8.31.2005

The fast is almost over

I really haven't done much knitting in the last two weeks. I think that I am just bored with the yarns I have and I am ready to search for some new yarn. My yarn fast is over tomorrow, but since that is mine and Philip's anniversary I probably won't make it to my LYS. That's okay, I'm going on Saturday morning to buy the bamboo for the clapotis that you are all probably tired of me mentioning. Finally some action!

In other news, I get to go to this next weekend! The best part about this trip is that the plane ride alone should give me enough knitting time to finish the Clapotis and the facecloth from Weekend Knitting along with the audiobooks that I've had for a few months. I love flying just because I get so much knitting done.

8.29.2005

Times they are a changin'

For those of you who do not know yet, Philip and I have decided to leave Norfolk and move back to Lexington. I say back, but I haven't actually lived in Lexington for something like nine years and never as an adult. Philip loves Lexington, it is his Baltimore, and he has wanted to move back ever since he left three years ago and now is the time. It was a really difficult decision since we are both happy in our jobs, just not in our lives. Philip really misses the Lexington art scene and has been in a creative funk since we moved here. The move will mean that we are closer to our families and Philip will have the chance to go back to school and maybe gain some experience in computer illustration. I am going to use this change as an opportunity to finally open my own store, something I've wanted to do since I was 14. Life is full of changes and although we will miss several people in Norfolk and we will definitely miss the Ghent neighborhood, it is time for us to move on. Philip will be flying out on September 13 to find a job and apartment and I will move on October 27. That is six weeks that we will be apart so we will be blogging quite a bit to stay in touch.

Here is Philip in the jungle that is his parent's backyard. This is one of the few pictures he took last week.
philip's backyard

8.27.2005

Another thrift store Saturday

With Philip gone I have way too much time on my hands. At first it was nice because I could get some stuff done around the house, but now I am starting to get bored. I woke up way to early this morning and I went to the coffee shop, which was totally deserted if that give you an idea of how early it was. I sat there reading the newspaper trying to decide how to pass the day. I decided to got on a thrift store run, but in Norfolk this time. I started at Thrift City which had lots of cool stuff, but nothing that I really wanted to buy. I left with a plastic pot drainer from the 70's. Next up was the CHKD thrift about .5 miles from Thrift City. I usually skip that one since I've never made a score there, but today I decided to stop. I started with the vintage cookbook and I did find an old grilling cookbook from the early 60's that I grabbed, nothing really special. Then I saw it! In the country wood and knick Knacks section there were these weird tiki snack platters and some other assorted weirdness. The platters all had these weird bumps on the bottoms and holes in the centers so I figured they all fit together, but I couldn't seem to make it work. Then i realized that what I thought was a paper towel holder was actually the key piece in this puzzle. I ends up that all of the random-looking pieces on the shelf fit together to make this....

tiki platterYou are looking at my new three-tiered tiki snack server. Each layer rotates and the pineapple on top actually has little holes for toothpicks or satay sticks, presumably with little pineapple pieces. The bottom layer has four little wooden dishes for holding your favorite tiki snacks and there are carvings around the circumference of each layer. This is not only the score of the day, but the score of the year. Now I am excited about moving because it means that I can have a tiki housewarming party.

8.26.2005

OMG I won a house!!

A couple of months ago I was on the Readymade Web site trying to figure out when the next issue was going to come out and there was this button to enter a contest for a modular home. I pushed the button and filled in all of the fields and today I received a letter informing me that I won, a house. I was completely shocked, who wins a house? It came with a copy of the rules and a legal affidavit that I have to sign and return. The house is 600 square feet so it is pretty small and I do have to have some land to build it on. I am hoping the building can be used as a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. Anyway here is the site that shows what I won (it is the building on the right, not the huge one on the left.) I would show you my surprised look, but Philip still has the camera.

8.21.2005

My new orange shoes

Philip left town with our digital camera so for the next week so the only pictures in my posts will be Web images or pictures from my archives. On the way to take Philip to the airport I noticed a spinning wheel in the window of an antique store on one of the side streets (I have a radar for this kind of thing.) For the rest of the drop off I was looking forward to the trip home when I would stop by the antique store and check out the wheel. Somehow I got the idea in my head that this wheel was going to be priced around $100 since it was old and weathered (seriously, it looked like it spent more than a few nights outside.) Long story short, the wheel was marked at $250 and like most antique tools it is going to be bought by someone for decoration purposes only. orange chucksThis made me a little sad as I walked back to my car, but then I saw the Army Navy Surplus Store's hanging display of Chuck Tailor's and suddenly my mood was lifted. They had at least 40 styles and colors and they were all $29.99. I spent 10 minutes trying to decide on just the right color and I finally went with the orange. The store was filled ceiling to floor with army paraphernalia and a bunch of seemingly random items such as the pirate sticker I grabbed just before checking out. I am definitely going to take a trip back when I have more time to thoroughly search their collection.

Tonight I went to Red Dog for dinner with Jen and Meg and then went to see Rich's new band play at Granby North which is a cozy little bar, perfect for jazz performances. There was absolutely no knitting accomplished today, but who cares about knitting when you have lovely orange shoes to admire.

8.13.2005

Crafty Saturday

Today I went thrift store shopping with my friend James. We hit the three large thrift stores in Virginia Beach, Goodwill, Salvation Army, and the DAV thrift. My big goal for today was to find more sweaters to frog, but none of the stores had any winter wear out yet. I guess this makes sense since it is summer and no one is buying sweaters, but I am used to Kentucky where the thrift stores carry sweaters year round. I decided instead to focus on the vintage cookbooks (only 1950-1959) and vintage craft books (1960-1973).

