Love me, love my caribou

Heh...

2009-06-10T17:13:00.001-04:00

So I started another blog. Where I talk about food.

The Kitchen is a Mess.

Or maybe I talk about other stuff. Or maybe I forget I blog at all, like I did here... We'll see, I guess.

English Muffins for breakfast

2009-05-11T08:46:00.003-04:00

I love English muffins. Love them love them love them. Without gluten in my kitchen, I have a heck of a time trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast that's not garbage, 97% sugar, and not leftovers from the night before (which I will eat for lunch, more often than not. Who wants to eat the same food for three consecutive meals? Yes, a real first world problem, I realize).

I was looking for a good breakfast food and came across three consecutive mentions of English muffins on the internet, one of which was gluten free. So I decided to find a starting point and tweak from there. I made the Better Batter recipe, using a Better Batter cheat recipe and found out the hard way that I need to make a sweeping generalization: There is too much stinking xanthan gum in most gluten-free recipes which is what makes them gummy, heavy, without air pockets, and generally yuck.

So I made a second round, tweaking the flours (you can substitute 3 1/2-4 cups of your favorite flour mix), the xanthan gum and realizing that I only had 4 English muffin rings for a recipe that makes about a dozen English muffins. They were light, non-gummy, toasted really nicely (well, would have toasted better if I had, um, a toaster. But the broiler worked fairly well) and took a lovely pat of butter making my eyes roll around in my head when I ate it (the butter and the muffin).

Gluten-free English Muffins, heather-style

2 1/4 tsp (or 1 packet) dry yeast

1 T sugar

1 cup milk (dairy or non, or water if you wish), warmed to about 110 degrees

1 cup warm buttermilk (or 1 cup milk/milk substitute, plus 1 T vinegar)

5 T shortening (I use Spectrum, non-hydrogenated palm shortening)

1 1/3 cups rice flour or sorghum flour

1 cup, plus 2T millet or amaranth flour

1 cup tapioca starch

2/3 cup potato starch

(or substitute 4 cups of your favorite flour blend)

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Add the yeast and sugar to the warm milks, and set aside to proof for 5-7 minutes until frothing and bubbly. While the yeast is proofing, blend the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a sifter or a whisk. Cut the shortening into the mixed dry ingredients with a pastry blender, two knives, or rub it in with your hands until well-blended. When the yeast is well-proofed, add it into the flour mix, and mix for 2-3 minutes, until fully incorporated.

Spray and flour the inside of your English muffin rings ($5 for 4 at Sur la Table) or empty tuna cans with the top and the bottom removed, washed, labels removed. PLace them on a baking sheet on a piece of parchment paper, lightly sprinkled with flour. Evenly fill the rings about 1/2 to 2/3 full with batter. Without the extra xanthan gum, the batter is sticky instead of dough-like. Welcome to the world of gluten-free batter. If you don't have rings, or if you only have a few, you can either free form themm, or form them in the rings, and remove them, but they will spread and become more crumpet-shaped. Let the English muffins rise for 45 minutes in a warm place (I usually set the oven at about 100-115 degrees and let them rise in there).

When they've risen and are a bit puffy on top, bake them in a 350 degree oven for 18-25 minutes. Or until light golden brown, whichever. Set the muffins on a rack to cool. Remove the muffins from the rings. You may need to run around the inside of the ring with a thin knife, to release them. Split the english muffins with a fork to take advantage of those patented nooks and crannies. Freeze everything you won't eat now, to thaw and toast later. Spread with butter or jam or both or honey or, you get the idea.

Mmmm...

Gluten free brown sugar coffee cake

2009-02-21T20:16:00.003-05:00

It's recipe time again! If I were a good blogger, I'd also have photos. But I'm not. So it goes.

Gluten-free brown sugar coffee cake

1 1/2 cups Brown Rice Flour (or 3/4 cups brown rice flour, 3/4 cups millet flour)

1 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 heaping tsp salt

Sift the above ingredients

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sour cream

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Add the sifted dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in thirds, alternating with the sour cream.

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Put 1/2 of the batter into a greased 13x9 inch pan. cover with 1/2 the topping. Gently spread the remaining batter over these two layers, cover with remaining topping. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

NOTE: Updated 05.4.09 to adjust xanthan gum level

New Plan!!

2009-01-13T10:01:00.004-05:00

My new plan is this: post a chicken enchilada casserole recipe every month.

It's not really a new plan. It's apparently what I've decided to do. My friend Droolie gave me her recipe and I liberated it from gluten. Aunt Droolie's nephew used to have a hard time pronouncing Chicken Enchilada Casserole and called it Chicken Encarada Rascapole, so who am I to argue?

Also? Full disclosure, I haven't made this yet, so let me know how you like it. :)

Chicken Encarada Rascapole – Gluten-free

4-6 Chicken Breasts
1 large chopped onion
12 corn tortillas
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cups GF Chicken stock
2 cloves crushed garlic
½ cup minced fire-roasted chilies (mild or spicy to taste) (or 1 Small can minced green chilies)
1 T cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
3 T corn flour
1 T canola oil
1 Cup grated Jack cheese
1 Cup grated cheddar cheese
1 Can Evaporated Milk
¾ can of Ro-Tel, drained

Put chicken, chicken stock (enough to cover chicken), large chopped onion, crushed garlic, cumin, oregano in a crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. When chicken is finished cooking, remove the meat from the crock pot and set aside to cool. When cooled, shred chicken with two forks.

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the canola oil, and whisk in the corn flour. Cook for a few minutes, then slowly whisk in the evaporated milk. Stir frequently until the mixture starts to thicken. Slowly incorporate the broth mixture from the crock pot, and add the Ro-Tel tomatoes. Heat through, continuing to stir with a spoon. Taste for salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the chicken and mix, setting aside ¼ to coat tortillas.

Lightly oil 13”x9” baking pan. Dip the tortillas in the reserved sauce and line the baking dish in a single layer. Add chicken in a layer, and top with a layer of mixed cheeses. Repeat until everything is used. Top with a final layer of tortillas and cheese. Refrigerate overnight (optional, because really? Who wants to take 2 days to make this?).

Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees (if refreigerated) or for 25 minutes at 350 degrees (if not refrigerated)

Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Casserole

2008-12-17T19:18:00.004-05:00

I got peer-pressured, yo. On Twitter/Facebook, I mentioned I was making a chicken enchilada casserole. The public demanded (okay, like 3 people) a recipe.

I'm not great with recipes because I throw stuff in without much regard to measuring - it's a bit more intuitive. Taste and add. Here's the best I can do.

(Despite the use of the crock pot and the word casserole, it's not particularly one-pot. At least not if you make the tortillas when you get home.)

Enchilada Sauce Ingredients (based on Karina's easy enchilada sauce):

1.5-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast and/or thighs

1 28-oz plus one 14.5-oz can of tomato sauce (or puree, or crushed tomatoes)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 large onion (or 1 small)

1 Tablespoon cumin

1 Tablespoon coriander

A few shakes of cayenne pepper to taste

4 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup flour (Rice flour or tapioca flour will work fine if you're gluten-free. I like corn flour to impart the corn flavor from the tortillas)

salt

pepper

crushed red peppers (optional)

Plus:

16 corn tortillas (if you're insane like me and want to make 16 tortillas from scratch when you get home after being at work for 11 hours, use 2 cups maseca, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 1/4 cups of water)

shredded cheese (I like jack and cheddar)

Gettin' Down to Bidness:

Mix sauce ingredients and pour over the chicken in the crock pot. Cook on low for 7? hours (maybe more? I don't know - I left it for 11 hours on low because that's how long I'm gone for work). Remove chicken from sauce, and shred it using two forks. Remove about 1.5 cups of the tomato sauce from the crock pot and set aside. Mix the shredded chicken back into the remaining tomato sauce.

Lightly oil a 13x9-inch baking dish, put 1-2 tablespoons of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the dish. Lay 4 corn tortillas, dipped in the enchilada sauce, cover with 1/3 of the shredded chicken and 1/4 of the shredded cheese. Repeat these three layers 2 more times. Top with remaining 4 corn tortillas dipped in enchilada sauce. Pour any remaining sauce over the top layer of tortillas and cover with the remainder of the cheese. Stick in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until it is melty and heated evenly through.

Cut up into pieces (I use a pizza cutter) and serve hot. Makes about 8 servings. Take pictures to make your blog post less boring (optional). Get someone else to wash all the stinkin' dishes you dirtied making this.

The Post-Mortem:

That's pretty gross to talk about a post-mortem on something you just ate, but it's late and I'm tired. Anyhow, it was pretty good - basically I have grown weary of ground turkey/beef and wanted to do something else. The chicken was lighter than the turkey but it sucked up tons of extra sauce after being shredded and mixed back in. If you wanted to do a turkey or ground beef enchilada sauce, mix the liquid ingredients of the sauce in a medium sauce pan, following Karina's recipe. Add the flour after sauteeing onions and garlic. Use only the 28 oz can of tomatoes - you don't need quite as much liquid for the ground turkey. Mix about 1 cup of enchilada sauce into your browned ground turkey, and use the rest to pour over each layer as you assemble. Eat, clean up and go to bed full.

It was fall but it felt like winter, been gone a couple months, felt like a year

2008-11-01T22:35:00.004-04:00

It was August. I posted a list of food I have eaten. I closed my eyes and now it's November? It's time to start getting ready for Thanksgiving and being thankful when somehow I missed September and October and blinked and missed the riotous oranges and reds and yellows of the trees in the city and outside.

It got cold. I can see my breath in the morning and have a harder time justifying leaving the house for work in a wet ponytail. Well, clothes and a wet ponytail. It's time to start putting logs on the fireplace and sipping cider in front of the crackling flames. Forgetting the utter lack of a fireplace down here and my general aversion to hot cider after the first 4 sips.

Every fallwinter I make a mulled cranberry cider. I throw unmeasured amounts of heady wintry spices, lemon juice and sugar into a pot and simmer it until it's thick and syrupy and my college roommates and friends told me I made the house smell like Christmas. But it doesn't quite smell like Christmas, because the smell of snow is missing from the mix.

