KnittyOtter

Monkey Muffins and George in a Charity Hat

I can't believe I  haven't posted recently. It's been pretty busy over here since... oh a while now. But I truly thought I'd have more time to post than I have. Granted this weekend I wasn't posting due to a yarn crawl with MonkeySocks. Yarn was had. *GRIN* But that's not what I'm here to talk to you about today. Hell I said I'd post about my travels in my next post, which would be this one and that's not going to happen either.

The intentions I have, the promises I make, my failings are all heavy hearted within myself. It kinda stops me, keeps me silent, when I can't follow through on the things I wish to do. So if you haven't been getting your emails returned as timely and whatnot it's because I am feeling silent within myself. This too shall pass and until it does it's nothing personal. Though I do feel like a right crappy friend. I recently had a friend thank me for being a good friend. I feel bad though, cause I certainly have not earned that.

I have a lot of black cloud musings I could bore you with but I'm here to talk to you about Monkey Muffins.

A few weeks ago my friend Monkey Socks made some Pineapple Upside Down Muffins. They were VERY Yummy. The sorta thing you wish you had more of. With an added bonus of being something not entirely awful for you. There's enough personal guilt inside me to deal with without adding muffin guilt to it to ya know. Heh.

This past Thursday I got it suddenly and without warning into my head to make this fabulous muffins. All I new about her yummy baked creation was that it had pineapple, a cup of grated carrot, raisins and nuts... and flour and those basic baking things cause it is a muffin afterall.

Taking that knowledge mixed with a basic carrot muffin recipe, my pineapple upside down cake recipe and my own twisted ideas about what a might go into a tasty muffin created what I like to call Monkey Muffins. Not only as a homage to the one and only Monkey Socks, but because they have Banana and other yummy things in there that any lucky monkey would be happy to nosh on.

So without further adieu here are the Monkey Muffins.    (All Photos Clickety Biggety)

Just ignore the fact there are only 10 muffins shown in the photo. They were so yummy I forgot to take a picture until they had been sampled. :P And yes these are Honey Approved Monkey Muffins.

Monkey Muffin Recipe:

Preheat Oven to 400°F

Monkey Muffin Pineapple & Pecan Topping

1/4 Cup Pack Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Chopped Pecans
10 oz Pineapple Slices - drained and cut into sixths (Use one 20 oz can, just set the other half aside for the next part)
1/4 Butter - melted

Place a teaspoon of Butter in each muffin cup of your Muffin/cupcake pan. Then sprinkle in equally the nuts & Brown sugar. Finally place 2 to 3 segments of pineapple into each cup, so that it comes out about equal depending on the size of your pieces. I didn't cut that uniformly, so smaller pieces got 3 to a cup. It should look like the image below when you are done.

Monkey Muffins

1 Cup King Arthur Wheat Flour
1 Cup King Arthur All Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda - For the photo below I put the Baking Powder & Soda together in the same dish to save room... ran out of little bowls. :P
1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt - regular "salt" grind, not the big flakey stuff

Mix flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking powder & baking soda & salt together in a bowl.

In a different & larger bowl mix together the following ingredients.

2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Safflower Oil or regular Vegetable Oil
2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
10 oz Pineapple Slices - drained and chopped into small pieces
1 Cup Finely Grated Carrot - Do not use Baby Carrots for this as it takes so much longer than normal carrots. If you can find normal old fashioned sized carrots that is. I did not, so I used the Babies. Took ages.
3/4 Cup Rough Chopped Banana
3/4 Cup Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend Dried Fruit - Blend of Golden Raisins, Cherries, Cranberries & Blueberries
4 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseed - I use Nature's Path Flaxseed Meal
2 Tablespoons Chopped Pecans

Once you have gently mixed together the second bowl of ingredients you can start adding the first bowl of dry ingredients into this bowl. (Which is why it will need to be larger.)

After the ingredients are gently folded together evenly spoon the muffin mixture into the prepared muffin pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 Minutes or until Golden Brown and you can cleanly insert a butter knife. You may need to run a butter knife around the edges to loosen the muffins from the pan before turning them over onto a cookie sheet.

