everyday ephemera

WIP Wednesday - The neverending scarf, airplane socks and finally getting to weave on my flip

2012-01-18T20:32:00.000-05:00

The beginning of 2012 has been a little odd for me. Instead of selfishly knitting up a storm for the entirety of January as all knitters would prefer, I have instead been trying to catch up on projects that refuse to be completed, such as this lovely column of leaves scarf that I have been working on for almost two years now. Yes, you read correctly... TWO YEARS!!! /facepalm

I don't know what it is about this scarf, but it truly seems to want to be a work in progress forever. Admittedly, when I first started working on it, the patter was quite challenging for me. I had a very hard time remembering to put in all the yarn overs and there were a few funky stitches in there too, just to keep me paying attention. I used to have to work on the scarf only when I really could concentrate on it otherwise disaster and the massive amounts of frogging would occur. So, I started to add a lifeline after every 8 row pattern repeat.

Now? I can knit this thing anywhere! I just need to keep track of my row and I'm fine. It's not really much of a challenge at all. I guess that's what two years of practice brings, lol. Right now I am about halfway done with the scarf and an supremely unmotivated to work on it, but honestly, two years is way to long to make a scarf that isn't all that challenging to me anymore. I need to get my act together!!!

In an effort to curb my continually wandering knitting hands, and to ensure my poor little brain doesn't get too bored by working on the same 8 rows ad nausium, I have limited myself to working on only one project other than the scarf, which is a pair of tube socks. I know I have a history with socks... not finishing them to be exact, but I started this very simple pair because I knew I needed something to do my trip to North Carolina. My flights weren't long, only 2 hours at the most, but I had a layover that was substantial and I really didn't want to bring a project that I was truly invested in, just in case someone in security decided that my knitting seemed threatening in some way.

So, I cast on for the socks a couple of days before heading south. I then proceeded to swear and fumble my way through learning to knit two socks at a time on one very long needle. At this point, I can tell you that the first inch or so of knitting socks like this for the first time is truly awful. It is awkward, hard on your hands, and you feel like you have no idea what you should be knitting next. But after that first inch was done, I started to get it and by the time I headed to Logan for my trip I could work on the socks without looking like a total idiot or swearing every time I had to switch sides.

I am very happy I decided to make the socks two at a time. The beginning was a bit rough, but as you can see, I now have a pretty respectable portion of not one, but two socks completed. Now, I do have quite a bit further to go, but there are no heels to turn since I'm basically making two long tubes and when I'm done... I'm REALLY done! Two socks, not just one. I truly think this technique might be the answer to my sock knitting problem :-D

The last thing I have been up to is weaving on the lovely 25" flip loom I got for Christmas. Just last week I was able to warp it for a sampler scarf made from the yarn I made my first hat out of. I haven't been able to work on it for more than an hour or two since I'm trying to focus myself on finishing other things, but it is turning out quite nicely. Honesty, I think it is good to change your craft up every once and awhile. That way your hands get a break for the repetition and you are less likely to injure yourself.

I even have a deadline for this project! This shouldn't be too difficult as weaving seems to go so much faster than knitting. My scarf needs to be off the loom by the end of January because I have distinct plans for it in early February when I will be taking an advanced weaving class at The Weaving Shed. This one day class will focus on learning to use a pick up stick to weave patterns in our projects. I'll come out of the class with a nice sampler of what we have learned and yet another set of techniques to practice to keep me busy :-)

Can you tell I am a firm believer always being busy? Anyway, I hope you are having a great week and are keeping those crafty hands busy!

2011 Project Roundup and Goals for 2012

2012-01-11T17:00:00.000-05:00

Looking at all the the images of the projects I completed in 2011 I'm starting to think that it was a pretty productive year. I completed 31 separate projects and started quite a few more that will be completed in 2012 (one can only hope). I continued to knit and crochet, but also learned the basics of weaving towards the end of the year with 16 knitted projects, 12 crochet, and 3 weaving.

As for my crafty goals for 2012, I would like to learn more about weaving and continue that on my new 25" Schacht Flip Loom. I'll shares pics of it later. It is already warped for a scarf and has about a foot of woven material completed on it already. I'm taking an advanced weaving class in February, so I am very excited about that because I don't really know all my options with this loom although I suspect that they are many. As for knitting and crochet I want to tackle some larger projects like sweaters or shawls that will challenge me as well as create more items for charity so that my crafty habits help others rather than being selfishly motivated.

Well, that's about it for now. I wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2012, even if it is a bit late, lol.

Merriment Monday: Christmas Music!

2011-12-05T18:07:00.001-05:00

As far back as I can remember I have been a Christmas music junkie. The apple did not fall far from the tree with me as my mother might be the only person I know who has more of this type of music than me. She's just had more time to acquire it... I'm not joking here, if you look at the bottom the screenshot to the right you can see I have 1.9 days of music in my Christmas playlist... just the Christmas playlist.

Can you say "excessive"?

So, how did this ridiculous playlist come about? Well, I guess this is what happens when a) someone loves Christmas music, b) they love all types of musical genres and finally c) they adore creative reinventions of traditional music.

Since I can't possibly do justice to all of the music I would like to share with you in just one blog post (or several for that matter) I'll give you some of my recent favorites. Every year (since 2007 anyway) I have made an xMix of all my favorite songs from that year. Now, we're only five days into December here, so I don't have a lot on my list for this year yet, but I can tell good things are coming.

So, here's some good tunes to get you going. All of them can be downloaded on iTunes or Amazon for your listening pleasure (Amazon link provided):

God Rest You Merry Gentlemen - Annie Lennox - A Christmas Cornucopia

Bells of Christmas - Orla Fallon - Winter, Fire and Snow

Winter Night - Little and Ashley (Free on Amazon! on 12/5/2011)

Born is the King - Hillsong - Born is the King

Now, if you want to get some more Christmas music for yourself, but don't really want to spend on yourself at this time of year, I have a solution for you. One way to get music is through the iTunes single of the week, which in December is the Holiday Single of the week. All you have to do, is go to the iTunes store and scroll down and you will see it there with a yellow corner and "free" on it. Another great way to get free music is Amazon's 25 Days of Free, which allows you to download one free holiday related mp3 per day for the first 25 days of December. I just love it. Yes, every once and I while I don't particularly like a song, but really, 25 free songs. Come on.... it's a no brainer!

So with that, I leave you to enjoy some lovely and most likely free Christmas music.

Enjoy!

What's making me merry?

2011-11-21T17:59:00.001-05:00

So I've been in the process of trying to write a blog post for the past week and a half without much success. Occasionally it's hard to find a good subject to write about or that I am sufficiently excited about to do it justice. This actually isn't the case for me with this blog post. The real problem this time was that I was TOO distracted by the very thing I wanted to write about (ok, I was sick too, but that usually doesn't stop me). For the past week or so this diversion has been entertaining me is a way that I must say hasn't happened in a while. One could even say it has filled my early sunset post-work evenings with a kind of merriment.

To honor this little bit of glee that I am experiencing, I am introducing a new blog theme. Finished Object Friday, Work In Progress Wednesday and the very (and I mean very) occasional Ten on Tuesday will now be joined by...

Merriment Monday!

Ok, now I can get on to the fun stuff... :-) My current source of merriment is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Yeah I know, I know, it's a video game, but honestly, I don't latch on to a whole lot of them. In my entire life there have probably only been ten or less video or computer games that I really have loved and Skyrim is definitely one of them. more than a few years ago I played The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and absolutely loved it as well, so I'm not shocked by how much I've gotten into Skyrim in just a short time.

At The College in Winterhold - outside my quarters

The game itself is just beautiful and the setting Nordic in feel and the music really fits in with the look as well. I've always been a real stickler for nice imagery and sound when I'm playing games and Skyrim does not disappoint. I would happily pick up the soundtrack and already have screenshots as my desktop background. The YouTube video below is the official trailer for Skyrim. You can really get an idea of what playing the game is like in terms of gameplay, visials and sound by checking it out.

Although the look and sound of the game is important, perhaps one of the things I like most about the game, other than the gorgeous graphics and sound, is that you are allowed to do what you want when playing it. You want to follow the main plot? Go ahead, but you can also choose to do side quests and develop your character in interesting ways and go back to the plot later. The game itself levels with you, so you can do any quest open to you really at any time, which I find neat. Skyrim is also very rich in crafting for those that enjoy non-questing aspects of gaming.

Absorbing the soul of a dragon - they give me powers!

Well, I could wax poetic about Skyrim for awhile longer, but really, I kinda just want to dive back in to play :-) So, I'll leave you with some more screens from the game as eye candy. If you are interested in playing Skyrim, you can download it from Steam for your PC (like we did) or you can also get it for the PS3 or Xbox 360. Whatever your platform of choice, it is worth every penny!

WIP Wednesday

2011-11-09T21:51:00.003-05:00

Since I've been spending so much time weaving in the past two weeks I haven't had much chance to work on my knitting projects, there have been small amounts of progress nevertheless. One project is a chemo hat for a friend's co-worker and the other thing I am working on is a cardigan with a simple lace pattern around the yoke that I started back in mid-October.

I swear, this hat will never end!

I'm making the hat out of Nichole by the Schaefer Yarn Company in the Peter colorway and the pattern is Sock Yarn Slouch Hat by Sandra Bichlmayer. This is the first time I've made a hat out of yarn this small; I'm knitting it on a size one needle...eek! It is very slow, especially when I keep getting distracted by the cricket loom I'm renting until this weekend. But.... hopefully it will come out nice and fit the person for whom it is intended. I thought having so much ribbing would ensure that the hat could fit just about anyone when completed. I plan to get this done in the next week so I can focus on some other projects with looming due dates.

Knitting peacefully in the park

Unfortunately, my poor cardigan is getting even less knitting time than the neglected chemo hat. I don't think I have touched it in a week at least and that really makes me sad because I really love how it is coming out. The pattern is Estelle by Linden Down and I received it as a very thoughtful birthday present last year. The yarn I am using is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in the colorway Vino which is just gorgeous (and also a very thoughtful gift). It's not the softest yarn in the world, but it is a good workhorse and very well priced. I really like working with it and it is quite warm.

The pattern is worked top down, so I started at the neck and during my vacation a couple weeks ago managed to churn out probably 30% of the knitting in just one week. Currently I have divided out for the sleeves and am starting work on the body of the cardigan. It's actually a really fun place to be in the pattern because if I slip the live stitches onto a longer needle I can try it on. That's the beauty of a top down pattern.... you find out early on if you need to rethink things or can plunge ahead.

The neckline spread out so you can get an idea of the lace section.
It's so simple and I just adore it.

Fortunately, when I tried her on, my Estelle seems to fit just right. I had a friend take a picture of it one me, but let's just say it was less than flattering to me in general, so I'll have to take another and share later. I really, really hope I can get back to my cardigan. I always have a lot to do at this time of year, so it's hard to focus on a large knitting project for me.... but I would like to be able to wear Estelle on Christmas if possible. I think that is a pretty reasonable goal. Whether it happens or not is another matter entirely!

Anyway kids, keep out of trouble I should have something new to share in a few days!

Learning to Weave

2011-11-05T18:38:00.003-04:00

Over the past two Saturdays I have taken a rigid heddle weaving class at The Weaving Shed in Sterling, MA. I had been thinking about weaving for quite some time and had even tried a bit if weaving this summer on my very small lap loom with help from my fellow FiberKnot, Loomatic Weaver. The class I took consisted of two 4 hour sessions with a small group of others. We used Schact Cricket Looms which are are great starter loom and only run about $150 each. You could make scarves, place mats, mug rugs, and thin table runners on this type of loom. I highly recommend taking this class. It was a lot of fun, you make between 2-3 projects and the instructor Jen was wonderful!. If you are interested in taking a class on weaving and are local to Sterling, MA you can check out her Rigid Heddle Weaving class listing.

The first thing she had us do was pick the color we wanted to warp our looms with. Once I picked my usual purpley blue-green I pulled the warp (vertical strands or yarn) through the heddle. She said that is best to use cotton as the fiber for the warp as it can handle all the rough treatment from having to beat (press) the weft (horizontal strands) with the heddle to make the weaving even.

Then I held the end of the warp as Jen wound it onto the warp beam of the loom. This is the only part that requires another person to help you out, otherwise, weaving seems to be a a one-person craft.

After the warp was wound on, I cut and tied the warp onto the apron rod with surgeons knots. By the way, surgeon knots are officially the best knot ever! They loosen and tighten up very easily so that you can adjust the tension of your warp on the apron rod very easily.

Then I wove a header with waste yarn until the warp came together. Finally I was ready to start my sampler project!

Wow! Weaving is really fast! A girl could get used to this kind of speed...

I couldn't believe just how much I accomplished in 3 short hours. Now I have a nice little woven piece that I can use as a display in my crafty space. I'm pretty happy how it came out for a first project.

After finishing up my first project I had just enough time to warp my loom for a scarf to work on until next week. Originally my class was supposed to be in one weekend, but because it was apparently Snowtober and we were supposed to get a fairly big snow storm starting that evening, I decided to come back today instead. Because of this, I had the benefit of being able to take my loom home and work on my scarf for a whole week rather than only having 1 night to play.

That scarf took WAY less time than I had planned. I finished it up in a little over one day of weaving at home. It's came out absolutely amazing and I LOVE it sooo much! I can't wait to wash and wear it tomorrow :D Isn't it gorgeous? Everyone thought it looked like the ocean.

