Things To Do, 1/26

This is what my To Do list looked like today:


At 10 pm, I looked at it again and realized that if I were to blog, I would have done everything on my To Do list. Blogging doesn't take a whole lot of effort, per se, but sometimes setting up for it does, especially when it's dark and thus difficult to photograph finished knits. But more on that later!

This weekend it continued to rain in Roseville.
So THB and I decided to head down to Alameda to visit our Second Brother. We picked up a couple of friends on the way, namely That Sarah and Kai's roommate, and headed out for a fairly epic Bar Crawl. Now, I've never been one for bar crawls. Usually we pick a place and stay there all night. But this time, there was a double mission: to try all the bars in town (or as many as we could handle, which turned out to be quite a few), and to find The Birthday Guy. We accomplished the first goal admirably and to everyone's satisfaction, but unfortunately Birthday Guy didn't show up. I'm beginning to think he may have been a figment of my imagination. But I digress.

Here are four of us near the beginning of the night:

SB's Roommate, Me, THB, Second Brother
(That Sarah is missing because she's the photographer)

On Saturday we all woke up, staggered about for a bit, and then headed to a local diner for some greasy breakfast food. Later, my San Francisco friends showed up and we got to see Baby E, who is 3.5 months old and weighs a mere 9+ pounds. She's like a pocket baby!

And also super-cute to boot!

I, for one, am thrilled that she's a wee slip of a thing because it means that she can still wear the baby-sized things I made for her before she was born (that only took 6+ months to get to her parents ::cough::)!

Then THB and I went to the Oracle Arena to meet up with some friends and see EDDIE IZZARD!! This is the face I made pretty much the whole time:
Eddie is one of my very favorite comedians. He's smart, thinks about things, and his comedy is intelligent. He's also altruistic and freakin' adorable, which doesn't hurt. I should have taken my camera in - I was going to, but I didn't know if cameras were allowed and I didn't want to have to run back to the car. So no pictures of Eddie. Boo.

But there ARE finished knits! Awhile ago I promised That Sarah a pair of socks for her birthday. Her 2008 birthday. She has been patiently reminding me of this promise ever since, and I finally am ready to pay up. I actually wanted to finish the socks in time to give them to her this weekend, but I ended up about 1/2" plus the toe short, so I'll have to mail them. However, she's already seen them and approved, so I can show the rest of you as well:

Vanilla Rib Socks, 258 yds.
Fannie's Farmhouse Yarn, "Victoria"

The colors here are pretty accurate. My bedroom walls are not quite that radioactive green, but the socks at least are pretty vibrantly pink and black. AND I have another 150 yards to do something else fun with! But not right away...

I mentioned in this post that I needed to finish 2 projects before I would allow myself to start something new, and I did in fact stick to that (go me!). But the project I started was not the Stonington I had planned, despite the wicked-cool center I graphed out for said shawl and the beautiful silvery lace yarn all wound up and ready to go. Instead I started a [REDACTED] for [REDACTED], who I am pretty sure reads this blog at least occasionally, so until I'm done you're going to get only hints and snippets of information and some color-altered close-ups like this one:

I think that [REDACTED] will be tickled pink, don't you?

So I leave you now with some words of wisdom that I remembered over the weekend: don't try to finish the night with giant margaritas. It can only end in a desperate need for greasy breakfast the next day.

And possibly in some utterly hilarious pictures.

A Quiet Holiday

Today it is raining outside
But my house is snug and warm.
There is completed knitting

Citron #2, 440 yds.
Malabrigo Sock "Velvet Grapes"

And Knitting-in-Progress.
I am listening to Anna Karenina and watching the rain on the windows. The spring green of my walls keeps the room cheerful even when outside is cold and damp. I have hot tea with milk, warm handmade socks and nothing to do today on this last day of my between-term-vacation. It's peaceful here, unlike so many places in the world. I wish I had a skill that would allow me to go to Haiti and help Doctors Without Borders, but I fear I would just be in the way, so I stay home and knit in the rain. On this day, the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am knitting prayers for Haitians into the socks I make. Prayers for peace, for health, for aid. Prayers that this disaster will open up new lines of communication between Haiti and other governments of the world and help this little nation blossom into peace and prosperity. My prayers climb the raindrops like a child climbing up the down escalator, high into the heavens that have finally opened up and wept for the devastation of a people who did not deserve such a blow. Weep, you heavens. I will pray.

The Knit Signal

I cut/pasted this directly from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog. I'm certain that nearly everyone who reads THIS blog also reads HERS, but even one extra person's donation helps. The moment my financial aid hits my bank account (please, PTB's, this week would be great...), I pledge to send $60 to Doctors Without Borders. Let me know in the comments if you make a donation; I'd love to hear how we help!

The Knit-Signal

As I'm sure most of you know by now, yesterday, while we knit, ate, drank and slept - a massive earthquake struck Haiti, largely effecting the city of Port au Prince. Haiti itself is a very poor country with other problems - and that means two things. (Well. It means a lot of things actually, but lets only dwell on two of them at the moment.) First, it means that they entirely lack the ability to respond to this emergency without a lot of help, and secondly, it means that when the quake struck, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières was already there.

While you and I knit and we (or at least me) considered problems that now seem rather trivial, there are suddenly dead people, hurt people, trapped people, lost people and hundreds of thousands of homeless - all struggling to figure out what comes next. I spoke briefly on the phone this morning with the MSF office here in Toronto, and they confirmed several things.

Things are bad.

The MSF Hospital has sustained damage that means it isn't functioning as a hospital right now. Staff have moved to the courtyard and set up tents and what materials they could retrieve from the building and are doing their best to help people as they can. Doctors who were providing maternity care are now running a trauma centre.

They, and their sister offices in other countries spent all night figuring out who could go and how to get them there, and staff is packing as we read this to get there as fast as they can. They'll be taking inflatable surgery suites with them so they can use that instead of their damaged buildings.

They believe that some of their staff are among the casualties.

They recognize the power of Knitters Without Borders and the force that we can marshal in a pinch, and they are grateful that you've been able to help them in the past, and they would very much like your help now, and right away.

