Miukat's Musings

Last Dance!

2011-09-05T07:30:00.005-04:00

visited 18 states (36%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Well, here's a sad map of where I've been in the US. Too bad I can't count Canada! Even though it was only the cornfields outside Montreal. Sad, but true. I really need to get out more! Ooo, also the Caribbean. And Paris. Twice. One day hubby and I will get that Airstream and trailer our way across America! One day....

In other news, today is D-day. Yes. The dreaded last day of Vacation. It's time to go back to work and truthfully, I'm not ready. No. I'm not ready. sigh Today I must have a marathon cleaning session with hubby so that I can go back to work tomorrow with a clear head. Hmmm. He goes back tomorrow, too. Also, I'd like to get back to 7 day meal planning if possible. That will also make me happy! Signing off to do housework. Blech.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

2011-09-04T11:46:00.002-04:00

So I've been feeling bad these past few days. Like I ran a marathon with no training, and have jelly legs, but that's ok, cuz i read Charlaine Harris' Dead and Undermined and am starting on the Nightwalkers series by Jacquelyn Frank. It was my BFF's bday and I tried real hard to find Apple Pie Moonshine for her, but it seems like I'll have to go to Astor Wines to get it. Oh well. Also we're trying a new Sunday knitting group. For losers who have no where to go on Labor Day Weekend. (raises hand). I hope I like it. It's close to my house and at a time when I'm normally not doing much. I think I'm going to make liquor for Christmas. I have visions of apple pie moonshine, pomegranate cocktail with a hint of exotic spice, cranberry "sauce" which might end up fortified with port wine and spices. The list is endless. Also on my holiday buying list, maple bitters. Hope everyone is eating pork and happy :D

It's Saturday!

2011-08-20T12:08:00.004-04:00

So, it's Saturday, but that doesn't really matter because I'm still on Vacation :D All the days are running into each other. Decided to return some library books, yeah me! Also picked up some cocktail books on reserve and a few H.G.Wells books for some light summer reading action. Not that I'm tiring of paranormal romance, hell sex and vampires is awesome, but after watching Warehouse 13 for a while, I realized I never read H.G.Wells books as a youth, and well, it just seems like something I should do. I also picked up a cool book about fortune cookies called ,The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. It's pretty interesting, and it's also a nice departure from grouchy supernatural boy meets girl, girl falls in love with grouchy supernatural boy, boy finally falls in love with girl but can't be with her, boy and girl fight against all odds to be together and live happily ever after.

Happy 5th Anniversary to Me!

2011-08-19T16:09:00.001-04:00

Well, August is a big month for me, and today is officially 5 years of marriage for me. It's crazy! I can't believe one of us hasn't killed the other yet! Cheers to many years more for us.

Happy Birthday Brunch

2011-08-14T08:01:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday to me, (cha, cha, cha...) I'm having brunch today to celebrate my birthday, but the weather is soooo not cooperating. On the menu is St. Germain cocktail amended with violet liquor, French Toast with sausages, bacon and apricots, and potato boats with creamy scrambled eggs and an assortment of toppings: sour cream, cheese, scallions, caviar, and bacon bits. Looking forward to 11:00. Hope it goes well...

Well brunch was a smashing success. Everyone liked the new decor and appreciated how much hard work went into it. St. Germain was a hit, like I didn't know :D, and I made G & T's for everyone with the New Amsterdam Gin and those were also a hit. I think I found some "new gin" converts. These people will prolly love Aviations whenever I get around to buying some Maraschino liquor. We all love sweet stuff. Eventually I'll have to clean the kitchen, but not worrying about that. Off to bathe and read my new book, "The Discovery of Witches." I have a bunch of cocktail books arriving next week at the library and look forward to planning some hard-core cocktails parties. The dollar store had some mini cocktail glass gel candles for a dollar each and I pretty much bought them out so I can make mini-cocktail tasting flights. The candles that were actually clear look cute when burning, too for some ambiance. They have silver glitter in them and awesomely match the yellow/silver/teal/white color scheme I have going in the living room. Signing off. Vacation soon....hooray!!!

Happy Belated New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-08-13T18:15:00.003-04:00

Well, it's almost exactly a year since my last blog post. Many things have happened over the last 350+ days since I last checked in. Suffice to say, I'm in a better place now. My apartment looks better than ever after starting my latest hobby-interior decorating. Pics will follow and maybe a tutorial. The kitchen and living room are freshly painted, and life is going on after being stalled for a while. This leads me to my latest, latest hobby...drinking. Yes, I must drink more. One drink every 3 months or so just isn't enough. Must...drink...more. In order to facilitate my new habit, I've decided to start a home bar. I never drink anymore because I'm always driving. My dad will help me build a liquor cabinet and I've been snatching up weird liquors every week in anticipation of the back-to-school September cocktail party. So far my stock includes:

Weird Polish Vodka

Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon

Jim Beam Bourbon

Philadelphia Whiskey

New Amsterdam Gin

Three Olives Chocolate Vodka

Bacardi 151

Rothman and Winter Creme de Violette

Mozart Chocolate Liquor

St. Germain Elderflower Liquor

Homemade Rose Liquor

Homemade Orange Liquor

Angostura Bitters

Orange Spice Bitters

Well, that's all for now. I'm hoping to add Luxardo Maraschino, Brandy, Creme de Cacao dark and light, and Creme de Noyaux, and Creme de Menthe for some Pink Squirrel, Grasshopper and Brandy Alexander action!

Vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-27T13:53:00.003-04:00

So, I've been on vacation for a few weeks now, and wish it would never end. Yesterday, I scoured and dyed a few pounds of polwarth fleece. I lurve this stuff. It's like heaven. I also finished my falkland lace from A Verb for Keeping Warm. It came out pretty nice for my first go. I'm planning more lace in the future, hopefully with a shetland dual coated fleece at Rhinebeck. Computer issues still plaguing me, I managed to transfer a ton of files from my broken down laptop to my desktop, so I feel good about moving forward in that respect, and I've done a lot of cleaning this vacation, even though it is never done at the same time, and the apartment looks sort of the same :(

I have a dye day planned with my cotswold locks, and hope to finish that this weekend, but had to use the kitchen today for, gasp, cooking! I've been working on another blog and hope to document my pickling adventures.

Jacob, Jacob Everywhere....

2010-07-08T16:41:00.002-04:00

Here's my tour progress:

Finished plying this morning and whacked it when I got home ;)

Plan on spinning some Pigeonroof for Team Spin City so I can catch up a bit. If and when the weather ever cools off, I will finish carding batts and have more to spin.

Keepin' on Tourin'

2010-07-07T22:58:00.003-04:00

So the Tour de Fleece continues, and NY spinners have met their challenge spinning in 103 degree weather! Blech. It's too damn hot. I spun up some more Jacob, and am onto plying the 2nd shade of gray.

That's all for now :)

Tour de Fleece!

2010-07-05T11:55:00.009-04:00

Yippee! I'm in the Ravelry Tour de Fleece and having a great time! Been feeling a bit tired and achy, but carrying on :) First order of fleecy business: add in the angelina I got from Loop to the Jacob fleece I bought at MDS&W. Now I'm almost done re-carding the batts; I had 7 and now I have 3 more to go. I spun up the white jacob (1.4 oz) and n-plied it into worsted. Unfortunately, I didn't get much out of it, only 80+ yds, but I decided to stop thinking about possible projects and just see what I've got when I am done spinning. Today, I'm done spinning the lt. gray singles and will n-ply and finish them. I'll probably have closer to 2 oz of this color. There are 3 more colors to spin after that, then I can play with my Oxford. One of these nights I think I'm going to tease them so they will feed into the carder nicely.

About the carder: when I first started using my drum carder, it was kind of a nightmare. I had crappy fleece that I partially felted when I washed it, the licker-in was a micron too close to the main drum, so I was getting tons of waste on it. After I got wise to fleece and washing and carding, my spinning life improved dramatically. I can't express enough how important it is to prepare your fibers for carding. Not only do the batts come off easier when the fiber is open, but they are smoother, easier to crank and easier to spin with less waste.

As for the Tour de Fleece, I am on three teams: Team Batty, Team Spin City and Team Verb. I hope to finish yarn for all of the teams, though right now, I'm working on Team Batty. Here's my first skein:

And here is a picture of the next color(lt. gray) on the bobbin:

So there's my progress so far :)

Woolmongering is fun :)

2010-06-28T15:20:00.003-04:00

So I procured an Oxford sheep fleece for my spinning group and just finished weighing out shares. It was lots of fun, and I hope the opportunity arises again when I can galavant around on pretty country roads, meet nice farmers, and pet the sheep. I hope to relieve my living room of it's current woolly inhabitants soon, though, as this fleece seems to be extra stinky. At least it's all bagged up and ready to go.

My camera and I are finally getting on well, and I believe that my picture-taking ability is improving, so as soon as July comes, I'll be able to upload some pics onto Flickr! Yes, I have a free account, though I'm seriously considering changing that. I started a new blog, which is sort of funny, since I don't ever post to this one, but in any case, it's called 365 Days of Pickles, and it's about my quest to can and utilize my own food. I'll be starting my pickle-eating year probably at the start of fall or winter. I haven't quite decided, but in the meantime, I will be canning like a mofo. Gotta go sell some wool :)

I'm still alive!

2010-06-27T18:08:00.004-04:00

Wow! It's been 4 months that I've officially had fibromyalgia. Days are up and down, but lets get back to knitting, this blog is getting depressing!

I've been bitten by the sock bug and Jaywalkers are on the needles as well as some merino/silk that I dyed up into Ann Budd's Punctuated Rib socks. (Sorry I cheated on you, second Jaywalker. I couldn't wait to see how the colors knit up with my hand dyed yarn.) Still haven't finished my UFOs, but I'll get there eventually. This week, I picked up two Oxford fleeces for Rhinebeck for my spinning group, Spin City. It's exciting that I washed my share and now am dreaming up dye schemes for it :) I'm thinking autumn striped knee socks with little acorn pompoms at the cuffs. Entries for Rhinebeck using the featured breed must be 100%, which I think is not fair, seeing as I really want to blend in some glitz. It's less than 1%! I have to check Maryland S & W and see if their garments are only 100% natural fibers, too.

Life can sometimes suck...

2010-02-24T20:22:00.002-05:00

Well, it's official. I've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I knew it was coming, so it wasn't a surprise, but it's definitely going to take some getting used to the idea that I will be chronically ill to some degree for the rest of my life. The Golden Boy, (my rheumy) gave me 50,000 ius of Vit D to take for the next 8 weeks. He offered cortisone/novocaine injections, but I politely declined (something to the effect of "Hell no!")
I started an exercise regimen doing 10 minutes of yoga in the am to stretch out my f*ed up body and it seems to be helping. Today was day four. I also am trying to do a video which is basically walking around my living room for 15 minutes and then I've walked a mile two to three times a week. I think it's geared for the "Sweatin' to the Oldies" set, but hey, it's at my ability level for now, so a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. In order to stay motivated, I've developed a sticker-based motivational system where I get to put a number sticker in my agenda each day if I've attempted to/completed exercise. Just getting to put a sticker in my book is reinforcing enough, because it means I get to use the next consecutive number. If I miss a day, I have to start over from one. For days where I do the walking exercises or other new/challenging/different things, I get to put extra sparkly stickers in addition to my number on that day. I think that when I reach milestones, I will decide how to reward myself. For now, I think that I will exercise with a friend, or find a new video or something exercise-related to keep me on track and exited about my progress. I've also been eating a little better, making sure I eat breakfast and more fruits/veggies throughout the day. I have an appointment with a PT on Friday, and look forward to it. The therapist is a good colleague of the Golden Boy and seems really friendly. Hopefully, he'll work out some of the knots in my shoulders/neck/back and it will help when I exercise.

No knitting lately. Been tired and my fingers and hands hurt, especially today after wrestling with an adorably cute but dangerous pinching student with autism. I think my fingers got bent back somehow when I was trying to get him to sit down in his chair instead of inflicting the deadly Vulcan pinch on me. Is it Friday yet?

Good Weekend

2010-02-07T21:07:00.001-05:00

So I had a good weekend at Loop! I spent Saturday with Loop and Friends, spinning the last of my Verb powarth and my Valentine's day batt. Today I finished the second batt, plied it, and knit myself a hat! I'll be damned if I don't have some new handknits before winter is over! Because my computer is acting up and freezing every two seconds, I'm not about to try to take pictures or anything. I'm lucky I'm able to post at all. This better resolve soon, as it will seriously cut into my Ravelymics duties!

Now in Brown!

2010-02-01T21:34:00.002-05:00

Well, now Miukats come in brown, hair that is. Goodbye red and hello brown. Caramel brown. I think I picked that color because I was hungry... Just waiting for my hair to dry so I can see what a bad dye job I did on myself. The dye ran out before I was done, and I squished and squished and tried to get it saturated all the way through. At least the gray is covered. In any case, I had a nice weekend eating red velvet cake and making my friend spin. I got one bobbin of Verb dyed Polwarth spun and still have to spin another bobbin of brown Polwarth so I can finish the yarn for my Danish tie-shawl, which is actually my Ravelympics project. Bye for now. Watching one more episode of Farscape and bedtime for me!

Down Day :D

2010-01-30T15:03:00.006-05:00

So today I decided to have a down day. Magicstix and I will go to our fave fiber spot later and get our fix on. I have a secret Valentine's day Batt Swap in the fancy kitten group on Rav and have to get some supplies. I'm very excited about it. We also have a batt swap tonight that I have to card some shit up for. This whole phobia I have of late about taking crappy pictures is really affecting my blog and my Rav page. I have to figure out how to take better pictures. Then I can get on my Etsy store...

In other news, hubby has been saving pork bones for the last year, and while I was obsessively cleaning out the freezer, I decided they needed to become stock or leave. It's just roasted bones and tomato paste with mirepoix, leeks and bay leaves, since I don't have any herbs right now. As of now, it's been simmering for about 4 hours, and I'll probably leave it till about 8 o'clock. I also have split pea soup simmering for dinner, complete with smoked bones and pork shoulder. I can't wait!

Vacation savings is up to $30! I'm hoping to put aside $20 each paycheck. That would mean it will take roughly 10 years. Take into consideration that maybe one day I'll get paid more, and maybe I'll control my fibery urges around the holidays, that might be shorter! Yeah. Maybe it will be for my 45th Birthday! Then again, maybe life will really suck and I'll have to spend it all on bills, or on a new old car. Then I might go for my 60th Birthday!!!

Lastly, we finally ordered a new futon with bonus cash from xmas. It's coming on Monday. Hubby has been really weird and talking to our current futon, saying things like, "You wait 'till Monday, you'll see..."

