Serendipitous

This post might be too early, but I am really excited...

I have tried to give up shampoo A LOT.  At least twice, I have tried to cut down on my consumption, hopeful that I would eventually be able to completely eliminate my need.  I have to wash my hair every day, although many people can survive by washing their hair every other day.  I have tried to go from washing my hair every day to washing six times a week to five, etc., with the belief that I could eventually be at a place where I either never had to wash with shampoo, or at least only infrequently.  It never worked, I always ended up looking like a greaseball.  And several times I have tried to switch using plain regular soap, at first switching completely, and then; trying to slowly alternate between soap and shampoo until I was only using soap.

Multiple attempts at each of these, and no success.  I just assumed that I needed shampoo, that a good scrub with my nails at the scalp either with or without soap just couldn't compete with the cleanliness that came from real shampoo.  I know there are brands out there that make "no-poo" but to me that just seemed beyond the point.  Until recently.

I picked up the latest edition of Bust in New Haven for reading material (honestly, more for Paul-John than for me) on the train to NYC.  I don't even read it that much anymore because it doesn't have as much meat, as say, Bitch. But I picked it up.  And there was a recipe for homemade deodorant that totally caught my eye.

I have not worn deodorant for about a year and half.  That includes my wedding day, wearing a strapless dress, a day that was 95 degrees, with incredible humidity and no air conditioning at the reception site.  Before I gave it up I had been using Tom's, but just kinda got sick of it.  When I saw the recipe, I had a revelation.  I would love to make my own deodorant.

Of course, when I finally had the time to go shopping for some of the ingredients, I couldn't find my magazine.  No problem, I could look it up online.  Luckily, the same recipe had been posted on the author's blog, where she also mentions and references her alternative to shampoo -- washing with baking soda and rinsing with apple cider vinegar.  Even more perfect!  I would like to make my own deo, but I would love to find a viable substitute for shampoo.  I've only been doing it for a few days, but I am already infatuated.  I love that my hair still looks actually clean - I assumed it would work but that there would be an adjustment period. So, here is the site for the homemade deodorant, which I will make as soon as I get a couple more ingredients, and further down in the post she references the site about the shampoo substitute.  

 

Knitting News:  restarted endpaper mitts with great yarn.  One done, slightly before thumb separation on second mitt, hope to be done soon! 

Dilemma

I just finished endpaper mitt #1, and I'm not exactly sure where to go from here.  The label on the yarn I used was in another language, but had a ram on the front, so I was hopeful for something natural.  Nope - once I started working with it I realized it is definitely acrylic.  So, no blocking, and just not as nice feeling.  Not such a big deal, because after finishing one mitt, there are some tweaks I would like to make to the pattern.  I have 2 options:

1.  Finish second endpaper mitt with crappy acrylic yarn, because it will only take about a week and it is starting to get cold.  Then I can refocus on my pineapple curtains, order some nice yarn online, and make a second pair of endpapers sometime in January, when I will still have a few months to wear them.  

2.  Get new yarn ASAP  and make a new pair immediately and just chalk up the single mitt to a learning experience.  

I have tomorrow off, which means there is a really good chance I will choose option 2 and go to the yarn store first thing in the morning : )  

Thursday was Christopher's 21st birthday.  He met us in New Britain and then we headed to Ruth's Chris on the pike for dinner - his choice.  As fancy steakhouses go, it was pretty good.  After dinner we headed to Quinn's and met up with a couple of our friends and a couple of his friends, and the place was surprisingly busy.  

Since my sister is always taking photos of her food, reminding me that I really can't cook, I figured today I would show off my awesome barista skills.  Yesterday I made this:

Hot mulled cider!  Delicious.  I used cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, orange peel, and spiced rum.  