There are directed donation sites set up for Haiti on all of their websites, but I'd like to take a moment to ask you to please make your donation "undirected". Money given to a specific fund can only be used for that area and making sure your donation is undirected helps them a lot. It lets them keep serving other crises that continue to happen while the world watches Haiti, and more importantly, it allows them to be first responders.

On their websites (Canada here, USA here, Other countries can find their site here) when you give there is a drop-down menu that you'll see called "I would like my gift to be directed to..." and you'll see a lot of choices. Please consider selecting "Greatest Needs" or "Emergency Relief" so that they can have the flexibility that they need to do their best work.

I'm going right now to give my share, and I know from my inbox that many of you have already done the same. Really, it's pretty hard to sit here with a Bohus, a pot of coffee, a laptop and this much sock yarn and do otherwise. I hope you feel the same way. They need you knitters, I hope you can help, even if it's only a few dollars of your yarn money.

I'm going to go and keep the Knitters without borders tally running, since it's a tangible way to see how donations, even little ones, add up like stitches on a sweater, and people are already offering karmic balancing gifts for any draw I might do... though I know that really, nobody cares about that right now. If you're like me, you're too busy being grateful that you're not a mother in Port au Prince right now.

Boldly go, Knitters.

Filmy Goodness

Happy Kate Winslet Day, everyone!

Feel free to celebrate by watching your favorite Kate movie or perhaps one you have never seen. For myself, if I can't find a copy of Titanic in our house (likely, depending on THB's movie collection), I will indulge in Sense and Sensibility while adding a few choice titles to my Netflix queue.

Start-itis...

...I haz it.

Despite the myriad of things I have on my needles (Salina, I'm looking at you! Really, it's on my desk right now staring right back at me. Sigh.), I can't help but be distracted by the even bigger myriad of things getting started right now. Maybe it's because I rarely knit the same thing twice. Maybe it's because January seems like a good time of year for starting new things. Maybe it's because I just have a raging case of start-itis and that's all there is to it.

The primary offender is Brie, who started a Stonington Shawl the other day. I'm deeply jealous because I have some beautiful silvery (or maybe the purple...) Gloss Lace that would make a fantabulous Stonington.

This jealousy is increased by my sudden and immediate love for my Citron Shawl. I've been wearing it almost non-stop since I pulled it off the blocking pins, and as much as I love having hand-knitted socks on my feet, I love wearing a ruffly neckwarmer even more. It feels grown-up and pretty and goes really well with my brown wool Anne Klein Jacket, and I just love knowing I maaaaaaade it. In fact, I wore it to my final class of the session, and before my teacher allowed me to begin a presentation she made me take it off and show everyone. They were appropriately impressed and I was appropriately bashful. My friend Jay - the only guy in the class and a future amazing teacher - asked me to knit him a pair of slinky boxer shorts out of the Malabrigo Sock Yarn because his wife would love them. I replied that I am nervous about how our relationship is progressing: when we first me, he wanted a beanie, and now he wants underwear! I may, however, be prevailed upon to knit him and his 2 sons (one 11 and one 3 months) matching hats. Maybe. One of these days.

So here's a list of things I'd like to begin in 2010. This list is, like all of my lists, subject to change, but these are the projects that have been weighing on my mind lately:

1. Stonington Shawl (all Brie's Fault!)

2. Spiderman Blanket - another repeat, but really I have a ton of friends and they are multiplying apace.

3. Wool Peddler's Shawl - All knitting all the time until the lace border. Cuddly and warm.

That's it, really. One of the things I notice about these 3 projects is the abundance of plain knit stitch. Throw in the Vanilla Rib socks that have come off the needles lately, and it's not a huge step to think that maybe my Knitting Mojo is telling me something...

I've set myself a goal of finishing 2 current projects before I cast on for a new one. I'm not sure how long that resolution will survive given the pull of the silver yarn I pulled out of the stash the other day, so to that end I'm of to knit like the wind in hopes of outpacing the Start-itis demons!

A Good Beginning

Today is the last day of my first grad class, and tomorrow is the last day of my first semester as a grad student! I'm on track to be done with all my projects and provided nothing goes horribly wrong in the next 30 hours I will have accomplished something that I have never even tried to do before: I will have turned in every single assignment for all of my classes for an entire semester. I may have mentioned this before, but my modus operandi for my entire school career has been to figure out the absolute minimum of busy work I could do and still get a decent grade while I bank on my excellent test-taking abilities. But I have had no desire to skip any of my assignments this time around, which might have some root in the fact that this grad program feels more like vocational training than anything else. I can easily see why I need to know how to write a lesson plan, understand multiple intelligences, and learn good classroom management skills; so I'm willing to actually do the work.

And speaking of work, I have some completed knitting!

Citron Shawl
Malabrigo Sock, "Lettuce," 440 yds.

I plowed right through this project. It was an easy knit, I am thoroughly chuffed with the results, I've gotten huge compliments on it, and all I've been able to think about is how much I'd like one in purple, one in black, and possibly one in rust. It's fairly rare that I come across a pattern I want to knit over and over again, and I'm not certain how long my Citron mania will last, but in the mean time I've been giving my lace and sock yarn stashes the hairy eyeball.

I haven't made any more progress on my Salina, but I'm okay with that. This might be a 2-year Sweater, or I might pick up steam on it again later. For the moment, I'm enjoying knitting stuff that a) doesn't have a specific size or b) I know how to make fit already (socks...).

So that's the New Year so far! And now to go diving into the stash. I thought it was organized when I put it all into the big plastic tubs, but it turns out that it was only organized in my HEAD and not in REALITY. There is an excel spreadsheet and a new stash bin numbering system in my future...

Obligatory Yearly Round-Up, v. 2009

WELL. It has been quite the year, y'all. I graduated from my undergrad and moved into a grad program more quickly than I intended. Despite the alacrity with which I dove back into school, I'm pretty sure that going for a teaching credential is the right decision for me and that it will allow me to put together a long-term plan that I'm happy with. Also I get to eff with the minds of high school kids, which is always fun.

