattern for an Old Shale stitch that she liked and what she ended up with was a total 180 from what the pattern called. It was pretty but we had a good laugh over it.

Mom looking pretty

Growing up, my mom and my sister encouraged me (and my niece Olivia) to make and create as much as possible. Most weekend trips to the mall involved a stop at the craft store (anyone remember the Rag Shop?). Or if I spent the night at Maritza’s house, it was a treat to look through her cross stitch books and the big book of iron on transfers she bought. I remember picking out a unicorn that she ironed onto a piece of cloth (or was it a sweater? I don’t remember) and then outlined using puffy paint. I thought it was so amazing that she had a tackle box full of different types of paints in different colors.

While I didn’t have the best experience with art teachers in school, Mom and Maritza were always telling me to try again and do more. Even if I thought whatever I did “sucked” or was stupid, they’d tell me to keep on going. I’ve blogged about my mom’s crazy cards and seriously, she shouldn’t be one to get all nit picky about proportion and form.

Maritza’s birthday was last week and Mom’s is on the 29th. So this post is my cheap way out of getting them birthday presents. Ha!

* For my reader’s safety and well being, I’ve decided against posting a photo of my sister. Looking at photos of her have been known to cause people to swoon, run away screaming and in some cases death. Do not look directly into her eyes if you do meet her in person. The results are not pretty.

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WIP Wednesday: Mom’s Shawl

Posted by Vanessa on December 7, 2011 at 5:59 pm

Dec 072011

I had put aside Mom’s shawl for a bit since I ran out of yarn. Thankfully, I ordered more yarn and it came in on Monday so I’ve spent all of yesterday working on it.

I’m almost finished! I think I’ll be done by next week, so just in time to ship out to my mom and have it arrive by Christmas. Yesterday morning I finished my socks and they fit! Deets and pics posted on Friday.

In serious news, today marks the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Today is the day that President Roosevelt said would live on in infamy. I asked my mom what she remembers about World War Two since she was born in 1940. Her memories are vague at best but she does remember hearing people talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She remembers seeing the photos in Life magazine and feeling sad about it.

Her town in Cuba isn’t very far from Guantanamo and the Allied war effort meant there were lots of jobs working at the base there. Her cousin Tato had a very well paying job in Guantanamo and would often travel to the US from Cuba on business. She doesn’t remember what exactly he was doing but she remembers feeling awed that he was important enough to have to work in “la Yuma”, the US.

For more WIPs, check out Tami’s blog.

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