Lee Does Stuff

Making milk liqueurs!

I decided to try out a new thing for fun this year: liqueur-making! Thanks to pinterest, I read how easy it is to make a basic milk liqueur (on Lottie + Doof)… I thought, hmm, maybe I’ll try that someday… and then I came across 2 more recipes and just couldn’t get the idea out of my head! So I bought the ingredients (milk, sugar, vodka, lemon, and chocolate for the recipe I decided to try), got a big mason jar, and tried making a half-batch to see how it would turn out. The final liqueur is delicious!!

It uses almost all things I already had, making it cheap and easy enough even for me, someone who does not spend much free time in the kitchen…

I used cheap vodka – the recipe said to use grappa, which I’ve never even seen and read is expensive… but more research into liqueur making told me that most people recommend using something cheap because the difference in flavor in the final liqueur is not noticeable. So, some $7 Oregon Springs vodka, and a bar of Ghiradelli bittersweet baking chocolate were what I chose:

I followed the instructions, shaking up the ingredients in the jar (I used 1 cup each of vodka, milk, sugar, 1/4 of a lemon, and 1 ounce of chocolate – grating that chocolate was by far the hardest part of the whole process!). It didn’t really look “curdled” like they said it would, but the next morning it had separated quite a bit, before I shook it up – I didn’t photograph it then, but the following morning it was separated only a little on the bottom. On the left, you can see how it looked pre-shaking, then after shaking:

So, I gave it the 10 days, shaking every day, then came the filtering! Pouring it through the cheesecloth was much easier said than done, but I managed to do that, then filtered it through coffee filters. Even just for my half-batch, I used 3 filters to get through it all – it leaves a thick layer of the milk/chocolate behind in the filter, so you have to keep changing it:

And then, the recipe said “You can repeat this step once or twice to clarify it as much as possible. (I didn’t)” and I was waiting for my bottles in the dishwasher, so I figured this trial batch would be a good time to try filtering it through twice to see if it would make a difference. Well, the second time went super quickly, since all the solids were already filtered out – only 1 filter was needed for that:

I left a bit of the once-filtered, so I could see/taste the difference. Below, you can see how the twice-filtered (left) is more golden and less milky than the once-filtered. And the taste really is noticeably better! The chocolate flavor is stronger and the whole taste has more depth, I think, in the twice-filtered. So, I definitely recommend running it through a filter once more!

After that little test batch went so well, I wanted to try more! So, using the concept of this recipe from SF Weekly (which is not exactly an actual recipe – “equal parts vodka, milk, and sugar… oranges and lemons and a spoonful of vanilla” but with no ratios of how much orange/lemon/vanilla), I made a few batches of orange liqueur…

I still have a few weeks before I can tell you how they turn out, but if they are a success, I will tell you exactly what I did! I basically made 2 identical batches of 1 cup each milk/vodka/sugar, mandarin oranges, some lemon, and a little vanilla…

…with my plan being to finish off the 2 batches at different times. The chocolate milk liqueur I made only needed to sit for 10 days, but the orange liqueur “recipe” which is very similar, says to leave it for 3 weeks. Anyone know why this might be?? So, I plan to filter one after 2 weeks, and the other after 3 weeks, and see if there’s a difference.

Then I made a 3rd experimental batch of an orange spiced version! And, with the little bit (less than 1 cup) of vodka I had left, I’m trying out some orange infused vodka as well:

For the spiced version, I skipped the vanilla, and added some cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. It might be a total failure, since I don’t know what I’m doing yet, but I’m excited to find out! It might be delicious!

Here they are on the next morning – see how much they separate at first. By the 3rd or 4th day, that separating pretty much stops and they stay blended, as long as you shake/mix them every day. If any of these is a success, I’ll be giving you actual recipes! I’m hoping for the best!

Anyone out there have experience with making liqueurs? My birthday is next week, and I want to get a book or two and maybe some new supplies and/or fun ingredients since I’m having a lot of fun with this! I’d love any book recommendations, advice, or anything else you might have!

Betiko: print pattern, new PDFs, and alternate top stitch pattern!

I’ve got a few updates regarding Betiko to let you know about! First, it’s now a part of my line of print patterns – I managed to get the 27 page pdf to squeeze into a 12 page booklet to keep it at a reasonable print pattern price. There aren’t many photos, but all the info you need is there (and there is a supplementary downloadable pdf with the missing photos and some info that isn’t necessary and had to be left out) – preview the whole thing here…

For anyone who already has the Betiko pattern (digital version), or was thinking about knitting it – I’ve now added 2 additional pdf’s that might be helpful if all you want to knit is a basic version of the shawl. Since the Betiko pattern is super customizable, uses some unusual-ish techniques/construction, has specific ways to best stripe yarns throughout, and has 2 complete patterns included, the full pdf is packed with all that assorted info and instruction… So, now you can choose to download/print the garter stitch edged version alone, or the wavy version, with minimal info, no photos besides the covers, no striping instructions, just the basic patterns only:

This will be especially helpful for anyone wanting to just knit the wavy version – which was the mystery knit-a-long version – with no stripes or customizing or anything special. This new pdf leaves out all the customizable pattern stuff, and just has the wavy version written out like a normal pattern – much simpler if that’s all you want.

That’s the actual wavy version above, but (you may remember) my wedding shawl prototype was a bit different… Same body and bottom edging, but a different top section stitch pattern. I have gotten some requests for that stitch pattern (Marriage Lines from Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns), which is a very simple eyelet pattern.

The following instructions are for if you are knitting Betiko from the customizable pattern and want to use this for your section #1. I can’t just transcribe the pattern straight from the book, duh, so I’m writing out how I used the pattern in my shawl… these instructions aren’t hard, but they aren’t meant for a beginner knitter either, but the customizable Betiko isn’t exactly beginner-friendly in the first place. Start with the garter stitch edged version if you’re new to knitting!

The basic idea is that eyelet holes travel 1 stitch over on each RS row, for a few rows, then back over to the original placement, creating a zig-zag. So, you make an eyelet (yo, k2tog), knit across; on the next row k1, eyelet, knit across; next row k2, eyelet, and so on… and when your eyelet reaches the end of the section, work back across in the other direction.

For my section #1 piece of this shawl, I worked two lines of eyelet zig-zags, and I worked garter stitch in that top bit to prevent major curling. My A was 14, with two pattern repeats of 7 sts each; the wrong side was always purl all, except for that top part, above the last eyelet, which is k all to make the garter stitch bit.

So, my pattern specifically, as plugged into the section #1 part of the customizable Betiko pattern, looked like this:

RS row 2: [K1, yo, k2tog, k4] repeat 1 more time.
WS: K4, p to end.
RS row 4: [K2, yo, k2tog, k3] repeat 1 more time.
WS: K3, p to end.
RS row 6: [K3, yo, k2tog, k2] repeat 1 more time.
WS: K2, p to end.
RS row 8: [K4, yo, k2tog, k1] repeat 1 more time.
WS: K1, p to end.
RS row 10: [K5, yo, k2tog] repeat 1 more time.
WS: P to end.

See how it’s really simple – the eyelet hole just moves one over on each row; you don’t have to count the stitches on the WS, just knit the first bit before the eyelet.

That’s all the way over (the zig of the zig-zag, if you will), so now you just go back in the other direction, which means repeating each row in backwards order to zag back over after zigging, make sense? So, repeat row 8, then 6, 4, 2, and then, my last row of the zag was:

RS (row 20): [Ssk, yo, k5] repeat 1 more time.
After that, the whole thing just keeps repeating.

