Almost finished

Alright, so I've been working on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan for what seems like months. I believe I started back in August (?) BUT I've frogged the whole thing twice because of my carelessness. Not to worry, I've got this now. On the first round, I continued my ribbing on the body too far up where I was supposed to work in stockinette stitch so instead of trying to rip to a certain point, I decided to just frog it. Let's face it, I might stab anyone that tried to get near me while trying to count the stitches in garter rib and run a safety line. I figured I'd save myself further headaches of losing my temper. The second time around, I did it right! Yeah, it's a darn shame the sweater was enormous on me. Ugh!! Why did I even thing I was that size? Who knows?! I had Paul measure me so that I would have a more accurate idea of my size but I just ended up just measuring my favorite cardigan. I think we're good now. The body seems just a couple of inches short but I think it'll come out in the blocking. God, I hope so! Hehehe. So, you want a picture of this famous (and first sweater for me) cardigan, eh? Sorry. I have not taken any pictures of it yet. I know. I know. Bad blogger, Zen! It's coming though. I'm really almost finished. I have the body and sleeves completed and they are now joined. Just another inch and I begin on the cables on the yoke. I can't wait because it's getting cold in West Virginia and I'd like to wear it to New York City for my birthday in December.

For now, I leave you with a picture of my earthworm. I made it this summer but never posted pictures. It reminds me of how I would like to get back to knitting these little critters. They're so fun and quick.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Things You Think are Cool

1. Furry little animals
2. Knitting
3. Clint Eastwood
4. Horror Movies
5. Shoes
6. Handmade items
7. Passion
8. Historic places
9. Nature and all it's wonders
10. The Beatles

Mittens and Kittens

While looking at Facebook recently I noticed the beautiful hand embroidery that my boss' wife does. When I commented on her picture to compliment her and tell her how beautiful it would look on a pair of mittens, scarf or hat she proposed the idea of starting an Etsy shop. I would be in charge of knitting and her the embroidering. Here are the first mittens and now they're in her hands to begin the embroidery.

Lastly, here is the latest addition to the family. I introduce to you, Smokie. I saw her in the pet shop while picking up some bugs for my sugar gliders and just couldn't resist. She ended up coming home with us and is the sweetest kitten.

Wowserz!

I CAN NOT believe that my last post was in mid July. I had absolutely no clue. I have been so consumed with work, knitting and reading. In the beginning of August I took a trip out to New York City to spend some good quality time with family and friends. I stayed out for a magnificent week. I was amazed with how big all my little nieces and goddaughters had gotten. They truly grow like weeds. We took a huge family trip to the Hall of Science. Later on that evening my brother took me out to see Toto La Momposina, who is a famously known Colombian singer who does afro-colombian music. Her voice is phenomenal and the band really got you moving in your seat. At the end of the show she even came out to sign autographs. She was truely inspiring. She had told a woman up ahead of me in line who was having a traditional straw hat autographed to be sure and only buy authentic colombian hats that help preserve our culture and not overpriced cheaply made hats which she basically had. When I got my chance to speak with her I asked her not to forget about her fans out in nyc and to come back around to which she assured me she wouldn't and gave me her autograph saying "Con Sabor!" meaning "With flavor!". Another evening I got to meet up with my friend and see the Big Surprise Tour which consisted of Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine, the Clive Brothers and Justin Townes Earle. They are all kind of country, folk, bluegrass and old time mixed into one. At the end of week, the family gathered up and we all headed out to Bear Mountain. As kids we all spent some of our summer days out through there. Between playing by the lake and running into the pool to cool off. The place is just as fun as it was back when I was a kid. After playing hard we found a picnic table and ate sandwiches and watched the kids play baseball and attempt to skip stones on the lake. The trip back into West Virginia wasn't the best but I didn't let it ruin my vacation. Just to give you an idea, I was supposed to leave at 6:50pm and didn't leave until 9:30pm. When we finally reached Charleston, we were told that it was much too foggy to try and land the plane in the mountains. Guess where we were taken? ... Columbus, OH. Yes! From there, they were going to charter a bus to bring us back to Charleston, WV. At the end I got the bus driver to drop me off in a gas station closer to home and didn't arrive at my apartment until 4am. That's right, 4 in the morning. I was supposed to be home by 9pm.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Favorite Songs of the 80's

1. Take On Me by Aha
2. PYT by Michael Jackson
3. Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners
4. Message In A Bottle by The Police
5. Uptown Girl by Billie Joel
6. Walk Like An Eygptian by The Bangles
7. Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi
8. Talk Dirty To Me by Poison
9. Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie
10. Another One Bites The Dust by Queen

A Monkey, A Bar and A BOOM!

