Minimal Knitting Content Ahead

I have been knitting a bit, but it doesn’t look like I’m making much progress. I am though - I think I have just one more repeat of the houndstooth before I start the decreases to finish off the head. I should be ready to start the arms by the end of this week, if I manage to get some knitting done in the evenings.

I was going to take a photo of the minimal progress, but then I didn't. It's been a week. I'll just post this today.

I’ve started an organization project: I’m going to re-tag all of my flickr photos. I’m slowly deleting all of my existing tags, and will start replacing them soon. It’s kind of annoying, but it will help me find the photos I’m looking for. I wish flickr made it easier to reuse tags, so then I don’t end up with 3 or 4 variations of “knit”.

Otherwise I’ve been spending my time reading cheesy romance novels (and finally started the book for my bookclub. More on that Thursday.) and now playing a web-based MMO gamed called Glitch. It’s really fun! You can either sign up for beta access (mine took about 2 weeks or so) or if you already have a friend with beta access they can send you an invite. I think the limit is 3 invites per person, and I still have all of mine… hint, hint!

Then there is Diablo III, which I will pick up more now than Mr. TEK is home in the evenings again, and Civ V. It’s a wonder I even get out of my chair!!

We also had scare with Duke this week. Onions. Which are poison to cats. *sigh* Why does he like to eat poison?

He's fine, we didn't even have to take him to the vet, but we did call (twice) just to be sure.

My apologies

Here we are, more than half way through March, and I haven't posted. There is good and bad, and more good news.

Good News/Bad News #1- I found a job! I started the first full week of February and I a very happy in my new role. It's with a small company, working with information that I have no experience with, so there is a lot to learn- along with a crap-ton of excel work! Excel makes me happy, I probably should go back to school for computer programming because I just love the problem solving aspect of figuring out how to automate calculations with formulas, functions, and macros.

The bad news in all this is that I have significantly less time to blog. My time at work is work time, though lunchtime might allow me to outline a post or two, and now that it is spring I'll be spending more time in the evenings on my bicycle, which will leave even less time for blogging and preparing for posts (like taking photos)

Good News/Bad News #2- Daylight Savings! It's great because I'll have better light in the evening for photography. It's not-so-great because I hate changing the clocks. Last week I was so off my game, it was aweful! I was getting up at minimum 20 minutes late every morning for work, which meant I arrived at work later than I would have liked.

How have my hobbies fared with the new job? My primary hobbies have fared well. I consider knitting, photography, and cycling my primary hobbies. Sewing, baking, and other crafts are secondary.

Knitting: I participated in a knittyboard swap, the theme was "New Year, (learning) New Things. My pal sent me a GREAT package. Pretty stitch markers, yummy tea, and the crowing glory- Misti Alpaca 4-ply Alpaca Silk in an amazing garnet color. I'd better get a black coat for the winter, I don't want to look like an Ohio State fan when visiting my in-laws in Columbus! (disclaimer: I do not care a whit for college sports. Mr. TEK does not care a whit for college sports. His extended family does not fail to give us crap because we live and work in Michigan- and horror of horrors- I work in Ann Arbor again!) She sent along a super cute pattern- Schieffelin Point Shawl that I immediately cast on for.





I also have a nearly-completed Pocket Cup Cozy, but I am still not happy with the pocket construction. Apparently I suck at picking up stitches. I'm just going to have to keep trying or just make them without pockets. It's not like that is difficult at all.



Cycling: The 2012 Summer of 1,000 Miles spreadsheet is live! And by live, I mean updated and on my usb drive. I'll give you a peek at the data analysis page (the rest is boring... unless you like line graphs with 2 data points!)


Since we started going to the gym in January, we were able to kick-start our outdoor cycling by cutting out the less than 5 mile conditioning rides. The weather certainly helps too. Hopefully we will be able to get another 10 mile ride in this evening.

