Self Portrait Saturday!

Ok, so I may be the only blogger taking part in this Self Portrait Saturday, probably because I kind of made it up 5 minutes ago and haven't told anyone else to take part. Why? Well, I'm just very happy today because today (August 25th) is the first time I have put in my contacts since June 27th. It's also the first day I've blown out my hair since June 27th. It's the closest I've felt to being my 'normal' self (stop laughing!) in awhile so I just wanted to take note of that, show my face and say hi to everybody! Anyone else feeling like taking part in Self Portrait Saturday (or Sunday or Monday, etc.) please feel free to have a blog post and a smile!

I know maybe it seems weird, my foot was operated on, this shouldn't affect my contacts or my hair but well, it just does. I'm one of those practical type girls that if it gets hard to get around (or I partied the night before, or I feel like staying in and knitting all day- hey it happens) well, the glasses go on and the hair is going to suffer. That's just what ponytails are for. Thankfully, these days I have been getting more and more mobile every day.



This is the hardware making me mobile. The walking cast is black and heavy and a godsend. Lately, it's allowed me to take the train home from work which gets me home almost an hour earlier and gives me a nice little knitting break after the work day. Last night it helped me get my laundry done, today the hair and the contacts, what's next world? Look out! Actually we're a week and a half away from no cast and physical therapy, and I promise Iwill be ready!

Unfortunately my little cat friend Allister, is not feeling so great. I'm not posting his picture because he even looks like he doesn't feel like having his picture taken. This week the vet diagnosed his recent general malaise as the parasite Hemobartonella. It's caused him to be anemic which means he's not eating a whole lot (he's lost 3 pounds), he's laying about even more than usual and sometimes he's been sick to his stomach a lot. Poor baby. We have him on the meds though, and once he finishes them the parasite should be gone and he red blood cell count should be back. It has not been a fun week at all, but we are of course VERY happy to find out it's not leukemia or cancer or anything really, really bad like that.

In other news I started a sock.


It's the Waving Lace sock from the Favorite Socks book from Interweave. In Socks that Rock Lightweight. Buttery stuff I know. But so far my favorite part about this sock? The needles! These are my new metal dpns from KnitPicks and I love them! Their shorter length really makes a difference and I've never knit socks on metal dpns before. They make the ssk's and k2togs so much easier. I think I must be a tight knitter because the needles don't fall out for me and sometimes I struggle with those increase and decrease stitches. No more, thank you KnitPicks metal dpns!

Little Things

Well, the soaker with legs/baby pants are finished. Before I show you mine though, I'm going to show you what the recipient has used in the past, and what I used as my model.

Even my sister who is using these now too admitted 'they look weird, they don't look like pants.' But they are meant to be roomy in the diaper area, and then fitted in the legs to catch leaks and apparently that's why this shape works.

Ok, I know mine looks even weirder. Tracy made the keen comparison to the knitted uterus from Knitty. Or I keep thinking it looks like a new muppet soon to be appearing next to Elmo and Grover. But, I think it is along the same logic as the original model and I happen to think it will work. I really adhered to the measurements of my sister's friends toddler who everyone says is very long and skinny. I made legs fitted enough to catch leaks, yet long enough to reach her ankles. It looks silly, but I think is will fit and wear well.

The navy blue yarn is the soaker I'm starting for my niece, she is a medium (the pink is a small). I plan to finish both and then mail them together, that way maybe they can try different sizes if they need me to make them different next time.

In non-wool-butt covering news I also finished the last 2 dishcloths from the Peaches and Creme yarn.

Ok, I have a few random little leftover end balls floating around the bottom of the stash baskets that may eventually come together as one crazy, scrappy cloth, but for now I'm pretending they're not there. Besides, something tells me I'll be placing another order for more Peaches and Creme before I know it. I love this yarn so much, and I feel like I've only touched on the knitting and gifting possibilities.

Here's a look at another project I was really into this past weekend, I made a big batch of stuffed shells with my mom.

