KnittyOtter

FO: Double Knit Duckie Hat of Doom- good day/bad day

I have finally decided to call the Double Knit Duckie Hat finished. So this afternoon I gave it a bath, set it outside so it could try in a few minutes. Seriously. o.0

Then I took a few pics of it. The neighbors on either side of me came out halfway through the photoshoot. George was being a total diva and did not care for the stares and unwanted attention. He is not an attention whore unlike some I know. Feh. But that's a post for another day. Just a reminder though HATE PEOPLE.

That reminds me, I'll post the winners to the contest soonishly. (plus the rest of the prizes in that same post.) TKK still needs to pick the winners out of a bowl. That's how she said she wanted to do it since she is the impartial judge here. Said the random number thingy bored her. She also said if you emailed me anything nasty regarding the contest or any of the idiotic crap that came about from it that you hadn't a snowballs chance in hell of being selected. I thought I held a grudge, this cat is on fire. *L*

So anyway the Duckie Hat. I think I started this thing in December of 2006. o.0 That is a freak of a long time. My oldest UFO. Granted it didn't take that long to knit it. I had other stuff to do and then I wasn't sure... now I jiust plain love it.

Here's the side of the Duckie Hat I'll be wearing if I'm in a good mood and the alert level for me killing you is low to medium. Low to medium is pretty much normal. :P

You can tell it's the good day side by the bright happy yellow duckie.

This is the Bad Day side of the hat where the chance of me killing you is medium to high. Generally reserved for extreme stupid asshats who make a pile of shit look worthy of an award for intelligence and integrity.

You can tell it's the moody side because of the dark sullen grey duckie. This duckie wants to rip your throat out if you act like a dumbass around it.

So far this has been tested once. A stupid person who is worth so little regard or remembrance that I do not recall her name once commented on the duckie hat and said that I should not ever wear that shade of grey as it was not flattering. No I did not know this person well, nor did I give two shakes of a monkeys ass about her opinion. Needless to say she has not been seen since. *evil Grin* The Grey Bad Mood Duckie does not tolerate stupidty.

The funny thing is that given the two colors I think it's the yellow I can't pull off as well. *L* Thankfully that is the good natured duckie and won't come after me for saying such a thing.

Perhaps creating a Good/Evil Duckie Hat that wants to destroy mankind wasn't the best thing for the continuation of the world. Oh well, Good or Evil, time will tell who wins this battle. :P

Here's the top of the Duckie Hat. I did a simple round decrease.

This is the chart I made for the Duckie Hat.

It's based on the Sports Racer Duckie from The Show, with Ze Frank. The show is over and the ORG closed up. *sigh* I only keep in touch with a few of the other Sports Racer. I think I miss Ride the Fire Eagle Danger Day most of all though.

When the show was a few months out from coming to it's one year experiment end I decided I needed to make myself a Sports Racer Hat. It sorta evolved from there. *L*

Started: December 27, 2006
Finished: July 29, 2008
Pattern: My Own - An Original Otter Design :D
Yarn: Nature Spun by Brown Sheep Company, Inc.  Impasse Yellow & Charcoal. Worsted Weight - half a skein each
Yarn Source: Deluxe Yarns, Etc.
Needles: I do not recall
For: ME!!!!!!!!
Notes: I kinda wish I'd taken better notes. It's on a piece of paper somewhere around here...

I actually finished knitting on it sometime last year. Then several months later I weaved in my ends. Then it sat in my UFO Bag while I decided if I wanted to add beady little evil eyes. But I think it's evil enough as it is. Plus I was considering Duplicate stitching over a slightly wonky area on the duck bill... er duck beak? You get the point. I decided it was prefect as it was in it's slightly wonky way. :D I has the love for my Duckie Hat.

It is truly the most comfortable hat EVER.

The honey wants me to make him one with some kind of Dinosaur who's name I do not recall at the moment. That should be fun. :D

Hey Cookie, what kind of Double Knit Hat do you want? *dances* Hello Kitty unless you say otherwise. :P

Ooo I'll have a thinky. I has some ideas.... I'll get back to you....

Anyway so that's my Double Knit Duckie Hat of Doom. Your Doom if you know what's best for you. :P

P.S. Evil Stacey has permission to kick the ass of anyone or anything that irritates me. *L*

And extra Hugs to Cookie. *HUGS HUGS HUGS*

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 #4: 200th Post Contest

Hiya! Sorry about all the unreturned emails. I will be getting on that tomorrow morning... the life it eat the head when it's not the most optimal time for it. Eh, we go on.

