YarnLibrarian

Projects in action!

2009-06-24T21:37:00.004-04:00

I bring to you: two of last year's projects, this time on my nephew Zach.

He's wearing the Placket-Neck Pullover and the Rainbow Marley hat.

Cute, eh?

Bad Cupcake Baker...

2009-06-24T21:23:00.002-04:00

no biscuit! I came up with two cupcakes for the IronCupcake challenge and... missed the submission deadline. Sigh. So, on to next month. I'll post the berry cupcakes eventually though.

Bunny Nuggets

2009-06-12T15:31:00.002-04:00

Bunny Nugget Faces, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Here are a few of the Bunny Nuggets I made for Easter presents. These two went to my newest nephew and his older brother.

And here are their little bunny butts. Thanks to my friend Amy for the heads up on this cute pattern!

Hmm,

2009-06-12T15:25:00.003-04:00

I gave away too much of my knitting this year! I can only think of one thing to enter in the fair this year. Maybe I'll finish something before the submission deadline. But since I'm working on all epic projects right now, probably not.

Also, 'knitted handkerchief' is one of the categories. Do people knit handkerchiefs??? ew.

The Red Army

2009-06-03T12:57:00.002-04:00

100_6620, originally uploaded by Alissao.

I'm not really a modern art fan, but this was one of the pieces I did like at Kentuck Knob. The Red Army by Ray Smith is made up of hundreds and hundreds of silhouettes of people all lined up in a field, their arms raised in celebration? or terror?

A Trio of Phone Booths

2009-06-03T12:49:00.002-04:00

100_6629, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Kentuck Knob is currently owned by Lord Palumbo of the British House of Lords. He has added bits of Britain to the property, as well as a modern art sculpture garden throughout the meadows of the property.

He has a British phone booth near the visitor center, but then on the sculpture walk you suddenly come upon these three booths perched in a field. I loved it, as well as the thought of not one but three people walking through a meadow and suddenly needing to make a call at the same time! :-)

Kentuck Knob two...

2009-06-03T12:43:00.002-04:00

100_6580, originally uploaded by Alissao.

A view of the side of the house off into the trees. Look at the moulding and carvings under the eaves, it goes all around the house along with the beautiful carvings over the windows.

Kentuck Knob was completed in 1956 when Frank Lloyd Wright was 86, it was one of his last completed homes.

Kentuck Knob

2009-06-03T12:38:00.002-04:00

100_6605, originally uploaded by Alissao.

From Fallingwater, we went to another nearby Frank Lloyd Wright house - Kentuck Knob. This photo shows the back of the house, as it goes into the side of the landscape, and a little terrace water garden.

One more from Fallingwater...

2009-06-03T12:35:00.002-04:00

100_6544, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Along the lines of the house being part of its surroundings again - that curve in the beam? Just to save that tree and make it part of the house.

Fallingwater - from the front walk

2009-06-03T12:32:00.002-04:00

100_6547, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Here's another view of Fallingwater... that staircase going down into the water actually goes all the way up into the living room! It has this whole cantilever design thing going on, where it seems not to even be supported. As he frequently did, he wanted the house to be part of the surroundings. "Frank Lloyd Wright told them that he wanted them to live with the waterfalls, to make them part of their everyday life, and not just to look at them now and then."

Fallingwater

2009-06-03T12:26:00.002-04:00

100_6553, originally uploaded by Alissao.

I spent Memorial Day Weekend with friends in Pittsburgh, the next few posts will be some of my favorite shots of the weekend. I love Frank Lloyd Wright, along with most of the Arts & Crafts and similar design movements. Over the weekend we toured two Frank Lloyd Wright houses, bringing my total so far up to three.

Fallingwater is located in Mill Run, PA and was built for the Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh (department stores) between 1936 & 1939. It stretches out over a 30 foot waterfall! Photography isn't allowed inside, so I only have a few outside shots.

Oops, and, IronCupcake!

2009-06-03T12:06:00.003-04:00

Wow, no May posts at all? Oops. It was a very busy month and nothing made it from the pre-writing stage to the published stage, I guess. I solemnly swear to do better! (as soon as I'm done cleaning house for my upcoming house guest) Also, I am joining a cupcake competition! I don't have high hopes given the caliber of the competition (um, Bakerella won the first month), but I think it will be fun to have the monthly challenge of coming up with a flavor to fit their ingredient or topic. So coming soon, more cupcakes! and also a bunch of knitting, and some travel pics. I told you I've been busy.

updated to add: A note on how the challenge works - it's part "popularity" and part random chance, each vote for your cupcake earns you a spot in the drawing and then a random number is chosen to decide the winner!

Cherry Blossom Spring

2009-04-30T22:46:00.005-04:00

Last weekend my mom and I went to a Cherry Blossom Festival/craft fair. The trees were absolutely beautiful, this was the first year I made it to see them and I never even realized how close they are to my house!

Knit Night!

2009-04-30T22:17:00.002-04:00

In an attempt to meet new people in the area, I have been attending and hosting some events through Meetup. This is a lot of work and kinda scary but seems to be working. Tonight I hosted the first knit night at my house. A girl I'd already met came, and a couple of new people. It was loads of fun! We knit, I taught one new knitter how to start her first dishcloth, we ate cakey things and lemonade, and the two ravelry users proselytized it to the other two. Definitely worth cleaning house for. ;-)

Also, if you are reading this, and I know you, and you live near me - wanna come to knit night? The next one is May 14th and if you email me I'll tell you where I live...

More actual content coming soon... I have knitting and baking to share, I've just been mobbed with life and the above mentioned things.

Hey, Teach...

2009-04-06T21:50:00.003-04:00

is done! I wore it today, and I love it. I didn't block it yet, so the button band is a bit ripply but I just couldn't wait. So picture it post straightening up. ;-) I followed the Yarn Harlot's lead and only put in three buttons on the top since I would only want to wear it buttoned that far.

The lace pattern took some getting used to, but once I "practiced" a bit (ripping out and reknitting...) I got it down without issue.

Hey, Teach

Another poem...

2009-04-04T14:08:00.002-04:00

Hey, maybe this is BEO(ther)DA instead. We'll try for that. :-) I have another poetry post for you today because my photos are not handy at the moment.

This is one of my all time favorite poems. Note that I am not a religious person, this is just life advice, how to be happy and true to yourself, for me.

God Says Yes To Me
-Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don't paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I'm telling you is
Yes Yes Yes

And, a few places where you can find poetry by delivery:

Poets.org (The Academy of American Poets) provides a poem a day in April by email, sign up here These are all newly published poems.

The Writer's Almanac (heard on NPR every morning) is available daily by email - sign up

And, my favorite, the American Life in Poetry I mentioned last time. This one is weekly (less overwhelming) and sign up is here.

(quick knitting update: I will hopefully have a completed Hey Teach to show tomorrow or Monday. I'm about halfway with the seaming but I also need to find buttons.)

BEDA and Poetry Month...

2009-04-02T10:17:00.003-04:00

A few of my friends are attempting to Blog Every Day in April, something that the YA author Maureen Johnson is spearheading. I know I won't make every day (I already skipped yesterday!) but I'm going to take it as an attempt to get some of my posts-in-progress actually, well, posted.

Also, April is National Poetry Month! And I am of the opinion that if you think you don't like poetry, well, you haven't read the right poem yet. There's something for everybody in the world of poetry, my friends. I don't like a lot of poetry, but then there's the stuff that just does it for me. So, I'll be sharing some poems this month, and some links to places where you can find your own cool poems.

Isn't this year's Poetry Month poster great? The line is from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. Not really my style of poetry, but a very nice poem.

I have one and plan on framing it to hang somewhere in the house.

O.k., today's poem is brought to you by the American Life in Poetry project. This is a project of the poet Ted Kooser who was the US Poet Laureate from 2004 - 2006. ALP provides a poem every week with a little column written by Ted that can be reprinted in a newspaper, magazine, blog, etc. as long as you register on their site. Registering also gets the poem emailed to you each week. He has been picking some interesting poems, I have a handful saved from the last year. This is one of those - a very simple but haunting poem by William Kloefkorn that puts me in mind of William Carlos Williams with its simplicity.

******************************

American Life in Poetry: Column 147

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Our earliest recollections are often imprinted in our memories because they were associated with some kind of stress. Here, in an untitled poem, the Nebraska State Poet, William Kloefkorn, brings back a difficult moment from many years before, and makes a late confession:

I stand alone at the foot
Of my father's grave,
Trembling to tell:
The door to the granary is open,
Sir,
And someone lost the bucket
To the well.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2004 by William Kloefkorn, whose most recent book of poetry is "Still Life Moving", WSC Press, 2007, illustrated with pastel paintings by Carlos Frey. Reprinted from "Alvin Turner As Farmer," Logan House, 2004, by permission of the author and publisher. Introduction copyright (c) 2007 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

******************************

Vintage Easter Basket!

2009-03-24T21:31:00.007-04:00

I signed up for the Very Vintage Easter Basket Swap and my lovely partner, Yvonne, sent me my package already. She told me she'll be away all week so I'll be sending her's out at the end of the week so it isn't sitting waiting for her. This was a fun swap! I don't think I've done one before where you are teamed up with someone and you each send to each other. Usually you send to one person and get from another.

Here is a shot of the full basket, and the cute wooden box that didn't fit in the basket.

This is the wooden box, opened up to show the decorated egg cup inside...

here's the pretty bird egg cup with sparkly egg inside... I love this! It needs to be decorating a high cabinet though, because Butterkitty thinks it is food or something. She immediately started licking the sparkly egg like an ice cream cone. ;-) It looks good on the china cabinet, so it all works out.

Super cute wooden row of three little chickies...

beautiful little vintage vase with hanky tucked inside!

Also in the basket: reese's egg, easter tissues, pretty little note pad, ribbon, vintage buttons... Oh, and my very first Fannie May chocolate! And probably something else I'm forgetting at the moment... Thanks, Yvonne!

Oh! And this cute little felt cupcake with easter chicks on top. :-)

A quick update on the knitting front - I finally finished the latest/last pair of Fetching. Yes, they were a Christmas present. But the celebration got pushed until March so I kept putting it off since I was so tired of making these things. It's a great pattern but after *seven* pairs, I'm done. If I ever make it again, it won't be for a very long time. I'm happy with these though, the Comfort Ease shows the pattern very nicely and apparently my Uncle's fiancee had been saying how much she liked my grandmother's and would like a pair, which I hadn't known. I'm almost halfway done with Hey Teach!, or in my case, Hey Librarian! ;-) and need to get it photographed for here and Ravelry both...

"What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be" Ellen Burstyn

2009-03-09T22:15:00.005-04:00

If you too are a knitting-eclectic music loving-librarian, then divorce calls for three things:

1) a playlist
sorry, no way I'm linking to all of these. If you want more info on a song, hit google or youtube. ;-)
Disc 1:
I Will Survive Gloria Gaynor
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' Nancy Sinatra
My Give a Damn's Busted Jo Dee Messina
Before He Cheats Carrie Underwood
Picture To Burn Taylor Swift
The Chain Fleetwood Mac
You're So Vain Carly Simon
Go Your Own Way Fleetwood Mac
Piece of My Heart Janis Joplin
Goodbye Dusty Springfield
Little Lies Fleetwood Mac
I Will Survive The Puppini Sisters
Get Out Of This House Shawn Colvin
Jilted The Puppini Sisters
Breakin' Dishes Rihanna (she should listen to her own song and kick that guy to the curb!)
Not Big Lily Allen

Disk 2:
You Had Me Joss Stone
Shame For You Lily Allen
Metal Firecracker Lucinda Williams
You Oughta Know Alanis Morissette
Smile Lily Allen
Not The Doctor Alanis Morissette
I Will Survive Cake
Tainted Love Soft Cell
Don't Come Around Here No More Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
I Don't Care Anymore Phil Collins
Song For The Dumped Ben Folds Five
You Give Love A Bad Name Bon Jovi
I Love Myself Today Bif Naked
You Let Me Down Catholic Girls

Kiss You Off Scissor Sisters

Don't Stay Linkin Park

2) an epic knitting project
The lovely state of New York deems a one year separation a necessary part of the process. I find this less than productive, but am choosing to make it productive with the "epic knitting project." I will be making a Mason-Dixon Joseph's Blankie of Many Colors (ravelry link) log cabin blanket over the next year. The blanket will be finished when this is all over, and that, my friend, is positive productivity. Here's the little baby beginning of it:

It will take some care and planning to pace it throughout the year, but if I get to the end of the pattern too soon, I can just keep going. It is a combination of Lion Cotton-Ease, Knit Picks Shine Worsted, and Knit Picks Comfy (for the most part, there's a smidge of Webs yarn too). Here's a bag of Knit Picks goodness that just arrived, I think I have enough colors for the whole blanket now.
The pattern calls for DK and I'm using worsted so it should be a bit bigger than the pattern (good!) and I'm using size 7 needles instead of 6. This is the perfect project for an interchangeable needle set (more on that later!) so that you can keep increasing the length of the needle cord as the blanket grows. In the beginning you need much less of each color then the pattern calls for, so I'll have quite a bit of yarn left as well. So I decided to make a mitered square blanket in the same colors, however, I think mitered squares might just be too annoying for me. ;-) So I might do a different one instead, that's to be determined as that isn't the EPIC PROJECT.

3) lots of books
I probably read at least twenty books on divorce and separation. Some are religious, which I'm not interested in. Many focus on kids and custody which doesn't apply to me. These are the ones I personally recommend:

Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The true-life misadventures of a 30-something who learned to knit after he split by Laurie Perry
You might read her blog (you should! It's great. It's usually classed a knitting blog but the knitting is in a minority really, she's hilarious, she has goofy cats... my mom reads it and she's not a knitter. So, go add her to your blog list) but have you seen her book? Not just for divorcees any more than the blog is just for knitters... it's funny, it's sad, it's a good read. As I joked to my SIL when she bought me the book for Christmas off of my wishlist: I really don't drink so I will only be two out of three... :-P (damn cat hair!!)

Make Any Divorce Better!: specific steps to make things moother, faster, less painful, and save you a lot of money by Ed Sherman
Written by an attorney with 35 years of experience with divorce...

Congratulations on Your Divorce: the road to finding your happily ever after by Amy Botwinick
"Optimistic, chatty and accessible, Congratulations on Your Divorce guides you through the treacherous paths of divorce and into a life of renewed joy. It describes the world of divorce—warts and all—with some much-needed comic relief and heart. You’ll realize you’re not alone as you read about how the author and other women have coped with the emotional craziness of un-coupling, jettisoned their emotional baggage and gotten back on the road to defining and finding their happily ever after."

A Judge's Guide to Divorce: uncommon advice from the bench by Roderic Duncan
"Whatever you do, try to keep your case out of divorce court." Maybe strange words coming from a judge, but he's seen it all and he believes that the court system is not the best way to deal with a divorce. As he says, no one should let a judge make the decisions in their case unless there is no other choice. So this book covers the ways to avoid court, and then, if court is unavoidable, the best ways to deal with the process. From a guy who has been there! Very good book.

