Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Wet Dog...

This is why I am putting off...well, okay, procrastinating on felting all these bags. It smells disgusting in here whenever I do it. Wet dog, wet sheep, wet funk, whatever.
I whipped another one up in under 2 hours...this is the clutch from One Skein. I LURVE me the pattern and I will be making more...if only....I didn't have to felt it. Blah!



Posted by Wannabe @ 3:42 PM :: (1) comments

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Almost an FO

I finally finished knitting up the Sophie Bag. I got the rest of the yarn on Ebay cause none of my local LYS' carry that color (of course!)...I'll post felted pics as soon as they are done.





Posted by Wannabe @ 3:52 PM :: (3) comments

Monday, May 29, 2006

Happy Anniversary Abby...

6 years ago this weekend Abby and I became a couple. I know it sounds sort of weird to call my cat and I a couple, but that's what we are. She is my baby. She sleeps by my side every night, wakes me every morning, lays on the bathmat while I shower and sits on the sink while I get ready. When I was sick earlier this month she never left my side. She is my constant companion. I love her. Happy 6th Anniversary Abby....may we have another 6 years together.



Posted by Wannabe @ 7:00 PM :: (0) comments

Sunday, May 28, 2006

The Anatomy of a Pie

So my biggest feat when learning how to cook/bake was making the perfect pie crust. Of course this came after years of calling my mom asking when I would know when the water was boiling...was it the little bubbles or the big ones? Seriously, when I got married I didn't know how to make anything except mac and cheese...yes, the boxed kind. I never had a desire to pay attention to my mom when she was cooking...and she's a phenomenal cook. Clean...sure...anytime, anyday...but cook...please, it was not for me. Well that was until I got married and between The Mr. and I we knew how to make mac n cheese and hamburger helper and that was NOT going to fly. So my mom patiently stayed on the phone with me for hours on end almost every night and walked me thru making dinner. After I had the basics down, I just kind of took off. Now I REALLY love to cook and bake and wish I had more time to put on those nice family dinners I did before the Buggernut came into the picture.

So, a few years ago I asked my mom if she would teach me the one thing I didn't know how to do that made me shake in my boots: homemade pie crust. So I went over to her house armed with a bag of flour, some unsalted butter (margarine is NOT ALLOWED), and a big bag of apples and we got to work. I did it. I made my first apple pie.

Now, years later I LOVE making pies....and when I make them, I make A LOT of pies. Last week I went to Schnepf Farms with my MIL and picked fresh peaches and came home and made pies...for us, for my neighbors and for my MIL and the Mr.'s grandma. So of course, I snapped a few pics of the anatomy of a "wannabe" peach pie.

Start with a huge bowl of freshly washed peaches (preferably non-sprayed!)



Make a nice crumbly crust...the key to this is not doing it on a humid day, making sure the dishwasher underneath the counter you are working on is not on (don't ask!), and not overmixing. Oh and make sure you have ICE COLD water for your crust. ICE COLD.



The bottom crust filled with yummy peaches mixed with organic sugar, lemon juice and lots of cinnamon...dotted with butter (from untreated cows of course...believe me...non-tainted dairy tastes a million times better).



And viola...with a top crust on...ready to bake. Now you would think I would have taken a picture of the baked pies...but no, I forgot...and they are long gone...so picture a nice golden crust and me eating a huge piece with some french vanilla ice cream on the side. What, what...now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Posted by Wannabe @ 9:00 AM :: (4) comments

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Swatch? What the heck is a swatch?

I have this problem. I consistently run out of yarn when I am knitting a project. This poses a big problem when you only have one skein of a certain color yarn in your stash...say Cascade 220 in Cotton Candy. Even worse is when I pick a pattern that calls for only 1 skein of such yarn and then 8 rows from finishing said pattern I have about one yard left...oh and did I mention I also need to knit up some handles? Yeah. Here she is in all her glory....I present you an almost finished pre-felted Sophie.



And just because it's the middle of summer in Phoenix and I like to defy this "stick your head in a dry heat oven" feeling and pretend that I am knitting in the middle of a snowstorm in Vermont....well, and because it's cute and was made by Amy...



Interestingly enough, last night I was reading the Harlot's new book...and wouldn't you know it was all about SWATCHING. I am an instant gratification knitter you see. Come on, I have a 2 year old...there isn't much time to knit up the square, felt it, wait for it to dry, measure and then realize I need to do it again because my gauge is off. IT'S A FREAKING BAG ALREADY. But, now I need to figure out where the heck I'm going to find a skein of this yarn because none of the stores in the area carry this color. I have to order online and it needs to be here this week cause Sophie is a gift for my soon-to-be 11 year old neice. Plus, I also want to have enough time to make her one of the cupcakes from One Skein to stick in her Sophie along with all the bath goodies I got her that match Sophie. Oy. My best intentions are somehow always tres complicated.

Posted by Wannabe @ 8:14 AM :: (1) comments

Monday, May 15, 2006

Happy Birthday to my Baby!