Since I finished up my scarf during the week I basically had one class where I could pretty much start a brand new project and work the whole time. Last week after looking at what I had made, hubbie had remarked that he liked the look of woven fabric much more than knitted, so I decided to start a scarf for him out of the leftover alpaca yarn from the hat I made for his last birthday.

Now weaving is much faster than knitting or crocheting, but not so fast that I could make an entire scarf in 4 hours (much as I might have wanted to). To deal with that fact, I elected to rent my loom for another week to finish up hubbie's birthday scarf and hopefully make another project for me before I have to bring my little cricket back home. Needless to say, after two weekends of weaving classes and a lovely week of weaving at home... I am officially hooked. I know this is a huge shock to you all. Kindly don't hurt yourselves if you fall of your chair with this realization.

So, more weaving pics to come shortly! With that being said, back to more DS9 episodes and some more quality time with hubbie and his scarf. G'night!

Homemade Halloween Costumes and Recap

2011-11-01T17:00:00.018-04:00

So, this year I got crafty for my Halloween costume rather than just cobble something together in a very last minute fashion. Oh, I still did things last minute... I just MADE them this time :-)

For my first foray into simple costume making I decided to make a Brain Slug. If you don't know the reference, a Brain Slug is from Futurama. A couple episodes that contain Brain Slugs are "A Head In The Polls" and "Raging Bender." Netflix streaming has seasons 1-6 of Futurama available to see for free, so if you have a Netflix account and want to check "A Head In The Poles" out, click on the link and you will be brought to the appropriate episode. Hubbie and I have pretty much watched all of seasons 1-6 recently and we absolutely love the show.

Anyway, back to the whole crafting thing! I decided to make my slug becuase I needed a costume for the Halloween Party with my FiberKnots last Tuesday and at that point I hadn't even gotten our Halloween stuff out of storage (I was a bit behind you see). The night before we were having dinner with my parents and the idea to make this cute little crocheted fascinator popped into my head. I figured, what the heck, I can crochet THAT in a day! So, I finished him up, attached him to a headband and voila! The Brain Slug is a free pattern on Ravelry by Kerstin Batz and you can make one of these cuties for yourself by signing up for a free account and then clicking on the project link below.

For my second and actual Halloween costume I decided (given I had a whole week of creation time) to make myself a viking hat. I made some pretty substantial changes to the pattern such as using another knitter's pattern for the horns, adding a stripe of rivets up the front and down the back of the hat in gray and adding braids a la Brunhilda :-) Also, this pattern was designed for 3-6 month olds, so I followed another knitter's directions for making an adult sized hat which worked out, but really was far too big for my head and ended up making the horns more floppy than I would have liked. I just love how my braids turned out! They are probably my favoriate part of the hat. As an added bonus it is really really warm. I wore it at work for a bit yesterday and was absolutely roasting! So, if i'm brave enough to wear it on a day other than Halloween I should be very nice and toasty. The pattern for the viking hat is by Becky Veverka and is yet another free pattern on Ravelry. The link to it is below.

As for Halloween night itself, I would consider it a success. We had 15-20 trick-or-treaters in total, which I consider quite a few for us since we usually have about 5. I didn't get any photos of the roving minions who knocked on our door, but I did get some of the spooky decorating I did.

I mostly decorate the place with candles because I think they are a more classy kind of spooky and set a really nice mood. I'm always trying to find new neat Halloween candles to burn so the trick-or-treaters have something neat to look at when I open the door. In addition to the candles I also play some fun music like "Monster Mash," "Werewolves of London," "Thriller," and "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The music geek in me includes in some spooky classical as well with Toccata and Fugue in D minor for the organ.

The candle above is actually one I bought last year that has finally gotten interesting. I burned it last Halloween, but it wasn't long enough to burn the wax down and get the flickering of the light to come out the eyes. Apparently it needed to good nights of use before it got cool. The good news is that I'll probably be able to burn this same candle for 2-3 more years before it runs out. Talk about getting my money's worth!

So I hope everyone had a good Halloween... I certainly did! We finished out the night by watching the episode "Hush" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series and an episode of Castle, which unfortunately was pretty spook free. For some reason they decided to show the Halloween episode last week instead even though this week's was a repeat or anything. Strange.... well, I'm off to try to avaoid eating all the candy we have left over. Seems like that trick is on me!

Lazy Cooking: Pumpkin Cake

2011-10-28T17:00:00.001-04:00

Jane Deere, one of the foodie blogs that I read, shared a great recipe that I just had to try out last night. It technically requires only 2 ingredients however, since we can't make things too easy... I used 5.

Cake Ingredients:

- 1 box cake mix (I used spice cake as it is my favorite, though Jane Deere says you can use Vanilla, Chocolate, Buttered Pecan, or Carrot)

- 1 15oz can pure pumpkin

- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (optional)

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Basically you mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until all the lumps are gone (I did this by hand and it took awhile). Then you spoon the mixture into a well greased bundt pan and bake it at 350 degrees until a skewer or toothpick comes out with just crumbs on it. Jane Deere recommended 20-30 minutes baking time, but I found I needed 40 to have the skewer come out cleanly. So, I recommend that you start with the 20 minutes, poke the cake and stick it back in for 5-10 intervals until it's done so you don't accidentally overcook it.

Rather than dusting with powdered sugar I opted to make a quick icing to dribble over the cake slices. Consisting only of powdered sugar and water (and perhaps a little vanilla) this icing is super easy! You start with about 1/4 cup of warm water and slowly add powdered sugar until you have a drippy, lump free consistency that you like. I found that putting the mixture in the microwave for 20 seconds at a time to help the sugar dissolve removed almost all of the lumps without having to sift the powdered sugar beforehand. Then all you have to do just drizzle it over the whole cake or just the individual slices. I brought this cake to my office and the general consensus was that it was Yum!!!

My little blogging hiatus is officially over!

2011-10-21T14:20:00.001-04:00

So, life's been pretty busy, then I was pretty lazy.... but never mind about all that, I'm back! My little fall break from blogging is over and I'm ready to catch you up on the fun stuff I've been up to.

Leicester Harvest Fair - Sept. 17, 2011

This is my second year demonstrating along with other members of the FiberKnots at the Leicester Fair. It being World Wide Spin In Public Day, I demonstrated spinning on my wheel Elphaba. It's pretty cool telling people all about spinning... all the little kids are really interested in how the spinning wheels work and often they just sit there and stare at you spinning away. This year, in addition to demonstrating on my wheel, I entered a couple items to be judged. I submitted some handspun I had made of the summer and a photo I had taken of a frog that came out particularly nice. While I didn't win anything for my picture I did get first place for my yarn, so that made me very happy :) The fair is always a really fun day where I get to spend all sorts of extra time with all my knitsibs.

Tower Hill Botanical Garden - Sept. 18, 2011

The day after the Leicester Fair, my mom and I took a trip to Tower Hill Botanical Garden, which is one of our favorite places to visit. We actually hadn't been there in a few years so it was cool to see just how much the gardens had grown in that time. While we were there, they had some cool metal art placed in the gardens.

They were also featuring a succulent show and sale when we were there. The succulents tended to be very small and very interesting to look at. There were lots of cactuses and other plants featuring very thick leaves.

While wandering through this garden and by this lovely fountain, we ran into a couple people my mom knew from work, who I knew as well, so that was a really nice surprise.

Apple Picking - Sept. 24, 2011

This is year.... uh.... more than two. Right! of us going apple picking. I'm sure it's been something like ten actually, but my brain isn't working right now. This year we went to Stowe Farm in Millbury, MA. We got to take a couple hay rides as the orchard we were picking from was a little ways down the road.

I think we picked a little late this year as there were lots of apples already on the ground. Nevertheless we gathered up our bags and set back off for the second hay ride back.

I'm trying really hard to remember to take pictures of myself so I don't just document what other people are doing but actually include myself in the group. Not always so easy, but I think I'm getting better about it. Luckily lots of my friends are good photographers, so I can hand off my camera with confidence.

Trip to Maine - Oct. 7-10, 2011

Mom and I went to the farmer's market in Bath on a beautiful Saturday morning. We bought lots of produce including some from the farmer that is using some of my family members' fields on the island. It's really nice to see the farmland actually being used instead of sitting fallow. We got my dad a giant club of brussels sprouts... yes, I know that sounds weird, but the sprouts pop out of what looks like a giant blunt force trauma weapon. I'm bummed I forgot to take a picture of it :( You can learn more about Tarbox farm on their website at www.squiretarboxfarm.com

That afternoon, once Brian made it to the house, we took a trip to the Sweetgrass Winery and Distillery in Union where we had a tasting for I believe just $2.50. I tried some apple and cranberry apple wine as well as their maple cranberry smashes. Oh my, that cranberry smash was sooooo good! It's more of a dessert wine or a cordial that a regular wine, but it was so yummy. I also tried their rum which pretty much knocked me on my butt, lol.

Mom and Brian with their tasting glasses and the little of spirits to try. Too bad one of us had to drive home! You can check out the Sweetgrass Winery at their website www.sweetgrasswinery.com

NY Sheep and Wool Festival - Oct. 15, 2011

This was me second trip to Rhinebeck, NY. I drove out with one of my knitsibs and her two kiddos. It was a fun but very long day. I got to pick up some yarn I have been itching to get my hands on for awhile and I also got to meet a couple of the podcasters that I listen to every week on my commute. In the picture below, I'm with Melanie and Deborah of the Savvy Girls Podcast. They are absolutely hilarious to listen to and I was really happy to get to meet them both. Thanks ladies for making my first fangirl experience a good one! If you want to learn more about the New York Sheep and Wool Festival you can check out their website at www.sheepandwool.com

King Richard's Faire - Oct. 16, 2011

To end my adventures, Brian and I went to Kind Richard's Faire this past Sunday. We had meant to go earlier in October but the weather would just not cooperate. While we were only there for a few hours, we listened to some awesome pipers and drummers known as Cu Dubh as we ate very yummy turkey stew. Afterwards Brian finally was convinced to go get his picture taken with the hawk and I picked out a new flower wreath for my hair to match my faire costumes.

We finished the day by watching the joust, which Brian had actually never seen before. We had a lovely time, I just wish we had been able to go with our friends the day before. Instead, someone was gallivanting with yarn and sheep in NY. I wonder who?

Finished Object Friday:

2011-09-16T07:30:00.006-04:00

I know I've been a bit quiet lately. Had loads of stuff going on at home and at work. I should be back to doing more regular posts soon, but today I wanted to share the most recent project I have finished, which is my pair of Elegant Fingerless Gloves. Ok, so I don't have a picture of both of them together since I haven't had time to take the final pics for Ravelry, but I do have this picture of one of them.

I would take one of the pair now, but they are currently in the hands of a fellow FiberKnot who was kind enough to submit them to be judged at the Leicester Harvest Fair since I can't get there in time tonight to submit them myself. I'm really excited about entering them since I love how they came out. They are just so skooshy and warm, which is especially nice since recently it's decided to act like it's fall outside. I also entered a skein of my merino handspun and a photo I recently took of a frog. I'll make sure to update you on how I did after the fair is over. Hopefully I'll come home with a ribbon or two, but who knows.

Fiberlicious Friday: Madelinetosh Tosh DK

2011-08-26T17:00:00.000-04:00

So, I started a new and fun project and it's actually for me!!! Yeay :D I picked up some gloriously squishy Madelinetosh Tosh DK when I was up in Maine back in July and really had no ideas of what to make with it until I came across the Elegant Alpaca Fingerless Gloves pattern on Ravelry (link to pattern below). You can also download the pattern at the Cascade Yarns webpage if you don't have access to Ravelry.

I had a bit of time to myself last night, so I decided to cast these babies on. For one night's work I actually got pretty far. I did make some changes to the pattern to ensure that the gloves fit me properly. This patten makes gloves that go up to the upper arm and since I have a lovely pair of chunky upper arms (grrrr), I decided to increase the starting stitch count to 68 from the original 56. I just had a feeling that casting on only 56 stitches would cause me much misery and frogging... Because of this alteration I will most likely have to do more decreasing as I work down the arm since in comparison to my large upper arms, my wrists are decidedly tiny (again, grrr). I'm going to have to just make alterations as I go to make sure of a good fit. It should be a nice little challege withou being too difficult. I think I can handle it :)

So Very Soon!

2011-08-18T17:00:00.004-04:00

Lol, is it wrong to be so excited about my tomatoes finally starting to ripen? Cause that's what's happening! I snuck out and took a peek to see how the big guys were faring and I saw a hint of red! YIPPEE!!

Ok, I know it's silly, but really, stuff like this just puts a smile on my face. Since I've mostly focused on growing herbs for the past 5+ years, the concept of growing produce is just cool. Since I seem to be able to grow tomatoes AND finally managed not to kill my basil this year, I think I'm going to try cucumbers next summer. That is if I can find baby cucumber plants... I don't start from seed because it takes too long and I don't have the space to let them grow inside before the frost stops. Maybe I'll try growing from seed once I have a house, but I make no promises!

The "I Must Be Crazy" Lacy Simple Scarf Update

2011-08-15T19:32:00.001-04:00

So, after working on this scarf for about two weeks now, I am happy to report that I have not yet gone crazy and I have actually made some very good progress! Through the prodigious use of lifelines at the beginning of each panel of lace (and in some cases, many, many more) I am almost complete with the first half of the scarf and very happy with how it is turning out. I just have the last lace section to go before binding off. Then I get to do the whole thing over again. Sigh... did I mention how much I hate knitting the same thing twice?