Frogged

The snowbird mittens are now officially frogged.  Last Saturday I took them off the needles to try them on.  This time the ribbing was able to make it over my knuckles, but they still felt a little too small.  In addition, there were several random columns, each only a couple of rows tall, of loose stitches where the needles changed.  Furthermore, I didn't really enjoy knitting the pattern as much as I thought I would.  My two previous colorwork projects were both patterns that were intuitive because of the symmetry and did not involve too many long carries.  I know that if I had finished them, they would have smoothed out with blocking, but the front of the mitten was much more bumpy than the back because of this.  So, they are officially frogged, but maybe next year I will be a little more experienced and can try them again.  I am thinking I might just make a pair of endpaper mitts instead, they should be a much quicker knit.  

Not long after I ripped the mittens, my yarn from knitpicks showed up!  I ordered Palette for the curtains for the living room, and some Wool of the Andes for an EPS yoke sweater that I really want to make.  I was a little nervous about selecting yarn after hearing so many horror stories on Ravelry about the colors looking very different online, but they all came out exactly as I imagined them!  The curtains will be Iris Heather, a very nice purplish greyish color.  For the sweater I just picked Sapphire Heather, and will choose colors for the yoke later.  After I finish the first curtain, I will probably do some swatching, and once I know how many stitches the yoke will be I will chart something up.  I am thinking reindeer and hearts.  

A little while ago someone at work asked me what types of things I knit, and I responded by saying "only small stuff" after listing off some of my most recent projects.  I am feeling slightly daunted by the large projects I have on my plate, especially considering the fate of the snowbird mittens.  But we'll see how it goes.  

My most personal post...

Yesterday I bought a Diva Cup, and I think it is amazing.  

I restarted the Snowbird Mittens!  But I will probably be on the ribbing forever.  

And here's another photo of Josephine, because she is just so photogenic:

Faux Poes Foes - and FOs!

My all-time least favorite part of blogging (if you can call it that) is thinking up titles.  Seriously.  I finally have a clever title!  Can you figure it out?

Anyways, tonight I finished up BOTH the towels and the hat that's been lying around.  I finished all the knitting for the second towel yesterday, and today did all the finishing - sewing on the last button and weaving in ends.  

Since that didn't take so long, I got out my "copycat hat" and finished that - it was a total of 18 rounds, but with the decreasing, went pretty fast.  

I tried taking a photos of the two projects, but my apartment is too dark, even with every single ceiling + floor + table lamp on, to take good photos without the flash.*  And the photos with the flash everything just got washed out.  But that's OK, because the hat is still bumpy and needs to be blocked, and the towels could probably use a quick iron.

I am even more excited about all these finished projects because tomorrow I have the day off, and I can finally restart the snowbird mittens!  yay!

I tried forever in my last post to upload a photo of Josephine, and it wasn't working, so here it is:

A few weeks ago Mike tried convincing me that Josephine was a "sexy" cat, which I vehemently disagreed with at the time, but she certainly has her moments, doesn't she?

*Yes, I used "two" "too" and "to" in one sentence.  I love when that happens.

It's been a good month for autographs

Today Paul-John and I went to see Amy Sedaris at the Stamford Barnes & Noble, where she demonstrated a couple crafts, had a brief question and answer time with the audience, and signed books.  I was lucky enough to get a photo:

I Like You has recently been released in softcover and it was being promoted as a "cooking" title, although it probably falls more closely into the "entertaining" subcategory.  There was an older lady who asked Amy a couple of cooking questions (do her vegetables need to be parboiled before they are frozen?) that she had no idea the answer to, which I think confused the woman who thought she was buying a cookbook.  

The whole day was great... we took Rte 8 down to 95 instead of 91 because its more scenic, and on the way down, Paul-John asked where Stars Hollow, the fictional town in Gilmore Girls, is located because he always got the feeling it was in the western part of the state (he's right).  

As far as my knitting queue is concerned, nothing is crossed off yet, but I'm close.  

Slump

I was in a bit of a knitting slump for the past week or so but am pretty confident that I am out of it.  A couple weeks ago two friends moved in down the street and of course I felt the need to make them housewarming gifts.  Felted potholders.  Great.  Finished the first one - 60 stitches and 60 rows.  After the first go in the washing machine, it seemed long enough but could be a little wider.  Second potholder.  Cast on 80.  Slump hits.  I don't think I was able to knit more than four rows a night, if at all.  

