Fluid Motion

[misc] Mmmmm, raw eggs.

2012-01-26T09:52:00.004-05:00

[playing] Deadwood. Scored this game in a Yankee Swap before Christmas and I've played it 4 times. This is a cute game- you've got a gang of cowboys that go to Deadwood to annex various buildings: the bank, town hall, newspaper, gold mine, casino, saloon, etc. There is some player interaction in the form of shoot-outs. If you don't want to fight and you have a horse, you can skedaddle to the abandoned mine. Players gain infamy in the form of wanted posters (but you better go to the church and get rid of as many wanted posters as you can before the Pinkertons arrive). It's a fun game and only $23 from Game Surplus.

[reading] A Game of Thrones. I'm late to the series but have become so obsessed with the story. It's so well written. It took a little perseverance on my part to get over the fact that bad things happen from the very beginning. Bad things happen to people you like. Bad things happen to people you don't like. Bad situations abound. But it's so. well. written. And compelling. I only get a few chapters in every couple of nights, so I should be done with it by the time the first HBO season comes out on dvd in March.

[cooking] Ice cream. I received an ice cream maker for Christmas and I've made the best homemade ice cream. I ordered the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream recipe book and their sweet cream base is awesome but uses raw eggs. Beat 2 eggs, add sugar, add heavy cream (hurg, this stuff has the consistency of white paint) and milk. Then whatever flavors you want. Then you add it to the ice cream maker to do it's ice-cream-making-thing. When I made my first batch, I told Dollar, "There's eggs in it." He said, "Weird." I said, "Raw eggs. Not cooked. Just... raw eggs blended." He said, "Uh... Oh... kay." I've been pretty careful about only using local eggs when I made this ice cream (from a farm two towns over). I don't know, we eat rare meat and runny eggs, so this can't be that different, right? ... I was a little apprehensive about the raw eggs but the ice cream is coming out so amazing that with worth the threat of salmonella. Also, this might help me to screw up my courage to make some homemade beef tartar with a raw egg yolk on top. Dollar has already told me that he will not eat that. Which is good, because I'll probably need him to drive me to the hospital.

[knitting] I made a little sample for a pillow cover:

Penny! Sigh. Anyway, I did a small test using yarn scraps to get exact measurements. Now I'm ready to cast on to the actual 16" x 17" pillow. I don't often swatch but I do know when it's important to.

[weaving] I hate weaving. What a tedious nightmare.

[crocheting] I can't get the idea of a mega doily rug out of my head. I just think this one is a little too mega. The .5 inch cotton cording that the artist uses appears to make a 1 - 1.5 inch thick rug once you crochet it up. I know a rug so thick and a lacy would be an open invitation in my house to trip and smash your head on a piece of heavy furniture. I think I'd go with 8/32 cotton cording and a slightly less open design.

[cross-stitching] Yeah baby, you know what I need? A new craft. I ordered some books and aida cloth. I am ready.

[misc] Penny

2012-01-25T08:10:00.000-05:00

Penny's napping spot (formerly Murderface's napping spot):

[crochet] Penny... the Panda!

2012-01-24T10:37:00.001-05:00

I finally finished a cute little amigurumi panda:

I whipping up the body back in May but never got around to making/attaching appendages. I don't know why, it took less than an hour to make, stuff and sew on two ears and four legs.

Pattern: Penny the Panda from Lion Brand.

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease (black), Plymouth Encore Worsted (white)

Hook: E (3.5 mm)

The safety eyes and nose came from the 6060 shop on Etsy.

Santana doesn't seem too interested:

But when I handed Penny (the kitten) Penny (the panda), she immediately started to chew and tried to rip it apart viscously. I quickly scooped up Penny (the panda) and said, "Stop! You're hurting her!" to Penny (the kitten).

I don't know, this might get a little confusing.

As confusing as a panda riding a horse?

That musk ox definitely looks confused.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2012-01-23T09:31:00.000-05:00

Hmm... things look a little different around here. What do you think Murderface?

Yeah, well, I like it. Blogger told me that it was time to update my template. Some of my widgets are gone, so I'll be adding to the right-hand menu over time.

[knitting] Shaelyn

2012-01-20T14:52:00.001-05:00

I finished up this shawl last summer:

I was waiting until I blocked it to take pictures. But... it's still not blocked.

Pattern: Shaelyn by Leila Raabe

Needles: US 8

Yarn: 5 balls of Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca DK.

The pattern is very good- easy to memorize and it works up quickly with DK or even worsted weight yarn. I like the finished shawl- simple but feminine from the lace.

I put the shawl on the floor to take a picture and Penny has to come in and show me how boring my knitting is:

[knitting] Purple Handspun Hat

2012-01-19T08:09:00.001-05:00

More handspun knitting! (It helps that I wound 4 various skeins of my handspun all at once- and I can't use them up fast enough.)

The fiber originally looked like:

Fiber by DyakCraft (formerly Grafton Fibers).

I spun it into a bulky single ply:

Love this hat but the rinky-dink pom pom is... unsatisfactory. I used my largest pom pom maker and it only ended up being about 2 - 2.5 inches across. What I really want is a 4 - 5 inch pom pom. The only tool that I found that looks like it fits the bill is this Clover X-Large pom pom maker but c'mon... $11.50 for one pom pom maker. I need to find it cheaper somewhere else...

[knitting] Handspun Zen Mittens

2012-01-18T11:09:00.003-05:00

One of my craft-y goals for 2012 is to knit 50% of all my projects with my own handspun. I spin yarn that I love and hold and pet... then I put it into a bag. I have two gigantic plastic zip bags full of my handspun. I keep adding to it but I don't use it. WHY?! It make no sense. So, I'm using it up, one skein at a time.

Here's the crazy, three-ply that I spun last year:

I remember I was more than a little "meh" about the finished yarn. But as I worked up a pair of mittens, the colors really worked together:

And the finished mittens?

LOVE. lovelovelovelovelovelovelove! They aren't twinsies but any means but they are so great- so soft, so colorful. I'm so happy with that quick and satisfying project this is, that I've started another pair of handspun mittens.

I used the basic mitten pattern from Ann Budd's book The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. I kitchener'd closed the last 8 stitches at the top of each mitten because the pointy top didn't feel right when I had the mittens on.

[misc] Murderface and Penny

2012-01-17T10:10:00.003-05:00

Murderface is smooshed to the back of his napping chair because Penny wants to share the spot:

Oh Murderface, you're so accommodating and polite.

[knitting] Another Lotus Hat

2012-01-13T10:17:00.001-05:00

I made another Lotus Hat during Christmas break:

This is at least the 3rd time that I've done this pattern but this time I added an extra repeat to add some slouch. Look how slouchy:

Slouch FAIL. Not slouchy at all, just a bit longer. Meh, it's okay.

The yarn I used is a nice 45% merino / 55% silk by Claudia Hand Painted Yarns, called Worsted 55. I bought it as a closeout at Webs a while ago, wondering why this pretty denim colored yarn with a nice sheen was on closeout. Knitting with it, I realized what the problem was: the dye had not saturated all the yarn plies completely, so if you untwisted the yarn a bit to uncoil the plies, you could see that it was white on the inside. No biggie but now it's something that I might pay more attention to and check for in the future.

[cooking] Dinner Rolls

2012-01-11T10:45:00.004-05:00

My little mini-Zojirushi bread maker is one of my favorite kitchen appliances (second only to my rice cooker). I use it about twice a week to make dough. This smaller model doesn't take up much counter space and makes a 1-lb loaf of bread.

I wanted to make some pull-apart dinner rolls this past weekend. It was so easy, I felt like I was cheating.

1. Make the dough in the Zo. 2 minutes of measuring/adding ingredients, wait 1 hour 45 minutes.

2. Cut the dough into 8 pieces, form into balls, put into 9in cake pan. 3 minutes of doing stuff, let rise 1 hour.

3. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

4. Eat.

So, while it takes just over 3 hours to go from "ingredients" to "mmmm bread", it's only 5 minutes of doing stuff manually. I would say "How easy is that?!" but I think Ina Garten may have copyrighted the phrase. Instead, I'll say, "SO F'ING EASY, RIGHT?!"

Here are the rolls after the final rise:

Here they are after baking:

One mini Zo, one batch of dough, in one cake pan- I think this could become a regular thing. I usually just use the dough for pizza but these rolls were the bomb.

[weaving] Golden Runner

2012-01-10T09:22:00.001-05:00

So here's the first for-realsies project that I wove. Weaved? How do I say 'weave' in the past tense? Uh...

Here's my first woven project- a small table runner. ... Or is it a dresser scarf?

How do I not know how to say what I'm making or how I'm making it?

It doesn't matter because I love it. My woven'd thingie to put on stuff.

Here it is, all tied onto my 24" Kromski Harp. There's only ~60 ends, which ended up being about 5 inches wide.

The paper on the back is nice, thick plotter paper that I was able to nab from work. It's excess cut from a map that I printed and is just the right size and weight for weaving.

The yarn I'm using is Aslan Trends Class, in a pretty golden color. I picked it on in Florida when my sister and I were down visiting our mom. It's a cotton/rayon blends with nice sheen and drape.

After some weaving and rolling weaving and rolling:

Not bad. Not bad at all. My selvedges on the left side were wicked wonky, but I attribute that to my noob skillz and the tension not being tight enough. Weaving is not something where you can go, "Bah! Tension Shmention!" No, the tension needs to be. just. so. OR ELSE.

The finishing wasn't so bad. I cut the project off and tied knots a either end:

The thing that's hard for me to get past is that there's a lot of waste. Or, there feels like there's a lot of waste. All those ends where the project was tied on are cut. And I'm left with ~120 4 - 6 inch short bits of yarn.

