More Ghosts?

Last Sunday morning Gus was obsessed with looking out the window towards the neighbors house. We couldn't figure out what he was staring at but I did manage to get some good photos of him. I think someone must have been looking out the window in the upper floor of their house that actually faces our house. He caught a glimpse and just had to wait to see if he'd see more.

I got quite a few close-up photos of his determination to stare out that window, but this one where he glances over at me is one of my favorites. He never moved his head, just his eyes turned to me. He's a diligent watch dog.

Spell broken by a bit of egg.

He's such a good dog.

Doll Quilt

I found an awesome tutorial for the quilting that I want to do on the baby quilt for my boss's grandson. He's due to arrive about a month from now so I'm feeling pretty good about being somewhat ahead! The baby shower is tomorrow so I know I won't have the bigger quilt done by then, but I'm happy it will at least be done before the baby gets here. In order to test out the tutorial and also the technique I decided to make a much smaller quilt.

It really is small too. Its only 14 inches by 17 inches. I think it turned out really well. Not perfect but I really like it. I liked the technique and it wasn't difficult. I have to go to the hardware store and get some painters tape in a 2.5 or 3 inch width. What I have at home is just under 1.5 inches which is too small for the larger quilt.

One of the things I really like about this quilt is that the front is really masculine but the back is all feminine. I think its a nice contrast. To help it hang I've added buttons and a hanger to the back. I'm considering the idea that I may need to move them down a bit though to be sure the yarn can't be seen if its hanging.

So the question now is what am I going to do with my doll quilt? While I think the cats would probably like it, its blue, so they are out of luck. I'll make them one that matches the house decoration and I like the color of better. So since they can't have it I thought I would offer it to you. I'll send it anywhere in the world. All you have to do is leave a comment that says you want it. That's it. I'll pick a random number from everyone that wants it and send it off. Let's say you have until this Sunday 8PM Central US time to leave your comment.

(PS. How is boss's spelled? Boss's or Boss' ???)

Fabulous Package from Robyn!

Yesterday afternoon I came home to a fabulous package from Robyn. I couldn't believe how much awesome stuff she'd sent me. I love it all. Thank you so much Robyn!!

Flock of Feathers Yarn in Vireo. This is a Wool/Cashmere blend DK weight yarn and I am already thinking about what I want to knit with it. Three skeins gives me nearly 500 yards so I have tons of choices.

Some gorgeous Colinette Jitterbug in Lobster Pinch. I LOVE this color.

Malabrigo Sock in Turner. I haven't tried the Malabrigo sock but it is SO soft. I'm excited to get to try it. This skein is seriously considering being part of a shawl. Maybe part of this one??

Last but not least some Briggs and Little Regal in Copper and Forest Brown. I'm planning to knit some pumkins from this and I'm already envisioning taking some of the Copper and dyeing a bit more orange so that I can have pumpkins of different shades. I love the possibilities and can't wait to play. She also sent me some needles that would be great for this yarn but apparently I forgot to photograph them.

Can I just knit it all up now because I'm so excited about it??? Thank you so much Robyn. This was a really wonderful package!

PS. For TeaBird. Gus and Abby. Saturday night I washed Gus' blanket and stuck it right back in his crate warm from the dryer. Abby couldn't resist so I pushed Gus in two and looks like we only need one crate if we don't mind them being a bit smooshed together!

Gaia

Pattern: Gaia from Wildwest Woolies (My Ravelry Project)
Materials: 1 skein handspun in AllSpunUP New Bloom. Spun for me by Carla of More then One Way to Knit a Hat. (about 500 yards)
Made for: me
Needle: US7 32" Addi Turbo Circular
Start Date: 3 July 2009
Completion Date: 12 July 2009
Size: Nice big sized. 70" across by 36" tall

Notes: Before I talk about how I changed the pattern I just want to say I LOVE this yarn. Carla from More Than One Way to Knit a Hat kindly spun it for me ages ago. I'm so happy to have found this pattern for it. I think the combination is perfect. Thank you again Carla!!

I didn't have stripes in my yarn like you do with Noro, so instead of switching stitch sets at the change in stripes I simply switched every three rows. The eyelet row must be 3 rows so this seemed the easiest way. So my pattern went 3 rows reverse stocking stitch, 3 rows for the eyelet row, 3 stocking stitch rows, 3 rows eyelet, and repeat. Its pretty clever how this pattern is so that is totally reversible, yet looks different on both sides.

Really the only other change was the bind off. I started to do the scallop(?) edge but decided it wasn't for me. I ended up doing a bind off where I bound off two then cast on one and bind off three, cast on one, bind off three all the way across. This worked really well for a very slight scallop/ruffle but not crazy. It also made it really loose bind off which was great for stretching this. Its HUGE. Like a hug. I love that too. I probably could have stretched it even more but I didn't feel like I needed to and I love how it looks just as it is. This was actually one of my favorite projects ever I think.