Now that I've finally let enough time go by, I have a few things to write about. I wish I could write every week like other bloggers out there but really, I don't want to bore you with mundane writings.

Let's begin with my monkey socks. I've heard of the Cookie A. pattern to monkey socks and was always a bit skeptical but now that I've begun knitting it and am half way through the second sock, I've been won over. I swoon for these socks. They pattern is amazingly effortless to follow. Even I who has the memory of a goldfish have managed to memorize the pattern and am whizzing through it. I have seen the Cookie ways.
About a month ago, Paul and I went to a Hank III show. He actually decided to get a hotel room for the night down in Huntington to avoid the drive home at the end of the show and I agreed. It was a nice treat from him since he got the executive suite and got a room with a nice view. The nice surprise that was included with the hotel is the fact that the band was staying in it as well. The van was outside and we even ran in Lucky Tubb in the elevator. Lucky is actually the nephew of Ernest Tubb, the famous country singer. He was very friendly and introduced himself, shaking every one's hand. I didn't happen upon Hank himself but we did see Gary in the computer room. The show itself was great (as usual) but incredibly and uncomfortably hot. The AC wasn't enough to sustain the crowd. We stood in line for nearly an hour in the hot... HOT sun so we were soaked before we got in and it just got worse from there. It was so hot even the beer didn't feel cold to us. By the way, the upright bassist for Hank III looked just like the actor from the notebook. It was very strange.

I want to take the time to wish everyone a Happy 4Th of July. We had a fairly relaxing one watching movies and watching the fireworks with dad. (By the way, I recommend Gran Turino. Spectacular movie.) The fireworks were beautiful and a great way to end the night. It was also pretty neat to have a view of them right outside my door. Although, it is not the fireworks that made the 4Th great, it's taking the time to remember what a great country we live in. I feel I sometimes take it for granted but I'm happy to have the freedoms that we have. Even this blog represents our freedom of speech which some people in the other side of the word cannot take part in. I revel in the beautiful landscapes this country offers, from the Alaska wilderness to the desert to the swamps to the Rockies and Appalachian mountains to the pacific and Atlantic beaches to the prairies and the cities (I can go on forever). We really are fortunate to have this all at our grasp. In my moment of patriotism, I want to share my favorite patriotic song with you. It's "My Beautiful America" by Charlie Daniels which paints a beautiful picture of this country.

Ten On Tuesday

How funny for this topic to come up after last nights events with our neighbor.

10 Things That Turn You Off About People

1. Discourteous
2. Talkative (I mean REALLY talkative)
3. Snobby
4. Intrusive
5. Contradicting
6. Brown nosers
7. Body odor
8. Dishonest
9. Downers - the people that always have a hard luck story that brings you down and they never do anything to fix their situation
10. Know it all

Ten On Tuesday

10 Guilty Pleasures On TV

1. NYC Prep
2. Jon & Kate Plus 8
3. Marta Stewart Show
4. Oprah
5. Big Brother
6. American Idol
7. Lousy VH1 reality shows
8. America's Got Talent
9. The Hills
10. Kendra/ The Girls Next Door
Sent from my iPhone

MST3K Hat

Well, I finished Paul's hat. I'm so glad because it had several headaches. I swear I casted on at least six times for reasons that I won't go into. I knit it up during our road trip which meant that I needed to hide the chart from him in the passenger seat but he knew what I was knitting the whole time. How nice of him to pretend that he didn't know. He sure does know how to make me happy. Once I finished and it was time for him to try it on... the darn thing didn't fit. Can you imagine the terror? Ugh. I refuse to unravel this thing though, at least not after six cast ons. Not to worry, I fixed it. I cut the carries and weaved them in. Only five of them needed doctored so now I'm really done. Woo hoo!

Monkey socks are next. I'm not sure how I feel about this variegated yarn but I guess there's only one way to find out.

Road Trip Vacation

Paul, his dad and I got to hit the road the first weekend of our trip. We headed east for North Carolina to see the Outer Banks. I was so happy to get out of the everyday monotony. On the North side of the island the beach was lined with beautiful houses for rent. They obstructed the view to the beach but I still found them charming. We didn't stay in one of them since they were probably extremely expensive and we'd rather save our money. It's nice to stay at if you have a large family or several families to house during the vacation. We choose to stay at the local Comfort Inn which was right on the beach, it allowed dad and I to go for a walk on the beach at night to pick up some seashells and in the morning we all gathered up to see the sunrise and get in the water. It was very clean and clear with minimal sharp objects to step on. We even got to see dolphins swimming on the deeper end of the water, fish jumping out of the water and seagulls fishing for their breakfast. It was breath taking at times. We also got to visit three of the four lighthouses on the islands. One got closed when we got to it for half an hour because of thunder, another was unsafe to climb and the last was closed by the time we got to visit it. Dad and I were wanting to climb them but we just didn't have any luck. Perhaps some other time. On the way back home, we stopped by Tamarack which is a store which sells hand made items by West Virginians, where I purchased a hand made bowl. It's so beautiful, I think I'm going to put my nice yarns in it. Click on the lighthouse to see the pictures from our road trip.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Things You'd Bring on a Deserted Island

