Managing a Weekend

Why hello, all!  I hope you had a lovely weekend.  I know I did.  Why?  Because I actually had a weekend! Not one of my fake weekends, when I manage to get two random days off in a row, but an actual weekend!  (I'm trying not to think about the fact that this is because I have to go to work today, a Monday, my standard if no other day I know I'll have this day off -- though this does mean that I am spared Laundry Day for another week)

I managed to be rather productive with my free time.  I finished the knitting on my Quilted Mitts of Crazy.  The plan is to weave in the ends today and set them to block over night.  That way any problems should present themselves before they are called into duty for Wednesday.  I hope.

I also got a bit of work done on the Sock the Vote socks.  Those will have to be kicked up to the top of the priority list this week as we are only a week out from the end of the KAL.

But the real product of the weekend came yesterday when I ran a 5K with some of my coworkers -- in costume.

Let's just say I'm glad we have gotten some cooler temperatures in the past few days, because that fabric does not breathe.  Running in costume may not be the smartest thing I have ever done, but at least I was able to move.  There was a gentleman running in a full on Doc Oc suit, complete with the extra arms affixed to a box on his back.  Overall everyone seemed to have a really good time and we were all just grateful that the hurricane bypassed us this time around.  If you are in an area affected by any of the storms out there today, stay safe.

FO: Thistle Tea

There are some items that inspire us to knit.  We may not knit them, but they're always there in the back of our minds, daring us to try.  For me that item has always been legwarmers.

I have had plans to knit many a pair of legwarmers, but never got around to it until now.  And move over store bought, Melissa LaBarre's pattern is stunning.  If you are on the fence about buying November Knits, this alone should push you over the edge.  The cables combine with seed stitch panels to create a deceptively simple pattern that has enough interest to occupy the knitter (reading while knitting was not as easy with this one), but is classic enough to carry them into the next season.  I just wove in the ends last night, but I can already guarantee that from now on these will be a staple part of my wardrobe.  I wish I did not work all daylight hours so that you could have some natural lighting to see just how lovely these turned out.

And as awesome as the pattern is, the yarn carries it off splendidly.  This is Work + Shelter yarn hand dyed with chamomile and it is absolutely delicious (Seriously, it kind of is.  I had to spit join a section because I did not have any water nearby and it actually tasted like tea).  There is something rustic and crunchy in the quality of this yarn that makes me feel like these legwarmers would be just as at home on a farm as they are on a night out.  My only complaint is that I wish this line came in more colors, but the humanitarian nature makes a growing affection of yellow totally worth it.

I know, I rave a lot about the projects I knit.  But don't let that detract from how lovely these turned out.  Maybe it is just because I still dream of wandering into an 80s dance video, but I think these go down in the books as one of my favorite FOs so far and a complete success!  And yes, I am still working on the Quilted Mitts of Crazy, but don't you want a rest from the insanity every once in a while?

For more FOs, check out the gang over at Tami's Amis!

Geektastic Thursday: Redacted

Dear Blog Readers,

We regret to inform you that this week's Geektastic Thursday has been redacted due to a lack of constructive content.  While Faith professes to want to discuss such topics as the Pretty Little Liars Halloween special and the need for mind altering drugs to prevent certain individuals from remembering the way in which she screamed like a small child who does not want to go home for a nap, she is instead persisting in a rather graphic rant about why she decided to knit a pair of mitts on US 1 needles one week before she needs to wear them.  Yarn for which she has previously professed great affection has suddenly become "splitty" and "coarse" and engaged in "malicious entanglement".

We recommend that you instead look elsewhere for a more geeky pursuit.  Perhaps the discussion of a Little Red Riding Hood costume has piqued your interest in learning more about the character?  Do not do a Google image search.  Unless you are into that sort of *ahem* thing.  When we checked in with Faith about this subject she managed to suggest checking out the character of Red in Once Upon A Time, which is streaming on Netflix if you are into that sort of thing.  An undying love of Jane Espenson brought her to this show, but the strong acting and compelling storylines have kept her there.  Plus this interpretation of Red is just simply bad ass.