Not Your Mother's Divorce: a practical, girlfriend-to-girlfriend guide to surviving the end of a young marriage by Kay Moffett and Sarah Touborg
This one I'm reading right now, so I haven't finished it yet but I am loving it. Written by two former college roommates, it includes stories and quotes from a bunch of different women they interviewed, from all different situations and backgrounds. And it is specifically for women without children! A few review quotes: "...understand what it's like to deal with sudden "singledom" and the feelings that accompany it. In their down-to-earth guide, they help young divorcees tackle both legal and emotional problems in a tone that is by turns chatty and straightforward. Overwhelming issues are discussed with authority and sensitivity." "They offer compassionate and no-nonsense advice on everything from sharing the news about the breakup, and what to do with the wedding album, to re-entering the dating world and getting re-married."

I hope these can help somebody else at some point, although I wish nobody else would need them. :-)

edited to fix a link snafu

Baby Birds and Baby Socks

2009-02-22T21:31:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my sister Jennet's baby shower. She collects nests with eggs (and has done a few related art series) so I used a "nesting" to get ready for the baby/baby bird theme.

These were the cupcakes

design found here, I split them up doing some with eggs in the nests and some with the baby birds. These eggs are easter egg shaped m&ms. Here's a close up of the baby birds:

These are nest cookies from an m&m cookbook, but these eggs are Cadbury Mini Eggs. I glued the eggs on with a dot of frosting.

These are delicious chow mein noodle cookies with m&ms:

Here we have some of the other refreshments (deviled eggs, heh.)

The centerpiece of pussy willows with different bird ornaments...

The favors were mama blue bird sugar cookies with Cadbury Mini Eggs

And these are the socks I knit her for the future bambino...

They are both a mix of Cascade Fixation and Elan Esprit and the pattern is from Cute Knits for Baby Feet

A Bit of Knitting

2009-02-12T22:19:00.010-05:00

Super Mario Mushrooms made for my brother for christmas. Cute, eh?

Winged Tattoo Heart paperweight/stuffy/doohickey - this was a baby shower gift for a former coworker/friend. She loves tattoos and hopes to become a tattoo artist someday so this seemed the perfect gift for her and her first bambino. I love this one and will probably make myself one with a different inscription at some point. The wings in the pattern are to be knit and felted, since that isn't easy wool-free, I cut them out of regular white felt.

This is a variation on the Monteagle bag from the newest Mason-Dixon book. I love this bag but I did have trouble getting one of the stitch patterns into my head, so at one point I just started doing a simplified stitch version instead. I also used the seamless cast-on Kay suggested on the blog. It was a little tricky because I didn't have the appropriate needle length... next time I'll get the right size and it will be much easier.

The strap does stretch more than you think it will when you stretch out the bag to open the stitches... so stop before you think it is long enough. This was a christmas present for my mom. I want one of these too. ;-)

A Cal stuffed kitty to match the Butterkitty... this one went to my nephew for christmas. (cute photos with the baby coming soon!)
is that a cute kitten I've got or what?

This started out as a Lichen Cowl but the yarn lacked the proper stretch/give so it came out an awkward size (too big singled but not big enough to double). So I did some cutting, stitching, and added buttons.

This Tudora was for my sister for christmas. I love this Edwardian looking pattern, the cables add just that right touch.

Another Marley hat, my third. This one I call Muted Marley, with its sophisticated colors. This was for the same coworker/friend as the tattoo heart. I love it, and she said her husband does too. :-)

Cooking the Tree of Life

2009-02-11T21:59:00.012-05:00

Long time no see! Miss me? Sorry for the extended absence, December was a rough month Chez Yarnlibrarian and I'm just getting back into the swing of things. So I've got a lot of upcoming posts. First, an amazing program at the New York State Museum for Darwin's 200th birthday.

They call it Cooking the Tree of Life - four cooking demonstrations that highlight the evolutionary history of the meals' main ingredients, teaming up a local chef with a biologist. Each week covers a different branch of the Tree of Life: vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and fungi.

Last week was vertebrates. Chef Tony Destratis of the Lake George Club cooked while Dr. Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the museum, handled the science end of things.

I forgot my camera, so I just have one from my phone

It's a birthday cake for Darwin with an illustration from his notebook in his hand with a sketch of the Tree of Life. And it was yummy as well.

The vertebrate menu included: Braised Oxtail; Swamp Gumbo (alligator and frogs legs); Atlantic Salmon as gravlox, poached with white wine and leeks, and as fried nuggets; and a special request from the biologist - an "Evolution Omelet" combining the three "major advances in vertebrate reproductive adaptations". Um, yeah. I'm not a science person but those are apparantly: amniotic eggs (caviar); cleidoic eggs (chicken eggs); and lactation (milk). That's an omelet, alright. So no sampling for me last week.

Tonight was Plants! I had high hopes of being able to try all the samples but these chefs do like to throw meat stock into otherwise vegetarian things. sigh. Tonight's chef was Timothy Warnock, corporate chef for U.S. Foodservice, and the biologist was Dr. George Robinson, a professor at UAlbany. George also entertained us with his guitar. :-)

Chef Tim made a lot of amazing things tonight. First, we had a smoothie - Jungle Juice

Looks gross, but it was tasty! It smelled like kiwi to me, but it didn't have any in it. It was pear, mango, grapefruit juice, and spinach. While it was passed around George serenaded us with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." ;-) (I don't care what they say about scientists, both biologists have been funny! After singing George said "I'm a botanist actually, which is a good thing for the music world."

Next they made a Hunter-Gatherer Salad. This was wonderful, both delicious and gorgeous with all kinds of pretty things in it.

You are looking at:
chopped smoked almonds
spring mix
orchids, pansies, amaranth, baby sunflowers, marigolds, and other flowers
borage
basil flowers
microgreens (baby swiss chard and lavender buds)
chili peppers
organic blueberries, golden raspberries, red raspberries, black raspberries
crumbled goat cheese
and an Herb Balsamic Dressing
I already said amazing too many times, but, it was amazing!

Next was a chili of garlic, chili peppers, kidney beans, tomato, lavender buds, basil flowers, and pork stock.

George said "Darwin was an outlaw" and sang a birthday song to him including lyrics on the big screen with a bouncing Darwin head!

Next on the menu was a polenta with jalapenos and Speck ham (smoked, similar to prosciutto it seems). There was a multibean salad with kidney beans, white kidney beans, three kinds of lentils, onion, and chilis. This was served with grilled elk so I just tried a few uncontaminated beans. It was spicy!

There was a Quinoa Salad with quinoa, bulghur wheat, lemon & orange, and pork stock (grr!). And red couscous with blood orange zest and juice, onion, garlic, white wine, pomegranate... something (it was oil or essence or something like that in a small bottle), and the couscous - a frozen flash cooked kind with peas and red peppers already in it. This was very good! Sometimes I don't even like couscous, but this was good. I would totally buy the flash cooked/frozen couscous but unfortunately it is a restaurant only product.

Then it was on to dessert! Thank goodness chocolate comes from a plant. There were chocolate drizzled strawberries (a really good strawberry even this time of year!),

cookies
this looked like some sort of brownie cookie, maybe. Then I bit into it and discovered...
a macaroon inside! It was great.

There was Mayan hot chocolate, but it was waaaay too spicey for me. I took one sip and had to move on to the birthday cake to fix my poor mouth. I don't do smoked chipotle, apparently.

This was this week's birthday cake: You've got to love Darwin in a birthday hat!
I'm so glad I found these great (and free!) programs.

What I did on my summer vacation by yarnlibrarian

2008-11-28T14:11:00.006-05:00

Yes, I know, it is almost December. I'm behind. Here's a wrap-up of some of the cool places we visited this summer and fall!

In July we took a trip to Massachusetts with one of my sisters and her husband. We stayed in Salem and took side trips to Marblehead, Gloucester, and Rockport (C ape Ann). A good time was had by all as they say. It's really a beautiful part of New England, I've been a few times and enjoy it every trip.

Something new and very cool we did on this trip, was a hiking tour of Dogtown. Dogtown was a town in the 1600's & 1700's. Nothing is left now but cellar holes and an occasional pile of rocks. This is cool, but the extra cool part is this -
during the Great Depression Roger Bab son, a local industrialist, did a public works project of sorts and paid unemployed stone carvers to carve meaningful mottos into boulders all throughout Dogtown. The hike was very nice and the guides were great, info is here.

When we were in Rockport we visited Rockin' Cupcakes! (no website but contact info is here)

The cupcakes have cute names that I no longer remember, the one on the left was chocolate and cherry and the one on the right was key lime with a mountain of frosting and coconut on top. yuuum!
If you don't have a boat but want to get out on the water without spending a fortune on one of the little cruises, have lunch or dinner at the Rockmore! The Rockmore is a floating dock of a restaurant, in the middle of the harbor! This is part it, the bathroom actually ;-), but it is painted up in a fun way and has a cute seagull perched on top! The menu is very casual - hot dogs, lobster rolls, that kind of thing. I had a cheese quesadilla which was the only vegetarian thing if I remember right.
You don't just get to be on the water at the restaurant though, you have to get out there! They have a little speedboat (note: I know nothing about boats or if this thing was a speedboat. In my head, that's what it seemed like) that is a water taxi to and from the restaurant! You can be picked up from the dock on either the Salem or Marblehead side of the harbor. If you have your own boat you can tie it up the restaurant. So, food and a free (tip the boat guy!) boat ride! Pretty good deal.

random sunset at Marblehead N eck

Another yummy bakery! Coffee Time Bakeshop, home of the real cream bismarck! Located in Salem, right around the corner from our Bed & Breakfast (also recommended).

The drink is a frozen hot chocolate (amazing) and in the box we have a mini eclair and two bismarcks! A Bismarck is like a whipped cream filled donut, the donut part is cut up the center like a hot dog roll instead of the cream being piped in. These are lemon and raspberry. They have full size and mini. These are the mini and no matter how hungry you might be, I don't recommend the large. They are super tasty but I can't imagine any human being wanting that much cream in their stomach at once.

On our way out of town we stopped outside of Gloucester to tour a castle - Hammond Castle!
This is the back so you can't see the drawbridge, unfortunately. I took a ton of photos though. John Hays Hammond built the castle in the 1920s as a gift for his wife. (pretty nice, huh?) He was an inventor and invented all kinds of crazy important things like an important component of the modern stereo system.

Here's a stained glass window from the large cathedral like room. The whole castle has a lot of Catholic icons etc.
The castle is really beautiful and very impressive. I think it was the favorite part of the trip. Everything is medieval (real or in the style) except for the Hammond family's private quarters. Instead, that is set up in early to mid 20th century. Here are a few nifty retro finds from the kitchen!

I love this cat food box! Cop-e-cat! Also, only meat "flavor"? ;-)

This is long so the next trip will wait for the next post...

Dishcloth Explosion!

2008-11-16T21:08:00.005-05:00

I've been going crazy with the dishcloth knitting lately! I went to two weddings in the past month and a few were for each gift, plus a few swaps, etc. So here we go...

The bright and sunny yellow petal and tan grandma's favorite were for my friends Laura & Rod's wedding last month (more cool photos from that trip coming soon)

the blue skull was for the skull package I sent out for the All Hallows Eve Dishcloth exchange

Blue grandma's favorite, blue & brown grandma's favorite, matching tribble/scrubbie, and tan petal for my friend Elissa's wedding earlier this month

a lime green petal for the reverse Dish Rag Tag swap

and... the cream of the crop - a Transformers Autobot dishcloth for Trevor's birthday last month! :-D

If you make one, please make note of the correction in the comments - I missed it until I finished the cloth so it has a little imperfection. Oh well.

Dish Rag Tag follow up!

2008-11-16T20:53:00.003-05:00

The Dishy Dozen finished up with a very respectable 7th place out of 24! This was very fun so I'll definitely try to compete again next year.

After the swap, most of the Dishy Dozen decided to do a reverse swap. Since Dish Rag Tag works down a chain, the reverse swap has you send a box of goodies to the person who send you the box during the tag. I forgot the shipping deadline and was a loser who sent my box off late. :-( But it went out in the mail first thing Saturday morning.

I got my box from Katherine on Thursday. She sent a super colorful dishcloth, three balls of cotton - one lovely blue sugar 'n cream twist, and two SRK CoolSpun which I've never seen before!, yummy sounding cherry tea, chocolate, a tube of needles, and pretty Japanese split markers.
Thanks again, Katherine!

Gift Making Fun!

2008-11-16T19:58:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I went to a holiday gift making workshop at the New York State Museum with my mom and sisters. It was very fun and a great deal at only $11.25 for each of us! They had stations set up around the room to make many different little gifts with almost all natural, herb ingredients. They even had a station set up with all the little cellophane bags, raffia, paper, stickers, etc. so you could decorate everything and make tags.

We made soap,

This was a goats milk soap base that I colored a pale yellow, added ground oatmeal, and a honey almond scent. I love almond scents and these smell great.

These cute little soaps use chocolate molds. I didn't make these, I think people stuck their leftover soap bits into it but nobody took it home so I did. ;-)

They had fabric to pick from and a sewing machine set up to make dream pillows. It isn't a "pillow" pillow, it is lightly filled and is meant to go inside a pillow case with your regular pillow to add aroma therapy. It has flax seed, peppermint, and roses inside.

They had candles at the decoration table to decorate with corrugated paper and raffia.

And we made a whole bunch of different kinds of natural bath products.

Bath salts - lemon, and lavendar

This bath soak was made with ground oatmeal, roses, and baking soda.

This lemon bath bundle can be used as a scrubbie in the shower - it has grated castile soap, oatmeal, lemon essential oil, and lemon peel sewn into a little muslin bag.

The body scrub has corn meal, ground oatmeal, rosemary, and castile soap.

The bath tea bags can be tied onto the bath tub to "steep" in the bath water and can be used more than once even. One has lavendar and roses and the other has orange peel and ginger root.

We also got a packet with all of the recipes to be able to make them again, and tags to copy!

This was a really good class so I'll keep my eyes out for future classes at the museum.

Cheese Tour part two...

2008-10-26T11:16:00.009-04:00

Picking up where I left off way back when...
(don't be confused, this is from November 10th not October 26th. I started it then and thought I could change the date but it wouldn't let me)

The next cheese farm we went to was Dancing Ewe Farm - the cheesemaker studied in Italy and they make a variety of Italian cheeses from sheep and cow milk. The farm buildings themselves are beautiful as well, with a Tuscan kind of feel.

outside view

Inside the cheese room, this is the giant tank they make cheese in with a lovely skylight overhead

Another view of the cheese room, looking the other way - this shows the beautiful local Granville slate that lines the floor and walls of the cheese room.

and a few of their cute little sheep freshly shorn

Next we went to the Argyle Cheese Farmer, a dairy farm. My mother-in-law also enjoyed this farm because her mother was a teacher in Argyle, and one of the farmers actually had her for a teacher! I didn't get any good photos, but here's a shot of the fresh yogurt we bought.

Trevor said it was very tasty! (he's the vanilla yogurt fan, I like plain)

We had a lunch break at a very yummy little Adirondack decorated diner. Cheap, good, breakfast all day on Sunday. But I can't remember what it was called or which town it was in.
But they also had super cheap maple syrup for sale! And my lovely inlaws bought us a half gallon. This part of New York is very close to Vermont (close like the diner had those travel maps for all Vermont towns instead of New York), so they sell "Vermont" maple syrup. I use the quotes because the waitress told us that the syrup all comes from New York trees, it is just boiled in Vermont. So I guess its six of one, half a dozen of the other with that.

The last cheese farm we made it to was Sweet Spring Farm. It is a nubian goat farm!

big nubian goat

baby nubian goats

They had super yummy chevre (soft goat cheese) for a very reasonable price.

