KnittyOtter

Amazon Christmas and A Red & White Hat!

Julie asked for it. :P  Well it's not a song, but it's something. *L*

~ Twas An Amazon Christmas ~

Less than a month before Christmas and all through the land people were freaking out, even the cat. (The mouse was dead because the cat thinks having mice in the house is gross. I agree with the cat.)

The socks were being knitted by the knitters with care, in the hopes that everything would be complete by the time Knitty Gritty was aired. (or filmed ya know, whatever. *waves at Cookie @ Stephanie*)

And I in my triumph having avoided a fight at the malls was just settling down to wrap it all up. For an Amazon Christmas was making things bright. With a click of a mouse (not the dead ones) and the plink of the credit cards all was alright. (well it was okay. I can still be grumpy about the holidays even if I am listening to Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams non stop. I’m tricksy that way. :P)

But then what noise should I suddenly hear, the groan and moan of a Zombie coming to visit my dear. It was George the Christmas Zombie surrounded by gifts! He only had a head, arms and torso, the rest who knows where and his skin was creepy crawly like maggots doing swan lake. (nasty.)

No children were heard to scream in the beds, why one would assume they were all quite dead. The truth you see is that no children were about, because Otter doesn’t like them around anymore more than the mouse! (heh. You thought I’d be sweet or kill people and I’m just not today. Nyah Nyah!)

Next to George was the cat very full from the mouse, if she keeps eating this way she’ll be as big as the house. (not really, she's just fluffy)

The presents wrapped in festive snowman wrap were waiting to be mailed to friends and family… who would proclaim upon opening, “Oh Lookie, More Crap!”.

Yes, it’s an Amazon Christmas this year. The buying of love will never be easier. But take caution friends, and use your damn brains. (unless the zombie got to it already) Its phishing season for scammers, so never give your credit card number to weirdos in email. (people can be such assholes this time of year… hell everyday of the year)

With everything wrapped and mailed on its way it became a happy time for Otter to just knit and play. It’s an Amazon Christmas and you know what that means, a knit book or two should arrive any day. Making Christmas less painful for all who are near. (But mainly me. Woot! Charted Knitting Designs by Barbara Walker!)

So Merry Wintertime Holiday Shopping Season to All and to All a Zombie Fun Night!

This is George and TKK last Christmas. :D

Cute aren't they. :P

And now for another completed Dulaan Hat. It's my third completed hat. I love hats. Can't stop knitting hats...

Here's George looking fairly normal in the hat.

He looks startled here because of the way the hat's sticking up. *L*

Top of Hat

It's just a simple roll bring hat. Just made a big stockinette tube, in stripes and decreased when I thought it was long enough.

I finally made a pom pom. It's cuter than I thought it would be. Dave said something about my last hat needing balls (well ball) so I did it for this one. I think I'll go back and add balls to the last one too. :P

I need to get some white fleece to line it with.

I'm going to use this Dulaan Hat as my George Holiday Topper this year. I have a lot of wrapping to finish up this week. Plus packing and mailing... and the a different kind of packing. I'm not really sure when I'll have time to decorate George actually. I want to do some serious dusting first.

I'm pretty much done with my Holiday shopping. Got a few things on their way in the mail. It's good to be done early. Even if it feels late. My big holiday get together is in just a few weeks so I'm pushing it close on that. o.0 Where'd the time go.

Home Alone & Hat Swatching

I am home alone. It's dark outside. It's been ages, years maybe even since I've been home alone at night.

o.0

Every little noise is kinda freaky. Plus it got dark around 5:00 or so. That's just messed up. 

The honey is off at a work training thing. It's the whole week long, which means I'll be handing out candy to brats kids all by myself tomorrow night.

If and ax murder comes to my door and kills me please know it was likely my neighbors. They are going to burn the neighborhood down one of these nights. They keep drinking and starting huge bonfires in their backyard. Then they go inside and don't watch the damn fire. We of course have had to call the authorities several times as they do this just a few feet from the wooden fence that separates our property. I think they hate us, but that's okay as I dislike them a great deal thanks to their unsafe stupidity.  (These are also the idiots who had the drinking and driving BS going on last winter during a deep snow. Because nothing is stupider than trying to drive in deep snow while drunk!) Considering how little rain we've had and all the crazy fires this year they might be more cautious. Nope. So yeah if I'm stabbed to death that's the first lead. Those people are NUTS.

