An Evening with Debbie Stoller

WARNING: Lots of pictures in this post.

Woo-hoo! I got to meet Debbie Stoller tonight and she signed my Stitch n Bitch book. We had a little happy hour get-together at City Knitting, thanks Lorilee! followed by a trip to Schuler Books on 28th St for Debbie's introduction of her new book and some book signing. It was way fun!

Debbie Stoller, Kim, Lorilee, someone I don't know and Jessica! (italicized people are the fabulous City Knitting crew)

Debbie brought a few items to show us from her new Son of Stitch n Bitch book including this beautiful double knit argyle scarf.Leslie (sorry if I've misspelled your name) modeled this cute hat.

And just to prove I was there, that's me cheesin in the background, looking like I was actually involved in the conversation, lol. Notice how Debbie and I both chose red for the evening. hehe

Lorilee presented Debbie with her very own Know Your Cuts t-shirt and tote bag. Doesn't she look surprised?!

I believe a fun time was had by all.

I'll leave you with one last pic from Schuler's.

please ignore the head in the center of the picture :-)

FOs and a special evening

Hello evrybodee!

Debbie Stoller is coming to town! I can't wait for Wednesday to get here. Stitch n Bitch is the first knitting book I ever purchased and I'll be standing in line to have it signed, you bet! There's a little happy hour celebration at City Knitting before the book signing at Schuler Books and that should be great fun too.

I've been off work since last Wednesday and guess what I've been doing...besides eating and raking leaves...

KNITTING!!! 3 hats, thanks canKNITian for the pattern, and a Ballband dishcloth. And I've gotten 12 more rows done on my EZ ASJ. Nothing like a weekend of power knitting to get that old carpal tunnel syndrome flared up! lol Where's the ibuprofen?!








I really like the yarn in the red one and the green one. It's Schulana Colardino. I found it at my LYS but this eBay link has a good picture of the yarn.





Here's a closer up look at the hats...

I've decided that if I make any more with that pattern they'll be in solid color yarn so you can see the cables better. I just couldn't resist the colors of the Colardino though.

Now I'm working on a teeny tiny sweater ornament with my leftover Ice Cream Sundae yarn from the Neopolitan Monkey that I made. I really need to get busy on the Monkey's mate but there are so many other things to work on right now, waaaaa.

So, it's been a lot of years since we've had a Christmas tree, other than the 2 ft tree I keep in a garbage bag in the basement, completely lit and decorated, and I'm wondering how long a tree will last once you cut it down. I'd really like to have a real tree this year with lots of pretty decorations and lights but I really hate cleaning up all those needles when you drag it out of the house the week after the holiday. Anybody got any ideas on that?

Thanks for stoppin by. Have a great week and knit somethin.

Food & Family & a Beautiful Day

The Saint said goodbye to Mr. Turkey's paleness on a beautiful 2007 Thanksgiving morning...
all those leaves fell in about 2 hours yesterday

40 minutes in the fryer...








en voila! A golden brown tasty turkey!


Best turkey I ever ate!

My little helper, Rena, showed up to help with the last few preparations for the big feast. Thanks, Rena, I couldn't have done it without you. Seriously.

I think we used about every pot in the house by the time we were finished. It's a good thing we had 5 burners and 2 ovens, lol.

And, of course, you can't have a feast without a few of The Saint's favorite beverages...

The meal and the day were both unbeatable. We fed 12 here at Chez B.

Chef Wes (Rena's husband) came by around 6 and picked up his to-go boxes. He was finally finished with his day at work. He started at 4am and cooked 20...yes 20...18 lb turkeys and fixin's to go with 'em for the members at the country club where he is Exec Chef. He looked tired but I'll bet there were 250 or so well fed folks at the club. We're super proud of him and what he does. That man makes the best hummus on the earth!

Hope all of you had just as good a day. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's turkey day stories this weekend.

I've been knitting like crazy but can't post pictures though cause they're gifts for possibly lurking children, he he.

Have a great weekend and be sure to squeeze some knitting in between the shopping trips!

My first (and probably only *sniff*) baby hat...

Ta-da! I made this hat for my business manager's granddaughter. She couldn't find a hat small enough for her so I volunteered to knit one. She took it home today to see how it fit. I hope it will be perfect. Since Rena says she's not having any children I have to live precariously through others, ROFL.

Warning for Cass, cover your eyes and skip this next part...