(by the way I come from a weird family with both a sister and mother who don't like goat cheese. Or foot cheese as my sister calls it. freaks.) ;-)

On the way home we met up with this guy, who is taking this horse drawn "house" across the country (annoying cars behind him all along the way) ;-). He started in New Hampshire and he's in Ohio right now.

Rhinebeck!

2008-10-21T22:34:00.008-04:00

It's that time again! This past weekend was Rhinebeck! I went both days again, this time I got a hotel with my mom instead of freezing in a campground... I didn't get many photos, but it was fun as usual. Here are some of the highlights...

my sister cuddling an adorable, sweet little border collie puppy

part of the llama & alpaca parade

On Saturday I kinneared the Yarn Harlot (yellow sweater in the middle)

and on Sunday Stephanie signed two more of my books (the woman in line in front of me asked if I'd take her photo and took mine in return)! Usually I can't think of a thing to say when I meet an author, and just stand there like a dope basically. This time, right before I got to the front of the line, brilliance struck! Toronto! We just went to Toronto! So I told her that and how much we loved the city and we had a little conversation about how great Toronto is and how walkable it is. phew. Disaster averted. ;-)

Sunday is when they always have authors for signings and presentations. I also met the lovely Kay and Ann, of Mason-Dixon fame!

They were both very nice and friendly. They both signed my first Mason-Dixon book (I don't have the new one yet) and put in their super cute rubber stamps of themselves.

They also did a panel discussion in the afternoon on Sunday. They brought a bunch of gorgeous finished knits from the new book and talked about how the different designs came about and the like.

We tasted a bunch of amazing cheeses, bought wonderful aged gouda for half price, and went to a sheep cheese tasting in the demo kitchen.

I bought a sticker for my car

two cute pottery wall hangings
bad angle on the photo, that's a hand not some freaky thing

and, wicked expensive but amazing sock yarn!

this looks like wool right? But I can't use wool. :-( But no! This is alpaca/bamboo sock yarn! It comes from Maple Creek Farm and is beautiful. It was out of my price range when I first saw it, but after my brother-in-law treated me to dinner (thanks, Justin!) I went back to spend my dinner money on the yarn. I should be able to cast-on with this around January, after I finish Christmas and baby gift making. ;-)

Speaking of wool, something that was very popular around the festival this year - rug hooking. I saw a few vendors last year but it must be taking off in popularity because there were a ton this year. I love the traditional rug hooking and would love to make something but again, with the wool. I even talked to one of the vendors to see if she had a non-wool suggestion. Her only suggestion was the type that uses yarn instead so I could use cotton. That has a different look and isn't exactly what I'm interested in. I did some looking around online and discovered people doing it with jersey/strips of t-shirt! The t-shirt won't really unravel, the same way the wool doesn't. Sometime soon I'm going to give this a try, and I'm thinking about doing some dyeing of the fabric so it would be possible to get some of the more muted historic looking colors that you really wouldn't find in a shirt. I'll keep you posted on this! (I also want to try miniature punchneedle! My sister bought a kit but these were also wool. But this can be done with cotton embroidery floss so I'll be able to try it eventually.)

All Hallow's Eve Package!

2008-10-11T22:21:00.004-04:00

Yay, I got my All Hallow's Eve Dishcloth Swap package in the mail today! I box of pumpkiny Halloween goodness. Thanks, Carrie! (Also, Carrie has a gorgeous weimaraner so that's another reason to take a look at her blog if you are a fan of those lovely dogs like I am.)

Here's a look at all the goodies:

peeking into the box...

a pretty wrapped up dishcloth

It's a jack o'lantern!

a nice old fashioned Halloween card
(I'll probably pass this on to my mom for her nifty altering art!)

wonderful pumpkin pie bodywash/shampoo/bubble bath, good enough to eat!

Nifty writing utensils! The crazy pumpkin hand is a pen, the pencil has candy corn all over it, and the skull is an eraser

Ooh, the knitty type goodness. Two skeins of 2nd Time Cotton from Knit One Crochet Too. This beautiful yarn (pink!) is also environmental! It is made from recycled cotton taken from the garment industry (75%) along with a little acrylic (25%). I'm not sure what I'll make with it, but I'm thinking maybe a cowl. I think I'd like one for chilly days at work when a scarf would get in my way. Now to pick the pattern!
And, a package of bent tip needles with the cute little plastic holder. I am always misplacing my (too small and not meant for weaving ends at all) needles so this will be a big help. As long as I put them back in the cute container ;-) but I'm sure I will.

Oh look, a pumpkin! What could be inside?

scrumptious caramels which I *might* be nice and share with my husband. Also a pumpkin pez dispenser!

Thanks again for all the fun stuff, Carrie! Oh, Carrie also has an etsy shop with quilting, stamping, knitting, and clay jewelry and stitch markers! So check it out when you are shopping, the holidays will be here before you know it!

While I'm pimping etsy shops, I can't remember if I showed off my mom and sister's new shop? They are both great artists and crafters and are selling beeswax collage, the cutest clay figures (I am in love with the bunny reading to the baby bunnies), paintings, and much more! Please take a look and consider them for your holiday and other shopping needs as well!

New design!

2008-09-21T13:48:00.004-04:00

I've put up a new design, so please let me know if anything doesn't work or if something is hard to read!

Dish Rag Tag!!!

2008-09-21T11:31:00.002-04:00

Thursday night I got home late and the Dish Rag Tag box was waiting for me! Woo, time to get knitting. But first, the box and its contents:

the box

inside the box

the goodies!

The DRT box came to me from Carole (ravelry link), here's what she included! Her completed dishcloth in the official pattern for me to keep, yummy Ghirardelli chocolate, York mints (ooh, something new!), stitch holders, and a bamboo mini crochet hook for emergency stitches and the like! Oh and the cotton for me to make the next dishcloth with. Thanks, Carole! I'm enjoying the chocolate and mints. :-)

So I knitted the dishcloth a little bit Thursday night until I had to turn in for the night, then I spent Friday morning knitting. Luckily it came on the right day - I had Friday off work for working on Saturday. I got it finished and packaged up with new goodies to go off to Katherine around noon and off it went to the post office!

Unfortunately I didn't realize that my camera battery died without saving the last photo so I don't have a good shot of the dishcloth I finished, just this photo trying to get a closeup of the pattern. Oh well.

We only have two team members left after Katherine so I think we are in the running to not finish bad at all! Go Dishy Dozen!

Farm goodies

2008-09-16T20:17:00.006-04:00

A photo post giving a random taste of summer... (an old draft resurrected of farmer's market goodies) This will have to tide us over for a few more months.

skinny red carrots (delicious!) and fresh lettuce blend

delicious cheeses

beautiful challah rolls

a lovely little watermelon

teeny tiny orange peppers (these were delicious stuffed), corn, two kinds of beans...

fresh local cherries and garlic scapes

like a bowl full of cherries

the garlic scapes turned into pesto and tossed with penne

a tisket a tasket, a farmer's market basket

beautiful and tasty heirloom tomatoes (the grapey looking things are purple cherry tomatoes)
the big heirlooms made the best BLTs ever...

Birthday Roundup...

2008-09-16T18:07:00.006-04:00

Yeah, I know. My birthday month was over like two months ago. Well, I've had this in drafts just waiting for me to finish. So!

Cupcakes! We made it to Spa City Cupcakes

It was later in the day and they were out of all the "exciting" flavors but we got white with chocolate frosting, chocolate with white frosting (the m&ms), chocolate with chocolate frosting, and white with white frosting. Normal flavors but they were absolutely delicious. Like some of the best cupcakes ever.

From there we went to the drive-in and saw Wall-E and Get Smart and tried...

deep fried oreos! Oh.My.God. I've never been a fan of the deep fry everything phenomenon but these? were great.

Here's an inside view

These are the best stitch markers ever that I got for my birthday from a friend at work - they easily snap open and closed so you can use them as closed on the needle style stitch markers but still take them out at the wrong time if needed!

We attempted to go to Moxie's for the many vanilla flavors but we had the hours wrong and got there when they were closed. :-( However, we did drive by this place with the slightly amusing sign.

This is my birthday Coach bag that I got the gift cards for

inside view

I still think they're overpriced but I loves it. It's the softest thing I've ever felt, and oh so pretty. And hey, you only turn 30 once.

I used a birthday gift card to get a bread machine and have made a bunch of different yummy loaves...

This is a plain white bread,

with some homemade jam :-)

And, we went to Morrette's for the veggie steak sandwich I wanted to try.

It was huge, and yummy. Mushrooms, onions, red and green peppers cooked with butter and garlic and topped with cheese. Also those yummy skinny fries.

yeah, it was a fattening food filled birthday month.

A long finished project

2008-09-14T21:41:00.003-04:00

that I can finally show! I made the Child's Placket Neck Sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts but it's also available for free online. This little gem is for my brand new baby nephew, Zach.

I loved this pattern so I think I'll make it again for other babies. (although, I forgot to look for errata and discovered when I was almost done that there was an error in the pattern. I threw in some random decreases in inappropriate yet invisible places to bring it back in line. Here's a close up of the placket neck with the wooden bead buttons.

And here's my brother modeling it on little Zach (currently one month old). He can't actually wear it yet since I made it big to (hopefully) fit him come sweater weather (it was 84 degrees today). I made the six to twelve month size and he's a big baby so hopefully this will be spot on come cold weather.

And here's a bonus of Zach trying on the Rainbow Marley hat I made him (also big for later)

(cheese part 2 coming up next)

"Gromit, that's it! Cheese! We'll go somewhere where there's cheese!"

2008-09-14T20:20:00.008-04:00

Today we took my inlaws on a driving tour of small cheese farms in a county about an hour north of us, near Vermont. There were six cheese farms that you could visit and we managed to make it to five of them.

We started at Gillis Acres Farm in Greenwich, a goat farm.

These little cuties are Alpine goats. We talked to the farmer about the cheese process, saw the equipment and the baby goats (the milking goats were in a different barn), and tasted all the cheese!

We decided to get the Alpine Queen which is similar to a gruyere.

Next we went to 3-Corner Field Farm in Shushan, a sheep farm. This was the first time I ever had to wash my shoes on the way in to a farm!

On the way in the gate, they have disinfectant buckets and scrub brushes and ask you to disinfect to protect the "bio security" of the farm. This farm is also all about sustainability, they have water pumps that do not use any fossil fuels, and solar panels on the barns for the refrigeration and milking/cheese making equipment.

Here's one of their cute sheep dogs taking a little break from his work...
And, here's the cheese we picked out. This is a smoked artisanal sheep's milk cheese and it is heavenly. It's also $22.50 a pound so we only got about a quarter pound.

This is getting long so I'm going to break it up into two posts...

All Hallow's Eve Dishcloth Swap!

2008-09-09T22:47:00.003-04:00

Vampire Pumpkin, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Yay, another seasonal dishcloth swap is coming up! There's only a few days to sign up if you're interested...

Here's my questionnaire that needs to be posted before the end of registration:

Knotting Yarn
1. Do you knit or crochet? For how long?
knit; a little over a year (I do know how to crochet but don't do it actively right now)

2. What sort of needles or hooks do you enjoy using the most? Are there some you've been dying to try out and haven't?
I have just about every different kind of needle, and enjoy them all for different types of projects.

3. What kind of projects do you most enjoy? Small things you can take with you, or big complex ones that are just gorgeous when they're done?
both!

4. List one pattern for a dishcloth that you love to make, or just tell us about one you've made or received that you loved.
I'm a big fan of the "petal" dishcloth pattern, and I also like the ones that make different pictures in the center.

5. What are your 'must have' notions? Are there any notions you need or can never have enough of? Any that might make you cry if you owned more?
hmm, stitch markers? I've been doing a few projects lately that need them. I can't think of anything I have too much of...

Petting Yarn
6. What are your favorite yarns to work with? Any you hate or are allergic to?
cottons and intriguing cotton blends (cotton with linen or silk, etc.). I am allergic to wool, even a small amount in a blend. Not only can't I wear it but I get rashes when I work with it!

7. What colors do you like to use in projects? Any we'd never catch on your needles?
I am partial to pinks. I can't think of any absolutely hated colors, just depends on the project.

8. Any cottons you'd like to try you can't find by you, or just haven't gotten around to getting?
Nothing specific I can think of.

Halloween, Fall, and General Stuff
9. Do you like to use bar soap or shower gel more? What kinds of scents do you love? What kind do you hate?
Shower gel! I'm not a bar soap person. I love food scents (fruit, baked things, pumpkin, etc.). I don't like vanilla (yeah, that's a food scent but the one I don't like!)

10. What's more 'Halloweeny' - Ghosts, Pumpkins, or Witches?
I'd say all are equally Halloweeny but I guess I'm partial to pumpkins of the bunch.

11. What's your favorite Treat to get? Sweet or Salty? Anything you're allergic to or just hate?
chocolate! sweet and salty is the best combination! I'm not a fan of nuts unless they're ground like peanut butter.

12. What was your favorite Halloween Costume as a kid? As an adult??
hmm. When I was in kindergarten I was a nurse with a coffee filter cap... I don't think I've had any costumes as an adult? My usual halloween gig these days is the Target halloween tshirt of the year with goofy socks and the like.

13. Are you on Ravelry? What's your ID?
yup. yarnlibrarian surprisingly enough ;-)

14. Anything else you'd like to be sure your pal knows?
um, can't think of anything?

A Tale of Two Butterkitties

2008-08-23T21:53:00.006-04:00

This

is Butterkitty, you may remember her and her balloon. We named her Butternut but our niece, Lily, dubbed her Butterkitty and it stuck pretty hard.

Butterkitty is very nice and let's Lily haul her around by her armpits, basically.

Butterkitty has a new friend

but not for long as come Christmas this Butterkitty will be going to live with Lily!

Notice a resemblance?

The two Butterkitties like a lot of the same things... this Butterkitty likes food
and sitting in the double-decker kitty house.
And, she has a tail! That might seem obvious but the pattern didn't call for a tail! Of course, if this is to be an authentic Butterkitty it needs a tail.
And so ends the tale of two Butterkitties. :-P

A bit of knitting...

2008-08-19T18:58:00.004-04:00

Like I said last time, most of the knitting I have finished recently are gifts I can't show yet. But here are a few things I can share... (Amy - when you read this don't let Lily know because there's something for her!)

A few weeks ago the owner of a LYS did a beginning knitting class for me at my library. To thank her (she did it for free!), I did a quickie dish/face cloth. (of course I got this idea the day before the class so it definitely had to be quick!)

I packaged it up in a take-out style container with two pretty face soaps and there you go.

One of my coworkers is on a Conference committee and they are looking for prizes for next year's conference. She asked if I'd knit something and I said "a baby hat???" ;-) The conference theme is red, white, & blue so I did stripes. This is KnitPicks Shine Worsted in Sailor, Cream, and Hollyberry and I love the muted old fashioned tones so I call this Colonial Colors. The top doesn't show well but it is i-cord that is tied in a cute little knot.

The last thing I have is a Christmas present but since she's 3, I think we can manage to keep it from her! ;-) For my niece, we have Finger Puppers! A tiger, a pig, an elephant, a rabbit, and a bear (or a dog, Trevor thinks it is a dog, so whatever she wants it to be). These are very quick, very cute, and only use scraps (of baby hat yarn coincidentally enough). So I think I might make more... we just got an invite for a 2nd birthday party that I don't think we can make but these would go in the mail no problem.