I didn’t give you this pattern for section #1 in the first place because it’s really not ideal – I wasn’t very happy with the section in my shawl, which is why I designed the final wavy pattern with a whole different stitch pattern in that top part. Even with the garter stitch top bits, it still curls, and the top part just works better with some extra thickness, created by stitch patterns like the waving ribs or garter stitch (which are the ones in the actual patterns).

So, that’s my disclaimer – I don’t especially recommend using this pattern concept, but here it is if you want it… maybe doing the zig-zagging eyelets but with an all garter stitch base would be a good compromise. Whatever you end up doing, I’d love to see the results, so be sure to post your project on ravelry!

And, just for fun, a couple shots from my sketchbook pages, working on what would become Betiko:

There are like 8 pages on this shawl as I worked and reworked and reworked some more – as you can see from the first page up there, it started out pretty different before evolving into the design.

A final not-really-related note – especially meant for any readers who happen to own or work at yarn shops – I now have a wholesale catalog which you can order (for the print cost) to see my pattern paper/print quality. It’s just an extra thing I kind of made for fun, since all the info is also on my website, but I thought there may be some shops that might like one… I’m just now starting to embark on the whole getting my patterns into shops across the country goal, so I haven’t contacted many yet, but go ahead and check out my wholesale page if you have a shop that might be interested!

Ten minute no-sew recycled t-shirt bag!

Tutorial time! I got a gig teaching a recycled t-shirt project at the library a few months ago, with a request for a recycled tee bag – the only bags I’d made from tees in the past had required sturdy sewing, and I didn’t want hand-sewing to be the only thing holding the bottom closed in a class version of the bags, so I started brainstorming about some kind of hand-sewing-friendly or no-sew bag idea…. and here’s what I came up with!

The simplest version of these bags is great for smaller tees, or the more light-weight kind of girl-tees – just turn the bottom of the shirt into a drawstring and tie it closed! As you can see, even with a not huge tee, this will still leave a significant hole in the bottom of your bag, but for purposes like grocery shopping, this size hole shouldn’t really matter…

But to make smaller holes, just make more than one of them! Here’s a bag bottom with 2 holes:

And now for the actual tutorial – for this one, with the step-by-step, I will be making the bottom with 3 holes. So, start with a t-shirt that you don’t wear anymore, or a fun one you found at a thrift store. Besides a tee, you’ll also need scissors and a safety pin. That’s it!

Cut the sleeves off, but try to make a somewhat straight line, and go in a bit from the seam – these lines will be the sides of your straps:

Cut some strips from those sleeve pieces – about half an inch wide, the length of one time around a sleeve is good, and as many strips as the number of holes you’ll be making in your bag bottom. (I’ve made bags with 1, 2, and 3 holes, but I haven’t tried more than that.) Pull the ends of the strips to stretch them out and make them curl in:

Cut the neck out to become your bag’s opening – the way you cut this can depend on your tee’s picture (if there is a picture), and also the shape you want your bag. Just make sure you cut a big enough opening to fit things through, for a functional bag:

You could make it rounded, V-shaped, or squared like this one:

Now the top/straps part is done, time for the bottom. Snip slits in the hem part of the tee bottom – as many slits as you want holes. 3 slits, below, is for 3 holes, for a single hole, like the yellow one at the top, just cut one slit, and for 2 holes, snip 2 slits. The slits should be equally spaced from each other, but the spacing doesn’t need to be exact – I just eyeballed my slit placement, no measuring:

Now stick a safety pin through the end of one of those strips you made, and start running it through the hem, through one of the slits:

Run it through to the next slit (or all the way around and back to the beginning, if you’re making a single hole) and pull the cord so it’s centered-ish:

Tie the hole closed as tightly as you can, and tie a tight knot:

Now repeat those steps for the remaining sections, one slit to the next, tie tightly. This is after the second hole is closed:

For an ultra sturdy bag bottom, tie one cord strand from one hole together with one strand from the hole next to it, tightly, and repeat for each strand (as many of these knots as the number of holes you have; ignore this step if you’re making a single hole), so that the holes are all tied to each other.

Now, you can choose whether you want the t-shirt cord ties hanging down at the bottom, or hidden on the inside. To hide them inside, bring them through the center, then tie bows on the inside so they don’t fall back through. Or, tie bows on the outside if you prefer (or you could just cut the cords short and skip the bows):

My finished Sonic bag!

The 1-hole version of this project takes more like 5 minutes, but the more holes you have, the longer it takes (by a few minutes) – it’s my favorite kind of project: 100% recycled materials (in this case, just the tee and nothing else!), minimal tools, quick+easy, and a super useful finished product!

I made these for everyone in my family as extra bonus xmas gifts – my mom just told me she’s been using hers all the time and they are stronger than she would have expected. I even used my family’s bags to wrap their gifts in, to save on paper wrapping waste and because it looked fun!

I failed to show you this idea before the holidays, but you can always save it away in your memory (or bookmarks) for your next gift-giving occasion. I hope you love this project as much as I do! Now go and make lots of them so you’ll never be without a reusable shopping bag again!

Best of 2010 (plus a few wedding photos)!

I made some best of 2010 mosaics! Always fun to do…

First, these are most of my knit designs from 2010 – for most months, I only chose 1 of the 2 quick knits club designs, to keep it from getting too big, but all the non-quick knits designs are up there. And a few extra bits, like the first time I designed using knitter’s graph paper, my first swatch ever that turned into the sideways edge cast-on technique, and then a shot from the sideways edge cast-on tutorial since that was a big deal for me in 2010, and a mystery knit-a-long shot! I edited the flickr page to link to all the pattern pages, so click the mosaic to find any links you might want. What a busy design year I had!

My second mosaic is of things I made besides knit designs – all different stuff, mostly craft projects, but also websites, a mix cd, a chocolate sculpture, some handspun, and of course my wedding dress!

And then a fun mosaic of stuff I did, fun times, etc… Some cool press kind of stuff, like being on a podcast and being in the Oregonian, and my trunk show, and other worky-ish stuff like the big photography job I did and Summit of Awesome (but that was way more fun than work!)… and lots of personal life stuff like our wedding and road trip, buying a house, and assorted fun times… and then some neat things I did for the first time in 2010, like gardening and drying herbs from my yard. Fun year! (descriptions of each square if you click over to the flickr page)

Side note: Doing this mosaic reminded me that it had been way too long since the last time I’d updated my links/press page, so I’ve gotten that all up-to-date now! I don’t think I ever mentioned here that I did an interview on Cravings blog a little while back, which might be an interesting read if you want to see me talk about self-employment, recycled materials in crafting, and knit design stuff. Also, I was mentioned on Stash & Burn podcast’s 100th episode, as an “accessory queen” so that was super duper awesome and exciting!

Lastly, I made a food mosaic just for fun! (Well, all the mosaics were just for fun…) These are things I made, and food we ate out that was special in some way, eaten on our honeymoon road trip mostly. And strawberries that I grew (basil too)! I just like food photos and I don’t really spend much time in the kitchen, but I’m always happy to eat yummy things that I do put some time into!

And hey check it out! We’re still waiting on pro photos from our wedding photographer (Kim, seen below, who I know did a great job but is very busy…), but Pete’s parents got us some great shots! Thank you so much, Pete’s parents! Yay!