Even though I've never had a white Christmas. California is prone to 80 degree Christmases and last year, my first Christmas On My Own, was too mild. There may have been a snowy Christmas in Chicago when I got a Play-Doh Dr. Drill and Fill and my grandmother taught me to make snow angels.

It's coming out too stream of consciousnessy, but I don't want it to. That's not why I sat down to poke this blog awake. I started a tumblr, but I'm still trying to get the shoes to mold to my feet. These shoes fit already.

I have the gooey feelings of excitedsad that happen during this time of year. The ones I get during the scenic shots of The Spitfire Grill but more. I've got my toes on a precipice and I'm leaning forward into the wind. There's exhilaration and a little bit of fear but I keep muttering platitudes to myself .

Jump and the net will appear.

Leap of faith.

I want to write a song but I don't know how it goes. But it's there. There are many of them there. I just can't hear them though. So I knit and watch reruns of House and swim along the current of Twitter and Facebook updates.

But my guitar has been sneaking out more.

I know this is annoying to read; it's fairly annoying to write. But there are many words that are blocking the exit and if I get them out it may be just the ticket.

That's just the ticket, he said accentuating the words with a swing of his arm. He adjusted his newsboy cap and walked off jauntily.

Omnivore's Fifty-eight

2008-08-20T09:33:00.006-04:00

I stole this from Jill Elise's page!

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile

~~6. Black pudding~~

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari

12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

~~20. Pistachio ice cream~~ (allergic, so I am unlikely to ever eat it again

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

~~29. Baklava~~ (stupid walnuts)

30. Bagna cauda (wouldn't surprise me if I had, but can't remember)

~~31. Wasabi peas~~ Allergies. Again.

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a ~~fat cigar~~

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

~~42. Whole insects~~

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk

~~45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more~~ No need.

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

~~50. Sea urchin~~ It's a visual thing. It gives me the heebie-jeebies.

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

~~57. Dirty gin martini~~ Not a fan of olives

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin (the mineral? If so, then it appears to be an anti-caking agent, so I guess so?)

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

~~68. Haggis~~ Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!

~~69. Fried plantain~~ Allergic

~~70. Chitterlings, or andouillette~~ Clearly my brain sometimes get in the way.

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini (but not together)

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

~~75. Roadkill~~ The whole thing about not eating dead animals whose intestines have been perforated would make me decline altogether.

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie (not sure why this is less gross of a food to have eaten than sea urchin, because it's really a draw in my view...)

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini (the dude in the towel from Kids in the Hall, right?)

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

~~89. Horse~~ My friend Flicka?

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab (although after reading this I don't know that I ever could again. Caveat, it's disturbingly gross)

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. ~~Mole~~ poblano Allergic and yum!

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor (I'm not striking this out because I'm not put off from it other than it's a heartattack in a shell under a cheesy brown crust)

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (this is the jaguar poop coffee, no? No, it's not... That's Kopi Luwak/Civet Coffee)

100. Snake

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

Ay! Bake me some pie!

2008-07-24T10:31:00.004-04:00

I had a little conversation with a co-worker over email today that made me feel oddly self-satisfied in ways that it shouldn't. It also tells me I need to learn how to interact like a total non-dork sometimes. That will be tricky. We'll call that one a "long-term goal."

Co-worker: I made a peach pie with a half the sugar the other day. It is surprising just how different it was. Not so sweet, and maybe a touch less flavor, but my goodness, it was really refreshing and light. It was one of those mistakes that turned out not what you wanted, but good nevertheless.

Me: I bet if you made it with 2/3 the sugar it would boost the flavor but keep the lightness and refreshingness. I really want to make pie. Pie pie pie pie. With blueberries. Or blackberries. Oooh! Or chicken pots.

Co-Worker: I so want to make blackberry ice cream I can almost taste it. What are chicken pots?

Me: Duh, they're what you use to make chicken pot pie.

Co-Worker: You want to make a chicken pot pie in summer?

Me: No, but I wanted to confuse you with references to chicken pots.

Co-Worker: I'm lost…. You have succeeded.

Me: I believe my work here is done. I'm going home.

Time Flies

2008-07-02T15:36:00.002-04:00

I was just reading a post about how someone started blogging in October 2004... I started this here blog in May of 2004 - right after I moved to Denver to go to grad school. However I had a blog on Xanga that I started in...2003, I think that was deleted and lost to the cosmos forever. That's too bad because I had a really funny post about carpooling chickens after the 605 in LA was shut down because there were chickens in the carpool lane.

But I didn't celebrate any sort of blog-o-versary because I don't blog all that much. I also just plain forgot.

I was also struck by her comment that blogs were rare enough that there was a sense of community between bloggers that found each other through mutual friends (virtual or real life), interests, etc. It's not as much like that anymore. Or maybe it is - I only interact with blogs through my feed reader. What do I know?

I HAVE been remembering to do stuff like my job, and make dinner, and watch Enterprise or TNG on SciFi at night. Sometimes I watch USA shows like In Plain Sight, too. Other times, on weekends I'll watch marathons of ANTM. I twitter, I sometimes knit, I obsessively read the forums on Ravelry.

You see, my life has become a paragon of glamour and excitement. Wouldn't you just love to swap lives with me? Yeah, you know you would.

Sucker.

(out of fear of jinxing it, I'll just say that I think I may be going to London for work in October. And maybe hopping on a train to hang out with Chris and the Child Bride for a day or two before coming home. Or going to Bravissimo.)

I steal other people's ideas

2008-06-25T08:28:00.003-04:00

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

June 1998, I was in France for the summer. It was the end of my first month there, so I was probably in Paris or in Amsterdam. The World Cup in France was in full-swing, making travel by train challenging without reservations.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

Reserve a room for the conference in November
Get new SmarTrip card (mine is broken for unknown reasons?)
Get cilantro for dinner
Finish making charts from the spreadsheet
Work on knitting the Hemlock Ring

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Not much of a snack eater - I usually crave desserts though. Every stinkin' night. But I don't get to eat dessert every night. This is probably a good thing.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire (in no particular order):

Pay off Pants' and my student loan debt; buy a house outside of DC with at least 10 acres to grow new world grains and veggies and raise chickens and goats; buy my mom and sister house(s); get vacation houses in Santa Fe, Malta, and Ireland; give hefty donations to Sisters of Charity, Amnesty, ASPCA, World Vision, Heifer International, and about 20K other charities; buy a Subaru. (What? I like Subarus)

5) Places I have lived:

Denver, CO
Streamwood, IL
Redlands, CA
Boston, MA
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Pau, France
New Orleans, LA
Athens, GA
Rockland, ME
South Thomaston, ME
Washington, DC

6) Jobs I have had (I feel like I'm forgetting some, as long as the list is):

Barrrrrrrrrrista
Caretaker for disabled adults
Music Therapist
Exec Assistant
Receptionist
Telemarketer for Monsanto (yeah, it was a temp job and I lasted about 3 phone calls before I quit for many reasons)
Researcher
Physician Liaison

Thanks Jess, Jess, and 8 million others for the non-specific tags. It got me to post something that's not a picture!

All the cool kids are doing it

2008-06-05T17:05:00.005-04:00

All the cool kids are playing, originally uploaded by swandive00.

(click through to see the details)

Table Talk

2008-05-25T09:44:00.001-04:00

Table Talk, originally uploaded by swandive00.

I am having too much fun pretending I know how to Photoshop or that I have a Lomo camera.

Mainly I love this picture because I love Patty Griffin, and these are the "Making Pies" pies. (Youtube linky)

Dog versus Junior Bacon Cheeseburger

2008-05-04T10:58:00.005-04:00

To keep you amused while I drag Pants to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.
(warning: contains graphic images of a dog eating food)

Also? After 14 months of couch-free living, the new sofa will be delivered hopefully within a week. Woo!

Three Eyebrows are the New Two Eyebrows

2008-04-26T21:24:00.003-04:00

Thanks, waxerlady. I was hoping to have a giant, gaping hole in the middle of my left eyebrow.

My head just imploded

2008-04-19T08:54:00.000-04:00

I don't know what to make of the second picture.

And we have bread!

2008-04-13T21:05:00.006-04:00

I was all set to have a weeks, months, years long saga of the quest for gluten-free bread that would have the taste, feel, appearance of wheat, rye or otherwise gluten-y bread.

Two weeks ago I started a gluten-free sourdough starter (brown rice and water).

One week ago I made a loaf of sourdough from this recipe.

You see all the ingredients in that? Yeah, it wound up, uh, gummy.

(according to the comments, Annie likes gummy bread so I wish she had been here to eat it) It also wound up short with a fallen dome because, I guess one of the drawbacks is that gluten-free bread is, uh, short in stature and doesn't keep a nice domed top.

This week I decided I'd try a Bette Hagman honey sourdough recipe from this book. For among other reasons, it's one of the only recipes I've found that doesn't use ricotta cheese (I don't understand ricotta's role in it either...), and is entirely lactose free.

Me, not being much of a baker, decided I could make it better, too. Ha! The arrogance of naïveté. So, I omitted the egg replacer, the gelatin, and subbed 1/3 cup of water for the 1 and 2/3 cup water, and after mixing everything for 3 minutes, I added 2/3 of a cup of room temperature club soda.

I plopped it in a greased pan, let it rise for an hour.

(I may have forgotten to mention the last loaf didn't rise at all and that there was a decided lack of air bubbles in it and it was just gross. but the crust was okay!)

Then I baked it for 60 minutes at 350 degrees, and LO! There was bread.

It was the height of the pan, and it didn't fall down. It was airy, the crust was, well, crusty, like sourdough should be.

Now, it's not perfect. I'm hoping that the starter will get more sour the more I use it because, frankly it wasn't sour at all. Next time I'll try either drastically scaling back or omitting the honey because it's a bit more sweet than I can handle. I'm oddly encouraged by this, and hope that in future endeavours, scaling back the wet ingredients will improve ALL of the scratch baking... because every last one has been gummy. (If you're curious, I used a gluten-free flour mix that was 3 parts brown rice, 3 parts sorghum, 2 parts potato starch, 1 part tapioca starch)

I'm just looking forward to cinnamon toast for breakfast tomorrow morning.

You know, if I had a toaster...

(ps - i went to a bridal shower yesterday and they had personalized M&Ms! I also figured out how to work the macro on my new camera, so woo!
)

Ernie with a blue bandana

2008-04-10T15:47:00.001-04:00

Ernie with a blue bandana, originally uploaded by swandive00.

