I'm in awe!

I have met so many talented people at Sit n' Knit! The level of expertise and creativity never ceases to amaze me! Harlem Purl has made me the most awesome pair of "Fiddlehead Mittens" by helloyarn. Helloyarn is my idol! One day I will do one of her designs. Stranding scares me. I have done it before, and it was a pita, and I haven't tried since. Of course, that was a few years ago, and my knitting mojo has increased so her patterns are definitely on my to-do-in-the-near-future list. The mittie swap party was awesome, but I forgot my camera, due to a phone call as I was walking out the door. I also forgot to bring a project to work on, as everything I'm making now is a secret. Shhhh. I'll have lots of pics to come this week. Thanks to everyone at Sit n' Knit for the mittie exchange. You have forever spoiled me in this swap, and I expect every swap to bring me awesomeness like this!

MITTIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, it's Saturday morning, and true to form, I have to weave in ends, make a cord and tassel and start and finish the second thumb. I am also baking a coconut lime pound cake. The last one came out broken and made me really angry. Party at 1:00. Awesome. Watching Bye-bye Birdie, and I have to go to work at 9:30. I'll have a little time to finish between job and swap. I am the world title holder for "Last Minute Lucy." Oh well. Hope she likes 'em. She will, she will :D

Still not finished!

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Still not done with my damn cardi! Just knitting up the ribbing on the sleeves and having a tough time decided on final length. Also, I'm not sure I like how the ribbing is stretching around my arms. I had a feeling I didn't pick up enough stitches. I'll continue on for a little while longer and decide when I reach just past the elbow. Ugh. No pics until I'm done!

I'm such a dork!

So I decided to make this floofy crocheted sweater for some instant gratification. I used acrylic from my stash and it really is interesting. Aside from my interesting choice of yarns, I really like the pattern. At first, I thought it was confusing, but I figured it out, changed a few things and the fit seems to be on point. In any case, it seems a little short, so I'll have to do something after it's seamed up. Not taking any progress pictures. I just want an FO!!!!!!

Hubby interrupted my work because he left the lights on the VW overnight. I had to boost it, but everytime he tried to start the car, the alarm went off, and the autotheft has no button to shut the damn thing off. That took about an hour. Luckily, I didn't sit in the car with him. Apparently, he was really, really mad! Eventually it started and we had to drive around until we were sure the battery was charged. I love life in the city!!!!

I'm gonna do it!

So, I've finally decided to open up an Etsy store. I've been collecting materials and will start the site very soon. I'd like to get the first sets of the Easter/Springtime line-up before mid-March. Not sure what will happen, but...We shall see.

Peasant Food Rocks!

So I am still sick. I ran into my grandma at the doctor's office. It was nice to talk to her for a while. When I got home, I decided to make soup. Now, I have to tell you all, I only liked French Onion Soup for a very short period of time in my youth, until I really started to have a strong dislike for all things too onion-y. For some reason, this past week, I've had an onion soup craving like I couldn't imagine. I decided to do a roasted onion soup, to ensure the flavor was sweet and mellow and not too bold. I took a white onion, a red onion and a yellow onion, and three shallots and sliced them on the mandolin into a greased pyrex casserole, then put them into a 425 degree oven until they were caramelized, mixing a few times while cooking. At the same time, I roasted 4 beets and a head of garlic. When the onions were browned, I added some beef stock and put it all in a saucepan on the stove with the roasted garlic and some pepper and thyme. That boiled for about an hour. I found some ciabatta bread in the freezer and toasted up some slices with coarsely grated parmesean and that was my dinner. I'm hoping the garlic and onion will help me feel better sooner. I also made borscht. Four beets, one potato, a few baby carrots some beef bones and a tiny head of red cabbage all came together in my crockpot. I added some apple cider vinegar, dill and thyme, and I think it's coming out ok. I'll eat it with buttered rye bread tomorrow. Yum. Time for bed now. Cough, cough, sneeze.

Vive la France!

Because it inspired me to make this:



I love all vintage lingerie, and when presented with the theme "antique" thought about the beautiful antique Parisian silk slips and camisoles in gorgeous faded colors, like dusty blues and peaches.





After watching some youtube videos of drum carding by rexanne , I was brave enough to try my hand at drum carding again. Success at last! I'm so freakin' happy! This is a wool, mohair and silk blend for "antique" on Fiber Friday. Flicker has more info on the individual pics.

DH and I went to eat bacon cheeseburger at the local coffee shop, and, boy, were they good! I found some stuff for my next two yarns-Pink Elephants and Carmen Miranda. I'm so excited!!!!

That's How Miukat Knits!

So, I got into reading all my fellow Ravelers' knitting styles, and just had to post my own. DH was kind enough to sacrifice 5 minutes of his time to sit in the sun on the radiator long enough to shoot the video. Thanks honey! I've been sick this weekend, so haven't done much but find cheap knitting books on half.com and add more projects to my favs. Oh well. Still working on my Globe Trotter. Finally working on the foot. If all goes well, I will have one sock done by Tuesday morning!

