Victory is mine!

Well, halfway, anyway. Look!!

Christmas goodness!

My dear m-i-l, who pumped me for information without me even being aware of it, got me a gift certificate to knitpicks.com, and "Knitting Little Luxuries" by Louisa Harding (mostly because of the Diane Sweater, she admitted). I'm not a very feminine person, but the patterns in here are quite pretty. My favorite is the Embellished Elsie Mittens. Unfortunately, knitpicks does not have any ribbon yarn, but I got some soft baby alpaca/cashmere yarn with my gift card and it looks like I'll pay like, $1.99 for a skein of ribbon yarn at Hobby Lobby. I also got the yarn to make this purse that I've been drooling over for about a year, and I threw in the new Vogue Knitting Stitchionary for good measure. So, thank you, Mom!!

In honor of my husband's return from his two-week trip, I made this wonderful cheesecake on Saturday. Quite possibly the richest one I've ever made, but very yummy. Did I mention Kahlua?

Still two inches to go on the stupid sock. *sigh*

Yum!!

I just made a really great supper, and I wanted to share it. I omitted the onion because with one exception I hate onions. I also cheated and used some frozen green, yellow and red peppers that I had in my freezer. The only thing I did wrong was not making sure that the brown sugar was dissolved all the way into the olive oil mixture. When I first mixed all the spices, the smell was not exactly appetizing, but the dish turned out excellent, and I hope that it tastes just as good tomorrow at lunch.

No progress on the socks. It struck me yesterday that Christmas is in like, less than two weeks. I'm unravelling a poncho type thing that I made out of silvery Moonlight Mohair, and crocheting some snowflake ornaments for my parents, to go along with the travel mugs that I stole from work and some mini pumpkin ginger streusel pies (the same pie that I made for Thanksgiving). I might also try my hand at some peanut brittle. My grandma always used to make some and send it to my dad, and she died this past spring so I think that he would appreciate the continuation of the tradition.

On a totally work-related note, if you ever call in sick, I hope that you do not find it necessary to describe all of your symptons in detail to whomever you're calling in to. As someone who talks to people who call in sick on a regular basis, I would like to say that I believe you! You don't have to detail your night spent in the bathroom/how gross your eye looks from the pink eye/any other "interesting" details of your sickness. It's not like I'm going to say, "You don't sound very sick, you had better come in today" unless you tell me exactly what color it is. Ok, end of disgusting rant. Hopefully more progress on the sock soon!

The last mile is the hardest...

Sock update: I have two inches left of foot, and then a toe and I'll be halfway done with my pair of socks. !!! I haven't picked the needles up in days. It might be next winter by the time I finish, at this rate. *sigh*

My husband is currently Away on Business, for two weeks. He's been gone for exactly 4 hours and I'm bored out of my MIND. The dumb part is, if he were here we wouldn't be out doing anything fun or exciting. I would still be sitting here in front of my computer, and he would be working on his computer or playing video games. The only difference is that now I should probably be slightly worried if I hear noises in our house that aren't made by me.

So far since dropping off Jason at the airport I have scrubbed the kitchen floor, made a pink lemonade cheesecake, braved the streets of Fargo for some shopping, and almost got hit by a bus. 13th Avenue was the busiest I've ever seen it, cars stopped behind green lights because there was no room for them to go forward, and this big bus was trying to pull out into the middle of it all. Yeah, right. So he starts inching out in front of me and I'm like, even if I stop, there is NOT going to be room for you to pull out in front of me because you're like, 80 feet long. So I kept going and he also kept going. At the last second I pulled over into the other lane, fortunately empty of other cars, and he honked at me like it was my fault. Whatever.

The object of my little shopping trip? "Crochet Me." I love two of the sweater patterns on the front cover, the teal wrap/shrug and the reddish brown spider webby looking one. The reason that I started knitting in the first place was, I could not find crochet patterns anywhere that I would actually wear. Meanwhile, over in Knitting Land, everything was beautiful and nothing was ugly or lame. (That statement may or may not be true .....) I'm not going to stop knitting, far from it. I just might actually use my many crochet hooks for something other than cheating when I pick up and knit.

Easiest Heel Turn Ever

Seriously, this heel was so quick. No wrapping and double wrapping, no stitch markers, no swearing. I was in and out in about 5 minutes. Thanks, Nancy!

Progress

I made it up to the heel gusset this weekend! Ok, that's not really ALL that much, but it was a busy weekend. On Thanksgiving Day, I had some other distractions to keep me busy, and the rest of the weekend was spent running around Minneapolis. I got a fabulous new cookbook, "I (heart) Cheesecake" by Mary Crownover. Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake. Yumm.

I am a bad blogger

I didn't post on Wednesday. Or on Thursday or Friday. Bad me. Anyway, I'm making steady progress on the sock - about 4 inches since the last post. I have three more decrease rows (which happen every six rows), and then the heel turn! Hurrah! The pattern calls for you to knit 14 total inches from the ribbing, but my legs are very short, so I'm guessing that when I finish the decreases I'll be able to start almost right away on the heel. I don't know how much I'll get done this weekend. I started sneezing yesterday afternoon and right now I feel like hell. I went to the store to get my Thanksgiving shopping done (I'm baking a pumpkin ginger streusel pie, and making the cranberry sauce) and it kind of kicked my butt. I'm thinking a nap is in order right about now .......