My little guy, the geriatric, is starting to show his age...

He's getting cataracts... :(

As long as he isn't running into walls, I guess.

Look! Deers!

2008-04-06T12:15:00.003-04:00

Yesterday? It was an amazing day. I got a fancy new haircut (woo!), had lunch with a friend, bought a new pair of work shoes. Just before leaving the mall, Pants wanders up and oohs and ahhs over my hair (he's a good boyfriend), and hands me a Nikon Coolpix L18.

You know, since my crappy camera I'd had for 2 years died in December. Time to reiterate the "he's a good boyfriend" parenthetical note.

Before I forget, something many people do not know but that is TOTALLY TRUE: Nordstrom will price match if another retailer carries the same item for less. And has free shipping. And the best return policy and customer service ever.

Anyhow, we've started walking around 2 miles a day, every day. Last night, I'm waffling about whether or not to bring the camera. Decide no, because although Crestwood is beautiful, and abuts Rock Creek Park on 3 sides, there's nothing I feel like photographing in particular.

We had been walking for 15 minutes when I saw a gorgeous flowering tree in front of a gorgeous house in the dusk lighting, and I thought, dude, I wish I had my camera...

About 10 minutes later, we're walking and discussing how we had seen a deer on the park slope about 8-9 months ago. We round the corner, and there's a deer standing in the middle of the road.

There's another deer peeking out between two houses.

The first one makes a break for another backyard, is followed by another deer hiding behind a car. The one between the houses takes off and meets his friends. Then a fourth deer emerges and crosses the road.

The only sound is deer hoofs on the pavement.

We start walking again and see the 4 deer have leapt a fence and are milling about in a backyard eating berries. In the center of the District of Columbia.

I'm never leaving without my camera again.

Unsubstantiated rumors, or, it's Armageddon, people!

2008-03-11T11:10:00.002-04:00

The District of Columbia is NOT where you want to be right now. It gets a bad rap for the crime and the pomposity of its residents but in the last 24 hours, there were:

Highway closures from burning or overturned vehicles
Manhole fires resulting in power outages
Rumors of armed robberies at the new Target in Columbia Heights (the Metro muggings were not from the last 24 hours)
My co-worker's apartment was used as a staging area for U.S. Marshals and MPD to take his fugitive neighbor into custody
Several people lost water last night
The people who drive my shuttle said the numerous cop cars (and, a co-worker later reported ambulance was present) at L'Enfant Plaza station were for a reported jumper on the tracks. No service disruptions reported on WMATA website, though.
The Eliot Spitzer story doesn't really fit in the timbre of these other occurences but has a DC element to it.
Also not an unsubstantiated rumor, but a darn good graphic in this story about pedestrian safety.

Nice to know my student loans went toward something useful...

2008-03-03T21:57:00.002-05:00

You Should Be an Artist

You are incredibly creative, spontaneous, and unique.

No one can guess what you're going to do next, but it's usually something amazing.

You can't deal with routine, rules, or structure. You're easily bored.

As long as you are able to innovate and break the rules, you are extremely successful.

You do best when you:

- Can work by yourself

- Can express your personality in your work

You would also be a good journalist or actor.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

filched from cyn

Stop and smell the bandwagon

2008-02-29T21:58:00.005-05:00

I think this may very well be my fifth (and final) post for the month of February. It's a long month, I may as well have extra posts.

Of course five posts in February is a ballpark estimate. I could go and actually count my posts, but where would the fun in that be? There I go, justifying laziness as whimsy! Try it, it's fun.

This month has involved much contemplation on the topic of food. Not as in what should I eat to help me lose that 989123 lbs. I'd like to lose some, but more by way of feeding Pants and I healthily, thoughtfully, and deliciously. I've still been ever so obsessed by thoughts and chapters and meals in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Reading Sarah's thoughts and challenges on eating locally, taking the plunge and chucking all the processed food out to make room for the good stuff invigorates me. Even more so, reading her posts on the Dinner Guest Blog (especially this one) start to light a fire under me.

But...

And there's always a but. I'm looking at my checking account. I'm thinking of the time I spend waiting for the shuttle, then the Metro, then the Bus and the idea of going to the grocery store seems so horrifying. I see the free range, grass-fed meats and eggs and dairy products. I even found a dairy that delivers to DC, heard of a bodega selling local foods at 200 Rhode Island NW. My landlord says I can grow potted tomatoes and chiles in the back yard this summer! I think of the rows and rows of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce that I will have canned to last me through the winter.

But...

That threshold isn't easily crossed. My bargain hunter thinks of the half-gallons of milk that cost $3.50 that are from happy cows who wander around pastures eating grass and contemplating entropy and doesn't want to justify the purchase when I could get a gallon for $3.79. I see the organic chicken who eat worms and beetles and grass and peck at the dirt and wander around but notice that it's $11 for 0.80 lbs when I could get Purdue chicken for $6.00. I open my cabinets and see the lovely, healthy boxes of Pacific Organic broths and soups - organic and gluten-free that have been driven conveniently to Silver Spring, MD from the exotic, far-flung land of Tualatin, OR.

The gluten. That's the other issue. I don't have a lick of gluten in my house.

[Okay, that's a lie. Ernie's food (made of fish and potatoes since he, like his mama, has food and skin allergies) has salmon as the number one ingredient. However, he has barley as the number two ingredient.]

Going gluten-free is better for me. I feel better, I'm happier with my choices at home. i make more foods from scratch and experiment with alternative grain flours. (However, I'm not so gluten-free outside the confines of my humble abode. That's my other issue to conquer) The fact of the matter is Bob's Red Mill is, like so many other wonders, in the Pacific Northwest. 'Cause You're Special is also not all that nearby (Wisconsin). There's also the issue that if I want to bake cookies or bread or birthday cake without gluten, I've got to add xanthan gum to the mix or it will all fall apart. Xanthan gum. You may know it as a thickener in your processed food. That's not part of "natural." So, I can't go to a local grist mill and get some whole wheat, stone-ground flour. I need to get mixtures of rice and starch and exotic things called quinoa and amaranth and millet.

It's clearly not going to be all-local, all the time around here. But I'm trying. The urge is there. It's crossing over into my purchases.

I picked up some garlic, saw the "Product of China" label and put it back down.
I made chicken stock from the leftover carcass of my roast chicken the other night and used it in Esau's soup for dinner tonight. Instead of buying injera from the Ethiopian bodega around the corner, I made it (almost comically dismally) from scratch - I started fermenting the teff and water on Wednesday and by tonight it was wonderfully sour. My coffee is Brazil Organic Fair Trade from Peaberry (okay, it was "local-ish" because I was in Denver when I bought it).

It's a process, and it just won't be 100%. But for me, for us, it doesn't need to be. We have our vices that we're allowing. For me, the biggest is coffee. And until I can grow coffee beans in Columbia Heights, I will work hard to forgo the Dunkin' Donuts in the grocery aisle and support the small farmers who are paid a fair wage for their labors (and make a damn fine yergacheffe... business practices aside, Starbucks can do the right thing!) I will use less and less white rice flour and gravitate toward whole grain flours (sorghum, teff, brown rice, buckwheat, millet) and experiment and play. I will work hard to find a CSA to support local, organic farmers. I will sit down and make a budget that allows me to spend extra on healthy, organic animal products, even if that means - gasp - less yarn. I will clean out my friggin pantry and put some order into it and throw out what doesn't have an expiration date, to make room for the canning I will start this summer.

It's hard for me to recognize that it won't be 100% out of my own backyard all of the time, but I will stop and be grateful for what I can do.

Celebrity Morph into ScarJo

2008-02-27T12:49:00.002-05:00

My disdain for ScarJo is pretty well known. It's based on very little, and rather unkind. I think her eyes are too far apart and her voice is like that of a pre-pubescent boy's. However, I know people think she's lovely (or boomin' hot) so I was wildly amused when I came up on myheritage as looking 75% like her (which I reject on principle. If anything, she looks 75% like me) and decided to take the opportunity to turn my face into hers.

I am a giant dork.

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph

"Hmm... it's missing something..."

2008-02-17T23:26:00.001-05:00

"Hmm... it's missing something...", originally uploaded by swandive00.

"Dude, I know! Maybe a monkey?"

Moi?

2008-02-03T12:39:00.000-05:00

Oh, dearie me!

The ever lovely Bryony has told me that I make her day! (Probably amusing only to me and possibly h a i k u g i r l, is the fact that I forgot to copy Bryony's URL and the first link I put in was for the last URL I copied which was this. It came up in a discussion of Teeth. This is no reflection on Bryony.)

She nominated me because I kick her arse at Scrabulous (although it's dead even in our most recent match), but I have to nominate her right back because she calls me Petal and tells me to KNIT MORE, both of which are beyond awesome in their own right, not to mention the swapping of gluten-free (mis)adventures. I hope her broken nerves calm down soon so she can sew and knit and frolic about the webbernets more. And she TOTALLY makes my day. :) (I am now waiting for chocolate and dog bubbles, missy)

Who else makes my day? That has to be the aforementioned h a i k u g i r l, because we talk about boys and local food and cute glasses and the French and knitting and vaginae dentatae.

The blogfallow for 9 months but Twittery semaphoria, for always being my friend even though we've only seen each other twice since 1994. I love hearing about her family, her job, her travels to Alaska in winter, as well as miss the heck out of her on a daily basis. She also introduced me to the crack that generally is Orisinal and specifically, Winterbells.

Another person who makes my day is Chris Cope, who will likely mock me and smack me around for giving him a blog award, not to mention one with flowers. However he's an excellent blogger and commenter and columnist, even though he's frustrated with all of those, as well as university, but he speaks Welsh and is the only reason Pants comes to my blog - on the off chance that Chris has left a comment, so suck it, Cope. I mean, congratulations Cope!

Certainly not least is Cafemama. Now she doesn't read my blog but I wait with baited breath for the days that she does a new post as she and I are both at the same level of obsession about local food and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle... Alas, I have not been as good as she has about starting to eat local (and I'm still trying to figure out how to get gluten-free flours and whatnot locally, or if that will have to be on my exception list... And basically I need to start buying more locally, but there's a CSA I'm interested in near Frederick, MD that will also allow me to spend some time learning about farming/gardening so that when I have a home with some land to work, I'll have an inkling of what to do. Still haven't decided how I'll deal with getting dirt on my hands, though...)