I think I'm in love...

with my new rollers. Yes, I said rollers. Not just any rollers, Velcro rollers. Being of the straight hair persuasion, my life has been chock-full of rollers since I was a child. My stepmom, bless her fine, stick-straight hair (good thing she was a teen in the hippie era), did to me what was done to her before. Whenever there was a special occasion or holiday, out came the foamy pink rollers and the big glass jar of clear, green Dippity-Do gel. I learned that this was my best friend. After a leisurely evening bath, we would sit in front of the TV and she would set my hair. She actually had it waaay worse. Her mom would put her in banana curls and her hair couldn't hold a curl any longer than an Irishman could hold his liquor.
My hair, on the other hand, takes to styling fabulously. A half a jar of Dippity-Do, and I'd have tight curls to the end of the day-even if I was dancing in a recital! Even now, my hair is good to me. Which brings me back to Velcro. As an ABA therapist, Velcro is my best friend at work. It's only natural that I've found a reason to bring it home. At first, I was a little skeptical. Would they hold on their own, or would I need some pins? How about getting them out? Would they leave my mess in a knotted, bird's nest?
Well, all my fears have been set aside! First of all, I've struggled this past year with my appearance. I have tons of gray hair, not that it's ever mattered that much to me. I've always dyed my hair and had the growing-in-root-look, so it's hard to even say what color my hair ever was, is or is supposed to be. I fluctuate between shades of brown and auburn, and almost always do it myself. Last fall, I decided to get a real haircut. The kind you have to do something with in the morning. I bought some new make-up and tried out a few different looks before I settled on a fall look. The hairstylist layered my hair and it turned out like a sort of modern take on Farrah's flip. I really liked it. Then something happened. I stopped trying again. What was once a sophisticated, soft modern look became something from a twelve in the afternoon Sunday walk of shame down the Lower East Side in the eighties. Who knew layers could go from looking so good to soooooooooooo bad?
It's almost springtime. The weather is getting better, and I'm starting to feel like a stuffed sausage in my clothing. My diet has been poor, and I get no exercise because I'm afraid to injure myself even more. My obsession with my appearance has been revisited. That's where the rollers come in. It was unrealistic to think that I would ever spend a half-hour in the morning doing my hair for any reason, so I'll have to consider that in the future. Based on the Pantene commercial for the root-lifting gel I bought to go with the rollers, it would only take a few minutes. This is true, IF I put the effort into blow-drying it properly after I wash it. Since I only wash about once a week, this shouldn't be a big deal. 20 minutes a week on blow-drying and 5 minutes in the AM rolling, and 5 minutes after unrolling to style should be an appropriate and doable amount time for me to get my hair ready in the morning. We shall see!

Comic-Con

Yes, we went to comic-con, con being the operative word. In years past, it's been fun. I don't know what happened this year. Maybe it's because there wasn't much there that I was interested in. Even DH didn't see anything he wanted. We waited on line for a good 35 minutes before even entering. The highlight of my time there was this guy:


Unfortunately, he didn't seem too thrilled to get his picture taken, but he was gracious and said yes. I don't know if telling him my knitting group will all want to knit his hat made him feel better or worse!!! Thanks for the wonderful inspiration, Mohawk Man!

Will It Ever End?

Srsly.  What's the deal with boxy, chunky, 80s knits.  Haven't most of us seen this before?  We barely lived through it to tell of lace tank tops and rubber bangles, and teased, permed hair, studded belts, stirrup leggings, oversized sweaters and chunky, elastic belts and it doesn't look like there is an end in sight.  Take this sweater, for instance:

It's cute, boxy, kind of in the genre of the sixties. If I knit it now (and it IS chunky, so it would be done in about a week) what is the mileage on it? Will spring bring fine-gauge twin-sets? I don't know. All I can say is that there are many thousands of years of fashion. Can we draw from a new pool and stop recycling the 70s and the 80s exclusively? It's getting boring, you know.

Thrilling Thursday

Well, it's about 2 1/2 years late, but I finally have a wedding photo album.  It was supposed to be a surprise for my DH for Valentine's Day, but it didn't work out so well.  He picked up the box of photos in the mail, and the box was damaged and a photo was falling out, so he opened to see if any others had fallen out.  I think he is happy that we have an album now.  He can be quite sentimental in a manly, unsentimental way :)

I also finished one mitty last night!  And yes, of course there will be FO pics after the swap...hopefully they will be on the receiver!

Finally, it's thrilling Thursday because I get to watch the Channel 11 hotties from Smallville and Supernatural tonight.  My DH and I can't wait to have Reaper back in March.  I hope it wasn't all a lie.   

Mitties!

Been busy working on my secret mitties. They have been a pain in the ass, ahem, challenging, but they are coming out pretty nicely.  I hope the colors are ok.  It's kind of crazy to try to match a color scheme from a photo.   Oh well.  At least my secret friend may one day know about the birth of her mitties.  (Actually, they aren't mitties.  I have another name for them, but can't divulge, lest I give too many hints and betray my secret!)

Superbowl Sunday

Well, I'm not a football fan, so it doesn't mean much to me. DH has gone to his boss' house because they just finished building it and it's the first guy party they're having there. That means I have time to myself today. Whoohoo! My tidy-clean streak has been going OK. I didn't do much this week because I haven't been feeling well (I'll call them stress pains because they showed up shortly after I went through and organized all my bills and made some serious life-altering decisions.) Tidying up the house only took 45 minutes or so, and it looks pretty damn good. I'm just thrilled that all my hard work in the past year is finally culminating into a "Clean House."

On the knitting front, Comic Con is next week and I have to finish Sackgirl and my iron-on tee and my flower pins and my cardiboots and my LBP wig. I guess procrastiknitting is not my strong point. I want to finally finish up some ufo's today! My ManSox are also coming along. I've knit the heel, turned it, and am working on the gusset. I fear second sock syndrome, however, my anklets from Aussie Wool from Rhinebeck await upon completion. I also have to knit the sleeves for my sweater, but have to finish a paper first. Lastly, I would like to make something with my Amish Friendship starter today, but not sure what yet...perhaps banana cake.