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Tuesday, March 29, 2005

absence yada yada...

I haven't had a chance to blog much, although I have plenty to blog about (isn't that always the way? I mean sometimes I have nothing to blog about, and I still post something). Anyway, this may be the one time I surface this week to post as I'm stressin' about taking the psych GRE this Saturday.

Thank you Lisa!
First a strong Thank you to Lisa at BlogDogBlog who had a contest on her blog to caption a pic of her cute puppy! She sent out sock yarn to all people. In fact, she sent me my first skein of Opal sock yarn!!! In an absolutely fab shade of green and beige!!! This is so wonderful, as I'm currently going ga ga over green fiber!!!



the weekend
Saturday evening ervy, fu, and I (or as minger like to put it ELOFU) went up to Spices in the city. It was so yummy! This was the first time we went to the second spices (about two blocks from the first spices), and we found the food to be as good, but presented much better. We also had a nice spacious table (the other spices packs ya in like a can of sardines!).

Afterward we headed next door to The Green Apple (a new and used book store). I beelined for the craft section to check out any used knitting books. If I didn't already have Weekend knitting, I would have bought it (it was only$15 and in better condition than mine at home since the cats have chewed on the corners). Instead I picked up these lovelies:



Top Left: A book on bookbinding. I really like making my own journals and binding things together for photo presentations, but after having such a tough experience finding a good set of instructions for coptic stitch binding, I thought having this in my reference library might be nice.

Top Right: Wild With a Glue Gun. This is actually a fairly new book. It also interviews some of its favorite online craft bloggers including a few I read (most notably Not Martha. She has recently posted a pic and recipe for an oven baked dutch baby pancake!! yum! They serve those at our favorite pancake place nearby). It has a few cute ideas I might like to try. I definitely want to go to a fabric store and get a the cardboard from the bolts of fabric to use to weave a scarf! It will be my first time weaving :)

Lower Left: How to Knit by Debbie Bliss. I love this book mainly for its stitch library, just browsing, I know there's some stitches I really want to design some stuff with! There are also a few patterns I might like to try

Lower Right: Simple Knits with a Twist. I've eyed this book before, but I never really thought it was much more than very pretty photography. At used book prices though, I figured I would give it a shot. I'm not sure yet whether there is anything in here I'd knit, but we'll see.

Afterwards we visited Ming's city apartment for the first time, and we met his new kitty Beckett (pics avail on his blog here). Beckett was a cutie and a lover, although he was much much LARGER than any of the other kitties I know!

Speaking of books and DIY craftiness. I was reading through my blogs last week, and someone was talking about these two mags: Budget Living and ReadyMade. I hadn't really looked at either before, so I picked them up at Kepler's on Friday (after satisfying a MAJOR fish and chips need at the British Banker's Club). I REALLY like these mags. ReadyMade is awesome. Very DIY for eco-friendly purposes. They have these neat challenges to their readers to be crafty with things like wood shipping pallets or those heavy duty milk crates! Budget Living is fairly nice too. I could skip on the fashion stuff, but they also hold up crafting in high regard. They have a small diy section, and they even interviewed the creator of Craftster.org (a favorite stomping ground of mine). They do point out some neat deals or finds for your house as well which could always be handy.

kitties
They've been behaving pretty well. They've started using each other's litterboxes... just cause. I guess they think the grass is greener on the other side.

They also realized that they super enjoy lounging on our laundry pile:




Nikko still wakes up and starts whining for something at 7am. We don't know what he wants.... when will he start to sleep LATER?!!

Tea lovers should check out Numi Organic Teas. (Again, I saw this on someone's blog last night, but I can't for the life of me remember which one :( ).They're actually based locally (in Oakland), but they make the most BEAUTIFUL teas ever! They handsew the tea leaves so that when the tea is brewed, they open up into beautiful flower shapes! Obviously this is only good if you have some sort of clear brewing contraption like a museum tea pot or ingenuitea (from adagio.com). The prices are a bit prohibitive for me right now, but it's certainly a neat discovery!

vpod


Thursday, March 24, 2005

Dorowat!

