Senses working overtime

I have to tell you, I haven't been spinning lately. My back was in a world of hurt and I just didn't want to risk it. BUT.. with a little help from my chiro guy Dr Grant (who I accused of voodoo and being a witch doctor. He laughed then we talked about UFC and our dogs. Could I have met a better guy to allay my fears about the chiropractic? I think not), the odd pain pill and the EMS unit I ordered and got in 3 days.. I am spinning again! GO ME!!!

All that downtime was not really downtime though..

I managed to knit a mini clapotis out of one skein of Noro Kureyon Sock:



This scarf gets so many compliments.. its crazy!



A drop stitch scarf from some hand spun:





And a Lion Neck Cardigan! This is done out of some merino/seacell I spun then dyed. I modded the sleeves a bit and changed up the neck.



It is so snuggly and sqooshy. I heart it so berry berry much.



Oh and I got a haircut and changed the colour. And got me some nails did. Chris has his company Xmas party this weekend and since he is an EXECUTIVE* now.. I reckoned its not a bad thing to not have dye stained raggedy ass hands. You know, for once. :)



*Did I mention he got a promotion to head of Mechanical Engineering after only 6 weeks? Oh yeah. He did. They even gave him a parking spot in downtown Calgary! He's still taking the bus though. And getting paid out for it. MOVE OVER JEFFERSON'S. WE IS MOVIN' ON UP.

Almost Famous

I got a really cool email the other day. From Blue Sky Alpacas. They wanted to know if it was ok if they featured my sock pattern, Betty Cable on their site? WELL HELL YEAH! So holy Hannah.. here it is! WOWSERS!!

Dudes.. I couldn't be more pleased.

Shill

Up these went into the shop today! Hard to part with ones too..

I'm off to the Chiro this afternoon. Of which I am more than a little freaked out. My back has been exceptionally terrible this week. My Dr recommended him (and gave me some good stuff) to see if this will alleviate some of the noxious pain I have been having. Wish me luck! And have a good weekend all!

Who wants a cookie??

That's what I yell to get the dogs to come in quickly. It ALWAYS works. Well.. except when Mr Pickles Houdini Chewbacca finds a hole the size of a soup can and manages to squeeze his fat ass through it into our neighbours yard*. If you've met Pickles, you know he is booty-licious, but still managed that. Damn dog. Anyways, I was thinking of making them up some of their own cookies and came up with this:

Peanut on a pumpkin puppy paws. (OMG I am so going to hell for that stupid name)

Oven at 350

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup pumpkin (not pie filling, the plain stuff)
1 cup milk (divided in half)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tbsp baking soda

Mix pumpkin, peanut butter and half the milk until smooth. Mix the dry ingredients together then add to wet alternating with the last 1/2 cup milk. The dough should be pretty firm. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet (the dough doesn't spread much so they can be pretty close together), press down with a fork (to make them look like the cookies you used to eat when you were little, isn't that cute?) and bake for about 15 minutes until they are lightly browned on the bottoms. Let them cool and freeze them! Defrost what you need or give them to the doggas frozen.. they don't care. I LOVE DOGS!








*And bless Max's' old tattletale barking heart for ratting out the escapee. Max is getting old but he still knows whats the what. Well.. mostly.

The Smallest

Things are sometimes the most full of awesome.

-long weekends
-puppy cam
-a lapful of my *clean* snuggly puppies
-a new hoodie
-finishing a hat/scarf/mitt set for Chris
-home made pumpkin chocolate chip loaf
-finally getting a picture of my sweater (even if Chris did a shit job as I was interrupting his video game time)
-toaster ovens that work
-finishing a bobbin of lace weight
-awesome friends that come visit and praise my barista skillzor (see what you are missing assholes?*)
-nothing exciting politically to charge me up**
-hairdye
-sleeping in







Mmm.. sweater goodness.




* And no I haven't been back to you stbx. We are through. YOU HEAR ME THROUGH!
**A tip of the hat to the USA. This goes a long way to assure me that despite your shitty chocolate, private health care and GOD hates Fags people, you guys rock. Good job.