These Monkey Muffins were Super Yummy and will be made again soon. I was going to mail some out, but the Honey really liked them and before I could wrap some up to freeze for travel he devoured them. :D Which is fine cause I like it when he enjoys the stuff I make. I'll just have to make more. Maybe a double batch next time. ;^)

In other news I have been knitting. I have several finished projects I need to photograph and post. For now here is a Hat I made for the Charity Box at my Favorite Local Yarn Store, Deluxe Yarns. Later this month we are going to get together and hand things out to people who need them at a shelter. :D Should be very interesting seeing people get my Charity Knitting in person.  I need to get on it and knit a bunch more for the box. :D

George and The Local Charity Hat

George always looks so enthusiastic about whatever he happens to be modeling. He even wore this hat to a Halloween Party we attended last week. Yes, I took him as my guest. :P

What you don't take your Zombie for Outings? Weirdos.

;^)

Eye Candy Friday: Socks and the Sweet Green Icing

I knit myself another pair of Autumny socks for Socktoberfest. I love them muchly. They will be worn for the first time tomorrow night. The photo's don't do the colors justice. I had weird lighting outside when I took the photos on the 16th. We have weirder lighting due to all the smokey haze now so we'll have to live with these. All Photos Clickety Biggety!

Here are my Sock Stats.

Cast On: Friday October 5, 2007 - During that trashy yet yummy vampire show Moonlight. *purr* I love me a good sexy vampire. So anguished and tender yet strong and ferocious. *L*
Cast Off: Thursday October 11, 2007 - During CSI :P
Pattern: Hiiumaa Socks from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. I didn't do any color changes, just used the basic construction of the pattern. I think it's the perfect basic sock pattern. :D This is the same pattern I used for my Honey Socks.
Yarn: Trekking XXL Sock Yarn: Aquarell 150 (Here's what the color looks like in person.)
Yardage: The skien of yarn started with 459 yards and I have 92 yards leftover, so I used 367 yards.
Yarn Source: Pioneer Yarn Company - Procured on a day trip out to Minden with a group of friends. One lady saw the yarn and insisted I buy it because she thought it would go with the sweater I'm knitting for myself. It does, and who am I to say no to sock yarn. :P
Needles: Brittany Needles - Birch - US #3 / 3.25 mm - 5" (In retrospect I would have used the 2's like I intended... The socks are a bit larger than I need, but not too much. Next time I'll get gauge and they'll be perfect.
Again: Hell's Yeah!!! I love this Pattern muchly. Love the yarn muchly.
For?  Me.
Notes: I knit these socks faster than I have knit any other pair of socks. I was very pleased with how quickly they knit up. I think it was due partly to the fact I wanted to see what the self patterning yarn would look like. That is so exciting seeing how the yarn will come alive. :D This was the first time I have knit with Trekking. LOVE. These were also the tallest socks I ever knit for myself. They are as tall as I'm comfy with unless I want to do a full knee sock... which I am thinking about for a future pair of socks. 

Knitting on now? On Monday October 8th during Hero's I cast on to a new pair of socks for My Best Friend. *Happy Otter Dance* I have high hopes of finishing them by next Wednesday if not sooner.

Here's another photograph of the socks.

See that Pumpkin, Bob, there, his ass is gonna die later. Roasted and then made into my famous super yummy Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing. Some will be frozen and mailed out to a certain pink ball of yarn wearing glasses and Rendog. Let's hope they travel well. o.0 The rest will be enjoyed by the honey and some peoples here locally. Goodbye Bob you are a good Pumpkin. A well loved Pumpkin and now you will also be a yummy pumpkin. *evil grin*

Now for some Friday Eye Candy. This is the cake I made for Rendog on his birthday.

I will never bake this cake again. It took so long to make it and it was rather crappy and should never be eaten again. Oooooh Noooooo!!!