O Blog Where Art Thou? (2010 version)

2010-01-28T17:18:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again when I claim I will write in my blog more. Comparing last year's blog with the year before, I believe I was successful. I think my posting increased by 100%. This year my goal will be more specific, i.e., I will post at least bi-montly, but will shoot for weekly. I think that's a decent goal. That will hopefully ensure that I don't have to write posts like this, apologizing to my two readers about why I haven't been around. In any case, fiber pursuits have been going well. Mostly I've been floundering around with stuff, here and there, but spin-ins at Loop have been giving me much needed spinning and relaxing time the last few months and I've actually been able to play with my Verb fiber, quite successfully, I might add. Over Christmas vacation, I decided that magicstix and I will go to Scotland, so an exciting new feature on my blog will be a vacation savings counter. I'm excited to report I have $20. In 15 years, I may have enough to go for two weeks....

And now weaving, too?!

2009-08-28T15:46:00.005-04:00

Well folks, today I busted out my loom. Yeah, I know it sounds impressive, but it's a vintage Spears Weaving Loom, Size 4. It is complete with instructions and all the pieces, save for a hex nut that I probably lost. This is archaic, even as rigid heddle looms are concerned. Circa 1954 to be exact, but hell, if people can weave with string and clay weights, there's no reason why I can't get this thing rigged up. Of course I'm using yarn for the weft that is WHOLLY UNSUITABLE, and I recommend anyone who stumbles into my unfinished, scatterbrained universerse to choose your weft wisely, but seeing as it came from the thrift shop and I have no idea what else to do with it, weft it is. It is a three ply laceweight cotton/wool blend. One ply is cotton, one ply is wool, and there is also a binder thread. The yarn catches on the loom like mad, but after setting it up, it shouldn't be a problem. My goal is a scarf for my dad. I've been wanting to make him one with handspun, but haven't found the right fiber. I wanted it to be lightweight, yet manly. We'll see what happens. I can guarantee it will be boring as fuck. But I believe it will turn out nicely. Stay tuned...

Well, I don't know if it is scarf material, but it sure is fabric. I'm so excited! There's actually about 9 inches of woven fabric wrapped around the front beam! Setting it up really is a pain in the ass, but was so worth it. When I'm finished with this, I'm going to try to weave some of my art yarns. The yarn I'm using is really really sticky. At first I thought I needed a large shed, but I've gotten used to it and can tell if there are stuck threads. So far, so good! Done with my first shuttle (oh god, I almost wrote bobbin! This is a whole new world for me!!!) Gonna wind up some more and work on it tomorrow. In the mean time, I started new projects, working on some in progress, abandoned others and am generally going crazy as usual. Pics to come :D

If anyone came here searching for instructions, someone has posted them here

Mmm mmmm good

2009-08-18T16:18:00.002-04:00

Well, today I finally got something done...I called my college that I was AWOL at and began the readmission process. A small feeling of relief has come over me. I feel much better, but still have a ways to go before everything is fixed. This morning I made ropa vieja in the crockpot, and I must say, the oven has been relegated to a time-out. It's too fucking hot to cook! The crockpot is my new bff! The ropa vieja turned out awesome with white rice, and on Thursday, I'm making crockpot lasagne.

Dreamin'

2009-08-17T04:46:00.003-04:00

It's early and I'm awake, and somehow in the middle of REM sleep, I finally discovered a use for my camel hair roving. Yes. Camel hair. I've been thinking about making an art yarn hobby horse for a while, but forgot about it. Camel hair would make some awesome reigns and bridle for my horsie. I definitely will make this project someday...when I have enough artyarn for the mane :D Maybe I will try my hand at braiding.

Later that day...

I find it hard to believe that I'm drinking Tepache, a Mexican fermented drink that I made for Cinco de Mayo, but I won't drink beer. Been thinking about mixing up a batch of Mavi, but I can't till I make some space in the fridge. Next time I make tepache, I will definitely use much less sugar than recommended. Mixed with selzer water, it is much more palatable. Also, more cinnamon and ginger, less cloves. It's still yummy and tastes great on this f'in hot August day in NY.

O Blog Where Art Thou?

2009-08-16T20:37:00.003-04:00

I've missed you bloggity blog. Besides not feeling well and being stressed out at work, not much has happened until about a week ago! First of all, I went to the insubordiknit weekend workshop for my b-day and it was awesome!!!!!! Magicstix and I had so much fun with the women of Spin City and we even made some new friends :D Also, at one of the Queens Library groups, M gave me a pair of hand-knit socks and the new Cookie A. book. Yippee! I'm on vacation now. I got one bobbin ready for Aeolian and have to dye more camel/silk for the next bobbin. Also, I've been mulling over an Alice yarn-The White Queen, and I need some burgundy wool for cocoons. Lastly, I have to get on my fair isle pulse warmer chart for steeking and dye up the yarn for those, too. Made some yummy cookies tonight-Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pecan cookies. Tomorrow we're going to Fette Sau and tuesday we'll have ropa vieja. I can't wait!!!

What a mess!

2009-07-02T12:04:00.002-04:00

So usually while on vacation, I end up watching "Clean House" all morning and reflect on the situation in my apartment. It's been about 2 years since I started really trying to clean up the crap. I've taken about 5 pick-up truckloads of stuff to charity in this time, and have progressed nicely, but I still feel like I'm nowhere near the place I want to be.

The kitchen, though dirty, has been much better. I know where things are now, and things all fit where they belong, uh, except the empty canning jars. There are still things I have that I don't use, like my pressure canner and dehydrator, but at least the things I use most often are accessible and the things I don't use aren't taking up valuable real estate for things I need. I've cleaned out the food cabinets and try to use up weird ingredients that I buy. I would really like to figure out the 7 day meal plan thing, but I guess in due time. I also did a really good cleaning, taking apart the stove, cleaning the oven, deep cleaning and putting Finish on the floor, but I haven't been able to keep up with it. :(

The living room has also improved. Unfortunately, it also is not where it should be. One day, I cleared off the table and set it permanently. It has remained like this, more or less, since I did it. The set table really makes the room look better, but now the sofa has crap all over it.

The bathroom is OK. I cleaned out a lot of stuff and have been using up all bath products and got rid of everything I don't use or was expired. I do need a new carpet, though. The one I have is nasty, but once that is changed, it will really improve the place.

The entertainment room also has improved. I cleaned out some stuff, and hubby was wonderful and cleaned out his stuff, and also organized his closet, put in shelves and made it super neat.

The bedroom. Ugh. The thorn in my side. I drastically downsized my book collection and condensed two bookshelves to one. I probably still have more than I need, but at least they are all able to fit on the shelves. It still needs to be finished. I got rid of two more full garbage bags of clothes when changing over the winter to summer clothes. There is still a big pile of crap that has no home, and I didn't finish painting the walls, so there are also pictures and stuff that have to go on the wall one day. My dresser is constantly covered with crap and so is hubby's. To add to the foolishness, his dresser is in worse repair than it has ever been. The drawers don't open right and I feel really bad that it's like this for him. I hope that this year, I can get it fixed and painted for his anniversary present.

The big problem with the bedroom is the craft room. Ah. The craft room. That is the thorn in my heart. Because I can't get in there, the stuff I take out ends up in the bedroom until I get a big pile to throw back in there. I came up with sort of a plan to figure out what I wanted from the space. I don't know if I can do it, but I do know I want the space for reading, knitting, spinning, fiber prep and sewing. I would love to try to get the bookcase in there, but I'm not sure how if it will work. There's already one small bookcase in there (The Library of the Future) filled with crafty books and magazines. I actually went through that one recently, too, and got everything to fit. Book buying is just about banished for me. My soap-making stuff needs to go somewhere. I also have to downsize my sewing maching collection. All my sewing stuff has to fit in the closet. All fiber has to fit on the metal shelving. I'm tired just thinking about it. Yikes!

I'm going to do the unthinkable!

2009-06-27T12:50:00.004-04:00

I bought my Ashford Traveller about 8 years ago. I don't spin on her often, though I love her to death. For many years, I have considered this, but never, ever, until now, did I ever make a final decision: I'm gonna take her apart and...

paint her! Yes. I will sand and paint my wheel. I am the kind of person who likes things to be individualized. I individualize educational programs for my job, I individualize knitting patterns, and yes, now I will individualize my wheel. I imagined going to insubordiknits workshop with my girl the way she is, and felt sad and dejected. This is not the wheel of my dreams. She spins well for me, but she needs a makeover. For years I have known this day would come. Today, somehow, I found my inspiration! Costa Rican ox carts. I have long admired beautiful tole-painted antique wheels, however, my artistic skill only spans fiber, not paint, nor especially, drawing. These are painted with simple stylized shapes with a standardized shading technique. I believe I can do this. I have been favoriting ox-carts on Flickr! all morning. I know. I have issues. The painting of the wheel is like a rebirth for her. To this day, she has no name. As soon as decided on a color scheme, a name hit me: Isabella. She is not Isabella yet, but she will be soon! I am painting her after my birthday dress. If you've ever seen my birthday dress, be afraid, be very afraid. This wheel will not be for the faint of hear. I'm a little nervous about the resale value and also, about my ability, however, there is no time like summer vacation to get started on yet another project!

So, how was Boston? Day 1

2009-06-23T18:40:00.006-04:00

OK. I'm exhausted. My body aches all over, I'd like to cut off my feet but it was SO worth it :D

On Friday, I woke up feeling much improved from the previous days' disease. I began to try to clean up the apartment, knowing that if I return to my cluttered, messy, dark apartment after spending the weekend in a fabulous bed and breakfast, I might just jump out my window. (I only live on the second floor, so I'd probably end up with a broken ankle, and worse off than before!) So, I began cleaning, using the gather and toss method, grabbing piles of fleece and fiber and yarn, UFO's, and whatever is supposed to be in the craft room, and tossing into said room, and closing the door. I gathered up the dirty laundry, made the bed, put all my shoes away, except for two pairs that I use often and did the dishes. I also cleaned out the car, replenished my first aid kit with pain killers and antacid tablets, packed up my emergency bikini kit and went to the carwash. Finally, I slipped on my shoes and ran out the door with all my crap. Running wildly now, I ran to the bank, went to Duncan Donuts and drove through the carwash. I was on my way!!!!!!!!

I had burned a few CD's for ride, New Order, Metal, Jazz, Tool, Goth, and New Wave. I planned on listening to the lighter stuff for the more pleasant parts of the trip, and listing to the metal CD which consisted of Tool, Metallica, Disturbed, Korn, and System of a Down when stuck in traffic. Well, no sooner did I get on the highway, I had to bust out the metal CD. Ugh. I continually hit pockets of traffic throughout the whole ride. For the most part, it was OK, though. I brought my lunch with me; tuna mac, homemade pickles and salt & vinegar chips. Somewhere in Connecticut, I stopped at a rest stop to use the bathroom. Inside the bathroom stall, I saw this:

Now I was mortified! I hurried back to the truck and realized that I didn't have another pair of shoes besides some vintage shiny chunky heeled sandals from my great-aunt. Shoe shopping would become the number one priority on this trip. Because my feet are so messed up, I wasn't looking forward to finding Crocs in a foreign town!

Well, the drive must go on. I made my way to Massachusetts easily, and found the B&B without too much incident.

The hosts were nice, if not distant. The property was gorgeous! I felt like a Victorian heiress. I wish I had knit that fancy dressing gown I saved in my favorites on Ravelry. It would have fit in perfectly with the decor! My room was a beautiful shade of green-blue. It was very nicely decorated, Victorian Minimalist, if there is such a thing! The first thing of order was to unpack. I dumped out my travel bag onto the bed, than took the whole pile and shoved it into the armoire. There. Just like home :) With nothing to do until A called me, I settled into the fancy window nook overlooking the street to read my book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Just when our heroine started kicking zombie ass with her ankle dagger, A informed me that she had taken the day off and was ready for some fun. Yippee! She lives only 3 blocks from my weekend home, so she was there in minutes.

I was so excited to answer the door, and showed her around my home. It felt that way, as I seemed to be the only one there and I had a key for the front door. All my feelings of trepidation, "Will she like me?" "Will we get along?" were thrown out the window within moments. I was looking forward to all the weekend had to offer.

First, we went for a walk in the arborarium for look for frogs or toads. Studioloo on Rav was raffling off handspun for pictures of toads in the Story Time group, and I really, really wanted to win it. Unfortunately, between the fact that I am an amphibian repellent extraordinaire and A was yelling, "Hey, frogs! Where the hell are ya?" I think our chances of seeing one were cut to slightly impossible. We had a nice time, but my feet were really hurting. Next, we went to eat Thai food. We both asked for spicy, but the waitress talked us out of it and we were both satisfied with the level of heat in our meals. Besides, we had Thai iced tea, and that fixes everything! My tummy had been bothering me all day, so I chose to get most of my meal wrapped up for later. It was delish, though. Chicken and Pineapple Fried Rice. Mmmm.

We returned to A's pad, and I met her funny neighbor and her sweet hubby. He was slightly tramatized by all the giggling and laughing. And I tend to talk really, really loud when I'm that excited. We had some absinthe, (and A, I'm so sorry, I tried so hard to like it, but I just couldn't-I'll keep working on it!) and messed around on Rav, (of course!) and talked some more. I left with a bag of mohair and sweet knitting dreams. A walked me back to the B&B and I went to bed about 1. I even took off my shoes so I could sneak upstairs. Just like home!

Stay tuned to the next installment of "So, how was Boston?"

It's the Final Countdown!!!

2009-06-18T16:57:00.004-04:00

Boston is on my mind. Diamondgirl and I are going to have fabulous time!!!!!!!! In any case, I'm crazy as a batt. I've been carding up something fierce in hopes of swapping out some of my stash that I've had forever for some brandy new fibery goodness. Now I'm ending up with the same problem as with my yarn and my clothes. What will I really use? I don't spin for big projects. Maybe I'll stick to art yarns for fun and luxury yarn for nightgowns and such. We'll see :D

I dragged all my stuff out of the craft room in an attempt to organize it and have only discovered that it is a mess and will not be tamed. Imagine an area where I can actually sit or spin or read. What's that? I seriously need to rethink that space. My crap has spilled out into every windowsill, corner and table in the house

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other news, a casting on frenzy has ensued. I started a hot water bottle cozy for dad, a sisal cabled doormat, D's bikini and I don't plan on stopping here. I'm sick, I tell you. Sick.

I really should start burning my music collection now. 5 hours is a long time without the ability to control my music.

Sick, I'm freakin' sick!

