KBC - Week 4 - Toxic Tuesday

Yesterday afternoon, after living here for over a year, I *finally* managed to get to Loop, one of London's most well known knitting shops. The store is located in Angel,whereas I live in the western portion of the city so I don't find myself in the neighborhood very often. Thankfully, I had a couple of hours to kill after attending London's most USELESS career fair ever, so I was able to swing by. The place is delightful, and positively spacious for a downtown knitting store. I have memories of stores in New York City that were so small you could hardly call it a coffin let alone a store. Loop was well lit, well stocked and staffed by incredibly friendly and helpful people. The place was truly delightful. Accordingly....I wound up with quite a good haul of yarn, most of which you'll see in the next few days. In particular, I stumbled upon a skein of Colinette Point 5, in them most intense neon pink and purple combination you've ever seen. Seriously, I think I may have irrevocably irradiated a large portion of my ovaries just by looking at it. Naturally, this meant it was a perfect yarn for my Godmother, Maureen.

Maureen is known for her flamboyant personality and appearance, she and my mother met in Lamaze during their first pregnancies way back when and they've been close ever since. When I was younger I made a habit of sending her small pots of pink and purple hair dye, which she uses for dying just a touch of her otherwise wonderful silver hair. Sadly I can't find any photos of her from my sister's wedding, but she was a queen in red and purple. Maureen does flamboyant like no one else, particularly the intense pinks and purples. This toxic purple yarn was meant for her!

This was the result....I only hope my future children don't have 3 heads because of it....

Project Profile: Maureen's Toxic Pink Hat
Pattern: No pattern, just Co 48 stitches, knit 6 inches then decrease.
Yarn: Colinette Point 5 in Alizarine (119)
Details: Size US 15 ( 10 mm) dpns

KBC - Week 4 - The Mad Hatter and a Monday

After finishing up last week's project I felt that I should do something that would take more time, the socks knit up so quickly that I finished the first in 24 hours, and then took the remaining 5 days to finish the second one. Second Sock Syndrome to the max, not in terms of actual times but if you look at the ratios...wow, that was bad. In light of that, I figured better to go for a 'slow and steady wins the race'-type-project and decided on finally getting around to making a hat for my dad. I've owed him one for years, since the very start of my knitting endeavors, but I'd always found the idea rather boring, and got distracted so I hadn't gotten around to knitting it....not a very nice daughter am I? But now, the time was at hand! I had soft yarn, I had free time, I had a pattern I liked....

Project Profile: Dad's Christmas Hat (Part 1)
Pattern: Turn-a-Square by Jared Flood
Yarn: Mirasol Miski Colorway 115 (black) 1.25 skeins
Mirasol Miski Colorway 118 (gray) 0.25 skeins
Details: US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm) DPNS

The hat worked out well, I made it slightly longer, as my Dad's got a big noggin, but I changed up the stripes a bit. At first I was worried that I wouldn't have enough gray to do 2 rows of it for every 3 of the black, so I did a Fibonacci sequence instead with the black, 3, 5, 8 and 13. You can't quite see the last gray stripe at the top, but it's there. In retrospect i probably had enough to do the striping as the pattern specified, but I like how this came out anyways. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be my Dad's cup of tea and it's a bit thin for his purposes. If he's wearing a hat, it means that the armageddon of snow storms has hit New York City (which it does a couple times a year) so the thinner Miski yarn just isn't going to be warm enough. So right now, the hat is homeless, but will be fostered on my head, as it's perfect for London in October!




HOWEVER, what did leave me utterly gobsmacked about this project was how fast it was completed - I did this in an evening...less than 5 hours. Insane. So then it got me thinking...what if my project for this week was more than one? How hard could it be to knit a hat a day?

KBC - Week 3 - In which feet are warmed

My project this past week was particularly special and important for me(That's not why I'm posting it late....that's just because I get distracted by *new* projects very easily. But, it's yarn....it goes with the territory). Specifically, because the week's project was for Erika, my 2nd brother's girlfriend. When I think about it, I realize that she's been around since I was in high school, and is currently the longest continuing relationship that any of the siblings have had. I'm fairly sure at one point they'll get around to getting married (in whatever form it takes), and I really am quite fond of her, although I don't see her all too often. But there is something about Erika's steadiness that I have suddenly realized has gone under appreciated amongst my family. We are not a subtle or quiet bunch, and neither is she really, but when we all get together she generally (and rather sensibly) tends to sit back and let the madness ensue rather than trying to control it. As such, I feel like she deserves more. After all...like i said, we're a crazy bunch and she's been with my brother for seven or eight years. That's a long time. She's also funny, very smart and crafty, which I always appreciate. She and Harry have done some absolutely incredible collaborations.

To the right you see the beautiful bird feeder of DOOM. They got tired of the squirrels jumping up and down on the bird feeder, thus crashing it to the ground and letting them eat all the seeds. This was the result: That sucker is copper and stained glass and has to weigh something like 30 lbs when full of seeds. I watched the squirrels trying to figure out how to bring it down, and they were not pleased when they realized it wasn't happening. I absolutely LOVE this piece, and I drool over it whenever I see it.