Summer Sunshine Pattern

With Jocelyn's permission (since she gave me the stitch pattern) I have written up the pattern for the Summer Sunshine Scarf and posted it to Ravelry as a free pattern. This is another pattern that has not been test knit and I would love if some (or just one) of you would kindly proofread it for me because I'm not sure how clear/understandable the directions are. You can find it on Ravelry under Summer Sunshine Scarf or click the link in my sidebar. (Oh, this was another irony day for posting this scarf. Its pouring rain outside and its gray and murky and looking at this picture is very nice. Also even though it hasn't been proofed I wanted to post this today because someone who asked for it is having a birthday today and isn't that just a great birthday gift to give someone?)

Slither

Since someone in the comments requested to see this one I thought I would do it first. By the way I think I've got that diagonal quilting thing figured out. I'll talk about that in a day or two after the weather gets better and I can take a picture of what I did today.

Pattern: Lavalette from Through the Loops (my ravelry project)
Materials: .85 skein Malabrigo Lace in Vetiver (which reminds me very much of Slytherin colors from Harry Potter. Hence why I am calling this slither.)
Made for: me
Needle: US6 32" Addi Turbo Circular
Start Date: 7 June 2009
Completion Date: 17 June 2009
Size: Scarf rather then shawl size

Notes: Let's see I added a repeat of the yarn over section because I had plenty of yarn left. I probably could have added another repeat of the knit section but I wasn't totally sure I would have enough yarn for that. Not much else except that my bind off was a sewn bind off instead of casting off loosely.

I think it turned out a really great size to use as a scarf. It won't wrap around me well enough to be a shawl, but will instead be perfect under a coat. Its also soft and lightweight so I think it will be good for early fall when the only time its chilly is in the very very early morning when I leave for work. (Also doesn't Laci look so much better in her tee-shirt then that other stupid outfit?)

How-to?

This was going to be a finished project post for one or the other of my shawls. My plan changed though because I have a quilting question. I put the rest of the baby quilt together today. I did it quick turn so its actually bound and finished except for the quilting. I think I have a plan for what I want to do for the quilting but I'm not sure how to go about it. I want the quilting to look like this quilt. A really basic diagonal line squares. What I'm not sure about is how to get it started. Placement of the first line? I think I know how to get them spaced properly and straight. I have an attachment for the sewing machine. Since I know some of you quilt I thought I'd ask if any of you know of any good tutorials? Ways to do this that have worked for you? Just some advice for me? Or even another suggestion for the quilting? My blocks look like this one.

Towering Ash v.1 and v.2

I'm so happy I can finally share this with you. Let me just say this pattern was about a year in the making (at least, maybe a couple of months more then that). I present...

Towering Ash

This sock is knit top down in a charted leaf and bark pattern. There are two charts used in the leg of the sock. I’ve designed it so either chart can be used as the front of the sock by including two sets of instructions for the heel. You can knit the pattern as is (the pink version above) or use the alternate heel instructions to have the “back” as the front (the red/yellow version below). Or use the same chart on both front and back and this is becomes two patterns in one.

I just noticed that I didn't take a front image of the red/yellow one. So for clarification, as written, the front of the sock has one column repeat of the leaf pattern with a column of bark on either side. The back of the sock has two columns of the leaf pattern separated by a knit rib. I've got some fairly good photos of the pattern as written.

Close-up of the stitch pattern.

Close-up of the toe.

Heel and the back of the sock. Laci's heel is very very skinny. She really doesn't fill it out well does she? This sock has a garter stitch bordered eye of partridge heel.

Side of the sock.

Okay, you've probably seen enough of this. So the last is the front shot of the sock.

Currently, this pattern is only available to Robyn’s Nest Sock Club participants for July. However it will be made available for sale in November 2009. If you're interested, you can queue it here.

Details for my two socks can be found on their Ravelry pages. Red/Yellow sock is found here. Pink sock is found here.

Acorns

Ok. I worked really late today. Sort of annoying, but what can you do? Since this is going to need to be a really quick post I thought I would give you a glimpse of fall coming?

Finally Finished

I'm finally finished with this book. Considering I usually read these in a couple of days and this one took 11 days to finish says something.

Part of the reason is that the book is somewhat slow moving. The author has really done a lot of research and seems to know his subjects: the working of the British Army (lots of military discussion-zzzzz....), colonial Burmese history and culture, and piano tuning, history, and technology. And while a lot of it is interesting it really bogs down the slow-paced plot and I'm just not really sure why it was necessary for the story. You are a third of the way through the book before the story really begins to get interesting but it never really speeds up and that really hurts it. It does get better near the end if you stick with it, culminating in what might be the most surprising ending I've read in a while.

