The Rite of Spring

One of my favorite thing to read as a child (hell, I still love it), was the Little House series.  It appealed to my inner history dork, I fully admit to identifying with the hot tempered, spitfire Laura and not matter how many times I read it (which was a LOT), I never ceased to be amazed at the things her family did that seemed perfectly normal to them.

Like spring cleaning.  Now, spring cleaning in the 1880's was a little more necessary. When your sole source of heat is burning things, your house is going to get gross. There were no air purifiers, or filters, or any of the fun useful things we have today.  One of my favorite scenes was Laura beating the rugs, and washing the sheets, which of course led to the idyllic image of sheets flapping in the prairie sun and wind.  This often led to me doing odd things, like beating my bathmat on the clothesline, or hanging my sheets to dry.  Of course, much like Laura Ingalls, I had little patience for anything, much less housework.

This hasn't changed much.  But there is no way to describe what hit my house on Thursday other than a fit of spring induced cleaning. Thanks mainly to our friend Bobby, the house is borderline sparkling. Floors are swept/mopped/vacuumed.  The vacuum was taken apart and cleaned.  Baseboards and cabinets were scrubbed. Tops of high things were dusted. Trees were trimmed. Plants were planted. Grass was mowed.  You name it, we did it.  I rearranged the shelving in our closet, as it didn't really suit my style of organization. 

It never bothered me that I didn't have much decoration in my apartment. I always viewed it as temporary, and it seemed silly.  I hung a few pictures, but that was about it.  Our rental house was somewhat decorated, but I was still limited by the standard rules of renting. Few holes, no paint. I love that house, and would have snapped it up in a heartbeat, had circumstances been different.  We love our house, but injecting a house with our style on a VERY, almost non-existent budget is proving challenging.  Several websites are fueling my jets right now though, including apartment therapy, and the newly discovered www.ikeahacker.blogspot.com.  I think another Ikea trip will be in the works soon.  Of course, it is making me want certain things which are forbidden to me. Like a jigsaw. 

How does YOUR garden grow?

My title sounds like a bad euphemism, but I assure you, it's not. I genuinely am curious.  Cause our garden? Not so hot.  We have several issues going right now which are preventing us from having the glorious thriving garden we dreamed of.  Part of what drew us to our house in the first place was the fantastic yard and flower/garden space.  We could have gardened at our rental, but come planting time we knew we would be gone before we could reap the benefits, so it seemed futile.  So this spring we got a little overzealous and spent about $40 on local, organic seeds (because we are hippies doncha know), and got to digging.  Sean got the veggie bed all turned over and I planted two stargazer bulbs, of which I seem to have managed to keep one alive. And since I have killed cacti, this is a feat.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where we stalled. Partly because we work weird hours, and partly because there are some issues to contend with.

1.
The bed which I have claimed for my own personal flower orgy has three of...these. I don't know what they are. I am going to dig them up. As far as I can tell, they are  massive, leafy green blobs, and I don't like them. So they are going away. 

2. What real estate isn't take up by blobulis greenphilia is full of mint. And I mean full.  Don't get me wrong, I like mint. Some will be kept. But dear god. Do I need this much?


3. Funny Eleanor-doesn't-know-shit-about-gardening story. So the following picture is the bed we designated as the herb garden. It's right off the patio and near the kitchen, so therefore perfect. Well it was full of weeds, which I planned on going at in my normal style of bare handed weed pulling frenzy.  My mother sees the bed a couple of weeks ago and remarks, "Wow, your yard has a TON of poison ivy." Yes. Those weeds I was going to go nuts on? Poison ivy. It's EVERYWHERE.  Now, I don't think I get it that bad, as I have only had it once in my life, but still. Pulling up massive amounts of poison ivy in shorts, tank top, and barehanded? I would have been miserable.  So spray has been acquired and sprayed, but I think we need more. I also don't think we can viably grow edible plants in this bed this year, so herbs will have to be grown elsewhere. Anyone who knows about gardening, please feel free to chime in and tell me that I am wrong. Please?

Summertiiiiiiime, and the living is easy...

So I've been a busy bee this spring.  Helping the pseudo-SIL move,doing house stuff. Working on the garden.  A trip to Ikea meant that many house things were dealt with.  Our front room is starting to look great!  As long as it stays clean (haha, yeah right).  Anyway, this is going to be picture heavy but I want to share!