So today's prize is a set of needles and stitch markers. It's a set of Clover Takumi DPN's. Size US 0 / 2.0 mm. Never used from my stash of needles. I bought these back when I was a new knitter and all these snobby knitters told me that you are only a good knitter if you knit on a size zero. So wanting to become a better knitter I got the zero's. Turns out when you knit as tight as I do size zero really doesn't do much for you. Not on socks at any rate. So they have pretty much no use for me.

*edited to remove rant about stupid butt monkeys*

It's hot and I'm cranky. :P

I'm also including five stitch markers from my little box of stitch markers. I can't remember where they came from, but as I have some super special stitch markers from my best friend, KnitWit Momma and Good to be a girl I figured I'd give away some of those that don't seem to find their way into the rotation of use. They are pink hearts. ;)

It's been hot here today. When I went outside to take the photo sweet little TKK went with me so she could have a roll in the old catnip. She took a step outside and decided it was not for her and went back inside. This a cat who has been locked inside the house away from the nasty smoke. o.0 She's been harassing me to get outside for days and she didn't even want to hang out and play. So yeah the A/C is going and it's lovely inside. But just knowing it's hot outside irritates me. *L*

Here's the current sock I'm working on for SoS. It's the same pattern as the last socks I knit for Cookie. They are my Dizzy Otter Socks.  I'm using Cookie Cutter Short Rows for the heels and toes and doing them Toe up. The ones I knit for Cookie were cuff down and flappity.

Okay I'm going to get back to my knitting. I have three pairs of socks going right now. They are all in various shades of blue yarn. Two of them are blue with brown yarn. o.0 I told you the life it eat mah head. That or the cat, she was licking my face again last night. I has a flavor!

What day is it anyway? This week seems like it's been going on for ages and ages. o.0

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? ;^)

200th Post: Getting To Know You Contest!!

YAY!! This is my 200th post. You know what that means, the Super Fantabulous KnittyOtter Contest is starting! Here's how it will work, you fill out the questionnaire once between now and EDIT July 21, which is next Monday Night (until 11:59 pm Pacific :P). Tuesday morning/afternoon of the 20th I will announce the winners. Yes there will be TWO winners. One will be the grand prize and the second selection from the random generator will receive a single skein of yarn and a knitting book.

Everyday from now until Monday I will post one of the prizes to be included in the grand prize selection. That's a lot of prizes! :D

The first item listed is a skein of Duet Sock Yarn & an Original Pattern from the Swell Yarn Shop's Lucky Lurkers Sock Club.

The colorway is Spring Frost and the original pattern that came with the sock club yarn is called Snow Bunny. Here are some Ravelry projects using the Spring Frost colorway as well as pictures of the sock pattern in use. :D

Pretty Nifty Eh. Tune in each day for more exclusive sock yarns to be given away as well as the other goodies going to some lucky winner in my attempt to reduce my sock yarn stash in a fun way. ;)

Now for the Questionnaire that you will have to fill out in order to get a chance at winning. I'll fill it out too so you can get to know me better as well. ;) You can either fill it out in the comments or fill it out on your blog and link to the post in the comments of this blog post.

Getting to Know you Contest Questionnaire:

1.) How long have you been knitting?

I started knitting March 25 2006 at 6:00 am. *L* It was the day I decided I HAD to learn to knit. Keep in mind I had been up since 2:00 am not able to sleep. Yeah, it's weird over here.

2.) How long have you been knitting socks?

I started my first pair of socks on June 6, 2006. I finished them August 5th and they were pretty bad... the stitches were twisted... just awful. o.0 My second pair was MUCH better.

3.) What do you do with a problem like Maria?

Well seeing as the convent couldn't hold her I'm thinking some duct tape and a continuous loop dvd of Barney or whatever annoying Disney movie is currently popular should blitz her mind enough that she won't cause anymore trouble. *evil grin* Oh yeah that Maria shouldn'ta messed with me.

4.) What is your all time favorite sock yarn?

I'm not sure. I have a lot of sock yarns that I haven't had the time to try out yet. (hence part of the reason for this de-stashing in the form of a contest. It's too much!) I'd have to say with what I've knit with so far though Cabin Cove & Claudia Handpainted are my favorites. But like I said I have a lot of yarns that I think will be great knit up, though I haven't tried them personally. *blush*

5.) Toe Up or Cuff Down?

After using Cookie's Faboo Cookie Cutter Short Row Tutorial I am all about the toe up socks.

6.) What's your favorite color (this week or for all time)? Do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

I'm all about color when it comes to yarn. Trust me. Unless it's fuschia or royal blue. Bleh.  Such a turn off.  I'm also not too into pastels or most yellows.  Okay so maybe I am only about bright colors that I like. *L*

7.) Do you have a pet(s)?

