359: Look what I finished!

It's done and wrapped!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone =)

356: Finished Objects

There are a lot of crocheted and knitted items that I've finished in the past months that I haven't had a chance to share yet. Most of them are up on Ravelry now, so I figure I might as well talk about them here, too. 

The first is a coaster I made out of some crochet thread. I like it and I plan on making some more, but I still haven't woven in the ends yet (shhh...). It has been used, though.

Next is a cabled hat I made for Miriam. I got the yarn at Purl Soho when I was visiting her in New York. I had the patterns picked out to make a hat for her and one for her niece, Virginia.

And here's the "matching" hat I made for Virginia. For a size comparison, the pompoms on both hats are the same size. It's a bit large, but she's a baby, she'll grow into it.

While I was shopping at Purl Soho, I found some lovely Manos that I had to have. I made Miriam a hat a while ago with Manos so I figured I'd make another Thorpe for me. Isn't it pretty? I love the colors. I used some leftover Malabrigo for the edges.

The last project I finished was a cowl using the handspun I won from Meghan from StitchIt!! Podcast. I love the handspun; it's so pretty! I think it was also my first time knitting with handspun. I made the Bound by the Beauty Cowl from the latest knitty. I don't have a picture yet...But I'm so excited, I still have yarn left (about 100 yards) to make something else!

So with all those finished projects, I started something new: an Abalone. I'm making mine out of the Malabrigo (mmm) I got in Jersey from The Stockinette Knitting Cafe. It's a lot of stockinette stitch, but I don't mind so much right now. I also altered the pattern a bit to fit the way I wanted it to.

I'm keeping the project in my new Namaste Jetsetter bag which I got from eBay. I've been wanting a knitting bag for a while and luckily I had the winning bid. Isn't is pretty?

An update on my dad's sweater: I'm so close!! I sewed the shoulder seams, I picked up and knit stitches for the neck, of which I have a few more rows to do, and the sleeves are blocking (and taking forever to dry because it's so cold in my apartment). Once I finish the neck, hopefully the sleeves will be dry and I can sew them on. I think it should be big enough, but if not, I'm sure he'll appreciate it anyway...hopefully.

354: Gingerbread Kits and Friends

This past weekend one of my old old old old (2 years, 2 apartments and 4 roommates ago) roommates came to visit from LA. Michele's been attending med school in the Caribbean (jealous much?) and I haven't seen her in about a year! With her visit I also got to see some other friends I haven't seen in a while, which was really fun. On Friday, Michele and I got House of Curries for lunch. Mmmmm so good. My go-to dish is their Chicken Curry with rice (as much as I love naan, it just tastes so good with rice...). Then we met up with Stephanie and the three of us went shopping in Emeryville. I picked up a couple of magazines (Knitting Today and Knit Simple, I think) while Michele and Steph shopped in H&M (who, by the way, is having an awesome dress sale). We then met up with Alfred and Cathy (hi, Cathy!!! <3) at Google, because Alfred has the best job ever (I so want to work at Google). We ate dinner in their cafeteria. How amazing would it be to work somewhere that provided great food for you? We took pictures by a giant gingerbread house, in front of a Google sign and in front of a giant android (in the rain).

On Saturday I baked cookies. Lots and lots of yummy cookies with the best recipe I've found (I omit the nuts because 1. I don't really care for them and 2. I never have them on hand). Both Jason and Chris love these cookies, and I got to see both of them at lunch. We went to Restaurant Peony in Oakland and had yummy dim sum with Cathy, Michele, Stephanie and her brother. Afterwards we headed to Shooting Star Cafe where they have drinks that go with your zodiac sign. I skipped out on my kumquat and something else drink and ordered some taro ice cream. From there we went to Jason's place and played games and tried on a 50-lb weighted vest and made a gingerbread house from a kit that Michele gave to Cathy. This house was epic failure, but nevertheless, fun to build. We started off pretty well, icing the pieces before we attached them and making the tiny Santa and Christmas tree look decent, but the icing wasn't solidifying so the walls to the house didn't stay up and the roof pieces kept sliding off. We tried adding super glue but that just glued the icing to icing...And then Santa and the Christmas tree got stuck together. Poor Santa. The finished product was supposed to look like this:

From Create-a-Treat

But it, well, I'll post pictures when I get them. Let's just say it wasn't pretty.

On Sunday I decided to tackle the Gingerbread Train kit that Michele gave me. I cheated and just started with glue. My train is definitely not edible but it is somewhat structurally stable. It was supposed to look like this:

From Create-a-Treat

I don't even know where they got those candy cane pieces for the wheels, because they definitely were not in my kit. I think I did an okay job of replicating the train.

I know, I can't be a cake decorator any time soon.

So, that was my weekend. Oh! I also blocked the body of the sweater for my dad. In hindsight, I should have taken a picture to share. The first sleeve is also done and the second one is so close. I should be able to finish it in time for Christmas, and if not that, then for his birthday on the 27th. Yay!

347: Food and Monday

Today I have a severe case of the Mondays. I stubbed my toe this morning, which promptly started bleeding. I seem to be experiencing allergies in the middle of winter. People really didn't know how to drive during today's commute. And I'm just plain tired (I suppose I shouldn't have gone to bed at midnight).

So to brighten things up a bit, I'm going to talk about a food blog I discovered the other day. Stonesoup is a blog about food, but not just any type of food, simple food. The blogger, Jules Clancy has committed to creating 5 ingredient or less recipes, and has come out with books that feature 10 minute meals. Every week I always tell myself that I need to cook more, and every week I always make something like tuna helper or stove-top (mmm, stuffing). Not the healthiest food ever...But then I discovered this blog and although I've only made one thing from it (pan fried tofu with spiced yogurt), I'm inspired to cook more food from Stonesoup because it's so easy. Getting 5 ingredients from the grocery store on the way home from work is a pretty quick and simple task. I'm so excited to make more dishes and actually eat something healthy for dinner without exhausting myself.

341: I Must Be Going Crazy

I've recently started knitting a hat with a Pokeball on the front, in intarsia, and this thing must be playing tricks on my mind. Last night I dreamt (why does this computer say that dreamt isn't a word?) that I was knitting socks with colorwork. They were actually quite pretty, this turquoise base with caramel spots. Anyway, I think all this knitting has started to infiltrate my subconscious, not that that's a bad thing. Obviously I just need to buy more yarn and knit socks.