SO! Because of all this (pretty bird feeder photo included) I decided, seeing as she's been around so long, that Erika is fully deserving of some knitterly goodness for Christmas. It's a small token, but I want her to have it, as in previous years only my sister and my mother have really gotten stuff. Plus, what with her Craftiness, she'll appreciate what it stands for, and care for it properly!!
(If I'm going to take all that time, I like to know they aren't just going to be trashed). I took the time to call up Harry and ask what he thought would be a good idea, since I want this to be something usable, and after a bit of a chat (and some catching up as well, always fun) we settled on a nice fluffy pair of house socks as being the best choice.

I was a bit worried about this, since socks are famous for taking FOREVER and I am no exception to the 'Second Sock Syndrome' epidemic. But, bulky yarn came to the rescue once again. Behold: Erika's Irish-Wellington Socks.

Project Profile: Erika's Fuzzy House Socks
Pattern: Irish-Wellington Socks by Aileen Cahil
Yarn: Mirasol Sulka in colorway 222, 4 skeins
Details: Knit on US 7, 4.5 mm DPNS, for roughly a US size 9/10


Thoughts: Easy, straightforward and fast. I knit the first one in less than 24 hours, the stitches just flew by! Plus, i turned the heel in under 5 minutes, I'm not a particularly fast knitter so that's a big deal for me. I'm a big fan of these and may make myself a pair at some point. They're very basic, and I may add some embroidery later to try and liven them up, but I haven't decided. I wasn't sure what size feet Erika had, and Harry was a bit useless on that topic (he's a guy, it's to be expected) so I went for roughly a US size 9 as a guess, since that's average. They're slightly larger than that, so should be nice and comfy, and if need be can shrink a little in the wash to be a better fit. These will definitely be nice and toasty in the Denver winter.

This week's project (Week 4) - is a bit different....look for many an update this week!

KBC - Week 2 - A Bit of This and a Bit of That

Huzzah! I actually finished this weeks project last night, but opted to go to bed instead of blogging about it. Things are swimming along here merrily, class starts on the 20th and I'm spending the time between them plotting PhD and Law school applications. Wish me luck! Also on the list is getting my flat under control, I'm pretty sure the clothes monster underneath my bed not only is capable of speaking to me at this point, but has named itself as well. Hermintrude whispers to me while i'm trying to go to bed in her screechy little voice "CLEEAAAAAN MEEEE"! Something dire is getting done this week.

BUT, in the meantime, have some more knitting:


Project Profile: The Turn-A-Square Watch Cap.
Pattern: Squared Away Watch Cap and Turn-A-Square
Yarn: 1.5 skeins of Mirasol- Miski in shade 118 (123 yds)
Needles: US 7 (4.5 mm) DPNS

When I started out with this project, I had planned on using the Squared Away Watch Cap (Ravelry Link) from Crystal Palace Yarns. But once I got further into the pattern I realized I didn't want it to be quite so long as the watch cap, and I wasn't sure about the look of the decreases. After a bit of searching, I settled on Jared Flood's Turn-A-Square (Ravelry Link) cap instead. I like the raglan decrease, and the general neatness of the pattern. Naturally, as this pattern is stocking stitch and i'd done the 2x2 rib as proscribed in the Watch Cap, I was a bit worried, but once I got the hang of it (read: stop trying to be smart and figure out if I should be purling or knitting the decreases and just knit them all) I really think it came out well. This is definitely a pattern I'll be using again.

I Which I Do Something I Both Love and Hate...

I moved into my current flat in August. About two weeks before my dissertation was due in fact, not the best move ever. Accordingly, when I moved, I didn't so much fully move as I did shove all my stuff in garbage bags and throw it in the van (which by the way, showed up over an hour early, so I couldn't even pretend that they were organized garbage bags) and toddle up the street. Once we got everything physically *in* the flat we stopped. I have a functioning flat, sort of, but my closet is a beast of nightmarish proportions - if you are a woman, you know what I mean - it's at that stage where I'm digging under my bed to find clean clothes I can wear, because I don't want to open it. To make it even worse, probably about 1/3rd of my clothes are still in the garbage bags, hiding underneath my bed or in various corners. It's not cool, and now, nearly 6 weeks after I moved, it's time to bite the bullet, and get this nonsense under control.

By blogging about it of course...

Yes, I am totally busted for procrastinating. As I write this my flat looks like a bomb hit it, with open suit cases (did I mention there were two trips to the States in there that I hadn't really unpacked for?) tattered plastic bags and scarves strewn everywhere. Naturally, I pulled everything out, and then stopped for a rest, only to look around me in despair.

See here's the thing, I *like* organizing my closet. I *like* pulling it out, categorizing, folding and putting it back in again in a more efficient manner. I think it might just be a female thing. But I *don't* like doing it when it doesn't all fit, or has to be sorted (as opposed to I *want* to sort it). Boo, hiss, tantrum. This is exactly what I have to do. However, my motivation is as follows: 1- the place is a mess 2- I'm tired of wearing the same 4 t-shirts 3- I can't find the remote, it's buried in clothing and the current channel is doing a 'how it's made' of slaughtering chickens and carving their carcasses!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

This week's success: Potato Leek Soup
This week's not-so-much: Chocolate Mug Cake, Cheddar Cookies.