So now you can finally see my dress… I like how it turned out enough, and I’m happy it functioned (aka didn’t fall down or rip badly or anything), but I do wish I was a more skilled/talented dress maker and could have made it more flattering… oh well… There’s an under layer that’s a whole separate dress, made from recycled t-shirts, which is the blue you can see showing through. That dress/layer is lined along the top with vintage lace, which is showing in some of the shots – I’ll totally be wearing it as a summer dress when it’s hot out!

And here’s how I wore my wedding shoes, laced up very differently from the ebook pattern photoshoot. That’s vintage hand-dyed lace ribbon (bought at Knittn’ Kitten, where I found much of the lace used for the dress as well):

And I’ll leave you with this cute shot that I like a lot!

Gifts from the past: Printed Shirt and Oven Mitts

Hah, these gifts from the past posts were supposed to happen before xmas, not a month after! Oh, me… Anyway, I grouped a couple of gifts I made using printing on fabric. This is a freezer paper stencil printed shirt I made for my dad, on a thrifted long sleeved tee:

I just freehand drew everything on the freezer paper, using google image search for reference pictures to draw from, cut it all out, and printed it on with screen printing ink. Easy and fun project! (Super basic kid-friendly freezer paper stenciling tutorial here, and super elaborate semi-photo-realistic stenciling tutorial here!)

And this was a totally different kind of printed gift – my brother Matt is super into both cooking/baking and computer coding, so I printed a binary message on some oven mitts with stamps:

When I made these, I was in California at my parents’ house for the holidays and didn’t have access to my supplies or shops (or car), so I got what I could with the resources I had – these basic mitts which had square quilting to help with the stamped grid design, and a weird typewriter style set of number/alphabet stamps. (Couldn’t get just 1 and 0 stamps, so I had to buy a whole alphabet set!) And then I used fabric paint for the ink… I used the leftover fabric paint to teach my brothers how to freezer paper stencil (oh look, callback to the above project) and they all made awesome t-shirts! I used the internets to translate a message into binary, then painstakingly stamped each 1 and 0 into the correct spots to spell it out. I’m pretty sure it says “I like to bake bread.”

These are a couple more printed gifts that I already blogged years ago, but they fit with the theme so there they are again!

I really am going to try to blog more, have lots planned, it’s just hard getting into the flow of it. Lots going on around here! Fun stuff! You’ll hear about it all soon enough!

November 30th – December 31st photos

The last of my photo-a-day project for 2010! I made it through the whole year (missed a few per month towards the end there, but still) and now I am so happy it’s over! I love taking pictures (duh) but I don’t like that every day requirement… it resulted in lots of blah photos when I forgot to take one until nighttime and the lighting sucked, etc… but whatever, here’s December!

30th + 1st – Packed up for my Twisted trunk show, and set up the show on the 1st. There’s part of my crowded table of goodies… After setting up the show, Pete and I celebrated with breakfast at Cadillac Cafe, which features my all time most favorite breakfast, eggs mazatlan!

2nd + 3rd – More trunk show stuff… got together a ton of stitch sets for Twisted, then my reception party was the 3rd, fun times!

4th + 5th – I brainstormed up this cabled box cover idea super last minute, knit up a prototype of the concept, and it worked pretty darn perfectly on that first try! Rare occurrence! And, a food shot, my favorite way to use up leftover pasta – scrambled up with veggies+eggs:

6th – Did my club photoshoot with this backdrop fabric setup, and Banzo saw her chance to pose:

7th + 8th – A Five Guys opened up super close to us, so exciting! (Cheap grilled cheese with any toppings you want, like grilled mushrooms, peppers, and all the usual burger things you’d expect, plus great fries.) And Pete took me out for gnocchi, yum!

9th – Wrapped the first of my xmas gifts to put under our tree!

11th + 13th – Missed a bunch of days of actual photo-a-day pictures, but I did pattern photoshoots on these days… Swerve, knit in some self-striping, and my cabled version of Betiko:

14th – And then Pete and I did the official Betiko photoshoot at Reed on this day – I love this campus so much, perfect for knitwear photoshooting!

15th – We put lights up outside our house! LED lights, strung kind of messily across there… we have plans to try to do a better job with decorations next year, but it was fun having a house to decorate for the first time!

16th + 18th – More pattern photoshooting on these days spent finishing my Betiko pattern pdf… first, the backside of the striped example. Then, I knit up a swatch with 2-row stripes to show some different things about striping for the pattern, so this can give you an idea of what a garter stitch edged Betiko would look like knit with 2 colors of bulky yarn striped (grellow!):

23rd + 27th – I crocheted up my first of 4 crocheted snowflake ornaments and hung it on our little tree! I sort of followed this pattern, but it was actually my first time ever crocheting from a pattern (I’ve only ever improvised crochet, oh except for this project, which I need to finish someday) and I screwed it up a bit, but it turned out fine I think. And, out of date order, I spun up some yarn just for fun while trying to give myself some vacationy time during the holidays, since I didn’t leave town or anything – this is a 2-ply from some “craft batts” (unknown fiber content) I got at a fiber festival a couple years ago:

24th – Christmas Eve dinner! You may remember that we kind of missed Thanksgiving, due to some superlame food poisoning, so we made what Thanksgiving dinner would have been for xmas eve! Stuffing with chopped apples and veggie sausage, mashed potatoes, and vegetarian gravy, yummmmm!

25th – Pete’s parents and uncle came into town on xmas day, so most of the day was spent at the airport, or driving to and from the airport (with breakfast at Kennedy School, yum!)… but then we all had a festive xmas dinner at Doug Fir and opened presents together – here’s Banzo participating in the gift admiration (and she enjoyed her own gift, from my parents, very much!) (and some gift highlights in flickr, just for fun):

26th + 29th – I decided to regift myself some handspun by frogging this oversized headband that I hadn’t worn in years, something I’d be planning on doing forever – Pete gave me the yarn for xmas 4 years ago and now it’s good as new to reknit into something fun! I didn’t take a good photo on the 29th, but for some reason I snapped a photo of Pete’s new watch while we were hanging out at some point:

30th – We got a new piece of furniture for xmas! A fold-out loveseat for our library – so now we have a comfy place to sit and read, plus a guest room! We felt silly living in a 3 bedroom house with no guest room, so now our library serves that one more purpose (plus storage room, media room…). Oh yeah, so this is the day it got delivered from Ikea and I built it all by myself! (I was told to wait till Pete could help, but I like a challenge!)

31st – And New Years Eve day! We broke out this awesome Back to the Future card game Pete got me for xmas and taught ourselves how to play, then brought it with us to play it with friends for a super nerdy-fun celebratory night! (We also ate fondue – both cheese and chocolate – ohmygosh way too yummy!)

Fun end to a great year! That’s enough photos for one post, so I won’t do any kind of 2010 wrap-up or best-of, but you can see all the photo-a-day posts for the whole year… they started out happening every week or two, until the trip in October knocked everything off-schedule… Anyway, we bought a house and got hitched in 2010, so awesome year! Yeah!

January’s quick knits club! Yay books!