Interestingly, these ends are called "thrums". Which automatically makes me think of thrummed mittens. I guess I could use these yarn ends as thrums for various projects but I usually think of unspun roving for thrums. If I used these leftovers, it would feel like lots of loose ends hanging out inside the mitten. Right?

Currently my plan for the ends (because, yes, I will obsessively keep them and not throw them away) is to use them either:

1. Tie my handspun yarn after I skein it.

2. As stuffing for toys, like these little dumplings

3. Cut the thrums much shorter, put them out in a cage/mesh bag for the birds to take in the spring to build their nests.

Any other ideas for short lengths of yarn?

The runner in the entryway:

Yay!

[misc] Murderface Monday

2012-01-09T09:06:00.000-05:00

Some recent videos of the kitties. Waiting for supper:

Murderface and Penny playing with a new cat spinner toy:

Penny, chittering at a fly on the ceiling:

[misc] Happy 2012!

2012-01-03T10:50:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I had a nice, long vacation which I spent doing... uh... doing... what did I do? Not any of the house stuff that I had planned (painting, sanding, staining). I knit a lot and started weaving.

WEAVING IS SO HARD. SRSLY. No one told me that 60 - 70% of weaving is prep work and set-up. The actual weaving, passing the shed and beating it down, is after hours and hours of measuring, threading, warping, drinking, taking a break by watching an episode of Entourage and eating chocolate. You have to ask yourself, "You know what I'd like to do 8 hours from now after non-stop, painstaking fussy work? Weave."

Siiigh. The upside to this is that once you actually sit down to weave, the project moves along quickly. I made a little table runner/dresser scarf and just started a simple scarf.

My new year's resolution (more like a 2012 challenge) is to knit 50% of all my projects with my handspun. My handspun is accumulating and I'm not putting it to any use. So. I started a pair of mittens and they are turning out omg so cute with my own handspun.

It was nice having a week off to hang out with the kitties. Santana, who's the meanest B-word in house, was really sweet and cuddly all week.

Penny's growth makes me sad. I didn't take enough pictures of her as an itty-bitty-stinky behbeh kitten.

Murderface is a good boy as always. So handsome. So sweet. The best kitty ever.

Got to take pictures of all the recent and current projects...

[crochet] Christmas Coasters Finished

2011-12-22T10:29:00.002-05:00

I did finish all the coasters:

It was kind of hard to give these up. I love the little bit of gold glitz in them:

Very festive.

[craft] Christmas Tags

2011-12-21T09:50:00.001-05:00

I had to start wrapping gifts this past weekend and all I had in the house was wrapping paper and tape. No tags. BUT I did find blank crafty-type tags and a package of 4 sheets of Christmas stickers. So I made my own tags and I think they're soooooo cute:

I might need to do this every year. It was so fun to make different combinations of the stickers.

It was kind of sad to see people read the tag, open the present, crumple the tag with the wrapping paper and throw it away but, sigh, it's okay. It just a tag. Just a homemade tag. That I made and went "Hah hah, omg, that's so cute" after making every single one.

[spinning] Nightingale Fibers

2011-12-20T07:48:00.001-05:00

Spun a true 3-ply with 50% alpaca and 50% merino from Nightingale Fibers (picked up at 2011 VT Sheep and Wool festival, I think).

Ending up being a light worsted weight.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-12-19T09:19:00.001-05:00

Murderface, coming to see what I'm eating and whether or not he wants some:

He always wants some. He's Starvin' Marvin all the time because Penny eats her food as OMGfastAsPossible and then runs over to his dish to eat whatever he's still woking on. (Penny knows enough to not try that anymore with Santana.) Murderface tried to bite the air around her head but he doesn't smack her to deter her. He's just too sweet and polite. But then he's like, "Meow I'm hungry! Meow I'm hungry! Meow! MEOW!"Penny, can you not take Murderface's food anymore, please?

D'awwwww.

[crochet] Christmas Coasters

2011-12-16T09:19:00.002-05:00

Whipping up some sets of coasters to give out for Christmas:

You'd think after making the Catan lapghan/gameboard that I'd never want to make another single-crochet hexagon again. But. I can make them pretty quickly now.

The yarn is Louisa Harding Cinnabar, which is a mishmash of 30% Viscose, 25% Cotton, 15% Acrylic, 10% Silk, 10% Linen, 5% Polyamide (nylon), and 5% Acetate. I have to be a little careful working with it, because I'm using a smaller hook to make the coasters dense, and there are so many plies of different fibers, they can kind of come undone. But the finished coasters have a nice tweedy look with a little bit of glitz. I am able to make a set of 6 coasters from one ball of Cinnabar.

[knitting] Christmas Hats

2011-12-15T09:22:00.000-05:00

Whipped up three hats to give as Christmas presents:

Still need to sew in the ends.

The yarn is Knit Picks Shamrock that I ordered years ago. It's a heavy worsted/light bulky weight. The pattern was just: Cast on 84, k2p2 up up and away until decreases for the crown. Easy. Each hat only took a couple evenings to make.

[knitting] Slippers

2011-12-14T09:20:00.002-05:00

Finished a pair of slippers (which are really just a pair of double-thick socks):

Pattern: Nola's Knitted Slippers

Yarn: Plymouth Encore Colorspun Worsted, pink, 2 balls (yarn held double)

Needles: US 9 (5.5 mm)

Notes: These are nice and plush. Easy to make- the pattern is written to knit these flat, then seam them shut. I had to pull out my trusty Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book (this is still my 'desert island' knitting reference book) to make sure I did my garter-to-garter sewing invisible. You really can't see/feel the seam along the foot and heel.

If I were to make these again, I'd probably do the cuff in the round and then work the actual foot flat.

These are nice to keep by the couch. I usually go around the house barefoot, even in the winter. These slippers are nice to pull on when my feet are up on the coffee table and my toes get cold.

[misc] Press button for Perfect Turkey

2011-11-29T09:19:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I was able to put together a sit-down dinner for 14 people, with real dishes and everything. I didn't want to use throw-aways. Thank goodness my neighbor lent me extra chairs, dishes and silverware.

I picked up a 23.7 lb turkey from Lincoln Farm and it turned out beautiful. Could be because of the "Perfect Turkey" button that my oven has. At 6:15 am on Thursday, I'm sauteing onions and celery in butter for the stuffing and sleepily staring at the turkey button, looking at the instruction manual to the oven and holding the special probe in my hand that plugs into the oven and then into the turkey. I stuffed the turkey, threw it into the oven, inserted the probe and let the oven do it's magic perfect turkey thing.

That turkey was PERFECT. My first turkey ever and it was brown all over, moist and juicy, flavorful... and the whole thing cooked in 4 hours. I can't even believe it. I am taking no credit- I think it was the fresh bird from a local farm and the perfect turkey button that deserve all the credit. What did I do. I basted it.

I wish I'd taken a picture of it but by the time my sister mentioned it, the legs were off and I was already hacking away at the breasts. :(

As good as the turkey was, I don't want to eat any more turkey until next year. Dollar happily ate leftovers after leftovers, day after day. I was like, "Ugh, how many times can you eat turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy?" The answer is 6 times over 3 days. And really, I think he only stopped because we ran out.

Here are some new pictures of the kitties. MF and Santana weren't into the turkey. I tried to give them little pieces as I was stripping the carcass for leftovers. They weren't into it.

[misc] Stinky Penny

2011-11-22T14:42:00.001-05:00

Penny is settling in just fine at home. Other than keeping me up all right, making smelly farts, shredding my hands and feet and back... she is a joy.

That is all.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-11-21T09:02:00.001-05:00

Murderface keeps an eye on Penny:

MF and Santana are handling her well. They hiss but they haven't been aggressive towards her. This hissing is just to say, "Get away from me, pipsqueak!" Penny always backs off, but in a sad, "Why don't you love me?" way.

Santana growls and hisses and just generally wonders when we're going to get rid of Penny:

Went to the Green Mountain Fiber Festival at the Hotel Coolidge this past Saturday. It was very nice to see Lois and everyone vending. I bought a chic box bag and a very pretty hooked rug. I also visited the new incarnation of White River Yarns in downtown WRJ, next to the hotel. It's soooooo great- lots of new inventory, great space, great prices. It's really awesome- a great blend of a new, fresh feeling with aspects of the former shop.

[misc] Penny for your thoughts...

2011-11-16T13:21:00.001-05:00

Well, I picked up our little bundle of terrified, timid kitten last night. Here is Penelope:

Or "Penny" for short. Get it? Penny Dollar? Bwah ha ha ha, I crack myself up. But seriously, I've wanted to get some kind of pet and name her Penny for ages.

She's sequestered to the craft room now. She was spayed on Monday so the stitches are still fresh. She needs to rest (although she's not doing much of that) and not tussle with Murderface or Santana.

Murderface woke up from a nap last night and I decided to let him stick his head in and check Penny out. He started hissing at her. He hissed three times. Dollar has NEVER seen MF hiss and I've only heard him hiss once (when I accidentally stepped on his paw). I scooted MF out of the room and shut the door. MF is a teddy bear and can't hurt a fly, how could he possibly hiss at this face?

I don't know. I ordered some more Feliway refills and I actually went out and got a baby gate. Insane, I know, but I want to put it up rather than having a closed door, so that the cats can at least see/smell each other for a while.

More pictures later...

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-11-14T09:08:00.001-05:00

I used the three day weekend to do absolutely nothing. It was glorious at times and boring at times. I hung out with the cats and did my nails.

