Friday, February 29, 2008

Thursday, February 28, 2008

March 20th, Tribute to Fred Rogers

On March 20th, Fred Rogers (who died of cancer 5 years ago) would have turned 80. One of the activities to honor his memory is to wear a sweater on that day.

As a knitter I support the wearing of sweaters any day, but I would like to encourage people to make sweaters. You might not get a whole sweater done in 20 days, but you could get it started. It could be a sweater for you, a friend or a stranger. Fred always stressed the importance of being kind and sharing and that is an excellent way to honor his memory.


Monday, February 25, 2008

Oscars


All hail the QUEEN OF NARNIA, bitches.
Tilda Swinton ALLOWS lesser actresses to live, just remember that.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Somewhere a flower is blooming

Photobucket
....and someone is complaining about the heat.

I am very tired of the below 0 weather that we have had lately. The bright sun helps, but not much when the temps are -15. Soon Spring will be here.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

First stocking is complete


e stocking 1 cuff fold
Originally uploaded by Valkyr8
Second Sock Syndrome is going to be a bitch. It only took me 20 days of knitting, not too bad.

Monday, February 18, 2008

I'm a Combination Knitter

Yeah, who knew? I didn't even know there was such a thing until I attended Annie Modesitt's demo at the Knit Out on Saturday. I saw her setting up and remembered she was doing a demo on Combination Knitting. I had no idea what that meant, but what the hell, I'll grab a chair.

I pulled out my silk stocking (which got some nice oohs and ahhs) and listened and watched and got a cool Flip Book on the subject (these things are just genius!). I was working along on my stocking and listening to the demo and realized that there was something familiar to what she was doing. I put down my knitting and fliped through the book. Hmmmmm. I picked up my knitting and worked a purl stitch, picked up the book, picked up my knitting....well what do you know! There was a rep from Signature Needle Arts in front of me. Nice needles, but I haven't used straight needles that were not dp's for so long I don't know what I would do with them.

Other than that bit of coolness the Knit Out left me flat. There really isn't anything there for people who are experienced knitters, and the swarms of people got to me after a while and I had to leave. I wish I could have gone to the Knitting room at the Country Inn Suites Sat. night, but it was not in the cards. Liz and I did stop at 3 kittens for some retail therapy. I needed to be around yarn that was not Patons, Berocco, Lion Brand or Red Heart.

I did get to see the Spring samples for Interweave knits, I'm already planning to make the printed silk cardigan. I LOVE it! I'm thinking the cotton linen from Knit Picks.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Almost 100%

Yay for healthy kitties. He is so handsome!

Silk Stocking progress

I'm approx 5" from the start of the heel shaping and I'm feeling pretty confident about being able to finish a stocking in a month, which is my goal.

This isn't the best picture, but it does show the pattern pretty well. It is decadent soft! WOW!

Love the silk!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Wine Tasting

The newish store, WineStyles, is hosting a wine tasting tonight from 5:30-8:30. According to their website they host weekly wine tasting. I haven't been to this place yet, but I'm in Tamarack every week for knitting so why not? The prices are very reasonable, but I doubt it will compete with my favorite shop, Solo Vino.

This weekend is the Knit Out at the MOA. I'll be bringing my silk stockings in progress. I have approx 5" left to knit before starting the heel. So far it is looking good. P will be attending Con of the North and teaching 3 classes on Medieval board/ card and dice games. He will have fun, he does every year. I will be spending the weekend keeping an eye on my friend's children/ house/ cats/ birds/ kitchen (I plan to cook). Good times!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Annonymous VS Scientology

Here I could have joined the other 100 people who protested in Mpls on Feb 10th, and instead I went to the vet. Dang.
(Lenny got his drain out but is still wearing the cone FYI)

Add to the fact that I had no idea such a protest was being promoted on the internet. I need to mark my calendar for next year Feb 10th (and buy a second Guy Fawkes mask).

The folks in London really set the pace! Awesome!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Lefse and Flat Brod

I brought my lefse griddle over to my friend's house on Sunday and held a private class on baking lefse and, later in the day, flat brod. I had made up 2 batches of lefse a week ago Sunday for my class on 2-4. Unfortunatly no one signed up for my Community Ed class so I was stuck baking up the batches on my own. I baked up one batch last Monday and decided to take the second batch to my friend's place and teach her, her daughter and another friend. It was fun!



I also had a chance to try my cousin's recipe for Flat Brod, which her family makes for special occassions. I think it was more time consuming to bake up than the lefse. Each piece is browned on the griddle and then it goes into the oven, set at 225, to continue to dry. Each piece takes a few minutes on the griddle and then 15 minutes to finish in the oven. I spread out the pieces on the oven rack and was able to rotate them out as I continued to bake. It worked out pretty well. The recipe made 17 pieces, roughly 12" diameter.



We ate the flat brod with a lovely dinner of venison sausage, a variety of cheeses, pickled herring, garlic, olives, and fresh fruit. It was heavenly!

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Caucus!

Went to the DFL caucus last night and I really enjoyed it. I have never been to a caucus before and it was very interesting. I deffinately will try to make future caucuses because of the experience.

I brought the silk stockings I am working on (I've started a second cuff and I think it looks better than the first). There were a bunch of ladies all around me who were interested in what I was doing. P and I arrived at 7:30 and left a little after 9. We parked a couple blocks away from the school and walked. There were a LOT of people and accessing the parking lot for the school was insane.

When we got home we got a surprise from our cat Lenny. He had gotten in a fight on Friday and had received a significant puncture wound from another cat. We discovered this Friday night, opened the wound, drained the puss, cleaned the area thoroughly and generally kept an eye on it. He perked right up when we drained it and it appeared to be healing just fine.

Not so.

When we returned from the caucus last night the right side of his face was noticeably swollen, so off we went to the emergency vet clinic. They were great and I highly recommend them! They determined he had an abscess. Lenny was able to be seen right away, they examined him, sedated him and flushed out the wound and put in a temporary drain. He has 14 days of oral antibiotics to take and he needs to have the drain remain in for 3-5 days, and his cool plastic collar.

He is not happy at all, but he will be fine.

P is working from home today keeping Lenny company, giving him his antibiotic and trying to coax him with kibble and cuddles. I went home over lunch and helped clean the incision with diluted hydrogen peroxide.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Blogiversary!

....was 3 days ago. I never seem to remember, but I did post that day (Feb 1).

2 years of the blog! WOW!

Friday, February 01, 2008

It has begun


toledo stockings start
Originally uploaded by Valkyr8
I cast on at Knit Night last night and I have this much done. It is slow going, but not too bad. The jury is still out on the eyelets in the cuff section. I'm not sure if it doesn't look right because of me or the instructions.

I LOVE working with the silk!