Chronicle of a Sock Foretold, pt. 2

I know it's difficult to see, but the arrow represents approximately where I was at the end of my post last night. I made it pretty darn far, I'd say! I even got a late start tonight, about an hour past when I meant to get started. I got home from work late because my wish was granted, and I got to move my desk to a more harmonious-for-my-sanity-and-ultimately-the-company spot. Let's not talk about the 14 or so inches left to go before the heel turn, ok? Ok. The next post will probably be Wednesday, because tomorrow is our weekly "date night" with our main friend couple unit. Thing.

Chronicle of a Sock Foretold

As you know if you have read some of my earlier posts, I have a nasty habit of not finishing what I start. On Thursday night, I started making the Highland Schottische Kilt Hose and I would reallyreally like to finish them. So, I am going to try an experiment, and document my journey in the hopes that it will give me the kick in the ass I need to finish them. I've honestly made it quite a bit farther than I thought I would, so hopefully that's a good sign.

I cast on Thursday night, the day I got the book in the mail, and got about halfway done with the top (or bottom, I guess) of the cuff. (The cuff folds down, covering up the clever-ribbing-put-there-to-hold-the-thing-up-when-you're-wearing-it. You knit the cuff and the ribbing, and then turn the sock inside out and knit the leg in the other direction.)

Friday night, I finished the top/bottom of the cuff and also cleared up a little mystery, which will help me finish Tsantsa. I didn't understand the concept of an embossed stitch, but now I do! Hurrah! So, there is once again the possibility that my camera will be carried around in a little shrunken head. Of more immediate concern, I also made it through the first repeat of the argyle cuff pattern.

Saturday. In between another one of our orandas dying, the ill-fated hunt for a replacement and the purchase of new winter gear (oh, and playing some Lego Star Wars), I managed to finish the argyle pattern and start on the ribbing. By "start on the ribbing" I mean "I knit one row and then went to bed at 8 because my head hurt so bad I couldn't see straight." It's been a good long while since I've knit that much all at once. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Long Island Tea AND White Russian I had had the night before ........

Currently, I've got about 1/2 inch of ribbing left to go, and then I start on the actual leg. I'm so proud of me!

The little dangly bit at the bottom is one of my spiffy stitch markers. I hope to have more to show for myself tomorrow night.

Guy Fawkes

As it does every year, this year my birthday fell on Guy Fawkes Day. I got quite a good haul, for being 26. Jason gave me the complete Star Trek: The Original Series, so I have all the Shat I can handle. My manager at work, who has spent the past 6 months being scandalized because I don't have a slow cooker, bought me ... a slow cooker! I've used it twice, to varying effect. The first time, the recipe for some reason had about a cup of juice in it, so of course at the end of the cooking time, it was all blackened and stuck to the bottom of the crock pot ... er, slow cooker. Right now, I'm making a chicken curry dish of sorts, with potatos and veggies. I think that it could have used some rice, but maybe not because of the potatos? I don't know. Anyway, I purchased "101 Things to do with a Slow Cooker" today, and it has some fun-looking recipes, including Holiday Wasail and Lemon Custard Cake.

I finally ordered "Folk Socks" by Nancy Bush, as our trip to her yarn store in Salt Lake City was thwarted by my dad being grievously injured at work two days before we left Fargo. (Long story short, some heavy machinery that he was using malfunctioned, and both of his legs and feet were broken in about 5 different places, in addition to his heel being crushed. He's doing well, awaiting the removal of the pin in the bottom of his heel so he can start learning to walk again. So instead of wandering around Salt Lake, we drove 5 hours one way to my hometown to see him.) Anyway. I have half of the cuff done on the Highland Schottische Kilt Hose, using my Knit Picks Essential in Burgundy.

Last, I have a Moogle head! The body will come later, as I am using the needles on the Kilt Hose. Jason and I decided that if we do have a kid, it is going to be a Moogle. They're so much easier to take care of!

Valley Con 2007

I finally finished my Katamari Damacy earmuffs yesterday, because I had to wear them last night! Our local sci-fi convention had a "Monster Bash" with costume contest, and I was cajoled into entering at the last minute by my human Katamari, Amanda. We didn't win, but we made Ernie Hudson (otherwise known as Winston from the Ghostbusters) and an old guy dressed as Death laugh, so it was probably worth it. Here is the finished product, along with my friends Megan and Chris:

I got lots of "Your costume is AWESOME!!!"'s from lots of drunk people (and a few who might have been sober). The ears are a little droopy and the antenna a little lopsided, so if I make another one ever there will be more poly fiberfill.

Yesterday, before finishing up the earmuffs, I also baked a Hot Buttered Rum Cheesecake with rum-caramel sauce. Excellent cheesecake, except you probably shouldn't serve the rum-caramel sauce around the kiddies, because the alcohol wasn't baked or boiled out. Or you can just use rum flavoring.

News

I've taken up a new hobby - origami! It's pretty relaxing, not as much as knitting, but I'm having a good time with it.

It's starting to get cold, so my next project once the newness of origami wears off is a pair of convertible glove/mitten thingies. I made a pair from this pattern last year and it's a good pattern, but the yarn I used, Wool-Ease, sucks. The yarn started to pile before I even finished the gloves, and after a week of wear they looked terrible. I'm using more of my Knit Picks Palette, with stripes of the various shades of gray. On the first pair, I didn't use the chart and don't plan to on the second one. I might find something in one of my Vogue Knitting books, we'll see how fast I start working on them.

