ymr

WTF?

2012-01-12T21:50:00.001-05:00

I spent Saturday afternoon outside finishing this shelf. I took it to the basement to finish drying and it appears it went on an adventure all by itself.

Some people have a lot of nerve to steal other's dumpster dive finds! :-)

Treasures part one

2012-01-12T10:40:00.001-05:00

Found December 20, 2011 on my way to the airport. I guess it must mean something?

Happy new year!

2012-01-01T00:32:00.003-05:00

this is how i ran it the new year.

the flood

2011-09-10T10:46:00.000-05:00

it has been raining steadily from sunday to the present. today may be a bit drier, but i am not holding my breath. my kingdom for an ark!

week 2, day 3
thursday september 1

i ran. i know i did. i remember doing it, but my life has been such a mad rush that i remember almost nothing about the running. i was thinking about lesson plans, and the prospect of chewing out a student really filled my brain. my side stitch nagged me in the very first interval, but it went away quickly and i managed to finish up feeling pretty good.

that's all folks!

week 3, day 1
monday september 5

Happy labor day! i went to the Maryland State Fair on Sunday and then the rains came, so I missed my chance to run. i dodged the rain drops and managed a Monday evening run. this was my first week of 3 minute runs, and i have to say, i did shockingly well.

i was afraid that i would burn out and not make it, but just the opposite happened. by the time i finished, i was feeling good enough to keep running. i think because the runs are longer and there is less switching between walking and running, i was not tiring myself out with the change of form and pace.

i didn't run more, instead i kept my cool down walking pace up for longer. i am now afraid of injury because i had some serious issues last week with my right side hip/butt. i think i had an angry piriformis. it felt very similar in location to a sciatica flare up without the actual nerve pinch. i went swimming on saturday and let it rest on sunday which seems to ave been enough to calm down things again.

week 3, day 2
friday september 9

i have had the longest and most taxing week. just when i needed running to keep from punching anything, it has rained and rained! wednesday and thursday were to wet to be out, and i was super busy friday, but i decided at about 9:30 last night that it had to happen.

earlier in the day, i had lunch with my friend N and she is training for a 10 miler while planning her wedding. part of her training is to run a less-awesome 10 miler before the actual 10 miler she is trying to make a good time for all before entering wedded bliss. (let's not even talk about how she is crafting 100% of her wedding decor and making the food for the party as well) obviously after a delicious vegan lunch with this amazing woman, i had to go running at 10pm on friday.

it was really really good. i ran really well. earlier in the week my friend db was telling me about the awesome times when he is running and it feels like your heart and feet sync up and you could run forever. that didn't exactly happen for me (far too soon for that!) but at the end of my run, i relly wanted to keep going. it was great.

mixed emotions

2011-09-01T00:19:00.000-05:00

Week 1: Day 3

Thursday August 25

Very difficult today.

It seems like when I peel away one layer of distraction, another one then appears! Feeling more secure in my route, the actual running was fine for the most part. I am still working on form, of course. The thing that got me today was the weather.

It was very sunny when I took off, and about halfway in, it started to rain. But it remained sunny. I couldn’t really keep my sunglasses on my face because it was so wet, but if I took them off, I couldn’t see anything. I just tried to stay loose and continuously push up the glasses. It stunk.

To make matters worse I had three near-falling incidents. Some things are very slippery when wet. Namely, manhole covers, yellow “no parking” paint on curbs, and the inset plastic grips that are installed in handicap access ramps at corners. That last one was very surprising for me.

Stitch in my side came around the 6^th interval of running, At least I can say that today, I did not hate running so much.

Week 2, Day 1

Sunday August 28

I have been so lazy. I didn’t do my strength training interval workout on Wednesday because my neck was in knots and Friday I was just too busy. Adding the running to the strength training has been difficult. I was on 3 days per week of strength/cardio and now I am 3 days per week of c25k. 1 day off just doesn’t seem to be cutting it for my body yet.

Must find balance.

The actual running was better and worse today. I took a friend with me, and he was doing the week 1 routine so we walked together at the beginning and end and more or less ran in proximity to one another during the intervals. It was nice to have someone else out there.

I say it was better and worse today because I think my form is improving, but switching up the intervals showed me I was running too fast. I know that is all mental. I walk very fast in every day life. People comment on it without fail. Because I walk so fast, I feel like I should be running a lot faster than I walk, which is not feasible at this point. At least not a lot faster.

The good news is that after the 2^nd interval of running I managed to correct myself and the new pace helped.

Week 2, Day 2

Tuesday August 30

Happy Birthday to me. I didn’t have any birthday cake, but I did do my strength/cardio workout yesterday and my running today. Don’t worry, I had some Utz potato chips, so it is not as if I did not indulge on the big day

I thought I was in for a disaster, but it managed to correct itself. I had the worst stitch in my side (ever!) on the very first running interval. It nagged me in the 2^nd, but somehow it went away and I did the rest of my run with little difficulty. I even enjoyed the weather and being outside despite the running.

For the first time while running, my tighter left hamstring acted up enough for me to notice. It is very obnoxious when I am doing strength/cardio interval work. I must figure out what it will take to get it to loosen up and join the party.

oh, dear.

2011-08-23T10:10:00.000-05:00

things have become mighty dusty around here.

on sunday my aunt and i were talking about how i never blog anymore. it was a great way to let her and other family members know what i am up to, but i have been up to too much to have time to blog about it! maybe i just don't have enough of that look at me! impulse.

the same day we had that talk, i started running for the first time in my life. i hate running. i hate the idea of running. running is something you do when being chased by a lion. or a bear. or a maniac with a chainsaw. (i abhor chainsaws.) given i hate running so much, i think i am going to be prone to whining about it as i try to become good at it, so i think i will whine here.

pre-game
several of my friends are doing or have completed the c25k program, and they have recommended it highly. the idea of building up to actual running appeals to me. so for about a month i have been staying serious about my strength training and shopping.

the shopping was completely justified. i needed the equipment. i hate shorts, so i had to go out and buy some. i also replaced the circa 2004 ipod mini with a new (to me, i bought it refurbished) ipod nano so i could do the c25k podcasts. finally, new shoes. i had already workout shoes, but i only wear them indoors on carpet so my terrible carpet doesn't get any more terrible.

sunday: week 1, day 1
i made it. and it sorta sucked. i decided to run on the residential streets in my neighborhood because there is less traffic. this was great for avoiding cars but a really bad idea for day one of my training. we have hills. lots of hills.

the many hills paired with my overcompensating to ensure i not land on my heel made my calf muscles scream. after a lot of stretching and a hot bath, i lived to tell, but a new route was needed.

happily, i underestimated how much distance i can cover so the path was a little convoluted, but it was a nice boost to my ego after several "oh, $%&*! i am going to face plant down this hill!" episodes. that brings us up to today...

tuesday: week 1, day 2
today i chose to run into DC and through downtown tkpk to get back home. the terrain was much flatter, but there were so many distractions. plus more car encounters. those paired with uncooperative headphone wires and my ID constantly trying to creep up out of my sports bra made today....interesting. i had a really hard time keeping my eyes on target far enough ahead. i think my posture was all over the place.

i worked on my foot strike to reduce the calf soreness, but i am certainly not there yet. my toes became numb halfway through. i also learned i can take a short cut in my route to shorten it (i was done about 1/3-1/4 mile from home) that will avoid downtown tkpk during the morning flock to the metro.

i was much happier with my hamstrings stretches post run. Old Lefty is still being a jerk and won't loosen up as much as Righty. I have my eye on you, buddy.

so, i made it.
and i restarted the blog. all in one day. i will get around to cleaning up the rest of the blog page on the weekend maybe.

lovely

2011-01-31T15:38:00.000-05:00

good news bad news

2011-01-27T08:41:00.000-05:00

Visuals window at school

BAD

I clearly cannot discipline myself to write a blog post daily or even take a photo daily.

GOOD

I still bake my own bread every week.

I have only had maybe 3 diet sodas in the new year.

I am still working out, and I made no health related resolutions! HA!

As a distraction technique, I have posted the photo above. This is the current display window I made with my visuals students. Pretty nifty, huh? There are many other notable events of the last two weeks. Maybe I will download my camera and post a few of them.

Or not?

scratch

2011-01-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

Today I make chickpeas from scratch. Dried beans will, hopefully, become happy usable little fellows for hummus, salad toppers, and to throw into dinner soups and sautees.

Other things I have made from scratch in the last few months...

1. bread! challah, no knead wheat, soda, cardamon, and several quick breads.
2. pizza dough.
3. scones.
4. gnocchi.
5. sweet potato oven fries.
6. divinty fudge.
7. rice milk.
8. greek yogurt.
9. pasta sauce.
10. whole roaster chicken and gravy. this last one is only impressive because i made it for someone else (I don't eat animals) for Thanksgiving. I learned this Turkey day that many people I know just go out and buy their holiday turkey or ham. Too weird to me!

Of course I still make my own jams. yum.

i want one

2011-01-09T22:16:00.000-05:00

I lieu of a photo, we have some video I did not take...

Watch the full episode. See more Antiques Roadshow.

tkpk at night

2011-01-08T20:17:00.000-05:00

excessive gravity

2011-01-07T22:47:00.001-05:00

i tried to lose three things today:

1. these mittens, one of my favourite handknit pair. yes! both of them!

2.one of the new earrings rW gave me for christmas... the same earring lept out of my ear the day he gave it to me!

3. five dollars. cash is squirrelly.

still knitting

2011-01-06T13:55:00.003-05:00

lest this become a place about everything that takes time away from my former savior hobby...

i am still knitting. i still start projects when i don't need to (sweater at right made of wool and stainless steel) and i can't resist a good new knitting book for the holidays.

i have knit less since i took the full time teaching job about 7 months ago. i miss the knitting, but i am also not as stressed out about time and money so the activity is less necessary to keep me from being a basket-case.

knitters joke, but it is true! it is cheaper than therapy.

easter is late this year

2011-01-05T18:37:00.001-05:00

April 24th.
yep, that is the day these eggs are supposed to be consumed. that is 15 weeks from now. I will have completed an entire quarter teaching (which does not even start until next Monday, mind you), gone on break, and come back to a new quarter before this candy is meant to be eaten.

and yet they are in my local CVS right this second having an identity crisis.

what you can't see in this picture is that I am standing in front of a rack of valentine's day candy and behind the shelf of eggs and peeps there is a display of christmas stuff CVS is still trying to clearance out.

people long to be young. not me. if i were a kid today i would be baffled.

nom nom nom

2011-01-04T23:53:00.001-05:00

I don't do specific New year's resolutions. I just try to decide what I want to do more of, less of, and something new I may want to try and leave it at that. Less disappointment that way if I don't manage.

I love to cook, and I decided it is time to expand my repertoire so I can really put processed foods in their place--off my plate. In that spirit, I tried three new recipies today.

Pictured we have, six-seed soda bread, which is my first soda bread. (I started baking breads in the fall.)

I also made smashed peas with ricotta, which is much better than it sounds and not very smashed at all. Also, I picked up some French lentils at the co-op and made a delicious peasant dish, basic french lentils. They are accurately named becaus the preparation is basic, but they taste very very good!

first knit

2011-01-03T20:11:00.001-05:00

twins = knitting x 2

DC was supposed to have all of this snow on the 26th of December that never came. All i got to show for it was some extra time in Ohio and these little hats.

(Only complaining a little, really.)

It appears to be the fate of the wee hats to live a fly-by-the-seat life. I snapped this picture on a metro bicycle rack before shoving them into n envelope bound for Cleveland.

Best thing I saw today that I could not get a picture of?

An ad posted offering "Guitar Hero Lessons". Slips were missing from the phone number tear sheet.

zombie flamingo sighting

2011-01-02T15:39:00.000-05:00

my neighborhood is awesome

I took a walk up to town in our spring-like weather conditions today and came across these fellows. I wish I had been the clever soul who thought this up.

new year's nap

2011-01-01T21:30:00.006-05:00

What else should one do January 1st?

ooh, ooh, meeee!!!

2010-01-28T09:08:00.002-05:00

i recently got dental insurance.

i was reading over the coverage plan and it struck me that dental insurance is cheap, and for the most part it works really well compared to its big sister health insurance.

all preventative care is covered 100%. it is once you start needing stuff fixed that they drop it to 80% and when you start really screwing up* that they only cover 50%.

this whole "pay for preventative care" angle makes a lot more sense to me than the "pay per service" or the "take this prescription and go away, that will be $50 please" models for health "care".

just saying.

*"screwing up" is a relative term. i speak from the experience of having teeth replaced after an accident.

happy birthday, rW.

2010-01-27T12:48:00.001-05:00

rW and I went to the Hirshorn for his birthday yesterday.

I took this picture of us in the Sculpture Garden. This sculpture has two way mirror glass doors that open and you can go inside. At least we think you are allowed to go in--otherwise why would it have a door and not be locked?

The day rounded out with stops at a record shop, vintage clothing boutique, a snack at Teaism, and dinner seated at the bar of our favourite local hole-in-the-wall.

There were also presents and a brownie with a candle in it at the bar. =)

low key yet very fun.

i've been working on laLAaalaaa all the live long day...

2010-01-23T09:33:00.001-05:00

look! I finally finished the February Lady sweater. (February 17 2009-December 22 2009, with many breaks!)

i can't keep a consistent update schedule.

my life seems to have changed a lot since i started a blog. I have always been busy, but the sort of busy I am now just doesn't mesh well with writing about it. the major reason for this, of course, is my change in job.

i rarely design costumes at this point--partially the economy and partially burn out--and i have been teaching more and more. I started with 2 classes. this quarter i teach 3, and next quarter i will teach 4. really, i just don't feel right talking about my teaching job in a public forum. i love teaching my subjects, and most of the time my students are pretty great. i don't need to talk about the exceptions to that rule!

i don't know if this means i will close down shop or not.

(pssst... look Tractor Sweater for Collin. christmas present--i can do intarsia! sorta.)

the blog isn't hurting anything sitting here, and maybe i will come back when i feel like writing more about my knitting. i have been doing more knitting than writing about it, but overall i am making less progress on projects (time!) i also have taken on a host of new or revived hobbies.

i am trying to maintain my sewing and increase my reading, cooking, documentary watching, and picture taking. i have also taken up crossword puzzles (because i am historically bad at them) and invested a new level of interest in fitness activities. you will notice many of my other activities involve being stationary. i do not want to be a round cat lady knitting on her couch when i am in my late thirties.

i don't know if i will try to garden in pots again this year. if i do i think it will only be tomato plants in some 5 gallon buckets. i need to keep it simple.

here is a project i can share! i made an online portfolio.

and if i am being a blog slacker, you can always look at my yarn antics on ravelry.

stranded colorwork oh, my!

a musical interlude

2009-12-16T11:49:00.004-05:00

it's log, it's log!
it's big!
it's heavy!
it's wood!
it's log, it's log!
it's better than bad, it's GOOD!

Thank you Ren and Stimpy.

And thank you to my aunt who wrote to me on day and told be that on an official date she picked out, thus blog became a log.

What can i say? I have been busy.

There is work. There is holiday knitting (29 gifts done, 1 to go). There is charity crafting. (21 preemie hats--go me!) rW and I hosted his mother for Thanksgiving, and hat was also a lot of work.

Since I last wrote I have also designed two shows, visited Ohio, made applesauce and canned it, made tomato sauce and canned it (with the help of rW!), put up a Christmas tree, and blessedly reconnected with my friend penguingirl.

I also made this, which was a lot of fun-but-time-consuming work.

This is the best thing ever...

"oooohhhhh no! i have a pumpkin head! Dad, why are you laughing!?"

enough.

