Unraveled

This is the glove I finished last weekend. It was way too big. I dropped a needle size, but the gauge is still off, so this weekend I will rework it using #1's. I knew I was in trouble when the glove comfortably fit Justin's hand!

Hand in Glove

What a clever title! So my latest project is to knit a pair of gloves for a birthday present. I bought a beautiful Noro- Silk Garden sock yarn. The blend is 40% Lamb's Wool, 25% Silk, 25% Nylon and 10% Kid Mohair. I think the left glove is turning out wonderfully. I just have to knit 7 more rows for the pinky and stitch it all up! Then it's off to the right glove. The finger lengths are long for my hand, but I've been told I have very small hands! It's a little freakish!
Work is good but creations in the kitchen are a little lacking. I haven't been motivated to really cook or bake. I'm hoping this comes back in the next couple of weeks. I'm just sort of getting by with making the bare minimum for Justin. Poor guy...

*oh, this is my last weekend being under 30!!

Conquering the World One Saltine at a Time

Phew, this week's been rough. Lot's of new adjustments for me and Justin. It's good though and I have to keep reminding myself- I'm not sick. So since cooking is not really my strong point right now, I've found a lot of comfort in knitting. I tried to start the wool bowl for my brother, but the smell of the lanolin made me super nauseous. So I started making a scarf with the beautiful skein I bought from Blonde Chicken, but I kind of hate it now. I always forget the yarn will turn out 'stripe-y'. I don't know who will wear this that I know and I figured a scarf would be a safe thing to make.
The other item is from a pair of socks. I was thinking of making several pairs and mailing them to my cousin Melissa. However, with our own coming around I just may snag it for myself and make another pair for her. I don't know, maybe that's a jerk thing to do!
Work is going okay, it's hard teaching entirely new subjects to completely different students than I'm used to. I'll live though, we've been having fun so far!

Pictures of the sock and scarf in question:

Last Day of Summer~Beginning of the Fall

This weekend has been very appropriate in the Northwest, we have been drenched with rain showers to snap us out of summer and get the school year rolling. Today is the last day of this summer blog and I'll probably only post once a week (maximum) now that the school year is starting and autumn is coming.

A lot got accomplished with my little experiment of staying home and not working for the summer break. It was nice. I cooked, read and knit. I have two Christmas gifts finished and only 3 more to knit. The dog doesn't really come, but he does fetch better~he'll let go of his ball now. The garden kept us with a steady supply of tomatoes, zucchini and broccoli, as well as green beans and a single blueberry! The potatoes are still growing and the garlic has all been picked, the apples look awful but the cherries (in retrospect) were great!

To welcome autumn I purchased an acorn squash this Friday. They store really well, so I suggest you invest in several winter squash to eat during the cold months. In celebration of our storm, I'll leave you with a recipe for potato and broccoli soup that we just love around here.

Potato and Broccoli Soup
Melt 2Tbsp butter in a large soup pot
Add 1 chopped shallot, leek or onion
3 Russet potatoes cubed
1-2 cups of broccoli
Saute all of these for 10 minutes
Add 2 Cups of vegetable or chicken stock
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes
Afterwards, using a potato masher- or anything you have, mash down the liquid mixture
Add 1 Cup milk
1 Cup cubed cheddar cheese
Heat all through until cheese is melted and serve.

We put chives on top, but in the winter when these aren't available you can top with whatever you prefer- crumbled bacon, sour cream and/or grated cheese.

Enjoy!

Sunflowers, Granola and Rabbits!

These are my awesome and totally not too healthy granola bars. They are flavored with honey, walnuts and homemade jam and some organic dark chocolate chips as well as a little almond butter. They're super good and at least I can pronounce the ingredients! The secret with homemade granola bars is that they're only good if you over flavor them. Just the basics and they're really not edible or worth making.

I just think this is beautiful. I harvested my sunflower thank you gift and I shook out a few seeds for my lunch today. The rest of the head is drying out so the rest of the seeds can catch up.

Funny (looking) Bunny!! This little guy is to be tucked away into one of the pockets in the cabled cardigan I finished yesterday. I might make a few more as I was shocked how small these guys really are. This is a free pattern from the Little Cotton Rabbits blog/site I wrote about. There are also patterns for bears and tiny 'iced buns'. I totally need to work on the ears. Justin wants an elephant and I think I can knit a trunk in i-cord like the legs. I'll experiment this weekend.

5am Productivity

Front of sweater (obviously). Sorry there is no fancy styling

This morning I could not sleep at all. I was up at 4:30 but managed to stay in bed until 5am. I decided if I was getting up then I was going to finish the sweater for my cousin's baby.
I posted the pictures here. I am crummy at finishing so I opted to not put buttons on this Debbie Bliss pattern. We don't know the gender yet so it's kind of mint ice cream color. Not baby mint and not grey but a nice middle shade. The yarn is Sublime from England but is spun and dyed in Germany from organic cotton.

All that's left is washing and blocking. I really hope they like it.