[crochet] Jellyfish

Pattern is from Amigurumi Toy Box. I used leftover pink worsted yarn in my stash. It turned out a bit too flesh-colored for my liking.

The only change I would make to the pattern is to make the top flatter- more hamburger bun shaped. There were a couple rounds early on where you didn't increase and this kind of created a torpedo shape to the top. Before the frilly skirt and tentacles were added, it just looked like I crocheted a single boob.

For the long tentacles in the center, I just used single strands of yarn- which I think looks more delicate.

Now... what to do with it. Right now it just looks like a sad, beached jellyfish. I feel like it should be hanging up somewhere. 

[knitting] 50 Shades of Bacon

I wanted to knit a small modular blanket for one of my cats. At the craft store, I saw a big bin of 1lb bags for yarn for $8. I had a 50% off coupon, so I only paid $4. As I worked with it, the colors ranged from uncooked bacon to cooked bacon to old, oxidized bacon. I guess I was thinking a lot about bacon.

60 stitch modular blocks on US 8 needles, finished with a log cabin border.

Man, it's a good thing I only paid $4 for 1lb of this no-name mystery acrylic which only said "Made in Turkey" on the plastic bag. There were a few lengthy stretches of pure-white albino yarn (obviously mistakes) that I had to cut out. Knots in the yarn. Etc. Only ended up using about 12 oz (3 balls) for this blanket.

Still, it's a squishy blanket with nice drape. The cats do like it.

[knitting] Ankle Socks

Plain pair of ankle socks that I managed to squeeze out of one 50g ball of yarn:

Yarn is Elann Sock It To Me, now discontinued. It's been in my stash since I started knitting 9 years ago. Yeaaaahhhh. I'll get to all my yarn, eventually. Sometimes it just takes nearly a decade (gulp).

[spinning] Grafton Fiber Batt

A batt from Grafton Fibers, which I've been hoarding in my stash for years:

Quickly spun up into a bulky single-ply:

I don't know if DyakCraft will ever go back to making batts but I hope so.

[misc] Murderface Monday

This weekend went by too fast. Saturday was mostly a wash- I woke up sneezing and spent most of the day blowing my nose, drinking tea or napping. I was sure I was coming down with a cold because I don't get allergies. But it must have been the warm weather melting the snow or something- I was completely fine on Sunday. Fine enough to do all the chores that I've been putting off.

Murderface and Penny in rare close proximity to one another:

[spinning] Malabrigo Nube

When I heard Malabrigo was offering spinning fiber called Nube (spanish for Cloud), I ordered several. My first experience was with the Mostaza colorway:

Wow. This stuff should be called Ladrillo (spanish for Brick). I don't understand Malabrigo's incessant desire to package all their products in the tightest, most compact and dense way possible. This fiber required a significant amount of preparation and pre-drafting to get it ready to spin. For most braids of fiber, I simply split the fiber lengthwise several times and then start spinning.

For this? Splitting the fiber lengthwise was like ripping apart felt. Then I had to open/pull apart each strip an inch at a time because it was still so compacted. Then I had to pre-draft each strip, so that the fibers could easily slip past one another at the spinning wheel. All in all, it was a couple hours of prep work. No big deal but when I usually only spend 1 minute prepping... it was a pain.

The final 2-ply yarn:

Pretty. I know the other braids that I have will spin up prettily as well. It's all the prep work that's putting me off. The good news is that I've searched around online for Nube braids and I've seen some on other people's blogs; it looks like Malabrigo has corrected this issue. 

So, if you see some like this:

Don't buy it. Unless you love pre-drafting. In which case, you're crazy.

If you see Nube like this:

Buy it. Buy all of it. Grab everything Supermarket Sweep style. This is the same soft merino as their worsted yarn and you get the added bonus of making it the way you want- one ply, two ply, three ply, etc.

[knitting] RegenBAGen

I knit a small pouch using leftover rainbow yarn:

I've made so many of these small dice bags and I can't find any of them. I'm sure that must mean they're being used somewhere, right? I guess I will keep using up sock yarn remnants for these.

[vermont] Snowshoeing

Bah, snowshoeing in 18" of snow is tough work.

Saturday is was gorgeous (but cold) so my sister and I went on a little excursion around the property.

Took us about an hour just to do a long loop along the edge of the fields. We saw some interesting tracks that looked like an animal had to jump along through the snow because it was too deep. My guess it fox but it could be anything that is in the area: fisher cat, coyote, maybe even a bob cat. I can't seem to find anything online that matches what we saw.

[cooking] Be My Valentine

It's been a week. Big storm came at the end of last week, so I was able to work from home Thursday afternoon and Friday. It's so nice to stay home turing a terrible snow storm. And since it was Valentine's Day, I heart-shaped all the foods.

Peanut Butter roll-out cookies:

And a pizza for supper:

I called Dollar over. He saw the pizza and said "Awwww." Then I did this:

Mmm, tasted like a broken heart. Just kidding, it tasted like pizza. Now I need to come up with shamrock shapes for St. Patrick's day. How do I make green pizza? Green peppers? And broccoli? Spinach? Peas? Kiwi?

[misc] Murderface Monday

It was a sleepy Caturday around the house. I wake Murderface up, sleeping inside a coat on the table:

Santana, pretending to be awake in the sun:

Penny. So tired:

What a bunch of lazy bums.

[gardening] Winter Sowing

This is all covered up with snow after yesterday's storm, but here are my winter sown containers so far:

I received many free seeds in the mail from a newbie seed-swap. I had fun googling all the species. There were a few veggies (tomato, onion) and perennial herbs. Feverfew sounds like it will make a nice addition to the flower garden. False sunflowers and red salvia, as well. I need more containers!

[cooking] Avocado time

Super Bowl season means avocados on sale at the grocery store. I made guacamole, of course:

I've read online that avocado is a perfectly acceptable substitute for butter in recipes for baked treats. Trying to clean out my pantry, I took out a box of chocolate Santas leftover from Chirstmas and decided to melt them down for brownies. I used gluten-free flour from King Arthur Flour for this recipe as well:

Avocado Gluten-Free brownies. These are SO good- so moist and tasty. I gave one to Dollar, gleefully waited for him to try a few bites and then told him there's no butter and it's gluten-free. He was like, "Whhaaaaaaaaaat?" I think I might use avocados to replace butter in oatmeal raisin cookies next.