And I think I found a new kitten to get. I stopped by the vet's office on Saturday to pick up a couple bags of dry food and there was a cute, widdle kitten in a cage. I put my name down to take her (not until this coming Friday) but I'm kind of on the fence about it. I do want her but what will Murderface and Santana think? What are they doing to do to her? What will she be like? We'll see...

[house] Progress...

2011-11-09T09:09:00.001-05:00

Well, the snow melted and we applied a coat of stucco to the exposed blue insulation foam around the bottom of the house. It was a nice day on Sunday. Here's the view from the front door:

Look at that long driveway. I need to get a snowblower soon-ish.

The front of the house:

Dollar's step-dad has been absolutely incredible in all the help that he's given us- getting us all kinds of shrubs to plant, mulch delivered, blue stone to lay in around the flagstones, helping to dig and put in the flagstones, getting us to apply the stucco. You know, if it was up to me, I wouldn't ever get around to doing any of that and his landscaping help has been so great.

The back of the house:

Still have some blue foam to cover up back here but we don't get too much sun back here, especially now that we're heading into winter. So... we'll probably leave it until spring.

Now to get ready for Thanksgiving. I've never cooked a turkey before so this should be interesting...

[crochet] Crocheted Catan

2011-11-08T08:17:00.001-05:00

The crocheted Seafarers of Catan boardgame is done. It was played at Carnage in Wonderland this past weekend and was well received. Here's the game set up, ready to play:

I crocheted the map (63 hexagons) and my sister cut all the wooden pieces: (15 roads, 15 ships, 5 settlements, 4 cities) x 6 for 6 players. Here they are sanded, glued and stuck to tape, ready to be spray painted:

There's also a large pirate ship that prowls the open water during the game, ready to steal from players:

After a game, things looked like:

Awwww, the little ships going from island to island are so cute:

The yarn I used is Plymouth Galway:

One ball was enough for each resource color that make up the islands. I ended up using 5 or 6 balls of blue for the water. The hexes are just the same pattern that I used for my Korean Koasters. I sewed them in order, into strips, then sewed the strips together, then sewed in all the ends. It was a massive pain in the ass of epic proportions.

The map is a replica of the "The Six Islands" scenario in the Seafarers of Catan 5 - 6 player rulebook:

Love this. It's a one-of-a-kind game/lap blanket. But I'm so happy that it's done. Now I can work on whatever I want! Spinning the fiber that I just got at VT Sheep and Wool! Knitting shawls and hats and cowls! Crocheting cute little amigurumi! I need to pick a new project and get going because all I seem to be doing in my free time now is playing Bejeweled on Xbox.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-11-07T12:52:00.001-05:00

Murderface, I'm sorry I haven't been taking tons of pictures of you. You're the cutest.

Santana, don't you think Murderface is the cutest?

Uh... all righty then.

[misc] I'm dreaming... of a white... Halloween

2011-10-31T09:49:00.002-05:00

It started like:

And then the next day, it was like:

And then it was like:

I woke up Sunday morning wondering, "Why do I feel the urge to be opening Christmas presents? Why is there no hot cocoa in the house? Why is it so f'ing freezing? Why am I shoveling in October?"

Ugh, snow snow go away, come again in approx 50 days.

[misc] Sleepless in Vermont

2011-10-28T08:28:00.001-05:00

4:21 am

AMY: Psst.

DOLLAR: zzzz

AMY: Hey... Hey, are you up?

DOLLAR: zzzz

AMY: shakes DOLLAR

DOLLAR: Hm... whut...

AMY: Hey... I think I know why the electric bill went up so much.

DOLLAR: ...

AMY: I think it's the weed whacker- the battery for the weed whacker. You were doing a lot of weed whacking last month and charging the battery every day.

DOLLAR: Yeah... I thought of that.

AMY: Oh. Well. I think that that's what it was. It must be...

DOLLAR: ... zzzz

AMY: What do you think Santana?

SANTANA: I want breakfast.

AMY: It's too early. I'm not getting up.

SANTANA: But I'm awake and I want food. Now.

AMY: ... zzzz

SANTANA: Just you wait, human... just... you... wait...

[misc] Pumpkin

2011-10-21T08:17:00.002-05:00

I forced my house-guest to carve me a pumpkin while he was here:

Looks nice!

After about a week, the face is starting to dry and cave in on itself. But I do like having a pumpkin to light at night:

SpOOoooOOOooooOOOooky.

[travel] 2011 Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival

2011-10-19T09:35:00.000-05:00

I did go to the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival this year, during the less-rainy day (Sunday).

I bought some very nice, interesting new fibers to spin. I visited my favorite vendor Fantom Farm and got some special, sparkly fiber.

ME: Do you have any spinning fiber with Angelina or Firestar in it?

FF VENDOR: Over here, here's some.

ME: peering closely Yeah. Yeah, I guess that has some sparkle. sigh

FF VENDOR: You like sparkly fibers?

ME: Yes.

FF VENDOR: looks left... looks right... Listen, I got some fiber that isn't out because it's so sparkly-

ME: I'll take it.

FF VENDOR: goes to the back of his area, moves stuff aside, opens a tub, pulls out a bag, reveals a ball of brown fiber blended lots of copper sparkle.

ME: SPARKLEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

FF VENDOR: blinks

ME: Ahem. Sparkly. Weight it. I'll take the whole ball.

###

My sister and I and a friend wandered the festival but didn't stay too long. There's one food vendor there that has consistently served sub-par food, year after year. I avoided them but our friend got a cold, inedible sausage. Poor thing, I shared my sandwich with her. And when we got back to my house, I made some fried rice. My advice is to bring your own food to the VT S&W. The food there really isn't good and it's way overpriced.

[travel] Cannon Mountain

2011-10-18T08:11:00.001-05:00

Just a few pictures from our drive up and over to Franconia Notch in the White Mountains. We stopped at Beaver Pond to stretch our legs.

We walked the Flume then went to Cannon Mountain to take the tram to the top. The views and foliage were so amazing all day.

I think we could see all the way to Canada, Vermont and Maine.

[misc] Santana has her bed back

2011-10-17T08:48:00.000-05:00

Oof, two weeks of being incommunicado. I had house guests last week and was busy hosting, entertaining, touring, etc. We did almost everything that VT and NH has to offer: apple picking, the Flume at Franconia Notch, the tram up Cannon Mountain, Quechee Gorge, VINS, Ben & Jerry's, Cabot, Stowe... I cooked as much New England-y food as possible: clam chowder, shepherd's pie, apple pie, blueberry crisp, maple muffins. We had breakfast at Eaton's Sugarhouse and lunch at FireStone's. (Why is FireStone's in Quechee always empty- it's one of the few places that I like and will eat out at. The food is very good!) We ate nice cheeses, drank lots of beer. It was a very fun week and they were awesome guests.

Now to get back into real life- house, bills, work, ... sigh.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-10-03T12:48:00.003-05:00

My faaaaaaavorite thing to do during the weekend is ~~bother~~ hang out with Murderface. I realize that he sleeps WAY too much, I need to go to his curled-up body on the bed and kiss his head and nuzzle his side and scratch his cheeks, etc etc etc. He can't get any rest when I'm around all weekend:

That's his "why do you wake me up?" face.

[knitting] Double garter Baktus

2011-09-29T08:10:00.001-05:00

Manos del Uruguay was recently hosting a design contest through Ravelry. I picked up two skeins of the classica- one teal, one variegated- and made a double garter stitch Baktus:

I didn't end up submitting the pattern to the contest, so I'll post it here:

Yarn: 2 skeins Manos del Uruguay Classica- one solid (Main Color, MC), one variegated (Contrast Color, CC).

Needles: US 10

Pattern:

Cast on three with MC.

Row 1 (MC): k1, yo, k to end
turn work
Row 2 (CC): k (knit yo through back loop)
slide work to opposite end of needles
Row 3 (MC): k
turn work
Row 4 (CC): k
slide work to opposite end of needles

repeat rows 1 - 4 until half of yarn from each ball is used.

Knit the same for the first half, but with k2tog decrease in place of yo increase.

This made a good sized, triangle shaped scarf. And it looks the same on both sides, so it's reversible.

I'd be willing to make another one of these, and start with the CC yarn- I think it would make a very different looking scarf.

[knitting] Another Novelty Scarf?

2011-09-28T08:25:00.001-05:00

Here the other ruffly scarf that I whipped up in less than one Batman movie:

Yarn: Euro Yarns Tinseltown, brown, 1 ball

Needles: US 8

Pattern: Comes on the inside of the ball band. Just garter worked across 8 stitches.

I love this scarf- so pretty. The yarn itself is more structured than the Flounce from yesterday and you have definite, regular holes to work. My only issue is that it's not really soft. Not really wearable for long periods of time- It's more of a "Look at this! Look at me!" accessory.

It's a good one-skein project and would look posh wrapped around the neck, slightly tucked into a winter coat with lapels.

[knitting] Novelty Scarf?

2011-09-27T08:38:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time since I've used novelty yarns but for some reason I picked up a couple balls. I think I just wanted some quick projects to give me that feeling of instant gratification. This Catan afghan is sucking the love of life out of me.

So I made:

Yarn: Flounce by Knitting Fever (1 ball)
Needles: US 8
Pattern: Just garter stitch across 8 stitches until you run out of yarn.
It helped to search YouTube for a video on how to knit with this net yarn. You can kind of be messy and irregular and the scarf will still turn out nice and ruffly. This yarn is really soft and pleasant to touch for being 100% acrylic.

Not a bad one-skein project and the whole thing works up in less than two hours. I plan on giving this one to Dollar's three-year-old niece for Christmas.