Many of the main characters were interesting, but you never really get to know them. You only finally start to get to know the tuner himself until 100 pages in. Also, I did note that the female characters are not nearly as developed as the males either. I would suggest that is probably because the author is male? Also I suspect that the characters were not speaking appropriately to the time frame. (Not really sure how to say that?) They are more modern in speech and thought then people from the 1800s would have been?? I think this hurts the story some too since you've already had to suspend belief to think the British Army would have sent a piano tuner to remote areas of Burma just to appease a single soldier.

All that said, would I read it again? Probably not. Do I regret finishing it? No not at all. The parts I liked I really liked. There were just all those parts I didn't like that I had to slog through that would put me off from reading it again.

Working On

Stuff I'm working on in this picture. Lets start at the bottom and work clockwise? The bright orange is a test knit pattern. I did the test knitting a while ago with different yarn, but the pattern hasn't been released so we can call it a work in progress until I can show it. Its just now been cast off. Next to it is a little small doll project I'm working on. The knitting is done but the finishing is yet to begin. The little sock at the top was supposed to be a new design (by me) but its not working out. I'm going to try something a little different. Don't expect to see that any time soon though. The purple shawl is Gaia and all it needs is to be blocked. For more than a week now. I really need to get on that but I had something else blocking this weekend so no go. The ball of yarn at the top is Koigu. Its for a test knit for Erica, unless I decide to use that ball yarn at the bottom (Painted Tiger in Fallen Leaves). I like them equally as much so I'm just so unsure which. The green shawl is Lavalette which also just got cast off. Its been sitting without the cast off for a week because I'm making a sewn cast off and I just didn't want to do it so I let it sit until today. So that's everything. With nothing actually on the needles at the moment. I'll have to remedy that tonight.

Not much to say

But I did notice four things on Ravelry. If I haven't friended you (which I think most of you I have friended) I'm on there as YarnPig.

1. Penny's Dr Seuss Cat Socks have been favorited by 105 people so far. I like to think this means that people really like my cat. Probably because they don't know her and she hasn't screeched in their ears, but its still very nice to think they like her. I do. She's worth liking when she isn't screeching in your ear.

2. I noticed this morning that you can now stick the date of purchase and price into your stash. I don't know when they put this feature in but I spent my lunch break updating my whole stash. I now know how much money I've spent and not knit into anything. I'm not sure I really wanted to know, but clearly I was curious since I took the time to do it. I'm telling myself its not actually a very true figure because I like getting stuff from Ravelry destashes, but don't remember the amount I paid so I just put in the normal retail price. Also discounts at certain stores mean I have stuff that was cheaper to buy but again I don't remember how much I paid with the discount so it goes in at retail. Finally a good bit of my stash (at least a third) are all presents, so those went in as retail as well. As for the purchase date, if it isn't an Etsy purchase then I'm not sure when I purchased it and it just got my wedding date. I know it was in there by then. I think I'll try to keep this up when/if I buy more yarn.

3. Forums on Ravelry are good. By this I really mean Remnants. I'm hardly commenting on anything but I seem to be addicted to reading the threads in Remnants. Interesting stuff there. Some peoples opinions are quite agitating and its interesting to read when other people freak out.

4. Ravelry is not open to everyone without waiting for an invitation? I'm not totally sure about this one, but now where it used to have waiting list sign up area, it just says Ravelry is a free site and lets you create an account now. I haven't tried it to see if you have to wait to sign up or not. This was just an observation.

Its about to rain

This is really a true statement. The sky is getting grayer and grayer as I type and the room is darkening. Its only 430 so clearly this is a storm and not just the day coming to an end. Okay, so as soon as I finished typing the sky is lightening and getting bluer. I guess its decided not to storm after all.

Today has been a day for sewing. I finished a present for someone and then got started on the quilt for my bosses second grandchild. I'm really excited about it. I've got a bunch of strips for the quilt all ready to go.

There are still so many strips left to cut though. So far its really fun. I can't wait to see it all together. That's the only problem. I'm so ready to see it all together even though I've basically just gotten started. So impatient. Isn't that just how it is sometimes though?

I also have one of my knitting projects moved along enough I can show a picture. This is my handspun and a project I test knit a while ago and I wanted to knit again. So I won't be able to show it until the pattern comes out but the glimpses are so pretty anyway.

Standard day for the dogs. This seems to be a favorite activity in the summer heat.

Mini will not be outdone by Chevy

These latest random posts are brought to you by the letter L. L for lacking, loquacious, loony, and, in the case of the bulldogs, lazy. Lack of blocking of lace shawls you've already seen as a work in progress and also by lack of anything remotely interesting that is in progress. Really none of it is very photogenic at this point.

Its nice to be off topic sometimes though. Chris will tell you that I've been off top for the better part of the last week. And also loquacious. I think he's serious about the "full of trivial conversation" bit too. Last night I was positively babbling about any and everything. (PS. The linked site called Wordie is pretty interesting too.) Speaking of loquacious. Penny makes a good transition, don't you think? [OK off topic again...I always call her Penny on here, I think though, if you aren't going to call her Penelope, she really prefers to be called Nelly in real life. She answers a lot quicker to Nelly anyway.]