So let's see. I am nearly done with the first part of the knitting for Salina. I have to finish the right front, then block the pieces before I seam it and pick up the collar, sew on the buttons, and then I'm DONE DONE DONE. Except not really because one sleeve is about 2" longer than the other, and both are too short. Chimpanzee arms, that's me. My plan is to pick up from the cast-on edge and just add another couple of inches, probably in seed stitch to match the hem and collar detail. However, I'm debating whether I should rip back the sleeve cap of the shorter sleeve and at least make them even before I seam up the sweater. I SO don't want to, but I'm pretty sure it'll make me crazy if I don't. So maybe the blocking won't happen tonight. ARGH.

Remember my list of things I wanted to finish up from a few weeks ago? I actually finished something!

Red Vanilla Socks

Brown Sheep Wildfoote, "Ragtime"

293 yds.

And now, because it's nearly 2010 and all sins are forgotten when the clock strikes 12, I will confess to having started a new project:

Citron from Winter Knitty '09

Malabrigo Sock yarn, "Lettuce"

I've got 57g left in the ball, so I'm almost 1/2 done. And now that I look at the pattern, it calls for Malabrigo LACE yarn, not SOCK yarn... so my little slice of lime might be a bit bigger than the original. Ah, well! It makes for great mindless knitting and I'm totally charmed by the whole thing.

In terms of the 12-Mile Quest, I didn't make it this year either. However, in standard quest storylines, the heroine must encounter three setbacks before she can attain her goal, so maybe 2010 will be the Year of the Quest. My total completed yardage for the year is 8 miles and 185 yards, which is about 800 yards fewer than last year. Given that I have knitted almost nothing in the last 3 months, that's not terrible! I completed 35 projects over the course of 70 posts and renewed my commitment to 101 in 1001. I also started a podcast (currently languishing, but with plans to rise up off of its' Victorian fainting couch soon)!

In keeping with last year's statement of goals, I am hereby pledging to do the following in 2010:

1) Rediscover my voice. Life is short and I intend to enjoy however much of it I have left. I will never be super-famous, which means that my immortality will end somewhere around 50 years after my own death. Do I want to be remembered during those 50 years as the quiet, mousy aunt who never did anything, or do I want to be the one who was always down, always ready for trouble? I think you know which one I'm choosing.

2) Experiment more. I tried to do this to some extent last year, but certain aspects of my life held me back. I am discovering little bits and pieces of myself that I've let fall by the wayside over the last 6 years, and I'm keeping the bits I liked. I know why I let them slip away, but I don't intend to do so again.

3) Find That Guy. My roommate and I are onboard with a new quest to find the guy I kissed on my birthday. We have decided that regardless of whether we find him or not, the chance to have adventures in new places is worth attempting the journey. Also, he was hot and mysterious.

4) Resurrect The Whim Game. This covers all three of the above pledges. There are super seekrit things in the works for this, and I'm excited to bring them to fruition. Plus, it'll get me three points, which is really what it's all about.

Happy New Year, everyone! I leave you with a picture of THB next to the tree, sipping on a Hendrick's Gin Martini in his bathrobe. He would kill me if he knew I posted this on my blog, but what are big sisters for, after all?

Twelve in 2010

Here are my self-imposed and somewhat flexible rules for my 2010 12-Mile Quest:

1) Knit and/or spin through 12 miles of completed items in 2010.
a) Handspun yarn can be counted twice - once for the spinning and once for the knitting.
b)The yardage of completed items is based on weight, using the weight/yardage ratios printed on the ball band.
c) If yardage is not available, reasonable estimation is allowed.

2) Works in progress as of 1/1/10 can be counted, except the Infernal Ribbi Cardi, which has its knitting completed and is only waiting on a matching Infernal Zipper.

3) Some form of Stash Equilibrium should be maintained. Perhaps there will be more on this later, and perhaps there won't. Maybe I'll just try to keep up some Reasonable Habits (TM).

Finished Objects 2009

1/2 - Seeded Rib Scarf #5 - 270 yds.
1/4 - Pistachio Mitts - 160 yds.

1/8 - Seeded Rib Scarf #6 - 331 yds.
1/9 - MIFS Hat - 115 yds.
1/12 - Gauge Hat - 92 yds.

1/29 - No-Purl Monkey Socks - 273 yds.

2/5 - Santa Fe Socks - 315 yds.
2/8 - Seeded Rib Scarf #7 - 313 yds.
2/14 - Gauge Hat #3 - 104 yds.
2/17 - Berries and Cream Socks - 274 yds.
2/18 - Wish You Were Here yarn - 420 yds.
2/26 - Dishcloth #1 - 85 yds.
2/26 - Mismatched R-N socks - 302 yds.
3/9 - Limeade Socks - 247 yds.
3/29 - L/C Yarn - 406 yds.
3/29 - Blackberry Truffle Yarn - 341 yds.
4/15 - Mysterious Mirror Socks - 366 yds.
4/23 - Papa Socks - 361 yds.
4/30 - Scarf #21 - 560 yds.
5/9 - Ivory Coast yarn - 575 yds.
5/17 - Lord of the Mountains yarn - 546 yds.

6/1 - Begonia 1.0 yarn - 353 yds.
6/17 - Spiderman Blanket - 1692 yds.
6/27 - I'm Still. Big. Red. - 1250 yds.
6/29 - Easter Egg 1.0 yarn - 170 yds.
6/30 - Begonia 2.0 yarn - 104 yds.
7/3 - Easter Egg 2.0 yarn - 64 yds.
7/12 - Asti yarn - 313 yds.

7/23 - Harvest yarn - 340 yds.

7/23 - She's Like A Rainbow yarn - 633 yds.

9/23 - Honeydew BSJ - 377 yds.

9/25 - Shield of Bees - 1681 yds.
10/26 - Vanilla Rib Socks - 292 yds.
11/4 - Underwater Trees Scarf - 386 yds.

12/23 - Red Vanilla Rib Socks - 293 yds.

Just a Bit of Knitting

For whatever reason, I haven't been knitting lately. Partly because of some fundamental shifts in my space - moving to Roseville, making new friends, grad school, none of said new friends being knitting people, etc. - and partly because I've been trying a new thing: knitting monogamy. I've gotten frustrated with the number of unfinished projects looming over my head, so I've been slowly trying to finish things up. Interestingly, this has caused the sheer volume of knitting to go down, possibly because some of the projects aren't as portable as others.

