Spun

You know I'm almost ok with the fact that its -17 right now. Like what reason would I have to go out with all this spinning to do? Oh yeah, the cabin fever. Maybe we'll have to go hit Market Mall and park underground to minimise the whole exposure to outside. So the fruits of my labour? OH YEAH!




I really can't stress enough how beautiful this fibre is. The lustre is outstanding, and the softness is crazy!!




Poor Chris has gotten used to moving yarn out of the shower every morning and hanging it on the hooks behind the door. Good man! I have a good 200g+ of each colour done up. SAHWEEET!

Oh yeah and for coming in late, I really only missed a couple of days of the NaBloMomomoomomo or whatever the hell it is. I may not be a joiner, but dammit I am a finisher. Take THAT ladies*!


*And I use that term VERY VERY LOOSELY when referring to my friends. :)

Hot fuzz

Thanks to the lovely Morgan and the postman, I have FIBRE! I mean like a lot of fibre. Its weird how an obsession starts innit?

How that became this:

This fibre is so fantastic to spin it is just unbelievable. You pretty much just have to throw it at the wheel and it just glides into the most yummy string imagined. AND ITS SUPERWASH! Man o man, we know a good thing when we see it yes? The stuff at the top is just waiting to be plied together for more yarny goodness. Thanks be to Dana for the plying lesson. The other thing? I am constantly covered in bits of fuzz and it travels all over the house with me. I found some on Chris' pillow this morning. Shhh.

In other news:

Still cold here. Pickles got out of the yard twice yesterday*. My skin is drying up and I have 3 or 4 mystery bruises. So nothing much new.

*And I got my hand stuck on the fence post (twice) as it was wet and the fence post was frozen. SMRT.

Cold

Its -24 with the windchill. Gross. This is what passes for a blog post today. Sorry.

Lazy Sunday

7.20-7.40 am. Get up, shower, get ready.

7.45 am. Get in Dana's car, go to breakfast.

8.00-9.00 am. Meet Morgan, eat breakfast.

9.15-11.00 am. Go to Starbucks, drink coffee, knit, ply, gossip.

11.15 am. Go home, go out.

12.00-2.15 pm. Watch Chris eat hamburger, go shopping. Buy plastic air gun.

2.25 pm. Write blog entry.

2.30 pm. Shoot air gun.

3.00 pm-? Spin, watch TV (on new HD PVR), knit, dog cuddle, eat junk food.

Sounds like a perfect day.

Crashing dissapointment

You know when you have your hopes up about something?* You try to temper it, to think, it really can't be as good as I hope, as I know it could be? You read some really positive reviews about it and maybe get a little bit more hopeful, but still try to temper it. Then someone whose opinion you really respect REALLY likes it so off like a bubbling ornament from the 60's you go.

You can tolerate the idiots talking, no big. Then it starts. All innocuous enough, and you are enjoying it! Hurrah!!!! Then the ending comes and it is such a crashing all encompassing, wave after wave of shitiness it completely obliterates the whole mess. Yup. That was THE MIST.

WHAT A DRAG.

See I have been a Stephen King fan since I was far too young to be reading these books. I remember my Dad had a copy of 'Salems Lot when I was in about grade oh 2 or 3. I was quite entranced with it, and stole it after he finished it. I read it too, the whole thing**. Then I slept with the lights on until I was about 15. Did this stop me? NO WAY! I reckon this is what gave me my love of all things horror. I can watch stuff that has other people cringing, crying and weeing their pants (sorry Chris:P) with glee. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT STAY FAR AWAY FROM THE MIST. It was more disappointing than Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. That is really saying something.

/sad






*In this case a movie. Dur.
**I was a tenacious little reader. Too big for my own britches I reckon. Doing book reports on Harold Robbins novels in Grade 7, my teacher asked me where I got these books and I was "like in the bookcase at home duh!"

Not turkey day here..

You know what my kitchen is lacking? A ROLLING PIN. Which makes rolling phyllo dough difficult. To the rescue.. a can of PAM. Necessity is the mother of invention! The chicken pot pie puff top turned out sooooooo well! Chris insisted I write the recipe down here (so I won't forget it I suspect*) for everyone to enjoy. /eyeroll I am such a lazy cook.

