afghans for Afghans

Hey everyone!
Are you looking for a small project to knit?
Or do you have some leftover 100% wool yarn you don't know what to do with?
Do you want to feel good after knitting?

Consider knitting for the organization afghans for Afghans. They need children's items by October 12th. (They must have moved back the date, because last week I wrote down September 21st ont he top of my pattern). They need blankets, hats, mittens, socks, sweaters, and vests for youth ages 7-14.

Check out what they need over Here at the Current Campaign Site



Think you don't have enough time? I started this last night and I already have one mitten done and am working on a second mitten. That is one night in front of the TV and two bus trips later... And I am a fairly slow knitter, y'all.

Just think of the difference you could make with a night or two of knitting! I put the sock I was working on away and have decided to dedicate until September 30th all my knitting time to knitting for this group.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to volunteer more an donate what I could, and this is really a win-win-win... get rid of some yarn that is taking up room, get rid of my stress by knitting (from moving and all), all the while of getting rid of some bad karma while helping others! What could be better?? Why, you joining me of course!

A Beach Sock Sob Story

This weekend I went to visit my most of family who were staying in Ocean City, MD. My family goes every year. This year it was 2/3 of my Uncle Johns (all my uncles are named John it is very handy to my husband who doesn't have to keep track of their names. Like-wise I'm lucky on my in-law side I get to call all his uncles Su-su which means 'uncle' in Chinese), my aunt Joanne, my parents and my Grandpa. I'd show you a picture but somehow I forgot to take a group shot (maybe because everyone else was doing so!!).

But I did take some pictures of some sock drama (which, it is really hard to get sock drama in less than 3 days - but I managed somehow).

At first the sock was doing well. Enjoying vacation. Enjoying the view of the beach (even the cold temperatures didn't bother the sock, as it is made of a wool-cotton blend).



But then chaos happened as it started to rain on the vacationers, so too a gloom descended on the sock. (but how much gloom can you have, even when raining on vacation if there are cool kites that look like flamingos?)



The yarn, not carefully wound into a ball - but merely used straight from the skein - TANGLED! Into a horrible mess! And the more it was tried to untangle the sock yarn, the worse it became.



The tangled web that was wove continued into the night...


And even came home from vacation that way (even with my little homemade bobbin out of paper towel there was no hope!). But Luckily today it was finally untangled - after a few days of craziness - it was a very happy ending. I even got to knit on it a little bit tonight.


P.S. If you ever find yourself on a Metro Bus or a Metro Subway car and you want a seat to yourself, take out a ball of tangled yarn with some half done knitting attached on one end. For some reason no one wanted to sit next to me today. Maybe they were concerned they would become entangled in this mess and not be able to get off at their stop?

FO Friday post, 5.75 hours late

Good morning. It is 5:40 am as I type this. On a Saturday. I did that thing where you are dreaming about something, and then you hear a noise and you wake up thinking "there is a robber right in this very room!!" But it is just that you knocked a pillow or something off the bed onto something that made a noise. But in your sleepy haze, the body has already dispatched the adrenaline so - now, you can not fall asleep again. This doesn't happen very often with me, but I think it is going around, because earlier this week Harland did the same thing!

But anyway - I finished the other sock (in a week, I can hardly believe it! I mean it is a really simple pattern, but wow! I have never finished a sock in that short of time before!)

So anyway here are their stats.
needles: KnitPicks size 1 circular (16 inch)
yarn: Socks that Rock in Watermelon
Pattern: 'Made up' of K2P2 ribbing for the ankle and down the front, regular "French" round heel, and 3 point star toes from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.

It's my first 'made up' sock pattern. If you count K2P2 to be inventive. Haha. But it was fun selecting what kind of heel and what kind of toe.

So here they are in all their glory.


Here is me modeling them at 11:11pm last night (truly they were a Friday FO but I wanted to go to bed instead of post). I like how the pooling at the bottom of the ankle/top of the gusset is radically different in color on each sock. I don't know why that tickles me so much but it does.




And here is a close up of the toe. I love the star toes.


But I am thinking of trying the next pair as toe-ups. Dear KB is doing a really fun pair of toe-ups over here on his blog. And I have to admit, I really want to try these socks, over at Wendy Knits. The Cabletini Socks. Bless her she has published the sock pattern for FREE.

Thankful Thursday

Well it is that time again...
I'm thankful for several things this week:

1. Moving to a new apt. away from my crazy (and loud!) upstairs neighbor soon. I'll let you know how it is once I move in a few weeks.
2. Harry Potter books - they entertained me and now they are entertaining my husband - although I kinda miss him. Every night he reads and reads until it is time to go to bed. That leaves me a lot of knitting time... but... see number 3.
3. Knitting. I am stressed these days... with the move so close, and I don't think we are far enough in the packing yet (see reason 2). Makes me nervous.
4. Cat-sitting. I am taking care of my co-worker's cat. He (the cat) is sooo sweet and since his family has been gone for a while now, he is so clingy and loves being petted and purrs these really cute purrs that end in chirps... like PUUUURRRRRrrrrrrrrrrriiiirrrrpppp! Well, I guess you can't really get it from that but that will have to do. His family is, unfortunately, in Peru... which also makes me nervous. I dunno if transportation will be running as smooth as usual. I may have to cat sit a while longer or something. We'll see.