I meant to blog on Wednesday about the yummy meal I made on Tuesday night. I tried a Dorowat recipe in my crockpot. What's Dorowat you ask? Apparently it's an Ethiopian dish! I was searching madly for something to make with stuff I had on hand. So I altered the recipe a bit.

1. Basically you chop a couple onions, brown it in a pan, then add chopped garlic and ginger root.
2. On top of that you add a can of chopped tomatoes and chicken broth. I added LOTs of extra chicken broth because I also added pearl barley and potatoes to the recipe!
3. After bringing the mixture to a boil, pour in your crockpot! Add chicken (I used boneless skinless thighs), I added chopped russet potatoes, and a handful of pearl barley.
4. Spice it all up with a good pinch of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Add a dash of ground cardamom, and a 1/2 tsp of tumeric!
5. Put crockpot on high for 3 hours, then add some hard boiled eggs (I added four). Cook on high for another 45 minutes.

Serve with rice and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and chopped red onions!!

Very very tasty!! And very different flavors than I've had in a main dish in a while.

yarn
Some yarns I've been spinning:

Swim Shorts (white corriendale wool, blue merino wool, and bright orange mohair locks! this skein is so wonderfully soft! I'm going to make more of it... I love love it!)


close up


Dirt Cake... you know those cakes that were supposed to look like dirt and had gummi worms in them?! (brown llama fiber, with big bulky merino worms all plied with blue polyester thread)


closeup


vpod
This photo looks so awkward for some reason...

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

yarny

yarn stuffs (knitting and spinning)

I finished spinning up another yarn yesterday, but it's drying, and I'm thinking I want to ply it before I say it's finished... I do like it a lot though! I think I'm getting better at sending off my babies favorite handspun skeins. I have such a connection with my handspun, sometimes they're hard to part with when I sell them. I'm sure they're all going to lovely homes, I just wish I knew what became of them. :) *sigh*

ooh, check out this. I saw it on one of my lj groups. Guerilla Spinning! That's right. take over your local coffee shop!

Thanks for the comments on the moebius! I should say that I do love the color, just not the length. I think maybe I'll frog it and either make it shorter and wider, or use it for the lap blanket from Weekend Knitting since I have more of the yarn, and it's quite warm... hmm... such decisions I'm forced to make!

on comments
if you haven't thrown in your 2 cents on commenting, please do! I really want to know what people prefer. I do understand Abigail, because I am quite used to the livejournal comment system, where you reply at the post and the commenter receives it in email form... WHY BLOGGER??!! WHY CAN'T YOU DO THAT?? AND WHY MUST YOU HAVE A CRAPPY COMMENTING SYSTEM THAT ONLY LETS PEOPLE COMMENT 50% OF THE TIME!!!??

end rant

random
random linky... I love it when artists sneak into big museums and hang up their work. It just amuses me...

VPotD (Vintage Pattern of the Day)

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Rainy tuesday blues

Ervan's bro left this morning. It was so unfortunate that the entire time he was here it rained. :(

He did get to spend a lot of time with the kitties who are quite happy staying together during the night now on our bed. Nikko's foster daddy contacted me over the weekend and sent me some photos he had of Nikko from about a month ago as well as a picture of his sister!

Nikko looked the same:


His sister looks so different from him though!

She's so much furrier! Apparently she is also a lot shier than Nikko. But I think Nikko is the most outgoing kitty I've ever met.

Spinning
I finished spinning up the rest of the green roving I dyed with Wilton dyes last week. Then I decided to ply in some magenta/maroon mohair curls for this week's Fiber Friday theme "Garden". This skein reminds me of roses blooming on their stems!



close-up


knitting
Even with sean (ervy's bro) here and my studying all weekend, I did manage to cast on for a moebius scarf (I got to use my hello kitty stitch markers from Lynette!) and finish it. I haven't blocked it yet or woven in the ends.

wrapped as a cowl hood thing:


It's also way too long, so I have to double it around if I want to use it as a scarf:


I totally forgot I had a widow's peak until I saw these pictures, I guess I don't wear my hair up much in pictures anymore. Did I mention I don't even like this moebius? I may like it more after blocking, we'll see. I used some recycled yarn from a Laura ashley sweater and a strand of bright blue mohair yarn (Geisha) on US#13 Addi Turbo 40" circulars. I cast on roughly 135 stitches.