2009-09-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

i have remained silent to almost everyone around me about the health care debate, but i have finally heard idiocy that trumps all other idiocy in my mind. this trumps "death panels" for me (in part because i put enough faith my my fellow Americans that they are smart enough to realize they are being lied to about "death panels") because of the blinders one must be wearing to make such an idiotic statement.

a heard on the radio a woman say she wanted congress to vote down the insurance reform provision that would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing condition. her argument (paraphrased)...

"this is like letting people go without car insurance and then be guaranteed coverage AFTER they have been in an accident."

no it isn't, you moron.
as much as i want no one to experience a health problem, i would find it amusing to see this person have to call on their current coverage for a serious illness and then switch jobs and try to switch insurance with that job. she would probably be denied new coverage (or only offered coverage with exorbitant premiums and/or deductibles) under the current system due to pre-existing condition.

my money is on this person quickly switching her tune if she were diagnosed with cancer or a chronic condition like MS and found herself unable to get new coverage in the event of job switch or being dropped by her current company. go talk to the woman who was dropped from her insurance the same week she was supposed to undergo a double mastectomy because she "failed to report" a pre-existing condition. what was that condition she failed to report? acne. she was being treated by a dermatologist for acne.

i can only assume that the naysayer has never been sick a day of her life and no one in her family or friend group has ever had cancer, arthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or a chronic condition like MS. i wish i had this person's life. (i'm almost 30 years old and still have acne. i hope i don't get breast cancer!)

health insurance is not the same as car insurance. take off the blinders.

okay! done with the anger.
back to the regularly scheduled yarn.

favourite new thing

2009-08-24T11:11:00.000-05:00

i have been striving to match my stash to hat patterns to start my new crop for winter 09-10.

here is the first newcomer of the season!

Green & Twisty
#04 Cabled Beret
designed by Debbie Bliss
published in Debbie Bliss Magazine #01

knit in approx. 3 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Angora (60% angora, 20% wool, 20% nylon color "lime") on size US 5 and US 7 needles.

started: 08.06.09
finished: 08.08.09

i bought this magazine for this pattern, and i bought this yarn to make this hat. that was last fall, and somehow it never exactly made it to the finish line last hat season. i corrected that after i cleaned and sorted my stash bins and realized my oversight!

this may be the perfect finished hat. it combines most of my favorite things... green, cables, bunny fiber, and a beret shape. if it smelled like coffee and made me look thinner, i would never take it off.

like most Debbie Bliss hats, this one is written to be knitted on two straight needles. i dropped 2 stitches from the cast on and knit it in the round because i am lazy and i admire Elizabeth Zimmerman. i also decided to knit the ribbing in 1x1 rather than 2x2 because berets in a 2x2 rib always seem to stretch out too much for my taste. finally, i knit one or two fewer rows of ribbing to ensure that i not run out of yarn.

i had plenty of yarn, and i realize now that there was no need to work fewer rows because when i dropped the 2 extra "sewing-up" stitches, i worked 124 fewer stitches in the body of my hat than the original. it seems silly, but when i thought about that, it sort of blew me away. working the hat in the round saved me having to sew the seam and saved me knitting 124 more stitches. when i see that in writing, it looks like a lot.

now i need to take more pictures of my newest finished projects!

i have readers?

2009-08-23T09:50:00.000-05:00

hi. i know you are still out there. well, at least i do now!

yesterday i saw 3 of my favourite knitters when i dropped into the shop to buy some wool wash. i got the mini-catch-up and they sent me home with wool wash that somehow one of them bought me (i am still trying to determine to which friend i owe a coffee!).

in honor of knitters and knitting friends, this post is all recently completed work. i was on a roll of creating things that have to live in a vacuum until they go to their new owners. after a bit of that, i turned selfish and began to make a few things for me.

first, some crochet!

Autumn Triangle
aka "Floaty Fall Scarf"
designed by Susan Jeffers
published in Crochet Today! Sept/Oct 2009

crocheted in 2 skeins of Koigu PPPM (100% merino wool, color P337) bought at K+S=B, with a size F hook.

started: 08.08.09
finished: 08.10.09

i never buy this magazine. never. i always hate the projects, or i like... one. maybe. this month i bought it for four projects. wow. go Crochet Today! i barely changed the pattern either! i just worked 15 fewer rows to make a smaller scarf with the quantity of yarn i had on hand.

i am on a stash yarn project kick, and i have enough stashed sock yarn to make about 12 pairs of socks. i am not as prolific when it comes to sock knitting as i am when it comes to sock yarn loving. now i am on a mission to find projects in fingering weight yarn to use my sock stash.

this is trickier than it sounds because i like hand painted sock yarns, but i am typically opposed to variegated garments and accessories. this scarf really fit the bill for something that looked good in a variegated yarn, used fingering weight, and is wearable.

i have already worn it! AC in meetings is brutal to me, so this is the perfect. can't wait until fall when i can wear it with my vintage brooch collection.

Licorice Allsorts Cowl
aka "Dragonfly Fire Cowl"
designed by Mia Valcarcel
published at her blog

knit in 2 skeins of Claudia Handpaints Fingering (100% merino wool, color: John B.) on size US 7 needles.

started: 08.11.09
finished: 08.12.09

i have been told that this does not look like red licorice allsorts, and in the picture i would tend to agree. in person that is what the colors remind me of. maybe i am just hungry!

this is incredibly fun. the Claudia's is bouncy and sproingy and doubled up and knit on a larger needle, the yarn is even more yummy. and soft! and it is a cowl! what more can one desire in life?

this was another project for stashed sock yarn. i like the doubling of this yarn because it blends the colors more than the yarn worked single. big bonus in my non-variegated book.

Eyelet Spiral Socks
aka Anastasia Socks
designed by MintyFresh
published at pepperknit.com

knit in 2 skeins of ShibuiKnits Sock (100% merino, color "Orchid")purchased at K+S=B, on size US 0 (zero) addi tubro circular needles.

started: Christmas 2007
finished 08.18.09

this is officially my longest running WIP. i have completed 98 other projects since i started this pair of socks. among those other projects are another pair of socks, two pairs of slippers, and two pairs of bootees. obviously it was not that i opposed knitting for feet. these just got off track.

i put them down (1st sock done, 2nd sock being imagined) when my cousin announced her pregnancy. i then knit a lot of her little boy, christmas gifts, blah blah blah. it gets harder to pick up a 2nd sock when you have had too many reasons to knit gifts instead.

last quarter i knit a different pair of socks on the train to the school. i decided this quarter i had to knit the 2nd of this pair, and my work commute is perfect. because the Red Line has had so many issues and delays, the 2nd sock was my saving grace. it proved a fine companion when i was in a day-long professional development session last week.

now the question becomes, more commuter socks? i am considering these.

coming soon: more sedately colored projects.

crack

2009-08-03T13:08:00.003-05:00

updating. i can do it.
after my garden was attacked by deer, i have had little desire to write about it. i can't write bout most of my knitting because it is stealth, and rW has been busy with a show, so we have not gone out and taken pictures of our shenanigans.

but!
rW did take me to his show and rewarded my willingness to drive to Frederick with a gelati at Rita's, mexican food, and a trip to a yarn shop. we also hit an antique store that had some mid century and bought a magazine rack.

i think Mad Men is making affordable mid century hard to find. the rack was a sweet deal.

however!
we came home to leaking ceiling that just got worse and worse. this was supposed to be repaired while we were on vacation. clearly i am now irritated. i already hated our kitchen. this does nothing to help.

my pots and pans are all out of the cupboard. everything from the counter top is stacked on our dining table. i have piles of smelly damp towels everywhere, and these little insects have invaded us. boo!

failing to have created good news to report, i will share some older pictures. i finally sorted and uploaded the pictures we took on vacation and when we picked blackberries and peaches. rW has a radical hair change from one album to the next!

Vacation July 2009

blackberries and peaches 2009

stuff and how much it costs.

2009-07-22T19:48:00.003-05:00

some things cost way too much for what they are. this is something rW and i talk about a lot, and i feel that a portion of the list must be brought to light.

all of this comes from my needing shampoo and conditioner and deciding to go to the co-op to buy it because 1. i can ride my bike there. and 2. at least if i am going to be riped off, it will be with a good quality product. so.....!

shampoo and conditioner.
total rip off, but they have those of us who choose to keep hair totally under the proverbial thumb for the sake of good hygine and social graces. (by the by, my co-op stuff was the cheapest there and it works better than a comparable price drugstore product thus far.)

dental floss.
again, something we are threatened if we don't use. AND to add insult to injury, the cost of the stuff keeps going up without any noticeable changes in the actual product. the quality and utility has remained flatline whilst the price goes up up up.

breakfast cereal.
what gets me about this is that it is a totally open secret that this is a huge rip off. what is cereal made out of? usually corn or wheat. these are two of the most subsidized crops in the USA. this means that companies making cereal are able to buy the raw ingredients at below the cost to grow them AND charge you near on $5 per box. jerks.

razors.
this one is the opposite of dental floss. razors suffer from too much technology. now unless you want 4 blades, you get a crappy razor. i am convinced that standard 2 blade razors are being made poorer in quality so we all have to upgrade to 3-4 to get the same quality a 2 blade had in say... 1996.

think i am bad? rW has a whole list of "things that should have improved by now".

madness

2009-07-21T22:28:00.000-05:00

(this picture has nothing to do with the post. i just like it. bees are awesome little creatures, and rW caught this one hard at work the day we picked blackberries and peaches.)

i have a pot of vegetable stock cooking on my stove right now, and the aroma is driving me mad. i know it would make a poor soup to just eat the pile of scraps that are currently in the pot, but it smells that good.

sunday at the farmer's market my favourite organic grower had beautiful carrots. they were still wearing their tops. the carrots themselves were no bigger than a finger and a beautiful ruby red color... like beets. when you bit into one, they were an electric orange color. amazing.

notice the past tense. they didn't last. but! the tops are living on in a stock*.

how to veggie stock...

in a 6 quart pot, combine...

tops of roots like carrots or beets, trimmings from your week's veggies (carrot tips, squash ends, tomato tops, scallion or onion greens, etc), any veggies past their prime (i used two orange and yellow peppers and a yellow squash), a whole bulb of garlic, two bay leaves, and a healthy dose of peppercorns.

top with enough water to cover but not overflow when the water boils.

cover and bring to a boil. once boiling, reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for 1 hour. salt if desired.

strain off vegetables and aromatics and allow to cool

freeze in manageable quantities.

*i, personally, would not add tops to a stock unless i knew where they came from. tops are where the pesticides are sprayed on root vegetables, and i would rather not deliberately cook pesticides into my stock . i know, i know... i can be such a hippie, but i hope to be an old hippie one day.

stupid stupid.

2009-07-13T13:06:00.002-05:00

rW and i went blackberry picking on sunday. aside from blackberries, look what i brought home!

baaaaack!

2009-07-10T22:05:00.003-05:00

rW and i came home on monday night, and i have been busy busy ever since. garden is still alive i knit in ohio. i made banana jam, and i have a new project....

an etsy shop!
i am selling vintage, antique, and handmade items. i don't have any up yet, but soon i will list some jams.

i wish i still had use of my desktop computer. it had photoshop and i could make myself a nice banner for my shop. boo.

bzzzz! bzzzZZzzZz!

2009-06-26T09:13:00.000-05:00

i have been busy bee. right now i am in ohio visiting with my cousin and her family. (arrived wednesday night) next stop, my parents' place for a bit. then rW arrives and we spend the 4th of july all together.

this means that excluding the backlog, no new garden news, and there will be none until i return to the east coast. i am knitting on the road, but some of my projects are secret projects! news on the knitting front later.

Day Twenty-Seven
saturday. in which we alternate.

it rains. no wait! the sun shines! i am sure the garden is glad for the latter, but the former is doing it no good. the soil in my containers has not been 100% dry since... oh... maybe Day 3.

to make matter worse, rW and i planned to pick sweet cherries today, and the weather is making that impossible. this is very disappointing because the cherries are only on the tree for a bout week, so you have to get them while they are hot!

aide from the rain, i caged my cucumber plants last night. cukes an get very viney and grow all over the place. i am training mine to grow up! we'll see how the little tendrils of vine do latching on to the cage.

Day Twenty-Eight
sunday. in which we finally have sun.

finally, no rain. just sun, and cage news!

cucumbers grow quickly, and mine have taken to the cages right away. little vine tendrils quickly lashed themselves to the cage structure and curled on tight. i hope the plant take well to this. the lowest layer of leaves has turned to a yellow color, which is a bad sign in my book. same this happened to my melons' leaves, however, and they are hanging in okay.

Day Twenty-Nine
monday. glamour shots

i decided you needed some glamour shots of peppers. i have some forming on the jalapeno, and some impressive ones on the Early Big Bell.

i am excited about the EBB because they are supposed to get HUGE! (8" peppers!) i have high hopes that one of the later rounds of peppers from the plant will be enough to allow me to make red pepper spread. yum yum.

right now the peppers are smallish (2" range) and still green. they are supposed to turn red when they are mature and ready to be picked.

rW speculates that it will be shortly after we return from the trip. i think it will be longer. maybe i am a pessimist, but this whole gardening thing has been a very slow row to hoe.

Day Thirty
tuesday. vines are funny.

the vines n the cucumber plants are scrambling to be the #1 vine on the cage. they are very funny because they lash together in clumps, and some of them are "strangling" the plant as they tie branches of it down to the cage.

they grow so quickly, inches over a span of a few hours--i wish i could watch them and see it happen!

Day Thirty One.
wednesday. RIP.

drat.
i lost a pepper in progress.

i was looking at the jalapeno, and he seemed funny. one of the connector branches was getting a bit yellow. i reached to see the pepper better and it fell off in my hand. and he is still tiny. boo.

he he was in his glory before the drop... (pepper in the background.)

Too beautiful!

2009-06-19T15:23:00.000-05:00

I love heirloom tomatoes because they are goofy looking. check out these pictures here. And here. (two whole pages on that second link!)

All grown at the Love Apple Farm in CA.

also food related yet not at all related to tomatoes... last night I worked a party for one of the theatres i am involved with, and i wanted to share that the food was awesome. I (of course) had none of the meat, but the side veggies were intensely flavourful and delicious and there were cupcakes.

topped with blueberries.

did i mention handmade chocolates? as well as cupcakes?

okay. here are the details.
the food was done by Oliver Friendly (yes! that is his name! and he is!) and his business is called Eat & Smile. he does private parties, meal delivery, weddings, cooking lessons, and so forth! the website is here. totally lived up to the raves the hostess made before he arrived!

neglect

2009-06-19T11:23:00.000-05:00

i am powerfully tired. this last week has been a lot of fun, but it has also worn me out. i have clearly been neglecting the garden updates, and honestly... little knitting has happened.

quick overview!

Days Nineteen and Twenty
thursday and friday.

i was sick both of these days with wht appears to have been a sinus infection. it was painful and draining, but now it is gone. i was the short of functional sick that allows you to get out of bed and go teach a class, but when you come home, you don't really remember teaching the Northern Renaissance or riding the train home.

i think i dragged my miserable body out to the garden both days, but my thoughts didn't go much beyond "ahh. plants".

Day Twenty-One
saturday. pumpkin blossoms!

i am still sick, but this is the only day rW and i can go out to pick tart cherries. next weekend he is going on as an understudy, so cherries must be picked.

we hit the garden first on the way out and i finally caught a a pumpkin blossom while it was fully open! (above) i also took a picture f the little curling vines on my pickling cucumber plants. (below) cute!

here are pictures from the cherry picking trip. rW took most of them because i wasn't feeling so hot by the end of the adventure. i wouldn't let him take pictures of my face because i was scowling about the sun and my congestion all day.

