KnittyOtter

Prize Post #5 200th post contest thingy and What the hell day is it anyway...

So a few days ago this thing called my life/work/ThisNewUnEndingHeadache sorta threw me outta whack. I know, back to the outta whack. I am so the fuck out of whack that it's almost like I never had any whack to begin with.

Anyway this has precipitated a slight change of plans in my plans. Contest plans that is. See I have totally sucked the butt off a monkey and have yet to read all of the blog contest entry thingies. I know. It's nuts over here. I blame Cookie and her delicious CCSR's. Mmmmm So damn yummy you'll just keep casting onto new pairs of socks. It's madness. For a brief while I was considering casting onto all my size 2.75mm DPN's  with toe up socks. Just cause I think that's my new favorite part of the sock. Maybe I'll just make little toe cups and mattress stitch them all together for some kind of funky ass thing and then I'll call it art. What? You've seen some of the shit they call art these days. My connected toe cups can't be worse then that. Then I realized I wasn't making much sense and decided not to go through with that plan. A bunch of other stuff happened in there as well, but it's work stuff and therefor will not be mentioned on the ol' blog here. I will however say this... I hate the very stupid. That could also apply to some personal stuff as well I suppose... tra la la la la.

So anyway back to  the blog contest changes. Instead of having the final entries be in the system by Tomorrow night  I'm moving it back to Monday night. That way I can have time this weekend to read all the stuffs, reply to emails and whatnot and also finish posting the rest of the prizes. I may also go ahead and throw in some more swag for the prizes. Cause it's all about stash reducement over heres. (That sounds like a fake word, but I'm just going to let that slide for now.)

I'll adjust the original post in a bit to reflect the change of plans. Sorry about that to anyone who was looking forward to a Sunday revel.

So anyway the 5th prize to be reveled today is a brand new shiny.... (hang on while I pull up my photo folder and see what the hell I took a picture of earlier) Never been used Knitting Related Books. Here's the dealy, you (the 1st person who comes up on the random generator thingy) gets to pick two of these books for themselves and the one book left over goes to the second person who is selected. (Tomorrow I will show what else the second person gets as well.)

So yeah, which of these books would you want? *L*

In other news this reminds me of someone evil, well sorta evil. ;)

Tune in tomorrow for more prizes, a recap and the discovery of my inability to end a phone conversation in a normal way: How I learned to embrace my inner robot. ;^)

Prize #3: 200th Post Contest

The Third prize for my 200th post contest is a limited edition sock yarn from SWTC and a print off of the pattern that was made for this sock yarn. It was on a CD with other patterns for their limited edition sock yarn but I am not giving you the CD. :P (I have a few of the yarns for the patterns on the CD. Sweet!)

50% Superwash Wool
25% SOYSILK brand fiber
22.5% Cotton
2.5% Chitin (made from shrimp and crab shells!)
8 sts  = 1"
needles:       US 2 (2.75mm)
425m / 100g ball
machine wash and dry

Pattern: Pedal Pusher

This yarn reminds me a lot of the Russian Sage we have growing in our yard.

Clickety Biggety!

I love this stuff. It smells sooooo good. It's weird though. Most people around here think it's Lavender. I guess I can see that, but some of them are total asses about insisting that it is Lavender. Trust me, I know lavender. This is not it, though lovely it is.

I like this yarn a lot, but I have several skeins of the Tofutsies and I just can't have that much stash right now. It's become a burden. A weight on my shoulders to be knit up. In fact today I returned $270 worth of yarn to a local yarn store today. Granted they gave me store credit so it's still out there in the void, dollars waiting to be knit up. But at least I can use it for specific projects... or Winter Holiday Presents. Not for me to knit up mind you, but to buy my knitter friends their. ;^)

That's what this week is about to me, Stash Reduction. All the yarns in this giveaway are from my stash of yarn. After this I will have a few yarns that if anyone is interested in a swap, so long as you aren't some kind of socially and interactively challenged nut job that is, that would be cool.

