New Favorite Blog

I am in love....Smitten Kitchen is my new favorite blog. But Don't worry Not Martha, there is room at the top for two favorites!

Spring

I love Spring. It's warmish and sunny and daylight savings time is the BEST. Even though it's only 44 here, and it's 84 in sunny Florida I'm still enjoying the warmish weather. This morning I ordered a new navy polka-dot bathing suit from J.Crew; this is the top and this is the bottom. The bottoms are back-ordered, but I really hope they arrive before April 19th so I can wear it during my reading-week Florida trip.

On the knitting front, the rectangle shawl is almost done. When I finish this last skein I will be ready to add the picot edge. I'm also close to finishing the green calmer sweater. It's been a WIP for almost a year now, but as I get closer to the sleeve cap shaping I'm getting more anxious to finish it. Photos to come soon.

"New" Sewing Machine

I bought a *new* sewing machine on eBay a few weeks ago. I use the term "new" loosely because I think the machine is from the 60's. But, it was only $18 and shipping to my S.O.'s house was only $10. I dripped a few drops of sewing machine oil on every moving part and viola it works like a charm! I'm so pleased!

It's a good thing that it works so well because I packed a large duffel sack full of projects for my two week stay with S.O., including material for several sewing projects. Here's a photo of the first of F.O.'s made with the new machine. Now I'm off to make myself a sundress using fabric with smocking already sewn in that I found at Joann yesterday.

Thai Green Curry...Yum

Last night I made Thai Green Curry for dinner using Thai Kitchen's green curry paste. I made it with chicken this time, and thought it was just as tasty as when I make it with tofu. The key is to add lots of peas and serve it very hot over fresh spinach instead of rice. Mmmm so tasty.

Thai Green Curry
1 can of lite coconut milk
2T green curry paste
cook above for 5 mins on medium heat
2T fish sauce
2T brown sugar
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 thinly sliced chicken breasts (or lite firm tofu)
1+ cup of peas
bamboo shoots
sliced water chestnuts
add all of the above plus 1/2 of the bag of spinach and simmer for 10 mins
bag o' baby spinach

Serve over remaining baby spinach or brown rice. Tasty!

You can add more veggies the next day to make another meal. It also freezes very well.

Some Good

Some good came out of my cancelled flight. The airline gave me a taxi voucher to use for a ride "home." However, because home is aprox. 130 miles from the airport I stayed near the airport Wednesday night. Thursday morning I gave my cab driver the round-trip voucher for a 260 mile trip. Apparently it was quite a bonus, he was pleased, I am pleased.

Spreeeeee

I went on a pattern spree at The Knitting Experience this past weekend. I intended to purchase only one pattern - Blue Sky Alpaca's Rectangle Shawl. But, I also left with the Baby Bobbi Bear pattern, an eyelet baby blanket pattern and two Louise Harding books: Gathering Roses and Winter Muse Classic.

I started the very mundane rectangle shawl and I love it. I'm using a light worsted 100% alpaca so it is going to be a bit larger than the pattern. I hope I don't lose interest before I get to the end. I'm excited to frog my red inside-out sweater from last Fall's Knit Scene and make the Ginger cardigan instead. I'm also looking forward to the Violette, but I am short a few skeins.

Next week is a project filled week....if I can ever get to my destination. Second time in one month to have a flight cancelled and not rescheduled for at least a day.

Project Photo Page Is Ready!

Photos have been added to the Finished Projects Photos page. The projects on the photo page are from the past few years, but aren't listed in any special order.

Oscar Cupcakes

One "Bowl" Cupcakes

Combine the ingredients below in a food processor all at once and blend until a smooth, thick batter. Fill cups 2/3 full, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Frost with simple white vanilla frosting.

1.5 sticks of unsalted butter

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla extract

2/3 c. sour cream

1.5 c. flour

1 c. sugar

1 t. baking powder

.5 t. baking soda

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa p0wder

Alpaca Bobbi Bear

This is Blue Sky Alpaca's large Bobbi Bear made with Blue Sky Bulky. Note that the pattern calls for 6 hanks of yarn, but I used less than 4 1/2. I would recommend knitting a few extra rounds on the body to balance out the enormous head.

Flannel Scarf with Bobble Fringe

This isn't a knitting project, but it is one of my favorite scarfs. It's made from a long piece of flannel fabric and some bobble fringe. Don't worry, it was time for the scarf to hit the wash when this photo was taken.

Cashmere Scarf

I finally finished the mohair picot edge cast-off* on this cashmere scarf. The scarf is made of Obsession with Kid Silk Haze ends. The pattern is my own, a double seed-stitch with rounded edges.

*Instructions for picot edge cast-off:
^Cast on two stitches using the cable cast-on, bind off 4 sts, slip remining stitch from the right-hand to the left-hand needle and repeat from^ to the end.

Cable cast-on:
Insert the tip of the right needle between the first two stitches on the left needle, pull through 1 stitch, twist 1/2 way, place on left hand needle. Repeat.

Reed's Baby Hat

Reed arrived a few weeks ago and will be getting this new hat soon. It's my own pattern, made of various Cotton Classic yarns.

Green Ribbon Twist Hat

I finished this hat months ago, but the cast-on edge was too tight. So yesterday I took it out and replaced it with a large needle cast-off. I used Rowan Ribbon Twist and Kid Silk Haze held together. The pattern is from Rowan's Big Just Got Bigger book.

It's time to blog again

The old, neglected blog was deleted about a year ago, but one's family members can only handle so many photos of crafty stuff before their eyes glaze over. So, I've decided that it's time to blog again. Welcome to Knitting Sock Monkey...