2.28.2006

It's so shiny

Here it is, my gold medal for the 2006 Knitting Olympics!!! I would like to thank everyone who supported me in this, I couldn't have done it without you. I can't wait to try again in 2008.
medal-web-large

2.27.2006

Some popcorn for my head

popcornWith my Knitting Olympic projects done two days ahead of schedule I had to come up with a new project to work on at the snb on Saturday. I went to the yarn store that I hadn't visited yet to try to find some dk yarn for making Philip's socks. I found the yarn I wanted, but was hounded by every salesperson working that day until it finally drove me away empty handed. Instead of socks I decided to use some thrift store yarn that I dyed to make the vintage popcorn stitch headband from the vintage knitting patterns site (it is a bonus with the free Stoles and Shawls download), you might remember Michelle's version from about a month ago. I only took one set of needles with me which ended up being too big so I adjusted the pattern to be worked in a larger gauge.

This headband works up really quick; I finished in under 24 hours and I am really happy with the finished product. It only uses about 2 oz. of yarn so it is great for those partial balls.

2.26.2006

Housework

Is this enough motivation for me to clean? Probably not; the bathroom will just have to wait.
housework

2.24.2006

Gold

Woo hoo!! Here is my second pair of socks for the knitting Olympics. These socks were made using the Easy Sock pattern from the Oz Yarn site. The pattern is not available online anymore, but even if it was I wouldn't recommend it. The pattern was very basic and boring, even for a beginning sock knitter. After I finished the first sock I realized that the pattern was far too easy and I should have chosen something a little more interesting like the Jaywalker pattern. I am definitely not done knitting socks; I want to do some fun self-striping socks for Philip with reinforced heels and toes.

A little update

I just joined the Lexington Beaver Scouts, a scout troop based on the book You Can Do It which I wrote about in a previous post. The Beaver Scouts are open to both men and women in the Lexington area who want to learn new skills and improve their lives. The group should really be up and running in the next few weeks with meetings and maybe some fun clothing accessories (isn't that the whole point.) If you live in Lexington you should totally check this group out.

In related news, I think I might learn fire twirling. It was brought up last night and I laughed it off just figuring that I would catch myself on fire, but when I looked up the class online I got really excited about the idea. The poi spinning class is taught at Mecca on Saturdays from 2-3pm, the perfect time for me to take a class. I just need to sit down and figure out if I can actually afford to take this class.

I am almost finished with my last sock so I am definitely getting the gold medal. I am also going to finish my article for the Spring/Summer TBTK, a comic that Philip and I are collaborating on, and a couple of pieces for Lecture, all by next Wednesday. I have a lot to do this weekend.

2.21.2006

A canceled vacation

About a month ago I decided to take this week off of work. I didn't have a plan, I just thought that I could use the week to explore some book stores, thrift stores, and work on projects. Yesterday was an office holiday and it was so cold that I just stayed in the house, in my pajamas, all day. By early afternoon I realized that with the cold weather, this isn't the best time for me to take a vacation. I am going to keep working until it gets a little warmer outside and then I will try the vacation thing again.

2.20.2006

Blogiversary

Sweet Little Domestic Life is one-year-old today! It is hard to believe how much has happened over the past year, but it is really cool to go back and see where I have been and what I've accomplished. I started this blog as a way to keep track of ideas and projects, a little organization in my cluttered life.To celebrate I am listing my favorite posts of the last year and my latest recipe for Elvis cookies.

My favorite posts:
I'm just a girl...or am I?
It's fun-due time!
Arrrrg matey!
OMG I won a house!!
My night of crime fighting
Happy do nothing day
Mission: Music Organization

Elvis Cookies
1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1 very ripe banana
1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
Mix together the peanut butter, banana, and margarine until completely smooth. I do this by hand but you might choose to use a mixer. Next, add the sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract one ingredient at a time. When everything is smooth, slowly mix in the flour. The mixture should be pretty thick. Add the chocolate chips and place mixture in the refridgerator for an hour or two.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into 1" balls and flatten on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are brown and cool on a wire rack.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

cookies

I want to thank everyone who reads my blog and leaves little comments, you are the reason I continue to post. Here's to another great year!

The secret out

Last night I was inspired by Sarabeth's post about dinner boredom and so I consulted a few cookbooks before heading out on our weekly grocery excursion. Since I am off work all week, I came up with five new recipes to try out. Tonight's dinner was Phebe's Mushroom Stroganoff from La Dolce Vegan. The dish took 33 minutes from start to finish and would be even faster with an extra set of hands. Philip and I aren't huge fans of wide pasta so I used bow tie pasta and served it with salted roma tomato slices. I should also mention that we used half a bag of the steak style Morningstar Farms meal starters instead of making gluten. Next time around I will use a little less onion and more mushrooms, but otherwise recipe is perfect.

stroganoff

For those who haven't guessed, the top secret knitting project was mon petit chou from the Summer 2004 issue of Knitty. I altered the pattern a bit to be more like boy shorts and I replaced the ribbons on the sides with i-cords that I grafted together so that they wouldn't need to be tied. After a ton of frogging, these turned out absolutely perfect.

mon petit chou

2.19.2006

Fire!

