Monday, March 31, 2008

Handspun, Homemade, and other stuff.

I finally finished spinning up the 2 ounces of merino I've been working on. Yeah, I know! It took me THAT long to do 2 ounces! But to be fair, I only get a chance to spin when the planets align just right and the moon is in it's proper phase, etc. In other words, only when the munchkin isn't around. And usually when that happens, I have about a million other things that HAVE to be done first. So, anyway, I finished spinning my 2 ounces of merino. The color was "forest multi" and it was quite lovely in the bag, burgundy with flecks of pink and green and all sorts of reddish-brown tones.

It's more muddy spun than I expected it to be, but I still think it's quite pretty, even if it's not so bright.

I plied two singles together to get the final product. Jonas decided he needed to help me with this process, but fortunately, he grew bored with it pretty quickly.

Please ignore the absolute disaster that is my office area. It seems that everything in the house finds a way to land in this little corner at some point or another. I'm really not that slobbish. :)

The result is still drying as we speak. I'm not sure on my exact WPI, but it's quite thin. Somewhere between lace and fingering weight, with the occasional slightly chunkier spot. My only problem with plying them is that I do not have a tensioned Lazy Kate, and my singles, on several occasions, decided to snarl up on each other. Perhaps an indication of overspinning? But my plied yarn was balanced, so I guess all's well that ends well, right?

I know this isn't a good picture, but here's the end result wound onto the niddy noddy.



If I'm doing my math right, by counting the number of wraps on the niddy noddy, I've got right around 125 yards here. Not enough for any big project, but enough to play around with, I suppose. No idea what it'll become. Probably a lacy headband or something. What else do you do with 125 yards? Suggestions?

I guess that as I continued spinning I became much better at keeping my single an even thickness because my second bobbin, despite having the same 1 ounce of fiber spun, ended up having quite a bit leftover after plying. I took that leftover single and practiced Navajo plying. The technique isn't all that hard to understand, but it kicked my butt in a big way. I think with some more practice I could learn to really love it, though.



The rest of my day was pretty busy, too. J and I worked on getting the rest of the vegetable garden planted. I hauled hundreds and hundreds of pounds of dirt, and my back knows it, too. But,with the exception of a couple of pepper plants and a few herbs, the garden is done. Hopefully it will do better than previous years. We intended to get it planted earlier this year, but time has been an issue all around, it seems. Oh well. We still have a few months to get these babies established before the blazing summer heat destroys them completely.

Aside from that, we baked some fresh bread,
and J and dad took a loaf to Abuela while I sat down and did some transcription. I have GOT to finish this before it kills me! I don't know why I'm procrastinating so much.

And one last picture, just because.

In cleaning out their attic, my parents came across a ton of my old stuffed animals and whatnot, and sent them home for me to sort through. Now, it was fun to go through the bags and remember all of them, etc. But honestly! I don't need another 50 pounds of plush in this house! I let J go through them to see if there was anything he wanted before I gave them away, and he promptly picked this!

Wait, it gets better! When you squeeze him, he farts. Of course, Stimpy was in there too, and now also resides in my son's room. Oh well, there are worse things he could fall in love with, right?

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

If I never see an alan key again...

it'll be too soon.

Hubby and I assembled J's new swing set Monday, after mowing the yard, in the blistering heat and humidity. It was miserable! The entire thing is assembled with the use of two alan keys, one on either side of each bolt, and the directions were piss-poor. For example, it would tell you to put these certain pieces together like the picture shows, but none of the parts in the box were labeled in any sort of way. And once you think you've got it together right, the next page will tell you something like "If the larger holes on the pole are facing out, you'll need to disassemble the part and turn it around."

Ummm... couldn't you have just told me on the previous page to make sure the holes were in a particular alignment?

It was a day full of much cursing, but we got it usable together. There is still one part that has not been finished, but the swings are on, the see-saw is on, the slide is on, the glider is on. The other piece will have to wait for another day when we all have a bit more patience.

Other than that, we're just getting ready for J's birthday party. He's decided on a pirate theme, and wants everyone to dress up. Since there's only two, maybe three, kids that will be coming, I can't wait to see how many of the adults comply.

