Snowpocolypse(!)…

Since about Wednesday, I’ve been hearing about the terrible storm that we were supposed to get this weekend.  The weather predictions were pretty bad up to a foot of snow, with some ice mixed in to top it off.

I think it turned out that we were along the edge of the storm and weren’t hit quite so severely.  It rained here until after dark before turning to snow.  It doesn’t look like we got much ice either and not even six inches of snow.  It’s gotten pretty cold, but we’re not really snowbound.  Either way, it’s been nice to stay curled up inside with some knitting and episodes of The Office on Netflix.

Just before sunset, I went out to take a few pictures:

Out the front door.

One of the neighbors made a snow person.

The branches of the tree behind the house.

More tree branches.

I even took Ishbel outside for a fun "knits in the snow" picture.

FO: Ishbel

It’s a bit of a knitting blog cliche at this point to gush about how great the Ishbel pattern is, but I can’t help myself.  This is the most amazing looking thing that I’ve knit so far, and it was easy enough to be finished in a week.

Pretty!

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague (Ravelry link for pattern)

Yarn: Marisol Tupa (50% wool, 50% silk) in color 801, Gold

Needle: size 3/3.25mm 24 inch Addi circs

This isn’t as lacy as most of the Ishbel’s that I’ve seen on Ravelry, since the yarn is a DK weight and I didn’t use a very large needle.  I wanted something that would be a bit warmer for wearing around my neck in the cold, since I’ve never really worn a shawl.

I love how this turned out, and I do hope to make another one soon, probably more like the lacier versions.  I have two weddings to attend next summer/fall, and something like this would be great over a summery dress.

I got the yarn in the sale bin at the Sow’s Ear, probably because the color is not for everyone.  I like the color, especially in contrast with my black winter coat, though now that I think about it, the color is dangerously close to one of the colors of my high school.  Blech. I’m just trying to forget that association and enjoy the bright colors.  We’re in the midst of a snowstorm now that has already caused mass panic in Southeastern Ohio.

I didn't want to actually go outside for the picture - we're in the midst of a snowpocalypse right now.

I don't see myself wearing it like this, but it surely does look amazing.

Many thanks to Jake for the photo shoot.  We had a bit of fun with Bunny and Walter who get very excited by the wrist cord that is attached to the camera:

I'm not sure if she just got stuck in the cord or really wanted to hold onto it.

Walter really enjoyed Ishbel too - she wanted to eat/claw it.

I just love this expression.

This expression, however, shows Walter at her angriest.

A Cute Cat Picture Will Have to Do

I’ve been neglectful of my blog lately, but not for lack of news.  I’ve just been busy with work, spending more time prepping food and working out as part of the Athens Takes it Off challenge and attempting to catch up with all five seasons of Lost in time for the final season premiere.  Luckily, all the Lost watching leaves me plenty of time to knit. I finished a pair of socks about two weeks ago, and am about done with half of a stockinette pair.  I’m also joining the bandwagon and knitting an Ishbel in a DK weight to wear as a scarf.  I’m about half way through the lace and can’t wait to start wearing it.

I promise to be back with more pictures soon, for now, here’s a cute picture of Bunny and Walter this last weekend.  Walter was actually sleeping draped over Jake’s leg.

Looks uncomfortable, doesn't it?

A Delicious Meal

Sorry for the deafening silence around these parts lately. The new school year started last week, which came as a bit of a shock after all my lovely knitting and blogging time over the holidays. I’ve hardly knit anything at all in the last week and a half, but am hoping to remedy that soon.

Jake and I are participating in the Athens Takes It Off program with a couple of my co-workers, so much of my after work time seems to be taken up with working out and food prep. While I’m proud of the work I’ve done so far, including taking my lunch to work every day since the start of the new quarter last Monday, I do miss that extra time.

