Knitterama

It's Just a Game

It was with great sadness that I read about all the successes in Olympic Knitting.

I felt alone. I went out to Typepad and edited out those KAL buttons off my blog.

Then I continued with my bloglines subscriptions - I got down to the r's - Rose-Kim Knits/Jessica had just the thing I needed to ease my pain:

I think I'll have a drink, then go skiing. I have added it to my sidebar - anybody else?

It Was an Honor Just to Have Participated

Before...

After

Tubey was never going to work. For some reason, I was experiencing biasing in the top part - this was why A kept complaining that the top part felt twisted every time she tried it on. I thought about finishing it anyhow (for about 1 minute), but decided to frog and start something that had a greater chance of being worn. A and I sat down together and browsed through Anna Bell's fantabulous patterns, hoping to find something that would work for A's fashion sense as well as the yarn. Once A saw this, it was all over

Sgt. Pepper by anna bell

"You mean you could KNIT that," asked A - to which I replied, "I'm sure I can knit it. I am not so sure about the finishing..." I will have to, as the song says, "get by with a little help from my friends"

In the meantime, the matching pets are preparing for the closing ceremonies by doing the dance before the pounce, a daily activity in which Grace the Cat always wins. Of Course.

Congrads to all on completing your projects. It was a great journey!

Olympic Update - Twizzle On

Wow. What was with those Ice Dancers? Those outfits looked like somebody had attacked the lingerie department at Wal*Mart and met the pantyhose queen in the checkout line. Shit. That was really awful.

What about those long "poses" they were doing...

(sorry - I accidentally pasted a photo from the NY Times rather than a link - I have now remedied the situation - it was a mistake and is now a link like it was supposed to be. Now, back to our sponsor)

I paused a couple of them and they looked like they were straight out of the pages of the Kama Sutra (not that I read that or anything). I bet the conservative right really got their dander up over that one (tee hee).

My favorite comment of the night came from Dick Button who, while watching the Russian couple (WHICH Russian couple - they were ALL Russian, weren't they?) get into a "pose" that had the woman upside down with her crotch right over the man's face, declared it a "glorious pose". God. I thought Dick Button was gay.

I started the body of Tubey last night. I am going to do some short rows around the boobage area to avoid having the thing shorter in the front than in the back. I also need to do some serious blocking to the arms - like others have said, the place where the sleeves meet the body, under the arms is REALLY tight. A insisted that the top part had to be tight to create the look she liked, but I may have gone too far. I think Aurora 8 blocks pretty well so I will have at it when I am done.

A and I went to see Matchpoint yesterday - OMG - Woody Allen is back. It was so awesome. It is "Brideshead Revisted" meets "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". Scarlett Johansson really nailed her role and Jonathan Rhys-Myers has never looked better. At the end, A commented that any child parented by those two would have the most amazing lips on earth and be the most beautiful child, even nicer than Bradgelina. Ah, the wisdom of sixteen. When P asked what the movie was about at the dinner table last night, A and I looked at each other and both said, in unison, "luck". See it - it rocks.

I am adding a section at the end of each entry about what I am making for dinner. If my readers are interested in the recipe, leave me a comment and I will add those to a new sidebar section. Lemme know.

What's for dinner? Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

In the Olympic Spirit

Never leave a pattern alone.

That's my Olympic Motto.

I am renaming Tubey Tuberino since 1) it is being knitted during the Torino (Turin) Olympics and 2.) I am making so many changes to the pattern that it may no longer resemble an authentic Tubey.

So far I have

• thrown size to the wind and built the shrug custom designed to A's torso. While I originally cast on for a size small, I think I have ended up someplace before XS

• changed the colors to a scheme designed by A made up of grays and an occasional red

• changed the yarn (have I told you how much I love aurora 8?)

• added ribbing to the sleeves below the stripes (Nona made me do it - I did 5 x 1)

I also plan on adding short rows to the bust area to avoid the problem people are having with the front ending up shorter than the back due to boobage issues.

...and I am not finishing the sleeves until last, since I want to add loops so A can hook the bottoms of the sleeves to her middle fingers - i.e. the length needs to be just right.

