A (triumphant?) Return

Hi guys! Well, the good news is I thought I hadn't posted in over a year, but really it's only been since May so its not quite as bad as I originally thought. Just to kick things off right, here's the quick and dirty update on what's been going on that has been keeping me away from updating...

• I actually haven't done ANY knitting since my last update. That kinda makes me sick to my stomach, and was part of the catalyst that is getting me back to the blogging lifestyle
• I've managed to lose more than 20 lbs!
• I started eating based on the "Paleo Diet"and it makes me feel fabulous. I'll try not to soapbox about it, but it's pretty fantastic, and I need to do some experimenting with more gluten-free baking which could make for some hilarious kitchen disasters that you could get some kicks out of.
• I've gotten really in to rock climbing, best couple's workout ever.
• I'm still rocking school, but I've had to dial it back to half time rather than full time. I'm still rocking back and forth between focusing on entrepreneurship or accounting, and have come to accept that I'll never know what I want to be when I grow up and that's okay.
• I'm super obsessed with Pinterest (follow me here) and I think I might have to do some posts on what crafts/home made cleaners I've tried.
• I'm trying to work on focusing on my appearance more, I don't want to say I'm terrible at being a girl, but taking time to wash my face, do my hair and nails, or put on makeup are pretty far down on my list. I get compliments every time I take the time to do it, so that should be some indication.
• Just crossed the two year anniversary line with Dear Husband, and we're rounding the bases on two years in our little starter home. Now it's time to fix ALL the things!

And if you hung in there for all that, here are some happy cat pictures that sum up the rest of my life.

WIP - Firey Redhead Lace

So my knitting escapades this holiday weekend included my first foray into full blown lace knitting...

Doesn't look like much yet without blocking, but it is B-E-A-Utiful.

This started back in late February when the lovely Ruth over at Rock & Purl (likely the reason a lot of you are reading this blog now) included me for the test knit of this pattern. I got almost through the end of the bottom chart back then, but I was so woefully off there was no saving it, and it took me a while after that first frogging to pick it back up. I think where I went wrong the first time was I wasn't concentrating enough (we had just started watching LOST) so my pattern got all wonky.

But now, with the help of the holiday weekend and Top Gear marathon all day yesterday I got through the bottom chart, and once I get through some more of the body I'll pin it up on some blocking pins and show off Ruth's beautiful Maighdean Mhara pattern. I am so loving the Knit Picks hand dyed Gloss on this pattern, it's just variegated to add some movement to the pattern, but not distract from it.

So loving it! See the Ravelry Project Page here.

Whole Food Lifestyle

So it's been a while. I could make excuses about working full time and going to school, but we're all busy and no one cares how busy someone else is because fuck it, who isn't?

Let's talk about this instead...

That's my first bag of pre-season CSA goodness. We have a little bit of lettuce, bac choi, mustard greens, and swiss chard in there (most of which will likely go to the bunny because he freaking loves romaine lettuce and I dare say he's never had it this fresh) as well as garlic scapes and zucchini. I'm mostly excited about the scapes which I've never seen before.

Turns out if you cut the bits of the garlic that grows above ground before it flowers, you can chop it up and use just like garlic. I took a bite while I was on the farm, and they are not lying! Packed with garlic flavor, but I think it's best you peel the first layer off before using. The texture of the skin was similar to the woody part of asparagus and no one needs that, but the inside was soft and delicious like garlic.

We also decided to split a cow we lovingly named Maggie with four friends, and husband and I offered to take the bones to make stock. Little did we know that it would be like 50 lbs of bone. More on the adventures of trying to figure out what the hell do to with all of those bones to come.

What are some of your favorite beef & veggie based recipes? Because we are going to be drowning in both and I couldn't be happier!

The Trouble with Long Weekends

I love a long weekend. They're always so full of opportunity and promise & I always think I can squeeze so much more into each of them than is even approaching reasonable. For instance things that I've added at one point or another to my want to-do list for today include...