We spent most of the day out shopping/running errands. What was going to be a 45 minute trip to the fabric store ended up being a 5 hour shopping tour. Chris decided to come so he could go to the photography store. While he was out he thought of a bunch of other places to go check out. This is where there is a very very big difference to the way we shop. I go shopping with a purpose. Today's purpose was some lighter blue fabrics for a quilt and a navy fabric for the quilt back. Its really all I was going to get and then I was going to come home and throw the fabric in the washer and chill or play with dogs, or knit, or sew, or whatever. I wasn't going to go anywhere else. I rarely think of somewhere else to go while I'm out either. Its there (being all stops I had planned whether that is 1 or 60 different places) and then home. If I have more then one stop I plan the best route to take so that I don't have to back track or go out of my way. Less driving is good. I hate wandering around stores most of all. I just want to go get what I came for and be done with it.

Chris on the other hand always thinks of other places to go. He doesn't mind driving miles and miles and miles out of the way or going back to the same shopping center we were at two stores ago because he though of something else. He loves wandering around checking everything out even if he's got no interest in buying any of it. He's very much a shopper. Usually when we go shopping together I end up standing somewhere "looking bored" as Chris puts it (rarely knitting because I feel like that would be rude to stand randomly in someones store and not buy anything and not really look around much and just be knitting). This might have as much to do with his favorite kinds of stores (electronics? Photography?) then anything else though. To each his own I guess. It was good for me though because he didn't have a photo shoot this afternoon and so it is nice to spend an whole afternoon with him. I managed to acquire my fabric and some pretty beads for a couple of necklaces.

Also I got a plain white tee-shirt for Laci. So much better for taking pictures with shawls then that frumpy button down. She's still wearing the stockings though since I figured that we shouldn't take them off her until we are ready to toss them. (They have a large hole where the leg connects to the stand.)

So by now you are probably wondering why that post title? Mini obviously got wind of the jams that arrived yesterday from the Chevy dealership. They sent along their own care package - The Mini Adventure Field Kit (Contents: Essential Motoring Nonessentials). I remember getting one of these with the little red mini, but really I wasn't paying that much attention to be thinking about getting one again. Inside?

Window poetry. Really, who doesn't want to be driving down the 70 miles an hour along highway writing poetry on their windows? More fun then word magnets on the fridge! Also included in the field kit are a nice heavy pen, a mouse pad with pictures of Mini Coopers on it, one antenna dice ball, and a ZUG sticker for my rear door handles. A blank Mini book. We got one of these last time too, maybe I should use them for something? They are motoring journals of course to record all your adventures...

Plus, 101 Fundamentals of Good Motoring book. I'll share a couple.

2. MINIMALISM: The biggest little "ism" in the history of "isms".
50. Your only as good as the co-pilots you keep. After all...
99. There is a bit of a BULLDOG in all of us.

Its hot

The sunflowers next door aren't particularly pleased that its hot. They don't look so great themselves either. Plus they were beaten to a pulp by a fair bit of nasty rain in the very early AM today. I wanted to take a sunrise picture for you because, due to the rain, the sky was a gorgeous shade of purple this morning, but two things stood in my way, I was driving and I didn't have my camera. Now Chris would say that I have an iphone so I have a camera, but I haven't really found the iphone camera to be so great for very early morning images. Plus frankly the only place to take the images is when I stop moving (red lights or trains) and the rest of the stuff that would be in the photos isn't so great.

I worked a lot today. Not a great way to start off my weekend, but then 10 minutes after I got home Gus went crazy barking. I opened the door just as the UPS guy was ringing the bell. Gus really doesn't much like him and I think its because the screech the truck makes when it pulls to a stop in front of the house. Interestingly enough we got jelly things from the car dealership where we bought Chris' car. Its really kind of nice of them. Weird but nice. Its a first for me but they look pretty tasty and I've never had peach butter before. Pumpkin and Apple are pretty yummy so I'm looking forward to trying this after it cools off some. I almost burned my hands on the metal lids when I took them out of the box.

I went out after putting the jelly in the fridge and disturbed the dogs baking themselves. Its really much too hot for it today. I thought we needed good dog photos too. Love Abby's expression in this one.

Gus with his tongue tip showing. Sitting on my feet.

And another of Abby girlie because I love her so much.

What should I knit?

I've managed to figure out how to slow down the knitting. What was the solution? I can't decide what to start next. I've started and frogged a couple of things because I didn't like yarn and pattern together. I've started a couple of crochet projects and frogged those too because yarn and pattern weren't meeting my expectations as a pair. So I've really had almost no progress on anything this week. Which is quite alright with me, but I really do need a project.

So my question for you guys is What should I knit? I'll take suggestions for anything and I'll pick from amoung the suggestions. Just about the only thing I for sure don't have yarn for is a patterned blanket of some sort but other then that its open season. (I'm sure there are other things but they aren't occuring to me at this moment...) Thoughts?