Are you covering your eyes, yet? Ok, now scroll really fast past this next part and maybe you'll miss the picture of the dreaded meatiness to follow. lol Love you, have a great Thanksgiving. Here's a pretty lava lamp picture for you to enjoy before you get to the meat that I know you don't want to see. Doesn't it sort of look like a tornado? ok, are you scrolling yet? go!















Say hello to my little friend...
yep, thats Mr. Turkey, nervously awaiting the fryer tomorrow morning, mwa-ha-ha-ha, nevermind that bottle of sangria peaking out in the lower left corner. That's for later.

Yep, he's an organically grown, freshly murdelized turkey from one of our local growers, Heritage Acres Farm. He looks like a pretty nice one too. Let's hope he's really tasty. The Saint will be dropping him into the hot peanut oil tomorrow about 12:30 and we'll be feasting by 1:30, mmm-mmm.

And this is my frequently requested, crack-like substance called Pumpkin Apple Spice bread. More like cake you can eat with your hands than bread though. It has 2 1/2 cups of sugar in it and it is topped with brown sugar crumbly stuff! Yikes! And Granny Smith apples and a can of pumpkin. Mmm, it's tasty. You just can't stop with one piece of this stuff. It's very moist and has lots of those seasonings you associate with Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie.



And I'll leave you with this one more interesting photo of The Saint's favorite lamp. He looked up the other night and said, "look, we have our own little tornado"... m'yeah. Whatchu think?



You have to use a little imagination but I could totally see it that night. Maybe you just had to be there, lol.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

hats, dogs and yarny thoughts

I found the pattern here. Super quick to knit. I used the same yarn as the twisted cable mitts that I had knit previously using the hand spun yarn from the Farmer's Market. It turned out to be the perfect color for The Saint.

This picture shows the color more accurately...


Today I'll be parked on my favorite knitting chair finishing a baby hat for a co-worker's grandchild. My first baby hat and probably not my last. Found the pattern on Ravelry. Hopefully by the end of the day it will be complete and I'll have something else for show and tell.

The sun is shining brightly today, yay! Gives me a little extra energy. These dreary days really sap your ambition don't they? The Saint is off to get his "mystery meat" to make head cheese. A yearly ritual. Ew. Let me stop a minute and go wash my brain of that image...k, phew, that's better. I heard him on the phone taking orders for the mysterious loaves from family members yesterday. Glad to know it won't all be staying here ;-)

Let's look at some yarn!

I wound these up yesterday while Max was at the groomer doesn't she look lovely?

Oh, sorry, I get sidetracked very easily...back to the yarn...

I think I'll have my own little sock-a-palooza. Simple rib cuff on 2 circs I should be able to do a pair a week and have a nice new sock wardrobe by the end of the year, ROFL, ya, we all know I'll get sidetracked by 15 other projects along the way but it sounds good doesn't it?

I especially love the yarn in the middle...that's a cake of Yarn Love Scarlett O'Hara in Milk Chocolate, mmmm I picked it up at my favorite LYS. On the bottom is the TV Yarn that Amy sent me, hey Amy, for the Coffee Knitters Swap version 1, top of pic is the Claudia Hand Painted I purchased at the Michigan Fiber Fest down in Allegan.

Second pose of yarn... Don't you think they'll all look spiffy in my Mary Janes?
Socks without feet just don't have much photographic appeal :-)

No news about our friend Ron. We have to assume that since we haven't heard anything that his status is the same. Thank you for your kind words and thoughts this past week. Hopefully we'll get some better news soon.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are inclined to celebrate the holiday. We're expecting about 11 here for fried turkey and roasted potatoes, mmm-mmm!

Thank You Veterans!

On this day, set aside to recognize our brave veterans I'd like to say THANK YOU!!! for my freedom to live and think as I please, where I please, and with whom I please.

And especially to my very own veteran...


Thanks, honey, for risking your life in the jungle, so far away from home, so many years ago.

Meet my new little friend

The Irish Hiking Scarf...(all the photos can be biggie-sized by giving them a click)


knitting with Philosopher's Wool that has a pretty high lanolin content and smells like it is barely removed from the sheep, lol. So for a few days I'll have "sheepy" hands. It isn't labeled so I have no idea what the color is other than heathered green. The above picture represents the color pretty well on my monitor. The wool is course with a few tiny bits of dried grass in it. The bits of grass make for some scratchiness but it looks very natural, lol. My tree-hugging, earth-girl, friend Deb asked if I was making it for her for Christmas, I'm giving that some serious thought, heh.