In a new addition to the blog, I will post recipes that I make that warrant an addition to the virtual recipe box. My first recipe came from a blog written by an American living in Japan , nihon no ryori. I made some minor changes, but the main recipe was just wonderful:

Ramen
Strong Tasting Soup With Noodles, Pork And Vegetables

fresh raman noodles
stock ingredients:
4 spring onions (negi)
6cm ginger
2 chicken carcasses (I used a stewing chicken)
1 onion. quartered
4 cloves garlic lightly crushed (so it still intact but the juices etc are very noticable!
1 carrot, chopped
1 cup sake

90 mls (or a huge spoonful ,-) ) miso paste (any type)
30 mls shoyu
toppings
pork (slow roasted and sliced would be great, but any sort - cha shu, stir fried, etc will all be tasty)
vegetables if you want. i used snowpeas, carrots, beansprouts, baby corn. shiitake mushrooms would be good.
chilli
spring onions, chopped
optional - grated raw garlic, chilli oil and salt

OK, i am assuming most people reading know how to make a stock. Just put all the stock ingredients (not the miso or shoyu) into a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for a few hours. I left mine for about 3, but anything after 2 will be ok for this one. The miso and shoyu will add a LOT of flavour to the soup. remove the veges/chicken by draining the stock into another pot and set aside. If you are a beginner at this, don't throw out the liquid. That is your stock, and you can throw out the other stuff (the veges and chicken carcass form the stock making process!)

Blanche your topping vegetables if you are using them. Don't worry about the bean sprouts, they will be added shortly!

Mix a cup of your stock into a bowl with the shoyu and miso paste, and mix so that it is runny and combined Then add it to the rest of the stock. This is now a delicious tasting soup. Add some chilli too if you like!

Boil your ramen noodles. don't boil them till completely cooked, as the soup will cook them a little more.

Put the noodles in individual serving bowls and then put a handful of beanshoots on each. Pour over some soup and then place some vegetables and pork on top of them. top with the spring onions and voila. A delicious ramen dinner.

bon appetit!

The Agony of Defeat

I frogged the Tubey.

I decided not to use Cashmerino Aran because in my previous experience, this yarn pilled and lost shape in a bad way.

I love Aurora 8. (I know I have told you that before - just a reminder).

I was not getting gauge with Aurora 8. I had two choices - 1.) adjust the needle size or 2.) recalculate the pattern. I chose item number one. I should never do that. In the end, the fabric was just too tight and my hands ached and the progress was S-L-O-W.

I reswatched (is there such a word?) and liked bamboo 5's with this yarn so, after minor pattern adjustments, I am back in the running.

The Sweet Sixteen party was a huge success. Kids arrived early, stayed until we kicked them out, and ate a lot of food. They danced and did karaoke and rolled in the snow when they got too hot from all the activity. A very well behaved crowd they were - most actually thanked us on their way out. A is lucky to have such great friends.

I am off clean up the party debris, pack up leftover food and drink to deliver tomorrow to N at Carleton (along with chocolate covered strawberries, homemade cookies and some hot pepper raspberry jam for Valentine's Day) - all as training for tonight's skating events. Can I get caught up on Tubey? Stay tuned.

Upfront and Personal - The Games Begin!

The bag of Aurora 8 came out of hiding around 4 pm central time - swatching, teammates...that's allowed.

I took a quick peek at the pattern to check the gauge. The pattern calls for Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - which is the same label weight as my yarn. The design calls for size 8 needles. That seems big to me so I start with 7's, although I usually knit pretty close to gauge - that's not perfect, folks, just average. OMG. Not even close. I reread the pattern.

I remeasure A for the third time. She is ticklish and the key measure calls for the center of the underarms. A is not so sure she wants this after all. I try 6's...and 5's and 4's and finally get gauge on 3's. Geez.

The swatch looks fabulous . I cast on just as I see him

Bob Costas is finally on (who is that dude with the wire hair and tacky suit on at the start and why do they show the first hour of stuff nobody cares about - practice runs for the downhill <yawn>)

Tubey and the Knitting Olympics have begun. Have I told you how much I love Aurora 8? The stitch definition is superb and it is so soft.

Watching the teams walk in to tacky 80's music that I hated in the 80's was painful. I told P (back from California, he is today and he was sorely missed) that the next thing we needed to hear was "Funkytown". Not TWO minutes later, the song started. Steven Greenberg must be happy (he wrote the song and we know him - sorry Steven), but we were NOT. We are opera fanatics and couldn't understand why we weren't hearing Verdi and Puccini. That came later. And it was really grand. We are francophiles, but we heart Italy as well.

I hate how NBC (the new religious right channel) has decided that the Olympics are about AMERICAN athletes WINNING. I prefer to think of them as showcasing the highest form of sport, REGARDLESS of the country. I heart Alberto Tomba. And Jean-Claude Killy. And Ingemar Stenmark. Enuf said.

Tomorrow is A's sweet sixteen party so I will not be knitting or updating until Sunday. We will Tivo tomorrow's festivities and be up to date on Sunday.

May the best team win.