Potato Leek Soup
This turned out really well, but let us be fair, it's really hard to botch something like this. I'm also really biased in favor of leeks, i think they are delicious and they warm my heart. You'd think think I'd be a bit of a weirdo if I admitted that leeks are probably one of my favorite foods (or at least, things to put in food), and you'd probably be right. But I don't care...they are too damned tasty.

The recipe I used was from Cook UK and dead easy to follow. I'm fairly sure this soup is one of the easier things on the planet to prepare, even for one such as me. Ninety five percent of the effort was in chopping the leek and peeling and dicing the potatoes - M&S did not have big potatoes, only little ones....holy crap that took forever, and much love to Rifha for hanging out and peeling/chopping with me while we watched Top Gear (of course, my much loved guinea pigs friends were present for taste testing.

The key to this recipe, I have decided, is adding epic amounts of spice. In particular, i went nuts with the chopped garlic, fresh basil, dried spices (standard 'mixed herb' and 'garlic Italian spices') and particularly the pepper. I'll cop to it, while attempting to add 'a dash' of pepper, the top came loose, and a torrential downpour of pepper went in. I'll admit, when the guinea pigs friends sat down to try it, was a little worried that they were going to choke.

They didn't, it was actually amazing, and probably my best success in cooking so far. (Yes...I can boil vegetables...go me). The combination was great, and it tasted even better when it was cold! This is definitely going to be a mainstay for me during the gross London winter. Next time I think I will try it with cream rather than whole milk, to see if I can get a thicker consistency. This could go horribly awry however, as it might make the whole thing a bit too rich. The soup I got this time was definitely of the broth variety as opposed to a creamy soup, so I'd like to play with that a bit. We'll find out how it goes I guess!

Verdict: A+, the guinea pigs friends enjoyed it too!

Chocolate Mug Cake
I have to admit, I had a lot of hope for this recepie. Really now, what girl doesn't love the idea of just throwing an egg and some flour into a microwave and outside comes chocolate decadence? Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. So this wasn't super exciting. I found the recipe here.
While the recipe did, in fact produce a cake, it wasn't a terribly exciting one. The first mug actually turned out looking more like some sort of mutated coral reef. While the texture was there, the flavor simply wasn't. For the third attempt (second one was already in the microwave by the time we figured out the first wasn't very good) I poured all the sugar and cocoa I had left into the mug. The result was slightly more flavor, but still nothing to write home about. If I try this again I'm going to try adding some chocolate syrup in there, and probably tripling the cocoa and sugar amounts. Also - What the heck is wrong with Tesco, they stopped carrying chocolate chips!! The nutters...the very nice man (who the week before when I asked if they had a halal alternative to bacon suggested using deli ham) recommended breaking up the bricks of baking chocolate by hand...yeah, that didn't happen. The 'presentation' wasn't terribly appealing either!

















Verdict: B-

Cheddar Cheese Cookies:d
Earlier this week I discovered SuperCook an absolutely fantastic little website. Basically, you punch in what you have in your kitchen, and it will spit back out recipes that match the ingredients you have. The result I got was cheddar cheese cookies and cheese mushroom puffs. Seeing as I'd never heard of the former before, i figured I'd give it a try. The end result well....like the mug cake, it worked, but the outcome was utterly bland and boring. The guinea pigs agreed, and I'll admit that these just went in the bin after we'd tried them. I'm rather disappointed about these came out, because with that much butter (and it was A LOT of butter) you'd have thought it was guaranteed to be tasty, alas, although they were visually appealing, they just didn't cut it.















Verdict: D, Big dissapointment

KBC - End of Week 1, Start of Week 2

Project Profile: Lofty Cable Mittens
Pattern: Lofty Wool Cable Mittens by Cathy Campbell
Yarn - Mirasol Sulka in Colorway 215
Details: Knit size 6 US Needles, in the Mens Medium.

Modification: I ribbed the first 10 rows instead of stocking stitch, I wanted a firmer cuff rather than the rolled one, seems like a great way to get snow wedged in your wrists! I also picked up 1 stitch in the gap/gutter of the thumb to avoid creating a hole there, which i left until the final row of decreases, and made the last K2Tog into a sl,k2tog,psso, which worked perfectly.

Thoughts: I'm pretty pleased with how these came out, and surprised that there aren't more projects on Ravelry using the pattern. It's definitely one I'd make again, and will probably end up gifting to more than one relative this season. The Sulka worked perfectly, and with the smaller needle makes for a nice strong fabric, which should hold up nicely in winter.

I did run slightly past my deadline, in that I finished these on Monday, but a headcold and the late start justifies that i think.


On the schedule for this week:

Squared Away Watch Cap by Oftroy of Golden Appels in Mirasol - Miski.

and away we go!