Busy girl

I've really enjoyed being able to knit again. I don't think I realized how long two weeks without knitting was, until I had to live it. I always thought of myself as a "product" knitter. I enjoy knitting, but I never considered it therapeutic and I certainly never considered the "process" my reason for knitting. Okay, I'll admit it, I was D-E-A-D wrong. I really missed the process and the peace of knitting.

Anyway, I started my first real lace project...which honestly, was completely impulsive and a little dumb, because my first year of lace project and yarn will be arriving sometime in March and there is NO way I'll have the Celtic Knot Stole Done by then, but oh well. I had some BEAUTIFUL lace weight from Handpainted yarn that Bex gave me in the PERFECT shade of green for a celtic themed wrap. Okay, I'll stop justifying. If I ever get over my project ADD and work on it enough to take a decent picture, I will.

Anyway...last week I decided that I needed to stop procrastinating and make Bex' Christmas present. I know!! I know, okay? Anyway, she picked her yarn forever ago, so I gave her a the choice of a couple of hats from her queue for me to make for her. Thank you Bex, thank you for not making me make another Odessa. I would have...for you...but I'm glad you didn't make me hehehehe. Ain't she cute?



Aaaaaand I finally got the right combination of needle size and row omission to get my first Harlot hat done! Okay, so it must be love, because this is seriously the 5th time I've made this hat. This is the first time I made it to the end with enough yarn. Go me. And guess what...I don't love the white on me. It's pretty, I love the hat...just not on me. *sigh* Oh well, I guess it goes into the box. Hopefully I'll like the teal one better. It's cute though isn't it?



Hmm, what else...OH my Greece hat!!!! I did my first project using the yarns I picked up in Greece. I was browsing Ravelry (shock) and found a couple of people who used the Mille Colori for a SUPER-cute chevron hat. I couldn't resist. I made one and it is GORGEOUS. I think it might be my favorite hat...even more favorite than my ponytail hat, which I hold in very high regard. It's just so PRETTY. So, though it's more than I usually pay for yarn, I need to pick up a couple more skeins in this color way to make a matching scarf...and maybe mitts too. I really love how it knit up. It's just amazing in person.



Other than that...I got lots of yarn hehe It was my birthday present to myself, so I refuse to feel bad about spending the money...

From HandpaintedYarn.com (both are lace weight and GORGEOUS)



I also got a bunch from Boucle's Yarn sale.

I think this is going to be a Jeannie from Knitty


I think this is going to be a tank top for summer, it's pima cotton and SOOOO soft



And I dunno what this is going to be...but I couldn't resist buying some frivolous pink yarn...



Okay okay, I'll end the novel, but hey, at least I've been keeping myself busy! I think if I don't finish my gloves soon Bec's gonna kill me hehehe Iyayooooo!

I'm back!

So, I only sorta have a bad excuse for not being very present here. I could really push it and say I was prepping for our out of the country adventure for the first half of January...which is kinda true...and we were gone for 2 weeks...but in all honesty, I've been very unmotivated to post. I don't really know why. But I'm attempting to remedy that.

So, the trip was FANTASTIC! Like everything, there were good and bad, but I can look at the bad and find the silver lining. We've been back for a week, and we're finally getting out time schedule back on track and I'm trying to fall back into my home routine. I have TONS of pictures, which will of course be posted on Fickr sometime in the near future, and lots of stories, so the likelihood is that I will break up the major portions of the trip and post about them separately.

So, yeah, lots going on. I'm still knitting. I'm still taking pictures. I'm still cooking. I'm just not posting. Bad me. I know.

Realization

So, when I started my Ravelry account, I added everything I could remember making. I thought I'd done a good job...until Christmas day. My grandma showed up wearing the pink scarf I made for her in '05. My aunt showed up wearing the green spiral scarf I made for her in '05. Then I realized...I gave almost everyone in the family something knit for Christmas in '05.

1 - Mom got a scarf, but I can't remember what it was made of.
2 - Gram got a scarf made from the most evil pink yarn ever.
3 - Marty got a green "Soft Boucle" spiral scarf.
4 - Runc got a black and grey striped scarf.
5 - Ed got a scarf, but I can't remember anything about it.
6 - My Aunt Bernita got my headband from Knitty that I can't remember the name of (not Calorimetry)

I think there's more, but I can't remember... So yeah...I should confiscate those and get pictures...

Yeah, that was my only point...

HATE

I HATE...yes, I really do mean HATE, capitalized.

1x1 ribbing is the bane of my existence. I've been working on the cuff of my second glove for DAYS and I can't bring myself to work more than a round or two of this damn ribbing at a time. It's really unfortunate, because I love the pattern for the glove...I just HATE 25 rows of 1x1 ribbing.

I'm going to go scratch my eyes out now.

O.M.G

So, I knew...I did...I have said it myself.

But. It still managed to catch me by surprise.

While we were laying on the bed tonight, Logan looked over at me and goes "In two weeks, we'll be in another country."

O.M.G.

I'm so excited I could burst. I'm so scared I could burst too.

Wow.

Happy Christmas

Yes, I had one :D

Hectic. Insane. Too many people in my relatively small house. But you know what? It was fantastic all the same.

Hope you all had a great one too. Here are some pictures from the day:

It's not giving up...it's self preservation

Well my fellow DBers, I must ashamedly admit that this month's challenge managed to thoroughly kick my ass.

Surprisingly, it was not the much belothed buttercream that did me in. No, in fact, I made a beautiful, shiny, fluffy buttercream on the first try. I caught it as it tried to curdle 4 table spoons before the butter was full incorporated. It came back together beautifully after giving it a little steam bath over the double boiler. So, no buttercream horror stories here.

No...it was the genoise. I don't know what I did wrong, honestly. Well, I know what happened the first time I made it. After reading that some people were having issue with the genoise drying out after cooking for 12 minutes, I opted for the lower end of the spectrum and baked for 10. Bad idea. It didn't get done all the way through. So, attempt #2, I thought it had done fine. Apparently not. There were spots that were still not fully cooked, the damn thing clung to the buttered parchment for dear life, ripping off half of the actual cake in the process.

I managed to still decorate it (minus the mushrooms) but I highly doubt it's edible as, at this point, it's basically a lot of buttercream, some raspberry real fruit jam, and maybe, somewhere in there, a tiny bit of genoise.

I must admit to being completely embarrassed. You know, if the buttercream had defeated me, fine...but a cake?!?! I can make a CAKE. Ugh. Chalk this one up to a bad experience.

(Oh, for anyone who's wondering. I didn't bother to waste the resources making the mushrooms since the cake it pretty much a lost cause. Seemed a little wasteful considering I don't like eating meringue.)