Edited to add an updated photo of the Tiger! Pattern note, I realized that the Tiger has a tail in the photo but there isn't one in the pattern. So I used the elephant trunk pattern except in stockinette instead of garter...

A Blue Ribbon Day!

2008-08-13T14:04:00.006-04:00

I decided to enter a few knitted things in the fair this year! Thanks in part to Jenna's post reminding me that I had thought of it earlier in the year. :-) I dropped my stuff off on Friday then waited until Tuesday for the fair to open so I could go see if I won any ribbons.

My Dutch Bonnet was entered in the Knitted Baby Bonnet category and it got a green ribbon (Honorable Mention)My Cherry Entrelac Scarf was entered in the Miscellaneous Knitted Accessory category and it got a yellow ribbon (Third)
And... my Another Rainbow Marley was entered in the Knitted Hat category and it got a blue ribbon!! Everybody knows what a blue ribbon is, right? ;-) edited to add: for the Canadians - that's a first here!

I'm very happy with that, and it gives me the confidence to try again next year. If I hadn't gotten anything, I probably would have given up. :-P

Here's a wide shot of the Marley hat in the cute baby crib display
and the Cherry scarf in a pink-ish display

I also entered a bread contest, I didn't win anything there but it was still fun so I'll blog that in another post.

p.s. I have been knitting up a storm but it is almost all secret gift knitting for people who will see it here so I have nothing to share!

Batter Blaster!!!!

2008-08-05T10:34:00.003-04:00

Last week we were grocery shopping and saw this intriguing thing near the eggs

Batter Blaster!!!!!1!!!! Pancakes! Organic, even. That's right, they now have pancakes in a can. The same kind of can as the miraculous squirt whip. They were a bit pricey ($5) but we've already made pancakes for the two of us 3 times and it isn't empty yet. And whoa, the convenience factor (not to mention the coolness) - we really wished we had seen this a week earlier for the tent camping trip. Totally worth $5 to avoid mixing etc. while camping. We are planning on getting it again for our cabin trip in September but that has a real kitchen and everything so it isn't really necessary...

Handy diagrams

Pancake squirting action shot

They're good but they do taste a little different than my usual pancakes... lighter? fluffier? Like there's a lot of air in them, which I guess there is.

Speaking of breakfast breads, here's a gratuitous shot of the yummy french toast Trevor made with my homemade potato bread. It made really good french toast!

A garden is never so good as it will be next year. -- Thomas Cooper

2008-08-05T10:16:00.003-04:00

This is the first harvest from my garden! It doesn't look like much but considering that last year every one of my pepper and squash plants gotten eaten by the groundhog, this is a great start. The little green guy is a jalapeno, the yellow one is a hot banana pepper, and the orange one is a Yummy sweet pepper. Or maybe that's supposed to be Sweet Pepper Yummy, whatever. And a few cherry tomatoes.

Tag, you're it!!

2008-08-01T18:29:00.004-04:00

I'm way behind on everything, both in life and in blogging but I wanted to get this one out there:

Sign-up for this year's Dish Rag Tag is today! And I got in!! woo! The thrill of competition... :-) The wonderful Emily at Yarnmiracle started this last year and it was fun just watching so I'm excited to participate this year. Basically, she creates teams and each team starts with a box - ball of dishcloth cotton, a small goodie, the pattern, and a completed dishcloth. You log in to the super agent dishrag software and strategically determine which team member to send to next in order to attempt to be the first team to get the box back to Emily. When you get the box you keep the completed dishcloth and the treat, use the cotton to make a new dishcloth, and put in a new ball of cotton and treat along with the completed dishcloth. Then it goes on to the next team member. A few things are different this year, such as there is an official pattern that must be used instead of using your choice to make it more even among competitors. Emily keeps track of finishing places and there are prizes.

If anyone wants to try and get in, this is the sign-up page, and this has more info. I'll be putting the button up on the sidebar at some point or other.

Movie Knitting = achieved!

2008-07-21T22:21:00.004-04:00

Ever since I learned to knit I have wanted to be able to knit in the dark and knit at the movies like my friends do. Yes, I know some people find this lame, but it was a goal of mine. I really like to be doing something with my hands and never watch tv at home without either a craft or the computer in my hands.

Anyway, I've been gradually getting better and working up to not looking, I've been knitting before the movie and then keeping up until I had to stop for some reason. Friday we went to see The Dark Knight (awesometastic, yes that is to a word. sort of) and I was able to keep knitting all the way through the (2 1/2 hour) movie! Yay for multitasking! Here's the first short version of the Broadripple, that I worked on all through the movie then did the toe the next day at home...

and here it is with the chucks that I had in mind when I saw the yarn, not the same colors at all, but it made me think of them going together...
Pink and green is my favorite color combination (oh but there's pink and brown too...) so these are perfect. I just have to start the other one. But first, I'm starting a sweater.

The 3D Journey...

2008-07-17T21:30:00.003-04:00

Those Elvis Costello looking glasses? The hip new version of 3D glasses, apparently. This afternoon we went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. It wasn't a movie we were interested in at all except for the 3D factor. I ♥ 3D movies. The movie was as expected (really not good) but it was awesome in 3D!! Creepy bugs jumping out at you, water splashes (which reminded me of Muppet 3D at Disney - where they really do squirt water at you when there is 3D water!), dinosaurs, falling down cliffs coming out of the screen... In conclusion: movie not recommended unless you can see it in 3D. Oh, there was even a preview in 3D - apparently this year's Thanksgiving Disney movie, Bolt, will be in 3D too.

In an additional review of fun stuff note - we got Guitar Hero Aerosmith today (yay for Bestbuy Rewards certificates!) and it is super cool. (note that I show myself as not cool at all with the use of the phrase "super cool") You can get it in the Guitar Hero pack with a special Aerosmith guitar, but since we already had Guitar Hero 3 we just bought the game itself. Trevor's playing right now and the band looks very good. It has 25 Aerosmith master tracks on it, plus songs by other artists and includes real Aerosmith venues like the high school where they played their first gig. Oh, and live action clips of the band talking about how they started out, and about their songs (man, I love Steven Tyler). Recommended for Aerosmith loving Guitar Hero fans!

I never promised you a rose garden...

2008-07-12T22:33:00.009-04:00

but here's one anyway...

sorry, that's all I could think of when I looked at the photos. ;-) A few weeks ago my parents came over for a belated father's day celebration. While my mom was off at a workshop we took my dad to see the beautiful rose garden in the park. We managed to hit it right at prime time this year, as you can see. It had rained about an hour before thus the wonderful raindrop photos. I liked so many of them that I couldn't pick so you get a bunch. enjoy :-) (you can click any of these to see them bigger...)

pondering the pond...

Climbing roses on the arbor

Tea Roses

To the right, sculpture "Variation on The Chinese
Calligraph Yuan (garden)"

edited to add a pun ;-)

A little video...

2008-07-12T22:07:00.001-04:00

Cal finds Butternut's balloon
Originally uploaded by Alissao

Our cat Butternut is obsessed with mylar balloons. She carries them around by the string and alternates between loving them and trying to kill them. In this video, Cal tries to play with Butter's balloon...

Summer Salad Sampler

2008-07-08T18:44:00.005-04:00

I really wanted bread salad for dinner tonight so I stopped at the store on the way home. I saw some nice fruit and decided to make a few different salads for dinner tonight and tomorrow night.

Here's the bread salad, modeled after Panera's - good bread chunked up (this one is called Peasant bread), fresh mozzarella, good tomatoes (from the garden/farmers market when its that time, these are $4 a pint "Splendido" extra sweet grape tomatoes), and honey balsamic dressing It turned out great, yum!

My favorite summer salad is a green salad with lots of fruit on top - whatever your favorites are - my standard is a melon (watermelon), berry, and one or more of: peach, nectarine, plum. This time there is a bit more with: peach, apricot, red grapes, cherries, and plum along with the romaine, mushrooms, tomato, and european cucumber. I like this one with a balsamic dressing too, or, raspberry vinaigrette or something of the sort.

And I also whipped up a macaroni salad.

elbow macaroni with ranch dressing, baco bits, and burgundy olives. Not too attractive since the baco bits and burgundy olives are the same color basically so it is monochromatic, but it tastes great! I was going to use green olives but the jar didn't pop right when I opened it so... I've never bought these burgundy olives before but they grabbed my attention in the store a few weeks ago and I picked them up. They're good! The flavor is different than a plain black olive, and the color is... a bit off putting actually. According to the can they have olive oil and vinegar in them (Burgundy wine vinegar apparently) and according to the website, they come in flavors as well. These were Classic Italian which is the "plain" variety it seems.

And... another baby hat. I finished the Pink Petal hat (Upside-Down Daisy), now hopefully somebody has a girl!

note: In case anyone was unclear, I'm only obsessed with baby hats, not babies. None of these baby hats are for me. ;-)

BBQ, Cars, and Doves, Oh My!

2008-07-06T20:00:00.007-04:00

Friday was an "Aloha" birthday party with

cupcakes

snow cones and

Tres Leche Cake!

Saturday we went to Saratoga for their July 4th celebration and the All-American BBQ and Dessert Fest. It was really good so hopefully it will become an annual thing. A bunch of downtown restaurants participated, and you could go around and get their contest entry for a buck! Trevor had the BBQ and I had the desserts, I think he got four BBQ and I got three desserts. The best dessert was the coconut cake from Lime Restaurant and Trevor liked the hunk o'BBQ pork from Cantina the best. yuuum! Everything we tried was good though, except for this nasty mojito bread pudding with some kind of unexplainable gelatinous stuff in it. We didn't get any pictures though, they all got eaten too fast!

They also had a classic car show in town that day. There were a lot of really nice cars! I've come to appreciate a nice car from hanging out with my husband but our tastes do differ a bit,

1950something Oldsmobile Holiday
this is the kind of thing I'm drawn to

1987 Chevy Monte Carlo
and this is the kind of thing he's drawn to!

After that we were on to a family graduation party and then we were wonderfully close to...

an old school A&W with real car hop service! woo hoo! They don't wear roller skates though. ;-) We got lucky and a spot right in front opened up as we got there.

Here you see the food tray on the car window!

And, they have deep fried cheese curds!!

Trevor ordered these but the silly man didn't like them so I got to eat them. I kinda thought I didn't like cheese curds but I guess I do. At least when they are deep fried!

Souvenir mug so root beer at home can taste as good. ;-) Actually, I didn't like the root beer at A&W. Unlikely the kind in the can/bottle, at the restaurant it was the "rooty" natural kind of root beer. I don't like that kind. Oh well!

Today we went to Albany to check out this spiffy new bakery I'd heard about - Crisan Bakery & Edible Art Gallery.

This is the bakery part

On top, a Rafael - chocolate cake, coconut cream, and coconut cake, on the bottom, an Amandine - chocolate cake, chocolate butter cream, and fondant (but it seems more like ganache). The Rafael was light, and wonderful. The Amandine tasted like it has some kind of booze in it although it wasn't mentioned and was also very tasty. But the best thing was this:
a dove! It's solid chocolate cake (very brownie or fudge like) with nuts, coconut, and rum raisins covered with coconut fondant! It was as delicious as it is cute. We also got two feta filled puff pastries but those were eaten right away for brunch so they aren't pictured. Oh, the prices are very reasonable - the feta pastries were 60cents each (!), the dove was $2.75, and I think the other desserts were $3.50 each? I'm very sorry that I suggested we split the dove. It was oh so very good.
And this, is the edible art gallery part! The baker is also a sugar artist, who makes sugar jewelry and is an expert on the art and lectures on it as well. This is the piece of hers that was in British Vogue and these are some that are inside the glass tables in the bakery

Happy 4th!

2008-07-04T22:42:00.001-04:00

Happy 4th, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Happy 4th of July everyone! I have many things in the works but I'm upstairs, the photos are downstairs and I'm too tired and/or lazy to go get them! So expect knitting, birthday month roundup and more, coming soon!

Movie Month!

2008-06-27T17:04:00.003-04:00

Last night we went to a free preview showing of Hancock. It was the busiest free preview I've ever seen! Usually not everyone gets in, but this time there were hundreds of people who didn't get in, and it was even in a really, really big theater. It also had the tightest security - we had to turn in our cell phones until the end of the movie, and the "movie secret service" (guys in suits with ear pieces! if that isn't the movie secret service...) had metal detector wands. Well, for some people - coworkers were wanded but we were not - apparently we didn't look sketchy enough. :-P Hancock was great, highly recommended. Funny, and it even had a twist that they shockingly didn't give away in the previews.

Last week we went to see The Happening (birthday month request!). We both like Shyamalan's movies usually and the preview we saw in the theater looked good. My opinion of the movie can be boiled down to: "meh" This review basically sums up all the same problems I had with the movie too. Plus the fact that I normally think Mark Wahlberg can act (come on, The Departed!) but oh no, not in this movie. Not one bit.

That same night we also saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of th e Crystal Skull. Now that was more like it! Considering I hadn't even seen the first three until we watched them on dvd in preparation for the new one, I was a huge fan of this movie! Funny at times, just the right amount of cheese, and Shia LaBeouf!

Here's an update on the socks!
Related to movie month since I got almost an hour of work in on it while waiting for Hancock to start. These have been just waiting around etc. socks so they are slow moving. Stupidly really, since I'll be lucky if I'm done with these summer socks by winter. oops.

Even more baby hats

2008-06-26T23:48:00.003-04:00

and I'm not done yet, people. Don't try to stop me!

Olive You! This one has a flat square kind of shape, and is kind of fez-like with the braid and pom poms. I loves it. I think I'll make the same shape with different appliqués on it...

And this is Chocolate Blues, a bonnet style. The shape is off a bit because it is once again being modeled by my blown glass vase, which isn't exactly the right shape. Both from Itty-Bitty Hats of course.

I changed this one up a little bit - the pom poms are all one color instead of alternating because I was out of yellow; I shortened the "scarf" into just being a tie - just guessed at how many stitches to cast on for the scarf, this was 100 I think; and there aren't any pom poms on the bottom of the tie either.

Birthday Month Part 2...

2008-06-16T17:54:00.005-04:00

On the Sunday after my birthday Trevor surprised me with a day trip to Lenox Mass. We had been wanting to tour Edith Wharton's house, The Mount and wanted to get there this summer in case they don't make it through their financial troubles... It was an absolutely gorgeous tour of the house and gardens - some of the rooms haven't been rehabbed yet so you see them in their bare bones state, and others are absolutely stunning.

This is Edith Wharton's library. None of the furniture in the house is original, but the books are. (It's really sad how much of the decor - plaster, etc. had to be recreated from photos. So many beautiful buildings were lost to neglect in this silly country) You might think this is where she wrote, but they said that she preferred to write in bed right after waking. In fact, it said that she would drop the hand written pages onto the floor next to the bed for her assistant to type up for her later. :-)

Here are a few pictures of the gardens, and the house as viewed from the gardens.
After The Mount we went to try and find this chocolate shop I had seen online, the Chocolate Springs Cafe. They have gorgeous chocolates, fancy chocolate desserts, gelato, and bags of other sorts of chocolate delights.
We each picked out two chocolates and a beverage.

Mine were both very yummy, Trevor didn't like one of his but I think he's just not a fan of chocolate mixed with tea...