Speaking of the socially and interactively challenged nut jobs of the world, if you come to my blog and post rude and completely clueless remarks or even say something to the effect that my blog makes you want to vomit I can pretty much guarantee you will not be winning any prizes here. Random generator true, but I don't have to include you in the mix.

I would also like to address the issue of some other blog out there announcing my contest as their own and then changing the rules of my little contest here to suit whatever delusional fantasy they have in their head about how this works. I never said I would be choosing a favorite for the second place prize thingy or that I was doing a co-blog contest. (WTF?!) Whatever y'all do on someone else's blog will not effect the outcome of what I do here. The second smaller prize will be randomly generated as well. It's not that hard to see what I'm doing here and if you want to reread what I said I would do, please see this post.

This was supposed to be fun and easy. I hope it's still fun for y'all.

In order to play along you'll need to go read this post and answer that questionnaire. Post the answers to the questions on your blog and then link your post into the comments of Saturdays post or leave your answers on Saturdays post in the comments.

In other news Cookie is right again. She is ALWAYS right. It fucking boggles my mind. I must never forget this. Ever.

(Isn't Zarzuela's roving that Cookie posted today just gorgeous! I need to learn to spin...)

Also Dave is a true fucking sweet heart.

And in Monday Loves, I love the rain that fell here a bit ago. That was a nice change.

I still hate stupid people though.

See Otter's can be cranky too. I'm feel'n down right smackety to be honest.

Prize #2: 200th Post Contest

Well post 201 doesn't feel any different than any post prior to 200. Or it could just be that I feel like hell today. *falls over dead* (Trust me it's better this way)

Anyway the show must go on, though brief it will be.

The second prize after the ultra fabulous Duet Sock Yarn is a Della Q bag. It's just the perfect size for socks in progress. :D

Pretty Nifty eh? Very bright and colorful. So that's the second prize for the 200th post contest.

In order to play along you'll need to go read this post and answer that questionnaire. Post the answers to the questions on your blog and then link your post into the comments of yesterdays post or leave your answers on yesterdays post in the comments.

In other news this is the mutant carrot we pulled up a few days ago.

He's not so much of a mutant, just a bit naughty looking. He was pulled up to make more room for a tomato plant. The tomato plant already has 4 little babies on it. I'm going to eat them raw when they are ready. I love tomatoes!

The Carrot was a little early but tasted pretty damn good. We made a wish and pulled him apart. I imagined the crunching sounds he made were tiny screams. *evil grin*

:P

Okay that's as much weirdness as I can exude today. I'm going to go knit on a sock and try not to feel as crappy. The sock will help with that right? ;^)

A Tale of Three Jams, Strawberry, Raspberry & Apricot

Here are all three Jam fresh from the freezer Friday Morning. Strawberry is on the left, Apricot in the middle and Raspberry on the right side.  The half full container on top is a mix of the three, the bits that weren't enough for their own container.(Clickety Biggety All Photo's in this post)

Last week Sandy posted on her blog about some Freezer Jam she had made. This intrigued me as I had never heard of freezer jam and I like the idea of making my own jam using whatever fresh fruit and however much sugar I want. After a couple of days with me leaving multiple questions for Sandy about this mysterious sweet substance and her being gracious and kind enough to post all the details on her blog I was ready to give it a try on my own. :D

Beverly also posted Jam on her blog and sent me some info to help me get started on my way. :D

Thursday I went to the new Whole Foods here in town. I wanted to go early in the day because I figured every asshat in the world would be shopping in preparation for the 4th of July weekend. I was wrong. Every freaking grocery store tourist was there inspecting the new whole foods. It was like a food zoo full of idiots. There was a handful of people with shopping carts and actually picking up stuff, but the place was packed with people being general irritating Looky Lou's. Literally pointing out stuff that they would have to come back to actually shop for. Blew my fucking mind.

I am a woman of little patience and these human road blocks were not moving out of my way.

