AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

knitting muppets

I apologize for the picture.  Our camera is over at a friend's house, so I had to resort to the camera phone.  While it is normally better than this, the room doesn't have the best lighting for this kind of thing. 

This is the Elegant (or was it Evening) shrug that I knit up for one of the lovely ladies at the chocolate shop.  I am going to bring it by tomorrow, and she'll be able to give it as a gift this weekend.  I cut it very close to the line on this one, because the short rows (combined with picking up stitches in a hard to see knit) was giving me the heebie jeebies. 

This shrug feels a little oversized.  I made the medium, but if I were making this for myself I would probably make the small.  I will probably make this for myself someday soon.  I have about half a monster skein of Oak Grove yarn left from the Ruffled Capelet I made a couple of years ago.  I think this would look pretty snazzy in a nice simple dark yarn (probably a rich brown) with the collar being a showpiece of yarn and color. 

I hope that she likes this (and that the recipient likes it when she gets it).  I've already started Convertible, and am just through the first lace pattern repeat (only 33 more lace repeats to go!).

Counting the hours in the day

I really want to go to the Yarn Harlot's signing at Webs.  I want hang out with other knitting folks (something I haven't really done in far too long), look at gorgeous yarn, read a new book, re-meet the Harlot, and have an excuse to start something new or at least put aside the large muppet shrug I've been working on.  However, I don't drive.  I'm pretty happy about the not driving thing, though it makes things like this a bit more problematic.  I'm happy to pay gas and tolls to get there, but that was a level of preplanning on my part that just didn't happen.

Why?

Because I'm working on the muppet shrug.  I haven't managed to work on it every night this week, but fairly close.  I have about 10 more short rows to do and then 5 rows of ribbing and binding off.  Sixteen rows shouldn't take too long, and if I am dedicated Saturday night then I could probably finish it and block it that night or Sunday morning.  For the record, I did about 2.6 rows over my lunch break today, meaning each row is probably taking me about 15 minutes. 

So, instead of going to see knitter peeps, I will be eating a giant pixie stick(s) and working on Convertible.  At least as soon as I have finished the muppet shrug!

Homemade ice cream

Part of me wants to call myself an indifferent cook.  I love baking, making desserts and cooking large meals (like for a party), but am really bad at the meals for 2-4 people.  Of my favorite desserts to make, I love to make ice cream.  Late last week, I made a batch of strawberry daiquiri sorbet and swirled it with homemade vanilla ice cream.

I have one of the Cuisinart canister ice cream makers (with the extra canister), so I am able to make batches of ice cream like this fairly readily.  I am relatively careful about making sure there is always enough space for the canisters in the freezer.  That small amount of planning means I can nearly always put together a batch of ice cream.  My favorite cookbooks for ice cream are The Perfect Scoop and the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream cookbook.  One of the ice cream bases in the B&J cookbook uses sweetened condensed milk.  I usually buy fat-free and store it in the freezer or refrigerator, and then make up the base with whatever milk or cream I have on hand (this base is very flexible, doesn't involve heating and then chilling the base and doesn't involve raw eggs).  This batch was extra soft because I used whipping cream instead of skim milk.  Most of the time my ice creams are much closer to ice milk in texture and flavor, though they are still really tasty.

The best thing about this ice cream?  OK, second best thing. (The third best thing is that we can use our monkey bowls for dessert.)

Aren't these colors just great for a yarn colorway?

Collars

I think I finally need to admit to myself that I dislike making collars.  Picking up stitches and working back and forth in long short rows must be trying to my patience or something, because not only have I not finished what I've been referring to as the muppet I haven't finished the Fiery Bolero for much the same reason.  Worse, because I feel guilty about it, I'm putting off most of my knitting as if working on a project  or section of a project I enjoy more is a terrible thing with the collar left to do.

It's just sad.  Knitting is a fun activity and doesn't deserve my cringing away from it.  I mean, there is no point at all if you aren't having fun.  (And yeah, this collar has now taken over two weeks and I like short rows).

Sometimes the simplest pieces take the longest

I was at Lush Beads a few weeks ago (she was having a mega sale).  I bought a lot of seed beads, some findings, a spider pin, and some of the last chance goodies.  I also bought this gorgeous glass bead, shaped like a petal.  It has the colors and patterning that reminds me of iris.  I wanted it, but I didn't have the foggiest idea of what to do with it.  So I got some of the satin rattail cord and foldover ends (and more findings) and when I was home I did my best to put the necklace together.

Let's just say that I have one severely mangled foldover end and I needed to order another bag.  So, I eventually got off my butt and sent her some money via paypal and said please oh please send me this and while I am at it this and this too.  Shortly they arrived and now I have a necklace.  A nice shiny necklace that doesn't photograph well.