Chicken Pot Pie Puff thing

1 roasted chicken shredded into pieces, no bones ok?
1 package phyllo pastry (I used Tenderflake)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup margarine, butter, oil or some kind of fat.
1/2- 1 litre chicken stock (I used Knorr simply chicken)
1/2 big bag frozen chopped veg (Green Giant pea, carrot, corn and green bean mix) or by all means use fresh. I didn't have fresh on hand and again, lazy as hell.
1 tsp-ish Bacon Salt (I MEAN IT)
salt and pepper to taste
I also used about a tablespoon of freeze dried salad herbs (chives, shallots, red onion, garlic and dill) Lighthouse brand. mmm.. this stuff rocks.

Heat oven to 400 c.
I spilt this into 2 pie pans or you could do one big casserole dish. Whatever works.

Make a simple roux. Melt butter in large pot, when melted add flour. Saute until mixed, stirring the whole time. Start adding chicken stock. It will begin to thicken, keep adding chicken stock until you have the desired amount and thickness.

Add chicken to roux. Is there enough sauce? If not, add more stock. This is an eyeball kinda thing. Add 1/2 bag of veg. If you are using fresh veg, you will want to lightly sweat the veg before adding to chicken mix. See why the frozen works?

You will want this to be quite saucy at this point. Add bacon salt, salt and pepper and dried herbs. Turn down to lowish heat and let simmer, stirring often so it doesn't stick to the bottom of your pot. Let reduce to condense flavours.

Roll out your phyllo (hopefully using a rolling pin) on lightly floured surface. When your chicken mix is thickened to your liking, pour into pans of choice and cover with phyllo. Bake for approx 15 minutes or until top is golden brown and flaky. I didn't use a wash on the phyllo, as I like the really flaky crust, not crispy.

Cool for 5 min or so, serve and bask in the adulation of all. I served this with cobbler for dessert as I am a pig.

*I *may* have tendency to forget recipes after I make them up in my head. Drives my engineer NUTS. :)

A rather frightful drubbing

Is what I am taking from this sweater right now. I need to rip out the one sleeve I have finished and completely change the design. ARGH. The slip stitch pattern was not stretchy enough for sleeve action, so back to garter. It actually looks pretty freaking awesome, but DAMN IT. Good thing I don't have much fibre in the house, it is hard to resist the siren call of le wheel. I think I should name it eh Morgs?

In other news, my favourite leopard flannel sheets* finally gave up the ghost this week. They were thin enough to read through and they just gave out. So we had a mission to find NEW SHEETS! We hit all the usual places** but OMG (like wow!) we found some at Walmart (I KNOW OK) and they are safely ensconced on my bed after being treated to a lovely wash. It is so freaking cold here (high of -12)*** that I still need to put another blanket on my bed.. HELLO WINTER.

I have stuff coming in the mail. Fibre!! Lots of fibre!! Ravelry T-shirt!! Yay!! Like presents you pay for then forget they are coming. Today I am going to attempt a puff pastry chicken pot pie thingy. And some cobbler. The house should be full of yummy smells yes?

OH! I um.. bought a scarf yesterday. I KNOW I KNOW but in my defense, its CROCHETED. And red. And so so so soft. I mean come on.. you can't knit EVERYTHING right? See how nice it is?

*a gift from my Mummy in law and the only reason I ever did laundry on Giftmas. Mmm, flannelly goodness!

**Winners, Home Outfitters, Designer Depot, where we in fact found some but who had the DUMBEST CLERK EVER award nominee. While a giant line formed, he kept trying to get this poor old Chinese woman who spoke no English to open a credit card account. She just kept handing him her card saying "pay now?" After contemplating stabbing him the the throat, (the thought of prison kept me sane) I remarked I had enough and did a FULL ON FLOUNCE out the store. Much to Chris' amusement. He had his own flounce when the guy told the woman in front of him she was losing money by not taking advantage of the spend 50$ get 10$ off promo. But really this is nothing new in Calgary land of CRAP SERVICE. Wow that first sentence is a run on nightmare huh?