More Squash, Less gross.

So the last experiment with the squash was only moderately successful. It was.. erm.. less than fantastic, but for sure mostly edible. I wasn't put off by that, in fact it made me more determined than EVER to have a yummy squash recipe in my retinue. I have used spaghetti squash before, but really not for many many years. Like maybe when Jake was a baby. EEK! So I set off to re-experience this pasta substitute. Chris is amused by my obsession with faux foods right now. Whatever.. after you hit 40, its harder and harder to keep weight off. So nuh uh pasta. Hello squashes. I am pleased to report that this foray turned out fantastic.

Serious Sausage Squash Soiree.

You'll need:

4 Spolumbo hot Italian sausages (or whatever. Mr Spolumbo makes the BEST. SAUSAGES. EVER. If there is a Mr Spolumbo. If you want something else do it. I ain't your Mom.)
Half a white onion chopped.
A whack of garlic.
2 14 oz cans of chunky tomatoes
A glug of olive oil
I heart of celery chopped
3 giant carrots (or 5 normal ones) chopped. Make the celery and carrots approx the same size ok?
1 spaghetti Squash
Parmesan cheese, say 1/4 cup or whatever.

Roughly chop your sausage into bite size pieces and saute in olive oil in a nice big pot until brown. Add in onion and garlic. Now because the sausage I used is seriously perfectly spiced I used no other seasonings. For reals. Nothing. Why mess with perfection right? If yours isn't, I suggest salt, pepper, some cayenne and whatever else floats your boat. I know there is a little fennel in the Spolumbos so maybe try that? I dunno. Saute until the onion is translucent. Add in celery, carrots and tomatoes. Simmer for a couple, three hours. If you start to reduce too much add some chicken stock so it doesn't burn.

Turn on your oven now ok? Say 350? Sounds good!

Now you gotta cook your spaghetti squash. I cut mine in half, cleaned out the seeds and membranes and put it in the microwave in a covered dish with some water (cut side down) and nuked it for about 10 minutes per half. Then you take your squash (half at a time) and shred out the flesh into an oven safe dish. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the squash then layer half your sausage mixture on top of the squash. Repeat. Pop this in the oven until Chris gets home say an hour or so.

Dig in! Seriously, this was amazing. And makes at least 5 servings or so. Very good for you, mostly veggies with a hit of sausage goodness. Mmm..

Regarding knitting and the loss of mojo-ness..

Sometimes I feel bad cause I'm not finishing something. I have seen how startitis is running roughshod through the internets lately (and around my circle too :P) but I love me some finishing. I started knitting Ingenue from the awesome new book and I knew as I was knitting it, the fabric was coming out a little.. um.. firm. But you know when you have that ah fuck it anyway moment and try to convince yourself that if you just get past the sleeves, it'll loosen up? Yeah. It didn't. So a frogging I went. BALLS. Do you have any idea how annoying frogging yarn (hand spun natural BFL YUM) that has been held doubled is? Well I mean I guess its not *that* bad, but separating those plies are. I have a noodley mess on my craft table that will just have to stay in time out until I am good and ready to ask for help.

I also have a mini clapotis on the go and and really hopeful that it will be long enough when done. The food scale says yes.. but we'll see. We'll see.

I did finish the most awesome sweater EVER. Its warm, cute and I have worn it a million times already. I used the Blue Sky Alpaca worsted that I reclaimed from a cardigan that just got too big. It killed me to see that huge whack of unused expensive yarn, so huzzah for recycling! Now it lives again in a better life than ever before. I will take pictures of it asap and show ya'll.

I am all about the warm utility sweaters these days. Which is why I was in total denial about the FIRM. Ah well..

In spinning news. I have been going pretty nuts. I got 24 oz of pin drafted Cormo (from an awesome Raveler for 25 $$ including shipping!!!!!) that I almost peed my pants over. I had to get Dana to come and touch it. Like Oh My God! I have been working on the merino seacell roving (and is this spinning up to be the squishiest most lofty yarn!) and maybe will be motivated enough to dye some stuff up.

