beautiful things

Inspiration explosion

Over the past few weeks, my "fantasy knitting life" has completely exploded, rather at the expense of my real knitting life I might add.  It's certainly balancing out what I'm coming to think of as my knitting monastery days of the wedding stole where I was focused on the one project and had no time for ravelry or yarn shopping or thinking about let alone touching other projects... plus I was working in laceweight white!!!  No wonder I've been going gaga over color!

Although my aesthetic tastes tend towards the more minimal (ie non-decorative) I've always loved color and texture and of course, knitting is a fantastic outlet for that.  I think it's why I keep getting drawn back to sock yarn, even though I have never actually knit a pair of socks with sock yarn (my only socks are the Tyrolean Stockings).  I could see getting into socks... one day.  Or at least knitting a pair or two.  I loved knitting the Tyrolean Stockings.  I don't think it's a "waste" to knit socks, but I do feel there are so many other items deserving of knitted attention that enhance a wardrobe in a more visible way.

But yeah, sock yarn.  I think people are more willing to go outside of their normal wardrobe color comfort zone with socks, so it would make sense that there is a wider variety of colors available in sock yarn.  I'm not sure if this is actually true, but it certainly seems like it.  There's more variety, more experimentation, brighter colors, and more interesting color combinations.  It's enough to drive a person crazy!  

I also like the higher yardage of sock yarn and the comfort of knowing that even if you don't knit socks, you can probably find a one skein project, like, oh, say, the Baby Surprise Jacket!  I'm sure I've said this before but I've made about a million of these in my head with every beautiful skein of sock yarn I've ever seen in person or online.

Anyway, all this is to say that, um, well, I have totally blown my yarn budget for this month.  Determined to make a Little Giraffe with my Sundara citrus zinger, and failing so far in my quest to obtain the contrasting Sundara color of my dreams through cash or trade, I decided to *gasp* look at other options.  Through the hilariously titled "Satanic Sock Yarn" thread on the Sundara Love ravelry group I received lots of good pointers for beautiful sock yarns with a similar yarn base that would be compatible and this led me to MadelineTosh.  

You know how if you hear a name a lot it suddenly hits home, even if you don't really know where you heard it before?  Well, that's what happened with Sundara, and now MadelineTosh.  A quick look at the site led me quickly to the conclusion that I needed to look no further - this was the yarn for me!  In addition to Sundara of course... to go with my Sundara.  Think of the considerable advantages in this particular situation: a) yarn is available with minimal time investment (I did have to do a little searching to find the colorways I wanted available in various places) b) I don't have to part with one of my precious citrus zinger skeins in a trade and c) I was debating between brown, orange and green as the contrasting color... now I am getting all of them and planning on making a family of three giraffes, big, medium and small!!!  

Actually, I *um* *cough* *splutter* ordered 5 skeins in total: bark, citrus and lettuce for brown, orange and green respectively, and I couldn't resist adding ginseng not only because it is so so pretty but because it pretty much has brown, orange AND green in it, so I might use it for one of the contrasting giraffe colors - user stash photos give a better sense of it eg here (ravelry, flickr) and here (ravelry, flickr) is a really cute giraffe that uses multiple colors so that's an option too.  

Then, well, I also got victory garden just because.  Again - so pretty!  Ironically, the official photo has it looking a lot more like ginseng but user stash photos have it looking rather different (ravelry, flickr). 

So I am dying to receive the yarn and get started on Sundara/MadTosh Giraffemania!  (By the way, I ordered from both Yarn and Fiber and Sealed with a Kiss as not everything I wanted was in stock or available at one store.)

My recent online travels have also had me drooling over Mama Blue (although forget it, that's as hard to get as Sundara - here are ravelry and flickr links) and, more attainably, Oceanwind Knits (their hand-dyed merino in particular), and Pagewood Farm (Alyeska and Yukon in particular).  I'm holding off though, and there's a much longer list of recommendations that I am avoiding for now... and I am absolutely not signing up for any more yarn subscriptions!

In other wallet-damaging news, my custom order of Big Tryst is ready so that's another hit on the old budget, although very very exciting... I can't wait to receive this order as well, and it means I'll have 9 of the 13 colors!  I'm going to make the barn raising quilt (ravelry, book website) from the book Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together although I do want to try one square first and see if this is the best use of this beautiful yarn.  I was going to wing it on the pattern but I think I'm just going to get the book, which has lots of other beautiful patterns including the Pillow of Sei Shonagon (ravelry, flickr) which I have always admired. 