They even have a window so you can look into the chocolate room and watch them working with the chocolate.

After eating dessert first, we went to the strangely named Dish Cafe Bistro for a late lunch. (in my opinion you are a cafe or a bistro but not both...) But either way, we had a good meal. I had something a little different, along the lines of a make your own pizza, it was a grilled flatbread with a list of toppings you could choose from. I got feta, leeks, and mushrooms and it was really, really good.

Lenox is another of the really pretty little towns in the Berkshires, up there with Stockbridge for general prettiness. A good place for a weekend or daytrip.

(oh, edited to say that this crossed daytrip off the birthday month list!)

Birthday Month Update Part 1

2008-06-12T15:07:00.005-04:00

On my birthday lunch was the ill fated Red Robin trip, then Kung Fu Panda (good - I ♥ Jack Black). Then for dinner my sister and brother-in-law took me out to dinner at an Albany restaurant I hadn't been to before - Justin's. It was very good and I'll be going back to have Trevor try it (he was at a rehearsal dinner). We shared the fruit and cheese platter (which was huge) and I had the corn fritters and chop chop salad (minus the bacon and substituting buttermilk herb dressing for the horseradish) - the salad was omg! good. I'll get that again next time probably.

After dinner we went home for Black Forest birthday cake and... Jeni's! If you don't know Jeni's, you should. It is the *best*, crazy exotic flavored thing you'll ever try. Granted, the best way to get it is to be going to Columbus, Ohio because it is pricey to have ice cream mailed to you... but oh it's worth it. It may become an annual tradition.

You are looking at: Salty Caramel (two of those because it's my favorite), Cherry Lambic (does have a beer after taste but not too much for this beer hater), Goat Cheese with Red Cherry Compote (I'm the only one who likes this one so I'll be eating it all, ha.), Strawberry Buttermilk (the yummiest strawberry ice cream ever), Dark Chocolate Gelato (wonderful. Super dark and delicious)

Saturday we were at a wedding and then Sunday... was a surprise that made up for it! Coming soon!

Worst. Customer. Service. Ever.

2008-06-09T21:00:00.002-04:00

Good birthday month stuff coming, but first a not-so-good one...

On Friday, my birthday, my sister and brother-in-law, Trevor and I went to Red Robin for lunch. The plan was to get my free birthday "burger" (gardenburger). I had my club email all printed out, and had cut out the coupon from the middle. We had a good lunch, our waitress was good and even surprised me with a free birthday sundae (very yummy) and balloons! (and they sang, but it was pretty empty in there so it wasn't horribly embarrassing) Then she took away the free burger coupon to take it off our bill. She comes back extremely apologetic, and says "my manager says I can't take this, the email can't be cut up." Um what? So we ask to talk to the manager.

He, Peter Alois of the Latham Red Robin (in case Red Robin themselves should stumble upon this), came over rudely and belligerently right from the start! (I freely admit that we were rude back at him, but it *did not* start with us.) He stated that he would not accept the coupon because "the email needs to be complete, not cut apart." I told him all I had done was cut the coupon out from the middle and if it needs to be complete they should say so! He said it did say it had to be complete, because it says "Any alterations to this certificate make it null and void." Now come on. That reads as if you aren't allowed to change it to say "good for 10 free burgers" not that you can't cut the coupon out. If that is really what Red Robin corporate wants, they better change the wording of the email. He told us to go right ahead and complain to corporate because he wasn't going to do anything about it. I told him I'd be glad to print another complete email, but of course printing facilities weren't available and we live a good 20 minutes away from the restaurant so we couldn't very well run out for it. Our waitress was very apologetic (but it wasn't her fault) and said she didn't understand the problem since they're "allowed to comp an item if the customer doesn't like it so why not for this?"

Here's the thing, maybe that is what corporate Red Robin requires (and they should reword it), but here's what a *good* manager would have said: "I can accept the coupon this time, but I need to let you know for next time that it shouldn't be cut out from the email." That's it, end of story. Instead, he lost the four of us as Red Robin customers from now on, and possibly a few others that hear about it from me. That's worth an $8 gardenburger? My sister had signed up for the Red Robin club as well, but she said they won't be going back so she won't use her coupon. I will be writing a letter to Red Robin, and my brother in law said he might as well.

Maybe this seems like an overreaction, it was just a burger after all. Well, I don't think so, I think it is the principle of the thing. That's horrible customer service and the headquarters needs to be told about it. I too work in customer service (in a manner of speaking) and that's just not right.

So please, if you signed up for the Red Robin club, for the love of god, don't cut out the coupon!!!! ;-)

Pumpkin Hat

2008-06-08T00:02:00.002-04:00

Pumpkin Hat, originally uploaded by Alissao.

My WEBS order came super fast, and arrived today, so I was able to finish the Little Pumpkin Hat this evening. Another cute one...

Almost a pumpkin...

2008-06-05T23:48:00.001-04:00

100_4142, originally uploaded by Alissao.

I got this far with the Little Pumpkin hat from Itty-Bitty Hats when I ran out of orange. shoot. I'm halfway through the decreases so it is really close to being done with orange but its all gone. So this one's on hold until more orange arrives from WEBS. While I was ordering I got a few more colors of Goshen, for a few more baby hats. I know, I'm addicted to baby hats. But they're so adorable and quick to make! I might start a baby sweater next though...

Bunny Tail hat

2008-06-04T11:03:00.001-04:00

Bunny Tail hat, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Here's a Bunny Tail hat! From Itty-Bitty Hats of course. This is the same Valley Yarns Goshen as the Marley hats, the hat in Linen and the inside of the ears in Ballet Pink. The pink ears were knit separately (just cast on to fit and knit garter as long as needed, rounding the top with some k2tog - I think the ears are a different size on each size hat so it would be different for each) and sewn on.

Free Birthday Stuff!

2008-06-02T19:17:00.006-04:00

I've been signed up for Coldstone Creamery's free birthday ice cream for a few years now, and I used to get Baskin-Robbins until they disappeared from the area. So I started wondering who else would give me something free just for having been born. Most if not all of these send you a coupon by email, some of them a week or more before your birthday so you need to sign up enough in advance.

This is the list of clubs I signed up for, with links to the sign up pages, and what I receive (updated as they arrive). Just so you know, most of these will also email you throughout the year, with some other coupons or new product info. Personally, it's easy enough to delete those for the enjoyment of the free food. But if you hate that kind of thing beware...

Coldstone Creamery - free ice cream
Baskin-Robbins - email coupon for a free scoop
Red Robin - free gourmet burger of your choice (sent one week before birthday, good for 14 days)
Uno - free appetizer with purchase of two entrees for joining; $10 off $25 food purchase for birthday
Moe's Southwest Grill - One free burrito, good on your birthday and for 3 days after (id maybe checked)
Dairy Queen - BOGO Blizzard coupon for joining; same for birthday
Macaroni Grill - free chocolate cake for your birthday and anniversary (no purchase required), receive one week before birthday, good for a month after your birthday
Ben & Jerry's - BOGO regular cup or cone for joining;
Ruby Tuesday - free dessert with any entree (receive one week before birthday, good for 14 days)
Buca di Beppo - free dessert with purchase of any entree (valid on any dessert but Dolce Platter) received one week before birthday, good for 30 days
TGI Friday's - free appetizer with $15 food purchase for joining;
Arby's - Didn't receive anything. Signed up too close to birthday?
Friendly's - Didn't receive anything. Signed up too close to birthday?
Olive Garden - Didn't receive anything. Signed up too close to birthday?
PF Changs - Didn't receive anything. Signed up too close to birthday?
Taco Bell - Didn't receive anything. Signed up too close to birthday?
Chili's - Didn't receive anything. Signed up too close to birthday?
The Melting Pot - free chocolate fondue for two for joining;
The Cheesecake Factory - No sign-up required: "Just let your server know that a birthday is being celebrated and, at the end of your meal, the birthday guest will be presented with a complimentary scoop of ice cream with a lit candle accompanied with a “Happy Birthday” song from our staff. In addition, we also offer our birthday guests the option to purchase a slice of cheesecake, which will arrive on a plate decorated with chocolate sauce and sprinkles."

If you're looking for more take a look at this link, but be aware that some of these are either outdated or never true in the first place...

Birthday Month!

2008-06-02T18:50:00.006-04:00

My 30th birthday is this Friday. Due to some circumstances outside my control we'll be spending a good portion of my birthday weekend doing something else. So it was decided that I would jump right past a birthday weekend or week (which apparently many people celebrate including my friend Food/Crafts/Books Girl) and go for the birthday month. This year, my birthday is the Month of June, people. :-)

Then, as if a month isn't long enough my birthday party was this past Saturday, which was actually still May. ;-) Being my 30th, it was a bigger-deal party than usual, including people from work and wonderful friends who came all the way from Brooklyn to stay the weekend. As was fitting for someone born in 1978, the theme was a 70s Dinner Party kind of thing. I didn't get many pictures, but this was my cake (carrot)

and this, was my leisure suit-Elton John glasses wearing husband
and here he is again in a close-up with a can of TaB
A friend has requested that he wear it again to her wedding in October so this thing has not seen its last days yet.

So that was the first thing of the Birthday Month, the party (which was great fun). Another part of this will be an attempt to get as much free birthday stuff as possible. I'll be posting a list of the birthday clubs I signed up for and what I receive, as well as a link to the website I got them from so you can try to find others in your areas that I don't have in my neck of the woods.

I'm also compiling a list of things I want to do for the rest of the month, you can see that over in the sidebar. I'll be crossing things off when I've done them and blogging them so that will explain the sometimes cryptic descriptions.

One other thing that I'll be doing for most of the birthday month, is eating marvelous chocolates!
My friend brought me these MarieBelle chocolates from NY and they are not only beautiful

but delicious (and interesting flavors)! I'm eating one a day and so far I've tried Soba Cha and pineapple.

In other news - knitting wise, I'm working on the bunny ear hat.

Marley #2

2008-05-25T22:26:00.001-04:00

Marley #2, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Here's the second Rainbow Marley! This is the same as the first one, just using the colors in a different order. All on a #7 needle, with this yarn there wasn't a big difference between a 7 & an 8 but just enough that I like the 7 better.

Next up? a bunny tail hat!

Not-So-Rainbow Marley

2008-05-19T11:04:00.001-04:00

Not-So-Rainbow Marley, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Here it is, the first finished Marley hat. I love how cute this pattern is and I really love the squiggles on top. I've already cast on another one, doing the colors in a different order...

Squee worthy baby hats...

2008-05-17T13:47:00.006-04:00

I'm only half way through the first one, but I think I might be addicted to baby hats. I first fell in love with the cutest baby hats ever, from reading the blue blog. Alison (author of Charmed Knits) has knit a bunch of Susan B. Anderson's baby hats (and other projects) and I really fell in love with them. I bought Itty-Bitty Hats (just look at the cutie on the cover!) when it wasn't available from the local libraries and I just knew I'd want to make at least a few of them over the next couple of years (with the baby boom going on between friends and family...). When I was at WEBS in March I picked up yarn for Rainbow Marley (ravelry link) and bunny tails (ravelry). I should be able to get more than one Rainbow from the yarn I have since you use bits of so many colors.
I'm calling mine a Not-Quite-Rainbow Marley because I couldn't get all the rainbow colors in the yarn I was buying... so it is a semi-muted rainbow. I'm using an 8 instead of a 7 because I didn't have a 7 in the right length. It's a bit loose, I'll use the 7 next time. I was just too anxious to start it last night to wait for a trip to the store. You can't see the pattern that well in this photo, laying down like that, but the different stripes use different patterns - most are knit, some are garter, and then a few wild cards are thrown in like seed stitch. The yarn is Valley Yarns Goshen (cotton, modal, silk) it is a little splitty but soft. I like it. This hat is for my soon-be-born nephew, my brother went through a reggae Bob Marley phase so I'm hoping he'll like it. :-) I haven't gotten to the cool part yet, with the squiggles on top, that will liven it up.

The other thing I like about this book is that for each pattern, there's a little box listing every technique/stitch you need for the pattern. Then it tells you what page each is explained on in the book! Not only does she give you all the info you need but she tells you which page so you aren't flipping all over looking for the stinking seed stitch if you can't remember which one it is! Each stitch also lists how to do it for both straight and circular knitting which is a bonus to not even have to think it out at all.

Sunfire and Moon dog

2008-05-12T21:01:00.002-04:00

First the knitting... as mentioned last time, I'm making a pair of short socks using the Broadripple pattern. I want them to wear with shorts and my pink converse sneakers so I don't want them too long and I'm only doing the pattern on the leg. The first sock is just getting the gussets because I haven't been knitting much. I'm kind of in a rut, I feel like I should be making the baby surprise jacket for my future nephew but I just don't feel like it so it's making me not feel like knitting period. I did wind the yarn for it, and I started the cast-on but I'm just not feeling it right now. So I think, along with these socks, I'm going to start the Rainbow Marley hat from Itty-Bitty Knits for the same future nephew instead. Something I need to get done, but not a sweater on infernally small needles.

Now, on to Sunfire and Moon dog. This
is Sunfire and this
is Moon dog! Sunfire is my new PINK (obviously) bike and Moon dog is Trevor's. No, we didn't name our bikes, those are the model names and are printed on the bikes. Isn't mine kind of retro? I love it. Also I love how 60s surf movie/Gidget Moon dog sounds. Also they are pictured on our front porch which I also love. An enclosed porch is a lovely thing to have.

Now I just need to learn how to ride it...

The Yarn Harlot, WEBS, Socks, and the Loopy Ewe...

2008-05-02T19:43:00.005-04:00

Last Sunday I went to the WEBS hosted Yarn Harlot talk with two friends, Kate and Katie. It was, of course, great! I got a few pictures at the talk then my camera died so I didn't get any at WEBS or around town. Thanks to Katie scouting out our seats, we were only in the fifth row so you can actually tell who it is in the photos, unlike last year. ;-)

Here's Stephanie getting the camera out
more getting ready

And here she is with the sock, taking a picture of the other side of the theater.

After the talk and the Q&A, we went back to WEBS for a bit. The book signing line was already long so we didn't do that (she said she'll be at Rhinebeck again this year and last year I was second in line with no problem so hopefully I'll get one then) but we did get these nifty tour buttons!

I didn't really have any shopping plans but Kate and I both fell in love with this Plymouth Royal Llama Silk and each got it in different colors. It is sooo soft and scrumptious! It might be a lacy scarf, or it might be a hat.

My other purchase was from the button department, which is quite extensive! Especially extensive was the skull button selection! There were five or six different designs, believe it or not. These were voted the two best designs, one of each for Trevor and my sister who is a big skull fan. Project to be determined, or I might just give them to her to add to something on her own.

Next, the socks! I finished them Tuesday morning just in time to wear them to work. I loves them and they got many compliments at work.
Then I cast on my next pair! I'm making a short anklet pair for the summer out of this cute pink, green, and lilac Fixation. I'm doing the leg using the broadripple pattern but then I'm going to drop the pattern because I'm going to wear these with my pink converse sneakers so the foot pattern wouldn't show anyway. Not enough done to bother with a photo yet though.

I needed a needle that The Loopy Ewe had in stock so I ordered that and got one of their cute little tote bags too. It's a good size, good for a baby sweater sized project, or my sock bag and wallet etc.

The hang tag says "Sock yarns don't count as stash!" hee!

This was my free gift from this order, a super cute Loopy stitch marker.

edited to fix a link

Slogging along...

