Friday, June 10, 2011

To my Ravelry friends:

I haven't forgotten about you! ♥ I know I have swaps and such to do. I'm fine, but I've been busy traveling the country (Texas, Kentucky, St. Louis) for job interviews, family, and friends. I'll be back later, but for example, I'm leaving later today for a week to visit a friend who is having a rough time of it.

I hope you all see this. :(

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Nails

I'm Konading again! :D ♥

I missed decorating my nails, I'm out of the hang of it.. can you tell by my sloppy job?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Gladys Peto

I just discovered the art of Gladys Peto while doing some random Wikipedia searching, taking a knitting break. (I look up randomness, such as.. the most expensive K-12 schools in New York and California -- found a boarding school for $45k a semester)



Her art is amazing, including her costumes; I think she tapped into a magical world that I have barely dipped my toe into.



It looks familiar, and I have no doubt that I have ran across her art before; it's just that now I know her name.



And I would gladly give up knitting forever, if I could have her Alice set of hankys. I use hankies instead of tissues in my every day life, but those I would treasure forever, and just wipe my glasses with; no way would I gunk them up!

I may not quit knitting forever, but I'd be happy to knit with only acrylic the rest of my life, for those hankies! ♥

Monday, May 2, 2011

I am the moon...

I saw them last night, it was all kinds of amazing. ♥♥



I have a TON to knit from now until Saturday, my time online will be limited. If you need me, feel free to text my phone; if you need the number, comment your email. ♥

Thursday, April 28, 2011

I made a sweet pair of strawberry slippers





parlez vous francais?

I'm thinking I'd like to learn French. I know a bit of Spanish, German, and Japanese.. but almost no French. I have this bookmarked, and plan on watching them.. but I can't help but think, there must be a better, free resource. If you have any good recommendations on how to learn French, free or not, let me know. DVDs are more useful than programs, as my CD-Rom drive is not the best.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Dinner tonight




Chicken Pesto pizza with artichoke hearts. <3

The basil was all homegrown -- it needed pruning.

Pictures from the trip...

One of the things I absolutely love, love, love about traveling is getting food or drink that I cannot get back home. Like this drink from February, either on the way to St. Louis or Chicago. This candy bar was picked up in Iowa, and it's chocolate and nuts, with a cherry center..


It looks like poo.


James got italian coloured ravioli from a very dimly-lit restaurant.




The farm in Iowa was surrounded by a massive wind farm!


We also visited a tree museum!! And no, we did not pay a dollar and a half to see them. But it included descendants from famous trees.. for example, a descendant from the apple tree that Newton sat under, a tree from the farm of Alex Haley's grandparents', where he found out about his roots.. and a tree from the small town my step-mother grew up at!


Finally, I got to indulge my love of hanging out on rooftops during sunny, warm days. <3

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

This is my garden...



I'm only posting this as I'm going to, as of tomorrow, be gone for 5 days. My partner and I are going out to Iowa to visit his mom and step-father. She's a knitter, too!! I hope to get a present for her knit up before or while we're there; it's from yarn she gave me! :) Anyhoo.. I hope my garden will still be this green and... alive when I get back. If not, I have this picture.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Ideas needed.. free-form knitting project..

I'm working on a free-form knitting project...




tell me what you think of when you think of strawberry vines or a strawberry plant.

Bad Romance

I could watch this all day! ♥

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Spring

A couple of days ago, I went for a walk in my dad's yard to pick flowers...



It is spring now, after all; and the tulips are taunting me, and telling me that if I don't pick them quickly to beautify my area, they'll just die in a few months, anyway.

So what better of a way to relax, and enjoy the warmth than with a new book*, and flowers in your hand-knit hat?










I had a wonderful day enjoying the blossoming joy of warmth approaching, so when I collapse in the couch inside, and feel a bug on my arm, I am not expecting...




... a tick! EWWWW!! Thanks, mother nature. I have the heebie-jeebies for infinity now.


* RANT - this book, published in the UK only is now out of print. This is a book by one of my favourite authors/bloggers, Jane Brocket. (see my sidebar) Because the book is English, and I'm in America, it's really pricey. I found a good deal ~$25 for it shipped from England.. but I waited 2 months, with the shipping date getting pushed further, and further back. Finally, I emailed them, and they said that the distributor had it on backorder and didn't know when it would come in. So they refunded me. O.. K.. I could have bought one in that time for the same price, I'm sure; they should have told me. Anyhoo, I found another one for a bit more, so I took my credit, and my partner bought the rest for me!! <3 It was well worth the money. I'm in love with all of her books, it's a certainty now. :D

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Green Bay Trip





So, about a week ago, my partner and I went to Green Bay, Wisconsin for a job interview for him teaching math at a college up there. The trip was long, but scenic! And unfortunately, our GPS sent us right INTO Chicago! Ugh. :( But, I did get to spot this:


Right before we hit Green Bay, I finished a hat I'd been working on. So I seamed in ends, and starting wearing it. I think it's permanently attached to my head now.


I started on another hat immediately after.. but that one's a surprise for when it's done!




Our hotel room was lovely, and I wish we had stayed longer. But, the second we got into our hotel, tornado alarms started wailing. So much for going to explore while looking for dinner; we ordered pizza.


The interview went well, he got along great with the other math profs. but the upper management kept good poker faces. A lot of retirement going on with teachers right now, so that's a positive. We'll just have to see. It was a great trip, regardless. I visited a LYS and bought some Packers yarn exclusively made for the LYS.