Speaking of sKNITches, here are some better photos of my recent order:

In other exciting news, I'm going to start swatching for my Pakucho blanket.  I received the two books I ordered and I think I have selected Courtly (ravelry, flickr) from the Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans.  This is a very "meat and potatoes" kind of book - more of a booklet really, with no frills, just photos and patterns, and while the photos are pretty good, the book is laid out in a strange way so that the photos and the patterns do not correspond at all!!!  There are some beautiful blankets shown though, and all are knit with worsted weight yarn doubled up on #17 needles so they should live up to the "quick" of the title.  Actually, I randomly saw a post on ravelry this morning asking about Knitpicks Options which lead me to review which tips I have and realize that I actually have #17 tips, which is fantastic as I was thinking I had to go and buy needles before I could start this.   I've now entered all my tips on ravelry under sock dpns, which I am pretty sure I will never buy, so I avoid this problem in the future.

In other news, I received yet another package from my Secret Pal.  I didn't mention it before but she had some beautiful stitch markers sent to me from Ruby N Purls a few weeks ago, and then just the other day I received an unexpected package from Amazon containing Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard.  Oh my!  I love this book!  My Secret Pal has done a great job of introducing me to new things while pegging my tastes really well.  I had actually seen and queued a couple of patterns in this book without actually taking note of or looking at the book... and now that I have the book, there are many more that I could see myself knitting.  My Secret Pal was very sweetly worried that the patterns in the book are simple and possibly not as challenging as I like... ha!  I explained to her that I have not yet knit what I would consider to be a "proper" sweater yet - the lacy hooded tunic doesn't really count in my mind as it didn't really need much fitting.  That to me is the daunting and challenging part - not so much the knitting itself but selecting the right pattern and yarn and getting the right fit that will look good on me.  The asymmetrical wrap doesn't really count either and look at the problems I have there with wearability, even though I knit it exactly as designed!!!  (I am going to give that a go this winter though and see if I can figure out a way to wear it.)

So yes, I am looking forward to the challenge of knitting my first "real" sweater and I think this book is really going to help.  Ingenue (ravelry) looks like something I would wear, and my other favorite is the Lion-Neck Cardigan (ravelry), although I don't really count that as a "real" sweater either (I imagine it's much easier to make a cardigan that fits).  I also love the Paradise Beach Cover-up (ravelry) and the Karma tank (ravelry).  There's nothing like a good cover-up and/or tank!  Sorry, no flickr links yet... the book is new so there aren't any FO photos in ravelry yet.  

I won't list all the other patterns in the book that I like but I am getting those fall sweater/cardigan urges.  Here's another one I like - Starsky (ravelry, pattern) although not with the belt (again with the belts!)  I particularly like this version (ravelry, flickr).  

I love watching my friend's activity on ravelry - it's like a constant feast of inspiration.  Still, I have to remember to occasionally actually knit... which I am off to do right now!

June's stash update

I've been very quiet I know.  Mostly I have been frantically working on the lace stole I am knitting for my cousin's (well, my husband's cousin's) wedding on August 9th.  After all the fussing around with ordering yarn and returning it and ordering a different yarn I was not left with a lot of time.  I had to make a schedule for myself to make sure I don't end up with a last minute panic!  Basically, I have to do one 16 row repeat a day, and I can take a few days off here and there - that amounts to about 2 hours of knitting a day.  That's turning out to be harder for me to maintain than I anticipated, although I am able to catch up on the weekends.  Still, it's a lot of knitting and it's not super difficult but it's not exactly mindless, plus the yarn is very fine.  I'm happy with how it's coming out but I'm certainly looking forward to getting back to some thicker yarn!  I think that I'll be taking a bit of a break from lace after this.

I did do the stash math for June and... it's not too bad.  I wasn't sure how it was going to come out as I did make several purchases but I did return quite a bit of lace (the 3 skeins of ivory sea silk that turned out to be TOO ivory for the wedding stole, as well as 2 skeins of cashmere-silk as the print o' the wave stole only ended up using 3 skeins, although I had never added 1 of those skeins to my stash as I thought it was likely I'd be returning it).  The returns helped with both the overall yardage and the $ for the month.  I wasn't sure how much I had knit either as I've been all over the place a bit... still didn't quite make it over the 1,000 mark!