Vintage pattern of the day
Emy mentioned that she thought the era of sleek, chic and elegant are staging a comeback!

Indeed I agree. I think a US News magazine in my bathroom also agrees, as they noted that many of the conservative sweater sets and what not are back in fashion once more!

Today's vintage knitting pattern is a tennis player set for the whole family!


on comments
what do you all feel is the best way to respond to comments on a blog?

1) reply by email if the email is given?
2) reply as a comment on the same post?
3) address comment in following day blog post?
4) something else?

I'm still trying to figure out the right ettiquette for these things!

Thursday, March 17, 2005

"I won't get involved in your kitty politics!"

The title of this post is a quote from ervan. I forget what I was saying about the kitties, but he misheard it as "I won't get involved in your kitty politics!" which amused him to no end. Now whenever the cats misbehave, he likes to say that to them in a high pitched british voice.

Speaking of the kitties, they have been getting in tiffs lately. *sigh* They'll be completely fine for awhile, and then suddenly boom! One of them has enough of the other's tail pouncing.

Here's Asha hiding behind the couch watching Nikko warily during one of their spats.


Nikko is going to the vet again today. His right eye has become really red and irritated and leaky. Plus, his paw pads are peeling (looks like human athelete's foot or something... eeewww) Hoopefully the vet will know what's going on.


HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!
I've got corned beef and cabbage in the crockpot! Yeah baby! Gimme a side of garlic mashed potatoes and I'm set!

vintage knit pattern of the day


As far as my own knitting, I finally picked up my work on the right hand mikado ribbon fingerless glove pattern! Hopefully I'll have a full set for this weekend!

Monday, March 14, 2005

My sincerest apologies...

I have to apologize to my readership for inflicting my own spider fears/woes upon you all. Let me send out my absolutely biggest apology to poor Sarah who managed to increase her fear of spiders due to my post yesterday.

Just be happy to know that besides ervy (my spider squishing hero), I at least know Asha enjoys a good spider hunt as well. Between the two, I'm sure I'll be safe :) I don't know yet if Nikko would chase a spider.


Thank you all again for leaving comments for my contest. Many of you mentioned that you really liked the vintage pattern of the day. Now I know I have been kinda sloppy on the one-a-day part. It sort of depends on how quickly I get them scanned in. I really enjoy sharing these pictures with y'all, and I'm glad y'all are getting some enjoyment from them as well! With that in mind, here's today's vintage pattern:



over the weekend
Yesterday's post was getting mighty hefty, so I left out my weekend updates.

The GORGEOUS weather here in CA stirred my gardener's spirit last week. I spent Sunday planting my new tomato seedlings (Early Girl, sweet cherry tomatoes, Golden Delicious (a new variety for me, supposedly it has a flavor similar to the apple), Mr. Stripey (that's actually its name. It's also a new breed for me, supposedly a nice mild flavor), and yellow pear tomatoes. I'm still looking for Green Zebra seedlings (holler out if anyone knows any bay area nurseries that carry them), and I'm keeping my eye out for Black Krim which I got last year at Home Depot. I don't have the set up to start any out from seedlings just yet, maybe next year. US News pointed out this greater self water seeding starter kit at gardeners.com. If anyone else has tried any amazing varieties, let me know and I'll keep my eyes out for them. I always love trying to grow new tomatoes :)

The Winner is....

Elizabeth from Three Olive Martini! An email has been sent to Elizabeth who will be receiving this in the mail:



Close-up:


Because I know Blogger has been poopy about letting people comment without a hassle, I did the drawing based on the list from my Guest Map, and used a random number generator to determine the winner :)

What I've learned from my guestmap

First of all, BAY AREA IN THE HIZZOUSE, BABY! What a wonderful bunch of knit bloggers we have going here!

I really really enjoy seeing y'all on my guestmap. It's really interesting to see how the US is divided up. Most of my readership is from along the east or west coast and there are a few that go straight up the middle of the US. What happened to people in the inbetween bits, I wonder?

I have a few international readers:

Mozemen from Israel

Ada in Holland

Jennifer, Cara, Kelly, and Jacqueline from Canada

Thank you everyone for playing!

