Nuthin' but Knittin'

Hmm...what are these?

Why, they are side to side mittens! This is a very fun pattern to knit and goes quickly since it is a pattern for the 6 and under set.

I am going to knit a bunch for this project. Living in Arizona, I don't get much opportunity to knit mittens. You all know that a fair amount of my knitting goes to charity projects. I can only have so much knitting around my house.

Plus, my kids lose interest (see the post on Tuesday, January 10, 2006: You'll have to scroll down for it.) in what I make them by the time it is finished, even if I finish it in a weekend when they are begging for it on Thursday at the mall!

I am using Karaoke in Rainbow (picked up at one of their "outlet" sales) from SWTC. Ironically, it is a very soft yarn but if you ever felt it, put the item in a mesh bag inside a very securely fastened pillow case because this stuff will wreck your washer from all the soy silk fuzz.

I also wound up my lace weight dark green yarn for the Wings of the Moth shawl that I will probably start this weekend. Thank you Heather for the yarn. There was the usual gnashing of teeth to fight for the right to wind but I put my foot down because it is lace weight and I did not want a whole bunch of knots in it due to child labor.

Isn't that gorgeous?

How to Roast Pepper's & Some Knitting

Ever have a recipe that calls for a roasted pepper but you only have a fresh one? Yeah, well, that happened to me yesterday so I roasted my own.

How do you do it? Well, if you have a gas stove, you can do it over a burner or on the outdoor bbq grill. Me, I just did it under the broiler in my oven. You broil the pepper, turning periodically, until the whole pepper skin is pretty well "blackened".

Put it in a plastic bag to sweat for 10-15 minutes.
Rinse the pepper under running water and the skin sloughs right off.

It is getting to be Hatch Chili season here in the Southwest. One of the years we are going to go to the Hatch Chili Festival in New Mexico. We usually buy 15 lbs of roasted chili's at a local Hispanic market. In September, there is a guy with a huge blow torch contraption that roasts chili & jalapeno peppers out in the parking lot every weekend. The Hatch Chili's are so good still warm out of the bag! We then clean them up and put them into the freezer for use all winter.
I put the leg ribbing on the soaker last night.
And finished this small triangular prayer shawl.

Whole Lotta Knitting

I didn't sew at all this weekend, unless you count weaving in ends, but I got quite a bit of knitting done.

This is my first scarf for the "Red Scarf Project". They don't take the donations until January (due to lack of storage) but I figured, why not start early?

I LOVE this pattern. I am toying with rewriting it for a shawl. Interesting but not killing me to knit it. I do love this pattern in varigated yarn but I had this SWTC Karaoke in hand so, that is what got chosen.

I also finished the Lacy ZigZag Cashmere scarf. I had to block it twice because the first time I pulled it a bit too long and so it did not show the zig zap but the second time was the charm.
Someone we know is having a baby pretty soon and is planning on doing the cloth diaper route. So, since their baby shower is coming up, I thought I had finally found something that I could KNIT that she did not have......diaper soakers. I decided to purchase the pattern because it was more like a disposable diaper and was easy on/easy off when they are "stinky". Who wants to try and get it off a dirty diaper.
I might have to see if she has any orange wool and then I could make a Gator Diaper Soaker.

Swap Mart in Mesa

The kids & I went to check on Grandma & Grandpa's cat this morning and since we were so far east, thought we'd check out a Farmer's Market on Main (Apache Trail in East Mesa). Um, not so much.

So, I knew there was a BIG one somewhere off US 60 not too far down the road so we got on US 60 and exited at Signal Butte (Exit 193).

We found THIS!

This picture was taken about 1/2 down the first building. There were 2 buildings open but I understand in the winter, there are 3 and there is a lot more stuff.
The kids want this for Christmas. Heck, at $12, I am tempted.
David wanted to put a water feature in the back yard. I like these.
We need another sun after we gave one away. We have a bunch of them, all different sizes, in our family room. I love the Kokopelli in the middle. It is nothing like any of the others we have on the wall.
Simon really wants one of these birds that is weighted in the middle so once you push it, it will keep "pecking". They are made out of rock and recycled rebar.

What did I buy? A dash mat for my van for the whopping price of $29. I would have looked at more but the natives were getting restless. Good thing it was free to get in so I didn't feel bad leaving after an hour.

OOOHHH CASHMERE!

This is 100% cashmere.
It is so nice to work with and this scarf will feel so good on my neck. A fun zig zag pattern...easy but interesting.

Glittering Lip Gloss

Yea, I can upload with Blogger again. I updated my Internet Explorer yesterday and seemed to take care of the problem.

I bought this glitter lip gloss kit on Sunday at Joann's for Hannah. She loves mixing stuff (so does Simon) so we mixed it up and made her a couple of lip gloss necklaces.

When I added the glitter, it was with a light hand. However, um, when Hannah added it, well, it is kind of WHITE instead of pink lip gloss.
Oh well, live & learn.

You know what these necklaces reminded me of? My Mom used to get us these Avon pins that had a solid perfume in them. Ok, I found a photo of one in eBay.

The irony is that this skunk pin has perfume in it. The tail & tummy flip down to reveal the perfume.

So tempted to buy that thing for nostalgia's sake. Did anyone have the one that was a roller skating rabbit whole legs would swing back and forth????

New Earrings

Aren't these gorgeous? I love, love, love turquoise & green.

I bought these from Dana's Etsy shop on Friday and they arrived today.

I the silver pair on the left on right now!

P.S. Is anyone else having issues with uploading photos to Blogger? I get an error in my IE box on the bottom. Is there a setting I can change?? Anyone know?

So...It's Sunday Night

On Thursday night I told David the pool was a wee bit green. Um, that would be because the pump burned out as you can see below. However, we found a good guy that came out and fixed it on Friday afternoon.

We went out with Rosie & Woody last night for dinner with the kids to a great Italian Bistro in Scottsdale.

Today, my Dad came home with 35 lbs of salmon from Alaska. (Every time I hear the words "Salmon from Alaska" I hear a jingle from a Minneapolis radio station that whenever you said the word "Alaska", they had a song they played that went, "Salmon from Alaska, Salmon from the sea, Salmon from Alaska made for you and me." The irony? I remember the song and not the DJ's. (I do remember that it was 99.9 WLOL...I think from somewhere in the late 1980's or early 1990's.)


The salmon in Dad's suitcase that would not fit in the cooler above.


The total haul in the cooler.


Dad near the freezer that is now full to the brim!!!


You'd never guess what we had for dinner tonight??? SALMON!

I seared it with sesame seeds on the non-skin side for 3 minutes and then baked it for 10 minutes at 350 F in the oven. MMM....good. The fish came right off the skin.

Next with the suitcase salmon? Salmon ceviche.

I also bought this pattern today. Isn't it gorgeous??? I am going to make it in my dark green laceweight yarn from the Knitter's Tea Swap this past summer that I got from Heather.

My Wristlet Swap Arrived

I got a lovely package from Isabelle in Germany.

There were two skeins of cotton sock yarn, two chocolate bars that went into the refrigerator immediately since my mailbox is still 100+ degrees, a pattern book and she sent little presents for my winkies.

I can tell you the milk chocolate is SSOO CREAMY!

Now you can see the wristlet in all of its glory! Isabelle even embroidered the butterfly in the colors of the German flag. The yellow button was on the outside of the wristlet package. I will have to find a special project for it!

If you look closely on the pattern leaflet, you will see the two little bears she made for Hannah & Simon. Hannah already put hers on her backpack for school.

Now you can see the lovely detail. She embroidered Handmade by Isa and quilted together the different fabrics.

Last but not least, the gummy's that were included. Simon tried to rip them out of my hand before I got a photo.

Isabelle, thank you so much! I can't wait to try some of the sock patterns!!!!

Great Idea

Isn't this a great idea? How many times have you wanted a tripod for your camera but don't want to lug one around?

I saw this Water Bottle Tripod in the Parade Magazine on Sunday. I found it here.

I spent some of my Pay Pal wealth and bought a green one.

And, my baby Simon, has graduated to a booster seat that uses the seatbelt in the car instead of a 5 point harness. Where have the last 4 years gone?

I have never had a car that had the LATCH system on it but our current van does. It was slick to be able to tether down the booster so it doesn't move at all. I guess I don't need to use the latch & the booster seat but since they both are there and don't effect the seat, I will use them both. Better to have everything strapped to the car!

Organization

Not a lot of knitting this weekend.

We had lunch yesterday at the Claim Jumper by AZ Mills mall. Um, the food, not so great.

I have been trying to organize my sewing stuff. I have been hauling this sewing basket from my Mom around since I moved to AZ. It lost its handle in the move. It was a big mess....all mushed together.

I tried to organize today. At least I can see what is in the containers and I put all the thread into one.
We shall see how that goes. I am a notoriously disorganized kinda gal.

Pendant Scarf

I did a test knit by SWTC and it went pretty well. This is 100% Soy Silk. I think it is their new yarn Pure.

Before blocking.

Taking a bath.
Pinned to the floor in my bedroom! I love the blocking pins I got from my SP6 Heather.
The finished scarf before being sent off to SWTC in Tempe.

Summer Sock Swap

I joined the summer sock swap where we knit a sock for someone else and then they only have the knit the second sock so no second sock syndrome.

I knit the Simply Lovely Lace Socks from the Spring 2006 Interweave Knits. I used Lorna's Laces sock yarn. It was lovely yarn.

Cathy received her package yesterday so I can share the sock today.

However, if you do a swap, you can't just send the sock...there's gotta be more. ;) One of the addictive wristlet's for knitting notions (or an ipod home in your purse).
The sock in repose.
The picoted edge. I would definitely do this type of edge again.

Weekend Update

I tried to do it yesterday but Blogger was having photo issues.

Saturday I worked on this test knit for SWTC. Compared to the last one I did, this pattern is pretty good. The only change I would makes is to put the chart legend on the same page as the chart. Only 3 more lace repeats and I am done.

Saturday morning Hannah & I headed out to Skip One Purl Two in Mesa to meet Linda for a mini Stitch N Bitch. I was sporting my ever blonder hair. I like the shorter length but it is not nearly as straight today as it was coming from the salon.
This is the shop. It has quite a bit of yarn for such a small space and lots of finished items hanging by the specific yarns so you can see how they knit up.

While I was there, I bought this Noni bag pattern. I didn't spend the additional $$ on the flower pattern because I am pretty sure I can come up with something similar.
I am going to use this yarn and some black or turquoise for the stripes.
Two things I saw at the mall that made me pause:

1. 6 year old girl in strappy sandals with a 1.5 inch heel.

2. 5 year old little girl in a thong. Of course, you are going to ask, how do I know. Well, Mom stood next to me in the ladies room and was showing off her dental floss to the world. As we are leaving the bathroom, the little girl pulls at the front of her dress, around the panty area and then does the same thing in the back AND you could see the little string through her dress. Um, Hannah is so not getting any of those anytime soon.

I guess when you are young, you want to grow up quickly.