So, youse guys make my day.

And I have to get back to my salsa verde carnitas. And exercise huge restraint, even though Elise posted a red velvet cupcake recipe.

Prevalent Themes

2008-02-01T13:55:00.000-05:00

I'm writing a paper for work, and "Prevalent Themes" is one of the headers. So it seemed appropriate to address what has increasingly become a prevalent theme around Chez Caribou.

Hi! I forgot to blog for 3 weeks!

I finished knitting cabled purple legwarmers, but my camera's still dead, so you don't get to see them yet.

I'm working a lot.

Knitting not quite enough (although I am swatching for the Eunny's Deep-V Argyle vest right now and about to undertake some gift knitting).

Playing the guitar almost never which makes me sad.

Becoming increasingly fixated on local eating (due to dietary restrictions, locavore is not in my future) and thoughtful about food choices.

In a related vein, becoming very excited about cooking and experimenting and creating foods again.

Wishing I had a camera with which to photograph my knitting and food.

And snuggling Ernie, and making lagomorph noises in the proximity of Pants.

A new year, a new hat

2008-01-12T23:37:00.000-05:00

It's not my hat, but it's the Pants' hat. He wanted a hat with an Autobot. So I thought of the We Call Them Pirates hat, naturally. Because really, can you think of even one thing between an Autobot and a Pirate that is different? Can you?

I don't believe you. The two are completely the same.

But I digress. Since they are the same, I figured I'd just use Autobots instead of skulls! However, the amount of detail involved in an Autobot logo is significantly greater than that of a skull. So, I had to write an Autobot chart for fewer than 32 stitches wide but greater than 8... And, since it was greater than 8 stitches wide, I couldn't do stranded colorwork.

And since the word intarsia makes me cry, eat my hair and throw up a little, I decided to do a doubleknit Autobot hat in approximately the same shape and layout as the pirate hat. (the fact that the color schemes reversing is a lame attempt at making the hat, say, actually transform was just an added, corny bonus).

So when I cast on in November, I didn't realize I would cast on, knit, frog, re-cast on many many times trying to get it Just Right in size and design and technique.

But persistence pays off, because it is Just Right in size, I love it beyond words, it fits Pants perfectly and he has declared it my best knit ever. (I think the fact that he was the recipient may have also had something to do with the latter) I'm very glad that he's pleased because it took me 2 months to make a hat. Although technically since it was doubleknit, it is two, two, two hats in one. Whee! I actually liked the Telemark but it's really hard on my carpal tunnel syndrome... but,

FO REPORT!!
for: The Pants, el Hombre, la pomme de mon oeil
pattern: we call them pirates (sorta), by helloyarn
yarn: Knitpicks Telemark in black and gray squirrel
needles: 3.25mm Inox circs
started: sometime November 2007
finished: 11 January 2008
mods: many! different technique, different motif, different yarn. I had to wind up casting on 2 fewer stitches per panel in order to get it to fit, since I wouldn't have those floats making it snugger.
notes: yay! I love it! He loves it! My hands are tired!

2007 Knitting Triumphs

2007-12-27T23:47:00.001-05:00

2007 Knitting Triumphs, originally uploaded by swandive00.

I find it unlikely that I will finish the pants' hat before 2008, so a bit prematurely, here's the collage of what i finished in 2007.

Noticeably absent (at least to me) is Coachella, which although finished looks like crap on me and will be frogged soon enough.

I love knitting, I just have less time to do it. I guess being unemployed for 9 months after grad school spoiled me for all the time for yarn and needles that I had come to expect for myself.

I also put Ms. Marigold in there twice because I wanted to have a somewhat even mosaic and I like the half-drunk picture.

Hooray for knitting! And click through the pic for details!

hello? bloggy mojo? are you there?

2007-12-22T16:59:00.001-05:00

Every so often The Pants will say to me, "you haven't been blogging lately. It's been a while since your last post."

Ain't that the truth.

Not to mention, the only thing that's been keeping me going lately is the ability to post pictures. But since the demise of my sad camera that I was so excited for when I bought it in NYC, even though I couldn't stand the damn thing, my blogivation has been waning and waning.

But I'm not ready to make a public declaration that I Am Quitting The Blog, so I'm going to post when I want about what I want.

Oh wait, I did that anyway.

However, here is my news for today:

I am doing Christmas baking
I have no Christmas tree
I made butter today with cream from Eastern Market
I made in in an early Christmas present from The Pants' Dad (thanks again!)
Ernie is laying on the floor, as is his S.O.P.
Pants and I are going to the movies tonight
I am knitting legwarmers (1.2 down, 0.8 to go!)
I am knitting the Pants' Autobot hat (doubleknit, 3.0mm needles, very slow)
I am taking next week off entirely, and going in on New Year's Eve (seriously?!)

I sort of miss the conception of blogging, but don't have the motivation.

But, dude. I made butter.

Skin Ship

2007-12-09T19:50:00.001-05:00

Skin Ships, originally uploaded by swandive00.

Here's the last picture my camera took before crapping out. The dreaded (and it turns out almost urban legend in nature) E18 message came up.

I may need to get a new camera. :(

Although I hate my camera, so that's not the worst thing ever. But it's annoying.

My favorite flavor

2007-12-02T06:32:00.001-05:00

My favorite flavor, originally uploaded by swandive00.

"A fine combination of crunchy malt-puffs and chocolate."

(this post is also known as any excuse to create a crunk tag.)

Ernie is 8

2007-11-24T21:47:00.001-05:00

Ernie is 8, originally uploaded by swandive00.

Eight years ago tonight in November, a hairless blind puppy was born on a horse farm in Winterville, Georgia.

Seven weeks after that, I took him home, and named him Ernie. Since then, he's driven to wherever I've gotten an inkling to move (Georgia to Maine via Ithaca, NY; Maine to California; California to Colorado; Colorado to California where he lived with the Pants and his family; California to the District of Columbia where he lives today.) He's been too rowdy for words, peed in excitement before my friends, played fetch with my mom, delighted and intimidated my dad, and maybe bitten one or two along the way. I have been less than ideal of a friend to him sometimes (he just wanted to play, I just wanted to knit...) for such a sweet, silly high energy mutt. But he's never been anything but extremely devoted and loyal to me.

So today, Ernest P. Givens XVIII (Not his real last name), in honor of you eighth birthday, you are presented with a bacon double cheeseburger, a Nerf basketball backboard, and an unlimited amount of belly rubs.

Ernie gives thanks

2007-11-23T06:28:00.001-05:00

Ernie gives thanks for a blurry dinner, originally uploaded by swandive00.

I am a day late and a dollar short. In saying happy Thanksgiving and that I am very thankful.

I started off yesterday taking pictures of my Very First Thanksgiving Dinner that I have ever made. I took pictures of the turkey in process, of the roasting pan with a Built In Rack, of the gluten-free bread (which may or may not have been gluten free...) for the gluten-free stuffing.

However. And there always seems to be a however. I lost my enthusiasm with the blinding migraine that forced me to push away my dinner for fear of tossing my cookies. I did, however take a picture of the spoiled dog's thanksgiving dinner because his begging paid off in the form of turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes on top of his kibble.

And because I went to bed at 8:30 last night after a mid-morning migraine nap that lasted 4 hours, I've been up since 2 am. Today, I am still thankful, and doing laundry and getting ready to pack for my 10 day business trip to Tokyo.

On my Tokyo agenda: Sushi, yarn shopping, avoiding chikan, and I suppose working.

I'm bringing my camera, I'm bringing yarn for the flights. Here's to hoping my needles aren't confiscated.

Things that are good and girly but good nonetheless

2007-11-17T12:16:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, Maryam is coming to town today!!
We are going to eat Ethiopian food and Persian food and laugh and knit and...
Have an Anne of Green Gables (The Kevin Sullivan flavor) movie marathon with Pandles.
I finally got a new bedspread and sheet set to replace my polyester "Quick! I just moved to town and it's snowing and I need sheets and a bedspread!" The new one is cotton. And polka dotty. And brownandgreen. And it's from Target. And I am pleased. I also got a mattress pad. The mattress pad is not pictured. And it is wrinkly because I haven't washed it yet and I can't be arsed.
Ernie is wearing a batman (well Bacardi) bandanna so that he can fight crime.

I swatched Ravelry

2007-11-10T17:38:00.001-05:00

I swatched Ravelry, originally uploaded by swandive00.

Yay Beta shirts!

Seriously?!

2007-11-08T09:07:00.000-05:00

It's November 8 and Starbucks has already gotten rid of the Pumpkin Spice Latte in favor of the Christmas drinks? Two weeks before Thanksgiving?

And they're not even letting the Pumpkin Spice syrup run out like they normally do?

Edited to add: I totally wrote a complaint to Starbucks. I am a nerd.

Tagging

2007-11-04T06:31:00.000-05:00

I was tagged for a meme. I'm never tagged, but frequently participate if I'm out of blogfodder. But this time, I was tagged by the lovely lovely CiCi.

7 Random Facts! Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (truth be told, I'm unlikely to tag. Because many, many people have been tagged for this. And because I have very few friends.)