2009-06-16T09:55:00.002-04:00

So it's vacation and I'm sick. It's like deja vu from my school days. I've always been sick on either Christmas or Easter vacation, but SUMMER! What gives? I have a laundry list of things I'd like to get done, and here I am all stuffy and sneezy and sick to the stomach in bed writing in my blog. Well I joined a new group on Rav and it's called Story Time. We are reading "The Borrowers", a book I feel like I should have read but never got around to. In any case, there are activities to go along with the chapter and DH and I tackled the first one last night. Hubby and I went to the pond to find a toad. We failed our mission. All we found was this:

Where the hell do you find a toad? I'm obsessed with winnning Studioloo's handspun. I think our next adventure will be in the cemetary at Houdini's grave. Maybe he can conjure up a toad for me from the dead.

More Bang for the Buck!

2009-06-13T23:37:00.006-04:00

I had a whole day planned for garage sale-ing, but seeing as I'm broke and have to bring the car in for oil change and new brakes this week, decided to forgo my thrify adventure and only go to the annual Salvation Army sale in the office by my apartment. I had been there before and have vivid memories of a Pyrex Stovetop Coffee Maker which I was keen on for a few bucks, but unfortunately, not being a coffee drinker and knowing nothing about Pyrex coffee makers, passed it by, thinking it may not have all the parts. Later that day, I couldn't stop thinking about it and went back, but alas, it was gone! (I obsessed over that coffee maker until I finally won one on eBay. I believe it is a thing of both beauty and function.) Getting back to the Salvation Army, last year, the sale was upstairs in a large room with lots of big windows and was quite inviting. This time, the sale was in the basement. There was not nearly the amount of stuff as last year, however, I scored huge in the designer clothes that fit me category as well as printed sheets for my next hare-brained scheme. Go to Flickr! for the details :P

While hoarding a load of stuff in my arms, I tripped over something on the floor, looked down and realized I was standing in the middle of a bowling lane. I almost fell in the gutter! It always makes me sad to see stuff like that. The bowling lanes at the Hunter College 23rd Street Campus are in such a state of disrepair, but we keep using them anyway. I wish people would be able to save stuff like that.

Well, anyway, I am excited to be adding stuff to my wardrobe that I can possibly use that fits me and is in good shape. If I don't wear it in a year, it's going to have to go. I'm on vacation now, and even though I'm starting to get sick, I think I will be productive. I have finally read Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" and cracked up all the way through. It took me so long to want to read it since I was living that lifestyle (minus the cocaine and heroin habit) and I didn't feel the need to read about it. Everyone I know read it and it may as well have been assigned reading at the CIA. Now that that has been in another lifetime, it was fun to revisit it for a few hours. I feel like everything he said is true. I have never met a baker who wasn't somewhat out of his mind. The pastry shop really is a civilized haven in the bowels of the kitchen. Cooks do talk about their dicks all the time. His characters could have been any number of people I have met in that business. He really made me laugh, and I love that I could hear him telling me the book in his voice in my head. I also love that I only have one degree of separation from him, and have possibly been in the same place where he was either hanging out or working , and maybe even ate his food. Weird.

This brings me to my husband. I think one of the main reasons I can be around him is because of my time in the kitchen. He is a cook. I realized this today. He's witty and bawdy and rude, curses like a sailor, is upfront, concise, methodical and all the things one needs to survive in a kitchen. He smells like a cook when he comes home from work and he works in a bakery! Even if he never steps foot in a kitchen again, the truth of the matter is, he will always be a cook. At times it can be infuriating, however, I wouldn't change it for the world :)

OK, zombie time. My husband has been killing Nazi zombies on the TV, and I'm preparing for zombie attacks in real life. My summer reading list includes The Zombie Survival Guide and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I'm very excited, but also sad that I will devour them in a night or two. Twilight series is after that, as after all the zombie action, I think it's important to switch it up to other manifestions of the living dead (or undead as they may be).

To delay the quick start and finish of my zombie studies, I started reading a book about vintage clothing called "Alligators, Mink, and New Money" by Alison Houtte. It's pretty cool. I like knowing about the designers she names and her business venture. I'll have it finished in the morning, I'm sure. Signing off for now. I'm tired, my throat hurts and I don't want to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, like I have been now for two damn weeks.

Fiberlicious!

2009-06-09T05:41:00.002-04:00

So here are the pics of my finds this weekend, plus the carding I did. The mohair locks were a bit felty, but that's ok. They're going into an art yarn. The ribbons don't have a plan for now. I'm just happy I have them! The green batt is the first of the colorway "Forest" I will make. Don't know what for yet, or if it is done. I'm not fond of the way the glitz is distributed. Lastly, the green and pink was made from drumcarder waste, all carded together. Will probably end up as art yarn, too.

My blog is dying...

2009-06-07T07:43:00.008-04:00

Poor bloggity blog. No one reads you. The blame is surely on me, as I have been slacking reading other people's blogs and therefore have not been publicititizing you properly! That's ok though. You're here for me when I need you. One week left before vacation and I'm holding on by a thread (probably literally because I'm surrounded by it anyways.) I'm a little dejected about vacation, as I always want to do a zillion things, and end up on my lazy bum doing nothing. Here's a list of things I would do if I were inclined:

finish painting the bedroom walls and furniture that I started two years ago
clean up the craft room so I can find the sewing machine
finish sewing my bedskirt, my rockabilly fair dress, my swing top, the chair pads and make some more stuff
work on fiber prep, spinnning and UFOs

I may have to make a schedule for myself. It seemed to work ok last time, so hopefully it will work again. It appears that if I don't do something in the morning, the whole day is lost, watching Clean House and Spongebob.

This week I've been obsessed with ripping fabric. So far I have two balls. I also am slightly obsessed with the idea of making rugs. I've been shopping for fabric to rip and plan on hitting the thrift shops later to get some! Maybe I found my niche on etsy? We'll see. I did some drum carding with some practically felted fiber and it's a dream now. I really like it but feel like it's not finished, so I have to go back to it. I'd like to finish carding that colorway up. It's probably going to be about 4 oz. I need a big diz to make a roving out of my batts. Pulling it worked OK, but I want it thick and even. Practice and the right equipment will improve my skills.

Also, today we're going to the Renegade Craft Fair and it's very exciting. I've wanted to go for a few years, but never knew about it 'till it was over. Thanks to Rav's new event calendar, I actually found out in time. Cool! What shall I wear?

Lastly, J and I went back to the garage sale and were in heaven. The lady charged us 50 cents a yard on all the trimmings and I can't wait to get pics of all the booty. And I also got a BCBG silk top for $4, from a girl who wanted it to go to someone who would look good in it. I was very flattered. She wanted $10, but I only had $4 left from all the trimmings I got, so she said OK.

In other news, Yippee! I'm a natural redhead, at least till my roots start growing in. I suck at dyeing my roots. I also made bananan bundt cake for breakfast from this recipe from Allrecipes.com. It came out pretty good. There was leftover coconut topping from my pie last week, so I used it in the middle of the batter. It was so yummy, I might do it again on purpose!

Busy Little Bee

2009-05-31T07:51:00.005-04:00

It's been a rough week, so I haven't had much to say. My plan as of Friday was to stay in bed the entire weekend. Luckily, by Saturday morning, I decided to change the plan. After I dropped hubby off at work, I went food shopping. We haven't done a real food shopping in a couple of months. Mostly it consists of small trips to the supermarket to buy what we need for dinner that night. I hate shopping like that because I know it wastes money and also, makes planning a nightmare! I spent a pretty penny and now my crazy uncle has me going online to check out all the circulars on Saturday morning to see if there are any good sales on meat! The freezer is stocked and it feels great!

Now for the booty! I went to a garage sale that I found on craigslist to find fabric and trimmings. The lady said she would bring them out next week because she didn't reach that part of the garage yet! I bought that transferware plate for a quarter. Next, I went down the block and found another sale. I think I spent $6 on the chiffon hair bonnet, the cow hamburger patty press, the velvet table topper and the handkerchief. Not bad for a morning out! I think the bonnet wants to be artyarn, but not sure yet. The velvet also wants to be something, but I'm not sure what yet. It would be nice if the bustle made a comeback. I might make one with it. Last year, J and I put on a fashion show at a senior center. I have to get to gettin and make some stuff to show, as this year hasn't been very productive as far as clothing is concerned. J said she's dragging stuff out of the basement to show. It should be interesting...

Barbeque-less Barbeque

2009-05-25T18:07:00.002-04:00

My, I've been busy today. In honor of Memorial Day, I'm having a Barbeque-less Barbeque. I haven't been feeling well lately, so ribs in the oven was much easier than climbing in and out of the window. I cooked country-style ribs with a rub in the oven at 275 for a few hours, basted them with bbq sauce from Steve Raichlen's grill book and cooked them some more. Corn was steamed on top of the stove. When the ribs were done, I took them out and put biscuits in. Just finishing up the ribs in the broiler and it's dinner time!

Fibertastic!

2009-05-25T16:06:00.002-04:00

So MagicStix coerced me into joining the Spin City Aeolian Spin and Knit Along. I was deathly afraid to do it. I actually have yarn that would make a nice Aeolian, but why make things easy? The camel/silk top she gave me was begging to be something fantastic, so I figured, why not? I'll do it. First I had to dye the fiber. It's really hard for me to pick colors, and I knew I wanted something earthy to go with it, but not boring. They also had to be functional and match my clothes. I found some roving on Etsy that gave me inspiration, and these are colors I already had mixed up and ready to go: lt. brown, dk. brown, golden yellow, and magenta. Unfortunately, I have a heavy hand at dyeing and it ended up WAAAAY darker than I had planned. Oh well. I might get more fiber, seeing as now I have a local source and I don't think I will spin fine enough to make the yardage I need. Here's pics of the fiber:

Pie Challenge!!

2009-05-25T10:31:00.004-04:00

I started a group on Ravelry and am very excited. It's called Pie Challenge!! and it's a monthly challenge based on a theme. I will officially start the themes on June 1st, but decided to throw down a mini-challenge to get started. You had to make a pie out of stuff you have in the kitchen already, no shopping for ingredients. My contribution is German Chocolate Cake Pie and I'm very excited for it to cool down so I can eat it. Here's a tutorial:

First, bake a pie crust, fill it with pudding and a layer of cake

Get a simple syrup ready. This one is flavored with chocolate vodka.

Using a pastry brush, soak the cake evenly until it is moist.

Then, spread on the second and final layer of pudding.

Finish off with a second layer of cake and spread on the topping. I added some Bacardi 151 to temper the sweetness.

Here's what it looks like after the topping is spread on.

Finally, I found some ganache in the fridge and piped it on top to make it a little fancier. Mmmm. Cake-Pie!

Idiot Neighbor, Take 2

2009-05-24T14:49:00.003-04:00

So I’m taking a nap, (I penciled one into my busy schedule of doing nothing) and I start to hear a weird hissy drippy sound. The cats have been evil since the middle of the night. One knocked over my fan and flower arrangement in the bedroom window at 3 AM, then he proceeded to knock over the litter box later on. The orange one woke me up at 5:30 by meowing and purring in my face, then I caught him on the kitchen counter when I heard strange noises in the kitchen. Back to the drippy sound. I am half asleep with one eye open, looking around the mess of my bedroom trying to locate the source of the sound. It seems to be coming from where my makeup is. Is it an aerosol can or pump hairspray about to explode? Is it an insect under the dresser? I look up and don’t see anything and the a$$hole upstairs has the music loud again so I can’t hear where it is coming from. The cats looked with me, and I could feel something spraying me in the face ever-so-lightly and I’m so confused. When I stand up and turn around, I see all kinds of water dripping from inside the doorway. I call for my husband, who is no where in sight, then proceed to find some clothes and go upstairs. What I see when I open the door is a waterfall of water dripping into the hallway right next to our apartment. My husband is already upstairs and apparently, idiot neighbor has clogged the toilet and didn’t f-in’ hear the waterfall afterwards because the god-dang music is too loud! The restaurant people from downstairs start ringing the bell wildly to let us know there is a leak in the restaurant, and we just told them it's the guy upstairs. I swear my landlord saves the front apartment for idiots only. The last guy who lived there’s wife started a fire in the kitchen garbage (judging from the pile of beer bottles in the trash and the fact that she smokes and is stupid, I think she put the cig in the garbage) and tried to put it out with a pot of coffee, which dripped down my bedroom walls. That’s all for now. He turned the music down and I’m back to doing nothing. The world is safe…for now.

What a Wonderful Day!

2009-05-23T14:50:00.002-04:00

Today I went to the church where dad and stepmom got married and where my friend got married. One of my students received his first communion. I know his parents were thrilled. B sat though the service wonderfully and quietly. He did great! Then we went to a pub to get lunch, which was also nice. I love my adopted family. I really feel blessed to be a part of their lives and their family. One can have enough family, but not enough good family :)

R.I.P.

2009-05-22T08:07:00.002-04:00

Today is the last day of my VW Jetta. We (The mechanic and I) have agreed it's time to take it off life support and donate it to charity. Let's review some of the great moments with the Jetta.

The First Day-A New Beginning

Excited to join the ranks of the two-car family, I drove to Pennsylvania with my mom, where the little blue Jetta was waiting patiently in the driveway. After getting a tour of it's features by my mom's husband, I hopped in and proceeded to follow my mom down the winding country road. About 1/4 mile down the road, the hood popped open, flew into the windshield and cracked it all the way across. Confined to viewing the road in the small space where the open hood attaches to the car, I slowed down and pulled over onto the shoulder. My mom was nowhere in sight. I decided to hyperventilate for a while until she realized I was not behind her.

What may have been 3 minutes later, (an eternity to me), I see my mom drive up on the shoulder across from me. She steps over to the car and remarks, "Oh. I see the hood popped open." I have no reply to this. I realize my hands hurt because they are still gripping the wheel, and I finally understand the saying "white-knuckled." I meant to get the car blessed with holy water, but I never got around to it. This leads me to my next Jetta experience.

