Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Being neither Irish, nor Catholic, I usually end up wearing green today because it is 90% of my wardrobe and I don't want to be pinched like I was back in third grade when a first grader pinched me and drew blood and when my teacher asked me what was wrong she told me that I couldn't have been hurt that badly (she didn't see the blood)--I was even wearing green. (Wow! Where did that suppressed memory come from?)

I really do appreciate a man who can drive all the snakes off an island though. He's practically my patron saint because of that.

I used to celebrate by making Reubens, but those are off the menu this year. I can make a vegetarian corned beef, but it's work and I have knitting tonight...where I might start my mom's sweater.

What I made:

More muffins. I'm starting to get addicted. My kiddos serve themselves and I get that many more minutes of sleep. I followed the recipe but I subbed blueberries.

Spring Break Status

My kiddos will not be going to the in-laws tonight. Turns out, when one of your children wakes you up in the middle of the night after vomiting on every bed linen he owns, you don't feel comfortable letting him spend the next night somewhere else.

Not even when he wakes up bright and early and behaves as though he is the healthiest child in the world.

Not even when you have to chain yourself to the washing machine all day.

Not even when you have a deadline to knit a sweater for your mother in four days.

At least now I know I have a conscience.

What I Made:

A big pile of clean laundry. I'll spare you the photo.

On the First Day of Spring Break

Nothing will bring out your control issues like having children.

I love letting my kids make things, but I have to resist the urge to "help", "fix", or "do it faster" (sound familiar Mom?).

Which leads me to:

What I (We) Made:

Cookies. The simplest cookies ever (recipe at the bottom of this post). Yummy wanted to make them "swirled" (where he comes up with this stuff...) so we have a batch of regular peanut butter and a batch of chocolate peanut butter--I found a peanut butter that has no mystery ingredients, no hydrogenated fat, and is chocolate. What? Like the idea of Black Forest PB & (sour cherry)J has never occured to you?

Yummy did just about everything, except the oven stuff. He cracked eggs (onto the counter), he measured ingredients (onto the floor), he stirred (slowly), he scooped out cookie dough (in misshapen, irregular lumps) and you know what?



They turned out just fine.

The recipe is one my Mother-in-law gave me several years ago. I've come across this recipe a few other places so forgive me for being skeptical if anyone declares a copyright on it.

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Bake 350 about 12-15 minutes until they collapse a little and look done. They may need to cool on the cookie sheet a few minutes.

Spring Break Plans

Tomorrow starts Spring break. I'm sure some of you feel it started when school got out on Friday, but Monday at 8:00AM is when it starts for me, because that is when I'll realize I have twice the number of mini-masters running around expecting me to serve their every need.

There will be high points: My In-laws are taking the kids tomorrow night and all day Tuesday. Also, I will be schlepping my brood to the mountains to visit my parents for a couple days. So my sanity should remain intact.

I will have all day Tuesday to knit my mother a sweater, for her birthday, on Thursday. No, I haven't started it yet. What was I saying about my sanity?

What I made

I needed to come up with something for a birthday present and whipped up this frothy little number. I am assured that while the little girl who received it loves it, her little brother is infatuated and wears it everywhere. As you can tell, the only model I had in my house was a lampshade.

This is another member of the Business Plan Club. If you want one, just invite me to the party.

*snores*

The Businessman just corrected my math. Five survey takers would be a 25% increase.

You know I'm tired when the Businessman has to correct my math. This is a very sad state of affairs.

Knitting Survey

It took me about six tries to spell my name tonight, so bear with me. Please.

I had a new survey in the side bar this week. Five of you responded, which is a 20% increase in participation. I will try not to let it get to my head.

I am surprised to know that three of you knit. And pleased. And the one person who wants to knit--you are welcome to my home any time and I will teach you, provided you aren't a psychopath, in which case we'll meet elsewhere. I may even send you home with a mile of yarn since I have a few to spare. (27 last time I checked).

So I will keep putting surveys in the side bar. Sometimes they will be ridiculous. Sometimes thoughtful. Mostly I'm just curious.