Photography: I have barely had a reason to pick up my camera before today since I haven't been doing any blogging. I have not finished any crafty projects either. I've got a project for Easter, which I am really excited about, but other than that nothing much.



There are two new releases coming May 15 that I am super excited about. Diablo III and the new Garbage album. So giddy about D3... and the new computer I am going to get to ensure I get an awesome experience. I've needed a new desktop for about a year now, but I've been putting it off so I could get something to run Diablo to it's best advantage. Yes, I am quite happily a nerd.

Duke was quite mad that I was outside and he was not getting my undivided attentions.

The one where I show a WIP

Still here, still a housewife. It's not that bad, though I'm getting bored with it. Oh well.

Here is the super-cute baby sweater I'm working on. It's based on the Last Minute Knitted Gifts Placket Neck Baby Sweater.



I'm using a simple chevron pattern, and I am going to steek the front to make it a cardigan. I am thinking about how to do the sleeves though. I don't think I want them to be color-work since little fingers can easily get snagged in the floats. So I was thinking of doing the sleeves in gray, and having the raglan part be gray too. But how would I handle the color work? That's the question of the day. I'm thinking I might just have to break the yarn and sew down the ends along the raglan line. we will see how it goes. I am to the point where I need start the sleeves, I'll probably do that once I finish this post and Duke stops kneeding my stomach. I can't see the keyboard right now, good thing I am a proficient typist!

The lighting isn't quite as good as I would have liked, I had to use a different set up since it was cloudy. Click the photo for more information.



I did a little sewing over the weekend and made a bib to go with Basil the Monster baby gift. I'll be photographing that soon, hopefully we will have a sunny day. It's been raining since early evening yesterday, and my yard is quite flooded.

Duke's been keeping warm by sleeping more of late. He does not care for the flash.

Cupcakes make everyone feel better

After my last pity-party post I got my stuff together. Much like when, earlier this year, I decided that I was spending waaayyy too much time playing stupid facebook games and quit all but 1 (desktop defender- love that game) cold turkey. Granted I can't just get a job like that, but I can bake.

I spent all day on Wednesday getting the house cleaned so that I could spend all day Thursday baking. I need to bake a batch of sourdough bread, a double-batch of coconut macaroons for a potluck at Mr. TEKs office, and a batch of cupcakes for my Mom's birthday.

The bread and cookies were kinda boring, and it was too cloudy for good photography in my house on Thursday. But Friday, it was sunny and beautiful as I grabbed a paring knife, a bowl of cherry filling, and whipped cream.


The recipe for the Black Forest Cupcakes is HERE. I love love love love love this recipe. The chocolate cupcakes are yummy, the cherry filling is sturdy, and everyone loves fresh whipped cream, right? But how does one get that sturdy, yummy, cherry filling into the middle of a cupcake when it has full cherries in it? Glad you asked, because I took photos of each step.

Step 1. Grab a cupcake, preferably cooled.


Step 2. Cut a circle with the knife at an angle towards the center in the top of the cupcake.


Step 3. Carefully remove the part you cut, lop off the point of the pyramidish shape, then use the point of the knife to hallow out more space in the middle of the cupcake. I used a large plate to keep the crumbs from going everywhere.


Step 4. Plop in a good amount of filling


Step 5. Place the cut-out lid back on the top of the cupcake.


Step 6. Frost, garnish, and eat!


Next time I'd better iron my backdrop--- here's the photography set up today.

I left the table away from the window because it was around 10:00 a.m. and the window is one the east side of the house, so plenty of strong sun streaming in. Duke enjoyed that part!

It’s FALL!

I love and dread the fall. The colors and temperature is wonderful. The hint of winter in the air as fall fades just sucks. I hate driving in snow so much that it makes me hate and dread the winter. There are parts of winter weather that I love… thick socks, mittens, hats, scarves, slippers… watching it snow when I don’t have anywhere to go… hot tea, hot cocoa, baking bread and cakes and the warmth from the oven keeping me warm. I could go on, but I won’t. I’ll just say that I wish early fall could last forever. Just as I was congratulating myself for keeping up on the blog, I completely fell off the wagon. But that’s okay, I’m okay. So let’s start with my vacation week!