***Think of that Hawaiian bound in laws!

100*

Whoops I missed a day and wouldn't you know, this is my blogs 100th entry. Happy 100th little bloggy buddy.

Things of interest in my world right now:

Pickles 2 Mice 0**

Waiting for fibre sucks. Lets play hungry hungry hippos instead.

Max has turned into what Chris is calling "The Butler". He sits gopher style alot and Chris wants to get him a tuxedo and tray. Heh heh.

My Inlaws are on a cruise to Hawaii. A warm, sun filled glorious cruise. Jealous much? But I can't think of 2 people who deserve it more. ALOHA Moms and Pops!

Trading on Ravelry. I have a sweaters worth of custom dyed BFL coming to me soon, and sock yarn!! Yay for the barter economy.

Torani Brown Sugar Cinnamon sugar free syrup which makes everything taste like a cinnamon bun. If its at all possible, coffee is even more heavenly.

Bath and Body Works are apparently opening in Canada next year***. HELLO!

Wasa Fiber Rye Crackers and single serve bags of chips.

Intervention on A&E. Oh yeah.

No new Office episodes :(

It is getting colder here. Winter is on its way. Stay warm possums.. and send spinning fibre ;)

*Not to be confused with 300 the awesome movie. Although I suppose I could run around screaming "THIS IS FIBAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" That would entertain me endlessly. Chris not so much.

**he found a nice frozen mousicle Chip left in our yard, she has apparently caught 7!

***So says CNN business!

Combat Baby

I'm watching the next door cat Chippie play with yet another dead mouse. There was one in our back yard that Pickles found* and one in front of the neighbours back door** the other day. I mean I guess its better a dead mouse outside than a live one inside but euw. Where are these mice coming from? The shed we can't open? The neighbours basement? OUR BASEMENT? I am hoping it is the school field and Chippie is an extraordinary mouser but.. euw.

*And he chewed on it. I had to pry his jaws open and shake it out of his mouth. Then I had a right girly freak out and made Chris clean it up as I shrieked "THIS IS TOTALLY A BLUE JOB!" He is such a ninny though it would have been faster if I had done it.

**We live in a duplex, I am not a nosy Parker.

Fish Country

Last night Chris and I went to see "No Country For Old Men" by the Coen Bros. WOW! They tell a story like none other and what a story! If you aren't put off by a little shotgun action and some grue, GO SEE THIS NOW. I do think they could have trimmed 20 minutes off it, but I get what they were going for (and completely succeeded) but a wee trimming and it would have been sublime A+. As it is it was sublime A-. I am such a snob.

After this we (I) needed food badly* and since we aren't allowed to ever go back to Red Lobster** (our choice thankfully) and I wanted fish of some kind, we went to Big Fish. We had always meant to go there so now seemed a good time. What a cute place! We got a seat immediately and perused the menu. Now Chris and I share a dislike for certain things (Dijon mustard=tastes like sick, and tarragon to start) and I swear this menu knew what these things were and spontaneously generated items with all those ingredients. No no, we did find stuff we liked (I had the smoked salmon salad and Chris had the surf n turf with jumbo shrimp*** and steak) and had a nice cosy dinner. Very lovely atmosphere with lots of candles and yummy smelling cooking. Very cute.

Tonight UFC. Le sigh. Things are just coming up Karen.

Just waiting for that other shoe to drop right?






*Like the elf in gauntlet. ELF NEEDS FOOD BADLY
** The last time we went there it was ALL YOU CAN EAT SHRIMP DAYS. I mean, who doesn't like that? All you can eat? BRING IT ON. Well at the end of our meal the waitress came to give us our bill and remarked casually that we didn't eat nearly enough and they ALL YOU CAN EAT was in fact way more expensive than if we ordered just a regular shrimp meal and we were in fact getting ripped off. Then slams down our bill and walked off. HOLY SHIT I thought Chris' head would come clean off his shoulders, he was so steamed. Never been back. Never will go again. On principle even. Even if their commercials drive me MAD.
***Jumbo Shrimp really should be more than 2 though for 13 dollars. I know we are in a landlocked province but really.. 2? And I ate one.