Anyway, here's what I've got: (running net total, with total for the month in parentheses)

skeins purchased: 259 (27) 

skeins knit: 108 (7.2) 

yards purchased: 40,312 (3,074) 

yards knit: 15,951 (976) 

yards remaining: 23,462 

$ spent on yarn (not including sales tax or shipping): ($88.97 - although really it was almost $200 more not including the store credits I got on returns) 

knitting since: 1/27/07

After the various shopping sprees over the past couple of months I, dare I say it, might be ready to take it easy this month on the buying.  I haven't bought anything so far, and in fact haven't even really browsed for anything. The only purchase in my line of sight right now is for the Tidewater Wrap... but I probably shouldn't think too much about it as I'm sure I could come up with more!  

Here are some of my purchases from the last couple of months...

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK for a gift:

Classic Elite Allure:

This was funny because it was a WEBS purchase and I was just really drawn to the four remaining available colorways and how they looked together on the website page!  I'm thinking of making Zinnia with this and did a couple of sketches to try out color schemes:

My first Malabrigo... and some more Pakucho for a blanket:

Oooh, my first Wollmeise, won in a blog contest from tigerlilith, and some gorgeous sock yarn from sunshineyarns:

Here's the Alpaca With a Twist Fino that I'm knitting the wedding stole out of.

Another Etsy purchase, from Larimeloom.  On the left is Lavander Alpaca Handspun and on the right is Gray and Rosy Handspun Norweigan Fleece.  The skeins are tiny but the yarn is beautiful.

Also from Etsy, the very pretty Misty Violets Handspun Corriedale and unusual Snowy Harvest Handspun Superwash Merino from Aspen Moon Arts.  The Snowy Harvest colorway is unusual in that I don't see a lot of colorways like this and it is also a little outside the type of colorways I usually am drawn to.  As with most of my handspun, I have no idea what I'm going to make with it yet!

And lastly, my new obsession, sKNITches Big Tryst, an absolutely gorgeous superwash merino, cashmere and nylon blend.  This was my first sKNITches purchase and not only is the yarn soft and plus but I absolutely ADORE the colorways... seriously, I love ever single colorway shown for this yarn.  I'd love to make an afghan with a whole bunch of colorways.  It would be gorgeous.  I wonder when the next update of the store is going to be... according to the Ravelry forum it might be soon!  There's a beautiful cowl knit in Big Tryst shown here.  Anyway, on the left is Rosette and on the right is Featherby.

And... that's "it" for now!

Goodies

So last week was the post-Etsy happy arrival of many packages. It was like Christmas! And oh the yarn! The beautiful beautiful handspun yarn!

First, from Blonde Chicken Boutique:



Gorgeous, yes? It's silly I know but I wanted to buy a "collection" that looked good together, and also with the Blonde Chicken yarns I already have...




Top left: Vegan Delight
Top right: LOST
Bottom left: Deep Sea
Bottom right: Droplet

And from Little Grey Cat Designs who I'm definitely adding to my list of shop updates to keep on watch for:



The yarns came unskeined so I had a great time playing with them... and discovering that putting them into skeins is not very hard. Usually I don't like to undo the skeins until I'm ready to wind into balls and knit.






Top: Christmas Morning
Middle: Big Sky
Bottom: Goblin

I still don't exactly have a plan for what I'm going to make with all this beautiful handspun - it's a little intimidating! And it almost feels superfluous because this yarn is perfect just as it is... I barely even want to wind it into balls! But I did get a few ideas from the Knitting with Handspun group on Ravelry. Besides, knitting can always be undone, right?!

Oops, I did it again

So there was a little bit of an incident at Etsy earlier today, as in, um, well, I bought some stuff.

ETSY IS EVIL I AM TELLING YOU!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I love Etsy. I love the concept and I love the execution and I love being able to have access to a seemingly unlimited supply of beautiful handmade and generally very reasonably priced things. But that's the problem - the seemingly unlimited supply of beautiful handmade and generally very reasonably priced things. Because a large quantity of reasonably priced things quickly adds up to quite an unreasonable expenditure! And the fact that they are generally one of a kind items brings about this feeling of urgency and anxiety that Etsy preys on... quick, only 1 available! every item in your shopping cart says!