Today I made a practice cake, and I've realized that I better have a standby available. I thought it would be simple to make a boat shaped cake- simply take two round cakes, cut them in half and then take the semi-circular pieces and layer them together. Trim a tiny piece off the rounded part so that it'll stand, then decorate appropriately. Well, even with a couple of drinking straws pushed through the layers for support and copious amounts of frosting between the layers, they tried to separate on me. I'm thinking that refrigerating the cakes before assembling them might do some good. By the actual birthday we'll be so sick of cake! The good news is, I found a great recipe for a basic white or yellow cake that turned out moist and delicious. I hate box cake mix.

Knitting? What's that? I started to cast on for a pair of socks in my standby rib pattern just for something mindless, but the smallest circular I have available that's long enough for magic loop is a size 2, and it was giving me a very loose fabric. I ripped it and gave up. I'm so spoiled to magic loop that I avoid the dpns like the plague now. It's probably the reason my other pair of socks are languishing on the needles, too. Heck, I don't even have second-sock-syndrome. I can't get through the first one! I cast these on back in February! Ok, so fess up. What's the project that you've had on the needles so long it's shameful?

I put myself on the Ravelry waiting list a while back. Why not? All the other cool kids are doing it! According to the stats, I should get my invite in about another 2 weeks. I'm not even sure if I'm knitter enough to really USE ravelry, but I think it's something like knitter porn, and who wants to miss out on that?

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Sunday, July 01, 2007

Kids, little lacey things, and orgasmic oatmeal raisins

So, I've sort of taken on another kid part-time. I'm all for it, but I guess I forgot two things: 1. What having an 18-month-old is like. and 2. That not only do I have an 18-month-old, but also an almost 3-year-old. Wow!

I've only had her one day so far, and honestly, they play together well. They're both really good kids, etc. so I don't think it'll be all that difficult once we all are on the same schedule and are more familiar with each other. Every baby has their own baby language and personality and I'm still learning hers, which means that I'm not always spot on with meeting her needs/demands. Fortunately, she's much more patient than J ever was at that age.




After making a decision to go with the smaller size beads on my mystery stole, I was all set to go when the first clue came out on Friday. Of course, I have to work on Fridays, but told myself that I'd cast on just as soon as I got home. That turned into just as soon as J goes to bed, which then turned into "I'll wake up an hour or so early in the morning to get started." Well, I did manage to wake up early, but no sooner had I cast on and done the first three rows (which is nothing, considering you start by casting on 2 stitches!) than J woke up, too. I simply can't focus on lace with J clamoring for my attention. It's not fair to either of us. And so, I put it away.

Since I couldn't knit I figured that the next best thing to do would be to prepare myself for absolute success once I did get started. So J and I hit the kitchen to whip up food to munch on for the next couple of days. If I take cooking out of the equation for the next several days I'll have all that extra time to sneak in a row or two here and there.

So we made a huge pot of leftover soup. I have fond memories of my grandmother's "Magic Soup", which she swore had magical powers. My brother and I would eat it up, fully believing that it was magical. It's a tradition which is lost on Jonas so far. He has no interest in it, magical or not. He loves soup, but it has to be the creamy kind. Hubby doesn't eat soup either, so I've got this ginormous pot all to myself.

I'll eat it for a few more days, then freeze the rest, I suppose.

Soup made, I decided that hours of sitting on my butt knitting deserved a sweet treat to go along with it. Now, I've always had a weakness for a nice soft, warm, oatmeal raisin cookie. My problem is this: I've never made a recipe that stands up to the demands of my picky palate. Sure, they're just cookies, kind of the red-headed stepchild of the baking world, but I'm quite picky about them. They can't be too soft, or too crispy, or too sweet. You get the idea. I decided I might as well give it another try with a new recipe that seemed to have good reviews. You can find it here, if you wish to give them a try yourself. They really are simple, and they turned out perfect.