What I Made

I'm surprised I didn't blog about this when I did it. It's a mural I painted in Yummy's room. The Pixar fans should recognize it from Cars. It's very simple and stylized, but people seem to know exactly what it is.

This is one of the things for which the Businessman wrote a business plan. I am very willing to be the operations end of any business he wants to persue, but I tell him repeatedly that I am not production.

Generation Green?

Yummy and I had to wrap a present for a birthday party yesterday. I have a stash of wrapping paper (of course) and I have kept nearly every gift bag I've ever been given, just in case. So I told Yummy I would run to My Sewing Room and grab something.

Yummy: "Mom, we really should use newspaper. It's recycling and better for the earth."

I'm so proud. *wipes tears of joy* My little boy is becoming an environmental activist.

I chose to run with it rather that mess with his little head about how the paper probably won't be recycled, the toy he chose is cheap plastic junk, and most of my wrapping supplies are Second-hand/reusable. Small victories people, small victories.

What I Made



Last year I came across this pattern which is one of the most popular patterns in Ravelry, and rightly so. The chart is so simple and effective. Perfect little Jolly Rogers in 13x11 stitches. Amazing.

I've made numerous versions of this hat for my kiddos. This one fit my son for a year and then I donated it to an auction. It was my best color combo (so far) and used up leftovers--always a bonus.

I Am Tough On Band Aid...

I have a callous on my finger from knitting. To be fair I have always had a small callous but I have been knitting socks, which use very thin needles of which my set happens to be rather sharp, and a cotton top on an old set of size 4s, cotton being a fiber with no give and this particular set of needles is sharp from years of being rubbed together. So, my callous has developed a small crack. It doesn't really hurt, unless I'm stabbing something in it repeatedly.

For you non-knitters, picture a paper-cut that you keep stabbing a pencil in, about 80 times a minute.

Yeah, sucky.

So I'm knitting with a band-aid on my finger. Much to the distress of Vicious who thinks band-aids are only for serious wounds, like bumping his head on the table (again).

What I Made

First I shall make it clear that just because I post it today, doesn't mean I made it today. I do have young children and a house full of toys, dust and men of various sizes and species.

I call this my newsboy hat. Whenever I see this style I'm reminded of a kid selling papers on a street corner. It's made from an embroidered corduroy I found on clearance (there are sequins in it too) and a Vogue sewing pattern (7619). I just noticed the pattern is out of print, which surprises me since I see this style of hat everywhere.



I'm not sure what's up with the mouth-breathing on Yummy. We'll just assume modeling isn't in his future. It's a hat for me and I think I look kind of cute in it--though the pics my boys took were contrary to that.

You Really Should Listen To Your Inner Voice

Remember yesterday when I saw what I thought was a horribly obvious error in my knitting but my friends assured me was unnoticable. Turns out I was right. It kept bugging me because I have worked with this lacy stitch before and the only way it could go wonky is if A) I knit instead of purled a row or B) I skipped a row...

Skipped a row...that seems ominous. Of course I didn't skip a row. There's no way. To prove it I'll count 1,2,3...

15 minutes later (and asking Vicious if I have my counting numbers right) I had to admit it. I skipped a row (and had lots of practice counting to 12, 24, 15 and 27).

So it is now a pretty green circle with a huge glop of ramen noodles hanging off it. It should be all sorted out by tomorrow.

BTW, the yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in Peridot, An acquisition from my field trip.

What I Made:



Simple napkins. Seriously easy. I have made napkins before and even have some fabric lying around simply for the purpose, but I hadn't gotten around to hemming or surging them. Then I dined at a restaurant where they had cloth napkins; they simply left the edges raw.

Genius.

This batch is from a cotton print I found in the clearance section. A $2.00 a yard, I can't pass up fabric with cats on it.

Item: I have a friend who spent some time in Europe getting her Hotel & Resort Management degree. They were graded on table setting and the students with the fancy folded origami napkins--not so hot. You see, when you fold a napkin in a complicated manner, you touch the napkin more--it becomes a health issue. Think about that next time you're at a fancy dinner.

Startitis

I have startitis. A well known, if not common, ailment among knitters. See a yarn, cast on a project. See another yarn, cast on another project. This is related to the very rare disease of finish-itis. To date, very few knitters have had severe cases of finish-itis, most have had startitis.

