monday, november 28, 2005
Crank my yank
So Joann's had this
Embellish Knit! on sale. I don't like knitting I-cords so I knew I had to try it. It actually works--at least with the yarn that
came in the package. It apparently works with yarn up to worsted weigh but I'm going to try it with some chunky weight
just to see what will happen.
Product: Embellish Knit by Bond America
Price: ~$15.00
Does what it's supposed to: Yes
Worth buying?: Yes
If the yarn comes out of the little latches however, it looks to be damn near impossible to fix.
saturday, november 26, 2005
Our Thanksgiving Menu
I've always loved planning the Thanksgiving and trying many new recipes. This year my friends Bill and Kim came
to spend a warm Thanksgiving out here in San Diego (it's 22 degrees back in Maryland!)
Kim had several recipes that she always makes which made cooking easier, but we used Food and Wine magazine for everything
else.
THE MENU:
Butternut Squash Polenta Gratin (F&W, Nov. 2004)
Green Bean Casserole
Pumpkin Pie with Homemade Whipped Cream
The table (with my Portuguese grandmother's china).
A little knitting break from cooking
saturday, november 19, 2005
Very sad day
We lost our bunny Stella rather suddenly on Thursday night. We came into the bunny room after dinner and she was
laying in the litter box, unmoving but breathing. We rushed her to the emergency vet who began I.V. fluids but
told us that something appeared to be attacking her central nervous system and that it didn't look good. While we were
waiting, she stopped breathing and they tried to give her CPR, but the doctors were not able to get her to breathe on her
own any longer.
She had been to the vet recently for weight loss, and the vet wasn't sure what was wrong but said, based on x-rays, that
she appeared to have a large hair ball. We began to treat her for that and she gained some weight back and her eating
habits and personality were back to normal.
It is especially sad, because she and our other bunny Luna, were a bonded pair. They spent much of their time sitting
with their heads together.
We had a wonderful two years with Stella. Stella brought us joy every day. We will miss you Stella bear.
wednesday, november 16, 2005
Right on target
I know remember why I don't like using DPNs. I suck at it. But the only size for needles I have were DPNs
and that's what I needed to start the (partly) fingerless gloves from Weekend Knitting. This is all I have after several
days (of not trying very hard).
One of the guys in my office is always blasting the a.c. so I go from wearing a t-shirt to a hat and sweater. But
the hands need help, so my plan is to make the index and middle finger open (so I can use the mouse) and close the other fingers.
It will probably look weird but I'm not using those fingers for anything so they need to stay warm!
So in my frustration, I went out on bought some US 5 circular needles so I can go back to my faithful standby, the "Magic
Loop". What a relief. I actually started out with my Denise Interchangeables but the cords, in my opinion, are
just to stiff and it's difficult to slip the yarn over the joints constantly.
The target, by the way, is an odd thing we ran into in Balboa Park where I was helping my husband get some site measurements
for one of his architecture projects. There are actually folks who go down in this particular area and just shoot.
Cool.
friday, november 11, 2005
I went on a YARN BINGE....
....yesterday. I went onto the
Elann web site as I usually do in the mornings and lo and behold they were offering
Rowan Cork at 50% off. I actually can't remember ever seeing it in person (well, I'm sure I did at some point) but that didn't
stop me from buying a ridiculous amount of it. I've heard great things about it and I figure that if I can't knit it
all up (which I probably won't) that I should be able to re-sell it.
So I bought enough to make:
1. a cabled sweater for my husband in Snuggle (tan) which is his favorite color (see below)
2. a striped 3 color scarf in browns (Mouse, Earthy & Snuggle)
4. and then I bought a couple of balls in other colors (Horizon & Vapor) to make hats.
I later realized that there's a cool pair of cabled socks in
Handknit Holidays using Cork (check them out on
Savannah Chik's awesome list of pix/yarn requirements).