This means I'm clearly NOT going to finish the 12-Mile Quest this year, despite my best efforts during the first 6 months of 2009. But in the spirit of working through my 101 in 1001 goals, I am going to shift my focus and try to finish at least my Salina sweater before the year is out.

To this end, I give you some sleeves:

Roughly 1.5 sleeves, to be exact. After the second sleeve is complete, I just need to complete the front half of the sweater (already more than 1/2 finished), then knit the collar and set in the sleeves and I'm done.Well, almost done - I am pretty sure that I'm going to have to pick up the bottom edge of the sleeves and add about 2" onto them due to my monkey arms. Sleeve knitting is one of two times I bemoan my long limbs; the other is when my new jeans, which have been deliberately purchased to drag on the floor by 3", shrink up to my ankles. Lest my shorter friends poke fun at me because their jeans are always too long, allow me to remind you that you all can get your pants hemmed to the perfect length for about $9, while I am doomed to look like an afficionado of the 80's highwater pants era.

Anyway, sleeves. They're nearly done. And after that, I have a pair of socks that are about 25% finished out of this yarn, which is another colorway of this yarn that made these socks, which I am currently wearing. And then there is the blocking of my Shield of Bees shawl - did I mention that the same day I got my $20-worth of T-pins in the mail from WEBS, I also found my other boxes of T-pins, thus making me the T-pin Queen? Other unfinished projects, according to Ravlery, include:

*Mingus Socks (need to rip and re-start according to original pattern; why the Koigu version was miles too small and the current version is miles too big is beyond me.)
*Norfolk Ramblers (must take picture of Welsh Heel Disaster '09 to send to Emma, then rip and figure out WTF is wrong with my pattern-reading skills)
*Very Happy Scarf (need to rip edging and find another smaller treatment for same. Beginning to recognize a theme here...)
*Honeydew BSJ (sew. on. the. damn. buttons. Will probably take 15 minutes and have been procrastinating for almost 3 months.)
*Great Bebeh Project (perhaps am in the right place for miles upon miles of garter stitch, finally?)

Not being a masochist - at least, not a KNITTING masochist - I don't expect all of this to be done in the next 18 days. But I bet I could finish at least the Salina and the red socks, which would mean I could wear them to my final class of the session in early January. My classmates would get a kick out of seeing me wear stuff I've been working on since October.

And speaking of masochism, I had a great weekend in the East Bay and Menlo Park. Well, a great 24 hours - South Bay friends, don't get out the pitchforks! My step-grandmother was in MP for the weekend and I went down with my Other Brother who lives in Alameda in order to brunch with her. On the way there, I spent Saturday night partying in downtown Alameda with a new friend, Malia, whose name endeared her to me immediately because the only other Malia I know is my beloved soul sister in Oregon (Hi 'Bean!). I didn't run into the kissing stranger from last weekend, but if he's meant to turn up, he will. Like a shiny penny, or something... In the meantime, New Malia knows a LOT of people in Alameda, and has undertaken the amusing mystery.

My life is often like a soap opera, have you noticed?

Officially Grown-Up (???)

Today, somewhere in the wee-sma's of the morning, I turned thirty-one.

Since last year this time, I have finished my undergraduate degree, split up with ManCandy and moved in to a little house with my brother, THB. I successfully dodged a bullet in Portland shaped like my friend LB (the last time I let that bullet hit me, it hurt. After 7 years, she can be taught, ladies and gentlemen!). I decided that grad school and teacherhood were not for the nebulous Future, but for Today! And that Portland Shannon-igans are for Tomorrow (which is much closer than the nebulous Future). I moved from a three-bedroom apartment full of 4 years of accumulated stuff to a 9'x9' room, and somewhere along the way I got rid of an entire dumpster-load of stuff. I started going to the gym for real - I know because I'm looking forward to going there tomorrow. I changed my cut-off age for men from THB's birthday (June '84) to MY birthday.

I feel like a grown-up.

And how did I spend the moments between 30 and 31, you ask? Well, at the Sugar Hill Gang concert I went to with friends in Folsom on Saturday night - wait, what? Let me start over. Last night we - THB, his girlfriend K, and some other friends went out to see the Sugar Hill Gang and stick around for 80's night. This is particularly amusing to me because the LAST time I saw SHG was at the Colorado State University Homecoming Week in 1997, also known as my freshman year in college. This is my first year as an undergrad; my life is chock-full of interesting little cycles like that. Anyway, there was an attractive man there whom K said I should go talk to. In keeping with the recently-resurrected Whim Game, I did so, earning myself 3 points. And starting at midnight I earned another 3 by spending the rest of the evening kissing a stranger. Life, my friends, is too short to pass up opportunities to feel that special chill down your spine in the instant before you kiss someone for the first time. Someone who tells you that you have a perfect face and lady's hands. Who doesn't get weird about the goodbyes that mean he's obviously not getting any - even when you frack it up by sending him on his way with no way to get in touch with you, only to see him looking for you moments later as you pull out of the parking lot. The spine-shivers may fade, but the elegant compliments will be treasured for some time to come.

And really, it wasn't bad for a trial run on my (very rusty) charm. I am under strict command by my brother Kai to demand phone numbers and the names of various family-approved punk bands from the next Whim Game Victim I meet.

Someone told me recently that the 30's are when I will really start to understand myself. I think that's already beginning to be the case, and I'm proud of the choices I've been making - even the silly ones.

In the next year, I plan to actually complete the 12-Mile Quest, possibly change my name (don't get all excited, it's not as momentous as it sounds!), work on my 101 in 1001 goals, and most importantly, find my groove, dust it off, and apply it daily.

Happy birthday to me!

Kitchen Confidential, Part 3

If you're looking for knitting content, there isn't any. My Salina is in time out due to having to rip half of the front out and having no inclination to do so. Maybe tomorrow under the influence of turkey and cranberry sauce...

Today I spent the bulk of my day in the kitchen prepping for Thanksgiving tomorrow. It's our first year in THB's new house, and he wanted to break it in holiday-style, so we politely refused any and all invitations to Thanksgiving Elsewhere and chose to have Thanksgiving at Home.