The other half of the people were there just getting quick serve pre-made foods for lunch. There are several seating areas in the place and it was full with many more people just milling around complaining about having to wait. Milling about blocking walkways to get around the store. *head desk*

I didn't even stop to look at those areas most crowded with human speed bumps. I had a list and I treated it like an Olympic sporting event getting what I needed and going to the next item. The only reason I went there a week after it opened was because I had a $10 off coupon and it wasn't far from my previous errand stop that day. I think I'll be waiting a while before I go back. It was cool to have so many naturally grown items at hand, but damn I hate people. I hate stupid people. *icky shivers* The only good thing about all that was the fact there were no lines at all to check out since most of the people were just taking up space and not buying that day. *L*

/end mini rant

So back to Jam, I grabbed the only fruit pectin the store had, Pomona's Universal Pectin. It said it would work on traditional cooked or freezer jam. PLUS it said I could use as little sugar as I wanted. AND it said I could use honey instead of sugar. *SuperOtterHappyDance*

How freaking sweet is that?! SuperSweet!

So in addition to the pectin and fruit I grabbed some yummy Blackberry Honey and some Agave. The agave is for a future batch of jam or baking. It's a nice sugar substitute when you don't want that honey taste. Though the jam doesn't really taste like honey at all, just bright pure fruit yumminess. :D

The box came with a recipe leaflet, which you can find here on their website. It's Recipe Card 1. I used the no cook freezer recipe. Though it did say to cook the apricots beforehand and let cool.

The only thing I needed my stove for otherwise was to heat up the water and pectin for each batch. That was good as the kitchen didn't get hot and irritate me. *L*

Here's the organic fruit I used for my jam.

First I made the Raspberry Jam. I followed the instructions and made the Calcium water and set that aside. Then into the Vita-Mix went the raspberries. I had 2 cups of the puree so I added 1/4 cup honey, 1/8 cup lemon juice and the water, pectin and calcium water. Though I didn't read the directions clearly and had failed to heat up the water and pectin separately. *sigh* So after I mixed it all together I put it on the stove to get hot to activate the pectin.

Naturally it didn't work out as well as I would have liked. It didn't set as solidly as the others as you can see by the photo here.

I'm thinking of making a Raspberry Jam Cake to take to a knit-together later this evening with the rest of the Raspberry Jam. Having never made a cake with Jam this should be interesting... Mmm with a light lemon glaze on top. We'll see how the day goes.

The next Jam I made was the Strawberry. I had 4 cups of pureed fruit and used 1/2 cup honey. This time I followed the directions properly. :D

We had the strawberry Jam with biscuits for breakfast Friday and the Raspberry and Apricot with biscuits on Sunday. I also learned I could make a small batch of 4 biscuits at a time. *L*

The last jam I made was the apricot. It is by far my favorite. Which surprises because I thought it would be strawberry. The other two jams are raw fruit and this one is cooked. I'm not sure if that what's makes the flavor seem more pronounced or what. Next time I'm going to try to cook the berries and see what becomes of that. I only had one cup of the cooked apricot puree so I only used 1/8 cup of the honey. I let the fruit cool down before making the jam as per the box instructions before adding the pectin and calcium water.

It has a very bright apricot flavor and I loves it muchly.

It was a lot of fun to make and definitely worth the little bit of effort to make it. The honey loves the taste and loves that there isn't any white granulated sugar in it.

I think next time I will try my hand at peach jam, cherry jam and kiwi jam. :D

Big Thanks to Sandy & Beverly for introducing me to the world of easy to make, super yummy freezer jam.

So when are you going to try your hand at Jam Making? :D

TKK and the KittyHawk

Last week sweet little TKK got her summer haircut. It was a two day process as I only got to do one side the first day. It was hot and I didn't want to over stress her. Though she loved the attention she gets from her hair cuts.

I left a strip down the top of her back connecting her head and her tail in a soft patch of fur. We call it the KittyHawk. Kinda like a MoHawk, but for kitties. :D

Look at her strutting her stuff, Clickety Biggety!

Her fur is a bit fluffed up because she had just been rubbing all over the catnip.