I went and saw a physio guy last week too. He explained exactly what was wrong with my back and was pretty shocked at how much damage there was. Then when I told him I was 40, he was a little less shocked*, but still said its very significant and good for me for coming in before it gets worse. As it will. Quickly. He basically has me doing kegels right now to tighten the tiny little muscles holding my spine up. Jesus.. that's gross isn't it? Anyways, since I have been doing them, my back hurts more. GREAT. But to be fair, and under used muscles when being worked hurt. Blergh. I go back and see him tomorrow. He couldn't believe I knit. Like only grannies did or something. Silly goose.

Today I am going to try baking some acorn squash. Lets see how THAT goes too.. with some meatloaf? Sounds good.







*He thought I was 28. I told him good answer.

Meme along

I was tagged by the adorable (even without lady shoes) Dana to tell you all six quirky yet boring and/or unspectacular details about myself. Well strap in:

1. Although there are days when I can barely remember what I ate for lunch let alone my kid/husbands/dogs/my own name/s, I can clearly and without a beat remember lyrics to songs I haven't heard in 20 years. Why do I know all the words to J Geils Centerfold, AC/DC Dirty Deeds Done Cheap and pretty much ANYTHING from the 80-90's? I mean this has translated over into inane music trivia as well. Chris' theory that memory only has a finite amount of space is scary if its true. And if it is, I hope he likes hearing all this garbage (oh Shirley Manson, that first album was DIVINE) cause Its all I'll be spouting when I'm old.

2. I hate side seat drivers. Ok hate is a strong word. Strongly dislike. Is that better? I mean I LOVE people who navigate. HUGE DIFFERENCE. Telling me what lane I need to be in, good. Telling me to watch out for that plastic bag? NOT GOOD. Of course this stems from Chris' inability to know where we are at any given moment. Seriously, the guy could get lost within 6 blocks of the house. I have gotten very good at navigating as he needs one. Can I just say the GPS on his Blackberry is a miraculous thing.

3. I believe in Crystal Light cause it believes in me. And it is tasty! All artificial and chemmy.. mmmm... raspberry ice...

4. I am almost incapable of knitting from a pattern. They usually seem wrong to me. Having said that I bought a knitting book! Custom Knits by Wendy (Knit and Tonic) Bernard! Its the best knitting book EVER. And even I am knitting a sweater out of it . But have changed it already :)

5. When I make up my mind about something its very hard to change it. I can totally do it, but am resistant to the end. NIKE? Bad business practices/sweatshops/bad things in my mind all around. I cannot bring myself to buy any products from them. No matter how cute the shoe, how nice the shirt etc. When did I decide this? Um Grade 11. :) HELLO 23+ years ago. Now I just walk past and feel weirdly smug. Go figure.

6. I really want us to evolve a third arm. Or maybe I could graft one on. Or a prehensile tail. Man, so much would be made easier with a third arm. You could read and knit. You could clip the dogs nails. Just think of the possibilities! Sign me up!

Now I'd really like to see Dana, Morgan, Suzen and Alanna as I think none of them blog enough.

Get a buffaload of this!

Seriously close to good for you.

Buffalo pie. (I'd call it shepherds pie but no sheep were involved.)

You will need:

1lb of ground lean bison. I get mine at our local Co-op. In fact I buy it by the whack and freeze it.
1 head o cauliflower
3-4 tbsp of non fat sour cream (or use the good stuff I don't care)
a tsp or 2 or butter/margarine. Whatever floats yer boat.
1/3-1/2 cup of beef stock
1/2 large white onion
couple shakes (or more) of cayenne pepper.
salt and pepper.
1 tsp or so of cornstarch in a few tbsps of h2o. Cold ok? Don't cook this.

Pre heat your oven to say 325-ish.

I did this all in my cast iron fry pan so I would have less clean up. LAZY should have been my middle name.

Chop your cauliflower into florets and steam the ever loving crap outta them until they are super soft. Drain, add sour cream, butter/marg, salt and pepper and ok... this is seriously wack.. use your immersion blender or regular blender (but what a pain to clean. Go get an immersion blender. They are cheap ok?) and blend this stuff until it resembles mashed taters. GET IT?