Back to knitting my Olympic socks. I went to the Lexington snb last night and I am now almost done with the first sock of my second pair.

Yesterday, Philip and I bought a scanner. Philip has been without access to a good scanner for about five months and when we went to Kinkos to see about scanning his work from that time for his Web site we found out it would cost almost $70. Instead of dropping all of that money into a temporary solution we looked at scanners yesterday and settled on a nice Epson model. While the scanner is mostly for Philip, I am excited about it because now I can scan things from books and magazines for my blog. Below is the inspiration for my current decorating project.

firepit

This is the fire pit from Pad. I have been wanting to do this project for years, but it was never right for my apartment. My current apartment has two fireplaces, one working and one not, and we thought this would give them the nice warm feel of a fire. Right after Christmas I went looking for red votive holders that were on sale, but I didn't find any below $2 each. I didn't want to spend too much money on this project so in the spirit of reuse I decided to make my own votive holders out of green and amber bottles from the recycling bin. Philip's dad loaned me his bottle cutter and after a little trouble I started cutting the bottles down. We don't have enough bottles yet, but over the next few weeks we should be able to accumulate enough for me to finish the first pit.

2.17.2006

Some sparkly accesories for my shoes

I am about halfway through the first sock of the second pair. Since I am so far ahead of schedule I decided to take a short break to make some sparkly shoelaces for my dirty shoes. This might be a sign that I need to wash my shoes.

DSCN1567

2.14.2006

I am halfway to the gold

There have been a couple of changes in my original Olympic plan. First, I had to change the yarn I wanted to use for the cable twist socks to Red Heart soft yarn. My original yarn choice was a little too chunky and since I wanted to use something from my stash I settled on the soft yarn which ended up being a great alternative. Also, I wanted to knit each pair of socks simultaneously on one circular needle, but due to gauge problems and the lack of available needles locally I am now knitting individual socks on dpns. After the Olympics I will find some socks that can be knitted on the circs that I have.

On the bright side, I did complete my first pair of socks one day ahead of schedule! Here are my wine colored cable twist socks. They fit perfectly and it is possible that I will never take them off my feet.
DSCN1559

Finishing the first pair early gives me more time to work on the second pair. After knitting a swatch with the teeny tiny sock yarn, I am thankful for the extra time.

2.07.2006

Getting ready for the gold

The top secret knitting project is coming along quite nicely. I am halfway finished with the second side and I finally understand the lace pattern and the center decreases. That means I am making way fewer mistakes and I don't have to frog my work every few rows, definitely progress. If all goes well, I should be finished by Friday, just in time for the knitting Olympics. I still haven’t trained (i.e. swatched) so I am really hoping to do a quick training session just before the opening ceremonies. I am very optimistic about the sock knitting. Since I hate watching the Olympics I ordered 11 hours of TV on DVD from Netflix that should arrive before the weekend.


The Great Sock Biathlon
First event: Cable Twist socks
Yarn: Worsted weight
Needle size: 3 US
Goal time: 5 days, Friday 2/10-Wednesday 2/15

Second event: Easy sock
Yarn: Sock weight
Needle size: 0 US & 2 US
Goal time: 10 days, Thursday 2/16- Sunday 2/26

I will bring home the gold for Team Angstylvania!

2.04.2006

La casa de la corbata

Yesterday was complete insanity. I woke up at 6:30 so I could get some work done before getting on the plane. I finished most of my work for the day and then I spent my fly time working on the top secret project. I came home to a night full of events so my day didn't end until about 2am.

Here is a picture of me, bright and early with the bunny who lives in the foyer of the staff house I was staying in. You can tell by the dark circles that I am not built for early mornings.
bunny

Last night became tie-night when Bambu decided everyone should where a tie. We all put on ties and required everyone who entered our apartment to wear a tie. It was a very formal and sophisticated event made even better with a selection of brews from all across the Midwest.

In other news, my friend Sarah just moved back to Kentucky to birth some babies. Okay, she's not actually going to shoot out any babies, but she will be a practicing midwife so she will help others birth their babies. In honor of her return, Jessica, Sarah, and I will embark on an exciting site seeing tour around this great metropolis (translation: we will eat at Gumbo Ya-Ya's and do a little shopping.)

2.03.2006

Two weeks of crafty goodness

Here is my project run-down for my two weeks in Norfolk:

Block printing project- Finished carving the first block, but I needed some decoupage glue for the background which I decided not to buy since it would probably explode in my luggage on the trip back.

Top Secret Knitting project- After a lot of complaining, I am almost to the half way marker. I will knit on my flight back and hopefully that will get me well into the second half. When I get home I am switching to the Addi Turbos which should speed up my knitting.

Tie One On Apron- I never even started this sucker so I am going to use the old pants and make a mapron for February'’s challenge.

I ended up having a lot less free time than I had originally planned for, but I think that I still got a good amount of stuff done. This weekend I want to print a few cards and hang some new curtains, but what I am really looking forward to relaxing and maybe watching a few movies.

The Knitting Olympics start in one week so I need to get this project done so I can start training (checking my gauge) for the big event. I am really excited about making socks, even if they consume my life for two weeks. Is anyone else competing?