Too Many Books?

These pictures were actually taken before I obtained a few more books. I have a couple books. The overwhelming majority of the books on this shelf are craft books. In the very bottom right hand corner is a large plastic case full of crayons. I like crayons

You'll also notice to the left of the shelf (which is located very close to the front door) part of my home security system. See it? It may have hit a baseball once or twice...it's hard to say.

This shelf is so close to the door, that it's where Gracie stands when she wants to say hello or goodbye if you're at the front door. It's cute until she knocks stuff over.


This shelf consists mostly of cookbooks. I LOVE cookbooks. I have somewhere around 80 or 90 in all. I think. Ryan likes the fact that I have a cookbook that is just called "Chocolate."


It's as we pack things up to move that I realize there's an awful lot of books. These pictures don't even show the other shelf or any of the books that don't fit on the shelves...or Ryan's stray books (which seem to multiply like rabbits). Most of the boxes I have packed and labeled say "books and.." something else. They're all half full of books. Even the boxes that don't say books have books in them, I think.

Cooking Light

Aaaahhh. The things we do for love.

Ryan tries to eat healthy, so I have started cooking a little healthier.

We had this beautiful Cobb salad last night. It was great. Turkey bacon...I actually used the turkey bacon. It's okay when it's in stuff.


I have actually purchased two Weight Watcher's cookbooks and Katy and Sean provided a Christmas subscription to Cooking Light. I'm doing what I can. I made turkey meatballs and I've even cooked some salmon. Broiled chicken. Steamed vegetables. Couscous. Rice. Low fat cheese.

What happened?

Harry Potter and the Scarf of Doom

I knit a few more rows of the horrible Harry Potter scarf. I hate that scarf. It is the very bane of my existence. I still have 2 balls of red yarn to go. It's very long. It has to be, because it's very wide. I don't know if I'll ever finish it.

It's become famous. The kids make comments all the time about it.

"Are you ever going to finish that?"

Eventually. That or I'll donate it to poor bungee jumpers. It's nearly long enough now.

Nothing to Knit

We were going to hang out at the coffee shop the other day. Ryan was going to be doing some work, so he suggested I take something to read or something to knit.

"I don't have anything to knit."


When we got back and I started organizing some stuff, he gave me a funny look, "I thought you said you didn't have any yarn?"

No...I said I didn't have anything to knit. Very big difference. Jeez!

Next!

One of Ryan's Christmas presents was his choice from a book I recently purchased. It's Rowan's Knitting for Him. Rowan has great patterns if you're (a) a man or (b) a woman with a 34 inch chest (which I haven't been since, oh, I don't know, 6th grade).

This is the one he chose. Unfortunately, the yarn they suggest, a RYC blend of cashmere, wool, and microfiber, is somewhere around $9 a ball and it takes about 20 balls. For those of you who are slow on the up-take or have already started your New Year's drinking, that's somewhere around $180.


Being the resourceful girl that I am, however, I found equally fabulous yarn for about half the price. Knit Pick's Andean Silk in Chocolate is the orders I got. I think it will look pretty nice. Andean Silk is a wool, alpaca, and silk blend. I have a couple balls of this yarn and not only is it incredibly soft, but it knits up great. It gets a little sheen from the silk and has the kind of stitch definition that will look great in this sweater.


And ladies...before you ask...the nice young man in the pictures does not come with the sweater (sorry, Mom!).


I just have to wait until I get paid again! Because of course I need some more 14 inch Lantern Moons to get it going.

Hooked

In addition to the beautiful yet unfinished jewelry box and some stunning sapphires to put in it, I also got crochet hooks for Christmas. Not just any crochet hooks. Hand turned hardwood hooks from Brains Barn in New Jersey by Brian Bergmann.

Here they are in the not-remotely-worthy new case that I made for them.


This one is an I and is made from black walnut.


This one is a K and is made from rosewood.


This is the J and is what has to be the blackest ebony I've ever seen. None of my knitting needles are anywhere near this dark.


I finally made myself a crochet hook case. It feels very inferior.


I used all three of them today, just playing around with some scrap yarn after I reorganized my stash. They're amazing. It really does make such a difference working with nice equipment and materials. These hooks have ruined me for all others. Even my black walnut Brittany hook pales in comparison. I told Ryan he's all set for the next couple of years worth of gifts...I need D through H and maybe an L!

Why On Earth Anybody Felts Intarsia?

One review I read of Nicky Epstein's felted intarsia bag asked why anyone would felt their knitting after doing such intricate colorwork.

I now know the answer.

In real intarsia I would have been forced to weave in all the ends I had left over. By felting it, I got to be lazy and trim them all off of the halfway felted bag. This is the disaster that I had on my hands after the first run through the washer.


This is how much better it looked after I trimmed it. I think that by doing it between washings I nailed it. The ends were secure enough to trim, but the second wash hid the spots that were trimmed.


Again, this is why you felt the tremendously difficult intarsia. It's so you don't bang your head against the wall when you're trying to weave approximately 8,469 ends in. This is the pile of stuff I trimmed of the bag. You know, the stuff I would have woven.


The bag is finished. I forgot to take a picture of it before I wrapped it up for Christmas. It came out pretty well considering I ran out of brown yarn and started taking apart the I-cord, then cut it way down after it was felted because it was humongous, then sewed it by hand (you know how I feel about that!). I'm even considering using the leftover pink yarn for some kind of Valentine's Day felted something-or-other. We'll see how that goes.