Hat Stack and Various Cold Things

First the hat stack.

I bought three skeins of this amazing Solstice yarn last week - it's a cotton/wool mix, and it comes in some lovely colors. Now, I am knitting 3 baby hats of various sizes - to be stacked in one another and gifted with a bow around all three. Genius, huh?

Like a terducken of yarn. The Newborn, inside the 3-6 mos, inside the 6-12 mos. I'm pretty happy with this little project, and it's great mindless knitting.

Here are the first two, unstacked. Once blocked, you'll see little purled ducks on the blue one and little purled stars on the orange one. I think the bigger one might be striped, but I haven't decided yet. It'll use the navy blue for the brim, no matter what, so the rainbow stacking effect is as cool as it can be.

It was a good thing I had mindless knitting this weekend, since we were very busy with preparations for Zoe's big Penguin Party. Here's an action shot with a few of them around the table. Do you like those penguin masks? They sure did.

(I think they all looked like little Mexican wrestlers.)


Check out the cake - which took us most of Sat morning to create. Turns out black sprinkles makes kid's mouths purple. Who knew? But the purple lips looked even more awesome with the penguin masks. 6 year olds can rock anything.

Here you can see the whole effect. Zoe had stapled little party hats to each mask with the kids' names on them. Which made them even cooler.

See? Mexican wrestler. With a birthday hat, eating cake.

After the party, I took the kids down the block for a little ice skating on our local pond. I guess the sun was behind Maya and I here, but that didn't stop my photographer from capturing the moment.


A good weekend all around! Hope yours was fun too.

Shortbread and Burbon

You are soooo going to thank me for this one.

Pour a little of your favorite burbon in a glass and dip butter or shortbread cookies into it.

The smoother the whiskey, the tastier it'll be. Craig knows that, and he knew the girlscout cookies had arrived, so look at what he got me for my birthday! It's called Black Maple Hill and it's premium small batch Kentucky burbon. Which is kind of like microbrewed beer, but different, right? The cookies don't have to be the girlscout ones -- Trader Joes' makes pretty good thin ones that work as well, and I've had others in the past. Really, any butter/shortbread cookie should do the trick.

That bottle next to the burbon? That's Ron Zacapa Rum, which is also pretty awesome for dipping cookies in. Don't try this with normal cheap rum. You want dark and you want a little fancier than the, let's say.... the Captain might be.

It's a pretty fun dessert to serve when friends come for dinner, since it's like a fondue, where you all have to DO something. We like to pour a few dipping glasses and put them in the middle of the table so everyone can compare what they do and don't like.

And there's also been knitting in the past few days.

Between stealth trips to the cupboard to steal Thin Mints, I've been getting work done on Round 2 of this cabled number. Turns out I like the tweed much better in the design. It gives it some texture and the whole cardigan seems lighter, maybe a little less dense. (for lack of a better word -- but you know what I mean, right?)

I'm hoping to get it done in the next couple of weeks. There's a trip planned up to Maine for NETA's SPA Weekend and I'm a-going with a few friends. I'm hoping to be wearing this guy while eating what's been described - in a long and detailed email chain - as "the best bacon ever" - from the breakfast buffet. In the evening, maybe I'll wear it while having a drink or 2 as well with dinner, which hasn't been described at all. But I'm sure we'll have it. Maybe 3. Considering there are 8 of us in a townhouse thingy? Maybe 4.

Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes! I don't think I've ever gotten that many comments before in my entire blogging "career" :-) And comments always make me happy.

42

Yesterday a good friend of mine informed me that 42 is a way cool birthday to have.

(I thought it was cool enough because I got flowers delivered)

She used to own a science fiction and mystery bookstore, and according to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the "Answer" to the ultimate question. Then in the book, they aren't so sure what the question is, which I found kind of funny. However, legions of sci fi folks have ignored that little issue, and the fact that the author himself said he picked it randomly, to give the number all kinds of cool status. Spiritual, magic, laden-with-meaning kind of status. And since I'm 42 today, I'll go with it.

It's also the number of teeth in a dog's mouth, the amount of hours that Shakespeare had Juliet sleep for after taking her potion, and the number of Chapters in Catch 22.

Plus, in the X Files, it was Mulder's address. I loved the X Files.