1. My ipod.
2. A knitting project.
3. Good book.
4. Survival kit.
5. Knife.
6. Sneakers.
7. Satellite Phone (is this cheating?).
8. Pictures.
9. A pet.
10. Tent.

Mmmmm... sugary goodness!!

I know I haven't shown much of my baking for a while now but there's a reason for this. I've been on a diet. Nothing super fancy. No pizza, ice cream or baked goods so far. I've been trying to keep my calorie count around 1000 every day. You know, everything in moderation while trying to use my best judgement. I've lost 13 pounds so far so I'll keep trying to stay strong even though I miss baking so much.

Mom's Red Velvet Cake Before and After the blowing of the candles.

Almost Vegan Cupcakes

and Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cookie Madness

Ten On Tuesday

10 Favorite Things to do During "Me"time

1. Watch Sex and the City.
2. Groom.
3. Knit and other fiber hobbies.
4. Watch my chick flick movies.
5. Play dress up.
6. Watch bad reality tv.
7. Play my Wii.
8. Blog
9. Play my music on the stereo.
10. Bake.

1st Sale

That's right, my first sale. Shortly, after my boss found me on facebook, he actually saw the felted owls that I had made a while back and his wife loved them. They ended up ordering a pair from me. I've always wanted to sell my hand made items so I guess I've accomplished one my goals. I'll have to look into felting different critters and perhaps it might result in more sales. I should really start up an etsy business.

I'm practically done with my felted Snug boots. I've actually finished knitting and sewing up both boots. I've sewn in the embossed stars. I'm not sure just yet if I need to weave in the loose ends on the stars so I'm waiting until I find out for sure and then they will get tossed in the washer. I can't wait to post pics of the final product.

Squee!

My yarn has arrived. Squee! This is my tax return yarn which I order back on February 28th. Yes, that's right, the 28th... of February. I ordered the Watery color of Rowan Tweed from Webs. I knew it was on back order but I had absolutely no idea it was going to be this late. I wish they hadn't charged me for shipping because of the delay but oh well. I must say they answered my e-mails very promptly which is more than I can say about other businesses I had placed orders from in the past. When they did e-mail me back, they were super courteous with me and gave me options to try and please me, so I couldn't ask for more from them. In addition to the great customer service, I got a pretty good deal because of their discount of lowering they price when you purchase a good amount of yarn from them. I can't wait to start my Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

Yatesville Lake

We took another of our road trips. A while back, Paul and I were watching one of those shows on the Lochness Monster and he had mentioned this lake where he had seen something similar to the picture of the Lochness Monster. He told me that you can actually get a strange ripple effect there because several lakes meet at one spot and the currents make humps in the water. It was the Yatesville Lake in Kentucky. It was such a beautiful day. I was right after a week's run of just rain. We got to stand over the lake and just observe all the boats moving across the lake. This is definitely a spot that I would want to go back and visit again. The boats were out and we actually saw a three story boat with a swirly slide on it. It seemed like such a fun slide to ride except for the water up the butt part. lol.

Weekend Cooking

I found such a great recipe for Crock Pot Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna. My mouth is watering as I sit here and think about it (seriously!). I know, I know, I love my crock pot. It's such a great appliance to have. On my days off I can just toss the ingredients in it and come back a few hours later and dinner is done. Tada! The recipe actually came from BetterRecipes.com. The only change I made to it was substituting the egg with Ener-G Replacer. I'll have to make it again another weekend when I'm eating cheese again.

My poor attempt at a Michael Scott pancake. How did he make them perfectly rectangular?

Milk-Chocolate Cookies from Martha Stewart's cookie book. Mmmm mmmm. I love this book. I can't wait for the cupcake book to come out in June. There goes that mouth watering sensation feeling again. I know many don't like her but she is the queen of what she does and you can't hate on her for that.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Awesome Bands

1. Weezer
2. Ramones
3. My Morning Jacket
4. Sublime
5. The Cure
6. Reverend Horton Heat
7. Hank III and the Damn Band
8. Stray Cats
9. Bob Marley and the Wailers
10. Old Crow Medicine Show

Check out Ten On Tuesday to play along.