I have intermittent fits of domesticity. I love to cook (frequently off-the-cuff, sometimes using a recipe as a bit of a guide), bake (frequently from a recipe, but rarely measuring things smaller than a tablespoon), knit (duh), sometimes sew, sometimes plan how to decorate a home space (but I suck at this) and have fleeting fantasies of being a farm wife. However, with an exception to the cooking and knitting, these things rarely stick longer than a week or two (rarely) or a few hours (more likely). But I really wanted to learn how to can this summer. I didn't have time.
I've reached a point where if I sleep for longer than about 7.5 hours in a row I have a blazing headache when I awake. So on weekends I frequently have blazing headaches. In fact, I sort of don't love this Fall Back weekend because I wound up awake at 5:30 on a Sunday morning with a blazing headache because I went to bed at 10 pm last night. My grandfather on my mom's side had a similar problem.
I love puzzles, especially visual spatial puzzles. Jigsaw, horseshoe, 3-d puzzles. I find the solving of puzzles to be very satisfying and soothing. People hate finding giant knots in yarn, but I will spend days and days working on a single knot because it's relaxing to see how all those threads intersect and unravel them. That being said, I've never had the interest to figure out a Rubik's Cube and never fiddled with one for longer than about 30 seconds.
I love being Catholic. I'm rarely good at it, but I love it nonetheless.
I have never really liked Starbucks coffee. That being said, the Pumpkin Spice latte appears to have been created by Satan to be the Best Beverage Ever. Also, Starbucks coffee, which I think tastes burned, has ruined me for all other coffees now... I always think they taste funny if they're not Starbucks. Yet somehow, the cafeteria at work has found a way to make their Starbucks coffee taste like donkey feet, so I will usually stop at Au Bon Pain for coffee in the mornings unless I suck it up and go to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte.
I get the "Freeeeeeeeeeee credit report dot com!" jingle stuck in my head a TON. Crap. There it is again.
I think I'm the funniest person, like ever. If you don't then I will punch you in the face. See? That sounds fun! Ha ha! (I'm going to add as an addendum to this item that I'm also a giant dork, and if you like to laugh at giant dorks, I'm your gal)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm out!

wait! come back!

2007-10-31T10:29:00.000-04:00

Dear person who came here searching "Moby Dick Gluten Free",

YES! You can eat gluten-free at Moby Dick. Get the kabob plates (I have experience with the chicken and ground beef kabobs) with rice, ask for no bread and you should be fine.

Hopefully you'll come back!!

Did you know that Englebert Humperdinck wrote an opera called Hänsel und Gretel?

2007-10-30T13:47:00.000-04:00

I have a lovely friend. She is a panda. She really is. See? This is her baby brother. He's 2, but I swear he outweighs her by like349091023 times.

Approximately.

So, anyhow, she recently moved to DC. Like, 2 months ago recently.

There has been much hanging out, much fun, much growing pains and culture shock associated with said move. And I didn't talk much about it, 'cause, see, I forget to blog. I could go into my sad, sad story about how I sit in front of a computer all day, yada yada, but really, I just come home, cook dinner, chill with the Pants, and do various nerdy things like watch Law and Order in syndication or ~~play Starcraft~~ do other completely cool things.

cough.

Anyhow! Panda! So she asked if I'd make her a hat and I told her to get in line. You know, because I have a line of greedy knitting. Followed by a line of things Pants has requested of me. And his Autobot hat, while it will be freaking cool, has taken a while to fudge the pattern, and Panda found the pattern she liked and the yarn she liked, and I sat down and hardly even blinked and then it was done! (Dear Hats, Love you! Heather)

So, Lo! Gretel (Ravelry) was born.

Started and Finished: October 2007
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease in Green Heather
Needles: 5.0mm (US8) KnitPicks Options
Size: Standard Tam (a.k.a. Medium)
Mods: Nada dude
Notes: yay! Pretty! Hat! Cables!

Here are some more pics taken in fits of ridiculousness at the Moby Dick's House of Kabob (yeah, baby!) in Dupont Circle.

and some that I took one morning before 7 am because Dang I felt cute that day.

It is in Panda's custody now. Fare thee well, Gretel. Keep her head warm or I'll kick you in the (hat)shins!

yawning and wagging.

2007-10-26T10:38:00.001-04:00

yawning and wagging., originally uploaded by swandive00.

I haven't been to the blog in a while. I bought Ernie a ninja costume for halloween because he's a ninja. It both pleases him and fills him with ennui.

I finished a hat for pei lo mein/pandles, and there are flickr pics but I haven't the time right now.

Cop-out blogging!!

i could go crazy on a night like tonight

2007-10-05T09:14:00.000-04:00

i'm having major issues with the refusal of fall to take hold... this weekend? the initiation of fall weekend where the pants, the panda, and the... [um, doesn't have a webbername]friend and i will trek to the mysterious, wild and wooly land of west virginia (appalachian music? love it! also there are no laws regulating religious snake handling there!) for to pluck ripened apples from the tree, partake of freshly pressed cider, buy pumpkins for breads and cookies and pasta, traverse a corn maze and play on a pirate ship.

all of these are activities to be conducted in jeans, hiking boots, and cozy hand-knit sweaters.

but people? it's supposed to be 91 degrees in harpers ferry this weekend. the mornings are foggy, the nights have the chill of the ultimate surrender of summer... but it's too freakin' hot and humid during the day.

i'm trying my hardest, i'm doing my best to hasten autumn along, though. i'm baking, knitting, and even finishing things!

for instance, my back-to-school u-neck vest? that's done, and i've even worn it to work.

whoops. see what happens when you try to take FO shots at 7 am on a Monday morning? you get backlit crappy shots. here's a poorly photoshopped version showin' off the details:

i really like this vest. for a few reasons. one of which is i figured out how to work in short row shaping even though the bust is in a patterned stitch! can you tell?

yeah, didn't think so. i even planned out doing an edit so you could see them. unfortunately i couldn't find them so i approximated...

the only other modification i made (other than saying "meh, i'm not really getting gauge, i'll just keep knitting anyway!" and having it sort of miraculously work) was to just do a single set of purl rows around the arm holes... i tried one of the arms with the double rows to match all the other sets of two, but it made the shoulders too wide.

i also made the body a few inches longer because i'm just like that.

i have another quick and dirty FO... calorimetry. i cast on during dinner before seeing the yarn harlot, i cast off a about a half hour before she wrapped up her talk. quick, cute, warm!

i used a leftover button from the knitted corset top...

and photographed myself in it, with the omnipresent dogbutt sneaking into the shot

made with lion wool in teal on size 7 needles... mods? i cast on 104 stitches instead of 120. i knew i wanted to cast on fewer, but didn't know how much so i cast on with the twisted german cast on until i ran out of yarn. 104 stitches it was.

and it worked!

if only i needed warm things in this darned heat...

shhh...

2007-09-30T20:48:00.000-04:00

don't be too noisy, because you might wake me up and i may actually post something...

although i have a few things to blog about, including directions for playing War and Whist, the great Yaymee reunification project of 2007, two FOs (!!), and upcoming autumn shenanigans including a pirate ship and a corn maze.

also, this is just for my reference: when making a single batch of Nestle's toll house cookies with gluten free flour, 3/4 tsp of xanthan gum is just about perfect.

i love my life

2007-09-19T09:17:00.000-04:00

Single side of an actual conversation

Pants:

If humans were to become extinct and meerkats were to rise and evolve and take the place of humans as the dominant life form on Earth, they’d have a really hard time creating space shuttles because everything they’d make would be SO TINY. I mean if dinosaurs weren’t extinct and had created space shuttles, they’d be heavy, but huge and have tons of thrust, but meerkat shuttles would be little and so easily blown off course.

Why are you laughing at me?

my mom is funny

2007-09-11T13:23:00.000-04:00

from a recent email:

We had lightning a couple of nights ago, then a few good crashes of thunder (I do believe that a bunch of Rhinos is also known as a crash).

that panda...

2007-09-10T11:29:00.000-04:00

pei lo mein's so vain, she probably thinks this song is about her.

ETA: she has confirmed that in fact, she KNOWS this song is about her.

falling, falling

2007-09-09T17:20:00.000-04:00

it's september in the lovely capital, and it's still in the mid-90s. i'm ready for fall, people! so to hasten it, i'm still chugging forth on my back-to-school u-neck vest (wow! hyphens!) and am about 2/3 of the way through the body. pictures would be dull, so there are none.

the pei lo mein is getting settled, and when we were leaving a grocery store today i had a completely great one-liner blog post to put up, but have completely forgotten it. panda, do you remember what it was?

in helping her procure a mattress upon which to sleep, i rolled in beds where many have rolled before. that's actually pretty gross and i feel more than a little skeeved out about that, having just typed that. and one mattress store went so far as to advertise that you will be sleep-free until 2010 (or that 2010 will be sleep-free year). either way, the sign made me giggle at first glance. she did not purchase this store's mattresses. partially because that's a less than ringing endorsement and mostly because it was pricey.

the pants is a funny pants who utters sentences like "YOU ARE A RABBIT" not hoping for a response, or even acknowledgement which makes me happy. therefore i bought a pizza pan in which to bake him homemade pizza... mmm... pizza.

for the past year, the bloggobug has been limited and it continues - so my posts are going to be knitting related, sarcastic, cop-out, or just plain boring like this one.

p.s. i sort of wish i lived in boston. for many reasons, but right now i refer to this place.

thanks, steve

2007-09-09T17:12:00.001-04:00

it's early. or late.

2007-09-06T05:26:00.000-04:00

either way, i can't tell because i wish i were still asleep. but i digress, because look! knitting!

here's some stuff i made:
everlasting bagstopper

pomatomus socks

(as well as how they dyed my needles blue)

back-to-school u-neck vest

i finished the knitting on the UO circular shrug too, but it's not quite big enough so i'm deciding what to do about that.

i'm dull, i'm sorry.

in really excellent news..

2007-08-29T16:11:00.001-04:00

butterstick, originally uploaded by swandive00.

...i am terribly pleased to announce the relocation of the panda, better known as pei lo mein, as the newest resident of the district of columbia!

okay, so what if someone else moved her since she got here thursday night that i don't know about? i don't care about them, i care about the panda!

welcome panda - it's been a rough move for any number of reasons, but i'm so glad you're here. let's drink to you going back to being normally whelmed. you know, like we're in europe.

vignette

2007-08-23T12:32:00.000-04:00

my coworker, holding a bag of cool ranch doritos: "these are my second favorite brand of potato chips"

heatherfeather: "even though there are no potatoes in there?"

coworker: "...yes?"

hf: ...

coworker: "heh... i guess you'll laugh at me if i tell you my favorite brand is fritos."

thanks for clearing that up

2007-08-22T16:19:00.000-04:00

Katharine McPhee:
"Men are sexy, but I always think of women being more sexy than men, in a different kind of way."

source

preppy and evidently half drunk

2007-08-21T14:53:00.001-04:00

preppy and evidently half drunk, originally uploaded by swandive00.

i knitted my vest! and it makes me look preppy, especially with this hairstyle.

but i'll be darned if i don't look drunk, too.