Speaking of nuts a red-tailed hawk dropped a dead mouse carcass into the backyard today. This is the third time this has happened. I think it has a crush on the kitty. Why else would it bring by gifts of love and devotion. I'm hoping she'll tell the birdie she doesn't return the affection so he'll stop. It's kinda freaking me out. o.0

Speaking of the kitty I have to tell ya, she can't tell time. This time change hasn't meant ANYTHING to her in fact. o.0 She is now waking me up an hour earlier than the clock says she should. She is also meowing for dinner an hour earlier than she should. Doesn't the government know my cat can't tell time? Why would they screw with us twice a year like this? It'll be at least a week or two before she gets on the new time change. *sigh* Until then I'm getting meowed at and walked all over much too early. Fall back and gain and hour my butt. I just lost an hour to a hungry cat who wants her treats and morning huggles.

Okay now for happier news. I'm swatching for my very first hat this evening. I'll go get started on the actual hat cast on in a bit. I'm making a Child's hat for Dulaan. It's Pinks, Greys and whites in an Acrylic/Wool blend from Plymouth yarn. I can't wait to see how it knits up in the round. :D

Here's my guage swatch:

That's on a size 9US needle. It's freaky going from a size 2 to a 9. Like knitting with telephone poles or something. I'm going to go down to an 8 to make a tighter guage. It should be warmer I'd think. I'm just going to make a basic ribbed edge hat. I'm using The Knitters handy book of patterns by Ann Budd for my pattern construction.

In addition to working on my first hat I'm also going to knit on my sock a bit. I was almost done with it last night. I got to the point where I could just graft the toes to finish it up, but after trying it on I felt it wasn't long enough so I ripped back. It'll be great when it's done. Very comfy so far. :D Then I get to start on the second sock. Wheeeeeeeee!!

I'll leave y'all with this picture I took at the park a few weeks ago. I love this park. You can hike through the woods or walk by a bubbly creek or whatever you want. :D There are always lots of birds, squirrels and pine cones for amusement.

If you don't think pine cones are amusing then you've never been in a pine cone fight. It's like a snow ball fight, only just more pokey. :P

Pine Coned!!

Happy Halloween Eve. :D

Kitty & DK KAL

I am so unworthy to be my cats owner it's not even funny. o.0

I let my kitty out into the fenced in backyard right before my honey left to go do some errands. I said to myself that I would check her in five minutes.

I FORGOT! o.0

I am the worst cat owner ever. She was out there unsupervised for an hour and a half or so.  Anything could have happened. She could have been taken off by one of those big birds of prey. The icky next door neighbors dog could have busted through the fence. ANYTHING could have happened and I was doing my own stuff and FORGOT about her. :(

I suck. She will be getting lots of snuggles and treats. Poor little kitty.

And when I just happened to walk into the kitchen to get a cup of tea and saw her outside the sliding glass door it was so sad. She was just sitting there looking cold. :(

When I let her back in she was all happy and purred when I picked her up. She even gave me cheek kissies. (Cheek Kissies = Face licks) Although maybe she had just eaten a bug and licking me was her revenge so now maybe I have dead bug germs on my face. o.0

You never know. But no I think she was just happy to see me.

I am so unworthy to be her kitty care giver aka cat slave.

Here are some piccies of her from a few minutes ago after she got settled inside.

TKK taking a kitty bath and looking shocked at being photographed in such a compromising position.

Here she is a few minutes later after getting some petting. She's ready for her nap. As soon as I stopped taking pictures of her she went to nappy land. :D

She is just the sweetest kitty ever. I am so lucky I get to be her person. ♥

This of course brings me to her Double Knit Kitty Paw Blankey I've had on hold for awhile. It's not the Double Knitting that has me on hold, it's the black yarn. My eyes! o.0 Here's my current progress:

I'm joining JoFrog's Double Knit KAL in the hopes I can get it completed with some extra motivation.