This month’s quick knits club theme is Read Books! I chose the theme for two reasons (which kind of go together)…

We are getting our home library (old photo) into awesome functioning order – just got a fold-out couch so it can double as a guest room, and so we now have a comfy place to sit and read! And, one of my (many!) goals for 2011 is to read more! Since I quit having a day job 2.5 years ago, I’ve basically quit reading books, since I used to do all my book-reading on my lunch breaks (and on the clock when it was slow and the boss wasn’t around). So, now with the new library, I’m really hoping to be able to put aside some time every few days to go in there, away from the computer, tv, etc, and open up some of those many books I’ve bought and never read!

The patterns this month are both bookmarks, but very different from each other. The Pen Tube Bookmark holds a pen (or highlighter, or reading glasses) on the outside of your book, while marking 1 or 2 pages with the yarn strand (or crochet chain). You also get to choose whether to make it with a button closure or eyelet holes. It’s an easy little pattern which uses about 12-15 yards of worsted weight yarn.

The other pattern is this Wavy Short Rows Bookmark – the point of this one is mostly that it’s fun to make, and will look cool in variegated sock yarn leftovers. The piece is an easy way to have fun with short rows, since the bumpy garter stitch fabric means there’s no need to knit wraps together with wrapped stitches, and only 10 total stitches across means it works up quickly. It’s worked in 5 sections, which are all different from each other, but all simple to work without having to carefully follow the pattern row-by-row.

Unfortunately, none of my yarn choices for the examples are the perfect type of multi-colored yarn to show the short rows pattern best… that variegated yarn I chose ended up having too-short color sections, and the light green is 2 strands of lace weight Noro held together, but those color sections are way too long and it didn’t really change colors at all throughout the whole thing… oh well.

And then I show you how I made three different bookends – all by gluing things to these basic Ikea ones, but you can use any plain bookends.

Basic project, but fun and full of possibility!

Lastly, the extra is instructions for 2 different word games that Pete and I play with the help of a book. Great for lines, public transit, or other waiting situations, when you have a book in your bag. One is based on the old game show game – Password – and the other is a sillier game that’s sort of inspired by Taboo…

Anyway, that’s this months club! We got a few new members this month, thanks to the mention in Knitter’s Review (thanks Clara!!) so that’s super awesome! Hope everyone enjoys it!

And a club announcement… I’ve decided to only continue the club for these first 6 months of 2011. It’s getting harder to come up with the mini-designs each month and I just feel myself loosing steam with the quick knits. I figure my energy can be better used with bigger designs, more mystery knit-a-longs, and maybe new ideas I haven’t even thought of yet! You can still get a 6 month subscription starting with this month (through my site or through ravelry), and then starting next month the subscriptions will just be for fewer months, for the remainder of the club.

Now would be the perfect time to mention any theme or pattern ideas or requests! I’d really appreciate thoughts I can put to use in these last 5 months of club ebooks!

2011, my year of movies!

Happy new year everyone! One of many things I want to try hard at this year is to watch more films instead of tv shows – I consume a ton of media, while knitting, while editing photos and my website, while doing other crafty things, etc, and most of it tends to be tv shows because it’s so easy to start a show and just go with it… for weeks at a time… even if it’s not a particularly good show… I never stoop to reality tv (well except for Project Runway), and most of the shows I get hooked on are decent quality (most, not all), but I really wish I fit more good movies into my media consumption.

So, new project for 2011! I am going to try to watch 365 movies this year, and I will keep track of every single one! This blog post will be my list for the year – I’ll edit it a couple times a week or so, to update it with what I’ve watched. It will include films seen in the theater, but most of what I watch is while working at home, so the quality of films will vary depending on how much I need to focus on what I’m doing at the same time. I plan to re-watch lots of old favorites and films I’ve seen but only partly remember – I figure re-watching good or decent movies is better for my brain than watching (or re-watching) bad or only semi-decent tv.

I may include notes sometimes – just like whether I liked it or not – and date watched… and just for fun, to keep track of what’s what, I’ll be including some symbol coding when applicable:

** = seen in the theater
? = had already seen it more than once, aka old favorite
•• = had already seen it at some point but didn’t remember it well
BMB = bad movie bingo!

and, after each movie: (date – day of the year), so (1/20 – 20) means January 20, which is the 20th day of the year.

And now, the list!

365. Crazy, Stupid, Love. (12/31 – 365)

364. The Descendants (12/31 – 365)**

363. Diner (12/30 – 364)

362. The Doom Generation (12/27 – 361)

361. Presumed Innocent (12/27 – 361)

360. CQ (12/26 – 360)

359. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (12/26 – 360)** (I had zero expectations for this, which I went to with my parents, and it was actually a super fun time, hah!)

358. Love Actually (12/23 – 357)? (holiday season classic, of course)

357. We Bought a Zoo (12/23 – 357)**

356. Kick-Ass (12/22 – 356)••

355. Scrooged (12/20 – 354)

354. Let Me In (12/17 – 351)

353. Bad Santa (12/16 – 350)

352. Cradle Will Rock (12/15 – 349)

351. Beauty and the Beast (12/15 – 349)••

350. Cannibal! The Musical (12/14 – 348)

349. Hunger (12/13 – 347) (wow, so intense)

348. Death Becomes Her (12/13 – 347)•• (half-watched this because I remembered liking it when I was a kid. silly.)

347. Limitless (12/12 – 346) (this premise had so much potential, but it just sucked so hard, bummer)

346. You’ve Got Mail (12/11 – 345)•• (I should probably mark this as ? because I’ve seen it more times than I’d like to admit, for some strange reason…)

345. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (12/10 – 344)•• (remembered loving this movie in college – yes, still good stuff)

344. In Bruges (12/08 – 342) (took me long enough to see this one, liked it a lot)

343. Hot Rod (12/08 – 342)•• (cool beans)

342. The Freshman (12/08 – 342)••

341. The Door in the Floor (12/07 – 341) (maybe I saw this long ago… I don’t remember for sure because it was so boring and unmemorable)

340. Spanglish (12/06 – 340)••

339. In Good Company (12/05 – 339)••

338. The Safety of Objects (12/05 – 339)

337. Friday Night Lights (12/03 – 337)

336. Black Snake Moan (12/01 – 335)

335. Drive Me Crazy (11/25 – 329)••

334. Dancer in the Dark (11/25 – 329)••

333. Breaking the Waves (11/23 – 327)••

332. The Town (11/23 – 327)

331. Never Been Kissed (11/22 – 326)••

330. Dick (11/22 – 326)••

329. Outbreak (11/21 – 325)

328. Heaven (11/19 – 323)

327. Cloverfield (11/18 – 322)••

326. Life During Wartime (11/17 – 321)

325. Stake Land (11/15 – 319)

324. Contagion (11/13 – 317)**

323. Timecop (11/11 – 315)

322. Rear Window (11/09 – 313)**

321. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (11/08 – 312)

320. I Love You, Man (11/08 – 312)? (with commentary)

319. Zero Effect (11/05 – 309)

318. Prelude to a Kiss (11/05 – 309)

317. Monsters, Inc. (11/04 – 308)••

316. The Pixar Story (11/04 – 308)

315. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox (11/03 – 307)

314. Strange Days (11/03 – 307)

313. Winnebago Man (11/02 – 306)

312. Pandorum (11/02 – 306)

311. Bill Cunningham New York (11/02 – 306) (loved it!!)

310. My Dinner with Andre (11/01 – 305)

309. House on Haunted Hill (1959) (11/01 – 305)

308. Superstar (10/31 – 304) (the Andy Warhol documentary, inspiration for Halloween)

307. Carnival of Souls (10/30 – 303)

306. Red State (10/30 – 303)

305. Attack the Block (10/29 – 302)** (excellent!!)

304. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (10/29 – 302)**

303. True Stories (10/27 – 300)

302. Lake Mungo (10/26 – 299)

301. Philadelphia (10/26 – 299)••

300. The Next Three Days (10/25 – 298) (ohmygod how can these modern day action movies be so boring?!)

299. Monsters (10/24 – 297)

298. The Puffy Chair (10/24 – 297)

297. The Ward (10/23 – 296)

296. The 39 Steps (10/23 – 296)

295. Criminal (10/22 – 295)

294. Brothers (10/21 – 294)

293. Home Room (10/21 – 294)

292. Office Killer (10/20 – 293) (being a huge Cindy Sherman fan, as soon as I discovered that this movie existed and was immediately watchable I had to watch it immediately. fun stuff.)

