Love Fest

Quick update before I crash gratefully into my own bed with my own cat, who takes up almost as much room as Shannon despite weighing at LEAST 15 pounds less than she does:

Eleven Things I Love:

1. Portland.

2. Shannon loved her scarf enough to wear it the entire time I was in town. Also, it looks awesome on her. I am a color-choosing genius.

3. The Ivy League Vest-worth of Shibui Knits sock yarn I bought at Knit/Purl.

4. Knit/Purl is about a 2-minute walk from Powell's Books.

5. My bed.

6. Friends who are grateful instead of offended if I can't come baby-snuggling because I am developing a cold.

7. Friends who go out of their way to see me, even unto taking my sorry ass to the airport so we can gab on the car ride.

8. Suphedrine. The good kind from behind the pharmacy counter, weighing in at 120mg.

9. Breathing.

10. Old friends who just KNOW me.

11. My bed.

Pictures, stories, etc. are coming. Depending on how much procrastinating I do tomorrow, perhaps sooner than later. Did I say that out loud if I just typed it?

Still On The Run

If your name begins with an S and ends with -hannon, you need to stop reading this RIGHT NOW. Come back after you've received your birthday present which is pictured here and would thus spoil the surprise I have worked so hard to create. Also, happy birthday!

Okay, now that she's gone, I can tell the rest of you about what's been going on lately. I finished the Vanilla Rib Socks and then plowed through Anne Hanson's Elm Row scarf for the above-mentioned birthday girl. Apparently I am one of those knitters who likes to give things away because I'm constantly putting off my own projects in favor of those for someone else. This is not, however, a bad thing. I have wonderful friends who deserve to be wrapped in beautiful things, and if those things come from my hands, all the better.

For Shann's scarf, I pulled out the Panda Wool that I got from Jasmin and Gigi's very first goodie bag back at Stitches '09. Yes, you heard me right - I didn't even go buy anything! In fact, to tangentialize for a minute, I haven't bought yarn since the game-changing trip to Babetta's with my mom back in September. Well, I did buy an extra skein of Malabrigo Lace so I can finish up the Very Happy Scarf, but that's because I didn't have enough yarn to finish the project. And I'd like to point out tangentially (of course) that I started the project originally with what should have been plenty of yarn. Damn those inaccurate yardage requirements in VLT!! But anyway, I haven't bought yarn since mid-September. That's nearly 8 weeks, people! And in that time I've been to Lambtown, the CogKNITive Fiber Retreat and sundry other yarny places. Obviously I am awesome and have the proverbial Will of Iron.

Okay, back to the real point. The yarn I used is Crystal Palace Panda Wool in Ultramarine, and while I like the pattern - it was interesting to knit and I never got bored, which is a good thing for a scarf! - it is really the color that just makes this piece. The yarn is 51% bamboo, which adds sheen in addition to drape, and I am in lurve with the whole thing. Feast your eyes on this fairly color-accurate and also fairly artistic blocking shot:


Yep. It's a great color.

Underwater Trees Scarf, "Elm Row" pattern by Anne Hanson Panda Wool "Ultramarine" - 386 yds.

Currently I'm finishing up a Pretty Thing for another friend, and also working feverishly on a scarf for myself - having been informed today that the weather in Portland is not 70 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze like it is in Roseville. And also having left my favorite purple scarf at Crazy Sarah's last... was it New Years? Dang! But yea, I haven't needed one since then, and I obviously need one now. I'm using the same pattern as the purple one (Rav link), but I think I will crochet chain the edges so the scarf doesn't stretch as much as the last one. For this project I broke out the Noro Cash Iroha that I bought at the Commuknity closing sale last year. This is the only Noro I've ever encountered that feels like its price point to me, and I'm liking it immensely. Now I just have to finish about 3 more feet before the end of the day...

I spent Halloween weekend with my mom up in Penn Valley and we had a lovely time watching Firefly and crafting. I took the opportunity to photograph Violet nee Jezebel, whose recovery from her former abusive situation is, as previously titled, progressing apace.
I love the China blue of her eyes, especially against the quilt my mom made. Doesn't she look less... vacant than last time? I do think, however, that she's progressed about as far as she will be able to without being in a one-cat household. Poor dear is still afraid of the other kitties and slinks around as if she's about to be kicked. But when I picked her up and put her on my bed, she purred next to my face all night and followed me around for the rest of my time up there. If I weren't certain that she'd be bullied by my own precious feline, I would have brought her home with me, especially after she chased another one of our cats away from me in a fit of ownership. Honestly, who could resist that little face?