Yes it is a MacArthur's Park Cake. Complete with Sweet Green Icing Melting down. *GRIN*

Normally I'd make up my own recipe based upon my years of experience. Not this time though. I got it into my silly head that I'd use a fancy schmancy recipe for my brothers cake in the hopes that it would be the best cake ever.

I didn't think that through. See the recipe called for a pound of butter for the cake and a pound of butter for the icing. Fuck That. o.0

So I sorta half did the recipe, leaving out about a pound and a half of butter yet not adding in any sort of fruit puree as I normally would. *sigh* That's why fruit cakes are such a joy. You can do anything you like to them and they generally come out well. Not so the chocolate cake from scratch. (Or at least I wasn't prepared for it at the time.)  Oh I could have used a box cake, but box cake tastes like ass, nasty nasty ass. Or at least as close to ass as one can imagine ass would taste. :P

We had the cake after a day of much celebrating. The three of us managed to choke down a piece of this dry cake, but the next day after Rendog flew home it wasn't touched. It stayed in the fridge for a week in honor of him.

So now I will work on making a good chocolate cake that doesn't call for a ton of butter and sugar to make it palatable. I'm thinking I'll try making a chocolate fruit based cake. Start with what I know. Chocolate with Raspberry will be my first attempt. Someday after I get over my love affair with Pumpkins that is. ;^) I also have an idea for an apple and cranberry creation that will need to be explored at some point. Heh.

In other news I was out of town last week or so. Got home a few nights ago. I'll go into detail about my travels in my next post. This one is quite long enough don'tcha think. o.0

Campfire Socks & Pink Dream Revisted

I finished my Dave Daniels Cabin Cove Campfire socks Tuesday night during House & Boston Legal. Love those shows. *purr* Since it is October they count as Socktoberfest Socks. :D Those are the best kind of socks ya know.

I cast on to the first sock during a flight back east on June 14th. They were intended to be my "Summer of Socks" Socks as well as for the Shut Up And Knit Your Cabin Cover Along. Unfortunately I was held up by the short row heel directions on the Tropicana Sock Pattern that I was using. So they sat for months untouched. A few weeks ago or so the lovely, talented and bestest friend a person could ever have, Cookie, came to my rescue and wrote up a sensible short row heel pattern to fit the number of stitches I had so I could finish these socks up. (She has great Nupps , btw. *wiggles eyebrow in a not entirely appropriate way*)

I waited until I finished my Midnight in the Pumpkin Patch Socks before I got started. So last Friday night I cast on to the second sock while the honey drove me to meet up with some friends. Saturday night I was at the heel of both socks. Unfortunately my brain wasn't so much working so I had to wait until Sunday before I was finally able to understand the whole short row heel thing. Sunday and Monday were foot knitting days and Tuesday I was finishing up the toes. I didn't do the pattern down the foot and I didn't do the pattern toe either. Since I was changing so much of the pattern around anyway I went ahead and did a round toe. I think that's what it's called. It's from the book Knitting on the Road.

I was in a knitting frenzy. Well at the very least a knitting journey. Between Dave's fabulous sock yarn, the Tropicana pattern for the leg/cuff, Cookie's sensible short row heel and the idea of finishing another pair of socks I was on a roll. Cause that's how I roll. Heh.

I love these socks. The heels may be a little messy, but that's just cause I'm new to short rows. They are comfy, soft (SOOOOOO SOFT) and warm. Plus they look faboo on. I'm more than pleased. :D Clickety Biggety All Photos in this Post!

The photos aren't the greatest. Don't really show off the color as well as they should. Yes, I know I will go get a real camera sooner or later. Think I've found the store I want to deal with finally.

Here are my Sock Stats.