The recipe says that it'll yield 36 cookies, but I only got 28. Of course, I didn't measure mine out, so some were bigger than others. If you took the time to measure out each cookie, you probably could get the full 36. Man! What do you do with 3 dozen cookies, anyway?

The verdict?

Oh my freaking god!!! These are absolutely the best cookies to ever come out of my oven! There's nothing pretentious about them... just humble little oatmeal raisin cookies, but they are so absolutely perfect in every way. I wanted to crumble them up and mix them into some ice cream. Or maybe just snarf a plate full along with a tall glass of milk. Oh! The control it took to keep from devouring them all!

I did add a bit of cinnamon to the mix, which improved the recipe, I think. If they have any fault at all, it's that they're maybe a bit too sweet... as in, make your teeth hurt sweet, but I can live with that, I think. :)

In order to maintain some sort of control, I went ahead and boxed up a dozen of them to take to work next week. That means I only have 16 left to worry about. Doesn't sound nearly as dangerous, does it?




This morning I was able to get about an hour in on the mystery stole, along with an oh so healthy breakfast of a cookie and a cup of coffee. Here's the progress so far. Yes, I realize it's not big enough to really see any sort of design at all, but I'm loving it so far. Do you see the beads along the edge? I'm so glad that I went with the smaller ones! They might be a little lost in the pattern, but the bigger ones would surely have overpowered the design.




Later I'll share a few little tips that I've already come up with while working these 30 rows.

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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Randomocity

I feel like a bad blogger. I haven't been keeping up with this blog like I used to, and the stuff that I do blog about is mostly just nonsense and blabber. A lot of the folks that I regularly read haven't been blogging as much lately, either. I'm wondering if maybe the big blog craze is dying out? Either way, I'm not abandoning ship, just struggling to find anything blogworthy to write about.

I've recently joined a round robin poetry group, and I'm enjoying the idea of focusing on writing again after all these years of not writing at all. I've never had a love affair with any of the poems that I've written, but just the process of writing again is enjoyable. And I'm in the company of some phenomenal writers, so it makes me work extra hard not to sound like an idiot.

I've been doing a lot of baking again. There's just something so relaxing about it! I love my KitchenAid mixer. It is, besides the coffee maker, the most used appliance in my kitchen. Jonas loves to help me, too. He's so smart! When I ask him if he wants to help me make dough, he'll say "Sure Mama, I'll get flour, sugar, egg." Cute!

Here's a pic of him helping me roll out some pizza crust.
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And we've also taken a detour into the world of sweets lately. I'm not a big candy and chocolate fiend, but I do enjoy it from time to time. Here's J after helping to make a batch of fudge. Obviously, he has more of an affinity for it than I do.
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In domestic news, we finally gave in last weekend and bought the gazebo that we've been wanting forever. Actually, it's a screened porch that we really want, but that's serious money. This is a compromise that is much more budget friendly. Wil made it home from work early enough last night to give me a hand assembling it. In other words, he watched J and lifted things when I needed him to. I am most certainly the handyman in this family. It was actually incredibly easy to put together. Just 8 screws in the whole thing. How insane is that? Of course, it might not have been the wisest investment right at the start of hurricane season, but if it blows away, it's a heck of a lot cheaper to replace than, oh, say, a roof. :)

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So here it is, in all it's gazeboish glory. Yes, I'm aware that it's not level. Our yard is surprisingly un-level, and so we'll have to work on leveling out a spot this weekend. But it feels good to have it assembled. Today I'm going to work on getting the patio table and chairs cleaned up and dragged around. Maybe I'll get it done in time to enjoy a dinner al fresco tonight. Certainly would be a nice treat.

There's really no news on the knitting front. I'm still stalled in sock land. I'm just not in love with the pattern of these, and they're not the quick and appealing project that socks are supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, I love the result, but any sock that includes a k4tog will probably find it's way to the bottom of my "to knit" pile in the future.