[misc] Santana and Murderface

2011-09-26T07:57:00.003-05:00

Santana in profile:

Murderface in profile:

They are so similar in appearance, sometimes the only way I can tell them apart is by Santana's tail or the white on her nose. MF went to the vet on Saturday to get an annual exam and rabies shot. He's "the picture of health" according to the vet, which was nice to hear.Other than that, just... puttered around all weekend. Gave the house a thorough cleaning (cat-fur dust bunnies were starting to take over the stairs) while Dollar put together a new treadmill. Got some stamping stuff for my nails in the mail last week and already I've done:

I haz a new addiction.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-09-12T08:00:00.001-05:00

Murderface, working on his emo album cover:

[misc] Meow?

2011-09-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

[spinning] Field of Clovers

2011-09-08T08:40:00.001-05:00

Spun a two-ply worsted-weight BFL of greens and browns:

[misc] Cylon City

2011-09-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

I painted my nails a wonderful chrome called Celeb City:

It's awesome- shiny! So metal! But... I kind of wished I had a red nail polish art pen to draw a line across the top. Then my nails would look like Cylons, right?!

I actually found nail art polishes at Rite Aid! In the Powerhouse Plaza! I can't believe they had them there! They have tons of colors and they're $1.99 each!

So I got home, did a Google Image search for "cylon head" to see what major features I had to draw to get the look right, and ...

A CYLON! It's totally messy because I'm not so good with precision but it's recognizable. I ran to show Dollar and he thinks it looks awesome. He's so supportive, awwww.

My little army of Cylons:

I didn't even try to draw on my right hand with my left hand. Instead, I just put stickers on my nails to see how decorating nails like that would turn out. I like it fine but the stickers depict cartoon-y things like, panda bear heads (which I do like), a yellow canary wearing a pirate eye-patch and other random/weird things. I'll see how long the stickers last before they fall off.

[misc] Santana Tuesday

2011-09-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

She's still got her mean streak, but it's receding. I think sometimes she just wakes up on the wrong side of the bed but overall her attitude has improved leaps and bounds. She loves to nap on your lap. She sleeps next to me on my side of the bed. She kisses me (real licks on my arm or leg, not the toothless/gummy bites she usually gives as a "kiss") every now and then. We loves her.

[misc] Nails Nails Nails

2011-09-02T11:39:00.000-05:00

OMG, I have a new obsession. Nails. Crazy-ass nails. I just did mine:

Green nail polish with sparkly nail polish over it! It's like a birthday party threw up all over my finger nails! I loooooooves with frightening abandon. I've done everything but crouch on the floor, stroking my nails, saying, "My own... my love... my precious... ch'ollum ch'ollum".

Poor Santana in the background. She gets no play time when I applying 6 coats of polish to my nails.

I kind of went on a polish shopping spree, but thankfully I'm getting the cheap-o bottles at CVS and Walgreens (for .99 or 1.99). In 2 days I've acquired:

I know, I know, but... I must have them all. Pink nails? I think not. I've decided I want either crazy-fun-time nails (like above) or trashy ho-bag nails (e.g. zebra and leopard prints- so skanky, I must have them!).

I avoided painting my nails ever since I've had Murderface. He hates the smell and I feel bad when he comes up to me for cheek skritches, gets of whiff of the fresh polish, recoils and gives me the squinty-eyed look of abject suffering at the hand of my intentional betrayal and disregard for his happiness. He's a little melodramatic. But after giving myself a manicure a couple times already (sequestered in a far away room in the house), he hasn't noticed when I pet him on his head or give him dinner. After a day, there's no smell so I can give him all the cheek skritches he wants.

[misc] Murderface Monday Tuesday: Post Irene Edition

2011-08-30T12:23:00.001-05:00

Well, Vermont is pretty much wrecked. 20+ hours of non-stop rain flooded rivers, inundated homes and fields, washed away roads and covered bridges. It is absolutely heartbreaking- some people have lost everything. Dollar and I are thankful that the new house weathered the storm without incident. Our driveway didn't wash out, no water ponded anywhere around the house, the basement is dry. We are very, very thankful.

I previously mentioned that we were having "issues" with our generator. The electrician came last Wednesday to check on it (dead battery) and brought a new battery on Thursday. I was checking the status panel on it every day leading up to the storm and I was getting "Inspect Battery" and "Low Battery" warnings right away. So, the problem is deeper. Still, when we lost power on Sunday night at 5pm, there was enough juice to get the generator going. Which was awesome- we continued to do laundry, run the dishwasher, dehumidifiers, cook supper, etc. We let the generator run all night. I need to ask someone (a) how much propane my generator is using per hour, and (b) how many hours straight that it's safe to run the thing. Is it okay to run it non-stop, night and day, for days on end? Just curious, because we'll probably have to do that in the winter when we lose power, right?

Monday morning I went for a walk to the end of my road and saw a tree down across the road, but other than that our dirt road is a-ok. Hardly washed out around the edges. I'm glad I called the town last week to regrade our end (which was quite washed out). I called the town clerk in the late morning last Thursday and told her, she said she'd call the road crew and when I got home from work, it was graded/smoothed/redone. That's some pretty swift service.

The only part that took some heavy damage is a 4th class road that runs through our property, up to a small pond. The pond overflowed and the water spilled down the road. Here's how it looked Sunday afternoon:

Dollar and I walked up there yesterday at noon to see:

Which is nothing compared to the actual devastation and loss across the state, it's just amazing to see the damage that mere water can do.

Monday afternoon at 3pm, the generator crapped out. I was sitting at my computer and heard the air circulation in the house cut out. Uh... oh... I thought. A few minutes later everything stopped. I didn't get hysterical right away, that came hours later. Dollar and I were playing a board game by candlelight and I felt my way to the kitchen to fill up my glass with tap water. The water came out as a faint trickle. I lost it and started jabbering about "no water... pee outside... can't pee in the house... how can the tank be empty... i'm so thirsty..."

This was, like, 6 hours after the generator died and I was sure we were going to die next.

At midnight on the dot, the power came back on. Of course we were both fast asleep but the shrill chirp of something in the house made me get up. Light's didn't seem to be working (that's weird, since alarm clocks were flashing and our phone was working) but I sleepily started punching buttons on the home alarm console, which is where any shrill chirping in the house comes from 97% of the time, but it was not the source. I followed the sound to the laundry room, to a Carbon Monoxide detector on the ceiling. A shrill BEEP in one minute incriminates. I thought about what to do BEEP how to turn it off... It looked like there's a big button on the face of it but since we have BEEP such lovely high 9-foot ceilings, I had to go into the broom closet to get a broom and hold the stick end up to the button and... push BEEPBEEPBEEP ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I think that BEEP Ooooooh fudge. The beeping was starting to drive me insane, so I went up to get Dollar.

He came down and tried to take the thing off the ceiling (always his answer for our smoke alarm chirping at the apartment: take it down and take the batteries out. Safe!) but when he got up on a step stool and unscrewed the thing, it was attached with wires. Oh yeah, all the smoke detectors and stuff in the house are all connected. He put it back in place while I offered helpful advice like, "Maybe it's chirping because we really do have a carbon monoxide leak" and opened up a window.

It's late, we're tired and slowly being driven crazy by a chirping that we can't turn off. I head down to the basement (where the lights ARE working for some reason) to see if there's switches or something to turn on and off. I stare at the breaker box for a while before Dollar's like, "Let me see." By the grace of God, he sees that half of the switches are facing the wrong direction and flips them back to the right side. And lo, there was light upstairs and the evil chirping stopped.

That cats during all this? During the hurricane? During the generator running? The power out? The chirping? Santana wants to play and Murderface is passed out somewhere.

Isn't that right, Santana?

I thought so. Murderface, what do you think?

Of course, I forgot, you helped by eating wetfood. Yeah, that helped. A lot.

[misc] Murderface Santana Monday

2011-08-22T07:52:00.000-05:00

Had a good weekend with Santana. She napped on my legs while I watched The Wire yesterday and I was able to pull her up into my arms, with her on her back, and pet her stomach while she purred. I told Dollar and he didn't believe me.

Lost power last night around 2am. I woke up about 3 seconds before the power went out. It's the first time (when we've been home, at least) that we've lost power and I waited for the generator to kick on. It's a 20kW Home Standby Generator and it's hooked up to the home propane system. It's meant to come on the moment we lose power to the house. I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Then I got up, turned on a flashlight and went downstairs, out to the back yard, lifted the lid to the generator and started flipping the auto/manual switch to manual (it was set to auto). Nothing. No power. No juice. WTeverlovingF. I know that it works- I was there when the electrician tested it.

I couldn't get back to sleep. The home security system doesn't work with no power. I had convinced myself that we lost power (not because of all the heavy rain / thunderstorms / wind ALL DAY) because burglars/killers were outside and cut the power to the house with a big tree-branch cutter or axe or something and were quietly slipping into the house to burgle/kill us in our sleep. The power came back on in 30 minutes or so and I went downstairs to re-set the alarm.

I told Dollar, "At least we caught this now, rather than in the middle of winter with 4 feet of snow outside." He said, "ZZZzzzzzz." Yeah, he's not much help at 2:30 in the morning. The electrician is coming this week to check it out.

Also called Elextrolux last week about the bottom oven not working. They couldn't find anyone in my area to come and service the thing, so they're going to give me an entirely new oven. They're going to bring a brand new one, take the old one out and install the new one. I was kind of surprised (Really? Bringing and installing a new oven will be cheaper than having someone come fix the one I already have?) but hey, as long as I don't have to pay anything...

[spinning] Blue Oceans

2011-08-19T07:08:00.000-05:00

About 3oz of superwash merino, chain plied:

This turned out very nice- soft, nice drape, good semi-solid color. Wish there was more of it but it should make a pair of fingerless gloves.

