So I don't really read the main boards on Ravelry unless I'm rubbernecking, but there are enough remnants threads that end up being rubbernecked that I guess I read my share.
Anyway, there is one mod in particular that is a little heavy-handed I think. She also always seems so annoyed with everything and so jaded I wonder if maybe she should just let someone else take over some of the moderating.
This probably seems like an think to vent about, but it keeps annoying me and obviously it isn't really proper to complain about it on Ravelry.
For the record I've never been moderated by her, I don't really post in the Big 6 most of the time.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Weekend Yarn Shopping
Last weekend's fiber show must have reawakened my desire for yarn or something.
Actually it was just the first time in awhile I've made it to a yarn store. There really aren't any around here, so I have to wait until we are visiting my parents or Mark's parents, and usually we are visiting my parents on a day or at a time the yarn store downtown is closed, or if it is open, it isn't convenient to stop in. That and why should I have been buying yarn when I have plenty and haven't had time to knit.
My purchases this weekend are for specific gifts. I have had a request for a foliage out of Malabrigo. Yesterday we went on a long drive in a desperate attempt to get E to take a nap. It sort of worked. Anyway, while we were up in the area and not otherwise obliged to be doing anything specific, I suggested we stop at Calla Lily Yarn to see if they carried it. They don't, but I found a very similar worsted weight Merino that will be perfect. This is jil eaton Minnow Merino in Aqua Marine. It is 77 yds a skein so I think I will use most of it to knit an adult Foliage. I think the recipient will like the color too. The sock yarn caught my eye, I really liked the long variation in it, sort of like Trekking but different, and this is really vibrant blue in person. That is Regia Hand-dye Effect. The socks are destined for the same person the hat is. Can you tell what her favorite color is? I don't think she reads this blog.
Actually it was just the first time in awhile I've made it to a yarn store. There really aren't any around here, so I have to wait until we are visiting my parents or Mark's parents, and usually we are visiting my parents on a day or at a time the yarn store downtown is closed, or if it is open, it isn't convenient to stop in. That and why should I have been buying yarn when I have plenty and haven't had time to knit.
My purchases this weekend are for specific gifts. I have had a request for a foliage out of Malabrigo. Yesterday we went on a long drive in a desperate attempt to get E to take a nap. It sort of worked. Anyway, while we were up in the area and not otherwise obliged to be doing anything specific, I suggested we stop at Calla Lily Yarn to see if they carried it. They don't, but I found a very similar worsted weight Merino that will be perfect. This is jil eaton Minnow Merino in Aqua Marine. It is 77 yds a skein so I think I will use most of it to knit an adult Foliage. I think the recipient will like the color too. The sock yarn caught my eye, I really liked the long variation in it, sort of like Trekking but different, and this is really vibrant blue in person. That is Regia Hand-dye Effect. The socks are destined for the same person the hat is. Can you tell what her favorite color is? I don't think she reads this blog.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Baby-Led Weaning vs Purees or What do I feed my baby??
When I first started thinking about all this baby stuff a couple years ago I read Super Baby Foods about how to make all your own baby food and what food could be eaten by babies when etc.
At the time I remember thinking the author was a little out there on some thing, I didn't agree with everything she wrote. I thought it was a great resource for craft ideas, party ideas, and a mishmash or other things. I did like the information about when it was age appropriate to introduce certain vegetables. I liked the instructions on how to prepare the baby food.
Then I started to hear about baby-led weaning. If you aren't familiar with it, basically here it is: you wait until your baby is at least six months old before starting solids, then you don't have to follow all those "rules" about what to introduce when and can offer your baby most healthy (so no added salt and sugar) things you are eating, there is no spoon feeding or purees, just finger food. Your baby probably won't be eating much to start out with, but when he or she is ready they will start eating a lot more instead of just mouthing the food.
So those were the two books I had at kind of opposite ends of the spectrum. The one thing they had in common was not using commercial baby food.
I was really set on having E be exclusively breast fed for the first 6 months. That is what all the current literature and studies suggest is best. We made it over 5 months, but unfortunately, with E's slow weight gain (that is probably several more posts to explain everything) I was going to have to supplement before we reached 6 months. One night I made chicken paprikas and E was sitting in my lap and reached for my plate (pretty typical for him) but his hand landed in the paprikas sauce. He tasted it and immediately went back for more. Twice. At that point Mark and I decided we would try some solid foods to see what he would do. I had an avocado and knew that was a great first food and good for him. I tried giving him some chunks of it but it was probably too ripe for that and certainly too slippery. So I mashed it up and tried giving it to him on a spoon. It was a big hit. The next week I tried banana. He seemed to like that, but I will say he prefers to have some of my banana (he "bites" it as I hold it, really I think he is sucking on it as much as anything) rather than eating it mashed on a spoon.
Then I wasn't sure exactly what to do. I liked the concept of baby-led weaning, but E really seemed to want more food than he was getting that way. Mark really enjoyed getting to feed E, and I had baby food from my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law and father-in-law.
So what am I doing? I'm using commercial baby food. For right now anyway. I have it, I figure I might as well use it and get an idea what he is going to like before I go buy things to make my own and freeze it. Although I'm not too sure how much of that I'm going to do either.
I guess I'm kind of trying to combine these concepts.
I'm not doing cereals. Both books convinced me that regular boxed rice cereal is pretty much pointless. I got a box of organic brown rice cereal at one of my baby showers. I finally decided to try that last night. That was the first time I ever heard E retch. He CLEARLY didn't like it. A couple weeks ago I made some oatmeal and offered it to him. No retching with that but he didn't like it and was not interested. I've figured out that for him the more flavor the better. I tried adding fruit to it. He still wasn't interested. I should note that I didn't add breast milk or formula to the rice cereal, I don't feel like wasting it. I used water. Then I tried adding bananas. It was still a no-go.
E likes his fruits and veggies. He was lukewarm about the apple sauce I gave him. He likes peaches, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots. I've given him purees of all of those now. Oh, and I gave him a banana mango mixture which he liked. I'm careful about how I give them to him. I never shove the spoon in his mouth. I either hold it up to his mouth and he reaches out and eats from it or more often, I get the spoon close enough to him and he grabs it and gets it to his mouth. Of course we go through about 4 spoons a meal because sometimes I can't get it back before he drops it, but I figure this way he is still in control of what he is eating (a big benefit of doing baby-led weaning) and he is learning to use a spoon, which he is going to need to learn to do eventually anyway. The thing I do like about purees and Mark especially likes is that we don't have to worry so much about choking.
The choking risk is Mark's biggest hang up with baby-led weaning. The book explains why it isn't as big of a risk as you might think and of course you never leave a baby alone with food, but even though I've read that I still get a little nervous about it from time to time. While I will feed E purees, I don't shy away from giving him finger food either.
He has had broccoli and seemed to like it. He LOVES sweet pepper sticks dipped in hummus. I gave him a strip of grilled pork to taste one night. He liked it but Mark kind of flipped out on me about that. I boiled some pasta shapes and have given them to him to play with the last few days. He sucks on them some but mostly he plays with them and they end up on the floor. He likes bread too. I don't like excess bread on my hamburgers and if I take it off and leave it on the plate he is all about getting that to his mouth.
The food thing is a big adventure. I see no reason why I can't give my baby purees on a spoon as long as I'm not forcing them on him and I see no reason why I can't let him experiment with real food either. I've lightened up about the age guidelines somewhat. I liked the Baby-led Weaning book for that, I learned that most guidelines in place are based upon starting solids at 3 months. I probably won't buy any more purees. I might make some, but by the time I need to I think E might just be old enough that he starts to actually eat more of the real food I put in front of him.
I think my main goal in all of this is to help E develop a healthy attitude toward food and a love of whole foods as well. Sure, I'm expecting to go through some macaroni & cheese benders with him when he is a toddler, but I'd like to give him the best start possible
At the time I remember thinking the author was a little out there on some thing, I didn't agree with everything she wrote. I thought it was a great resource for craft ideas, party ideas, and a mishmash or other things. I did like the information about when it was age appropriate to introduce certain vegetables. I liked the instructions on how to prepare the baby food.
Then I started to hear about baby-led weaning. If you aren't familiar with it, basically here it is: you wait until your baby is at least six months old before starting solids, then you don't have to follow all those "rules" about what to introduce when and can offer your baby most healthy (so no added salt and sugar) things you are eating, there is no spoon feeding or purees, just finger food. Your baby probably won't be eating much to start out with, but when he or she is ready they will start eating a lot more instead of just mouthing the food.
So those were the two books I had at kind of opposite ends of the spectrum. The one thing they had in common was not using commercial baby food.
I was really set on having E be exclusively breast fed for the first 6 months. That is what all the current literature and studies suggest is best. We made it over 5 months, but unfortunately, with E's slow weight gain (that is probably several more posts to explain everything) I was going to have to supplement before we reached 6 months. One night I made chicken paprikas and E was sitting in my lap and reached for my plate (pretty typical for him) but his hand landed in the paprikas sauce. He tasted it and immediately went back for more. Twice. At that point Mark and I decided we would try some solid foods to see what he would do. I had an avocado and knew that was a great first food and good for him. I tried giving him some chunks of it but it was probably too ripe for that and certainly too slippery. So I mashed it up and tried giving it to him on a spoon. It was a big hit. The next week I tried banana. He seemed to like that, but I will say he prefers to have some of my banana (he "bites" it as I hold it, really I think he is sucking on it as much as anything) rather than eating it mashed on a spoon.
Then I wasn't sure exactly what to do. I liked the concept of baby-led weaning, but E really seemed to want more food than he was getting that way. Mark really enjoyed getting to feed E, and I had baby food from my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law and father-in-law.
So what am I doing? I'm using commercial baby food. For right now anyway. I have it, I figure I might as well use it and get an idea what he is going to like before I go buy things to make my own and freeze it. Although I'm not too sure how much of that I'm going to do either.
I guess I'm kind of trying to combine these concepts.
I'm not doing cereals. Both books convinced me that regular boxed rice cereal is pretty much pointless. I got a box of organic brown rice cereal at one of my baby showers. I finally decided to try that last night. That was the first time I ever heard E retch. He CLEARLY didn't like it. A couple weeks ago I made some oatmeal and offered it to him. No retching with that but he didn't like it and was not interested. I've figured out that for him the more flavor the better. I tried adding fruit to it. He still wasn't interested. I should note that I didn't add breast milk or formula to the rice cereal, I don't feel like wasting it. I used water. Then I tried adding bananas. It was still a no-go.
E likes his fruits and veggies. He was lukewarm about the apple sauce I gave him. He likes peaches, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots. I've given him purees of all of those now. Oh, and I gave him a banana mango mixture which he liked. I'm careful about how I give them to him. I never shove the spoon in his mouth. I either hold it up to his mouth and he reaches out and eats from it or more often, I get the spoon close enough to him and he grabs it and gets it to his mouth. Of course we go through about 4 spoons a meal because sometimes I can't get it back before he drops it, but I figure this way he is still in control of what he is eating (a big benefit of doing baby-led weaning) and he is learning to use a spoon, which he is going to need to learn to do eventually anyway. The thing I do like about purees and Mark especially likes is that we don't have to worry so much about choking.
The choking risk is Mark's biggest hang up with baby-led weaning. The book explains why it isn't as big of a risk as you might think and of course you never leave a baby alone with food, but even though I've read that I still get a little nervous about it from time to time. While I will feed E purees, I don't shy away from giving him finger food either.
He has had broccoli and seemed to like it. He LOVES sweet pepper sticks dipped in hummus. I gave him a strip of grilled pork to taste one night. He liked it but Mark kind of flipped out on me about that. I boiled some pasta shapes and have given them to him to play with the last few days. He sucks on them some but mostly he plays with them and they end up on the floor. He likes bread too. I don't like excess bread on my hamburgers and if I take it off and leave it on the plate he is all about getting that to his mouth.
The food thing is a big adventure. I see no reason why I can't give my baby purees on a spoon as long as I'm not forcing them on him and I see no reason why I can't let him experiment with real food either. I've lightened up about the age guidelines somewhat. I liked the Baby-led Weaning book for that, I learned that most guidelines in place are based upon starting solids at 3 months. I probably won't buy any more purees. I might make some, but by the time I need to I think E might just be old enough that he starts to actually eat more of the real food I put in front of him.
I think my main goal in all of this is to help E develop a healthy attitude toward food and a love of whole foods as well. Sure, I'm expecting to go through some macaroni & cheese benders with him when he is a toddler, but I'd like to give him the best start possible
Excuse me while I explain myself a little
It is certainly not my intention to turn this into a "mommy" blog. My day to day life is really probably not that interesting and I have other things (like knitting) I would still like to blog about.
I miss writing though, and I think I need to get back into writing blog entries to fill that void in my life. I do want to talk about some of my parenting decisions, maybe just to organize my own thoughts, maybe just to put it out there. If I have any readers left feel free to skip such posts, especially if babies aren't your thing. If you do have kids, please don't take anything I write as a criticism of your parenting method if it differs from mine. Like I said, I'm just trying to find my way and I'm learning and adjusting and sometimes adjusting expectations and I think writing may be one of the best ways for me to organize these thoughts.
I miss writing though, and I think I need to get back into writing blog entries to fill that void in my life. I do want to talk about some of my parenting decisions, maybe just to organize my own thoughts, maybe just to put it out there. If I have any readers left feel free to skip such posts, especially if babies aren't your thing. If you do have kids, please don't take anything I write as a criticism of your parenting method if it differs from mine. Like I said, I'm just trying to find my way and I'm learning and adjusting and sometimes adjusting expectations and I think writing may be one of the best ways for me to organize these thoughts.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Baby Carriers
Since I've had E I have spent way too much time reading the message boards on Ravelry. Specifically the message boards for baby/parenting sorts of things that I do (like breastfeeding, cloth diapering, homebirth/natural childbirth, AP parenting, and the other lovely November '09 mamas). What can I say, I sit around nursing a lot or with a sleeping baby in my arms and I need something to read.
Well the other day I read about this blog entry and feel inspired to do my own review of sorts.
Well the other day I read about this blog entry and feel inspired to do my own review of sorts.
- My first baby carrier purchase was a Hotsling. Actually, I believe this was my first baby item purchased while pregnant. It was on clearance and I knew I wanted a sling, and the website made it look so easy. I love the fabric of the sling I chose. Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to make this sling work for us. I'm not completely giving up on it as I've read some people have liked it best for toddlers, so maybe it will be more useful down the road. My issues with it are mainly that I don't feel like it really fits me right even though I have the size that their chart says I should be using and I can never really get E in it where I feel completely comfortable with his position. I have used it really short-term a few times, so it has had some use.
- A few months later I realized after more reading message boards and such that I didn't just want a sling, what I actually needed was a ring sling. This way the sling could be worn by multiple people and didn't need to be a specific size and I could adjust it better. So I bought a cotton/linen blend that was on clearance from Taylor Made Slings. I keep trying to make this sling work. I have yet to get it right. I tried first when E was only a few weeks old. I just couldn't figure out how to get the sling on right and to stay in position long enough for me to safely get my newborn in it. It made me nervous since I didn't have any experienced baby wearers around to assure me I had it right or to adjust something I had wrong. I put it away and moved on to the next carrier (discussion coming shortly). One of my friends (K) who has a daughter about E's age recently got a ring sling from Sleeping Baby Productions and she loves it. So I asked her to show me how she uses hers, figuring that seeing it in person might help me out. Well, it did help me out, now I realize why this sling isn't working for me. I think it is all in the shoulder. The way this particular ring sling is sewn by the ring doesn't really allow me to spread it out over my shoulder without the rings being way too far down my chest for my comfort or for E's. I tried putting E in it in a front carry and had to watch that he didn't hit his head on the rings. I knew that couldn't be right. I tried the hip carry that K likes but that wasn't really working out for us. As with the Hotsling, when I tried to put him in a cradle hold he had a lot of objections, and I didn't feel I had him in right so I stopped trying. I still really wish I could make a ring sling work for us, especially since so many women say they can nurse discreetly in them, but I'm just not sure that it is going to be for E and me.
- This wasn't a purchase, it was more of gifted garage sale item that hadn't sold. It is a NoJo padded ring sling. Honestly, I've never really tried it because it seems so bulky and hard to adjust that it just didn't appeal to me. I guess this is a really unfair review considering I haven't used it, but since the other styles of slings haven't worked out for me I don't think I would have fared much better with this one.
- This is another garage sale item my mom brought to me, I don't remember if it was given to her as the NoJo sling was or if she actually bought it. This one is a Snuggli. I really wasn't into it and was set on the slings, so I told Mark that it could be his carrier and he was all right with that. He used it with E a few times and liked it and E did pretty good with it. I'm not very comfortable with him using it because of how it holds E. Rather than creating a seat for him it basically holds him by his crotch which isn't good for him. Of course Mark never really wears E for long periods of time, so I guess it isn't terrible. Mark liked it better than anything else for him because he could put E in a front-facing carry which we found out he prefers.
- This purchase came about a month after E was born once I realized that the slings were just not going to work for us, at least at that stage. At the suggestion of one of some of the ladies on Ravelry, I went for a Moby wrap. This was the first carrier I found that actually worked for us and I felt comfortable with! First I tried the cradle carry. That didn't work, but by then I realized that E just didn't like to be carried that way. Next I tried the hug hold which is an upright carry where E faced me. That worked for a few weeks and E liked it. Then we got to the point where he was just much happier being able to see everything. So I put him in a front facing carry and that was perfect! I could go to the grocery store again! When the weather got a little warmer I could take him for walk, all I had to do was wrap my sweater around both of us. He was happy he could see and I was happy I finally was able to "wear" him. Of course as most Moby users will tell you, even though it theoretically can be used into the toddler years, once a baby gets to a certain point, he or she is just too heavy for the stretchy fabric. I don't think I really reached that point with it, but I did get to the point where it was just too warm for me. It is a lot of fabric to have wrapped around you and especially if you are going for a walk, it gets too be a bit much having a warm baby (E is a furnace!) that close to you while exercising. Also, he was getting a bit big for the carry I was using and if I were to put him in it at this point I would need to figure something else out. If he isn't too heavy I may play around with it more this fall. It was totally worth it from December through April for me though.
- We had an unusually warm spring, so by April I was definitely thinking I was going to want something with a little less fabric for spring. I debated between the Ergo and Beco, I looked at the Baby Hawk and the Mei Tai Baby Carrier. I was pretty certain I wanted something in a Mei Tai style. I loved the pretty fabric options many of them had. I liked the look of ties better than buckles, although I knew if Mark was going to wear it I would have to go for buckles, but all the options were just so darn expensive and I didn't feel I could justify spending at least $80 for a carrier I wasn't sure I was going to like let alone whether E would like. At that point the only way I had been successful carrying him was front forward facing. He had quit liking to be carried facing me, and you can't really do a front carry with a Mei Tai or a soft structured carrier. I decided to take a look on Etsy and see if anyone made them (of course) and I could find something I liked for a more reasonable price. I found what I was looking for. I bought a Cuddle Me Mine Mei Tai from The Kitchen Sink Boutique. I loved the fabric in the one she had posted for sale. What I didn't realize at the time was that I wasn't buying that particular carrier (I didn't read well enough or misunderstood) and that she was in the middle of moving so she wasn't going to be able to fulfill the order for a few weeks. She wrote to me about these things and gave me the option of continuing or backing out of the sale. I chose to continue and wait it out and I'm glad I did. I got to choose the base (strap) color and let her know what type of fabric I was wanting for the back. I gave her an idea and she picked out a great fabric for me. When I got the carrier to my surprise E loved it even though he wasn't facing forward. It had a little bit of a learning curve to putting E on and tying it, but really so did the Moby. Anyway, as much as I liked it, I think it is my mom who has used it the most. She puts E in it in the afternoons when she watches him while I'm at work and takes a walk with him and he will fall asleep for her in it. He never does this for me by the way. What I like about it is that I can put it in the diaper bag and take along in case I want or need it better than I could any of the other carriers. As much as I like the Mei Tai though, it isn't perfect. Mark wouldn't wear it. If I put it on out in public I have to try to find somewhere that it wasn't a disaster if the straps drag on the ground while I initially tie it on. Sometimes I feel like is more secure in there than other times, and it is kind of hard to adjust once I have him in it without redoing the whole thing. Along with that if the straps get bunched up instead of laying flat they kind of cut into my shoulders.
- Having determined that we liked the Mei Tei style but could use something a little more easily adjustable and easier to put on and take off quickly I returned to looking at the Ergo and Beco carriers. Then I got a bonus at work. I decided that I could use some of that to go ahead and get one of the fancy expensive soft structured carriers. Then Cotton Baby Bottoms had an Earth Day sale and almost everything was 10% off. Actually Ergo was one of the exceptions, but by that point I had already determined I was going to get the Beco. Since I wanted Mark to use this one I asked for his input on the pattern. I also wanted a pattern that wasn't overly boyish but wasn't feminine either. We decided on the panthers. I liked some of Beco's new patterns a little bit better, but I figured that if I wanted pretty fabric on the back my Mei Tai fit that bill. I have to say that the panthers have really grown on me too, I love them, and E was enthralled with them when I first got the carrier. When I got it though, the one seem on the bottom was torn. Beco has a great warranty policy though and they sent me a replacement and a shipping label to return the defective one. It delayed me being able to try out the carrier for a few days, but once we did it has been a hit! I use this one the most now. It is more convenient for using at stores and I feel like I can be more sure he is secure in it. Mark has only tried it once and it was when E was in a fussy mood, so while I think it will work for him he hasn't been doing much baby wearing lately. I thought my mom would like this better than the Mei Tai but I think there are almost too many straps and in that sense the Mei Tai is simpler for her to use so she just uses that. The one time she did use the Beco she said she liked it. The only things I don't like about it are that the straps do hang and aren't nearly as pretty as they are on the Mei Tai and I wish the chest strap was easier to adjust. I love how easily the sides adjust to get him in and out easily and to make sure he is secure. I also like that it comes with a little hood I can snap on if it is raining or really sunny and I don't have a hat for him or if he were to ever fall asleep for me in it (haha). I also liked that it came with the infant insert. E is too big to need it, but for any future babies I would be able to use it earlier without having to buy it separately like I would if I got an Ergo.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wrong # of Stitches
I'm completely frustrated with my current knitting.
I should be finished increasing on the stockinette portion of the Traveling Woman shawl I'm working on, but my stitch count is off. Looking at it I can't figure out where I went wrong, although I suspect I forgot a few yarn overs or added a yarn over on the purl side where I shouldn't. I guess the only thing to do is rip it, but I'm really annoyed because I was so happy at the progress I was making and now I have to frog a week's worth of knitting. I hope this doesn't change my perception of the yarn. Frogging will do that sometimes, but this is really nice yarn to work with so I think it will be all right. The yarn is Creatively Dyed Seawool I bought last year at Great Lakes.
I should be finished increasing on the stockinette portion of the Traveling Woman shawl I'm working on, but my stitch count is off. Looking at it I can't figure out where I went wrong, although I suspect I forgot a few yarn overs or added a yarn over on the purl side where I shouldn't. I guess the only thing to do is rip it, but I'm really annoyed because I was so happy at the progress I was making and now I have to frog a week's worth of knitting. I hope this doesn't change my perception of the yarn. Frogging will do that sometimes, but this is really nice yarn to work with so I think it will be all right. The yarn is Creatively Dyed Seawool I bought last year at Great Lakes.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Annual Great Lakes Fiber Show Wrap Up: Part 2
So what did I get this year?
First off, I have several skeins of pretty sock yarn waiting to be knit, and if I run out before next year (unlikely) I certainly know where I can attain some more.
Second, I decided that no matter how pretty and soft, I just wasn't willing to pay more than $20 for a skein of anything this year. The best I will be able to do is small shawls, so no major lace yardage for me. Also, no sweater quantities, I've already discussed that in my previous post.
This year I went for the pretty but scratchier stuff. The ones that are hand-dyed and/or hand-spun. The ones that you can still smell the lanolin in. I might have bought some alpaca too.
I wish I could tell you who I bought this yarn from, but the booth had no name and there are no tags. These 100 yard skeins were only $1.25 each. I really couldn't pass up getting a couple. They are kind of scratchy but I think I can find some good use for them.
This is pretty. The picture doesn't really due the subtle dye job justice, but I didn't get outside with my yarn and camera this weekend.
This is some really pretty blue-faced leicester. I'm thinking I may try to knit a soaker again, but I'm not going to feel bad if this doesn't end up as a diaper cover.
I don't know the name of this shop either (due more to lack of attention I think). I was interested in this first yarn because it was dyed with natural dye, in this case cochineal. See what pretty yarn mashed up bugs can make?
This is from the same booth. I don't think it is naturally dyed, but it is pretty and spun a little differently than any of the other yarn I bought.
Now this is some nice soft alpaca and I really liked the color.
More alpaca, this from Wooly Knob. I'm currently using a skein of their wool and really liking it so I wanted to support them again. This is fairly soft too.
These two skeins are bulky weight (fun! I like big needle knits now and then) and it is pretty local yarn. It is handspun hand-dyed wool from a farm a county east of where I live.
I think I did a better job of varying my color palette this year.
I know that I won't get all this knit up before the show next year, and a few skeins may stay in my stash awhile, but sometimes a quick knit out of yarn like this is just what I need. It is my comfort knitting and good for the soul.
First off, I have several skeins of pretty sock yarn waiting to be knit, and if I run out before next year (unlikely) I certainly know where I can attain some more.
Second, I decided that no matter how pretty and soft, I just wasn't willing to pay more than $20 for a skein of anything this year. The best I will be able to do is small shawls, so no major lace yardage for me. Also, no sweater quantities, I've already discussed that in my previous post.
This year I went for the pretty but scratchier stuff. The ones that are hand-dyed and/or hand-spun. The ones that you can still smell the lanolin in. I might have bought some alpaca too.
I wish I could tell you who I bought this yarn from, but the booth had no name and there are no tags. These 100 yard skeins were only $1.25 each. I really couldn't pass up getting a couple. They are kind of scratchy but I think I can find some good use for them.
This is pretty. The picture doesn't really due the subtle dye job justice, but I didn't get outside with my yarn and camera this weekend.
This is some really pretty blue-faced leicester. I'm thinking I may try to knit a soaker again, but I'm not going to feel bad if this doesn't end up as a diaper cover.
I don't know the name of this shop either (due more to lack of attention I think). I was interested in this first yarn because it was dyed with natural dye, in this case cochineal. See what pretty yarn mashed up bugs can make?
This is from the same booth. I don't think it is naturally dyed, but it is pretty and spun a little differently than any of the other yarn I bought.
Now this is some nice soft alpaca and I really liked the color.
More alpaca, this from Wooly Knob. I'm currently using a skein of their wool and really liking it so I wanted to support them again. This is fairly soft too.
These two skeins are bulky weight (fun! I like big needle knits now and then) and it is pretty local yarn. It is handspun hand-dyed wool from a farm a county east of where I live.
I think I did a better job of varying my color palette this year.I know that I won't get all this knit up before the show next year, and a few skeins may stay in my stash awhile, but sometimes a quick knit out of yarn like this is just what I need. It is my comfort knitting and good for the soul.
Annual Great Lakes Fiber Show Wrap Up: Part 1
We have had a busy weekend here! Today we had E baptized and then had a big family picnic afterward at a nearby park. It was nearly 90 degrees and the change in routine, excitement, and heat really exhausted us. I'm not sure how much I'll get to, I got E to bed and have some time for myself right now so I wanted to write as much as I could.
Somewhere in the last few weeks I've been thinking about my knitting, or lack of knitting lately, and what I realistically can knit and what I want to knit.
I am really not a garment knitter. Sure, I've cranked out a few sweaters, I know I can do it, but I'm not sure I have a lot of interest in doing much of that right now. I don't really have the time or money to commit to sweaters and I don't get enough happiness out of the FO most of the time to want to put my resources to that.
As for baby things: Well, the bibs are definitely turning out to be worth it. Those are more mindless than dishcloths though so while they make good movie knitting (watching a movie? what is that? I haven't done that for ages) that isn't exactly a thing I really enjoy knitting all that much. The last baby sweater I finished for E was too small for him by the time I was done with it. The baby sweaters I knit before he was born fit OK, but not that great. It isn't that I won't knit anymore sweaters for him, but I'm not going to feel like a bad knitting mommy if I don't. Hats are worth it. I'll definitely need to make more for this fall and winter.
Then there are socks. I like wearing handknit socks. I have a few people in my life who really like receiving handknit socks. I don't like getting complicated with them though. I love all the beautiful sock patterns out there but while I may experiment with different construction methods, most of the time lace and cables and other stitch patterns are just too fiddly for me to bother with. When I knit socks the WIP ends up in my purse to be mindless road travel knitting or something I can pick up and knit a few rows here or there while waiting. I absolutely hate having to refer back to a pattern for socks. Every time I've tried to knit a sock from a pattern I had to follow it has ended up frogged. Anyway, all this to say that if I'm going to knit socks I want pretty yarn because I'm going to let the yarn do the work, not the stitch pattern.
So what do I really want to knit? I think it is mostly hats and mittens. I have a love affair with mittens and the mitten books to prove it. I've knit quite a few pairs, mostly plain, but I love a good stranded pattern, I just don't always have what it takes to fully commit to knitting a pair. Hats are definitely a fashion accessory for me in the winter and I love how varied the look can be depending on cables or lace or ribbing and the weight of yarn, the colors used, etc. Sure, you can do that with anything you knit, but I think hats are one of those things that you can really play with.
Recently I've discovered I really like knitting these smaller outerwear items out of more rustic wool. The Knitter's Book of Wool just fueled this desire. Where better to get handspun local yarns than a fiber show?
This was my fourth year at the Great Lakes Fiber Show.
My first year, 2006, I was just amazed that my hometown had one of these fiber shows (which I had only recently learned about since I started knitting seriously in the fall of 2005) and I was in the height of my I-like-it-so-I'm-going-to-buy-it yarn buying. I bought 2 huge skeins (500+ yards) of merino superwash wool from Maple Creek Farm and later made the Hourglass Sweater from it. (One of the sweaters I was actually happy with the outcome.) I bought some Noro that became a felted bag. I bought 5 skeins of this bargain black Egyptian cotton yarn. I think I though I would make a tank from it? I'm not sure, I found it really hard to use and almost linen like and it is still languishing in my stash. I'm not sure what else I bought that year, I think that was it judging by a quick look at my pictures from May 2006 on my computer.
In 2007 I returned, at that point I had a better idea of what I wanted. I was going for really nice yarn. Soft yarn with nice dye jobs and some organic cotton yarn I saw the previous year and regretted not buying. I bought 3 skeins of sock yarn that has became 4 pairs of socks, a large skein of bamboo/silk yarn from Briar Rose that became the Tuscany shaw, and the desired organic cotton yarn that eventually became a baby sweater that I'm hoping will fit E this fall.
In 2008 I missed the show because my husband's law school graduation from Northern Illinois was that weekend. I gave him a hard time of that, but of course that was more important. I guess.
Last year I went but I wasn't very focused. My first trimester had really knocked the knitting desire out of me. Then I was thinking "baby" with all my purchases, which is why everything is a shade of green or blue, except that one skein of undyed yarn. At that point I was pretty sure I was having a boy. If you scroll down only a couple blog posts you will see what I bought last year. Some of it has been knit, most of it has not. Actually one of those skeins has become a FO. The sportweight Knitting Notions yarn became the too-small baby sweater for Elijah. The green Wooly Knob yarn is about 3/4 the way to being a pair of fingerless mitts. The blue silky Creatively Dyed yarn has just begun its journey to become a small shawl. So I guess I've knit with half that yarn.
I have to admit I bought more yarn than ever before this year. I think, actually I'm almost certain, I spent less than I ever have before this year.
Somewhere in the last few weeks I've been thinking about my knitting, or lack of knitting lately, and what I realistically can knit and what I want to knit.
I am really not a garment knitter. Sure, I've cranked out a few sweaters, I know I can do it, but I'm not sure I have a lot of interest in doing much of that right now. I don't really have the time or money to commit to sweaters and I don't get enough happiness out of the FO most of the time to want to put my resources to that.
As for baby things: Well, the bibs are definitely turning out to be worth it. Those are more mindless than dishcloths though so while they make good movie knitting (watching a movie? what is that? I haven't done that for ages) that isn't exactly a thing I really enjoy knitting all that much. The last baby sweater I finished for E was too small for him by the time I was done with it. The baby sweaters I knit before he was born fit OK, but not that great. It isn't that I won't knit anymore sweaters for him, but I'm not going to feel like a bad knitting mommy if I don't. Hats are worth it. I'll definitely need to make more for this fall and winter.
Then there are socks. I like wearing handknit socks. I have a few people in my life who really like receiving handknit socks. I don't like getting complicated with them though. I love all the beautiful sock patterns out there but while I may experiment with different construction methods, most of the time lace and cables and other stitch patterns are just too fiddly for me to bother with. When I knit socks the WIP ends up in my purse to be mindless road travel knitting or something I can pick up and knit a few rows here or there while waiting. I absolutely hate having to refer back to a pattern for socks. Every time I've tried to knit a sock from a pattern I had to follow it has ended up frogged. Anyway, all this to say that if I'm going to knit socks I want pretty yarn because I'm going to let the yarn do the work, not the stitch pattern.
So what do I really want to knit? I think it is mostly hats and mittens. I have a love affair with mittens and the mitten books to prove it. I've knit quite a few pairs, mostly plain, but I love a good stranded pattern, I just don't always have what it takes to fully commit to knitting a pair. Hats are definitely a fashion accessory for me in the winter and I love how varied the look can be depending on cables or lace or ribbing and the weight of yarn, the colors used, etc. Sure, you can do that with anything you knit, but I think hats are one of those things that you can really play with.
Recently I've discovered I really like knitting these smaller outerwear items out of more rustic wool. The Knitter's Book of Wool just fueled this desire. Where better to get handspun local yarns than a fiber show?
This was my fourth year at the Great Lakes Fiber Show.
My first year, 2006, I was just amazed that my hometown had one of these fiber shows (which I had only recently learned about since I started knitting seriously in the fall of 2005) and I was in the height of my I-like-it-so-I'm-going-to-buy-it yarn buying. I bought 2 huge skeins (500+ yards) of merino superwash wool from Maple Creek Farm and later made the Hourglass Sweater from it. (One of the sweaters I was actually happy with the outcome.) I bought some Noro that became a felted bag. I bought 5 skeins of this bargain black Egyptian cotton yarn. I think I though I would make a tank from it? I'm not sure, I found it really hard to use and almost linen like and it is still languishing in my stash. I'm not sure what else I bought that year, I think that was it judging by a quick look at my pictures from May 2006 on my computer.
In 2007 I returned, at that point I had a better idea of what I wanted. I was going for really nice yarn. Soft yarn with nice dye jobs and some organic cotton yarn I saw the previous year and regretted not buying. I bought 3 skeins of sock yarn that has became 4 pairs of socks, a large skein of bamboo/silk yarn from Briar Rose that became the Tuscany shaw, and the desired organic cotton yarn that eventually became a baby sweater that I'm hoping will fit E this fall.
In 2008 I missed the show because my husband's law school graduation from Northern Illinois was that weekend. I gave him a hard time of that, but of course that was more important. I guess.
Last year I went but I wasn't very focused. My first trimester had really knocked the knitting desire out of me. Then I was thinking "baby" with all my purchases, which is why everything is a shade of green or blue, except that one skein of undyed yarn. At that point I was pretty sure I was having a boy. If you scroll down only a couple blog posts you will see what I bought last year. Some of it has been knit, most of it has not. Actually one of those skeins has become a FO. The sportweight Knitting Notions yarn became the too-small baby sweater for Elijah. The green Wooly Knob yarn is about 3/4 the way to being a pair of fingerless mitts. The blue silky Creatively Dyed yarn has just begun its journey to become a small shawl. So I guess I've knit with half that yarn.
I have to admit I bought more yarn than ever before this year. I think, actually I'm almost certain, I spent less than I ever have before this year.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
And now, nearly a year later...
I've been wanting to post for a long time. Every time I have two hands free I am doing something else though. Having a baby hasn't stopped me from reading things online, but it sure has limited the amount I can participate. Honestly, most typing gets directed to Ravelry forums these days about topics like breastfeeding and cloth diapering and chatting with mothers of other November babies about what is going on. Either that or commenting here and there on Facebook.
So last time I posted was right after the Great Lakes Fiber Show last May. It is almost that time of year again! In knitting, I am working on a pair of Sweet Fern Mitts from The Knitter's Book of Wool with the green Wooly Knob yarn I bought last year at the show. They are technically backward because I didn't read the errata until I wanted to check something that didn't seem right in the directions for the right thumb gusset. Then I saw the cables are mixed up so if you knit them like the chart in the book has them they are upside down. They are still cute though, so I'm not going to rip them out.
I get a little knitting done now and then. Since November I've managed to knit a vest that baby E wore once or twice and the other week I finally finished a sweater knit in 6 month size that is too small for him. That is my fault, partly for knitting too slow and partly for not knitting a gauge swatch. I have a feeling the sweater is a little smaller than it should be. I knit that from some sport weight Knitting Notions yarn I bought last year too.
I have to knit up at least some of the yarn I bought at the show last year if I am going to justify buying any more this year.
So yeah, if I haven't posted since May I haven't posted at all about my baby.
My pregnancy went pretty smoothly. I really loved being pregnant until about the last month. Then "the baby" as he was known then was laying in such a position that he was putting pressure on my sciatic nerve and it was pretty painful to walk much at all. Up until mid-October Mark and I were able to go walking almost every day and I loved that so much. I felt it really made a difference (and not in a good way) when I had to cut that back. I was also having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions which made work really interesting some days.
I actually worked up until the day before the birth. It was Friday so I only worked until noon that day. That evening around 7 p.m. I got some signs that I was going to be having a baby soon. I tried to get as much sleep as I could that night, and I did ok until about 5 a.m. and then I couldn't sleep through the contractions any more. I got up around 6 and went out to the livingroom and rocked back and forth on my big excercise ball. That thing was my best friend throughout pregnancy and labor. Then I realized that the contractions were coming regularly at around 3-4 minutes apart and were lasting awhile. I went to wake Mark up but he was getting up anyway. He timed them for awhile and then I sent him out to get a copy of the local paper. I wanted the newspaper from the day my baby was born and I was getting more certain that it was going to be that day. Then it all is kind of a blur. My midwife showed up around 9 a.m. and I was already a few centimeters dilated. I was fully dilated by mid-afternoon. (Oh yeah, I had a planned homebirth, I don't think mentioned that either) The pushing took awhile, but our son was born at 5:15 p.m. Saturday, November 14, 2009. We hadn't found out whether we were having a boy or girl ahead of time, although for most of the pregnancy I suspected the baby was a boy. Mark thought we were having a girl. The midwife also thought we were having a girl based on the heart-rate pattern. When handed me the baby she said something about "her" and I looked down and exclaimed that we didn't have a girl! I will refer to our son as "E" on this blog. We had thought about that name since pretty early on in the pregnancy, we had it as a potential name before we pinned down a girl's name. We were waiting to see if we felt it fit, and it did.
Now that someone is awake. I will return to this, maybe sooner than 11 months from now...
So last time I posted was right after the Great Lakes Fiber Show last May. It is almost that time of year again! In knitting, I am working on a pair of Sweet Fern Mitts from The Knitter's Book of Wool with the green Wooly Knob yarn I bought last year at the show. They are technically backward because I didn't read the errata until I wanted to check something that didn't seem right in the directions for the right thumb gusset. Then I saw the cables are mixed up so if you knit them like the chart in the book has them they are upside down. They are still cute though, so I'm not going to rip them out.
I get a little knitting done now and then. Since November I've managed to knit a vest that baby E wore once or twice and the other week I finally finished a sweater knit in 6 month size that is too small for him. That is my fault, partly for knitting too slow and partly for not knitting a gauge swatch. I have a feeling the sweater is a little smaller than it should be. I knit that from some sport weight Knitting Notions yarn I bought last year too.
I have to knit up at least some of the yarn I bought at the show last year if I am going to justify buying any more this year.
So yeah, if I haven't posted since May I haven't posted at all about my baby.
My pregnancy went pretty smoothly. I really loved being pregnant until about the last month. Then "the baby" as he was known then was laying in such a position that he was putting pressure on my sciatic nerve and it was pretty painful to walk much at all. Up until mid-October Mark and I were able to go walking almost every day and I loved that so much. I felt it really made a difference (and not in a good way) when I had to cut that back. I was also having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions which made work really interesting some days.
I actually worked up until the day before the birth. It was Friday so I only worked until noon that day. That evening around 7 p.m. I got some signs that I was going to be having a baby soon. I tried to get as much sleep as I could that night, and I did ok until about 5 a.m. and then I couldn't sleep through the contractions any more. I got up around 6 and went out to the livingroom and rocked back and forth on my big excercise ball. That thing was my best friend throughout pregnancy and labor. Then I realized that the contractions were coming regularly at around 3-4 minutes apart and were lasting awhile. I went to wake Mark up but he was getting up anyway. He timed them for awhile and then I sent him out to get a copy of the local paper. I wanted the newspaper from the day my baby was born and I was getting more certain that it was going to be that day. Then it all is kind of a blur. My midwife showed up around 9 a.m. and I was already a few centimeters dilated. I was fully dilated by mid-afternoon. (Oh yeah, I had a planned homebirth, I don't think mentioned that either) The pushing took awhile, but our son was born at 5:15 p.m. Saturday, November 14, 2009. We hadn't found out whether we were having a boy or girl ahead of time, although for most of the pregnancy I suspected the baby was a boy. Mark thought we were having a girl. The midwife also thought we were having a girl based on the heart-rate pattern. When handed me the baby she said something about "her" and I looked down and exclaimed that we didn't have a girl! I will refer to our son as "E" on this blog. We had thought about that name since pretty early on in the pregnancy, we had it as a potential name before we pinned down a girl's name. We were waiting to see if we felt it fit, and it did.
Now that someone is awake. I will return to this, maybe sooner than 11 months from now...
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Great Lakes Fiber Show
I've been gone awhile and I hate to admit this, but the truth is I've hardly been knitting at all. For the last three months really I will have the occasional mindless knit, which is how I have one WIP sock and why the the last three completed projects I've made have been garter stitch baby bibs, but I've actually gone for days at a time without knitting a stitch.
This is most likely because I'm pregnant and I hear this is very common in the first trimester especially. See, I knew what I was doing when I started knitting baby clothes two years ago despite knowing we weren't ready to start a family then ;-)
I've just given up and unjoined the 2009 stash down and Hat of the Month groups on Ravelry. It isn't happening.
I really would like this to change soon. To try and spur that, despite the lack of knitting my existing stash in the last couple months, I went to the Great Lakes Fiber Show today and bought six skeins of yarn.
I had a really good time at the show today. I randomly met some knitters from the West Cleveland group (wearing Ravelry shirts is a good way to meet people!) and since I was at the show by myself they adopted me and I hung out with them for awhile.
I have even managed to enter this new stash (with pictures!) into Ravelry already. As best as I can anyhow, some of this yarn didn't come with labels and the receipts don't have any store info on and I don't remember the names of the booths.
This is most likely because I'm pregnant and I hear this is very common in the first trimester especially. See, I knew what I was doing when I started knitting baby clothes two years ago despite knowing we weren't ready to start a family then ;-)
I've just given up and unjoined the 2009 stash down and Hat of the Month groups on Ravelry. It isn't happening.
I really would like this to change soon. To try and spur that, despite the lack of knitting my existing stash in the last couple months, I went to the Great Lakes Fiber Show today and bought six skeins of yarn.
I had a really good time at the show today. I randomly met some knitters from the West Cleveland group (wearing Ravelry shirts is a good way to meet people!) and since I was at the show by myself they adopted me and I hung out with them for awhile.I have even managed to enter this new stash (with pictures!) into Ravelry already. As best as I can anyhow, some of this yarn didn't come with labels and the receipts don't have any store info on and I don't remember the names of the booths.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Yes, it does snow in April.
Every spring the same thing happens. No, I'm not referring to my with sinus problems, although that happens too.
After 25+ springs in the Midwest (mostly Ohio, but a few in Illinois too) I continue to be baffled by the collective amnesia with regards to springtime snow.
EVERY YEAR it snows either in late March or the first half of April. Many years we have had white Easters. In fact, if it doesn't really snow at all in the second half of March you are practically guaranteed to have a heavy April snow. When I was in elementary school we even had a snowday once (with snow fit for making snowmen) in late April. There are pictures to prove this. Snow in April in Ohio is just not that unusual at all.
As you may guess, it is snowing right. You may also guess that about half the status messages on Facebook right now are expressing utter shock at this occurrence.
After 25+ springs in the Midwest (mostly Ohio, but a few in Illinois too) I continue to be baffled by the collective amnesia with regards to springtime snow.
EVERY YEAR it snows either in late March or the first half of April. Many years we have had white Easters. In fact, if it doesn't really snow at all in the second half of March you are practically guaranteed to have a heavy April snow. When I was in elementary school we even had a snowday once (with snow fit for making snowmen) in late April. There are pictures to prove this. Snow in April in Ohio is just not that unusual at all.
As you may guess, it is snowing right. You may also guess that about half the status messages on Facebook right now are expressing utter shock at this occurrence.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Frustration
I want to knit. I really do, yet I cannot come up with anything I actually want to work on. I have over twenty miles of yarn in my stash and NOTHING is satisfactory for me right now.
I actually kind of feel like crocheting an afghan, but currently I do not have enough of any appropriate yarn and while I do sort of feel like going out to and buying some Simply Soft, it is almost 9 p.m. here so I don't really have time.
This often happens when I try to start knitting project on Saturday nights, so I really have no one but myself to blame since I should expect this by now, but I tried all day to come up with something I wanted to work on to no avail.
I actually kind of feel like crocheting an afghan, but currently I do not have enough of any appropriate yarn and while I do sort of feel like going out to and buying some Simply Soft, it is almost 9 p.m. here so I don't really have time.
This often happens when I try to start knitting project on Saturday nights, so I really have no one but myself to blame since I should expect this by now, but I tried all day to come up with something I wanted to work on to no avail.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
I completely forgot that today is Flash Your Stash day. You might havethought that I also completely forgot that I had a blog. I didn't, I've just been busy and a little preoccupied.
Last month I spent a week in class and now have one of the licenses I need for my job. It sounds like I'll be going through that again next month for a securities license I need to get too.
My knitting has been kind of sad lately. I've managed a few projects here and there, mostly simple small things but mostly I don't have much desire to knit. When I thought about pulling out my stash to flash it I realized I have very little interest in that right now either.
This is kind of typical spring ambivalence from me. I think mostly I would rather be planting things in the ground this time of year. I'm trying to get our patio all set up too. Last week we bought a patio table and chair set and put it together. I'm really excited for it to be nice enough to enjoy a meal out there! I've only had small balconies so outdoor dining is going to be a new thing for us. Next step: buy a grill. By the time we do that maybe it will stay warm enough that I can feel all right about putting some flowers in the ground.
Last month I spent a week in class and now have one of the licenses I need for my job. It sounds like I'll be going through that again next month for a securities license I need to get too.
My knitting has been kind of sad lately. I've managed a few projects here and there, mostly simple small things but mostly I don't have much desire to knit. When I thought about pulling out my stash to flash it I realized I have very little interest in that right now either.
This is kind of typical spring ambivalence from me. I think mostly I would rather be planting things in the ground this time of year. I'm trying to get our patio all set up too. Last week we bought a patio table and chair set and put it together. I'm really excited for it to be nice enough to enjoy a meal out there! I've only had small balconies so outdoor dining is going to be a new thing for us. Next step: buy a grill. By the time we do that maybe it will stay warm enough that I can feel all right about putting some flowers in the ground.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Isn't a little early for startitis?
According to the Yarn Harlot, spring is supposed to be the time when startitis runs rampant. (I can't tell you what book that essay is in off the top of my head.) Either I am a little ahead of schedule or there really is no seasonal aspect to it.
I haven't had much knitting time this month but I keep wanting to start new projects. It isn't that I don't want to work on things I have going, I just am suffering some delusion that I can keep 25 things on my needle and get them all done.
Like I said, the knitting time has decreased lately, but I'm still a happy person. I'm really enjoying living in a small town again. I park a block or so from my office so every day I get to walk down the main commercial street in town. I love looking in the shop windows (I walk by a bridal shop that changes the prom dress display every couple days) and being friendly to people going in and out of the post office. I love that I can look out a window in my office and see things happening outside. It really does make me happy.
I haven't had much knitting time this month but I keep wanting to start new projects. It isn't that I don't want to work on things I have going, I just am suffering some delusion that I can keep 25 things on my needle and get them all done.
Like I said, the knitting time has decreased lately, but I'm still a happy person. I'm really enjoying living in a small town again. I park a block or so from my office so every day I get to walk down the main commercial street in town. I love looking in the shop windows (I walk by a bridal shop that changes the prom dress display every couple days) and being friendly to people going in and out of the post office. I love that I can look out a window in my office and see things happening outside. It really does make me happy.
Top 25 Albums
I totally sat down with the intention to blog, but for the last twenty minutes I got sucked into a Facebook meme, because sometimes they are kind of fun to do. I'm cross-posting it here, because that seems kind of fun too:
Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world. When you finish, tag 25 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good.
***This is not about being cool. Which albums have you actually listened to thousands of times?***
I tried to order these not so much as most listened too (although they have all had a lot of play) but as most influential or most strongly associated with a particular event in my life. Of course I added some honorable mentions too because I have to play with the rules a little bit. I should also say that these are really the albums, not just individual songs, that I am ranking. I like to listen to full albums and appreciate them as a body of work.
1. Oasis - Be Here Now
2. Marcy Playground - MP3
3. Fastball - Harsh Light of Day
4. Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory
5. Counting Crows - This Desert Life
6. Coldplay - Parachutes
7. Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
8. Third Eye Blind - Blue
9. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
10. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
11. 311 - Evolver
12. Our Lady Peace - Healthy in Paranoid Times
13. Barenaked Ladies - Stunt
14. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
15. Tarkio - Omnibus
16. Oasis - The Masterplan
17. Counting Crows - Hard Candy
18. The Strokes - Is This It?
19. Smashmouth - Astrolounge
20. Everclear - Sparkle and Fade
21. Barenaked Ladies - Maroon
22. Semisonic - Feeling Strangely Fine
23. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
24. Train - Drops of Jupiter
25. The White Stripes - Elephant
Honorable Mentions:
Wallflowers - Breach
Matchbox Twenty - Mad Season
Fastball - All the Pain Money Can Buy
Dixie Chicks - Fly
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Birthday Gifts!
Here it is the second week in February and I haven't made an entry this month. I have a good excuse. I was out of town for a conference for a few days and before that I was getting ready for the conference.
My stashbusting is not going so well this month. My dishcloth got stalled after a couple days because I just didn't feel like knitting on it, and the yarn is coming off a cone so there was no way I was taking that with me to the conference so I was going to get behind anyway.
Then this morning I received two skeins of Malabrigo and the new Yarn Harlot book. Take a good look at that picture, I can see grass, it is sunny, and although you can't tell from the picture the temperature was at least 10 degrees above freezing! I haven't had a birthday like this in years.
The brighter red is colorway is Garnet and it is specifically to replace my beloved Foliage hat that fell out of my pocket and was lost at the mall while Christmas shopping. I can only hope is that somehow that hat made it to someone who could really use it. I was sad, but consoled myself with the fact that I could replace it. Mark made sure that would happen for me, plus I got a bonus skein in a shade of red I wear a lot, so I will probably use it for another hat down the road.
While this hasn't been an incredibly productive week of knitting I did finish a pair of socks. This was another case of getting two pairs of socks out of one skein of sock yarn. The first pair I made for my mom so these are for me. I have also finished knitting the pieces of my Kai baby sweater, so now I need to sew it together and knit the collar and then that will be done too.
My stashbusting is not going so well this month. My dishcloth got stalled after a couple days because I just didn't feel like knitting on it, and the yarn is coming off a cone so there was no way I was taking that with me to the conference so I was going to get behind anyway.
Then this morning I received two skeins of Malabrigo and the new Yarn Harlot book. Take a good look at that picture, I can see grass, it is sunny, and although you can't tell from the picture the temperature was at least 10 degrees above freezing! I haven't had a birthday like this in years.
The brighter red is colorway is Garnet and it is specifically to replace my beloved Foliage hat that fell out of my pocket and was lost at the mall while Christmas shopping. I can only hope is that somehow that hat made it to someone who could really use it. I was sad, but consoled myself with the fact that I could replace it. Mark made sure that would happen for me, plus I got a bonus skein in a shade of red I wear a lot, so I will probably use it for another hat down the road.
While this hasn't been an incredibly productive week of knitting I did finish a pair of socks. This was another case of getting two pairs of socks out of one skein of sock yarn. The first pair I made for my mom so these are for me. I have also finished knitting the pieces of my Kai baby sweater, so now I need to sew it together and knit the collar and then that will be done too.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
January Wrap-Up
Being that today is the last day of the month, I though I should take the time to see how I am doing with my knitting resolutions so far.
I currently have 40,181 yards (that is 22.83 miles) of yarn in my stash. A month ago I was at 42,236 yards (just shy of 24 miles). I have used up over a mile of yarn and didn't add any to the stash this month. I'm very pleased with this.
I also knit my dishcloth of the month and my hat of the month, but I didn't knit a baby bib this month. I considered it, but I just had to much cotton in my hands to cast on for one. I am in the process of knitting a cotton baby sweater, so since that is still a baby item I don't feel as if I have failed.
Glancing back at my entries last month I guess I never officially made this a resolution, but I was hoping to finish at least one UFO a month. This month I finished Icarus, and I am well on my way to finishing up Mark's sweater, so I will make it my goal to complete that by the end of February.
For the 52 in 52 challenge I have chosen not to include the my pre-2009 UFOs I finish, but even so, I have completed 5 projects thus far. I'm on track for that!
Of course this has all been completed while I have been home every day (although honestly not a lot of knitting took places then, only my crunch birthday gift knitting did) and during a month that has been so snowy I haven't had much hope of doing anything on evenings and weekends. It is a good start to the year and I am pleased with it.
I currently have 40,181 yards (that is 22.83 miles) of yarn in my stash. A month ago I was at 42,236 yards (just shy of 24 miles). I have used up over a mile of yarn and didn't add any to the stash this month. I'm very pleased with this.
I also knit my dishcloth of the month and my hat of the month, but I didn't knit a baby bib this month. I considered it, but I just had to much cotton in my hands to cast on for one. I am in the process of knitting a cotton baby sweater, so since that is still a baby item I don't feel as if I have failed.
Glancing back at my entries last month I guess I never officially made this a resolution, but I was hoping to finish at least one UFO a month. This month I finished Icarus, and I am well on my way to finishing up Mark's sweater, so I will make it my goal to complete that by the end of February.
For the 52 in 52 challenge I have chosen not to include the my pre-2009 UFOs I finish, but even so, I have completed 5 projects thus far. I'm on track for that!
Of course this has all been completed while I have been home every day (although honestly not a lot of knitting took places then, only my crunch birthday gift knitting did) and during a month that has been so snowy I haven't had much hope of doing anything on evenings and weekends. It is a good start to the year and I am pleased with it.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Today Will Not Be Dull
Like much of the state (and country too I think) we are getting one crazy winter storm. Thankfully Mark made it to work safely this morning, although not everyone in his office did. I am still worried about him getting home. We have had a lot of freezing rain, but the temperature is around the freezing point so mostly it is slushy, but it is still pretty hazardous. Now we are getting really heavy snow and it is accumulating fast.
We've lost power three times in the last hour, I honestly will be surprised if I get this posted before it goes out again. That last time it was off for a good 20 minutes or so. While it is on again I refilled all our water pitchers, boiled some water so I have something hot to drink now, I am making sure my cell phone is all charged up (although the reception I get in here is terrible!), and I kicked the heat up so that if (or when) the power goes out again it least it should stay a reasonable temperature for awhile. While the power was out I reviewed the pantry to see what I have, we have crackers, granola bars, and plenty of canned fruit so we would be all right for a few days, although I would really hate to lose all the meat in the fridge if the power stayed out too long.
On top of that, the patio door is leaking in about four places. I can't quite figure that out. It is dry outside the door, it must be coming from upstairs somehow. I tried to stop up the leaks and reported it, but our maintenance men are pretty busy trying to remove the icy slush before it becomes frozen solid, so it may be awhile as this is really an emergency or anything, just a hassle. I can stop the water from causing too much trouble, the important thing is mostly reporting it so if there is any damage it can't come back on us for not letting them know about it.
Now that I have things in order here I think I can finally sit down with a cup of tea and knit. Stay warm, dry, and safe if you are caught in those storm too!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Chicken Paprikas
Here is how I make my chicken paprikas. I won't claim that this is entirely "authentic" for a number of reasons. First, I didn't learn to make this from my Hungarian grandmother or even Mark's Hungarian grandmother for that matter. The first few times I made it were the result of Googling for something that sounded like it would produce the chicken paprikas I had experienced. Then last spring Mark's grandma and Aunt Rose mailed me my own copy of the Hungarian cookbook their parish sells so I have the supposed recipe now. The thing is, with those types of cookbooks (you know, the ones put together by church ladies and students' mothers) a lot of times key ingredients are mysteriously omitted or something else just isn't quite right. In addition to that, each cook tends to have their own special touches and way of doing things, so with each generation things can change. For example, Mark's grandma doesn't keep the onions in with the sauce, Aunt Rose does. With that disclaimer, here it goes:
The first thing, and this is vital,is to start with the right paprika. Don't use the random "paprika" in from a spice collection. Hungarian paprika is sweet, and most grocery stores carry authentic Hungarian paprika like this:
The actual first step is to chop a large sweet onion and brown it in oil. Once the onion is soft, add a tablespoon or so of paprika:
At this point, add the chicken and brown it. There is some flexiblilty with this. Mark's family uses chicken breasts, and they are very good and easiest to eat I think. I have used a cut up whole chicken before, tonight I used legs and thighs because they are cheaper. Once I have the chicken in the pan I usually sprinkle more paprika on it. When the chicken is browned on both sides, add about 1 cup of broth. The recipe I have call for water, but I think chicken broth gives better flavor. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Now here is another place directions can vary. In the past I have cooked the chicken entirely on top the stove like the recipe says, but I have found it can come out tasting too boiled. So tonight, after simmering about 20 minutes I transferred the chicken to a baking dish and put it in the oven at 350 degrees until everything else was done (probably about 20-30 minutes more). I also spooned some of the onions on top of the chicken. So here is what was left in the pan after I took the chicken out:
I turned the heat up on this to reduce the liquid since I use this for the "gravy."
The next step is to make the dumplings. This was a near disaster for me until I obtained this handy-dandy device (known as a spaetzle dumpling maker) from the kitchen section at Bed, Bath & Beyond:
To make the dumpling dough combine 2 eggs, 1/4 cup milk, 1 teaspoon milk, and 1 cup flour. I mix that and then I position my spaetzle maker over a large pot of rapidly boiling water. I spoon the dough (which is about the consistency of pancake batter) into the square portion of the dumpling maker, and then I slide that back and forth and the batter runs out the holes and I end up with something that looks like this:
I cooked these for 15 minutes and then drained them. Now it is back to the paprikas and onions on the stove. Over low heat, I add a container of sour cream and stir to mix well and heat through. Then I add the dumplings (and tonight I doubled that recipe above because they are almost better as leftovers!) and stirred to coat them in the paprikas gravy. By that point the chicken is done (I always use a meat thermometer to check) and dinner was ready to serve:
The first thing, and this is vital,is to start with the right paprika. Don't use the random "paprika" in from a spice collection. Hungarian paprika is sweet, and most grocery stores carry authentic Hungarian paprika like this:
The actual first step is to chop a large sweet onion and brown it in oil. Once the onion is soft, add a tablespoon or so of paprika:
At this point, add the chicken and brown it. There is some flexiblilty with this. Mark's family uses chicken breasts, and they are very good and easiest to eat I think. I have used a cut up whole chicken before, tonight I used legs and thighs because they are cheaper. Once I have the chicken in the pan I usually sprinkle more paprika on it. When the chicken is browned on both sides, add about 1 cup of broth. The recipe I have call for water, but I think chicken broth gives better flavor. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.Now here is another place directions can vary. In the past I have cooked the chicken entirely on top the stove like the recipe says, but I have found it can come out tasting too boiled. So tonight, after simmering about 20 minutes I transferred the chicken to a baking dish and put it in the oven at 350 degrees until everything else was done (probably about 20-30 minutes more). I also spooned some of the onions on top of the chicken. So here is what was left in the pan after I took the chicken out:
I turned the heat up on this to reduce the liquid since I use this for the "gravy."The next step is to make the dumplings. This was a near disaster for me until I obtained this handy-dandy device (known as a spaetzle dumpling maker) from the kitchen section at Bed, Bath & Beyond:
To make the dumpling dough combine 2 eggs, 1/4 cup milk, 1 teaspoon milk, and 1 cup flour. I mix that and then I position my spaetzle maker over a large pot of rapidly boiling water. I spoon the dough (which is about the consistency of pancake batter) into the square portion of the dumpling maker, and then I slide that back and forth and the batter runs out the holes and I end up with something that looks like this:
I cooked these for 15 minutes and then drained them. Now it is back to the paprikas and onions on the stove. Over low heat, I add a container of sour cream and stir to mix well and heat through. Then I add the dumplings (and tonight I doubled that recipe above because they are almost better as leftovers!) and stirred to coat them in the paprikas gravy. By that point the chicken is done (I always use a meat thermometer to check) and dinner was ready to serve:
Interrupted
Amelia has this knack for crawling into my lap to take a nice long nap right about the time that I really want to or have to get up to do something. I feel so bad disturbing her once she has settled down and looks so peaceful, and sometimes I really have to get up so if I only want to get up sometimes I don't because I'm afraid she'll think I don't want her to ever come sleep in my lap. As you probably guessed, that is why I am writing this entry right now.
Unfortunately I don't have my knitting by me or any magazines for that matter. I am trying to plan out meals for the next several days since I want to go grocery shopping soon. Tonight it is going to be Chicken Paprikas which I have learned to make only since Mark and I have been married. I had heard of it, but never had it until last fall when his Aunt Rose made it for a family event, and then I was hooked. It is such a comfort food, but it has enough sour cream in it that I only make it once every month or two at most. It also wins the award for messiest meal to prepare, although last time I made it (in my new kitchen) was probably the least messy it has ever been. I'm not really sure why I always create such a mess, although I think the dumplings (or spaetzle if you prefer) share a lot of the blame.
Unfortunately I don't have my knitting by me or any magazines for that matter. I am trying to plan out meals for the next several days since I want to go grocery shopping soon. Tonight it is going to be Chicken Paprikas which I have learned to make only since Mark and I have been married. I had heard of it, but never had it until last fall when his Aunt Rose made it for a family event, and then I was hooked. It is such a comfort food, but it has enough sour cream in it that I only make it once every month or two at most. It also wins the award for messiest meal to prepare, although last time I made it (in my new kitchen) was probably the least messy it has ever been. I'm not really sure why I always create such a mess, although I think the dumplings (or spaetzle if you prefer) share a lot of the blame.
So that up there was this morning. Eventually Amelia did get off my lap, I did some housework, planned meals for the next week or so, and went grocery shopping. Then this evening I made the chicken paprikas for dinner, which will be an entry in and of itself
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