does that age me?  and by that, i mean, quoting old commercials?  ah, i can’t  hide the dorkiness anyway, so why bother trying?

anyway, reporting in:   i did find the camera battery and set up my little studio, sans studio (remember the one my husband gave me for my birthday?).  i only have  some spot lights, a mini-tripod and a camera.  sigh.  i’ll work with what i have.  see…i’m making progress!!

hope you’re having a good weekend!

i’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with this blog.  but this is mainly due to the fact that i had been in hell graduate school trying to earn my master of science in nursing…the knitting has been sporadic (which is definitely disheartening)…the yarn shopping even less frequent. but i am hoping to get back on top of things and get my creative juices flowing again.

since i am devoid of anything knitting related (and knitting pictures!)…i’ll post my most recent kitchen victory:  potato soup!  This was a product of the CSA bounty we had this fall.  (CSA = community supported agriculture).   We often struggled to find dishes to prepare with the, at times, weird food combos.  however, this soup just came together.  i made a giagantous batch of the stuff.  the neighbors loved it.  my brother’s MIL said it was better than her “good cook’ husband’s potatoe soup.  even my filipino parents liked the soup – and they are NOT soup people.

potato soup with leeks & mushrooms

ingredients:

• • • bacon, 4 or 5 strips
    • 2 medium carrots, diced
    • 1 small onion, diced
    • 2 celery stalks, diced
    • 1 pint button mushrooms, diced
    • 3 leeks, chopped
    • 3 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
    • 2T butter
    • 1T herbs de provence
    • 1t ground coriander
    • 1/2 & 1/2, 1 pint
    • chicken broth, 1 box
    • salt & pepper to taste

directions

1. 1. 1. in large stock pot, render fat from bacon.  reserve bacon for garnish, if desired.
      2. add butter, then saute onion, carrots, celery, leeks and mushrooms until tender.
      3. add chicken broth and potatoes.  bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer until potatoes are tender.
      4. temper 1/2 & 1/2, add to soup.
      5. in a blender or food processor, blend soup in small batches to a smooth consistency.
      6. adjust seasonings if needed.  garnish with whatever you choose!  (bacon, croutons, green onions, cheese…sky’s the limit)
      7. enjoy!

i hope you get the chance to try it!  don’t forget to save me some!

but it also rhymes with “POOP!”

i hate nupps today.

here is the last draft that i had in my queue:

(written on 30 april 2008)

i told you that I’ve been itching to knit some lace. so far my lace success stories only include fingering weight yarn (mostly socks…but there was the diamond shawl – which i totally love). this is mostly because I horde sock yarn.…er… the majority of my stash is fingering weight.

i do have some laceweight in the stash:

• penthouse silk lace in staton park by neighborhood yarn co. (from knitter’s connection ’07)
• zephyr silk-wool (knitter’s merc)
• knitpicks merino lace (where else?)
• skacel (vegas purchase)
• unknown yarn (dollar bin at a lys in gena’s hood)

I had originally balled up the skacel for the another shawl….but 12 rows in the project imploded. Since then i’ve been trying t find a project to fit the yarn. No go. The project found another yarn. a few days ago I started the maltese shawl from VLT. LOVE IT. However, I have only 7 repeats knit…out of 88!!!

the pattern itself is not difficult, but it is patterned on both sides so one must pay attention at all times. i suspect that i move on it will become easier to read my work. there are only 6 rows in each repeat, so keep your fingers crossed that i don’t get bored!

so….8 months later, i’ve resurfaced. (ah!)  i’ve come to show you that project!  (in fact, i’ve counted 15 total projects for 2008.  some tiny…some big…and a lot of lace…but not so much with the pictures).

maltese wedding shawl
pattern: maltese shawl from vlt (ravelry link)
jaggerspun zephyr wool-silk 2/18 in charcoal
2 skeins | 630 yds : 2 oz | 50 wool : 50 silk
started: april 29, 2008
finished: june 14, 2008
needles: US #4 knitpicks nickel plated options
notes: a little long for me but i love it!

anyway, this lace project ended up being the shawl i wore for my wedding.  yup!  butter and i eloped!  if jj ever finishes up with the pictures…maybe i can post some.  (cough!!) anyway, please excuse the cheesiness….i was being silly and i was on a post-wedding high!

and as a last note…i miss my blogging buddies, you are often in my thoughts and yes, at times i do stalk you.  i hope the holidays have found you well and…

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

along with buttered popcorn, tutti-frutti and cherry, there are flavors like vomit, dirt, booger and earthworm. ugh. (okay, technically the jelly belly sight doesn’t list these, only mugglenet…but maybe they are the mystery flavors? or the sight isn’t updated?).

have you tried them yet?

a word of warning though….

avoid this color. it tastes like dirt. no, really. just like potting soil.

we had a ton of fun at the movie premiere. we spotted many muggles dressed as hogwart’s students, waving their wands or showing off their house colors (i’m a griffyndor, what are you?). while we waited for the movie to start we tortured ourselves by eating these things…and then stuffed our faces with candy, popcorn and soda. the movie was awesome!!! true, it swayed from the book a bit, but do you actually expect for all of the details to shine through? i suspect that non-fans might get a bit bored since the character and plot development were a little thin…still though, very entertaining!!!