[spinning] Coastal

2011-08-18T08:08:00.000-05:00

A wonderful fellow Raveler recently sent me some spinning fiber. I didn't get a before picture of the fiber because of the move and because I started spinning it as soon as I was able. The finished worsted-weight two-ply:

I'm calling it "Coastal". Not sure what I'll make with it but I'm happy to be spinning again and being productive.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-08-15T09:58:00.000-05:00

Had a fairly easy weekend. Dollar mowed the lawn for the first time yesterday and it took FOUR hours on a riding mower. Seriously. I need to take some pictures. All we need now is a weed wacker.

I went up the hill to pick some blackberries (only picked a pint's worth- they're not ready yet) and made some turnovers. I planned on using the bottom oven of my double-wall oven. I self-cleaned it for the first time on Saturday but when I went to pre-heat it yesterday, it wouldn't get warm. UGH. Going to try it when I get home tonight. I'll probably need to call to have an Electrolux tech come out and fix it.

I'm crocheting away on hexagons for my Catan blanket. I have 40 water hexes and I need 22 more. Then 32 land hexes. I don't think I'm going to be able to get everything done in two weeks but I'm going to try.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-08-08T08:40:00.001-05:00

Had a nice, quiet weekend at home. I didn't leave the house all weekend. We live so far out now that I really don't like to leave the house if I don't have to. I cleaned a bit (but not much), unpacked some more boxes, made some snacks (homemade chex mix FTW) and tried to make significant progress on my crocheted catan blanket.

Murderface was acting silly:

And cute:

Santana looks a little grumpy here (I think MF might have been following me into her room):

But she napped all weekend and I would come lay on the bed with her and pet her. She's getting better about her anger issues.

[crochet] Plastic Raffia Doily

2011-08-04T07:27:00.000-05:00

Eons ago I picked up some spools of plastic raffia from a Chinese shop in downtown DC. I believe this raffia is meant to be used to tie packages but thought that it would be an interesting, non-traditional material to knit or crochet with.

I finally made something with it- a small doily:

I didn't follow a pattern but took some basic skills/stitches that I learned form making my Colorful Doily and applied them here.

I love how this turned out- very shiny. Looks pretty with a small bowl of flowers:

[knitting] EEK! A mouse!

2011-08-03T06:59:00.000-05:00

A mouse in the house!!

Oh wait, it's okay. I made this one:

Pattern: Catnip Mouse by Mare Smith. The pattern is called "Silken Braid Mouse" on Ravelry.

Yarn: Small amount of leftover Encore Worsted in gray.

Needles: US 5

Mods: None, really. I didn't make the tail long enough to knot and I didn't add whiskers because it's cute enough as is. The pattern is great- knit in one piece and then seamed shut. The cables are clever, the eyes and ears are clever- just a great pattern. I would like to make TONS of these to use up leftover scraps of yarn.

I picked some fresh catnip outside to rub all over the outside of the mouse:

Then let Murderface take the toy out for a test drive:

Looks like it's MF Approved. What does Santana think?

Looks like she approves as well:

In fact, I'm not sure where this toy is now. I better get started on making more...

[cats] Their own private condo

2011-08-02T08:29:00.001-05:00

Murderface and Santana, despite being son and mother, don't get along. You won't see her cleaning his face in a sweet, maternal way. You won't see him try to cuddle up and sleep next to her. Basically, he tries to smell her butt and she'll freak out and try to slash him.

I thought a kitty condo might help give them different levels to hang out at. Murderface is a ground-level cat; he likes to stay on the floor or lay with us on the couch or in bed. Santana is a loner and likes to be higher up; she likes to be on the dining room table or the kitchen counters (Santana! Get down! ... GET DOWN!). I ordered an Armarkat tree from Amazon (which was our first delivery to the new house! Yay!).

All the pieces:

Halfway through assembly:

I love putting together furniture. You couldn't pay me enough to tape and paint a wall but I will happily put together furniture until the cows come home.

Cat tree all done and pushed back into the corner:

Isn't it awesome? But... where are the cats?

I picked up Santana and put her on it:

Then she jumped down to the window sill.

I put some treats around the tree to lure Murderface up:

Let's zoom-in on MF and his little pot belly in the most unflattering pose/picture ever:

Anyway- they're not using it. I need to rub some catnip all over it or hide some treats. Santana is still shredding the corner of the couch instead of using ANY of the scratching posts all over this condo. I was given some advice to tell the cats that the condo is NOT for them and STRICTLY off limits to make them want to use it. That might work with Santana...

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-08-01T07:13:00.000-05:00

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-07-25T07:46:00.001-05:00

We moved! We're in the new house! We're living in a house! That is ours!

That's the good news. The bad news is that there's still stuff that the builders need to fix (like putting in the f'ing butcher block of doom that no one can seem to order, pick up at the right store, cut to correct measurements, etc etc etc) but I'm trying not to stress out about all the things that still need to be done.

We made two trips in a 17-foot U-Haul from the apartment to the house to move the big stuff. We've unpacked and found a place for most stuff. I bought a drill and have become quite handy. I've installed all 10 cellular shades (they look so nice- but I need about 10 more), most of the door stops, hung a shelf above the washer/dryer, sanded and applied 4 coats of polyurethane to the stairs, sealed the grout around the backsplash tile, changed all the plastic toilets seats to much nicer wooden/whisper-close style, dusted/washed every surface and window, .... sigh, I'm exhausted. And I'm trying not to think about all the painting, sanding, staining that still needs to be done.

Anyway, the cats are adjusting well. The first few days were pretty freaky for them (mostly because workers were still here) but they found the familiar bed in the bedroom and that's their safe spot. They do go outside, but only when one of us is there to watch over them. They don't go too far and they seem happy to come back inside and just chill on a windowsill.

Some pictures of Murderface:

This is pretty much MF's life now- Sitting somewhere, minding his own business, while Santana shoots laser beams at him with her eyes:

Santana looks sweet:

Dollar and Santana on the deck:

Santana is bad. Not all the time, but she's bad a lot. She's still hissy/scratchy at MF every morning (when she's hungry). She gets up onto the kitchen counter and will eat ANYTHING I leave up there. Last night she ate all the leftover beef in a pan from a broccoli and beef stir-fry. We do love her, though. She is much more of a lap cat than MF and Dollar likes that.

[crochet] Elephant

2011-06-30T07:53:00.000-05:00

I quickly made up this amigurumi elephant:

I used my own handspun. It's a merino/silk blend and it's one of my first handspun yarns. It was way over-plied (quite twisty to work with) and dense. I tried started a scarf with this yarn but it was coming out way too heavy. I opted to make this elephant instead.

The pattern is good (Padma on Ravelry), seamless and easy.

I added some glass safety eyes. I needed to add some eyelids because I didn't want this elephant to look SURPRISED or SCARED all the time. I tried for pensive, but I think it just looks sad about something.

I slipped a bamboo cable need into the curl of the trunk. It's very cute:

Cute little elephant.

[knitting] Small Cotton Runner

2011-06-28T07:41:00.000-05:00

Things are still packed away but I found a random ball of light blue cotton Saucy. I decided to make a simple runner with a seed stitch edge:

Not very big- just large enough for the top of a bookcase or something:

Cast on 25. Seed stitch for 7 rows. Maintain 5 stitches of seed stitch on either side, with 15 stitches of stockinette in the center. Knit until almost out of yarn. 7 rows seed stitch. Bind off.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-06-27T08:53:00.000-05:00

[travel] Stone Mountain, GA

2011-06-24T07:31:00.001-05:00

I was in Atlanta last week for a work conference. One day a co-worker and I went to visit Stone Mountain, which is 15 miles east of the city. The concierge at the hotel stressed that it was not an easy place to get to via public transportation and I should really go to the airport and get a rental car if I wanted to go. I said no thanks and we went via train, to another train, to the bus, which was the wrong bus, to another bus, then walked 5 miles in the baking Georgia sun. Perhaps the concierge was right.

Stone Mountain is a large granite outcrop (the largest in the world, I think they said) with three Confederate heros chiseled into the side:

Left to right: Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson

It's HUGE.

The carving itself covers three acres of the outcrop.

We took an air tram to the top. I was expecting a brisk breeze blowing across the bald top, like when you emerge from the treeline at the top of Mt. Cardigan and you're like, "OOOoooo that's refreshing!" No such luck at this place- you were merely closer to the sun at the top of Stone Mountain. I took many pictures in a 360 degree circle to stitch together into panoramic shots.

And I saw my first ever magnolias:

They're HUGE. That blub on the left that hasn't opened yet is the size of a softball. The open flowers are probably nine inches across, tip to tip. And they smelled wonderful.

Atlanta itself was all right. We found some very nice restaurants. I had grits for the first time. I loved it- I think it's just white polenta but I was with plenty of people that love grits and hate polenta. I'm pretty sure they're 99% the same thing but it might be a Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi debate. I also had carpaccio for the first ever. Loved. It.

The kitchen in the new house is almost ready. The fridge sticks out a good eight inches from the cabinets. It looks stupid and I absolutely hate it. I don't hate anything in that house but I hate the fridge. There's no fix. The cabinets around it are 24 inches deep. The frige is 32 inches deep. Cabinet-ready fridges start at 30 inches deep. They can't cut into the wall behind it because it's a load-bearing wall and there's all kinds of important pipes and tubes and things back there. I'm at a loss. Smaller fridges would still be too big. No way to push it back. There's no fix and I'm completely fixated on it. I need to bring Dollar up to the house and have him convince me that it's not a completely stupid, ugly, glaring mistake. Ugh. Sad face sad face sad face.