Yes, I have the worlds most wonderful kitty cat, TKK. And George, but since he isn't cute or soft I don't really think of him as a pet. ;)

8.) Babies: Oven Roasted or Barbecued?

Are we having a BBQ sauce or a mustard based sauce? Who wrote this question? o.0

9.) Besides socks what is your favorite type of thing to knit?
Hmmm I really like hats and scarves. Though socks really are my favorite thing at the moment. I like sweaters and all that too, but I need to get myself into a more organized place to start something like that up again. I've got some lovely silky wool to make the honey a sweater. Maybe I'll get on that at the end of summer. :D I'm also enjoying most of my efforts into the lace world. Most of them...

10.) What's your favorite scent?

Hmm my favorite scent right now is a lovely Honey and Citrus perfume from L'Occitane. I love their fragrances. :D My other favorite perfume is Manifesto and it kinda smells like Basil and Black Pepper. *L* I  also love Vanilla, lavender if it's a yummy lavender and not overly harsh, Geranium, Tangerine, Lemon Verbena, Lemongrass, Mint, Coconut, and fresh springy scents. I don't care for patchouli or strong floral scents. Think more earthy tones than fakey chemical.

11.) What music are you really loving right now? Like a song or a band?

My brother Rendogg recently (as in Monday) introduced me to a Swedish Glam Rock band called The Ark. Damn that is some catchy stuff. It is stuck in my head. (In a good way, not in a banana phone way. :P) I had to download the album (is that what the kids are calling it these days?) from iTunes.  I rather like One of us is gonna die young, Let me down Gently, Hey Kwanogoma!, Deliver Us from Free Will, The End, This Piece of Poetry Is Meant to Do Harm... er I guess I rather like the whole album State Of The Ark. I will be exploring their other music later this weekend and in the coming weeks. LOVE.

12.) How many pairs of socks have you hand knit?

A whopping 9 pairs. Hey, that's not too shabby. *L*

13.) What's your favorite treat? Salty or Sweet?

Hmmm I'm not sure. Depends on my mood. Salty and sweet, but I think I like salty better. Chocolate is always nice. Though is the summer it's a bit too melty. Fruit with honey is rather nice. :D Throw it on top of some yummy flax and pumpkin seed granola with a bit of greek yogurt and that's pretty much heaven. Well weird dairy heaven. I don't want to stay at that heaven, just visit it every now and then. o.0

14.) What was the most interesting thing you smelled yesterday. Not good or bad necessarily, just the thing that stuck out most so that you actually took notice of it.

Well My honey's cologne. It's yummy. It was on his neck lightly, just so in that way that makes a girl's heart start to race... er that and on the way home from the movies the smell of smoke outside was a bit much. *cough* I'm surprised I can smell anything at this point. :/

15.) Needles - DPN's: Wooden, metal or plastic?

Depends on the project. For a basic sock, without a pattern that calls for a lot of KTOG's I use my lovely plastic Bryspun. Otherwise If I want a pointy needle I use my Harmony needles and if I'm not flying anytime soon I'll use the metal options.

16.) What is your favorite sock pattern that you've knit? What do you recommend?

I don't know. I've done pretty basic socks so far. Although since doing the Cookie Cutter Short Row Socks I'm feeling much more adventurous. *L*

17.) The last Question: If you were stuck on a deserted island who would you want with you, what knitting would you want with you and would you ever want to leave?

I'd want my honey, he's a bit like Macgyver. How hot is it? Probably something cottony. It depends. I hate people so if we had everything we needed to survive happily maybe I wouldn't want to come back. You never know. Ooo if it was like Nim's Island I'd be totally happy to stay. *GRIN* Everything you need and a Satellite Net Connection. That'd work for me. *L*

Hmm that is an odd number of questions to ask, 17. I guess that makes me odd... or that I wrote this up late/early/something. :P

Okay so those are the questions. You can answer them here in the comments or on your blog and link that post to the comments of this post.

Tune in tomorrow to see what the next prize is.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

FO: Cookie Cutter Short Row Socks, SoS08#1

These are my very first pair of Toe Up Short Row Socks. They are also my first pair of Socks for the Summer of Socks 2008. I love them sooooo much!