Cast On: June 14, 2007
Cast Off: October 2, 2007
Pattern: I used the Tropicana Sock Pattern to determine my guage, number of stitches to cast on and the cuff/leg portion of the sock. I used Cookies sensible short row pattern for the heel and the round toe from Knitting on the road.
Yarn: Dave Daniels Cabin Cove Mercantile Sock Yarn in the colorway Campfire. LOVE!
Yardage: The skien of yarn started with 450 yards and I have half left, so I used 225 yards. I have enough left to make another short-ish pair of socks. :D
Yarn Source: Dave Daniels Cabin Cover Mercantile
Needles: Bryspun Double Points - US #4 / 3.5 mm - I had to go up to that size to get the recommended gauge. Yes, I knit tight. o.0
Again: I like the feather and fan cuff pattern, but there are surely many patterns with that feature out there. I think I might try a different one in the future...
For?  Me.
Notes: I really enjoyed knitting these socks once I got past the WTF is wrong here with the initial short row heel pattern. I like a patterned sock. Makes it go faster because it's so interesting and exciting seeing how the yarn will knit up. Though anything knit with Dave yarn is a joy to knit up. It makes your hands happy. :D

Knitting on now? I don't have any socks on the needles at the moment. I'll be looking through the sock yarn stash to pick out my Official Socktoberfest 2007 socks. I wonder which lucky skein will be chosen. Ooooo! In none sock knitting news I am working on my set aside Entrelac Scarf and Ducky Hat may be getting some action as well.

Here's another photograph of the socks. I was perhaps having a bit too much fun with the backyard photography. Those mini things are "Pumpkin Tree's" So cute. :D

See that pumpkin there, his name is BoB. He is going to be murdered soon. He may end up as a pie or he may end up as cookies or pumpkin bread. Either way, his time on this earth is limited. *evil laugh*

Also here is a bonus shot of my Pink Dream Socks. I never took a proper photo of them during the Shut Up and Knit Your Cabin Cove Along for Dave's Gallery, so here ya go.

Dave you have permission to use these photos as you wish. :^)

I'm having the sock love. I can't wait to cast on to my next pair. *dances*

Red Scarf Project, George and TKK Oh My!

I finished my Scarf for this years Red Scarf Project. Well this Autumn's Red Scarf Project as it's not really 2008 yet. Either way it's fantabulous and benefits the Orphan Foundation of America. :D

Just think some College kid will receive my handknit scarf as modeled by the lovely George here. George is as high fashion as it gets, Baby! Clickety Biggety!

George was petting TKK when I took this photo. (Yes, the scarf was washed after it touched the kitty.) TKK said she wanted to be in the photo, but you know how models and their egos can be. So we had to take another photo of her without George or the scarf to show off just how vivacious and fuzzy she is. Truly the cutest kitty ever.

She knows how to work the camera. That and she was trying to lick it. :P

Some details on the scarf:

Cast On: August 17, 2007
Cast Off: September 21, 2007
Pattern: My Own "Not a Real Pattern Pattern" - Simple Alternating sections of Garter, Seed & Basket Weave
Yarn: Universal Yarn from the Moods line color 1505 - It's a Worsted Weight Wool/Acrylic blend that has colors that blend between Red and Black. - I had two balls of the yarn when I started and I still have 3/4 of one of them. I'll use that to make Hats for the Charity Box at Deluxe Yarns for the local homeless & needy.
Yardage: 247 yards
Yarn Source: Deluxe Yarns
Needles: Clover Takumi -  US 10.5 / 6.5mm 16" Circular
Again? YES! It was a fun easy knit and the honey liked it so he'll likely get one in the Blue and Black Colorway. :D Nothing like some mindless knitting to make you all nice and relaxed when things are kinda stressy.

Notes: This was my first Completed Scarf using Garter Stitch as more than a border. *L* The scarf is 6 feet long and 5.5 inches wide. This scarf was started with some friends when I was too brain dead to knit on the socks I had with me at the time. It's been knit on in four states and through several drinks and travels. Heh.

Random Observation: It just occurred to me that George kinda looks like Jerri Blank's Father, Guy.

George on the left, Guy on the right

Twins Separated at Birth! o.0

I'm glad I finished the scarf in time. Now I just need to get a gift certificate, write a note and care instructions and mail it off.

In other news I finished another pair of socks... *happy dance*

Blink and You'll Miss It... How Time Flies

Dear Time,

What the hell? Seriously. I have no idea how we got off on the wrong foot, but I'd be pleased if we could be friends again. You know me living in real time and you not running all over my ass.