Chop your onion. Brown your bison with that onion. Add cayenne/salt/pepper. Brown until it really is a lovely brown and getting a titch (TITCH MIND YOU) dry. Add beef stock. Mmm.. taste it! Add whatever else you want. Add cornstarch mixture so it thickens just a bit. Spread evenly in your cast iron or whatever you are gonna bake it in.

Now you are going to take your mashed cauliflower (faux tatoes) and spread them over the top of your bison mixture in a nice even layer. Pop this sucker in your oven for I dunno until Chris gets home? Like maybe an 60-90 minutes or until your faux tatoes are browned and its all pulled away from the edge of your pan and the smell is driving you nuts.

Don't tell your husband what the top is so he won't make that poop face until he agrees whatever it is, its divine and then is all shocked when its cauliflower. Enjoy, feel virtuous and make sure your frozen snicker bar with almonds is hidden well in the freezer.

Makes 4 servings. Yay dinner for 2 nights!

Don't fence me in!

Charter members of the We Hate The New Fence Club.



President Pickles and Minister Of the Interrier Max.

You know its kinda funny.. I applied for 2 jobs this past month on a whim. I was offered both of them. One I turned down because I got the hinkies (and a wise woman told me TRUST YOUR HINKIES) and the other I turned down because they asked me to take out my nose ring. Um. For a part time job? AT A COFFEE SHOP*? Seriously? The manager and I hit it off immediately, we chatted like old friends in fact. She asked me about a dress code, no problem right? Except their corporate policy doesn't allow any facial piercings. For reals? I asked. She looked crestfallen. She also explained that she has had a lot of people turn down the job for that reason. Ah well I thought.. I finished my Americano, wished her luck and left. Stewing.

Then her district manager called me to see if I would reconsider. Well I had been considering.. all frikkin night and was royally pissed off by that point. I explained to her how let down I felt that I would be precluded for a nose ring. That in the employmentally challenged microcosm that is Calgary it is cutting off your nose (hahahaha) to spite your face and that although I have been a loyal (nay FANATICAL) customer for years, I was now reconsidering that as well. I think she wasn't expecting any response like this I tell you. You know, if I was from India we wouldn't have even had that conversation. Unless they won't hire anyone whose culture has nose rings? Dammit if I didn't forget to say that. But anyways.. she was shocked at the response I gave her. I mean I know its not her fault, but WELCOME TO THE MODERN WORLD DICKHEADS. I think after I use up whats left on my card, I am done. Now I need to find a new source for my crack coffee problem.

I can tell you that latte I had today didn't taste as sweet as it usually does. And I don't think the lack of Splenda was the problem.






*oH COME ON YOU ALL KNOW ITS STARBUCKS RIGHT??

PIctures of things

Flowers from my sweetie..

Pickles being cute

Then not.

Scarf for Chris.

Sweater for me.

Happy T-day ya'll.

Now showing

Whip Up features Keep Away felted slippers!


Seriously.. how cool is that? The link is over on the sidebar if anyone wants it.

Awesome way to wake up today! :)

OLD (fail)

You know, as you get older your medicine cabinet no longer becomes the place where you have the odd Tylenol, Advil, vitamins and various weird herbal things. It starts to actually hold.. MEDICINE. Who knew? Aches and pains that you used to be able to brush off or sleep off (HI HANGOVER) are hanging around longer and causing more HEY! moments. While discussing the aliments of old with some pals, I was informed it was NOT NORMAL to live with such pain and while the stock I have in Robaxacet profits from it, I really should go see someone about the back pain that JUST WON'T GO AWAY. So I did.

Today I went for a callback about some X-rays I had done last week and since my usual Doc is on paternity leave (awwwwwww) I saw the stand in doc. Nothing like being told you have a narrowing and slightly slipped disc with some osteo-arthritis forming in your spine and oh yeah a slight congenital defect by some young whippersnapper maybe in her mid twenties. Its bad enough that my regular doc is 4 years younger than me, this was almost like seeing Jake as a doctor. Le sigh. She offered to get me into the SPINAL CARE CENTRE who can give INJECTIONS INTO MY SPINE* but I said I'd be happy to try some physio first. YIKES! The good news?