Kind of retro right? I don't know why I think that, were these a big deal in the 70's? Or maybe they're just something my mom made a lot when I was a kid? I'm not really sure why I think this but it was just so much fun! Boiling the pasta and making the filling was super easy! And it's easy to get it in the shells too, but it's the impressive kind of thing that might look super difficult to people who have never tried it. They came out delicious, and I'm totally inspired by all the pasta filling possibilities I can explore now that I know how to do this. Shells with meat filling, spinach, seafood.... mmm. How about seafood and cheese and some kind of alfredo/cream sauce??? Yum!! And yeah, making them with my mom was really fun too. I always like cooking with my mom. It's such a great bonding time, we have fun and good food is always the outcome. I feel bad for some kids growing up today who never learn to cook or who never get to cook with their parents. Or only ever get to eat in restaurants and eat stuff that comes out of a box. I always treasure the fun times I have cooking with my mom, it's those little things that count.

A change in the color spectrum

I finished knitting the Pi R Square shawl. It just needs to be blocked. It's an ok size now, but I want it to be huge!



And I finished that skein of Louet Gems on those socks...



And now I'm going to knit a dishcloth for a clown!!!



Just kidding, I'll probably use this, it's just funny how the colors are so much brighter than what I normally knit with. But alas, it's the last of 2 balls of Peaches and Creme from the Mason Dixon pack. And it must be knit before summer's end. Don't ask me why, it just does.

And another rare color for me is, pink!



Hmm... What do you think I'm knitting that's pink? Is it a hat? or maybe a sleeve??? No, it is actually-a pair of wool pants for a toddler! A friend of my sister's is big into cloth diapering and has been looking for someone to knit these for her. For those of you who are as clueless about diapering as I am (I know it goes on the butt part, and after that I'm lost) cloth diapers are both better for the environment and cheaper than the disposable ones. Much, much better for the environment. People like to use wool soakers (which are kind of legless pants) over the cloth diapers because wool is so absorbent. If there's a leak, wool can absorb something like 40% of it's weight in water without feeling wet. So these soakers are like a big deal for the cloth diaperers. Since my recent epiphany (that if I continue to only knit for myself all the time I will someday drown in a pile of hand knit items in a way that would justify institutionalization) I know I need to knit for others more and I was more than happy to oblige. This person has actually requested the soaker to have legs, so she won't have to put on a soaker and then pants over that. (Good thinking!) The plan is to use the curly purly soaker pattern found here and to convert what are mere cuffs in the pattern into fitted legs. Wish me luck. This soaker pattern is nothing to scoff at people, short rows, needle size changes, picked up stitches, SSP's! Yeah, but it's fun so far and looking really cute. And once I get through the first one I think the rest will be cake. That's right I said first one-my sister and another friend I have who is expecting are both also starting to show interest in cloth diapering so who knows, this might be my new knitted item to add to the repertoire!

Another pink thing I really like right now? this amazing cd box set from Rhino.

My husband picked it up the other day and I was surprised, I think it's kind of more my taste than his. It's chock full of good bands I wish were still around and/or still as good as they were in the 80's. Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, Camper Van Beethoven, the Stone Roses, and my all time fave, the Replacements. Feels just like being back in high school. Sigh...

Socks and a Certain Celebrity Chef

Smaller projects get finished faster. Like the short socks.


They went fast, but unfortunately didn't use all of that yarn. So what to do? Go back and make a small pair for my niece.


How cute are they? And they are going super fast. I was going to save them for Christmas. However, I got some new pictures today and my little niece is growing up fast! I'm thinking I might just go ahead and send them now, they may fit her better now than later. Plus I haven't sent her a package in a little while, and she deserves to be spoiled.

On a completely unrelated note, here's another good picture. I hate to admit it but these days I'm crushing on Alton Brown, hard.



A new series of Feasting on Asphalt is on the Food Network for the next couple of weeks and I am simply in awe. I also wish I knew how to ride a motorcycle and had cool foodie friends that would want to tour the country with me searching out fried food and adventure. If you have any interest in food or eating or adventure or travel or anthropology (totally serious I swear) please watch this show. I fear for the oodles and oodles of people out there today that are clueless as to how to cook and that live off of fast food and chain restaurants just feeding the corporate machine. Alton is here to change all of that. (My hero!) He often points out that if we don't appreciate and learn about our food origins and food heritage and yes, food history, that we are going to lose these stories. And yes, I think the show is pretty darn entertaining too. Please watch it. And cook something. I promise Applebee's is not going out of business tomorrow...