Tuesday, August 22, 2006

here she comes!


here she comes!
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
Geneweasel loved running free, and being a dog at the cabin. She would

sit and look at me, and I would crouch down to the ground and she would

barrel her way at me, as fast as her little legs carried her. She

smiled the whole way.

lake by the cabin


lake by the cabin
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Pesto and feta cheese stuffed pork chop

Our friends made this, and was it ever good and filling!

The made wrong souffle


The made wrong souffle
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
It sort of turned out though. I forgot to beat the egg whites before

adding them, and we didn't have a mixer, but we still ate souffle,

honeyed breakfast souffle at our friends' cabin.

new lampshade, after some wear and tear

check out the size of his conehead

The first lampshade, too small


The first lampshade, too small
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
We had to upgrade from the 24 inch size to the 300 inch, I mean, 30

inch size.

Speaking of tails...buster has a boo-boo

We believe Buster chased his tail too much. We had to bring him to the

vet. They shaved the tip of his tail, gave us lots of drugs to give

him, and sent us home with an Elizabethan collar/party hat/lampshade,

whatever you want to call it. It was not big enough, and Buster spent

all night after the vet chasing and sometimes reaching his tail. The

next morning I had to go to my work meeting late, as I had to make an

urgent trip to a more local vet to get a bigger E-collar. The size I

came home with was "the one the Great Danes wear" said the vet tech.

Little medium corgi Buster in the Great Dane E-collar, poor boy. We are

hoping and praying hard for happy tail news, and quick healing. Buster

is more than ready to get that awful collar off.

dogs as portraits


dogs as portraits
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
I got a new camera, so naturally I took an inordinate amount of new dog

pics. Here is one of my favorites. It captures the intelligent side of

Buster.

Is that a real tail, or just a mirage?


I have been up to trouble...


I have been up to trouble...
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
Does this yarn look vaguely familiar to you? Kelle referenced this by

saving "I know what you un-did last night..." Yes, it is true- I

frogged a complete sweater, post seaming, post several wearings. The

yarn to the left of the cardigan front is the rest of the former

sweater.



Why? you ask- Because I could, and because I believe I can knit it

better, to fit me. Notice those drastic waist decreases, and improved

armhole shaping, extended length, etc. I even took the liberty to

change the garter stitch like pattern, and knit the Cascade 220 blue

yarn in stockinette stitch, and alternated with the Noro Kujaku done in

2 rows of garter. I wanted the Noro yarn to show through more, and now

it does. In fact, I really like the way it looks so far.



I bought the best knitting design book, possibly ever, called

"Designing Knitwear." It was just what I needed. It offers all sorts of

mathy ways to make your sweater fit, just like I wanted it to do. Of

course the true test will be the seaming.



So far I have knit nearly both cardigan fronts. Next will be the back,

then the sleeves.



In the total frogging I spent 2 days unseaming the sweater (I had

twisted the alternate yarn together to carry it up the striping sides),

and a day unwinding the yarn, and winding it into hanks, then I

carefully washed and dried it, weighted with plastic hangers to get the

kinks out. I had to wait 2 days for it to dry, then wound it in balls.

Then, I carefully measured 2 favorite sweaters, one was from Express,

the other from J Crew, to find ideal sweater measurements.



I liked the original design I had knit, which utilized the extra inches

of knit fabric to fold down and to the inside to form a long hem and a

jacket-like look and feel to the cardigan. So I planned this extra

material into the pattern. I mostly winged it with the shapings, using

k2tog, and ssk decreases 2 sts in from the edges till the waist

shaping. At that point I did the decreases carefully spaced into the

rows, to achieve a waist-like decrease. Then, I increased knitting into

the front and back of the stitch 2 sts in from the end of the right

side rows until I reached the bust size.



At that point I did the armhole decreases on the right sides, on every

right side row, and did shaping for the neckline. I completed the front

piece by a three tier binding off to create shoulder shaping.