I've mostly been knitting the scarf during lunch breaks or before work with the occasional long stretch at knit night or at home on a weekend. I find I can listen to tv when I work on it, but not very closely, so Food Network or HGTV is my background noise of choice. I'm making this scarf for charity, so I do have a bit of a deadline and some stress about doing a good job knitting it. I think I can get it done in time though... as long as I don't get distracted by something else for too long. I think you might know just how easily I can get distracted by other projects.

In a frenzy to take a nice picture of my progress when it's been raining pretty much for two days, I went to a local coffee shop after work today and plunked myself down in a chair to knit and enjoy an iced coffee. Ok... I got some quiche too, but don't tell anyone ok? It's a secret! I'm supposed to be behaving myself :) On that note, I think it might be time to make some dinner, so I guess I'll finally stop chattering and show you what the completed section of the scarf looks like. Until next time!

How Does My Garden Grow?

2011-08-04T18:03:00.001-04:00

Well, I would have to say, pretty darn well! :D

All of my herbs are flourishing (even the BASIL!!!!) in all this sunshine and heat, although I do have to be careful about watering them every day so they don't get droopy and sad looking. The only one I barely pay attention to is the basil. It almost never needs to be watered and likes it that way thank you very much! So, after 4 years of horrible basil death, I have finally been able to get 1, just one, measly plant to survive and do well. But, I'll take it! We used our first harvest of the herbs in some burgers and meatloaf this wek, so I think it's safe to say that my victory is complete...

Come to think of it, I've been able to harvest quite a lot from all of my lovely plants so far, with the exception of my tomatoes. Don't get me wrong, they are doing just fine. It's just that the cherries haven't quite ripened yet and the larger ones (I have no idea what they are called) are still in the growing stages and haven't even started turning anything resembling reddish in color.

My cute cherry tomatoes just after a watering. This plant has been producing so many flowers and then fruit, it's just amazing! I think there are over 20 little guys developing right now and it just keeps growing!

These are my big fellas. I have two plants of these and while there aren't as many of them in process, they look very healthy and started producing fruit much later than the cherry plant. I have 3-4 clusters of 2-3 tomatoes each on these plants.

While it is getting late in the season for my lilies, I have been able to take some nice pictures of the two varieties I have. I love this ivory one especially. The other one, picture below, oddly enough matches a yarn I made for Tour de Fleece almost exactly. Strange huh?

Speaking of Tour de Fleece, I was actually not so good about it this year. I did make some nice yarns, but I kind of got bored and moved on to other things for the last two weeks of the tour. I'm ok with that and I did get some nice yarn spun up in the first couple weeks, so while I wasn't a real competitor, I did participate and I think the two weeks has really helped my spinning skills. I even learned to long draw during the tour, which is one of the methods of drafting fiber that I had never done before.

Long draw basically means allowing the wheel and the twist you are putting into the yarn to draft out the fibers for you rather than strictly controlling the supply of fiber by using both hands and pinching the fiber at the point where the twist comes into it. Long draw generally makes less dense yarns because there is more air trapped in between then fibers. It's still not easy for me, but I CAN do it with some concentration now, so I've very happy about that. The video below is a good demo of what long draw or woolen spinning looks like. As an added bonus, the music is pretty good too :)

And finally, the hyper rose has slowed down pushing out its usual riot of pink flowers. So, the whole plant looks pretty boring right now. But, I did see a few new flowers and buds poking out, so maybe we're in store for yet another set of blooms.

Fiberlicious Friday

2011-07-29T17:00:00.002-04:00

Just yesterday I started a new and probably quite crazy-stupid project (yeah, I'm guessing you aren't shocked by this). When I was recently in Salem spending some time with friends, we went to a nice local yarn store and I found this absolutely super squishy, exquisitely soft yarn there. I just couldn't pass it up! This lovely yarn is made by Filatura di Crosa and is a 70% cashmere/30% silk blend lace weight yarn called Golden Line Superior.

The pattern I chose to make with this insanely awesome yarn is the Lacy Simple Scarf which happened to come free with my purchase :-) The pattern is basically a bunch of lace patterns put together into one project, usually called a sample. The beauty of this is that I won't get sick of doing any one particular design. Another neat aspect of the pattern is that instead of knitting the scarf in one big long piece, you actually knit two halves and then graft them together in the middle where they meet at the back of your neck. By doing this the patterns are always rightside up and both side of your scarf match in the end. Pretty cool huh?

Now, I don't think I have ever knit with a yarn this small before... but I'm knitting the scarf on 3's, so it can't be THAT bad, can it? Well, after one night of knitting I must say it isn't horrible, but because this yarn has a halo, which basically means it's got fluffy bits around the main portion of the yarn, things might get tricky. The halo makes the yarn like to stick to itself and if you mess up, it is difficult to undo your mistake :-(

Still, I'm up for a challenge! In one night I finished the first section of the first half without too many disasters. I've found that I can unknit my mistakes, but it is very slow going. At least it is possible and I'm not destined for sitting with a tub of dark chocolate evil to console myself after making some ridiculous mistake at 1 in the morning. That has never happened to me... I don't know what you are talking about! :-P

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Beach Songs

2011-07-19T17:00:00.000-04:00

Now I don't get to the beach much, but I definately associate certain songs that I love with both the beach and summer. These ten songs are some that frequent my iPod in the summer months and have this strange ability to crank up the volume and open all my car windows.... bizarre huh?

1) Kokomo by the Beach Boys - Classic song that I listened to a ton in middle school.

2) La Isla Bonita by Madonna - Addictive as most Madonna songs are.

3) Summer Nights by the cast from Grease - It's amazing just how differently boys and girls intepret relationships :)

4) Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves - So positive and happy sounding that is gives you energy!

5) Daydream Believer by the Monkees - Gotta love the Monkees.... you just gotta.

6) I Get Around by The Beach Boys - Love love love this song, another one that is really peppy and energizes you. Not to mention it is in Flight of the Navigator :)

7) Summer of '69 by Brian Adams - Ah, good old Bryan Adams, what would I have done in middle school without you?

8) Summer in the City by Lovin' Spoonful - I love to listen to this one in my car on the first hot day of summer. It's kind of a tradition for me.

9) Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane - Hmmmm, many of these songs seem to be about traveling. I have always been a roadtripper, so I guess that makes sense.

10) Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole' - This song is just so mellow and relaxing... I'll let it speak for itself.

Tour de Fleece Update - Day 15

2011-07-16T11:54:00.000-04:00

So far I'm cruising along nicely with all my spinning. In the first 15 days of the tour I have three completed skeins. You can see them below nestled in with my thyme plants. As an added bonus they now smell of the heavenly scent of thyme (one of my favorites).

From left to right they skeins are:

154 yards of Navajo plied Merino with Bamboo Rayon by Spunky Eclectic
166 yards of a two ply Cormo wool by Foxhill Farms
200+ yard (I forgot to write it down!!!!) single of Superwash Merino by Mad Color Fiber arts

Not too shabby for 15 days! I have also been using my drop spindle when I am out and about and on that is some 100% Maine Wool by Nor'east Star. I worked on that last night at a car show at Kimball Farm in Lancaster, MA while spending time with my parents and their 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire, which also made a lovely backdrop for my yarn :)

Next I am starting on another braid of fiber I got during my visit to the Spunky Eclectic shop in Maine. It is a blend of Merino and Cashmere and the colors progress slowly throughout the fiber. I plan to Navajo ply it to keep those colors true since I've never tried that before. It should produce a yarn with long sections of each color.

Well, I think that all the update I have for now. I'm off to Salem this afternoon and before that I have some cucumber salad to make for tomorrow's cookout with the FiberKnots. Lots to do, lots to do :) Hopefully I'll gets some nice pics of both outings to share on the blog. Until then... I'm off!

My Recipe Box: Chicken Lo Mein

2011-07-12T17:00:00.007-04:00

Last night hubbie tried out a new recipe for dinner, Chicken Lo Mein! He found the recipe on AllRecipes.com and I think it is a real winner. The only thing I would even think about changing is to add more veggies to the recipe. It only has some green onions and shiitake mushrooms included, but I think adding some sprouts, shredded carrots or sliced up bok choy would be really nice and give the dish more bulk with few extra calories.

Overall, it is a really good recipe and very flavorful. There was an abundance of sauce left so that leads me to believe that adding the extra veggies wouldn't affect the flavor in any adverse way. So, try this new one out and let me know what you think of it!

Vacation, Aunt-hood and some Distinctly Fibery Goodness

2011-07-11T20:12:00.000-04:00

So, I've been bad (surprise) and haven't blogged in awhile (yet another surprise). Turns out I just needed some down time to get back into the swing of things! Today was my first day back at work after a week long vacation and I must say I'm feeling oddly chipper for facing reality. I guess a week of splendid relaxation will do that to a girl.

Foxhill Farms - 100 % Cormo - two ply yarn

During my vacation we went to the Cape and did some sailing, which is one of our favorite things to do when we are there. We also had a really nice day with some of hubbie's extended family to celebrate the 4th of July. I did quite a bit of spinning at the Cape and hubbie really worked hard on the minis he's been painting. It's funny just how productive you can be when relaxing :)

After a lovely five days we had to come home so he could go back to work, but the next day I floored it up to Maine to spend a bit of time with my family, which was extra nice. My mom and I wandered around the countryside, visiting local yarn shops, the bookstore and getting yummy seafood for lunch.

We even got to go to a fiber store that I have been longing to go to for quite some time. It's in Lisbon, ME which is not to far from our haunting grounds and is called Spunky Eclectic. The owner, Amy, or Boogie on Ravelry is awesome. If you aren't a local, do not fear! She has an online store as well, so go play there until you can make it there in person. Mom and I had a great time talking with Amy as we perused all of the lovely fiber she sells. I even convinced mom to by a drop spindle and some fiber so I could teach her how to spin. It's official, the apocalypse is nigh!!!

Mad Color Fiber Arts - Superwash Merino
- single ply yarn

In the long weeks since my last post, quite a few things have happened. Definitely on the top of my list is that I became an aunt! About two weeks ago by brother in law and his wife had a beautiful baby boy who I'll call "Moose" at least until I'm given permission to use his real name on the blog. Hubbie and I were fortunate enough to get to meet Moose the day he was born, which was a first for us and very special. Then, last night we were able to stop by, have some dinner and spend some quality time together.

So other than fawning over my new little nephew and in general being a lazy butt on vacation, I have been taking part in the 2011 Tour de Fleece, which is a neat tradition that I hope to take part in for many years to come. For most of the month of July, the Tour de France is happening and there are many parallels between spinning and biking (ok, they are mostly horrible plays on words, but go with me on this). The Tour de Fleece is an event similar to the Ravelympics: You set goals, such as spinning every day or spinning and plying enough yarn to make a sweater. Basically, it's a good healthy way to set goals for your spinning and have lots of support along the way.

At first I wanted to set a goal to spin up the entirety of the Romney fleece I bought last year at Rhinebeck. But.... well.... when you are going on vacation and already dragging a spinning wheel in the car with you, a whole trash bag full of fiber seems a bit excessive. So instead I decided to spin up the random braids I fiber I have been collecting for the past year or so. They are SOOOOO much more portable!

All throughout this post are pictures of the spinning I have done since the Tour started back on July 2nd. I haven't succeeded in spinning every day, but that's ok, because I'm doing more spinning now than I have since last fall and that makes me really happy. I generally tend to knit and crochet throughout the year, but the heat of summer really makes spinning appealing since I don't have to have my project draped all over me. For example, a lovely hooded striped scarf I started in mid-June has been languishing for over a week now since I pretty much have to wear it to knit on it. There's only about a foot left too.... maybe some cool day or under heavy air conditioning I'll get it done.

What I'm spinning currently:

Nor'east Star 100% Maine Wool -
my portable spinning!

Spunky Eclectic Merino with Bamboo Rayon -
This stuff spins up like a dream!

POL-IN-ATE... POL-IN-AAAAATE!

2011-06-13T23:16:00.000-04:00

The hyper rose has begun its invasion. This lone flower is just the beginning. Soon, so very soon, their takeover shall be complete!

Ok, I need to stop watching so much Dr. Who; I'm getting all melodramatic and assuming things will take over the world... like the Daleks or Cybermen. On that note, I highly recommend checking out all the great episodes of Dr. Who available on Netflix streaming. They certainly have entertained this household lately :)

In other news, yes, our insane rose bush is back and its first blooms of the season are stronger than ever. More pics to come when they are in full force and once again threatening to take over the world... and somehow I have managed to combine gardening and sci-fi into one bizarre blog post. Go me!

WIP Wednesday: So... where did I dissappear to?

2011-06-08T17:00:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I've been mia lately.... at least from blogging anyway. There's been a lot going on with trips to both Maine and the Cape in the past two weeks, but I should be able to get this blog back into shape with all the pictures I took while I was away. With all the packing and running around I haven't had a ton of time to work on my projects, but I have made some good progress on one in the past two weeks.

After ripping out all the work I had done on this previously, I have managed to finish the cabled yoke portion and begin the garter stitch neckline of my Brattleboro Cabled Swing Pullover. Now, there is still a problem of sizing. What the pattern tells me to do for my size just isn't going to happen. Everything seems to be way and I mean WAY off! For the cabled yoke, the pattern calls for 38 repeats of the 16 row pattern. I did 20 and it more than goes around me. I made the decision that I was just going to go with whatever number of repeats looked like it would fit. It might end in tears and ripping this whole things out again, but at the moment I'm willing to be daring and take that risk in my quest to knit a sweater that actually fits me. Worst case scenario, I end up with the shoulders and neck of a sweater that don't even come lose to fitting me and I pull the whole thing out. Seriously.... things could be way worse.