Of course, I fall behind in my estimated project date.  I think maybe I just need a change of pace, and luckily, Danielle's birthday is approaching, and I knew she wanted a hat for her birthday.  Perfect.  Until after I find out she is planning on returning to veganism.  I am just so thoughtful I asked if she would prefer a non-wool hat.  I have a million beautiful shades of Cascade PLUS two different Noro colorways, and yet I still asked.  I have a lot of random stuff in my stash, but the only nonwool I have is cotton (no good for a winter hat) and the leftover acrylic from her blanket and Mike's hat, which I can't reasonably recycle for this project.  

So Danielle's birthday passes, and no hat has been started, the potholders aren't finished, and some of us had talked about sending the other Mike (who recently moved to California) a care package, for which I volunteered to make him washcloths for the shower.  On top of all this, I keep thinking about those lovely snowbird mittens and how I spent at least six hours on those and had to rip them out. 

Maybe the slump was only two weeks, but it was pretty intense.  I finally decided I just need a new project, so I started the "Mitered Hanging Towel" from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines.  The book is on loan, so I figured it would be a quick knit that I could justify because I eventually have to return the book.  And suddenly, the slump disappears!  I will rip out the second potholder and crochet it because I am a super speedy crocheter (which made me wonder why I wanted to knit it in the first place...) and I no longer have to knit Danielle a hat because I taught her to knit!  She may not be up to hat skill yet, but she will be and I can get her something else.  And washcloths for Mike?  Nothing to stress about, who knows when we'll get around to sending him that package.  

I am almost done with the first towel and plan to make two.  And I although I mentally got myself out of the slump, of course I got inspired for another project to add to my queu...  I now want handknitted fingertip towels for the bathroom.  

Because the Rav will only let you queu patterns that are in the database, this is my official queu:

1.  Finish both mitered towels

2.  Finish potholders

3.  Finish hat that has, seriously, ten rounds left

4.  Start snowbird mittens, most likely stop and start around smaller projects, because they will probably take me a year...

5.  Lacy curtains for living room

6.  Fair Isle cozy for French press... Super practical, and I want to cut a steek really badly. 

7.  Fingertip towels for bathroom

 

Oh yeah

So today Paul-John and I went to see Herman's Hermits ("starring Peter Noone," I am assuming he was the only original hermit performing) at the Berlin Fair.  Overall, it is was an alright performance.  It was free (just the $12 admission to the fair) which was great.  I got a tshirt:

The best parts of the concert were when they sang their own songs.  The worst part was when the did covers (Johnny Cash, the Monkees, Tom Jones, Dave Clark Five, just to name a few) or whenever Peter Noone was talking - turns out he is a super cheesy individual.  But this super cheesy individual was kind enough to sign my record!

Both pics are backwards because I have been feeling somewhat photo-lazy and am just using my computer camera instead of taking real pics and uploading them.  

In knitting news, I am going to have to take apart those beautiful snowbird mittens and start over... they are too small.  Since the pattern is only one size (which I didn't check because I thought I had average sized hands, and there is no way I am knitting too tightly - I am a loose knitter.  Hmmm, that could be interpreted several ways I suppose.) Anyways, I need to pick up larger size needles.  Which means I cannot work on them all night like I was planning.  Instead, I am forced to work on one of the numerous projects I mentioned I had this month.  So, it will be felted potholders for friends moving down the street (YAY!) on Tuesday.  Turns out those 3 skeins of green Cascade 220 did not want to be a hat, so hopefully they want to be potholders.

I'm in Love

I'll admit, it started out as lust... from the second I saw the snowbird mittens, I just knew I had to have them.  Once I cast on, I even got commitment-phobic.  My first attempt at corrugated ribbing, and with size one dpns?  I couldn't help but wonder... Am I moving too fast?  Is this project too difficult?  Luckily, I persevered.  By my third cast on, I felt confident that I would be able to make it last.  And I am now slightly over one inch into the ribbing.  