How is this different from the original pattern? Jane Ellison is the

designer who created the Gloria sweater in the Noro book. Her design

had too deep of armholes for me, and the shoulder shaping hit me at the

wrong places, after my shoulders. On the model in the book the sweater

looks shapely and fitted, on me it did not. I changed the st pattern

that was all garter stitch, added waist shaping, lengthened the

sweater, added additional shoulder shaping, and decreased the armhole

depth. I am also planning to add the bottom garter sittch "hem" later,

after seaming the sweater so it can be one continuous piece with colors

that transition smoothly. I will change the sleeves too, so they don't

hang down so much, and make them shapely, like they were on this

sweater the last time I knit it. That's all. Not too different, eh?

Friday, August 04, 2006

bunnies and weekends

It's Friday!

I tried to sleep in a bit, till 7:30 would have been fine, or 8 even better, but the dogs would not settle down! They were barking, and barking, excited to help DH leave for work. I was only able to set up one appt. today- due to summer scheduling. So, I thought, I will sleep in a bit, and then do paperwork.

This weekend we will be in WI for the annual DH's parents' weekend- Troy was up late last night baking a surprise for them while I knit on a commissioned project. The project is called a bunny blanket buddy, and uses Lion Brand Velvetspun. The yarn is really soft but does not have any stretch to it, making it a bit tiring on the hands to knit. I began this a few weeks ago, and in the course of last night, DH had an hour and 22 min. long haircut at the Scot Lewis training salon, while I knit in the waiting section. I didn't know what had happened back there with the haircut- had they messed up really bad and had to fix it? Did my husband disappear? After I had doubled the size of the knitted part DH was returned to me, with nice producty "up" hair.

Back to the morning- I packed my bag for the weekend already, so that's set. Now our dogs are quiet and calm, and relaxed, now that mommy is awake. I suppose I should do my work now.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Tank's first day out...

Today at SnB I shed my Michael Kors argyle sweater vest to put on my freshly knit tank top. It fits really well! I was quite excited that it fit well plus there were no errors in the pattern.

I have to give a few shout outs to SNB'ers. Ok, click on that link in the last sentence for the Urban Dictionary webpage. We gave my brother-in-law slang flashcards since my brother had some and he liked them so much, but this is an actual online urban dictionary. I suppose your could make your own at home!

Thanks Lisa for returning my mint plant in such abundant health! I will have to loan it to you more often!

Thanks to Connie for sharing her home-made pumpkin empanadas for our multicultural Dia de Los Muertes celebration.

Thanks to my favorite knitting wizardess, Kelle, for the kind apprenticeship and tutelage this afternoon. It is because of your great knitting wisdom that I was able to thoughtfully select the cast on for my next big project.

Which is where I will end today- I started some type of cable cast-on for my project- nope, didn't like it. Then, I started the long-tail cast-on, too boring, but alas, the crochet cast-on was just right, so goldilocks drank all the porridge. Is that how that story goes? I think I am mixing up the three little pigs with the three little bears, or something like that.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

tank is done!


I finished the bind off for the top and the straps today. Just have to weave in the tails. There are a few less tails than some of my other sweater projects, so that is reassuring.

A friend suggested weaving ribbon through some of the yarn over eyelet holes. I thought I was going to have to wear something under this, but it didn't look took risque when I tried it on its own. I could do some strategically placed ribbons, and it could be just right.

It fits well, so that is great, I just have to weave in the tails...what a drag...

Friday, July 28, 2006

les blogging desire

I am such a visual person, that the loss of my digital camera to the French countryside has left me relatively uninspired in blogland.

But I have been up to knitting- I am working on the finishing on my green lace tank, I cast on for the first tank top strap today, and completed the pick up and knits for both armbands. I also did something a bit crazy in knitting land, but I will leave that a surprise for now.

At the Relay for life, Brenda was kind enough to bestow her crocheting wisdom on me in the form of teaching me how to crochet flowers. When you have a teacher by your side it is a snap to learn! And I also started learning some granny square crochet, but didn't quite get it.

Tomorrow morning I have a work-related meeting from 8-12, I can endure it with some Starbucks and knitting though, so it won't be as drag-on as it could be.

I plan to do some mystery swatching there, too.

Have I mentioned I'm excited that I passed my big test?!?!?! Well, it is true! So have a mojito for me and celebrate!