Here she is after inspecting the Sprawling Cactus of DOOM. It started out this year as the three smaller center pieces. Then in just a few weeks it grew all those other parts. It grew crazy fast. If it keeps up like that we may have to move. o.0 Though it's not half as freaky as whatever the hell is growing over in Stacey's yard. Between that and the headless drunken chicken she is really doomed. *L*

Clickety Biggety!

In other news I need a haircut. I can't see past my bangs. It is weird over here. :P

Sunburnt Peas & Dealing with Catnip Addiction

I was feeling pretty good about my peas last week. But they weren't quite ready. Then Bam-O! They were out one day too long. It was a hot day. My peas suffered some losses that day. o.0

Here's what I was able to harvest yesterday morning.

All Photo's in this post are Clickety Biggety!

It's not as bad as it looks... though yeah it does look pretty bad. Especially compared to Norma's Peas. But I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous a damn farking bit. Not one damn bit. I swear. Feh.

Okay maybe a little bit. :P

But it's not as bad as it looks. I separated the burned peas from the lush plump green ones and only about a 4th of them were burned.

I shelled them and have a cup and a half of the good ones. I'm wondering if I can rehydrate the dry burned ones. Anyone have thoughts or tips on this?

I'm hoping the next crop of peas will be better. We still have carrots, onions, tomatoes, mini bell peppers and pumpkins growing out there as well. :D

There is also a very special stash of catnip growing out there. *dances*

Little TKK is LOVING this stuff.

She's not just on the other side of the catnip. She is right in the middle of it. :D It's so cute when she gets in there rubbing her wittle face up all other the nip. I never thought I'd say this, but my cat is a NipHead. She can't get enough of the nip. Even gets antsy if she can't get out a few times a day to inhale some of the glory weed. So with the smoke situation that's been going on we've had to keep her inside more so she doesn't breathe too much nasty stuff. Let me tell you having a cat smack you in the face at 5:00am because she wants a fix is not the best way to wake up. *L*

If this keeps up we may have to send her to Kitty Rehab. I hope it doesn't come to that though. I wouldn't want her to meet any of those skanky celebrity cats that are always going in and out of rehab. You know who I mean. :P

Just to the right of the catnip is some Orange Mint we picked up this year. Can you say super yummy Mojito's, cause that's what's going to become of some of it once it gets big enough. *dances* We also got some chocolate mint. Not sure what to do with that yet. I don't think a chocolate mojito sounds very good.

Tune in tomorrow for Adventures in Cat Shaving Or perhaps a Recipe for Super Yummy Garlic & Ginger Shrimp... but not both at the same time.  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Ten On Tuesdsay: Wasted Time

10 Favorite Time Wasters:

Yoinked from DaCookie. :D I'll email you (and Rendog) back tomorrowz) *hugs*

1.) Harry Potter. I know. I never thought I'd be one of those people. A few weeks ago I picked the books back up again. Love Them.

2.) Knitting of course! Although I haven't so much had time to knit as much lately. Well I am almost finished with that Tribbles stole thingy I started LAST summer and a few pairs of socks... and some other stuff. But until the camera documents them they are still unfinished. :P

3.) Spending time with my Honey and My Kitty doing stuff at home. Or with the honey doing stuff outside in the big bad world. We went to see Indiana Jones last week. It was good. :D But mostly I just like to hang out with My Honey and Kitty and enjoy being away from the world. Not that it's time wasted really. It's just not time spent doing unpleasant stuff. How fucked up is that, that I would think none work time is time wasted. Anyhoo...

4.) Hanging out with my peeps at Deluxe Yarns. Love me that Florrie and the gang. (They aren't actually marshmallow baby chickens, btw o.0 Just so's you'se knows.)

5.) Hanging at Starbucks with MonkeySocks knitting, because they have the best damn green tea iced tea. W00T! I finally got a box so I can make it at home. *dances*  Plus it's all coolie-o to see MonkeySocks too n' stuff. ;^)

6.) I'd say emaling my Best Friend and Bro, but as it's not a waste of time it seems odd to say. Again just none work time at the computer. Plus it's not like I've been great at corresponding lately. WTF?!