[knitting] Dice Bag

2011-06-23T06:48:00.000-05:00

A small dice bag using a little bit of leftovers from my handspun:

[misc] Mamaface Tuesday

2011-06-21T08:15:00.000-05:00

We've got a new family member:

Believe it or not, it's Murderface's mom. She lives across the street, where Murderface came from, and I always, always, always wanted her but Dollar put the kibosh on me ~~stealing~~ ~~cat-napping~~ adopting any more of their pets without prior consent.

Her name is Santana, but... Yeah. I don't really like it. I'll call her that but I like calling her Mamaface.

Murderface isn't sure what to make of it:

He has been SO good. They used to live together and they do see each other outside so they're not raising up any hackles or trying to shred each other to pieces. Murderface is a teddy bear- he has no problems with her. She, on the other hand, hisses and growls at him. She has a bit of a mean demeanor, but I'm not sure if it's because things were more crazy and hectic at her old place.

Anyway, she's come into the house a few times to eat. I got her to come in last night and shut the door so she could spend the night. This morning, Murderface was in bed with Dollar and I (as usual) and Santanaface was lying down at the top of the stairs. I think the transition is going well. I gave her and Murderface breakfast and let them out:

I think she's adorable. She has a cute little white smudge on her nose. I hope she comes back tonight for supper and sleepover.

Atlanta last week was good. Got to visit Stone Mountain. Was supposed to move into the new house yesterday but things aren't ready yet. So completely, unbelievably disappointed and aggravated.

[crochet] Catan Afghan

2011-06-10T08:42:00.000-05:00

Heading down to Atlanta on Monday morning for a week long conference. We are T - 10 days away from moving and I'll be out of town for 5. I've got this weekend and next weekend to finish packing. Yikes.

I'm bringing yarn and a crochet hook to make as many hexagons as I can during this trip for an afghan:

Oh yeah, and Dollar's truck is one gigantic paper-weight. It has trouble running when it's (a) raining, and (b) hot out. So... this leaves only cool, dry days that the thing works. I decided to get a new, used car for me and give him my old one. We're both happier with our new rides.

[spinning] Venus Fly Trap

2011-06-08T06:52:00.000-05:00

4oz of Merino in the Venus Fly Trap colorway by WoolPig:

This was a very pretty colorway- plum purple, mossy green, lemongrass colors. The only thing I didn't like is that the fiber wasn't fully dyed. When I pulled it open and started stripping it into thinner lengths, there was lots of white in the middle that didn't get any dye. Not a big deal, but it did lighten the overall tone of the finished yarn.

I spun it all onto one bobbin and navajo-plied the single:

I like it. I'm not a super-fan of chain plying but I like the end result of keeping the colors together.

[spinning] Butter Toffee

2011-06-07T06:55:00.000-05:00

5oz of Falkland in Butter Toffee colorway by JulieSpins:

Spun into a sport(ish)-weight two-ply:

I haven't counting yardage, but I think there should be enough here for a small shawl.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-06-06T08:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I had my house-building nervous-breakdown on Friday night and it was cathartic. I was stressing about 20 different things and was spoiling for a fight.

ME: I'm worried about the hardware I picked for the kitchen cabinets. I ordered it online. What if I don't like them? What if they don't look right?

DOLLAR: (reassuring) I'm sure you picked out nice ones.

ME: (accusing) But you didn't even want to SEE what I was getting. What if you hate the knobs? You'll blame ME.

DOLLAR: I'm not going to hate the knobs.

ME: (hysterical) But what if you do?!

DOLLAR: Then I'll deal with it!

And then I started laughing. Because why am I making such a big deal about cabinet knobs and having a fight over it. It was as simple as that. The world isn't going to end of we hate our knobs. I went over and hugged Dollar. Then I started crying like a 5-year-old. He was very supportive (and relieved).

I came to my senses in so many ways. On Friday afternoon, I was fully prepared to spend $900 for 10 custom-made cellular cordless window shades at Penny's. Considering the original shades that I wanted were $2500 for ten, $900 seemed like a good deal. Dollar wasn't on board. My co-worker looked at me like I was crazy. I wasn't telling anyone how much I was going to spend because deep-down I must have known that $900 for 10 window shades is still highway robbery. So I went to Penny's on Saturday and ordered the ready-mades for $430 (for 10). Still expensive to get so many at once but they're cordless cellular, which is all I really wanted. $43 per shade is a good deal that I'm happy to talk about.

[spinning] Fantom Farm

2011-06-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

I have just been spinning because I've packed away nearly all of my yarn (seeing all the tubs/bags makes me 'gulp' and resolve to live a more austere life). I only need 4 things to spin- the spinning wheel, fiber, lazy kate, niddy-noddy. I know knitting ONLY requires needles and yarn but... I don't know, it's easier for me to spin, ply, skein, wash.

I pecked away at 5+ oz of wool and mohair from Fantom Farm:

I bought this fiber last October at the 2010 Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. I love Fantom Farm- they do fun fibers, they have good colors, and their prices are great. Their stuff does have vegetable matter in it, but it's quite minimal and I don't mind picking it out as I go.

The finished skein:

I like it. The yarn is a little scratchy from the mohair, so this yarn might be used for a hat or a lined pair of mittens.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-05-31T07:56:00.000-05:00

Well, we really jumped into summer with hot, humid weather. Murderface found a cool, shady patch of grass under my lawn chair:

[spinning] Morph

2011-05-25T09:08:00.000-05:00

Spun another 3-ply from this fiber:

Lots of colors going on there. I thought spinning a true 3-ply would look nice. But it made for a kind of crazy-colored yarn:

Some lengths are violet, some lengths are orange, some are brown. And then every mixture of all the colors:

It will be... interesting to see how this knits up. But what I do love about this yarn is how round and bouncy the three ply turned out. It's superfine merino and the singles came out pretty even (I spun all 4 oz nearly at once) and the final spiral, cork-screw look of the yarn is great.

Superfine merino might be at the top of my Favorite Fiber to Spin list!

[house] 30 days to go

2011-05-24T07:54:00.000-05:00

The house is nearing completion. We will be moving in 30 days. I've been spending, planning, stressing, packing (rinse and repeat until the point of near-hysteria).

Front of the house:

Back of the house:

Looking down at the house from the hills:

A two-tiered rock wall they've put in at the end of the house (using rocks that they had to smash in order to pour the foundation). Can't wait to see what kind of plants I manage to put in and around here:

Garage floor poured:

Looking into the house from the garage. That's a 2nd fuse box for the house (the other is in the basement). I think there got to be too many fuses in one location, so the contractor put another in the garage- which contains the garage lights, and septic controls and probably the generator if we get one.

Kitchen, ready for countertops:

I might just have to schedule the U-Haul now :)

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-05-23T13:49:00.000-05:00

Keep on dreaming, little buddy:

Cuz we're moving in a month. Hope you like the new place!

[spinning] 3-ply Falkland

2011-05-18T09:41:00.001-05:00

A nice big skein of 3-ply falkland wool that I recently spun:

This is a more accurate color:

I do love true three-plies. I just need to figure out which colors/colorways work best as a three ply. This worked well because all the colors ranged from blue to purple to rose. Colors in the name neighborhood on the color wheel.

This is a 5+ oz of worsted weight yarn. Love getting big skeins like this from the extra large bobbins on my Ashford Joy :) Joy Joy Joy Joy!

Oh yeah, before I forget, I picked up the fiber at last November's Green Mountain Fiber Festival at Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm booth.

[crochet] Colorful Doily

2011-05-17T09:34:00.000-05:00

I've bought a couple doily books the feature beautiful, intricate, heirloom-quality doily patterns. But before I tackle any of those, I need to feel more comfortable crocheting. I decided to try a SIMPLE doily pattern that appears to work best with colorful, self-striping sock yarn:

Pattern: Jameson by Berroco

Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett. Used nearly all of one 50gr ball. Purchased at Country Woolens in Lebanon, NH.

Hook: 3.5mm (E)

Notes: Fun and pretty fast to make. It's very colorful and helps to hide my crappy joins:

Hasn't been blocked yet. Will probably wash, pin it out and maybe even iron it under a damp towel. I'm not too worried about the seam- I can always put a vase or bowl on the doily and point the seam at the wall where no one will see it.

I have another 50gr ball of this same yarn and might try a similar-but-different doily pattern for it. Not ready for light, solid, crochet cotton yet.

[knitting] Post and Rail Cowl

2011-05-12T07:33:00.000-05:00

Here's the cowl I made to go with the Undergrowth hat from yesterday:

The yellows are a good match (considering the yarn is different companies) but the sage green came out a little gray in this cowl, but that's okay. They're close enough.

Pattern: Post and Rail Cowl

Yarn: Plymouth Suri Merino, 1 ball yellow, 1 ball green. Used nearly all of both.

Needles: US 8 (5mm)

Notes: There are a couple errors in this pattern.

1. Pattern says to cast on 106 st and k2p2 for a number of rounds. 106 isn't evenly divisible by 4. Make sure YOUR cast on is evenly divisible by 4.

2. Row 10 of the pattern says: K3, *Slip 1 with yarn in back, K5, repeat from * ending with K2

This is wrong and your vertical lines of slipped stitches will not be centered above/below one another.

Row 10 should read: K2, *Slip 1 with yarn in back, K5, repeat from * ending with K3

Let me try to chart this (you would be reading the chart rows from right to left). This is what you want.

---s-----s-----s-- (row 10) green
------------------ (row 9) yellow
s-----s-----s----- (row 8) green
------------------ (row 7) yellow
s-----s-----s----- (row 6) green
------------------ (row 5) yellow
s-----s-----s----- (row 4) green
------------------ (row 3) yellow
s-----s-----s----- (row 2) green
------------------ (row 1) yellow

As written, you would get:

--s-----s-----s--- (row 10) green
------------------ (row 9) yellow
s-----s-----s----- (row 8) green
------------------ (row 7) yellow
s-----s-----s----- (row 6) green

The slipped stitches for row 10 aren't centered above the slipped stitches of row 8.

