I have re-posted the pattern for the Pinwheel hat.  I noticed that the link no longer worked and a kind soul wrote to mention it as well.

See link in the “Patterns” sidebar.

Myself, I’m pleased.  The forecast for this area had been rain but the rain came through last night, probably as a consequence of the semi-fierce winds that have been scouring the area for the last few days.  So today the sky is blue and clear, the sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day.  This is all very cool by me :)

Myria took advantage of the low sun the other day to take some pictures of my large quartz cluster.  It’s a beautiful piece and she’s such a good photographer!

The above photo makes me wonder what it might be like to live in such a landscape.  It would be spectacularly beautiful, but cold, I suspect.

One could live in this little cave, here.  All it needs is a beaded curtain and a “Beware of Dragons” sign :)

The mitts are finished and the pattern is on the sidebar.  Myria suggested the name “The Someone-Stole-the-Fingers-from-my-Gloves Gloves” and I thought that was perfect - so that’s what they are called.

As always, please let me know if anything is wrong or unclear; I’ll do whatever I can to help.

And, as always, have a fun and relaxing weekend!

Okay - quick catch up :)

This is going quickly and easily.  If anyone’s curious, I seem to have solved my frustration with the cast-on for DPNs.  I cast onto straight needles and then knit the stitches onto the DPNs rather than just transferring them.  This helps me keep things from getting twisted, makes a nice, tidy join and I can remember it from one item to the next.  This makes the thought of doing a project on DPNs much less daunting, therefore much more likely.  It was hard for me to get used to working with these things but now that I’m growing accustomed to it I find that I’m liking it more and more.

I found a couple of things this week (digging deeply into the stash) that would work for the tones of the afghan - a bit of a cerise mohair blend and a magenta acrylic.  I’m also finding that I’m unwilling to throw out or leave unused, bits that won’t make a full square.  So I’ve been using them as far as they’ll go and replacing them on the next round with something compatible (if not identical).  I hadn’t imagined switching yarns mid-square, as it were, but it seems to be working, adds to the variety and relieves me of the need to decide whether to throw out a few yards of something.  A few inches, I can toss with no regrets :)

I have been wanting to get this underway for a while now.  Dad mentioned that his feet get cold and he can’t seem to warm them up.  Of course he doesn’t wear shoes in the house but his socks are cheap little nylon things - very thin, providing no warmth whatsoever!  So I wanted to make him some banging-around-the-house socks but the pattern I’m basing them on uses size 4 DPNs.  Of course, I had everything but.  So this week I made a concerted effort to find them.  The first place I looked was Michael’s and I checked two stores - and older one and a brand-spanking new one.  Not only no size 4s, but no double points of any kind - none!  I find this extremely puzzling - why wouldn’t Michael’s carry double pointed needles?  Very strange.  Okay, so be it - onwards!

Then I went to the mill store downtown.  They did have double points, both Brittany birches and Susan Bates Quicksilver.  I will probably invest in the birch needles at some point but for sock knitting I want something I’m not afraid of breaking.  The Quicksilver?  I have a couple of Quicksilver circulars and I love them.  But for socks?  All I could see in my mind’s eye was all those little stitches cheerfully dripping off the slick needles into my lap accompanied with moans of grief and howls of frustration.  Eh…maybe not.

The next stop was A. C. Moore.  They had the plain, old-fashioned, aluminum needles I’d been looking for at a reasonable price.  However they also had Clover bamboo DPNs and some sets of larger sizes (9, 10, 11) in plastic from Lion Brand.  I did consider the bamboo but on close inspection (and I had noticed this on the birch needles as well) the points seemed almost to be flat at the very tip, as though the tip had been cut off.  And I was afraid that the bluntness of the needle would make a frustrating job of knitting, let alone picking up stitches or doing a K2tog.  So the aluminums it was and I went home happy :)

We got this kitty-condo a long time ago.  It’s a cheapie from WalMart and it turned out to be too small as both our guys were (and Goldie still is) big and hefty.  We put it out for them, they sniffed it all over and promptly and cheerfully proceeded to ignore its existence.  The other day, Myria was watching Jade trying to squeeze herself between the windowsill and the screen (the window was open and Jade is a real sun-seeker) and remembered the condo.  She fetched it out and put it in front of the living room window that Jade favors.  It didn’t take 10 minutes before Jade had checked it out, pronounced it good and settled in for a leisurely and sun-warmed nap.

Of course Goldie, seeing Jade on the condo decided he did want it after all.  However, in addition to pronouncing it good, Jade had also pronounced it hers and after a very minor bit of scuffling, the issue was settled.

Hope all your days are sunny!

Eeny, Meeny, Tortellini…

This is a simple and quick dinner preparation.  It probably seems a little spare, but you can dress it up to suit nyourself.  While I love futzing with meals, I like this particular meal in its Spartan aspect.  We found the last step a few weeks ago when I discovered some Portobello mushrooms about to go south and decided to incorporated them into the mix :).