The Roof-top Pary

Every year, the teachers at my job are invited to an Upper West Side rooftop party, overlooking the Hudson river. (Actually, that should be coming up soon...) It is hosted by the parents of one of the students in my class and involves shmoozing and drinking and eating catered food. I believe it is one of the highlights of the year. Any event which requires me to get dressed up and eat and drink is a good time, (the only exception is when one of my various parents gets remarried. Then I go heavy on the Jack and light on the good time.) We had a splendid evening. I wore a cute green and while silk print dress in a 50's style. It had a wrap top and a full skirt. We left the party at around 11 o'clock. As I was about to cross 2nd Avenue to get on the 59th Street bridge entrance, I heard a loud thumping sound. Passersby were shouting and pointing from the sidewalk, "You have a flat tire." Gee. Thanks. I didn't notice. Not one to be deterred by gender roles, attire or aptitude, I proceed to park on 2nd Avenue in a no standing zone, open the trunk and take out the spare tire and tire kit. Wait. Did I say spare tire kit? That's funny BECAUSE THERE WAS NONE!!!! We had the tire. It had air in it. No jack, no lugwrench. WTF????? WHO TAKES THE SPARE TIRE KIT OUT OF THE CAR!!!!! That's ok. I tried to console myself. We will find someone and borrow a jack and wrench. One of the girls from work has a Jetta and was coming home from the party around the same time. No problem. We borrowed her jack and somehow, I think with the help from some guys on the street, managed to get the car up. Now for the wrench. Oh. It doesn't fit. The Germans are soooooo special and need fucking special lugnuts for their fucking German engineered cars. Noooo. It can't be standard. They're German, why make things easy. (I will say now that I am German and I see that this making things difficult comes from that side) I call DH. I remember having a 4-way lug wrench in the back of the truck. He's tired and angry and it's probably about 12:30 and he just got off UPS. He comes to the city and guess what? No 4-way lug wrench. Oh. I think it was in my ex-boyfriend's truck. My bad. Five of the girls from work are hanging around with me in party dresses and DH refuses to get out of the truck and even say hello. I finally admit I have to call a tow truck. The girls leave and I'm left with my DH, who is currently not speaking to me. The tow truck comes and drags the Jetta down to 35th street and 10th Avenue, how fucking convenient. They change the tire in under 3 minutes and charge me $80 for the towing and $5 to change the tire. Ain't it funny how that stuff works?

Going to Work

One day I took the Jetta to work. The car was acting weird and braking weird the whole 9 miles it takes for me to get there. When I got off the exit, the car was not braking! I repeat, the car was not braking! DH has a habit of always putting on the emergency break, no matter where he parks. I do not do this, and his dashboard always has check engine, low oil, a venerable Christmas tree of warning lights at any given time, so I didn't know the emergency brake was on. I figured it out, but not without almost having a heart attack.

Still tired and depressed

2009-05-18T19:36:00.004-04:00

I feel like a zombie today. After work, I passed out for about an hour, woke up starving, and I still feel like I could go to sleep now and wake up in the morning. School has me stressed out. I don't know what is going to happen. I haven't finishes my incompletes and I didn't file a leave of absence and it's been a year. My time is up. Everyone is going to be mad at me. I don't know what's wrong with me. I get so frustrated. When I sit down to do school work, I feel lost and overwhelmed. My knitting has taken over because it helps me get my mind off the reality of the mess I've made. Hubby feels bad, but there's nothing he can do. I really have to fix this. DH has been wonderful about everything and has offered to come to school with me.

I'm so tired...

2009-05-16T10:07:00.003-04:00

All my Amazon stuff, save for my silk artyarn, came in this week. I'm very excited to report that. Knitting Lingerie Style is super-cool and I can't wait to make a slip. I've got some stuff on order from friends and family, one shrug and two bikinis, as well as a shower present for my cousin's fiancee. I'd like to finish that stuff up before I work on my own stuff. Mom's shrug is coming along nicely in Moda Dea TweedleDee. It's bulky acrylic, but really soft and nice. She picked it out, and it's working beautifully in the pattern, which is supposed to be for a mohair yarn!

In other news, schoolwork has been non-existent, so I decided to do some ABA on myself and put myself on a schedule this Saturday. I've done a bit of cleaning, ate breakfast, worked on my mom's shrug AND did some schoolwork. My reward is a trip to Smileys and AC Moore, to get more yarn for my mom. Smiley's is having an awesome sale. I'm getting there when the doors open so I gotta go. Being this productive is super tiring. Did I schedule in a nap for later?

I didn't schedule in a nap, but ended up taking one anyway. Mom's shrug is coming along, and I switched from dpns to magic loop on my alpaca cuffs. Here's a haiku about it:

Alpaca glides on
Two pointy, silver needles
My world is all right

I am so happy that I can work on this project again! Insubordiknits might be having a weekend workshop in August and I will be so pysched if it can happen!!! I can't afford her new DVD, but for my b-day, nothing beats a fiber workshop. Art yarns. I have books, and I have sort of tried, but I will be ready by the end of summer. I plan on making a daily schedule for myself to help me organize my time better. It will include fiber processing and knitting, to keep me motivated and on track.

Merry Christmas!

2009-05-09T07:02:00.003-04:00

It's Christmas in New York baby! My dad had given me an Amazon gift card earlier this week left over from Christmas, and I made short work of it on multiple fiber-y pursuits. Gift #1-Yarn swift, which is necessary for gift #2-850 yds Misti Alpaca Lace Handpaint in Mauvelous, which is necessary for gift #3-Options metal interchangeable circular needle set. Add to that Knitting Lingerie Style, two feather pillows and one skein of Artyarns Regal Silk in a springy pink/green colorway and I just about used the whole thing up.

My first package arrived yesterday. Misti Alpaca is sooooo soft! It's burning a hole in my stash and I haven't even put it away yet! I think that I might make a circular lace poncho using Aeolian stitch patterns. I think I may be somewhat crazy to do this, as I am a novice lace knitter, but with a calculator and cool pattern from elann which gives instructions for a poncho using any lace pattern, I think I may be able to do it!!! It actually may be easier. That also means that I get to knit the purl rows! Oh goody, goody gumdrops :) Actually, I don't mind purling so much, anways.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-05T06:21:00.003-04:00

It's finally here! I can't help but to celebrate holidays where great food is guaranteed: i.e. Pie Day, Dia de los Muertes, Bastillle Day, etc. Who cares if most Mexicans outside of Puebla celebrate it? Does it matter that beer companies first popularized the holiday to increase revenue? NO! I'm so excited. Just have to cook the pork and make the guac and some salsa. Hey! I'll make salsa now so it has a chance to macerate! Good Idea!

This is what flan looks like!!! It's coconut and cinnamon and I can't wait to eat it!!!! The pork is on the stove and I'm about to make guacamole to snack on. We had a fiesta at school today and most of the kids ate chips and salsa and were happy. More chips and salsa for me, please!!!

Getting Ready

2009-05-04T07:12:00.008-04:00

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo and I'm very excited. I have my menu, and most of the ingredients. Today is a prep day. I will cut up and season the pork, make the flan and the tomatillo sauce and salsa. That means tomorrow all I have to do is cook the pork and make the guacamole. I try to go out to eat Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo, but being as we're so broke this year, I figured I'd do it myself. We'll have plenty of leftovers. Last night I made my version of ratatouille (without eggplant) with shrimp and white rice. By Wednesday, I can use the rice in stuffed peppers with some of the pork and tomato sauce. Tonight we will have Philly Cheese Steaks with shredded beef from TJ's. I love food.

Later that same day...

Cheese steaks were super yummilicious!!! I made the salsa verde, the salsa de chile and the flan de coco y canela(with a healthy dose of 151!). I roasted the tomatillos in the broiler for about 9 minutes and actually followed the recipe. For the chile salsa I strayed a little bit. First off, those chiles have been in my pantry since I tried to make mole about 4 years ago. They were not pliable, I could not score them and devein and seed them. I did the best I could by cracking them and shaking any loose seeds out, then soaking them in boiling water. After, I threw them in the food processor. I didn't toast them, which may be sacriledge to some, but so would using up old-ass dried out chiles! The soaking water didn't seem too bitter, so I used it, and I didn't strain it, as I wanted a somewhat chunky sauce, like the one in my favorite Mexican hole in the wall. I possbly used ancho and pasilla chiles, as I forgot to label them and know I used three chiles in my mole. My crazy pineapple drink is still hanging out in the bathtub, and I have the guacamole ingredients, save the avocado and tomato chopped up and ready to go. DH even said he would try the flan!!! I still have to cut up and season the pernil so it's ready to go tomorrow. Did I mention I'm excited?!

It's almost Cinco de Mayo!!!

2009-05-03T16:43:00.011-04:00

I'm very excited about eating Mexican food this week. No wonder TJ's had the guac kits on display when you first enter the store. I've decided on my favorite: carnitas. I will be braising pork butt in lard. I'm so excited!!!

I'm officially obsessed!!! I had no idea that Cinco de Mayo was this week. (I know it's funny, but it's because I wasn't thinking about it!) I bought refried beans, and blue corn chips and a guacamole kit, but wasn't even aware how soon I would need them!!! Upon further research, I've decided to put together a menu.

Blue Corn Tortilla Chips and Salsa and Guacamole (I ate half the bag, and now will have to hide them from DH)
Carnitas with Salsa Verde

and Chili Sauce
Tepache (Mexican lightly fermented pineapple drink)

Coconut Flan

Well, the tepache is sitting in the bathtub, where it can ferment and bubble and spill out all it wants if it is inclined to do so. It should be ready by Tuesday night. I put the piloncillo in the food processor with the grater blade and only used 16 oz, and I used the whole pineapple, including the flesh. After sampling the dark, rich, piloncillo, all I can say is yes, it's brown sugar, but the flavor is different then your regular Domino brown sugar. I would make the effort to find it-it's gooooood!

2009-05-03T05:52:00.000-04:00

Since Western medicine has not been able to offer any insight to my maladie, I have decided to invent my own diagnosis complete with name and description. I am suffereing from an episode of acute procrastinits. Brought upon by a severe bout of anxiety from things I should have taken care of a while ago, the disease manifests itself with overall body and muscle aches, extreme lethargy and pain in the joints, especially the toes, ankles, knees, wrists and knuckles. I refuse to go to the doctor because I don't believe they can help me, save another prescription of pain killers. One doctor diagnosed me with a non-specifice auto-immune response triggered by stress. The obvious solution is to remove stress from my life. Good luck in that department. Because of school and money situations, this week has been awful and now I'm laid up here in bed writing this ridiculous blog post. My husband is sick, too, from Chinese food, and I imagine it will be an interesting day.

Foodie Survey!!!

2009-05-02T18:40:00.005-04:00

1. How do you like your eggs?
Runny yolks all the way!!!! Over easy, poached, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, shirred, baked, omelette, scrambled-but still soft.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea?
Tea with sugar or honey with/without milk or lemon. Herbal, black, green, except I hate white tea and rooibus. Gross. My fave teas are strawberry black tea and rose black tea.

3. Favorite breakfast food:
Chocolate-any way I can.

4. Peanut butter: Smooth or crunchy?
Creamy, with added sugar, no doubt!

5. What kind of dressing on your salad?
Depends on my mood. French, vinaigrette, honey-mustard, blue cheese, I pretty much eat them all.

6. Coke or Pepsi?
Uh, Dr. Pepper.

7. You’re feeling lazy, what do you make?
Pasta with butter, peas and parmesean cheese.

8. You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order?
I hate pizza, but if I must, either buffalo chicken or hawaiian.

9. You feel like cooking. What do you make?
Whatever the voices in my head tell me to...

10. Do any foods bring back good memories?
Tacos are my all time fun food.

11. Do any foods bring back bad memories?
Overcooked steak reminds me of skirt steak cooked in the toaster oven as a child. I remember chewing and chewing and chewing, UGH!

12. Do any foods remind you of someone?
My friend's grandma used to make awesome coconut candy from fresh coconuts and whenever I see it, I think of her making it in the kitchen.

13. Is there a food you refuse to eat?
Anything with eyes or other body parts attached that look like they may walk or swim off my plate.

14. What was your favorite food as a child?
I've blocked out most of my childhood :O I can't remember.

15. Is there a food that you hated as a child but now like?
Lots of foods, mostly strongly flavored ones, like sauerkraut, mustard, pickles, horseradish, wasabi, jalepenos, black pepper.

16. Is there a food that you liked as a child but now hate?
Not really.

17. Favorite fruit and vegetable:
I like most fruits and veggies, but like all berries and I don't have a favorite veggie. I do like brussels sprouts more than most people, though.

18. Favorite junk food:
Nachos.

19. Favorite between meal snack:
Whatever's in arms reach.

20. Do you have any weird food habits?
When I eat pomegranates, I have to carefully peel and take out all the seeds intact, put them in a bowl, clean up the mess and wash my hands before I eat it by the handful.

21. You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on?
I'm not nor have I ever been on a diet.

22. You’re off your diet. Now what would you like?
See #21

23. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai?
I usually take it however it comes.

24. Can I get you a drink?
Depending on my mood: Fun party-frozen and fruity Classy party-Cosmopolitan Bar-Jack and Coke Cafe-Grapefruit and Campari (it's kinda gross, but you get used to it)

25. Red or White Wine?
Depends. Beaujolais or Reisling. (Have you guessed I need sugar in my life?)

26. Favorite dessert?
Don't usually eat dessert after dinner, but will eat pie for any meal.

27. The perfect nightcap?
My bed.

I'm feeling so crafty!

2009-04-26T08:12:00.004-04:00

So I started knitting my fun fur bikini titled "Grassy Knolls" It's coming along swimmingly, I might add. I wish I could find my pompom maker so I can make the dandelion pompoms.

This week I've been taking pictures of my outfits as I leave the house in the morning, and can tell you already that it's enlightening, but not too enlightening(thankfully) I saw myself in a long sweater and wow, no more long sweaters for me unless it is a dress. Everything's gotta stop at the hip. My little belly pooch sticks out too much for my taste and cutting it across the hip breaks up the line a bit. It also keeps my legs looking long while adding a little bit of length to my short waist. Cutting straight across the waist is baaaaad for me, except in very rare outfits.

I went to the dinner dance on Friday and made my matching fascinator and work my crazy eyelashes. I'll have to take some pics today of all have been working on. Lastly, I went to Jo-Ann fabrics and got some 1/2 off linen blends for a summer skirt and top. I used Lion Cotton and wooden beads for the yoke of a cute print top I will sew as soon as I figure out the pattern. I'm also making two more t-shirt bags for grocery shopping. Signing off for now. Lots of stuff to do!

DIPR (Daily Individualized Progress Report)

2009-04-21T21:40:00.004-04:00

The title of this entry is named after the paperwork I do at work. This is my run down on things going on. So. I made my earth day bag and it came out cool and I hope to actually do some shopping eventually so I can use it. It's gray and has Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn hugging on the side. It's also kind of stained and gross, but it's a shopping bag, so I can forgive that. I might make a matching Joker bag, if I still have the t-shirt hubby got me. I'm not a baggy t-shirt kinda gal, so a large, boxy black tee with the Joker's head on the front is not something I want splayed across my chest in public. However, it can work for holding groceries. Sorry for the lack of pictures lately. I lent out my camera batteries to a friend over the weekend, then forgot them at work today. I will catch up with them ASAP.