People, by the way, are unsurprisingly invitational when they find out that we - two well-loved children with a huge family - are planning to have dinner with just the 3 of us (THB, Roomie and I). I say unsurprisingly because I have a theory that Thanksgiving turns even the whitest of white people into ethnic grandmothers who are alarmed at how little you've eaten despite the fact that you've cleared your plate three times and polished off three-quarters of a pumpkin pie all by yourself. Small wonder that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - no gifts to worry about, no trees to decorate, no dressing up to do (you'll just get gravy on it anyway!) - just hours in the kitchen making delicious food and an entire day devoted to eating it and watching anythingbutfootball.

Also, have I mentioned that my family is directly descended from Mayflower people on my Mother's side? As a matter of fact, there's a story there, but I'll leave it for another time. It's probably novel-worthy, and this is a post about cook(e)ing!

So. Five-ish hours in the kitchen today and three recipes I'd never tried before knocked out of the park. Here's what I made:

Artichoke, Sausage and Parmesan Stuffing

I substituted rosemary for mint and used half andouille, half homemade moose (but all spicy!) sausage. The bread is still drying, but the rest of the recipe is made and ready to go according to the directions. NTS: this would also make excellent omelette fixings.

Pumpkin Pie with Brown Sugar-Walnut Topping

THB bought the pie crusts, which were sold in sets of 2, so of course I made 2 pies. Actually, 2 and a half pies - there was enough filling left over to make a third pie, so I buttered a 9" pan really well and tossed it in the oven to make pumpkin custard (and so we could try the pie before the Big Day!). Excellent stuff, this pie. Oh! Also, I added 1/8 t nutmeg per pie, so 1/4 total, and I subbed in half hazelnuts, half walnuts just for kicks.

In addition to extra filling, I had extra pie topping as well. I decided that since I know the theory behind making brittle candy, I'd give it a shot. So I dumped in a bit more brown sugar, some extra chopped walnuts and a few cashews, a bunch of butter and popped it all into the oven. This was... less of a success, although for not following any sort of recipe it turned out pretty edible. Just nothing at all like brittle. We mixed it into the 3rd crustless pie and it was delicious.

Lastly, I tried to make Shortcut Turkey Stock from the giblets in our turkey, only to discover that the turkey was still really, really frozen on the inside. So off to the store I went for a package of turkey giblets and necks. Organ meats smell really, really weird, by the way. I suppose that makes sense, but as a person who generally avoids any sort of organ meat, I was surprised. Anywho. I managed to forget to put celery on my list for like the five millionth time ever, so I subbed in garlic and called it good. My family is more Spanish and Italian than French anyway, and I seem to remember Alton Brown saying something about an Italian (or Spanish) mirepoix consisting of carrots, onions and garlic instead of celery. Also I hate the texture of cooked celery and the taste it gives food, so there's that.

Oh! And the other day I made cranberry sauce from scratch. My friend Dinah made this killer orange-ginger-cranberry sauce one year and I've been craving it annually ever since, so this year I begged her for the recipe. It was totally simple and I've been stealing spoonfuls of it here and there.

So that's 4 recipes down! And a couple to go tomorrow, including cooking the turkey itself, gravy, and special whipped cream. Yay!

101 in 1001 Countdown:

#18 Try 100 fruits/vegetables (8/100) cranberry, orange, pumpkin, artichoke, celery (ew)

#21 Try 100 new recipes (9/100) Stuffing, Pie, Stock, Sauce

#24 Try 100 new foods (2/100) turkey stock (not so good on its own)

Maybe This Time....

Went to the gym today. Let's see if it sticks this time...

A Feminist-y Question

So here's a scenario that might or might not be familiar, followed by my general reaction and then by the reaction to MY reaction by a male of my acquaintance.

Scenario:

You are walking to the door of a restaurant/bar/etc., when a guy dashes in front of you, opens the door for you, and while you walk up to the door, gives you the semi-lecherous once-over and a sunny, cheerful smile.

Think about your reaction for a minute. I want to know what it would be.








Do you know yet? You should tell me in the comments.







Here's mine:
I walk up, open the other side of the door for myself, give the guy a sunny smile while I walk through and say, still smiling, "thanks anyway!"

A Male of My Acquaintance thinks this is a bitchy response. He thinks this is bitchy because, as he says, "good luck finding someone who won't objectify you in the first 5 minutes of your relationship. Nice high standards you have; I'm glad you make it so hard for guys to appreciate you." When I told him that I don't see anything wrong with having high standards for treatment, he replied that high standards are good, but a little objectification doesn't hurt anyone.

I would like to know how on earth I'm supposed to meet a man who is planning to treat me like a person with real ideas and real thoughts - as opposed to a set of breasts and holes with an occasional flash of intelligence - if I allow him to be a lecherous ass in the first 30 seconds of our acquaintance, and (here's the kicker) act like I think that kind of behavior is cute.

So, dear reader, tell me in the comments: How do you deal with the constant double standard? Do you ignore it? I mean, let's be honest, we all do at times, both men and women. Do you think about it occasionally and just give it up as too hard to be a capital-B Bitch all the time? What do you do? I'd love to know, especially because I'm getting tired of regularly stand up to the ridiculous objectification, despite the fact that I have no intentions to stop doing so.

Kitchen Confidential, Part 2

The other day, my brother came home with 2 cans of organic cream of chicken soup. He works for a company that acts as the middleman between farmers and places like Whole Foods, so he has access to a fairly amazing range of organic and healthful foods. Anyway, he bought these 2 cans of cream of chicken because Thanksgiving is coming up (he gets an organic free-range turkey as a T'giving present from work - score!) and he remembered that one of our old family recipes requires a can of cream of mushroom soup. But Tika, you say, cream of chicken and cream of mushroom are not the same! Well, YOU know that, and I know that, and actually THB knows that too, but he saw "cream of something" and bought it. It wasn't until he got back to his desk all proud of himself that he realized the "something" he'd bought was the wrong food. Best intentions and all that.

He suggested that I try to use these cans - which were otherwise destined to languish in our cupboards for who knows HOW long - in one of his favorite dishes: Crock Pot Sumac Chicken. Next time I make it the regular way, I'll give you the recipe. For now, here's what I did:

Ingredients:

2-3 frozen chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

3/4 to 1 c. white wine

1/2 white onion

4-5 cloves garlic

a little bit (1/2 t?) of fresh thyme (not really necessary - did I mention it's been in the fridge for a long... thyme?)