Vote for Asha!!!
lol... unrestrained bias, but go over to the purrrfect kitty contest and vote for your favorite kitty! Asha has stiff competition!

Amazing Yarns Review
This past weekend I went with some friends from my knitting group to visit Amazing Yarns in Redwood City. This yarn shop is in the Emerald Hills area in the wonderful house of Andrea. First off, let me just say that Andrea is an absolutely inspiring woman. Besides the fact that she LIVES in her own yarn shop (what a wonderful life that must be!!!!), she weaves, knits, crochets, fabric paints, sews and gardens.

Her garden was absolutely stunning. Like Ina Garten from Barefoot Contessa, she grows her own veggies (lots of herbs and tomatoes in the summer), lots of fruit trees, and even grows wine grapes so they can make a couple of their own bottles of wine! She also introduced me to scented geraniums of which she had many (she uses them for potpouri). I was amazed to find how much the rose geraniums smelled SO much like rose! She sent me home with a bunch of cuttings so that I too may try to grow these heavenly scented things! Here's a wonderful martha stewart-esque tip I got from her regarding the geraniums. When she has parties, she loves taking the larger leaves of the Chocolate Mint Geraniums to use as coasters so that when guests raise their glasses, they get the lovely scent with their drink.

As for the yarns, YUM! Her downstairs entrance is part of the yarn shop as well as the meeting area for a knitting and crochet guild. Her 2nd floor indoor balcony surrounds the downstairs, and you can see beautiful skeins of yarns and knitted items draped across all the banisters. Going upstairs, you'll find she has a small collection of natural colored rovings (plus a few dyed ones) and some bags of wonderfully colored mohair curls (I purchased a couple of these bags). There is somewhat of an organization to the upstairs. It seems as though there are bunches of similar fiber skeins together (cotton vs alpaca), and skeins sorted by creator. She carries some beautiful skeins from various handspinners and dyers. I would definitely go here to find some of the more unusual handspun. She also carries a bunch of patterns and has many books for spinners/weavers/knitters/crocheters around for perusal and purchase. Although I do not crochet, I noted that she had an amazing stock of crochet hooks including addi crochet hooks (which I had never seen before). She also carries a good stock of Addi Turbos for knitting, and lots of other wonderful notions to check out.

On an extra exciting note, when she found out I spin fun novelty yarns with feathers she told me that if I ever wanted to sell her a few she would sell them in her store! The nice thing is that I don't need to be prolific, she says she has some handspinners who are quite regular at getting her skeins, and others that are on and off. I'm SOOO excited at this prospect, but I don't want to really get into this until after the April GRE psych exam.

spiders
With this wonderful weather has come lots of pollen (hayfever) and lots of spiders. Oh yeah, it's spider season. I point out a couple to evan almost everyday for squishing. I've been getting spider bites while I sleep too. I got complete neurotic yesterday evening as I was folding clothes on the bed. A spider cam walking over the folds of the pile of clothes straight at me (I swear he was coming for me, although ervy thinks I'm just nuts! Either way, he was gunning in my direction!). I got the heebejeebees (sp?) and forced myself to take a bath while I had ervy change the sheets.

ok, maybe i have a small case of aracnophobia. I shake out my clothes before putting them on, I shake out my towel before wrapping myself in it, I check my shampoo bottle before picking it up (once I was in the shower at my parent's house and I picked up my shampoo and a spider jumped off of it onto me, luckily I was in the shower so it just washed down the drain, but FREAKY MAN!), I've even checked under the toilet seat (I've definitely had spiders crawl out from under the toilet rim).

Anyway, all night I kept having nightmares about spiders and ants covering me. I'd toss and turn, but wake up enough to pull the covers tight enough around me as to not allow entrance to any spiders.

I'm a freak. I admit it. Sheesh, I just can't stand spiders!

sumo bunny and nikko asha update
Here's my bunny body I knitted last week, see it looks like a sumo wrestler, no? Nikko stuck his inquisitive head into my picture. But it just made it cuter!


Nikko and Asha are doing so well. They clean each other now which I find horribly adorable! In the evenings when they're super active, they like to play 'tag.' Nikko will gear up and pounce on Asha (or vice versa), then Asha will turn around and chase Nikko. They go back and forth like this until they both collapse exhausted on the floor. You can tell from their body language that they aren't fighting, they'll run away with tails in the air, happy and excited.