A new yarn store opened up in Fargo! I've gathered that it's a leetle expensive, and we all know how I feel about expensive yarn, but I would still like to go. They had their grand opening on Thursday night and I fully planned to attend, but then it slipped my mind and by the time I remembered, I was immersed in God of War and had a couple of Bacardi Limons under my belt.

Clever things that I made

Something neat that I "made:"

I use the quotes because my creative contribution to this project included getting the needle-nose pliers out of the toolbox in the closet and using them to pry apart little figure eight connectors. These are some fun stitch markers that I've had in mind for a while. The purple charms came pre-made, and cost $1.47 for a pack of 4 at Hobby Lobby. The turtle was more expensive at $1.79, the figure eight connectors were 99 cents for a packet of 60, and the clasps were $2.94 for a packet of 10. So, I paid $8.66 total, or about 96 cents each, for 9 stitch markers. I like the clasps, because they're easy to clip on to the yarn or the needle. The ones I bought easily clip on up to a size 7 needle, but they make them in different sizes. And maybe someday I'll make my own charms instead of cheating!

I haven't seen the show "Firefly" or the movie "Serenity." In fact, I just had to go look up which is which. But when my friend Amanda needed a Jayne Cobb hat, I was up to the challenge, and here is the result:

She. loved it. I think it's a really cute hat, but the colors are ghastly. I might be up for making one again, just not in those colors. My favorite part is the pom pom, the first one I've ever made. Yay me! The pattern for this hat can be found here. The yarn is Lion Wool - I had the orange, and it was about $10 total for the yellow and red, but I ended up just paying for it all myself (instead of having her pay me back for the yarn) because I didn't even use half of a skein of each color. It was a really quick knit - after I got the gauge figured out, it took me about 3 days to get it done.

Last weekend, I made a very, very yummy carrot cake. It turned out really well, and the day after I made it, as I sat staring at my yellow thumbnails (caused by grating carrots into three cups of usable goo), it occurred to me that this might make some pretty yarn. I was further inspired by a) this article, conveniently e-mailed to me the day before I made the cake; and b) the story in one of the Little House on the Prairie books where Laura and Ma dye their freshly-churned butter with finely grated carrots to make the butter (and the table) prettier. (Incidentally, I spent a lot of time with my cheese grater and appreciate the effort that Pa put into making theirs - he put a bunch of nail holes at an angle in the top of a tin can. Brilliant.) Up until this point, I've only had a passing desire to ever dye my own yarn. A Google search came up with one person who had attempted to dye yarn with carrots, in a blog entry with little to no details about the process. On that far off day when I get ambitious, this is what I will attempt.

New Book

I have before me a copy of "Knitted Animals" by Anne-Dorthe Grigaff. The book itself is very small, and I definitely wouldn't have paid $30 for it based on its size. (Oops, I guess I kind of judged a book by its cover.) The animals are really adorable, though. The patterns are very simple, geared toward kids around 7-8 years old. Most of them are just one or two knitted squares folded and sewn together in clever ways. I appreciate that the author isn't tied to one brand of yarn, or really any brand of yarn at all. For example, to make the mother duck and ducklings, you only need "Duck-colored yarn." The most specific she gets is to say a type of yarn, like angora or mohair. She does get rather specific when giving instructions for finishing the animal, which I think a lot of books pass over. The two patterns that I can't wait to try are Peter the Hedgehog, (because really, how many hedgehog patterns have you ever seen?) and the Growly Bear with Big Heavy Paws. So, an adorable book, and if you can find a cheaper copy, all the better. (BTW, this is an import from Denmark, which might explain the price.)

**Edit** Something that could be important, but might not - while the author is very flexible about what yarn you can use, she (with a few exceptions) fails to mention how much yarn you should use. It looks like one 100g ball should be more than enough for most of the projects, but it's still something to keep in mind.

I'm on Ravelry

My username is SusieHomewrecker. Nothing you haven't seen yet, it's just organized a little better.

Update

A couple of FO's!:

The Dalek for my brother-in-law. He really liked it, and it has already seen lots of action pointing its laser gun a everything.

And the cute little monkey! The hat was way too small, so I didn't take the time to sew it on. I think he looks a little more "Planet of the Apes" than he was supposed to. The zills are great, though.

On the needles now - earmuffs from Katamari Damacy, for ValleyCon. I don't see them getting me free alcohol like my Spaceballs t-shirt, but they'll be cute (I can't find a picture of the t-shirt, but it has Dark Helmet's head and it says "Evil Will Always Triumph Because Good is Dumb"). Plus, ValleyCon is at the end of October this year, so it's a good time of year for earmuffs.

I've also been scouring the web/Barnes and Noble for knee socks and/or thigh highs. I like to wear long jean skirts to work, but my legs get so cold. Already. In August. I can't wait for how cold they're going to be in January! I've found several patterns, but none that really jump out at me. So far the two I like the best are the Quidditch Socks from Charmed Knits and the (men's) Kilt Hose from Folk Socks. I'm going to Salt Lake City this weekend (coincidentally to the yarn shop owned by the author of Folk Socks) and I have high hopes for finding *something.*

Boy, have we got yarn!