Of course after leaving my little furball outside all by herself today is plenty of motivational. If anyone needs me I'll be doing ten kitty hail mary's, which as we all know involves opening cans of wet food and lots of petting. *L*

Hail Kitties, full of Cat Nip.
The fur is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst everyone everywhere,
and blessed is the fishie of the sea, so yummy for thee.
Holy kitties,
rulers of earth, purr for us caregivers, now
and at your dinner time and nap times.
Meow.

I'm going to hell later. :P

But at least my cat will be happy and inside where she belongs. ;)

Yummy Thai Lemongrass Soup!!

When I got home  from my travels I was CRAVING something warm and comforting. I was craving a steaming bowl of this soup called TOM YUM MEE that I had years ago at a restaurant. I used to go there all the time to get it for lunch. Now that I live several thousand miles from that place I can't just go about getting a carryout bowl of it so I decided to make my own. A trip to the market led me to create my own version of this Thai Soup. Tom = Soup, Yum = mixed/chopped/assembled by hand (I think) and Gai = Chicken. So I will call it Tom Yum Gai. Original eh? ;^)

Tom Yum Gai

This soup is really a three part dealy to me. So long as you have the first part assembled properly the next two parts can be switched up to suit your needs.

Part One: The Soup Base/Broth

The main flavors you want out of this soup are derived from the Lemongrass, Red Chili's, Cilantro and Lemon.

They combine together to be very light and refreshing. It depends on the flavors and heat that you want from the base that will determine just how much to add of each ingredient.

1 stalk of fresh lemongrass or two tablespoons of refrigerated lemongrass paste (I couldn't get fresh at the market, but they did have the paste) You’ll want to chop them up after you whack them with the side of your knife the way you would a clove of garlic. This releases the aromatic oils from the stalks.
1 cup of fresh leafy cilantro The Zest and Juice of One Lemon The Zest and Juice of One Lime
3 to 4 thin shaved slices of fresh ginger Red Chili's to Taste - I used a fresh Paste and used about a tablespoon, it just depends how hot you want it
1 tablespoon fish sauce
4 stalks of green onion diced
2 or 3 cloves of Garlic The amounts are just what I prefer.

Mix it up to make the flavor you most prefer. I like mine spicy. ;) I also added more lemon juice a little later after having a taste.

Now you can either mix that together over a medium heat in a quart or so of water or you can use a chicken broth. I used a store bought low sodium organic free range chicken broth rather than make my own this time. Once you have that simmering on the stove you can move on to part two. (Let this simmer at least 30 minutes before adding part two.)

Part Two: The yummy Stuff floating in your soup

This section is totally up to you and your preference. I'll tell you what I did for this batch of soup though. ;) I was going to use Shrimp as that is the traditional meat ingredient for this soup, but the shrimp I purchased was slimy and had a very bad smell when I got it out of it's packaging so I pitched it. I bought it to use that day.

Oh yes there will be complaining to that store. :/

So instead I used some chicken breasts I had purchased Tuesday afternoon as well. I rinsed them and removed any fatty bits and put them whole into the pot with the soup base. I let them simmer at a medium high heat for an hour or so. Do not boil these. After an hour they looked and felt pretty done so I removed them with tongs and set them on a plate to cool.

Then I put some cheese cloth over another pan and scooped/poured the soup base into the cheese cloth in the other pot. I did this so I could separate the golden yummy soup broth from the herbs and veggies that made it so. After a few hours of simmering they weren't very pretty and looked all mushy and not very yummy. Plus you'll want to be able to enjoy the clear perfection of this soup without all those bits. Once I had strained and separated that out I returned the soup base to the original pot and let it began to simmer again.

This is also the time to add water to lighten your soup up. You can add a quart or just a few cups. Depends on how much stock you have and how flavorful you want it. It should start to become lightly transparent as you add the water to it. By this time the chicken was cool enough to shred with a fork. It was very tender and I literately just held it and moved the fork over it to shred. Once it was shredded I added it back to the pot with the soup. Now you can add in whatever light flavor veggies you want to have in your soup such as mushrooms. I added a container of rinsed sliced up mushrooms. Now we are ready for the third and final part of this soup.