I did do a swatch yesterday for a sweater I think I'm going to try. I'm about 1/2 stitch off on my gauge, but I'm wondering if I should just call that close enough? I'm a terrible swatcher and I admit it. Despite the fact that I KNOW it's saving me a buttload of time and heartache, I just don't have the patience for doing lots and lots of swatching. Bad knitter! No matter, I won't be getting started on the actual project for a while yet. More on that later. For now, I've got a little boy who needs to be convinced that it's potty time.

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Sunday, April 22, 2007

If cats puked yarn

then the results would be the same as the sweater I'm currently knitting.

You could otherwise title this "When will I learn?"

The story goes like this: I was at the store the other day picking up something completely unrelated to my own personal knitting, and this yarn on an endcap really caught my eye. Actually, it caught J's attention first, and he snatched up a ball of it and said "Here Mama, yours yarn." When I went to take it away from him, I couldn't help but love how soft and squishy it was. That, coupled with the fact that it was on sale, and I really like eartyh greens, helped it find a home with me.

Ok, I admit it, it's mostly acryillic, it's chunky, and now that I've been knitting with it, it's also incredibly splitty, but that still hasn't deterred me from trying to coax it into something I might love.

Go ahead, roll your eyes.

So, I started out thinking "vest". Just something simple without much shaping that I can throw over a shirt when it's chilly. Of course, it's never really chilly here, but that didn't stop me either. I cast on, despite all of my better judgement, and despite the splitty quality, I really enjoyed the instant gratification of the big needles and thick yarn.

Let me pause here and say this, though. I've read a lot of people who say "I knit on size 15's with two strands of super-chunk yarn because I have arthritis and the little needles hurt my hands." And to them I say "You're full of crap!" Ok, so maybe it would be hard for you to manipulate size 00's and embroidery floss, but how in the world do you think holding those heavy, huge needles with 10 pounds of weight suspended from them is easier on your hands and wrists? For the first time since I started knitting, I'm working on a project that has left a callus both my thumb and index finger. Probably doesn't help that I use my thumb to push the needle with advancing my stitches, but hey, it's worked all this time.

Ok, back to the story. I've finished the back of the sweater, started the front and I've added a big cable down the center to give it a little more interest. BTW, did I mention that I'm pretty much winging this thing. Call me adventurous, or a moron. Either way, it's turning out ok, and if nothing else, I'm learning from it. I get to about 3/4 of the way done with the front and I ask hubby whether he likes the color or not. He stares at it for a few moments, I guess trying to gather the nicest words he can come up with, and then he sweetly tells me that it reminds him of cat puke.

Thanks honey! Really, is that the best you can do?


But the more I look at it, the more I think he's right. Of course, even that hasn't stopped me from working on the hideous beast, and I'm determined to finish it. I've actually finished the front, done the collar, and cast on for a sleeve now. My biggest problem here is that I've never really constructed a sleeve without a pattern telling me when and where to do my increases, so I've started and frogged a couple of times, looked up some tutorials, and will start again renewed today.

In other news, J's hair isn't growing fast enough for my tastes, but I do have to admit that his new shorter style is starting to grow on me. Not so much that I would consider keeping it this short, but as Gretchen sweetly said- now when you look at him you see his adorable face instead of his hair.


Please ignore the mess in the background- that's the "dryclean only" pile, and it's not sufficiently large enough to warrant a trip to the drycleaners yet. :)

And what else have we been doing? Well, my kid loves to help me in the kitchen, and at least once a week he asks if we can make "dough-dough". Who am I to argue with him when he already knows which ingredients we need and goes to get them before I even say yes?

One of the goodies we were given for Easter was a humongus jar of Nutella. Now, this stuff is like crack! Once you start eating it you'll want to put it on just about everything. J is enamoured, and right now it's being called "Apple pudding" by J because he likes to dip his apples in it, and I guess it does sort of look like chocolate pudding.

A while back I had read on a food blog that I frequent a recipe for nutella self-frosting cupcakes. Sounded like a winner to me. So I did a search, found the recipe, and we set to work. They couldn't be any easier! And they sure did turn out delicious! No wonder I'm having such a hard time keeping the weight off lately. I'm going to have to start making up for my sinful eating with some miles-long stroller pushing walks, I think. Tell me you could resist these.

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