So yeah. Get on that.

Much Love,
Otter

Last week I told My Best Friend that I intended to blog everyday to get back into the swing of things. Or was that two weeks ago? o.0 That's just sad.

I'd say I'd lost my whack again, but I'm starting to wonder if I ever really had any whack to be out of in the first place.

It's been a long long summer and having lost myself in the spring I'm at a loss for who I am this Autumn.

Well not exactly...

I guess I'll start by telling you what I've been up to most recently.

I finally got my car back Saturday Morning.

Oh yeah by the way, some asshat ran into the back of my car while RenDogg and I were stopped at a stop sign on August 27th. It had been in the shop for the past three weeks while they fixed it. Joy. Ya know, being without a car sucks ass. Totally threw me off track the last few weeks. We were fine if you're wondering.

The first snow of the season hit the mountains last week or so. It hailed pea size hail down here. Pretty funky stuff going on weather wise actually. We've been on Tomato Watch 2007 trying to gauge when the perfect time to harvest them would be. The weather has been kinda up and down so it's hard to tell how long is too long to let them stay on the plants. I've gotten some advice from Cookie on how to bring them inside to ripen so we should be okay. We even have 4 or 5 that are pink now. If we can hold out a few more days as the weather warms up during the day we might actually get to taste them fresh off the vine. Of course Saturday we woke up to snow on the ground and roof so who knows how that plan will work out.

I took some sky photos for last weeks Saturday Sky Post, but never got around to posting them so here they are. Clickety Biggety!

Thursday September 20 - Snow on Mt. Rose.

Friday September 21 - view from backyard

Saturday September 22 - view from backyard - covered in clouds

Saturday September 22 - view from back door towards Peavine Mountain

Sunday September 23 / First Day of Autumn - Frost and Fog - we covered the tomatoes and other garden items with towels the previous evening so they were okay

In addition to watching the sky and weather we've been winterizing the house. Last week we sprayed outside around the house for Spiders. The honey also set out natural herby spider repelling satchels inside. I hate spiders.  Although I do have several serving dishes that have spider designs on them... a candelabra as well. But that doesn't mean I like them or anything.

Lookie what we found outside by the front door after he sprayed.

Yes,  that is a Black Widow Spider. *Icky Shudder*

The Honey Squished it for me just to be certain though. I hope it didn't have Babies. o.0

Other then the occasional spooky spider I LOVE Autumn. Last Sunday was the first day of Autumn and since I realized it a few days before I was able to throw together a small get together to celebrate. I had 10 or so people over for an Autumn Tea Luncheon the 23rd. Much fun. Though I think I was slightly brain dead when people arrived... but that's my new norm. I wonder if I'm spending too much time with George.

I made a yummy Barley Soup that featured late summer veggies and Buffalo and Beef. There was of course a variety of Autumn Tea's to be sampled. I also made several types of tea sandwiches and an Apple, Pecan, Gorgonzola green salad. Dessert was my yummy Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Frosting Cookies and mini apple pies with fresh whipped cream. All homemade of course. ;^) I'll be writing up the apple pie recipes soon... well at some point. I had a few people over for dinner Saturday and made the mini pies again. Though I tried to bake the apple mixture halfway before putting it in the crust cups. Bleh. Better to stick to my original plan. Keep it Simple!

This past Saturday was kind of a busy day for us. Besides having people over for dinner we picked up my car in the morning. Then I went and had coffee and hung out with some friends. Then the honey took me to see that Eastern Promises Movie. Me-ow!

It was a good movie. How could you go wrong though, David Cronenberg & Viggo Mortensen together again. They did A History of Violence together a few years ago. Even if you don't know what this movie is about I'd recommend going to see it. All you need to really know is this:

Viggo Mortensen Full Frontal Nudity

Actually it's more of an every angle kinda thing. o.0

So yeah. That was a nifty movie.

After that we came home and I made dinner and knit until it was time for people to show up.

I've been knitting with intention lately. I even finished two projects. I'll tell you about the second project I finished this week now.

