And We're Back

Kind of... All I really have to say is that I'm learning to use my camera better.


Here I am contemplating soda. Mmmmm liquid candy.


Tyler being Tyler.


The bratwurst I stuffed my face with.


My most recent spinning project. This is the first half, and I've started on the second, my goal is to ply over Thanksgiving.

Guh...

We will return to our normally scheduled blogging when I feel less like crap.

Potentially Starting a Sweater

Did this swatch to try out some yarn and test the lace pattern for this sweater. I'm on the fence because the yarn is less structured then the recommended yarn, but it's alpaca, and who doesn't love an alpaca? The gauge is a little off too.


And I finished these last weekend for Tyler. Manhand fingerless gloves made out of baby alpaca. Modified this pattern from Knitty.

Grrrr...

I forgot to post yesterday because I was hoping that inspiration would hit and I would be saved from boring pointless lack of content.



Here's a picture of a coffee cup Tyler got me in Chicago, I like it because it's huge.

Last night we missed our bus in the U-District, so we went out to dinner. When I was in high school I spent a lot of time in this neighborhood because it was kind of in the middle of all the high schools and my boyfriend went to school across town. We started going to Aladdin Falafel regularly, and one of my friends got to know the owner/staff pretty well. I hadn't been there since, so we went last night. How things change, but don't. They painted the whole place yellow, and got a menu board that wasn't covered with sharpie, and new people work there. The seating is the same, and the drawing of an Arabian horse hasn't moved. The food was exactly the same, which was perfect and cheap. I know a lot of people don't like the way gyro meat just sits there and spins, but it doesn't bother me. They also have falafel and other middle eastern foods. I know I'm going to go there again, and maybe I'll remember to take pictures.

Homemade Chicken Soup

Last night Tyler and I roasted a chicken semi successfully. It was really smokey and ended up tasting kind of bland, but it did have the highly coveted crispy chicken skin. With the bones and left over meat I made chicken soup with rice from this recipe on Epicurious



Here's what I did, which I think is easier so you don't have a chicken carcass sitting around overnight:

Roast your chicken and eat what you want off of it. When it's cooler pick the rest of the meat off, wrap it, and put it in the fridge. Take the bones and skin (if you didn't eat all the delicious delicious skin...) and cover with low sodium chicken broth, simmer for an hour then pull out the carcass and throw it away. You can skim the fat now, or if you refrigerate overnight the fat will solidify and can be pulled out with a slotted spoon. The next day you do the soup as normal. I added 3/4 a cup of rice because someone was whining at me, and it ended up being a little too much, but it depends on how brothy you like your soup. The soup also ended up being plenty salty, so make sure to taste before adding more seasoning!

Puppy Cam!

Tyler found this streaming web cam of what we think are Shiba Inu puppies. Sooooo cute!

Puppy Web Cam!

Is this better then another knitting post, because I just finished a tiny sock if you want to hear about it.

First Ball of Yarn

You still wouldn't know that I have a super awesome camera judging from this picture, but look, it's my first ball of hand spun yarn.



The actual process wasn't too hard, and plying was really easy. I used a top whorl drop spindle and merino roving. I think I could have pre-drafted the wool more, and I would have gotten a more even yarn.

Now I'm spinning some wool that has shorter fibers and drafts out much easier. I also flipped my spindle over so the whorl is on the bottom, it seems to spin more stable. Yeah, I'm probably boring the hell out of you people with all these yarn posts. Too bad this is the most exciting thing I have going on.

Finally I'm almost done with a pair of fingerless gloves for Tyler, they are made out of baby alpaca and feel like love.

Bleh

I've been so caught up with knitting that I forgot to post! Gah. Now I'm too out of it to make a real post either. I think i need to rethink my approach to this whole blog posting month...

More Fiber...

This might be getting a little out of hand...



I have a problem... nah! Knit on!

If I wasn't dead tired I'd blog with more substance. The new camera works pretty well when you take pictures in a not yellow room, and I'm learning how to use the manuel settings.

I took some pictures of work, so I might post about that over my FOUR DAY WEEKEND. Joy!

Turmeric

I got a new camera, and I have no idea how to use it. Once I finally figure out that it's awesome I'll make a post with some awesome pictures. But for now here's a picture of some yarn I dyed with turmeric.



I started with an ounce of Cascade Eco Wool (I think in the 8010 white-ish) and pulled it into a loose hank. The yarn went in some warm water and vinegar to soak. Then I took a tablespoon of turmeric and ran boiling water over it coffee style (paper towel in a strainer), the water was instantly yellow and I probably could have used less then a tablespoon to get similar results. After squeezing the yarn out, I threw it in the really hot turmeric water and let it sit twenty four hours. When that was done, I squeezed out the yarn, and washed it in cold water with a little more vinegar, then hung it to dry. I'm really impressed with the color that the turmeric produced, it's way more saturated then I thought it would be, and so far hasn't rubbed off on anything. Most natural dyes fade with exposure to life and washing. I'll be curious to see how the color holds up, and what felting will do to it.

Now to go figure out my camera!

Yes We Can?

Holy crap! We totally did!

*happy dance*

XD

Election Day and Back to Work

I can't be enthusiastic about this election because I keep thinking back to 2000 and 2004. In 2004 I was at school, and pretty much everyone went to watch the polls close on the huge TV in the community center. When bush won, everyone started crying. It was one of the most depressing sights ever. Thus, I refuse to get my hopes up about Obama winning. Republicans have proven that they will only stop short of murder to eliminate the opposition (ok, fine, that might be a little dramatic). My only prediction about this election is, if Obama and McCain enter into another crazy recount stolen election BS thing, there will be unrest and possibly violence.

In other news, I'm back at work, and still blogging! I have to admit, that not working (but still being supported) is very tempting. I wouldn't mind cleaning the house and cooking dinner every night if I didn't have to work 40 hours a week. There are too many trips to Japan scheduled for me to go off the clock. Now it's back to "dealing" with stuff. :)

Sick Day

I woke up this morning and thought I was going to puke, but after sitting on the edge of the tub for a while nothing happened. I called in sick to work and crawled back into bed, and slept on and off and ate some super bland food. At about one I was feeling good enough to get out of bed, and it was all up hill from their.

Around three, I went to the store got white yarn, and some Kool-Aid. Yes folks, I did it, I dyed yarn with unsweetened drink mix! I rolled off a couple oz and did one red and one purple. The wool dyed a little uneven but I think that's because i didn't soak it long enough. anyway, when it's dry I'm hoping to make more felt bowls (OMG Colors!).

I also have another oz soaking in the turmeric, which I'm hoping will produce a bright sunny yellow/orange. Turmeric is less colorfast, and my fingers are crossed that it wont turn everything it touches bright yellow. That has to soak overnight so maybe tomorrows post will be about the dangers of natural dyes.

Day two, bitch!

Still haven't given up, though I haven't come up with better content...

Today I bought a spindle and some roving, and now I'm teaching myself to spin. It's not that hard.



I'm also felting some stuff i've been knitting.



I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the above little bowl thing, maybe add a drawstring pouch top?

PS. Salt carmel ice cream kicks ass, but you can never finish it.

First day!

It's the first day of National Blog Posting Month, and I almost forgot to post. -.-

I wish I had more substance to kick things off with, but today has been a super lazy day, and my life is boring. Tyler and I had some people over Halloween, and we only got one group of kids! I thought we didn't have enough candy, and now we have too much.

I have a digital camera coming in the mail so you can expect some fancy pictures in the near future. I plan on doing a little profile on what I do at work and maybe a felting tutorial. I've been obsessed with felting recently and I don't use the washing machine so I thought it would be a good subject. I was going to go to the yarn store and get some stuff for spinning, but they all close at five. I need to get out of bed earlier.

Ok, yeah boring post, and not how I wanted to kick off NaBloPoMo.