Look!

This is Jordan in her White Russian. She was one of my test knitters, and she's the first one done. I just need to send her some buttons so she can finish up that little tab at the bottom properly. Am putting a little bag together for the post office later.

I really think the best part of this whole design thing is seeing your patterns knit up. Her yarn's a little more drapey than my original choice, and the tunic looks just a little more fluid. I love how the arms look. Mine are cuffed up. And most of all, I love, love, love this lavender.

I also love that she made her own White Russian concoction and took a second photo - :-)

Hair, Knits and More Party Ideas...

First the hair. And a bathroom mirror in serious need of some Windex.

I'm afraid I'm channeling Farrah a little more than I intended to, but I'm OK with it. A few days to figure out how to manage the poof and what product will keep those curls calm and I'll be good. Most importantly, the bangs hide those forehead wrinkles like a charm.

As for knits, I've got two to share.

Maya's tunic from the newspaper circular is all done and she loves it. So much she let me take these couple of photos on the rainy and cold porch while her buddy Molly waited in the door and heckled her. I used three skeins of Cascade, which at $24, just beats the$25 Kohl's price tag for the original sweater in crappy acrylic. Nyah nyah.

And apparently she can dance in it.


There's one more finished knit below. It's a Gryffindor hat for my adorable peanut of a nephew, who spent all of Thanksgiving with a hardcover copy of Harry Potter which is about as big as he is.

(If Annie's still out there reading - you know who I'm talking about. )


I have to figure out another appropriate hat for his brother James, who when asked, said he likes Pigs. Any good Pig Hat ideas? I refuse to knit a snout and subject him to misery of the novelty hat, but intarsia pigs will be just fine. I bet there are some out there....

Next to Eli's hat is one of Grandma's party books.

This one's from Charlie's liquor store of Shopwell Plaza in the Bronx NY. Since we're coming up on the holiday season, you guys might want a few more recipes to go with that jar cheese and nutmeat concoction you're already enjoying, right?

Here's some easy ones:

Frankfurter Snack

Cut franks in 1" pieces and split lengthwise. Fill with mustard and sliver of pickle.
Fasten with cocktail pick and broil.

Viking Special

Chop up one can of boneless sardines, two hard boiled eggs and 8 sweet pickles. Mix together with salt, pepper and mayonnaise. Smooth onto on rye bread or in celery sticks. Sprinkle with paprika.

Corned Beef N Pickle Treats

Chill canned corned beef and cut in 1" cubes.
Spear each cube on toothpick with a tiny gherkin.

Deviled Cheese Boats

1 pkg cream cheese
1 tbs chopped pickle
1 tbs ketchup
1 tbs chopped stuffed olives
12 slices tongue

Mix cream cheese and blend in ketchup till smooth. Add olive and pickle. Spread on tongue slices. Roll up. Fasten with picks. Chill.

(OK, Eeeew.)

And what party's complete without fondue?

Scotch n Soda Fondue

1 lb shredded cheddar
1 tsp flour
1 tsp butter
1.5 oz scotch whisky
7 oz club soda
1 tsp worstershire sauce

Toss ingredients into fondue pot, without cheese. Add cheese handful at a time, stirring constantly and allowing it to melt before adding the next handful. Once cheese is melted and mixture is thickened, beat one egg lightly in seperate bowl. Add a little hot cheese mixture to it and then put into pot, stirring again. When it's smooth and creamy it's ready.

Serve with crusty chunks of bread for dipping.

----------------

That's it for the snacks. Next time I have a few ideas from the Punches and Pitchers section.

Anyone ever see sparkling burgundy at the store?

And Today

I raked. Remember how we hired two neighborhood kids to do the leaves so Craig and I could make cocktails the other day? Yeah, well. All the best efforts of two ten year olds don't hold a candle to my yard of ginormous trees.

The final tally? 30 bags kids, 30 more me.

So far, followed by about half a bottle of white wine.

Tomorrow, I'm getting my hair cut and going to knit, so maybe I'll have something more interesting to share.

I like her hair. I might bring pics.

And yes, Sarah Hope -- I owe you some button photos. I thought you'd be buttoned out!

Thanksgiving Things

Zoe got her Owls. And I've saved her bitter art for the future.
(Ironically, I have no buttons small enough for eyes and must buy some. Figures, right? Ha. )


Besides the hat, very little knitting was done, but we had a great week. We gave the kids a little slice of my childhood with a trip into NYC. Besides a morning at the Met, we saw the holiday windows and the ice skaters at Rockefeller, smushed through the FAO Schwartz crowds, ate big pretzels from a cart guy, walked through Central park, and best of all --

spun through every one of these we could find on 5th Avenue.

---------------

I also helped move my Grandma from her house into a smaller place, where she has no further need for this. You guys know how it works, right? I love it. I've always wanted it. And it made me teary to get it. The tears had nothing to do with the fact that the bottom compartment was completely full of amazing buttons.

Since my family knows me well, they also passed on my Grandma's collection of old party-themed pamphlets from the 60s and 70s. Grandpa, especially, never passed up the opportunity to get something for free and these all look like they came with magazines or bottles of booze or were giveaways at the market. They are awesome.

Full of amazing little hints to throw the Perfect Party. Decor, food, etiquette AND cocktail recipes. My first might be the Blinker (from the Carstairs Party book - a free gift from Esquire Magazine)

Blinker

2.5 oz grapefruit juice
half oz grenadine
jigger Carstairs White Seal (or other American Blended Whiskey)
shake with ice in silver shaker and strain into glass

according to the glossary here, a jigger - 1.5 oz

There are many recipes that look like this. Creamy with olives on top. Also lots with toothpicks, lots rolled up and lots with mayo and cream cheese. One recipe calls for a Jar of Cheese. Not sure where I find cheese in a jar.

-------

But how about these cheese canapes?

1.25 cups mashed american cheese
2 tbs cream
1/8 tsp chili powder
chopped nut meats
Ritz Crackers

Mash cheese, blend cream. Add chili powder. Force cheese mix through pastry tube onto crackers. (yes it says "force"). Sprinkle nutmeats on top.

----------------------

I am going to get so much joy out of these books.

I hope my friends are hungry and in an adventurous mood for the next few months. I may have to make them the cocktails first so they'll eat the snacks. I definitely have to make the cocktails first.

The Middle

You know the point in a sweater where you knit and knit, but don't seem to be getting anywhere? It's like time stands still, but the needles and the yarn don't. It's a little past halfway in the project -- that yarn eating, time sucking middle -- and it gets me every time.

So that's where I am on Maya's new sweater.

Just above the butt. Two skeins in, and one to go, but until I start to see the progress, it's seriously slogging along. I'm thinking that the 5 hour car ride in my near future will address the problem soon enough.

At least I love the yarn. It's a new shade of Cascade 220 Heathers - a deep royal blue with flecks of hot pink and teal in it. Soft to work with and gorgeous to look at. I might even miss it once I finish up.

-------------

In the meantime, we also seem to be stuck in the middle of our big jug of Jim Beam Burbon. Which is crazy, since I spent about a month with the Hot Toddies earlier this fall, and really there should have been a dent in the stuff. But this is that crazy middle of the bottle and it's not going anywhere. So, in the interest of getting past the middle on that baby, we made a few more burbon cocktails over the weekend.

We started out with a jones for Mint Juleps (While raking, we noticed how ginourmous our mint bush had gotten...) But, reading the recipe for Mint Juleps, we were unimpressed. Mint, sugar, water and burbon. Not really a drinking drink, it seemed more of a sippy thing. And we were a little thirsty after all the raking. (All 15 minutes of it. We gave up to make the drinks and are now paying the neighborhood kids $2 a bag for whatever they get done over the holiday. We left 80 bags with two kids. They have dollar signs in their eyes.)

So for $160 in laziness, here's the winning recipe. It's kind of a Not Hot Toddy.

Which might come in useful if you feel a little sniffy after being on planes, trains and automobiles with the general flu-ridden population this weekend. If you're feeling just fine, the burbon will still make an entire holiday celebration with relatives that much more fun. Either way, I'm thinking this is a perfect Thanksgiving Weekend Drink.

handful of fresh mint leaves
teaspoon of water
1.5 oz burbon
lemon slice
half can of ginger ale
ice cubes

Muddle the mint leaves and water well in the bottom of a tall glass.
Add the burbon and ginger ale.
Slice lemon and squeeze into the glass.
Stir. Add ice cubes.

If your throat's feeling sore, add a little honey. The tea version was awesome when I was feeling crappy earlier this fall, so this might just do the trick too. Or make the tea. Because burbon's good and good for you.

Zoe's Really Gonna Be Pissed Now

Because I've been working on another project for Maya the past few days. Not only is the teal J Crew scarf in the WIP basket, but this little tunic project from the newspaper circular wormed its way into my head and I couldn't shake it. So I went over to Lexington and got a couple of skeins of Cascade 220 and spent a while working out the particulars.

I'm having so much fun watching this evolve that it's become my project of choice, and the poor Owl hat continues to slide down the list for another day.

And slide it did because...


I'm now way distracted. Gathering for winter perhaps?

New button batches were delivered this week. (yay!) Not that I meant to purchase more, but it just happened. See, I periodically check in on ebay and toss a lowball bid on some pounds of vintage buttons in a tin. I go for three at a time. And I lose a lot. My limit is $10, so as said above, I'm usually losing. But pre Thanksgiving, it seems my co bidders have slacked off and I had a winning streak. Three tins I won. All 3.

And I love how I "won" them. Pure marketing genius. Since I not so much as "win", but pay. And in fact, pay more than anyone else is willing to for the crap I "win". But I'm good here with $5 each for 3 good hauls. Really good hauls..

And then, on Thursday, I was given the karma batch below.

These were given to me by one of the teachers at school, when I brought my rejects in and offered them up for art projects. She didn't need em, she told me, since she has the GrandDaddy tin of vintage buttons already. (oh really?) And then she did the most amazing thing - for which I now love her more than I even did before - and I did love this woman before.

She said since the kids don't care what's in there, I can just go through and take what I want. They'll never miss the good ones, she said. Never.

She then put one of those GIANT Charles Chips tins on the table. It's full.

And I only had 15 mins. 15 fucking minutes!!! Hence the small pile. It was like one of those game shows where the people grab all the stuff they can and get to keep it. Dammit. But I'll be back. I volunteer every Thursday, all morning. Every Thursday. I have all year to hit that tin. With permission from the teacher :-)

(And if any of you Monday ladies are reading, I have a bag ready to bring. Feel free to make a color or type request below in the comments and I'll try to accomodate.)

Next up, I'll be looking for project ideas that use buttons again. Got any?

Can't Please the People

Here's what happened around here yesterday.


Maya (ever the opportunist) realized that although, yes, I did have some cashmerino that would work just fine, well... I also had bought a skein of Cascade in her favorite jade green to make her some sort of accessory to match those stripey mitts. Fine by me. I figured out the pattern and got going.

And then this little note got dropped on the table next to my project.

She's pissed because I haven't started her Owls hat.