So, I'm knitting intrepidly on the garter neck portion. I'm thinking I should finish that and be able to sew things up by early next week. At that point I will determine if I should proceed or toss this project into the UGH bin for a second time.

WIP Friday?

2011-05-27T15:34:00.001-04:00

So I'm a little behind, lol. I haven't had much time to post recently, but seeing as I am currently stuck at the car dealership and have nothing better to do I thought I could do a post to kill some time.

I have quite a few works in progress right now, but not too much to show for any of them. The image above is a gauge swatch for a sweater I started back in January but thought my gauge was off, so I ripped out all I had completed to swatch and figure out what needles I should REALLY be using. Turns out my gauge was just fine and I can stick with my original needles :/

Someone else making the sweater said they had to cut down on the number of repeats across and it looks like this is what I will have to do as well. Sigh... Oh well, I need to practice knitting cables anyway! So I'm back to square one, but I'm at least sure of my gauge this time.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Work In Progress Wednesday: Forget-Me-Knot Shawlette

2011-05-18T17:08:00.000-04:00

I've been drooling over this cute little shawlette pattern for a few weeks now.... thinking about what yarn I would use, thinking how cute it would look wrapped around my shoulder... Well, this Friday, after a very unexpected pattern acquirement, I found myself having to make some sort of yarn decision. I looked through my online stash and determined that I really don't have a lot of selection in the sock yarn department (mostly because I don't really like knitting socks). Despite the meager selection, I did find a good candidate. I ended up choosing my Valley Yarns Franklin Hand Dyed in the colorway Blueberry Cobbler which I bought at WEBS at least a year ago if not longer. The pattern is called Forget-Me-Knot Shawlette and it was designed by Meghan Jackson. You can see her other patterns on her website. I also follow her on Twitter where you can find her as ButterflyKnit.

So, pretty pattern, yarn, and needles in hand, I sat down to cast on. I managed to get through a few rows before heading to bed Friday night and also had some nice free time to knit during the drive down to CT for a friend's wedding. Since, I have been able to knit quite a few more rows and am now halfway through the edging for the shawlette. I'm really surprised at just how quickly the shawlette is knitting up. I was worried that since the yarn was so small, it would feel like it was taking forever (kind of like knitting socks). The pattern calls for size #6 needles, which seems to make things move along much faster than anticipated. Also, the pattern repeats are fairly simple and very easy to memorize therefor this project has been perfect to keep with me and work on at lunch or for a few minutes when I'm waiting somewhere. Overall, the pattern is great and I highly recommend it. It would be a good first lace project as well if you want to give lace knitting a try but the concept scares you :)

My Mystery Project is Complete! The Sarafia Baby Blanket

2011-05-13T16:50:00.001-04:00

This blanket project is one I planned for months. It all started back in December when I found out that my brother in law and his wife were going to have a baby (my first nephew!) this coming June. After getting thirough the holiday rush I started really thinking about something for the baby back in January. I looked at numerous patterns on Ravelry and finally decided that I was going to crochet the baby blanket rather than knit it, so I would get some real practice at the craft. Once I had narrowed that part of things down, it didn't take me too long to decide to make the Sarafia Baby Blanket.

I love how the pattern is so simple yet beautiful at the same time. Simplicity was definately key to me being able to finish the project in time. I wanted something that wouldn't be too difficult for me, since I'm pretty new to crochet, but I did want to challenge myself at the same time. Most importantly I wanted to make sure to make a blanket that got used... one that could have things spilled on it and be thrown into the washer and dryer like any other thing you might spill on. Finger crossed.... I think I did it.

Probably one of my first squares and just about the only thing I posted while working on it. Keeping this project a secret for two months while I worked on it was just about as hard as doing the actual work!

All the colors I used for the squares. The yarn I used was Lion Brand Baby Soft, which I have to say is a great yarn. Each skein has 459 yards and is only about $5.50, which is an insane value. The only issue I came across was that sometimes the yarn was of inconsistent thickness which made some blocks inherently bigger, but I got over that quickly enough.

The squares are starting to add up! I had to make 48 in all for the blanket. Let's just say I could probably still crochet that square by heart :)

After I finished all the squares I had to piece them all together. I ended up mattress stitching them together so that there wasn't much of a seam between the pieces and the blanket would be very strong when completed.

One row all sewn together. I grossly underestimated how long this part would take, I will not do the same in the future.

Everything all sewn together, woohoo!

Blocking on our bed... I so didn't even have enough materials to do this. Must acquire more before next blanket project!

Just opened by mommy to be!

They were even nice enough to pose with the blanket for me. I have such nice and patient family members don't I?

Getting Ready to Play in the Dirt

2011-05-10T17:53:00.000-04:00

It is officially the time of year that I need to start thinking about what I want to plant in our little garden. We can't do too much because we don't have a whole heck of a lot of real estate since we currently reside in a first floor apartment however, we are fortunate enough to have two reasonably large planting areas at our disposal. We don't get a lot of sun, so most of our garden is filled with very forgiving hosta and a rather large, mutant rose bush that will most likely end up taking over the world. For the past few years, in between the mutant rose and all our other easy going perennials, I have been planting herbs in pots to spruce up our summer culinary options.

This year I was happy to discover that our oregano, sage, strawberries and chives have all come back. To supplement this merry band of survivors, I went to Ferjulian's, our local greenhouse, and picked up some dill, rosemary, thyme, another type of oregano, three tomatoes from my mom and two basil plants.

Sigh.... basil and I do not seem to get along. I have killed it every year for at least three summers and it's starting to affect my conscience. So, I'm going to give it another go this year... I think I know what I've been doing wrong. I think. Keep your fingers crossed and we'll see how this turns out. Sadly, I believe my past failure with this herb stems from the fact that the signs of over watering and under watering are the same: things turn yellow. My basil has always turned yellow. Then I would panic and water it... so I'm thinking I just drowned the poor things every year :( My suspicions have be confirmed at least partially by the stake in the pots saying "Loves sun and heat" and "Don't overwater." We'll see how this goes. I am diligently water everything except the basil and so far so good. Hopefully I will get these babies in this ground this week, and won't have to worry about them relying on me quite so much.

Demo Potholder all done!

2011-05-09T22:44:00.001-04:00

I actually have a couple more big projects I need to share with you, but... they were both baby shower gifts and therefore a surprise and thus I haven't posted a thing about them until now. So, in an effort to get my sicky butt to bed early I thought I would start off with the finished demo potholder I started working on last week.

My first Fanciful Flower Potholder came out very well and I am extremely pleased to report that it is the thickest potholder I have ever encountered. While this may not seem so important, let me point out that the first potholders I ever crocheted were so loosely constructed that inevitably I burn myself whenever I use them. Granted, they were my first crochet project ever, so my gauge wasn't particularly consistent, but this latest potholder is - by design - at least twice or three times as thick and therefore very effective at protecting your hands!

After making this first one I did go out and get some new pretty cotton in better colors for working on the set I will be making for charity. So, overall, this is a great free pattern and actually quite easy to follow. I highly recommend it! You can find the pattern here.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms in my life

2011-05-08T07:16:00.000-04:00

I just want to do a quick little post this morning to wish both of my moms and an impending mom-to-be a very Happy Mother's Day!

My Mom and I at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA

My Sister in Law and Mother in Law at Countryside Park in Avon, CT

I'm fortunate enough to be able to see all my moms on Mother's Day so we can celebrate in person. However, there are may other moms out there who have had a positive influence on my life and I want to wish you a very happy Mother's Day as well. I hope you can truly enjoy your day!

Work in Progress Wednesday: Fanciful Flower Potholders

2011-05-05T07:25:00.000-04:00

A couple days ago I started working on the demo potholder for some I wanted to make for a charity auction. I haven't had much time to work on it lately, but wanted to share how much I had completed thus far.

The pattern is fairly straightforward... you start by crocheting the base in a circle using only the back loop of each stitch to make the next one. Then once you complete that, you crochet the petals of the flower on top of the base by using the front loop you didn't use originally. It's a neat design because the potholder ends up being doubles in thickness so you have lots of heat protection between you and an oven hot pan.

I really like how this first one is coming out and want to do a set of four for the auction. I'm not terribly happy with the colors of cotton yarn I have on hand and how they are combinging, so this little project might truly turn out to be just a demo. I foresee an AC Moore trip in my future.... Oh, the yarn I am using for this demo potholder is Lily Sugar 'n Cream.

10 on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Birds

2011-05-03T17:00:00.023-04:00

So, I have to admit that my 10 favorite birds are not exactly the ones you think would be anyone's favorites. I like birds that are more interesting than pretty, especially the ones that make me tilt my head to the side and say "huh?"

Ducks at Hunnewell Park in
Wellesley, MA

1) Peacock - Ok, so this bird is just pretty. I love the long complex feathers they have and how they can hide their plumage. Group name: a Muster

2) Flamingo - Any bird that can wear hot pink and not be ashamed is good with me. While flamingos are beautiful in a lot of ways, they are a little odd looking as well. But apparently we like them enough to put fake ones made out of plastic on our lawns. Group name: a Stand.

Seagull while sailing around
Dead Neck/Sampson's Island
Sancutary in Cotuit, MA

3) Duck - I looooove ducks! In college we had a nice gig pond in the center of campus and there were quite a few ducks that called that pond home. We named them, gave them bread and enjoyed watching them every day... I think I have always really enjoyed feeding ducks since I was a little kid and used to go to the park to feed them with my Aunt Sandy. Group name: a Badelynge, Bunch, Brace, Flock, Paddling, Raft or Team.

4) Seagull - I spend a good deal of my time when I'm on vacation either on or near the ocean and seagulls are part of that complete oceanside package. They are very resourceful birds. Probably my favorite things about them are their foraging skills. I have personally been dive bombed by one trying to get my hot dog. While annoying, seagulls do really entertain me. Group name: a Flock or Colony (breeding group only).

Hawk at King Richard's Faire

in Carver, MA

5) Hummingbird - I just can't get over how these little guys even function. They are so tiny and have to eat almost constantly so that they can keep moving. I also find it really cool that when they fly by you they sounds like bees. Group name: a Charn

6) Hawk - Hawks are predatory birds with good eyesight that tend to hunt from above in concealed perches. To me they are just beautiful and look very intelligent. Group name: a Cast

7) Owl - I like how owls look all nice and sweet, but actually are excellent hunters, especially in low light conditions. They have serrated edges on their flying feathers to make them quiet flyers and they can turn their heads up to 270 degrees in either direction. Very cool. Group name: a Parliament.

8) Swan - Ok, I love swans because they are just so graceful, serene and gorgeous. A girl has to like something pretty doesn't she? Group name: a Bevy, Lamentation, Herd, Game, Team or Wedge.

Swan at the Reservior in
Waltham, MA

9) Crow - Crows are in the same family as ravens, which are also pretty neat. I think I mostly like crows because of their black feathers and very distunctive call. Granted I really don't appreciate the latter when they are camping out behind my apartment buiding making a racket at 5 in the morning. Oh, also of note, a group of crows is called a murder.

10) Vulture - Vultures are opportunists and attack the ill or weak. Some new world vultures have a keen sense of smell that helps them find food from up to a mile mile away. Group name: a Wake.

Recipe: Smokey Turkey Shepherd's Pie

2011-04-25T19:00:00.000-04:00

I've actually made this recipe quite a few times now, but just keep on forgetting to blog about it. Rachel Ray's Smokey Turkey Shepherd's Pie is a great recipe that I definitely want to share with you. There is quite a lot of prep needed for the recipe, since there are so many veggies you have to chop up into small similarly sized pieces. I look at it as a good way to practice my knife skills. I would say this recipe takes about an hour and 15 minutes once you've done it a few times and don't need to stop and stare at the directions every 5 seconds to keep cooking.

I usually start the potatoes first since they take the longest. You can three large potatoes, but lately I've been getting a small container of baby Yukon golds and boiling them up. It makes for less chopping since the little ones don't really need cutting up to cook fast.

Another substitution I make is the meat. I started using ground turkey, but since have prepared this with meatloaf mix and ground beef. All three work great and are very yummy.

After I get all the meat and veggies cooking in the pan and get the sauce going at a good simmer, the potatoes are usually fork tender. I let the meat and veggies cook down in the sauce while I mash up the little potatoes with the butter, sour cream and egg. Then they are all ready to go when I want to put everything in the casserole dish.

I do find that I really need to season the meat, veggies and potatoes quite aggressively. For some reason these ingredients seem to be flavor black holes, devouring anything I throw at them. So, in the interest of keeping your family happy, I highly recommend that you season as you go so you get things just right. I add salt and pepper each time you add more ingredients and then taste things to make sure they are to your liking. I for one add at least double if not triple the amount of cumin/paprika, but I know that my husband and I really like highly seasoned foods, so it makes sense.

Finally everything goes into the broiler to get the potatoes all nice and crispy. I usually put this in for 15 to 20 minutes and quite a distance from the heating coils on the oven. You can always put it in for longer, but it's kind of hard to de-char your casserole :-)

I like having my shepherd's pie with salad and maybe another veggie on the side. Seeing as hubbie isn't a bog fan of corn and I absolutely adore it, I just snuck some in on the side for myself the last time.

