Is it Time to Knit Yet?

Still around

It seems like it's been so long since I've regularly blogged that I don't even know how to start a post now.  I have been knitting, trying to finish two pairs of socks.  One is the Philosopher's House Socks from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book, in my handspun teal BFL.  I like them enough, though the pattern isn't really exciting and it doesn't show up all that great in the yarn.  I'm also doing a totally boring stockinette pair on which I just finished the heel.  I've also started one of the latest uber-popular patterns in the Ravelry queues, the Lace Ribbon Scarf from Veronik Avery.  I can't decide if I love or hate the  pattern with the yarn I chose (Pagewood Farm Bamboo sock yarn), but I will keep going until I decide. 

I've been reading almost every day while I bike in the mornings, and I'm about halfway through The Hot Zone.  This book is really hard to read.  Between learning what a virus does to a person, (especially about one like Ebola) and then about what happens to the monkeys that are used in labs, sometimes my stomach just turns thinking about it.  But it is very interesting and captivating despite what I just said about it.  I'm surprised I'm not having nightmares about it!

That's all I've got, have a great day!  Hopefully next time I write I'll have some finished socks to show off :)

Missing in Action?

That's me I guess!  I've been knitting here and there, not nearly enough, but I'm still exercising a ton and I'm happy about that.  I've been reading in the mornings while I do my recumbent biking, and I finished a book and started a new one.  Along with the exercise, I've lost a little weight, not a lot but at this point I will take anything I can get!  The details are on my other blog if you are really interested.  I cut The Baby's hair, a little shorter then I had planned to but it turned out super cute anyway.  We have next week off from school and I'm looking forward to spending a little extra time with The Baby.

I also became an aunt again!  My brother and his wife had their baby yesterday afternoon and I'm so excited for them!  I don't know her as well as I want to, but I'm sure they will both be great parents and have a blast doing it too. 

I guess I'll leave it at that for now, and show you some knitting stuff next week.  I hope there are still some of you reading this and everyone hasn't abandoned me!  Have a great weekend :)

Charade Socks

The newest addition to my sock drawer.  The pattern is here.  I didn't care too much for it when I first saw it, but I decided it would be great for showing off the colors in my handspun more so than just another plain sock.  I've become quite the plain sock knitter lately haven't I?  Anyway.  These are short socks, mostly because I wanted to try and squeeze one more pair out of this yarn after these, and I think I will be able to.  They are on size 3 needles, making for a quick knit - I finished the second sock last night from the heel on down!  The pattern turned out to be pretty fun, easily memorized and I really like the herringbone rib stitch.

Now that these are done, I'd really like to start casting on for a bunch of other things.  But I think it's better if I just finish up what I have on the needles already.  I want to knit some lace.  Badly.  But I can't decide what project to pick. I also want to get some major stashbusting done, that's why I started the Absorba the Great Bathmat, but it turns out I don't miss the log cabin style knitting that much.  Anyway, I'm just rambling I guess at this point, so I'll apologize for not having an exciting blog right now for lack of my normal amount of knitting.  I'm still exercising a lot and feeling very tired - I just have to get used to it and I'm sure I'll feel better soon.  I wanted to go to SnB last night but I was just completely beat!  Maybe next week :)

Yarn I made and socks in progress

After I finished spinning the Fire on the Mountain yarn, I decided to spin up some stuff I had dyed last month.  This is some Blue Face Leicester, and yes it is blue too!  I did it using more of the long draw method, did 3 separate bobbins and then plied them together.  I think it turned out pretty nicely and now I just have to decide what to do with it.  I guess it is closest to a sport weight with about 230 yards or so. 

I finally picked up the needles again this weekend, not for long, but I did finish my first Charade sock.  Recognize the yarn?  This is the other end of the FOTM yarn.  It started out like I think it 'should' but then quickly goes to the mismatched plies.  I still like it :)  I'm glad I picked this pattern too, it isn't too plain and the little detail from the herringbone rib is what helps to break up the plainness, though you can't really see it in the picture.  That's all I've got for now, hopefully my knitting content will become more exciting now that I can actually knit again.  Have a great day!