291. Parenthood (10/18 – 291)••

290. Coal Miner’s Daughter (10/18 – 291)

289. The Ghost Writer (10/18 – 291)

288. Brief Encounter (10/16 – 289) (loved this!)

287. Heavenly Creatures (10/16 – 289)

286. Southland Tales (10/16 – 289) (wow so bad)

285. House (10/15 – 288) (this movie was amazing. seriously.)

284. 28 Weeks Later (10/15 – 288)••

283. 28 Days Later (10/14 – 287)••

282. Shaun of the Dead (10/14 – 287)** (so fun to see this in the theater!)

281. Session 9 (10/12 – 285)

280. Blood Diamond (10/09 – 282)

279. Manic (10/09 – 282)

278. The Perfect Host (10/09 – 282)

277. Don’t Bother to Knock (10/08 – 281)

276. Case 39 (10/06 – 279)

275. The Future (10/04 – 277)**

274. Tree of Life (10/01 – 274)**

273. Dance of the Dead (9/30 – 273)

272. The Chosen (9/30 – 273)

271. Insomnia (9/29 – 272)

270. The Usual Suspects (9/29 – 272)••

269. Don Juan DeMarco (9/29 – 272)••

268. The Brave One (9/28 – 271)

267. New Waterford Girl (9/28 – 271)

266. Death to Smoochy (9/28 – 271)••

265. Alexandra’s Project (9/27 – 270)

264. Cry-Baby (9/27 – 270)••

263. House of 1000 Corpses (9/26 – 269) (blech)

262. Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic (9/26 – 269)••

261. Rain Man (9/25 – 268)••

260. Ponyo (9/25 – 268)

259. Mammoth (9/24 – 267) (love Michelle Williams and Gael García Bernal both so much, but damn, this was brutal)

258. She-Devil (9/24 – 267)

257. The Sting (9/24 – 267)

256. Cold Weather (9/23 – 266)

255. The Million Dollar Hotel (9/23 – 266)

254. Casino (9/19 – 262)

253. Serious Moonlight (9/18 – 261) (because adrienne shelly wrote it)

252. I’ll Take You There (9/18 – 261) (love adrienne shelly!)

251. Searching for Bobby Fischer (9/15 – 258)

250. Elizabethtown (9/13 – 256)•• (rewatched because i remembered nothing from my first half-watch years ago and needed to revisit after reading My Year of Flops – Rabin started with this review, then changed his attitude at the end of the book in review #2 of the same film. yeah it was pretty bad…)

249. Awakenings (9/12 – 255)

248. 28 Days (9/10 – 253)••

247. Point of No Return (9/08 – 251)

246. Edmond (9/06 – 249)

245. The Cry of the Owl (9/06 – 249)

244. The Incredible Shrinking Woman (9/05 – 248)

243. Apollo 13 (9/05 – 248)••

242. Beautiful Creatures (9/04 – 247)

241. The Secret of My Success (9/04 – 247)

240. You Again (9/04 – 247) (I’ll basically watch anything with Kristen Bell)

239. Hulk (9/02 – 245)

238. Tapeheads (8/31 – 243)

237. TrollHunter / Trolljegeren (8/30 – 242)** (fun time!)

236. Radio Flyer (8/29 – 241)•• (had a weird memory of this movie from seeing it as a kid and watched it out of curiosity because of that)

235. Crimes and Misdemeanors (8/29 – 241)

234. Super 8 (8/28 – 240)** (loved it!)

233. Kalifornia (8/28 – 240)

232. Mrs. Doubtfire (8/28 – 240)••

231. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (8/27 – 239) (read the first three books, so that influenced my view of the movie, but it was still excellent! visually amazing!)

230. The Morning After (8/27 – 239)

229. Missing (8/25 – 237)

228. Everything Must Go (8/21 – 233)**

227. The Man Who Fell To Earth (8/20 – 232)

226. City Island (8/20 – 232)

225. Network (8/20 – 232)

224. Welcome to Collinwood (8/17 – 229)

223. The Shape of Things (8/16 – 228)

222. Better Off Dead (8/11 – 223)••

221. The Italian Job (2003) (8/09 – 221)

220. Drop Dead Gorgeous (8/08 – 220)••

219. Scream 4 (8/08 – 220)

218. Muriel’s Wedding (8/06 – 218)

217. River’s Edge (8/05 – 217)

216. The River Wild (8/05 – 217)

215. London to Brighton (8/05 – 217)

214. Temple Grandin (8/04 – 216) (loved it!)

213. Capturing the Friedmans (8/03 – 215)

212. X-Men: First Class (8/02 – 214)**

211. The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu (8/02 – 214)

210. The Long Kiss Goodnight (7/31 – 212)••

209. Superman Returns (7/31 – 212)

208. Dude, Where’s My Car? (7/27 – 208)••

207. Happy Accidents (7/26 – 207)

206. Benny & Joon (7/25 – 206)?

205. Open Water (7/24 – 205)

204. The Outsiders (7/24 – 205)••

203. Camille (7/24 – 205)

202. Emma (7/23 – 204)

201. Superman II (7/23 – 204)••

200. 10 Things I Hate About You (7/22 – 203)?

199. 8mm (7/22 – 203)

198. Lonesome Jim (7/22 – 203)

197. All Good Things (7/21 – 202)

196. Strictly Ballroom (7/20 – 201)

195. Four Rooms (7/19 – 200)

194. Shutter Island (7/18 – 199)•• (think I liked this even better after a second viewing!)

193. Skyline (7/18 – 199)

192. Win Win (7/17 – 198)** (loved it!)191. The Thing (7/17 – 198)

190. Contact (7/14 – 195)••

189. Hanna (7/14 – 195)**

188. Conspiracy Theory (7/14 – 195)•• (saw this when it came out, in high school, but didn’t remember it at all – wow terrible)

187. Red Dragon (7/12 – 193)

186. Revenge of the Nerds (7/12 – 193)

185. Blue Valentine (7/10 – 191)

184. Just One of the Guys (7/10 – 191)

183. Book of Love (7/10 – 191)

182. Barry Munday (7/09 – 190)

181. Meek’s Cutoff (7/08 – 189)**

180. Speed 2: Cruise Control (7/07 – 188)••BMB (I think I saw this when it came out, when I was in high school, but of course it’s completely unmemorable and we thought it would make for some fun bingo)

