2 FOs, a WIP and a muffin recipe

As with most people, February was a blur. Work was outta control busy which didn't leave me with a lot of free time to do the things I needed and/or wanted to do. So now we're in March and I have no work to distract me so I'm playing catch up, or catsup if you're hungry.

Speaking of hungry (which I am all the time) I've been trolling two food blogs. I think Michelle introduced me to 'em but I can't remember. These blogs make my tummy grumble faster than... well, something that grumbles. The Pioneer Woman Cooks! and Smitten Kitchen make me drool on a regular basis and I'm not kidding.

Now I've been craving muffins for a bit. But not the sugary/floury/carb-licious ones that are like little cakes. No, I've been craving a (fairly) healthy one. See Starbucks** used to have a fruit and bran muffin that I really, really liked and then they took it away from me. I've been on the hunt ever since. Smitten Kitchen added a new feature and its called "Surprise Me!" You click the link and it usually takes you to a recipe. Click it again and it takes you to an entirely different recipe. I was bonking on that link over and over seeing each surprise and thinking "I gotta make that some day." when the muffins I've been looking for these past long, lonely months popped up.

What was funny was that I didn't realize they were The Muffins. As I was reading the ingredients and looking at the photos I swear I could have tasted them but I knew that was impossible since I had never made anything off the site (yet). I convinced myself that I was just hungry and that I should make a list, run to the grocery store and bake them. And that's what I did. And I'm pleased as punch to report that my muffin craving has been satiated. Hurrah! The recipe? Sour Cream Bran Muffins. I used yogurt instead of sour cream and my dried fruit was a mixture of cherries, strawberries, cranberries and blueberries. And even Paul, who doesn't like blueberries (in any shape or form) was all over them. I ate two for dinner. I recommend them. The end.

Now that you're back after making your own muffins, let's talk about knitting! 2 FOs and a WIP. What could be better than that? Other than 3 MCs and 1 DJ*? I can't think of anything.

FO#1:

GENERIC CUFF DOWN
Started: Feb 1, 2009
Completed: Feb 28, 2009
Pattern: generic cuff down
Yarn: Lang Jawoll Cotton
Color: 8853
Skeins: 2
Needles: 2.5mm/US 1.5 Knitpicks Options
Notes: cast on 64, heel worked over 38 stitches
Ravelry deets here.

FO#2:

TRAVEL COWL
Started: Feb 24, 2009
Completed: March 3, 2009
Pattern: Sherbrooke by Lauren Weinhold
Yarn: Haldespun
Color: Clematis
Skeins: 1
Needles: 5mm/US 8 Knitpicks Options
Notes: length is 10"
Modifications: row 2: *k1,p1*

Ravelry deets here.

WIP:

Whatdya think of the action shot, huh? Lady February Sweater coming 'actcha, yo! I'm loving this sweater. The yarn is so squishy and yummy I just want to hug it and squeeze it and call it George. I'm making better time on than expected since I was so busy. I'm going to guess this will be done by the end of March. More deets later.

*For those who don't get the reference, may I present Beastie Boys with "Three MC's and One DJ:"

** Please don't give me a hard time about going to Starbucks. Sometimes they do things right, like the bran muffin. I know most of the time they do things wrong, like taking away my bran muffin. My defense is "desperate times call for desperate measures."

Sigh

Today was a rough day.

Work was hard.
The cat was barfy.
And all my dreams of employment are dead.

{insert buzzer sound here.}

PS: I like towels.

Action in the 'hood

"San Francisco police have detained a man who allegedly stabbed an off-duty officer riding his bicycle this afternoon, authorities said."

Yes, and they arrested him ON MY STREET!!

ETA: a link to an updated article.

Why I love Netflix

Watched last night. There were no Oscar® caliber performances but it was bizarrely heartwarming.

Sick Knitting

I just recently had the Death Cold. 4 days of horrible sinus pain and suffering. Three days of recovery (although I'm still not 100%). Used tissue strewn around the house as far as the eyes can blearily see. The sorest of nose and throat. Avoid it if you can. Unless you want some mediocre knitting time. Then I totally recommend it.

Time for a bag!