Last Sunday after everyone left I wanted to relax and I was at a point in all of my knitting where I had to use my brain. We'll my brain was having none of that. My seemingly only option was to continue to knit on my Trouble with Tribbles Mohair Wrap. But for some reason that just wasn't appealing to me. I think it's because I need to call the store and have two more balls of the yarn sent to me. *sigh* But a thought popped into my whee monkey brain and without really thinking I grabbed that project and got started.

So with one sock done and needles in hand I cast onto my second Midnight in the Pumpkin Patch Sock. Yes. Finally.

I knit with intention and completed the sock Thursday night during CSI. Sunday to Thursday for one sock. That's a record for me. I even wore them to dinner with friends Friday Night.

Here they are in this years Pumpkin Patch with the Pumpkin known as PIE.

Clickety Biggety!

The sock on the left with the Green Toe is the one that was finished last week. :D I really love how the toes are different like that. Heh.

These are the first socks I've knit from yarn I dyed myself. I'm quite pleased. I dyed this colorway because my own pumpkin patch was a dying mess without a single pumpkin to show for the effort. At least this year I have the one pumpkin. :p

These were also my Socktoberfest Socks from last year. Now that they are finished I need to decide what I'll knit up this Socktoberfest. *grin*

PLUS we are officially in Halloween Month! YAY!!!

So that's what I've been up to. Well some of it. ;^)

I knit, no really...

It's been a long hot summer and though I haven't been posting as much as normal I have been knitting.

No, Really. :D

I even finished something.

No, Really. :p

It's even something I can finally post for the Summer of Socks.

Oh Shut Up, It's true!

The Honey socks were finished in July or so. I've been really bad about taking notes so I don't know exactly when it was. *sigh*

Here they are. The sun washed out the color some. They are much darker and in person.

Clickety Biggety!

The flowers are marigolds that came out of my garden. They went bonkers and out grew their area so we had to trim them back.

I ran out of the Claudia Yarn but with the balls Freddie gave me and some Louet in a similar colorway (both were called Caribbean Blue) I was able to fake it through the toes. I stripped the yarn Freddie gave me with the Louet. It looks very good and just enough matchy. :D

These are to date the tallest & longest socks I've ever made. Also the smallest gauge.

When it gets cooler the honey can wear them. He knows he is by no means to wash them on his own. I'll need to teach him about hand washing wool items at some point, but for now I rather enjoy the task so I'll keep it.

I'm still at a stopping place with those Tropicana Dave Socks. If I don't make a short row heel that looks decent soon I may give up on this pair and go with a lovely heel flap like on the honey socks. That heel is an Eye of the Partridge. Beautiful and Sturdy.

Here's the terror of the bad sock heel. Turn away if you are faint of heart. o.0

It looks MUCH worse in person, btw.

Hope is not lost yet though. My Best Friend wrote out a different short row heel for me using the same number of stitches I need. Her heels are always faboo, so if I can get my brain to work properly I should have this problem resolved soon. *happy dance*

And DUDE! Check out her 37th pair of socks for the Summer of Socks. THIRTY SEVEN PAIRS OF SOCKS! Knit in only two months. That woman is an awesomely crazy fantastic sock knitter.

That pair of socks is for Moi. *Super Happy Dance* I'm the luckiest Otter ever and my feetsies will be warm as can be. :D Thank You, Cookie!!!

I hope like hell her hands don't actually fall off. Or that her brain falls out of her head. Though if it does we are close enough to Halloween that she can pass it off as just getting into the spirit of the season and say she feed it to a Zombie or something. *grin*

In other knitting news I have completed the body of my sweater, including the front and back hems and the collar. I did have half a sleeve knit... but after trying it on and seeing that it was way too big I'm going have to rip it out. I'm going to do some measuring and knit math to determine just how many decrease rows I'll need to do to get the sleeves at the proper width for the length I want it at.