Here's another little face for you to not resist:

Finally, Some Progress!

Things have been galloping apace here at Chez Tika. My dad came to visit for a week and a half and just left earlier this afternoon. In the last week, I've also attended the new student orientation for grad school and gotten registered for all my classes through next spring. That's right, kids - this school allows registration a semester in advance. Needless to say, I am chuffed at that little perk!

I start up school again on Wednesday evening. I'm a little nervous, but it feels good to be traveling in a specific direction again. Also the potential to meet people who could be friends is exciting. My brother's friends are all well-and-good, but at 25 he's among the oldest in the group, and I find that I've outgrown a lot of the drama that ensues in the under-25 age bracket. I am not interested in who has slept with whom, or why So-and-so refuses to go out to a bar at which What's-Her-Name might be. I am also not interested in the martyrdom that goes along with undiscussed, unrequited love - but that's another story for a different day (it has nothing to do with me principally - I am a mere observer and Passer of Judgement).

What DOES have to do with me is the Return of the Knitting Mojo, and just in time if I do say so myself! I finished some socks today in a yarn that one person here at least will recognize:

Vanilla Rib Socks in Wildfoote "Brown Sugar"
292 yds.

These fraternal socks are a simple 60-stitch, top-down pattern that I winged (wung?) based on my toe-up Santa Fe Socks. Maybe I'll toss this pattern in a .pdf; I have narrow, petite feet for my size and it's tough to find sock patterns that are small enough to fit me properly. Sixty stitches over size 1 needles seems to work best, but apparently 60 stitches is a difficult number to work with; 64 is much more usual, and that extra 1/2 inch of fabric all around makes my socks just a little bigger than I'd like. I'm thoroughly pleased with these socks, despite their fraternal nature. About an inch into the second sock, I double-checked the skein bands to see if they were actually the same dye lot. The bands say yes, but the color pooling coupled with a few random forest green flecks in the not-pooling sock say differently. I toyed with the idea of ripping back to the drawing board and knitting 2-3 rounds from each skein, and then decided I didn't care that much. Score: Tika, 1; OCD, 0. At least this time.

It's a good thing I have regained my patience for knitting. I realized last night while cruising down the foot of Sock #2 that I leave for Portland in a week and a half, at which I am celebrating two birthdays (one only 4 months late!), and I had NONE of the planned gifts even considered, much less started. Sarah, your socks are coming, I swear! I have the yarn picked out and everything!

So that's the State of the Knitter. I'm a little concerned about the 12-Mile Quest, but if I even manage to get closer to completing it than last year I'll be pleased. For those interested, I do intend to participate in National Sweater Knitting Month by finish my neglected Salina sweater. Once I return from Portland, I'll pull it out and get restarted. That one should afford me a good chunk of mileage at the very least!

In terms of the 101 in 1001 update, I have completed the following things this week:

Lifestyle: I tried a fish I've never had before: barramundi fish from Australia. It is a flaky white fish with a smoky flavor, and I wasn't super-fond of it. But still, it was worth trying and I'm always interested in new seafood! I also tried a ratatouille, which it turns out is NOTHING like what I thought it would be. Eggplants remain on my not-preferred list of vegetables. And lastly, I tried a new kind of tea: a honey-pear tea that had the cloying taste of roses on the first taste and then resolved into the expected sweetened pear flavor on the second. It went perfectly with my brownie-and-cinnamon-gelato sundae, and perfectly ended the evening's dinner at McCormick & Schmick's with my dad, THB and our friend Karly.

Education: I finished "reading" Jane Austen's Mansfield Park in audio format. This book is not my favorite of Austen's 6 major works, but I did enjoy the familiar story and the narrator was excellent. Next up is Persuasion, then Northanger Abbey (my favorite) and I'm done with Austen for awhile.

Entertainment: I got my priest up to level 80! /geekflag

Craft: I finished one pair of socks (see above).

That's about the size of things at the moment. A few tick-marks toward the larger meta-goals of foods, books, and knitting; and an actual strike-out in the Entertainment category. Not too shabby!

The State of the Knitter 2009

There has been... very little knitting going on. For whatever reason, I have been Not Feeling It, nor have I been feeling the spinning bug. What I have been feeling is the World of Warcraft bug, so I've been feeding that particular obsession regularly. But despite the lack of knitting, there has been some.

I started my Norfolk Rambler Socks for the Gives Good Knit KAL and made it to the heel of the first sock before I broke down forgot how to knit took a break. Whew, that was hard work! But I'm looking at the bag containing 25% of a pair of socks and thinking that maybe I can do this. It just takes not being quite such a knitting flake as I have been lately.

But Tika, you say, what do you mean, "knitting flake"? Well, dear reader, I mean that I have in the last few days started TWO other pairs of socks. One pair will be the Mingus socks by Cookie A with just a little modification on my part to make them a wee bit bigger (my first iteration was much too small) , and the other will be a plain top-down k3p1 rib much like my Vanilla Santa Fe socks (Rav link) - although I think the linked socks were toe-up. But still - k3p1 rib. Those will be my purse knitting, as apparently anything beyond the said rib pattern is beyond my powers of comprehension right now. I wonder why that is?

In terms of the 101 in 1001 project, I've tried a couple more recipes - two, to be exact. I know that puts me behind, but I've been researching recipes and watching Julia Child on YouTube, so I'm considering this to be the "research" phase of my project. Hee. But seriously, because of the lack of finances, I'm thinking that baked goods might be the order of the holidays. THB and I are having Thanksgiving at the house this year with (so far) just the two of us, so that'll knock out a good chunk of attempts as well. And there is a pile of pumpkins at the grocery store just begging to be turned into pies, breads and waffles...

In other news, I am still unemployed and that might be the reason for my lack of focus. I originally decided that if I couldn't find a job before March, I would start looking into graduate schools; however, I ended up attending an informational session at the beginning of October for Chapman University, and I was pleasantly surprised by their attentiveness and willingness to get me out of school as fast as humanly possible. Tonight I attended the new student orientation, and I start classes next Monday. By this time next year, I will have my California single-subject teaching credential, and by the middle of next spring I'll have my Master of Art degree in Teaching. That should set me up nicely to start teaching class in the fall of 2011; hopefully by then the economy will have recovered somewhat and I'll be able to find a good place in a Portland-area school. My plan is to move up there once I'm done with my degree to start the job-seeking process, but as I haven't even started my first class yet, that's always open for debate.

Let me tell you, I'm not 100% sanguine about starting classes again. I was hoping for a longer break between educational facilities, but it's nice to have a plan again. Especially a plan that eventually involves summers off!

So that's the update. One of these days I'll blog during the day and actually give you pictures of how little I've gotten done! But for now, Mr. Darcy is stretched on one side of my desk and begging for pets, so spare a tiny good thought for my knitting mojo and I'll come back with better, more energized news soon!

CogKNITive Fiber Retreat '09

I've learned that it takes me a few days to settle after a big event, no matter how long said event is. Stuff needs time to percolate down through my brain, which means that my blog posts and podcasts about events are usually put up later than those of other people. However, I console myself that mine are just extra-awesome because they remind people about something they had begun to forget. See what I did there?

Last weekend was the CogKNITive Fiber Retreat in Tehachapi, California. This tiny little town is highly amusing, and was in turn highly amused to have 50+ knitters descend upon it. We had a fabulous time.

I met some lovely people, got to hang out with Jasmin and Gigi (always lovely to see familiar faces!), and once again took only pictures and left only footprints. That's right, kids; I bought NOTHING at the market, despite the combined temptations of Bee Mice Elf and Red Fish Dyeworks. Somehow I missed Red Fish at Stitches this last year, and I'm highly disappointed that my first experience with them was when I'm financially impotent. But I was assured by the adorable purveyor that they are getting what will probably become my Forever Yarn by Stitches '10, by which time I intend to have more money even if I have to steal it. It's that amazing, y'all.

Anyway, above-pictured (the person, not the yarn! That's Red Fish.) is Eileen, whom I would like to have as my constant genius female companion. She reminded me of the kind of woman I want to be: confident, elegant, and strong. You can't see it, but she's holding an extra glass of wine in her other hand, just because. Yep. My kind of woman.

This is Dr. Gemma: Everyone needs a little Floating Crane in their lives!

Eileen, Jasmin and I stopped at this aMAZing little coffee house called Mama Hillybeans. The whole place was just one significant glance after another. They have a great menu, a community garden in back, a koi pond inside, regular shows with big-name bands, the occasional wedding in the garden, a to-scale teepee outside that (were we living 150 years ago and also Californian Indians) would have been our homes, and this:
Yep, that pretty much sums up Mama Hillybeans, except that I forgot to mention that the coffee was also very, very good. Double bonus.

I got to meet Laurs from Bee Mice Elf (Hi Laurs!!!), who apparently did really well at the show despite my neglect of her wares. I'm so thrilled!

Other than shopping, drinking wine and visiting coffee shops, I took a class from Jo in drop spindling and taught a class on Judy's Magic Cast-On, which was really easier than it sounds. The thing practically teaches itself; I took a leaf out of Cat Bordhi's book and taught it to groups of 5-ish people who stood behind me. It worked out well.

I also got a BUNCH of prizes! Some gorgeous lavendar soap/bath stuff for being a podcaster and a teacher (I knew podcasting would get me something someday! Hahah!), a book that I traded for another book that I then traded for some Freckleface Fibers roving in the just-for-the-retreat Tehachapi colorway, and 3 skeins of Noro Kureyon. I know; quite the haul, eh? None of which I have photographed, but trust me: awesome.

I have other stuff to talk about, like the KAL socks being 25% done, very little crafting going on, and starting grad school at the end of the month, but it'll have to wait for another post. In the mean time, here're the rest of the trip pictures. Enjoy!

Food is Love

I started working on #22 of my 101 in 1001 list last night. #22, for those keeping track (pretty much just me) is "try 100 new recipes." Number 23 is "try 100 more new recipes," and number 24 is - you guessed it - "try 100 MORE new recipes." So if I'm to try a total of 300 new recipes in 1001 days, that's roughly one recipe every three days. Yesterday was the 6th, so I'm already behind a little; however, Christmas is coming and I am broke-ass, so there might be a lot of recipes in my very near future.

But back to the recipe trying itself. I am a fairly accomplished amateur cook. I don't pretend to be good at baking, but I can cook pretty well, and I enjoy throwing things together without much rhyme or reason (hence #36, "take a cooking/knife techniques class"). Generally speaking, when I cook I start by reading a recipe or watching Good Eats, then I modify based on what I have on hand and go from there. Thus I have a bunch of "base recipes" in my head that can be changed or altered depending on my mood or what's in the fridge - usually the latter. About a week ago, I decided it was time to add a recipe for Brandy Cream Sauce to my repertoire; I'd seen it on the Good Eats episodes called "Tender is the Loin," and it just marinated in my head until I ran across a sale on brandy at Rite Aid. Surely cheap brandy is appropriate for cooking, if not for drinking!

So I looked up a recipe on Epicurious and tried it out. Having never made a cream sauce before, I went out and bought some heavy whipping cream for the base and made sure I was Doing It Right. It was, as most foods full of fat and alcohol are, delicious. Sadly I started playing with the sauce before my 101 in 1001 re-started.

But last night, oooh. Last night I went off book for the first time and just cooked. I figured for my first attempt, I should start with a bang - or at least a big ol' fire. Have you ever cooked with brandy? It's great fun; you get to set it on fire. Yea.

So here for your cooking enjoyment is my recipe for

*******

Blue Cheese Brandy Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

Your favorite steak. The sauce will make enough for 5-6 people if you're not stingy like me.

1 c. beef broth

2 T butter

3/4 c. onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 c. chopped brown mushrooms

1/4 - 1/3 c. brandy

1 c. milk (I used 2%)

3/4 c. blue cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the steaks in a hot skillet (cast iron is best, DO NOT use non-stick) for 4 minutes on each side or until done to your liking. Remove to plate and cover with tin foil, then a towel to keep steak warm.

Put beef broth and butter into pan and deglaze by scraping little brown bits of steak off of bottom of pan. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add mushrooms. Cook until onions are soft - liquid should reduce by about 1/2. Add brandy, then remove pan from stove and (this is the best part!) light it on fire to allow alcohol to burn off. Don't worry, it'll go out by itself when the alcohol is all gone. Replace on medium-high heat and add milk. Continue cooking until liquid reduces by about 1/2 (7-10 minutes). Add blue cheese and cook until cheese has melted.

Pour over steaks and serve. Also goes well over vegetables and rice.

*******

In other news, I encountered an interesting bit of my upbringing today. Most people whose origins are in Places of Color will tell you that they were required to have some form of food in their mouths at all times when they were young because "if you won't eat, something is wrong with you! Are you sick? No? Then just one more bite, mijita. Now just finish your plate, there's a good girl." Ahem. Anyway, THB had a really rough day today and was facing an even rougher evening. So while we talked a little, I offered to 1) get some beer, 2) open a bottle of wine, or 3) cancel the plans we had for Glee tonight. He rejected all three offers and then his phone rang. So what did I do? I left the room and went straight to the kitchen. He came out about ten minutes later, just as I was chopping the last of the onions into the slow cooker (put on high, a slow-cooker will finish chicken in about 2.5 hours. Perfect for starting dinner at 4:30!). He sat down at the counter and looked at me, then started laughing.

"What?!?" I asked, and held out my hands for him to smell. We both love the smell of fresh-chopped onions-and-garlic on a cook's hands (remember this, ladies...). He pointed at the Crock Pot and said, "I told you I didn't want anything, but I'm sad, so you came in here and started making dinner. For two. Because you didn't know what else to do to make me feel better, you started cooking."

And it's true, I did, because food is love.

Lambtown '09

Aija beat me to the post, but that's good 'cause it encouraged me to write about Lambtown, which I may have let slip by otherwise. Why would I have let it slip by, you ask? Well, because I did what you're supposed to do in the forest - left only footprints and (more importantly) took only pictures. Well, pictures, some kick-ass tri-tip, and garlic fries. When I arrived, the first thing I came across was the Sheep-to-Shawl competition:


I did a quick mental checklist of wheels and saw a good number of Lendrums, Sonatas and Joys; not a big surprise since they're all very decent traveling wheels. There were a couple of Schacht Matchless wheels, and even a 30" Schacht-Reeves (but that one was for sale). However, the big ARGH! of the experience was the Baby Wolf you can partially see on the left of the photo - the woman who owns it said she got it for $300 on Craigslist. I almost slugged her and ran away with her loom; I probably would have if Aija's boy hadn't been there. Have to keep up appearances for the children, you know.

When I first heard about Lambtown, I thought I wouldn't go because I have - as you may have noticed - very little self-control when it comes to wool and the purchasing thereof. Then I looked into it a little more and found out it was about 35 minutes from my house. THEN I looked at the classes and discovered the Stephanie Gustaud was teaching all day. I thought seriously about taking her long-draw class and ultimately ended up not doing so for financial reasons, but I thought briefly about bringing my Big Book of Handspinning just in case Himself was there with his lovely bride.

Well, I forgot to bring my book, and you know what that means.
I did take a picture of him - and not a proper Kinnear, just a picture for which I got a sidelong glance after the fact. What I did not do was walk up and tell him how much his book has (in the hackneyed phrase) changed my life, nor did I simply walk up and shake his hand and say thank you. No, ladies and gentlemen, I did what we in the fan business call Chickening Out. I took my picture and walked away, which is all well-and-good when it's Kinnear himself - celebrities deserve their privacy - but is rather stupid when the person in question is famous in a (let's face it) very small circle of people. Well, there's always next year I suppose!

Apparently I was having a shy day because I walked by these lovely people
and also didn't stop to say hello. Dear reader, if you find my Social Graces walking the streets, please send them home immediately. They are sorely missed.

We watched the sheep judging, for which I refer you again to Aija's lovely post, and the sheep shearing which was slightly traumatic. The shearers nicked the sheep a few times, and the blood showed right up on that whitish wool, let me tell you. After that I got flirted with by an alpaca
and tried to get Little Man to pose for a picture of a different alpaca, but instead had a hilarious "which camera?!?" moment:
Towards the end of the day, full of garlic fries (Aija and me) and corn dogs (Little Man), we two grown ups sat on the grass and watched while he took in the bouncy house and the train. After a long day, I was super-impressed with how well he kept it together (I was promised tears and possibly a fit upon the exit of the bouncy house, but no dice. Maybe next time! ::wink::). Us grownups chatted about this and that, enjoyed the beautiful afternoon, and I took a parting picture of a fleece that the Little Man announced was Not Good Enough because it was only second place. But then, he likes the smell of unwashed ram and mohair fleeces, so obviously his judgement isn't yet as well-honed as ours: