Spring Fever

Well, it's looking like winter is finally departing from the mountains, thank god. Now we're just rewarded with warm days, cold nights, and some EPIC storms (including the one three nights ago that knocked out our power!).  And of course, the ubiquitous spring cleaning bug.

This whole ''spring cleaning bug" has bitten me on the ass pretty hard. It's also being fueled by reading far too many DIY/design minded blogs, YoungHouseLove being my current favorite. I've never been totally thrilled with how our living room is put together, and the addition of one of a new Ikea shelf is making things more complicated. One of the inevitable perils of having roommates is that you end up with furniture that doesn't always fit the space, and will eventually move out with their owners, leaving me reticent to get rid of anything, lest I want it at a later date, yet equally reticent to buy anything to fit the current configuration since it will change in the future. In our case, we are lucky enough to have a pretty massive (306 sq ft to be exact!) space, so we don't feel TOO crowded, and even then I think it's just me. But I'm discovering that big isn't always better. We have room for more seating than in the old place, but I'm left feeling like the old tiny living room felt cozier. It doesn't help that I feel like we've just got pieces in here that aren't necessary, so it just feels cluttered to me, yet we still have odd areas of dead space.

There's also this huge expanse of wall with nothing on it. I keep saying that I am going to print photos from some of my trips and frame them, but then I start doing the math of buying enough frames, and my bank account starts crying, and the idea is abandoned.


I finally have a completely free weekend, so there's going to be a lot of cleaning/re-organizing going on. I'm on a quest for new bedroom lamps, frames, and eventually a rug for the living room. We've (okay mainly me) got some ideas kicking around on things we want to do in the kitchen and master bath as well, hopefully some of those can come to fruition soon.  I really want to do something like this in the awkward corners in our bedroom:


And on the knitting front, I cranked this blankie out for our new nephew, Captain Flynn. Sucker came out enormous (blanket, not baby), but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

The Great Sock Caper

Every now and then I decide that I am going to knit/sew/cook/build something without totally thinking it through. Sometimes it works out okay, and sometimes it ends with me sitting in a mound of flour on the kitchen floor crying. Well, this time it worked out. Sort of. In a vain effort to stop my boyfriend from wearing socks with his flip flops I jokingly said I would make him some toe socks. This backfired (of course!) and immediately resulted in him asking for a pair of tabi socks. "Sure honey!".  Well. There were several problems with this.

1. I've never knit socks before.
2. Tabi socks wouldn't really be your cut and dried socks
3. fidshgfiuaeghauehgouhrgourREALLYELEANOR!?

Well, after a couple of failed attempts, I finally got one sock done. The first pattern I used had to be modified, because Sean has monkey toes or something. So that was fun. Get the whole thing made, tralalala, look! A sock!  Well, I decided I didn't like that pattern, because clearly changing patterns halfway through a pair of socks makes perfect sense. So on to the second pattern! This one had more flexibility with numbers, etc so less modding. Well, I cast off the second sock last night, have him try them on. The fucking co edge was too tight on the first one, so I had to frog the BO edge and redo it. The upside? I learned how to work this magic: Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.

Patterns I used and my synopsis of their sock viability:
Nice and Easy - This was the second sock. As I am new to knitting socks, I can't decide if I like short row heels or sl1k1 heels better. It's up for debate. I actually think this sock was a little too big for the size 11 foot. Kind of baggy, and the cuff is poofy. This could all be chalked up to user error though.

Mr. Tabi First sock. I don't know what size 11 man foot the author was using, but I was knitting to gauge and there was no way the toes were going to fit. Not even close. Hence all the fiddling with numbers. Fits better through the foot section though, and cuff is much tighter. 

All in all, he likes them. He's wearing them as I type. He wants more. We'll see. But here's a picture:

P.S. They're not as wonky as they look in the picture. He was doing weird things with his ankles.

Soup and Wool

 I made this black bean soup the other night and it was SO GOOD. I've been on a quest for a good black been soup for awhile now and have been disappointed. This one was perfect though. It's a Dave Lieberman recipe, and I honestly did absolutely no tweaking, and don't think there is anything I would change.

10 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth (if you want more broth, up this, it's very little)
1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes (I used the kind with chilies)
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed (I've mentioned this before, but I cook and freeze my own, and therefore I think I used about four cups cooked dried beans)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch cilantro (okay I left this out cause I didn't have any)
juice of 1/2 lime
Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheddar, for garnish

Put the bacon into a large heavy pot and place it over medium heat. Cook until it starts to give up its fat, about 4 minutes (I lied. One thing I would change? Cook the bacon longer. I don't like chewy fat, so I ended up picking out some. Sean thought it was fine though). Stir in the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about 1 minute. Add the broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and chili powder. Stir in the beans, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the soup is bubbling gently and cook 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, pick off all the thick stems from the cilantro. Wash it and shake dry. Chop the cilantro coarsely and stir it into the soup when it has been simmering 10 minutes. Cook until the soup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice. Serve with the garnishes.

On the knitting front, I've been cranking. The Christmas gift list ended up at: 3 scarves, 2 shawl/wraps, and a bag. All in about a month. I think I slept somewhere in there. Maybe. I just posted a bunch of knitting pictures on facebook, so I won't bore you with that redundancy. Currently I'm working on a Clapotis for my pseudo-SIL's birthday. Just using some Simply Soft, but it's coming out quite pretty. Definitely on the list of things to make for myself soon. I'm thinking of making mine in some Noro Silk Garden, because I love what the colors do.  My LYS is having a sale right now, I'm thinking it might be a good time.

Some thoughts on knitting

So as those of you who know me in real life know, I knit at pretty much any available opportunity. This often means I am knitting in public which leads to some inevitable statements from people.  For the purpose of performing a public service announcement, I'm going to debunk a few of them.

1. "I don't have time to do stuff like that." Do you watch movies? Wait in doctors offices? Watch tv? Sit in traffic jams? Then guess what? You have time to knit. Just because you don't have hours on end to knit doesn't mean that you don't have time. Quite frankly, a lot of the time I am knitting it's a row or two here and there. I don't sit down and churn out a sweater in one sitting here people! My point is, once you start knitting, you realize that you do have time. And then you will become obsessed and make time.

2. "My grandmother used to do that. Isn't knitting only for old people?" No. Shut up.

3. "I could never do that!" Well guess what? Have you ever tried? Then how would you know? It's really not that hard. You have two pointy stick and some string. You essentially make a serious of knots to form fabric. This is not rocket science people. Yes there are some techniques that are more difficult. But what one knitter finds difficult others think is a piece of cake. For instance, I find color work difficult and tedious. But I do enjoy knitting things with cool textures and shape. So there you have it.

4. "Would you teach me how?" Sure. Let me know when and where.

And then simply for the hell of it, a picture of the Mario afghan I've been working on for Sean:

Knits