Here's how Etsy works for me - first I browse and add things I want to my favorites. Then I go through my favorites and narrow things down, adding the things I really want to my cart. Then I add up everything in my cart (notice how Etsy does not do this for you, and only gives you your totals by shop?!!!) Then starts the deliberation as I realize I need to cull it down more. Today I managed to get the total down by almost 20% pretty much by sadly eliminating one item from every shop. By the time I was done, I actually felt misleadingly virtuous!

By the way, apparently there's been a bit of an outcry recently because of the new search function on Etsy that defaults to searching handmade items only, and vendors of supplies and vintage items have seen a sudden drop in sales. I only happen to know this because I peeked into the forums - I did not notice myself when I searched. So anyway - be aware of this!

Oh and by the way, how slow am I, but I did not know that not only sellers but buyers get feedback! So I suddenly found all this feedback I have from sellers! Also, have you noticed that most of the feedback on Etsy is unusually positive? Perhaps it's because it's so personal, but I've found it's pretty much impossible to find, say, a hotel or restaurant online that doesn't have at least one scathing review.

Anyway, now that I have safely bought my one of a kind items, I figured I would share with you my favorite Etsy stores that I have recently bought from and will undoubtedly buy from again:

Blonde Chicken: beautiful socially responsible handspun yarn (see my purchase here) and I just bought 4 more skeins

Little Grey Cat Designs: a new find this time around, but I love her yarn and also her handknits - I can't justify buying handknits but look at this and this. Inspiring! Just bought 3 skeins.

Skein Queen: irresistible hand dyed luxury yarns (see my purchase at the same link as above)

See Jayne Knit Yarns: I love her stitch markers. I've looked at a lot of stitch markers on Etsy and have found many I've liked, but Jayne has the most consistent supply of designs that appeal to me, so I've ended up buying almost all of my stitch markers from her. She also has beautiful hand dyed and handspun yarns - although I have yet to buy any it will only be a matter of time! Just bought 3 more sets of stitch markers.

Tortillagirl: beautiful bags, clothing and knits designed and made by Becky. I bought a bag from her that I love.

six and a half stitches: she doesn't stock a lot of items, but the self-designed and handmade clothing items she has are always beautiful. Recently bought a simply stunning scarf.

JPATPURSES: a recent find - purses and pouches made out of beautiful fabric. Just ordered an iphone case for myself and a pouch for a friend.

Bottled Up Designs: beautiful jewelry out of antique glass fragments collected from local woods and farmland. Bought a pendant for a friend and will eventually get one for myself.

Jamtart Baby: love these "modern baby items". Recently bought a changing pad and a soft toy for a friend... but haven't sent it yet. May need to get something different and send it to someone whose baby is still a newborn!

Cry Baby Quilts: oh my goodness, I want a baby just so I can have some of these quilts!

Obsession summary (or longest post ever!)

So yes, I am pretty happy/giddy about my Jade Sapphire Cashmere-Silk purchase. This is one of the prettiest, softest yarns I have every seen and I am extremely excited about this project. Hopefully I will not be disappointed but I figure a) I can't really go wrong as this yarn is so pretty and b) I will swatch and get an idea for how it will come out before I dive in.

In the end, I couldn't quite go for Lacey Lamb. I had decided to go in a different direction with the color for the lace stole, light blue (obviously) and Purl didn't have the light blue in stock and I just couldn't get behind any of the other colors. Plus Lacey Lamb does seem to be so relentlessly even. I was yearning for something with a little more texture, or a slight variation in color.

So I went through the store collecting all the blues I loved until I came to... yes, cashmere-silk. My budget doubled one fell swoop, but actually, now that I look at it, Handmaiden Sea Silk (used for the Hanami Stole for my mother) is almost the same cost for a skein of similar yardage. It's just the cashmere seems so... fancy.

To tell you the truth, making this decision and purchase is a big relief! I am reminded of my mother's complaints that she encouraged my dad to take up golf so he would be less stressed about work, and instead he was getting stressed out about golf! Not that I was stressed out exactly. Obsessed, more like. Which lace stole should I knit? And with what yarn? This was several days of internet research in the making!

Of course, none of these photos really show the color quite right. There's a little more green in it than the unwound photos show, but not as much as in the wound photos.