I realized recently that my attention span is very short, so buying a whole bunch of yarn in one color to make a sweater is a waste of money because I will never finish it. So, I bought this. I now feel a little bit of alarm when I start to make something in case I don't have enough of one color. But really, if I was making something and did need another ball, I would get bored with the project before it got to that point, so this was a solid investment. My first project is the Monkey from Toy Knits. I've got the legs, feet, and belly done so far. It's one of those little organ grinder monkeys, so obviously I have to modify the pattern so it's an evil flying monkey. Ms. Bliss included in her book a pattern for an angel bunny complete with wings, which I take to be a sign that she wanted this unholy union to happen. I've also thrown around the idea of acquiring some zills (which would of course be full-sized cymbals for the monkey), but then I would feel obligated to take belly dancing again, so I'll have to think about that.

My boss' wife is having a baby soon, like in September, which means I need to get off my butt and make something. They have two kids already, and I don't think they were planning on having any more, so all of their baby stuff is long gone. I want to make this bottle warmer, but I can see how it might be a little creepy to some people, like perhaps a baby. I don't know the woman very well, so maybe I should just go with a fuzzy bunny. If I do make the bottle warmer, it's most likely not going to be a lion and it's most definitely not going to be white. Maybe a cuddly brown monkey? No wings, I promise ...... I'll save stuff like that for my hypothetical children.

Piggy!!

The piglet is done!


I think he's looking for truffles in the camera lens.

Taking Care of Business

This has been my most productive weekend like, ever. I accomplished quite a bit yesterday, and I have a whole nother day! Perhaps I'll be able to carve out a couple of minutes today to learn some spelling and grammar.

A short list of what I got done:

1. I organized my yarn stash into spiffy little baskets (no small feat)

2. I got caught up to where I had been before I had to rip out part of the Dalek

3. I made 85% (!) of a piglet from Toy Knits

4. I made a caramel toffee crunch cheesecake

5. I made caramel sauce for the cheesecake from scratch!! I was so proud of this, because I've heard that it's hard to make caramel. It's not, and it turned out perfect - way better than just melting a bunch of those little caramel candies, and less messy.

6. I downloaded about a gazillion mods for The Sims 2 (Including a Sim house that looks like a giant toilet. You would not believe how much time some people have on their hands.)

7. Um, I guess that's about it

Here's the cheesecake:

It got a little dark on the top (this is a common theme in things that I bake, in case you haven't noticed) and there is quite the fault line in the middle of it. The cake itself tasted pretty good, not burnt at all, but a little dry for a cheesecake. The recipe called for you to put the cake in a roasting pan half-filled with hot water while you were baking it. I don't have a roasting pan. I couldn't find anything anywhere to tell me why I should do this. So I didn't do it. That may be why it was dry, I don't know. Also, my oven cooks hotter than it's supposed to - most cheesecake recipes call for you to bake the cake for over an hour, but I can't go more than 45 minutes or it turns out to be a giant, slightly edible paperweight. I did try out a tip from my Sister-in-Law the Caterer - she bakes the cheesecake for slightly less than the time specified in the recipe, and then turns the oven off and leaves the cheesecake in the oven for an hour. However, since I baked this one a little too long anyway, I don't think that it helped in this case. Oh, well, there's always next time.

On today's agenda:
Finish the piggy
The new Vogue Knitting magazine!

Books

I picked up "Toy Knits" by Debbie Bliss today. (Well, ok, it came in the mail courtesy of amazon.com.) The toys in it are adorable. Two of the patterns are blatantly Kanga and Roo, and Eeyore (Classic, of course, not Disney), but that's not really a bad thing. Of course, I'm not the estate of A.A. Milne, but that is neither here nor there. The farm animals are the cutest, especially the pigs with their little floppy ears. There's also a great pattern for a "farm mat," with different squares representing fields, bales of hay, stables, etc, and tiny pigs and cows and sheep. Obviously I haven't tried any of the patterns yet, but a couple of things that I noticed - in the Introduction, I was cautioned not to overstuff the toys, because the stuffing will show through. I then proceeded to see 3 examples of overstuffing, in a casual look through the pictures of the finished patterns. I will also be extra careful when I work the noses of any of the bears, because the person who made the patterns in the pictures obviously had a bit of trouble with them - the yarn is stretched and twisted and doesn't blend well with the rest of the bear. Otherwise, the book is really slick and I can't wait to knit a little piggy.

I also received "Yarn: The Things It Makes and How to Make Them." I haven't looked at it really in depth. It was obviously written for some sort of home ec environment, as it was published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, which published 90% of my textbooks in high school. The book covers knitting, crocheting, weaving and macrame in pretty good detail, as far as I can tell. No sweater patterns, but you can crochet a skirt out of granny squares, and knit some mittens. The many pictures are surprisingly detailed, and the book covers some things that you might pass over as obvious. For example. For some reason, when I was strictly a crocheter, I couldn't grasp the concept of "make a ring, and then make x SC in the ring," if I was crocheting in the round. It never occurred to me to crochet IN the ring, and I made many misshapen circles. I even spent an evening at Barnes and Noble poring over crochet books, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. If only I had had this book! In short, it's definitely a cheesy book, but it also has some value. The macrame chapter lies in wait!

Wookie Cookies!

Here it is, the only cookie recipe you'll ever need. These cookies are much requested at LomL's work, under the name "Mrs. B's cookies." A couple of modifications that I made - I use whole wheat flour instead of white, and I use dark chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet. You'll have people .... umm .... eating out of your hand.