Friday, March 11, 2005

where has the time gone this week?

My week has been crazy busy so I've been lax on posting :(

Don't forget to enter the contest! The drawing is Monday!

I'm giving away this handspun (to be plied over the weekend!). It's been so WARM out here in CA this past week. Absolutely gorgeous (although my hay fever is just about to go nuts!). So what better time for ICE CREAM! This handspun is Vanilla, Chocolate, and some fruity flavor (a bit of strawberry and a bit of peach!), spun from llama, corriendale, and polworth rovings! Yummy! It will be plied over the weekend and ready for shipping after the drawing :)



RAOK's!

I am a complete putz, and forgot to mention that the cookies from Annie over at The COTFU Blog arrived a week ago!!! Mmm... the first box of Samoas is nearly finished. Local friends must come over and help demolish the second box :) Yum! My sweet tooth thanks you kindly Annie!

Yesterday, I received a wonderful package from Julie over at Stoneview. After all the discussion of stitch markers on the RAOK list, she sent me a lovely set of hematite stitch markers! Lookie!! I can't wait to put them on my next project! Thanks Julie.



Last week I was over visiting Elizabeth's blog (Asanteyaa) and she was giving away this lovely yarn:



I received it in the mail today, and it's soooo yummy! It's beautiful soft single ply (38% silk, 30% wool, 20% kid mohair, and 12% acrylic). It's called Piazza Navona by Baruffa. It's so lovely! I'm thinking either a scarf or a hat with this wonderful yarn. Thanks so much Elizabeth!

I leave you all with a cute pic of kitties on a window sill :)


Wednesday, March 09, 2005

quick update before running mass experiments

I have had a couple questions on the vanilla trick. As in, "why on earth would you put vanilla on your kitties?"

When I was reading up on the internet on how to introduce kitties, I heard some talk of "the vanilla trick." As I mentioned before, you take real vanilla extract and dab some on the chin, back of the neck, and base of the tail (spine side) of each cat. The general theory behind this is that the kitties will think they smell more alike, and thus may perceive each other as being from the same family. So the other cat may be more likely perceived as friend rather than foe.

I have no idea if this is really true or not, but I've definitely heard of this type of trick being used with other animals as well (like chinchillas). Either way, I thought it couldn't hurt trying it to make the introductions smoother.

Asha is really funny about having Nikko out and about. She follows him everywhere he walks, I think she's just minding her space, and wants to make sure Nikko doesn't think the territory is really his (her quest for dominance). Nikko still gets batted at and hissed at (like when he sprawls out on her scratching post), but he really seems like he could care less. When we put him away for the night, Asha sat outside his door crying for a little while before coming to bed. It made me happy to see that she missed him. She ran into his room as soon as I went in to feed him this morning too. I let them play together for 30 minutes while I got ready to go, but Nikko is relagated to his room alone for the day since no one will be there to supervise.

Stacey mentioned that she can't wait to see how Nikko likes yarn! Well I haven't caught a pic yet, but I know I'm going to have trouble knitting around this furry baby. Nikko thinks EVERYTHING dangly is a plaything. He LOVES the yarn I attached to his scratching post. He also loves batting at and eating my hair, my computer cord (eeks!), etc!

Vintage knitting pattern of the day:



Kitty Contest at Cara's Blog!

Cara's holding a Purrfect Kitty Contest where people send in pics of their kitty and people vote on their favorites!!! Cute kitties + contest! What could be more fun?!
I sent in a pic of asha already (I'm supposed to send in one kitty pic at a time). I'll let you know when you all can go vote!

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

wonderful progress!

I am simply amazed at the progress Asha and Nikko are making. I was supposed to go into work today, but we had an ant attack in the bathroom so I had to clear up the second bedroom and kitty proof it so Nikko could go there.

Once I moved him, I was surprised to hear Asha outside the door crying like Nikko does when he's lonely. As it turns out, much of her previous hostility towards Nikko indeed gtave way to curiosity. She would run in to a safe distance with Nikko. Hiss at him. Bat at him w/ her claws in as if to test him. He would completely ignore her (except for when her tail twitched, then he'd pounce on that like a toy, upseting asha quite a bit). Once asha sufficiently worked herself up, she'd retreat out of the bedroom, only to come back crying through the door in another 5-10 minutes.