I was especially concerned that I would have loose stitches where each dpn starts/ends,  and I am realy impressed by how well this looks:

The saddest part is even though this is going to be a long term relationship, it can't possibly be monogamous.  This month I just have too many other commitments... housewarming gifts, a birthday, moving far away gift, and I really want lacy curtains for my living room. 

I think I will work on these until I finish the ribbing, and maybe do just a couple rows of the stockinette.  Then it will be on to all the gifts I have on my list.  

Day Off

Today was an excellent day off.  My last day off (Thursday) I spent at least four hours working on a very last minute gift for Mike's 25th birthday - EZ's fisherman hat.  I had downloaded the pattern a while ago and after reading the pattern a million times I still couldn't understand how the hat was constructed, mainly because I had never done short rows in knitting before, only crochet. Of course, it turned out to be a great pattern and should have been a quick knit.  I accidentally bought size 10 1/2 circs instead of 11, which led to lots of calculating and some frogging.  Overall, very pleased with the pattern and I think I will make another one - and since it uses multiple strands, a perfect use for those three and half skeins of Christmas Green 220 I have left over from the cardigan.  Anyways, as soon as I finished the hat, we were off to Enfield and spent the night up there.  Fun, but certainly not productive.

So... back to today.  Slept in and got to nostalgically have breakfast, coffee, and Gilmore Girls with Mike.  I dropped my dress for Dor's wedding at the tailor, and not only will it be done in two days, its only costing $12.  Then it was off to buy some work clothes and get a Tess-inspired haircut.

Asymmetrical bob! Not a great photo, but a great haircut.  Rest of the day was chores - dishes, dinner, and 3 loads of laundry.  And a home made latte for dessert.  

In other news, I am loving my new job and finally starting to feel more married, and the latter is most likely a direct result of the new job.  It's like that episode in Seinfeld when Courtney Cox pretends to be Jerry's wife so she can use his dry cleaning discount, and Jerry finds out he loves saying "my wife."  For the past three months there has been no need to refer to Paul-John as my husband, but ever since I started saying it at work, I have to admit, it is addicting.  

Color Test

My sister sent me this link for a color test.  I scored an 11 (lower scores are better).   Michelle's first score was an 18 followed by 13.  Pretty nifty.  

Follow up

Yesterday was my last day at work and it was slightly disappointing and anticlimactic, with one exception - I went on the roof!  Usually when an employee leaves everyone signs a card, and there's cake, and some sort of gift.  And when long time employees leave, they get a piece of the store to take with them.  I did not even get a card.  

By request, here are my lamps.

A couple tidbits

Today is my last day at B&N Farmington, only 10 days shy from my sixth anniversary, and I feel really bizarre about this.  

This guy is one of the reasons I became a philosophy major.

My table lamp collection has doubled with three new acquisitions made last week.  It is now big enough to actually be called a collection.

Fair Isle + DPNs = pure evil

The hat is off the needles!  I thought that as soon as I started decreasing the hat would be finished in no time.  And granted, I did finish it by my goal date, but it really was a terrible way to finish a project.  In addition to the sheer difficulty of knitting fair isle on super slippery metal DPNs which led to countless dropped stitches and a sudden attack of color mistakes that I deemed too difficult to fix, I am somewhat dissatisfied with the decreases.  Previously I had always evenly spaced my decreases, but after looking at countless charts I thought I would try starting and ending each repeat with a decrease because this seemed to be the norm.  In practice, it created a ridge and a pointy top.  If this hat was not for Paul-John I would add a pompom but, it is for Paul-John.  And, last but not least, when he tried it on it was just a tad too short, barely skimming the tops of his ears.

But what made my night was after I commented on the length, he said: "but you haven't blocked it yet, so I'm sure it'll fit."  