You’ll need:

Tortellini - whatever your favorite brand and style is.  We use Barilla, which is a dried product, and all the flavors are good - especially the three cheese and the porcini mushroom :)  The asparagus and ricotta is pretty nifty too! 

Italian sausage - we like the sweet but I imagine the hot would be pretty good too.  I get the links only because the bulk sausage (in my market, anyway) is 20¢ more per pound.  At cooking time, I peel off the casing and break the meat into bite-sized lumps.

Portobello Mushrooms - 2 or 3 nice caps cut into chunks.

Heat a skillet and then add about a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter.  Get this to the sizzle point and dump in the mushrooms (you could also add chopped onions and peppers at this point if you wanted them).  Stir them around for a few minutes until they begin to brown, then add the sausage.  Turn the heat down a bit if you haven’t already done so.  Cook, stirring around occasionally until there’s no more pink in the meat.  Set aside.

Boil water and follow the directions for cooking your chosen tortellini.  The Barilla takes about 11 minutes and I usually have it going while I’m cooking the sausage.

When the pasta is cooked to your liking, drain it well and return it to the cooking pot.  Add the sausage/mushroom mixture and stir together gently - you want to break as few of the tortellinis as possible and they’re tender at this point.

Spoon into nice big bowls and dress liberally with butter.  Pass the Parmesan and the pepper mill and you have an awesone feast.  Serve with a green vegetable (spinach, pea pods, broccoli, asparagus) or a salad.

Trust me, this doesn’t miss the usual tomato sauce which we do use on other pasta concoctions.  We just prefer this meal naked :)  The pasta, that is - not us!

Note:  Because of ever-increasing spam activities, commenting has been turned off on all posts more than 28 days old.

Changes were also made to the “Trackback” function, though you shouldn’t notice any difference.  If you have any problems, please let me know at the e-mail address on the sidebar.

Also (and having nothing to do with spamming) the “Location” field in the comments is now visible.  It’s not mandatory however :)

Good Morning :)  The sun is out, the temperature is mild and the windows are open.  It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood and - unaccountably and for no reason at all - I’m feeling rather cheery!

I did get a little something accomplished over the weekend.

This differs from Voodoo in a couple of ways, though the idea is the same.  I decided doing plain ribbing would have me sticking DPNs in my ears just to break the monotony so I did cables instead.  Over 48 stitches, you get eight 4-stitch cables with 2 purls between them.  I did use size 5 needles and - at least with this yarn - everything worked out hunky-dory. 

As for the knothole…er…thumbhole…  I hadn’t done buttonholes of any but the very simplest eyelet sort before, so the instructions “...make a 6-stitch buttonhole” were a little daunting.  But I went ahead and did it and whaddya know!  It works!  It really, really works!  Hey Ma - I can make buttonholes!  But - and you knew there was a “but” coming, right? - it didn’t fit my big honkin’ hands.  Oh I could force my thumb through the hole - and in a half hour, the thumb would have been the exact same color as the yarn!  Frog and tink, piss and moan, etc…

I decided to do a vertical thumbhole so when the arm/wrist was long enough to suit me, I stopped after a purl stitch, turned around and went back.  I knitted back-and-forth, trying it on every couple of rows to test the size of the hole, for about 10 rows and then re-joined the stitches and went back to working around for another inch or so.  This gave me a very comfortable, perfectly sized thumbhole.  I found turning the thing inside-out to do the “wrong-side” rows when knitting back-and-forth was very helpful.

I hadn’t realized quite how snug the cabling would be - as opposed to plain ribbing - but I like it a lot.  It isn’t tight, it’s just snug, doesn’t slide around and feels really good.  And the cables look cool!

I also discovered a new sin this weekend.  Well, a new version of an old sin perhaps.

I’m fond of ginger cookies and there’s a variety available called ANNA.  They are made in Sweden and are thin and crisp without being brittle and jagged.  They are full of ginger and molasses and are, frankly, addictive as hell.  Once or twice a month, I break down and get a box of these sinful little things to have with coffee or tea.

Now, a chain supermarket has just opened a new store in this area and has been running the standard loss-leader sales for the last couple of weeks.  Last week they had ice cream on sale (good ice cream - not the house brand) at 2 (56oz.) cartons for $3.00.  I’m not a huge ice cream fan, but I like it once in a while so I picked up a couple of cartons, one of which was my beloved French Vanilla. 

Friday night, I had an evil thought.

See you get your bowl full of ice cream and then you crumble three or four of these awesome ginger cookies over it.  Then you go somewhere private because pleasures like this should be enjoyed behind closed doors :) 

And you can wear your fingerless mitts so your hands don’t get cold holding the bowl!