I've been in a crazy mad shopping mode lately. I think it's a combination of my birthday month, spring breaking through, and some physically minor but emotionally more significant medical things going on (think good thoughts for me on Monday). I am not usually much of a shopper, but lately I have been yearning things. Beautiful things. Ravelry and Etsy are dangerous dangerous places for someone in this state of mind!

Anyway, here is a round up of my recent obsessions. Perhaps in listing them I can put them to rest! I've decided that I'm going to try and make April a blackout month in terms of shopping for non-essential items. It will be a month to enjoy the things I bought this month.

Lace stole: As you all know I have spent hours trying to figure out which lace stole to knit. I'm not sure why it has been so hard. It seems to me that absolutely stunning lace stoles are in huge abundance and it's impossible to pick one. Are other items the same way? Not in my experience, I can tell you that. Perhaps it's because I decided on the type of project and then had to find a pattern, rather than seeing a pattern and deciding to knit it. Perhaps Ravelry just provides easy access to an overwhelming overabundance of choices.

Lauren from Kittens and Knittin made a good suggestion - go for the Print O' The Wave stole already seeing as I favorited a million different versions of this project on Ravelry.

For those of you not on Ravelry, here are the ones I really like: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. You know, just a few.

The trouble is, I now feel that a lace stole/shawl is an essential for all women, and it is my duty to provide one for every one I'm close to! I really am going to need to start up a sweatshop in order to accomplish this... and even though I've pretty much committed to Print O' The Wave (depending on how it swatches up), I still have a wandering eye. Just this morning I saw the Storm Water Shawl and thought wow. Yes, again with the blue. Even though many many Print O' The Waves on Ravelry were knit using Handmaiden Sea Silk, I wanted to try something different, but perhaps I'll treat myself to sea silk stole later on.

By the way, here is the Lanas Puras Melosa Lace Weight I was going to use until I found out they only had 1 skein left...

Yes, I ordered it anyway. I am sure I will find a beautiful use for it!

Clapotis: Speaking of shawls, I'm also getting the feeling that every woman needs a clapotis. You can see where I am really running into a problem, right? Yes, my clapotis and I have had a little tiff, we will be reconciled soon. I have my other two skeins wound up and ready and I think I am going to go ahead with every 2 rows in one or the other to get rid of the pooling.

I can see why Clapotis are addictive, especially on a larger gauge yarn when it will go quite quickly.

Blues: yes, I seem to have become obsessed with blues lately, which is a really new one for me. I have never craved blue more, not regular blue but sky blue, robin's egg blue, turquoise, teal etc. Perhaps it's related to loving the beach and the sea or being near any kind of body of water, even though I really don't particularly find the need to be in it. The cashmere-silk purchase is the first major physical manifestation of this obsession, but I am finding myself drawn to lots of blues, and I had to stop myself from simply buying all the pretty blues I loved at Purl (and how come most of them seemed to be very pricey bamboo yarn?!)

Cashmere: well, I seem to have taken care of this obsession, at least for now anyway, although in an unexpected way. It all started when my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and cashmere seemed like the most appropriate yarn gift to ask for. He ended up getting me a spa gift certificate (nothing wrong with that!) but that hasn't stopped me from looking. I linked to it already but Nicole from Stash and Burn has the most beautiful Koigu Cashmere in her stash, and if String (the sole vendor of this yarn who just so happens to be in NYC) had this colorway still, I probably would have been completely unable to resist. (Now there's a yarn a lot more expensive than what I just bought!)

Anyway, I was originally thinking that I would a little cashmere treat could be used to make a cashmere cowl and then, oh my, I saw this gorgeous shoulder warmer on etsy which takes the concept one step further and... I want one! In robin's egg blue! Cashmere! We will see (and more on this etsy store shortly).

By the way, I did find some potential cashmere on etsy, and of course Purl carries an extensive cashmere selection in many weights and colors too. I think I'm going to wait on this one.

Well, except for the other cashmere-silk I bought on etsy!

To be honest, I have no idea what I am going to make with this, other than perhaps some easter egg ornaments for next year. I was just completely unable to resist the beautiful spring colors!

Oooh, perhaps a chevron scarf!