In the meantime, we hope you forgive Faith's absence.  We are certain hope that she returns to her senses relatively soon.

Sincerely,

The better part of the stash

Little Red Accessories

I suspect you thought I would be writing about socks today.  Well, I thought I would be too.  Then I thought that I'd give in and do a little swatching on my pumpkin yarn so I can actually cast on for the project.  But then 9:30 happened.

Last night at 9:30 I was finally getting around to putting away all of that laundry (read: Chris put stuff on the bed so I had to deal with it) when I pulled down my box of knitted accessories.  This is not to be confused with the basket of knitwear or the bag of knit wear or the stack of knitted sweaters falling out of the closet or the knitted socks staging a hostile takeover of the bathroom.  This is the box of warmer items that goes on the shelf at the end of the year so I am not mocked by the amount of items I make that I only wear two months a year.  In the top of the box was the hood I knit last year.  A perfect hood in prefect red and it goes just splendidly with my new hair cut.  Then it hit me.  I still need a Halloween costume for work.  We are required to be costumed and it must be child-friendly.  I decided then and there that I would be Little Red Riding Hood.  I mean, I already have the hood, how hard can the rest be?

I have a personal rule when it comes to costumes that are not specifically for Con.  I don't make them.  I don't buy things.  I don't stress out over things I cannot control.  Instead I go through my ragtag pile of clothes and put together something and call myself a "dimension manipulator" or something else exotic.  My goal is to not embarrass myself and to look halfway decent.  This was a lot easier before I rid myself of everything I wore pre-college (Well, almost everything.  There is a Top Gun tshirt you will have to bury me with), but after an hour I managed a sort of "little red goes to work" outfit.  I plan to pick up a pair of red tights and call it good.

Or I had.  Until I decided that I need more red.  I ran it by Chris and he agreed.  More red.  The brown isn't traditional but it will look great once it has more red.  But none of my jackets are that perfect shade.  But wait!  I have some leftovers of the same yarn in my stash.  I can knit something!  I became a woman on a mission.  I had to knit something.  I had to.  It wouldn't be right if I didn't and I'm the knitter after all.  It has to be done!

I'd recommend you go ahead and hop on over to Tami's Amis.  I am now knitting mitts to wear in a week and they say the crazy is catching.  Save yourself.

Of Socks and Soups

Yesterday after my dismal morning spent enduring Laundry Day I decided to make dinner in the crockpot and spend time that should be spent on housework working on the Thistle Tea Legwarmers.  I was a woman possessed.  I sat at my computer reading knitting blogs and was to the bottom ribbing by the time dinner was ready.

I made this sweet potato soup recipe, only I substituted water for broth because we did not have any and substituted a can of mandarin oranges for the canned mangos.  I am of the belief that canned mangos can only be found in Southern California and I am unwilling to endure a return to Whole Foods to test my theory.

After playing with the submersible blender I added the cream and Chris and I walked to the grocery store to pick up some bread to go with our meal.

I am on a serious soup kick.  I picked up more of the Trader Joe's red pepper soup over the weekend and am already making plans to find something that involves pumpkin (mostly because I know I only have a few weeks left to decide what pumpkin items I want to stock up on before it is gone again until next year).  I also seem to think that if I keep making good filling soups that the weather will finally get the hint.  It is late October.  Time for a temperature drop (Please don't remind me of this when I complain about being cold.  I'll remember.  Trust me).

The Thistle Tea Legwarmers are now off the needles, but not before making one last stand against their completion.  My right hand has now decided that it is over this whole sOcktober thing and is pleading with me to start swatching that worsted weight in the corner.  But I'm not listening. I just started watching Freaks and Geeks for the first time.  I know I have at least one more pair in me.