Honest Scrap Award

I want to thank Daisy Soap Girl for mentioning me in her blog and passing along the Honest Scrap Award. She describes it as "...you're honest, enjoy your craft and work hard at having others enjoy it as well.". I am very thankful to be noticed by such a great blogger and crafter. It's great to see the support of a fellow blogger and crafter. If you haven't checked out her blog I definitely recommend swinging by and taking a look.

These are the rules as follows:

1. I must thank the person who gave me the award, list their blog and link.
2. I must list ten (10) honest things about myself & a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog.
3. I must select at least seven (7) other worthy bloggers & list their links
4. I must notify the bloggers of the award and hopefully they will follow the above three requirements also.

10 Honest Things About Me

1. I can't wait until I'm older.
2. I am striving to become vegan again and begin baking vegan.
3. I'm a bit OCD which is why I tend to do all the cleaning myself and have come to accept it.
4. My favorite color is green.
5. My first concert was a Backstreet Boys concert. How shameful!
6. I'm a loner.
7. My favorite movie is Rocky Horror.
8. I don't trust cats.
9. I love to make people laugh.
10. It's quite easy to make me laugh.

Worthy Bloggers

1. Sweet Treats Baking Blog
2. Frog Hair
3. Fig and Plum
4. Cookie Madness
5. Yarn Zombie
6. Brooklyn Tweed
7. Knit and Tonic

Happy Belated April Fool's Day!

I was a bit silly on April Fool's Day. I only played one prank but I made sure it was a good one. I'm actually the first one to be at my job with my boss and while he was in the office I shrinked wrapped all the registers and copy machines. To say the least, his facial expression was PRICELESS.

Word of the Day

I have an e-mail subscription to a couple word of the days and found this one to be a bit interesting. I received it a while back but am just now getting around to sharing it with you.

dyed-in-the-wool \dyde-in-thuh-WOOL\
adjective
Meaning
: thoroughgoing, uncompromising

So there you go my wooly fans, see how you can incorporate it into your regular vocabulary :)

Ten On Tuesday

10 Underrated Movies

1. Rocky Horror Picture Show
2. Shock Treatment
3. Lady Killers
4. Walk The Line
5. Superbad
6. The Cable Guy
7. Clerks II
8. Wedding Singer
9. A Christmas Story
10. 30 Days of Night

Bonus: Across The Universe

If you want to play along, feel free to check out Ten On Tuesday

Ten On Tuesday

10 Signs that You're Getting Older (from a 24 year old's perspective)

1. You ache when you wake up in the morning.
2. You realize you need a retirement plan.
3. You have to pay your own bills for the rest of your life.
4. Your friends are all starting to have a kid... or two.
5. Even worse, people younger than you have kids.
6. You remind yourself how you need to start taking vitamins again.
7. You find young kids nowadays are obnoxious.
8. You really notice that your parents are getting older and you need to appreciate them more (note to self: call mom and dad).
9. You start wondering if you should have kids because you are getting older even though you're against having kids.
10. The weekends are for resting and when you do go out to enjoy the nightlife it's strenuous work.

If you wish to play along, please do feel free to check out the Ten On Tuesday blog.

What I did on my vacation

I actually began my vacation with a road trip but I have yet to get all my pictures and thoughts organized so I'm going to make that a separate post. As to the rest of my vacation after the road trip with Paul and his dad which was filled with breath taking scenery, I got the bird feeder filled up along with the suet cakes out. The birds were flocking to them to get food all week long and the Cherry tree was blooming right outside my apartment spreading it's fragrant smell all around. The whole week was so relaxing. We just sat back and enjoyed each other's company. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

I finally finished my pencil holder! I'm so happy with it. I found the instructions for it on this blog. I accidentally made it an inch taller than specified so some sections I stuffed with paper in order for the pencils and pens to sit up higher on. Paul asked me if I was going to paint it which reminded me that I had some paint sitting around somewhere around here and in the process I found my gold glitter from glittering pumpkins around Halloween. The light bulb turned on. I glittered the whole thing and gave it a coat of glossy Mod Podge to stop the glitter from leaving a little trail everywhere the holder is set. I think it turned out pretty neat looking.

In one of my recent trips to Michael's, I found a bunch of Craft magazine which I snatched up quickly. One of them was focused on weaving and had a small paper loom. I wish I had one of those huge looms to make beautiful blankets with, but I figured I had to start somewhere and what better to start with than a free paper loom. So here is my poor attempt. It's a bit more difficult to hold and weave as the article describes but I'll continue to give it a honest try.