Since I was home today, I decided I could nurture this behaviour. I was at the ready with a towel in one hand and a squirt bottle in the other. I did have to take Excedrin tension headache, because I was so stressed out about them meeting I developed a migraine. Finally with about four hours of this behavior this occurred.











I should mention that when I realized they were going to be meeting today, I employed the vanilla extract trick. A dab of vanilla on the chin, back of the neck and base of the tail of each cat. Evan will be so pleased by our kitties. The stress of them at odds has been keeping him up at night. Nikko does have some sleeping habits that Asha has given him weird looks for. He "runs" in his sleep, so his feet kinda kick Asha at times. He also lets out weird howls sometimes while asleep that wake Asha up.

I know that this doesn't mean they're completely good from here on out, and I'll probably still separate them at night and when I leave the house for a while. But really, I'm so incredibly enthused at their progress that my migraine has almost dissappeared, and I may get back to studying for the psych gre yet! Just wanted to share my joy.

On the map and the contest

I'm so excited to see people place themselves on my map. I know it's hard to place your pin exactly, but as long as people get somewhat close, I'm happy! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look at yesterday's entry!!

I started spinning a yarn for the prize. It looks sweet and yummy! literally.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Welcome to the family

This weekend we added a new member to the family:



We were worried Asha was getting lonely, because I haven't been home as much and she was acting out a bit (we think because she misses us when we're gone). So we ended up finding Nikko at a pet fair on Saturday by chance (we were really in the area to get In & Out grilled cheeses and burgers, but swung by Pet Club on a lark). He's 6 mos, already as big if not bigger than Asha, and is Mr. Curious and happy.

Asha hates him. Or she hates the smell of another cat. She's been growling and hissing at the bathroom door (where nikko is located). We've had them exchange rooms, and we have asha eat her food in front of his door on a blanket he's slept and played on like we've read on the internet. If anyone else who has introduced kitties has any advice on this, it'd be much appreciated!

secret pal

I got a package from my secret pal on Saturday! She had her Stampin' Up friend send me a whole stamping scrapbook starter kit!
There are some cute stamps and a pretty plum colored stamp pad! There are also some blank cards and envelopes so I can send out some fun stamped cards to people in my next RAOKs! There's also a bunch of cardstock that I can use to start scrapbooking. Thanks a bunch secret pal! I love getting new stamps and crafting supplies!



Vintage pattern of the day and a contest!!!!!



Yup A CONTEST!!! You see, here at Lorispeak, we had a bit of a celebration on friday complete with really yummy sweet champagne (actually Chamagne as it was from Champagne, we usually drink sparkling wine from CA)! On Friday I had 101 subscribers according to Bloglines! Today I'm up to 104! It's a big milestone for my blog, and we're going to celebrate it with a contest. I haven't quite figured out the prize yet, but it will be special and knitting related (perhaps some yummy handspun? :) ).

To enter the contest:

I've added a guestmap service on my sidebar so I can get an idea of what parts of the world my visitors are from (such a curious mind I have :P )

Add your spot to my guest map, and then comment on this post. I will do a random drawing based on the comments next Monday, March 14th.

Friday, March 04, 2005

friday, almost end of the week, itching to knit!

Went to the doctor yesterday. She doesn't think it's carpal tunnel (thank goodness), just repetitive stress and the muscles are unhappy. She said I might try knitting again for an hour after this week, or the next week (so I'll try at the end of this week of course!)

in the meantime, I tried my hand at making a few kanzashi. I really want to break out an iron, and see how the folding goes if I do crisp presses. I think right now the thinner fabrics work best.

here's one that I've finished



i've done 5 other flowers, but I haven't finished them off yet, so I'll show y'all later.

random link for y'all

this isn't gross, it's actually just pictures of peoples' fingers that end up looking like butts. I found it horribly amusing.
Finger Booty

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Tsunami Kanzashi

And Craftster comes through AGAIN!