The car that Mommy built

Let me just say that I rock at Tinkertoys.  The Baby and I slaved over this for about an hour last tonight until we finally got this car done up, just so she could try and maneuver it around and eventually break it all apart :)  It was a lot of fun though, and very addicting.  Once I started, I just couldn't stop.  I admit this came from the side of the container, but it was still quite a feat trying to figure it all out from one small picture.  So that's that, and I get to do it all again tomorrow, I'm sure.  The Baby has a playdate with a school friend, and then we are headed for a lunch date with my sister and her kids, after which we will be bringing my niece home with us for a sleepover.  Whew!   Should be fun though, it always is and they have a great time.

Still not knitting.  I think my hand is better, but I'm giving it a rest for one more day.  I took a quick shot of the Fire on the Mountain socks though (the first pair anyway) so here they are.  They were very quick to knit, only taking like two days, being that they were knit up on size 3 needles - big for me when talking about socks!  I don't know if you can tell how the increases go on the one side of the sock, at any rate it is pretty cool how they are worked and I like how it looks.   This yarn is also from the end of the bobbins.  I rewound the yarn when I was done with these and started from the other end - the end I started plying the yarn on - and it looks a lot different from this.  I like both effects though, and even though it was a lot of trouble, I would probably use this method again.

I got pretty excited about this.  Someone is using my handspun!  I gave Nichole some of my handdyed handspun yarn for my Pay it Forward project, and she is knitting up a super cool project with it.  I never imagined it could look like that!  I never did mention it here and I should now, I also gave some handspun in completely different colors to Eva, who did a great little scarf out of hers.  Is it lame of me to feel special because of this?  Oh well!  I know how great it makes me feel when I knit something out of my own spun yarn, it is even cooler that someone else enjoys it.  I can't wait to see what Eva spins out of some surprise roving I sent her for a belated B-day gift :)

Have a great weekend, I hope to be knitting soon again and back to showing off the FOs!   I  have to say though, not knitting has sure left A LOT of time for exercise, and I have been taking full advantage.  It has been a great week on the fitness front and I'm looking forward to another one, that is if I survive the sleepover ;)

Taking a break

First off thank you all for the wonderful comments on my last post!  I am still not receiving comments through my email and so I do apologize for not getting back to all of you.  Hopefully it will get fixed soon, but until then I will make more of an effort to get back to you through email or your blogs. 

So I'm feeling some pain/soreness in my left hand down around my thumb, and I think the culprit is the marathon-like spinning and knitting I've been doing lately.  So I'm trying to take a break, hopefully it will feel better soon.  I did knit up a pair of socks from the Fire on the Mountain yarn, but I don't have a picture yet.  So instead I will distract you with some good eats!  We ate out at my favorite place on Friday night where they had an appetizer we hadn't tried before.  I decided that I could recreate it at home and it did turn out pretty good if I do say so myself.  In fact it had to be good, because even The Baby ate it!!  It is kind of like guacamole with added benefits, anyway here it is. 

Avocado Jalapeno Hummus

1-2 smallish avocados
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and minced (or more if you like them a lot!)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can of garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime (or more, depending on taste)
2 scallions, sliced semi-thin

Put all of the above in your trusty food processor and mix it well until it gets kind of pasty and uniform.  Add 2 tablespoons -1/4 cup of olive oil while the processor is running, until it looks like a consistency you will like.  I also added a bit of coriander, cumin, oregano and of course salt and pepper - I'd say about 1/2 teaspoon of each, but it could have used more for my tastes. 

We had ours with some flatbread and sun-dried tomatoes, the coleslaw is just there so we could say we had a vegetable ;)  I have to say that regular hummus is completely boring to me, so this is a great way to beef up the avocado with some fiber and protein from the beans.  This one isn't spicy even with the peppers, it just gives it a really nice flavor.  I bet it'd be great with the jalapenos roasted first! 

Have a great day and enjoy the hummus if you try it!