I would post a before shot, but I don't have any other than the one I took when we closed, and it's just an empty room, and that seems silly.  So I shall post the recent ones.  Ignore the clutter, that's still a work in progress. 





This would be the end tables we got at our couch that we don't really like, and haven't found a good place for. They look great in here!  And the rug is my $20 Ikea find. 


There's even some knitting content!  Well, it is my house, so this is likely not surprising.  The one on the far right is just a skull intarsia chart. It normally lives in Sean's gaming corner, but it works in here too.  The one next to that is sort of ruched, has a really cool texture to it, and is by far my favorite.  Then the one on the far left is based on a Wooly Thoughts design that I saw on Ravelry.  I might still buy/make a couple more, but for now that's what I got.

There are also some framed postcard things I bought at Ikea hanging above the loveseat.   I'm actually pretty damn happy with it. 

More house updates to come soon, along with knitting galore!

Happy New Year!

Okay so I'm a couple of days late, but whatever.  Figured I would do the obligatory "Here's a list of things I am going to say I will accomplish this year and in actuality won't do a single fucking one" post. Except I'm ALREADY doing mine.

New Year's Resolutions:
1. Not say shit like "I will be SO MUCH HAPPIER if I just lose 10 lbs", or "Everything will be so much better if I do XYZ",  because quite frankly, it's not true.  And it just gives me something stupid to stress about
2. I will get this house organized how we want it.  I'm tired of never being able to find anything, and having stuff laying around everywhere. 

To this end, I've already moved some stuff to the giveaway pile/storage in the garage, started cleaning and organizing our closet, finally hung the spice rack and started rearranging the kitchen.  It's going to take awhile, but if I do a little bit at a time, I can get it done.  The theory i have is my head is that if I get it done, it will be easier to keep that way.

And they said let there be chili. And it was good.

So the Thanksgiving holiday frenzy is over, and we're in that very brief calm before the Xmas rush totally begins.  I am now going to proceed to make you all hate me.

I am almost entirely done with my xmas shopping.  I have a few things left to make, and I am done.  And one of those can technically wait until after Xmas.  But yeah.  A few VERY small things, and a couple of very easy things, and I am DONE. 

But, I can't post pics until after Kissmoose, lest I ruin someones surprise.  That would be a tragedy.  So instead I will post a 'recipe'.  As I am sure has been noticed, I (and Sean) tend to be the throw shit in until it tastes good type of cook.  Some foods lend itself to this, others don't.  An example of that is chili.  And that, my dears, is what is simmering away happily on our stove right now.  And here, in all it's convoluted glory, is what we did. This time.

The cast of characters:

1 lb or so of ground beef

1 lb sausage (we used hot)

2 smallish onions, diced up pretty small

2 green peppers, again, small

big can of  crushed 'maters

chili beans

kidney bean

white northern beans

some garlic

some chili powder

some garlic powder (what, I like garlic!)

smoked salt

regular old salt

pepper

few shakes of Tabasco if you're feeling frisky

Cook up your meat. Don't drain it.  Fat is flavour. Get over it.  Throw your onions and garlic in with the meat.  Drain all the beans and put them in the pot.  Put in all your spices.  Cook for a few minutes.   Put in whatever is listed that you haven't put in yet. Pour in some salsa when Sean isn't looking. Taste.  A little while later wander back into the kitchen and hack up some smoked potatos from dinner the other night and throw them in. If you happen to be Sean, gripe that Eleanor turned the heat up cause she's impatient and hungry.  Taste.  Wander away for a little while longer, watch National Geographic.  Taste some more.  Whenever you can't handle it anymore, turn it off, top however you desire and eat. Eat lots.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is how we made chili tonight.  Apparently, we are going to be eating chili a lot in the new year because Sean wants to enter the Chili Cook-off.

Next up, I attempt to make chicken enchilada casserole.  Cause wrapping up those little buggers is a PAIN!

A word to the wise.

I am usually a good person.  I do as I am told, follow traffic laws, smile at strangers.  But when it comes to baking, especially holiday baking, I am a menace to society.  Or my kitchen at the very least.  Seriously, me + baking = a disease.  And a big fucking mess.

I went in to make gingerbread, so that I can make what is becoming my holiday signature, pumpkin gingerbread trifle.  Box mix, nothing fancy.  Well, now I have two apple cakes in my oven.  And once again, I didn't have something I needed, so I improvised.  No tube pan?  Welllll.....loaf pans are about the same height right?  Sure, let's use two of them!  At least I have all the ingredients right for once! 