Card Class with Basic Grey and Hero Arts

2011-04-21T17:00:00.003-04:00

Last night I took a card making class with Jenn Shurkus, the creative chick, and this time she had us create six wicked cute cards using papers from Basic Grey and stamps from Hero Arts. The papers we used are from Basic Grey's 6x6 Life of the Party Collection. We only used a little bit of the paper in the pack, so I still have a ton of different papers left over that I can play with, which is definately a huge bonus!

Image courtesy of Basic Grey

The stamps we used are from the Hero Arts Spring 2011 collection. You can view that collection by looking through their online catalogue. The stamps we used featured cupcakes, cotton candy and ice cream just to name a few. We also made use of Copic Markers, flock, stickles and lots of glitter (which I think I still might have on my face, lol) to make the cards eye catching. Well, I think I've managed to talk about the cards enough, how about I actually show them to you?

Hmmm, didn't realize I made that sentiment so crooked... oh well!

I miss you cupcake!

With this card, Jenn taught us how to use extra layers of foam tape to really give our cards depth.

This is what happens when you are stingy (or lazy) with your glue pen when you are using flock. My bad! It still looks cute though :-)

Must get a craft stapler!!! Because big staples don't look right...

More CUPCAKES! And my favorite card of the much. So simple, yet so striking.

A Work In Progress Wednesday Without a WIP

2011-04-20T17:00:00.003-04:00

So, I've been kind of working single mindedly on just one project lately. It is almost done, but I don't really want to talk much about it until it is actually completed. While I have worked on my Simple Beginners Toe Up Socks, I haven't really done anything worth reporting. Since I have no wood wip's to show you I'm instead going to show you everything that is languishing in my pile of hibernating projects. After I finish my main project, I am hoping to get back to these sadly neglected ones that are calling out t in an effort to guilt myself into working on them. Currently they are softly calling to me like the tell tale heart under the floorboards....

These projects are the most egregiously neglected:

Teal Forest Scarf

- started 8/27/2009 -

My first try at lace knitting. It was hard, I got bored, or preoccupied... or something. I put this down ages ago and since have done lots of lace and am fairly comfortable with the techniques involved. I bet I could whip this out in notime!

Medieval Hooded Scarf

- started 9/11/2009, frogged 11/8/2009, made corrections to pattern 8/11/2010 -

This was my second attempt at lace and first encounter with a badly written pattern without any errata available to help me. I tried making this several times, ripped it out each time and then put it down for almost a year. At that point a knitsib mentioned that I should chart out the pattern to figure out what was wrong. I did and have managed only this swatch of the pattern. Some day I have to declare my victory over the pattern and actually make the darned thing! Maybe I'll even get to finally wear it to King Richard's Faire like I originally planned. It's pretty chilly when I go there, so the hooded scarf would have been a good costume element to have.

Medieval Pouch

- started 8/31/2010 -

This is yet another King Richard's Faire projects. I started it for last year and then quickly realized I wasn't going to be able to go due to having all my weekends booked :-( So, that's why I stopped mid project. I had no more motivation. I actually think I need to rip back a few rews just to make the griffins not pucker so much. It's tough when you are carrying yarn behind 16 or so stitches... no matter what there seems to never be enough slack.

Autumn Round Ripple Afghan

- started 11/14/2010 -

Ok, so this one isn't so bad.... I powered through this afghan back in November but quickly ran out of yarn and had to stop. Please note that I cannot proceed without more of said yarn. You think that might enter my head and oh say, motivate me to purchase more.... nah! Anyway, I love this project and it will be going on the back of my couch once finished. It has no deadline, hence it's half finished existance.

Ten on Tuesday: Ten Things I Love About My Family

2011-04-19T16:45:00.002-04:00

The Molliwog

I know this is about family, but I do have some very close friends (and animals) who I consider to be family in addition to those both biologically related or via marriage. You know who you are :-)

1) They are always there for me... whether I'm happy, sad, or indifferent.

2) They love unconditionally despite my (many) shortcomings.

3) They put up with me constantly talking about whatever knitting, crocheting, stamping or other random project I'm working on.

4) They are extremely generous with their time.

5) They are willing to tell me things I don't want to hear, but need to hear anyway.

6) They are ready to give me an opinion and advice whenever I ask for it, or they think I need it.

7) They are excellent at encouragement and suppport me in whatever new thing I want to try.

8) They make me stop and think, not just go through my life in my own bubble, focused on my own issues and wants.

9) They hold me accountable for my actions.

10) And last but not least... they are all wonderful, hilarious, loving people and I am very blessed to have them in my life!

A Very Happy Birthday Card for Mr. Harley Kitten Shurkus

2011-04-13T00:30:00.001-04:00

In honor of her very cute kitty's 3rd birthday, my favorite crafting instructor, Jenn Shurkus, is hosting a raffle on her blog. In order to enter we needed to make a birthday card just for Mr. Harley and send it to her. I'm coming in just under the wire and submitting it just after midnight on April 13th rather than on Mr. Harley's birthday, but I think he'll forgive me. I had a pretty long day and he is a very sweet guy.

Materials I used to make this card:

Stampendous - Kitty Silhouettes clear stamp set
a muse - Happy Everything clear stamp set
Ichiyo- Cat with long tail stamp (not the real name, couldn't find it online)
a muse square note cards (unavailable)
Shake it Up - mini mat stack papers
Memento Ink - Tuxedo Black
Dew Drop Versamagic Ink - Pretty Petunia
Spica Glitter Pen in Olive
a muse olive ribbon
foam tape
mono adhesive
patience of a saint

So, while this wasn't what I had planned to do originally, it came out nice and I am happy. I need to exercise my paper crafting and stamping juices more often... this card took me way to long to finally figure out. Oh well, hopefully more stampy goodness to come in the future!

I hope you had a wonderful birthday Harley!!

Edited for spelling and grammar issues. Apparently, one shouldn't blog tired ;-)

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Snacks

2011-04-12T19:00:00.001-04:00

1) Nature Valley Nut Clusters - Just found these when I was picking up as stack at a gas station a few weeks ago. I was shocked to find such a healthy option.

2) Sensible Portions Veggie Chips and Straws - Another gas station find. Perhaps HESS should be the place I start looking when I crave new and different snack foods... two out of ten favorites isn't bad.

3) Stop & Shop Bruscetta Salad on french bread - Had my frst taste of this snack in a long time this weekend. I totally forgot how yummy it is. Too bad it seems like a seasonal item at my store.

4) Hood Cottage Cheese with Pineapple - A great sweet and creamy treat. Almost feels like I'm eating dessert... almost.

5) Quaker Chewie Snack Bars - Good to throw in your pocket when you are running around and very busy. I really like the chocolate chip ones.

6) Granny Smith Apples and Peanut Butter - Just the right amount of tart, sweet and salty!

7) Blue Diamond Bold Flavors Almonds - My favorites are Wasabi & Soy and Smokehouse. Very filling and good for you if ou can stick to the serving size.

8) Celery Sticks and Blue Cheese Dressing - A nod to Rick on the Knit Wits Podcast... I must admit this snack is fantastic so long as you aren't trying to record a podcast while you're eating. Best podcasting bit ever! Sir, your snark is epic!

9) Bagel, Pepperoni and Blue Cheese Dressing - Might as well continue with the blue cheese theme! This snack goes back to when I used to do live action role play (LARPing) with some of my friends back in college. We'd pack up and head down to CT for a weekend and live off of a cooler until Sunday night when we would leave and go out for dinner. This bagel sandwich was great because you only needed to refridgerate it after the packages were opened and most of the time there wasn't any leftovers to worry about in the first place.

10) Curry English Muffins - My mom used to make these for us on Christmas eve and they are fantastic! They are a mixture of olives, curry and cheese served on top of an english muffic and toasted. So very yummy and a Loranz Family Tradition.

A Walk on the Beach

2011-04-12T16:30:00.023-04:00

This past weekend, hubbie and I were able to get away for the first time since Christmas. While we didn't have a particularly busy weekend planned, we did get to spend some quality time together and relax. We started off with a nice walk on the beach. While it was still a bit chilly and windy, it was a nice walk and I was able to finally take some pictures of something that wasn't snow or full of the blandness of color that winter provides.

Self portraiture at it's finest... in high winds, lol.

No problem! Too damn cold to swim anyway :)

A tiny jetty in the middle of the beach. Perfect for perching AND taking project photos!

I finally was able to get a nice picture of my finished Checkers Scarf crocheted in Cherry Tree Hill in the limited edition colorway Afflication Anyone?

After our little beach excusrion we went home and worked on our craft of choice. Brian worked on his Warhammer 40K minis. This is his form or relaxation, whereas I spent my time crocheting and reading. Then we went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It was a wonderful day and I can't wait until we can do something like this again!

Enough Love to Go Around Afghan Block

2011-04-06T22:29:00.000-04:00

After about a week of this block absolutely kicking my butt... I got some much needed help from a fellow crocheter at the FiberKnots weekly meetup last night. Ok, so me having problems with this block shouldn't exactly be surprising. The description for the month's block did say that this block is not for beginners.... meh... I like a good challenge! While making this block didn't so smoothly, it didn't take all that long either. From getting stuck on the beginning of row 2 last week to finishing everything up tonight, I'd say this block took me about 4-5 hours to complete, which I don't think is too shabby.

The pattern I used was the 2011 Crochet Block a Month filler square for January which was Enough Love to Go Around by Penny Davidson. While I started with her directions, I have to say that I didn't follow her pattern for long. Unfortunately I found her directions extremely hard to understand, which could be due to my inexperience, so instead I followed a rewrite of the pattern by BlameCrayons which you can find on her blog here. I thought her directions were quite clear and relatively easy to follow even for me.

Now that I have three 12" blocks done, I'm really starting to understand just how big an afghan made of 24 12" inch blocks and 12 6" blocks will be. Actually, I think I need to do some math to figure out how things will go together... or if I have the correct number of square to make things work for that matter. Well, it's too late now. My brain went into sleep mode so figuring out a diagram for the afghan would be nothing but an exercise in futility. Night all!

Work In Progress Wednesday: The 6 month old Beginner's Toe Up Socks

2011-04-06T17:00:00.001-04:00

So... I kinda started these socks back in September of 2010 as part of a knit along. Then, well... real life hit and I kind of lost track of the whole "knitting along" concept. Oh well! Honestly I'm really not a sock knitter to begin with. Of the two pairs of socks I have attempted to make in 3 years, I've only completed one sock! It was knit from the top down and I made the cost on edge way too tight, so I can't even pull the darn thing all the way up my leg >:-( It bums me out so much that I don't want to even attempt it's match. I think that original sock might just get used as decoration somewhere rather than fulfill it's purpose as a foot covering.

Now, the sadly neglected knit along socks are going to be another story. I am determined to finish them. I even have both of them started! Also, they are knit from the toe up, so there won't be that nasty too tight to fit over my calf problem. Back when the knit along started I was smart and cast on and finished the toe on both socks so I wouldn't get second sock syndrome and have yet another lonely foot covering. So, as of right now I have the right sock completed up to where I will start the gusset increases so it fits over the arch of my foot. As for the left sock, I still have a few good inches before I get to that point. I'm trying to work on the both in stages so they both get something finished before I start the next section. So, hopefully in between all my crochet projects I'll be able to get these done in some semblance of a reasonable amount of time. Only time will tell however. Oh, in case you are curious, I am making them out of Plymouth Yarn's Happy Feet sock yarn in a variagated turquoise.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite One Hit Wonders

2011-04-05T17:00:00.024-04:00

Apparently there were quite a few one hit wonders in the 90's! All of my favorites are from then, which I guess makes sense as that when I was in middle and high school, my musical formulative years so to speak. And just so you know, I still adore all of these songs.... no matter how bad they might sound. All the links go directly to a video of the song on YouTube, so feel free to listen to each.

1) Walking in Memphis - Mark Cohn

2) Life is a Highway - Tom Cochrane

3) Stay - Shakespeare's Sister

4) I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

5) Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something

6) The Freshman - The Verve Pipe

7) Bittersweet Symphony -The Verve

8) Closing Time - Semisonic

9) Mambo No. 5 - Lou Bega

10) Three Little Pigs - Green Jelly

Well, that was a fun jaunt down memory lane. I think I might have to make a new playlist in iTunes now!

Painting with Bleach and Luminarte Twinkling H2O's

2011-04-02T16:05:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago I took a class with Jenn Shurkus, the creative chick, on painting with bleach on black card stock and then painting over the bleached areas with Luminarte's Twinkling H2O's to create a beautiful mottled stain glass effect. You can see the cards I made during that class at the bottom of the post. I have been itching to play with all my lovely H2O's for quite some time now. They have been reformulated, come in bigger containers and I have a whole mess of them that have been calling to me to start playing. So, today I decided it was time to get my craft on and try this technique out at home.

When I was looking around for some good candidates to stamp with and I found this gorgeous poinsettia stamp by Magenta I got last Christmas. I ended up embossing it with a Versamark pad and some fine detail gold embossing powder since the leaves and petals were so intricate and fine. Then I painted the whole thing with my standard issue grocery store bleach and sat down to wait.

Now, the thing that's so hard about painting with bleach is that you don't exactly know how things are going to come out all the time. your results can vary greatly depending on the bleach and card stock you are using. I got pretty lucky with the card stock I bought today. The bleach did work on it, but I wasn't totally happy with the amount of bleaching that occurred. Compared to the painting I did in class with Jenn, the results today were much more subtle, which in turn made the final product look less like stained glass than I had hoped. That's ok though, I'll just have to try out some different types of black card stock to see how they work. I only had one option for paper today and considering, I'm reasonably happy with the results.