Hey Denvertype peeps

2007-08-21T11:18:00.000-04:00

Anyone want to buy a bordello-red couch and matching easy chair?

There's no point in me shipping it out to DC as it would cost more than I paid for it and it's just waiting for a new home in my gracious aunt's basement...

It is featured prominently here. Non-smoking house, dog-filled house (however he's never been ON it)

Come on! Buy my stuff!

please? :)

an early morning exchange

2007-08-15T09:38:00.001-04:00

[scene: au bon pain at l'enfant plaza, waiting for caffeination]

au bon pain girl: next please.

heatherfeather: hi, may i have a medium iced coffee please?

abpg: that will be $1.72. [hands me paper cup, sleeve, and lid]

hf: i'm sorry, can i have an iced coffee please?

abpg: i charged you for iced coffee.

hf: ...

abpg:...

hf: um, can i have a cold cup with ice then? do i fill it myself at the coffee pots, like the hot coffee?

abpg: i CHARGED you for an iced coffee. [pushes paper cup, sleeve and lid toward me]

hf (increasingly confused, as the item that would decrease confusion was the item in question): but i don't want hot coffee, i wanted cold coffee.

abpg: oh, you wanted it cold?

hf: yes?

abpg: i thought you just wanted to pay for an iced coffee.* [gets plastic cup, fills to the brim with iced coffee] oops. did you want me to put ice in this?

ETA: this is my second favorite coffee foible... my first is here.
*which is more expensive than hot coffee. yes please, charge me more for hot coffee!

2007-08-06T00:28:00.001-04:00

[blank]

for those of you here for the yarn...

2007-08-05T15:09:00.000-04:00

we have some knitting updates! some good, some not so good.

let's start with the not so good.

coachella... ah, how i coveted thee from the moment the new knitty came out... you didn't work with the first yarn, so i hoped you'd work with the second. that'd be a big no. you cling where i don't want to be clung. that's basically my problem with you. i love the pattern, the ingenuity of the design, the presented mods for short row bust shaping. but see how i scowl because of you?

anyhow, made with 4 sk of patons katrina in ocean on 4.0mm and 5.0mm needles over about 2 weeks. i didn't even bother to weave in the ends because i'm-a-just gonna frog you and retry a bevin tank.

onward to happier times.

like the everlasting bagstopper! yes, look how green and environmentally conscious i am! yeah, no, not really. i just wanted a stretchy cotton bag in which to carry my groceries on the bus. i need the plastic bags for poop disposal. in case you need clarification, that's DOG poop disposal. anyhow, i haven't bought the twill tape for the handles yet... next weekend i believe. knit of peaches n creme (or sugar n creme, i can't really remember, and they're basically the same. sturdy, no-nonsense dishcloth cotton) on 6.5mm and 4.0mm needles. done in 2 colors because i ran out of blue and didn't feel like buying more when i have half a ton of the stuff in my cabinet. not because i'm a UCLA fan. the only mod is that i didn't do the spirally lace pattern, i cross-bred it with the climbing trellis lace pattern and alternated directions every 6 rows.

lastly, the newb. here is the UO circular shrug that started its craze on figandplum a few years ago. jess even called me brilliant. it was ultimately brought to life by committee on craftster and can be found on peonyknits for free. i started it last night and am up to here:

i'm using the kiparoo farms celtic lace 100% organic peruvian cotton. the yarn comes in 3 solid colors, and 3 ragg colorways, but the cotton is undyed - it grows those shades. mine's in a babysoft lodeny greeny color. i have 650 yards of the stuff... here's to hoping that on 6.5mm needles that will be enough. the yarn comes in two 325 yard hanks.

i'm thinking of knitting as much as i can from the first half and starting the second half from the bottom and joining them in the middle so i get as much as i can out of the hanks.

i love love love this yarn - it's the softest cotton i have ever felt in my whole life, ever.

in other news, i'm starting to try combination knitting to see if can even out my stitches and rows. if you don't know what i'm talking about, google away my friends... i've officially run out of blogging steam.

every time

2007-08-03T16:38:00.000-04:00

no matter the quiz, no matter the questions, it comes out this way each time...

You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.
The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

in other news...

2007-08-02T09:36:00.000-04:00

i got the fall interweave knits yesterday...

in love love love with the tangled yoke cardigan, mirepoix bodice, and cobblestone.

if only a big pile of cash for yarn came in the mail too...

quietly, quietly

2007-08-02T08:31:00.000-04:00

i am feeling underwhelmed with blogging. many things going on. alternately good and not so good.

work is very good lately.

my uncle passed away on monday from lung cancer.

panda lo mein got a job in DC and will be moving here in the next month.

calling panda lo mein "butterstick" is also good.

not going home for my uncle's funeral is not so good.

the mosquitoes also suck.

i miss my dad this week. well, i miss him all the time, but much more keenly this week.

labyrinth will be playing in a local theater next week. (patrick just did a post on david bowie's codpiece.)

ernie is a good dog. clover is a good cat.

mmm... cheeri-o-eye!

2007-07-31T11:51:00.001-04:00

cheeriohead2, originally uploaded by swandive00.

i'm still saying "look eye, ernie, always look eye" whenever i see the dog thanks to the pants training him to look eye when you say look eye.

he does not close eye on command however.

mr. miyagi, how we need you!

look eye, always look eye!

2007-07-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

i had a fabulous weekend which included the following:

magical pei lo mein, butterstick herself!
cheap vending machine glitter temporary tattoos!
moby dick!
buying HP7 (and having butterstick buy me HP4 which i've never owned but is my favorite!)
the madness of downtown silver spring all gussied up as diagon alley (and people who think HP costume contests include dressing up as slooty witches) with a florian fortescue's, leaky cauldron and flourish and blotts. okay that part wasn't the most fun, but it was...er, something.
going kayaking on the potomac again at thompson boat center. (note to self, i'm not good at sharing responsibility and tasks in a double kayak. next time, pants and i will get separate kayaks)
getting a GOOD PEDI for the first time since i've been here. and! it's cheaper than any other place i've gone here! and! they did such a good job...
eating an amazingly yummy dinner at rosemary's thyme bistro in dupont circle (be forewarned, the bartender has a heavy hand, which led to me ordering then returning an orange martini, then getting a sprite).
watching the karate kid on DVD, purchased from the sale bin at giant.
brunch at the diner in adams morgan.
shopping for suits at filene's basement.
dairy queen

i have rekindled pomatomus, the second sock as well as cast on for elisa's nest tote. i cast off coachella, but need to weave in ends. i don't like it that much. booooooooo...

autotag!

2007-07-17T10:18:00.000-04:00

i'm tagging myself for the 8 random things because i want to. rules:

Here are the rules:

1. Let others know who tagged you.
2. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
3. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
4. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

ready?

i love new england. it's the part of the country that i crave like a food. i love the weather, the architecture, the people, the landscapes. i love the smells, the sights, the sounds. whether it's central massachusetts, costal maine, or the mountains of vermont, i love it all. from about mid-july (when the summer really starts to suck, no matter where i am living), i begin to crave the smells of autumn...woodstoves, turning leaves, crisp air, the beginning of the biting winter winds.
i love the snow. i love watching it fall, hearing the expanding silence of the landscape, watching ernie gambol like a goat in it. that being said, i loathe driving in it - especially when i lived in colorado with rear wheel drive and would fishtail all over the place.
last night pants and i were discussing nerdy stuff like matriarchal passage of culture and cultural identification with the maternal side. although i'm equally irish and filipino, i identify much more strongly with my maternal (the irish) side. however my two go-to comfort foods are filipino.
my left armpit gets stinkier than my right. just thought you'd want to know.
i don't mind clutter. i can live in clutter. i do prefer it to be tidy, but the clutter doesn't bother me, and i tend to let it slide in that direction. that being said, i'm totally skeeved out by unclean sinks (kitchen or bathroom), toilets, and showers. my shower in denver was revolting because of its construction and was never fully clean and i thought it was uber-disgusting. but i had to shower in it because i lived there for 2.5 years, and um, read #4.
i am afraid of roaches and crickets. like, barf at the sight of them afraid. and there are tons of crickets in my neighborhood. once, i made the pants kill a cricket (okay, i make him kill all the crickets. if he's not there, i live in oblivion and pretend they're not in the house and make him kill them once he IS there), and before he could, ernie licked the cricket which made him too soggy to leap erratically and therefore much easier to kill. ernie is gross. but awesome.
i am getting weenier as i get older. the idea of rollercoasters sounds painful and more excitement (a.k.a. fear) than it's worth. especially the waiting in line. extra especially if it's the waiting in line for 5 hours for viper like we did when it first opened like 18 years ago.
santa fe is the one place that could possibly ever make me give up my adoration of new england.

nothing to see here...

2007-07-16T10:01:00.000-04:00

so the most recent flickr pics i posted were of my yarn stash.

i bought a bookcase to store said yarn, plus pretty glass doors from IKEA this weekend... pics later when i'm organized.

also? this weekend pants and i went kayaking on the potomac - superfun, i have a touch of a tan now finally.

lastly, it's pei lo mein this weekend, version 3.0! hurrah for pei lo mein!

yes, i'm a dork

2007-07-11T09:15:00.002-04:00

You scored as Albus Dumbledore, You are Albus Dumbledore. Calm, perceptive, forgiving, and wise beyond your years.

Albus Dumbledore

78%

Neville Longbottom

63%

Bellatrix Lestrange

63%

Severus Snape

59%

Luna Lovegood

59%

Remus Lupin

56%

Harry Potter

53%

Sirius Black

50%

Hermione Granger

47%

Lord Voldemort

44%

Ron Weasley

44%

Draco Malfoy

44%

Oliver Wood

38%

Percy Weasley

38%

Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test
created with QuizFarm.com

i'm a little concerned at the #3 person i'm most compatible with however... but i love #1 and #2.

round and round and round i go (or, two sides become one)

2007-07-09T10:36:00.000-04:00

i cast on for bevin on saturday night. this is a tank i've had on my to-knit list for 2 years, and finally got around to reassigning the yarn (patons katrina) from the now-frogged honeymoon cami.

i did about 8 rounds before noticing i had twisted the cast-on making a möbius strip. i frogged, re-cast and very carefully joined it for knitting in the round so it wouldn't be twisted.

this morning on the bus (only 10 minutes into the 50 minute commute! on which i will be without knitting and without book, but thankfully not without iPod), on round 13 i noticed the freaking cast-on was twisted. again.

grumble, grumble...