in knitting related news…along with some bare laceweight merino, pockets for my needle case, and 32″ – 2.5 mm, 3.0 mm & 3.25 mm circs…i recieved this:

kp gloss in cocoa – 880 yards

it’s very lovely. i think i will make it into a small shawl, i think. or if i give into my “only superwash rule”…i may cave and do some cabled socks. but maybe i’ll knit something outof my charmed knits first…

to prove it:

pinwheel dish cloth by abigail (through criminy jickets)
sugar’n'cream dishcloth cotton in country side ombre
started: may 30, 2007
finished: may 31, 2007
needles: #5 susan bate’s circ’s
notes: uses provisional cast-on, short rows and garter stitch grafting

it was a great quick fix for my, recently, boring-slash-frustrating knitting. it seems that life is moving in fast forward for me lately. little time to do much else other than eat, sleep and work. thankfully, butter is fabulous and has assumed laundry duties, among much other housework. (love you!) the time that i do have i have been trying to knit. but it seems that i have knitting ADD. i finally finished my lime uptown boot socks….but haven’t the energy for a photo shoot (manny is sooo very lonely)….and i have one-half of my ‘sick’ socks completed (a pair i designed when i was sick recently). i dubbed them ‘dimple socks’…pictures in a future post, hopefully.

i did draw some inspiration from the bee-yooo-tee-ful book victorian lace today and started a lace scarf:

scarf with the clarence border from weldon’s 1886
cth supersock in turqouise
started: may 29, 2007
needles: US #6 knit picks options circular needles
notes: cable cast-on, only did 1.5 repeats for a more narrow scarf, center panel pattern does not match picture!

i’m liking lace but i’m getting a headache from reading the tiny charts. since my scanner is broken, i’m going to have to live with it until i make a larger copy of any patterns i use from the book. sigh. i do have some socks on the needles, too!!

central air pattern from str sock club ’06
colinette jitterbug in popsicle
started: may, 2007
needles: 2 – US #1 addi circulars
notes: 2 at once on 2 circs. this colorway is hideous with the pattern. i already frogged the first pattern i attempted.

yes, i realize the colors are garish. but they are happy colors. at least, until it was knitted up.

oooo, last thing, fish blanket update: 46 little fisheys. must…rally….must complete…..soon……

anyway, carol, i did get the tag…thanks for remembering me…i’ll get the answers together soon (said the procrastinator).

you see, i really wanted to knit a beautiful lace sweater. i found a gorgeous pattern (from vogue holiday /05 issue) in a somewhat simple stitch. i picked out and purchased my yarn…..then i cast on for my swatch. now. i’m really not a lace kind-a gal. it takes too much concentration and i really only have snippets of time to knit (hence, i’m a sock knitter), but i really wanted to make this sweater. i was miserable. the yarn was impossibly small for the giant needles the pattern called for (at least for me). but i trudged on….and knit my swatch. the guage was off but it was pretty…man-o-man. my eyes were watering, my throat was scratchy and i was sniffling up a storm.

i thought it was impossible since i own and wear an alpaca scarf….so i trudged on….and re-knit my swatch on bigger needles (#9′s – ack!!). i could feel the little fibers tickling my nose and throat. i had to stop mid-swatch. entirely disgusted, i pulled the half-finished swatch off the needles and threw the lot of yarn into a zip-lock. maybe it’s the knit picks brand of alpaca that bothers me….but then again, i do remember feeling under the weather when i was knitting the fetching’s out of the alpaca/merino stuff, too! that’s it. i’m selling it off…(ugh!  stash reduction page [right] is now under construction)

after days like that you want your brain to rest. it’s on those days that you pull out your trusty needles and a gorgeous hank of sock yarn and knit. i pulled out the happy blues and greens of cth! i love this yarn. in fact…i just bought some more (sandra singh is having a sale on cth….it’s my first transaction with this company, but i’m impressed so far!). i kitchenered up the toe last night pulled them on and haven’t taken them off since (i went to bed late, give me a break).

simple sock in cth blues/greens
my own pattern
started: december 16, 2006
finished: december 26, 2006
needles: #2 lantern moon ebony dpn’s
notes: 56 stitches cast on, short row toe/heel, 2×2 ribbed cuff

 these were knit on trips to visit family over the holidays.  much of these were finished in the car.  at night.  butter (K) drove everywhere.  and i happily sat in the heated passenger seat.  i was able to steal borrow my step-daughter’s book light.  it’s a perfect task light for knitting…i just turned it over, hooked it into the seatbelt and knitted away!! if you are looking to get one for yourself, make sure the lighting is adjustable so that you can point the light toward your project instead of adjusting yourself to light your work. 

i realize why i’m so cranky today. today is my official voting day for the mid-term elections. i wanted to be a good citizen, so not knowing when i would be scheduled for work, i got an absentee ballot.

have you ever seen how long these things are? sheesh. i felt like i used up all of my brain power just unfolding the thing. needless to say, i’m pooped. (should i really know all of the candidates for each court?!?). so here i am furiously surfing so i can finish my duties as a responsible citizen of ohio…bleh. i am so not finished. that, and i have to pay bills…bleh-bleh. BLEH!!

tonight i meet with my sock club to witness the unveiling of the next yarn…per lynne, it’s “fabulous”…i can’t even get any energy for a “whoot”.