Validation from a real knitter

It is 2 am on a Saturday night, and yours truly is eating nachos, watching the Olympics (oddly enough, more ping pong.  Perhaps I have finally found my muse?), and blogging.  The party never stops at 151.

I have a coworker who is a fellow knitter and we often talk about our projects and bring them in, although she almost always has some sort of project, whereas pre-Ravelry I could go months between mine.  A couple months ago she signed up for a top down sweater knitting class.  Not long after I started a hat for Paul-John.  This has provided constant conversation, since she had never done top down before, and I made my first (crochet) top down cardigan and a top down sweater (currently hibernating) just last winter.  She has never done fair isle knitting and this was my first foray into it, so a lot of excitement all around about new techniques.  

In this time she has finished two entire sweaters, and I am halfway done with this hat.  I have always been a slow knitter, but this also includes the time it took to design a pattern (I have made plenty of hats just winging it, but this turned out to be a completely different monster) make half a hat, frog, redesign, and am now once again only about halfway done.  Still, she has knitted two entire sweaters, and all I have is half a hat.  

Since the pattern was visible enough to not look like just a lot of random color changes, I finally brought it into work.  Although proud enough of my work, on the needles and pre-blocking it is pretty bumpy and not necessarily as awe inspiring as i expect it to be when finished.  Even still, Nancy was very impressed with my technique and just as impressed with the pattern (yes, dorky enough to bring in my excel worksheet) and the fact that I designed it myself.   She asked me to show her how I hold both strands, and I felt much too clever showing her my top thread and bottom thread and I how turn them in opposite directions in order not to twist them, and she said it made so much sense now that she has seen it in person.  She was even impressed with how the inside looked.  

And although ripping out the first hat nearly crushed my spirit, it really did help in the long run.  Revamping the pattern meant shorter carries, and more intuitive knitting with less time looking at the pattern.  And I am much more comfortable holding both strands while knitting instead of dropping the one I wasn't using and trying to guess how long the slack should be when its picked back up.  I am now zooming along - halfway done in rounds, but only 5 rounds away from decreasing, at which point it should really take off.   

Originally my goal was to finish the hat by next weekend, but based on my progress, I'm hoping to move that up a couple days.  Tuesday would be awesome, but I'll aim for Wednesday.

Great day

The past two days are the type of days when I seriously consider spending all of my extra cash on scratch-off lotto tickets mixed with an occasional trip to the casino until I hit it big enough to no longer work full-time.  

Yesterday I made my second batch of jam - strawberry kiwi - and felt much more confident about the consistency when I was ladling it into the jars.  I also finally found time to re-block my cardigan, which I had been putting off because I knew I wouldn't be wearing it anyways, and finally finished charting out the design for Paul-John's hat.  And, of course, started a new blog.  

This morning started out fantastic, with coffee and a toasted plain bagel with cream cheese and... raspberry peach jam!  It had set perfectly, was slightly tart due to the lack of sugar, but tasted great with cream cheese on a bagel.  There is nothing like starting the day with a delicious breakfast and a great self-esteem boost.  I got a solid five rounds done on the hat, watched some Olympic ping pong, and took photos of the cardigan and updated Ravelry.  I am feeling productive and satisfied.

Pump up the jam!

I decided to start fresh in the blogging world.  My livejournal was too pathetic and was acting as anti-inspiration, so here I am.  

Yesterday I made jam for the first time!  This was something I had wanted to try for some time, and I was surprised by how simple the process was.  However, the jam is still cooling/setting so I am not sure how successful I was, especially considering that I did not completely follow the directions but wanted to get creative.

My first batch was raspberry peach.   I bought the no sugar needed pectin, which recommends using fruit juice or Splenda instead of the massive amounts of sugar normally needed.   I decided to use raspberry wine and a tiny bit of honey and cinnamon.  This sounded delicious but even after boiling longer than the recipe called for it never seemed to thicken, so I am going to let it sit a little bit longer before I open the first jar.  Today I will be making strawberry kiwi and have already decided to use less liquid than yesterday, but I am still going to use the wine.