Google AdSense is scary

2007-07-09T08:53:00.001-04:00

so i was checking my email this morning and lo! Google AdSense comes up with something very interesting.

Here's the close-up.

seriously google? i don't want to buy that.

light a candle, blow it out

2007-07-06T12:38:00.000-04:00

happy birthday daddy. you would be 61 today. i still miss you every day.

bug bites

2007-07-02T13:47:00.000-04:00

i'm really having quite a case of project start-itis...

tonight in addition to working on pomatomus, i want to cast on for bevin and the cropped leaf tie cardigan.*

*both will be with recycled yarns. bevin will be in the patons katrina from the ill-fated honeymoon cami and the celtic lace cotton from the coachella experiment for the cardigan.

rebellion to tyrants is obedience to god

2007-07-01T22:24:00.000-04:00

it's been lovely. the weather has been gorgeous, and the company spectacular. pants and i continued our explorations of this interesting, fascinating city, taking the bus to independence and 14th, walking around the tidal basin to the jefferson memorial... it's an impressive memorial, and always reminds me of the mammoth cheese, which i either love or hate. i can't tell.

today, we walked around my neighborhood, looking for a pedestrian entrance to rock creek park. there's gotta be one - there are people running in it all the time! alas, not today. i could look at that lovely little link to the park above, but where's the fun in that? we were going to picnic out in warrenton today, but decided to stay nearer to home.

for the 4th, i need to steel my nerves as i believe we're going to the national mall... billions of people sitting around. pants has done it once before, and i think i should do it once... i'm slightly anxious, but it should be fun! just to make this not the world's most boring blog post, i'll put in a finished knit. yay! this one was quick and purty and a good way to use the copious amount of cherry tree hill supersock leftover from my liar socks.

FO Report
pattern: dream swatch head wrap by wendy from knit and tonic
started: june 23
finished: july 1
needles: addi turbo 3.75mm (US5)
yarn: cherry tree hill supersock* in peacock
mods: um, gauge? other than that, none.
notes: purty! sort of a dull and fiddly knit, but it's only 24 stitches in a row so it moves quickly!

here's the artsy/blurry shot

*also, i love this yarn. i'm using a skein to make a pomatomus, too. wanna see the WIP picture? also? it's dyeing my needles and fingers blue. smurf!

gather 'round children

2007-06-28T12:14:00.000-04:00

actually, don't gather 'round... there's not going to be much in the way of storytime.

i finished isabella, i don't love her - too short in the body AGAIN. stupid chestiness, making shirts that are long enough for normal humans WAY TOO SHORT on me... not many pictures.

i'm knitting and knitting, going to and from work, and basking in the glory that is 94 degree weather with 71% humidity.

at least i have straight hair.

a tale of laughter, a tale of swearing

2007-06-20T09:51:00.000-04:00

isabella is almost completely seamed. i took such care with finishing her... in fact, i've never been so careful in finishing a handknit before.

i beautifully matress stitched the left side seam.

i tried 6 different ways of finishing the shoulder seam, to finally settle on grafting them, even though the stitches are bound off, seaming the right side and the left side.

i mattress stitched the right seam to see, that oh crap. i have NO idea how but the right front side up to the arm hole is about 1" longer than the right back side up to the armhole. it's also 1" longer than the left front and the left back. WTF? seriously?

it's been put aside for now until i can figure out if i'm going to ungraft the shoulder seam and reknit the entire right front or if i'm over it and will just mattress stitch somewhat lumpily and get them to be the same length come hell or high water.

it might be the latter.

this one is gonna be a letdown

2007-06-19T13:43:00.000-04:00

i'm finished knitting isabella! woot!

well, that's not quite true, because i have to seam the sides and shoulders, then do the picot armhole trim. and i have to wait for the top to finish drying (it's in the room with the ceiling fan and the dehumidifier because, um, hello, this is DC and it's not the mojave desert or denver where there's usually single digit humidity and the majority of my knits have air-dried in about 4 minutes) to do that. but!

i got a final skein of DB cathay from knit happens (thanks holly!) this weekend and you can't even really see where i changed yarn. you want pictures? well, okay, but this was before i got the final skein, so it'll probably be an FO post in the next few days anyway...

and just because? here's mckenzie the jersey calf that pants and i met at kiparoo farm studio

the entire text of an email i sent yesterday

2007-06-19T09:10:00.000-04:00

"i learned that sheep can see colors but will react in fear the first time they see a new color.

i'd name my donkey rufus. actually, it'd be duke rufus crunchable mcwiggins, but rufus for short."

whatever else happens

2007-06-14T12:17:00.000-04:00

do not ever click on this link.

an open letter

2007-06-07T10:19:00.000-04:00

dear woman wearing a white linen miniskirt with the waistband rolled down so it sat really low around your hips barely covering your crack as well as navy blue panties with red polka dots under your sheer, aforementioned white linen skirt,

do i really have to say anything else?

fondly,
heatherfeather

the mystery unraveled

2007-06-05T05:55:00.000-04:00

even though they are massively overwhelmed by the response, casey and jess have posted a sneak peek at ravelry. it appears that many (including myself) have both underexplained ravelry, and gushed so much love for it that their 1000 beta testers have turned into a queue of 6000 people waiting and waiting and waiting for their invites (some with pitchforks and torches).

this is a baby belonging to casey and jess - it's free, but things like this cost a lot of money. servers, bandwidth, domain... and it's a huge, complex, beautiful site that would have taken a team of developers charging thousands and thousands of dollars to put out on the webbernets. take a look around, sign up for the queue if you have it within you to wait patiently! a common misconception is that you may need to have a blog to use it well, but that's not true! you can integrate your blog if you want, but if you don't have one (coughalpineflowercough) and want a way to keep track of your stash, your projects, your FO stats it's great for you too!

but be nice - this is such a project of love built by people who have full-time jobs who are dealing with real life, including a recent death of a family member. they can't confirm that you're on the queue, they don't pick people they like better to sign up. it's an amazing site and brilliant in design. it will really add to the world of the knitting webbernets.

sweet marigold (wah wah wah)

2007-05-29T21:13:00.000-04:00

finished.

i have an FO report on ravelry which evidently you can't see since it's a membership community.

here's the screenshot for y'all of the report:

here are my pattern notes:

so it's finished. i finished it yesterday, crocheting the armholes, omitting the ruffles.

and it was SO tight and inelastic because i am a remedial crocheter. so i ripped that back and did 4 rows of the k2p2 ribbing.

because i was too lazy to learn the k2p2 tubular bind off, on the last row before binding off, i added 1 stitch between the k stitches, making it k3p2 for that row, and bound off with a 5.0mm needle. i bound off the neckline and the armholes with that too, without adding the extra stitch.

it's fine. i don't love it, mostly because of the yarn. and now that i'm actually wearing the alpaca with a spaghetti strap tank underneath it i find it ITCHY. so maybe it's an autumn vest before it gets cold cold? eh...

picnic

2007-05-29T08:24:00.001-04:00

this weekend, pants and i went on a picnic in the virginia countryside.

we brought a new picnic cooler, a matching picnic blanket, gourmet cheeses, grapes, cherries, apples, and hamburgers.

we also saw pirates 3 which made me very sad, but wasn't as awful as people are saying.

we also had mongolian bbq.

we also hung out and did nothing much.

i almost finished ms. marigold (i crocheted the armholes, ripped them, and am now in the process of putting a k2p2 ribbing instead)

my mom sent me the jordana paige knitter's satchel in ocean blue.

and i turned 30.

it was an excellent weekend.

knitting on the bus

2007-05-25T08:46:00.000-04:00

after about 2 weeks of knitting almost exclusively on the bus and metro (although some in front of shear genius) i'm almost done with the body of ms. marigold - i am going to do about another 1/2" of stockinette before i do the 2" of 2x2 ribbing. then all that's left is the neckline ribbing and finishing the arm holes. i've decided against the armhole ruffles because, well, i'm not really an armhole ruffle sorta gal, so i'll either do 2 rows of crochet around them to finish them (which is appealing because it's fast. it's unappealing because i suck at crochet) or knit them in 2x2 rib, like jodi did.

we'll also soon see the folly of having a new alpaca (aka HOT AS THE SUN) sweater vest for the humid days of eastern seaboard summers... it may have been smarter to do this in cotton...

in other news, i'm still spending STUPID amounts of time on ravelry (how i heart thee! get in the queue if you're not already - they're getting their invites out slowly but surely!) and will hopefulyl have a cabinet to store my yarn in soon. when i get that i'll be able to inventory my stash (egad...) and assign some yarn for projects.

in other, other news, i turn 30 on sunday. yeesh.

knit list

2007-05-24T08:37:00.000-04:00

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing. (filched from emily)

Afghan/Blanket (baby)
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn (have to learn to spin first)
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book (you never know...)
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca (My hands are still tingling!)
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (why?)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

holy crow!

2007-05-21T11:10:00.000-04:00

it's been 10 days since my last update? well, i've been a busy monkey lately... between work and sleep and knitting and whatnot...

anyhow, for lack of anything interesting to say (still), here's a WIP pic of ms. marigold, in the lovely, almost entirely unphotographable frog tree alpaca sport:

for those of you who are suckers for the supermacro shots, here's a close up of the almost unphotographable stitch definition (upon closer inspection, i can't tell where the focus is or if it's just that fuzzy in person)!

this yarn is hairy. i said it, it's seriously fuzzy and it has heather hair, ernie fur, and probably some catty and moses fur (since i bought it off of jess who frogged it from her usmp), too!

at any rate, i'm about 2.5" past the neckline join, and have about 10" of stockinette followed by 2" of 2x2 ribbing, the decision of to ruffle or not to ruffle, the neckline finishing, and the armhole finishing.

we'll see if this ever gets finished...

if i had hours every day of free time...