Weak

Like I needed one more thing. You know, I don't have enough things I want to do right? I am having the worlds hardest time* finishing this sweater. Me the chronic finisher, the one project at a time girl? I am totally cheating on my knitting. Like a shameless hussy** flinging my morals to the wind. I have succumbed to the pressure (cause everyone else is doing it right?) and put the needles down.


I am spinning like a fool. That is not that well, but joyfully. In fact I got another package from Legacy Studios in Cochrane (it was cheaper to pay for them to ship it to me than drive out and get it) of silk hankies. I even spun some of the most gorgeous roving from the lovely Morgan. I am hooked. I blame Dana*** and Morgan. Yup, they not only enabled this bad behaviour they encouraged it. Bitches.


I need to go spin.


*Like not survive Hurricane Katrina hard, more like, what shoes should I wear hard, for context ok?
**Shameless flaunting with no regrets
***Dana who told me she had to write something "interesting" about herself. I told her she should write : Anything fibre related you do, Dana can do better. BEST FIBRE WOMAN EVER.

Small

Taking pleasure in small things is very much on my mind lately. Sometimes it seems like I overlook them but lately I have been all about the little moments, the asides and well of course some big ones too.

When I catch the dogs sleeping in a terrier pile. Both with small smiles on their faces (yes my dogs smile) and little grunts of happiness.

A perfect Dairy Queen small sundae with half hot fudge, half strawberry. OMG PERFECTION.

When a good friend stops over to offer some comfort and make sure a small wiggins* gets no bigger.

A perfect back rub that lulls one to sleep by a hot guy**.

Perfect foam from a panarello frother.

Knowing Bath & Body Works stuff are on its way to me.

Yarn. Oh yes, always yarn. And now the wheel of Joy.


Focus on the small things, and hopefully the big ones will sort themselves out. And if they don't there is always coffee.






*as compared to huge out of control, batten down the hatches, holy shit wiggins. Small wiggins are much easier to manage. Mostly.

** My husband dirty minds.

Sweet!

You know what is awesome? Yarn in the mail. That is AWESOME. I can't believe how fast the The Sweet Sheep got my most fabulous Cherry Tree Hill yarn here. Wow! And um, YUM.

I have a question for all you dog owners, what toys do you have that keeps them busy? Pickles rips through a frozen stuffed kong in record time. Of course Max couldn't care less except for the slowest chase ever* game. But the puppy needs more engaging toys.


The sweater is coming along slowly as well.. I mean I don't know why its taking me so freaking long to do a sleeve. I think I have been distracted by books. Not really a bad thing, but I do have a penchant for really crappy horror novels so its not like I am improving my mind. Heh. I did read Clive Barkers newest one, Mr B Gone. It was only ok, nothing like his early works, and short. Too short. Ah well..

This is a disjointed entry, but I am feeling slightly disjointed lately. Art imitates life yes? Not that this is art by any stretch of the imagination.



*slowest chase ever= when max has the chew bone Pickles wants and walks in a small circle around the ottoman with Pickles following slowly behind. It is hilarious if not a little silly.

Everything should taste like bacon

So says Bacon Salt. Who am I to argue? I've got mine, have you got yours?

Its spinnin' ITS SPINNIN'!

Yes a wheel ya'll .. whatta you think I mean some rims or something? OMG. I suppose I should rephrase, I'M SPINNING! Like yarn! Well sort of yarn like. In fact I was more than slightly disheartened when I started. Watching Dana and Morgan, it looks so effortless, so fluid. It made my stop start herky-jerky nonsense feel terrible. So I had put it away for a rest. On Saturday when Dana came over avec dogs I took the opportunity to get some more help. First she helped me tune up Victoria a bit. We sanded and waxed the bobbins for more slip, then she told me the secret. Yes there is a super huge well hidden secret. It made my out put go from this:

To this:

Now I'm sure to the uninitiated you think, huh? BUT OMG THE DIFFERENCE. The evenness, the more control, the whole fluid thing. Now I shall impart this small pearl of wisdom to the universe. Are you ready? Really? Do you want a coffee? I can wait...