And well, that is it for today. Don't have much else going on around here.

FO Friday!

FO stands for "Finished Object" in the knitting blogging world. And, after over a month hiatus, I am back in the game.

I finally decided what toe to use for my sock. I used a three point star sock toe and it looks so cool in person. Unfortunately, since I finished it last night, I couldn't get a close up a star point so you can see what it looks like. I really love it though - it is fun to have little subtle stars on one's toes!!!

I'll start on the other sock today, so maybe when I finish that one, I'll get a better picture.
But here are some pictures of the sock and it's toe. I also like the way the three point star makes the colors into a triangle!!




And yes, my DPNs do indeed live in a tea canister. :) My straight needles live in an old spaghetti sauce jar (which the label was removed). Someday I am sure I'll find a cooler place for my straight needles to live.

Thankful Thursday

Best birthday present is --- Here!





Well actually it came yesterday. I only have the chance to take pictures with flash - as yesterday I got it dark, and today it is story out... so these will have to do. Although they do not do it justice!! It is sooooo beautiful. I plan on taking more fun pictures of it as soon as natural light lends itself to my photos!!!!

Isn't Susan the bestest friend a gal could ever have????!?!?!?!
(P.S. Orange is my favorite color).

When I came home today I almost had forgotten about it... and then I walked in and did a little dance of joy.

So today I am not only thankful for the incredibly amazing quilt, but I am so happy that I have been blessed with a friend such as Susan. She really is a fantastic friend and I have never had a friendship that clicked so immediately and so permanently. It's like having a happy, thinner, more energetic, shorter (and better French speaking) clone of myself. So she is the subject of my first "thankful Thursday" (a blog day that Kristin at Yarnsticks is starting up, which is good for me, I often only worry about things instead of thinking of the positives already surrounding me).

Chicken Salad

So maybe you roasted a chicken and now want something to do with the leftovers?

Here's my made up chicken recipe, inspired by some yummy chicken salad I used to get at Auburn at social events (it was really the best thing on the catered menu, they used to serve in on croissants, don't even let me start counting the calories in that!)

Jessica's Pretty Lazy Chicken Salad Recipe

Ingredients:
cooked chicken
mayonnaise (lowfat, nonfat, or vegan okay!)
1 stalk celery
1 handful red grapes
fresh ground pepper
fresh rosemary
dash of garlic powder

Directions:
Cut all the grapes in half. Dice the celery stalk to itty bitty pieces. Chop up the chicken. Mix everything together. Eat! Pat belly in pleasure!

I know, I know. Grapes you are thinking. Trust me and try it!! With the rosemary and the grapes you get a nice sweet yet savory salad. Sometimes I go crazy and add some curry powder!

I know, I know - Nonfat mayonnaise??!?!?!?!?! I admit it is weird to me too. I mean isn't the whole point of mayonnaise is that is is merely made of oil and eggs?? But right now since we all know I am trying to lose weight out came the non-fat mayo. And it doesn't ruin the chicken salad at all.

Roasted Chicken

Okay, so it has been too hot to go hiking, really (We have been walking at Burke Lake Park which is shaded and nearby. Our favorite hiking places require a bit of driving so by the time one would get there it would be the hot part of the day). And for whatever reason I have been taking a break from knitting for a while.

So what I have been up to? Mostly reading, relaxing, listening to music... etc. Today I took time out of that busy schedule to make a really nice dinner. We had zucchini, corn on the cob, green peas, and roasted chicken. Some people have the idea that roasting a chicken is way too hard, so today I am going to try and dispel that myth.

So there are lots of ways to roast a chicken with different contraptions. I have a vertical roaster which is basically two non-stick pieces of metal that curve into my chicken. I bought mine at Big Lots years ago for a whopping $1.99. Anyway, it holds the chicken up. Next time maybe I'll make a picture tutorial.

But, you just wash the chicken, dry it off and then slap it on the roaster. I like to put some sprigs of fresh rosemary in between the skin and the meat - just poke some holes in the skin and feed it through. Then I rub some olive oil on the chicken (like you would sunscreen!) and throw some freshly ground pepper, garlic powder and a hint of salt.

Pop it in a 375 degree oven and let it roast away! Cooking time varies upon how big the chicken is. There is a handy chart in my favorite-est cookbook ever (click here!). This is my favorite cookbook because it will tell you how to make anything you want. Honestly. I love it so much - It's got everything.

Other than that - my "porch garden" is mostly a disaster. The basil is the only thing that flourished. I just snipped a bunch to bring in and dry (that will come in handy in the winter!!)
It really makes the house smell good! Well, at least the kitchen area.

Sorry such a boring post, but for once I am glad things are dull around here, because the rest of the month will be crazy!!