Tart Cherries 2009

Day Twenty-Two
sunday. peppers?

i am having suspicions that some insects managed to pollinate a few of my peppers when it stopped raining for a few days. the little leftover green bits look like they may be growing into vegetables!

Day Twenty-Three
monday. and tomatoes!

i think (and hope i am not getting myself too worked up over nothing) that i may also have a tomato forming on the cherry tomato plant. it seems possible because the few dys it did not rain, there were many insects visiting my garden.

Day Twenty-Four
tuesday. blossom drop.

so, it is true. i have both peppers and tomatos forming in the garden, but the pumpkin plant seems to not get the insect visits it needs to make little pumpkins. the flowers are pretty , but they close up and fall off the day after. boo.

Day Twenty-Five
wednesday. gah! rain!

more thunderstorms, and this time the rain was so hard that it shredded my pumkin blossoms! it was so sad seeing a tattered one try to open up and attract the insects who are all probably bailing water out of their homes.

maybe when i am in ohio, the pumpkin will get pollinated and i can have a surprise when i get back.

Day Twenty-Six
friday. poor peppers.

conditions this seson are not that good for peppers. my green pepper looks like death. the poblano is losing leaves all over the place and won't make more blossoms. my red bells are trying to blossom, but who knows if we will have enough dry days to get them pollinated. my anaheim pepper is in the same boat as the reds.

two have peppers, however! the jalepeno and the Early Bell (supposed to be red, but i fear it is green) have tiny fruit on the plants. the bell lost one pepper over night. i am not surprised. he was not growing at the same pace as the other two.

so right now i have jalepenos, bells, and tomatoes producing. we shall see if the garden kicks some butt while i am in ohio. i really want it to dry out enough that i can apply some fertilizer to a few on the plants. i leave next wednesday and i am not back until after July 4th--that is a long time not to see my plants! rW will have some garden sitting on his plate!

finishing--i can still do it!

2009-06-10T18:27:00.000-05:00

believe it or not, i can still finish my yarn craft projects. it take a lot to get me going, but when i just bite the bullet, accomplishments abound!

these are a pair of bunny slippers that i have wanted to make ever since i bought the pattern in September of 2006. i scoped out the yarn at the shop in March of 2008 when started working there, and i started them in April 2009 because we finally put that yarn on clearance and i had to buy it before it was gone. the crocheting took about 3 days. obviously the sewing up took a bit longer. ahem.

but they are done! next!

i finished this baby blanket yesterday. no baby to give it to right now, but i am sure the perfect one will present itself to the world and demand to be kept warm. this is a small one--about the size of a receiving blanket. i have doubts that i could have made it much bigger because it was worked in mostly fingering weight yarns with a little sport and dk thrown in here or there.

i love all the colors. for some reason i just cannot exactly capture them in a picture. ah, well!

garden...

Day Sixteen
monday. the sun doth shineth.

finally. sun. my plants are happy because their soil is drying out nicely. everyone is looking a little perkier.

today i cut the bottoms off of some 2L bottles i emptied. after removing the labels, i placed them around my two pickiest plants--cantaloupe and honeydew. they were probably not hardened enough when i put them out and the intense force of the rain has been tearing their leaves. my hope is that the bottles will limit insects and keep out "angry rain".

Day Seventeen.
tuesday. i am tired all day.

at 6am a huge crack of thunder simultaneously woke up 90% of the DC metro area's population. we were all grumpy for the rest of this wet wet day.

i checked my plants briefly. if they could have given a planty finger, thy would have. at least i put those bottles over the two melons. they were not damaged by the storm. the 2nd round of pepper blossoms has fallen off, however. peppers are picky, and they are not getting their way.

good news: one pumpkin blossom has pulled ahead in the race and is bigger than all of its siblings.

Day Eighteen
wednesday. mixed bag.

when i trotted out to see the garden this morning, i was greeted but a pumpkin blossom that is getting orange! and bigger! i think it may open this weekend. speaking of blossoms, they are opening on the cherry tomato plant.

also, my Early Girl is rallying for the cause and the new growth has doubled in height since i took the last photo on sunday.

right now as i sit here typing this, thunder is rumbling outside. sigh!!!!

indoor gardening
allsorts.

all of rW's herbs have sprouted. mint is very tiny, but basil is forming a second tier if leaves and cilantro wants to be very tall. i think he is getting a little impatient for finished herb products, however.

i transplanted arugula over the weekend to thin it.... i think i did more harm than good. lots of sprouts around transplant sites are dying off, but the other guys are forming a second set of leaves. time will tell.

a welcome creature!

2009-06-07T22:13:00.000-05:00

i went out to my garden today and made a new friend. well, i wanted to be friends, but he was not as interested.... a box turtle! isn't he cute? (his head is in the upper part of the picture... you can only see the ti of his nose.) i wanted to pet him but i settled for scratching his back with a stick. he was only tolerating this and moved on after i let him be for a while.

still!
a fun backyard discovery!

now! in garden news!

Day Fifteen
sunday. discovery day.

lookie! my Early Girl tomato is regrowing leaves after the deer devastation. lots of little new shoots are growing in the joints of the remaining old leaves. it is very exciting. my hope is once again renewed that this plant will make it.

Mr. Stripey is rolling along with very little change. we'll see if we get some progress this week now that the rain has tapered off and the sun is peaking into the picture.

in fact, today the the soil on the top of my containers is finally drying out. turning the soil with the cultivator was a good move.

finally, we have the cherry tomato that is growing well. in fact, there are future blossoms! (they re the little green things in the middle of the picture.) they are not open yet, but they are forming. i hope they make to the blossom and fruit stage.

yum. yum.

tomato growth and turtle friends, this is the kind of gardening day i like.

planting and wishing

2009-06-06T20:57:00.001-05:00

Day Twelve
Thursday. in which i rampage.

i tore out another marigold, put one to pasture in a separate pot and jumped up and down shaking my fist at the bastard slugs. thatisall.

Day Thirteen
Friday. in which enough was finally enough.

okay. enough is enough. i took away the slugs' preferred candy so they are transferring to my pepper plants. specifically, they are attacking my poblano pepper. it is shedding holey leaves and the first blossom fell off. slugs will not stay off it no matter how much pepper spray i put on it or coffee i pile around the base.

time to buy some big guns.
okay... not inorganic animal dangerous big guns. moderate guns. just slug killer

Day Fourteen
Saturday. in which i recomposed myself.

last night i bought some plants to fill in holes and provide a balm for my bruised ego. some more peppers and some pickling cucumbers. i also acquired iron phosphate pellets to deter the slugs and cages to stake my tomatoes.

finally the rain has stopped and we have sun. to dry out my soil, i tried to break the surface and turn it over to get more air down there... it was so compacted from the rain. i planted my new plants and staked the tomatoes.

rW made his contribution in the form of elevation... specifically he raised the containers up off the ground on pieces of wood and removed the water trays that came with the planter boxes. we hope this will allow the rain to drain away better.

herb update
and other indoor friends.

we now have 4/5 plants showing up to play: basil, oregano, cilantro, and rosemary.... spearmint is still lollygaging.

i transplanted some of the arugula into other containers, trying to thin my big red tray. we shall see how successful i was in that venture. time will tell! ps- i have been knitting and my arugula likes it!

my blender and i are no longer on speaking terms.

2009-06-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

peas are one of rW's favourite vegetables. the local english peas are fresh on the vine right now, so i went out to the orchard where we picked strawberries to pick some peas. (season is short, gotta be fast!)

lately, the weather in the greater DC area has been trying to reenact the great stories of the bible.... or relocate itself to seattle. needless to say i was the only picker out in the PYO pea field in the rain. rain boots and an umbrella helped a lot, and i came away with 5 unshelled quart containers of peas. i shelled those babies as soon as i got home (watch a PBS documentary--it makes shelling fly by) and my 5 quarts yielded 5 and 3/4 cups of peas. what to make!

right away i blanched 2 cups and stashed them in the freezer for real peas post season. then i put a cup away to cook and eat tomorrow. tonight--a fresh pea soup!

after reading a few pea soup recipes online, i decided to wing it with what i have on hand. i wanted this to be simple and let the peas shine.

all was going very well until i moved to the blending phase of operations. my only options in pureeing are a traditional blender or a tiny mini food processor used exclusively for pesto and small batch jam.

blender it is.

little did i know that when one blends a hot soup, the top wants to explode. after sealing the blender and holding the top on, i was sloshed with pea soup. i tried again, holding on very tightly.... same. i managed to force all of my weight on top of the blender lid and i was able to blend the soup. however, i was covered in soup. as was my counter and kitchen floor. and i was burned. but just a little.

the good news is that the 75% of the soup that remained was delicious. here is my recipe...

Fresh Pea Soup
2.5 cups shelled English or garden peas.
1.5 cups (approx) organic vegetable stock
2 big cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup mild onion, diced
2 tablespoons butter

First, shell the peas, and dice the onion--have everything ready for a quick prep.

Saute the onion in the butter until just translucent. Add the crushed garlic and saute until lightly browned. Add stock, scrap down the sides of the sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, add the shelled peas and boil for approximately 10 minutes or until they are tender. You will hear popping as the peas beak their skins and they will start to wrinkle slightly.

Once the peas are tender, remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes to prevent kitchen doom. Reserve a few tablespoons of peas to garnish. Then puree peas with an immersion blender or food processor. Return soup to sauce pan to reheat slightly if desired. Serve immediately. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, fresh ground pepper, or shreds of parmesan cheese.

garden track: the ups and downs

2009-06-03T10:09:00.000-05:00

garden photo is from last wednesday. it gives an idea of my set up--there are been plant developments since this was taken.

Day Six
Friday. slug day.
as i mentioned in the previous garden post, i have planted a garden that slugs are powerfully attracted to. add to that the fact that The Ark should be appearing on my street any moment, and we have a problem.

i removed all of the slugs and now i am entering a research phase. i don't want to kill things other than the slugs, so i must be careful. i keep reading about people killing their plants trying to get the slugs off them. slat is bad for plants. at least in slug lethal quantities, i am learning.

Day Seven
Saturday. pumpkin buds.
rW and i went out bright and early before berry picking to check out the garden. no slugs to be found, but the weather was dry last night (comparatively speaking at lest. hold that order for an ark).

instead we founds lots of pumpkin buds! i should count them. i am a bit afraid our one little plant will make 10 pumpkins and what on earth would i do with that many? rW is concerned that because the little buds have appeared this early, we will have pumpkins in august. i think it will hold out.

Day Eight
Sunday. Coffee and Beer.
slugs are back, and they have eaten the entirety of one of my marigolds.

i am fighting back with coffee grounds on the soil around my edible plants (at first... the marigolds with get coffee as i drink it!) and beer traps.

Day Nine
Monday. Waterlogged.
all i want is one sunny 90 degree day. i need it for the pots to dry out! i went out this morning and discovered tiny mushrooms have sprung up in my tomato pots. i don't think they are bad, per se... but they can't be good.

only one slug in my trap this morning.

Day Ten
Tuesday. Escar-GO!
again, only one slug in my trap. it has not rained since the weekend, which may be the cause of this lack of slug activity. i still baited the beer traps and i continue to spread coffee grounds after every pot i make.

i will drive them away!

i am becoming very worried abut my poblano pepper plant because of the dampness. i think it wants drier soil and short of my going out there with a hairdryer, it isn't happening. the leaves feel flaccid rather than perky and smooth. it even dropped a few. boo.

Day Eleven
Wednesday. good news. bad news.
the rain came back last night and it brought the slugs along for a visit. to add insult to injury, the rain washed away my beer traps, and the slugs ate another marigold.

i asked the two nibbled plants to make a sacrifice for the good of the group--i dug them up and flung them into the woods beside my garden spot. i added more coffee and set more traps.

the only "up" side to this slimy, waterlogged situation is some pepper blossoms. both the jalapeno and the poblano have beautiful little white blossoms that opened this morning!

Herb Update
indoor gardening. allsorts.
rW's herbs are joining the party. he has three seedling of basil and two seedlings of oregano. i'm not sure if i am supposed to tell you this, but he has been naming them.

i am personally overrun with arugula seedlings and i think i must thin them out if i want a decent salad. still deciding what to do and where.

finally, i think i failed to mention the carrots. they were a shot in the dark. i planted a perimeter of carrots around my arugula in the dish and they have now sprouted! i believe the first carrots appeared on saturday morning. more developments as they happen.

fruit favoured weekend

2009-06-01T22:43:00.000-05:00

rW and i had another weekend of activity, and i think, good times. we went out to the Butler's Orchard and picked strawberries on saturday morning.

it was lots of fun. right off 270 is this little nook of farmland with berries and flowers and happy people helping city dwellers pick fresh spring treats.

rW and i picked approximately 6 quarts of berries and i turned them into...

freezer jam (3pts total)
cooked jam (3 pts total)
frozen smoothie berries (1/2 pt)
two meals of dessert (strawberries in Liqueur 43)
a breakfast of delight
Fragolo (pictured)

Fragolo is strawberry liqueur, and rW and i are making some. this is his pet project and the incentive rW has for taking me out to the country, picking berries, and carrying things for me. isn't the color pretty? all natural too.

in addition to the strawberry jams i made, i also cooked up some orange-lemon marmalade, apple jelly, and spiced honey. i have been a canning fiend.

to see pictures of all our fun and games, go here....

Strawberry Picking

garden updates soon! things have been pretty active around here!

marmalade, slugs, and dumplings

2009-05-29T09:46:00.003-05:00

once a show opens and i have enough time to do some things that are fun, i go for it!

last night i made peach dumplings! it sounds like a lot of work, but it really wasn't. first, the recipe was small (yields 4 dumplings) and second, the low fat crust ingredients are easier to work with than regular crust.

granted, there is nothing like an all-butter crust made with traditional flour, but i can handle whole wheat and a few alterations.

the filling was made of brown sugar, butter, raspberry jam, vanilla, and lemon zest placed in the hollow of a pitted peach. yum!

in other "yum" news, i am trying my hand at marmalade. lemon-orange marmalade. this is the first cooked fruit spread i have ever made. i was having a conversation with my mum earlier in the week about cooking spreads and she wished me luck but reminded me that the preparation takes a long time.

she wasn't kidding!
i spent an hour and twenty minutes, peeling oranges, chopping oranges, slicing orange peel, slicing lemons, and banishing seeds! now i am on hold for 12 hours while the simmered mixture sits. (i think this is how the pectin in the fruit pith joins the party.) while i hurry up and wait, i am going to get some different jars. i have pint jars, and i think no one wants to open a whole pint of marmalade. need something smaller!

speaking if things no one wants...
i have stupid garden slugs! gah. i planted marigolds at the ends of my containers because some animals think they are not yummy. well, slugs love marigolds, it seems! they also love all the other leaves on my plants. i have been reading anti-slug pages online, and now i just have to decide which technique i want to employ in conjunction with my deer repelling tricks.

48 hours in the life of a sprout

2009-05-28T21:43:00.004-05:00

Day Six
arrrrugula.

yesterday evening when the arugula sprouted, i had no idea it would continue to grow so quickly! here is a picture of it from this morning around 8am...

lots of sprouts!
and that elevated center portion? that is the spot where the seedlings are forcing the soil up so they can get out. cool, huh?

this was what i came home to this evening around 8:30pm. way beyond what i imagined would be welcoming me!!

yumyumyum.
can't wait to eat these! must be patient!

late breaking news!

2009-05-27T21:07:00.003-05:00

the astute blog reader may remember that on monday i planted arugula seeds in a dish with the intention of attempting to grow some of this delightful green inside my apartment.

the package told me that i would have to wait 7-14 days for the seeds to germinate.

well, my seeds were busy bees while i was out today. look a that!!

this is very exciting. i was prepared to stare at a barren dish of soil for two more weeks. here's hoping they continue to kick some youknowwhat!

still.

i know that tonight i will have dreams about headless tomato plants.

deer, oh, deer!