I tried to clean up my humble abode a little today. With my feet being all messed up and generally tired and depressed, cleaning hasn't been a priority. Big plans like wardrobe reconstruction and planning need a neat and organized place. It looked like a nuclear warhead exploded. Now it looks like there was an earthquake. A small improvement, but progress nonetheless. In any case, I can't physically reach the sewing table in the craft room so cleaning up that mess in also in order. (In case you're wondering how I made my t-shirt bag without reaching the sewing machine, I have a dirty little secret: I have about 4 sewing machines. It's absolutely nuts. I didn't buy any of them. One is a working treadle machine, one is a white from the sixties, one is a crappy singer, and one is a sears. Each one has it's own issues. I'm afraid to get rid of any in case I have a sewing emergency, like I'm working on my Halloween costume the night before Halloween when the bobbin bird nests and stops working altogher. Yes, this has happened before. So anyway, I keep a sewing machine on my nightstand for quick sewing jobs. What a freak!)

Lastly, a word about my etsy shop. I really wanted to open it, however, due to a few reasons, I have decided to put this off for a while. One, I don't believe I have a quality product at this time. I need more practice carding before I try to sell anything. Two, I do not have anything that sets my products apart from anyone else's. I need a niche. Three, I have no money right now. Making money means spending money, and it's something I just can't do right now. Lastly, because my feet hurt so bad, I haven't been using my wheel at all, and before, I had no inspiration to use it. I'm going to pursue other endeavors, like sewing, for now, until I feel I'm ready to get back to spinning stuff. For now, I will continue to simmer up ideas and research stuff. Maybe by summer I will find something more promising. There a few things cookin' as we speak...

It's finally done!!!!

2009-04-20T18:17:00.003-04:00

Swallowtail has flown off the needles!!!! She's blocking right now, as we speak, on the living room floor on the rainiest day! She measures 27 inches by 58 inches. Don't know if that sounds right or not. The foam blocks are colorful kids alphabet blocks I borrowed from one of the "never use" closets at work. They work great, and the best part is that they were FREE :P I am starting on a pair of ruffle-y beaded wristlets to go with my navy blue spring jacket using some turquoise blue variegated Araucania Atacama that was on sale at AC moore a zillion years ago and sitting in my stash, waiting for the perfect thing to knit. I decided to buy beads for it, so that makes this my first official beaded knitting project. I might add some more if I like how they look.

This is part of my wardrobe overhaul. My lack of interest in accessories has to come to an end. Usually, I don't wear any jewelry, save my wedding band. If I'm getting all fancy, I put on silver hoops, medium sized ones are the norm, huge ones to look extra-hooch. The right accessories are important, but I don't want to be an accessories-whore, so I'm trying to start with dolling up my jackets first, since they get the most wear. Since I'm working from my stash on this project, all I bought were the beads, and I hope to have enough yarn for a small lacy scarf. Not swallowtail, but something similar. This has become very exciting for me. I hope to have "influenced" about 1/4 of my wardrobe by the time I'm done with this project.

On my spring sweater front, I'm scared of binding off the shoulders and making sleeves with no pattern, so I put it on the back burner. The weather isn't exactly right for it anyways, so I have about two weeks before I could be using it regularly. Also, I decided that one slightly felted tan old-navy wool sweater can use an overhaul. I think I will turn it into a cardigan, but I haven't come up with all the details yet. I only know I would like to do some embroidery on it and a collar-very Anthropologie, I know... For Earth day, I'm making a t-shirt shopping bag with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn on the side. Hopefully, I'll remember to bring it to the store. Maybe I'll make a pouch for it, too. That's all for now. Feeling hungry. Must eat...

More obsessive wardrobe thoughts...

2009-04-19T10:03:00.003-04:00

Still harping on this. Today I'm participating in the changing of the guards, winter/fall wardrobe to spring/summer wardrobe. I've been thinking about color palettes and have decided that organizing one based on my current items would be helpful to me when picking out new clothes and fabrics. Mainly, I hope to find a common color theme in all seasons to build my core wardrobe around and change accent colors as the seasons change. For example, I see that I wear pink, burgundy, brown, and tan pretty much all year long. In the spring, I can add aqua to the mix, in the winter, add olive green and in the fall add mustard. Something like that. In any case, I plan on doing some thrifting and reconstruction, too. I've seen lots of shirts on etsy that have inspired me to get some tees and bust out the machine.

I also have been thinking about the types of clothing I wear. In the summer, I wear a dress or a skirt with a cardigan almost every day. In spring, I wear pants and skirts with layered tops and cardigans/jackets. In fall, same as spring, and as of last winter, pants and sweaters with a shelf-bra camisole pretty much all the time, save for the occasional sweater dress.

It would be really cool to plan a wardrobe around unconventional accessory pieces, such as bustles, pockets, aprons, collars and sleeves, along with removable applique pins. I envision my a-line denim skirt being a backdrop for all kinds of crazy concoctions! Lastly, I'm thinking about my style. The way I dress depends on where I'm going and what mood I'm in. I have outfits based on different characters, like "the cowgirl" -a western shirt, frye boots and bootcut jeans for a going to the farm, or "the flirty romantic" -dripping with gauze, lace and ruffles, and puffy sleeves, or "goth girl" with black and burgundy and skulls. Finding a way to incorporate all these styles into one wardrobe is difficult. I think I may plan a mini-wardrobe around each of these styles so I can keep it interesting without having so many clothes that I don't wear.

The final thing I have been thinking about is what, exactly do I look like when I leave the house in the morning. Many days I don't even bother looking in the mirror, so I don't even notice until I get to work how rough I look. It's possible that I will run an experiment documenting what I look like for work for two weeks to a month. I want to become neat and put-together, and this will be the first step in assessing how long the road will be until I get there!

Back to the Wardrobe Business

2009-04-14T22:18:00.001-04:00

I found a sewing blogger who has the same idea I have! Added to blogroll to keep up with progress. She had a few helpful ideas and linkys that I'd like to share :)

First it's the S.W.A.P. thing. Sewing with a plan. I guess the offshoot group I will start is K.W.A.P. Ha ha ha! It's the idea of planning fabrics and patterns to match your lifestyle and create a basic wardrobe. This is exactly what I was looking for!

This was borrowed from "The Sewing Journal" blog:
The plan recommends evaluating one’s lifesyle, then sewing 11 garments out of 2 basic colors and 1 complementary color.
2 pairs of pants
2 skirts, one solid, one print
6 tops, matching and coordinating
1 jacket

This website has more info on the concept and its implementation.

So I think I may go with olive and either taupe or steel(gray-blue) for my basic colors for summer work-wear. I'm excited to have a plan. There was a great idea to use paint chips when going fabric shopping so you can have a range of colors to coordinate with. Love it! It works for yarn, too! One woman carries a mini-swatch book of her basic wardrobe fabrics in her purse so when she is shopping, she can assess right away if something will match. I can't tell you how many times I have to carry a skirt or shirt around with me for days until I find something to go with it. I've got a garbage full of clothes ready to donate to the salvation army and I seriously hope that this year will be the last that I have to do these massive clean-outs. Parting with loved, hunted, but ill-fitting articles has become easier over time. After I clean out winter stuff and switch to spring/summer, I may take pics of all the saved clothes on me so I can get a better idea of what I actually look like. Also, I really do need good pants. I'm gaining weight and think I'm an 8 now, and I would like to exist without buttons and waists digging into my skin. Bye for now. Off to dream of matching clothes...(I really do need a life!)

Please cut off my feet!

2009-04-14T19:35:00.003-04:00

I went to the podiatrist today. Diagnosis: Morton's Neuroma. Go ahead. Google it. Not much good news there. It seems all roads lead to surgery. The conversation goes something like this, "Well, first we'll pad it, then we'll shoot it and if that doesn't work, we're gonna have to cut it, but the padding and the shooting doesn't usually work, so good luck with that." He stabbed me with a cortisone shot before I could even protest effectively. I wish my feet would go back to normal. There's a dinner dance coming up and I'm going to have to wear a gown to cover my crocs. It feels like I'll never dance again. The pain and drudgery of my condition this past week has sucked all the life out of me and I don't want to do anything at all. I'm going to watch Reaper and pretend my foot isn't still cold and tingly. Signing off.

When too much is not enough...

2009-04-13T21:43:00.008-04:00

WARNING: Long, drawn-out post with frivolous details. Turn back now if my wardrobe issues do not interest you!

I have too many clothes. This is not a new revelation, rather a reiteration of what was previously known. The last few years, (and those of you who know me personally can attest to this), I have been trying to organize my life. Though I have not met my goals, I certainly have come a long way in my attempts to achieve them. Case in point, my wardrobe. As a child, I felt very isolated. I learned in the 8th grade the importance of clothing, image and their relationship to the way others treat me. I'll never forget the first time I wore new clothes that I picked out and thought represented my "new image." A popular boy in my class said, "Hey look, it's Manhattan girl." At the time, this was the highest compliment I could have received. I was born and raised in Queens and full of self-loathing, and to be able to be sized up as "one who goes/lives in Manhattan" meant the world to me. From that point on, clothing was very important to me.

During my high-school years, I wore a uniform, so my "real" clothes were strictly weekend wear. I truly was a Manhattan girl from that point on, and spent lots of time in the East Village, wearing black leather and punk wear. On the flip side, it was just as important for me to be able to walk into Barney's or Bloomies and have someone ask if I needed help and not sneer at me and walk away. I learned how to blend in with my surroundings and felt just as comfortable at Maxine's in a cocktail dress as I did at The Building, listening to Nine Inch Nails dressed in black fishnets with skulls and crosses dripping from head to foot.

As a young adult, I spent much time going to clubs and my weekly allowance was spent at the Salvation Army, buying up clothes to repurpose and style for my outings. Spoiled as I was, I tried not to repeat any outfits at the same club and most of what I wore was, shall we say, memorable. I often wore wigs and 6-inch stiletto platforms and my best compliment at this time was "Are you a man or a woman?" Everyone knows drag queens do the best make-up jobs.

As a pastry chick, I lived in my checks and had little time or inclination to give a damn about what I wore. I went back to college, and this wardrobe suited me just fine. It was pretty much funky-thrift-shop-wear.As a matter of fact, it probably contributed to the idea of my classmates that I was their age instead of ten years older. (Never mind my ridiculously child-like behavior.) Then somehow it happened. I became an adult. A professional with a career that entailed that I look somewhat professional. What the hell is that? What do I do? Surely I can't wear my stained, holey, obnoxiously flower-printed velvet trousers in that environment. This was one of the the hardest things I had to do...

Well, my mom saved me. She brought me to NY and Co. and spent $500 on some new clothes. Comfortable pants that fit my long legs, coordinating shirts, even a vest!!! My first work wardrobe. Only one problem. I hate being a cookie cut-out. My first picture day, a girl at work and I showed up with the same shirt. It was horrible. This kind of thing had never happened before. Also around that time, I ran into an old friend in the subway. I felt so embarrassed to be seen in those clothes, almost ashamed, like I had given up the spirit I once had to sell out to my age and duty and responsibility. Though at the time I shrugged it off, I think it deeply affected me. Since then, I realize I have been on a quest to sufficiently define myself through my clothing once again. I miss the confidence I had when I knew what I was wearing was a clear representation of myself at that moment. I miss the excitement of the hunt to find something perfect, instead now I buy things "because I can wear them at work." I am boring. I hate it. Finally, it brings me to knitting.

I noticed in my projects, yarn choices and pattern favorites that there is a terrible dichotomy of style and sensibility. I believe I have too much of the former and none of the latter. If someone cataloged my current wardrobe, there are a few assumptions that might be made about me. It would be surmised I am a salsa dancer, attend weddings, fine arts performances and charity events relatively frequently, go out to fine dining establishments often, host dinner parties, enjoy cooking or have a 50s fetish, that I have goth tendencies at times, also cowgirl tendencies, enjoy wearing feminine clothing, do lots of shopping or leisurely activities, and frequent bars and clubs at night. While some of it is spot-on, it is a bit exaggerated. I don't think I need 23 dresses in the summer, as well as 9 or so evening gowns. My 14 winter skirts were barely worn this year due to issues with finding appropriate and affordable legwear this year and my 8 swimsuits don't earn their keep when I wear one about 3 times a year if I'm lucky.

I want to create a wardrobe, not a collection of mismatched items I never wear. I want the sweaters I make to match something and be functional, not simply because I could, or because I had to use up yarn in my stash. This coming year I feel it. By next spring, I will spin a different yarn to tell. I did some research tonight and found this, a website about wardrobe planning. It had many helpful tips, and I hope when I do the changing of the clothes that I can start my planning. Spring and summer clothing is much easier to make than winter or fall, so I hope to sew and/or knit some basic pieces that I can really use. One person discussed thinking about the cost of an item in terms of how much you wear it. A dress that costs $200 that you wear once is expensive compared to a cashmere sweater that costs $80 that you wear 30 times over a few years. (This is also a good strategy for rationalizing high-end yarn purchases.) I'm ready for change.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T11:46:00.003-04:00

Here's my Hot Cross Buns from the King Arthur Flour website. I think they came out good and I used my mini-tripod to take the shot. Photography is not my thing. I consistently forget to take pictures, even when I have my camera. I guess I'm too much of an attention-whore to remember everyone else. Oh well. I'm working on it. Still been off my feet for the whole weekend. It's really sucked to be on the futon for three days. Soon, I'll have to get ready to make the rounds. I want to finish my pink sweater before tonight so I can wear it to my aunt's house and have everyone fawn all over it, but I fear this may not happen because I won't bring it to work on at my uncles house or it will smell like an old man bar from the '80s. Maybe I'll wear my green crocheted sweater that I still haven't gotten a good photo of instead. Yeah, that's it. My mom is good at taking pictures and never gives up an opportunity to get some of herself, either. Do you see where I get it from? Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday :P

Why me?

2009-04-10T20:57:00.003-04:00

I will continue on with my theme this week, self-pity and loathing. Today I could not walk when I woke up this morning. My foot hurt all night and there was no improvement, so I had to stay home from work. Besides a splitting headache (which I handle very poorly, as I seldom experience them), I was exhausted, and tried to limit any walking, keeping my foot elevated and watching 6 hours of Dr. Who Season 3 on Sci-Fi in between naps. The only fruitful thing I did today was wind my 8 oz of pink mohair into a giant center pull ball in preparation of making my Twinkle evening shell. I must finish a paper this weekend and plan on doing it tomorrow no matter what. My leg hurts, too. I left my "Fetching" supplies in my truck in my knitting emergency kit and couldn't spin even though miraculously I had the urge to. (Damn you double treadle!!!) Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

Welcome to the Real World.