At least this isn't all in my head!







*shudder. Hi that's a last resort. And the photograph at the top of the page? Not an accurate representation of my med cabinet. Yet.

Debate? What debate?

This is what my last 5 minutes have been:

Pickles: Moms.. hey moms.. hey moms... hey moms...

Pickles: Moms.. I'm over here! I'm over here!!

Max: Jesus.. doesn't he ever sleep?

Pickles: Guess where I am now? OVER HERE MOMS!

I wanted to watch the VP USA debate last night. Chris didn't want to. So with no debating, there was no debate. For some reason we didn't even entertain the notion of watching our own leadership debate. Eh. Instead we watched poker. See my husband has a poker problem. Its transferred enough now that last night I dreamed about playing poker with Phil Hellmuth. Using crib hands. Then going for dinner. *sigh* Ok then we watched RAMBO in HD. OMGWTFBBQ. Most awesomely violent movie ever.


The culinary gods took a dump on my head yesterday. My espresso grounds exploded, my tomato sauce was hot sweet ass and I burned the bananas foster. I give up.

We had sandwiches.

NEVER AGAIN...

will us as Canadians have to suffer through the nightly dinner interruption of an unwanted call. Or least for 3 years at a pop.


Canadian Do Not Call List!!!!

Go register all your numbers. I did. All of them. Cells too. And now when someone calls trying to get me buy an alarm system* I can make sure they pay the price.





*I had to get all up in some guys grill (hahahaha white mom) when some alarm company WOULD NOT stop harassing us. 4 letter words flew, and voila! Only 5 calls later did they stop.

Shorn you do!

Gods/Allah/Isis and/or Voodoo Man.. is there any better feeling than a new spiffy haircut? Ok maybe driving down a fall road with an awesome mix CD, gorgeous weather outside (Elvis Costello! David Bowie! Guns & Roses! Nick Lowe!) AND a new haircut*! Perfect fall day.


*and maybe new jeans and a sweater in the back seat. Gilding the lily indeed.

Things I forgot

To brag/blog about.

Socks. Yup lots o socks.


Man Socks! KFB Fat n SASSY Yarn. Yum.

Boring but serviceable.

HHHH socks. I know I showed these but ain't they nice?

Casbah Knee highs. They slouch, but so do I. Nice scarred up knees huh? Thanks skateboarding!*

Self patterning yarn! My first!

And a couple of handspuns. Damned if I can remember where the roving came from, but they are sure warm!

* I got Chris to take this picture this am. In my gonch. I was yelling, LOWER LOWER! NO PANTY SHOTS ON THE BLOG. < loser

Technology sucks (me in)

Yargh. SOMEONE decided to muck about on my side of the laptop and now I am resetting everything AGAIN. SOMEONE* better check this shit out before he does it again.

In other non tech news:

I have recently paid off a substantial library fine (thank you Pickles for tendering your literary criticism and eating that book) and have gotten some awesome reading on. Right now I am LOVING Watch You Bleed by Stephen Davis. The story of Guns and F'n Roses man! Bang on! I also have a weird fetish lately about old Robert E Howard Conan books and anything H P Lovecraft. I have been trolling used book stores for them . I have unleashed my inner 14 year old.

Yesterday was wash the dogs day. A job I truly don't mind as I use Kathy's soap. Well I guess its not her soap anymore. Yikes I just realised that. I had a decent little stash of it but I gave some up to my seeester in law for her birthday and am down to about a bar. See my old guy Max has really sensitive skin and this is the best soap I have ever used on him. Plus it makes him smell good for ages! Seriously! Pickles likes it too! Damn.. now I will eventually have to find a new soap purveyor. Preferably with hemp!

Ok now I have a problem to whinge about. I have 3 single socks I knit that have gone through on the ball of the foot. On ONE SOCK ONLY. I think its my new sneakers that is eating them (but its different feet so....?) alive. I suppose I should darn them but UGH. Darn it all** I don't wanna. Oh the conundrums of knitting.