I'm also knitting on and 75% done with my Red Scarf Project. I love everything about this project, including The Norma. When I grow up I wanna tell it like it is the way she does. Though I'm sure there are plenty of people who think I'm perhaps too blunt as it is. *L*

The scarf is made with Universal Yarn from the Moods line. It's a Wool/Acrylic blend that has colors that blend between Red and Black. It's very soft and looks great knit up. I'm doing a basic scarf that goes in sections from garter to seed stitch with two sections of basket weave on either end. I'm really loving how this is knitting up. :D Oh and this is the first "garter" scarf I've worked on since the whole RockStar Scarf incident. Some loves never truly die. *snicker*

Clickety Biggety!

The other project is a Gryffindor iPod holder for RenDogg. I need to Kitchener up the end then it will be done. Considering I won't see him again until the middle of October chances are it won't be completed until just right before that. :P

I have a BUNCH of other WIP's on the needles that need to be completed as well. But that's another post for another day.

And FYI the other bottles of wine remain unopened. :P

Tune in tomorrow when I tell you some other exciting news in the world of Otter.

Hint: Pumpkins!!

Otter's First Sweater!!

Last Friday I finally took the time to weave in my ends and wash all the items I made for Dulaan.

This is my Tenth Dulaan Project!! I am SO HAPPY WITH IT!!! :D

Though I must say I really don't care for weaving in ends. It's so slow and tedious. *zombie face*

I've decided I'll weave in my ends to all future sweaters as I knit along. Though I've yet to actually put that into action on the Coral Pink sweater for myself since declaring that. Heh.

Here is the first sweater I ever knit inside. The photo is kinda dark, but the color is most accurate in this image.

I took the next photo outside. It's way too bright. And yes that is George's hand in the photo. heh. Clickety Biggty!

Sweater Details:

Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple Children's Neck Down Pullover # 9730 Largest Size 10 to 12

Yarn: Heirloom Easy Care - In Dark Green #793 & Navy Blue #787

... er out of time. I need to run off to beddie bye land now since I have to wake up at 3:10 tomorrow morning. Flight leaves crazy early. Fun!

I'll just say that knitting this sweater was a wonderful experience and I love sweater knitting muchly. :D

I'll be taking the new Dave Socks, yet to be cast onto and my sweater for my travel knitting. Plus a book my friend Florrie lent me. It's about a yarn shop. Heh. ;^)

I loves me some time in a yarn shop.

See y'all next week.

And go Poke Cookie extra much since I won't be able to.

Blah. I wish I was home already.

ECF: Pink Edition - Dulaan #9 & Sweater Progress

This is a rushed post, but I wanted to update before I ran out the door.

I've been knitting so much blue this year that I HAD to go pink in order to save my sanity. It was just too much blue. So here are some of the recent pink things I've been knitting on. :D

I have finished washing and blocking all my Dulaan stuffs. More of the big picture laters. Today I want to show you a Toddler Scarf & Hat set I made for the Dulaan Project. These would be completed objects #9. :D

These were super easy knits and took one night for the hat and scarf. LOVE!

It also represents my first Garter Stitch scarf and first time putting fringe on something. *L*

I'm also going to post a peek of my yummy Coral Cotton sweater. It's for ME!

It's kinda hard to see what's what. There was too much light. *L*

o.0 No Really.

I am loving knitting this sweater for myself, although working with cotton is a bit different than wool.

Well no more time to  update. Gotta run out and get some champaign for a celebration laters.

Resolution # 10, after a harsh long month of no attention I am coming for YOU Baby!

*GRIN*

Also many kudos to the lovely and talented Cookie on her one year Blogoversary. You am Faboo, Honey!! :D

Saturday Sky, Big Ass Bug & a Huge Hat Oh My!

It is the early hours of Saturday morning. I survived another week. It was close, but thankfully there was a lack of Barry Manilow so I think it's going to be okay. heh.

Thankfully rather than Barry there was Ok Go with Here it goes again. *L* (The song not the video)

Much better than Berry to be stuck in ones head at the end of the week eh. ;^)

The reason I'm up so early is because my throat (hello Tonsils, please fuck off!) is killing me. The smoke from the recent fires is making it a bit more irritating to breathe. Thing is I kinda need to breathe on a fairly regular basis. I have a real doctor appointment thingy this coming Thursday so lets hope they give me some magical cure for this nonsense.