2009-04-07T19:46:00.002-04:00

I'm broke. Not just broke, but broke-ass damn broke. I could've bought a used car for the price it cost to fix my car after the accident. (It really was a bargain AND my truck hasn't looked so nice since I first got it, so that's the only thing I could say that's good.). Feeling down and out and like I really messed up my life. DH is wonderful, and it's times like these I'm reminded why I married him. I feel like the luckiest person alive to have someone so understanding at times like these. So he can't stand my loud chewing or the way I hog the sheets and the bed, but when it comes down to when it matters, there's no one better. :)

Finally, an FO!!!

2009-04-01T16:45:00.007-04:00

I finished my shrug in a little more than a day! I'm very happy with it and have been playing dress up all day :D The picture on the bottom shows the major mod, a ruffle on the top half after the ribbing. (Separated by a lifeline) All I need now is a hat and I'm good to go. I'm thinking of a gold bird, some netting, a matching felted base, some ribbon and some feathers. Thats all. Maybe some flowers, too. Fashion pics to follow soon. I really want to set up an outdoor shoot soon.

I've been bad...

2009-03-31T21:37:00.002-04:00

I cast on another project gasp! I had some sparkly mohair bulky novelty yarn in my stash from Smiley's, and I was dying to start on a Twinkle pattern, so my mohair shrug is in the works. I hate my Lion Brand needles and can't believe I bought them. At least I had a coupon! I love Smiley's and they have a great selection of needles, but size 17 and 19 circs are not easy to come by, AND they all cost upwards of $14 a pair. I don't need needles that are more expensive than the yarn!

My swallowtail will NOT be finished by April 1st. I stopped mid-row and can't bring myself to pick it up right now. It makes me want to cry. My tank sweater has stumped me with the neck and shoulder casting off and I need someone to help me try it on and hold the needles to see if the mannequin and I have the same waist to shoulder measurements. I know I could just use measuring tape, but I'm paranoid about stuff like that. Pics to follow. My free Flickr account is maxed out this month, just like my credit cards. Ugh.

Turns out my flickr account could take a few more pics! Miu-Miu is doing better. She's sleeping next to me on the futon. I feel relieved but wonder if/when something like this will happen again. What if I'm not home next time? It was really awful seeing her like that.

On a lighter note, my shrug is almost done, just a few more rounds and then BO. I found the perfect dress, one that I bought for my sister's wedding. It's a wine/black iridescent taffeta gown with spaghetti straps. I plan on making a fascinator to match with felt and feathers and possibly millinery netting. Also, I will knit or crochet beaded wire jewelery to match. AND I have awesome eyelashes to go with the outfit. They are multi-colored, feathered top and bottom lashes. I'll take pics when I get my lightbox together. Thats another thing on my agenda this week. This outfit is for a dinner dance for work next month. I will look like a freak, but everyone knows me now and I've built up their resistance to my freakiness, so I'm not concerned. I love driving in a pickup truck wearing wigs and gowns. It's so funny!

This is not good :(

2009-03-31T15:47:00.003-04:00

My cat Miu-Miu had an episode of vestibular syndrome a few years ago. At the onset of the episode, she was walking in circles. In a few short hours, her hind legs were paralyzed and and she was unable to walk independently. A trip to the vet (which I was convinced would be her last) gave us hope that she could recover. I came to the understanding that she may or may not recover, and any improvement may not end up at 100%. It took a few months for her to have satisfactory improvement. For about two months, she would not come out. All of her food and water was kept next to her and I had to rig a litterbox to look like a pontoon boat, with stabilizers on either side, so she wouldn't tip it over getting in. Eventually, she began walking around again, like she's drunk, a typical symptom of vestibular disease. Her capacity to jump is diminished, but she can still jump on a chair or the futon, just not the bed. Miu-Miu is shy by nature, and spends a lot of time under the dining room table. She comes out at night to cuddle on the futon and dig her claws into me, albeit, lovingly.

Today I heard some banging from the kitchen and ran towards the noise, only to find her on her back, next to the wall, flailing around, seemingly trying to right herself. I pulled her away from the wall, in the hopes that she would roll over by herself, but she continued to twitch. I really thought she was having a seizure, and knew there was nothing I could do but wait it out. After another minute, she stopped twitching and began howling. Now I'm stressed out. I can't afford a trip to the vet, after paying for the body work on my car. She stopped meowing and at the moment is resting comfortably under the table. I'm periodically checking to see if she is mobile, and hope that this is an isolated incident. One good day is not worth a week of bad ones.

The Horror!

2009-03-26T17:36:00.004-04:00

So I got into a car accident the other day. It was good for an accident, but it pretty much sucked. Thank God no one was injured at all. The car in front of me hit an ice patch and lost control, doing a 360 when I hit him by the driver side tire. We were on a dangerous, two lane, narrow highway by my house, both on the way to work. Turns out the guy's dad and my dad know each other and his dad owns an auto body shop two blocks from my house, so I should have my truck back by the weekend. O, the joys of car ownership...

On a lighter note, my sweater is nearing completion. I'm trying out a short-row shoulder with a three-needle bind off. I just have to do a few rows on the shoulders and back, and make some sleeves. This is the hardest part, I think.

I lurvs teh internetz!

2009-03-21T08:33:00.002-04:00

I've been wanting to knit a spring/summer sweater for a few years now, but this is the first year I actually started knitting sweaters, so I'm excited that I will actually get some done! Last year, I started on Coachella after much consideration about shaping and fit, and gingerly decided to go for it. Unfortunately, I lost interest once I decided it's probably too small and the cowl neck and racer back aren't really flattering on me, even if by some dumb luck I mangage to get them right. Pages of the projects on Ravelry tell the sad tale of disappointment in the fit of it. So, I did what I needed to do. Coachella is no more. Deleted, needles ripped out, and the sad, floppy mess of what what started lay in my craft room somewhere for me to find the next time I clean it out. That brings us to now. I found a great pattern. Problem is its f'ing British, and is not sold anywhere in the U.S. or online. After much thought, I'm going to design a copycat for myself. I've only designed a hat, and knit 3/4 of a sweater and one shrug. Both of those had raglan shaping. This is more like a set-in sleeve project, so I've been nosing around to find info on designing. Basically, the sweater has an empire-waist, a mock wrap top, and cap sleeves. I found a handy tool on Knitting Daily that gives me the pattern based on my measurements to get me started on the bottom and I so very excited, that I added the button to my blog! Check it out. It's awesome!

Inspiration has struck!

2009-03-17T21:36:00.002-04:00

Vacation is almost upon me and I have tons of plans! I will finally finish one paper and dig into the other. I will knit sleeves on my cabled sweater. I will finish my swallowtail shawl by March 31st. I will get inventory ready for etsy and build my damn lightbox. I begin blending and spinning yarn for my opal and ruby aeolian shawl. How exciting. I'm tired now...

I was a bad girl...

2009-03-16T22:29:00.002-04:00

I owed the library fines. The bad thing is I could have bought about four books for the amount I owed. The good thing is I created a new system for myself. While I believe in supporting my public library, I don't believe in paying exorbitant fines for my laziness and stupidity. My compromise is that if I continually insist on accruing late fees and spending the money anyway, my new incentive is when I bring back books on time, I am entitled to buy myself some yarn or a book. Still spending the money, yet now I have something to bring home! I am so a genius. Swallowtail is on the back burner, as I have lots of work to catch up this week and I've officially entered nuppville. Etsy on hold, but vacation coming soon. Must...hold...on...

So tired...

2009-03-07T22:45:00.002-05:00

I just woke up from a four hour nap. A few things-Swallowtail is my nemesis. Lace knitting may not be for me, just as I realized that socks may not be for me either. Maybe I haven't given it a good go, but concentrating this much is a PITA. Today I found two vintage knit/crochet accessory books. Maybe I will make my vintage books a photo project. I started turning my really old, broken down pattern books into PDF files, and will seal up the books to protect them. I love vintage books!

Snow Day!!!

2009-03-02T07:12:00.004-05:00

Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh! There's snow outside! And I don't have school! And I can knit swallowtail till I'm blind today. And dye and card and spin, and watch stupid movies, like "Black Sheep"
I really need to get on this lightbox thing. I think my pictures have been getting better, or my expectations have been going down, as ever since I found the Macro button on my camera, methinks I like it better. Gotta go! Gotta whole lot of fibery stuff to do!

It's 1:13 and the dye pot is cooking away! I'm doing solid colors to blend with the drum carder into batts. Don't think I want to dye and sell roving at this point. We'll see. So far, things are moving along.

I'm in awe!

2009-02-28T20:55:00.006-05:00

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-28T08:56:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-02-24T20:57:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-02-22T21:44:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-02-19T19:12:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-02-17T21:01:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-02-16T13:03:00.009-05:00

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!

2009-02-15T15:19:00.003-05:00

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...

2009-02-11T20:07:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-08T20:46:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-02-07T08:02:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-05T18:48:00.005-05:00

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!

2009-02-04T23:09:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-01T15:39:00.002-05:00

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.

Manic Sunday

2009-01-25T13:14:00.003-05:00

Feeling grumpy and sick. Sick of being positive. I don't really like it, you know. I woke up and stretched and something happened to my neck/shoulder and it really hurts. Been in bed all day long. The good thing is I went through all my depressing bills and paperwork yesterday. Two big bags of shredded crap you don't need is something that makes me smile everytime I walk past. My asshole upstairs neighbor is pissing me off with loud music night and day. I don't need to know about "White Lies" and how they go away. Ugh. I'm going back to bed. Oh wait, I can't. The fucking music is too damn loud!

I am a
Lily

What Flower
Are You?

Amish Friendship Bread

2009-01-24T07:38:00.009-05:00

What a scam! I've been doing research on this topic all morning and have found myself laughing in disbelief. To be fair, I am a trained pastry chef. Fermented foods are not magic to me. Starters are not mysterious. Though I don't have an in-depth knowledge of starters, I know where to find reliable information to answer immediate questions I have. (I was never a baker. There is a BIG difference!) So, J gave me a mini-loaf of Amish Friendship bread, a bag of starter and an instruction sheet. The first thing I noticed was that there is a "box of instant vanilla pudding" on the recipe list for the finished bread. What the hell? Since when do the Amish recommend using a box of instant pudding. "Pa, hitch up the buggy. I ran out of instant pudding. Go on out to the fields and see if you can dig up any instant pudding tubers from last year!" I cannot take it. The whole purpose of making something at home is so you can use simpler ingredients. The only time I use FD&C yellow no.5 is when I'm coloring icing. What is the point of adding that to my baked bread. None. Next, the whole "Day 5/Day 10" thing. If a starter has been going for a while, then there is no day 1 or day 10. It's every 5 days or so. Logistically, what's the difference if you bake on day 5 or day 10, besides the fact that you are using up more starter when you bake? It seems silly to me.
Step 1: Find a recipe that doesn't use that vile concoction.
Step 2: Figure out how to keep the starter alive while also not making a gallon at a time.
Step 3: Eat my loaf!

Well, I've found a few pudding-free recipes that I will try, and after researching starters, have decided to feed my starter every 7 days, and bake on Saturdays. I don't believe that the starter needs to be fed in between using it. Once you add new stuff to it, you've just diluted the flavor of lactic and acetic acid created by the lactobacilli who are feeding on the metabolism products of the yeast. Another thing that bugs me is why would I feed it when I'm about to use it? It is, in essence, a flavoring. More than one person has come to the conclusion that the starter in this recipe could be replaced by buttermilk, another acidic liquid. I will try my new strategy, using up all my starter from today, save for 1 cup to give to a co-worker who is interested, and 1 cup to perpetuate in my lab, er, kitchen. Lastly, for those who wonder about the baking soda vs. baking powder thing; the baking soda is effective at leavening acidic mixtures containing such ingredients as buttermilk, molasses, lemon juice, yogurt, and cocoa. Baking powder is used when the base is more neutral, such as a pound cake, yellow cake, banana bread, etc. Keep this in mind when looking over prospective recipes.

Oh my goodness! I'm still going on about this damn bread! I read somewhere that the baking soda would neutralize the acid, thus making it flavorless. I had my doubts, so I tried a simple experiment. I put some vinegar in a cup, and added baking soda, a pinch at a time. After the first pinch, the acid flavor was definitely reduced. After a while, all I could taste was baking soda (salty) flavor, not acid at all. There must be a fine line between optimal leavening power and flavor reduction. I will look into that...

She is finished! A shining, scented, bundt cake of an Amish Friendship Bread. The finished product surpassed my expectations! (To be fair, I haven't tasted it yet.) The cake was level when I took it out. It did not sink, like many have experienced. It smells so #*@&!^% good, I want to stick my nose in it and breathe it in all day long! Can't wait to eat!

National Pie Day

2009-01-23T18:34:00.002-05:00

Happy National Pie Day! It's a little depressing that the s'MACdown kind of sidetracked me and I was not prepared for the email reminder from my calendar that today is Pie Day. In years past, my family has gathered to join in the revelry of pie eating and original pie literature. (No, you cannot eat until you say some words about pie!) It's always been a smashing success, when I can pull it off, but it's a lot of hard work and takes about three days of preparation. Most times, there are about 9 different pies involved, just from my kitchen! The goal is to have appetizer pies, main course pies, and dessert pies. Pies can be made of filo dough, puff pastry, and pie dough. We use the term "pie" loosely, but not so loosely to say that pizza is a pie. It is not. Turnovers can be pies; they are more like the original pies. Also, I try to make an assortment of dessert pies. Fruit pies, cream pies, custard pies, chocolate pies, nut pies; all are represented. This year, Pie Day is a tad overlooked in my house. :( If I don't babysit tonight, I will have a mini pie day. And I might add, DH HATES pie. There are only two pies he will eat, pot pie and shepherd's pie, lite on the veg. What spirit mocks me so to give me a husband who abhors pie and dessert and vegetables? Ahh, such is the mystery of life. We've been working on muffins, though, and he's becoming more flexible about them. It makes me happy.

All Mac'd out

2009-01-22T18:45:00.002-05:00

So, we didn't win, but that's OK! We looked good, ate well, and met new people. What more is there? The place was a bit of mayhem, and I never really go to Brooklyn, but the impression I got was the general attitude is everybody has come from somewhere else in the country and now that they are New Yorkers, they're too cool to talk to people. There was a trend of having a blank, forlorn expression when looking out into the crowd. J and I are SO the opposite. We smile, are friendly and like to talk to everyone. We felt like we stuck out like sore thumbs with our corsets and macaroni earrings! I guess pink mohair and green reptile are not in fashion at this time in that section of Williamsburg. To be fair, there were some people who were friendly and commented on J's fabulous macaroni jewelery, and I do have phobia of not looking cool and being an outsider when I go to new places, so some of it may have been in my head, but no matter. It's just not the type of place I'm used to going. Had there been drag queens...

