Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Drinks

The original Ten on Tuesday theme (that I poach from Carole Knits every week) for today was 10 Favorite Cocktails, but seeing as I am not much of a drinker, I decided to change it to 10 Favorite Drinks instead.  My list may or may not include cocktails ;-)

1) Turkey Hill Diet Green Iced Tea - I drink this every day and it is awesome.

2) Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee - Inhaled as often as possible as budget allows.

3) Diet Coke - Runner up to my iced green tea and my staple drink for eating out.

4) Malibu and Diet Coke - My party drink.  Most people tend to have this stuff on hand and it tastes wonderful.

5) Bloody Mary - A brunchtime masterpiece!

6) Dunkin Donuts Hot Chocolate - Liquid awesome, but only in the winter when it is REALLY cold!

7) Mimosas made with Asti Spumanti - A Christmas morning tradition in my family.  I like it best with the asti since I don't like dry champagne. 

8) Starbucks Frappachino - Pretty much the only thing drinkwise I like from Starbucks. 

9) Hot Green Tea - My favorite when feasting on sushi. 

10) White Sangria - I have only had this once at a bachelorette party, but it was fabulous and beared mentioning.  Oh, and I have a picture of it too!

Look, She Can Cook!

Hubbie and I decided to have a nice quiet Valentine's day this year.  Not that we normally do anything extravagant or outrageous in any way... we just didn't want to add to the already large crowds seeking out a romantic dinner at the handful of romantic local restaurants.  Instead I said I would just make us a nice dinner at home.  You see, my poor husband suffers from the fact that I don't cook for him all that often.  While I can cook just fine... he is generally the one who sees to our daily sustenance.  So, since I generally get home at least 2 whole hours before him, I thought it would be a change for me to give him a it of a treat.  

I made us a nice big lasagna, salad, garlic bread and a new recipe I had been wanting to try out: Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Bacon.  Oh my gosh.... those sprouts were so stinking good.  Ok, I thought they were good.  Brian reaffirmed the fact that he hated them.  Oh well, more for me!  

I was originally going to make us dessert as well, but were were both way too full to even contemplate the idea.  Instead we both nibbled on the chocolate covered strawberries and apples we had delivered to each other at work earlier in the day.  It's so nice coming back to your desk to see a little note saying that a package was waiting for you in the fridge.  Now I like chocolate covered strawberries, don't get me wrong, but really, the best are those amazing chocolate dipped granny smith apple slices.  

Now that I think about it, I can't believe hubbie actually remembered I liked those since I've only had them one other time.  Drool....  on that note, off to the fridge to show the last one who's boss.  Bye!

10 on Tuesday (a tad late): 10 Favorite Non-Knitting Blogs

Wow, I read a lot of knitting blogs, or ones that predominantly feature knitting anyway.  So, coming up with 10 non-knitting ones is actually quite hard.  But heck, I'll give it a go!

1) The Novice Chef Blog - Great recipes and photos of the cooking process.

2) One Cool Thing a Day - This blog has some really neat stuff on it.  Usually videos and very entertaining.

3) creative chick - A crafty blog by a very crafty girl.  Jenn is a very talented class instructor that my mom and I take classes with at our favorite craft store, Ink About It in Westford MA.  Jenn's home base is Colorful Creations in Hyannis, MA but she is nice enough to travel onto the mainland to see us less Cape bound crafters. Her store is really cool to, so if you are in Hyannis, check it out.  They are right on Main St. 

4) Cake Wrecks - Hilariously horrible cakes.   Oh, and some really nice ones too when they decide to show what cake decorators can do when they get it right.

5) Dark Roasted Blend - This site just has tons if neat images.  Great photography and vintage imagery about here, so I think you know why I like this one so much.

6) Planet June - Ha!  This site is about crochet... not knitting!  I win :-D  June makes the cutest amigurumi ever!  In addition to all her crocheted pretties of which she sells patterns for, she also plays with punch needle and polymer clay.

Ok, I give up.  I read WAY too many knitting blogs.  For the six non-knitting center blogs listed, I think I have 6 or 7 times the number of knitting related one that I read regularly.  So sue me.... a girl likes what a girl likes :-)

Work-In-Progress Wednesday

I actually have quite a few WIPs right now.  On the actively being knitted project list are the following:

Column of Leaves Scarf

This is a truly old project for me.  I started it in early 2010 and lost interest after not too long.  I think I had problems with the lace knitting, which don't seem to be an issue now.  Maybe I've gotten better at it over time.  The pattern is lace and quite complex, having 8 completely different rows per pattern repeat, but it is totally gorgeous!  I recently picked up the project again after realizing that (yet again) I have a ton of works-in-progress.  This scarf has become my work knitting for a couple reasons.  1) I find that I really need to be looking at the pattern to knit accurately and 2) being able to knit while sitting at a desk in good lighting is really important.  TV knitting this is not...  But it works out well.  

Generally I get to work a little early so I have a bit of time in the morning to get a few rows done.  Then, if I have the free time I can knit during my lunch.  So... while the progress isn't quick, I'm at least making progress and will finish the scarf before I'm 90.   Please forgive the picture.  I took it last year I think.  I have much more done on this scarf now, but the pictures I took of it tonight didn't come close to representing the beauty of the yarn, so I decided to just reuse the old picture rather than use a yucky one.  Apparently my camera doesn't like jade green when it's lite by an incandescent light.  Oh well! I'll post another one later.