Feel like I should clarify too and say that it doesn't have to be for any of these yarns in particular, just I liked the pictures so that's why they are in the post!

Ghost Stories

I've been reading this thread on Ravelry called Has anyone else had ghost experiences?. Excellent stories there. Mostly I've just been reading the actual stories rather then the heated discussion about whether or not ghosts exist and if their existence is scientifically proven. To me that discussion isn't needed, I love the part where I get chills because something sounds creepy or scary or weird. I don't really need to know that the story is real or that ghosts, in general, are real. Its not necessary for me for the story to be a good one, chills however are necessary. I love to shiver at a good story. This is all leading up to me saying that this morning I scared myself silly.

Our garage is in the front of the house but the door faces the side of the house. Like the picture below only we've redone all the front gardens to expand them a lot and put pretty flowering plants in. That's not a digression from the story, its important. See the area with the four (five really but one is very short and hard to see) scraggly bushes in front of the windows? We wrapped the garden around the driveway there and added lots of bushes and flowers and also a middling sized tree. About the height of your average guy. Decently busy with branches and leaves but not too full. So he would be a slightly pudgy average height guy? Right now Chris' old car is parked at the very upper left of the driveway because we don't have anywhere else to put it (can't park in the street overnight). So I have to pull out at an very sharp odd angle because I park in the part of the garage closest to the house.

Well this morning I read a few stories from that Ravelry thread before leaving and they were regarding shadow people and the like. Those would be something similar to ghosts that are sort of darkish forms seen in your peripheral vision. So then I see its time to go, that would be 545 AM so still really dark out as the sun doesn't usually start to rise until about 615. I get in the car and start to pull out at my odd sharp angle, trying to keep the house (in front of me) and Chris' car (in the side mirror) in my vision so I can avoid hitting either as I angle. Out of the corner of my eye I see a HUMAN shaped shadow pass in between the house and Chris' car. I swear I jumped out of my skin. Nearly hit my head on the roof of the car. Thankfully I didn't take my foot off the brake. The practical part of me says that it was the shadow of the tree as my lights hit it and continued moving past it, but the rest of me spent the whole drive to work feeling very very spooked.

Sock that isn't to be

Not a baking post today. Knitting instead it seems. I started this sock Thursday (?) to knit while waiting in the Social Security Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles (no wait there, they helped me immediately!!) to change my name last Friday. The wait was long at Social Security so I got a really decent amount of it done and I haven't touched this since. Why? I'm just really not feeling it. Not feeling like stripes. Not feeling like socks. Not feeling like this sock in particular. Not feeling the colors together. Its a whole mess of things I think. Suffice it to say I'm pretty sure I'm frogging it and doing something else with these stripes of yarn. I have an idea of course but describing it never goes well. So we'll have to wait and see how it goes until I have pictures or give up on it again!

Abby and Penny enjoyed themselves while I was baking on Sunday. One enjoys being buried in covers. She'll snuggle herself under until you can't see a bulldog and are surprised to when you find one there. The other can't stand to be under the covers for even a second. She'll scream bloody murder. At least they make a good pair.

Baking on Monday

Monday we join the bulldogs out in the 105F heat in order for a little slow outdoor baking.

Baked Bulldog

2 bulldogs older then 2
grassy plot
bit of a smallish hill

Take two bulldogs and let them outside on a very hot day. They will soon find a comfy spot for optimal baking. Remind them to stretch their legs if you want an even baking.

Some bulldogs, like this one, prefer to just bake without wiggling. Leads to overcooking less quickly and therefore longer stays out in the oven before mom says "No more baking bulldogs. Let's go. Inside."

Other bulldogs, like this one, prefer to even cooking method of changing position every minute or so. Must make sure all parts are covered. This leads to quicker panting, more tongue hanging out and less time in the sun, but if you can't sit still in the coolness of inside why would you be able to sit still outside? I've always wondered how sitting on the curly cue butt could possible be comfortable but he's never had a problem with it.

Baking on Sunday

I love summer food. Light salads (without dressing for me-yuck, with for Chris), fresh fruits, sandwiches, roasted chicken, grilled veggies, and simple breads. Yum. When its 100F+ outside, eating heavily just isn't on the menu. Neither is a ton of cooking really. I like stuff to be easy. So each week I go to the grocer and buy a bunch of fruit and a careful selection of vegetables. Fruit can be anything, it will get eaten or thrown into something else. I have to be careful of the veggies. Not because we don't like certain things but because I need to know what they'll be used for. Otherwise they usually sit in the fridge and I've had to throw away too many things too many times. So now we plan ahead and I think about evening meals and how much work I want to do after work and what I'd like to bring in my lunch (tomato, cucumber, spinach...yum) each day. Each Sunday I make a fruit salad using a bunch of the fruit I bought. If its prepared and ready to go then Chris is more likely to actually take some to eat. Lately its been apples, berries, melon, and pears. This week we have cantaloupe, blueberries, blackberries, and grapes. Yum, Yum! And bananas, always there are bananas. Except last week they got away from us before we had a chance to eat them. I like them pre-ripe (green) best. In this house the only thing these are good for now is bread.