But of course, now my kitchen is covered in sugar, flour, and cinnamon.  Oh yeah, and that egg that got dropped on the tile. And some oil that dribbled on the counter where I got distracted by an inquisitive kitten nose investigating the gingerbread. 

I should step away from the spatula now.  But I can't!  I might keep going!  I have to make pudding!  This was going to be custard, but I might have uh, used all my eggs.  So pudding!  Assuming I don't get murdered when Sean gets home and sees this mess, I will try and remember to post pictures of my hysteria.

I live with Hussey's and caught the floozy

Now that I am recovered from my bout with the flu (try it! It's fun! Really!) I am starting to think about Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, a close second to Xmas.  I love that in the midst of the holiday dense end of the year there is one holiday that centers around food, and family, and being thankful.  To me, Thanksgiving isn't just about the food.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Thanksgiving food, but something about spending time with family is nice.  Spending that time enjoying good food, and good company really makes you thankful for both.  And despite the fact that I, and those I love, have had a hard year, we still have a lot to be thankful for.  Nice homes, and loving families, and good friends to help us through those tough times.  And especially when it's been a hard year, I think it's important to not gloss over the holiday that's focused on giving time, and thanks, not presents.

That being said, I am excited about decorating my new house. Next week.

Spray paint, power drill, and 2 cups of coffe

So I have been on the hunt for bed side lamps that I actually want.  Much like many of my quests, I can picture the perfect item in my head.  Problem is, it only exists in my head.  The ones I find aren't the right color, or are too expensive, not the right size, etc.  Why no, I'm not picky, why do you ask?  Anyway, it suddenly hit me the other day.  The ones we have are a good shape, the right size, my main objection was the color. They were boring black.  So, instead of spending $100 on new lamps, I bought a $3 can of spray paint.  They are now "avocado" according to Krylon.  It may not be the most professional paint job ever, but they are going to look so much better! Next up, I want to add some detail to the shade.  Maybe keep it simple with some fabric glue and ribbon. Slowly but surely, I am getting our bedroom (well, the whole house really) to the point that I want it. 

Next up, buy some picture frames.  I might stick with this spray painting theme and
just buy some cheap ones and paint them. I forget sometimes how something so simple as paint can completely change the look of something.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Turns out my computer wasn't busted after all. My psuedoBIL looked at it, tightened some stuff, and restarted it and it's working fine.  Wonderful.

So last weekend my mom, best friend, and her mom and I all went to SAFF.  I'd never been before and will definitely be going again!  I got a few things, pretty much blowing my entire paycheck from that week, but it was so much fun.  I have a ton of animal pictures (okay maybe just a bunch of alpacas) on my mom's camera, so I can't show you those but here is my haul:


Don't have any fun knitting pictures to share atm, but I did buy a new camera card, so they will be forthcoming.

And because last night was Halloween, I give you our pumkiny goodness

Technological black thumbs strike again

So I still fail at blogging, but at least this time I have a valid excuse.  My computer (can't remember if I'mat 4or 5 now) died.  My techy friend said he could be bribed with beer to come look at it and give it the verdict.  I'm hoping I can get it working, or Frankenstein together a working laptop from the crashed one, and the old one that got destroyed in the car accident.  But if not, well, yarn budget gets repurposed to computer replacement budget.  Which was not part of the budget.  Le sigh.  And my lovely, occasionally forgetful Yeti took my memory card out of my camera and put it on the windowsill.  Is it there?  Nope. Behind the bed? Nope.  Do I expect to find it someplace weird, hopefully not in the cats litter box? Yup.

Anyway, to today's regularly scheduled program.  I'm being a little knitting ADD right now.  My sweater is coming along.  I'm having to make up the sleeves as I go, because I wanted long sleeves, and the pattern was written for either short sleeves, or long flared sleeves, and I have a VERY strong hatred for flared sleeves.  They always remind me of the witch costumes I wore as a kid for Halloween, and not in a good way.  I have also discovered that I abhor knitting sleeves. They're so damn fiddly.  This is likely why I will never be a sock knitter.  I will fondle, and love, and appreciate, but knit them?  Bwahahahaha.

