Dandelion Picker

…on this whole knitting thing.

Nothing I make ever looks like its supposed to.

Take this stupid Urchin that I’ve ripped 10 times and restarted. What the hell is wrong with this thing? Why doesn’t it look like Ysolda’s??? She has such beautiful patterns. Can I not wrap & turn right? Maybe I can’t count.  I love the yarn Kara and Katie bought me and I had such high hopes for this hat, but I look like an idiot in it!

I won’t be wearing this out of the house:

Matt laughed at me. Maybe I won’t be wearing it in the house either.

Next up I finished my Newsboy Cap (from Stitch ‘N Bitch) a while ago and I think I forgot to blog it. So here it is.

(excuse the makeup less picture, I’m in a bad mood)

It needs to be blocked, but I’m being lazy. Overall this one turned out okay. I’ll probably make another. It is a cute style and I think now that I understand the pattern better it will go quicker.
I finished one sock of the Hedera pattern. I’ve come to the conclusion that I hate lace.

Here’s a close up:

Not bad for a first sock, at least it resembles the picture on the pattern. I’d try them on for you, but they don’t fit me.

So, yea, I’m kinda pissy about the knitting right now. And seriously irritated with that hat. I must be a little dense cause that pattern was confusing the hell out of me and no one else seemed to be having that problem. I couldn’t even tell which stitches were wrapped.

Maybe I’ll just stick with the baking…it doesn’t make me so irritated. Bleh.

A little meme I stole from Phoeknits!

1. Childhood ambition:
To be a veterinarian

2. Best/worst weather:
Fall is the best…I love spring too. I hate summer. I’m not all about the heat. Winter doesn’t bother me unless I’m driving in it.

3. Favorite food:
Indian, Mexican, raspberry brie en croute, anything sweet

4. Current book?
The Reason-Driven Life

5. Guilty pleasure:
Brownie batter, reality tv

6. One quirk?
I have to pick just one?

7. Something you’ve never done that most people have:
Gotten married / had a kid

8. Favorite drink?
Iced tea

9. Oddest job you’ve had:
I don’t think I’ve had any odd jobs, so I’m gonna have to go with working the ski lift at Brandywine and cleaning houses.

10. Last song you listened to on purpose:
No One – Alicia Keys

11. Cities, towns, villages you’ve lived in, in chronological order:
Toledo, Oh; Bloomville, Oh; Syracuse, NY; Sandusky, Oh; Maumee, Oh (my dad lived there anyway); Greensboro, NC (dad); Macedonia, Oh; Dallas, Tx (dad); Kent, Oh; Downtown Cleveland, Oh; Medina, Oh; Sagamore Hills, Oh - This probably isn’t the right order.

12. Teenage ambition:
Didn’t really have one, I never thought I’d live to see 21!

13. Movie you’d most like to be a character in:
Probably something like “I Dreamed of Africa” I would love to live there! Maybe “Gorillas in the Mist” it would be fun working with apes.

I have two questions for you knitters:

1. Where can I get sock blockers (stretchers) that don’t cost a fortune? I’ve looked on ebay but they seem to cost as much as the new ones I’ve found ($30).

2. I hate knitting on smaller sized (#2 or smaller) DPNs. I found a 12″ circular, but is this still too large to knit socks and mittens on? Do circulars come any smaller than 12″? I can’t seem to find any.

I watch tv while I knit and I noticed knitting on a couple of shows lately:

According to Jim (which I personally find the most annoying show ever): Cheryl was sitting on the couch knitting

The L Word: Alice took up knitting for like, one show LOL

George Lopez: Angie was knitting!

And I’m pretty sure there was some knitting in Friends, but I can’t put my finger on it.

I just thought it was weird that I saw those all in the same week! Can anyone think of any others???

“If there’s anything I’ve learned all these years on my own
its how to find my own way out there
and how to find my own way back home”

Ani DiFranco - Anticiapte

Sorry I’ve had that stuck in my head all day!

I just finished making some cookies I started yesterday. I forgot to read the recipe and didn’t notice that they said they had to be refrigerated overnight, so I just baked them off. They are Orange Ginger cookies I got off A Friend To Knit With. I was afraid they would taste a lot like last week’s cookies, but they are quite different. I like the buttery, orange flavor, its really nice. (Note to Stephanie: I subbed silken tofu again for the eggs, they tend to spread out a lot so leave some room between, watch them closely they didn’t seem to need 9 minutes - not sure if any of this is due to the tofu or not. Also I cut them much thicker than the pic after the first sheet came out super crispy!). The jury is still out if my brother likes them or not, I haven’t seen him yet.

My cookies may not look pretty but they taste damn good!