Part Three: Rice or Noodles

You can either make up some Rice Noodles or Rice to go with this. Since you don’t want your rice or noodle to get to mushy from sitting around in soup you only add them together at the time of consumption. I made Basmati Rice this time. I made a batch of it up after I shredded the chicken. Once it was done the soup is ready to serve. Place a serving of Rice in your bowl and then ladle your soup mixture over the rice. I like more of the golden lemongrass broth and my honey likes more of the chicken mixture so I put a little broth into his and then use a slotted spoon to grab more of the solid goodies for him. Now if you wish you can top your soup with some sliced green onions for flavor and to enhance to appearance of your soup. If you wish for more spiciness you can sprinkle on some dried red pepper flakes as well. :D

That’s my simple and super yummy recipe for making Tom Yum Gai. I had it for dinner Tuesday night and lunch yesterday and I'm very happy. I'll be making this more often as Lemongrass is one of my favorite flavors. *dances*

For Dave and Cookie: Proof that THEY are up to something. o.0

That's my Cat. She's on my head waiting for the blankey to fall off my face so she can decide the best way to eat me in my sleep. This morning she was nibbling on my nose when I woke up. It's only a matter of time. First they'll act weird, maybe chew on some yarn and then it's your nose. Who knows what's next. Eyes. o.0 Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Saturday Sky, Mitten Update & a Kitty in a Bag Oh My!

I can barely say I know what it looks like outside as I was only out there about ten minutes max. o.0 I've been inside all day... mittening. Some blood has been spilled, but I think I'll be okay. More whiney than usual, but otherwise normal. I'm about half done. I have the hand part of the mittens done and the top of the cuff that will fit just below the elbow done. Now for the exciting middle. *insane laugh*

Wish me luck. I'm doing better than I thought I would be by this point. I have until Monday a little before 9:00 pm Pacific to get these done. I'm fairly certain I can do that. I may have to drop some of my design ideas, but I'll make it. I've already made some changes due to the fact that the leather I was knitting with was just killing my hands. I made a trip out yesterday and got a different type, less pretty, but more suitable leather for my purposes. Either way by the end of this I'm going to have a kick ass pair of Bitchin' Mittens. My honey has finally caught the spirit of my mittens and is having fun seeing how they whip up too. *snicker*

I'm learning a lot as I go along and I must say I am very pleased with myself. *L*

Oh sure I'm all cocky all full of myself now. Check me later when I hit another bump in the road and get a little crazy trying to do a last minute redesign. :P

Okay now for the Saturday Sky - Clickie to make Biggie:

Here's a couple pictures of my TKK. She's trying to make me crazy over here. I'm not sure who will win that claim though, her or the mittens... or is that a ship that sailed ages ago. *L*

We were unpacking bags from Trader Joe's and she wanted to have some kitty play time. Too cute. :D

Here's a less demonic shot. ;)

She is just the cutest kitty ever. I'm so lucky I get the opportunity to spend a bit of the world with her.

Satrurday Sky & Kitty Oh My!

Lookie at this adorable face!

I don't normally post twice in one day, but I didn't want to stick my Saturday Sky Pics with my Amazing Lace Challenge Pics. Too much for people to dig through ya know.

Anyway so this morning I was up bright and early and the kitty and I went outside with the honey to look at a dead mouse that had fallen from the sky. (Don't worry I didn't let the furr face down on the ground until the honey had cleaned it up.)

We have birds of prey around here and you never know what's going to happen. o.0

The kitty thought Mana was falling from the heavens. She was amused, I was grossed out and the honey thought it was cool that a bird of prey was hanging out near us.

The sky is clear with just light wispy clouds and the weather is lovely. Not too warm, not too cool.

Another beautiful day in paradise. ;)

More pictures of the awesome and fearless TKK!

Kitty had to do a bit of her normal pumpkin patch inspection. She's annoyed that one of the leaves has turned brown. She yelled at the wet food man and he watered it though. :P

After her inspection of the Pumpkin Patch she decided she needed to be picked up and held some more. This is her running to me. Awwwww. Love this kitty muchly much.

She's on my desk running around wanting attention as I type this out. So cute. She keeps laying her head on my arms. :D

Now to get to those Mittens!

Kitty Kitty Kitty!!!

I've been working off and on with The Kitty Blankey in between trying to get my mittens going and thought I'd post an update. Plus lots of kitty pics of the kitty that is getting the blankey. :D

This is my first time experimenting with Double Knit and I LOVE it muchly.