179. Accepted (7/07 – 188)

178. Super High Me (7/07 – 188)

177. Creepshow (7/05 – 186)••

176. The Bourne Identity (7/05 – 186)••

175. A Hard Day’s Night (7/04 – 185)

174. Fritz the Cat (7/02 – 183)

173. The Silence of the Lambs (7/01 – 182)••

172. Southern Belles (7/01 – 182) (I really love Anna Faris… this movie was just okay, not good, but she was great)

171. Tape (6/30 – 181)••

170. Gentlemen Broncos (6/28 – 179)

169. The Italian Job (1969) (6/28 – 179)**

168. Aaah! Zombies!! (6/25 – 176)

167. Some Girl (6/25 – 176)

166. Who’s the Caboose? (6/24 – 175)

165. Pulp Fiction (6/24 – 175)••

164. Babe: Pig in the City (6/23 – 174)

163. Get Over It (6/22 – 173)

162. Meet Bill (6/22 – 173)

161. Source Code (6/20 – 171)**

160. Sleeping Dogs Lie (6/12 – 163)

159. It’s Kind of a Funny Story (6/11 – 162)

158. Intermission (6/11 – 162)

157. Incendiary (6/11 – 162)

156. SubUrbia (6/09 – 160)••

155. According to Spencer (6/09 – 160)

154. Jack Goes Boating (6/08 – 159)

153. Wonder Boys (6/08 – 159)

152. The Open Road (6/08 – 159)

151. The Verdict (6/07 – 158)

150. Ten Inch Hero (6/06 – 157)

149. My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (6/06 – 157)

148. Loser (6/06 – 157)••

147. Scorched (6/06 – 157)

146. The House of Yes (6/03 – 154)••

145. Two Hands (6/03 – 154)

144. The Cable Guy (6/02 – 153)••

143. The People I’ve Slept With (6/02 – 153)

142. Cedar Rapids (5/31 – 151)**

141. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (5/31 – 151)** (so glad we saw it in 3D!)

140. Bridesmaids (5/17 – 137)** (gosh I love Kristen Wiig so much)

139. The Botany of Desire (5/16 – 136)

138. Best in Show (5/14 – 134)?

137. Four Lions (5/13 – 133)

136. Paul (5/12 – 132)** (best part = Kristen Wiig)

135. Extract (5/11 – 131) (best parts = Kristen Wiig + Mila Kunis)

134. Fun with Dick and Jane (5/11 – 131)••

133. The Education of Shelby Knox (5/09 – 129) (I kind of live-blogged this one on pinterest because of the rage that needed to be let out)

132. Leaves of Grass (5/07 – 127)

131. The Strangers (4/29 – 119)

130. Dead and Breakfast (4/28 – 118)

129. Best Laid Plans (4/27 – 117)

128. In Her Shoes (4/23 – 113)••

127. Chasing Liberty (4/22 – 112)••BMB

126. With Honors (4/22 – 112)••

125. Freeway (4/22 – 112)

124. Morning Glory (4/21 – 111)

123. The Lookout (4/18 – 108)

122. Six O’Clock News (4/18 – 108)

121. Amelie (4/17 – 107)? (this is definitely one of my favorite films, but somehow I hadn’t watched in at least 5 years, more I think – how’d that happen?? so good!)

120. Sherman’s March (4/16 – 106)

119. Clueless (4/14 – 104)?

118. High Fidelity (4/14 – 104)?

117. Party Girl (4/12 – 102)

116. Empire Records (4/11 – 101)?

115. A History of Violence (4/09 – 99)

114. The Killing (4/09 – 99)

113. Get Shorty (4/07 – 97)

112. A Dirty Shame (4/07 – 97)

111. Reservoir Dogs (4/06 – 96)•• (I almost watched 5 Tarantino films 5 days in a row, but missed it by a day, oh well)

110. Meet Me in St. Louis (4/04 – 94)

109. White Oleander (4/04 – 94)

108. Beneath the Dark (4/04 – 94)

107. Jackie Brown (4/04 – 94)

106. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (4/03 – 93)

105. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (4/02 – 92)••

104. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (4/02 – 92)

103. Death Proof (4/01 – 91)

102. The Last Word (4/01 – 91)

101. Black Swan (3/31 – 90)**

100. Alone in the Dark (3/29 – 88)BMB

99. Leaving Las Vegas (3/29 – 88)••

98. Flawless (3/29 – 88)

97. Laura (3/27 – 86)

96. Planet Terror (3/26 – 85)

95. Tank Girl (3/25 – 84) (wow so bad)

94. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (3/25 – 84)

93. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (3/25 – 84)

92. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (3/22 – 81)•• (watched with RiffTrax, and I use the word “watched” loosely here – I probably shouldn’t even count this, but I was in the same room as the tv the whole time it was playing)

91. The Illusionist (L’Illusionniste) (3/21 – 80)**

90. Don’t You Forget About Me (3/21 – 80) (made me want to re-watch every John Hughes film)

89. Frozen (3/21 – 80)

88. Eagle vs Shark (3/20 – 79)••

87. Zack and Miri Make A Porno (3/20 – 79)••

86. Pump Up the Volume (3/19 – 78)?

85. Joe Versus the Volcano (3/18 – 77)

84. Resurrected (3/18 – 77)

83. Splice (3/15 – 74)

82. Phoebe in Wonderland (3/14 – 73)

81. The Nines (3/13 – 72)

80. Somewhere (3/11 – 70)**

79. Kicking and Screaming (3/11 – 70) (by Noah Baumbach from 1995, not the Will Ferrell soccer movie)

78. It’s All About Love (3/10 – 69) (as recommended by the book My Year of Flops)

77. King of California (3/10 – 69)

76. Short Cuts (3/06 – 65)

75. Dogtooth (3/05 – 64)

74. Hounddog (3/05 – 64)

73. Edgeplay (3/05 – 64)

72. The Runaways (3/05 – 64)

71. Mystery Team (3/03 – 62)

70. Keith (3/03 – 62)

69. Daybreakers (3/02 – 61)

68. Superbad (3/01 – 60)?

67. I Love You Phillip Morris (3/01 – 60)**

66. Hard Eight (2/28 – 59)••

65. The Elephant Man (2/28 – 59)

64. Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (2/28 – 59)

63. Big Night (2/27 – 58)

62. 127 Hours (2/26 – 57)**

61. Henry Fool (2/25 – 56)

60. The Young Victoria (2/24 – 55)

59. Popeye (2/24 – 55) (I needed something really stupid after finishing that last one, and this was indeed really stupid)

58. Deliver Us from Evil (2/24 – 55)

57. The Importance of Being Earnest (2/23 – 54)

56. The King’s Speech (2/23 – 54)**

55. Right at Your Door (2/23 – 54)

54. Mamma Mia! (2/23 – 54)

53. Dear Zachary (2/22 – 53) (I finished this one about an hour before writing this and I still feel completely physically beat up)

52. Bridget Jones’s Diary (2/21 – 52)•• (I’ll quote myself on twitter as I was watching this: “can i just be a girl and tell you i’m watching a very silly movie for 1 reason and there is not nearly enough of him”)

51. Moulin Rouge (2/20 – 51)?

50. The Saddest Music in the World (2/20 – 51) (need to give this another watch sometime when I’m in the right mood, as I was distracted and couldn’t really take it in)

49. Red Riding Trilogy: Part 3: 1983 (2/20 – 51)

48. Beautiful Girls (2/18 – 49)••

47. Dazed and Confused (2/17 – 48)? (every time I watch this, it’s better than I remembered it being, somehow)

46. Red Riding Trilogy: Part 2: 1980 (2/16 – 47) (watched part 1 a couple months ago)

45. The Pick-up Artist (2/16 – 47)

44. Zodiac (2/15 – 46)••

43. Saved! (2/15 – 46)?

42. Zombieland (2/15 – 46)? (saw it about a year ago, or less, in the theater, loved it so much I had to give it a re-watch, so it counts as an old favorite I think)