Since the paper didn't lighten as much as I hoped, I ended up really layering on the H2O colors and trying to shade with them using some of the techniques I would normally use when working with copic markers such as shading by repeatedly going over one section after letting it dry. I also was having a bit of a problem with my heat tool, which I use to emboss and dry the H2O's between coats. It was the first time I had used it since I got it and it started smelling funny. I looked carefully and the metal tip where the heat comes out was touching the protective covering around it rather than free floating. I guess I'm going to have to invest in another heat tool soon... sadness.

Anyway, if you want to learn more about Luminarte's Twinkling H2O's or their other products, you can check out the Luminarte Blog. When I get better paper, I'll make sure to try this technique out again and share the results with you.

Work in Progress Wednesday (just a bit late): Checkers Scarf

2011-04-01T21:54:00.001-04:00

Since I've had so much going in lately, I decided to start a very simple crochet project that I could easily throw in my purse and have with me at all times. On Monday I started working on the Checkers Scarf by Sally Beaty in a special colorway of Cherry Tree Hill worsted weight superwash merino called Affliction Anyone? This yarn is one of four different colored skeins I bought online from a hand dyer that based her colorways on MMORPG, The World of Warcraft. This one is supposed to remind you of the colors of the warlock class and since most of you probably haven't played the game, I'll just tell you that the colors are spot on.

I have been holding onto these four skeins of yarn for quite some time now because I wanted to use for a really good project because I literally can't get any more of the yarn. The person who dyed it is no longer in business :( Unfortunately, I only found out about her lovely yarn very close to when she stopped producing. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

I really like the pattern because a) it is really easy and therefore memorize-able and b) it's a basic granny square type look, but the way you turn each row makes the double crochets lean and look really interesting. I should be able to finish this up this weekend since it really is so easy to work on. This past week has just been so busy that I really haven't had any time tow work on it at all. So, I'm just happy that I have as much done as I do. It's also really nice to not have a deadline for something, seems like life has been filled by those lately. Anyway, until we chat again... happy crafting!

"Shooting Beauty: Everyone Deserves a Shot"

2011-03-29T22:16:00.002-04:00

Tonight I did something a little different from my normal Tuesday evening routine: I went to a screening of a documentary with a handful of my co-workers. Admittedly, I do really enjoy documentaries (I'm geeky like that) and often just pop one on the tv when I'm working on a project or doing some cleaning up around the apartment. It's usually background noise, something I'm not always paying attention to, just a diversion. So, as per usual, I brought a project with me to work on tonight to keep my hands busy. It was just something easy that I didn't have to think about at all. But I have to tell you, I didn't work one single stitch once the film started.

I had heard about the screening via an email list I am part of at work. Generally I don't talk about my work a lot on this blog, but for those of you who don't know me personally I'll give you a bit of background. I work for a small non-profit which provides services such as employment, housing, and therapy based day programs to individuals with developmental disabilities. Before I started working there I was completely unaware that agencies like mine even existed. I also didn't have much of an idea of what life was like for those living with physical or intellectual disabilities. This job opened my eyes to a different world.

The documentary is saw tonight, "Shooting Beauty," delves into that world that I knew so little about. It is the story of a photographer who helped people with significant disabilities document their lives through photography. The story is absolutely beautiful and it touched me deeply. I think I can safely say that when the group of us left that auditorium, everyone felt that the hour and a half screening was time very well spent.

While "Shooting Beauty" is unfortunately not widely available, you can see enough of it in the trailer below to decide if you are interested. If you like what you see, you can purchase a copy for $20 by going to the documentary's website. Even if you only watch it once I think it is worth the money.

SHOOTING BEAUTY trailer from George Kachadorian on Vimeo.

Another Afghan Block Bites the Dust!

2011-03-28T19:09:00.005-04:00

I had a pretty busy week last week, so on Sunday I decided to sit back, relax, and spend my Sunday afternoon crocheting another block for my afghan. Pineapple Blossom was written by April Moreland and is one of the February blocks for the CAL. It was pretty easy as these blocks which was a good choice since my brain was so fried from the shenanigans of the week :-)

In addition to making the two different 12" blocks per month that are selected for the CAL, I'm going to also make another 6" block that is optional. I figure that way the afghan will be more interesting to look at rather than being just made up of blocks of one size. That way I can also choose to do a smaller block one day, rather than putting in the time to make a big one, which can take me the better part of an afternoon without any major interruptions. The real question is, which block will I start next? I think I've managed to do both the easy ones first, so I may just be destined for failure or at least frustration until I can sit down with one of the awesome crocheting FiberKnots in a couple weeks. Waaaaah!

Recipe: Balsamic Marinated Grilled Vegetables

2011-03-26T23:10:00.003-04:00

Well, it's official... the grill has emerged! Due to the tremendous amount of snow we got this year (that has only recently melted away I might add) we haven't been able to grill at least since December. But now that we can actually get to the darn thing, we have a freezer chock full of Omahas Steaks stuff that is just begging to see the fire. While meat is nice and all, I am trying to eat better these days, so when hubbie wielded his grilling tongs for the first time last weekend, I decided to have him make us something healthy in the grill stir fry basket. Here's the recipe I came up with:

Balsamic Marinated Grilled Vegetables

1 bell pepper, cut into 1x1 inch pieces (this time I used a bunch of different mini bell peppers)

1 head of broccoli, split up into bite sized pieces

1 onion, cut into 1x1 inch pieces

2 baby zucchini or summer squash, cut in half then cut into 1 inch pieces

1 container button mushrooms, large ones cut in half, small ones left whole

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

4 tbsp. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Basically all you have to do is cut up your veggies as specified, throw them into a large resealable bag along with the olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper and then let them sit in the bag to marinate for about an hour. I tend to just flip the bag over every once and awhile to redistribute the marinade so all the veggies get an adequate coating. You can let them sit for less time if you don't want to wait the whole hour. Just tonight I think they only got about 15 minutes before hitting the fire and they tasted great. We have a grill basket and once the grill is all heated up my hubbie then just dumps the contents of the bag into the basket and cooks the veggies on the side of the grill where there is no flame until they are tender.

Voila! A really easy and healthy side dish :-)

Work In Progress Wednesday: Crochet Water Lily

2011-03-23T17:00:00.007-04:00

This week I'm actually working on a whole mess of projects. Most recently I've been crocheting quite a bit, working on a rather large project and also working on the monthly aquares for the 2011 crochet along block a month afghan. Today's WIP is a water lily/lotus I decided to make because it was just so darn cute! It's turning out pretty well, but I still have more than half of it left to go. I'll make sure to post a picture of it when it's done.

The pattern I am using is the Lotus Kyusu Cozy by Hilary Robbeloth and the flower itself is only part of the pattern. The whole pattern is meant to be a cozy for those little Japanese side-handle tea pots.

Cause for Celebration

2011-03-22T22:47:00.000-04:00

I want to wish my very wonderful mom an even more wonderful birthday! To celebrate we had a lovely dinner at one of her favorite restaurants, The Sole Proprietor in Worcester, MA. We left very full of fish, wine and dessert. Mom, I hope you birthday was what you hoped for and you know how appreciated you are. XOXO

A Crocheted Afghan for 2011

2011-03-19T17:40:00.001-04:00

I finally have a project I can share with the webiverse... My first ever crocheted afghan block. I've been wanting to make an afghan for quite a while now and just got the nerve to get started. To keep me on track and completing this afghan in a reasonable amount of time I am taking part in the 2011 Block-A-Month Crochet-Along which is hosted on Ravelry. I'll be making at least two blocks a month and then by the end of December I will have 24 blocks (or more) to assemble the afghan.

So, without further ado, here is my first block, one of the crochet along January blocks, Maggie's Square by The Crochet Dude. It was a good starting block and fairly simple in construction. Even a relative newbie like me didn't have too much trouble making it.

In order to match almost anything in my bedroom, I've selected 7 colors from Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice yarn in greens, blues, purples and a pink. That grouping should just about cover everything in a muted color palette quite nicely. The yarn is worsted weight,and acrylic so it should work up fast, wear well and wash easily. Next on my list to crochet is Enough Love to Go Around by Penny Davidson. I think this square is really going to challenge me. Thank goodness there are some very talented crocheters in the Fiberknots to save me when the inevitable "what the hell" moment occurs!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

2011-03-10T16:45:00.000-05:00

I always have so many great ideas for blog posts but only rarely seem to follow through on their creation. Must get my blogging priorities straight!!! Today's post is another addition to My Recipe Box: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles. I made these in honor of Valentine's Day for my fiber group, the FiberKnots (cool name huh?). Our real name is Fiber, Knot Just for Knitting, but I really like the shortened version. If you are local to Worcester, MA and are looking for a friendly bunch of knitters, crocheters, weavers and spinners, we meet every Tuesday night at 6:30 at the Leicester Senior Center in Leicester, MA. You can get to know the group beforehand by checking out our Ravelry Group.

So, now that I've babbled on forever about the FiberKnots, lets get on to the recipe shall we? I have to admit that it was a fairy easy recipe. The only thing I had trouble with was the whole dipping in chocolate thing, but I'll get to that part later.

Most of this recipe ended up being "dump everything in a bowl and stir" which worked out just fine for me!

Mmmm, mini chocolate chips... some might have escaped and never quite made it into the bowl ;-)

I made all the truffles with my handy cookie scoop. I believe it dishes out 1 ounce portions, but don't quote me on that. They were about 1 inch in diameter. Once they were all set on the tray I had to put them in the fridge for about 15 minutes to harden up before dipping them.

So, I mentioned that had some chocolate dipping issues. The truffles shown above are the ones I dipped with chips melted in the microwave. Not my best work.... I don't always follow directions (because my way is better of course) and this was one choice that didn't end up working out so well. While the chocolate melted just fine, as it quickly cooled in the bowl, I had an increasingly difficult time getting the chocolate to coat the cookie dough centers evenly.

For my second batch I actually followed the directions and made use of a double boiler (small pot with an inch or two of boiling water in it and a glass bowl perched on top). It is a bit of a pain, but on the second batch I realized why it was so important. Instead of the chocolate cooling down and getting gloppy and hard in a bowl, I kept the glass bowl on the heat and dipped the centers right at the stove by using a fork. The chocolate stayed warm and dippable. Once the center was coated all I had to do was pick it up with the fork and gently tap the middle of the fork on the side of the bowl to have the excess fall back into the rest of the warm chocolate goo. Needless to say, batch two went waaaaay better!

Overall, I think these truffles were a success. They do come with a bit of a warning though:

They are very sweet, so don't eat too many or you will get a belly ache (trust me, I know first hand).

Work in Progress Wednesday: Schooner Shawl

2011-03-09T16:45:00.017-05:00

This is a shawl I started back in Septemeber of 2010, worked a little bit on and then had a massive yarn barf moment that caused me to put it down until last week. I liked the yarn I was using but when I started, I had the brilliant idea that I could knit right off the skein if I just kept the circle of yarn around my neck. Good idea in theory.... massive mistake in practice. The yarn was way more tangled up than I though in the skein and I just made it worse by trying to unwrap it slowly around my neck as I knit. Well, while the yarn barf was unfortunate, I'm kind of glad it happened. Otherwise I never would have noticed that this beautiful yarn is a perfect match for the project: Malabrigo Rios in the Solis solorway.

Isn't it so gorgeous!!! It reminds me so much of the ocean and sailing. Which was my inspiration for this project in the first place as the pattern by Classic Elite is named Schooner. Now, Malabrigo is one of my most favorite yarn companies out there. Their product is wonderful and very high quality and Rios is no exception to this statement.

The subtle color changes are enough to be interesting but not too much to detract from the pattern itself, which is surprisingly easy to knit despite a 16 row repeat. I am on pattern repeat 5 out of 10 at the moment and have only been working on this for about a week now, so I am making good progress. I'm sure things will slow down soon though because almost every row has some increasing in it, so they are getting longer and longer as I progress.

Here are some more gratuitous project shots, you know, just because :-)

While I do have enough of this yarn on hand to make the shawl as written, I think I might add some more repeats to make it a little more, well, me sized. Little tiny shawls just don't cut it on my body type, so I'll probably have to pick up an extra skein or two to make it the size I want. There is also some very pretty edging that will be knitted onto the edges of the shawl. When I get to that point, I'll share some pics of that too.

Want to find out more or see other examples of the Schooner Shawl? Create a free Ravelry account and click on the project link below.

Introducing: My Recipe Box

2011-03-09T07:30:00.033-05:00

Recently I have noticed I've been cooking a whole lot more than I have been in a very long time. I thought it might be nice to start sharing those recipes with you in a format that would be easy for you to go back into later, so I have started a new page on my blog called My Recipe Box. A link to the page is up at the top of my blog underneath the header and allows me have a list of all the good (and free) recipes I have come across and tried.

I'm grouping them according to the standard cookbook headings i.e side dishes, main dishes, desserts, etc. to make the recipes a little bit easier to weed through if you are looking for something. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. If I can keep my act together in the long run, I am going to link each recipe to the blog post that I talk about it in so you can see pictures and my comments before trying it out yourself.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Smells

2011-03-08T16:30:00.006-05:00

1) Pine needles - They remind me of being in Maine and playing in the treehouse my grandfather built for me along the path through the woods between my families houses.