There is just over 3.5 cups in that bunch of bananas. Not quite enough for two loaves of bread but a lot more then enough for one loaf. So I made up a recipe for one that doesn't quite use all of it. If you search the internet for banana bread recipes there are a TON. All of them are probably yummy, but lots of them are really heavy on the fat and therefore dense and heavy and not so good for hot summer days. I like mine a little lighter. I'm sure if you look around on line you'll find a similar one to this too, because banana bread is so easy to design your own.

Summer Banana Bread

Ingredients
3 to 4 medium bananas (2.5 cups) well smashed
3/4 to 1 cup sugar (depends how sweet you want it)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (though truthfully I probably threw in two)
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
Milk Chocolate Chips or nuts or dried fruit (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Using a wooden spoon, mix baking soda into banana. Let sit for a minute or two. (The acid in the banana and the baking soda will react and help the bread to rise.) Mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle salt over the mixture and mix in. Mix in flour. I do a third at a time. Fold in chocolate chips or nuts if desired. Pour mixture into a well buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour and cool on a wire rack.

That left me with a cup of banana still. So I started searching for a recipe for ripe bananas that was just a little bit different. I turned to a blog I LOVE first. bread & honey. I've been following this blog for a while and have made many of her yummy recipes and every single one is absolutely delicious. I searched the tag banana and found a banana cookie recipe she had posted from Simply Recipes. I think why not? Sounds so good and they are good! You should totally try these. They've got a cake texture but taste like a banana muffin top and the chocolate and banana combo is excellent. I'm looking forward to trying some of her other banana recipes soon too, though I didn't buy bananas this week since we were going to have so many baked into breads.

Ooops...

So when I was blocking the sunshine scarf I also blocked a present that I had knit in very early June. As you can see I was trying to disguise it just a little bit. The tragedy occurred when I was pulling on it to separate the lace I noticed a little issue.

Those two loops that are sitting there should be connected and not loose like that. Apparently I must have missed the loop when I was doing a k3tog. If this was for me I probably would have rigged it to stay the way its supposed to and called it done. Instead...

Fortunately its only a third of the present that needs re-knitting, but I knew I wouldn't be happy with it if I didn't do it the right way.

Ozzy says...

Ozzy says please don't mind the small post today. His Mom was very very busy with changing her name in 6 million different places that you totally forget would even need to know you changed your name.

Reading (and Knitting)

So I said I would talk about reading. Last weekend's reading (finished Monday) was this book, The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage. This book is decent, not great. The cover says it is a psychological thriller. I really sort of missed that part. You could really easily follow what was going to happen and I think that takes some of the "psychological" part out of it. Also the pacing is very slow. It covers such topics as abortion, adultery, and religion, though frankly not in an unbiased sort of way. It really makes the anti-abortion, anti-adultery, pro-religion people seem like they are all psychopaths and fanatics. Which people on either side of those issues can say that simply isn't true. I think the characters really aren't deep and they aren't likeable at all, I couldn't relate to any of them at all, even the kids, but on the other hand I couldn't work up the desire to hate or despise any of them either. They are mostly just there because a story has to have characters. The plot is dated and not that original, or at least I've read pieces and parts of other books that sound quite a lot like this. Basically if you are really really pro-choice and you aren't turned off by adultery this book is a maybe read for you, but I can think of some others that I'd choose before this. I do think it is her first book so maybe future books will get some of her kinks out. I'd try her again. (The knitting here is Lavalette in Malabrigo Lace in Vetiver.)

Tuesday's reading (yes it only took a day) was Life of Pi by Yann Martel. READ THIS BOOK!!! I LOVED this book. Could not put it down. Seriously. Absolutely awesome, with just two cautions. The first is that section one of the book is somewhat slow moving and a bit tedious (for me this was the zoo parts that were more tedious, loved the religion parts). Suffer through that section though because its useful and section two, which started about 90 pages in, totally rocks. Well that actually brings me to my second caution, you sort of have to suspend disbelief. Take it all (every bit of the story) for what it is written as (fiction!) and the whole of it is really enjoyable and somewhat fun. Try to analyze too much or to try put into a real life perspective and it looses some of its magic to that disbelief. The good news is that if you reread section one after finishing the book you see the use of some of the lessons you get there. After section two is section three. I just want to say that this section rocks too. It humor wasn't lost on me and I appreciated it as a great ending. There is a reason this won the Man Booker Prize. I'm looking forward to reading this one again (probably a bit out loud to Chris) and finding the details I missed the first time around. (Knitting here is a socklet or maybe full sized sock I've cast on this evening because I have some many appointments tomorrow and socks will be easier then a shawl to stop in the middle of a row and toss in my bag.)

