The One With a Lot of Finished Objects

Just over a month ago one of my childhood best friends, that I've managed to stay in contact with over the years and across a distance, had her first child. This summer I had meant to knit a stockpile of things but the summer flew by (where did it go? I start TAing tomorrow!) and all I got was a list of queued and favorited items on Ravelry. So the kiddo was born and I had nothing knit! I dropped all of my current projects and knit a little set of accessories - booties, legwarmers, mittens, and a hat. I mailed it off on Friday - I hope it all fits him. I don't know baby sizes very well - and I don't know how well he fits the averages...



I also made another set of booties but they look like they will fit a doll so I sent them home with mom for the doll that she is dressing for a church bazaar or donation or something



I worked on and finished a lace scarf for one of Cory's aunts - it is the Trellis Scarf from Interweave knits. I think she'll really like it - we go to visit her this Wednesday in Comox





And you may remember that in May we re-did the floors. Well my favorite red chair kept loosing it's felt pads so I made some booties for it and they stay on. At first they seemed really noticeable but now they seem to belong.



Winter is coming so I made myself another hat. The colours are so off in this picture that I almost don't want to post it but I might as well. Anyone have tips on photographing red? Anyone know why it seems so difficult?



And then I got on a kick of knitting small things - started this Friday and may continue today too. Essentially I wanted to tidy my stash in Ravelry of small quantities of yarn but I have some arbitrary idea that the amount has to go below say .1 of a skein before I'll designate it as all used up - when I suppose I need to change that to some yardage amount. Anyway, small items.

Coffee Cozy the first - don't like it so much


So I made another one - Coffee Cozy the second - I like this one much better. I needed at least one of these cozy things because one of my travel mugs heats up a lot if you put a hot beverage in it. Plus it had a logo on it that I didn't like and that was peeling off. So I made the cozy to go over it.



The madness continued in the form of two stash busting flowers - not sure what I'll do with them - perhaps put a magnet or a pin on them...





And finally, something that was supposed to be a coaster that turned out too big. Which really isn't that surprising because the pattern was for a trivet and I should have either used a thinner yarn than called for or cast on a smaller number of stitches. Will do the next time. Now it is under a pot in my study and looks great there. What I really liked about this pattern is that it shrinks equally in width and length because it is knit in the round - so I didn't have to guess how many more (or less) rows I had to make relative to the width so that it would felt square.



I'm lazy so I'm not putting up pattern and yarn details - those interested can either email me or look on Ravelry (username: Catiecat). I have explicit details there about yardage etc because I weighed the items so that the requirements are accurate.

Still knitting on the epic mitered square blanket - but it is large so I can only work on it on days that are pretty cool.

Oh and I finished another sock - the mate to this one.



I haven't weaved in the ends or tried it on - I'm scared, plus the first one didn't fit well. The instructive part of the project is that I now know that I much prefer a gusset to a short row heel. I need more space in the instep and at the ankle than a short row heel provides. The project had bad mojo or juju or whatever - it took me a good month just to bind off after completing the ribbing! Oh well, it is done and over with.

And to end, I've been watching a lot of Buffy episodes - somewhere in season 6 now - because I can't stand most of the summer television stuff. Luckily shows start soon and hockey too.

ETA: and in all this I forgot another finished object (that's what I get for not posting these things as they were finished - or at least in the week they were finished...) - some more feline dim sum for a friend's cat - apparently I've got good catnip and Dixun had killed beyond repair the last one I made. How could I say no to such a request?

Cat Blasphemy

I wasn't going to post today but Chris's post made me reconsider - Urlesque Announces a Day Without Cats on 9.9.09

Seriously? All I have to say on the subject is:


Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
23/04/2009

On another note - iPods confuse me. 3 years ago I thought my mini had kicked the bucket so I bought an iPod video - which I use a lot and which now has kitty teeth marks thanks to Zoie carrying around the knitted case while the iPod was still in it. A month or so ago, out of curiosity I plugged the mini into the computer and it started charging (didn't do that 3 years ago). Then yesterday it seemed like the iPod video was having issues - the center button was stuck. I was all set to open the sucker up tonight (voiding any warranty that it might have - but I think I'm out of warranty because I don't remember getting the extended warranty) and I looked at it this morning and it was working again - the button is still slightly depressed but it works... I don't understand but that doesn't matter - it works.

In other news, I am knitting away - mainly on baby items because my best friend (who I've known since we were about 5 years old) had a sweet little boy. I don't want to post pictures yet because I don't want her seeing - though I don't think she has a reliable internet connection... Still slogging away on the blanket and some other things - my ravelry page is up to date (username Catiecat). I hope to mail the stuff to her this week and post lots of pictures by the weekend. We'll see if this actually happens though.

Things Are Looking Up...