Cakes galore!

Cake decorating is something that I grew up with. To earn extra cash when I was little, my mom would decorate cakes for weddings and graduations, etc, and every once in a while I got to help. When I got older and joined 4-H, cake decorating was the first thing I signed up for and the only event that I stuck with the 5 years that I was in 4-H. Not to toot my own horn, but the other cake decorators of Delta County didn't have a chance once I came on the scene. Seriously, I got 1st place, Grand Champion, and Reserve Grand Champion all 5 years that I competed in the fair. My magnum opus was a cake shaped like the United States, decorated to look like an American flag, with Colorado outlined in blue, and a red star for Delta County. All done with a star tip. All this is sort of destroying my image of kitchen ineptitude, isn't it? Crap. My point: Several weeks ago, my manager and I were bullshitting, and the subject of cake decorating came up. I modestly told her that I used to be kind of good at it, and she offered to give me all of her stuff because she HATED it. She said she had a few pans and some of the Wilton Yearbooks, which was the Most Fun Magazine Ever as far as my 5-year old self had been concerned.

Anyway, today was the day, the day she remembered to pack it all up and bring it to me. The pans are really cute, a Smurfette and a gum ball machine and one of those spiffy 3-D round cake pans. But the books. Oh my gods. In addition to several of the Wilton Yearbooks (including this one), there is a hardcover Betty Crocker book and - I can't even believe this - The Wilton Way of Cake Decorating Home Study Course. That's right, my manager actually paid who knows how much money to have 5 installments of this cake decorating course mailed to her door. And the course is (supposedly) written by the man himself, Norman Wilton. He looks rather severe, as though he's just waiting for someone to make a wisecrack about him decorating cakes. In fact, he addresses this in the Introduction booklet: "Surprised? Well, don't be. The art of cake decorating is a family tradition with us Wiltons." So there.

I can't wait to look through all of the yearbooks and see what cakes I can make. How exciting!

Sock!

My sock is dumb and I hate it. Just kidding, it's a beautiful sock and I'm sure that once I get past the bloody heel turn I'll enjoy it for years and years. After the first frogging, I tried again using a different method, not thinking - duh - that you can't work a top-down heel on a toe-up sock. I've worked two other whole heel turns before this one and didn't have any problems at all! So, I've taken a break or two.

I spent today working on a gift for LomL. He has a sock person of sorts, made at least 30 years ago by some kind Presbyterian lady. The sock person, named Sam, is falling apart and showing his innards in some places. (From the looks of it, he has panty hose for brains.) Since Sam is getting old and lonely, I made a bride for him. Her name is either Samantha or Tiffani, we're not sure yet. She's a Sweet Young Thing, though, and obviously after his money (she needs a nose job). Here is their wedding picture:

Judging by the beer bottle in the background, it was not a dry wedding. I would like to point out that I totally free-handed the embroidery on her face, which is why one eye is smaller. Actually, she's winking at Sam, because that's just the kind of Saucy Sock that she is.

I also started on a possible birthday present for my brother-in-law. I say possible because the pattern is rather involved, and I would like to make two, one for him and one for his girlfriend. We'll see. Anyway, they are fans of the British televison show "Dr. Who," and I happened to find a pattern for a Dalek online. Apparently this is an evil robot; I have yet to see the show, but plans are being made to remedy this.

I am a frequent visitor of Paperback Swap, an awesome webpage where you can trade books with people all over the country at the cost of media rate shipping. Basically, you post a book that you don't want anymore and someone in Ohio decides that they have to have it (Terry Pratchett books are very popular, for example). You ship it to them for $2.13, and when they receive it, you get a credit, which you can use to order any book posted on the site. The person who originally posted that book ships it to you at his cost, and a few days later you get a "free" book in the mail. So, having an extra credit and no specific book in mind to use it on, I did a general search for "knitting." There wasn't really anything good, but I'm a fan of kitsch so the book entitled "Yarn: The Things It Makes and How To Make Them" seemed like a fun choice. If it sucks, it's not like I spent a lot of money on it. When I get it, I'll be sure to review it, so that my readers can rush right out and order their own copy, if it's any good. And if you decide to join Paperback Swap, you should tell them that I, lieslmareth, referred you.

Did you see "The Order of the Phoenix" yet? Ginny had a cute probably-crocheted vest near the end of the movie.

A long one

Sorry about the shortness of that last post ... I was either on my way to bed, or on my way to work. (Funny how I could have confused those.) (You only need to watch the first minute or so, btw.)

Here is the sock that I have been working on (Note the googly eyes in the background! Yes!):

I worked the heel turn, but it was ghastly so I ripped it out and will start again eventually. That little white dangly bit is my lifeline, and I'm soo glad I put it in. The instructions for a short row heel in More Sensational Knitted socks appear to be exactly the same as they are in Sensational Knitted Socks, but they ended up being very different and very confusing. I was going back and forth between the two books trying to figure it out, and it didn't do me any good.