Coincidentally, it's the number of stitches I have cast on for this.

Spooky music goes here.

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I'm looking forward to a good day -- I've started by making my coffee with cocoa and cinnamon and real cream in it. Like a cocktail, but not. Then I'm meeting my friend Amy, who designs some gorgeous sweaters (look!) for a little LYS trip and lunch. There's some big secret dinner that the girls have planned for me later, and I know cake will be involved.

And as for the year ahead, my plans for 42 involve many more patterns. A few are already in some sort of written or swatched form, and I'm beginning to really play with yarn weights and options. I feel like I"m getting the hang of this thing and plan on having some fun with it as the year goes on. You'll see things with options, and I'm playing with funky details.

This is also the year I'm going to use the gorgeous yarns. You'll see.

Piles and piles

This is totally the week to multitask.


Craig's out of town for a few days, Zoe's birthday is this weekend, and I went to pick these up this morning. About a thousand boxes of girl scout cookies. Now in my house. I honestly think the boxes are kind of pretty, but I know I have to deal with them in a few hours. For now, this is what my entire downstairs looks like. We grouped them against all the available walls. Later today we'll sort them by cookie type and then divvy them up for each girl so they can be taken away, but for now, I got me some piles.

My knitting projects only extend the theme.

This might be related to the fact that Craig's gone and won't care that the dining room table is full of yarn and books and stuff, but I'm thinking my projects are pretty happy all thrown together in a lump. Or a pile. I keep taking different things out and working on them as the inspiration hits, so the order might change, but the general disarray stays. Since Sat.

In my head, it all makes sense. Am working first on the orange, second, the green in the bag (hidden from your view...) then the purple, then maybe on the hat that came out of the first two, and the sweater can remain below for now. The sweater isn't going anywhere till fall. The rest might have actual uses in a few weeks.

And those smaller things won't take as long, so I get them of the way first, right?

But maybe the REAL reason the yarn is in a giant pile is that I spent yesterday out with a friend at our favorite thrift shop, and today I kind of did the same thing with my sister. Instead of organizing any of the projects above. We picked up the cookies, dumped them in the house and then we got right back into the car - since she needed help with her stuff for the consignment shop and Goodwill at Davis Square.

What's that saying - you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours? She helped carry my shit and then I helped carry hers. Perfect. And we followed that up with some Tacos Lupitas.

None of this has helped with the piles, (nor does this current act of blogging in my remaining half hour of quiet) but it did add to my vintage cocktail collection. And I always love when that happens -- Silver Polka Dot Highballs. Aren't they awesome?


And that odd one has a script "M".
For Maya. $1.49 worth of happiness right there.

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Today I made TWO things

This is not for Maya.



It's for Isabel. Every day Isabel shows up in our kitchen at 8:45 for the walk to school. And every day Isabel shows up, she has no hat. No matter how cold, no hat. So I finally asked, and it turns out she doesn't own a hat. (!!!!!!, to a knitter) I think it was lost, and when asked why she didn't get a new one, she said , "My Mom doesn't want to go over to LL Bean for a new one." (Also, !!!, to a knitter.)

How long could I let this go on without offering? About this long, apparently. I put it out there last week. She was happy to request a blue hat. With stars of some kind.

Since it's about a zillion degrees below zero today and I was invited out this morning to a coffee with friends, it was the day to do it. A good chat, a few muffins, a little clatch of ladies who I love and ... two hours = one hat. We'll walk it over tomorrow. When it warms up to 10 degrees.

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The second thing I made was dinner. Other friends are coming, and that zillion degrees thing makes it a perfect day for stew. The colors were pretty and I already had the camera in hand, so hey, you get to see it too. Maya thinks this is stupid. I'm not sure she's wrong, but still, I got it in the camera and I kind of like the picture.

So here's my Cider Chicken and Vegetable stew - it gets a little cream before serving, and we have really tasty white bread rolls that you bake up at the last minute. My house smells good. Really good.

For dessert, I got butter cookies at Trader Joe's to dip in burbon.
Since the girlscout ones aren't here yet.

I'm thinking this was a productive day.

And PS - karen, I did like the single malt idea! That might be right.

Finally, your White Russian

I'm done messing with it.

Before spring comes and you forget all about that little white lacy tunic number in favor of tanks and floaty tees, I managed to take one final look at the pattern and post it up on Ravelry.

All the info is there on yarn requirements and such. The sizes go from a 32/34 up to a 40/42, and the pattern is written with 2-3 inches of ease throughout. The larger sizes have a little additonal ease, since I am not fond of stretched lace bits, and I don't imagine you are either. But this is the beauty of top down, and there's lots of opportunity in the pattern to customize for a roomier or snuggier fit, as you prefer.

It's knit in DK tweed, mostly on #6s, with a gauge of 5 st per inch, 7 rows. And, it takes from 900 yds for the smallest to 1200 yds for the largest size. I picked the Jo Sharp because I felt the soft tweed and the silk gives the sweater a little drape and is the weight I love, but I think it's a design that's able to work in a variety of yarns from the DK buffet.

I'm having a little crisis of conscience not adding it to the Haiti list, but there are a few things around here that need to be paid. Rest assured though. The quick math tells me that the other patterns that sold so far for this --- wait for it --- equal half what I sold all last year! And they'll remain on the list until Feb 14, continuing to grow the tally.

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SO, business aside and keeping with tradition around here, I owe you a drink recipe, don't I?

Traditional White Russian

1 oz coffee liqueur (Kaluha)

2 oz vodka
milk or cream
Pour coffee liqueur and vodka into old fashioned glass over ice and fill with milk or cream.


Maybe two. Since you all waited so long. (Font colors! who knew?)


Hugely Decadent White Russian
1 oz kaluha
1 oz brandy or cognac
2 oz milk
small scoop of vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup

Pour the kaluha and brandy or cognac in a glass and add the milk. Add small scoop of ice cream and drizzle chocolate syrup on top. It's best if the ice cream begins to melt a little and you can stir it around.

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Moving on to the next thing, we're in the middle of discussion about what this should be.
I'm leaning towards Southern Comfort. But I think that's because I like the stuff, not because it suits the yarn exactly.

It's really a ginger-y color, Calvados? maybe. Drambuie?
I think I'll have to do a pour test and see. But suggestions are always welcome!


I love this tweed. Not so sure it's my color exactly, but I sure do love it.

Small things - and a big thing, Done.

My koigu gloves are finally out of their WIP bag, where they've spent the last I Don't Know How many months. In the end, I did manage to knit both thumbs a little webbed and learned a valuable lesson about being too cocky to knit from a pattern. Sometimes I should. But in the meantime, these look just groovy (when I keep my digits together) and gave me a use for some stash buttons, so I'm happy with them and just might wear them later today.

Or not, since it's like 50 degrees out all of the sudden. Maybe I'll have to wait a day or so.

Here's a Star Crossed Beret, out of my NY-purchased Bulky Alpaca. I knit this up yesterday while getting my mojo back after the long weekend. It was rainy and the fire was on, so a hat on #10s seemed about perfect. And I love this yarn. I want to make more things out of it - and soon, because I'll miss this guy in a few days. He's a gift and will leave home later today. I can only pet it for a couple more hours. :-(

Bulky Alpaca. wow. Where has it been all my life?

So, those are two small things that have been nagging at me to get knit, out of the what? I'm feeling a little overwhelmed currently - - a lot of things in the hopper, and while I usually work on one (maybe 2) projects at at time, I've currently got needles dipped into about 7. Some with deadlines, even. Oy. It's all good stuff, and I'm dying to be working on all of it, hence the fact the needles aren't singularly committed, but it's alot to have strewn around the place. So, it definitely feels good to get these guys out there so I can concentrate on some of the other projects again.

like this...

The next big project to leave home. My friend Amy was one of the many testers on White Russian, and she came by this morning to show me her lovely FO -

and to get some buttons :-) she's no fool.

She worked hers up in the Jo Sharp DK Tweed, and decided to add some long sleeves. Her tweed was a mocha color, with flecks of orange and red in it, so she totally dug these red buttons. It fit her just fine and she looked adorable in it, but she was camera shy, therefore, you get lovely table pics instead of modeled shots. I think you still get the idea.

And now I have enough finished test knitters that I will give the pattern one more look tonight and post the puppy tomorrow.

And then get back onto the aforementioned items strewn about the place.