CAMPING! We started a week of vacation with camping on Lake Michigan. It was only two nights, so we figured it would be fun and not too much work. It was really nice. We brought books and a Frisbee (which I promptly and accidentally threw in the lake) and had to go buy some camp chairs from Meijer. We watched the sunset over the lake and sat on the beach the next day. We explored, and I knit a little. The last night it rained… and rained… and rained… we ended up taking the tent down in the rain. Thankfully the tent was well designed and was easy to take down.


CONCERT! Almost as soon as we got home on Monday (we had time for a nap and dinner) we left to drive to the Palace of Auburn Hills for the Foo Fighters! They always put on an awesome show, and this time was no exception. We were rocked for 3 hours! I even managed to get a decent shot with my camera phone. I ran it through lightbox, a free android app, for the post processing. e

CYCLING! Good and bad, we did a lot of cycling over our vacation, but Thursday I fell off my bike. I still have the scrapes, but they don’t hurt all the time anymore. We were at our local state park, and we were going fast, about 15 mph. I was coming around a curve and one of my tires must have fallen off the path, which put me off balance and I fell. Luckily, I was wearing long sleeves and pants. My shirt ripped, but my pants didn’t. I had some scrapes/road rash on my left elbow and knee, a huge bruise on my right calf, and a smaller bruise on my right ankle. I think my bike was scraped a little, but I think it was mostly on one of the pedals. Mr. TEK came back and checked it over, so I didn’t see it. The worst part was the simple muscle soreness in the days after. So not only did I fall off my bike, the following Saturday, just 3 days later, we rode in the Tour d’Troit bike ride. We totaled 26 miles for the outing- the ride was 22 miles through some nice and not-so-nice parts of Detroit, plus we did an optional 2 miles on Belle Isle and there were another 2 miles to and from the parking lot. I didn’t take my camera, as I was still sore and uncomfortable. The worst part was that every time I hit a bump it jarred my injured elbow. It was still fun though!

The other major thing we did over the week was complete Mr. TEK’s bookcases. He started building a set of three bookcases for our house last year, but had to stop working on them last summer because of his illness. We did the stain and the polyurethane, and on Sunday got the cases moved into the house and our books out of the storage tubs we had to put them in. We have two in the bedroom and one in the computer room. They look FANTASTIC!

Next time: banana bread, books, and a knitting wip

And don't forget Duke. He is not amused by my photography.

I'm actually finishing things!

More than just the hat for Todd, I've finished the curtains for my kitchen windows too! They had been languishing for quite some time. I sewed one of them, just a simple, flat curtain, with two fabrics, and the other set was just hemming a cheap Target set.


Not much of anything else, just had to take some time off of biking because of the heat and my adventure with hives. Yeah, allergic to another antibiotic. That's two that I'm allergic to, as well as the one that I might be sensitive to. It's awesome being me.

I was taking pictures of the knitting projects I have in progress and Duke felt the need to help, but first the knits...
1. Bunny Nugget. Another long-standing project. It's been sitting on my desk for months, waiting for me to get some stuffing. Now that I have the stuffing, I'll be putting in the eyes and doing the finishing. It will be a cute addition to a baby gift, maybe with an attached i-cord to tie to attach to a pacifier or some velcro to wrap around the handle of the carrier.


2. Shadow Cable Hat from the Fall 2011 Interweave magazine. I had started the Yarn Harlot Unoriginal Hat pattern, but then I got the new IK in the mail. Frogged it and immediately started this hat. It's going super quick, but I'm not sure about the drape. I'm knitting this bulky yarn on 11s, but I think I'd be better off getting some 13s or 15s out and seeing how that looks. I'm concerned it's going to be too stiff. I've got time to think about it though.