• Going to IKEA to get new duvet covers
• Getting into my new office to make sure everything is set up correctly
• Going out to lunch with my mom (this is probably a bad idea)
• Visiting Salvation Army to see if I can find any good sweaters to pull yarn from
• Going to the fabric store to ogle beautiful prints
• Try an awesome yarn dyeing technique I saw in a tutorial
• SO MUCH KNITTING
• Plan out my blog posts for next month
• Do some freezer cooking

Now the first 3 will defiantly be happening & the knitting is naturally a given too. The rest remain to be seen... If only I could have a 5 day weekend and a 2 day work week just for a week. I'd catch up on so much.

What are you doing with your extra day this week?

Love List - Paper

This past Tuesday, yes Valentine's Day, was my first anniversary. Dear Husband sent me an edible arrangement at work (which I may or may not have hinted heavily would be better than flowers) and then made me a fantastic steak dinner. It was a fantastic day, and I love the idea of giving gifts based on tradition, so this is a love list in honor of my paper anniversary.

If I had remembered this existed in my Etsy favorites soon enough this Love Calender would have been the most perfect one year Anniversary present! Keep track of a year by the amount of love you share every day. Sounds pretty romantic to me.

If we had gone with a traditional wedding, these are the invitations I would have used. Inviting Moments have so many amazing invitation sets! For all my friends who are getting married soon, check them out, I'm willing to bet there's something there you'll love!

This Star Wars/Death Cab for Cutie love mash-up is one of the best cards I've seen in a long time. Husband introduced me to this song, so it has a special place in my heart.

My favorite Fiber Farm has gotten into card making recently and I'm totally in love with this Sheep Squad notecard set.

Finally this is what I actually got Husband for our anniversary. My in-laws got us a grill for Christmas and Husband loves Bobby Flay so this one was a no brainer for me.

What are you in love with right now? Any favorite paper crafts/paper gifts you've seen recently?

Delancey KAL - Week One

I dunno about everyone else, but Blue Mountain has finally decided that it's winter. The snow we got wasn't so bad, but the cats and I really didn't appreciate the gusting winds blowing the front door (which mind you has a storm door in front of it) wide open all night. My poor oldest kitty spent the night under the comforter with me because I thought the heat had just broken again and that's why the house was so cold.

Oh hey Winter! There you are!

So a cold, snowy weekend combined with the fact that dear husband is away on a boys hunting weekend made for a TON of awesome knitting time. Mainly on The Sweatshop of Love's Winter KAL featuring the sweetly retro Delancey Cardigan by Alexis Winslow.

I've cast on for the largest size of her standard pattern in a beautiful Wool/Alpaca/Silk dk I'd never heard of before called Balmoral.

Thank god for helpful LYS Ladies!

Even though I had been planning on going with the pattern photo combination of orange and white I'm totally loving this natural and navy blue combination. It's almost gives a South Western vibe to the sweater & I could use a little desert warmth in my freezing house right now.

Panels!

I love a good mitered square pattern, which is kinda what these two bottom panels are, and the same principles of combined increases and decreases carry throughout the pattern to make those iconic bias stripes.

I am soooooo in love with this yarn and color combo!

Our goal for this week was to make it to row 54 and I decided to go ahead and knit to row 56 so I'd have 2 solid rows connecting my two bottom panels.

You know you have a problem when...

I may or may not have been up until 2 AM working on my newly cast on Aidez... and I may or may not have needed to get up for work at 530. Gonna be a rough day.

Beautiful 1x1 ribbing

However, I'm gonna call it totally worth it. I love the beautiful Knit Picks cadet blue that I'm working in, and I can't resist a highly complicated chart pattern. And since I'm doing this following the Sweatshop of Love KAL that I originally bought this yarn for, I've cast on the whole body at once which includes 9 different sections of reasonably complex cabling/stitchery. The thing that made the whole thing possible is the fantastic guide that Allyson made to follow all three body sections at once.

And even though I have no photographic evidence of it; I ACTUALLY SWATCHED! This is going to be a lesson in loose tension for me 'cause the only circulars I have were 10s when the pattern calls for a 10 1/2. (and I'm too cheap to buy new ones right now)

What did you do during the Super Bowl yesterday?