Along with eating healthier has come trying out some new foods for both of us. Jake made dinner a couple of times last week, including a great berry salsa with salmon (cooked on a cedar plank we got for Christmas) and some spicy chicken and rice.

I was able to make dinner tonight and you can see the results here:

From left to right: Brown rice (seasoned), Lemon Butter Dill Salmon with Tzatziki and Carrots.

While this wasn’t really a difficult meal to make, it did take a while, since there were a couple different parts. It turned out great though, especially the salmon. I’ve never really made fish much before, so I was thrilled that was so delicious. Recipes below if you want to try this meal out on your own.  Writing it all out, this looks complicated, but it is a full meal.

Ingredients

• 1/2 of English cucumber
• sea salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• extra virgin olive oil (EVOO, apologies to Rachel Ray)
• fresh dill
• 2 lemons
• 2 single serving containers of Oikos Greek yogurt (plain)
• salmon filets (I had one larger filet that I had cut the skin off)
• butter
• 1 cup cooked and cooled brown rice
• 1 cup chicken broth
• about 3 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds

Directions

Start with the tzatziki.  I was basically working off of this recipe.

1. Peel, seed and chop cucumber into slices.
2. Sprinkle with salt and let drain over sink.  If you don’t have enough time, you can also pat these down with some paper towel.
3. Chop up three sprigs of dill.
4. Put cucumber, salt, pepper and garlic power (to taste) into food processor.  Add 1 TB of EVOO and juice of 1/2 lemon.  Run food processor until just blended.
5. Add in the two containers of Greek yogurt and just pulse a few times in the processor to combine.
6. Chill the tzatziki until you’re ready to eat

Salmon (using this recipe for the base)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Melt 2 TB butter with 1 TB EVOO in a microwavable bowl (about 30 seconds)
3. Add juice of one lemon.  You should have 1/2 a lemon left of your original 2.  Cut this into four slices.
4. Add three springs of dill, minced, into the lemon, butter and EVOO mixture.  Also add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.
5. Ensure that the salmon is ready for the oven.  Grease the bottom of an appropriately sized baking dish with just enough EVOO to lightly cover the bottom.
6. Place salmon into dish and cover with all of the lemon, butter, and dill mixture.
7. Place your lemon slices over the salmon. You might also some more dill, just lightly chopped to the top of the salmon.
8. Bake until the salon flakes easily with a fork, about 25 minutes.

Brown rice – I made a bunch of rice in our new rice cooker last night, so this just needed a little flavor and reheating.

1. Heat a relatively deep pan to medium heat and add just enough EVOO to coat the bottom of pan.
2. Add the rice.
3. Slowly add 1/3 cup of chicken broth, stirring the rice the entire time.  You don’t want add a ton of liquid here, just flavor, so do go slow.
4. Add salt, pepper, and any other spices you want to taste.  Keep warm until you’re ready to eat.

Finally, the carrots.

1. Put just enough EVOO (are you sensing a theme) into the bottom of the pan to coat it. Heat pan to medium.
2. Add the carrots, salt, pepper, and any other flavoring you would like.
3. Saute the carrots for two minutes, stirring often.
4. Add 1/4 cup chicken broth to the pan and continue over medium heat until carrots are cooked through, but still have some bite, probably another two minutes.

To serve, grab the tzatziki out of the ‘fridge and place a spoonful on top of the salmon.  Serve the rice and carrots along side the salmon.  As I said, this turned out to be a delicious healthy meal.  I’m looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Last FO of 2009 – Slouchy Hermione Hat

It’s just over 90 minutes until the start of 2010, so I suppose it’s appropriate to post about my last FO of the year.

I’ve been wanting to knit a slouchy hat with a chunky yarn for a while since they seem to be so popular these days in the stores.  I finally got some chunky yarn at the Sow’s Ear in Verona during our last full day in Wisconsin.  I cast on that night and finished the hat early into our trip home.

Purple-y cable goodness

The pattern comes from JL Yarnworks’ Hermione’s Cable and Eyelet Hat. I cast on 60 stitches with a size 10 16 inch circular needle and did a K1P1 ribbing for an inch or so. Then I increased by knitting into the front and back of every other stitch except the first and last so I would have an appropriate number for the pattern. This didn’t really give me much slouch, so I’d definitely increase another two pattern repeats if I did this again.

I was running out of the yarn towards the end and didn’t have access in the car to the second skein that I’d bought, so I did the decreases a little quicker than called for, and ended up about one round before I would have preferred. As you can see from the picture below, that left a bit of a hole at the top of the hat, but it’s not a big deal.

Pay no attention to the hole at the top of the hat.

I think I’ll be wearing this hat a lot, until I knit something better. I love the color. The yarn is Harmony by Ironstone Yarns, not something I’ve ever knit with before.

Well, that officially wraps up 2009 for me. I’m off to go downstairs to ring in the new year with Jake. I think 2010 will be an exciting year for both of us, and I’m really looking forward to it. I wish you all the best for the upcoming year!

2009 Knitting

There it is, (almost) everything I finished knitting in 2009, in no particular order.  Unless otherwise noted, all links to go the Ravelry page for that project.

1. Calorimetry
2. Big Game Hat
3. Cabled Clutch
4. Australia Hat
5. Michigan Baby Ear Flap Hat (blog link – I neglected to enter this one into Ravelry)
6. Owlet Sweater
7. Marigold Socks
8. Charade Socks
9. First Socks
10. Honeycomb Cable Hat
11. Pretty Thing Cowl
12. OSU Baby Cardigan
13. Red Cable Clutch
14. Stay Home Sweater
15. Lavender Cardigan
16. Slouchy Hermione Hat (no Ravelry or blog link, just finished this on the way home from Wisconsin and need to capture the details still)
17. Twists and Turns Hat
18. Mesmerizing

I know that I finished at least one more project, a small clutch for Jake’s mom that I finished too close to a self-imposed deadline to get it photographed.

At first, I was a little disappointed to see the number of items I finished in 2009 at *only* 18.  I cast on for a lot more than that, but, as you know if you follow the blog, I can get bit by the startitis and second sock syndrome bugs pretty badly.

I’m also trying to remember that this was only my first full year of knitting.  I made my first pair of socks and my first adult-sized sweater.  That’s a pretty big deal, and I’m sure my 2010 in review will be much better.  Tomorrow, I’ll post about my knitting goals for 2010.

An Interesting Combination

It’s been a while since I posted some of the amusing/horrifying Facebook ads that show up on my profile by virtue of my age and gender.  Today though, there was a great combination that was too great to not capture.

OMG SHOEZ!!!!!

I get that the stretch mark and shoe ads are probably related to my age and gender.  After all, what twenty-five year old woman in America isn’t dying to rid herself of some unsightly stretch marks and adorn her feet with platform heels?  I wonder if they can somehow tell that I have pictures of a baby on my profile and that’s why I got the stretch marks ad?  I don’t think I’ve ever seen that ad before, and the picture looks to be of a pregnant woman.

I wonder more about the ad for freelancing jobs, though I suspect it’s there because I include a link to my blog on my profile.  I suppose that one is at least less insulting than the others.  Have you seen any *good* ads on your Facebook profile lately?

Snowed In

It continues to snow here in Madison, albeit lightly at this point. Unfortunately, several days of snow and rain mean that the snow falling now is covering a layer of ice. The situation isn’t dire, but it’s bad enough that I don’t really want to go anywhere tonight. While I’m missing out on good Madison time, that does leave me lots of knitting time.

Earlier today, I finally finished my first scarf since last year. I made a “Noro” Striped Scarf using Crystal Palace’s Mini Mochi (in “Neptune Rainbow”) in place of the Noro, a ball of Brown Sheep’s Lanaloft and Jared Flood’s directions.

This is a super easy knit that shouldn’t have taken anywhere near as long as it did. I was nearly finished about a week ago, but became distracted by trying to finish my first raglan sweater in order to wear it on this trip.

I’m hoping to take a good picture outside tomorrow in contrast with the snow, but here’s an (over exposed) preview:

Mini Mochi does not look good in this lighting.

I’ve also gotten a good start on the February Fitted Pullover. I’ve knit about two inches of the gull lace pattern, which is ridiculously easy to memorize.

More bad lighting - the yarn is a darker purple than this.

I really do like the pattern as it appears in the FO pictures, but I’m thinking about making it a vest instead, since I’d already be wearing it over a button-down shirt anyway. I’ve got some time yet to decide, even with the fast progress I’m making. It’s amazing how much knitting (and blogging) you can do when you’re not going to work every day!

A Merry Christmas

It’s been a truly merry Christmas around these parts.  I’m feeling very fortunate.

We’ve spent the majority of the last three days at Jake’s parents’ house, since the weather has been pretty terrible.  It snowed/rained all night on Wednesday, leaving us with a gross mess of ice and snow on the roads, cars, and especially the driveway. The ice knocked whatever leaves remained on the trees, as you can see in this photo of the yard.

Leaf apocalypse

I walked around the yard – carefully since I’m not terribly coordinated and took pictures of some of the ice coating everything in sight. Here’s the bird feeder and a pine branch decoration.

It looks like it must be hard to get food out of here.

MM guy an ice covered decoration.

Last night, we had a lovely dinner and opened most of the Christmas gifts. I’m happy to say that Jake and I now have a new coffee maker that will brew 12 cups of coffee to replace the 4 cup maker that we currently have. It will get plenty of use as soon as we get back.

This morning, we had a delicious breakfast and discovered that the weather had warmed up just enough that we could make it to Milwaukee to have Christmas with my family. My new niece Leonna was there, so of course, there were lots of cute pictures with the baby.

"More pictures? Really"

I love the baby - but don't consider them "catching" as was suggested at Christmas

It's like a crazy staring contest.

We could only stay with my family for about two hours before the snow started up again.  Luckily we made it back to Jake’s parents house before the driveway froze over.  Now we’re all recovering from eating loads of delicious food and contemplating what to do for the next few days.  We’re returning to Ohio during the middle of next week.

I hope you all had a great Christmas or holiday seasons.  Get ready for it to be 2010!

ETA:  I was finally able to give Leonna the sweater that I knitted for back in September.  It’s still far too big for her, but I’m hoping that it will fit eventually.  That’s the good thing about small babies – they have to grow into pretty much anything you make eventually.

Measuring Travel Distance in Hat Knitting

Yesterday, Jake and I drove from Ohio to Wisconsin. Or, as he would remind me, he drove and I knitted most of the way. It was dark when we left at 6:45, but I started knitting before 8.

I cast on for a hat based on an amazing cable pattern from 400 Knitting Stitches, a stitch dictionary I bought when we were home in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. I finished the crown on the Beltway in Madison, so it was a close call, but I was able to finish the hat during the trip home.

Unfortunately, the numbers didn’t work out quite right. The hat is a bit small for an adult sized head, and the decreases were too quick. It does look great though, and would probably fit an older child quite well.

Isn't that an amazing cable pattern?

I’m thinking about ripping this back out since I really want a hat from this yarn and already used about two-thirds of the skein. The yarn is Galway Worsted Highland Heather, which I got on a great sale at my LYS since they wont be carrying it anymore.

I love the style of the hat. If it all ends up working out with the numbers I may write it up as a pattern. I’m not sure what the ethics are for writing patterns when you get the stitch from a dictionary though. Do I still get to call the hat pattern “mine” when the actual stitch pattern came from a book? I’ll give the dictionary author’s credit of course, and don’t plan to sell it or anything.