I made the Basic Sandwich Bread from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts. It turned out amazing (on my first try!) and I'm hopeful that I will have good gluten-free bread that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

At the start of the cookbook she gives you tips and tricks to help make your attempts successful - and she doesn't just give you recipes, she tells you why the different flours are necessary and what they do for the taste/texture/etc. so that you can, with experimentation, adapt your favorite recipes to be gluten-free.

Personally, I'm going to attempt to make my Grandma Gross' Peanut Butter Cookies and her Sand Tarts. Come Christmas I will miss the Sand Tarts. If/when I do figure out the adaptations I'll post both the original and the adapted versions here.

I'll definitely be trying more from this cookbook, and will let you know how it goes - but honestly, if I only ever make the bread recipe I will still consider this cookbook money well spent.

Wordless Wednesday: I've been knitting and I'll show you more later this week or next

28/8/2009
Canon Powershot SD1100 IS

ECF...

Ellie inspects the stash...

Ten on Tuesday

This week is supposed to be 10 Fads You Just Don't Get - but I missed last weeks topic and it is so much more interesting so I'm doing that one instead.

10 Favorite Characters from Television

1. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) of The Big Bang Theory
2. Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite) of Firefly
3. Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) of How I Met Your Mother
4. Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (I like the ditzy high school Cordy more than the Cordy from later seasons of Angel)
5. Spike (James Marsters) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
6. Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan (Emily Deschanel) of Bones
7. Winifred 'Fred' Burkle (Amy Acker) of Angel
8. Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) of Dollhouse
9. River Tam (Summer Glau) of Firefly (she plays crazy so well!)
10. Joy Turner (Jaime Pressly) of My Name is Earl (I don't know why, normally I don't like this type of show at all... but I love My Name is Earl)

Okay, well the theme/pattern is pretty clear - I love me some Joss Whedon characters. The topic almost could have been list your 10 Favorite Joss Whedon characters seeing as only 4 of the 10 would have to be changed. And it would have been easy to name 4 more of his characters - Billy (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Neil Patrick Harris), Anya (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Emma Caufield), Oz (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Seth Green), Hoban 'Wash' Washburne (Firefly, Alan Tudyk).

Update

I haven't posted in a ridiculously long time. A lot has happened in that time including

- issues with doctors - still no diagnosis and a long wait is occurring before I will get to see a specialist - prior to the referral I changed doctors, the one on campus was frustrating me.

- our 3rd wedding anniversary - went to shakespeare in the park again but got rained out, had a lovely time none the less.




- British Columbia is having a horrendous forest fire year. Two fires broke out near my home town (Westbank - they call it West Kelowna now but that just sounds weird to me). A lot of people were evacuated (over 10,000 evacuated, another 7,000 or so on alert - the town is only about 40,000 people...), and the apartment that my parents were buying was put on evacuation alert.

- We went to Penticton for a wedding of some college (undergrad) friends. Saw a lot of old friends and got homesick for the Okanagan. The dream is to move back there some day. The issue is that there aren't many employers for me...


- Cory drove home and I stayed to help my parents move - what a gong show that ended up being. Since I was there for longer I saw some more friends - one that I hadn't seen in years and another that I don't see much of. Also spent time up at the cottage and saw a niece and nephew and brother - brother I saw within the last year (still good to see him though), niece I hadn't seen in 2 years, and nephew I hadn't seen in 3...


- introduced said niece and nephew to the wonder that is the Ames Brothers and Rag Mop (my happy song - I should go see if iTunes has it - okay I'm back, they do and so now I need to go buy a copy - also a fan of Sentimental Me on the other side of the record) via my grandparents gramophone. I've been told that my grandpa Gross had this gramophone while he was courting grandma Gross.


- While in the Okanagan I cast on the Trellis Scarf by Evelyn A. Clark (Interweave Knits, Spring 2006) for Cory's Aunt Paula. She saw the scarf I made for his Nana (branching out, pink kid silk haze) and requested one. I think she'll really appreciate it so I'm knitting the Trellis for her in KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud - Peppermint. Love the yarn and pattern - am about 7 repeats into the pattern, but it doesn't seem very long - I have a spare hank of the yarn if need be. The cats are "helping" and unfortunately are somewhat interested in the ball of yarn - not sure if it is the alpaca (they like merino for sure) or the way it is wound.


- wound the ball of laceweight by hand because I was at the cottage. Luckily I bought my mom a swift for Christmas this year. I swear it took 45 minutes or more. Niece and nephew found the whole process very interesting for almost the whole time - and laughed hysterically at me when I would drop the ball and it would roll on the floor.

Okay, well that about does it for the past month. I'm feeling pretty fatigued lately and sleeping a lot. Also watching a new-to-me show that I find hilarious - Big Bang Theory. I just wish I could relate less to the geeky scientists...