On the way back, near Kenosha, I spotted a store made for me:


OH HELL YES.

Bought no antiques unfortunately, but I did get this:



Saturday, April 9, 2011

What I've been doing...

...making a lot of stuff:










And watching a lot of Louis Theroux:




I am thinking about actively trying to sell knitting I do, but that's a bit off... we'll see. I'm off to Green Bay tomorrow, as James has a job interview there; I hope to get some lovely yarn. It would be nice to move there... I think. :)

Monday, March 21, 2011

:(

A bit down-in-the dumps today, but with new Pee-Wee and this, how can one be too sad? :)

Friday, March 18, 2011

Peanut Butter Cereal Cookies!!




I wanted to use up some cereal that we've had since the fall. We got them practically free after coupons. I wanted to make a s'more something using the graham, chocolate, and marshmallow cereals. So I did some googling. I did not want to do a no-bake recipe; if I'm going to indulge in cookie sweets, I want them BAKED! Following is a good recipe for whole puffy cereal: Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp (does that still exist?), Captain Crunch (which is the next one I'm doing!!), etc.

1/2 cup Creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup room temp. butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 - 3 1/2 cups cereal of your choice.
3/4 cup semisweet or milk chocolate (whatever chocolate you have around) chocolate chips

Oven @ 325. Mix peanut butter, sugars, butter, baking soda, baking powder, egg and vanilla. Then, stir in cereal and chocolate chips.

Spoon into balls and place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Put sheets on cooling racks until sheets are cool to the touch, and gently put cookies on cooling rack.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Goodies in the mail!!

Recently, (and on-going) I organized a knitters swap on the Ravelry group, Tiny Owl Knits. It's where secret partners are matched up round-robin style and send packages to the person that they are assigned to "stalk" on Ravelry. I initially wasn't going to participate, but due to math error on my part, I thought I had to for the partnering to work. Oops. However, a sweet woman named Julie jumped to volunteer to send me items, and now I am soooooo glad I decided to participate because what I received in the mail was incredible!




On top of a knitting carry-all that she handmade is a scarflette with a beautiful shawl pin:



That's actually the WS! But it's so versatile that it looks great WS or RS:





And it's incredibly, incredibly soooffft! One of the softest things I've felt. I have considered sleeping with it. :p She sent the left-overs along with some recommended patterns. The mitts I've considered, as this yarn needs to be on contact with skin, due to the luxuriousness of it. I also was wondering if I'd have enough to make a Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I could try, and if it doesn't work out... frog it and make mitts. :D



Patterns and natural, handcrafted soap!


In the second picture, on top of the bag is Koigu!!!! My first Koigu ever! I've never had Malabrigo, either... it's a shame, but I'm waiting for one particular colourway on that one, anyway. Along with Koigu, is some similar-hued Mountain Colors handpainted yarn, so that I can extend the Koigu into knee socks, as those are mainly what I wear!! :D

On the bag here, is a Mr. McTweedy!! He is up high, on a shelf, next to a tin. I panicked and shoved him at my partner, saying: "Quick.. get him up high! Higher than beverages!!" He is recycled and amazing. <3





Also, in the box was hand-dyed and hand-spun yarn from Julie! The handspun is amazing, and I cannot think of how to properly treat it. Maybe a B&B for that? I need something that can bring out the amazing twists and bursts of colour. It's like a carnival in the middle of the forest!




The hand painted yarn came with some beads that are orange, yellow, and gold. I could swear they were named sunset (or sunrise?), but now I can't find that anywhere for the life of me. Maybe I named it? The handpainted yarn is primarily the dominant teal colour, which has been my colour this winter, but with hints of pink and orange at the bottom. Oh, did I mention it was tweed? Yeah!



Inside the bag...


...were two other bags! A larger bag for straight needle projects, and a smaller bag for sock knitting and thinner yarn projects!


Inside the small


Inside the large.


Also tucked away in the bag was a beautiful DPN wallet:

Whose cover was a repurposed leather book cover!

Inside:


What's this? a bookmark?

No! Beautiful rainbow scissors!! I'm always losing mine, so these are perfect, and special. It's like that last tapestry needle..cling to it for dear life!

Speaking of tapestry needles!

And what's in this pocket?

Owl stitch markers, she made herself! They're so lovely! And I'm working on a project right now that is using up all available stitch markers AND some waster yarn-turned-stitch-marker. Yay! :D
I had to move some of my DPNs in already. :)

Julie also noticed my favourite spice, cardamom! I usually only use it in sweet things, but she gave me advice (and rice) for a savory dish!



Caffeine was also included, and appreciated! She says she's picky with coffee, so I am totally looking forward to it! She also sent chocolate covered coffee beans

And she even found a vintage handkerchief that fits the teal/brown theme! For those that don't know, I have amassed a large collection of handkerchiefs for everyday use. I find it's less wasteful than napkins or kleenex, and much, much prettier. I'm very hygenic with them, and am constantly washing them. However, this will probably go in the special hankies box with my great-grandmother's. :) (Tulips, too! Perfect for this time of year.)

A pair of vintage earrings were in the bag, too; urging me to repurpose them into something else. I'm thinking chunky buttons for something like this.

And of course, a sweet and lovely card!



The package was so incredible, my cat threatened to steal the bag.



I gave him the box, instead!! :D






Did I miss anything, Julie??