The Fourth of July was spent at a barbeque, drinking and knitting and getting parts of my body ready for the skin cancer I will surely get in 10 years. I had purchased a large quantity of burgandy KnitPicks Essentials sock yarn (ok, 4 skeins) (thanks to Amber for calling it to my attention!) and when I reached the heel turn of the first sock, it became apparent that I would not be using all 4 skeins on one pair of socks. So, I decided to make a little case for my new cell phone. Once, long ago, right after I moved to Fargo and before I got a job, I attempted to make a quilt, but then something happened to my sewing machine and I wasn't able to finish (Yes, it was entirely my fault. Let's be honest, I happened to my sewing machine.). I optimistically saved the fabric; as it turned out, one of the blocks has leaves that match the sock yarn perfectly, so that will be the lining. My hope is to make it reversible, but that might prove to be a little beyond me. (Don't worry, I'll try it and make sure to document the ensuing disaster.) I'm using two cable patterns from Vogue Stitchionary 2: No. 58, River Run for the main part of the case, and No.91, Garlic Braid for the sides and bottom. Here's (mostly) what I have so far, along with the lining:

I don't know if you can tell or not, but there is something very wrong with my cables and I'm not sure what. I started out using the "cabling without a cable needle" technique, but then I noticed that there was a strand of yarn in one particular row that stood out. I switched to using a regular cable needle, but it still happened. I'm reasonably certain that it happens when I do the "4-st RC," but I cannot figure out why or what I'm doing wrong. It's something to do with how I'm carrying over the yarn between pattern repeats. I think. At one point, I thought that it was just the River Run pattern, but it's happening again on the Garlic Braid, so I can only assume that it's Me. Maybe it will be taken care of when I block it? Does anybody know what I'm doing?!?!?

Anyway.

As promised, here is a picture of my lovely banana rum puffs:

They were very good, even though you couldn't taste the rum at all. I felt the banana bread was a little overwhelmed by the chocolate chips, so I made this recipe with the bananas that were left over. The next time you make banana bread, this is the recipe to try, trust me. I try to use whole wheat flour in my baking anyway, especially when I make the infamous Wookie Cookies, so it was neat to try a recipe that actually called for it. The honey also added an interesting flavor. Unfortunately, the bread was devoured before I could take a picture of it, but it was much prettier than my last attempt.

I almost forgot

I got new sock yarn! I'm almost to the heel turn on the first sock, more soon!

New and Improved?

I've decided to add a new section. I'd first like to say that I am not in any way a "homemaker" type. My house is not spotless, my husband does not have a home cooked meal waiting for him every evening at precisely 6:00, and I don't do laundry. Based on some of my hobbies, you wouldn't be able to tell. In addition to knitting, I also really like to bake. (If you hear the sound of maniacal "I told you so!!!" laughter, it means my mother found out.) I'm not very good at reading directions, so there will be much to laugh at. I'm going to put up some recipes that I have made or am going to try, and probably pictures and stuff. Most of the recipes that I use come from the internet, so I'll just link right to 'em and you can try them out, too! Yay!

I'm also probably going to be changing the name of the blog, mostly because when LomL asks me if I'm ready to go somewhere and I'm knitting, I feel like a retard saying .... well, you know.

Anyway. Last week, a girl I work with brought in some banana bread from the grocery store, and it made me want to bake a loaf of my own. Remember how I told you there would be lots to laugh at in this new section? Get ready. The bread pan that I used was smaller than the one the recipe called for. I did not compensate for this by using less batter. Ten minutes after the pan was in the oven, we noticed the burning smell, which was of course caused by globs of batter spilling out of the pan and falling to the bottom of the oven. Then, I did one of the smartest things I've ever done in my life (rivaled only by the time I put my palm directly on a burner turned to "high." Oh, and maybe the time I used my finger to wipe cranberry carmel sauce off of a candy thermometer registering 245 degrees. Then, there was the time ... ok, I'll save some for later) - I took several paper towels and tried to wipe the batter off the coil at the bottom of the oven. Not surprisingly, they caught on fire. Surprisingly, I did not. In the end, the bread turned out almost quite lovely. The top is a little ... umm ... hard and sticky? But the bread is very moist and soft. I've actually been to depressed to try any, but it LOOKS excellent:

Doing a little more research, I found another recipe that included bananas and one of my favorite things, rum! I've made about 20 of the 60 puffs that the recipe's supposed to make, so I'll let you know how they turn out when I'm done. Assuming I don't have third degree burns.

I actually finished something!!

It's been quite a while, but I did it! I completed a project! As you may or may not have noticed, I have a lot of things going but only a few FO's. Usually I make it to the part where it says "work in SS for 55 1/2 inches" and lose interest somewhere around inch 4.


I present, for your viewing pleasure, My First Pair of Socks!

I've had one of them finished for about a year now, but I was distracted by a shiny object and never it past the ankle on the second one. Yes, they are different colors, and have a different pattern. I knew I was only going to wear these socks in my house on cold winter evenings, so I experimented. They're worsted weight (not suited to warmish weather or shoes), Lion Brand Wool, pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. Incidentally, one of the things that spurred me to finish them was that I picked up More Sensational Knitted Socks, despite the fact that I had never actually finished anything from the original.

On a slightly unrelated note, when I was searching for the link to the book, I thought maybe I could link directly to the author's website or publisher's page, because I know from my dear M-i-L that authors make more money per book that way than they do from amazon.com. So, I did a search and found a link to this. Hmm. That's a long list of corrections.

I'm not dead yet

It's been a dry few weeks, knitting-wise. I've been a little apathetic about everything in general. The yarn for my polar bear got really, really tangled, so I have to deal with that. Mostly I just sit and stare at it. Sometimes I'll pick it up and try to find the end so I can untangle it. No luck so far.