2009-05-27T10:36:00.000-05:00

Day Five
in which in rains. and rains. and i boo-hoo.

remember that haircut?

apparently i should have saved the abundant clippings because when they are spread about a garden, they repel deer. i never knew that, and boy do i wish i did now.

the deer chomped the top off of one of my tomato plants. Early Girl will be rather delayed if she comes back at all.

my garden is located adjacent a wooded area where rW and i like to watch the deer. well, they came out of hiding, and the empire had to strike back. thank goodness for the internet because there are many recipes for organic deer repellent from which to pick your poison. or rather your stink....

that is the goal. make something stinky the deer won't like. since i threw away all those inches of beautiful red deer hating hair clippings, i improvised a recipe based on what i have on hand based on a few available on the site above.

Deer Repellent
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1/4 cup hot sauce
1 egg
3 cups cold water

process in a blender or food processor. pour into a spray bottle and apply to plant leaves and all over garden containers.

now i need to buy rW a new indoor plant mister because i stole his spray bottle for this adventure. he deserves better mister anyway.

speaking of rw.... he planted his herbs!

cilantro, rosemary, basil, spearmint, and oregano.

in other garden news, the peppers are very happy. all 5 pepper plants have what appears to be the start of little buds. yay! also, my honey dew has finally taken his prozac and lifted himself off the couch to play with the other melons. all of my melon vines seem to be recovering from the pounding the thunderstorm rain gave them. i have some leaf damage here and there but they are shrugging it off fairly well. pumpkin is extremely happy!

and outside the garden...
today i was called to jury duty. actually i was called on may 11th and rescheduled. i am very glad i did because i was #92 and on may 11th they called 240 people. today they called just 70. now they can't bug me for two whole years!

i also knitted for the first time in about three weeks. just a few rounds on a sleeve while i waited for trader joe's to open this morning. i hope i can get back into the swing of the needles!

stormy weather

2009-05-26T09:33:00.000-05:00

rW cut my hair for me on saturday.

yep.
a real honest to goodness haircut. we're talking between 6 and 8 inches depending on the layer your measure.

i tricked him into it.

see, i got him mentally prepared to trim the ends off my hair. i then read up on a layered 'do and walked him through it. about a third of the way through the layering, he had the revelation that he was giving me a real haircut.

turns out he isn't at all bad at cutting hair! and he didn't seem too worried doing the layers. i just kept telling him i could always cut it off short if it turned out poorly. which it did not. i wore the new cut out saturday night to my opening and lots of people commented on it including two of my friends who work with hair and they were pleasantly surprised.

this whole post makes it sound like rW is not good at new things, which is totally untrue. his previous haircutting experience can mostly be summed up in the buzzing of one's hair to less than an inch. round of applause!

now.
the garden.

Day Two
sunday. research day.
in the spirit of leaping before looking, i planted and then did my research. i didn't do too badly in my plant selection, containers, or the actual planting. the only thing i did not realize is how much space tomato plants actually need. i didn't really give them enough--time to replant.

rW and i needed a few things from ikea and they usually have good garden shop items so i looked for pots when we went there and settled on an improvised solution. rW bought for me three FNISS wastepaper baskets and punched drainage holes in the bottom. perfect!

also moved my the gardening spirit, he got for himself several small glazed pots and the seeds to grow herbs on our kitchen window. he has not planted yet, but i will report the progress when he does.

finally, after getting new containers and soil to fill them, i decided to pick up a few more inexpensive experiment plants to fill the spots the missing tomatoes would leave in my planter boxes. i came away with a jalapeño pepper, a honeydew melon, and a cantaloupe.

i know that these vine plants sound crazy, but i hope that because they are restricted to a certain amount f space in the boxes, they won't go crazy and give me 18 watermelons and 22 pumpkins. you know... like these things do when left to their own devices.

Day Three
monday. memorial day.
planting: part 2

rW and i had a day trip planned so i scurried out early to transplant the tomatoes and get the other new friends into the planters. all went well and rW gave everyone an initial watering before we left.

while out all day, it rained. yay! i checked everyone when we got back and the soil was nicely damp. i was thinking i would have to water the tomatoes a second time, but the rain took care of it for me.

the tomatoes seem to have accepted the transplant without complaint and the jalapeño and cantaloupe perked up right away. honeydew was still looking cranky about 12 ours after planting.

of the plants i put to soil on saturday, the poblano pepper and the watermelon are showing the most change. both are perky and the watermelon leaf stems are noticeably longer.

i also sowed some arugula seeds in a dish inside. i read that salad plants are good for indoor gardening and arugula tastes better when grown in cool conditions. we shall see if window light and A/C are the right conditions. another experiment!

Day Four
today. tuesday. rainy day.

after checking on everyone last night, we had a thunderstorm!
it was loud enough that it woke both rW and myself. i was worried about my plants big time. it was really coming down and i was afraid all of my soil would wash away or my planters would be upset by the winds.

none of this came to pass, but i had bad dreams all night about huge weeds attacking my plants and other surreal garden destroying nonsense.

i ran out first thing and check on the planters even though it was still raining. everyone is intact, and the watering bucket i left out yesterday has collected several new inches of water. only two other changes... leaves everywhere!

i had to scoop fallen tree leaves out of the planters and watering bucket, but at least it is not giant psycho weeds. also, my vine plants looked bruised. i am afraid the force of the downpour bruised my melon plants. the pumpkin seems happier (and bigger!) after the rain. i hope the melons don't die. honeydew does not look happy at all.

a new chapter

2009-05-23T17:14:00.002-05:00

i have been hard at work teaching the next generation and opening one hell of a show. Crazyface opens tonight, so i started a new project today.

i have a container garden.

right out back under our bedroom window.
it is an experiment.

i come from a family of gardeners. my parents grow tomatos, peppers and asparagus. my dad's mum had an amazing tomato patch for years. my mom's mum grew everything imaginable. from rhubarb to carrots and broccoli to melons, grandma grew it. when i was little my parents humoured me and let me plant a little hill of corn. that was some of the best corn i ever tasted.

i plan to track my progress here and see what comes of this new adventure.

today i spent $65 and this is what i got....

3 plastic 23 quart containers (long window box style).
2 bags (32 qt each) of Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix
1 bottle Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Plant Food Concentrate
2 yellow marigolds
2 orange marigolds
2 red/orange combination marigolds
2 red bell peppers
1 green bell pepper (for rW!)
1 poblano pepper
1 "early girl" tomato
1 "husky cherry" tomato
1 "mr. stripey" tomato
1 watermelon
1 jack'o'lantern

not bad for $65, right?

on the optimistic side, here is my maximum goal (hoped for yield) for my little container garden....

1 watermelon
1 pumpkin
4 red peppers
1 green pepper
1 poblano pepper
20 cherry tomatoes
5-7 big tomatos

i anticipate there will be losses, however. i expect to lose at minimum one pepper plant and one tomato plant. everyone keep their fingers crossed for Mr. Stripey! he is my heirloom tomato plant and i really want him to make it.

now.
we must have a moment of true confession.
i have done very little research before starting this project. i know. i am terrible. but plan to research as i go along and treat this as an experiment. so here's the report....

Day One
i came home from the store and set up the pots, filled them, and planted my new friends according to the directions on the tags. it was early evening, so i went ahead and mixed up the plant food and watered everyone. and away we go!

piles

2009-05-02T20:37:00.000-05:00

today i found this post i forgot i started on... um... monday... 4/27

i have not been blogging lately because i simply have had no time for it. i am creating neither content or posts to contain it because the new job has been pretty intense. i was hired very shortly before the new quarter began, so i have been developing my classes week to week.

summer quarter will be better because i will have a quarter under my belt, and i have 3 extra weeks to refine the 2nd go round.

i plan to be very non-specific about my new job because i had to sign my name to 8,000 sheets of paper and i am pretty sure one of them frowned upon blogging.

our apartment looks like a war zone. piles and piles of stuff. first, we have piles of grading.

then we have the other major culprit for the lack of knitting.... piles of sewing. for shows. i have a big one coming up, and the only way to tackle it is to buy, borrow, and build.... a lot. the sewing has been simple and enjoyable. i am just not looking forward to all the finishing and hemming.

in addition to the pile of cut out garments on the left, this photo also features the model tote bag i stitched along with my students. it is my new favourite purse.

yesterday was hot and beautiful.

...and that is where it ended. i am relatively certain i was going to tell everyone about the day i had sunday when it was very hot.

rW and i went to Lake Artemesia and walked around the lake for awhile. i think we would have stayed much longer if we had brought some water along. never the less, it was fun and beautiful. we saw a turtle sunning himself on a log. he looked great--what a life! stretched out, eyes closed, leaning into the sun.

ahh!

and
one more picture for you....

i call this a "pattern piece tumbleweed". this final pile is what happens when you leave you pattern pieces poorly weighted on a surface overnight and neglect to close the window.

i am so s--m--r--t.

at last!

2009-03-27T10:57:00.000-05:00

i got the official letter today. now i can shout it out for all to hear!

guess who is returning to the head of the class?

college students.
first quarter college students.
wish me luck on that one!

still life with crochet hook

2009-03-16T11:27:00.004-05:00

i have been crocheting.
i know! she's kicking it old school! it has been very fun, and i think i need to crochet myself some slippers.

several things...

my mum broke her wrist. please send positive thoughts/prayers/whatever in her direction so she can get back to work and back to her own knitting quickly! (hey. at least i put work before knitting there.)

this weekend rW and i started to watch Mad Men on dvd and i am rewatching with him Six Feet Under, which i adore.

clipping coupons has become very addictive, and i have two new favourite related things... Redplum and Restaurant.com. the former is good for coupons as well as free offers, tips, and suggestions. the later is better for folks in a high population density area for best selection.

okay.
i have a confession.
i have been reading.
reading instead of updating. i have kept the crafting, but because i have been reading i have had less blogging time. there. i confessed.

and now i will say there will be few updates again for a bit because i tech a show at the end of the week.

knitting for rW

2009-03-06T11:01:00.007-05:00

rW has it really good. i am relatively clean. i can cook. and bake. and i knit for him. here are the latest goodies....

(note: he would take exception if i did not mention that the mutton chops seen in some of these photos were a temporary involuntary facial hair style. they are no longer with us.)

brownie
aka "men's rustic scarf"
designed by Joelle Hoverson
published in Last Minute Knitted Gifts

knit in Cascade 128 Tweed (7625 "camel", 7617 "grey", 7623 "coffee", 7622 "olive" 90% Peruvian Wool, 10% Donegal) purchased at K+S=B on size US 10.5 needles.

started: January 10, 2009.
finished: January 20, 2009.

i knit a black and grey version of this scarf for rW and gave it to him on our 6 month anniversary. it was the first cold day in DC. he loves that scarf and is trying really hard to wear it to death. so i made him another. this one is in colors to wear with his 1960s vintage camel dress coat and his 1970s brown leather/sheepskin mobster coat.

i like both scarves very much, but i think this one is going t hold up better for the long haul. the alpaca gets stretched out, and the wool is nicely bouncy with plenty of memory.

obnoxious new wave hat
aka "tychus"
designed by Brooke T. Higgins
published at knitty.com

knit in 1 ball Karabella Merino Superwash (winter white, 100% merino wool) and 2.3 balls of ACA Supreme Pure Angora (black, 100% angora) on size US 8 needles.

started: january 23, 2009.
finished: a few hours later.

rW loves to wear a hat. he owns many caps, but he only has a few knit hats, and i think that number has dwindled since he was given his first hand knit hat. i think i am spoiling him in this regard.

after i made my angora toque, rW wanted a black and white angora sweater. i told him how crazy that idea was and he agreed a hat was a better choice. his requirements: must be black and white. must be obnoxious.

i think this fits the bill.

the hat gets fuzzier the more he wears it, and when he is out in public people often have to take a good long look at the hat. mission accomplished.

manly muffler
aka "envy"
designed by John Brinegar
published at yarn ball boogie

knit in 2/3 of a skein of Lamb's Pride Burly Spun (BS-06 "deep charcoal", 100% wool) purchased at A Tangled Skein on size US 11 needles.

started: february 14, 2009.
finished: february 15, 2009.

another scarf.
i was making cowls, and rW really liked them, but i needed a more manly pattern to make him something cowl-like. i think that this works well in the deep grey and the bone buttons.

rW helped me pick the buttons, and i think they are one of my favourite parts of the project. they look rustic and old. this neck warmer looks particularly good with rW's motorcycle jacket.

muffins are tops

2009-03-04T10:23:00.006-05:00

i made whole wheat muffins with raspberry jam centers. fast and delicious!

these are real muffins. not cupcakes masquerading as muffins. dense. very little sugar. satisfying.

and small!
i hate those oily otis spunkmeyer muffins the size of my face. these are two bites each. yum. yum.

let's see... and now something i crocheted. yes! crocheted!

Crochet Circle Mat
aka "quick! it is cold down here!"
designed by kittything

crocheted in 850 yards of various worsted weight cottons held six strands together with a size S crochet hook.

started: january 28, 2009.
finished: 2 hours later.

i made this to go with the bathmat i knit for rW when he moved into his new place. i picked up some more colors in the shower curtain i sewed for him and made this as the mat to step out of the shower onto. the knit guy has been transferred to the space in front of the sink .

this was super fast. literally 2 hours from digging the yarn and hook out of my stash to uploading the photos on ravelry. and it is cozy too! six strands thick and cushy, and it has held up well in the first washing.

more old projects to be reveled over time!

several things

2009-02-26T10:31:00.005-05:00

okay okay.
enough prodding. i've had things to do, folks. they are many. let's review.

1. go see Roundheads and Peakheads. running through March 15th at the Atlas Center, it was produced by Catalyst Theatre Company. buy tickets here.

2. Constellation Theatre Company, a theatre i am proud to be an Associate Artist of is being awarded the James Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company at the 2009 Helen Hayes Awards. okay. so i didn't actually do anything when this announcement came out. jump and down and stuff... but i had to share.

3. deer are awesome and have natural camouflage.

Looking Out My Back Door

4. i have decided i really need to sew through some of my fabric stash--especially the things i have already cut out to make for myself. see my sewing here.

5. i read The Friday Night Knitting Club. not as good as i had hoped. only it sort of was because my expectation was to not really like it as much as "i should". still i read it because customers are always coming into the shop and telling me "oh! you would LOVE it!". yeah. because i knit i will automatically like chick lit about a knitter? um. actually, you don't know very much about what i like beyond knitting, so it is hard to say i will like a certain book. yeah. so it didn't change my life. and the totally unrealistic portrayal of opening and running a yarn shop was a bit trying.

6. i have become a selfish garment knitter. my needles have focused primarily on vests and sweaters for me, and so far i am loving what i have made. all. for. me. muwahahaha.

7. okay. so i may have knit rW another hat and scarf.

8. owls are neat.

9. my mother sent me an awesome red hat for valentine's day.

10. on the homefront, rW and i went out the friday of valentine's and had a yummy dinner. then we saw my show on saturday. i gave him a neat-o tie and he gave me an excellent back massage to combat the serious neck and shoulder tension that my work and hobbies create.

11. rW's record collection (see right) has helped return my love of taking pictures. the geometric shelves make a great backdrop for my fabric creations.

12. i have been trying some new recipes and adapting a few old favourites to be vegetarian. pumpkin bread. i couldn't find my version of my mom's recipe so i may have tried Betty's.

not bad.

13. best text message i have ever received: "Whenever i take Collin's socks off he has lots of fuzz between his toes. I always tell him we re going to send it to Aunt Yvette so you can make a sweater."