Ok here it is. SLOW DOWN. I know those two words don't seem like much, but to a new spinner it was like the light bulb went on. Oh, I don't have to treadle as fast as I can and get all freaked out? You mean slow and steady actually does win the race? WHO KNEW. Not me apparently. What an incredible difference it made.

Then I remembered some silk hankies I had from a failed drop spindle effort (side note: hating the drop spindle does not automatically mean you will hate spinning. Trust me on this) and got them out. Well Holy Shit! Hot diggity damn.

Luckily I had bought some undyed hankies too.. these are FUN! I know they are minimal effort besides prep, but the wow is too wow for me not too.

I have to thank Cameron, Morgan's wee one for dyeing a funny colourway for me to learn on. It was cool to see the funky, slightly chunky colours blend the way they did.

The sweater body is done, sleeve one on needles. Oh yeah!

Hope everyone had a lights on weekend too..

Pals

Pickles is a suck and he sure knows who to play to doesn't he?

Who me? I'm not doing anything. Nope not me.

Chris doesn't look like he believes him yet... but then,

Puppies get so tired so quickly. Thanks to Dana, Tavis, Rowdy Buckets and Lola for that. Come on over anytime guys :)

Couples therapy

Massage therapy that is. Today we went to a local spa for a couples massage. Heavenly. Mmm.. I see a night of TV, knitting and snuggling (dogs and other) in my future.

Making fibre your friend

Like Bill Shatner! I had been whining lamenting the fact that my Blue Sky Worsted sweater (skul) was like 6 inches plus too big for quite some time now. So I did what all good thrifty knitters would do, I FROGGED IT. So many hours to knit, 3 to rip out. Thanks be to ball winder!

Its like getting a whole new yarn stash! Recycling at its best I reckon. Now I get to decide what it wants to be again. I'm thinking pullover this time:)

Yesterday was a most productive one, even with the frogging time. I rearranged the furniture, got all the laundry done and took the dogs for an extra long walk. Max was very excited to see ducks down in Confederation Park, Pickles was excited to see everything. We need to find a toy or something that will keep Mr Pickles Chewbacca busy in the evening, the Kong full of frozen peanut butter doesn't last long enough, and when both dogs get chew bones Pickles spends all his time wanting Max's and whining. Silly monsters. Like siblings but fuzzier.

When the going gets tough..

The tough go shopping. Right? I went to the The Sweet Sheep the other day and found some super nice Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn ON SALE! So I ordered.. and it processed the same damn day! Like wow! Wipeout! I know its goofy but I so like having something coming in the mail besides bills. I also have a Ravelry Beta T-shirt coming. Sometimes it is the small things that get you through right?

The sweater is coming along quite spiffily (is that a word?) and I am pleased with it so far. No pics as my cam needs a charge, sorry.

That's all for now possums.. see this blog everyday thing can be a real crap shoot huh?

Define normal

Definitions of normal on the Web:
-conforming with or constituting a norm or standard or level or type or social norm; not abnormal; "serve wine at normal room temperature";

-being approximately average or within certain limits in e.g. intelligence and development; "a perfectly normal child"; "of normal intelligence"; "the most normal person I've ever met"

-convention: something regarded as a normative example; "the convention of not naming the main character"; "violence is the rule not the exception"; "his formula for impressing visitors"

The reason I have been thinking about normal this morning:

There is a UFC on on the 17th and I am unreasonably excited about it. Call it a lack of social life but this *is* what I look forward to. My husband remarks all the time how lucky he is to have found me as I am not *normal* for most women. And taking an informal poll of friends I have to agree. I'm not saying I'm ABNORMAL, maybe just um.. different?