Turn Crock Pot to low if you've got more than 4 hours and high if you've got less. I'd never cooked with or even tried cream of chicken soup before, so I decided to stay simple this time around. I mixed the soup and the white wine together and started sautéing the onions/garlic/thyme. Then I realized I only had 1 chicken breast, had used all the garlic and we had no more white onions. The lack of chicken was the deal-breaker; I turned off the burner and headed to the store, where all the usual frozen chicken real estate was taken over by turkeys. Bought chicken tenderloins instead. Came home, finished sauteing the now-glassy onions (yay new trick!), put the chicken in the crock pot, covered with soup/wine mixture, topped with onions, and let cook for 4-ish hours. When ready to serve, reduce some of the cooking liquid in a pot with a bit of butter and a splash more wine to make a sauce.

The beautiful thing about a crock pot is that starting with frozen food is perfectly acceptable because it cooks at such a low temperature the outside doesn't burn before the inside thaws. I don't know if I'd try this with big stuff, but chicken breasts and stew meat seem to turn out just fine.

Next time I try this, I think I'll jazz it up a bit. More onion (it was a scanty 1/2, after all), more garlic, definitely pepper. Maybe some jalapenos? (By the way, Blogger's spell-check thinks that jalapenos is supposed to be Galapagos. ::eyeroll::) Cream of chicken soup hails from the halcyon days of cream-of soups back in the 1950's, and tastes like it. There's only one can of it left, however, so I won't have to deliberate over it more than once.

101 in 1001 Count:

#18 Try 100 fruits/vegetables (3/100) garlic

#21 Try 100 new recipes (5/100) Cream of Crock Pot Chicken

#24 Try 100 new foods (1/100) Cream of Chicken Soup

Kitchen Confidential, Part 1

I have to write a book report today. A BOOK REPORT.

So instead, I'm going to tell you about the recipes I've been toying with lately. This last few weeks have been cuh-razy. Between the 29th of October and the 14th of November I spent a total of 11 nights away from my own bed, flitting like the social butterfly I used to be from one exciting thing to another. But in between times, I managed to try three new recipes that I'll be using again - or at the very least using as a jumping-off point for more kitchen shenanigans.

The first recipe I tried was a delicious Quick Black Bean Soup from Epicurious.com. Can I just pause here to mention how much I love that website? All amazing recipes, all the time. It's a vortex of hungry-making, and it's going to make my Thanksgiving dinner the talk of all three people who are coming. It may also get me to try making turkey stuffing, but let's not get all excited. There's not a lot on this earth that could change my mind about cooking soggy bread into the body cavity of a turkey and calling it palatable.

But anyway, back to the soup! It was, as advertised, delicious. I did make a few changes, mostly because I hate measuring things (hence why you won't see a whole lot of baking going on in my kitchen...)

My changes were:

1. Use fire-roasted diced tomatoes instead of the plain kind

2. Estimate that 1 1/4 c. chopped onion is roughly 1 white onion and thus no need to measure!

3. Drop in enough fresh thyme to make the onions smell pretty (or at least differently pretty; cooking onions/garlic smells pretty pretty all on its own). Apparently thyme is thyme-less in the fridge, 'cause ours has been there for at least a month and is still fine. My puns, however, are terrible.

4. Discover that there is no chili sauce in the house, nor is there chili powder. Substitute cayenne.

5. Cook for an hour and a half instead of 20 minutes. Didn't seem to hurt anything, and the onions were pretty much dissolved by this time, making blending easier.

5. Salt to taste after blending.

I also learned that my hand-held immersion blender works best when held about an inch above the bottom of the bowl. I think next time I'll cook the onions a little longer to get them glassy and golden - I learned yesterday that turning off the pan and just leaving them in the oil for about 15 minutes works well and keeps my impatience at bay. I might also add some sriracha sauce to the grocery list and try that instead of cayenne next time 'round. This soup would also work well with some fresh corn kernels or maybe shredded chicken in it (after blending) if that's your thing. The chicken I intend to try; let me know how the corn thing goes.

Overall, this is a fantastic and simple base recipe for black bean soup - or with less liquid at the outset, probably black bean dip. I imagine it would work well for white beans too; some comments at Epicurious mention subbing in a can of white beans or black-eyed peas for a can of black. I'll probably switch over to dried beans next time, since they're cheaper. According to the comments, the beans must be soaked overnight and then the cooking time needs to be increased to about 3 hours to make up for the hardness of the beans.

Coming soon: Cream of Crock Pot Chicken - Not as Gross as It Sounds!, and Gitcher Guac. Also, I'm going to start counting things like regular tomatoes, broccoli and such in my "try 300 fruits/vegetables" list because eventually I will run out of my usual fruits and veggies, and then I'll have to start branching out (::shudder::).

101 in 1001 Count:

#18 Try 100 fruits/vegetables (2/100) Fire-roasted tomatoes (canned), white onions

#21 Try 100 new recipes (4/100) Quick Black Bean Soup

Let's Talk Twist

The CBEST is OVER! My unofficial scores give me a pass in the reading/math sections, so I'm just waiting until Nov. 30 for my essay scores. I'm fairly certain I did just fine; I stayed on topic, used relevant examples, and exercised my skillz at spelling and big words, which is really all one can expect from a canned essay on what life skills I've learned from being in school.

But enough about the CBEST! Standardized tests deserve no more of my attention, as I won't have to take any more of them ever (famous last words).

Let's talk about the Twist Collective in general and the new issue in particular. I am currently enamored of lists, lists, and more lists, so this will take the form of... a list. Predictable, thy name is Tika.

The Twist Collective In General:
1. Has interesting patterns
2. Uses pretty photography
3. Explores a wide range of yarns, styles, and abilities
4. Does good things for the industry in regards to paying designers/charging/etc.
5. Is not intuitively set up, and thus I click on ads when I want to know more about patterns
6. Actually makes me not want to buy patterns because of the layout
7. Makes me sad because of the combination of nice patterns and crap website
8. Overcharges for their contents.