Anyway, there was a ton of great macaroni to eat and some bland macaroni. To be fair, ours wasn't the best. We did like the one that ultimately won, a concoction called "Sweet Cheezus." Our most fav, though, had Gruyere cheese in it. The two main problems I had with our entry were that the color was not as appetizing as it could have been. Next time, I'm reaching for the annatto. The other thing is we were so unsure of how many people would be there that we overestimated the amount of macaroni to use, and because we are broke, underestimated the amount of cheese sauce we would need. To make it clear, our macaroni and cheese was on the dry side, not hot and gooey and bubbly, like I had envisioned it. Everything else worked, though, and it had a nice bite to it from the mustard and the cayenne pepper. We only went through one tray, so we took the other one home, divied it up and will have it for lunch. This is not the last time the s'MACdown will hear from us!

Competition Time!

2009-01-20T15:00:00.001-05:00

So...I'm very excited! J and I are going to be in a Mac and Cheese cook off on Wednesday called, get this, the s'MACdown! We are competing with Welsh Rarebit Mac and Cheese. (Note: This is a dish I scarcely heard of, never mind cooked in my years on this earth. I hear people eat it in bars, and found it when I was looking up fondue mac and cheese, another variation I'd be happy to chow down on.) I've been debating what shape pasta is best for mac and cheese, but have come up empty handed. I saw some campanula-shaped pasta (bells) that looked good. I am very picky when it comes to pasta shapes. I absolutely do not like shells, despising the way that they cup each other to become thick, toothy pasta blobs. Bowties are ok, but I don't like the way they lay flat on one another. Elbows are good, but i don't like small pasta for mac and cheese. I feel like they should be bigger. I will be looking for larger elbows and frilly bell thingys. Good luck to me. (I really wanted to find rabbit-shaped pasta so I could call it "Welsh Rabbit" and it would be funny, but it's short notice to find rabbit pasta before Valentine's Day, locally.) They will be cooked tomorrow, and kept in the fridge to cut down on prep time on Wednesday. J is coming over so we can prep everything, so Wednesday, all I have to do is throw it all together and put it in the oven. I know there will be dry mustard and sweet Hungarian paprika, and I never put paprika in anything without a generous dash of cayenne pepper, to spice it up a bit. There will be bacon, too. Not fancy bacon, but crispy crunchy well-done bacon. There will also be beer, however, the jury is out on which kind, though Guinness is probably a no go, since it will affect the color of the dish in a not-so-positive way. Lastly is cheese. Oh the cheese. There are a zillion different cheeses I can go with. My criteria is pretty simple. It must be easy to find, affordable and taste good. Having something to do with the motherland would be nice, too.

As for the cheese part, my greatest fear (when making cheese sauce) is that the cheese will break. There is not much that can break my heart deeper than broken cheese. I can fix cake, improvise, improve, adapt. I can make gravy, roast chicken, barbeque a turkey, but to date, have NEVER been able to make a velvety smooth cheese sauce. Once it breaks, there is not much to fix it. I'd rather break a custard than break a cheese sauce! There is much research to do these next two days...

Still Going Strong

2009-01-19T07:26:00.009-05:00

Well, it's day three of my cleaning up weekend, and I'm still going strong. All the dishes are clean, the refrigerator is cleaned up and out, and I made dinner AND dessert. (2nd attempt at pork-fried-rice, better than first, but must use day-old rice. Made Chocolate Bundt Cake with a tad bit of ginger that was barely detectable to DH. I just kept smiling when he asked me what was in it. Oh, and I bought a plastic cake saver container, so I don't have to wrap up my cakes in loads of plastic wrap and have forsaken paper plates, even though my DH isn't aware, yet.) J and I went to BJs and stocked up on essentials. Yes, chocolate chips are essentials in my household, as well as cocoa and 8 pounds of butter. Also, I made two meatloaves and a gallon ziploc of meatballs to freeze as well as a bunch of breakfast sausage patties from the log of Jimmy Dean sausage. I can't wait to eat sausage omelettes! My mom helped me (through a three-hour conversation) to figure out what to do with the stack of papers and junk in my bedroom, I clipped three magazines and organized the clippings (which, to be fair, was easy because I already started a fancy plastic accordion file folder a few months ago), sorted through important papers that I have no idea about, printed out my yearly free credit reports, and am meeting with my stepmom next week to go over my financial mess of a life. Still haven't finished my paper, though. Today is do or die. I will try to do laundry, clean the kitchen and write my paper, so I can finally knit the sleeves on my sweater. Bye for now!

Here is the view from my window. It's snowy out there!

Well, I have citrus chicken in the Romertopf and I can't wait to eat it! I looked into visualization as a method for healing myself and think I should try. After all, when all is said and done it's pretty much free and you do it to yourself. I don't necessarily believe that you can do it wrong; people have been doing it since the dawn of civilization. I don't need technology, ok, maybe a tape recorder, but I don't think I need a CD or pay for someone to prescribe a method to me.

Tonight I worked a little bit on a visualization sequence to record for myself. I'm prescribing twice a day, once upon awakening and once when I lay down for bed. I will also add in 5 minutes of breathing meditation when I get home from work. I believe this will fix me up. I know everyone believes it's in my head, and if I created it, I can destroy it! I based it on the one I found on this website, but modified it to fit me better. I know little about the human body and how it works, so I've decided to invent my own picture of how it works.

Basically, the oxygen will act like scrubbing bubbles in my body and clean out whatever it is that is hurting, like inflammation or arthritis or whatever. Then, when it has come all the way around, it will be expelled along with carbon dioxide through my mouth. It will also help me remember that each day is new, and each night is time for rest, and that the days before do not matter. (Almost like what the Dog Whisperer says!)

So, I'm not the "type" of person who is spiritual or believes in anything except that I will never know what lies ahead until I get there, and when I get there, I won't be me like I am now so me, as in the ME who is writing this, will never know, and I don't care to know because I still have to go to work tomorrow and I still have to eat dinner and feed the cats and pay my bills, but because it doesn't seem like anyone has the resources or inclination to help me who is covered by my health plan, self-guided visualization imagery therapy seems to be what I really think will finally work for me. I just better be careful not to think about babies! (Gasp!)

Let's Get the Ball Rolling!

2009-01-17T09:50:00.002-05:00

It's still before 10, and I've actually accomplished a lot already. I know what you're thinking, that's not like me at all! Seriously. I'm trying very hard to adhere to the Nike slogan in life. It's time for a short break, and I'm happy to report, I'm spending it here, updating. I don't like working. It interferes with my life. In any case, it's been so busy, I haven't had time to do anything, never mind, blog about it. Unless you want to hear about autism. But this isn't an autism blog, it's a knitting blog, and I have called off the entire sweater project until I get my ass is gear with all the responsibilities that have been piling up on the back burner and are ready to boil over. Since this is primarily a knitting blog, we won't go into details; suffice to say that I will know in the coming week if I am going to school this semester. My life has been laissez-faire lately, and the trust that everything will work out without my intervention has bottomed out. I don't expect this pro-active change in outlook to last, but if I can keep it up for another week, I'll be in a good place. I wrote a list, and those of you who know me know I'm infamous for writing lists, but I'm actually crossing things off of it! It's a miracle!

I only have a few minutes until I have to go back to work, however, I think it important to talk about cha-cha. One cannot think about cha-cha and not think abou cocktails. I WILL have a retro cocktail party one day, complete with cheesy cha-cha renditions of old standbys. I LOVE my cha-cha records! It's like I am Holly Golightly, except I am not married to an old guy, and don't have a cat named Cat anymore, and I never was a hillbilly. Oh well. 10 o'clock, baby. Time to get back to work...

That New Old Album Smell

2009-01-10T16:33:00.004-05:00

I just got my cha-cha records that I won on eBay. I love the smell of old records. That musty, thrify-shoppy, smell reminds me of good times. I'll probably listen to them while cleaning up tomorrow. I've been grumpy all week, though I heard on the radio that the first week after the Christmas holiday can be the most stressful of the year. In any case, I survived. Today it snowed, and I deemed it a pajama day. I'm almost done with the body of my sweater; row 70 right now. It probably needs another 3 inches or so. I'm very excited!

I've been so snacky all day. That's what happens on pajama day. I made a coconut custard pie today, and last night, I made hubby marble cake from a (gasp) box mix. I know, I know, but he was going to get an Entenmann's cake, until he saw it was almost 6 bucks! The box mix has the same crap in it, but costs about 2/3 less. I don't mind baking it. We've been doing good team work lately, so I was happy to do it with him. (Also, the pie crust is from a Jiffy mix. I just adore the blue box and the price. AND, it has lard in it. Lard=good, it's only one step away from bacon!)Tomorrow, I might make a peach brown betty. I'm trying to clean out the cabinets and the freezer of all the bizzare items I indulge in through the year. Ghee, tahini, frozen bananas, dried blueberries, candied ginger, granola, banilla yogurt. You get the idea.

Where's that Damn Fat Lady!

2009-01-08T22:07:00.002-05:00

It's still Thursday. Maybe she will sing tomorrow. I'm tired of working. I'm just tired. Been knitting my sweater. It's probably 35% done. I did the yoke and about 1/2 of the body. I'm using Russian joins to join new thread. It's awesome! You just thread a sharp needle, and sew each end of yarn back on itself to create one strand. You can hardly see it! I've been knitting until it's almost done and joining wherever it ends up. (I have a secret fear of running out of yarn for this project. If it has 3/4 length bell sleeves, tears will be shed.) Almost finished with my kitty blankie, but one ear looks smaller than the other, and I'm completely out of yarn. I can't handle it and there's no solution in sight. It's waiting for divine intervention.

My drum carder has arrived. She is beautiful, shiny and ready to roll. I feel like I have post-partum depression, except I haven't given birth. I have a new addition to my tool arsenal, and my expectations of it and myself have exceeded reality. I want to love it and hug it and kiss it and tell everyone about it, but I'm deeply ashamed and embarrassed that I have no idea what to do with it. It's loaded up with mohair that won't come off in a batt and will have to be picked out in tiny pieces. What have I done? I'm going to try to play with it this weekend and see if I can be even mildly successful. It's possible I should have used wool instead of a luxury fiber to start with. Always running before I walk. Ain't that the story of my life?

Sa-Sa-Sadurday

2009-01-03T22:37:00.002-05:00

Been blah today. Blah days usually end up in some cleaning, which is good. I took the sheep off the floor in my bedroom and was surprised there is still a rug there! I can see the light! Mostly obsessively knitting my sweater and doing some plotting and planning with my Rav friends. That's about all. Just posted to keep this updated. Oh, and I dyed some roving. Speaking of which, what color did it turn out? Food coloring is so mysterious!

The Final Days Are Here...

2009-01-02T08:04:00.008-05:00

Here is the before of Lamb's Pride Bulky: Here is the after:
Left to Right: Gray fleece, Merino roving, Mohair fleece
Good Morning! It's a lovely thing to wake up to an exhausted dyebath. Whew! I was wondering how much more fiber I was going to have to put in the damn thing. The Lamb's Pride Bulky dried OK. It's more emerald than turquoise. Maybe it wants to be a hat or a neckwarmer. I don't know-if I don't use it up, it will get destashed. What I learned is that a color that saturated is not worth messing around with. It was hard to destash it, though, because it's wool! The gray fleece dried nicely, save for the fact there so much dirt and VM in it. The picture isn't so good. It's still a winey-burgundy. I think I call it "Bordeaux Stain." It's like someone spilled wine on it. I might have to comb it to get it to submit. Merino roving, STUPENDOUS! I'm loving it! It's almost identical to a favorite mohair roving of mine. The dyes separated and made lilac and blue. Maybe "Arucana," after the "Easter Egg Chicken." I love a nice surprise. Lastly, the mohair fleece took up the leftover blue nicely, though it, also, is very dirty. I will call it "SnowDrift" Here Kitty Kitty Kitty Kitty. Come and play with mommy!

Vacation is winding down. I really do have to finish my paper before Monday. Blech.

Here's my Baby Cables and Big Ones, Too. She's coming along well, though I'm not completely sold on the variegated yarn. I'll have to see what it looks like when finished, in some good light. Worst case scenario, I'll overdye gray. No biggie. It still is yarn from my stash, any way you slice it! I've made a few minor mistakes that I know of so far, but nothing catastrophic. I'm on Round 48 and it's been two days. Of course I've been knitting obsessively, seeing as I only have two more days left until vacation ends. We'll see what happens. I'd like to at least separate the sleeves and work on the body by Monday. Besides, that's when Kitten is supposed to arrive. Wouldn't want her to get lonely the first few days here, now would we?

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T22:56:00.002-05:00

Lazy and ambitious. Can those things go together? Today I stayed home and started on my New Year's Sweater. I'm very excited. It's Baby Cables and Big Ones, too. It's a top down yoked sweater with disappearing cabled. The yoke is in garter stitch and the body is stockingette. It was so awesome to finish the first cable in one day! I have a loooong way to go, but am off to a great start. I also dyed some stuff today. I had some Lamb's Pride Bulky (no wonder I liked it, the mohair was calling to me!) in a tuquoise color. Not my fave. I overdyed in the kettle with royal blue food coloring and yellow food coloring to mix it up a little bit. I can't do the solid color thing anymore! I want to paint the world!!! Well, I wasn't too satisfied with the Lion's Pride, so I was toying with the idea of mixing up some serious blue and trying again, or saddening the color with a little orange. We'll see when it dries. It's very close to the original color to me. I should have saved a piece to compare, but I took a picture. (You know how great my pictures are!) Before I messed with the dyebath, which was not exhausted, I decided to throw some gray fleece in. The color didn't show up, and the yellowed tips turned green. Then I threw caution to the wind and added most of the leftover fuschia Lanaset mix from the other day, hoping to get a burgundy color. Success! I got a purpley-winey color that will ply nicely with the grey/multicolor roving I'm spinning right now! I'd like to make a cabled or fair isle vest with it. Next on my list will be hunter green. Lastly, because the dyebath STILL wasn't exhausted, I grabbed a length of merino roving, twisted it lightly into a "skein" and plopped that in. The color that it started out was a variegated blue/lilac. Very nice. I'm going to let that cool overnight in the dyebath and check it out in the morning. So even though I didn't leave the house, I still got a lot of stuff done!

