AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

Dress up time!

 

I really have to stop reading knitting peeps on Twitter. This is where I find so many cool Kickstarter projects like this one. I have to admit that I really would love to pledge at a high level, but I'm not fiscally there right now, so I'll have to settle for one of the lower levels. But still, it involves getting to pick up extra knitting patterns or at the higher levels having something custom made to your specifications (which might be nice as it feels like my knitting time is currently being sucked into other projects) or handspun yarn or a design for you or any of a gazillion cool items.

My favorite dream level is the Reaver Dodger level, because I loved Firefly/Serenity, and well because the art work is the kind of thing I like to look at. That level is definitely not to be, so I will have to settle for something lower after I check my bank account. Why couldn't pay day be a little earlier so I could afford one of the cooler levels!?

In awesome news, I set the coffee maker to automatically go at 4:40 this morning and it worked. I have coffee happening right now!

hearing no complaints

One of my favorite blog reads has a rule about complaining about the weather. She doesn't do it or at least when she does, she keeps it mercifully brief. Well, I should join a simiiar legion: those who complain about being tired. It's not like complaining fixes anything after all.

Instead, it is time to make some decaf coffee, walk to the grocery for some chocolate milk, at drink some water.

Back when I attended cons regularly, I would stay up for 60+ hours at a stretch. The best tricks for staying awake for far longer than your body wants to allow are simple. Good food. Not just carbs, but ideally a mix of simple carbs (like orange juice) and protein (like eggs). Staying active, sitting on my butt will put me back into the sleepy zone faster than anything! And varying the activities. If you do the same thing over and over, even if it is interesting, eventually you will tune out.

That makes the simple stockinette sock and simple stockinette/reverse stockinette sweater both bad choices. Heck, it makes attempting to read Perdido Street Station (time number 2 from the library) also a bad idea. The beautiful language is too dense for a brain that wants yes or no answers. It's time for a walk around the block, some time in the back yard, the aforementioned trip to the grocery store, and then back for some more knitting, a glass of juice, and a nap.

The sock is from Shibui Sock (no label, so I don't know which flavor) in Ropponji IIRC. The needles are the Kollage square dpns. Of course, I seem to have misplaced a needle, probably in the craft room, so I'm working with 4 needles instead of 5. No big deal, but if you have tried the square needles and didn't like them, contact me. I'll happily take them off of your hands!

[10 Tuesday] pizza for lunch

Today's 10 for Tuesday topic (top 10 pizza toppings) seems appropriate given that I just ate a serving of "edible pasta bowl" that was leftover from ordering out last week. Now, I didn't know what an edible pasta bowl is, but I figured that it would have cheese, pasta and after that as long as it was vegetarian that would be aOK.

So you know, an edible pasta bowl is glorified pizza. Mine was a pizza style crust done up slightly more like a deep dish pizza, filled with ziti and sauce, topped with eggplant parmesan rounds and covered with cheese and baked. Tasty. Not healthy, and probably something I should make myself rather than ordering out.

As a vegetarian, my top pizza toppings are probably boring to a lot of people. Oh well.

1. Mushrooms. Well, duh. Sauteed, marsala style, or just raw ones thrown on top before going in the oven. They all work well.

2. Broccoli. One of my friends thinks it is unnatural. That just makes me love it more.

3. Garlic. Extra garlic equals extra breath weapon. Yeah!

4. Pineapple. I love pineapple on pizza. I am afraid (alarmed by) most vegeterian bacon alternatives, so just pineapple it is.

5. Yukon golds with gorgonzola. It is a great combo, though the place I've had this most recently needs to do a better job of precooking their potatoes.

6. Pear and gorgonzola is delicious too.

7. Ricotta. I love soft pillows of ricotta on my pizza.

8. Eggplant parmesan. It works really well, because it doesn't get too greasy sitting on top of the pizza. That doesn't stop this pizza from being a blotter.