Wild Olive Beret

This beret, while in shambles currently, is something I've wanted to work on for quite awhile, but couldn't seem to find the perfect yarn for.  The pattern was in the holiday issue of Interweave Knits and was written by my very talented knitsib Talith Kuomi.  You can see here website here: talithakuomi.com  Tal ran a knit-a-long for this beret as well as two mystery accessories back in December 2010, and while I was determined to be a part of it, it never quite happened.  Then, I checked out a new to me yarn store named Iron Horse in Natick and found that perfect yarn: Manos del Uruguay Maxima. 

Maxima is a beautiful 100% merino single ply kettle-dyed yarn.  It is totally squishable and incredibly soft, so when I spotted it, I knew it would be just what my little fingers wanted to knit up into the wild olive beret.  I might also mention that the colors available are gorgeously done and the cost is remarkably inexpensive for what you are getting at around $12 for 218 yards.  Part of my problem with knitting the beret and accessories was that in total the projects called for about 800 yard of yarn (to play it safe).   So I was facing sticker shock before I even bought anything!  But, because of the good yardage and reasonable price, I could actually afford to buy the Maxima and make all three items match :-D  Yeay!     

I had knit all but 17 rows of the wild olive in about two days.  I had run into a few snags, but I seemed to be able to work them out ok, then it reached the moment.  You know, that moment when you know you have done something irreparably wrong?  As usual, I realized this fact at a ridiculously late hour... and was tired and annoyed.  I tried ripping out a few rows, but quickly understood that it was not going to work, not at that hour anyway.  So, I begrudgingly put the beret aside and went to bed. 

The next day I made a valiant effort to fix it again, but I kept on dropping stitches and wasn't getting anywhere.  I was also at the WEBS Super Bowl Event at the time and before I became a three headed monster about the whole thing, my lovely and supportive knitsibs told me to "quit my bitching and just frog it already."  :-)  Did I mention how much I adore my knitsibs?  So, I decided to rip down to the edging, but only managed to rip out a few rows before I turned my attention to another project to put me in a better mood.  So, the beret is still half frogged.  I'll return to it this weekend I think, when I have more free time.  In the meantime, I started mystery item 450, a cowl desgned to match it. 

Podster Gloves

Thank goodness for this project!  This was the one I started working on after beret-gate 2011.  I'm really glad I happened to bring it with me to the Super Bowl event.  Otherwise, my inner three headed monster would have been inconsolable.  These gloves were designed by Glenna of Knitting to Stay Sane, one of my favorite blogs.  This is another project I have been drooling over for quite some time.  But it requires knitting with REALLY thin yarn (fingering weight) and on TEENY needles (1's to be precise) to make the fabric dense.  Ugh.... I don't like either of those things.... but I had to deal if I wanted these gloves, which by the way are excellent for anyone with an iPod or iPhone since there is a little thumb hole just for the purpose of playing around with said devices. 

I started the first glove on Sunday and did quite a bit of the endless k1p1 ribbing with my dental floss yarn and toothpick needles.  I was home sick both Monday and Tuesday and when not feeling like a complete sickie, I was able to do some more, finishing both the thumb gusset and up to where I need to divide for the fingers.  Not too bad...  Now instead of finishing the first one, I have to start the second glove or face almost certain second gloves syndrome.  I have sock issues too, can't you tell?

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things On Your Bedside Table

I don't think I have anything close to ten things on my bedside table!  But here goes:

1) CPAP machine - I have sleep apnea.  Enough said.

2) LED alarm clock - Battery powered and I haven't change the single AA battery in it for at least years if not a decade.  Weird huh?  It's kind of like playing alarm clock roulette

3) Glasses - Well, they are there when I'm asleep anyway.

4) Slipper socks - They aren't on the top, but underneath on the shelf, but that works for me!  My favorite pair are striped knitted ones with cat faces on the ends that look hand made.  My mom bought them for me a bunch or year back way before I even thought about knitting.  Mom's are good like that.

5) My bible - Really, I have several there to be precise.  One my mom bought for me just this year which is supposed to be a really good and easy to understand translation all the way down to the one I got from the pastor of our church when I was in second grade.  It has my name written on the cover and has a dedication from the pastor and my life verse written in it.  In case you are curious, the verse is Philippians 3:10.  Good verse.  It also has all sorts of handwritten notes and highlighting in it.  What can I say, I believe in using my books and this one is well loved."

6) Box fan - I like moving air when I'm sleeping since I tend to get very warm otherwise.  The white noise is also quite nice.

Well, I think that's it unfortunately.... not much stuff there.  The fan and cpap machine do take up a lot of space mind you.  Anyway, I wish everyone a good night.  If you are living in one of the 30 states being affected by the blizzard coming through, good luck!

FailBlog Submission That I HAD to share

see more funny videos

When I saw this on FailBlog today I was laughing so hard.... but honestly people, I hope no one is praying for more snow!