One Blankey, Two Sides. So Fun!

Here is the pink and black side of the kitty blankey.

Here is the black and pink side of the kitty blankey.

Here is a Special Bonus Freaky Image of the blankey. *L*

And now for the über wonderful kitty who is getting the blankey. :D

Here she is looking very dignified in her kitty tower by my desk.

Here she is telling the Devil Ducky how much she loves it. :P

Here she is staring at me so I'll stop playing around on the computer so I can give her more attention. 

Finally she resorts to sitting on my hand so I can't type anymore. Usually she just starts licking at my hands while I'm typing when she wants attention. o.0 Weirdo Kitty. *L*

Here's a bonus picture of what I see in the morning and the middle of the night when I wake up. Click the image to see a larger picture to get the full effect. *L*

My First Time

Lately I've been going through a lot of Firsts. I will tell you all about it next week when I'm back home and can upload some pictures. Some things really need a picture to show what words cannot, ya know. ;)

In the meantime I had these saved in my photo storage space and I figured what the heck I'll share them here. I'm tracking where I came from to better appreciate where I am.

Speaking of where I am, I've been in AnnLand since Monday. Well nearish AnnLand. If I had more time I'd go up and see if she wants to meet and all that. Maybe next time if she's up for something like that. Later this afternoon I'm driving a couple hundred miles to some other stuff even further from AnnLand and I won't be near a computer or anything. Not that I've had much time for blogging or checking emails. That's why I have been sucky at commenting/reading blogs and even replying to my own comments here. Sorry about that. What with packing and preparation to go out of town and then just being busy as heck there's been no time. But I do appreciate all of you. :D

I really miss my honey and my kitty. Traveling alone for business mostly sucks. Oh and the humidity has given me a stunning Farrah Fawcett hairdo. o.0 It would be cute if I had any control over it. :P This may help explain why southern women have big hair. Now why the crazy christian lady has big light pink hair is beyond me. You ever accidentally turn to that channel? What's up with that?

Okay, now I'm just rambling. I've been out of it for days, btw. I'm whiny too. I wanna go home. *POUT* Me Misses My Honey and Kitty!! /whine

Okay I better post what I'm going to post before I forget what the hell I'm doing here. o.0

My First Cast On: March 25, 2006

My First Knit Item: Cloth Type Thing - Made with Cotton Yarn - Started March 25, completed March 26 - This picture looks better than it actually was. Seriously. o.0

My Second Knit Thingy - Made with Cotton - completed April 3, 2006 - experiment with stockinette & Basket Weave stitch

When I first started teaching myself to knit I knew nothing of counting rows or really anything. Thankfully I'm getting better and now know about all the books and Internet resources out there so that I may improve and grow as a knitter.

Now before I got all excited about knitting I tried my hand at Crochet. That was sometime in January or so. A friend taught me how to start the chain thingy and do the basic stitch. Of which I can't remember how to do any of that at the moment. o.0 Memory loss at 31? Yup.

Here is my first Crochet item - iPod holder - For Cookie on her birthday - I was trying to make a square. It wasn't very square and I just kept going to see what would happen. Since the shape was looking kinda cuppy and it was about the size of an iPod I decided to make an iPod holder out of it. *L* I'm like an idiot savant without all that savant. :P

This is the second item I made, well it's a set actually. A hat and scarf set for TKK. She's such a good patient kitty with me and my weirdness. *L* Hmm the scarf isn't in these pictures, you'll just have to imagine it. :P

Here is the Camera case I made. I love this case and the button I made with it. It's one of those plastic holey things that you wrap yarn around to make a button. :D

It at this point it occurred to me I should get a book on crochet so I can really do something. *L*

Oddly all the things I crocheted were made without a pattern. In fact they were all attempts at making squares. o.0 Squares are hard. I just can't think that way. :P Once I saw a basic shape like a bag or whatever I tried to make it so that it actually became that item. I had no idea about counting rows or any of that stuff. *L*

After getting a book on crochet I read about how to make a different kind of stitch. This time the square came out more square than anything else. *L* This is TKK's blankey.

I think that was the last crochet type thing I made. I took a few months off from yarn stuff thanks to travel and everything else in life and once I got back to thinking about it I had forgotten everything.