Friday, July 21, 2006

Back in the country

I did not have time to post on my blog before I left- so I kind of just disappeared- virtually- I was in France on a mission service trip working at an English camp for French kids. It was great- more on it later.

While in France I went to Phildar! and got some of their aviso yarn. I also did some great shopping, with their 2 times a year sales going on. I finished the back of my tank, lots my camera in a small village 2 days before the Tour de France was coming to that same village, and tonight am participating in the Relay for Life, with a fellow blogging friend and other knitters for the Cure, the Cure-rageous knitters. Consider making a donation to support this worthy cause, just go to the link above. I plan to be there tonight, walking, and knitting. But not taking pictures, because my digital camera is in France, or somewhere like that by now.

Also- big news- I passed my big scary test- which means I am closer to my license in Marriage and Family therapy. I will be a licensed associate marriage and family therapist once I get my paperwork in!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

back of the tank, it is growing quicker now


back of the tank, it is growing quicker now
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

I had my supervision group- 4 hours of work and knitting time for me-
and completed 10 rows on this. I was sharing the time with 2 other
knitting projects, so they enjoyed their time too. I haven't messed up
on the lace pattern for since Tuesday. That is a big accomplishment for
me, especially since I had 2 mojitos last night at my friend's knitting
party. Somehow I managed to be a productive knitter, must have been
all that mojito goodness and plenty of sugar in a stimulating
environment. :)

It was a really great and fun time. The night grew out of a potential
planning meeting, turned party. Lisa is spear-heading a team of
knitters, hopefully, to join her in the Walk for the Cure. I plan to
join her in this, on July 21st. Let me know if any of you would like
to help contribute to this worthy cause.

We talked about everything, just because we could. I also learned about
wacky packs from her adorable kids. Lisa, did you know your son drank
his whole bottle of coke last night because he got carried away? He
told me himself. :) No wonder it sounded like there was a trampoline
upstairs?

The food was awesome, and the drinks a great compliment if I may say so
myself. I was using her KitchenAid blender, and I had a chiller and an
ice machine at my disposal for my drink-making process. I knew my mint
would wilt if I had harvested it prior to the party so I showed up at
her doorstep with a plastic terracotta colored mint plant. The whole
plant, dirt and all. I picked it fresh for the drinks. I had told Lisa
beforehand to buy lots of limes- she had this huge vase-like platter
full of limes, it was a beautiful sight. All that fun and I still
managed to be home by one, good considering I had to wake up at 6:45 am
this morning!

Kureyon 4 ft long I-cord, knit while in Supervision group

It kind of looks celtic and it kind of looks like intestines I think.

sock progress


sock progress
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
The decrease rows are done, now I am just knitting to my toes. This is

the easy but kind of boring part. I have no idea what to bring to

France for my knitting. My booga bag will be done by then, I will be in

France from next Wednesday to July 16th- and I am having a hard time

deciding on how much knitting I will need. Socks are always a good

back-up, but I might need 2 projects for options. Any ideas? Sweaters

would take too much yarn and tools, I don't have any laceweight yarn

other than my Branching Out project, and I'm just not sure what to

bring. I might bring a baby sweater project with me though.

blue dots on orange


blue dots on orange
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
Does this count for my Project Spectrum- with blue as the color of the

month? I made dots.

orange mohair baby sweater


orange mohair baby sweater
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
I knit this on a whim, it was the only yarn I had enough of in my stash

to equal a clothing item. Now, that is no longer true to be sure- as

you'll note from my indulgent yarn purchases (each with a purpose, I

might add). This sweater was done and all the tails woven in but it had

some lag time as I had to decide if I wanted it to have buttons or

snaps. In the end I chose the snaps, big ones, which took me a long

time to sew on. Then, the snaps showed through the mohair, an effect

that was aesthetically unappealing. I tried to knit flowers to sew onto

the snap areas, but to not avail. My efforts did not produce anything

flower-like in nature. Then I thought, dots. I will knit dots. How, I'm

not sure, which led to trying to crochet dots with the Happy Hooker

book. These efforts did indeed yield a more palatable product- as a

result I am quite proud of my design solution and equally proud of the

seamless look acquired from sewing them on using the yarn tails and

sewing into just the outermost edge of the crochet v, in a most basic

way. Now if only the recipient is home tonight, I can deliver the

sweater with pride. The mom of this sweater gift had admired this

sweater for awhile, and really seemed to love it, so I hope she will

love it now, too.