I had to do a little sewing on the baby present for Maggi, and I'm about halfway done. It doesn't take very long, but I don't even know when I'll see her or the baby, so it doesn't seem as urgent.

I've been working on a camera bag, but it's going slowly. There was some confusion over the embossed stitches, but Beth, the designer, answered my questions. She was really nice about it, so thank you, Beth!

I'll get back in the swing of things soon, I hope. I've been reading yet another mystery novel, and the main character was lamenting how all of the women on the subway immediately take out their "knitting pins" and start clacking away. I think he mostly objected because he was shoved into the pointy end of the needles several times by the crowds of people.

More later!

A little of this, a little of that

I got a new car! I had my old car, a 1993 Thunderbird named Liesl, for 6 years, and she was getting old and arthritic and crotchety. (Well, she WAS 14 years old. Are there "car years," like dog or cat years?) Behold, my new as-yet-unnamed car (and our fabulous townhome!):


She's a 2001 Jetta GLS, one of my dream cars. (My second choice was a Toyota Camry, but in keeping with my poor white trash tendencies, Jettas are cheaper.) I'm thinking of naming her Lily, but I can't decide if that's a suitable name for a black car.

A little bit of knitting: My dear friend Maggi just had a baby last Friday, and I found the most adorable pattern for her new little girl. I don't want to spoil the surprise in case she happens to read this before I can get it to her, but it might even be cuter than the fuzzy bunnies. There was a bit of a mishap toward the beginning of it, which means I'll have to wash it before I give it to her, as she might not appreciate a baby gift that smells like rum. I was a little depressed because when I left for work that morning, both of our goldfish were doing, well, swimmingly, but when I came home from work a mere 9 hours later, one was obsessivly gasping at the surface of the tank and the other was dead. So I was drinking the expensive rum that we bought at the Mall of America last weekend, and I spilled it. I spilled it away from the yarn and the project, but then for some reason I neglected to wash my hands before I started knitting again. I didn't really notice it until the next day, when I was packing it into my purse so I could work on it over my lunch break. Wow, it was strong. It smells better now, but Maggi is a non-drinker, so she could probably smell it where I couldn't. I also spilled it on the Agatha Christie book that I had just gotten in the mail, and that smell didn't fade. I'm almost finished reading it, which is good because every time I turn a page I get this strooooong whiff of rum. When will I learn? No rum and knitting. Maybe I should start drinking my rum in a sippy cup.

Mutant Rhubarb!

LomL asked if we would turn green if we ate it.

Monty Python Flying Circus - Gangs in Bolton

Just a little Sunday morning silliness


Our local Hancock Fabrics is in the midst of closing and selling everything they possibly can, so the yarn (what little was left, anyway) was 50% off. I got some Moonlight Mohair for $4 a skein (the only brand they sell is Lion Brand.) I came home (at 10:45 AM, I might add) and proceeded to go through 2 of the skeins by the time I went to bed, on a cute little poncho. Yes, I know, I was using size 17 needles, but I was still pretty impressed with myself. So maybe by the time I'm old enough to be a Hell's Granny I'll be up to 20 balls a day. Anyway, I have about 5 more inches to go, then the sewing up and the fringe.

And some more

Arm warmers! I pictured myself wearing these on a slightly breezy summer evening, on the patio of my favorite restaurant. Then I actually wore them and discovered that it's rather difficult to eat and not get food on them. Cute, nonetheless. I made them in Paton's Classic Wool, just because it cost almost $9 for 50g of the Lion Cashmere, but only $5 for 100g of the Paton's. I'm nothing if not cheap.

The Brea bag from Berroco. I changed the decorative button to a clasp, and added a zipper. Not much else to say, except it was a pretty quick knit. Apparently, it's one of the more popular free patterns on the site.

This is a fun granny square purse that I crocheted, before I learned how to knit. I found it on a page of vintage knitting and crochet pattern links ("vintage," in this case means anything from the 1800's until the 1980's or so.). The page is still up, but all of the links to the patterns seem to have gone away, which is too bad. The original purse was crocheted in wonderfully garish shades of pink and orange and green.

Huzzah

These are some fuzzy bunnies I made for a co-worker who was having a baby. She didn't know if she was having a boy or a girl, so I made one in blue and one in pink. (The pattern can be found here.) The reaction at the baby shower when she opened the bag was life-affirming yet terrifiying. If you've never been in a room with 35 women all going "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" at the same time, you probably don't understand what I'm talking about. About the faces, in case you're wondering - it's not the picture, they just don't have faces. I left them off because I felt that they should be done in a soft gray rather than black as the pattern called for, and I didn't have any thread that color. Also, I finished the blue bunny about 15 minutes before I had to leave for the baby shower. On a totally unrelated note, holy crap, my fingernails are long in this picture!




Ugh. Not only did I not choose my yarn wisely, but I had not yet discovered the joys of blocking. The sweater also sat in a corner in the back of my closet for many months, which didn't help matters. It is much happier as a vicious polar bear. The pattern came from the Spring/Summer 2006 Vogue Knitting.

Woo

I'm getting a digital camera of my very own. So no more excuses, just pictures. Yay.

LYS

Still no pictures. We're trying, but apparently the gods are against us.