14. and a great knitting-related email.... "OMG, another tempting cablelicious project to tempt me! I sometimes wish I were an Indian god with multiple arms."

and that is life for now. i have a lot of knitting i should post. i realize that 2009 has been a very lax year for me actually updating the knitting content. i am still producing, it just isn' t making it to a blog near you.

i will try to be better.

because i never meme

2009-02-02T10:10:00.002-05:00

i saw this one over at wendyknits and it amused me because like wendy, i was given a name that starts with a letter you hate to get stuck with when playing Scrabble.

Use the first letter of your name to find a word for each of the following:

Your Name - Yvette
Four letter word - yoke
Boy name - Yves
Girl name - Yolanda
Occupation - yeoman*
Color - yellow
Beverage - Yoo-hoo
Something found in a bathroom - yarn, knit into two bathmats
A Place - Yugoslavia, the former
Reason for being late - youthful shenanigans
Food - yogurt.
Something you shout - Yippie!

* i love "yeoman" because it ties back to my name. it has a lot of meanings through time, but my favourite is the archers. yeoman archers were english war archers who used longbows made of yew trees. the continent picked up this technology and the name "Yves" means "archer" from the teutonic for "yew". Yvette is the feminine of "Yves". fun. with arrows!

i now understand the 1980s

2009-01-14T13:41:00.003-05:00

whenever i wear hair combs, the first one always goes in very well and looks great the 2nd is an absurd s.o.b. of a hair ornament.

i now see the brilliance of those ladies in the 1980s who wore one in just one side and made it a trend.

i salute you.

a bad sign

2009-01-14T09:34:00.002-05:00

i was thinking to myself yesterday as i washed my hair...

"hm... when did i last shower?"

scrub. scrub.

"sunday. no, no... wait... saturday night. no. saturday. morning. 8am. uuuuuggghhhh...."

it is going to be a long week.

greenie

2009-01-12T09:18:00.004-05:00

this is the wild aran set i knit for Collin for christmas. see, i told you the little cutie was making me a crazy knitting lady. still, this set is really hard to resist.

Irish Leprechaun
design by Dany Ribailler
published in Chic Knits for Stylish Babies

knit in Bollcine Dolly (5 skeins #602 kale green and 5 skeins #603 olive green, 100% superwash merino wool) purchased at K+S=B on size US 3 and 5 needles.

started: june 15, 2008.
finished: december 25, 2008.

this was such a cute little gift, but by did it take a lot of knitting. lets review all the pieces so one can fully appreciate how much knitting was done. i made: a pair of mittens, scarf, hat, sweater, and pants.

yes, i have knit cabled pants.
i have already admitted that i crossed over into a new area of knitting lunacy. what more do you want from me?

i will say that the pants are what really took it out of me. thy were a ton of knitting for their size, and you had to pay plenty of attention to it because while the stitches were not hard, getting the increases and cable turns worked out was tricky if distracted.

i made some modifications to speed up the product because i was up against a deadline of december 28 when i would see my cousin and her family. a few mods...

i joined the pants to knit in the round once i finished the leg increases and crotch shaping. the top was worked this way with a purl stitch to mark the seam at front and back.

i also knit the sweater in the round up to the armholes and then divided to make the fronts and back.

additionally, i knit the backside of the sweater only in double moss stitch rather than in the cable pattern as it was written. i did this for a few reasons... 1. it was faster. 2. babies spend a lot of time laying on their backs hiding their sweaters in car seats and swingy chairs. 3. if i spent a lot of my time reclining, i certainly would not want a lumpy cable pressing into my back.

were i to knit this again (and let's face it, i probably won't) i would make a few other changes to the pieces i knit early on in the process. mittens and hat would have both been knit in the round instead of seamed. i would probably have grafted the top of the hat closed as well, although i think the seam gives it some stability to make the tassels pop out at the sides.

overall, i am really happy with this one. obviously i started it before i got word that Collin was a boy, so i picked green, and i am hoping my cousin will out it on her other kiddos as they come along. who wouldn't love to see the sweater worn with pink or purple corduroy pants by a girl? or how abut those pants with a hot pink hoodie?

my cousin is not a very girlie girl, but her sister-in-law is, so i think my visions of this ensemble being pinked out will eventually come true if a girl comes along.

and now, the gratuitous picture fest... i have not figured out at this point if blogger will let you do a cut in a post, so bear with me.

no one uses dial-up now anyway.

pants! pants! pants!

rustic buttons

sweater. of delight!

i know, these are silly.

tassels!

knitting for me

2009-01-11T22:23:00.004-05:00

i did a boatload of knitting for my family and rW in 2008, so i am being selfish for a little bit and knitting for myself. see, that's the thing... i have all this stash for stuff for me. i have to buy new when i knit for others. time to bust some stash and get some stuff knit up for me to boot!

River Twist Vest
aka Greenday Vest
designed by Mari Muinonen
published at Made By Myself

knit in Mountain Colors River Twist (2 skeins "Firehole River", 100% merino wool) purchased at A Yarn Shop in Marblehead, OH on size US 4 and 6 circular needles.

started: december 29, 2008.
finished: january 3, 2009.

let me say up front that this is a good pattern if you have some knitting experience and can use logic to fill in the blanks. the designer is from Finland and her english is good by not her first language. it is no harder to decipher than an over edited pattern in a knitting magazine.

pardon my colors.
it is very hard to take pictures of yourself. i used to be better at it, or at least i used to be happier with my self-photography.

this was really fast and fun, and it is cozy to wear, but were i to knit this again (and i may) i think i would make it longer and bring the neckline up higher for a more functional vest... probably in a more subdued color. this one is just a lot of fun and acts as much as an accessory as a practical garment.

this yarn is beautiful, and i like it so much in the ball that i plan to keep my last 20ish yards as a treat to pet and look at from time to time.

Rapture Cowl
aka Cassie's Cowl
designed by Thea Colman
published at Baby Cocktails

knit in Reynolds Rapture (1 skein charcoal grey 50% wool, 50% silk) purchased at K+S=B on size US 10 needles.

started: january 9, 2009.
finished: january 10, 2009.

fun and pretty.
i knit this from a skien of yarn left from my first sweater. i liked it then and i like it now.

the ribbed lace is surprisingly warm, and now my neck warming garments have chalked up another among their numbers. i have three favourite scarves, and i think i am wearing them out with my devotion.

i have another vest and a scarf on the needles right now. the vest is a fun knit, and the scarf is another fast one for rW. not that he needs a new scarf this week. he is in tampa for a conference.

jerk.
ha. just kidding.

and one washington moment

2009-01-09T10:33:00.000-05:00

living in the DC area can be tiresome.
here the national news is the local news, and we hear about every little political detail of both parties in all branches. most of the time, i like being overly informed, but i have one complaint.

enough with Tsars!

Intelligence Tsar.
Auto Tsar.
Regulation Tsar.

enough!
enough!
enough!

can't we bring back "Director"? how about "Supervisor"? "Tsar" seems so mustache-twirling, metal-helmet-wearing, spear-carrying... oh, and 19th century.

enough.

my new blackberry

2009-01-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

not that kind. the real kind.

this is homemade blackberry jam made by my FBIL who picked the berries with his BFF. i put it on my oatmeal yesterday for breakfast, and it was amazing!

this was the extra special part of my christmas present from my cousin and her culinary-gifted husband*. i wish i had a picture of the whole gift basket of homemade treats, but the basket had to stay in ohio. i squirreled away the treats in my checked baggage individually, and it has been well worth it!

in addition to the jam, there was a box of chocolate chip cookies, chocolate dipped pretzels, bags of homemade pasta, a jar of sauce, and one of my favourite parts--homemade cheese crackers!!

they were amazing. i could have eaten the whole box in one sitting. now you can make your own cheese crackers and eat them in one sitting too. go see the recipe on FBIL's blog here. i am actually scared to make these because i have visions of none of my handknits fitting after i eat a whole pan of crackers. AND this comes form the gal who hates Nips or Goldfish crackers. that says something for his little cheesy delights.

yuuummmmm.

*it is worth noting once again that the culinary-gifted man my cousin married cans his own blackberry jam. in case you didn't notice the canning part. you know, the thing that prohibits the rest of us lazy you-know-whats from making jam.

my academy award

2009-01-07T10:56:00.002-05:00

i am not an actor, but if we still had radio plays, i may well could be! i am a master actor when it comes to dealing with people on the phone.

today i managed to cancel a Comcast account in less than 10 minutes AND renegotiate the interest rate on my credit card (i got them to knock off 11.25%!)

i am not sure which i am more proud of. the credit card scoundrels were raising my rates for simply existing during the peak of Free Credit Frenzy. and with Comcast (who will claw you back into their clutches any way possible) i just lied to them. or acted. i acted like i was leaving the country for a few years.

the white lie to escape unwanted services was a technique i developed a few years ago when my former roommate KT was unable to discontinue her AOL account (talk about clawing!). after three attempts by KT, one that resulted in tears, i decided to take her account details and pretend to be her.

i am much meaner that KT when i need to be.

aol: this is so-and-so, how can i help you today?
me: i want to cancel my account.
aol: i am sorry to hear that, what can i do to keep you as a customer?
me: nothing.
aol: well, surely, there must--
me: no. nothing. i am entering hospice care and my doctors have told me to settle my final affairs.
aol: (long silence) well, i am sorry to hear that. may i have your account number please?

KT was shocked and maybe a little appalled, but it worked. and on one level it was also sort of fun. i understand AOL reps have a job to do, but i custmers also need a little respect.

goodbye sidebar

2009-01-03T08:43:00.001-05:00

regular readers may note that in my sidebar i give myself a pat on the back and list the projects i complete in the given year. it is that time of year, and the sidebar needs to be reset because soon i will have a completed project in 2009.

so what did i make?

54 total projects.
5 were crochet projects.
49 were knitting projects.

i made..
11 pairs of mittens or gloves.
2 pairs of booties.
13 hats.
7 scarves/cowls.
4 items for the home.
7 adult size sweaters/tanks/shrugs
4 baby sweaters.
1 pair of baby pants.
2 neckties.
2 toys.
and 1 lace christening shawl.

and here they are....

(you can see photos for most of these projects on either flickr or ravelry and in the archives of this blog.)

crochet

the littlest browns hat (original)

piggy (lion brand)

froggy (lion brand)

baby starghan (diva crochets)

jessie's birthday cloths (x4)

knit

baby aran sweater (chic knits)

baby aran pants (chic knits)

baby aran mittens (chic knits)

baby aran scarf (chic knits)

baby aran hat (chic knits)

OSU Slip stitch hat (original)

OSU Center Square hat (knitty)

beer gloves (son of SnB)

floppy toque (vogue)

spiral cowl (knitty gritty thoughts)

expression scarf (yarn over manhattan)

celtic knot christening shawl (improvised)

cabled tam (vogue)

angora booties (LMKG)

aspen beret (pam allen)

puffy vest (knitscene)

unoriginal hat (yarn harlot)

unshaped shrug (just call me ruby)

harvest mittens (vogue knitting)

foliage hat (knitty.com)

super mittens (weekend knitting)

beaded cable mittens (cabin fever)

baby mittens (sassy stitches)

eyelet cowl (sour cherries)

FIN beanie (tikru)

sweet girls hat (original)

cabled shell (lion brand)

silk seed stitch tie (lion brand)

berkshire pullover (weekend knitting)

unisex knock around sweater (weekend knitting)

sock tie (koigu wool designs)

rockabilly bathmat (improvised)

ribbed tank (stacy charles)

oh my! cardigan (plymouth)

gathered pullover (interweave knits)

rainbow hat (last-minute knitted gifts)

sideways scarf (last-minute knitted gifts)

cashmere scarf (last-minute knitted gifts)

cabled mittens II (101 1-skein wonders)

orangini vest (minnowknits)

cabled mittens I (101 1-skein wonders)

felted bowl (plymouth)

classic cashmere bootees (erika knight)

baby squash hat (101 1-skein wonders)

store model toddler pullover (plymouth)

jen's fingerless mitts (weekend knitting)

purl beret (purl bee)

deb's fingerless mitts (weekend knitting)

knit + crochet

luscious collar #2 (interweave)

i FOUND it!

2009-01-02T12:03:00.000-05:00

my purl beret disappeared very shortly after i made it last january. i found it! i found it!

i put it away where it belonged, but it didn't stay there. when i pulled something else out of the hat box, it must have fallen behind. when i moved the entire box that lives up on a high shelf, i found it!

this organizing thing is really working out well for me!

moving forward

2009-01-02T11:07:00.003-05:00

meet Tangerine the Owl. he came to live with me at christmas. cute, huh?

i think the whole month of december is a wash. the holidays are so time consuming and there are such a large number of other activities crammed into that time that the whole month gets swept away. with thanksgiving so close to december 1st tis year, it felt like a steamroller of holiday absurdity.

let's start the new year with my favourite bloggable thing... a list.

Holiday Highlights 2008!

1. successful knitting. i knit a cabled shell for my mother and a pullover for my father. they both fit very well, and each of my parents is very pleased with the result. you can see photos of them in their hand knits in...

2. Christmas photos.

Christmas 2008

3. i have also... practiced my hand at holiday floral arranging and being a good aunt (via hand knits). both of those items can be seen in the album as well. no pictures of Collin from me. i was too busy admiring him. i forgot to use the camera.

4. travel. i have been to ohio twice in the span of a month and to my hometown three times in a month. i hope this keeps me on Santa's "nice" at least through april or may. i get tense when i travel. going back to serious work is sort of a welcome change.

5. organized! in the midst of preparing for the holidays, i have been trying to get organized, clean out my needless stuff (who else owns 12 copies of the International Male catalogue? yes, it is for my job.), and map out my stash so i can knit it down this year. i have a lot of yarn, and some of it is intended for really big projects, so it looks even more ridiculous. must. knit. faster.

6. i also organized my thanksgiving photos. now you can see the trip rW and i took right here...

Thanksgiving 2008

7. happy new year! my new year's eve felt like 1945 (or something similarly quaint). rW and i walked down the street to a house party with friends who live around the corner. i baked an apple and pear pie and took it with us. (A+ pie crust this time!) i had wine and good conversation. it was a lot of fun!

January 2009 is going to be busy. rW and i both open shows. i am shooting a documentary in conjunction with the show i open in february. the inauguration is going to make the city wacky, and there will be a blogiversary this month.

i have a few projects i need to post about, but we are facing a slow down this month in the knitting department. hang in there with me!

sew confused!

2008-12-22T15:08:00.004-05:00

a local film production company has created a Girls of DC Theatre pinup calender as a fundraiser. i am somewhat confused by the product as featured on their website because..

um.
Miss November is not a costume designer. i know her. she is an awesome lady and super foxy, but she is an actor, not a costume designer.

throw us a bone, folks. not all designers are dumpy and hard on the eyes. i can think of a few that are distinctly hot. heck, i even know one petite busty redhead (no relation) who is like... Bettie Page 2.0. let's not even get int the hot asians and a few costume designer milfs.

puh-leeze.

intarsia

2008-12-20T21:48:00.003-05:00

instarsia is also known as "picture knitting". it is most often seen in the wild in the following 4 forms:

1. teacher sweaters.

2. reindeer sweaters.

3. big 1980s flower sweaters.

4. kiddo sweaters.

it is a very challenging means to creating an incredibly tacky end product. unless it is a cute kiddo sweater. i like to think this strawberry, my first foray into this form, falls under heading #4.

being green

2008-12-19T11:33:00.000-05:00

most of my recent knitting is of the stealth variety. i will be able to share it all next week, but for now i need to reach back to provide content.

i have been hanging on to this one for a modeled photo. it is really cute when worn, but i have not been able to take a good picture of myself wearing it. i think it is the sort of odd garment that requires seeing the whole person to not have a "whoa. what the...?"

PUFF-n-STUFF!

Himalayan Vest
designed by Katie Himmelberg.
published in Knitscene, Fall 2008.

knit in approx. 6 skeins of Manos Del Urguay Wool (#68 citric, 100% wool) purcased at K+S=B on size US 11 and US 8 circular needles and stuffed with 100% wool roving purchased at Just for Ewe in Marblehead, OH.

started: november 4, 2008.
finished: november 17, 2008.

i started this while watching the election returns. i needed something pretty straightforward because i was obviously distracted.

you knit this with a double strand of yarn on very large needles. this was a little tough on my hands, so while the knitting itself went quickly, i could not work on it for long periods of time. despite being knit almost entirely in one piece, this has a lot of finishing. there are only two seams (shoulders) but because of the construction method with the "chambers" that need to be stuffed to make a puffy vest. there are just a ton of ends that must be woven way.
i wear it with the front open, and you would not think the vest would be that warm, but when you take it off, you really notice a big difference. i like it because it keeps me warm, but i don't get too hot when i have it on.

i have some more vests in my sights for 2009. i want to get back to some sweater knitting for myself, but i plan to go into it slowly because i don't think i can have more sweater disappointment.

we shall see!

i made polenta

2008-12-17T10:19:00.001-05:00

and you can make it too. go to Eating Cleveland and enjoy some step by step photos!

this was my first try.
it will be better next time because i have learned a few things.

1. i am short. this makes it hard to stir a pot on the stove. i need a shorter pot and a step stool. seriously, this stuff gets difficult to stir at the end.

2. 5 more minutes on the stove would have done a world of good. (see logic for stopping in item #1)

3. rWs oven sucks, and it needs to be dialed up to bajillion if i want to brown anything. i need to get him an oven thermometer before i try this again.

still, it was pretty good, and i plan to fry the leftovers per another EC suggestion. confession: i will make rW do it. i am bad a frying things. the closest i get to frying is sauteed veggies or the sizzle of pancakes. actual oil frying is a no go for me.

the most beautiful thing i have ever made

2008-12-16T20:01:00.000-05:00

i don't even know where to begin on this one. i mean, some projects are just so intense and wonderful that you can't regard them in the same way you do say... a hat. or even a sweater for yourself.

that is more or less how i feel about this one. my Dad tried to ask me how much i would sell Collin's christening shawl for (of course. he sees most things in $.), and he didn't believe me when i said i could never sell this one. and i think that is true. i could be paid thousands of dollars to knit another one, but i could never ave sold the one right off my needles.

it means too much.
it has in it all my hopes for him, and his family. all the happy thoughts i had while making it, and all the frustration too. (all the sweeter for being a little bitter!) i think about the project and i think about all the great things that happened while i was working on it--my cousin's trip out to visit me on the spur of the moment, the oohs and ahhs from other knitters when i pulled out the piece in progress, how thrilled my cousin's husband sounded on the phone when he told me Collin had arrived, the compare and contrast my mum and i had with our various projects for the baby to be, the trip out for the shower.

probably best of all was the reaction from the proud parents when i handed it over. i love when i can make something that makes people happy.

Collin's Christening Shawl
based on the Celtic Knot Stole
designed by Sarah Kendra Hughs
published in I Dream of the Sea

knit in 5 skeins of Rowan 4-ply Soft (#376 "Nippy", 100% merino wool) purchased at K+S=B and knit on size US 4 addi Lace circular needles.

started: april 17, 2008.
finished: november 27, 2008.

if you want the complete glamour shots and work in progress photos, they can be viewed in the picasa album posted below. there are 2 mistakes that are visible in the final project, but they are relatively small. if you want to stay on my good side, you will keep them to yourself.

finally, here is the link to my ravelry page for the project. other ravelry members can read all about the knitting trials there.

Collin's Christening Shawl

"neck" is a funny word

2008-12-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

there are some words that the more you say them, the funnier they sound and the more they seem to lose meaning as a word and just become a sound. rW and i were saying one of these words over and over again yesterday--'pointy'.

'neck' is one of this words.

obviously our shopping trip went poorly yesterday if the thing i am reporting is funny words we said, not gifts bought. gah!

SO!
things that go on necks.....

Serenade Cowl
designed by kittything
offered as a free pattern with yarn purchase at K+S=B.

knit in 2 skeins of Artful Yarns 'Serenade' (#6011 "Against All Odds" 70% pima cotton, 30% angora) on size US 7 needles.

started: october 22, 2008.
finished: october 24, 2008.

i whipped this up for the shop as a store model. we started carrying this odd cotton/angora yarn for scarves and needed something to show it. turns out, it is not that great as a scarf yarn
and it is mostly used as a very basic sweater yarn.

so i made a simple cowl. i like to think it as a scarf one cannot lose. pretty.

after i knit the cowl for the shop, i wanted one for myself.

Spiral Cowl
designed by Keri McKiernan
published at Knitty Gritty Thoughts

knit in 1.5 skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino (#430 "smoke" 50% merino wool, 50% silk) purchased at Now and Then in Takoma Park, Md and knit on size US 5 circular needles.

started: december 1, 2008.
finished: december 5, 2008.

i started and then had to entirely rip out this project on the ride home from thanksgiving. i twisted the join and would have had a yucky mobius.

after i overcame the initial stumbling block, it went fairly well. i knit it at a first read for a play and then on the metro when rW had to borrow my car for a few days. i think it is excellent train (or bus, or tv) knitting.

were i to knit this again, i wold cast on fewer stitches because i think it is a little larger than i would like for keeping warm. i will say it works very well with a brooch or stick pin holding the extra fabric in place. and it looks nice!

the best things: the yarn and the edging. this is the extra yarn i did not use to knit the cabled tam. i loved it for the tam and i still love it for this. also, the edges are very pretty. i used sewn down picot "hemmed" edges. this was my first go at this technique and i think ti is very pretty, but i want more practice.

and finally, a scarf.

Go Diagonal! Scarf
designed by Sophia Kessinger.
published at Yarn-over Manhattan.

knit in 3 skeins of Plymouth Expression (#3326, 55% wool, 45% acrylic) purchased at K+S=B and knit on size US 11 needles.

started: december 2, 2008.
finished: december 6, 2008.

i am not a big fan of scarf knitting, but every so often, i will turn one out. this one is for rW's mother. i decided that she needed something happy and colorful for christmas, and i think this just about fits that bill.

this yarn knits up very fast and reminds me a lot of Berroco Foliage, which has been discontinued.

more holiday gifts revealed after the big day. i can't believe how quickly it is coming!

hop hop hop

2008-12-11T11:35:00.000-05:00

i have a new favourite fiber: angora. it is warm, fuzzy, and comes from the cutest creature possible... a long haired bunny. i have recently knit two projects in this delightful stuff.

Bunny Toes
aka Angora Baby Booties
designed by Joelle Hoverson
published in Last-Minute Knitted Gifts

knit in 1.25 skeins of Spinnerin "Ballerina" (lipstick red, 100% angora) purchased at A Yarn Shop Marblehead, OH on size US 5 DPNs.

started: november 6, 2008.
finished: december 1, 2008.

these are incredibly cute, easy to knit, and take no time at all. i would have finished them the same evening i started them had i not run out of yarn. my gauge was correct, but i still ended up needing a little more yarn to finish

my mum was kind enough to get me a second ball at one of her local yarn shops. unfortunately the dye lots were different and the one cuff is a little off in color. i doubt the future baby who wears these will notice. if they do, then i have decided i don't like that kid or their parents who let their kid criticize a gift.

so there.

Bunny Flop
aka Floppy Toque.
designed by Cathy Carron.
published in Vogue Knitting, Holiday 2008.

knit in 12 skeins of ACA Supreme Pure Angora (ink black, 100% angora) purchased on Ebay and knit on size US 6 DPNs and circs.

started: december 5, 2008.
finished: december 7, 2008.

this hat is super warm. i love how fuzzy and soft it is, and i enjoyed knitting it as well. you work it from the top down and knit with two strands of angora held together. it is very dense and even thicker because the deep ribbing folds back on another layer of hat. delightful!

i really like the look of this hat, and i may make another one, but i would probably switch to brushed alpaca because angora is just a little too rich for my bank account. at least it would be if i tried to use it all the time!

proper topper: hats part II

2008-12-10T03:53:00.000-05:00

the hat chronicles continue. i noticed something as i thought about my hat knitting some more. i tend to make hats in the last quarter of the year and there are very few that fall outside that period. funny, huh.

Unoriginal Hat
designed by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
published in the Yarn Harlot

knit in 1 skein of Malabrigo Chunky ("bobby blue", 100% kettle dyed merino wool) purchased at Now and Then on size US 10 DPNs.

started: november 13, 2008.
finished: november 13, 2008.

i bought this skein to be the pom pom and i-cord on the earflap hat i never knit out of the other skein of darker blue malabrigo. i had this pattern kicking around my queue for awhile and i thought it would be a good back-up gift to have on hand in case i can't find something better for the person i have in mind.

it is a fun and simple pattern. cables rock.

Gold Star Beret
aka "Aspen Beret".
designed by Pam Allen.
published in CEY #9092 Autumn, Book One.

knit in one skein of Lion Brand Woolease Thick & Quick (#189 "Butterscotch" 80% acrylic, 20% wool) on size 13 DPNs.

started: november 18, 2008.
finished: november 19, 2008.

the star stitch was very fun!
i started this when i was in dress rehearsals for Lord of the Flies. there was enough light spill from the stage that i could see the star stitches, but the pattern was easy enough that i didn't have to pay much attention.

the student actors thought i was a super star because they saw me knitting the hat on tuesday night and i wore it on wednesday.

were i to knit this again i would have gone down a needle size for the ribbing because it loosened up with wear and i have had to thread a drawstring through the ribbing and tie it in a bow at the back to keep the hat on my head. eek!

#09 Cabled Tam
designed by Jennifer Hagan.
published in Vogue Knitting, Holiday 2008.

knit in 1.25 skein of Malabrigo Silky Merino (#430 "smoke" 50% silk, 50% merino wool) purchased at Now and Then and knit on size US 5 DPNs and size US 4 & 5 circs.

started: november 14, 2008.
finished: december 4, 2008.

this project started with the yarn. i had. to. have. the smoke silky merino, and i bought enough for the bobbed tam also published in this issue of Vogue Knitting. then i decided the color was not good for the bobbles and switched to the cabled tam. the pattern calls for more yarn so i bought a third skein.

it turned out that i barely needed the second!

this hat is really beautiful, and the pattern is very good, although there is a small mistake in the last couple of rows of the chart. as enjoyable as it was to knit the tam, i will say it had a few tedious moments. most of those were centered around the rows in which every single stitch is cabled and you are working over 240 stitches in the round. those rows were blessedly few, which means on the balance, this was extremely enjoyable and gratifying to knit.

i call the project done, but i am pretty sure i am going to tear back the bind-off and ribbing and reknit it on size US 3 needles and for a few more rows to make a snugger band. this hat has a problem similar to the Aspen Beret.

one more hat to go!

put a lid on it: hats, part I

2008-12-09T11:27:00.000-05:00

while i have been primarily devoting myself to complex gift projects that are running on deadlines, i have managed to squeeze in some other projects. almost all of these have been hats because they are very fast to make, and some of these have been skill builders to boot.

hats! hats! hats!

Foliage
design by Emilee Mooney
published at knitty.com

knit in 1 skein of Malabrigo Chunky (#98 "tuareg", 100% kettle dyed merino wool) purchased at Now and Then on size US 10 DPNs.

started: october 31, 2008.
finished: october 31, 2008.

i originally bought this yarn to knit an ear flap hat with a pom pom top and ties. as i started the hat, i discovered it looked awful in this yarn because it is too springy (texture, not season). i bought all of this color at the shop, so i couldn't get more to make something bigger than a hat, so i was on a search. i don't knit a lot of lace, so i decided to try this hat and see how lace in a chunky yarn looks. i like it. this is going to be a holiday gift to match the blue mittens i posted about a few weeks ago.

the construction was really cool for Foliage. you knit the hat from the top down increasing in the leaf lace repeat. fun.

FIN beanie
designed by Mari Muinonen
published in Made by Myself

knit in 1 ball of Jo Sharp Silkroad DK tweed (#409 "night" 85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere) purchased at K+S=B on size US 5 DPNs.

started: october 21, 2008
finished: october 22, 2008.

i love this yarn, and i am a big fan of this hat because it has an awesome star decrease pattern on top. pretty straightforward hat that really shows off the tweed yarn.

yum!

Sweet Girl
design by kittything
available free with yarn purchase at K+S=B

knit in 1 skein of Schoeller + Stahl "Sweet Girls" (100% acrylic with silly ruffles!) on size US 10.5 needles.

started: october 4, 2008.
finished: october 21, 2008.

this is a store model to show this funny yarn we are carrying this fall. i am not into novelty yarns, so this is not my thing, but the hat design itself is cute. the top has an eyelet row and ribbon drawstring to close it up so a little girl can wear her ponytail through the top of the hat.

i know, adorable. speaking of adorable...

The Littlest Brown
designed by kittything
unpublished improvisation

crocheted in scraps of Frog Tree Merino (100% merino wool) with a size I hook.

started: november 6, 2008.
finished: november 6, 2008.

this is a hat for Collin to match the browns hat i gave his father last year for christmas. i made it from the scraps of the bigger hat. you can see father and son sporting their tasteful sports themed hats together on Collin's blog. this kid is amazing. he is cute, quiet, and already a prolific blogger!

goodbye fall, hello 300!

2008-12-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

guess what folks? this blog has officially reached 300 posts! thanks for hanging in there with me through work, play, knitting floods, and work related droughts. onward, 300 ho!

this week it has officially become cold in the greater DC metro area. it has been hanging out in the 30s more than the 50s (surprisingly low for this month) it was fitting to take down the fall bittersweet wreath and haul out the christmas tree.

i'm glad i knit.

speaking of knitting, i have been doing more of that then blogging. the most notable accomplishment on the knitting front is the completion of Collin's christening shawl. it rocks. it is done. the knit-on edging made me near suicidal.

(not really. sort of knitterly suicidal. not the real kind.)

i still owe a post on all the hats i have been turning out, and i plan to do one of all the glamour shots of the shawl. i hope to get together a photo album of the trip rW and i took to ohio for thanksgiving.

promises, promises!

yeeeesssss

2008-11-24T23:23:00.000-05:00

this photo represents my current state of mind.

i am full steam ahead on a single minded mission to knit the edginging on to Collin's christening shawl. i am now 75% finished with said edging (i week ago i was 20% finished), and i feel this haze setting into my line of vision. everything that is not cream lace edging receds in importance.

who knew knitting come be so important and consuming. i have high hopes for this project. time will tell.

and shortly, i hope!

in other news, rW brought me orange roses. this is one of my favourite colors for roses. beautiful.

did anyone else notice how my blog's coolness just went down 17% as soon as i introduced lace and roses into it tonight? yeah.

eww.

2008-11-14T11:48:00.003-05:00

hi! i am a totally humiliated Interweave Knits model!

the preview for the winter issue of Interweave Knits is out, and i am unimpressed.

1. most of these sweaters make the skinny mini models look fat. not fat, i guess.... the sweaters are not adding fat rolls but it does make them look thick and/or chunky. that is an adjective i want to apply to peanut butter or soup, not sweaters.

2. if the sweaters are not fat-looking, the photos are! ew. ew. ew. who publishes in a magazine a picture cropped in the least flattering way possible? that makes me want to knit Fatty McGee sweaters. yeah.

3. colorwork accessories. ugly ones at that! gross. okay. the poinsetta mittens are cute, but they re a little cheesy.