In the first store I found Patternless Fashion Design (1968) which is a sewing book focused on designing clothes based on measurements.Since I can't stand patterns I already do this, but I am not very good at sleeves and inseams; I am hoping this book will help me work through that. Another great find was the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book (1959). The highlight of this book is the section on throwing a luau Trader Vic style and the "tempting buffets from India and Mexico." I am not sure what India and Mexico have in common, but it made for a fun couple of pages. The last book I bought was The Complete Book of Knitting. It doesn't look like anything special from the outside, but is is surprisingly full of information. In addition to the typical how to knit and basic techniques, it also contains 200 stitch patterns and a section on reading patterns in several other languages.

The next two thrift stores were short on craft books, but contained lots of craft supplies. The Goodwill had tons of knit kits, but they were pretty basic so I left them for someone else to discover. Instead I bought a Oscar the Grouch needle point kit from 1972. I don't actually do needle point, but the kit was a dollar and James convinced me that it would be easy. Then we moved on to the DAV thrift where the craft section was overflowing with yarn, notions, sewing patterns, and needlepoint books. Everything was bagged so if you wanted one ball of yarn you had to buy the bag it was in containing several other balls that you might not need. This is an annoying thrift store practice and I wish it would stop. Anyway I ended up buying a bag of yarn (it's used so it doesn't go against my yarn fast, at least that's what I'm telling myself). I need to measure and wash the skeins, but I think I am going to dye the white and then make a big bag with these. I'll keep you posted.

Now, on to my favorite part of the entry, the score of the day. It was a tough call, but when I got home and sorted everything out it was clear that the score of the day was...
You are looking at 69 full and 38 partial skeins of embroidery floss along with 8 embroidery needles all for $1.98. This is pretty much a lifetime supply for me and I plan on putting it to good use as soon as possible.

After thrift store shopping we stopped by PF Chang's for lunch and then went to the Asian grocery where I bought lots of fresh tofu, some basil and Mah Jongg. Now I'm off to Jackie's for a girls night staring Madonna.

8.10.2005

Pizza Night!

tomatoesThis morning my friend Chelsea left a bag of tomatoes in the kitchen at work. It seems she has more tomato plant than she can handle so she gives the extras away. I snatched up six cherry tomatoes and decided to use them for pizza tonight. Generally we have pizza night when we have lots of leftover ingredients from other meals so no two pizzas are ever the same. Last nights pizza was extraordinary because we have been buying a lot of veggies lately in an attempt to eat healthier. In fact, we had so many great ingredients on hand we left off the olive, onions, and garlic that are usually pizza staples in our house.


Antipasto Pizza
1 vegan pizza crust or loaf of French bread
3 heaping spoonfuls of Harris Teeter artichoke topping*
3-4 oz. Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella
portabella mushrooms (optional)
roasted red peppers (optional)
cherry tomatoes
black olives (optional)
onion (optional)
fresh garlic (optional)
fresh basil
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are making a crust from scratch, precook the crush according to the instructions. Spread the artichoke topping evenly across the top of the crust. Add your favorite toppings (or whatever you have on hand) and cover with the vegan mozzarella. Cook for 10 minutes, Serves 2-4 depending on the size of your crust.

*Harris Teeter artichoke topping is only available at Harris Teeter stores. If you do not have a Harris Teeter in your area you can make this topping by pureeing artichoke hearts with some olive oil and fresh parsley in your blender.

pizza

8.08.2005

New Look

drop stitch scarfI didn't do a lot of knitting this weekend, but I did make a dropped stitch scarf out of the Classic Elite yarn that my secret pal sent. The scarf is about 3" wide and 80" long with fringe on the ends. I also revamped my blog this weekend. I finally got tired of using the same template as several other bloggers. My new template is still a work in progress, but I am very happy with the new look.

In other news, a convicted child molester was sentenced to 320 hours of needlework instead of jail time. I can't decide what is worse, crocheting being used as a punishment or a child molester getting no jail time. If I am ever convicted of a felony I hope I get this judge.

8.02.2005

Just another day

I just realized that I still haven't made the clapotis that I have been drooling over since it came out; I am probably the last knitter on earth who hasn't tried out this pattern. My yarn fast ends on September 1 and on that day I am going to buy 3 skeins of Southwest Trading Company's bamboo yarn to finally make the clapotis. Until then I am still working on the cigar gloves, tons of dish towels (I've got to use up the cotton stash), more hemp face cloths, needle cases, and whatever I can come up with to use up the odds and ends that are in my stash.

DSCN1081This weekend I dyed the 500 yards of yarn that I frogged from the Goodwill sweater. The colors actually look way cooler in real life, but with the light situation I couldn't really capture that. I am going to attempt to make a circular sweater with this yarn, but since I will be writing the pattern as I go there is no telling how it will turn out. The concept seems pretty simple, it's the measurements that make it intimidating. I found a tutorial on craftster that should simplify the process. I'll probably start swatching tonight so I'll post my progress.

I bought the new Vogue Knitting last night, it has a gypsy theme. This is probably the best issue I have ever seen. There are lots of wraps with great textures and some really nice sweaters that I would actually wear. I am not planning on using any of the patterns as of yet, but I bought the issue so that when I am ready it will be there.