41. Blackout (2/14 – 45)

40. The Trotsky (2/14 – 45)

39. Fearless (2/14 – 45)••

38. Easy A (2/11 – 42)

37. The Social Network (2/10 – 41)**

36. Every Little Step (2/10 – 41)

35. Stigmata (2/07 – 38)••

34. The Thing Called Love (2/07 – 38)

33. The Independent (2/06 – 37)

32. In America (2/05 – 36)••

31. Poison Ivy (2/05 – 36)

30. True Grit (2/04 – 35)**

29. Man on Wire (2/01 – 32)

28. Devil in a Blue Dress (1/31 – 31)

27. Grass (1/30 – 30)

26. Moog (1/29 – 29)

25. Identity (1/27 – 27)••

24. Y Tu Mamá También (1/26 – 26)

23. Paris, Texas (1/25 – 25)

22. The Others (1/24 – 24)••

21. Pizza (1/23 – 23)

20. Encounters at the End of the World (1/21 – 21) (So good!!)

19. Remains of the Day (1/20 – 20)

18. A League of Their Own (1/18 – 18)••

17. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1/18 – 18)

16. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1/17 – 17) (I can’t believe I had never seen this! Wacky!)

15. Drop Dead Fred (1/17 – 17) (This was another of those… remembered liking it when I was a kid, curious, it’s on instant, eh why not?)

14. Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains (1/15 – 15) (Wow.)

13. A Star Is Born (1/14 – 14) (1954 one)

12. Sweetgrass (1/12 – 12)

11. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (1/12 – 12)**

10. The Sound of Music (1/09 – 9)?

9. Delirious (1/09 – 9) (I had vague memories of liking and/or being weirded out by this movie when I was a kid, so when it came up on instant, I half-watched it out of curiosity… pretty bad…)

8. Down with Love (1/07 – 7)?

7. Poltergeist (1/06 – 6)

6. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (1/06 – 6) (I didn’t know anything about Joan Rivers before watching this – now I’m a big fan!)

5. Back to the Future part III (1/05 – 5)••

4. Hannah and Her Sisters (1/04 – 4)

3. Back to the Future part II (1/03 – 3)••

2. Back to the Future (1/02 – 2)? (we had to re-watch it since Pete got me the game for xmas and it’s SUPER fun!)

1. The Red Shoes (1/01 – 1)

So that’ll be updated all throughout the year, and I’ll probably do new posts occasionally referring to it… Most of what I watch at home is from Netflix, and mostly on instant, so if you’re an instant user, you could follow along to see recommendations, and please go ahead and comment with your recommendations for me!

Just to finish off, since it is the 1st of 2011, I made a quick list of my personal favorites of 2010 – just my favorite films that were released in ’10 that I’ve seen, which leaves out tons of good movies. Our theaters are all third run, so most of the movies that were released in the last few months aren’t even out yet for us, and there are lots that we missed in the theater and are now in the DVD queue. So, with that said, my top 5, as of right now without much thought put into it:

1. Never Let Me Go
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. Inception
5. can’t decide… Toy Story 3 / Youth in Revolt

And winner for my number 1 absolute worst film of 2010: The Expendables (long story about why we saw it in the first place).

Ok so that’s that. Wish me luck, and tell me what I should watch!

Betiko! Mystery knit-a-long pattern revealed!

Wow it took me many days and many pages longer than expected, but the first leethal mystery knit-a-long pattern is now in normal pattern pdf format (well, maybe not “normal”… it is 27 pages long… but at least it’s all together in one file now)…

And the mystery is solved – it’s a shawl! Or a shawlette, depending on what size you want to make it. I love this small shawl size, for keeping my neck and shoulders warm without being big and cumbersome…

I’m going to first give some background about the design process a little, then I’ll get into more specifics about the pattern… and tons of photos, so bear with me here… I didn’t want to lengthen the pattern to any longer than it already was with unnecessary photos, so a lot of shots I love were left out, which means I’ll be posting them here… anyway…

If you checked out our engagement photos back when I posted them to flickr, you may have noticed a few like this and this with blurred out neckwear – well that was my first prototype version of this shawl, designed and knit to be my wedding shawl! Here it is in the engagement shots, pre-blocking:

When I blocked it out, I discovered that I loved it even more because the edging caused it to stretch and curve out and up into a U shape! And, while I liked the ruffly edge of the unblocked piece, I liked the look way more post-blocking! So that was my wedding shawl, which I ended up not wearing on my wedding day at all because it was 100 degrees that day and cooled off to pleasant when the sun went down, but definitely no need for a wool/alpaca blend around my shoulders!

So, getting to the point, I loved the way the design turned out, and a knit night buddy pointed out how the 4-part construction would be a perfect fit for a mystery knit-a-long! I didn’t love the top of this one, which is pretty simple and I mostly chose the zig-zag eyelets pattern because it’s called Marriage Lines, so I got started on a final design for the KAL – making it any-gauge – and the whole time thinking about how the construction was so great for making it any size, and for plugging in any stitch patterns, and really the basic design idea could be used to make any kind of customized shawl!

The shawl I ended up creating as my mystery pattern version had a waving ribs pattern across the top – simple, textured, kind of squishy, interesting but basic – and pretty much the same outer edging as that first prototype (but wider, and redesigned to work for any gauge and any width); I played around with the sizing for this one and ended up with a much larger shawl!

So, I kept the mystery pattern down to the size of my original wedding shawl, but I included the measurements for both of these 2 sizes in the final pattern, with notes on how to make it basically any size you want.

And then, for the final pattern, I decided there needed to be some kind of really basic version of the pattern, as kind of an intro to the construction and new techniques for knitters who might be intimidated by everything – not that it’s a hard pattern, I don’t think it is, but it does involve several aspects which many knitters might not be used to (like being any-gauge, the sideways edge cast-on, and the knitted-on sideways edging). So I made this garter stitch edged version, in the smaller size, with some soft+squooshy Malabrigo Twist:

And lastly, I wanted to test out this theory that any stitch patterns could be plugged into the parts to make a customized shawl, so I plugged in some cable patterns, and I got this! Totally worked! The pattern pdf only includes instructions for how to go about plugging in your own stitch patterns (generally, not specifics), but I am planning to put together an extra pdf with these cable charts and notes on how to recreate this version, in the future:

So, now for the massive amounts of photos, and more pattern info…

The garter stitch edged version of Betiko is written like a normal pattern, with only a few parts being affected by it being any-gauge. Most of the piece is worked until it measures a certain size, for each section, and because of the way it starts, with the panel across the top (which doesn’t affect the size of the whole piece), you don’t even need to do a gauge swatch!

My favorite way to wear Betiko is wrapped around and tucked into itself, without a shawl pin or anything to bother with…

And it can be arranged with either side in front or in back…

Or it works will with a shawl pin too…

Pete and I did this photoshoot last week at Reed college, in the freezing cold rain, so I was moving around a lot to distract myself from my numb hands and feet. I love these shots he took of me dancing around in the leaves…

…and I really love the way the wind got involved in some of the shots:

So, there’s the basic garter edged pattern, then there’s the customized pattern. This pattern has a bit more going on – the recipe kind of pattern for plugging anything (stitch patterns, cables, simple lace, etc) into the parts, and sidebars with everything you need to know to make this wavy version, with the waving ribs top part and wavy lace edging.