2008-04-24T19:34:00.004-04:00

Geez, I didn't think it had been this long! I've just been working on the same socks the whole time so there hasn't really been much to report on. I have one sock and half a leg done my pink and brown broadripples
Here's the first one with my mary janes. I finished the first one the quickest of any sock yet, then I've been dragging my feet a bit on the second one. I do want to finish it up quick though so that I can wear them! Especially since I wear sandals all summer so sock time is drawing to a close for awhile. Also showcased in this oh-so-artistic photo would be my PJ pants with socks all over them.

The other thing I have to show you is my wee tiny sock from the wee sock swap! Slightly belated. Oh, my partner sent it lickity-split, I'm the one who is being belated. :-)

Isn't it cute? It came all the way from Germany, thanks Marcia! (not that I can read german :-P) And believe it or not, she's even been to my city before even though she lives across the world from me. Small world, indeed. Oh, the sock is made out of Opal sock yarn.

Finishitis???

2008-04-07T21:29:00.004-04:00

For once in my life, I have a case of finishitis instead of startitis! Look over there ----> see how short that project list is? Shocking, I know.

First, Friday night I finished Trevor's Dashing gloves - his anniversary present from (cough) December. Hopefully he'll be able to wear them a few times this season before it gets hot. Let's just say after six pairs of Fetching and 1 1/2 pairs of Dashing, I don't want to make another pair of gloves for a loooong time.

I shortened them in these places:
After third cable round - work 12 rounds instead of 24
After thumb opening - work 15 rounds instead of 18

Yesterday I finished the George Socks, also for Trevor. Major SSS with these since I started the pair back in July, oops.

At that point, I was really enjoy the rush of finishing things. So I got out those green cabled toddler socks that I don't even need until god knows when and finished those too! ooh yeah.

Then I "finished" this hat. (it was already done but I never got a photo before it went into a display so I kept it as unfinished on the progress bar)

It's the Yarn Harlot's Ken's Dulaan hat in a child's size and will be going to charity the next opportunity that comes up. (Maybe they're doing a hat collection at WEBS next month? if not I'll take it to the City Mission)

That left me with only two WIP (not counting two I've moved to "hibernating" - the grey dashing that doesn't have a home to go to and the snowflake headband I'm not ready for) - two dishcloths!

So then I let myself cast on a new project. This is Broadripple in Elann Esprit.

This is the yarn that has all the same makeup as Cascade Fixation and seems to be exactly the same. Except it comes in different colors and is cheaper (except for the shipping from Canada thing since they don't sell it locally). I got three balls in this color 9055 and two balls of a blue and brown colorway from people destashing on Ravelry. I got a really good deal so it was a good way to try it out. I love pink and I love pink and brown so I had to have this color. I am a smidge eh about the grey that's in there but doesn't show much in the photo (if it was white it would be Neapolitan ice cream!), but over all I love the way it is working up.

This will be my portable project and I'll also be starting one of the Baby Surprise Jackets too, but I have to get all the yarn wound first.

Wee Tiny Socks and Loopy Ewe Goodies

2008-03-30T12:26:00.007-04:00

Last night I made my wee tiny sock for the swap, tomorrow morning this sucker will be headed off to the UK and its new home.
It's Cascade Fixation in Italian Ices # 9955 out of the Jennifer's Mini Sock pattern I've used before.

This one is for me, it's the same yarn but using the Keychain Sock Blocker Sock pattern that comes with the mini sock blocker. (used size 4 needles with the fixation) Very nice pattern. This is my second mini sock blocker, I had a Loopy credit and I used it to get another one of these for my knitting bag (the first is on my keychain)
and to get this
it's a kitchener stitch dogtag! This ingenious little thing comes from Knitcellaneous the same people who do the mini sockblocker keychains. Here it is at the Loopy Ewe, unfortunately they are out of stock at the moment but I'm sure there's more on the way! Oh, I see they are still available directly from Knitcellaneous. But if you're working toward Groupie status, cough cough... I am also in deep love with Sparkle the Peacock and really want one. But I'm holding off because Sheri said she'll be getting them and you know, I'm a groupie wannabe. ;-)

Here it is again in it's new home attached to my sockmonkey sockbag. Just what I needed to keep the steps in my head!
One more goodie from The Loopy Ewe, this time a freebie! This purchase put me one step closer to being a Groupie and got me this little treat from Sheri!

Fitting into the tiny sock theme, it's a Loopy's Red Sock Kit! Since I can't make it myself (wool) my friend Katie has offered to make it for me. yay!

A finished Danica and a bunch of cupcakes!

2008-03-29T18:59:00.011-04:00

First, my Danica is finished!
yay! I love it. It ended up being 5 feet 4 inches long. I have a small ball of yarn left, but I don't think it is enough to do another pattern repeat - can't say for sure. I couldn't trust going to the length stated in the pattern before doing the ending triangles because the Cherry Tree Hill skeins are smaller than the ones specified in the pattern. I was really tired of it by the end but that's just because I don't have the project attention span for scarves, I really did enjoy the pattern.

On to the cupcakes, I've had a cupcake post in the works for months now and I've amassed quite the collection so I decided it was time. If last summer was the Summer of the Pancake, this was definitely the Winter of the Cupcake (not that the cupcakes will stop any time soon).

At Thanksgiving I made Pumpkin Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Ice Cream. They were fantastic. I don't have a recipe really, use your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe or mix and fill all the cupcake tins/liners halfway to start with. Mix up the pumpkin filling - I took a small can of pumpkin and did a pumpkin pie sort of thing just to taste - I added a splash of milk, a bit of sugar, and then your favorite pumpkin pie type spices. Put a dollop of the filling into each cupcake and add more batter on top of the pumpkin. Bake according to the recipe! Top with cream cheese frosting and serve with pumpkin ice cream! This is my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe (and I've gotten a lot of inspiration from the Cupcake Bakeshop!).

Then at Christmas I made Chocolate Cupcakes with Cranberry Orange Filling. Again, use your favorite chocolate cupcake and only fill halfway to start. For the filling, all I did was dump a bag of cranberries in a bowl, add a few splashes of orange juice and then microwave it. For my berries and my microwave, it was 5 to 6 minutes. When I took them out I smushed the cranberries with a fork and added sugar to taste. I wanted chunks of cranberry but if you wanted it totally smooth you could do the same thing and just puree it instead of forking it. One bag of cranberries made almost the perfect amount for 24 cupcakes - there was only a spoonful leftover. Fill the cupcakes and top with the rest of the batter. Bake as directed. I used the same cream cheese frosting recipe except I added a teaspoon of orange juice and some red food coloring. After frosting I topped each cupcake with a craisin (actually they were an organic version from another brand which I liked better than the Ocean Spray) As an alternative, you could chop some craisins and stir them into the frosting. Oh, I also had added a teaspoon of dried orange peel to the cupcake batter but I do not recommend that. The filling and frosting were great but the cupcakes tasted "burnt" even though they weren't. Since it was a good cupcake I'd used before I decided that was the orange peel. So if you want to try to orange up the cupcake as well, try some orange juice or fresh zest instead.

Next up on the agenda, the vegan cupcakes I made for a bachelorette party a few weeks ago. Some of you may be thinking, ew, vegan? And I hear you. But last year I tried a recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and then I knew it was possible to have yummy vegan cupcakes! At last year's slumber party we made the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and they were great. This time I made Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake and topped them with Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting. The chocolate cupcakes were amazing. The frosting I only recommend if you really need the vegan - it had an off taste to me. (the chocolate buttercream last year was literally the best frosting ever so either the chocolate covers it up or the brand of vegan margarine I bought this year isn't as good as last year's) The second batch of cupcakes was an adaptation of a recipe in the book - it has a recipe for Margarita cupcakes and frosting and I adapted it to be a Mojito recipe to fit with a personal favorite of my friend the bride. Since Margaritas and Mojitos are both lime, we were on the right track. Here's the recipe with my many changes:
note: this is a different type of cupcake, dense and extra moist, just be prepared

Mojito Cupcakes - makes 12
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest
1 cup soy or rice milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp mint extract
1 tsp rum extract and 1 1/2 tablespoons water (or 2 tablespoons light rum - I didn't have any and the liquor stores were already closed)
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350'. Grease muffin tins or use cupcake liners. Mix in a large bowl: lime juice, zest, soy milk, oil, extracts and water or rum, sugar. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and mix. Fill tins 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick is clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Mojito Frosting
This was so delicious I will be making it again for other cupcakes!
1/4 cup vegan margarine (you'd think all margarine was dairy free since it isn't butter but most still has milk products in it) softened (or butter if you don't need it to be dairy free)
1 tablespoon soy or rice milk
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon light rum and 1/4 tsp mint extract or 1/4 tsp rum extract, 1/4 tsp mint extract and enough water to make 1 tablespoon(ish)
optional green food coloring
2 cups confectioners sugar

Blend margarine until fluffy, add milk, lime juice, extracts and rum/water. Blend in confectioners sugar until smooth and yummy. Add more sugar if needed to make it your desired consistency. Chill until needed.

Oh, perhaps you are wondering about the decor of the cupcakes? It was a March 15th wedding so the bachelorette party had a light Ides of March/Roman theme. ;-)

yes, those are the club sandwich cocktail swords :-P but they have the loop ripped off to be more dagger like

Easter brought another cupcake from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World - Pineapple Right-Side-Up Cupcakes. Instead of baking the pineapple on the bottom, you put a cooked pineapple topping and cherry on top after they are baked and cooled. I wasn't thrilled with this cupcake, but the topping was good. I think I'd rather do the topping on a yellow cupcake. This cupcake had ground pineapple right in the cupcake it was a bit much for me.

O.k., the last cupcake was not baked by me, just purchased and eaten. We went to the CIA for lunch the other day and of course stopped at the bakery to get some goodies to take home for later. This was their "cupcake of the day" - it was chocolate but I'm not sure what else exactly. It was very good and very moist, it might have even had a filling of sorts? Not sure, but it was good. And how about those decorations! The frosting was ganache (yum) and then it had some multicolored dragee kind of things with handmade sugar flowers. I'm not a sugar flower fan but Trevor said they were tasty. Neither of us ate the dragees (silly little rocks really, but they are pretty). Oh, and what an awesome liner! The nifty cut paper thing was put on after it was baked, there was a regular silver cupcake liner underneath. I'd love to buy some of those paper lace things, I'll have to see if they are available anywhere.

There you go, six cupcakes and a scarf!

edited to fix a link

Two quick things...

2008-03-25T23:45:00.004-04:00

My progress on Danica - I'd say I'm 70 to 75% done now? I'm guessing I have about a quarter of the yearn left. And it is just over four feet long so it should be a good size when I run out of yarn. I am kind of working on this all the time when I should be making progress on other things because I want to get it done so I get to wear it this year before it gets too warm!
Wee Tiny Sock Swap! - If you don't do sock swaps, like me, (too much work to swap away, the wool thing etc.) consider the Wee Tiny Sock Swap from yarnmiracle - all you do is make ONE tiny sock, send it off to your assigned person and get one from someone else in return! There's a flickr group, there's a ravelry group... You have to sign up by this Thursday, you'll get your assignment on Friday, you mail the sock on Monday. Emily has a pattern (pdf) you can use or use any tiny sock pattern - if you have the mini sock blocker that has a pattern, or this is the one I've used in the past. These things are quick so the weekend is really not a bad deadline. Or, get started now! Info here, sign up here

Top secret projects!

2008-03-17T23:43:00.012-04:00

I have been knitting, for real. I just couldn't share it. But now I can! This

is the baby kimono I made for a future bebe! Two of my very good friends are expecting a lovely little one coming this September. And I was happy to be the first to give them a baby present.

This, I can't take much credit for at all - I only made one boring Grandma's Favorite patterned square and other people made all the gorgeous squares. But isn't it (a wedding afghan for other wonderful friends) beautiful?

not the best, complete picture - the thing was huge!

We spent this past weekend at this wedding and bachelorette party and just having wonderful fun with wonderful friends. It was the best weekend in a long, long time. :-)

Another secret project was for the wedding as well, embroidery instead of knitting this time. Using the Sublime Stitching iron-ons I made them a pirate pillow

and two pirate tea towels

this one is my favorite

I've used a lot of different Sublime Stitching iron-ons over the past five years or so and they are really great. There's really no other option for cool, fun iron-ons! They also work great - they say one iron from each design is all that's guaranteed but I've used them multiple times. Even if it gets paler it just needs to be dark enough to stitch over!

To wrap this up I give you a group of my best friends at the wedding. The lovely bride, Kate, is missing since she was busy just being married and all. And Erin, um, sorry you are totally hidden, oops. Note that I'm wearing the frankenstein shrug! A few of my friends are wearing knitted/crocheted beauties as well.

A long overdue FO

2008-03-02T22:49:00.005-05:00

I started this Ballband dishcloth way back in July and then it got set on the back burner. I lurve this pattern and I lurve the way it looks in my favorites pink and green. I'm thinking about making a bag out of the pattern (sometime, down the line) - I saw somebody on ravelry who did one but that one was felted. I'm thinking of just two rectangles seamed up for the sides and a smaller rectangle for the bottom...

In other FO news, I have something very cute done but it is a secret and I can't show it off just yet.

And, one more thing that's a wip, and will be for quite some time I think. An entrelac scarf! I did take that short little entrelac class a few weeks ago. It was o.k., but the class was too large so a few of us got forgotten a few times and I made mistakes. I was a bit unhappy after the class, then a few friends said how easy Danica is. Well, I thought either I'm kinda dumb about these things or maybe, just maybe (there'll be fruit pie!) this is a screwed up pattern. So I frogged the little bit I had and started over. Bingo, I haven't had any problems since I switched to Danica!
There is a long way to go to turn this into a scarf especially since I am working on it a bit here and there in between other projects. But I like it. The edges are straight but the needle pulls it a bit and it will need a smidge of blocking (not too much, or it depuffs the squares too much). The yarn is the Cherry Tree Hill North Country Cotton that I got in the No Sheep for You swap a while back.

Tag , I'm it!

2008-02-26T20:07:00.004-05:00

Katie tagged me the other day and it has taken me a bit to come up with some answers. :-)

Like she said with hers, these aren't my top five favorite posts but they are the top five that fit the categories!

Rules:Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. Link 1 must be about family. Link 2 must be about friends. Link 3 must be about yourself. Link 4 must be about something you love. Link 5 can be anything you choose. Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better. (Readers - don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments.)

1. Family: My husband at his surprise birthday party last fall

2. Friends: This is cheating maybe, but if you are on ravelry and we aren't friends yet, friend away! ;-)

3. Myself: I started a new job in November

4. Something I love: Knitting and kittens

5. Random: Here's a great sweet potato pancake recipe. Last summer was the summer of the pancake, what will this summer be? hmm.

I'm not going to tag anybody this time but if you read this and feel like participating, consider yourself tagged and comment on this post to let us know you did it!

A day of packages!

2008-02-26T19:22:00.007-05:00

On Friday I had a very good mail day! I got my Defeat the Winter Doldrums Dishcloth Swap package from Georgi (Thank you!), and my prize package from winning the drawing on the swap blog.

First, the swap package:
We have here not one but two lovely pink dishcloths that Georgi knit for me (the dark pink one has a heart on it), lavendar soap, two yummy sugar n' cream yarns, a smiley card, a Godiva chocolate bar!, and the little tube is a batch of lovely stitch markers!