Also, guess what? This is pattern is a 6-stitch repeat. Guess what number isn't divisible by 6? 106.

So, make sure your cast on is divisible by both 4 and 6. Unless you want to fudge it a bit and do some increasing or decreasing from the ribbed edges to the main body.

Since I was using worsted-weight yarn, I cast on and worked 120 stitches. If you were to use a chunkier weight of yarn, you might want to cast on something like 108. For dk or fingering weight, maybe try 134. Just use multiples of 12.

[knitting] Undergrowth

2011-05-11T07:51:00.000-05:00

Here's a finished picture of the 2nd Undergrowth hat that I made:

I used <1 50gr ball each of Frog Tree Alpaca Sport in yellow and green. Good stash busting project.

[crochet] Safety Cones

2011-05-10T09:35:00.000-05:00

Careful! When we have an accident in the house or need to avoid an area, we now use tiny safety cones:

That's a panda I'm making- he still needs arms and legs and ears. I had him safely inside the safety cones.

We've also been putting the cones on the floor- around his food area. And I marked out a clear path to me:

But Murderface wouldn't come.

[murderface] Outdoor sleeping cubby

2011-05-09T10:06:00.000-05:00

When Murderface is outside, he has an outdoor sleeping cubby that he likes:

Looks like he's enjoying the sun:

[spinning] Creatively Dyed Yarn Fiber

2011-05-06T07:31:00.001-05:00

8oz of 70% wool and 30% seacell from Creatively Dyed Yarn, which I picked up a Rhinebeck last fall...

Spun into a shiny, bulky two-ply.

Love the colors of this. I kind of regret spinning it so thick (wanted to instant gratification). If I had spun this into fingering weight, it would have been gorgeous yarn for a large shawl. But, I can still make a gorgeous hat and mittens.

[spinning] Jasmine Nights

2011-05-05T08:49:00.001-05:00

Here's some BFL I picked up at the Into the Whirled booth at Rhinebeck last October:

Spun into a two-ply:

I love brown and blue together. This would make a very nice small project for a man- a nice ribbed cap, perhaps?

[spinning] Clay Pigeons for Lucky

2011-05-04T07:15:00.000-05:00

I've been spinning like crazy lately. Here's 4oz of merino from FatCatKnits in the Clay Pigeons colorway:

Spun into ~218 yards of light worsted-weight two-ply:

And a close-up (color is a bit more accurate here):

I've donated this skein via a fund raiser on Ravelry for a cat named Lucky. He was born without eyelids, which isn't common but not completely unheard of. People are raising money for him to get the surgery he needs. If you'd like to read more about him or donate via ChipIn, go to this website. From what I've read about Lucky, he's so super sweet and so cute.

So, I donated my handspun to the raffle and bought some raffle tickets myself. Hopefully we can bring some good luck to Lucky.

[crochet] Penguin

2011-05-03T08:07:00.000-05:00

Hidden in the Icy Pillow Caves of Upstairsistan...

A Penguin!

Pattern: Amigurumi Penguin. Free pattern from Lion Brand online, but you need to sign up for a free Lion Brand account to access it.

Yarn: White Encore, Black Wool-Ease, mystery gold yarn from my stash.

Hook: US E

I am loving these adorable little amigurumi. The only downside is that there's a lot of sewing.

I used 9mm black safety eyes for this guy, whereas I used 6mm ones for the lion. I ordered various safety eyes and noses from the shop 6060 on Etsy, so I have lots to make plenty of amigurumi.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-05-02T08:31:00.000-05:00

What a gorgeous weekend! I set up a folding table and chairs outside yesterday to just sit in the sun and crochet. Murderface was hanging out with me:

He was loving it. He climbed into my knitting bag on the grass, jumped up onto the table to lounge, but sleeping is his favorite thing to do:

[knitting] Pamuya

2011-04-29T07:52:00.001-05:00

I finished this small shawl a while ago but only just got around to taking a picture of it.

Pattern: Pamuya (rav)

Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Extra Twist Merino Color, the blue colorway. I used 2.54 balls to knit this pattern as written. I got the yarn at Country Woolens in Lebanon, NH.

Needles: US 4

Notes: The pattern is good, with explicit instructions for each row and a stitch count in case you want to check after each repeat. You won't get bored knitting this- by the time one stitch seems tedious, it's time to move on to the next stitch.

This was my first time doing those loopy yarnover waves and they were pretty fun.

Great little shawl with lots of visual interest.

[crochet] Potholder Swap 2011

2011-04-28T08:36:00.001-05:00

I just received 5 crocheted potholders back in the 2011 Potholder Swap:

I love them. They are all knit with worsted-weight cotton and are all double-thick.

I brought them over to Murderface to see what he thought:

He got up and sniffed them, and wondered...

"Why is there no food on them?"

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-04-25T08:50:00.000-05:00

[crochet] Leo the Lion

2011-04-19T06:55:00.001-05:00

If you're very, very quiet, you might catch a glimpse of the newest amigurumi I made:

He's very shy and likes to hide in his throw pillow cave. But I was able to lure him out:

He looked left:

He looked right:

Then he ran back to his cave:

Pattern: Little Amigurumi Lion from Lion Brand's Easy Crochet Critters

Hook: US E

Yarn: Leftovers of Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair (body) and Rowan Lima (mane). Used black safety eyes. Little bit of Frog Tree Alpaca Sport in brown to embroider nose, mouth, whiskers.

Note: Poor Leo is hearing-impaired. And by that, I mean "stone-deaf"; I didn't make him any ears. Maybe someday he'll go under the needle for a pair but I'm too busy crocheting up other adorable little things.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-04-18T06:42:00.001-05:00

Murderface, you are so cute. xoxox.

[house] Progress

2011-04-14T07:50:00.001-05:00

Went up to visit the house on Sunday and I spy siding!

I almost wish I chose a darker color now but I think it looks nice with the shingles. The back of the house also has siding:

Inside, the walls are looking more finished:

Looking into the kitchen from the family room:

And vice versa (I love how light/bright the family room is):

And this is the side room in the basement, with windows and a door to the outside:

The cement floor is looking a little like the surface of the moon at the moment. They poured the foundation back in November and I guess some frost got in and messed it up a bit. So they're going to fix that.

I'm happy with the progress but I want to see floors! Still no idea when we'll be moving in but Dollar and I are getting pretty excited.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-04-11T08:40:00.000-05:00

Dollar, holding Murderface in my craft room.

They are BFFs.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-04-04T09:48:00.002-05:00

I finished the Pamuya shawl (just need to sew ends and block) so hopefully I can show that this week. I immediately cast on for another- Shaelyn using baby alpaca dk. I'm pretty sure that when it done it's going to be the softest thing on the planet.

Work was pretty busy last week. I got a new cell phone that seems to be able to do a million things BUT take/receive intelligible phone calls.

I suffered from a massive attack of road rage on 12-A in West Leb Saturday afternoon. It was all just a nightmare of people running red lights, blocking lanes of traffic, horns honking, having to sit through multiple red lights because no one could go anywhere. I didn't honk my horn or give anyone the finger, I just had to go home a different way. I got home, slammed cupboards as I put things away and yelled at poor Dollar about all the stupid drivers out there. I crawled into bed and MF made it all better by purring and drooling all over me.

Seriously, though. I think West Leb NEEDS to have a freaking cop to direct traffic every Saturday between 11 am and 3 pm. And to write tickets for every stupid driver that thinks causing gridlock is acceptable. Think of all the money they would make!

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-03-28T07:27:00.000-05:00

Murderface was a little under the weather last week. Dollar came home early from work one day and said MF visited the litterbox 4 times in the span of an hour. Then MF was laying on the bed, all sad and depressed. I'm not sure what the stomach problem was, but he wasn't feeling good. His appetite was fine and he was drinking enough water. Just a 24 hour stomach bug or something be/c he was all better the next day.

Poor little guy. I had him on my lap night.`

[knitting] Haruni... with BEES?!!

2011-03-25T07:45:00.002-05:00

Ta da!

Pattern: Haruni

Yarn: Bristol Yarn Gallery Buckingham. 510 yds used, 2.34 skeins.

Needles: US 4

Mods: I added BEES. (Whenever I think of beads, I end up saying BEES?!? in an angry way because I can't help thinking of this scene from Arrested Development).

I got the yarn at White River Yarns, then scooted down to the Vermont Bead Studio in downtown WRJ to look for matching beads. I bought two vials and only had 11 or so leftover when the shawl was done. These beads were much better quality than the beads that I got from Joanns for the Swallowtail.

I knit Chart A until there were 14 stems on either side of the shawl, adding a bead to the end of each stem. Then I added one last bead to the point on Chart B where the two stems come together.

The yarn is alpaca and silk, so it's very soft and warm. The beads kind of add a cooling effect when this shawl is worn against bare skin. Also, because the yarn doesn't have much if any elasticity, I made the garter border 4 stitches wide rather than 3 and I did not slip the first stitch

Love this. Still need to make a Haruni for me.

[misc] Random

2011-03-24T12:30:00.003-05:00

Nuthin' to show. Thought I'd do a random watchin', cookin', readin' etc update...

[watching] The Jersey Shore. I mean THE JERSEY SHORE, BITCH!! Netflix Instant had the 2nd season (I haven't seen the 1st season... not that it matters) and I couldn't resist. It's a frigging trainwreck. They're all mad alcoholics, they lie to each other's faces, love to stir up drama. The men psychologically mistreat women, the women put up with being mistreated... The drama is entertaining but any sane person will eventually turn it off and find something better to spend their time on.