Tying Up Loose Ends

2008-12-31T23:00:00.000-05:00

Woo Hoo! Mushrooms for Color has arrived!!! The famous first book (famous to mushroom dyers, that is) has come and it's wonderful. The seller even tied a wonderful piece of yarn around the carefully wrapped tissue paper. I'm so exicited!!! I started cleaning the bedroom and craft room today. At the very least, I'd like to wake up in the new year in a clean, fresh bedroom. It was starting to look like one on "Clean House." I'm taking the bed linens to the laundromat when I finish tidying up and hopefully, I will finish the last two inches of the leg so I can start on the heel flap. I believe that the heel flap will give me a burst of vigor until I start getting bored with the foot. Poor DH. He really does put up with a lot of messiness. Today I'd like to return my library books, find that damn Twinkle book, go to Central Park with P and make a nice dinner with Mr. Miukat. Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men...

I'd like to say that I did everything I wanted to today, but it would be a lie. I cleaned the craftroom up a bit, and can see the floor now. That's super exciting! Also, I made beef stew and red velvet cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese icing at DH's request. He's still playing video games, though and hasn't noticed. I also did some laundry and have only 1 inch to go before I work on the heel flap. It's already 11!

Starting Early!

2008-12-30T12:04:00.002-05:00

I'm trying out a new tradition. It's based on a Chinese New Year Tradition. It's Cleaning-The-House-Before-The-New-Year. Last year, I tried to get on the cleaning bandwagon, with limited success. Still have clutter, and stuff to move, but for the most part, we've donated a few truckloads of stuff to Sally's Department Store. I got a cleaning caddy, learned about cleaning and have been moving slowly forward. I'm not there, yet, but it's coming. My real goal is to be a neat and clean person by the time I'm forty. I have a few good years left before that happens. I will cry on my birthday if that day comes and I wake up still a slob. This year, the craft room is my focus. It wants to be a storage space and I want it to be a work room. We're still in the process of compromise. The other thing is that my husband wanted the room to be storage, but I claimed it as my own immediately. Sackgirl-in-progress stabbed him in the leg with a knitting needle, and i think he's had it. This is not fair to him, especially when the spillover creeps into his domain: the entertainment room. I'd like to clean it up and work in there also to show him I respect his space because as of now, I don't.

In other news, I discovered/identified two key things about my personality: I am a flutterer and (damn, I forgot the word. Basically someone who likes to do things in short bursts) I like to wash the dishes and clean the house when I can do it a few minutes at a time. I never do all the dishes at once. I like do a rack, let them dry, then go back. Same with the rest of the chores. Devoting big chunks of time to things I don't really like stresses me out. Vacation has been good, because I have the time to live like this for now. What will I do when work and school start?

R and R

2008-12-29T22:20:00.008-05:00

Well, today was not quite as busy as days past. I contacted the WildMan Steve Brill to see if I could set a date for a dye forage. We are tentatively scheduled for October 5, but nothing is confirmed. In the meantime, I'm learning all I can about natural dyes. I don't want to be a point person for an activity I know nothing about. Maybe I'll go to the park and look for polypores to play with.

Here's what I actually did. I went to see my MIL, took a nap, and went to hang with Spin City. It was really nice to hang out with MagicStix and play show and tell. It seems qiviut is the fiber of the hour. It's super soft and luxurious. None for me until I can whittle down my stash. Next year, I would love a subscription to A Verb for Keeping Keep Warm. The roving there is to die for! I love all the soft colors. I think they are what made me interested in natural dyeing. I don't dabble much in sampling wool, but I heard that this year's Featured Sheep Breed is Leicester Longwool. OMG! Just like at Colonial Williamsburg! I was super excited. It seems that this sheep does not have a good reputation for the spinners in my area. I guess the wool is a bit rough compared to, say quiviut and merino. Oh well. I would love to get my hands on some. Little by little, I will learn.

Lastly, I finally got my hands on the Stitch and Pitch bags. I was like a kid in a candy store. (Saber, stop purring over my shoulder!) In any case, I got some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, an few sample skeins of ArtYarn, some Moda Dea Dream, Red Hear Foxy, Sirdar Snuggly, Austermann Samoa, KnitLites needles, size 9 and 15, and a few patterns. Oh, I almost forgot, some Caron Simply Soft, and some safety orange yarn. Woo hoo. Camo bikini-here I come! It was like Christmas all over!

Mr. Sandman...Bring Me a Dream

2008-12-28T07:49:00.006-05:00

Good Morning! The day is already starting out way better than yesterday. The cats are licking their chops from breakfast and the house is quiet. I spent about a half-hour in bed this morning dreaming happy wakeful new project thoughts. I don't know if this happens to any of you out there in Blogland, but right before I fall asleep and right as I am waking up, the weirdest projects come to me. It's how I conceptualized my niece's birthday cakes, and wedding dress, and I love when it happens. Well, I guess something happened when I was sleeping and the "Tinsel Bikini" somehow ~~weaved~~knit it's way into my subconscience and came out early this morning as "KnitBits-12 months of Knit Bikinis." Oh yeah. I have one for every month, save May, as nothing much really happens in May, and I have flowers on my August bikini. Here's a list:

January-Fancy New Year's Bikini-silver fun fur

February-Valentines Day Bikini-pink, white, and red, with a big red heart on the each triangle cup

March-St.Patrick's Bikini-Green bikini with rainbow i-cord ties and black wide waistband on the hipster with a big gold buckle. Accesories include a pot-o-gold purse, black with crocheted gold coins on top.

April-Easter Bikini-white angora bikini with knit bunny ears and a pompom tail

May-May Flowers-Basketweave crochet bikini with flowers trimming the waist and top

June-Grass Bikini-green fun fur bikini accessorized with red ginham and a picnic theme

July-Fourth of July Bikini-blue triangle top bikini with stars on each triangle cup, red and white striped bottoms

August-Birthday Bikini-yellow bikini with jewel-toned crocheted flowers (like my birthday dress)

September-Back to School Bikini-White halter top bikini with collar and pink tie, gray bottoms with pleated flouce.

October-Hunting Bikini-Camo bikini with saftey orange trim and button down, wide leg-warmers

November-Thanksgiving Bikini-Brown bikini with turkey tail

December-Christmas Bikini-haven't decided yet

So you see, I have issues. Off to clean the kitchen, make red velvet cake and dye my reclaimed mohair.

Here it was before: Here it is after:

I call it Raspberry Truffle. I know it's not very original, but I like it. Off to watch football and get some knitting on the socks-that-will-take-forever (STWTF for short).

I HATE NY!!!

2008-12-27T23:59:00.000-05:00

I went out this morning to get cat food, parked my truck, then noticed a bunch of wires and lightbulbs hanging out of the hole where my tail light should be. Ugh. I can't use my truck until I get a replacement. I spent the better part of the day doing fibery things to get my mind off it. First, I took some roving that's been in my stash for years and started spinning it. Don't know much about wpi, but like most yarn that I make, it will be a 2-ply and is slated to become a cropped vest. So far I've got a bobbin and a half. If I had to guess at wpi, I'd say it's 9-12. It's grayish, with burgundy and dark green streaks, with some flash. It will make a good top to a sexy librarian outfit!

J and I went thrifting, and I bought some sweaters for the frog pond. The first one was a complete bust. It was ladder yarn, and I thought it had sequins stranded with it, but upon frogging, I realized the sequins were sewn in. The yarn was hard to frog, so I gave up. It was a silk/nylon mix and had beautiful drape. Oh well. Lessons learned. AND, it had a crocheted edging on the hem AND was edged with a chain stitch thingy which did NOT want to unravel.

The next sweater was an Italian hand-knit mohair sweater. The sewing yarn was really hard to see. I did waste a bit, but got a big, hunkin' skein in the end. There are a bit short lengths in it. It's not a problem, though. It was so damn annoying to frog that I can't imagine anything I knit from it coming undone. Tomorrow I will try to kettle dye it brown/pink. That failing, I will overdye it burgundy. That's all for now. Hopefully tomorrow will be better day.

Happy Friday!

2008-12-26T14:14:00.004-05:00

It's the friday after Christmas and I'm sick, tired, and broke. I had a wonderful holiday, but the day was long. The hour and a half drive back from upstate on Christmas eve was through a dense, gray fog. We didn't wake up until 12 on Christmas. DH has been sick, and I think he may have spread his disease to me. I vow that the new year will be better. On a lighter note, in order to get my mind off the possibility of vomiting, I have been considering the idea of getting this.

Here is a bad picture of my fiber stash. (I didn't get the camera I wanted for Christmas, but it's ok. I think I may read our camera manual and try to do better.)
Jasper, the 20 pound cat in the corner, will give you an idea of the scale of my stash. I found adult natural mohair, merino fleece, a few pounds of merino roving, a few ounces of dog hair, a few ounces of cat hair, black shetland fleece, free brown mystery fleece, free gray mystery fleece, mohair roving in blues, gray roving, brown/multicolor roving, green merino tussah roving, random odd dyed bits, tussah roving, purple roving with blue angelina, pink and orange dyed merino fleece, and I think that's it. NOW, if anyone believes that I DON'T need a drum carder, SPEAK NOW, or forever hold your ~~fleece~~ peace.

Thank You, Mr. Postman

2008-12-24T08:43:00.002-05:00

So, my husband comes up the stairs and brings me a package and says, "Here. It was outside. Did you order anything?" and I say, "Nothing that I can remember, but it's always possible." So he gives me a media-mail envelope which CLEARLY feels like a book, perhaps from my Amazon wishlist, and sure enough, it's The Age of Homespun. There was no note, no message, and no one told me I was getting anything. Thank you, O mystery book gifter. I look forward to reading it over the holiday.

On the mad present crafting front, my coworkers liked their gnomey ornaments, and yesterday, J and I made decorated molded sugar flower-cubes, and decorated sugar cubes with Christmas-y flowers. We also made bathbombs. I dare say I added a bit too much liquid and the domes now look like silicone breast implants. Oh bother.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

2008-12-21T21:14:00.002-05:00

Today I gave J her neckwarmer. I was so happy to see it go to it's intended. We did a lot of christmas-y stuff today like: make eucalyptus bath melts, green tea cookie bath salts, lavendar bath salts, marbled peppermint bark, chocolate sauce and caramel sauce. Tomorrow, we'll make up a quick batch of half-sphere bath bombs. I think she made pizzelles, too. DH and I saw Broadway's version of "Young Frankenstein." It was cute. I especially liked the parts when they made new songs/scenes. My only complaint is that I don't like when the Broadway actors try to hard to be the movie actors playing the part. I think that actors need to bring their own experience/take on a character, rather than acting like another actor. This was the same complaint I had about Little Shop of Horrors. I wanted to see the Dentist, not an actor acting like Steve Martin acting like the dentist. Still it was fun. Must...finish...knitting...

I Died Dyed Today!

2008-12-20T23:51:00.005-05:00

O! frabjous day, Callooh Callay! I dyed some yarn with food coloring and vinegar. Strike me down for not taking pics. Still having camera issues. I knew I wanted purples. I knew I wanted an adult palette, serious and toned down. I also knew I did NOT want pooling. I used some chunky superwash that I had gotten at Smiley's a few years back in a neutral color. First, it soaked in hot water w/ a little detergent for a few minutes. Then I squeezed it out, salad spun it, and laid it on plastic wrap on the counter. I mixed up some squeeze bottles of warm water, a glug of vinegar and a squirt of food coloring. I used the paste and gel colors that come in squeeze bottles in violet, gel violet, red red, and rose. One violet separated and turned sky blue. The black looked dark blue, one violet actually looked purple and the pink was an afterthought when the red was too red. It behaved more like a paint, somehow. Anyway, I started with the black, zigzagging lines in a somewhat pattern, then added the purple, the blue, and some red. Then, I squeezed out the excess water, flipped the yarn over, finished off the dye and still had some light spots. I squeezed out the excess again and then overdyed in violet, which somehow looked blue. I gave up trying, dismayed, and consigned this batch to a possible overdye after processing. Then I microwaved for ten minutes, cooking for two and cooling for two five times. I will def. steam on the stove next time. This was too labor intensive for me. I'm impatient to let the bath exhaust, and couldn't tell when it was finished, so I gave it a soapy rinse after about 4 minutes. It ran like hell. So I did six more minutes. The dye still ran. Rinsing in the bathtub helped a lot. The colors seemed better. I dried it on the radiator, wound it into balls and started on another neckwarmer. Pictures to follow. Once again, my buttons came in handy and I found the perfect ones.

Fall In Love All Over Again!

2008-12-19T21:18:00.005-05:00

So, I finally got up enough willpower to do it. I literally dusted off my spinning wheel, ditched the pluckfluff-inspired yarn that was too bulky for the orifice and which kept getting stuck in the hooks and spun up some of that yummy merino/silk blend that I got at Rhinebeck. It was really hard to pick a name and colorway for the new yarn, seeing as I've misplaced the vendor information at this moment, but settled on "Wooly Silk" in the "Swamp Flower" colorway. A green name that accurately described the color was very hard to come up with. It wasn't emeraldy, or jade-like, and all I could think of was a swamp with colorful flowers in it. I envy the people who have all kinds of cute, funny and snarky names for their yarn. This yarn satisfied my urge to spin a thick and thin bulky yarn. The "Cashmere Neckwarmer" pattern only used about 75 grams of this gorgeous roving I am so in love with this pattern! A large, iridescent white button from my button thrifting outing and is just perfect to finish her off. It only took a few hours to complete and I feel like I could make one for everyone I know! (Just kidding!) The picture doesn't do it justice and I'm working on getting a new camera for xmas. Maybe I'll build a lightbox over vacation, too. I can't take the crappy pictures anymore!

While spinning on my wheel, I remebered why I bought a wheel to begin with: a.) I like yarn b.) I like making yarn and c.) I hate drop spindles. Ok. I said it. I hate drop spindles. I don't want a Lollipop, or a Golding, or an ebony and tiger-fox-bearwood maple hand-carved spindle. I don't want to spindle in public, or at home, or on a hike in the woods. I love that some people love it. I love the idea of it, but the truth is, I don't like doing it. If I want yarn, I want it now. I haven't spun in at least a year, and within an hour, I had a finished 2-ply. I have a need for speed. I will not be denied. Going back to my wheel was like going home. Ahhh.

Sackgirl's Evil Twin

2008-12-16T18:17:00.002-05:00

Sackgirl is becoming my nemesis. Yes, she is cute and perky, but the worst is that her head is hard for me to shape. It not round, but sort of square, a little bit wider on the bottom and tapering slightly towards the top. She's making me crazy. When I started this project, I was like, "Ok, I'll just improvise!" and I thought it would take me one skein and a few days. Well, a few days has turned into a few weeks and one skein has become two and maybe even three! I am not knitting Sackgirl. I am knitting her evil, teenaged, difficult twin. I don't like her much right now. The knitting is hard on my hands, so I put her down for a while. Since I've picked her up, I more confused than ever. I hope we can salvage our relationship. (Cry, cry.)