Friday, June 23, 2006

My first boogabag


My first boogabag
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
On June 8th I took my licensing exam for my profession. To mark this

milestone I decided it was time to knit this ultra popular felted bag.

I promptly went to "From the Heart" in Woodbury, as it was across the

street from the place I purchased my post-test lunch, which was

Bruegger's Herby Turkey sandwich and a caramel coffee cooler from

Caribou coffee. When I got there I was so excited! (this is starting to

sound like the intro to a story I wrote as a kid called 'My life as a

Dog' about my old dog Patches) There on the front door was a sign that

rang like music to an obsessed knitters' ears "SALE ALL Yarn 30%!!!!"

And the day grew a bit happier. Happier still was the following

Saturday, the last day of this oh so awesome yarn sale when I went a

little wild and purchased yarn for 2 more Noro/Cascade 220 cardigans

patterned off of my other one of the same yarn combinations.

Supposed to be the start of a koala tea cosy

But I think I ruined it by transposing it from dk weight yarn to

worsted weight, then guessing how that would affect the increases on

the pattern, and the row gauge. Ooops. It will be frogged soon, most

likely. You can google koala tea cosy for the pattern.

Completed tank front


Completed tank front
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

start of tank back


start of tank back
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

The saturday sale purchase


The saturday sale purchase
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
Enough for 2 noro cardigans with cascade 220 for contrast color. I

couldn't decide between 2 colorways and needed 4 skeins of a particular

Noro Silk Garden colorway to make the selected sweater. So I bought

both colors I was pondering. When I got home I realized the 2 groupings

were actually the same color number, and the same dye lot. Can you see

the difference between the ones on the middle, and the ones on the

right side? I sure thought they were different.

Tonight's big purchases


Tonight's big purchases
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
All yarns have plans for them. And I know all their plans. And I will

not disclose all the plans, so you will have to wait and see. I had

quite the yarn adrenaline rush after this purchase. I went to the "From

the Heart" girls night out and was elated to see that welcome sign

"Sale all yarn 30%" again, on the store's front door!!! How happy was I

carefully selecting my indulgent yarn purchases. After some fun

conversations with store personnel and other shoppers "What are you

Making?!" upon seeing my large armfuls of luscious rich fibers, I was

thrilled to find out that I had also won a prize in the drawing, a free

facial. It was a great night! Thanks Elzbieta and your mom, and

Elzbieta's baby for shopping with me.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

magic loop sock knitting

I have been talking with others about the magic loop sock knitting method. It really is magic because it means I won't be dropping stitches off of 4 dpn's at one time, I can just shove all the stitches to the middle of the two needles and they won't be moving around on me. Plus, you will never be one needle short as the circular needles have points on both ends. Here is a good link on the method.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Pre-dinner designing in Austin, TX's Macaroni Grill

don't ask what kind of animal is by the pretty lady...it might be a
kangaroocorgi...

Texas Grilling, Mason Randall, the NEXT Food Network Star, or something prestigious like that

'm really not kidding here. This grillmaster has met the one and only
Emeril Lagasse in person, and gotten his approval for his cooking. Wish
him luck and buy his barbecue sauce, especially the Kansas one it's my
favorite. AHHHHHHH! Crap! there is something crawling around in my bra
as I sit here typing in a v-neck black tank. I screamed, Troy killed
the little spider bugger on my bra! There are spider guts on my
Victoria's Secret bra! Yuck get it off me now! If I have little spots
all over when I wake up I am blaming the spider. And maybe I will stay
home from work and knit all day...wishful thinking the knitting part
not the spider bite marks.

Ok, seriously, that just happened. I have now shed a layer if you get
what I mean. I was out gardening today as I took the BIG TEST this
morning/afternoon. It is done, the books are going to get dusty I hope
really dusty. I don't find out my score till 6 or so weeks, but I think
it went pretty well.