Please bear in mind with either of the two reviews above that your mileage may vary and you could love or hate these in an opposite way then me.

Wednesday and today I have been reading The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason. I'm about halfway through and I've holding my peace until I finish reading it.

Finally since I talked about my other knitting. The purple shawl is on pause. When I was gifted this awesome yarn there was a large skein and two very teeny skeins (of I think slightly thinner yarn?). I want to find and examine those two smaller balls before I decide to stop at the size it is or continue on using those other balls. The problem is that those were shoved in the closet in the craft room two weeks ago with everything else in the craft room so I could paint and redecorate. I have to finish painting so I can dig them out, but I got sick again after painting the first coat so its not done yet. This would be the reason I started the green one above. The color here is not that great, it was getting darkish in the room I'm in.

Don't pet the caterpillar!!

Its been kind of nice so far this week. The finished project posts were all written on Sunday afternoon. I knew I wouldn't post them together but I thought I might as well write them while I was sitting their with pictures freshly in front of me. So the last two days I haven't really sat down much at all at the computer at night. I've been chilling with the dogs and reading. (Oh and knitting of course!)I'll discuss the reading bit tomorrow maybe. For now I'm distracted by this...

Megalopyge Opercularis

Its common name is Puss Caterpillar. It isn't as friendly as this fuzzy little guy looks. He's a little more then an inch long and a half inch wide. (No I didn't actually measure him...) He is a mean little dude too. I was sad to see several of them in our trees and on the fence. If you pick it up and/or touch it you'll discover that there are venomous spines tucked inside that silky looking hair. You'll also discover it the hard way because you don't have to rub or pet you only need to touch to get poisoned. The venom can cause extremely severe reactions, though not always severe there is basically always an awful (painful) reaction. Also they make large, extremely ugly moths when they grow up with the scary name "flannel" moth. I'm considering buying a small freezer for my stash but that would only help the unknit stuff. Hmmm... Let's talk about something else.

We have some of these. They worry me less.

This one is just a bumblebee. I haven't a clue the species, though it is pretty common for this area. We've seen a lot of these around as we have some really lovely flowering plants in the front garden. The one that he's on is a Lantana plant. These plants can really really grow too. You saw one in the yellow scarf picture. I think we have three and they are all about three feet across with the tallest buds about a foot up. They probably need a dead-heading because the berries that form when the buds die can be poisonous. Luckily no one around here eats them. Though its getting to the point we might not mind an armadillo chowing down on a few of them. Sorry don't have a picture of the armadillo. Ever since I hit him in the head with a can of green beans he doesn't stick around when I come around.

The neighbor's sunflowers are getting still taller. I think the highest (which is starting to fall over) is about 11 feet tall. The flower on the top of it is about 14 or 15 inches (9 or 10 inch center). This one is the next biggest and most of the day it faces our yard. Its about 8 inches across (4 or so inch center).

Brea Modification

Pattern: Brea (my ravelry project)
Materials: 4.5 skeins Reynolds Whiskey in colorway 131. Held doubled.
Made for: me
Needle: US6 32" Addi Turbo Circular
Start Date: 14 May 2009
Completion Date: 31 May 2009
Size: 10 round by 3 thick

I've always loved this pattern. I love the pretty petals and the flower formed from simple cables. So pretty. I've knit the bag before and I just knew I wouldn't use it, but its been in my mind to modify the pattern a bit so that I could knit it again in a way I might use. The original plan for the modification was to make a six sided pillow. The problem with that is the sheer size of such a pillow. Each of these is 10 inches. Can you imagine having a 10 inch six sided ball hanging around? Right. Little bit huge. One of these pillows is in my office at work to join my Trinity stitch pillow. They don't match in any way at all, but I think the combination is really cute anyway. The second and third pillow have been gifted to a friend for her birthday. She was going to be the recipient of the six sided pillow but I think she's happy with the two smaller pillows on her plain blue chairs in her office.

The mod I made is simple. I simply cast on enough stitches to make each side of the bag 6 sectioned instead of 4 sectioned to complete the flower motif. Simple as that. Then I just seamed the sides. I love how pretty the seam came out.

Pumpkin Spice

This is another one of those boring posts where I flash a pair of plain socks and say "Look! Plain socks!" and no one really gets excited, but there you have it as they probably need to get posted. Also I went out to photograph these and its just about raining without raining and you totally get wet even though it isn't raining because there is SO much moisture in the air and I really really didn't want to put these on because Vesper yarn is more like sport weight and these are heavy and thick, but I forgot the blockers as I was trying to get out the door without the dogs following me and making me have to go catch them. The rain finally came this morning. Heavily pouring down, but sadly it went away quickly.

