finished! ribbon-tied wool vest

I finished knitting the baby top I started a few weeks ago and finally got it in the mail. Well, with a few hiccups.

I’d been worried that I’d taken so long to knit it, that by now it wouldn’t fit. Babies grow so fast! 

So, as soon as I finished it I ran out to buy a small envelope at the local pharmacy, looked up my niece’s mailing address as soon as I got back, and stuck one of my Elvis forever stamps on the front of the package. There. Ready to ship! Or, so I thought.

I put the package outside on top of our mailbox to make sure the mail carrier would see it, but when I went out to check later, the package was still there.

Oh, that’s right, it was Wednesday, we rarely get mail on this day, so the mailman probably drove past our house.

The next day, the same thing happened, which annoyed me a bit. So right before five, I drove down to the corner of our street where there is a blue collection box to make sure it went out that day.

Unfortunately, that box’s pickup time was 3 p.m., so I decided to drive to the main post office downtown. I was sure their last pickup was right at five.

I was right! I made it by a few seconds. I placed the package in the collection box and started to drive away, when I saw the mail worker in my rearview mirror, walking out to retrieve the packages. I suddenly wondered if I had put enough stamps on the envelope. So, I drove back to ask her.

The lady told me I couldn’t put this type of envelope directly in this box and that I did not have enough stamps to cover shipping – I am so glad I drove back! 

So, the next day I drove to the post office once again and was finally able to ship the vest. 

How did I not know I couldn’t just put this in the mail after all these years? 🫢🙄

The pattern is by Erika Knight from her book, “Simple Knits for Cherished Babies”. It was easy to follow, but I did have a little trouble with the sleeves.

Here’s what happened: the body of the sweater has straight edges. It’s knit like two big squares front and back, but the sleeves are curved. I wasn’t sure whether I should sew the curved part of the sleeve to the edge. (Now that I’ve read the instructions a few times, it does say to sew the sleeve head to the edge, meaning to include the curved part of the sleeve.)

After I sewed on the first one the wrong way, I immediately knew that didn’t look good and redid it.

In my defense, whenever you have a capped sleeve, the back and the fronts of the sweater also have curved edges. This was the first time I’d seen this construction. But, now I know better!

I made one modification to this vest. Instead of using ribbon on the collar as the pattern instructed, I decided to knit an i-cord instead.

It wasn’t that I had trouble finding the ribbon. I was able to get an exact match, which I thought was pretty amazing, but I didn’t like that it was shiny. That didn’t match the yarn I was using, which had a slightly rustic feel and I really like i-cords.

I would love to make another one of these little vests, but I might change the construction a bit. I don’t see a reason not to knit this in the round until you get to the sleeves, actually, the neck.

I’ll keep the grafted shoulder detail, I really loved that, but since this was the largest size that comes in the book, I’ll probably have to do some math in order to make a larger one. We’ll see…

Update: the package was delivered to my niece yesterday, and it fits!

the corn salad recipe you need to make this summer

We celebrated early July birthdays this week with a potluck dinner and I was asked to bring a salad. Immediately, a few salads I’d seen online came to mind, all made with corn. I LOVE corn.

At first, I worried that my choice of salad would not go well with the dishes others were bringing (I didn’t know what anyone else was bringing), but then I figured, it probably didn’t matter. People would choose what they wanted to eat, and I should make something I wanted to make because I’m convinced that when you do, everything tastes better! 

Well, honestly, I secretly hoped they would grill some meat because that would go great with this salad.

You should make it. It’s so good! It’s also a little different which makes it feel special and better yet, it’s pretty easy to put together.

Notes: 

Be sure to cook the corn on the grill! This adds tons of flavor.

I used the immersion blender to combine the cheeses to make a smooth dressing. I thought my family would prefer it this way. You may like the chunkier consistency of the original recipe.

I’m saving the recipe here the way I made it, but here’s the link to the original by @ Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients

6 ears of corn, shucked

½ small red onion sliced thinly

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

½ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 lime, halved 

⅓ cup of sour cream

⅓ cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

½ teaspoon combination of guajillo chile powder and cayenne pepper

chopped cilantro leaves

Method

Heat your grill. 

While the grill gets hot, slice the onion into fine rings about ⅛ inch thick. Place the onion slices in a bowl with the vinegar, sugar, and salt. Put this in the fridge until you are ready to serve the salad.

Chuck the corn and grill it turning a few times until the kernels look nice and golden. It’s okay if they get a bit charred, it will add to the flavor. 

When the corn is ready, set it aside to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.

Using a food processor – or immersion blender (I used this) process the feta cheese with the sour cream until it has a smooth texture. You can skip this and just mix the ingredients by hand, but I like the smoother texture.

When the corn is cool enough to handle, remove the kernels from the husk using a sharp knife. 

On a large platter spread the cheese mixture evenly. Place the corn kernels on top and sprinkle with chile powder and cayenne pepper. Remove the onions from the vinegar mixture and spread them on top of the corn. Squeeze some lime on top and finish with some cilantro leaves. Serve right away, preferably while the corn is still warm.

Enjoy!