There are so many things I can do now, now that I am not studying for a
big test. Paint the remaining interior walls of our Crayola house,
garden, knit, Knit my first Booga bag, scrapbook, etc. Today I gardened
and did lots of weeding and pruned our shrub roses and willow bushes.
They all look nice and re-structured- to use a therapy term.

I have to give a big shout out to the lady at the testing center who
let me eat her home-made trail mix when I was hungry during my test- at
approximately 1:20pm. She was a staff member there, and I needed some
food, thanks lady :)

Austin Texas' yarn store on the funky SoCo district

Short for South Congress Street. Rachel Ray (I want to be her) went to
Austin, Tx on a recent Tasty Travels episode on last Wednesday night. I
recognized places on the show, like Blackmail and the Vivid color store
connected to it. Rachel were we in Austin at the same time?!?!?! And
nobody let me know!

Mike, this one's for you


Mike, this one's for you
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
a vintagey outdoor diner on SoCo, in Austin, TX

Hmm...I'm needing a little therapy...

Boutiquey clothes, and lush chocolates, anything better? Any window
offices available for me?

Flowers at the wedding, of DH's cousin


Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The beautiful cake


The beautiful cake
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

And the other chocolate Kahlua cake


Armadillo bussing anyone?


Armadillo bussing anyone?
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Making history rockstar style at the Blanton Art Museum's grand opening

We waited in line an hour to get into this big festivity. The art
museum had a 24 hour grand opening party. Check out that giant flower
arrangement to the right of the stage

hooray for sales at Target


hooray for sales at Target
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
New plate and bowl, with pad thai noodle garnish on bowl edge, tulips
in background.

the Jaywalkers, completed, finally.

The idea of the pattern wasn't too hard, but the actual work of it
proved itself challenging. Such that this was almost abandoned
following the completion of sock 1. That would have been the first
knitting project I've ever abandoned. But I stuck it out.

Mini sweater with mini hanger


Mini sweater with mini hanger
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Iowa Sunset from an XB window


Iowa Sunset from an XB window
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Saucy tank in progress


Saucy tank in progress
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

I'm making this tank, and I love this perfume, Thanks designer Gayle Bunn for the pretty tank and cardigan


One down, more to go


One down, more to go
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

oriental cabbage slaw

I promised this recipe once upon a time, a long time ago, and I made it again tonight so here it is.

Oriental Cabbage Slaw

1 pkg shredded coleslaw cabbage 16 oz.
4 oz. toasted almonds
1 pkg Oriental flavor ramen noodles uncooked (break up the noodles with your hands while in their little baggie)
1/2 cup peanut oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, white

Blend oil, sugar, and oriental ramen noodle seasoning pack (included with noodle pack) in a blender, pour over coleslaw cabbage, and uncooked ramen noodles, toss all together with almonds. Chill about 30 min. then serve. Feeds a lot of people.

Friday, June 09, 2006

The chocolate tasting...our dessert selection- yes- all this came together

chocolate pot de creme, truffle with raspberry sauce, ice cream

sandwich, and chocolate marshmallows

Thursday, June 08, 2006

pretty dining


pretty dining
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

best ever crabcake


best ever crabcake
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
full of tender crab...mmm...I don't know how the chef got it to stick

together because it was practically pure crab

another chef freebie, mint and lychee foam

It was really good, like fruity candy but frothy

DH's food


DH's food
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
My food was sole fish with potato rosti, and a shellfish ragu, DH had a

steak thing with polenta and queso fresco and some fun sauces

another fun thing, crostini something, with raw fish on top?


uber modern and swanky


uber modern and swanky
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

With clean and beautiful bathrooms, Elzbieta this one's for you


Raspberry mojito


Raspberry mojito
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
This was my drink of choice the night before my big test. DH suggested

we got to Cosmos after I had told him about it, along with the

disclaimer of its priciness. I wanted a relaxing night pre-test, and

that is exactly what I experienced, along with tantalizing tastes and

visual appeal.

pistachio truffles, another rich indulgent chef's treat

DSCF0039.JPG

The Narnia-esque "visual divider" between the restaurant entrance and the bar/lounge