Laundry Day

Today is one of the most dreaded of all days in our home.  Today is Laundry Day.  Laundry Day comes about every two weeks and always on a Monday because that is my day off.  Laundry Day has no consideration for what I want to do with my day off.  It doesn't care that my car looks like a carpetbagger has taken a few train rides inside.  It doesn't care that I have not one, but three packages to put together and pop in the mail.  It doesn't care that I would really like to try out this aqua zumba class.  Instead it pops up and says "Hey.  Your husband is out of clean undershirts and if you want to go to yoga tonight and continue rediscovering how to touch your toes you need to take care of this because everything you own smells."

There is one key piece of information you need right up front to truly understand Laundry Day.  We do not own a washer or dryer.  We also live in one of those rare apartment complexes with no laundry facility.  We must then pack up all of our dirty clothes into presorted sacks and then lug them a fair distance to the closest laundromat mat.  Evidently part of "urban renewal" is the elimination of many such facilities as we must drive ten minutes to the closest one in a slightly less desirable part of town (Not that there is anything wrong with that part of town.  The reason I know where the laundromat is is that we almost moved to an apartment complex next door but we couldn't afford the units they had available).

Now I know what you are all thinking.  You have immediately started singing lines from Dr. Horrible.

Well stop.

There is nothing sexy about the laundromat.  It is dark and cramped and while clean you always come out with the slight aroma of smoke in your work clothing.  The washers never hold quite enough and the dryers never get everything quite dry.  There are only two chairs in the whole place and those are being used by small children playing video games and chattering on loudly in a language you don't understand.  The only real good thing about the laundromat is that this is one of the few that still takes quarters.  Everyone is so proud of their reloadable cards, but I prefer to carry around eight dollars in change rather than be stuck with a perpetual fifteen cents on my card that I'll never get to use.

Joss Whedon lied to you.  There's no flirtatious interaction and absolutely no one wants to go more than absolutely necessary, let alone twice a week.  And there is absolutely nothing to do, at all, except time how fast I can knit a pattern repeat.

For the record, about six minutes.  It would be faster if I did not have to stop to explain myself to a very confused older woman.  Evidently people do not think better of you for surreptitiously pulling out your phone to snap a picture of your legwarmers in progress.  Who knew?

A Brilliant Shade of Birthday Red

Today is Chris' birthday.  While our birthdays are little more than a week apart we do try to have two distinct days for one another.  So today was all about him and all he asked for was to have his pal Matt come over to play video games.  Somehow, though, the subject of cake arose and I volunteered to bake it myself.

I have never baked a cake.

Until I got this fancy Kitchenaid mixer I hardly ever baked at all.  It has just never been part of my day to day life.  But as I appreciate handknits, I have developed a deep appreciation for homemade food.  So for some crazy reason I decided that not only was I going to bake the birthday cake, but I was going to make Chris' favorite -- red velvet.

Recently Wendy Johnson wrote a blog post about how she believes the internet is holding knitters back.  She postulated that so many people are nervous about steeking (cutting a knitted fabric to create two parts, like to insert a zipper in a cardigan) because they have encountered so many other people on blogs and message boards who say that they are afraid to steek.  I completely agree with her.  The only way to reach a skill level is to do it.  It is how I've learned to do most things and how I have failed at many.

So with that in mind I woke up at 630 am this morning to get dinner started in the crock pot and to make this.

Oh my goodness but is that pink.  I have a washcloth that I believe is permanently stained.  While I am a firm believer in following all recipes exactly the first time, I did have to improvise with this one a little.  For starters it is written for a layer cake and I wanted a thicker, single layer cake.  Because of this I only baked it for 25 rather than the recommended 35-40 minutes.  I did take a nap (if you can call falling asleep at 8am waiting on a cake a nap) and dream that it did not cook all the way through, but it turned out just fine.  I also cut the icing down to 1/4 because A) I did not need that much because I was not doing layers and B) there was no way I was going back to the store for three more cream cheese cartons.

The result was quite lovely.  I don't even like red velvet cake and I went in for a second piece.

Happy birthday Chris!