So currently, I got these mitred squares I'm whipping out to ostensibly make a throw pillow with, some apple core shapes I going to piece together to maybe make a rug with (it works in my head, don't know if it will in real life though).  I also have resurrected my Moderne Log Cabin blanket. Now that it's getting colder, it would be nice to have, but all that garter stitch just gets incredibly dull, so it's being alternated with other fiber experimentation. I would post pics, but well, with no camera card, and minimally functional computers, you all in internet land will just have to deal with the anticipation.

We go together like rama llama llama dingy dingy dong

Okay so those aren't quite the right lyrics, but I tried. Anywho, at the request of my dear partner in yarn crimes Jessy, I might start throwing in some of my cooking misadventures as well as the fibre-y kind.

So before popping my food blogging cherry, here's a bit of back story. Sean LOVES pho. He is always bemoaning Asheville's lack of pho establishments (he thinks it's a pho-king shame bwhahaha yeah I went there). So the other day, I stumble upon this recipe: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/05/crockpot-vietnamese-pho-recipe.html and thought I would give it a shot. Went to the store, bought the ingredients, plus a few extras. Now I have only had pho once, and that was a good 10 or 12 years ago, so I had no clue what it was supposed to taste like. I thought it sounded odd, frankly. Well, 5-6 hours later, we sat down to eat the stuff. The reviews were mixed. I thought it was gross, picked out the mushrooms, ate enough of my noodles to not be starving, and gave Sean the rest. Sean liked it, but said it wasn't totally pho like. He assured me repeatedly that it tasted good, it just wasn't real pho. Would I make it again? Maybe, if he wanted it.

But to counter this flop (in my mind anyway) I made one of my favorite dinners of all time. The kind of meal that makes me feel like a kid again, and if I eat it prepared any other way, it is WRONG, and they obviously don't know how to cook, and sends me weeping to McDonalds. Okay, maybe that was just that one time in the UNCA caf where they used tempeh. Shudder. I find it simple, and delicious, and uncomplicated. What is this culinary delicacy you ask? How do I make this party on my taste buds dish you ask? What could it BE?

STROGANOFF. And here is my dad's recipe, word for word as it was given to me.

Ingredients:

A pound or so of ground beef (you can use slab meat cut into little cubes or shreds, but I thing ground beef is better)

A few fresh shallots (onions and a clove or two of garlic work if you don’t have enough shallots, but chop ‘em fine whatever you use)

A pound or so of fresh mushrooms (brown creminis are best, ordinary white ones are okay) sliced so they aren’t too big

Half a cup or so of white wine – something with a lot of flavor, like a white burgundy or bordeaux, not some weenie Italian white. (Red wine produces a really vile pink color, so if all you have is red wine just drink it and leave it out of the stroganoff.)

Butter (NOT olive oil)

Sour cream (not under any circumstances the low-fat shit)

Black Pepper

Grey Poupon mustard (do NOT use French’s. This is not a hot dog or a ham sandwich)

A small amount of beef base if you have it, but don’t worry if you don’t

Dried tarragon. This is non-negotiable. Fresh tarragon just doesn’t work as well, for some reason.

Salt

Process:

1. Put some butter in a large-diameter high-sided pan and melt it. Don’t be stingy with the butter.

2. Toss in the shallots and sauté them until translucent. If you use onion & garlic sweat the onions good, then add the garlic when the onions are about to be done – otherwise the garlic will overcook and be bitter like folks in small-town Pennsylvania.

3. Add the beef and brown it good, breaking up the big chunks. Add several grinds of black pepper.

4. Remove the beef & shallot/onion/garlic mix from the pan, leaving as much of the meat juice/fat/butter residue in there as possible. Don’t worry if you leave a few bits of the meat & stuff in the pan – you’re mainly making room for the next step.

5. Put the mushrooms, white wine, and about ½ a teaspoon of the tarragon in with the meat juice, etc. Cook this until just about all of the liquid is gone but not until the mushrooms get dry. It will take awhile, as mushrooms are mostly water. Adding a pinch or two of salt will help draw the water out of them, but don’t go overboard. FYI, the reason you removed the meat from the pan is the shrooms cook a lot faster when it’s gone, and it’s easy to determine if most of the water is gone, which you want – it will be a pain in step 9 if you don’t cook off most of it now.

6. Put the beef & shallots back in the pan.

7. Add several really big globs of the sour cream and about a tablespoon of Grey Poupon. Stir until everything is well mixed.