7.) Jake & Amir  This is such a funny web show. I love how Amir says Jake. *L* Seriously. Jake! For that matter I love all the geeks over at Connected Ventures who create College Humor. Hardly Working is an awesome series. My love started with running across Jacob Lodwick's LipDubbing over at Vimeo.

8.) NotCot and all the sites under it, especially TasteSpotting.  Many great cooking ideas have  stemmed from that site. Why this evening I made sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Fresh twice shelled Fava beans. I saw how to deal with the second layer on that site a few weeks ago and wanted to give it a try. And no I didn't have it with Brains or a nice Chianti. :P

9.) Garfield Minus Garfield. This is in fact the funniest Damn cartoon ever, ya know without Garfield in it. John is just a lonely weirdass freak without that chubby kitty to keep him grounded. o.0 This post makes me giggle everytime I see it. It's kinda perverted. It's all in the eyes. *L*

10.) Knitting Blogs, though I have been sorely out of step for a while. I've mostly lurked when I can, though very little commenting has taken place. Maybe once the world chills, *waves to Cookie's worrying, I has it too* I'll be back into the loop with things.

I have 11 cause I just thought of one, that is a total time waster, but that is something I love, even  if it's kinda sad. In the summer I love that show, So You Think You Can Dance. Time waster, Love it!! I'm a dork there you have it.

Jake!

*peaks in*

Hi.

I am not one of those people who leaves a note up every time I'm going to be away for more than ten minutes to say that I'm taking a break. Sure it's been a fuck of a long time, but I figured any day now I would update. Then more stuff happened and tomorrow was always a day away. Heh.

So that's why I never said I was away or whatever. Not that I was away all that time, though at times I was in fact away. There was a super awesome trip to Otterland a few months ago or so and some work stuff and the rest of the yatta yatta that makes up a persons life.

Most of it I didn't feel comfortable talking about on the blog because of privacy issues. Some there were just no words to describe how much I really really hate stupid motherfuckers.

I really really hate stupid ass motherfuckers who think they know it all and who don't have a clue about how to interact with the rest of society. To those people I give a big fuck you and die.

See without any background info that just seems kinda confusing I'm sure.

In life these things happen.

For months and months I have hoped some of the serious type stuff in my life calms down. Stuff I don't talk about on my blog. Work Stuff. But as it has not it has been a major time suck and source of irritation.

As for as knitting I'm still here knitting. I've got a few new projects going, even a bit of lace. But nothing to show yet.

So that's that. I'd love to say my life will be such that I can post regularly soon, but as the future is unknown I don't feel right making promises or preditions.

There has been a lot of super awesome positive stuff going on also. It's not all work over here. Just trying to move time around to suit a regular routine.

So anyway still alive and knitting. Hope to update more... but we'll see.

*OtterHuggles*

Entrelac Scarf & The Time Warp

I finished my Entrelac Scarf last month or so. Due to the time warp I keep finding myself in who knows. It may have been December. o.0

Anyhoo I finally finished it. The holdup on this project was caused by bad yarn management. I had 4 balls of the Trendsetter Tonalita #2349. Somehow one of my balls got away from me. Heh.

When I was cleaning up the yarn cabinet last month or so I found it so I could finally finish my scarf. Wheeeee!! I really liked knitting this up. I sure hope so considering I went so far as to make a Tutorial for it. ;^)

I've worn it several times and like it very much, although the colors don't so much match anything. It's very dreamcoaty that way. Which is fine because unless it's a Cookie Creation I rarely wear matching knits... because I've yet to get around to knitting a matching item.

I do like this scarf lots though. George looks Faboo in it as well. :D Clickty Biggety!

The actual knitting time wasn't much for this project. My inability to stay monogamous to a single project and bad yarn management is the real time suck here.