I finished the back of the fuzzy sweater! Between Saturday morning and Sunday evening, I knit 10 inches. I didn't even know I had it in me! But I'm taking a little break now, 'cause wow. I haven't gotten any farther on the little mini 2-for-1 sock, and I haven't unraveled any more yarn for my polar bear. Soon, soon.

A few weeks ago, I bought some fabulous yarn. It was the most beautiful shade of purple, and very soft and ... soft. By the way, this might be a good time to mention that I am not a yarn snob. We do have one actual yarn store in town, but I hate going to it, for several (probably baseless) reasons. You know how when you go to some stores you get attacked by sales people? They just want to help, but I want them to leave me alone. Well, the proprietors of Fargo's LYS apparently know this about me, because it is nearly impossible to get anyone to even ask if they can help me, let alone help me. I have to follow them around the store, looking as helpless as I can, looking them directly in the eye, saying "Excuse me, can you help me?" etc, etc before they will deign to acknowledge my existence. When I finally do get some assistance, I get the distinct feeling that the sales person feels that I just wasted too much of her precious time. Maybe they don't think that I should be a knitter. And it's not just me. The local paper did a news story on knitting a year or so ago, and featured the store. My favorite quote? One of the owners said, "I like it when men come into my store. They don't ask so many questions." So I don't go there very often, to avoid asking too many annoying questions. Anyway, I am (mostly) content to do my yarn shopping at Hobby Lobby or Michael's. The fabulous yarn was Hobby Lobby's Yarn Bee brand. I know that it's cheap acrylic, and I know that it will probably not wear well on whatever I decide to make out of it, but it's beautiful nonetheless.

Ha!

The King of All Cosmos is laughing at me.

Remember how I said I wasn't having any major problems yet with the fuzzy green sweater? Oops. I needed to decrease almost half of the stitches, but not quite, and the count would end up being a little uneven. I need explicit decreasing instructions in cases like this, because I'm sort of lazy sometimes, and the ones I was given were rather vague. Not wanting to screw it up, I spent a good hour and a half trying to figure out what I needed to decrease where. And promptly screwed it up. I finally decided to stop worrying about it and went to bed, had nightmares, but woke up ready to tackle it again.

I do a lot of my web surfing using a nifty little toolbar called StumbleUpon, which searches for websites based on categories that you pick out, such as Knitting/Crochet or Satire. My first "stumble" brought me to a site that sells old McCall's patterns. Not very exciting, so I "stumbled" again, and immediately wanted to go back to bed for the rest of the week.

You've got to be freakin' kidding me.

So .... here I go again! Wish me luck.


**Edit**
The plot thickens! I discovered that the first of the 3 times that I knit and then ripped out the stupid thing, I was four stitches away from doing it exactly how the calculater told me to do it. Four stitches. In my defense, I was not able to see it at the time because I was blinded by frustration and slightly muddle-headed from rum. Right.

Knit, knit, knit!

So what am I working on?

Currently, I am - horrors! - unraveling the very first sweater that I ever made. Don't worry, it was ugly. Really. The pattern was actually very nice, a shrug of sorts, sewn together in the front with a nifty little criss-cross. (I will shortly be posting pictures for you to laugh at, as soon as LomL (as he has been redubbed by brandØn123) e-mails them to me) Out of all of the questions that need to be asked when choosing yarn for a garment, I did not ask the most important one: If I decide that I hate the finished product, could I unravel it and conceivably make it into a polar bear or a sheep? If the answer is yes, I should give up the idea of the sweater for good because it will only end in LomL calling me an abominable snowperson whenever I wear the thing. The polar bear is coming along nicely, however. According to my friend Megan, it is "excessively cute." I have Plans for it, though ...

I'm also, slowly, making up a little sample sock from "Sensational Knitted Socks" by Charlene Schurch. I like to knit in the round, so I like making socks, but I also have a short attention span. If I finish one sock, something shiny soon attracts my attention and the second sock lives a pitiful half-existence until I need the needles it is living on for another project, at which point I guiltily shove the sock to the bottom of my yarn basket. Because of this, I had often thought that it would be really great if you could knit two things in the round at the same time, such as socks or mittens. One day, I found this. Reading this article, you may say to yourself, "This woman is an insufferable twit and the Magic Looper should stab her." That's what I said, anyway. But I have to admit that it's a really nifty idea. I haven't gotten to the heel turn though, so I may go back to my original opinion.

The last project I am working on is a sweater. Yes, I did ask myself The Question, and unless I decide to make a fuzzy green raccoon, the yarn is forever safe from being turned into a woodland creature. The sweater is soft and green and fuzzy and cabley, with 3/4 length bell sleeves and cute little crochet ties in front. I haven't had any major problems, but I also haven't had to do this yet: "Work dec row every other row 2 times, every 4th row 14 times, AT SAME TIME, when piece measures 13" end with a WS row and work armhole shaping as foll:" etc, etc. I've done it before and it's not really that hard, but I also know that I have a problem with paying attention to what I'm doing, often to my detriment.

I'm rounding up pictures, I promise.

Losing my knitting blog virginity

Ways this blog will be like other knitting blogs:

1. I will have a "code name" for my husband
2. I will post pictures of stuff that I actually manage to finish
3. I will be witty and charming, as all knitters are

Ways this blog will not be like other knitting blogs:

1. The "code name" for my husband will not be "DH," but instead "LL" (Love of my Life)
2. You only have to look at the finished product, unless I do something really cool
3. PENGUINS!