8. Taste it and see if there’s enough pepper to suit you and to see if there’s a stroganoffish balance between creaminess and mustardy sharpness. You can put in some more tarragon here if you want to, or add a bit of the beef base if it tastes wimpy. If you’re going to use beef base, use like half a teaspoon at the time, and remember it has a hell of a lot of salt in it. Don’t add salt until after the beef base is well and truly assimilated and you’ve tasted it again.

9. Cook this until it’s as thick as you want it, but don’t let it boil. This might take awhile as you’re basically getting rid of the remaining liquid from step 5, as well as what’s in the sour cream. During this step you can fiddle some more with the sour cream/mustard/tarragon balance if you need to

10. Serve over noodles.

DISCLAIMER: As far as I know, there is no one of Eastern European descent in my recent gene pool who would know how to make true stroganoff. It is entirely likely I could eat this in Russia, made by someones babushka, and think it was wrong, because it wasn't my dads recipe. But this is GOOD. Not healthy. But who cares, cause it is YUMMY.

Knitting disaster to be posted tomorrow, so sharpen your tenterhooks.

With a knitters yell, she cried more more MORE!

So I finished the Global Warming I cast on last weekend. Whole thing took about 3 days. I still have to sew the pocket on, and weave in a few ends, but it's done. This one I am giving to Katie, cause she liked it. I'm knitting myself another one, and I am excited. I like the look of this pattern. I'm doing a few mods to mine, which I will detail later. But here is Katie's:


I also whipped this up, and want to make more, because I think they are really pretty!


I've got another row done on the Drexel Puzzle, and I think I have 2, maybe three more to go, but I can crank those squares out fast. No reason why it shouldn't be done by next weekend, just in time for Charles to take to school!

Busy beaver (bee? whatever)

So this is the before and after picks from the yarn stash reorganization project. I think it looks great! There's no strict system, but I do have it so that I can see everything that I have. One of the drawers has loose needles (I don't have many, I always use my KP Options), and another has scrap balls, which will eventually be used for my Tessellating Fish. I threw away almost one whole plastic bin of swatches, scraps, and tangled messes. Sort of cathartic, wish I could do the same thing with my brain sometimes.

Erica is going to see her sister and her kids this weekend, so I cranked out these guys:


Both patterns are from Knitty. The turtles shell comes off, and there are some different outfits you can make one. I messed up somewhat in assembly (his eyes are in the wrong place, and one leg is crooked) but no one but me really knows, so I guess it's alright. The penguin required learning how to w&t, which not being a sock knitter, I've never really done before, so that was cool.

Now I have to do some serious cranking on Charles' afghan, because it would be best if I could get it to him by next weekend, cause mailing that thing would be a bitch, it's going to be HEH-EH-VY.

New projects

This is a DSi case I am concocting right now. SWS in Natural Earth. I gotta say, I love this yarn. Lovelovelove. Anyway. I'm doing a rectangle in a double knit, cause I was the plushyness for protection, then putting a zipper on the top. Going to put some sort of side pocket on for games as well, but that's more experimentation.



This is Charles's re-done afghan, which I am trying to get done before he leaves for Drexel in a few weeks. I am optimistic. I think it's going to look really cool, I just hope he likes it!

Next up, I have to whip something up for Sean's sister's new baby, and I found some really cute little tops I want to make his nieces, which I am shooting to have ready for xmas. I also want to find a great pattern for Elizabeth's new one, but I am waiting to find out that she is actually pregnant, I don't want to jinx it for them! I'm thinking about doing a Hoover blanket (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall03/PATThoover.html), but doing one side in a self striping, and one in a solid. I've been wanting to make one for awhile, and this gives me an excuse!

I suck ass at posting

So I suck at this knitting/blogging shit, but whatever. Done a couple of things lately, but nothing spectacular. Except for...

THIS.



I am actually pretty freaking proud of this. Dimensionally, I'm not a huge fan, but I like the design. Debating writing up a recipe/pattern for it. Wasn't difficult in the least. I want to do a little more experimentation with it, because I'm not sure I did it in the most logical way, but I do like it.

And given that I bought new bedding, for the new house (squeee!) I am using it as an excuse to knit a new afghan for our bed. So far I got this:



The plan is strips like this in green and brown, and alternating them with some sort of leafy lace pattern in beige. As usual, I'm going to change my mind another 15 times I'm sure, but for now, that's the plan.

I'm a knitting machine...

Well I finally finished Katie and Anthony's wedding afghan. They got in married in October, but it simply wasn't done, so they're getting it for Christmas.