My mother has been on a scarf kick. I started knitting more so I could move on from the scarves, but now she wants scarves (its cold here, its Ohio!). They’re cheap to knit also. So I finished up this scarf for her. It needs some blocking then it will be ready to go.

BTW - I *hate* this yarn. Has anyone else used this Ironstone Yarns New Wool? Pretty yarn, but rough and a pain in the arse to knit with, I kept grabbing pieces of it and it was just a mess. I have a whole other skein she wants fingerless mittens out of but that’s my last time with this yarn!

Nothing exciting, you can’t really see but it has a few rows of pretty eyelets.

I didn’t make much headway on the socks, but I did get a little further.

I’m really loving this pattern. I’m not too stressed about finishing them cause my aunt told me last week that she’s allergic to wool, so now I’m just doing them for fun cause they’re my first pair of socks ever! I wish I could keep them and wear them, but I have huge feet and they won’t fit me. I need to find some cute sock yarn that isn’t wool or a wool blend.

I didn’t get any other knitting done, mostly because I was doing this:

That’s right! You can see the top of my desk!

***Matt just weighed in on the cookies. He doesn’t care for the orange flavor. He prefers last week’s but that didn’t stop him from eating a few of them. I still like this week’s cookies.

That is all…goodnight!

This is Aiden, Jodi’s baby. Isn’t he getting big?! I just had to post him cause he’s so damn cute! Look at that smile! I should probably get moving on the baby knitting huh?

and here’s why:

I got a letter from them last month telling me that regret to inform me that my cable and DSL bill is going up. They can’t help it, it costs a lot to bring me cable and high speed internet. Gas is expensive, times are tough, the rates have to increase…yadda yadda yadda
Ah, whatever, what am I gonna do, right?

Well today I get this in the mail:

How do you like their *NEW* four-color envelopes and matching stationary? Nice huh? Glad to see that money you squeezed out of me is going to make my cable bill LOOK pretty.

Is this really necessary? Especially nowadays when everyone pays this shit online? I mean seriously, I get my bill online, then they send me this paper bill, I pay it online, then throw this piece of paper along with the lovely matching envelope in the garbage.

Matt signed up for a paper-free experience with Chase…he now gets more paper junk mail from them than ever before! Its unbelievable!

We think he looks like Pop-pop…what do you think?

Its a total Matt hat. We went down to Mike the Hatter a few weeks ago. We must have looked lost cause one of the guys took pity on us and told him to try this one…and he liked it!

Here’s a pic of the gorgeous yarn Kara and Katie got me for Christmas! Isn’t that multi-colored one pretty!?

Here’s my question for you knitters…
That yarn is lumpy and bumpy (its actually called that too!) and its a bulky weight. I’ve never knitted with anything like it. What kind of projects are best for yarn that’s different weights like that? It would make a beautiful scarf, or maybe a hat…is it good for a hat project?

Thanks again Katie and Kara! I know I’m a little late with the Christmas postings, but I love it!

I was soooo looking forward to getting some stuff done this weekend! Yesterday I did some running around and went to JoAnn’s and Michael’s to blow my gift cards. Here’s some of the after Christmas take:

Then I ventured over to Whole Foods…I hadn’t been there yet and I wanted to check it out. I really liked it, I just wish there hadn’t been so many people there, it was so busy I just wanted to get out of there. Afterwards I went to my local grocery store and when I came back out, I found that my trusty “buy a Honda, they’re so reliable, they never break” Accord wouldn’t start…for the 3rd time in 2 months. Thank goodness my friend Marie came to rescue me (and my groceries). The car is still sitting at the grocery store waiting to be towed (hopefully tomorrow morning). I’m so glad Marie was home and I was so close to home myself!

I spent today at home…duh…making soup and cookies and knitting. I should have gotten a lot more done but I’m in a bad mood cause of the car.

So I was watching PBS (I LOOOOOVE PBS) and I saw this Carrot Soup recipe

so I made it. Matt LOVED it and I thought it was pretty damn good myself. The only thing I changed is that I used vegetable stock and I didn’t add the hot sauce or lemon juice…cause it sounded weird to me.

Then I made Pastina and Egg Soup with Spinach but I didn’t add the eggs. Its still pretty good though.

And of course every soup needs some crusty warm bread so I made Crusty French Bread.

And Steph from She’s Foxy and Crafty made these cookies the other day so I decided to try them too. They’re chewy and yummy. I replaced the eggs in this one with some silken tofu…you’d never know!

Now, I should get back to my Christmas mess that I haven’t found place for in my closet:

but instead I think I’m gonna keep working on that sock of Aunt Beth’s!

Sorry for the crappy pic. I know you can hardly see the pattern, but I really like them so far! I hope she does too! I think I’m really getting into this sock-knitting thing!