For me the cure is to let the disease run its course. Eventually something will grab my attention and I'll be unable to stop.

That may have already happened.

What I Made:

I have an old Vogue Knitting (1998) and this project caught my eye. I may never wear it, but the desire to knit it is overwhelming. So much so that I cast on with yarn that I know I don't possibly have enough to complete the thing as written and will have to do some massive wrangling when I get to the sleeves. But see? I'm already talking about sleeves like I might actually get to them.

I'm going to keep it a surprise. It is slowly creating a delicate, beautiful image and all will be revealed as I knit.

There is a glaring error staring at me. My SnB friends assured me no one will notice it but these pics make it plain as day. There is clearly a row in the lace panel that has gone awry.

And that is what I made yesterday.

What I Made Today

I am often in the mode of making things. Baking, cooking, crafting, knitting, sewing, etc.

I am going to try something a little different on this blog. In addition to the usual blather you are still reading (for a reasons that escape me) I will insert a "PS"-a picture (hopefully) and description of something I have made.

To that end:

What I Made:

Muffins of Power!



I got the recipe here but this is the second time I made it so I subbed millet for the quinoa and raisins for the blueberries. A combo of apple and lemon juice for the orange juice and some palm sugar for some of the agave.

Can you tell I am trying to clean out my pantry? It is so nice to have a change from cereal on school mornings. Especially since the time change has my boys 'sleeping in.'

Fifteen Minutes

Yesterday, 4:41 PM

Hey look, it's snowing! Yay! Maybe it'll stick.

4:45 PM

Oh. It stopped.

4:54 PM

It's sunny. Is that a rainbow? Tell me that's not a rainbow. It is. It's a flipping rainbow!?

I'm tempted to pull out my summer clothing just to encourage winter to stop by. I hear it's visited the rest of the country already. It's our turn.

Creativity

I had a poll up (look to the right) about creativity. Since I know three of you who read this blog, and I had four answers, I'm not entirely shocked by the result.

All of you feel you are creative (with one of you being smart about mind altering substances). I'm glad to see this. In my experience with the real world, most people claim no creativity whatsoever and this frustrates me.

In my MOPS group this week, we had an interior designer guest. She was a great speaker and had great suggestions, but she didn't have "rules." I loved this; it seems no one else did. Rules are too limiting. You should just do what you like. The problem being we don't know what that is.

When someone asked what we can do about art when we can't afford it I finally butt in and said MAKE IT YOURSELF! Seriously. Go to the craft store, grab supplies in colors you like and slap it on a canvas. Most of us can't interpret abstract art anyway (including me). You can have something on your wall in an afternoon for less than $10.00. I have been in the homes of "collectors" and often they don't even enjoy the art on their walls (though some do)--it's an investment meant to be sold in the future. At least slapping some paint or other media on a canvas you'll know you like the colors.

But few people think like this.

How can you break into a mindset and extract ideas? How can you convince someone that creativity isn't about perfection, it's about trying?

Overreaction

I listen to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on my iPod so I'm a little behind by the time I actually listen to it. It came to my attention that one of the panelists openly mocked knitting. (Some of) The knitting community was in an uproar and demanded an apology.

Curious, I listened to the culprit episode. Toward the end, Mo Rocca mutters about handknit sweaters being itchy.

Okay, knitters, come on! Do you honestly think you serve the cause by griping?

1. WWDTM mocks everything. That's why it's funny. If anything, this is free publicity.
2. I have a number of handknit sweaters. Most of them itch. I also have a collection of layers to counteract this.
3. Yes store bought sweaters can itch too, but I usually can't afford those. Perhaps Mr. Rocca has the same problem.

Seriously? We're griping about this? Is it really such a travesty? Are we so concerned about NPR listeners getting the wrong impression about knitting? If we're going to stereotype, I'd say NPR listeners are smart enough to see through it.

Now we are simply the oversensitive demographic that makes itchy sweaters while huddled in a rocking chair, drinking tea and wishing for more grandchildren to practice our intarsia on.

Great.