Like I said.  Shiny.

I love this necklace.  I cut the rattail a trifle too long, so I need to wear it with my more V necked tops but it makes me feel pretty and feminine (which aren't always the same thing) on days when I need it.  The necklace reminds me of spring and crocus and iris and the word purple. 

I will probably make more necklaces like these.  They are very simple, but some beads are beautiful or interesting enough that anything more complicated than this just needlessly distracts from the piece.  I mean, this bead is more like art than just a piece of glass even though part of me is tempted to take a sewing thread and add a tiny amount of seed beads to the cord itself.

some weeks are just much busier than others

I feel like this week has gone by so fast.  I am in the middle of training for Boston's Run to Remember, but only on week three of training for the Team Challenge half marathon.  As of this morning, I have run almost 14 miles this week and I still have the long run on Sunday!

I don't feel like I have really done much this week other than run.  I know it isn't true, because I am almost done the first of the two shrugs I'm making for the chocolate lady and have finally decided to finish the second sock (I'm working on a second pair of monkey socks).  I don't have to run on Saturday, so I am going to use the time to get some knitting done and send out my charity letters.

But onto this week's prizes!

First we have two skeins of HandPaintedYarn's lace weight (each a separate prize) in Royal Purple.  Each skein is 850 yards and has been wound into a center pull ball.  I'm making the Swiss Cheese scarf out of a skein of this yarn in a different colorway, and it is really fun to work with.

The second is a skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in bright lime green.  One skein is enough to make a pair of socks for most patterns!  The yarn is even brighter in person than in the picture.

So, please go and donate!  I would love to be at the half way mark by May 9th!  As always, for all of the other prizes, go here.

More Goodies

This week's goodies are all about the sock yarn.  So, without further ado...

Fleece Artist Sock yarn

Rich golden browns and blues shimmer in this beautiful yarn.  One skein is enough for a pair of socks and the colors can be appropriate to either male or female sock lovers.  100% merino, machine washable. 

2 Skeins of Dorchester Farms sock yarn

This yarn is 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon (I'll double check when I get home) yarn.  I used this yarn last year to make the Ripple Weave socks (Ravelry) last year.  Two skeins will make a pair of socks.

For all of the prizes to date, please check out the full list.

Bounce!

I just want to give a big thank you to Alison.  I won the Tweed book.  For the life of me, I can't remember the last time I won something. 

Thank You!

I'm going to go blibble happily in my corner now.

Candy!

As a treat for giving blood today, I went to my local chocolate shoppe (Au Chocolat), and found these little gummy pandas.

The flavor I bought is pomegranate and white tea, though next time I need a bit of a sweet I'll probably try the blueberry with acai fruit.

I love their little round red bodies, and they are both sweet and slightly tart with the taste of tea.  Like the Tootsie Roll Pop, I keep trying to figure out how long I can make one last and instead I start chewing them up. 

These are organic and wheat and gluten free, which makes me feel like this is almost healthy.  All those "frees" don't really mean anything, because this is still candy and is only something I should be eating in small doses.  But I have more than half a bag left, so I'm doing pretty good!

Life isn't all just candy.  I finished a little something over the weekend, and then did some sleuthing on Etsy.  If it blocks out as nicely as it looks now, then it is a real candidate for my first product in my Etsy store!

Bluer than velvet was the night

Red velvet cake is wonderfully vibrant against a simple white frosting, but I had never really thought to make one.  I mean, I hadn't really wanted to eat any.  I just didn't know what the flavor was.  Was it fruity?  Buttery?  Vanilla?  The coloring meant I had assumed that it was strawberry or raspberry flavored, and that wasn't enough for me to want to make one.

Then I thought about making it blue.  Blue velvet cake.  I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com, and used most of the modifications mentioned in the comments (oil instead of shortening, higher sugar content, etc.).  Of course, I didn't have 2 ounces of blue food coloring, so I took my little food coloring bottles and squeezed them into my smallest measuring cup, and filled it up to the 2 ounce mark.  I then made up the rest with about a teaspoon of Wilton Royal Blue cake gel.  Those colors are powerful enough that they are what I prefer to use for dying yarn (some day I will buy actual dyes rather than using cake gels and a goodly amount of vinegar and heat). 

The mixture was a beautiful dark blue with the smallest hints of a tealy green (one of the bottles of food coloring was neon blue).  If I was smart I would have taken a picture of that, but even though I love the work of food stylists I never think of trying to do more than photograph the finished product.

And the taste?  With the cocoa powder that helps deepen the color and the quality of the frosting, it kind of tastes like a whoopee pie.  (The cake is a lot bluer than it looks in the photo.)