Speaking of, body of new sweater? DONE.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (with guitar!)

When the oven cleaner stuff says to wear rubber gloves. DO IT. Its tends to eat the skin right off your hands. Ask me how I know. I double dirty dog dare you.







*YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. Don't make me tell your Mom.

**So lame. Sorry

Aw shucks...

My sweet and lovely friend Kathy nominated me for this leetle award. Like her I don't see many accolades (and generally I'm ok with that as I am quite comfortable blowing my own horn thanks) but this is awfully sweet. I heart you missy and miss you! I know I'm supposed to pay it forward so I'll shout out to some blogs I blove.


Miss Morgan and her knitting affair
Lectio/Heather She always has the best pictures.
Some random dude. More people should read this blog. And not just because it's my husbands. Mostly.

So with the return of real life* comes all the mundane things I have been putting off for so long.. cleaning the oven (which you need to be a contortionist to do as my aching arse will attest to), laundry, blah blah blah. Ah yes, they joys of housewifery.

It also means I have a little more time to knit! I have a really groovy sweater on the needles right now. So groovy in fact I'm not even gonna tell ya'll about it until its done. You know writing this made me realise I have a sweater I knit way earlier this year that I never blogged/Ravelry'ed or anything. Or worn for that matter. Hmm... rectify? We'll see. It was out of that silk I was so unhappy with. Its funny I bet I put it out of my mind as I don't have much any positive feelings about it. I wonder if I should some how get rid of it. Seriously, its gorgeous. But I don't think I'll ever enjoy it. hmm....







This past weekend was awesome. I had an old friend come in from the Left/West coast and we partied like it was 1989. Haha. For reals, I am not much of a drinker, but I did myself and pretty much everyone else proud. We even closed down a bar and when the ugly lights came on, we still weren't that ugly!

Then Saturday (after my usual stitch and bitch with the best girlfriends ever who would never make fun of a really hungover whiny gal right?) Dana and I drove out to Legacy Studio in Cochrane to get some goodies. I got a couple of pounds of Polwarth fibre (OMG SCRUMMY), some sparkly Angelina and a couple ounces of yak down. YAK! Its like a cloud! I am a little boggled on how to spin it, but its an adventure right?

Right?









*Chris is at his new job! They gave him a Blackberry, and an office with a window in teh Husky Tower! Move on over Mr & Mrs Jefferson.. we'se movin' on uuuup!

Hahahahahaha

Returning to fall down

Seriously, who stole summer? I'm not really complaining mind you, as my mind has turned to sweaters sweaters SWEATERS. Nice change from socks. But I have to say after being in 30+ c degrees for a week, it was a shock to get home to 9. Degrees. Gross. Socks I just finished with fiber I spun from my HHHH pal:













Oh Vegas... this was the view from our room. Well the second room.

This was in our first room. I had to move. It was unnerving. And the light in the case wouldn't shut off. AND DUDE KENNY ROGERS.

Two of my favourite things. Chris and Chihuly glass.

Chris had a real dilemma whether 5 or 6 hour energy was the way to go.*



New BFFS. Screw you humpty.





Fremont Freakshow. And this guy didn't want to miss anyone with his damnation.







Chris was successful in poker, I was successful in shopping and discovered the cleanest best smelling bathrooms on the strip (The Monte Carlo casino). Fremont St was a total let down light show wise (glorified music video to Bye Bye Miss American Pie.. snore) but totally made up for it in the freakshow factor. Found the outlet mall (which was outdoors. 35 c that day) but YAY! Took the bus a lot and walked less. Also found the best buffet was right downstairs at Planet Hollywood where we stayed. Desserts? Better than the Paris. But I am now officially Vegased out.



In culinary news:



The Franch soup is just as good with carrots. Slightly chunkier, but TASTY.



We also got some more nifty stuff for the walls:

And now I have to go turn the furnace on. HI FALL!

*We chose 5. 6 seemed excessive.