Then my honey saw a book at Borders called Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter and got it for me. He thought I might like it since I had been playing with yarny stuff with the crochet and the name is just great. *L* It was about halfway through the book I became obsessed with the idea of knitting socks. o.0 I dreamed about knitting even though I had never actually seen anyone knit or had any concept really of what was involved or how it worked.

I wanted to learn to knit but thought I needed to take a class or have someone show me how to do it and I couldn't find anyone at that time who had a class open.

That's how in exasperation I decided to teach myself to knit that fateful morning in March. I didn't have a book or anything yet, but I did find knittinghelp.com. :D

Now I have lots of books and know of a TON of those nifty online resources.

I love knitting and all the unexpected treasures knitting has brought to me.

Life s good and knitting makes it even better. :D

So that's some of my firsts. Next week when I'm back home I'll show you a few more. ;)

Here's a Bonus picture of TKK wearing a Tiara and hanging out with baby Cthulhu.

Like I said good thing my kitty is a good sport about my weirdness. :P

Early Morning Knitting with Kitty!

This morning TKK got up a little bit before 5:50. This of course woke me up as she was asleep on top of my head and she stuck her back paw in my eye getting up. *L*

She wanted to go outside immediately as she had some important Catting Business to do or something. I went out with her and my knitting bag, after putting on some appropriate going outside clothes that is. ;)

There were some birds out there that she needed to tell who was boss. They flew off in aw of her kittyness. But then sat on the fence making birdie noises down at her. She talked back in cute kitty fashion. I take it some harsh words passed because the birds flew up to a tree a moment later looking flustered. *L*

After checking the perimeter of her kingdom and deciding it NEEDS to rain here she settled down into a cushy chair and grabbed a few moments of peaceful purring while she waited for her morning treats.

Checking out her Kingdom:

Kitty Demands Rain NOW!

Morning Treats!! YUMMY!

After her treats she needed a kitty bath to clean up after her morning running around.

A kitty likes her privacy and told me to knock it off with the camera while she was taking care of business. *L*

She had a morning nap after that... after I moved her back to her chair next to mine. Then I continued knitting on The Irish Hiking Scarf. :D

It's very nearly finished. *happy dance*

I have one more section to complete and then I get to weave in all those ends. *L*

Otter has a Drinkie... or two

TKK Piccie from last year: Just too cute not to share here. :D

I don't have any real knitting news to update y'all with. I'm still where I was yesterday... or Friday or whenever I last updated. Well obviously several rows along. :P

I'll try to post some actual stuffies tomorrow or so.

I feel like I'm behind. I have several thing's I want to post. Like how to do my version of stripped yarn and show my completed first sock.

The mind is willing, but the brain is lacking battery power... that and time.

In unrelated news I'm having a drinkie or two right now. Raspberry Vodka over limeade. YUM.

Oh and I got a pedicure and manicure today. I was knitting on the second sock during the pedicure. I'm stealing moments here and there to work on that.

My nails are PINK. *pokes Dave* Nothing wrong with pink. Thanks to him I want Lobster. *SIGH*

:P

OH! Cookie informed me today that summer would be here this week. That's kinda fucked. o.0

It feels like summer already. The sun is so hot and just OUT right now that I can barely go out without crisping up as it is. We are getting a sun shade umbrella for the backyard tomorrow, and it can't come soon enough. It will be lovely being able to have some blissful shade. I love knitting out there. :D

Oh!!!!! Saturday night we sat outside under the starry sky and watched the night sky. Perfection. It was peaceful and beautiful and just renewing. We talked about all the things young lovers talk about when gazing up at the night sky... you know which of the stars were bright/alive enough to sustain a Class M Planet and why the atmosphere makes the stars look like they flicker, but how they don't in space... *L*

The stars were twinkling and just wonderful.

It was a bit like staring at the ocean. Calm and  I could breathe.

Sunday we got some books on Stargazing as I haven't done it in years and need a refresher. This weekend I'm taking my blankey outside and I'm just going to absorb all that lovely starlight. Breathe it in and be at peace.

Of course when the Stealth Fighter went overhead it broke the stillness of the night, but that was kinda cool in it's own way. *giggles because I'm in Nevada...*

One last thing, don't try knitting with wet nails. Just don't. :P