Now, let me qualify #8. I fully believe that designers and magazine people (whether that magazine is online or not) deserve to make money from their creations. I don't believe that all knitting patterns should be free just because we're all combining knits, purls, yarn overs and decreases like everyone else. For a paper magazine, I am willing to pay $7 or $8 bucks as long as I like at least 2-3 things in said issue. Even if everything else is made of Muppet skin and peacock feathers, I figure that those 2-3 items I would make justify the cost of the entire product, perhaps in combination with a Strongly Worded Letter regarding the ethical ramifications of Muppet skin. Some of you may have noticed me reference my collection of Anne Hanson patterns, for which I gladly shelled out ~$7 each for shawls and ~$5 for socks. I also have a whole folder dedicated to Cookie A's patterns, which are also not cheap. Thus am I perfectly suited as a consumer of knitting patterns and also an opinionated loudmouth to express my displeasure at paying $6-7 each - regardless of scope of project, expertise, or volume - for the often-amazing patterns from Twist Collective.

So really, I guess what annoys me is that there's no volume discount from Twist. Most of their patterns are $7 (shawls, sweaters, bags) or $6 (gloves, hats, scarves). But here's the twist (ahahhaha! I kill me!): this hat is $6, and this neckwarmer/hat/mitten combination is also $6. Here's what ends up happening in my brian:

Spendthrift Me: Both are super-cute!
Cheap-o Me: But.. but.. it's just a cleverly constructed hat with piping!
Spendthrift Me: But still cute!
Cheap-o Me: Adorable, I agree. But $6-adorable? Maybe 4. Not six. I could reverse-engineer that in a couple of hours.
Spendthrift Me: It's a negligible $2. And then you wouldn't be spending your hours.
Cheap-o Me: The three-piece set is also $6. That's $2 each, and more for your money.
Spendthrift Me: Do you think the designers spent the same amount of time designing those pieces?
Cheap-o Me: Maybe. We're not designers.
Spendthrift Me: Hmmm. Both? Or just one? If you had to pick just one, which would you pick?
Cheap-o Me and Spendthrift Me: The combo.

Thus does my mind judge things, and the Piper Hat, while admittedly adorable, gets removed from cart. Here's how it would go if the Piper Hat were $2 less, or if there were a 4-for-$23 deal from Twist:

Spendthrift Me: Both are super-cute!
Cheap-o Me: But.. but.. twelve bucks for both?
Spendthrift Me: Yup. But if we get this sweater and this one, both of which I would TOTALLY WEAR as a teacher, it's only $23! That's less than a movie ticket plus popcorn!
Cheap-o Me: Sold. But the Twist Collective is getting a Mildly Worded Letter regarding the navigability of their website. Part of what my $24 is paying for is an accessible venue for designer's work, after all!
Spendthrift Me: Indeed.

Are you listening, Twist Collective? After all my ranting, I humbly suggest a volume discount. I submit to you as an example the vast number of knitters on the internet who bemoan the Knitpicks $50-free-shipping incentive as a reason that they always, ALWAYS spend $50 at that website instead of the mere $10-$15 they would have otherwise.

Also, I hate the set-up of your online magazine. It's difficult to navigate and confusing to access.

But let's talk about the Winter '09 issue In Particular:
1. I love this.
2. And this.
3. And these.
4. The articles were lovely, but would be better if they were separated more from the pattern stories. I keep skimming when I should be reading, and reading what I'd rather be skimming. This is a layout issue, see above re. navigation.
5. I would like to have a chat with your photographers and sample knitters, please.

Again, I shall elucidate on #5, but not at as much length. This is a knitting magazine for knitters who knit. As such, we (the knitters) are not so much interested in ANTM-style poses or smizing as you might think. There are some general suggestions for photographing knitwear that are based firmly in color theory and/or Photography 101 of which I would like to remind you. Please note that the following has nothing - I repeat, NOTHING - to do with how such items should be knitted by the knitter. Knitters are clever and experimentative and can knit however they like. But in order to maximize the purchases of some items, I suggest the following things:

5a. Stranded colorwork should be shown in contrasting colors so as to make the pattern pop. If we cannot see the actual pattern, we are not as likely to knit it.
5b. A sweater that contains a cable should probably be shown in a distinct color so that said cable is visible.
5c. A savvy knitter will be frustrated that this sweater is not shown straight on in any shot. It's beautiful, the model is beautiful, the pose is quirky, but please for the love of all that's holy, if you want me to buy that pattern, also show me how it FITS HER. Otherwise, I wonder what's wrong with the pattern, and I'm sure that the designer did a bang-up job.

Thus ends my rant. You may return to your regularly scheduled knitting.

In Which We Procrastinate

Tomorrow is the CBEST, which might as well be called the SAT for Aspiring Teachers. I have reviewed the Princeton Review book on the subject, taken the reading portion of the test, and am now settling myself down to aspire my way to a "pass." I am assured by everyone I know who has taken the CBEST - which is a much larger number since I started grad school a month ago - that I will pass easily. While this is probably true (almost my entire undergraduate GPA was based on test scores - none of that "homework" for me!), I am still a smidge nervous. Therefore I spent today watching the latest episode of Glee, playing a very little bit of World of Warcraft, and sorting through my Portland pictures to place here for your viewing enjoyment. Sadly, by the time I realized that I should have taken daylight photos of some things, the daylight was waning. Curse you, Daylight Savings Time!

Anyway. My trip to Portland was great fun. Shannon was quite pleased with her gift, it went beautifully with her face (as intended ::cough::), and I got to see lots of friends who are doing very well indeed. I have a couple of dear friends living in high Bohemian style on top of a parking garage across from the Crystal Ballroom who have turned out to be quite brilliant businessmen - or have at least chosen to surround themselves with people who make them LOOK like brilliant businessmen (probably more the case). I am currently mocking up a monogram of "fake it till you make it" that we may or may not be tattooing on our arms for future reference.

I made a morning trip to Mecca:

where I purchased three (3) trashy historical romances and one (1) Russian classic, and where I also came upon this gem of a judgement:
I do love it when a bookstore doesn't sugar coat things. I also love the variable meanings of words. I do not love Jane Austen pastiche, though, and so my three (3) THR's were not of the JA variety. Just so you know.