9. Brie and granny smiths. I like the fruit and cheese combos.

10. Vegeterian chorizo with beans (tex-mex style). I make mine usually with TVP, though I have considered making it with lentils as well. If I don't use TVP,  then I usually buy the Smart Life brand of ground meat crumbles though it has worked with every method I've used so far.

I've also had dessert pizza, which in most of my experiences have been much better in theory than actuality.

Sep 22, 2012

I have about two hours left to wait for the Amtrak before going to Maine and I am valiantly trying not to fall asleep on the wooden bench near the arrivals/departures board. I am still working on Sheer Beauty, which I started Wednesday night after work. I am through the first 4-5 welts, and am grateful for each decrease row I finish.
I thought about photographing my progress, but I am still in that spaghetti stage where all of the stitches are cramped on the needles. It looks like a hot ruffly mess. At least I was able to confirm to my satisfaction that I hadn't twisted the joining row. Yatta!
I am sitting across from Emack and Bolio's, which means I want second ice cream. First ice cream was from Christina's on my walk to North Station. Thank goodness for tasty treats to make the time pass by.
And, especially, thank goodness for wifi at the station. I can only imagine what trouble I would get into without it.

Everybody poops!

Sometimes.... And yes, that is a picture of our cat on a toilet. The things my husband goes through for blog fodder.

We got a groupon a few months ago for one of those cat toilet training kits, so we bought one bag of flushable litter and gave it a go. The instructions imply that this could be a single month process, but not for our obstinate kitty. The process despite our length of time is pretty easy. You set up one of the toilet inserts, fill it with litter and introduce your kitty to a smaller shallow litter amount. Every week or so (at least a week of no accidents), you remove one of the circles. You have a second insert in case you need to backtrack. I'm just glad it worked!

However, after nearly 3 months, she gives you a look when you come out of the bathroom and goes in for her turn on the toilet! She has graduated from kitty poo school, and now all I have to do is give the toilet and the surrounding areas a good scrub and everyone (well, except for Victor) can use the toilet again!

While the toilet training felt like it was taking forever, it really hasn't been that bad at all. We only went through one largish bag of flushable litter, and now we can be litter free! No more scooping feels awesome (and probably more awesome for my husband who does the actual scooping more than 90% of the time).

Now if I could just equip Victor with a poo bag sort of like what they use for horses in the city and then train him to put in the trash... nah, too much work. I'll just walk him and pick it up.

Oh, and this photo was brought to you by 9 treats training Saru-chan's eyes to be up and focused. What? You don't bribe your animals for fun and vigorous jazz hands and profit?

The title of this post is brought to you by Taro Gomi's book, Everyone Poops, and Everybody Hurts by REM.

 
Never say I never earwormed you...

 

[10 Tuesday] the weekend is so far away

Of course, it is but a blink of an eye if you are thinking geological time.

The weekend is when most of my socializing happens. I go to knitting, bake and visit friends, make (sometimes) enough food to supply us with lunch leftovers for the week, clean (as little as possible) and have extra long walks with the dog. Bad news, when it happens, results in a tightening of the belt, usually only after a dangerous spurt of retail therapy. That retail therapy often happens on the weekends too. So, this week's 10 for Tuesday is things you'd like to do on the weekend. Rather than generics, here is what I'm hoping to do this weekend (no particular order).

1. Visit my family. They are only in Maine, but we don't have a car so it is a lot harder to visit. Car rentals are expensive when you are doing them more than once a month. It's time to investigate the bus/train schedule, but I'm not terribly looking forward to a solitary ride. We'll see.

2. Knitting. There is Crafts and Cocktails at Gather Here on Thursday, and the Knitter's Brunch Saturday morning. I'd love to go to both, because it is a different crowd on Saturday. While it is friendly people at both times, I jive a little better with the Saturday crowd (though that might be the pressure from the work week clouding things on Thursday).

3. Reading. I have a knitting book out from the library that I have to return by the 25th and a pair of novels that need to be returned by the 28th. I'm almost done, but I need to take the time to finish the last one.

4. Ice cream. I have been planning to make whoopie pie ice cream for a couple of weeks now. While I might get the ice cream base prepped and the whoopie pies made before the weekend, I'd like it done by Sunday either way.

5. Surf the internet. It's a bad habit, but I will probably spend some time on Ravelry. I need to buy beads (I don't have the right color) for my next sweater for me project, so until I get those it is looking at knee socks patterns and thinking about making a honey cowl.

6. Rake the yard. I don't want to do this, but at least with my Nike Fuelband I can more accurately quantify raking as exercise. The Fuelband (which I wear all day long like a watch) also gives me "exercise points" for doing dishes and cleaning. Every little bit helps.

7. Finish the cutting and start the sewing for the skirt. I missed class last night because my back hurt too much to contemplate cutting and sewing all day Sunday. As it is getting a bit better, I think I might find some time for that.

8. Pinball. Some pinball games are more physics-y than others, so I am a bit stalled out on the Plants v. Zombies pinball. I might have to go back to Metroid pinball to get my high score happiness. Or, you know, practice.

9. Coffee. I'm trying to be thrifty at least foodwise for the moment, so I'm making my own coffee. I'll probably get coffee out on Saturday, because Dwelltime has a nice skim latte that doesn't feel like just skim.

10. Gaming. Normally it is Friday and Saturday nights (different groups and not every week). I'm not sure what is happening in that regard this weekend, but I'm hopeful that we will either be kicking butt and taking names in one of the groups.

Stupid back

As a stress reaction, having my back become a snarl of unhappy ouchiness (that's a technical term) leaves a lot to be desired. Saturday, on my way to the grocery store, I got up, slung my bag over my shoulder, and bam!

Thanks back. Love you too.

So, instead of working on my homework for Gather Here, I sat for most of Saturday and a good chunk of Sunday on the squishy couch (itself not the best thing for the sore back, but mostly that shows up in getting up and down). At least I know it is stress. I don't remember why it happened the last time, but the first time it happened I was in the process of making wedding cake for my friend's wedding. As soon as the cake was frosted and transported to the walkin refrigerator, my back felt better. Over two weeks of discomfort, and voila it was gone.

Here is hoping that is the case here as well.

I hope your weekend was filled with something more pleasant than sitting around listening to the Pats lose on the radio.

who can mope around a picot hem

Yup, I finished something else. Just socks (I was tsked tsked on Saturday for saying just a sock). But they are socks without a pattern.

I finished these socks over lunch or on the way home on Monday or Tuesday. Don't really remember.

I don't care either, because they are beautiful. They are easy and wonky and the wonkiness doesn't really show. That is a good sock!

So, I did use a pattern as reference for the heel flap/turning the heel, because I wasn't sure how many stitches I wanted to do. That worked pretty well, but I neglected all references for the toes and the Kitchener, which I normally always pull up a reference document for.

The yarn is the Cascade Heritage Paints, and I have a bit of the skein left. I will save the yarn for my eventual hexipuff blanket. It will be awesome.

Oh, and as for wonky. The first toe I forgot that I had 32 stitches for the instep and 28 for the sole. I had to do some rows with only decreases on the front, but it worked well and it might be noticeable, but only if you are closely looking at the toe end of the socks. Good enough for me!

In my continuing mission (to explore strange new...) to keep from becoming grumpy as I wake up in the dark and start getting home in the dark, I am swatching (crazy!) for a new sweater. I'm intending to make a sparkly version of Sheer Beauty (rav link) from the Knit Swirl book. I have 2 skeins of Party Angel from Gather Here (and need two more, boooh!) and 5 skeins of Flicker from Windsor Button. The colors are surprisingly close with the Party Angel being a less brown and possibly a tiny bit more yellow. Hopefully I'll have a swatch by the weekend, because I could use a bit of sparkle to show off here.

Should I bead the stockinette welts of the sweater? Feel free to weigh in, because I'm always happy for help in the search for more awesome!