It's the beginning of the month, time to rip open a Personal Sock Club (PSC) bag. And the winner goes to:

Uptown Boot Socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks is the pattern. Lang Jawoll Cotton is the yarn and I have to say it's the most psychedelic color I've seen since my Jimi Hendrix X-Mas Cardi. Don't know if the yarn/pattern combo is going to work but I'm going to give it a go. Also there's a theme between my first PSC09 project and this one: yarn gifted to me by my friend Sophie.

ETA: As soon as I got a few stitches on the needle Paul started eying this yarn. When asked if he would like socks in this yarn he couldn't say yes fast enough. So the Uptown Boot Socks pattern has been thrown to the wayside and I've cast on for a generic top down pattern just for Paul.

Back to the future

Srsly?

It's not that big of a deal but I thought I was on a roll. Since I made my last knitting post, January has been full of knitting fail. Take a look at this sweater that I've been working on since late November:

Well, it now looks like this:

I hope it will look like this when I'm done but I'm not sure if I'm feeling it as I was stumped by cables. Yes, I said it! Stumped by cables. I'm saying it again. I've also been working on the Lacy Yoga Mat Bag as a quick project to burn up some stash but I clearly can't read a pattern as I've already ripped and restarted 6 times. The reason? The pattern is not written to be knitted in the round like I assumed it would be.

Bush Street street signs changed to Obama...

Read about it here.

1 Down, 10 more to go!

RPMs are finished! And I'm so glad I got them off the needles. I was actually numb to their mad horror-ness and was just kinda, you know, whatever about 'em. But hurray for an FO! Plus it's my official first Personal Sock Club project so I feel very good about being done with them (hence the title of the post). Now I have two FOs done in one month and I still got 14 more days to go wild/crazy with some yarn. Woot!

ROCKING THE RPMS
Started: January 4, 2009
Completed: January 16, 2009
Pattern: rpm by Aiga Goto
Yarn: Socks That Rock - Lightweight
Color: Roctober (gifted to me by Sophie a looooong time ago)
Skeins: 1
Needles: 2.5mm/US 1.5 Knitpicks Options
Notes: I did a short row heel and a grafted toe... hopefully a better photo to come soon.

Heading to knit night...

Taken on Tuesday night on my way to knitting. I love that I have a group that meets just blocks away from my house. It's totally rocks.

Sock #1 done!

And I love the pattern! It definitely makes up for the Mad Horror Clowness of the yarn. This was my first attempt at a short row heel and, if I can say so myself, it doesn't look too shabby. (Although don't look at the other side I'm not sure what I did there but I will say there are no holes.)

Converting to metric... made easy

I <3 xkcd!

Quote from a non-knitter regarding yarn II

"It doesn't look like clown barf. Does that help? Is that the right answer?!"

RPMs of a mad horror clown

I'm just sayin'...

Apartment Therapy + Extreme Knitting

Apartment Therapy is one of those blogs I look at on a not regular basis to get home decorating ideas - they have great articles and beautiful photos to boot! I do subscribe to their newsletter and in my inbox I was pleasantly surprised to read about Extreme Knitting. Gives one inspiration and crazy ideas!

First FO of '09 (& the Personal Sock Club)

Yays for gettin' crackin' in the new year! One FO on the board. Sweet!

JANUARY IS FOR DKC
Started: December 29, 2008
Completed: January 4, 2009
Pattern: January is for Karen by Lorena Haldeman
Yarn: Elann Sonata (solid)
Color: weird pinkish (#6056)
Skeins: 2
Needles: 4.5mm/US 7 Knitpicks Options
Notes: This is for the DKC's Knit for the Cure
Rav deets here

I have two more projects that are holdovers from '08 but I plan to take care of them this year but not at this moment. Now I'm going to turn my attention toward the sock club I joined through a group on Ravelry - Personal Sock Club 2009. Not to bore anyone with the details but basically you go in your stash pull yarn, match up them up to patterns you want to do, stash 'em all in separate, unmarked bags and (voila!) you have your own personal sock club. Of course you could do it with lace, sweaters, hats - whatever your preference!

I created 11 kits, because honestly 12 was too much pressure. I have five socks with patterns, four plain and two small project projects (one with sock yarn). I pulled my first bag and (drum roll, please!) I pulled some delicious STR that has been sitting in my stash along with RPM.

Today I have to deal with house stuff but tonight will be for me and my STR. Hee!

New look for '09...

Goodbye blond, hello brunette!