A hop, skip, jump, and 2 traffic lights down the street from Powells is Knit/Purl, the Portland knitting store of which I have heard so much. Here's a shot of the inside:
That's pretty much the whole store, although there is a basement level that I believe is for teaching classes. I didn't go down there, so I don't know. What I DO know is that the same person who owns Knit/Purl is also responsible for Shibui Knits, and that I love her color sense. I also know that while I left footprints and took pictures, they weren't the only thing to come home with me; I also managed to escape with an Ivy League Vest and Anemoi mittens-worth of Shibui sock yarn and a copy of Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting, all of which I justified by using many logical fallacies but am still quite pleased by. I've decided that if I am to be a teacher, I'd rather wear stranded vests than blazers, and since I have never been a big fan of vests, I should probably start working on my collection. And if I am going to attempt another stranded project, I should probably start with something small. Thus, the mittens. See how I'm not just jumping in the deep end of fair isle knitting here? Acknowledge and appreciate my growth, reader.

Unfortunately, I managed to get a sore throat and headache the day I was supposed to go see Malia and her gorgeous boys, and while I desperately want to see Liam while he's just a little guy, I also don't want to do it at the expense of my friend's health - especially when she's got a 5-month-old baby who would likely also get sick. So instead I stayed in Shannon's apartment, reading books and watching TV and bemoaning my cruel, cruel fate.

Speaking of bemoaning, I think I'll toddle off and do some more homework. This accelerated teaching program is awesome because it's so fast, but shit in terms of how much stuff I have to do all the time! I guess it's good training for being an English teacher, though...

Love Fest

Quick update before I crash gratefully into my own bed with my own cat, who takes up almost as much room as Shannon despite weighing at LEAST 15 pounds less than she does:

Eleven Things I Love:

1. Portland.

2. Shannon loved her scarf enough to wear it the entire time I was in town. Also, it looks awesome on her. I am a color-choosing genius.

3. The Ivy League Vest-worth of Shibui Knits sock yarn I bought at Knit/Purl.

4. Knit/Purl is about a 2-minute walk from Powell's Books.

5. My bed.

6. Friends who are grateful instead of offended if I can't come baby-snuggling because I am developing a cold.

7. Friends who go out of their way to see me, even unto taking my sorry ass to the airport so we can gab on the car ride.

8. Suphedrine. The good kind from behind the pharmacy counter, weighing in at 120mg.

9. Breathing.

10. Old friends who just KNOW me.

11. My bed.

Pictures, stories, etc. are coming. Depending on how much procrastinating I do tomorrow, perhaps sooner than later. Did I say that out loud if I just typed it?

Still On The Run

If your name begins with an S and ends with -hannon, you need to stop reading this RIGHT NOW. Come back after you've received your birthday present which is pictured here and would thus spoil the surprise I have worked so hard to create. Also, happy birthday!

Okay, now that she's gone, I can tell the rest of you about what's been going on lately. I finished the Vanilla Rib Socks and then plowed through Anne Hanson's Elm Row scarf for the above-mentioned birthday girl. Apparently I am one of those knitters who likes to give things away because I'm constantly putting off my own projects in favor of those for someone else. This is not, however, a bad thing. I have wonderful friends who deserve to be wrapped in beautiful things, and if those things come from my hands, all the better.

For Shann's scarf, I pulled out the Panda Wool that I got from Jasmin and Gigi's very first goodie bag back at Stitches '09. Yes, you heard me right - I didn't even go buy anything! In fact, to tangentialize for a minute, I haven't bought yarn since the game-changing trip to Babetta's with my mom back in September. Well, I did buy an extra skein of Malabrigo Lace so I can finish up the Very Happy Scarf, but that's because I didn't have enough yarn to finish the project. And I'd like to point out tangentially (of course) that I started the project originally with what should have been plenty of yarn. Damn those inaccurate yardage requirements in VLT!! But anyway, I haven't bought yarn since mid-September. That's nearly 8 weeks, people! And in that time I've been to Lambtown, the CogKNITive Fiber Retreat and sundry other yarny places. Obviously I am awesome and have the proverbial Will of Iron.

Okay, back to the real point. The yarn I used is Crystal Palace Panda Wool in Ultramarine, and while I like the pattern - it was interesting to knit and I never got bored, which is a good thing for a scarf! - it is really the color that just makes this piece. The yarn is 51% bamboo, which adds sheen in addition to drape, and I am in lurve with the whole thing. Feast your eyes on this fairly color-accurate and also fairly artistic blocking shot:


Yep. It's a great color.

Underwater Trees Scarf, "Elm Row" pattern by Anne Hanson Panda Wool "Ultramarine" - 386 yds.

Currently I'm finishing up a Pretty Thing for another friend, and also working feverishly on a scarf for myself - having been informed today that the weather in Portland is not 70 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze like it is in Roseville. And also having left my favorite purple scarf at Crazy Sarah's last... was it New Years? Dang! But yea, I haven't needed one since then, and I obviously need one now. I'm using the same pattern as the purple one (Rav link), but I think I will crochet chain the edges so the scarf doesn't stretch as much as the last one. For this project I broke out the Noro Cash Iroha that I bought at the Commuknity closing sale last year. This is the only Noro I've ever encountered that feels like its price point to me, and I'm liking it immensely. Now I just have to finish about 3 more feet before the end of the day...

I spent Halloween weekend with my mom up in Penn Valley and we had a lovely time watching Firefly and crafting. I took the opportunity to photograph Violet nee Jezebel, whose recovery from her former abusive situation is, as previously titled, progressing apace.
I love the China blue of her eyes, especially against the quilt my mom made. Doesn't she look less... vacant than last time? I do think, however, that she's progressed about as far as she will be able to without being in a one-cat household. Poor dear is still afraid of the other kitties and slinks around as if she's about to be kicked. But when I picked her up and put her on my bed, she purred next to my face all night and followed me around for the rest of my time up there. If I weren't certain that she'd be bullied by my own precious feline, I would have brought her home with me, especially after she chased another one of our cats away from me in a fit of ownership. Honestly, who could resist that little face?

Here's another little face for you to not resist: