So much to talk about

Warning: There are lots of non-knitting pictures. I'm still having problems with editing and uploading pictures. No matter what I do there is still too much white space. Anyhoo...

At the beginning of August I went on a cruise to the Caribbean for 7 days with my Mom. The boat was huge but didnt feel as crowded as expected. I was seasick the entire time. My inner ear is screwed up from a head injury about 10 yrs ago. I couldnt do much except read, knit a little, sit in the hot tub and eat constantly. It was a constant challenge to find GF good but somehow I managed.

The Swallowtail shawl and Mom enjoyed the balcony. It made me dizzy to look.

In Nausau we went on a boat tour of the islands and saw huge houses owned by Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise etc. We also went in a mini submarine to see the protected coral reefs. The pics didnt come out very well. After about 20 minutes it started to get very warm and I was sea sick once again. There wasnt much to do in Nausau because it was a national holiday and most of the stores and restaurants were closed. We went to the Straw Market but you cant bring in straw products because they carry red mites and I was tired so we went back to the boat and sat in the hot tub for a while before dinner.

I loved Bermuda. We were scheduled for a 5 hour bus tour, but the bus was overbooked. We ended up in a mini-van with 4 other passengers on a private tour with Earl who knows just about everything there is to know about the island. This is view from Fort St Catherine and from the shore at one of the beaches. The water is gorgeous. I'm hoping to go back to Bermuda and lie on the beach for a week sometime soon.

The towel bunny looking particularly dapper in Mom's sunglasses.



It felt good to be back on dry land. We missed most of the awful weather that hit NYC, including the tornado in Brooklyn. Havent had a twister hit since I was a kid living in Topeka KS.

Waiting for me was a package from my Sockapalooza pal!! Briana is 14y.o. (soon to be 15!!). Not only did she make these gorgeous socks but she sent me hand-dyed yarn. Plus a hand-typed letter. Who bothers to take the time to hand write anything anymore. I was so touched!! Love the socks. Cant wait to find a new project for the yarn!! Thanks Briana!!

There was also an email for with job offer letter. The new job will be a major career change. I'll be going back to accounting after an almost 10 yr hiatus, since I started working my present job. Its in a sector I've never worked before but its a tremendous opportunity with lots of growth potential if I can survive the learning curve. It will mean more hours, less money, fewer benefits......but sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward. The hardest part will be having to find a new therapist. The woman I;ve been seeing for the past 3 yrs has helped me more than I can find words to describe, but I have some money saved so I wont have to change right away. I start the new job Sept 6. I gave notice at the old job this week. My boss took it hard, he teasingly called me a traitor. Now I'm just marking time, reading accounting books and knitting blogs until my last day. Then the real fun begins.

In the meantime, summer's here and the produce is gorgeous. I've been cooking and baking all weekend. I think I missed being able to cook for myself on the cruise and it was comforting to not have to worry about whether the food would bother me or not. Here are some pics of what I've been cooking lately.

Tomatoes, rolly polly squash, ground turkey, red onion, garlic, a splash of red wine vinegar to deglaze the pan, Tinkyada rice pasta.

Tomatoes, rolly polly squash, fresh corn, eggs, red onions, garlic. I learned a neat trick from Ina Garten on the Food Network. (Watching marathon cooking shows is a major guilty pleasure.) Adding butter when the eggs are done is supposed to stop the cooking process so they dont get over-cooked. I'm not sure if it worked but butter makes everything taste great.

I made Bette Hagman's Butter Basted White Bread in the bread machine. Sorry no pics. I had to eat it immediately after it was cool enough so I didnt burn my tongue, about 5 secs after taking it out of the pan.

Also, blueberry cake/cupcakes from Rebecca Reilly's Gluten Free Baking. Her recipes are either fantastic or terrible, nothing in between. These werent too sweet. Very moist and dense, like gluten cake. I think its the almond flour. I had to bake them la few minutes longer than the recipe called for because they were a little wet. I think the almonds I ground in the food processor werent fine enough to absorb all the liquid. The tiny pieces of almonds did add a nice texture. I'd definitely make them again.

Finished Socks!!

Its a glorious day. I finished the sockapalooza socks!! Here are the sock stats:

Badcaul socks

Koigu KPPM

Wendy's toe up cast-on and gusset heel gusset - Method #1 is now my favorite toe up.

Single crochet bind-off

I also finally kitchenered (is that a word??) monkey sock #2. I wish I could remember where I put sock #1.....

Now maybe I'll give my hands a rest. Naaa...who am I kidding. The swallowtail shawl is calling me. Maybe I should join the KAL??

Sometimes the yarn wins.

It started innocently enough. One trip to LYS to buy something for my Sockapalooza pal. Just buy a bottle of Eucalan. Mistake #1. I looked at the sale yarn. Just browsing. I saw yarn I really loved in my favorite colors, but I resisted and walked away. I had a brilliant idea to make a shrug. I could see it in my head. I even found a pattern. I went back the next day and picked up a few balls of it. Mistake #2. I've never worked with ribbon yarn. How hard could it be, right? I was feeling depressed, about nothing in particular. It was Friday. I felt a little disappointed about not hearing back about a job I had applied for. Ok, a lot disappointed. Three skeins of yarn should be enough for something. Isnt it pretty?



Mistake #3. Went to another LYS. found some glittery yarn that went perfectly the ribbon. It was 50% off....At least I only bought one skein.

The woman in LYS #2 warned me that ribbon yarn gets twisted. I was feeling invincible. I swatched. It looked perfect. I started the shrug.
Mistake #4. I didnt swatch the dropped stitches. How hard can that be? Well, turns out the ribbon yarn got stuck at the join on the circular needles and I couldnt move the stitches forward. I tugged at the yarn. I cajoled, pleaded, tried to untwist it. Nothing. There may have been some cursing and throwing of yarn against the nearest wall. My neighbors are probably horrified. Resistance is futile. The yarn always wins. I cut my losses and started again. Maybe something simple like a lacy scarf. No circulars. Bigger needles. No success. More cursing and ripping out of yarn. Now I have a lovely pile of yarn on my kitchen floor. Maybe LYS #1 will exchange the unused skeins of yarn. It would be cruel to give this to another unsuspecting knitter. I could hide it in my stash and teach it a lesson...

Patches decided it was safest to hide until I put the yarn away.

On a lighter, calmer note, the sockapalooza socks are almost finished. Just a few rows of ribbing left. Hopefully Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn cast-off wont be too vexing.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some Handmaiden Sea Silk in purple. The Sea Silk is soft and has a nice shimmer to it. Its the perfect yardage for IK Swallowtail Shawl. No tantrums yet.

Restaurant Week!!

Last week I took off from work to hang around. Even though I stayed at home I wanted it to feel like a vacation so no computer or email for an entire week. I spend most of my day at work on a computer so it was such a relief. I didnt plan the timing at all but for my luck it was Restaurant Week which means that +100 fancy restaurants have prix fixe lunch for $24.07 and dinner for $35. I had lunch out 5 days in a row!! More amazing I was able to find 5 restaurants with food on the menu that didnt interfere with my wheat intolerance. Monday at Le Cirque. Amazing service. I mistakenly ordered bottled water, which was highly over-priced, but the waiter poured it for me throughout the mail. The food was pretty amazing too. The creme brulee is a must order. Tuesday was at Brasserie 8 1/2. I think it was on Sex in the City but I dont remember. What a fun restaurant!! The food was great. The banana creme caramel was to die for. Could you tell I have a bit of a sweet tooth?? Wednesday was Tocqueville, third day in a tow of French food. Amazing watermelon soup with feta cheese and cucumber. Gotta love it. Thursday was a bit of a disappointment. The 21 Club is highlighly over-rated. It reminded me of an upscale version of the bars I used to go to right after I graduated college. The food was pretty awful too. Oh well. Friday I went to a small Mediterranean restaurant called Trio, sorry no website. Very tiny about 10 tables but the service was great and so was the food. The beef tenderloin with a light cheese sauce (I forget the name of the cheese) was fabulous. I did some serious window shopping, got a makeover and my first ever pedicure, went to the Rubin Museum exhibit about the Dalai Lama. He's such an amazing person. I even did some long neglected housework!!

This is me after the makeover. Dont I look fabulous!! After I took the picture I immediately went and washed all the gook off my face. It was such a relief. Maybe I'm not cut out for looking glamorous.




In knitting news. The first sock for Sockapalooza4 is almost done. Just have the cast-off to do. I'm going to work on it this weekend since I need to be able to concentrate. I'm going to try a new cast-off technique because a regular bind-off is never stretchy enough but I havent decided which one yet. I'm in the home stretch on sock #2. 8 more repeats up the leg and then the ribbing. I'll just be done in time. I need to send them out early because my sock pal is international.





I've been spinning and finished my first yarn!! Its not a great picture. The fiber is a black/brown color so its almost impossible to see it but I'm very pleased with myself. I'm not sure what to do with it yet. Maybe a hat and some fingerless mitts to match my winter coat.

Finally some sock knitting

I finally started the sockapalooza3 socks!! Actually I'm almost done with the first sock. I'm knitting Bad Caul socks in Koigu (of course). Its taken me about 3 weeks to knit which seems like forever. I can only knit about 30 min. at a time before my hands start to hurt again, then its back to the heating pad. My usual perfectionist self is taking a backseat to the looming deadline. I've miscrossed the cables. I crossed both cables in each pair in the same direction instead of facing each other. When I rdidnt realized what I was did wrong until I was finished with the heel gusset....Could you tell I'm a process knitter?? I cant decide whether or not to do the cables the same way on the 2nd sock.....

Not being able to knit on the subway hasnt been as bad as I thought. I just finished reading Julie and Julia by Julie Powell who makes every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. Pretty funny, easy read. Listening to knitting podcasts has helped. My current favorite is Socks in the City .

This is my favorite picture from MA sheep and wool from Memorial Day. Ya gotta love sheep wearing sweaters!!