Kitchen Meme

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, underline the ones you have but use less often, italicize the ones you have and don’t use,
strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.

I've had a blog all this time and have never done a meme.  Wow.  Oversight.  Must correct.

I wonder how many pasta machines*,
breadmakers,juicers, blenders,
deep fat fryersegg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes,
cheese boards, cheese kniveselectric woks, salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers,
bamboo steamerspizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, crock pots,
pressure cookersslow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves,
ice cream makersfondue sets,
healthy-grillshome smokers, tempura sets, waffle makers,  tortilla presses*, electric whisks, cherry stoners, candy thermometers, food processors

bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation’s cupboards.

* Denotes stuff I make by hand.  Really, if you don't have your hands in some things, you have not made them.

I'm so depressed

I've been knitting along on the mermaid colored Liesl that won the 'finish me first' UFO competition, and the more I knit, the less sure I am that this thing actually fits. .  This isn't good. 

The sleeves seem as if they'd be very tight if the sweater was worn over a shirt that had sleeves.  Solution: redo the sleeves to add a pattern repeat in the section of bound off stitches.  (Can't fudge with the live stitches held on waste yarn.) 

And that worked out perfectly. 

It's complete!  It turned out really well, if I do say so myself - and clearly, I do.
The additional pattern repeat makes all the difference.  The pattern shows people wearing the sweater over camis and summer frocks, but I wanted to be able to wear it over whatever I wanted to wear it over.   And now, I can. 

Oh - Julie - you're so right about waste yarn.  It's a horrible name.  They could say 'scrap yarn.'  They SHOULD say scrap yarn.  Let's lobby!

Previously...

Previously on  Cozy's blog, there was voting for which project she should do. Liesl took the lead.  I tried it on.  It was good.   The only thing better would be to actually complete it.

To get things properly stowed, I gathered them up the other projects and put them into project bags.  

The multi-mini-skein projects went into baskets.

So now  the decks are somewhat cleared. 

It's time to complete the sweater so that one might (gasp) WEAR it.

 

What shall I finish next?

Do you have project monogamy issues?  If you don't, may as well find a new blog to read today, as my topic du jour will be incomprehensible to you.  I do commend you for your maturity and dedication - but if you have the fortitude to start one thing and completely compete it before you start a new thing, then we may have  dialogue issues.  Because I can't do that.  At all.

If you're like me and have an attention span shorter than that of the average May fly, read on.  (I have no data about the attention span of a May fly, but as they only live a day or so, it can't be all that impressive.)  I have a lot of items that are in varing stages of doneness and they need to be completed.  But which to do first? It's a big decision.  And you need to help me.

In no particular order - we have:

1. My 'Psycho-deli' shawl.  It's very organic, growing from the bottom point up from sock yarn scraps.  All the stringers you see hanging off will eventually be woven in, as I am no longer a huge fan of fringe. 

 

2. A little shawlette/scarf made with 2 of my hand-dyed yarns.  The pattern name is 'High Speed Knitting,' which I'm sure it is for people who actually finish the item before starting 12 more projects.  

 

 3.  A lovely Liesl, made with a wool/bamboo blend yarn.  I stalled out on this after completeing one sleeve, just to see how they went.
They go good.  So why am I not knitting the heck outta this?  I do not know.

4.  A linen stitch cowl made of sock yarn scraps.  This has been hanging around since March.  It's fun.  I like the idea of it.  I need to finish it.

5.  A cute little super simple wrap called 'Just Knit It'.  Which literally is pretty much what you do.  It's garter stitch.  I am further along on it than this photo  indicates, but not THAT much further.  It's a light fingering weight yarn I dyed my own self.

Comment to cast a vote.  There are no prizes other than the warm glow of knowing you've helped me along the road to decision making.  (Yeah, bummer, I know.) 

I Just Learned...

...that funny little arrow dealie on all the Amazon packages is supposed to be a smile.
Okay.  I'll smile back.  See?  Good-o.

...that you can knit some really, really cool things with very, very little yarn.  Wee-neesy hearts that take around 4 feet of yarn per each to knit  too cute.  And yes, I do mean four feet. 

And then, if you make a little length of
i-cord, you can sew the i-cord into a circle, and then you can sew the heart onto the circle, and voila - you have a cute little heart bracelet for small girls who like green. 

Or whatever color.  It doesn't take much yarn or much time. 

...that I really like cool-looking fun  projects that don't take much time.

 
 And if you knit a little herd of the little hearts, you can make a tiny headband for a baby. 

That's a lot of results for 8 yards of yarn.  And yes, this time, I do mean yards.
6 hearts at 4 feet each equals 24 feet.  So divide that by 3, and you get 8 yards.  Right?  Seems good.  I learned a long time ago that math isn't my best thing.

But I am really cute.  That helps.

Squirrels and other hoarders

Squirrels are apparently very resourceful little guys.  I've never seen one eat fruit before.  This little fellow found a rock hard windfall pear at the base of the tree and apparently it was calling his name.  He picked up up horizontally, as if it was corn on the cob, and munched his way around it very efficiently. 

About 50 feet away from him is a pecan tree that is absolutely loaded, but apparently this is your new squirrel, the type that eats a more balanced diet that includes fresh fruit. 

Whatever.  I just hope he doesn't bury a bunch of pears for future reference.  For one thing, I don't need a pear forest. And if he remembers where he's buried them, he'll likely be sadly disappointed with what remains when he digs it up.


I've been hoarding all the little snips and snaps of sock yarn, like a dutifiul little squirrel, and now it's time to Do Something With Them.   Projects  so far range from small to large and several points in between.  Here we have garter stitch woolbling garnished with orphan buttons. 

 

More bracelets are in the works, garter stitched like the ones up there, and also some with i-cord and buttons.

We have the many-colored mitts of  scrap yarny splendor.

My current project is a herd of tiny hearts that will become a little circlet for Bebe to wear.  There'll be photos of those soon.

The biggest project of all is a mini-skein shawl.  Because I don't want to be a silly squirrel, hoarding all the goodies and then forgetting where I stowed them.  I want to knit them. 

Events Update

It appears that I have posting fail.  My goal was twice a week.  I didn't even manage once a week.  How can this be?  I have so very much to say, and I'm so sure that people want to read it.  I'm going to have to come up with a twice a week fixed schedule that will be doable.  At the moment, I'm thinking about posting on the days the garbage dudes come.  There's a certain symetry to that. However, I'm not totally committed to it. I'll let you know.

Meanwhile, big things have happened here.  For one, we had a baby! 

She is quite splendid in very respect, of course, from her soft downy little head to her very nomable toes.