3. Another Monster is soon to be made. I got the yarn today at a new yarn and fabric store in my town(!). It is right by Duke's vets office. I found it when I went by to pick up his special food.  It's a super cute shop, but I'm not sure what it is called. I just saw a hand-lettered sign that said "Fabric & Yarn; Knitting & Quilting" and had to find it.

And here's Duke, investigating my backdrop set-up.

My life is moving forward at an alarming rate.

It’s hard to believe that we’re already past the 4^th of July holiday and are steadily moving towards August. Good thing that despite my lack of posts I have been making progress.

Knitting: I finally finished Todd’s hat!!! Yay!!! I’ll have a Finished Object Post about it this weekend. I’ve cast on for another one of the Yarn Harlot’s Unoriginal Hats, but I haven’t gotten past the cast on yet. It’s been sooooo hot and humid here that I just haven’t wanted to get out the wool. I’ve got other things to work on anyway.

Sewing: I have not touched my sewing machine of late, but that’s going to change in a few minutes. I’m planning tonight to finish the curtain I started, hem the other curtains I bought, and hem the piece of fabric I am using as a backdrop in my knitting photos.Or maybe not. I just realized it's 8:30... crap. Oh well, maybe this weekend.

Photography: I've been messing around with my 60mm Macro lens and have been getting a better understanding of exposure. I'm just the kind of person that can read about it all day long, but it doesn't really make sense until I actually do it several times. I'm thinking that I might anoint a Saturday as "Photography Day" and everything I do try to take a good photo of whatever it is I'm doing... like laundry, yard work, or cycling.

Bicycling: We took this week off due to the excessive heat, we're expecting record temperatures in the Detroit area, potentially over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Blah. Thank goodness for central A/C!!! We will pick back up next week, and maybe have another 50 mile week now that Mr. TEK is done with classes for the semester.

Cooking: Thanks to the heat and our outside project (more about that in the next paragraph) I have been cooking the bare minimum to keep us fed. It's not good by any stretch, and it certainly doesn't help that I'm in a bit of a slump. After about a year of no eggs, no beef, no pork, or no dairy you tend to run out of ideas. I'm totally craving some home made stuffed shells pasta with 4 cheeses and italian sausage. yyyyyuuummmm...

Outside Project: The Patio. The concrete is in, the fence is up, the plants are in place. We still have a small pile of topsoil to disperse around the yard. I am so sick of yard work though! It is certainly worth it, as I love our "Beer Fridays" where we sit on the patio and have a beer and either chat or read or I knit.

I had an awesome thing happen to me last week.... I got a great haircut! I'll write a full post about that too.

(Mr. TEK might not be able to have butter, but Duke doesn't mind having his portion!)

Sunday night already

What a weekend!

Knitting: Finished the knitting on Todd's hat. I wanted to get it done before the weekend so I could spend some time planning my next project and organizing my yarn stash so I could hopefully knit it without buying more yarn. I managed to get organized, but the stash isn't looking good for what I'm planning. I need to finish weaving in the ends on the hat, and then I'll post some ideas for the next project.
Here's the hat:



Here is the inside:



Photography: I'm getting better with the camera, I think, at least for these kinds of still-life shots. I really need some work in post processing, but it's hard to know what to learn when you don't really see what needs to be done. I tried taking a shot for this weeks Digital Photography School contest- the theme is "Independence". I was going to take a photo of my belly. Why my belly? Well, being able to pick and choose my childbearing gives me independence. It did not go well. Thankfully, the camera did not break.

Food: I just don't want to cook when it is so hot out! Must plan something new for next week!

Sewing: um. yeah. nope.

Biking: Now this is where the progress was made. Last week was a 30 mile week. We were just 5 miles short of our goal for the week, but we can make it up this week. We've already got 16 miles for this week, and we need to reach 35. It looks like we will be able to ride 10 miles on Tuesday, 10 on Thursday, and hopefully another 10 on Friday. Saturday we will be busy with yard work, putting up some fencing to give our patio some privacy.