Tortillagirl's etsy store: So yeah, love love love! And yes, I ended up indulging in this handmade bag. Becky is an accomplished knitter as well as designer, and as far as I can tell, mostly blogs at fluffa. I love the linen jacket she knit for her son - scroll to the bottom to see adorable FO photos!

From her store, I also really like this and this bag and this and this clutch... but I do have some restraint you know!

Concentric Circle Scarf: yup, I bought this too, after seeing it on Alison's beautiful blog six and a half stitches. (I suppose one could say I am also obsessed with grey...) I'm hoping it arrives in time for my project's grand opening next weekend. I'd like to wear it with my new shirt from the other day and a black pin-striped suit, possibly the skirt version with my new boots (see below). Serious and professional yet stylish, that's the note I'd like to hit, which I find can be hard for women in architecture. You don't want to look too interior design-y (no offense to interior designers) but you don't want to look too boring either or whacky either.

Skirts and boots: Speaking of which (see, my obsessions all seem to be inter-related), if you've been following along on twitter, I went on a shoe shopping spree earlier this week. Ok, it was a pretty restrained spree, plus everything was on sale and was not too expensive to begin with.

You see, I have a beautiful pair of knee high leather boots that my mother got me for my birthday a couple of years ago (I am wearing them here although you can't really see). The thing is, I really can't do heels. I just can't. I really need comfortable shoes. It's funny because my mother wears heels all the time, and growing up, my sister and her friend used to play dress up and teeter around the house in her shoes. I guess it's telling that I did not engage in this activity. Perhaps that's why I can't wear heels! I mean, I can wear them for special occasions, but not when I have to walk further than from a parking lot to the place ie not if the subway is involved, unless of course I carry them in my bag and change, which is a pain in the neck for every day use.

So earlier this week I thought to myself that it was a shame it was still too cold to wear sandals but it's warm enough that if I had a comfortable pair of knee high boots, I could start wearing skirts to work (I hate wearing stockings, and even if I didn't, I don't have a comfortable pair of shoes to wear with stockings). and then I thought, hey, maybe boots are on sale as it's the end of the season, and sure enough they were! So now I have a comfortable pair of boots and I have been wearing skirts to work. As I said on twitter, life really is better in a skirt!

Noro Silk Garden: oh my goodness I am completely obsessed with colorway 249 as seen here and here (see many projects in this colorway at ravelry and flickr) and which I have already mentioned as being shown here (and can also be seen on ravelry and flickr) and hey look, the two are combined here!

I think I could see my obsessions with Silk Garden and Clapotis dangerously combined. Also, I love the Y-790 dress shown here (scroll down).

Baby Surprise Jacket: well, I've talked about this one before and this is another combination obsession - I am particularly obsessed with Silk Garden Baby Surprise Jackets! You can see many of them on ravelry and flickr. You can even find them in my favorite colorways eg here (oh so gorgeous!) and I think here although the colorway is not given but is that not the cutest?!!! There are so many that are so beautiful though. Look here, here, here (I have this yarn!), here, here, here, here, here and well you get the idea. (Again, these are flickr or blog links. For ravelry links, check under my favorites.)

Yes, just slightly obsessed, but wait until you see this... the BABY SURPRISE SNOW SUIT!!!! Could you not just DIE from the cuteness?!!!! The funny thing is, no one on ravelry has tried this with a variegated yarn yet...

Blonde Chicken Boutique: This is another etsy store that has captured my attention lately (damn you Ravelry ads!) I linked here before but oh my, what deliciousness... I pretty much want to buy everything here. Tara also blogs here. Particularly interesting was a recent post about photography because I think she takes amazing photos of her yarn and it was through her inspiration that I recently started photographing my yarn in "piles" (see above), even though I've seen Purl do this for ages (for example with my cashmere-silk) and I think that's one of the reasons their yarn always looks so great online too.

Anyway, I restrained myself to 2 skeins as a treat for myself, Green Eggs & Ham and Fruity Pebbles and even though I didn't mean them to, they look great together, and also with the cashmere-silk!

Which brings me to my last obsession for now:

Light box: I really should make myself a light box. The stainless steel counters of our kitchen do not make for the greatest back drop I know, and I can't always be bothered to wait for a good day to go outside. There are instructions here and here... and many other places I'm sure. This is one obsession I haven't yet researched to the fullest! Yes, these are just some of the things that go on in my mind. Are you exhausted? I am!