Oh, and I don't like to pick on people that are stupid. I've said my fair share of stupid stuff. But Snooki was washing some clothes in a sink and said, "I'm washing clothes in a sink... Like I'm a pilgrim from the 20's or something." I sincerely hope she meant the 1620's because that would actually make sense... But I kind of doubt it.

[cooking] Spah-getty and meat bowls. Watching anything Italian (even if it is a reality show starring guido juicehead gorillas) makes me want pasta. So I made some meatballs and we've been eating leftovers for three days. I am sufficiently sick of it.

[reading] Dune. It took me a while to get into it but it was great. Perfect for reading in the middle of winter when there's 5 feet of snow outside. I finished it and started Dune Messiah since Dollar also had that one.

[knitting] Another shawl. I finished the beaded Haruni and started another for me. So much of picking 20 fast/easy projects after Haruni.

[crocheting] Want to do more amigurumi. I think I'm going to do a lion. For Murderface.

[playing] Nothing :( I packed up all the boardgames. And I haven't been to the local boardgame night in months. I've been packing for the move, busy with spring classes at work, picking out flooring for the new house, excuses excuses excuses.

[housing] I did pick out tiles and wood for the floors. One wood and three different tiles (tile for kitchen/hallway/bath downstairs; tile for bath upstairs; tile for master bath). And who knew there were so many different colors of grout. Grout! I had to choose three different colors of grout. Sheesh. I feel confident with my choices, though. I think. I mean, I'm pretty sure. No, I'm sure. Now I've moved on to worrying about interior paint and color schemes. I had no idea that colors in different rooms should coordinate with each other because you might be seeing more than one room at once:

I'll just pick colors that I like, I guess. I'm pretty sure our fugly couches will be what attracts the most attention in the room. Dollar's got his baby blue recliner (sigh, named the "U.S.S. Dollar") that he refuses to give up and I'll be damned if I pick a wall color for the living room JUST to compliment his frigging baby blue recliner (which the reclining handle broke off of eons ago and now you use a wrench to recline it). I've offered to buy him a new one but he took the offer like it was a slap in the face. Whatever. I get nostalgia, okay? And I understand not wanting to needlessly replace things that are still working. But this recliner. I don't know.... I just don't know.

[vermont] Maple Open House Weekend

2011-03-22T07:24:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was the Vermont Maple Open House Weekend. I like to go to a nearby sugarhouse that is participating and buy some local syrup. My sister and I hit the road to visit Turkey Hill Farm in Randolph...

I wanted to visit this particular farm because they were also going to have some products from other farms, like cheese and honey and caramel. I really wanted to try this Mexican-style of caramel made from goat's milk.

Once we left the interstate, then left the main road, then left a side road... we got to a dirt road. I don't really experience the joy of dirt roads during mud season (but I will once we move) so I was appalled, aghast, shocked, horrified and scared at what we were suddenly driving in. It was so unbelievably bad. Way more dangerous than driving in snow.

We finally got to the last turn and saw a parking area had been set up. The last bit of road up to the sugarhouse was so bad that they were shuttling people up.

We made it up to the sugarhouse:

It was nice and steamy inside:

Then we walked across to the giftshop at the farm to buy some local products:

I got some cheese, ground beef, honey, syrup, and a small jar of caramel! I couldn't wait to try it.

My sister got some stuff and ordered a couple of the homemade donuts that they had out. They were doing homemade breakfasts there and had a side room set up with benches and tables. People were ordering waffles, sausages, donuts with syrup. Because I could tell the way she said, "And I'll take two donuts," I knew she wanted two homemade donuts put into a bag so that she could take them home. But they thought she meant for breakfast so they warmed up two donuts, covered them with syrup and handed them to her on plates. She handed me one and I was like, "LOLWTF I don't want that." But what are we going to do? Put the sticky donuts in our pockets? We went into the next room to sit and eat.

We decided to walk back down to the parking area rather than be shuttled. I did want to get some pictures of the crazy-ass muddy ruts:

We scooted down to Randolph for a quick drive through (I don't think I'd ever been to Randolph before) and then headed home. As SOON as I got home, I opened the caramel for a taste. I had really worked up how awesome this goat's milk caramel was going be in my mind.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I hate goat's milk cheese. I think it tastes like feet and I find it repugnant.

So there's clearly some line of connectivity that I didn't make here. Because this caramel was everything that I hate about goat's milk cheese, but in a sweet form. It was all feet and no love. I'm so glad I bought one of the smaller jars. I cannot image putting this caramel on someone's ice cream unless I wanted to punish them for some reason. Ugh. Such a disappointment.

But if you like goat's milk cheese, I'm sure you will love this caramel. It just wasn't for me. And I don't want to be too Judgy McJudgyPants about it because I love kimchi and I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-03-21T07:26:00.001-05:00

The Force is strong with this one...

Murderface seems to get most of his guidance and inspiration from Darth Vader.

[knitting] Beaded Haruni

2011-03-17T08:17:00.000-05:00

Nothing new to show. I've been practicing project monogamy with a beaded Haruni shawl using this yarn:

Need to finish it this weekend so that I can give it as a gift to Dollar's mom before she leaves on vacation. I'm trying not to hurry-hurry, because that when mistakes happen and tears of frustration flow. I'm just working on this and only this. And trying to link of what 20 fast/easy projects I want to work on when it's done.

[knitting] Undergrowths

2011-03-16T07:52:00.000-05:00

I don't do enough stranded colorwork and I don't know why. It's fun to work with two colors at the same time and as long as I pick a chart that's easy to memorize, it's really quite relaxing.

Pattern: Undergrowth

Yarn: Reynolds Whiskey. Used just over half of a ball of brown and just under half of a ball of pink/purple. You can make two of these hats of you switched main and contrast colors. Which sounds like a good project for a set of twins.

Needles: US 4

Notes: I accidentally repeated rows 18 - 23. I printed the chart out in landscape on my printer and was too lazy to re-print it so that the chart was all one one page. So once I got to the easy, mindless middle part, I didn't notice that I was meant to start the leaf tips for the crown (because only the first row of the tip was on the page I was looking at- the rest of the crown was on the back). So I just made the middle part longer.

Seriously, though, the hat is too long for me. I need to find someone with a tall head who wants this.

The double braids at the bottom were a little tedious to make but so worth the effort. It's a pretty, decorative edge that is nice and stretchy- and it doesn't roll!

The Whiskey was a nice yarn to use for this- bouncy, elastic and it blocked into a nice, smooth fabric.

Still, I wanted to make one that would fit me and show a bit more contrast. After using my yarn scale to weigh balls of yarn, writing down weights and yardages, cross multiplying, stash diving and just generally geeking out for way too long, I settled on two balls of Frog Tree Alpaca sport that had (up until this point) no purpose in life:

The stitch definition isn't as crisp as the first hat, because I'm using 100% alpaca instead of wool, but it's oh so soft and oh so pretty. A keeper, for sure.

[crochet] Sushi

2011-03-15T08:03:00.001-05:00

I recently learned at a family dinner that Dollar's niece, who wasn't even three-years-old yet, likes sushi. I wanted to craft her some and I've been interested in amigurumi style crochet for a while. I ordered a slew of books from Amazon, one of which was Yummi 'Gurumi. I made these adorable little crocheted pieces of sushi:

The egg nigiri with the seaweed around it is actually from Tasty Crochet. I liked the look of this egg nigiri better.

The nigiri was easy to make- I crocheted the white rice base and stuffed it. I did 4 rice bases, then crocheted the different tops.

Left to right: Egg, Shrimp, Salmon, Tuna.

These were so much fun to make and I was able to use yarn from all the scraps I've accumulated over the years.

That tuna roll, though- the round one on the end? Total pain in the ass to make. Start with bit of deep purple, switch to white, switch to green and do half of the height of the roll. Make another, same as the first. Sew in ends and sew them together, insert stuffing, finish sewing. It was little, fiddly, too many ends (12!!!) to sew in.

Instead, I crocheted a long, 7-stitch strip, starting with minty green, then lots of white, then seaweed green. Then I rolled it up and sewed it shut. Perfect Cucumber Roll. And only 6 ends to sew in. I made 4 of these rolls.

Anyway, I don't have a picture of the final sushi platter- Dollar's sis stopped by and since I missed his niece's birthday, I quickly handed over the plastic to-go container. From what I hear (and a picture I've seen), the niece loves it. And I can't wait to make more food to give as gifts.

[misc] Murderface Monday

2011-03-14T07:25:00.000-05:00

Murderface has been going outside a bit more now that the weather is warming up. But things are slushy and muddy so he has lots of cleaning to do when he comes back inside:

And I've got to clean up the muddy tracks that he leaves all over the kitchen floor.

[knitting] Infinity Scarves

2011-03-11T10:22:00.000-05:00

Back in October for my sister's birthday, I made her an infinity scarf. I liked the pattern so much, I made one for me:

Pattern: September Circle

Yarn: Plymouth Zino, one ball

Needles: US 7

Notes: It's hard to tell the way it's kind of folded up there, but it's a loop about 40 inches around, give or take. It's just right to loop around my neck twice. Once I get where I'm going, it's nice to unloop it once and let it hang down. The long color variations in the yarn work well with the ripple pattern.

So I made another:

Pattern: This was my own pattern- just a simple scalloped pattern found in a stitch dictionary that I have. I just repeated it around 200 stitches.

Yarn: Lang Yarns Jawoll Magic, one ball

Needles: US 6

I blocked these cowls around a large cardboard box.

This pattern/style is perfect for single balls of sock yarn with long color stripes. I love how light but warm these are. I want to make 10 more.