Pattern: My regular topdown socks only with a few less stitches and on bigger needles (my ravelry project)
Materials: .8 skein Knitterly Things Vesper Sock yarn in Pumpkin Spice. A present for me from Robyn.
Made for: me
Needle: US2.5 32" Addi Turbo Circular
Start Date: 26 June 2009
Completion Date: 30 June 2009 (1 final project for June)
Size: 11m

And because I had a decent amount of yarn left I knit this cloth. I knit the pattern and then did the final garter border until I only had enough yarn to bind off left. I sort of wish it had been on bigger needles but they were the only ones on hand when I ran out of something to do.

Pattern: Free lace washcloth Pattern (my ravelry project)
Materials: .2 skein Knitterly Things Vesper Sock yarn in Pumpkin Spice. A present for me from Robyn.
Made for: me
Needle: US2.5 32" Addi Turbo Circular
Start Date: 1 July 2009
Completion Date: 2 July 2009 (1 final project for June)
Size: 11m

Summer Sunshine*

Pattern: Stolen from a scarf knit by Jocelyn of Knitting Linguist. She was kind enough to pass along the stitch. (my ravelry project)
Materials: 350 or so yards of Robyn's Nest Flock of Feathers Sock in the colorway YarnPig.
Made for: me
Needle: US6 32" Addi Turbo Circular
Start Date: 16 May originally, frogged and restarted 5 June 2009
Completion Date: 12 June 2009 (I think...)
Size: 14x60 without fringe, 14x84 with Fringe

Notes: Jocelyn was kind enough to pass this stitch pattern along to me. I think I knit it up on smaller needles because my lace didn't open quite as much as hers. I'm really pleased with this bit of sunshine though. Its lovely and lightweight and it will make me quite happy when I go to wear a scarf again come October or November when the air at night is far cooler then the air of the day.

I really wanted a particular kind of fringing on this scarf. I wanted the same openness as the pattern and I love the pretty diamonds I've seen on other scarves so I cut up some of the remaining yarn I had and set about figuring out how to do this. I cut up a bunch of 36 inch long pieces to use as fringe. I folded two in half to attach as fringe for each three-quarter inch of the scarf width. Then I take two strands and tie them to two of the strands from the piece of fringe next to them. Repeating across and down gets a diamond pattern. I'm really pleased with it.

This is the scarf that I restarted three times. I frogged the first version because I couldn't figure out what needle I used. I had a vague remembrance of having changed the needle (so I could use it for the Brea mod - finished and a post is coming soon!). The needle I thought I used, the needle on the knitting, and the needle I indicated on my Ravelry page where not at all the same size. So I just decided to start over. So I recast on a BUNCH of stitches and knit what I thought was about a third of the skein, decided that I wasn't going to have enough yarn for the length I wanted, frogged, recast on again with about 2/3 the number of stitches. I got to the length I wanted just fine with about half left. Suppose the second cast on amount would have been fine as far as length.

In case you are missing things on Laci. Its the only picture I got on her where it looked decent. I think thats because she's still wearing her stupid outfit we put her in for the shawl photo. Really I think I need to work on her wardrobe some.

* This is ironic because its a cloudy rainy day today.

Fourth of July

I forgot when I said yesterday that I would do the yellow scarf today that it was fourth of July and I needed to wish my country a Happy Birthday.

We had a nice relaxing day around here. Gus did a lot of this...

Look at those feet!!

Abby spent her time doing this...

I did this...

Most people that made suggestions seemed to suggest very similar shawls. I picked the Gaia Shoulder Hug. It was a difficult choice between all the suggestions but I'm really happy with how this is turning out.

Pretty Butterfly

I was going to post the summer sunshine scarf tonight and it turns out that its 10PM and bedtime and I haven't gotten around to posting yet. So tomorrow because photos are done and everything. I just have to type it up. To hold you over, butterfly!

What to do?

I started another shawl today. I was going to knit a fat Laminaria with some specific mods from this yarn below. Small problem though...

Its 500 or so yards of heavy fingerling to sport weight handspun. Totally gorgeous obviously. Spun for me by the wonderful Carla of More then One Way to Knit a Hat quite a while ago actually.

Also it was totally wrong with the pattern. Not so much anything wrong in particular just that it didn't look as gorgeous as I know it could. So my question as usual is do you have any suggestions for a lacy shawl with this yarn? I'm open to anything at all including pattern mods. I suppose it doesn't even have to be lacy or a shawl. Just looking for options.

Happy Canada Day!

To all my Canadian friends, Happy Canada Day!!!

Chris suggested that he would film me singing "Oh, Canada" but frankly you really really really don't want to hear that. I can sing along but it doesn't ever sound right when I sing alone. I give you a cupcake (knitted a while ago). This was a birthday present for my Mom right after I started knitting. Actually this was my first finished project. There were two. Its in her lovely china.

I've been thinking about the yellow scarf. I was going to go ahead and do a finished project post when I had the brilliant idea to add fringe. I'm going to see if I can figure that out later tonight. I'm excited but I don't really have a clue what I'm doing. I'd describe what I'd like to do to ask for advice but I just don't seem to have the words.