I think I want another one of these in more sedate colors. I really liked the way the greys flow in the scarf Cookie made a while back. Not sure about Grey... a few weeks ago or so this asshat of a woman told me, as I was wearing my just finished and proudly completed Duckie Hat, "I Hate to tell you this, but grey isn't your color". If I'd had any sense I'd have asked her why she felt the need to give out her unasked for opinion if she hated doing it so much. Feh. I very adultly ignored her... I think. I may have beaten her to death and blocked it out of my memory. You never know these days. I blinked and we went from the 4th to the 13th. o.0

This time warp shit has got to stop. I know life is happening in the blackout areas. I have knitting proof that I was awake during the missing time. But damn, how the fuck is it the middle of February already.

Last month Florrie mentioned a Leftover Sock Yarn Knit Along she was going to start on February 14th. It's here tomorrow and I still need to get my yarn leftovers together. There is also a contest with the Knit Along. It's a Crazy Socks Contest! :D If you like the idea of using your sock yarn leftovers to knit up a fun pair of socks and the possibility of winning some super nifty knitting swag why don'tcha give it a check out and knit yourself some Crazy Ass Socks. :D

I think I'm going to try to finish the socks I'm knitting on now before I start my Crazy Leftover Socks. I just started the feet on both socks yesterday when TKK and I were sitting outside enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. I was even wearing Shorts and a Tank Top. Today it's raining and it might snow later. That's okay too. ;^)

Happy Happy and the Scarf from 2007

I am Happy.

Happy Happy. *GRIN*

This weekend was absolutely fantastic. FANTASTIC. Actually the last several months or so (like the last 6 months) with the honey have been super fantastic. Sometimes you just have to let go of control and just enjoy life. Prior to that I had some doubts about some things and whatnot and that confusion and whatnot made things a bit tense off and on. Looking back it was just me making waves and being silly over shit that really makes no damn sense at all. The two of us not being around people or a situation that pissed us both off has been HUGE. Funny how taking out the thing that caused the arguments and disruptions can lead to greater happiness.

NTS: Never ask the honey go someplace he doesn't want to be, do things he doesn't care for or be around people he can't stand. The same goes for me. Don't do shit for other people because you feel guilty or whatever BS reason they try to push on you.

If I had to cover any of the resolutions from last year over again. It would be the ones about avoiding stupid people. Last year I kinda sucked at that. I got better. But still I didn't say no as often as I should have.

So this year, not so much a resolution, but a declaration I will SAY NO TO STUPID PEOPLE.

That and I need to stay in contact more often with those people who matter a great deal to me. I have been super sucky about that in the last several months or so.

Feeling like life is swallowing me whole is no excuse to not be there for the people who give that life meaning.

Now it's not just the glow of a lovely weekend with the honey making me feel/say these things. Just something I've had on my mind for a while. That and the relief and gratefulness for not being a complete ass earlier this year when I was contemplating my future choices.

So anyway I feel like I have back some of that whack I thought I'd lost. I fear I'm still somewhat out of whack and later this month I'll have my whack all out of sorts again, but it will hopefully be a temporary out-of-whackedness. Heh.

Speaking of Resolutions, Resolution #10 is the only one I'm renewing. Otherwise I'll just fly by the seat of my pants and do the things I need to do to be a happy person.

I knit a Fabulous Baby Alpaca Scarf for myself back in early December. It might have been November. Who can tell at this point, that was ages ago! o.0

The yarn is Baby Chunky Alpaca from Misti Alpaca. It was fun and fast to knit up. SO SOFT. A joy to work with... but after wearing it just a few times I'm not so sure about it. This is the most pilly yarn I've ever seen. It sheds like a bitch too. :/ Still soft as hell, but damn if I wanted to have fur bits all over my clothes I'd hug the cat after getting dressed. There is also some Claudia Handpainted held with it in there. Chocolate Cherry sock yarn. It adds a bit of color and makes it kinda tweedy. I just did a simple 3x3 rib for the pattern.

The other knits of 2007 will have to fall into 2008 since I still need to photograph them. One of them will have to wait until it's owner gets it and takes it's picture. Here's hoping I get my ass over to the post office soon! Though I still don't trust them. Bastards.

Anyway after having a great weekend I'm prepared to have a great week. Wheeeeeee!!!!