2007-05-11T08:24:00.000-04:00

i'd spend it uploading everything i've ever knitted to ravelry.

i got my invitation last night, and was planning to go to bed around 9 (i've been supasleepy, yo) and wound up awake until about 11, adding my '07 projects. i still have my '06, '05, my stash, my queue, and all the browsings of yarn subs and FOs of patterns i want to do.

i love you, ravelry. (they're still rolling out invitations - if you signed up but didn't get your invite yet, just wait... they'll get there!)

i didn't spend a nickel

2007-05-06T22:19:00.000-04:00

i didn't. not one thin dime on yarn, roving, spindles, sheep.... at the maryland sheep and wool festival. don't belive me? ask the sheep.

see? however, i may have eaten lamb while there. however, semaphoria knows well my inappropriate food choices (i.e. eating lobster after watching the little mermaid).

going and frolicking amongst the ruminants really made me want to start knitting more again. i'm figuring out how to balance work, commute, home finally, and am ready to start my craftiness. so i cast on for ms. marigold in the long-neglected frog tree alpaca i bought from jess half a lifetime ago and started 3 different projects on, subsequently frogging each. i don't even know if i'll like it in this pattern - i think the color's a little dark.

what's interesting is that i'm just not feeling the blogging mojo lately. unless i finish a knittin' project. i think that by necessity this is turning into a knitblog. which isn't terrible, but it is what it is. i've been blogging since late 2003 or so, and i feel like i'm more invigorated by living my life than by talking about it. so in the meantime there are some pics, not a ton, here.

of my favorites, the fluffy bunny and the lambs not on leashes following their leashed mama.

i'm feelin' socksy...

2007-05-05T16:35:00.000-04:00

FO report

pattern: embossed leaves from interweave knits, winter 2005 by mona schmidt
yarn: lang yarns jawoll superwash, 2 skeins in some sorta pinky color
needles: brittany birch 2.75mm (US2) dpns
start date: i have no idea, but it was many moons ago
end date: 5/1/07? i don't really know that either...
mods: i did an actual tubular cast-on, and a slip stitch heel
notes: the pattern's lovely - i love the star toe finishing the leaves in the pattern. the yarn? well, i payed $3.40 per skein at closeknit, and didn't love it at all. it's not squashy, it's sorta rough. but the color's pretty. i had frogged and restarted this yarn 4945143901823 times so it got sorta grimy, so i washed it before photographing it. so it gets grimy, but it cleans up well!

anyhow, for all the pics, click on the mosaic!

cinco de mayo bbq tonight, maryland sheep and wool festival tomorrow - pics to come!

the best pants in the world

2007-04-30T08:41:00.000-04:00

because on saturday he's going to go with me to.... MSW! (i told him there'd be bunnies there).

so goes the year of the niner

2007-04-27T13:34:00.000-04:00

it's not until tomorrow, but happy birthday darlin'. i hope we can catch up in the city next month!

i love you!

Giant Florist?!?!

2007-04-23T14:22:00.001-04:00

Giant Florist?!?!, originally uploaded by swandive00.

1. Jump on his or her toe until your presence is noticed.
2. Speak loudly so the sound carries all the way up there.
3. Order hardy blooms that won't be crushed by your giant florist's enormous fingers and less than optimal dexterity for handling tiny buds.
4. No checks, please.

soap. glorious soap.

2007-04-20T23:26:00.001-04:00

cymbals have quite an aftertaste

2007-04-17T09:35:00.000-04:00

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts.You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary.But you sure can beat a good drum."Kill! Kill!"

The Muppet Personality Test

(thanks to neal for the link)

i have psychic coffee pouring abilities

2007-04-15T15:42:00.001-04:00

i have psychic coffee pouring abilities, originally uploaded by swandive00.

i don't even have to look when filling your cup!

Hello babies.

2007-04-12T07:43:00.000-04:00

r.i.p.

“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ”

remember when i used to knit?

2007-04-09T10:54:00.000-04:00

i started the embossed leaves socks about 3 weeks ago - and haven't touched them in almost 2 weeks... i'm still in the first repeat of the first sock. knitting on the bus makes me want to barf.

in good news though, i've been playing the guitar again. i went to see a friend's brother, jake armerding, play at jammin' java in vienna (sadly, virginia, not austria) with jesse harper from old school freight train, and someone else not very good and got the folk-makin' music bug again.

so yesterday i learned patty griffin's "chief" and played it and some old favorites i haven't dusted off in a while for about 4 hours. pants is talking about helping convert my second bedroom into a knitting room/recording studio.

with an air mattress for guests.

what i did today

2007-04-06T14:19:00.000-04:00

this morning had a meetings to discuss yesterday's meeting. then another meeting to discuss setting up 5 meetings next week (vs. 1 meeting with the 5 people, but we should have 5 to avoid Groupthink) that we need to have before we can have our first "real" meeting which will be a precursor to a larger meeting which will be a precursor to a conference.

can someone else do the maths?

2007-04-04T09:23:00.000-04:00

i usually buy a 16 oz cup of coffee for $1.86. this morning i learned the 12 oz coffee is $1.64. i usually leave 1-1.5" of room for cream, so decided to get the 12 oz, fill it up, and put it in my 16 oz mug and add the cream, so i wasn't paying 22 cents for air. is it a better idea if i fill the 16 oz and just add extra cream in a second cup?

i know the answer to this, but whatever.

in other news, twitter is one part pointless, one part addictive.

in other, other news, i'm wearing my clapotis and don't care that it clashes with my shirt.

i'd talk about the silverish lining, but i'm busy being blinded by the flash from your camera

2007-04-02T19:18:00.000-04:00

dear tourists,

welcome to the capital of the (arguably) lone hegemonic power in the world. the cherry blossom festival started this weekend, and today was the season opener for the washington nationals. it's a lovely city we have here, isn't it? i like it too. however, i keep being reminded of living in new york. it's not so much that the city is like new york - the buildings are less tall, the sidewalks are cleaner, the restaurants aren't open nearly as late, the killer cupcake shops are fewer and farther between, and the metro is carpeted (wait - really? that doesn't seem economical or sanitary). now, don't get me wrong, i love me some new york. but people here are less vocal with their opinions of you. so when i almost ran over some of you who were standing three abreast on the escalators getting out of the metro and trying to catch my bus home, i had to think before i started yelling about GETTING OUT OF THE WAY, and DON'T FORGET YOU HAVE TO LET THE PEOPLE OFF THE SUBWAY BEFORE YOU GET ON. you see, here, it's called the metro. it's really a lovely city we have. but all those people in suits who are trying to get past you at 5:30 pm? they just want to go home. i did mentally curse the tiny little woman who was really busy taking pictures of her friend on the escalator (escalators! whee!) because i missed my 5:22 bus, and at 6:00 when no other bus had come because of all the downtown gridlock, i just hoofed it to a different bus line and sort of winged (wung?) getting home.

there is a good side to this however. the bus line that i took home is WAY nicer than the one i usually home, an will probably take it from now on because it's only like 1/2 block farther than my regular line. anyhow, please enjoy our lovely city, and remember to go INSIDE the train when you get on otherwise the people behind you can't get on, and the people in front of you can't get off.

and watch out for clear plastic babies on lampposts.

v/r,
heatherfeather

the most i'll probably ever say "placido domingo" in a single post

2007-03-27T06:20:00.000-04:00

i have seen many things this weekend. and the best of all? one of the things i seen was the lovely mariamamama with her supercute hair!

we went to jaleo for dinner with pants, and back to her hotel, where there's a slim chance she forgot her room number and tried her key in 18 of the 20 room doors on the floor. her room would have been the 19th. there were...um, sounds... coming from some of the rooms, so we deduced those were probably not hers. at least we hoped so.

we got into her room, she gave me truffles (god love her), and i was amazed that she had a prime number of pillows (if you don't count the brown one) on her bed all lined up sideways.

at any rate, mariamamamamamamama came down from nyc to sing for placido domingo!

the crappy part of that was she didn't sing for placido domingo because he wasn't there.

but i went and picked her up after her audition, and pulled up in front of a limo. out of which popped placido domingo! good ol' placido checked out mariama in her smokin' hot dress and blue converse, and mariamamama hopped into the car, and away we went.

i also saw the airbus 380 through my boss' window yesterday as it flew near washington DC. what a gigantic plane. it looks like it's gonna fall out of the sky. let's hope it doesn't.

a sobering thought

2007-03-22T06:43:00.000-04:00

this morning when my alarm went off, i thought, "holy cow. i'm going to be waking up at 5:30 am for the rest of my life."

i'm so classy!

2007-03-19T19:38:00.000-04:00

today was my first day at The Wonderful New Job. i filled out forms, had a picture taken for my ID badge, and met everyone in my small office - who are all geeky in the way that i am. i was wearing my fancy black suit.

heck, i even wore pantyhose.

if only i'd noticed the run that went from my toes to my middle thigh before i left the house.

knee sock with dog

2007-03-17T19:13:00.001-04:00

knee sock with dog, originally uploaded by swandive00.

behold my sock in progress (SIP?). it's a knee sock and there's no end in sight. to contain my giant filipino calves i'm knitting forever and the row gauge is deceiving because it shrinks when it's being worn. i have about 2.5 more inches in the leg (as you wear it, not as you knit it) until i do the 2" cuff. pattern filched and adapted from here (i found the stripeys to be quite beguiling)... however, she does 8 increase rows (increasing 2 stitches every 10 rows), and i've already done 14 increase rows (2 stitches every 8 rows) and have at least 3 or 4 more sets of increases before i can stop making them grow. and our gauge is exactly the same.

the yarn is the opal uni in grey and fortissima socka in the light blue, being done on addi turbo US0 needles. i don't know if i'll make a second sock.

heck, i have no idea if i'll even finish the first.

it was 82 degrees yesterday

2007-03-16T16:45:00.000-04:00

right now, it's hailing and 37 degrees. and i'm the genius who fell down the stairs.

again. but this time it was from slippery TILED outdoor steps. who tiles their outdoor steps?!

my landlord, apparently. but i caught myself before breaking my coccyx, and now i'm bruised and abraded but unbroken.

yay! knitting picks of 40% of a pair of socks later maybe?

this makes me very sad

2007-03-11T23:47:00.000-04:00

"will stretch to fit a calf circumfrence of up to 14.5 inches."

mine's currently 17 inches, and is unlikely to get smaller.

stupid filipino calves.

(yes, i know - i can modify it to do more increases in the side panels. and probably will.)