Dinner, pink scarf and Booga!

I've been slacking again. I'm actually way behind in reading blogs too, which is something I'm trying to slowly slog through this afternoon. This morning and lastnight my 'net was having issues .. well, actually, many issues. More like subscriptions. But is seems to have stabilized now, so I'm able to post and such.

I went out on Tuesday with my friend Neely .. the one who won't learn to knit. She's -such- a snob! But I went out with her anyway, and took Brandon along .. the one who I taught to knit, and who loves it and is as much a knit-dork as I am. We went to get pedicures at the nail salon she likes in Charlotte. It was nice too. The little Asian girls were darlings, and didn't seem to talk about us too much. And the pedicure was so relaxing. I knitted on the pink skinny scarf all the way through. And they even do a paraffin dip for your feet .. all for $25! Wahoo, pampering!





After the pedi, we went to lunch at Panera bread, and then to Target for something for Neely .. and I ended up getting Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure. Yay! Yes, I am also a computer game dork. I already had the Endangered Species expansion, so I had to get this one! And after some annoyance with the installation, I finally got it installed and running, and I've already played it some. I'm still trying to get through all the campaign games ... they're tough!!

After the trip to Target though we went to Hoby Lobby to pick up some yarn for Brandon to make dishcloths for some friends of his and for Neely to pick out yarn for her own. She wants some that match her bathroom. And good friends that we are, we offered to make some for her. But they only had the right color in chenille (sp?) so I snapped off a small amount from the skein and I'm going to find some in a cotton or something more durable to make her some. And I'll likely be paying it out of my own pocket. And I'm used to that.

Now, I should explain something about Neely. Neely is selfish. Extremely and often uncomfortably so. I love her. She's a wonderful friend. But I don't spend a lot of time with her because of this. Neely isn't the type to do something out of the goodness of her heart. She has a motive, always. We tolerate this in her right now, because she's had some life changes .. though they are her own doing. She left her husband of 3 years for a fling relationship with a guy she met online through Adult Friend Finder, then started a relationship with the man she's renting part of a house from. She doesn't make the best decicions. But I love her, and think she tries as best as she knows how to be a good friend.

So it doesn't surprise me when I have to buy yarn for this for her. Even though I'd really rather not buy it, because she's snooty enough that I can't just pick up some everyday cotton. She wants it to be soft. But, that's the price of friendship .. at least in this case.


Anyway, we left from there to drop her off at her and Keith's house, and made plans to meet her at a restaurant local to us for dinner with she and Brandon and Jason and myself. Keith wouldn't come because Keith is a chef and is too snobby about food to eat anywhere like *gasp* Applebees. Even though we're all on Weight Watchers (Jason, Brandon and I) and that's one of few places we can go to eat and not have to worry if we have enough points. And when he cooks, he doesn't think about such things, and honestly, his food is often too 'cuisine' for me to enjoy. He overdoes everything .. he can't just make a simple meal when we go over for dinners, and it frustrates me because every time, I get sick with stomach problems. You'd think he'd get the hint.

So we get to Jason's work, and he's busy. And we're early to boot. So we sit in the car and knit. No big deal! I worked more on the scarf while we waited .. and we thought 'Hey, we should call Neely and let her know we might be late." So we call. She hasn't even left yet .. she's watching TV. *ahems* Did I mention she's a little self-centered? It didn't dawn on her we might be waiting for her.

Anyway, dinner was had, and it was nice, and we chatted and we did our duty as friends, and we went home and were content. Oh, and at dinner I finished the scarf. It's as long as I am tall .. think that'll be enough for a little 5-year-old? I love it to pieces, the feel of it is perfect. If only it weren't pink.






Lastnight I spent watching tv with Jason and Brandon, and I started my Booga bag finally. I'm not using Noro (I know, gasp away. But I'm on a yarn diet this summer, and have all this wool I can use instead.) And though the whole picking up stitches along the edge thing was wierd, I finally got through it, and I have now gotten through a good ten rounds of the sides. And if I do say so myself, the fuscia looks really good with the grey-brown handspun I'm pairing it with.

Wal*Mart, and other Frights

So, I know, I've not been posting much about knitting. I'll get back to it, I promise. I have actually been knitting, in fact. Just lots of otherness has been invading my time and space.

But I was reading this morning (thank the blog-gods for Bloglines!) and discovered several people have issues with going to their local Wal*Mart. Kate does, and so does Annie. And I find this odd. Well, not entirely odd. I hate the Wal*Mart in the town I'm in now. The prices are higher, and the people are bitchier than the one I actually go to. But the one I actually go to is just as close, even though it's all the way in York, SC. I live on that edge of town, see. And they're nice there. And their prices are better, and I can actually find stuff. And it's a Super Wal*Mart, which means I can get everything .. well, almost everything, I need there.

But I can't really get yarn. Sure, I could pick up some Bernat baby acrylic .. which I do on occasion when I have a baby to knit for. And I could choose from one of their six colors of Peaches and Cream. Or get some Lion Homespun (which is what I learned to knit on by the way. How crazy am I??). Or the scratchy as stubble Wal*Mart brand acrylic. But why would I, when I can get the same stuff, less expensive mind you, at Hobby Lobby?

And the huge array of colors in the Lily far outweighs the convenince of picking up a ball or two every time I make a trip to Wal*mart. Kate said she can only get pastel colors in the Lily, so I guess I don't blame her for making the horrible trip to Wal*Mart to get something fun to knit with. Psst. Kate. There are Hobby Lobbys in Minnesota .. dunno how close to you though.

Anyway.

Another thing that has prevented me from posting about knitting has been my poor husband. He has had a rash .. in some pretty uncomfortable places. It started a few days ago, and yesterday it migrated to around his eyes and all along one arm. Eeek! So it was off to the doc-in-a-box with us yesterday. I sat and knitted on some pretty eyelash I've been hoping to get used up while we waited. And waited. And waited. Apparently, there were a couple of "traumas" earlier in the day, and things were a bit backed up. (I found out what happened with one of them at least, but more on that later.) I knitted even while he was back there. See!





Isn't it cute and girly!? I figure I'll give this one to my little niece Savannah. She'll love it. I might make the other eyelash into another boa scarf for my other little niece Faith.

Anyway, the "trauma" was apparently a girl, probably in her early 20's, who was a sexual assault victim. I only know this because I couldn't help but overhear when she came out to the waiting room with the trauma counselor, and the woman was speaking to the girl's mother about stuff, and how she needed family support, and the legal system had to do its job now, and how good the girl had done. I hate that she has to go through that, truly.

Hubby's rash, by the way, is most likely contact dermatitis. Brought on by the recent change in laundry detergent. I usually use All Free & Clear, because my skin's insanely sensitive. I had been using Mrs Meyers for a long time. Their lemon verbena scent is just yummylicious. A friend of mine told me she liked the Method brand of stuff she gets at Target, so I got some. I was needing dish detergent and such anyway. And that hasn't seemed to bother him that we can tell. I just wash pots and pans and such in the sink anyway, everything else is dishwasher safe. But I also picked up the laundry detergent. It smelled good, and it is supposed to be gentle. Hah! Poor hubby's rash is clear a sign that it is -not- gentle at all. He's gone in to handle email at work, where he's the internet sales manager for a Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealership, but is then coming home. The doc-in-a-box gave him a prescription for prednisone, which should clear the rash up quickly. And I'm having to re-wash -everything- in the house in All Free and Clear. Including blankets. Sheets. Towels. (Thank goodness we just bought new towels and we've had some to use!)
Everything. Ugh!

Another thing that has kept me busy .. well, kept me busy on Saturday, was the local library's quarterly book sale. They do it once a season, and we actually trekked off to this one. Hardcover and trade paperback books are $1 an inch. Paperbacks are 4 for $1. And mostly you find the usual suspects .. the popular writers, romance and horror and such. But you can occasionally find some gems. And we did!

This one I got just because it's Celebrity Scarves, and I got it for so cheap. Most of the scarves in it are garter or stockinette, but it's neat to see the celebrities that knit!

These two Reader's Digest books are great to have. The 'do-it-yourself' manual my parents had, and I've wanted a copy for so long but never got around to it, cos I didn't want to pay the $20 for it. And the needlework guide actually has great information in it. A fabulous reference book indeed, for so cheap!

For myself, because I've been wanting to reread them, I picked up these three Rama novels. I've read Garden of Rama before, so I figured I'd like them all. Sadly, they didn't have the first in the series, but I'm sure I can find it on Half.com.

This is the pick of the litter. I love this book to death already. It's got such wonderful information in it. I really picked it up kind-of as a gag, but after reading through some of the pearls of wisdom it holds, I'm so keeping it in my library!

Saturday Sky

I forgot to post this, but here's just a few of the pics I took yesterday of our sky.

This picture is soon after I got back from Bringing hubby to work. Must have been before 10am or so, I figure.


The next picture is as the stormclouds rolled in sometime around 5 in the afternoon. I looked out my window and saw suddenly heavy gusts of wind, and knew a storm was coming in. I went outside to take a couple shots, and didn't get many before the rain started.


The following three were taken on my drive to pick hubby up from work, around 7pm. (Yes, I took them as I was driving. Yes, I know I probably shouldn't drive and take pictures at the same time. Yes, I was safe. Yes, I wear my seatbelt.) But aren't they pretty!






I also took some video (not from my car of course) of the storm as seen outside my window. I forgot my camera had a video capture feature. Short clips .. which will be great next time I get a chance to try taking lightning pics. Let's see if this actually works, shall we?

Not Knitting - Food!

Not so much a recipe as just what I did today to make some pretty yummy chili.

~ 1lb ground beef (85% lean), cooked
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans diced tomatoes
splash of white wine vinegar
splash of Worcestershire sauce
1c beef broth/boullion
1tsp crushed red pepper
1tsp cumin
1tsp chili powder

Put everything in the crock pot and simmer for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

*Notes: Could have used less beef and more beans. Could also possibly have used some peppers and onions, though it was pretty damned good by itself. Using leaner ground beef or ground turkey/chicken would also cut points.

Made: ~ 7cups .. could be adjusted to make a little more with changed to beans, liquid, etc.
Points: ~ 4 points a serving at 7 cups. (1c servings)

All in all I'm pretty proud of myself. I just made the whole thing up after scanning a few dozen recipes. It had a good kick to it .. that I of course had to tame with sour cream, but that's because I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy food. My stomach just can't handle it.

Look at my adorable Isis .. isn't she sweet!

Proud of myself .. and 'You're the knitting girl, right?'

During a few errands, my copilot .. and the person I taught to knit ... wanted to stop at the yarn shop closest to us. We don't whop there usually, as her prices aren't phenomenal .. but he needed something to finish a scarf he made for his cousin.

So we stopped in.

And despite finding several rack on 40%-off sale, I did not by a single hank, skein or ball of yarn. Not even when I saw the mohair I already have one ball of was in the sale bins. And I really could use a few more balls. But no, I was strong. I resisted temptation. And I bought only the ball he needed .. which of course is really -him- buying the yarn. I just pay for it for now and he pays me back.

---

This was all -after- we went to lunch with hubby at Ruby Tuesday's. We chose to sit in the bar area, as it was empty, and we hate sitting near people. Humanity, in general, annoys us. And, like always, B and I had out knitting with us .. well, he did. I thought I did, but had left the current cloth in the car because I was knitting it waiting for J to get out of work, and didn't get it put back in my take-along bag.

So the waitress comes up to us, asks what we'd like to drink, then pauses and looks at me and says 'You're the knitting girl, right?' I am now know as The Knitting Girl. And I think I kinda like that.

I had a new dishcloth finished, a pattern I made up based on the bamboo stitch, but B's mother absconded with the cloth because she liked it so much. I'll make another one soon and show it off .. I really liked the colors in the yarn I made it from.

I do have this one though, made in the bamboo stitch. It's not as pretty, but it shows off the stitch. The one I made that I no longer have posession of (that'll teach me not to take pictures immediately) is a variation of this stitch.

Nothing to do with Knitting

4 jobs I’ve had in my life:
* Cashier at a grocery store
* Assistant Secretary at my college
* Cashier at a drug store
* Technical Support representative for an internet call center

4 movies I can watch over and over:
* Legend
* Labyrinth
* Harry Potter Movies
* The Princess Bride

4 TV shows I love to watch:
* CSI (All three)
* American Idol
* Hell's Kitchen
* Knitty Gritty

4 places I have lived:
* Springfield, MA
* Hampton, NH
* Derry, NH
* Rock Hill, SC

4 places I have been on holiday:
* Toronto, Ontario Canada
* Mount PLeasant, MI
* New York City, NY
* Atlantic Beach, NC

4 of my favorite dishes:
* Veal marsala
* Lasagne
* Thai pineapple fried rice
* my own recipe for beef soup.

4 websites I visit daily:
* Livejournal.com
* Blogger
* Xanga
* Mystic Wicks

Dishcloths Done!

Well, at least the ones for my neice Brittany are done. Now I'm working on using up more of my cotton stash to make more ..probably will keep some, and give some away. I love the two I already have though, so .. we'll see.

1. Top Left: Lily Sugar & Cream, Key Lime Pie, Pattern: Heart Squares.;2. Top Middle: Lily Sugar & Cream, Orange Creamsicle, Pattern: Basketweave;3. Top Right: Lily Sugar & Cream, Key Lime Pie, Pattern: Bramble;4. Bottom Left: Lily Sugar & Cream, Key Lime Pie, Pattern: Raspberries;5. Bottom Right: Lily Sugar & Cream, Orange Creamsicle, Pattern: Bramble

1. Top Left: Detail of Bramble stitch.;2. Top Right: Closeup of Basketweave and Bramble cloths.;3. Bottom Left: Closeup of Heart Squares cloth.;4.Bottom Right: Closeup of Raspberries cloth.

1. Left: Closeup of Bramble in Orange Creamsicle, showing (sort-of) my pattern mishap.;2. Middle: Detail showing bind-off mishap.;3. Right: Whole cloth, showing the odd edge from my pattern mishap.

As you can perhaps see, I had a little issue with this cloth. Somewhere around my 5th repetition of the pattern, I purled twice, and it flip-flopped the pattern. I flopped it back after 4 repetitions to get back on track. Also, I didn't have -quite- enough orange to finish the cast-off, so I had to use a little bit of the green. Not a huge deal really .. just goes to show I suck at that whole estimating yardage thing. Also, I should have checked Yarn Harlot's recent post detailing a crocheted cast-off.

Now, I get to make cloths using up my stash. I've already started, in fact. I'm making one in a red-pink colorway of the Sugar and Cream (Which I just love to knit with!), using a Bamboo pattern. It's coming out nice, too. I may also get around to frogging the massively huge afghan block and start working on a tesselating fish afghan instead. It's just acrylic, Caron Simply Soft .. so I should be able to fly through it. Making squares is just too dull for me to work on at all.

I have been lax in posting any real knitting content. But then, I have been lax in any real knitting, I guess. I haven't gotten much stash-busting done just yet, and I'm feeling rather un-motivated to do so. Grr.

I have gotten 4 discloths done for my niece, and the fifth and final one is on the kneedles. (Oh lord, I did just type that. I was afraid I'd do that. *sigh*) I have discovered that I -really- like the bramble stitch for dishcloths, and plan to mae a few for myself before giving a bunch away.

I also have looked at my stash and decided that while the eyelash yarn I've hoarded is pretty, I don't much like it for anything I'd wat to make, and I'm going to declutter it. I'll put it on ebay today, I think.

I'll post pictures later of the finished discloths. Time to go enjoy a mid-morning snack. But first .. one of my favorite pictures from my Project Spectrum mosiac:

Project Spectrum - July

Non-Knitting Post

It has been raining for the last two days, mostly just for an hour or two then stopping for a bit, but apparently it rained all night long. I should have taken my camera with me when I drove honey to work. There were lawns flooded, roads that looked like rivers, and ever drainage ditch on the side of the road had been transformed into a rushing rapids. These are a couple of pictures showing the rain outside my front window. The middle one shows where even under my birch tree, the water is pooling on the surface.


I've been cleaning my kitchen .. encouraged by a dear friend's own post elsewhere about her cleaning spree and subsequent pictures. Here's mine.


The first is proof that my knitted dishcloths -do- get used. I love them! The other two show the bar we use as a catch all and the counter to the right of the sink, above my dishwasher. The first one is before I straightened the bar just today, the second is after. (Duh!)


The first one here shows my clean sink, complete with dishcloths. Note the messy bar .. obviously, taken before I striaghtened that today. The next is the right side of the stove, where I keep the coffeepot and the toaster, and where my aloe plant continues to live, even after repotting it. Ignore the wine bottles. We're really not alcoholics. (You should have seen it a few weeks ago .. we had 8 bottles up there!) The next picture is the left side of the stove .. note the -immense- amount of counter space we have! This is where the rest of the appliances live .. can opener, Kitchen Aid mixer, coffee grinder, iced-tea maker and crock pot, as well as the knife block and the spinning storage container thingy. On the stove you can see my honey's cast iron grill/griddle. Which we LOVE! And last but not least is a picture of my china cabinet, where you can see my beautiful Blue Garland china. *purrs* I love my china.



A bonus picture .. B and Isis sleeping on the couch. It's been rainy, and they got all snuggly-warm, and this is the result. Note Gracie Hart on TV .. they were watching Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous. Ignore the mess in the background. I've not messed with the living room yet.

My progress thus far on dishcloth #2, using Bramble Stitch. The scanner really doesn't do this one justice .. the texture really doesn't come through.

Ack! I hate ants!!!

I have been dealing with, for the last few hours, a sudden and highly annoying ant invasion into my house. And I don't have the faintest idea WHY they're getting in. I realize it's suddenly VERY hot outside, and that they may be coming in looking for water .. but good god. All of a sudden? Like .. in the last 6 hours? And now I have that creepy-crawly feeling, like they're crawling all over me. I'm going to have to shower before bed, for certain.

Anyone know of any reason ants might suddenly manifest in ones house, and how one might get rid of them, besides highly toxic poisons (which I've already sprayed everywhere possible!)

Another one!

This is the first of Brittany's dishcloths. The hearts pattern doesn't quite work as well for this yarn though .. I think it's probably the variegatedness of it.


Yarn: Lily Sugar 'n Cream in Key Lime Pie
Needles: US 9 Aluminum straights
Pattern: Heart Squares, from The Knitter's Bible

Yarn: Bernat Cottontots in Wonder Dreams
Needles: US 7 Aluminum straights
Pattern: Heart Blocks, from The Knitter's Bible