A Pop Culture aberration maybe? I enjoy a lot of things most women (not all right Heather?) don't. In fact I surpass Chris on being able to watch some movies (a strange point of pride with me) and for the most part don't enjoy traditional "chick flick" films which Chris loves with all his romantic little heart. I am a cynic by nature and rear my head when I feel I am being manipulated by the mainstream studio (BIG HOLLYWOOD) machine. Or I just channel my inner 14 year old boy really well. Either way I have certain criteria a movie must meet before I plunk down any money to see it a theatre.

Good:
-Zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, undead things, haunted stuff, Eastern bloc torture chambers, monsters, parasites, aliens/predators, reanimated killing machines, dream stalking knife handed serial killers, evil killing robots, SATAN, Satan's babies, evil clowns, giant spiders/bugs, regular mutants, inbred mutants, evil families, chainsaw wielding maniacs
-Exploding: heads, helicopters, gas stations, ferries, anything with jet fuel, buildings, people,
-Car chases, helicopter chases, crane chases, highway stunts that involve smashing many many cars/trucks/people/buildings
-Revenge motivated killings
-Kung fu, wire work, ninjas, samurai, mystical swords that fly around themselves
-Time travel
-Seth Green
-Semi bleak coming of age stories
-Humour in death
-Parkour

Bad:
-Animal cruelty
-Threes company situations
-Any movie where one of the lead characters dies and we all learn a valuable lesson (unless its OMG DON'T GO IN THE BASEMENT YOU IDIOT!) about love.
-Meg Ryan
-Poignant humour
-Starchy art films
-Pretension

Wow, you know I could go on and on. But instead I leave you all with this:

Ben Stiller in Dodgeball/Starsky & Hutch= HILARIOUS.
Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents/Fockers= UNWATCHABLE.

AND GO KARO PARISYAN!

Taking a stab at it...

I am not really a joiner, but I have been known to buckle to peer pressure, so why not now? I haven't posted a things that make me happy list in a while and I am feeling a little blue so this is a good kicker to make me smarten up yes?

Things that make me happy (in no real order)

1. Watching my dogs play everyday. Pickles has finally taught Max to behave like a real dog and it is quite adorable to see them lovin' each other. Oh my dogs!


2. Coffee. In all shapes and forms. Mmm.. Juan Valdez I love YOU!


3. Oh the yarn. Yes the yarn. ALL THE YARN.


4. 42 inches of plasma screen.


5. The smell of freshly baked cobbler.


6. My super snuggly bed with my leopard flannel sheets.


7. VEGAS.


8. Cuteoverload and Cupcakes.


9. zip.ca


10. My super husband for his awesome neck rubs.

I also love it when I put the sleeve stitches on a holder. It means I am that much closer to finishing!!

Stay tuned for another installment of watch me cave!

Slacker, knitter..

When asked to describe myself these are the two words I usually use. I find them to be pretty accurate. Case in point: the other two Dana and Morgan have been all "Ooh lets blog everyday". Hi this is where the slacker part comes in. I had just as much fun as everyone else, in fact maybe more because I was suffering greatly* and got spoiled a wee bit. Ate a whole bunch of the WORLDS BEST PIZZA (with extra cheese!) and didn't even have to exercise my dogs for two days! But did I do the right thing and blog? Nah! I whined some more and went shopping .

Someone had to buy more HACHO (rhymes with NACHO!) yarn you see. This is the most awesome sock yarn.Mmm.. mmm!

I have yes, started another sweater. This is inspired by the Cobblestone Pullover in the Fall Interweave. I love the garter yoke, but being the ornery cuss that I am I wanted to do it my way and make it a cardigan. So we'll see. We have had two rippings out so far, but I seem to have fixed what mistakes I was making. It is going to be out this:

Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran. I am getting a true aran gauge with it too. And can I just say knitting on 4.5 mm needles after doing so many socks feels like knitting with broomsticks.

*Suffering Greatly. When one overindulges in too many glasses of many different red wines during the course of an evening. Especially when its your husbands boss doing the pouring and is a total booze pusher. AND it was a competition of sorts on you know nothing about wine except that one had notes of pure gasoline and monkeys ass. Gross. I took one for the team I did. And felt like crap for 2 days. Note to self: YOU ARE NOT YOUNG. CUT THIS CRAP OUT.