Monday, September 25, 2006

This weekend’s theme:

This weekend’s theme:
Obnoxious orange.
I mean the almost fluorescent kind.
Posting has been difficult. All personal pages are blocked from work. I can READ blogs, but I cannot comment or post. We’re trying the e-mail post today. I’ll add (orange!) photos later.
My students are testing today, so it is a lot of time to walk around and knit while I make sure each student is doing his/her own work with no undue assistance.
And what I am knitting? An orange vest!
Big-sis is a tiger cub this year at school, so I am making a vest out of kitchen cotton. Under the fluorescent here it GLOWS, let me tell you.
The vest has simple cables and bobbles to form tiger paws going up the front. The plan is to do a v-neck and have the paws continue up each side. We’ll see how that looks.
And other orange?
Two pumpkin t-shirts. We tried the freezer paper stencil thing and it worked out quite well. T Shirts were on sale at Michaels for $2, so we stocked up. This could get quite addictive. I have visions of a Spock shirt for the husband’s birthday.
And last? Ginger Carrot Soup. Very orange and very tasty!

Carrot and Ginger Soup

1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, diced
2 stalks celery diced
1 medium bag whole carrots, sliced
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
Vegetable stock
Optional: Sour Cream or heavy cream
Cook the onion and celery with a pinch of salt in olive oil over medium heat until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger ands sauté for a minute. Add the carrots and sauté for another minute. Add the potatoes and enough stock and water to cover all the vegetables. Simmer for about 30 min until all the veggies are tender. Puree using a blender until smooth.
Add the sour cream or cream if desired. My girls like it with skim milk.


Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Hmmmm...

I am actually out of things to knit.

I know! Can you believe it? Even the spare project is done. I do have a sock I need to finish for my dad, but I can't find the second ball of yarn, so I might need to buy a new ball to finish.

So it is time to turn to holiday knitting. This year I start early. I plan simple short projects.

Right.

So we were at the mall a few weeks back and the Muz (the girls grandmother) let it be known that she could use a lace shawl. After some not-so-subtle questioning on my part I surmised:

1. She prefers rectangles
2. She prefers cotton (hot flashes and wool do not mix)

So I am thinking of starting a Print O' the Wave stole by Euny. I did a medium sized patch of it a few months back to experiment with lace, and I really like the way the pattern works. I have some Valley Cotton from Webs. (As I have mentioned I LOVE this stuff). Once the girls are in bed I think I will give it a try.

Really...who needs lesson plans? I'm sure my students will understand.



Monday, September 11, 2006

I should be writing lesson plans

Seriously…but I’m not. So there!

I got my fabulous hurricane sock in the mail over the weekend from Laura (but I do not know the address of her blog…will post it once I know!). Just look:

Isn’t it pretty? I have to say I am rather nervous about finishing the other. Just look at her stitches:

Aren’t they perfect? What if I can’t match it?

Oh, and the yarn. It is Sockotta, by Plymoth. I love that it is a cotton wool blend. I can totally see using it for Christmas gifts this year. Great stuff. Plus the name sounds like SOC CAH TOA, which makes my inner math teacher happy (it’s a memory aid for trig, sin, cosine, in case you're curious)

Plus she sent some fun spa stuff that I am just waiting to try out. It needs free time, which I could use, soon.

I had a moment at work today where the line for the copier dies down, and suddenly I was ALONE in the teacher’s lounge. I realized I hadn’t been alone in like 5 days.

Our building is super full of students this year, so I am roaming during my planning periods. Supplies are a mess…I was given 3 dry erase markers for the year. I have a friend that was given three strips of staples and tools to “make it work!” Despite this all in high spirits and the school year is getting off to a good start. Teenagers are teenagers, but mine generally behave, so I can’t complain.

So for personal knitting, I finished my hurricane sock and mailed it out. I am hoping she doesn’t hate me forever. The yarn was a tad on the *bright* side. I think it turned out well, but I hope she doesn’t need to stare at her feet…it could cause vision loss.

I am almost done with a baby blanket. We have like 5 impending babies, between family and friends, so I am cranking them out. I’ll post a picture and hopefully a pattern. I have an easy formula that is quick, cheap, and works for boys or girls. We’ll see what you all think once it is blocked.

A few folks asked about the raglan sweater from the last post. I really isn’t have a pattern…just used the basic raglan formula and did a picot edge. I meant it to be for little sis, but it grew, if you get my meaning. I tend to be loose on gauge, so when it is something I plan to knit for both I start by making one for little sis, so in a worse case scenario I end up with the bigger one done first.

In the next few days I have a pattern submission to send off. We’ll see how that goes.

OH!! I totally forgot! The pattern I sold to Elann is up. They used different colors than I did, and I really like the way it turned out. Go see!!