Now for the Big Ass Bug the honey took me to see yesterday. We had to run a few appointments at the north end of town so he made sure we took a turn past this. He knows I carry my camera with me all the time and love to find interesting visual objects with which to amuse myself. He asked if I could use it for my sky thing and I told him no I'd use it for  Eye Candy Friday. He, having no clue what the heck I was talking about said I was cute and that was that. I didn't have time to post before I ran off, as Vikkie would say, to play yarn with some friends, so here it is today. Notice the sky was a lovely blue yesterday morning. By evening it was windy as hell and looked like rain. Or at least smokey grey. (No Rain, None Expected)

When we first came upon the huge ass bug sculpture it looked like a giant spider.

(All Bug Pics, Clickety Biggety)

Then I thankfully realized it only had 6 legs and I felt a bit more enthusiastic about it. *L*

It kinda makes me think of Spider Man, like something he might fight. :D

I have to wonder if this big black bug got into a fight against Vikkie's Rainbow Barf Bug which one would win. *L*

*pokes Vikkie* Love you. *kissy face*

*pinky wave*

Yeah it may yet be a little too early. *L*

In knitting news I finish this hat last Saturday while knitting with MonkeySocks, Florrie & Vikkie. It's nice to actually finish something. I still need to wash it though. Details Shmetails!

The photo was taken a little bit ago. So yeah no natural lighting, but thems the breaks kiddos.

I started this hat last year... when who knows?! Maybe late November. I think I remember sticking it on a pumpkin. But that may just be my twisted imagination. o.0

Yarn: Lornas Laces. Yummy soft fun to knit.

Colorway: One of them! (No clue what I did with the label...)

Needles: US 9 - 16" circs, and Vikkie lent me some DPN's to finish it off and get it done.

Top: Spiral. Looks kinda neat.

For: Gift For Friend

Tomorrow I'll either be knitting on the honey socks, My tenth Dulaan project: a kid hat or maybe Duckie Hat.

Notice the sweater isn't on the list. *GRIN*

I finished knitting the sweater last night. Now I just need to weave in my ends and wash & block it. 

*Super Happy Otter Dance*

I think I'm going to start my own sweater Monday or Tuesday. And my own pair of Socks for my upcoming travels.

Wheeeeeeeee!! Exciting times at the House of Otter. :D

Magic 28 Socks & Half a Sweater...

Holy Fuck. o.0 I just typed up a wonderfully insightful post with lots of links and pictures and it was damn long.

Then I hit submit.

The page that appeared said server wouldn't load... and the post was GONE forever in a little poof.

DAMNIT. That pisses me off so much. PLUS I normally save draft as I go along. BUT NO. I didn't do that. Grrrrr.

Someone left the post out in the rain and I don't think that I can take it, cause it took so long to make it and I'll never have that much functioning brain again OHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOO!!

My head hurts now. That is just shitty. Thank you Typepad. Blah. *POUTY LIP OUT*

Fine. So now I'll try this again. Or whine and just post the stuff. Bleh. That just takes the wind out of my sails. I need a drink. Or Coffee. Hmmm I wonder what MonkeySocks is up to. *L*

So anyway as I previously and with more grace said before, I completed my first pair of Magic 28 socks. (I had written out all kinds of facts n' shit before, with links even!)

Without any grace and a great deal of whining here are the socks.

They were knit with some seriously overpriced and not the softest yarn of the basic worsted weight wools, Lion Brand Wool. I used half the skein. I'll use the rest to make a matching kid sized hat. After that I will never waste my money on this yarn again. Why bother when Paton's and Cascade are better for the price and quality.

This is going into the Dulaan Box. 8 items so far on my way to 10!

Next up is some sweater progress.

I wrote a bunch of stuff about the sweater and what I did Saturday and Sunday. But now I'm too irritated to write it all out again.

So anyway that's what I've been up to. *falls over*