Recession Cherry Tomatoes

The squash vine borers got the zucchini. The european corn borers are attacking the peppers. The cucumber beetles eventually got the the cucumber vines. But god bless the cherry tomato plants. They've been going all summer and they just keep on coming.

I also have a couple of dishcloths to show for my week.

Yarn: Lily Sugar and Creme
Pattern: Honeycomb from Dishcloth Boutique

An oldie but a goodie. This pattern is a lot like the Mason Dixon Ballband pattern as it just flies along. These look a little wonky and wrinkled but I'm sure after a few uses and trips through the washer and dryer they's tighten just a little and look perfect.

In TV news does anybody remember in 1998 Camryn Manheim won an Emmy for her work on The Practice. In a rare honest moment for an award ceremony when she finished her acceptance speech she shouted out "This one's for all the fat girls!"


Now I have never seen a single episode of the Practice in my life, but as one of those girls I just had to shed a little tear. Just to hear someone say the words 'fat girls' on an award ceremony let alone dedicate their award to them was just so shocking and heartwarming at the same time. I still totally well up just thinking about it... Anyway tonight the Emmys are on and Tina Fey is up to win for 30 Rock and America Ferrara is up to win for Ugly Betty. If I could I'd give Tina an Emmy just for her brilliant Sarah Palin sketch on SNL last week and America one for the HBO movie Real Women Have Curves from 2002. Well, they aren't nominated for those but I still love both 30 Rock and Ugly Betty. I'll be watching, rooting for either one of them to win. And who knows, maybe if they do the could send a shout out to all the smart girls? Or maybe just all the girls that wear glasses? Wouldn't that just be really, really cool? I certainly think so.

Yarn, Cheese and my Opinion of Knitted Fingers

So yesterday I had a very fun day. The knitting girls and I took a trip to Yarn-It in Deal, NJ. I had been feeling lately like I needed to buy some more yarn. I also am always feeling like I need to be buying more at local yarn stores. Both of these issues were well-remedied.

I got 2 balls of Katia Nepal for a cowl eventually, 2 balls of Cascade Superwash for Christmas sock/slipper gifts and 3 balls of Debbie Bliss Luxury Donegal Tweed to someday make Gretel by Ysolda Teague.

I really liked shopping at Yarn-It because there is a really nice variety in the yarn selections there. There were a few cool novelty yarns, lots of nice yarns to treat yourself with like Berrocco and Malabrigo but she also has the wooly basics that I love-Brown Sheep, Cascade. There was also this one wool I hadn't heard of but I liked a lot-Ella Rae. The other girls said it was itchy, my response was "That's why I love it." That and the fact that I thought the colors were very warm and saturated yet muted somehow. It was pretty. I was tempted to buy a big sweater's worth, but I abstained. Bari, the owner of Yarn-It also made our visit a very enjoyable. She was friendly and knowledgeable and helpful, and most importantly she didn't kick us out when we were giggling and swearing and carrying on the entire time as we have a tendency to do.

We ended up back at my house for a surprise dinner from my husband. It was a surprise in that he had been talking about making us dinner all week but would not tell us what it was. What was it? Macaroni and Cheese topped with Chili! It was the tastiest heart attack on a plate I've ever had! And you know I've had more than a few. It was really, really good. There was also an appetizer of Queso in case we had not have enough cheese. You really can never have too much cheese you know. And what a sweetheart for cooking! So we had cheezy treats and beer and knitting and watched the 4th season of The Office. Good, good times.

Also at Yarn-It yesterday I had picked up two balls of Plymouth Encore for some baby hats. I cast the first one on pretty much as soon as we left the store.



These are not for my sister's baby but for another friend who is due in a couple of months. It's a boy. Yes, I'm still on the blue and brown kick. So I finished the one before yesterday was over (yes!) and now I'm making the second one blue with a brown stripe.

I also finished my Knucks the other day. Sorry for the totally craptacular photo, I can't find my tripod anywhere.



I've been dying to make Knucks forever. I've been dying to use the yarn forever. Unfortunately, now that they're done I have to give the result a completely mediocre "meh..." They fit kind of weird, they're pretty tight. And doing the fingers first was kind of a pain. However, I know that from when I've tried to make gloves before that making the fingers last is no picnic either, which leads me to the conclusion that me and knit fingers just are not going to make this work. Put knitted fingers down on my list of stuff I should not knit next to bathing suits and skirts. No thanks. I'll still wear these cause they're purple and kind of cool, I just wouldn't knit them again. I feel like the 'ok' appearance and result does not outweigh the fiddliness factor of the fingers. It's fingerless for me from here on out I'm afraid.

Deep Purple

These two hooligans are completely convinced my new knitting project must be a bunch of little cat toys.



But they're not. They're the fingers for my Knucks!



They're a bit fiddly at the moment, but I'm pleased as peaches to finally be making these. I've had the yarn in my stash for-ev-er and yes, I'm still very addicted to fingerless gloves once the weather starts to get frosty. Next on deck are the Delicato mitts. In the same purple Rowan Felted Tweed you see here. My plan-kill the stash. I've had it with my stash. I love it, but I want to be knitting with it already. I figure, all the yarns currently in my stash are for small projects, dishcloths, socks, mitts. They're already portable, so there's no reason to have more than one project on the needles at a time right? So the plan, pick a yarn and knit with it until it's gone. The last yarn I did it with was some ancient Kroy socks that was just aging away in it's basket.



I grabbed it, churned out bunch of quick little baby socks for my sisters very soon to be born baby. (Yay!) And now it's gone. Aah... One yarn down, not too many more to go.

In addition to purple yarn there are also some purple peppers growing around here.



These are the Burpee Sweet Pepper Carnival Mix and aren't the pretty? I started them from seed in March, can you believe it. They are supposed to sprout peppers that are purple, orange, red and white. As far as I can tell the only plants that made it to the garden are a couple of purple ones, and then a bunch of regular green ones which turn red eventually.



That's ok, I was glad I at least got to see a few of the purple ones. The purple ones taste like regular green ones anyway. And I like the flavor of the red ones a lot better so I'm glad there aren't too many purples.

I also knit some dishcloths this week as part of the Kill the Stash endeavor.



I still have dishcloth cotton left, that I can't knit all in one swoop. I figure I'll eliminate these one by one by color. The towels are not the most exciting the to knit but I have to admit I love to use them. I make them with one and a half to 2 balls of cotton and they're big and tea towel sized. I keep them slung over my oven door where they are easy to get to and look very cute.