4. and to be fair, the one man sweater in the issue is very nice. too bad i am not a man.

the first

2008-11-11T09:48:00.002-05:00

for the first time ever, i have run out of yarn on a project. moreover, i have run out of yarn on a project on which i should have had enough because...

1. i have the amount the pattern calls for.
2. i am getting gauge.
3. um. this never happens to me.

this almost happened with the sweater i made my father. according to the book, i needed 7 skeins, i bought 9. i used all but 4 yards of the last skein. nice.

but at least i had what i needed that time, and more importantly i could get more because i bought the yarn where i work. is that the case this time? no way. this is bright red vintage angora i bought in ohio at the yarn shop my mum and i only go to because well... it is there. and there may be something interesting.

like angora.
the kind i only need 4 more yards of to finish a project. gah.

good news: my mum found it, and when i go visit for turkey day, i will be able to finish my project.

lest you feel abandoned.

2008-11-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

i have abandoned no one!
i have just been busy with a new show, meetings for winter projects, and the store. , yes... and the election! it was, dare i say, fun. i was reading a lot of commentary and listening to bipartisan speculation about the forthcoming administration. it has been pretty interesting, not to mention historic.

i have also been knitting some gifts and finishing up projects that were languishing at 50%. i have a current favorite... mittens!

here are four projects for your enjoyment.

Yellow Harvest Mittens
designed by Mari Muinonen
published in Vogue Knitting, Fall 2008

knit in 1 skein Manos del Urguay 100% Wool (color X "topaz") purchased at K+S=B, on size US 6 and 7 DPNS.

started: september 11, 2008.
finished: november 3, 2008.

these were a lot of fun, and they look great. i blocked them after this picture was taken, and they are awesome.

charts were good. bobbles are fun to knit (who knew!) and i have only one complaint. the pattern tells you to work the decrease area in stockinette but if you want continuity on the mitten, you need to be using reverse stockinette. i followed the directions exactly and realized when i was done and had blocked them that i should have been a rebel and changed the pattern.

live and learn, but i still love them. this is a project for me obviously.

Super Mittens
designed by Margrit Lohrer
published in Weekend Kitting

knit in 1 skein Malabrigo Chunky (color 98 "Tuareg", 100% merino wool) purchased at Now and Then, on size US 10 DPNS.

started: october 29, 2008.
finished: october 30, 2008.

these are a gift. i want to keep them. not really. i don't wear much blue, but they are super squishy and soft and this yarn was a delight to knit. this project continues to reinforce my love for the book Weekend Knitting

i was given the book last year for christmas, and i have made 6 projects from it so far. two of those were sweaters. not bad considering how ADD i get about patterns.

i made a hat to go with the mittens. i will share it later in the week.

Baby Mittens
designed by Kaitlyn Wong
published at Sassy Stitches

knit in half a skein of Artful Yarns Serenade (color 6211 "Against All Odds" 70% pima cotton, 30% angora) purchased at K+S=B on size US 5 DPNs.

started: october 24, 2008.
finished october 26, 2008.

i knit these for Collin. i started them when my cousin told me she was headed to the hospital because i needed something else to focus on... a movie was not cutting it. i finished them the day after he was born and they went off in a little birthday gift package with a hat. more on that later.

i modified the pattern to use heavier yarn. the designer calls for fingering weight doubled. i used a "worsted" that i consider especially light.

"Beaded" Cable Mittens
designed by Shirl the Purl
published by Cabin Fever

knit in 2 skeins of Berroco Pure Merino ("kale" 100% superwash merino wool) purchased at K+S=B on size US 4 & 5 DPNS.

started: october 2, 2008.
finished: october 28, 2008.

these are a store model that is part of out holiday 2008 gifts display at the shop. they were fun to knit, and i love the color, but i think the mittens would have looked nicer in a wool that was a bit sticky and didn't have as much smoosh or softness.

i know, sacrilege to exchange looks for softness, but that is how i feel about it.

obviously the pattern is written to be beaded, but i decided to forgo beads because that is a technique many knitters have an artificial fear of trying.... and as a store model, it needs to appeal to the masses.

i also think these could be good for a man in a masculine color, and then the beads are going to be a no-go for most occasions.

looks out for more knitting updates later in the week.

tonight i have pledged to fix my mistakes in the shawl and get back to work on that thing. i really want to take it back to ohio on turkey day... even if i have longer, i feel anxious about it!

yes, maxine, democracy can be boring.

2008-11-04T12:21:00.000-05:00

today i stood in line to vote in front of man who brought his daughter with him to see democracy in action. he was very sweet and she was a cute second grader who asked a lot of great questions. when we had been in line for just over an hour she declared voting boring. i told her that democracy can be boring, but we have to vote anyway.

her dad thought that was funny.

two major thoughts about the experience... touch screen voting is strange and it is cool seeing a lot of people you know at the polls. especially because they are excited to participate in our occasionally "boring" democracy.

knitting update: i took a lizard ridge afghan square with me to the polls and i was so excited and weird while in line that i kept having to rip what i knit. i think i did 4 rows in line.

heeeehheeeehhheehe!

2008-10-31T16:45:00.000-05:00

Skelley says Happy Halloween!!!!!

my grandmother can have peace

2008-10-27T11:46:00.000-05:00

i made good use of those apples yesterday. this is my first apple pie.

i am not a very good maker of crusts, and this one is my first personal success. rW had some hand in it. he encouraged and helped cut shortening when my arm got tired.

it turned put pretty well.

the filling is made from the Rome apples we picked saturday and one Honeycrisp apple to throw in some textural variety and sweetness. i spiced it with both cinnamon and allspice.

now my grandmother can be a happy woman. it took 90 years to reach this point, but now she has the icing on the metaphorical cake... her wayward granddaughter has made a real pie. crust and all.

knitting content soon, i promise. i have been busy on secret knitting.

wet but fun saturday

2008-10-26T16:29:00.000-05:00

saturday was a very busy day. we will start with the top story.

my super-awesome cousin gave birth to her first child saturday morning. His name is Collin Thomas, and you can see the photos on his very own website (with commentary by his father, a man of eccentric humour.) which i am sure will have frequent updates of cuteness.

the family expansion was happening in cleveland, so here in the mid-atlantic, we had a pretty typical weekend on our hands.

rW and i took a trip out to Mt. Airy, Maryland to pick apples and a pumpkin. it was fun, and we took a bunch of pictures. i even did some knitting on a mitten in the car.

the only hitch in the day was some inclement weather. we got pretty wet, but it was worth it. the pumpkin we found is as perfect as any pumpkin i have ever had. it has one slightly flat side, but someone clearly picked it up off its side and set it upright before it finished ripening and turning orange because it doesn't have too much of a deformed side.

i sort of also wanted to take home one of the fancy bright orange pumpkins that were already picked, but i am happy with our guy. rW will have to name him because i am bad at that sort of thing.

here is an album of our countryside activities....

Pumpkin' and Apple Pickin'

later saturday evening i went to a cocktail party at my friend Jen's apartment. i met her new man (well, new so to speak, they have been friends for a long time, but they started dating this year.) and caught up with a few old friends.

all in all, fun and busy.

17

2008-10-23T12:11:00.001-05:00

last night i made 17 bean + barley soup. these are the beans before i soaked them. pretty!

it was delicious.
i served it up with pumpernickle bread and halves of delicata squash stuffed with veggie sausage (or "fauxusage", if you will). it was delightful. i had never had "sausage" stuffed squash before, but as i said of faux meat technology... there have been advancements.

i am pretty sure that fake sausage just tastes like smoke and spices, but it works for me.

i am on a store model knitting spree. i have a cowl on my needles right now that is made of cotton and angora blend--fluffy! this is the 2nd one this week that i have designed myself. photos soon.

help!

2008-10-23T10:03:00.000-05:00

remember the head shots i had taken on sunday for the company website? the proofs are up, and now i have to decide which 5 i want to have edited. here are 52 to pick from.

please help me. photos are here. i am fairly certain they won't be up much longer than a week.

leave your favourites in the comments by photo number.

or maybe i should use my self-portrait?

another thing

2008-10-21T12:47:00.000-05:00

i have been sent public and private comments about how i handled my ear infection. specifically how i handled in incorrectly.

yes, i realize there are ear, nose, and throat doctors in the world. i also realize they handle these things much better than a GP, an urgent care center, or Minute Clinic ever could. i even went to one the last time i had a throat in infection that kept me in bed for 5 days.

but specialists cost a lot of money.

health care in general costs a lot of money. the kind of health insurance i qualify for as a "young" single female in the state of maryland can be described as either "under insurance" or "$800 out of pocket per month".

to put that figure in perspective, i currently spend as much combined on my car insurance, student loan repayment, and rent every month.

well, some insurance is better than no insurance right? not really. when i had health insurance, i could never find someone who was qualified to call themself a doctor who would actually see me. i didn't have expensive enough insurance to be seen by someone fancy and reputable.

when i went to the ENT, 100% was out of pocket, even though i had insurance.

now, without it, i am the pariah in the corner at urgent care.

i try not to get political or turn my blog into a PSA, but this gets my goat. the faceless uninsured are not just the homeless black children living in the inner city you can readily conjure up in your head when you watch the evening news.

it is also me.
a white woman living in a small hippie town next to the big city. someone with a car, a roof over her head, her own business, a job at another small business, and a terminal graduate degree.

put that in your pipe and smoke it.

sweet life

2008-10-21T12:21:00.001-05:00

i have been doing secret holiday knitting that the blog readership cannot know about (hi family peoples. what up.) so i will share a so-not-me project here today.

this is a store model for the shop. i designed the pattern to be given out with the yarn, which as you can see is sort of silly. i plan to see if i can knit a second one in a plain yarn for more long term use in the shop.

the details....

Ruffled Drawstring Hat
designed by kittything
free with yarn purchase at K+S=B

knit in one skein of Scholler+Stahl Sweet Girls (100% acrylic) on size US 10.5 needles. fits a toddler or young child (16"-18" head).

started: october 4, 2008.
finished: october 20, 2008.

i started knitting this and then realized i didn't have a real plan. so i set it aside, designed it out in my head and finished it in one sitting yesterday while watching the movie Airplane!.

because it is store model (needs to be easy to knit) and it the yarn is a little tricky, i knit the hat flat and seamed it rather than knitting in the round.

the ruffles are goofy. you make them by grabbing only part of the ruffled section of the yarn and knitting or purling only the edge. on the knit side, you purl the ruffles, on the purl side, you knit the ruffles. it is opposite in order to keep the ruffles on the right side of the work. strange.

the cute thing about the pattern (never mind the yarn) is the drawstring top. a little girl can pull her ponytail through the top of her hat. cute!

in other news...
i had my head shots taken on sunday (and had to miss a BBQ at my aunt's house for it! grr!) and they went better than the horror show in my head. hair and make-up was easy. she didn't lecture me about home hair dye or going to a dermatologist, so that was good.

photo shoot was also good. we will see how the pictures turn out. i think i was done up a little on the vintage pin up side, and my glasses were problematic with glare so i had to take a lot without them. but i am sure there is something i can use.

last night i made a favourite dish from my childhood--macaroni and cheese omelet! it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. macaroni, egg, extra sharp cheddar cheese, fake bacon, salt, pepper, milk, frying pan. cook it. delicious.

prior to last night, i only have eaten it once since i went veggie. it is sort of bland without the bacon. now fake bacon technology has caught up and i was able to make it with the fakcon (as rW and i like to call it) and enjoy a slice of childhood once again. i also substituted in whole wheat macaroni.

i bet the whole thing could be made vegan, but i am opposed to soy cheese for personal reasons.

a month ago

2008-10-18T23:14:00.001-05:00

that was the last time i wrote an update. egads. much has happened.

and unrelated to all of those things which i will detail, is this photo rW took of me. i like it because i am relaxing on the floor betwen the couch and the coffee table--a favourite spot. AND (!!!) because i am wearing the Gathered Pullover i knit for myself.

i opened 3 shows. Busytown (children's musical), Temptation (political satire with costume party!), and The Serpent Woman (fantasy/commedia).

i was sick from september 26th through.... well, probably this past wednesday, but i am still not at 100%. it started with a bad cold that spread into a double ear infection that eventually also became tonsillitis in one (and only one) tonsil.

then i went on antibiotics that made me 500% more sick and didn't cure the ear infection. so i could neither eat nor hear and was still in tech.

now all the shows are open, and my ears are still about 40% clogged, but i am told it can take up to a month for ears to fully clear and webMD says i shouldn't really get too worried unless i still have hearing loss after 3 months.

ridiculous.

i read Breakfast at Tiffany's while i was at the urgent care and on the metro because i was sick enough to not feel like knitting (!!!). i have since recovered enough to report that i have knit....

75% of a christmas gift. 2 mittens, each from a different pair. 20% of a hat. and one whole side of the edging on the christening shawl. i made a mistake on that on day 2 of tech #1 and it has been sitting ever since until i have the time and brain power to tear back and resume.

jess has assured me the bambino will not be baptised until december, but i want to get it done before his arrival as a point of pride.

other items of note for the month:

locked myself out of the apartment. twice.

rW and i have passed the 6 month mark.

i have started to sew for myself again.

my car had to go to the doctor.

i registered to vote in maryland.

i started my christmas shopping.

and i discovered a new bakery.

tomorrow i am having a head shot taken for use on the company website and programs. i am unsure how i feel about this. it means i need to go wash my freshly dyed hair so it will be manageable tomorrow for the hair and make-up gal.

i hope i get to wear my glasses.

the hour before i go to bed

2008-09-17T22:47:00.000-05:00

i have been working a lot lately. more than my usual "a lot" usual, that is. when i work a lot i get home late and have to decompress for an hour or so.. some what of what i do with the time i should be sleeping....

rW and i finished our 750 piece puzzle.
it was fun. i used to do puzzles with my mom when i was a kid, and we always had a good time. she is a very "make your own fun" sort of person, a quality rW also possesses.

now, i don't think i am going to devote myself full time to puzzling by any means. i still find knitting more relaxing.

after the big old 750, we put together two 100 piece puzzles. they came as part of a ten puzzle set (two 100, four 300, four 500). roll of tape shown for scale. they are very small, and both of them took us less than an hour.

sure are cute and americana.

and finally a farewell.
last weekend, i bought a pumpkin at safeway, and tonight i was going to draw a face on him when a sad discovery was made.... he has the cancer.

one small spot of rot on his bottom where his skin was pierced, probably in transit. it does not seem like much, but he will spoil quickly. Owloysius tried to comfort the little guy but he looked decidedly nervous when i placed him on the ground level windowsill outside rW's building.

R.I.P.
Lil' Punkin

i am in tech this weekend, so busy times and little time to report back. i hope to ave pictures of this show to share. it rocks.

the fun part of the full week. sorta.

2008-09-14T10:24:00.007-05:00

rW and i have made some good progress on our puzzle despite only working on it intermittently. we did most of it last saturday and another hour of puzzling on one week night. we mostly have water and rocks left... some trees.

i did all of the sky at once.
go me.

i may have already bought a new puzzle. maybe. ahem.

i can tell you i bought new sneakers yesterday. all of my shoes are dying, and i needed something to replace the 4 pairs of canvas/rubber combos i pitched over the last few months. i also threw out a pair of real sneakers yesterday, but i may have to ask santa for some of those.

last night we went out to the beer store and discovered they had 7oz shorty high life!

high life is my favourite cheap beer. i got the 8-pack of shorties for $3.49. these may be the most perfect thing ever because i don't always want a whole beer.

meet Owloysius. he is a fan of the champagne of beers too.

i have done a lot of knitting on the shawl this week because my car had to go to the doctor and i had a lot of time on the metro. also, i sat (knit) through a first rehearsal of one show and the design run for another. i finished up the body of the shawl, knit the eyelet border, increased to a multiple of 8, and started the knit-on edging.

the edging experience has been a doozy. many false starts and corrections, but i think i have it now. 3 repeats down 51 to go!

holey wow.