Clickety Biggety

These socks just fit so perfectly. I cannot wait until the weather cools a bit so I can wear them. (That and it's just plan farking Too HOT. *melts*)

Pattern: I used Cookie's Cookie Cutter Short Row Tutorial for the heels and toes. With a plain vanilla stockinette for the foot and part of the cuff, with a two inches of ribbing on the top of the cuff.  The total cuff is 4 inches from the heel.
Yarn: Regia Crazy Color #5439.
Yardage: 230 yards/50g per skien. I used two skeins, though I still have a fair amount left from each one.
Needles: Knit Picks Harmony DPN's US 1 / 2.50mm
Started on: Wednesday June 25
Finished on: Sunday July 6 (I would have finished them Saturday, but I burned my hand cutting Jalapeños and couldn't knit for a day...)
Again? Hell Yes! I've already cast onto my next pair of socks using Cookie's Toe Up Short Rows, though I'm designing my own patterning for the foot and cuff. :D
Knit For: Me.

Big Thanks to Cookie for writing out her tutorial. It's the easiest to use explanation I've come across in my search for short row stuffs. :D

While I was outside taking a picture of my socks, Little Tummy Kitty (TKK stands for Tummy Katty Kat, it's so soft you want to rub your face on it. *grin* That's just her online name, btw...) wanted to come out and have some special time with her catnip. While I was taking the picture though she decided it would be more fun to see what I was doing. So in the uncropped photo's there is kitty paw reaching in to reach the socks. Her paw was so cute I had to share it. :D

She is just the cutest kitty ever. Biased though I may be. ;^)

After we took the sock pictures we played in the catnip. Well she played and I sat beside her and petted her. I'm pretty sure she was in kitty heaven. Cats do in fact smile. She was a blissful little monkeybutt.

Think I'll go give her a hug now.

FYI: This is post 199... you know what that means don'tcha. ;^)

Edit: I swear those socks are not upside down...

Approaching Post 200!!

Wow. Can you believe I'm almost at my 200th post? This is my 198th post. o.0

You know what that makes this the perfect time for... a contest prize giveaway!!

Just think if I hadn't taken that unexpected break earlier this year I'd have hit this ages ago... c'est la vie.

At any rate I feel rather blog refreshed. It's fun again and a break from my daily pile o' things to do. :D

So now for something even more fun. I want to get to know you. Yes, YOU. Everyone of you whether you are a reader/commenter/emailer, reader/lurker/shy and everything in between. If I know you very well or not at all please come play along.

I'm going to post  a list of questions. Nothing too invasive or anything that would make you run away screaming. I'll even answer it myself to get us started. ;) I'll leave the contest open for one week. And 7 days after the contest starts I will use a random number generator thingy to select the winning commenter based on the order that you commented. 

Now part of the prize to be given away will be sock yarn from my stash since it is The Summer Of Socks. :D This will also help me alleviate some of the sock yarn stash pressure I have as well as place some fabulous rare yarn in a home that will hopefully love it and have time to knit it. The first yarn that I speak of is from a sock club I was in a long time ago. (Long time ago being more than a year... but less than two as I have only been knitting two years and am certain I wasn't in a sock club before then. :P) It's a sock club I am no longer in, if you are looking around at my site buttons trying to figure out what it is. Nope, this is a club you have to be almost lucky to get into. ;^) The exclusive club yarn will also come with the original exclusive club pattern that was made especially for the yarn. Pretty sweet eh.

But that's not all. There will be other sock yarns to go along with the rare club yarn. It will be a sock box of otter love extravaganza, featuring not only sock yarn and implements of sock knitting, but also special treats to keep your feet soft, happy and pretty this summer so that when sock wearing season rolls around your pampered tootsies will be well prepared to slip into your super soft yummy handknit socks. :D

I would recommend knitting some Cookie Cutter Short Row Socks with the prize yarn as it is a super awesome technique & tutorial. Tomorrow I'll be posting my first pair!!

(If a male knitter wins the foot care package can easily with just a few small mods be customized as well, so men don't feel like this isn't a contest for you also. *wink*)

Aside from the dedicated sock yarns I have already selected to be given away as prizes here, your answers will help determine a special yarn that I will choose from my stash that I hope will suite your style and personality.

Pretty faboo eh?

Now if any of you have ever received Otter Given Gifts then you'll know how much I enjoy this sort of this and that I'm pretty good at it if I do say so myself.   :P

Here are some past examples of Otter Gifts, Otter Sock Yarn that Dave knit into Socks, The Carrot Bag & Goodies for the Woolen Rabbit during Knit Sock Kit Swap and Jewel Tomes with her kit for the Knitters Tea Swap.

Of course Cookie and some of my Local Reno Girlies can also vouch for the faboo-ness of my gifties. (And yes y'all have to enter. *pokeyhugs*)

I'm excited about this. It's gonna be Fun Fun Fun! For me and hopefully for you. :P

Now this post is 198 and the contest starts at post 200. So get ready for the action to start!

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