here are two tutorial links to make tsunami kanzashi

pointy tsunami kanzashi flowers:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=24944.0

rounded petal tsunami kanzashi flowers:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=14;topic=25125.5

guess what I'll be doing tonight

Dyeing when I can't knit

I've been keeping myself busy with work and other things so that I don't think too much about my lack of knitting. Last night I satisfied my crafty interests by dyeing some yarns I've been meaning to dye for a while. These were two new skeins of 100% virgin wool dyed with Wilton Icing dyes (handpainted on). Again, I'm really just so impressed with the vibrancy of the colors that result from this dye! These skeins remind me of summer by the pool, guess my heart is in the wrong season right now :)



If you're looking for a tutorial on dyeing with Wilton Dyes, Jess at Fig and Plum found one here. I should emphasize that this tutorial does not show the way I use the wilton dyes. Perhaps next time I will do a nice photo tutorial of that. But I basically soak the yarn in water and vinegar until its nice and saturated. Then I place it over a long thing of saranwrap, and actually paint the dye onto the yarn with my fingers (wearing latex gloves of course). Then I wrap up the yarn into a saranwrap turd and do the nuke 2 min, pause 4 min, nuke 2 min, pause 4 min... until the water runs clear.

vintage pattern of the day


Question to other crafters
Does anyone know how to fold Kanzashi hair pieces? Those pretty fabric flowers? Or could someone point me to a nice resource?

If you don't know what I'm talking about. It's like this

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Ooh invisible cast-ons!

I found this great website with videos on the different cast-ons. It also shows the invisible cast on, honestly, it looks really neat!! It makes me excited to try a moebius scarf or something I want to knit off the bottom of. So as soon as these darn wrists/arms are feeling better, I'll be rocking the needles! I have a doctor's appt tomorrow, and the doctor has already instructed me not to knit right now :(

Ervy was reading my Tuesday blog post over my shoulder after I finished it, and he was suddenly quite accusatory, "HEY! You aren't supposed to be signing up for any more knit a longs!" He's so cute and concerned about my wrists!

random thoughts

All the Margueritte drivers seem to think I'm Japanese.

I am starting to worry that I'm really getting old. For the past couple days I've been wandering around worrying about my wrists and arms, and rubbing salve on the muscles to try to alleviate pain. It's not arthritis (I hope!), but I can imagine this would be like it. Also, with all the salve, I'm starting to smell like many older ladies/grandparents who often rub different ointments upon their joints. I'm 23, and I get carded whenever I try to get alcohol anywhere, but I'm quickly becoming an old woman. Sheesh.

I won something!!! Annie had a contest for Girl Scout Cookies! I'm gonna get 2 boxes of Samoas in the mail!!!! Woot Woot! Locals feel free to come over and help me eat them when they arrive :)

Vintage Pattern of the Day

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

even with my wrists

I'm still signing up for a new knit a long! The Bunny A Long, which I saw Abigail had joined.

I won't be starting a bunny this week, but I'm hopping err... hoping that I can knit one next week!

Thank you all for you wonderful words of support about my wrists and suggestions. I have been rubbing tiger balm on my wrists and forearms, and I will be looking into going to the Electronic Arts chiropractor - in between all the situps I'll be doing of course ;)

I have plans for when I return to knitting. I keep spotting things I want to knit! Did you know the new Magknits is out? I want to knit this scarf as I have never tried short rows before, and I think the effect is rather pretty.

other random
I completely forgot about the Oscars yesterday, even though I had planned to watch the fashions roll down the red carpet. I still caught a show though. Ervy and I were heading out for a late night donut run in search of donuts with coconut on them. Our neighborhood was out in full force watching a scene outside as we left. The fire department was busy hosing down a car that had apparently ignited while locked and empty. I was mostly amazed at how people came pouring out of the houses of our neighborhood to watch the going ons of the firemen.

vintage knit pattern of the day


I just got a huge 1961 needlecraft mag from ebay. The patterns are interesting, but really, I find the advertisements to be the most interesting part. I will scan some in to show y'all, but the ads are much more descriptive than today, and like to throw buzz words of the day around like "scientific" as in, buy this "scientific blanket."

Speaking of magazines... Ervy was super nice and ordered me Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting subscriptions to surprise me! What a great ervy-guy!
random question
Who is Rick James? Why is he freaky?