2008-09-06T10:12:00.000-05:00

this is piece of unblocked lace. um. that's why it looks so goofy and relatively bad compared to other projects i have shown here. don't worry, it will be pretty before the end of next month!

this is the christening shawl for my future nephew. mama knows i am making it for the bambino, but i hope my FBL doesn't tell her i posted a progress photo. ahem. this project is really giving me a run for my money.

i am a new lace knitter, and this has been a learning experience.

i have decided that non-repeating patterns are difficult for me. i can't memorize the knot motif so i am glued to the chart row by row. i would be in agony of i were knitting this to a full stole size with repeats of the knot chart.

but i am not!
and it will be beautiful and worth all the careful chart reading when i have knit the last stitch, blocked it so it looks like something and a new wee person is wrapped up in it.

in other news...
i finished rW's tie. it is beautiful. i don't have modeled photos yet because we have both been very busy this week. i had 2 first rehearsals, 2 production meetings, 1 nineteen hour work day, 3 shifts at the shop, costume fittings, and a partridge in a pear tree. i'm glad it was only a 4 day week!

after the crazy week, rW went out for dinner last night. it was fantastic. we went to Franklin's in Hyattsville (why do they not have a website? or why is it so hard to find?) and i was pleased this go around. i used to go there all the time in grad school, and it was great, but over the last year, it was really sucking. i was pleased to see that this time we had good food, fast service, and a wonderful server.

this last point is especially important to me. i have had the lamest servers there every time i have been in the last year and a half.

we had a relatively simple dinner. beer (yay brew pub!), fresh made rolls, and salads. my salad was mix greens topped with grilled peaches, rd onion, blue cheese, pecans, and a sherry vinaigrette. rW had a salad of mixed heirloom tomatoes, red onion, and slices of feta cheese finished with a lemon dressing.

i cannot even describe how delicious the lemon dressing was on his salad. it is even difficult to describe the dressing itself, it was so unusual.

we went to the attached general store after dinner, and it inspired us to buy a puzzle. a jigsaw puzzle. yes, we are preparing for our geriatric years now.

750 pieces of pretty coastline. i think it is an italian sea town. i will keep you posted as the puzzle develops and my grey hair comes to visit.

la mer

2008-09-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

last week during previews for my latest show i was forced (really, my arm was twisted) to start a new project i could knit in the total darkness of a theatre. voila! new tie for rW in the works. it is knit in 100% italian silk making it a treat for both of us.

i think this color will be very nice with his eyes.

before i retreat

2008-08-21T09:55:00.000-05:00

me and jess at her baby shower. you can see the very top of the belly bump.

i forgot to share something that happened at the shower.

i am sort of the official shower assistant. i write down who gave what and make sure we save all the pieces. i did it for her wedding shower, so i was elected for this too. well, our grandmother sat next to me so she could see the gifts better (she's 90, distance = not so good).

at the end of the gift portion of the afternoon, jess made a short a lovely thank you speech and then we all went for refills. that's when she made her move. my grandmother grabbed my arm and i thought she just wanted a hug so i gave her the hug and we had the usual "good to see you/love you/etc".... then!

THEN!

grandma: hopefully we will be doing this for you in a year or two.
yvette: (!!!!)
grandma: i just want you to be happy.
yvette: (!?!?)
[long pause]
yvette: um, okay.

i escaped.
i had to. i even had to avoid he for the rest of the day because she tried to go back to the topic with me, and she went to my mother as well. i feel bad because she is 90, and i live far away, so it is not as if i see her every week. bu i think it took me at least 12 hours to fully recover.

yet it does beg one question... what exactly did my grandmother mean by "doing this for you"? because we were at a baby shower. not a bridal shower. maybe i am not giving her enough credit, but i just don't see my grandmother being that progressive.

okay.
thrift stores will be awake. off to shop my show. almost finished! see you when this beast is more complete.

three ohio things

2008-08-20T17:30:00.000-05:00

this is my new friend. i met him outside my favourite yarn shop where my mum shops. isn't he cute? when i walked to the fence, he came right up to me and said hello while the other alpacas and llamas continued to frolick. i think he believed i was bringing him food, but i will just go on pretending we are pals.

these guys were also outside the yarn shop. they were chasing around a white rooster until i came up to them. i am sure they thought i had corn or some other yumminess.

Marblehead Lighthouse is about 15-20 minutes form my parents house and about 5 minutes from my fav yarn shop. i cruised by but i didn't take the tour because i was on a schedule. i have never been up inside the tower--someday.

argh!

2008-08-18T23:29:00.000-05:00

i HATE our ftp server.

i am trying to write a bunch of blog posts for the store blog and schedule them to roll out over the next week or so.... i want to get this done before i go into tech so that it can 1. get paid. and 2. not have to worry about the blog while am up to my eyeballs in my "real" job.

boo.

boo on images and ftp servers!

shower craft

2008-08-18T21:34:00.000-05:00

saturday i attended my cousin's baby shower. for the forthcoming bambino, i made a few crafty gifts. not all of them were yarn craft, but there was some of that as well (as always!). first, something we have seen before.

bambino is a little boy, and he will have the cashmere bootees i knit a few months ago. i added a blue ribbon to each to make it a little more "boy" and to help prevent him from kicking them of his little feets.

at the shower we had to pass the bootees around because everyone wanted to touch the cashmere.

in addition to warming his piggies, i made something to adorn the bambino's nursery walls. jess liked the winnie the pooh gang a lot when we were little, so i decided to make some pooh themed wall hangings. these four little guys are about 2 inches tall in their frames.

very cute and super fun to make.
each one took about 2-3 hours to stitch and frame. i have not done a lot of cross stitch since 2000, so this was a big change of pace for me. i enjoyed it a lot once i got the hang of the technique again.

finally, i created a "least common denominator" craft--iron-on transfer. i was at jo-ann's a few weeks back and saw these iron-on transfers and could not resist. super cute on blue onesies. they were a pretty big hit

there may be more shower and/or ohio pictures to come.... BUT! i am entering tech this weekend, so updates will become sparse soon.

out of town

2008-08-15T22:09:00.000-05:00

i am i ohio right now visiting with my family and attending my cousin's baby shower. right before i left, i finished my dad's sweater. about freaking time.

i know it didn't take me long to knit it, but it felt like a dog's age because there were so many unexpected mistakes in the numbers. i was following the pattern carefully, and then it stopped following itself. and there is no errata for this pattern!

boo.

the project...

i ::heart:: my dad
a.k.a. Unisex Knock-Around Cashmere Pullover
by Teva Durham
published in Weekend Knitting

size 44". knit in Cascade 128 Tweed (7 skeins #7622 olive green, 90% Peruvian Wool, 10% Donegal.) on size US 10 needles.

started: july 24, 2008.
finished: august 11, 2008.

let me start by saying that this sweater is beautiful. let me also say that i really enjoyed making it up until the last 20% or so. and let me conclude this initial assessment by posting my ravelry notes into the blog.

it had such a positive start...

i have started my christmas knitting. i work on this project around my boyfriend because i get distracted easily by our conversations, and this pattern is very simple.

i am considering modifying the sleeves.

07/27/08: finished both center panel sections. i have sewn them together at the side seams and picked up the stitches for the bottom of the sweater to knit in the round rather than picking up separately and seaming later.

me = lazy

i should not have been lazy. or i should have done a bit more thinking. i picked up the total number of stitches for both sides and knit them. well, if i had been thinking, i would have taken away stitches for the seams. two stitches on each side get used in the seaming, and i had no seams.... so my bottom section of the sweater flared out.

in the end, i decided to seam in darts on each side to reduce those stitches--flare taken care of.

07/30/08: finished bottom portion of the sweater body, picked up stitches for front body and sleeve increases.

08/04/08: finished the top front/front sleeves. i was knitting away and thinking “wow, this is taking a long time” until i looked at the reality of what i was knitting–the top of the sweater body and both sleeves at the same time. silly knitter, trix are for kids.

i am a little nervous about the collar looking good!

nd my nerves started at the right time. my knitter's spidey sinse was tingling because it got tough from here on out.

08/06/08: i knit the collar last night, and it looked good, but despite carefully reading the directions, my collar is about 5 stitches too far to one side. in this bulky yarn, that is more than an inch! gah. i need to go back to being a sock knitter.

08/07/08: i fixed the collar yesterday and it is now in the correct spot. for the life of me, i could not make the pattern numbers work, so i just employed my old pal logic.

08/09/08: i knit the back following the instructions, and it is all sorts of jacked up. i cannot even describe the absurdity.

08/10/08: okay. i managed to fix the back by completely ignoring the directions and decreasing the sleeve stitches MUCH sooner than the pattern recommends. i did the 3 needle bind off written in the pattern, but it looks assy, so i am riping it out and redoing.

i have had such a hard time with the last haul on this pattern, but there is no errata on the pattern.

i am dubious.

08/11/08: sweater is done. drying from the blocking. pics to follow soon!

i ended up pulling out a second three needle bind-off and simply binding off the back section and sewing it to the back center panel. it looks much better.

as if the pattern problems were not enough, i was thisclose to running out of yarn!

my final problem with this pattern is the serious amount of extra yarn i needed. i am glad i bought two extra skeins because th pattern called for 660 yards for the size i made and my skeins totaled 896 yards. that is more than 100 yards over the amount called for with the next size up.

i used all but the tiniest scraps. i have one 4 yard piece and 4 pieces of yarn longer than 8 inches. the rest is the clippings from the ends.

08/12/08: blocked and photographed. thank you to rW for standing in as a sweater model.

in the end, i can say... i like the sweater. it is very pretty, and i hope my dad likes it and actually wears it. i can also carve another notch on my knitting belt. i have now officially knit a man sized sweater! yeah!

more when i return from ohio. maybe even some non-knitting craftiness.

blargh!

2008-08-09T21:15:00.000-05:00

there is something seriously screwed about the pattern from which i am knitting my father's sweater. it was smooth sailing until i hit the final 25% of the knitting. then the pattern numbers stopped matching up in the book, and all sorts of chaos ensued.

the collar was in the wrong place, and then the backs of my sleeves and the back of the body suddenly became too long well before they should have been "done". i think i need a break from oddly constructed sweaters that are made all in one piece.

when you have to rip back, you have to rip back a lot.

let's look at a few things that were not headache.

froggy
designed by Lion Brand

crocheted in Berroco Touche (3/4 of a skein of green tea and scraps of bleach, 50% cotton, 50% rayon) with a tahki cotton classic embellishments with a size H hook.

started and finished: august 4, 2008.

this guy is super goofy. he takes very little skill to create, and he is a very fast way to get the crochet fix. he has other friends from the same set on the lion website, and i plan to give him some company. i may gift the frog and his future friends as a whole menagerie or parse them out to people over time. we shall see, but i am pretty sure he will not be mine forever.

piggy
designed by Lion Brand

crocheted in Mission Falls 1824 cotton (3/4 of a skein of #408 Foxglove 100% cotton)and mystery pink stash cotton and tahki cotton classic embellishments with a size H hook.

started and finished: august 5, 2008.

the pig was designed as a buddy to the frog, but i did a lot of modifications to the pattern to make him cuter (in my opinion). he has a real snout and a tail in my version. he also looks more like pig and less like a ball.... his body instructions are actually identical to the frog.

now you can see how much i modified him.

whew.
i feel better now. i think i may have it in me to put the stitches back on the needle and then... suck it up and deal.

beet dis... RAK!

2008-08-08T08:55:00.000-05:00

i joined the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) group on ravelry. in the group forum you post a wish list and other people post a wish list and if you can fulfill a wish, you do. they can be knitting related and non.

my non knitting related wish was for people to send me beet recipes, which they have!

i told rW about this and he sent me a RAK as well. sort of.

arrrrrrtissssst

2008-08-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

ps- marat/sade

2008-08-02T15:01:00.000-05:00

oh, yes.
opening went well!

the post threw me a bone, and some other critics liked it quiet a bit. i'm not in the mood to find reviews and link.

you can check out some pictures here, here, and here. that lasts set has one of me showing my typically well concealed goofiness and anime eyes.

show cntinues to run through next weekend, so get your tickets here.

i'm nice to my boyfriend

2008-08-02T14:47:00.000-05:00

first the catch up.

long time no blog. i have been busy busy with starting the first 5 shows of the new theatre season, opening Marat/Sade (my final show of last season), helping on season selection for one theatre company, working at the store, teaching crochet class, seeing a friend whom i have not visited with since 2001, and completing the wedding gown i designed for another friend.

she is getting married today.

congrats to R. and her man D. i hope she feels (and looks) like a million bucks today, and even more than that, i hope they have a long and happy life together.

i may post a picture of the drawing of her dress after the big day is over. i will put a photo up once they get the professional shots back. that will probably be in a few weeks.

now the yarn projects.
while i have worked on many things, all my finished projects have been for rW, as this post title suggests.

rW's Rockabilly Bathmat (and Atomic Radios Shower Curtain)
designed by kittything

knit in many skein bits of random cotton from my stash (doubled) on size U.S. 10.5 needles.

started: july 3, 2008.
finished: july 9, 2008.

rW. moved into a new apartment on july 1, and he was blessed with a bathroom that had a manly 1960s pink tile renovation. me being that polly-anna, lemons into lemonade sort, i made him some accessories that made the place a little more his style.

it started with the atomic era radios shower curtain. i bought some yardage at the fabric store and sewed it to the correct dimensions and added grommets. voila! $20 bucks and an hour at the machine is much better than $40 and an hour at Linens and Things.

to go with the pink tile and crazy colored curtain, i took all the scraps of pink cotton in my stash and paired them with the black cotton bits and made a random stripe bathmat. very straight forward and a fast knit.

now that i have given it a chance, i think i would like to try crocheting a bathmat or other rug for myself in the future.

the other nicey nice thing...

The Great Green Sock Tie
aka Koigu Tie
designed by Maie Landra

knit in Hand Jive Knits Nature's Palette Fingering (1 skein NP122 "spring grass" 100% wool.) on size US # needles.

started: june 17, 2008.
finished: july 24, 2008.

this was a fun and easy knit. if i had been more focused, it would have taken me much less time, but this was tv watching, commuting, long meeting type knitting. whenever i had the right combination of silence and good lighting, this project got ignored in favor of the cables or lace haunting me currently.

one last picture to show some stitch detail....

finally.... remarkable things!

1. rW asked me to knit him this "sock tie". (!!!!)
2. he picked out the yarn himself with minimal guidance from me.
3. he wore it within 48 hours of completion, and he is already talking about "the next tie you make me...."

someone knows ow to get a knitter to make them gifts.

the next big thing....

2008-07-11T16:44:00.000-05:00

and this time it is a revolution.

cast: Steve Beall, Joe Brack, Jonathan Church, Katy Carkuff, Parker Dixon, Alice Anne English, Danny Gavigan, Michael Grew, Ashley Ivey, Emre Izat, Lisa Lias, Meg Maxwell, Eric Messner, Christine Millette, Richard Ernest Owens, Helen Pafumi, Barbara Papendorp, Colin Smith, Jesse Terrill, and Andrew Vergara.

the rest of us: Andrew Griffin (lights), Yvette Ryan (costumes), and Matt Soule (set), Matt Ripa (assistant director), Jenn Carlson (stage manager), Christine Millette (ASM), Hannah Hessel (dramaturg), Cliff Williams (fights), and Joel Reuben Ganz (movement).

tickets here.

ymr