2) Freshly cut hay - The smell of hay is so sweet! I usually smell it when I'm driving by some humongous field in my car, but I would be completely happy just rolling around in it too.

3) Sheep fleece - I had no idea how much I liked this smell until I bought my first fleece back in October. It is so gloriously sheepy smelling! I just kept on going over to it, opening the bag and taking a huge whiff. I always walked off with a big smile.

4) Baked goods - Enough said.

5) Green tea - I love the clear crisp smell of green tea. I even used to wear perfume scented like it.

6) Campfire, grill or fireplace smoke - Ok, so what I really like it the smell of good wood burning. It reminds me of camp and cozy nights by the fireplace.

7) Crisp spring/fall air - At these times of year I seem to always want to hang my laundry out to dry. I think the freshness reminds me of clean clothes somehow.

8) Freshly brewed coffee - There is nothing as eye opening as the smell of coffee. It's truly a psychological high.

9) Sea air - I love the ocean and sailing, so the salty crisp sea air is a very comforting smell for me. Reminds me of all kinds of great memories.

10) Clean laundry - Again, another thing I could easily roll in and smell all day :)

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Drinks

2011-02-22T23:59:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-02-16T20:01:00.002-05:00

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

2011-02-15T23:59:00.001-05:00

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

2011-02-09T19:08:00.003-05:00

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

2011-02-01T19:52:00.000-05:00

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

2011-02-01T19:21:00.000-05:00

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!

Stylish Blogger Award

2011-01-20T22:46:00.000-05:00

A very sweet and considerate fellow blogger recently awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award as one of the 15 bloggers that she likes. Thank you very much Julie, for passing the award my way. It was so sweet and thoughtful! Please make sure to check out her blog, Twisted Strands, and see what she has been up to. Like her, I always wonder if anyone reads my blog, so it was such a treat to hear from her and have her share her blog with me.

There are two things I have to do to accept this award. I have to tell you 7 things about myself, so here goes!

I am an third generation only child on my mom's side of the family.
I have been known to blast my favorite movie scores at full volume in the car. Music geek :P
I tweet, but honestly, I really don't get the point of the whole hashtag thing. It's fun reading people's updates, but it pretty much ends there for me.
I don't like reality tv, but for some reason I adore Food Network's Worst Cooks in America show.
I was a major tomboy growing up and pink was definitely a four letter word in more ways than the obvious. Today its presence in my life and wardrobe no longer incites mental rioting requiring containment.
I have a very hard time being stuck in traffic and would almost rather drive 40 miles out of my way just to keep moving. This winter has not been kind to my commuter nerves.
I love taking photographs in natural light. It lends so much warmth and life to my photos.

Also, I am supposed to pass the Stylish Blogger Award on to other fellow bloggers. I decided to pass the award along to a few that I particularly enjoy. While I do read quite a few blogs, I think these seven are really the ones that I look forward to reading the most when I see a new post pop up on google reader:

bag 'n' trash - Maryse has gorgeous photography on her blog and she is so stinking talented too!

{creative chick} - Jenn is very crafty lady and in real life I take card making classes with her. Check out her blog to get inspired!

Knitting to Stay Sane - Glenna is a knitter and knitting pattern designer. She has beautiful patterns for sale and even lets us get some of them free. One of my favorites is her Podster Gloves which are a set of fingerless mitts that have a mitten flap and a special flap section on the thumb so you can still use your iPod touch or iPhone. Very cool!

Planet June - June is another favorite designer of mine, but she designs for crochet. Her blogs post feature her new designs and other neat products and projects she is working on. Her patterns are very easy to follow and she also has great crochet tutorials. She also offers quite a few free patterns for us crocheters on a tight budget, however her for sale patterns are very reasonable and worth every penny.

Knitting a Baby - Melissa is blogging about her first pregnancy and about all the things she is doing in her life to prepare for baby. I love the way she writes and she shares all sorts of neat projects she is working on.

Jane Deere - Jennifer shares great recipes along with beautiful photographs of the cooking process. Yum!

she shoots sheep shots - Gale shares her life as a knitter and professional photographer on her blog. Her photography and projects are amazing. I actually only started reading her blog after I took a really cool Photography for Knitters day class she taught. You can see my blog post about the class by clicking here.

So, congratulations ladies on a job well done. And keep on sharing! I hope you enjoy reading these blogs as much as I do! I think it's time for me to turn in, or maybe knit some more, lol. Good night all!

This Hat is DONE!!!!

2011-01-19T23:36:00.000-05:00

After about three months of neglect, I have finally finished the hat I said I would make for my husband for his birthday. Does it count that I started it in October at least? You know, when he actually had his birthday? Hehe... oh well! He seems pretty happy with it tonight when I handed it over anyway.

The pattern I used is titled "Eat - A Hat" and was designed by Naomi Drew. It is a free download and can be found on Ravelry if you have an account (which is also free, I might add). You can download the pattern by clicking here.

The hat is a fairly simple pattern without being too boring. I've managed to actually make two hats like this, which is almost unheard of for me. I tend to be a process knitter and enjoy learning knew things and don't usually repeat the same project over and over. This time I used a DK weight Baby Alpaca yarn by Misty Mountain Farm that I got when I went to Rhinebeck this past year.

Rhinebeck, or the New York Sheep & Wool Festival, is the first fiber festival I have ever gone to and I had a blast. I think I went to Rhinebeck sometime during my Anti-blogsmas period of the year, so I apologize for not having spoken of it before. I hope to go to more local festivals this year such as MA Sheep & Wool. I might even venture up to NH or VT to check those out as well.

Well, I'm all tuckered out from all this finished projecty excitement. Sweet dreams!

Ten on Tuesday: Ten Favorite Games from my Childhood

2011-01-18T21:54:00.001-05:00

1) Candyland - I played this game with my maternal Grandmother constantly. Such a fun game :)

2) Loom - this is a bit of a stretch as it is a computer game, but Loom was a really awesome adventure game which involved casting spells using musical notes. Very very fun! I believe my dad and I were competing as to who would finish first. May have even been me! See the intro to the game below.

3) CLUE -Board game based on the Tim Curry movie. Classic and loads of fun.

4) Trouble! -I remember playing this with my friends after elementary school.

5) The Game of LIFE -I still really like this game, but I don't have a copy of it. It was really cool having your little car and filling it up with family members.

6) Chutes & Ladders -An absolute classic game that I remember playing at a very young age.

7) Hungry, Hungry Hippos -The name says it all. But in case you aren't familiar... check out the video below.

8) Battle Chess - Another game that I played on the computer. Not that I was good at chess or anything, but seeing medieval knights crush any pawn in their path was really neat. Like Wizard Chess in Harry Potter. Oh, and it had a good soundtrack too.

9) Guess Who? - A fun guessing game that I played. I don't think I actually owned it, but I believe a friend did and getting a chance to play was much coveted by at least me. Commercial below.

Aaaaaannnnd, last but not least, my favorite game I played while growing up....

10) Monkey Island - BEST. GAME. EVER. You can see a little video on the game and it's history below. The game was remastered this past year to be appealing to a whole new audience, so you can download and play it now. DO IT!!!! (You can download it on Steam here for only $10). I can even play it on my iPhone... weird.

Snow Day!!!

2011-01-12T20:08:00.001-05:00

So, as of last night at around 10:00 pm I knew that I had a snow day today. We don't get them very often, so I was pretty excited to have a day to relax and truly do what I wanted. I even got to take some photos which I haven't really been able to do in a while, so that made me happy.

I woke up around 7:30, which actually is sleeping late for me. I rolled outside to capture the blizzard in full force. It really looks like most people got to stay home today, which I think is a really good thing. I didn't even think about going out until much later on in the day.

After I retreated to the warmth of the apartment again and snuggled back into bed, Brian attempted to go to work rather unsuccessfully. When he went to go out the door of the building he couldn't open the door enough to get out! So, needless to say, he decided to try to work from home. At that point I decided it was time for breakfast and whipped up a bunch of cinnamon french toast and bacon for us. YUMMY!!!

After a large helping of knitting while watching food network, I dragged my camera outside again to see the progress the storm had made. At this point, I think around noonish, the snow had slowed down.

See what I mean about the snow blocking the door? I could get out, but this was the back doorway, not the front.

After a viewing of the BBC Pride & Prejudice miniseries and a bit of a nap, I decided I should probably try to move my car so that the plows stood a chance of plowing out the parking lot. As you can see, they hadn't done much when I first got outside. There was still about a half a foot of snow in the little circle around our complex that hadn't even been touched by a plow when I went outside at around 6pm. The poor guy was just driving circles around the lots slowly taking swipes off the piles.

Brian had very sweetly already cleaned off my car about an hour before, so there wasn't much to do other than clear the windshields and floor it out of the 12+ inches of snow surrounding my car. Shovel? Why? I have all wheel drive :D

The lone plow truck for our complex. I think this guy deserves an award. Although, I'm still a little peeved that I moved my, car out of my spot, left for 15 minutes of so and he still hadn't plowed it out. Grrr....


As annoying as the digging out was, I met some of my neighbors for the first time and saw more activity around the complex than I ever do... well, besides when the fire trucks come because of a cooking smoke out anyway. It was nice to see so many people being helpful and friendly. One nice gentleman offered me a pair of gloves when he saw me slowly chipping at the ice on my car. I had some, just didn't have them on yet due to laziness. So, it was a nice day, full of rest and relaxation. Now it's time to have some dinner and prepare for work tomorrow. Have a good night all!

Ten On Tuesday: Ten Ways to be More Organized

2011-01-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

Have a To Do List - Actually, I have two lists. One for work and one for home. For home I have an app on my iPhone called Tasks that is with me wherever I go so I can keep track of what I need to do.
File Your Bills - Get a hanging file box or an accordion file and keep all unpaid bills in an "unpaid" folder until you take care of them. Then all you have to do is make another folder for each of your bills to hold everything that has already been paid. You can start over with a new folder every year and just keep the previous year's folder in some kind of an archive.
Keep Your Coupons/Reusable Bags With You - If you don't have them, then you can't use them! I haven't started doing this yet, but having a little zippered pouch with your coupons in it is a great idea. Keep it in your purse/wallet or car so you don't get to the store without the things you need. We are forever leaving our reusable grocery bags at home when we go shopping. If you just pop them into the car after emptying them out, then you will have them for next time.
Keep a Calendar - Pick your poison... I use one on my iPhone that reminds me of appointments, birthdays and play dates. Want one you can access anywhere? Use Google's free online calendar. You can even sync it to Outlook.
Manage Your Emails -I have a rule. Emails stay in my inbox until I deal with whatever they are about completely. And I HATE having a large inbox. So, when the email and it's contents have been dealt with I can happily file it away in it's own appropriately named little folder. I'm telling you, if I didn't do this at work, I would forget to do so many things!!!
Plan on Leftovers - Make enough dinner so you have enough leftovers for lunch the next day. If you are like me and aren't a big fan of the plain old homemade sandwich for lunch, having leftovers for the next day will cut down on ordering out which is beneficial to your health and wallet.
Don't Put Things Off - When it comes to home, I am the queen of I-can-do-it-later. Dishes?... tomorrow. Laundry?... I've got a shirt and pants to wear. If I just did these things when I had a spare moment, I wouldn't end up staying up until 2am waiting for the drying to finish or having a huge pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen I have to do before I can make dinner. As you can probably tell, I'm not so good at this one even though I know better.
Don't Make a Trip Empty Handed - Getting up to get a snack? Grab a nearby soda can or two and drop them into the recycling. Going to get a book? Drag that laundry basket into the bedroom on your way. The more you just do little things to clean up as you are doing the things you DO want to do, the more you will get done of the stuff you HAVE to get done.
Save, Save, Save - No matter how small, but some money away every time you get a paycheck. That way when you want to do something fun that is out of your normal budget, you might just be able to.
Always Have Something Productive To Do with You - Women have it easy. It is socially acceptable and even trendy to carry around ginormous handbags that we can pack full of neat things to do when we have to wait for anything. While I am not a big fan of monstrous purses, and tend to carry either medium or small sized ones, even I can stuff a book, small knitting project or Kindle (if I had one) into it. I know this doesn't sound like a way to be more organized... but more of a way to not be bored, but by having these kinds of things on your person, you can accomplish quite a lot.

The Vegitarian Adventures of a Carnivore, Part 1

2011-01-08T13:40:00.002-05:00

One of my very good friends (DarthCoco) who I hang out with often is a vegetarian. We both really enjoy cooking, but there is a problem. I am a definite carnivore. Recently we decided to try to get together and cook every once and awhile to exercise our culinary chops and yes, to eat new and fun things.

We had our first culinary adventure this past Saturday. For our two recipes we chose Corn Fritters (because who doesn't like fried things in balls and on sticks?) and Crispy Smashed Potatoes (which required 3 ingredients and generally describes out attention span). The recipes came from a cooking magazine that DarthCoco brought with her that day. I can't remember the name of the magazine, but I was really surprised how many really good recipes were in it. First... the fritters....

Mini scoops are great for all kinds of things like making cookies and portioning out the fritters into the hot oil.


Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.... this was the first time either one of us had fried anything, so I think we were both waiting for some kind of disaster to occur.

Done! Don't they look so yummy? We salted them the second they came out to the oil so they would be really flavorful.

We were really happy with how the fritters came out. Between the two of us, we came up with two good dips to serve them with: maple syrup if you like them sweet and sour cream mixed with chives, salt and pepper if you are in a more savory mood.