Here is a closeup of the two dishcloths
And here is a closeup of the lovely glass stitch markers. The best part is they are a larger size (up to a 10 needle) and the set I already have is for smaller needles. So now I'm pretty well covered. They are made by Julie Beers Designs and are called "Field of Flowers". Pretty, aren't they?

And now for my prize, here's the bag all buttoned up. This is a really great, well made little bag! For an idea of the size, it is holding three balls of sugar n' cream with a bit of room to spare. It has that great button closure and a pocket on the outside as well. I'm currently using it as a project bag for a scarf project.

And now here's the bag opened up and showing off the contents! Two balls of sugar n' cream (blue and green twist) and a yellow and white ball of peaches n' cream.
Yay! Thanks again to Anne and Holly and the entire Winter Doldrums gang especially Cindy who made the bag and donated it all to the swap.

Shrug this!

2008-02-20T17:41:00.005-05:00

That sounds like a rude exclamation, but it actually is the name of the pattern. We are going to a friend's wedding in March and my snazzy new dress is sleeveless so I just wanted a little something to go with it. I thought about a wrap (and would buy one probably) but I like something that stays on me without me holding it. So I hit ravelry for shrug patterns and hit my stash for appropriate yarns. I decided on Shrug This which is from One-Skein Wonders but is also available for free as a PDF on the publisher's website. (Link to the html pattern, pdf available on the left) This is a nice and easy pattern but it comes out small. This was not just my problem, a few people mentioned this problem on ravelry (but did I listen? um, no.). I even swatched, people! I'm not a great one for swatching but I did it! And, just like the Yarn Harlot says, the swatch lied. Or the pattern did, or the knitting muses just hated me, whatever. Either way, the shrug turned out for a very tiny person. I could put it on, but it was just not right (unless you enjoy possibly cutting off the feeling to your arms. Then, go for it.). First, I was pissed. Then I was sad. Wasted yarn! Wasted knitting time! Then I decided to do something about it Mad Scientist/Frankenstein style. And now it fits! Here it is:

And again, on me. (ignore the crappy photo. Really. I took it myself, in a (apparently dirty) mirror, and I haven't done the little sewing job the dress needs)
Here are the problems and my solutions:

The armholes were too tight. This was the real mad scientisty part - I cut my knitting. gasp! I took hope from seeing the Yarn Harlot do it many a time and thought of it as a steek of sorts (it isn't exactly, but that's the idea I followed). I took matching thread and needle and sewed all around the underarm stitches that I would be cutting to reinforce them and make sure they didn't come apart on me after cutting. Then I cut them. I believe it was five stitches in the middle of each underarm.
It was too short. It was really too short after I cut the stitches which pulled it up more. For this I added an edging. I decided to do a crochet edging since it would be quicker than picking up the stitches for knitting, I think, and double crochet almost perfectly matched the pattern that was already on the bottom of the shrug. I added one row of double crochet edging to the front panels and two rows of double crochet edging to the bottom. Now it was the perfect length for this dress!

Yay! Problem solved. :-) Oh, info on the yarn: It is Plymouth Fantasy Naturale, a mercerized cotton. The tiny shrug took the first skein so then I had to go into the second one for the edging. This is the same yarn I used for one pair of Fetching, which erm, apparently I never blogged! O.k., here are the gloves too, they were for my sister for Christmas.

Olive You!

2008-02-20T17:11:00.007-05:00

This craft and food filled post is brought to you by Valentine's Day! I had to make something for him (not a problem), and he had to make something for me (this was unusual)! ;-)

I made him a jar of knitted olives! They are adorable! The pattern comes from here, and some other ideas if you don't want to do a jar (taken from ravelry projects): Put a pin backing on it for a pin, or put it on a pin or something else with some curly wire etc. made to look like fuccilli pasta (Olive Fuccilli = I love you, silly!)
Sorry the picture is a bit dark but I was avoiding a glare off the jar and the label (which is metallic)
Here they are again without the jar, this is pre-felting but there isn't a huge difference. They just tighten up a bit with the felting.

He made me yarnlibrarian tshirts! A pink one and a green one, with a graffiti style font.

a heart shaped apple pie (that's a pie bird in the middle), which was scrumptious by the way, he's now the official apple pie baker whether he likes it or not
and valentine sugar cookies!
Yummy! I wish I had some more of that pie right now. And I wish I was making a few more olives, but on to a new project for now...

Half a dashing down... and an almost done pair of baby socks

2008-02-11T10:15:00.001-05:00

100_3697, originally uploaded by Alissao.

I have one of Trevor's Dashing gloves done and it looks really good! This went smoother than the first grey dashing I made in the fall - I'm not sure if it was just from having already made one or if it was the yarn or what. This is the Rowan Summer Tweed, the same as I did a few pairs of Fetching out of.

And, following the green theme, here is a pair of toddler socks that are about 15 minutes from being done, but they just got waylaid by other projects... (I don't need them any time soon anyway).

Cable socks are so cute, I have to make myself some sometime. These won't be finished for the next month at least though since I stuck them into a display case! ;-) I put up a knitting display at work to advertise for the knitting group I'm starting at one of our branches and these cuties are in the display. (display photos coming, I just keep forgetting the camera)

Secret stuff

2008-01-30T18:35:00.001-05:00

100_3694, originally uploaded by Alissao.

I sent out my Defeat the Winter Doldrums swap package yesterday! This is the petal dishcloth I made for my swap recipient. It was supposed to be coral, I swear it looked coral under the lights in the store, but it is really a bit paler. Oh well, it was the closest I could come. Hopefully she likes the goodies I sent her!

So that's one thing down from the "on the needles" list. ;-) But then I had to cast on for Trevor's Dashing gloves instead of finishing another wip. I really did have to, since they are only 6 weeks late.

edited to add the links since I did it direct from flickr the first time

Progress Bars

2008-01-27T19:39:00.000-05:00

If you look over to the right ---->

You will see my awesometastic new progress bars, thanks to the magic of Ravelry. Now I can be embarrassed by the number of things in progress to everyone who sees this, not just Ravelry users. Sorry, but the links go back to Ravelry so they won't work unless you are a member. The hat is a charity donation and it is done but I have to dig it out and take a photo so I have it as incomplete...

A near perfect Sunday...

2008-01-27T13:34:00.000-05:00

Present: Two sleeping kittens, knitting, a couch, and the laptop about to show Netflix online
Missing: Chocolate (upstairs and would require waking a kitten) and my husband (working)

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon!

Log Cabin is my new favorite thing!

2008-01-25T22:42:00.000-05:00

I finished my first Log Cabin pillow and I am in love with this technique!

It basically uses the Log Cabin technique from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It is a 16 x 16 pillow form for reference.
We charted out our color design using graph paper and colored pencils. I have a geeky love of graph paper (but not for math usage) so that was fun. ;-) I used six colors, most of the examples in class used four, so you have options there. The numbers are the order that you work the pieces.

Here's a close up of the colors:

I was a little unsure of my color choices when I had the red, orange, and yellow done... it seemed a bit too bright. But as soon as I started to add the blue and grey, I loved it. It has a brown border going all the way around that you really can't see in the photos (darn pillows with their curves). All of the sections were picked up on the right side except for the border which was picked up on the wrong side. That gives it a different, almost sewn look that is nice for a border. Also the border was done with increases to give them diagonals that get sewn together as miters so it has a "border" appearance not just another color square.

I used a fabric backing so that I wouldn't have to knit a plain square (well it could have been done in a pattern but what's the point for the back?) and so that it would be a bit more cat friendly.

nope, I didn't iron the fabric creases out. I'm a rebel like that (i.e. careless crafter who hates to iron)

I did that simply enough - the fabric piece is just cut to the same size as the knit front with the addition of a little extra seam allowance on just one side. Fold the little seam allowance over and sew it down. Then I held them with the right sides together and sewed the three sides without the extra allowance together. Turn it right side out and put the pillow form in! For the other edge (which is the bottom on my pillow), I used medium ("size 4" - not sure of the measurement) sew-on snaps to close it. I used seven snaps (one on each far edge, one in the middle, then four more evenly spaced. The snaps work from either end and if you pay attention and put them going the "right" way they will blend in more without a silver bump showing through the knitting (I put the first two on with the bump before I realized they could go either way).
All closed up
I love it! The only thing I'll change for the next time, is to use a smaller needle with this yarn. (all Plymouth Jeannee) I used a nine but would use an eight next time, it is a bit loose.

I'm going to be doing a lot of projects from Mason-Dixon this year - in addition to the ones I've already mentioned I've decided to do some of the Baby Bibs o'Love and the One-Piece Baby Kimono for some of the babies coming this year among my family and friends. (found out about another one this week!) I mean, the idea of a baby kimono is adorable to begin with, but how can you go wrong with one that is so cheap it uses Sugar n' Cream? I got some of the great twist colors to use too. (take note that the patron calls for two balls but that is of the solid colors - the twists, stripes, and variegated are all smaller balls than the solids so you'll need three)

On my needles now: a dishcloth for my swap recipient! After that, Trevor's dashing gloves.

Broadripple socks, finally done!

2008-01-21T19:32:00.000-05:00

I finally finished the Broadripples that I started back in August! They were for my sister's birthday and I finished the second sock with 10 minutes to spare. Just enough time to wrap them and write the care tag. Sheesh, that was a bit close for comfort!

Yes, there is a mistake half way down the foot. Shush, I don't want to talk about it.

Knit-in!

2008-01-18T11:54:00.000-05:00

If any of you are in the area, I just read about an upcoming Knit-in!

Sunday, Feb. 24

1pm - 4 pm

Come join the knitters of the Capital District at Barnes and Noble of Colonie Center!

Bring your knitting/crocheting and a chair!

The event is sponsored by:

BeauKnits Yarn Shop in Cohoes, Eastside Weavers in Troy, The Yarn Depot in Brunswick, Trumpet Hill in Colonie, and Wool ‘n Word in West Sand Lake

I'll be there!

Sock Candy!

2008-01-18T11:05:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to get my hands on some BMFA (Blue Moon Fiber Arts - the makers of Socks That Rock) Sock Candy! I have been wanting to try it but it is hard to get (not on the BMFA website, only as part of a kit, etc.) but when I decided to make a Baby Surprise Jacket and saw that BMFA had started kits for the sweater using Sock Candy I thought it was the perfect opportunity. One kit is enough yarn for one Baby Surprise Jacket plus some other accessories or two Baby Surprise Jackets if you reverse the striping. I want two sweaters in different colors so I ordered two kits and then I'm going to use the remainders of all the colors to make either a pair of socks for me and a few pairs of baby socks to match the sweaters, or maybe two pairs for me, we'll see.

So, this is what you get in a kit. Four 200 yd skeins of Sock Candy each in a different color

This is kit number one and the colors are Denim, Sunlight, Copper, Madder
You also get a card showing the finished sweater colors and some information. The other side of the card suggests a needle size and tells you what rows to do in each color to get the striping the same as the example. Note that the kit does not include the BSJ pattern - that has to be purchased separately and can be found here among other places.

And this is the other kit I got, number 3 colors Poppy, Granny Apple, Coral, and Chocolate (brown not black like it might appear)

The yarn feels really soft but that's all I have to say about it so far since I haven't even wound a ball up yet. It's bad but the real reason I want to hurry up and make one of these sweaters is so I have leftovers for socks. ;-) But this is a bit down on the priority list...

The Late Christmas Socks

2008-01-16T19:08:00.001-05:00

Wait, I forgot to post my mom's completed christmas socks! I was waiting to post them until she got the package in the mail then I forgot.

Here it is on my lovely new sock blockers:

100_3597, originally uploaded by Alissao.

Excuse all the extra floor around the sock - you have to frame photos just right for Ravelry and I blogged this photo directly from flickr since I misplaced the actual photo.

I love the way these socks turned out. I definitely need a pair this color for myself, eventually.

2008 Knitting Goals

2008-01-16T18:28:00.000-05:00

I don't like resolutions, I never make new year's resolutions. But I did decide to write down a few knitting goals for 2008. Because the year will go so fast and I want to get a few things done that I've meaning to do. So here they are:

2008 Knitting Goals (in no particular order)

1. Make one tiny sock per week to have a stockpile for Christmas and to have a tiny sock tree for myself (I've already blown this one since I haven't made one yet this year. But hopefully I'll make a bunch at least)

2. Learn Fair Isle - well, I'm part way there since I didn't get this posted until after I took the class. But since I haven't gone that far yet, I don't consider it "learned" yet.

3. Make at least 6 pairs of socks, at least 1/2 of those for me (I have completed 5 1/2 pairs of adult socks so far in my knitting career and only 1 of those is mine)

4. Make at least one baby sweater - this was going to be making one to have on hand for any future babies in the family but we just found out we have one niece or nephew on the way so now I'm hoping to get two done. I already have yarn for a couple Baby Surprise Jackets ordered.

5. Catch up on all IOU gifts from last year - with my mom's socks done, this leaves the Dashing for Trevor from our anniversary and the George socks for Trevor that I started way back when and haven't finished

6. Make myself a bag - I have everything for a booga bag and that is the next thing to go on the needles after the gifts are done.

7. Make myself a shawl - I have one cast on with the silk I got in a swap but it is just a little baby right now

8. Organize my needles and update the list of what I have - done! I did this last weekend

9. Finish organizing my craft room after it was torn apart for misc. work upstairs

10. Knit a Sunggles cat blanket and donate it to the shelter we got Cal and Butternut from

There, those are my goals. Will I get them all done? No, I don't think so. But at least I have them in my head to work toward. What about you, any knitting goals or resolutions for the new year?

More crafty presents

2008-01-14T23:31:00.000-05:00

I got a few more crafty Christmas presents! I got this lovely knitting bag, the Total Tote. It is also available from JoAnn Fabric online, but not in the stores. But please read the listing at KnitPicks as they have wonderful advice about removing a divider that has the worst velcro ever on it. Seriously, did someone who knows yarn even participate in designing this? Velcro with yarn? um, no. But once that is removed, it is a great project bag.

The main compartment opens up from both sides, this side has two little cubbies where I currently have my little notebook and a packet of tissues. As you can see the main compartment holds quite a lot. In this photo it has my headband on a circ needle and the three small balls of yarn that go with it, and my log cabin square on 9" straights with the small ball of yarn that goes with it and there is a bit of room to spare.
This one is the main compartment opened from the other end. It shows the little side cubbies where I have scissors etc. And the other end where there is a clear zippered pouch (needle card, stitch markers, etc.) that also snaps out of the bag so you can carry it around.

And here, we have the smaller zippered section on the outside. At the top we have a row of elastic strips holding options tips, cable needles and a lemonade packet. :-P And on the other side is a mesh zippered pouch holding a beeswax hand thingy, nail file, etc.

This one isn't knitting but it is crafty. I got a Stupid Sock Creatures book and kit!

It has a big softcover book detailing all of the instructions to make multiple different styles of stupid sock creatures, and everything you need to make a couple sock creatures of your own! Socks, buttons, ribbon, needles, thread, stuffing... it actually comes with everything you need! I am a bit daunted by the thing (steps include cutting the sock, sewing the sock up into a body, stuffing it, adding appendages that you sew from more sock pieces, and decorating with the buttons etc.) but I'm sure it will be fun when I find the time to get into it.
I also got a few more Harmony options needle tips but they haven't arrived yet.