Mods: I think the pattern meant you to pick up and knit stitches, and I just picked them up. It meant that each side has lines of color joining, but it gives an interesting effect where there's no right or wrong side.

For the border, it also wanted to you basically carry stitches along while do the decreasing squares. I didn't want to do this, so I bound of squares as I finished rows. I think went back and picked up stitches along each side, each side a different color. Then did a round of single crochet in the tan. Gave a nice unifying effect I thought. I do still need to deal with some ends, but other than that I am really happy with it. It's a nice couch throw size, which I what I was going for. I think I might eventually make one for our bed, but that's another day!

I also finally finished my Noni Carpet bag and got it felted, and am waiting for it to dry. Charles scarf is about half done, and I have finished the back piece of Sean's vest. I still need to take some pictures, but I think in a day or so I am going to do a picture heavy post.

Now I am off to knit some more!

Christmas

There's really not much to post about when I haven't accomplished much. I am mostly done with Katie and Anthony's afghan, its just the same finishing issues I always have. The idea of picking up stitches all along the edges don't have me very motivated either, alas.

The more pressing list right now is:
a dishcloth by Wednesday
a dishcloth by Friday
a scarf by Saturday

The scarf is the least pressing, because I can technically work on it after I leave to go home, but it would be harder to do, since its for my brother, who will be home. But it might happen. I'm hoping to make the Mason Dixon dishcloth, but its sort of dependent upon the book getting here on time, which I don't think is going to happen, so this: http://www.geocities.com/love2knit_dishcloths/Dishcloth022 is my backup. I think they will like it.

Eventually I am going to start on hats for Sean's nieces, and a sweater for my friends toddler. I have done the back of Sean's vest, and need to start the front. That and the wedding afghan I think are going to be the projects I take home to finish up. Ten days should equal plenty of knitting. Theoretically. When I get around to it, I will post a bunch of pictures of schtuff.

Pillow

There is a new first in the life of the Yarn Hussy. I made something all the way through based upon my original design. Very minimal, if any, froggin. Holy shit. I have made one pillow cover, and here it is in all its glory! My color work needs some help (I think I have wrapping/tension issues), but for the most part it looks good. I'm seriously considering typing up a pattern and posting it on Ravelry, in the hopes that someone else will make it. Easy as hell to make. Course now I have to figure out what I want to do for the second pillow. I might just not bother, we have about four pillows as it is, which I think is more than sufficient atm.

Now I might work on knitting a mate for my sock. I'm so flipping excited about my recent bursts of creativity. Now that I'm not in school, I haven't been doing much to make me feel accomplished, and this is filling the void nicely!

Progress

Well, I have made some inroads into the pirate afghan. The current plan, which I think I like, is to make a shit load of squares in black and white, with one skull and crossbones square in each corner. This thing is going to be massive, but the Yeti wanted snuggling/blanket burrito-ing room, which when you're 6'2" means a LOT of squares. Each one is 48 x 56 sts on size 7's. I'm using cheapo One Pound acrylic. When its going to be this big, and its just for us, I can be cheap. I'm debating putting pink skulls on on half, but I don't know yet. I'm about one and a half strips in, and I'm guessing I'm going to need about 10 across, as I want it to cover our queen bed.

In other news, I KNIT A SOCK. Despite the plethora of sock patterns on Ravelry, I have resisted, for the large part because I hate dpn's. Well, I have discovered what I honestly believe to be a gift from a higher being/God/Zeus/Great Mother, whatever. The Magic Loop method. I know, its old, not new, whatever. But it's freaking awesome. And here, in all its glory, is my sock.
I used some KnitPicks wool of the andes I had lying around, and its nice and soft. I should have used stitch markers, and the beginning of my round changed about 3 times as a result of my refusal to use them, but it is still a perfectly wearable sock, and I am quite proud of myself. I don't know if I am going to become addicted to sock making or not, but it was enjoyable to learn a new thing.

Next up: 1. pillow covers for my couch throw pillows. Of my own design.
2. Cunt clutch for Katie.
3. Finish my flipping Noni bag already!

New start (and yes, this is a loaded title)

So the move is completed. The yarn is unpacked. Which means...

You guessed it, a new project. Or rather the umpteenth incarnation of an old one. New variation of the pirate-ghan. Pictures will be posted if this one sticks for more than 52 hours. Promise.