Duke has been quite the jerk lately. I'm not sure if I am concerned or not.

Weekend Update

It's Sunday evening at the end of a busy weekend. Windows are open, sun is setting, and we're winding down, getting ready for another busy week.

I spent some time on Saturday working on Todd's hat. The colorwork is finally done.



I've got to take some measurements to see if I'm ready to start decreasing for the crown.

We biked 25 miles today! It was good, and my legs are still a little tight. I'm getting to the point  where I just feel overall better. I've also started doing "wall push-ups" as well. My boss recommended them-- you stand an arm length away from a wall, and place your palms against the wall. Then you slowly lean your upper body to the wall, and then slowly push back, just like doing a push-up. It's less difficult than doing regular push-ups but is still going for the upper arms and chest. I'm just doing a couple 10 rep sets each day, but I'll work my way up.

Yesterday I baked these cupcakes, which I consider to be EPIC. I didn't take any photos, as I didn't finish baking them until 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night. I saw the photo in my google reader, and printed it, but if I hadn't seen the photo every time I looked at my pinterest board I doubt I would have made them so soon. I will advise, these cupcakes dirty a LOT of dishes. If you don't want to worry about clean-up I don't think this recipe would be advisable. I will make them again and again though; they were that worth it to me. Also, I have some of the cherry filling left over that I stuck in the freezer, so one less step to worry about next time!

I'm also experimenting with smoothies. I made strawberry yogurt ones tonight. Pretty good, but they need something. Maybe a slug of chocolate sauce? Chocolate makes everything better!

The best part of my weekend? The concrete guys came out and framed in our soon to be patio! I cannot wait to sit out there with a cold Oberon (or Paulaner Hefe! found at Costco!) and just enjoy being outside.

Progress on Todd’s Hat

Finished the ribbing and have started on the colorwork portion of the hat. I never realized what a pain it is to work with black yarn. It makes it difficult to count rows, and photography is difficult against a white background. I’m going to have to play with using different colors of fabric (Jo Ann’s and Hobby Lobby here I come!) to see what gives the best contrast and lighting. In my picture in the last post, the white in the image appears to be exposed properly; however you can’t really see the detail of the black yarn. It’s just a black blob when I look at it.  I’m going to have to work with the mister to create a backdrop “holder”.

My current set up is a full magazine storage box (Flyt from Ikea) with some fabric draped over, a tripod for my camera, and a white plastic lid clamped to the side of my table. I’ll have to try to take a picture of it the next time I set it up. It’s in this style from Photojojo. My table has fold-down leaves on the sides, so I fold down the one side and use one of Mr. TEK’s woodworking clamps to hold my makeshift reflector in place. Granted it was a first try, and since I took the photo with sunlight streaming in the window I had to use another piece of white fabric, held to the existing window shade with binder clips to further diffuse the light. But I think it worked out fairly well. It’s something I am definitely going to play with as I work on my object photography.

The most difficult part of object photography is keeping The Baron out of the way so I can get my photos. Sometimes you just have to give up and use him as your subject. (this is my old set up, it didn’t work quite the way I wanted it to.

WIP Report

Knitting: I just started back up Saturday, by just casting on 100 stitches in black yarn for Todd's Hat. I didn't touch it on Sunday, but knit 4 or 5 rows of the 2x2 ribbing on Monday, and I got another row or two done today at lunch time.



Sewing: I'm working on some curtains for my kitchen, as well as having a set of curtains that need to be shortened. I probably won't get to finish these projects for a couple of weeks anyway.

Biking: DH and I have set a goal of 850 miles to bike this season. We've been working at it since March, and we've got nearly 250 miles down. We would have had more, however the early rains kept us inside. This week, we've ridden 35 miles, and should ride another 20 before the week is out.

Photography: Downloaded GIMP on my laptop, as well as the desktop, and now I'm learning how to convert RAW files (.nef since I'm on Nikon) to jpeg. Hopefully I can learn this quickly!

The Baron approves.