Every section of the pattern is adjustable, so you can make the top part and the edging each as wide as you want, and make the whole thing as big as you want.

And there are super detailed instructions for striping! You can make any kinds of stripes you want, and they are designed so that the yarn strands are all carried along the wrong side of the piece, within the body of the shawl, not along any outer edges, making for nice clean edges all around. Many of the carried strands are later worked into the piece as the modular joins happen, making the strands nearly invisible (see this photo with flickr notes to see how the strands are carried along the back, but it’s the prototype, which was messier than the final version).

This larger version is so warm and luxurious, almost like carrying a mini-blanket with me!

These yarns, by the way, are Imperial Stock Ranch Columbia wool striped with Noro self-striping Kureyon, with a darker shade of Columbia used for the edging.

If you want to get crazy with the larger shawl, it can even be worn to warm your skirt area!

And here are shots of it before and after blocking:

And then, speaking of striping again, you can stripe all or just some of the parts, however you like. In the above shawl, I striped all but the 4th part – in the wedding shawl, I striped all 4 parts:

I started to run out of yarn though, partway through the edging, and could tell I wasn’t going to make it, so I switched from wide grey stripes to wide orange stripes, at the halfway point:

The sections 2 and 3 stripes (the main body of the shawl) were all done randomly, with 2 purl ridge “stripes” thrown in there too, one in section #2 and one in #3:

This yarn is Austermann Natura and it is so freaking soft and warm, I love it so much! Merino wool, bamboo, cotton, alpaca, and mohair – weird, right? – somehow made into this magically not itchy at all, fuzzy but not too fuzzy, beautifully colored yarn!

I have been wearing one or another of these shawls pretty much constantly (including at home) for weeks now, and I’m sure I will be all winter long! Love them!

And then the cabled version… On the sides there is Barbara Walker’s Banjo Cables pattern, with seed stitch inside all the yarn-over increase wedges…

…some regular cables in the center panel (I have no idea how I managed to screw up the twist at the bottom there and not notice it till weeks later!), and Oxox cables all along the top (looking kind of weird stretched out here):

It is so so so squishy and WARM; holy moly it’s the best thing ever on a cold day!

Definitely my favorite way to wear this one is all wrapped up high around my neck. My neck will never be cold again!

This version served as a test and, while I was definitely knitting it for myself to enjoy, I was also treating it like a giant swatch. So, I tested out 4 different ways of working the edging across the piece, which is why you may notice different segments of the edge looking differently in some photos, and all those options are explained in the pattern.

This yarn, which I am completely in love with, is Berroco Blackstone Tweed Chunky, a wool/mohair/angora blend, and is also magically not at all itchy and incredibly soft! Yum!

Head to the Betiko ravelry page, or the leethal pattern page, to read more details about the pattern (like yardage estimates and other things pasted in from the pdf), and to purchase ($6 for 27 pages!), and check out the ravelry projects to see all the mystery knitters’ versions (yay!). I’ll paste in this one little paragraph from the pdf which I think is neat to know:

A couple more fun things about this pattern: regardless of how big you make your shawl, you’ll never cast on or bind off more than a couple inches worth of stitches! There is also no seaming, no picking up stitches, and only as many ends to weave in as the 2 ends of each yarn you use (meaning no breaking of yarn is needed within the pattern).

And one last thing… Betiko is a Basque girl’s name, which means “eternal”, and was suggested by naming genius Mary-Heather (who also named Swerve). My working name for this pattern was “forever shawl” both because you can keep knitting it forever and make it different every time, and because it was originally designed as my wedding shawl. I was having a heck of a hard time coming up with a good name, asked for ideas on twitter, and MH’s Betiko was perfect!!

I’m so happy to have this final pattern released, and I had a fantastic time doing the mystery KAL! I am totally planning more for 2011! So excited!

Gifts for knitters + super quick last minute knit gifts!

First, I just want to give a quick update to those of you waiting for my new pattern (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can skip this paragraph) – the mystery knit-a-long ended yesterday (well, it didn’t end exactly, since lots of knitters are still working, but yesterday was one week after the final section was released) so I’d planned to release the final pattern to all yesterday or today. Holiday stuff and life in general has been preventing me from really focusing on getting it all done, so it’s looking like a Friday release is impossible, and I’m hoping for Saturday, but no guarantees… anyway, you can see tons of photos of my different versions of the design (taken by Pete at Reed college the other day, pretty!) in my flickr stream.

Diane’s CraftyPod series this week on ways to give ebooks as gifts has been awesome, and reminded me of this image I made last year:

This is a super basic way you could gift Game Knitting – burn it onto a disc, print this out (download the original size from flickr) and slip it in the CD case as the cover. I love Diane’s felt CD envelope, making the digital gift into a much more tangible and personal present! Diane’s how-to for making a thumb drive box for holding an ebook on the drive would also work well for something like Game Knitting (65 pages) – the tutorials for printing out the whole book (with perfect binding, or stitch binding, or ring binding) would be a bit more time consuming and pricey with an ebook of that length.

The book-making ideas would be a good fit for my quick knits ebooks, though! These ebooks (vol 1, vol 2, vol 3) range around 20-25 pages each, and would make fun little books for knitter giftees (pictured below). (Of course, you can also send any ebooks or patterns as gifts to ravelers directly through ravelry, digitally, if you want to skip the tangible element. Or, you can give tangible patterns of my designs printed by MagCloud as gifts for knitters.)

And this transitions us into the main point of this post…. super duper quick last minute knit gifts!

My quick knits patterns are great for ultra last minute gift crafting – all using under 20 yards of yarn, most using around 10-15 yards! (See them all on ravelry here.) A couple free options are my penta-coasters and buttony chevron cuff (below). There are also all the patterns I gathered on my quick knits links page by other designers, most free, all using under 20 yards.

Within those mini-ebooks above you’ll find lots of potential gift items, like these stiffened chevron bookmarks, winter leaves which can be turned into a necklace, and several different pouch/case things – the luggage tag pouches below (which can be used for other things besides luggage tags!), the fitted pocket case, robot monster pouch, laced-up pencil case, strappy pouch and mini-wallet…

And then there’s the wee gift bag, which can be used to package a special tiny gift! Some others that would make good gifts are the cabled frame…

…pinwheel earmuffs, and blooming flowers (made into earrings here):

And then there are the newer club patterns like the drink sweaters, and the new cabled keepers:

As for bigger (but still fast!) items that can easily be finished within a couple days, starting with free – the buttonhead hat can be made with any weight yarn, so a bulky one will knit up in no time! And the big bulky bucket hat is great for showing off some nice bulky yarn, like handspun or something hand-dyed…

Gradient mitts and the simple mary-jane slippers are both made with bulky yarn and work up crazy fast!

And the haka hat, also for bulky yarn, and also great for showing off handspun, is super cheap and probably the fastest earflapped hat you’ll ever make:

Lastly, custom tritops are for any gauge, and a bulky version is a super fast project if you’re not intimidated by the sideways brim (it’s easy, really)!

Hopefully I gave you some ideas for any gifts that you were stuck on – I know I always have gifts I’m still figuring out in this last week before xmas! Happy knitting, and happy holidays!