Actually, we started the Crispy Smashed Potatoes first, but the cooking time on them was so long because you have to first boil the potatoes, smash them with the palm of your hand, let them cool completely (argh!!!!) and then bake them after pouring olive oil on them and giving them a nice seasoning with salt and pepper. Whew! The recipe was so simple but it took forever... This is what they looked like right out of the over.

Edit: Found an online recipe that seems the same as the one we made. You can find the recipe here.

Now that is what I call crispy, crunchy, potatoey goodness! We had these with the rest of the chive sour cream I made for the fritters and they were heavenly. Needless to say, we were both very happy with how the recipes came out and would definitely make them again. Not much of what we made survived past the day we made it, although I did have my leftover fritters for breakfast the next morning. Talk about a nice way to start your day :)

2010: A Summary of Projects

2011-01-06T16:14:00.007-05:00

2010 was a good year for me craft wise. I completed over 35 knitted and crocheted items throughout the year. Not too shabby if I say so myself!

As you can probably see from the collage above I do tend towards making small items, which allows me to make so many in just a year. While the bulk of my work in 2010 was of the small variety like hats or coasters, I did manage a few really big projects that I wanted to specifically share since they are real accomplishments.

Bountiful Bohus Cardigan - I have lots of posts about this on my blog if you want to go back and read about it. This was my first sweater and I made it my challenge for the Ravelympics.
Cedar Leaf Shawlette - This was a pattern that I was drooling over for quite awhile before I started. The pattern is written by one of my favorite knitting podcasters, Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. This project was the first time I can remember that I was part of a KAL or knit along. It was lots of fun to make and the community of knitters in the kal was just great!
Murray the Reindeer - Murray was my first full sized amigurumi and quite a challenge. I have really only dabbled in crochet until recently, so making him was a real learning process. But, I now know that I really enjoy making amigurumi and hopefully I'll get to make some more in 2011.

So, now that 2010 is over, I just have to say that I actually started many more projects in 2010 than I finished. I have quite a backlog of UFO (unfinished objects)... 13 to be exact (not including the projects that are destined to be unraveled which number 2). Perhaps an urge to complete those projects will seize me and they will all get done before 2012. A girl can dream can't she?

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T23:46:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone has great plans for this evening! We are actually done celebrating as we attended a British themed New Year's party and that means we celebrated at midnight GMT, which for us was 7pm. It's a great idea for folks with kids or who lack the desire to stay up late. We should be up anyway, but are now safely tucked away at home.


Asti Spumanti for the bubbly. Way better than traditional champagne in my opinion.

We had lots of fun and had great food and music to go with all the wonderful company. We ended up making Indian food since curry is so big in England. It turned out to be a pretty good recipe. You can find it on MyRecipes.com under Indian Baked Chicken Pockets. My only suggestion is to make only half the amount of rice that the recipe requires, otherwise the curry flavor isn't particularly strong. Now if you like things on the light side of flavor then it's fine as is. Our household typically enjoys flavors that punch you in the face, so our change was a good one.


The Curry Chicken Turnovers hubby and I made.

Homemade beef pasties made by our hosts.

Our DJ for the evening - Full of Irish and Scottish folk music.

Bonus points go to these two for theme costumes :)

Counting down!

Still counting....

7pm - It is the New Year in Britain. Huzzah!

New Year's self portraiture at it's finest. Happy New Year Everyone!!!

New Year, New Big Project!

2010-12-30T21:26:00.001-05:00

Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Vino

So I've been wanted to try making another sweater for a while now. I thought about spinning up my own yarn for it, but I don't think I quite have the chops to pull it off. So I hemmed and hawed, looked at bazillions of patterns, and finally after receiving a lovely Christmas present of a boatload of yarn is a fabulous color, I made a decision! I am making the Brattleboro Cabled Swing Pullover by Valley Yarns which is a semi-local (2 hour drive away) yarn company.

I am very excited about this sweater for a bunch of reasons:

It will be a challenge. This things is covered in cables. A friend of mine made a gorgeous cabled sweater this past year and it placed at The Big E's Creative Arts competition. I haven't done a ton of cable work before so I need to practice.
The sweater looks phenomenal. I love my first sweater but it is definitely of a first ever knitted sweater variety. I was something more elegant, that I could actually wear out to a nice dinner somewhere. Also, I want someone to mistake something I hand knit for a store bough product. That's the best compliment ever!
The fit. This sweater is basically a-line and has a scoop neck, both of which looks great on me. I am of a body type that can be challenging, so to find something that should really work and be flattering at the same time is really important. If you didn't look at the link to the pattern above, look now. They have a great picture that you can enlarge to see more of the detail.

The first three repeats...

So, I started working on the first part of the sweater a couple days ago. I have only finished three repeats of the first chart (out of 38, sigh), but I am loving how it is coming out. As you can see, I'm making a narrow strip, and yes that does seem an odd way to start a sweater. The pattern begins by having you knit the yoke band which runs around the entire circumference of the piece at the shoulders. After doing that you pick up stitches from the top and bottom of the cabled yoke to knit the rest of the sweater. That way you can have cables going perpendicularly to each other. It's pretty neat actually.

So, that is my exciting new project for the new year. I have no idea how long it is going to take me to finish, but I'm thinking I'll give myself a couple months as a goal to be realistic. Well, I at least have to start doing more than one repeat a day or it's going to take me 38 days just to finish this little section, which probably is only 10% of the whole project!

Anyway, wish me luck! I'll keep you up to date ;-)

Stuff &Things

2010-12-29T22:21:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a busy... few months. I looked back and realized that I've probably only posted 3 times in the past couple months and that is most likely being very generous. There have just been so many neat and/or time consuming things going on to occupy me. Due to the inherent time destroying capability of the season I think I'm going to dub this time of year Anti-Blogsmas!

At first work was really busy and hat always cuts down on my blogging energy... and then all sorts of other and more fun things arrived to capture my attention.

First, the next expansion of World of Warcraft came out around Thanksgiving. Cataclysm is fun, addictive and a joy to my inner gamer. I have been playing so much now that there is so much new content available. Here are some screenshots of my in game shenanigans.

My new Goblin (Igotwutuneed) in her lovely rocket boots

Thayolin cruising around Vashj'ir on her new seahorse mount

After my little wow distraction, the busyness of Christmas loomed and I got into my usual last minute crafting and baking extravaganza. I didn't do a whole lot of present making this year, but I do have a couple neat things I can share.


Murray the Reindeer made for the Yankee Swap at my Knit Night

A Tiny Cthulhu I made for a $1 Yankee Swap with some friends

So, I've been a bit busy, but it's been for good reasons. Should have some neat updates to share soon.

- Posted using BlogPress for my iPhone

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T10:14:00.002-05:00

I just thought I would drop in and say hello for the first time in almost two months. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to posting regularly soon.

But I wanted to say that our little family hopes you have a lovely and restful Thanksgiving full of family, friends...

and food (of course).

Crafty Goodness: Reusable Advent Calendar

2010-10-02T18:18:00.001-04:00

I take lots of classes... No really, I mean lots of classes. At least once a month I take a cardmaking class at my LSS (local stamping store). This month, in addition to my usual class, I signed up to take one to make a reusable Advent calendar. Advent calendars are something my mom gets for me every year as far back as I can remember. There is something so fun about opening up the little door each day to see a picture, read a verse or get some candy. The calendar I made today is of the candy variety (although I could add some random verses when I set it up for us this year). I have always wanted an Advent calendar that is more permanent than the flimsy card stock ones that are sold in stores. So, it was a real treat to get to make one for my little family.

This is the first year our instructor Jenn, aka Creative Chick, has brought her yearly Advent calendar class to my LSS. How she made it is really cool. The base is a metal bulletin board and each day is a little metal tin that is decorated and then stuck on the board with magnets. Here is a close up so you can see what I mean.

Isn't it sooooo neat! I'm so excited that I just kind of wanted to put it up now instead of waiting until Dec. 1. Now all I have to do is figure exactly what kind of candy and cat treat I am putting in each one!

On my iPhone

2010-10-01T22:43:00.008-04:00

New Apps:

Lose It! is a really neat free application for your iPhone that allows you to track what you eat, your exercise, your weight and even can post updates to Facebook and Twitter for you when you exercise weigh in or meet your goal. The software allows you to do all this on your phone or through a website. Very cool!

http://www.loseit.com

New Music:

I apparently have been listening to the song Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons for the past week or so since it has been playing on 92.9 for awhile now. I had no idea who sang the song, I just had liked it, but didn't think much about it. I was listening to one of my podcasts the other day (Spin Control - a podcast about spinning, knitting and sewing) and at the end the host Shilo always shares a song. After hearing this past week's song, Winter Winds, I checked the group out on iTunes and discovered everything on their album Sigh No More is just wonderful. They very folky and can sound either Celtic or bluesy depending on the song. Overall, I think it's a great album with good lyrics and would recommend it to anyone who likes that genre of music.

http://www.mumfordandsons.com/

New Podcasts:

The iMake podacast is pretty new to iTunes with only 4 episodes, but it promises to be a really neat. The host talks about a wide range of different crafts and even has a segment about her culture and life in Guernsey, Channel Islands where she lives. The podcast is really entertaining and I like how she talking about all crafts, not just one.

http://imakehandmade.wordpress.com/

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things in Your Refrigerator Right Now

2010-09-28T16:15:00.003-04:00

Not much! Our refrigerator seems really bare for some reason. Oh yeah, it could be that we actually cleaned it out :P

Dole Caesar Salad Kit
Stop & Shop Cottage Cheese and Pineapple
Chocolate Fruit Dip
Apple pie
Lots of onions...
Butter
Sour cream
Leftover kielbasa from last night
Mayo (leftover from epic pasta salad making last week)
Condiments galore! And I mean everything you could ever think of too. We adore condiments in my family and my mom always seems to have some neat new mustard or sauce every time she sees us.

New Project Happiness!

2010-09-27T23:18:00.001-04:00

So, I've been kind of in the knitting doldrums lately. Not a lot about what I have been working on has really done it for me. Dont' get me wrong, I have plenty of projects to work on already, just none of them have been speaking to me, so I've been neglecting them.

Today I got an email with a free shawl pattern in it and finally I became excited about a project again. The free pattern is called Schooner and it is a lovely shawl knitted in worsted weight yarn. Now I don't really have enough of any yarn in that weight, but I do have this beautiful aran weight yarn I bought online at WEBS back in the spring. It is called Monterey by Valley Yarns and is a two ply of wool and cotton. To me it really looks handspun rather than a commercially made yarn because it goes both thick and thin throughout the skein.

Luckily, I have a ton of it in natural and three more skeins in teal, green and pink, so I decided to knit the main body in the natural, add a repeat to make the shawl a bit bigger and therefor fit me better. Then for the edging, which I assume will take up a lot of yarn, I will switch to one of the other three colors. I think it will work and will end up being a generously sized shawl since I'm using a slightly bigger yarn and needles than the pattern calls for. What's even better is that I only paid $5 per skein of this stuff and I have been holding on to it for months specifically waiting for that perfect shawl pattern. There is no way I will use more than 900 yards of the yarn and for those three skeins I will have only paid $15! Talk about a bargain :D

Right now I'm trying to convince myself to stop typing and go to bed, but my the first few repeats of my Schooner are temping me from across the apartment. I wish I could knit while I sleep. Or knit instead of sleeping for that matter. I would be way more productive that way!

I certainly have some catching up to do...

2010-09-20T22:52:00.002-04:00

So apparently I've been MIA waaay longer than I thought. Oops! So, I guess I have to do a montage post of all the things I've been up to lately. I figure this is the easiest way because I have a ton to share!

"Hurricane" Earl Cape TripLabor Day Weekend 2010

Despite the threat of Earl, we went to the Cape anyway. The first thing we did was go to the beach and I checked into the hurricane via Facebook I have to say, Earl was pathetic. The only things we got was a bit of wind on the coast, a few feet of storm surge and a night full of rain. We did however, benefit from the storm with some nice wind a waves while we were sailing a couple days afterward.

A church in Hyannis that was still boarded up to protect the stained glass.

It was a tad bit windy at Craigville Beach

A stalwart seagull

Still windy...

Sailing after a pseudo hurricane is always exciting. We were heeling pretty heavily once we left the bay, so no pics were taken in the Sound. I didn't want to lose my camera in the drink!

Amy's Bachelorette PartySeptember 12th, 2010

White Sangria - Yum!

Enjoying our dinner or arancini, calamari and sushi!

Amuse Card Class @ Ink About ItSeptember 16th, 2010

I took another of of Jenn S's awesome Amuse classes this past week. We made wicked cute Halloween cards! Jenn is so talented and fun. I'm really lucky to be able to take classes with her! I can't wait for the one in October and the Advent Calendar one in a couple weeks :)

Leicester Harvest Fair and World Wide Spin in Public DaySeptember 18th, 2010

This past Saturday my fiber group, Fiber Knot Just for Knitting, demonstrated knitting, crochet, weaving and spinning at the Leicester Harvest Fair. We had such a blast! This is the first tome we have ever done demonstration as a group and t was really cool that so many people came over to look at all our projects and what we were working on. It was really fun. I'll share just a few pictures now, since this post is getting pretty long. I'll post some other neat stuff tomorrow.

Camera addicts, Sheepish1 and I both have a problem.


CaitCreates weaving on her loom.

DDKA, our intrepid leader at her wheel.

Sheepish1 spins too!

TaraLyn with her papoose!

Tokafur drop spindling

LadySpendcer crocheting away.