Knit Picks Big Snugs in the sea foam color. This is my next knitting project.

Here's some of what I cooked and baked during my vacation:

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I also made Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies but I only had a 9" pan when it called for a 8" so they didn't come out looking too good even though they tasted just fine. I didn't take pictures since they weren't up to par.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Least Liked Foods

1. Meat
2. Eggs *
3. Those little potato - onion looking veggies in Chinese food.
4. Milk that came from an animal *
5. Peas
6. Fish
7. Pickles (Especially the smell)
8. Horseradish (Especially the smell)
9. Figs (Did you know that these have crushed bugs in them?)
10. Sauerkraut

*The thing with these foods is that I will purchase foods already made that include them but I myself don't purchase eggs and I only bake with milk if it's a critical part of the recipe and cannot be substituted.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Things on Your "To-Do" List

1. Felt my sushi wallet.
2. Organize my "cables and wire" cabinet.
3. Get rid of all the clothes we don't wear.
4. Water the plants.
5. Clean the sugar glider's wheel.
6. Organize the closet.
7. Shampoo the carpet.
8. Give the ferrets a bath.
9. Trim their claws.
10. Let the sugar gliders roam "free" in their balls.

If you wish to play along, please feel free to check out Ten on Tuesday

Zen, the confederate?

I just want to take a moment to say what a wonderful boyfriend I have. I mean really, how many men out there pay so much attention to a their woman's interests and put thought and effort into surprising their girl with a gift that pertains to her hobbies. Since the week before last he has been having me playing the guessing game about a gift that he had ordered me but of course he was lying about all the hints to throw me off. It was not until Wednesday when I went to go check the mail when I found out what I had gotten. A Kitchen Aid mixer! Yep, I was so stunned when the post office lady handed it over to me she kept telling me I didn't need to sign but I just stood there grinning at the box. I love it, I love it, I love it! This weekend I used it to make some parmesan mashed potatoes with it and some cookies. I made the chocolate crackle cookies from the Martha Stewart cookies book with a few variations. I used egg replacer for the eggs, Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder instead of Dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder (What's the difference anyway?), and unsweetened chocolate instead of bittersweet chocolate which a lady at the supermarket said I could use instead. I don't know what they were supposed to taste like but I thought mine were pretty darn good. Paul said he wanted to pick the next cookie for me to bake. I can't wait to see what he picks. I hope it's a good recipe.

This past Friday I got home early at about 1:30 with my Sobe and I was ready to go. I finally got out my spinning kit, good out my how to book and turned on my favorite youtube instructional video on how to spin. I think I'm doing pretty good. I know it's rough but I have tons of roving left and a good bit of patience. I know this thick-thin yarn is what some people like but I can't wait until I get my drafting straight and start putting out that nice even thin yarn. This past week I also made a pencil cup made from a recycled phone book. You can see it in the picture of the Kitchen Aid mixer on the coffee table above as well as my sushi wallet pre-felting. I really need to toss it in the washer. I just need to do it quickly like pulling off a band aid. Soon.

i

This past weekend was Civil War weekend at the park by my home. They have it every year and I've wanted to go but never got off my butt to check it out. This year I finally got myself together and walked out there in the cold, windy rain. It was well worth it though. It was quite entertaining though. Not the most accurate with the confederate soldiers outnumbering the union soldiers and the majority of both walking away unharmed but the uniforms and artillery was impressive. The booths were quite interesting with all the demonstrations of candle making, black smiths and knives. I got Paul a confederate hat which was unfortunately made in china but I still wanted to support the cause as well. What I did find quite creepy was one of the collections of dolls at one of the booths which I took a close up of. I know a lot of people like collecting these things but I just find them creepy.

I "felt" great!

I finally got to my wool pets kit of the owls. Felting is so much fun. I can't wait to get more kits or roving to perhaps make my own animals. I've already got so many ideas running through my mind. I can't wait to pick up the spindle and learn how to spin. Squee!!

I'm actually done knitting the sushi wallet (I'll post pictures later on.) I just need to felt it next. Which is very scary! Not being in control kind of worries me. Maybe this weekend I'll grow some cojones and toss it in the washer. Wish me luck!

I went to the mall yesterday to pick up some new new black slacks for work. For me this means checking out Borders and getting some Starbucks. Yay!! I wish I worked at a book store. It's probably a good thing I don't. If I did, you probably wouldn't be able to step foot into the apartment. Anyway! I picked up my first moleskine sketchbook. I can't wait to begin pencil sketching again. I'm not very good but drawing is a skill that I've always wanted to improve. I love the craftmanship of this notebook which is handmade. I want to pick up the graph paper notebook and the watercolor notebook.