Log Cabin time!

2008-01-14T20:30:00.001-05:00

I did get registered for the Log Cabin Pillow class this upcoming Saturday! Yay! You have the option of starting a pillow or a blanket and I said I'm doing a pillow because a blanket just seems so daunting. But I really like the blankets so maybe I'll just keep going and make it big enough to be a blanket, we'll see!

I got the same yarn for the log cabin as I am using for the headband - Plymouth Jeannee (cotton/acrylic blend). Here are all the colors I got:

red, brown, grey, orange, blue, and yellow

It is really quite nice. The bit I have done so far for my homework feels so soft and great for a blanket (see, there I go again. Maybe it will be a blanket. A small blanket.). Here is my homework square:

I am in love with the way this yarn feels worked up in a loose garter stitch. I hope it is supposed to be as loose as mine is... but the sheet called for a worsted yarn and a 9 needle and that's what I have... (no gauge to check)

I am tearing myself apart trying to decide if I am doing the right size for my homework square. See, the homework sheet (I don't have the full pattern yet) says "for the blanket, cast on 42 stitches and knit 36 garter stitch ridges. For the pillow, cast on 30 stitches and knit 28 garter stitch rows." See the problem? Does she really mean rows for the pillow or does she mean ridges?* Why would it refer to the pillow and the blanket with different terms? Finally I said to myself (and the cat, but he didn't respond), "Shut up, it's a log cabin! It doesn't matter what size square you start with." So I am doing it as if it is supposed to be ridges. If she really wanted rows than I'll either start with a bigger square or rip it back.

* For the non-knitters saying what the hell is the difference: a ridge is actually two rows, so 28 garter stitch ridges is twice as big as 28 garter stitch rows. For those of you saying why is a non-knitter reading this, I say, "Hi, Mom!"

Continental, wha?

2008-01-14T20:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my Two Hand Two Color headband class. It was good, overall. See, I had somehow managed to forget the important fact that two handed knitting requires knitting Continental. Oops. I don't do that. It wasn't a prerequisite for the class - I wasn't the only one learning it for the first time. But I'm slow with new things of that sort. Once I get going with it I'll be fine but I am sloooow in the beginning. So we start out learning continental in the round (so I do only need to know the knit stitch so far) and I think I'm doing o.k. I think, "Wow! I'm knitting continental!" We add the other colors in as stripes first and she teaches us a good tip for adding a color (knit the first stitch of the new color round with both the old color and the new color held together then drop the old color. When you get to that stitch again, only knit the new color stitch and just let the other one fall off the needle. Pull it tight and voila, no hole or gap). We moved on to actually fair isling (word? probably not.) and she showed us how to carry the other yarn across with us and hold it in - very cool. Did I mention this was also my first time with a chart? Granted this is a very basic chart but the things mystify me, I am much more a written learner than a chart learner. Also? I think I will stick to charts in the round (which isn't so bad since I love socks!) since the whole read it right to left one time and left to right the other time thing when you are working flat is extra confusing. Then she comes around and shows me that I have mysteriously started picking the yarn the wrong way and am now knitting continental with twisted stitches. Blast! Now I am feeling very lost and exasperated. But she showed me again and I *think* I've got it. I think what I really needed was some extra time to practice continental before the two color part was thrown in.

Here it is so far, it still doesn't look like much of course. You're looking at a round of white (the second color that will be the snowflakes too) then a round of the light pink (accent color) followed by more dark pink. Then you have the first round with two color work in it, here let me get a closeup. That little white stitch in the top middle is the bottom point of a snowflake... That's as far as I got.

The bottom looks odd like that because it gets folded up under along with an identical piece that will be on the top and then gets seamed. So that the headband is a double thickness.

The thing I'm worried about now is that I don't have time to go back to my headband for awhile now - I have to finish my homework for the Log Cabin Pillow class and I have to finish this sock for my sister because her birthday party is this coming Sunday instead of two weeks from now (!!!). So I might have forgotten everything by the time I pick it back up again. I've been doing some of the knitting on my Log Cabin Pillow homework continental but I keep subconsciously falling back into english knitting since I'm more comfortable that way. I need a local continental knitting friend. Katie, don't you knit continental? Come visit me! ;-)

Me? A winner?

2008-01-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

I'd like to thank the academy... O.k. I was picked randomly. Thank you random number generator!! ;-) I won a prize for signing up for the Defeat the Winter Doldrums Dishcloth swap and posting about it here. squee! You can see my prize here and I'll blog it when it arrives!

Defeat the Winter Doldrums Dishcloth Swap Questionnaire

2008-01-11T18:44:00.000-05:00

There's still time to register!

1. Do you knit, crochet, or do both?
I know how to do both, but at this point I really only knit.

2. What types of needles do you enjoy using for making dishcloths?
bamboo or wood; straights or circs or the flexs (split circs)

3. What types of cotton do you enjoy using for making dishcloths? Is there any that you've been wanting to try?
Anything! So far I've used sugar n' cream, peaches n' cream, and Blue Sky Cotton

4. What color(s) are your kitchen and bath decorated in (if any)?
My kitchen is turquoise and pink (1950s!) with also some red. My bathroom is blue and neutrals (stone colored floor etc.).

5. What are your favorite colors for yarns? Least favorite?
I am overly fond of pink. ;-) I can't really think of any colors I don't like except for just yucky colors like 70s green and yellow.

6. Do you like Winter, or do you count the days until it ends?
I like Christmas and I like it to be snowy at Christmas. After that, I'm pretty much done with it.

7. What's your favorite way to brighten your day when you're down in the dumps?
Knitting and British tv.

8. What is your favorite treat to indulge in and when your down in the dumps?
chocolate

9. Do you drink coffee? Tea? Cocoa?
no coffee or tea for me. I do like cocoa.

10. If you could take a vacation starting tomorrow and go anywhere for one week and money were no object, where would you go and what would you do?
Hmm, either Ireland or Savannah. See the sights in Ireland, show Trevor everything I loved in Savannah last time.

11. Do you have any allergies or aversions your pal should be aware of?
Allergies: wool Aversions: I am not a fan of nuts, even in the aforementioned chocolate

New year, new skills!

2008-01-07T18:00:00.000-05:00

I am signed up for a bunch of knitting classes at a bunch of different yarn stores over the next two months! Let's see, this Sunday I'll be taking Two Hand Two Color Knitting (only $15) at Saratoga Needle Arts "Learn Fair Isle knitting..or how to knit with both hands when doing color work. We will make a great headband." I haven't seen the headband yet, the example wasn't at the shop but it has snowflakes on it they said. These are the colors I'm doing my first one in - the dark pink for the background and the white and light pink for the design.

I also got these colors to make another one (well, it is the same ball of white since it only takes a little)
And here's my homework that I needed to do for the first class - it doesn't look like much so far. ;-)

Then on February 17th I'll be taking another one at SNA: BLOCKING, ETC. (also $15) "You’ve finished your knitting - now what? We will make our own blocking boards and discuss finishing garments for a neat, professional look. We will also talk about caring for your beautiful hand knits." This was the first knitting related class that I had to shop at Lowes for! ;-) I had to buy a 6 pack of foam insulation panels at Lowes, and 6 yards of gingham fabric with 1 inch squares at JoAnn fabric.

On to the next store, on February 9th I'll be taking an Entrelac class at Beau Knits. This will be the first time I go to the store so I'll have to check it out at the same time. This one is only an hour class so I'm not sure what exactly we will accomplish, maybe just the technique for no particular project? The description just says it will cover the basics and to bring worsted yarn and #8 needles. It's only $10 though so whatever I learn about it will be worth it.

And then, I might be taking one more but I'm not sure until I confirm that they have room in the class (they are closed today) - Log Cabin Design Pillow on January 19th (also $15) at The Spinning Room. "A great call for the beginner to advance their skills while starting a quick project that can be used to make a blanket, if so desired. Choice of color motif can change the outcome dramatically. This project can also be made of wool, then felted for a whole different look and texture. The pillow can be made as large or small as you like. You'll leave this class knowing how to continue on your own to completion." I love the Log Cabin designs (especially in the Mason Dixon book!) but it looks... complicated. I feel a bit stymied by the picking up stitches thing. I mean, I know how to pick up stitches (socks, baby!) but this is different. So I thought instead of trying it on my own and maybe being confused, I'd try out a class (assuming I get in).

There you go, 3 or maybe 4 classes in the next six weeks!

More finished Christmas gifts!

2008-01-07T17:09:00.000-05:00

I made a bunch of tiny socks, here's one that showcases my sock monkey tag that I'm putting on them.

To make the tags, I bought a sock monkey head rubber stamp and stamped it on Shrinky Dink (the official website is down) with brown ink (you have to use a permanent ink pad not just any kind), then I used colored pencils to do the lips in red and the eyes in black. Don't forget to punch the hole before you shrink them! A regular size hole punch comes out to a nice small hole when it is shrunk. Then I put on a jump ring and stuck it to the tiny sock!

Yet another pair of fetching... these were for my mother-in-law. This is Rowan Summer Tweed, the same as the pink one I showed earlier. This yarn works great for this pattern, but be careful! Now that I've made two of the same pair, I want to warn that you can get two from one skein but it is close. Really really close, I had a few yards left at the end of the second one. So don't let any yarn go to waste with extra long tails or anything, just in case!

I have one more Christmas present to post but that has to wait! On my needles right now: the second pink Fetching for me.

Defeat the Winter Doldrums!

2008-01-02T18:51:00.001-05:00

Remember the Fall into Autumn dishcloth swap I did? Well it is now time for the Defeat the Winter Doldrums swap! Registration starts on January 11th.

These are the swap requirements:

You must have a blog.
You must post regularly - no less than once weekly.
You can't have flaked or been AWOL in previous swaps from that group, in the Tea Swap, or in KVVS
Package Requirements:

$20US Minimum Spend Requirement
Knit or Crochet Dishcloth(s)
Yarn for your pal - at least enough for a small project (100g or more recommended)
Some sort of yummy soap - there are links to some handmades in the sidebar (of the dishcloth swap blog), and any kind that's not your average Dial or Lever 2000 is welcome!
Any other treats that you think will brighten your pal's winter - Edible treats or notions for Knit or Crochet are great things to include.

And you can go here for more information and to sign up starting January 11th.

First batch of finished Christmas gifts

2007-12-26T19:15:00.001-05:00

This one is a scrubby washcloth from a pattern by my very own friend, Amelia. You work tulle along with the cotton to make it scrubby...
This one is another cat like the one I made earlier, this one is orange so I named it Butternut ;-). Note: the patterns call for size 6 needles for these, I did my first couple like that but it is hard working with the cotton on that size needle and it hurts my hand so I've gone up to either a 7 or 8, whatever is handy. It works fine and you can still see the pictures, they just come out a little looser.
Here we have a nascar washcloth for my grandmother of all people. ;-) This is a Mark Martin cloth since I'm working on 2008 numbers and he's switching next year. Excuse Trevor's arm/leg in the photo, I'm on a computer without photo editing software at the moment.

Here we have another nascar cloth - I could not get a good picture of this one no matter how many I tried! It actually does say 88 so this is Dale Jr. for next year. This one was for my father-in-law.
This one is also nascar related in a humorous way - it isn't a number pattern obviously but the stitch pattern is double woven. The cloth designer is a nascar fan and DW made her think of Darryl Waltrip so that's what she named the cloth. This was for my father-in-law.
please note that I am not a nascar fan but after being married to one for three years, plus a father-in-law, a grandmother, and a friend - you pick up a bit of knowledge. ;-)

Knitterly Gifts

2007-12-26T17:38:00.000-05:00

I'm back! I got all of my Christmas knitting done except for a pair of socks (well, I cut a few things off the list. But I got everything that I decided I needed to do done). I got one sock done but then had to use a tiny sock stand-in for the other one. I'm knitting the second one right now. Then I'm going to sneak in the second of my pair of fetching so I can wear them at work when it is cold. After that I have to knit a belated pair of dashing for Trevor's anniversary present. Then I can knit something for myself. Oh crap, no, then I have to knit the 2nd sock of a pair for a January birthday. Then I can knit for myself. sigh. Maybe by February? The first thing I'm going to knit myself is a booga bag using this gorgeous alpaca I ordered on sale from Webs (Classic Elite Inca Print #4627 - I hope it retains the gorgeous colors when it is felted)*. I'm going to use the leather straps I got at Rhinebeck instead of the i-cord handle. Then I'll make myself a pair of socks.

Anyway, back on topic. I'll be catching up on FO photos soon, but for now I have a bunch of wonderful knitterly Christmas gifts that I received. It was the year of the knitting related present for me. (wonderful, eh?) First, the books:

I got Mason-Dixon Knitting and Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks from my in laws and I got Knit Socks! and Casts Off from my parents. I've had Mason-Dixon from the library a few times and haven't had time to make anything from it so it went on the wish list. I haven't knit any Nancy Bush patterns yet but I've been told that she's a real sock guru. Knit Socks! was recommended by somebody (I forget who) and of course I want to add another Yarn Harlot to my collection...

Then the needles:
I got a set of Harmony wood DPNs, and two sizes of Harmony wood tips with 3 cables all from my parents. This photo is crappy, if you aren't familiar with how beautiful they are take a look. I haven't used them yet of course but I love them already.

I got a skein of Sockina Cotton in a different color than the one I have in my stash, from my parents.
I got a knitting pirate style shirt from Trevor,
Lovely wooden sock blockers from my parents and the best Sock Monkey sock project bag ever from Trevor. I am in love with this project bag. It is handmade and just gorgeous. Hop right over to YarnTraveler to order one from her. She's also one of the masterminds behind Knit Map and you should check that out too if you haven't already.
Also, my mom has become a sock blocker lover and she doesn't even knit! She said she ordered herself a plastic pair to use to dry her handwash only socks on (ones I make her and ones she bought at Rhinebeck). Here's a closeup of the cute sheep cutout on my wooden blockers:

And, a bunch of other nifty stuff (all from my parents):

At the top we have some plastic pouches for the cables and tips, and some needle id tags for the options needles. Then we have a needle sizer and the little doodads that hold a pair of needles together, and a row counting bracelet. Great stuff, huh?

* I haven't gotten it photographed yet, but it is super beautiful. I got it in a few colors since it was so cheap. At least one will be for a gift, the rest might be for me.

Super quick list update

2007-12-16T18:21:00.000-05:00

then back to the knitting. Photos and descriptions as soon as I'm done with everything.

This was the list I posted November 24th:

2 skully dishcloths
1 cat dishcloth
2 pairs of Fetching - working on the 2nd of one pair, the other not started
5 various Nascar related dishcloths - 1
1.25 socks (the remainder of a pair) - almost to the toe on the 1st sock
1 pair toddler socks - ok I lied, they aren't done. But I'm to the toe on the 2nd and they are tiny so I'll be done right away.
up to 10 mini socks, a minimum of 4 - 3
3 or more scrubby washcloths - 1 (all I'm going to do)
2 plainer dishcloths (on needles)
DW dishcloth (on needles) - worked on a little
1.5 pairs Dashing (3 gloves) - one pair I "gave" Trevor for our anniversary (the yarn) and told him they'll be made after Christmas. So the deadline is off that one.

Items in bold are done. Items in italics have had some work completed since the last post. BWAHAHAHAHa. Yeah. Some items aren't needed until January 1st though so I have a smidge more time.