Socks

I have a lot of sock yarn. At one point, I decided sock yarn would make great "souvineers" when we travel places. Except for one problem: I don't wear socks.

So I stopped buying sock yarn and started knitting socks for my kiddos. The idea was, I would knit for my oldest and then it would be handed down to the youngest. But I felt bad and decided to knit my youngest a quick pair. He loves them. As soon as they are out of the dryer, he puts them on. If they're in the wash, he pesters me until they're clean again.

How can I ignore this sort of gratitude?

So, I bought some rainbow yarn (rainbow being the favorite sock color around here) and found this pattern in a book I have (you need a Ravelry ID to see that link--if should have a ravelry ID you already have it) and voila:



One sock. One of the most adorable socks I have ever seen, much less knit. I cast on for the second yesterday but the first one is so darned cute!

It's also big enough to take him into next Fall, as I (hopefully) won't make him wear them with sandals this Summer.

Bubbles, Bathbombs, Bright Shiny Links

I've been making my own cleaning supplies for almost a year so it would follow suit that this website is enchanting me.

I haven't begun trying to make my own soap...yet. But I do have a bar of handmade soap that smells like mojitos. I try not to use it too often because it smells so nice (I have a 'standard' bar in the shower)--I also had a mocha bar that smelled yummy but I used it up. If I made my own...

Hmm...

Daring Bakers-February

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.


I had fun this month, even though my posting might contradict this.

I knew immediately I was going to make my Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream. So I thought I might want to try to do this cake with white chocolate. I had a potluck at my SnB and decided that would be the day to showcase my work. Alas, my "white chocolate" burned when I tried to melt it. Errg! So, a week later, I tried again. I got the White chocolate to melt, but the cake ended up looking and tasting like a really sweet omelette--Yuck!

At this point I realized the "white chocolate" I was using was actually not really white chocolate--it had no cocoa butter in it (the definition of true white chocolate). So I gave up and went extra dark bittersweet.



And it worked beautifully. Here it is getting ready to go to the SnB.

It had actually started snowing so I felt the snowflake was appropriate.

Here's my ice-cream:


I used almost 1 1/2 Tablespoons of chili powder--I even pulled out the big guns I got in Santa Fe. It was snowing and I thought it would be easier to eat icecream if it had more heat in it.

So I'm all proud of myself, bringing treats to the SnB, and giving a fond farewell to a fellow knitter who gets to live on Mount Rainier for a year, when this woman comes in--carrying a cake.

Needless to say, it's good there were lots of women there. There was a lot of chocolate. The other cake tasted much better than mine, but my ice cream was pretty stellar.

What I learned:

• read your labels
• I had never made a flourless cake before--not my favorite
• I make kick a$$ ice cream

The Art of Folding

My son found my origami books.

This should thrill me, but I have spent over 20 years collecting advanced origami books--full of models that shouldn't ever be attempted by mere mortals...

...or five year olds.

From the Halls of Montezuma...

Recently I went to the gym and started my 10 minute warm-up. Everytime I enter the gym I intend to leave with the hope that something will be sore the next day. As I was sorting out my routine in my head, I became aware of the significant number of combat boots wandering around, and fatigues. Oh dear, the Marines are here.

(Why there is a boatload (pun intended) of marines in a landlocked state still eludes me)

I had to make a choice. Do I avoid my weight training and stay on the treadmill? Do I alter my training and stick to the "girly" side of the gym? Do I just enter the fray and and crank it like I intended?

I'm proud to say I chose option C. A less recent edition of Mountain Mama would have chosen a different option but this one stuck to her plan. And while I was straining to do those assisted pull-ups subtracting 65% of my weight, one of them caught my eye and thumbs-uped me (he was doing pull-ups with weights tied to his waist...someday...). It felt great.

At my knitting group, one woman said she wanted to join a gym but she hated the idea of people ogling the "fat woman on the treadmill." Of course we all want to be in our comfort zone, but look where my comfort zone got me.

I would rather be ogled on a treadmill than in a fast food restaurant.

Show and Tell

For Show and Tell, Yummy had to create a caricature of his favorite storybook character.

Imagine my delight when this was who he chose:





If you need help, refer to numbers 75 and 76.