The Buggernut is 2 today! I can't believe it! 2...already. Where does the time go? Everyone tells you this when you have kids, but I don't know that you believe it until the time has past. Happy Birthday my sweet 'Nut. You have brought endless amounts of joy, inspiration, love and sweetness into my life. May you have another healthy, beautiful year!

Here is my baby the first time we met...I love this picture because of all the hands surrounding her...mine, my mom's, the nurse and The Mr's:


And here she is today:


She made my life a little sweeter yesterday too...it was a nice Mom's Day. The Mr. went to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am to get me fresh donuts right out of the oven and had coffee ready to brew when I got up. We hung out during the morning...I took Syd for a long walk and then they gave me some really sweet cards and a year subscription to People Mag...oh yes, me lurves the celeb gossip...actually the Mr. knows the reason I really like People is for the crossword puzzle...LOL! We watched Memoirs of a Geisha (which was AMAZING) while Syd napped and then the Mr. made me Chicken Cacciatore over pasta with steamed broccoli for dinner. We ended our day by watching the first part of the season finale of Grey's and eating Fat Boy's....OH EMBEE...do you remember the Ode to the Fat Boy pledge? :)

Posted by Wannabe @ 11:22 AM :: (3) comments

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Been a while...

Well I have no knitting news to report at all...because, well, I haven't picked up the sticks in over a week and a half. The whole house got the stomach bug so I spent a week taking care of the Bug and myself and now I've been trying to catch up. We are all feeling much better now....it's amazing how you take being healthy for granted until you get really sick...then you think...will I ever feel healthy again?

I'm on my way out to a Mother/Daughter Banquet at my MIL's church. I can't say I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm going to go and make the best of it for her sake. Otherwise, I need to get caught up around the house with some more cleaning, go grocery shopping and hopefully get my bill organizing all redone with my new system this weekend. The Mr. took off tomorrow and Monday so that will be nice....he will actually be home for 2 days/night in a ROW. This is big.

Monday my baby turns 2. I can't believe it...but I can't cry right now...I can't risk the mascara running.

Posted by Wannabe @ 8:30 AM :: (2) comments

Thursday, May 4, 2006

A Whole Lotta No Knittin' Goin' On

So this is what I have been doing instead of knitting the past 2 days:



That's right...that's a full laundry basket. Every since towel, washcloth, sheet and blanket in my house has been covered in all sorts of nastiness thanks to The Buggernut who contracted her first stomach flu ever and let me hope that it's the last. The poor thing was sick for 24 hours straight. She's doing much better today...we've spent most of the day doing more laundry, spraying everything with Lysol (yes, I said Lysol...I do what's needed in dire emergencies), and cuddling while watching hours of PBS and Animal Planet. I have to say, the nice thing about her being sick...wait, what did I just say?...is that she cuddles. My child is not a cuddler. She never has been. She's an independent spirit who only lets me hold her at bedtime or right after she wakes up. In an attempt to snuggle with her daily, I am sure to get the toddler brush-off...I BUSY MAMA!
Who knew that only a few short hours after this was taken that she would be a miserable babe.



Please wish for a fast recovery and that the Mr. and I don't get it. Oy.

In good mail news...these arrived yesterday in the midst of the sicknessssssssss...

That's right...both Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (can you believe I never owned a copy of either!?) and a book Kylee would LOVE...Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham aka Sophie Kinsella (author of the Shopaholic Series). Now let's see if I can balance out the knitting with the reading.

Posted by Wannabe @ 1:39 PM :: (2) comments

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Practice Makes Perfect...Right?

Well after countless hours of ripping, frogging, throwing, spitting, swearing and displaying all behaviors associated with rage, self-pity and unhappiness...I present you with my first sock...fondly known as the Sock From Hades.

It started out nice and slow...getting a good feeling from the DPN's...I decided to knit on 4 instead of 5. The cuff went well, the leg even better and I even knit the heel and turned it beautifully. Picking up stitches proved to be a challenge and so did decreasing properly....and the toe decreases...well they were a breeze. I THOUGHT I had the Kitchener stitch down until....


And then my cat ate the cuff. Yes, that's right...ate it. He took a big chunk out of the top...and yes, he's still alive...I have a picture to prove it even.




After several hours at my LYS with the saintly owner, Denise, I came home with a cuff that was still not bound off. Here is what she looks like now: click to make larger






My friend, Jenny is coming over tomorrow to help me out...we are going to see if we can bind off with enough stretch so I can fit this bad boy over my very tree trunk like calf muscle and hopefully fix the Kitch-Stitch too. Wish me luck.

Note to self: There is a flash on your camera for a reason.

Posted by Wannabe @ 2:41 PM :: (3) comments

musac love

XM Station 818 - Flight 26

podcast love

reading

The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

viewing

Fringe, Mad Men, Man vs. Wild

eating

Vegan Yummy

drinking

Coffee with soy milk

exercising

Every moment of my day is exercise..hello, I chase after a 4 year old!

knitting

Clapotis, Donyales Socks, Highly Regarded Mitts, Berry Hill Mitts, Philadelphia Eagles Broadripples

doin' this

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