Since it's just practice the scratch isn't a big deal. I think my hands are getting immune to it as they don't seem to be complaining as much today as they did a couple days ago. I love this pattern. It's super simple with an 8 row repeat and the yarn I'm using is springy so it is making a very distinct cable and holding it's shape well.

Closer-up view with really crappy color...


In other news...I'm just about an inch from doing the toe decreases on my neopolitan Monkey.
I don't know why it's taking me so long to get these socks made. I love the yarn, the color of the yarn and the Monkey pattern...I just don't understand why I'm not working on them more. I think it's that darned ASJ blocking my progress, hee hee.

The rows on the ASJ are quite long now and a bit monotonous but I am plowing ahead in hopes of having a new sweater before Thanksgiving. I've made it to the neck opening rows so I really am making some good progress. I'm liking the color arrangement so far. Whatchu think?

Some of the boys from the "west side" got together at Chez B last night for Fish n' Spaghetti! A big THANKS goes to #2 daughter, Jaime for making the spaghetti, it was delish and Chef Wes, thanks for your contribution to the evening as well (wink-wink) A great time was had by all...notice the Temptations pose, ROFL.


There was, however, one missing...The Saint's very closest friend, Ron Clark was not able to attend the party as he is in a coma in a local hospital. He suffers from COPD and has had some serious medical challenges the past couple of weeks. When prayerful thoughts cross your mind in the next few days could you please add Ron to your list of recipients? His wife, their many children and grandchildren and the crew pictured above would really appreciate any help Ron can get in the good thoughts department. We're not ready to let our friend go yet, at 54 he's way too young, thanks for caring.

Malcom, The Saint and Ron in June '05 BFF!

Good-bye Peach Freeze...

Do you remember this little sweety? (click photos to biggie-size)

She's leaving tomorrow for a new home. I'm not sad. A co-worker visiting my home one evening saw it lying on the table and wanted to try it on.
It looked great on her and she said she would pay for the yarn and buy me a nice bottle of wine in exchange.
How could I pass up an offer like that?!

So I'll have some yarn money and she'll have a really cute Peach Freeze...doesn't get any better than that!

Well my friends, it's Sunday night and if you're a Food Network junkie like me, you know that means it's time for The Next Iron Chef competition. It's down to 2. And the one I picked from the beginning is one of them. I believe it's gonna be John Besh. He just has it all together in my opinion. This may not be a big deal to most of you but in my food and wine oriented world it's a pretty fascinating competition. If Food Network was the only channel my tv could get, it would be fine with me. lol The Saint may be a bit miffed, he'd have to watch all of his sports in the "boat barn", he he.

I've gotten a couple more stripes added to my ASJ and I'm pretty motivated to finish it since The Saint wants a new sweater before Spring, lol. I'll have to take out a bank loan to buy the yarn, ha ha! 2,320 yds of dk weight yarn. I would have liked to use Alpaca so he could feel the fabulousness of it but I just can't make that kind of investment for my first man-sweater :-)

I'll be making the Jersey Shore Weekender designed by Chris de Longpre with this yarn. It's a cotton/acrylic blend, the yarn that the pattern model was made with, but in a different color. A new adventure for the cold winter months.

This time change is kickin my butt. The dogs are all messed up too. I guess I better head for beddy-bye.

Everybody have a great week.

Oh, and Cass is having a contest to celebrate her 333rd post. Go check it out and tell her I sent you. There will be prizes!

FIADE booty, THANK YOU HEATHER!!!!!

What a fabulous box I found on my porch bursting with yarny goodness when we returned home from breakfast this morning!

See...

Heather A really spoiled me for the Fall Into Autumn Dishcloth Exchange. She knitted 3 dishcloths and a couple of Tribbles aren't they so cute?!

TWO sets of fabulous stitch markers,

check out her Etsy store and a super selection of Peaches and Cream cotton in some great Fall colors to knit up some dishcloths for myself or someone special. If you biggie-size the photos by clicking on them you can see the chocolate color yarn in the upper left corner.

As if that weren't enough she included note pads a pen and magnets also in a brown/gold/orange color scheme (my current fav) and a very nice bar of Citrus Spice handmade soap from The Parsonage.
Sorry for the blurry pictures, old eyes and a camera that has hit the floor at least 3 times, well, you know...

Hey Santa! Ally needs a new camera *hint-hint* LOL

This swap was great fun. Spoiling and being spoiled at the same time is a great concept.

I guess I'd better get busy on my Pay It Forward items before the next holidays get here. hee