A blog about my life, knitting, and other stuff.

August 30, 2010

On the Road

I'm on vacation for a few more days. I'll update when I get back.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

August 26, 2010

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

One day, at a knitter's house...

"Hmmm. I want to knit a sweater. Let's see. Ravelry search. Yoke sweaters. Oh, that's a nice one. Put that in favorites. Scrolling...scrolling...Oh dear God! What happened??"



Someone get that model out of the woods before that tree eats the rest of her!

August 24, 2010

Quick Pickles



I'm a little late getting on the preserving bandwagon. It seems everyone I know virtually or in real life has been pickling and canning and generally preserving a bounty of delicious foods. I'm still a little scared of the whole canning process (heat plus glass plus botulism = scary to me) but I saw people talking about quick pickles and finally decided to try it. I blogged a little about our first attempt here. I found using a 50/50 white vinegar/water combo for the brine had more kick than I wanted. Sunday night we took a bag of pickling cukes, sliced them and put them in jars with fresh dill, peppercorns and a bay leaf, made some brine (just took a wild guess at the salt), poured the hot brine over the mixture, let it cool and refrigerated. I cracked one open this morning and they are delicious! Bright, crunchy, flavorful. Love them.

We also grabbed a bag of small sweet peppers and did roughly the same thing. We added red onion, garlic and a little jalapeno to each jar. I don't know how they taste yet but they sure are pretty.

August 23, 2010

Oh. My. God.



I'd list all the things wrong with this but my head just exploded.

August 22, 2010

Another List of Stuff

  1. Thank you for all the anniversary wishes. Wes and I celebrated on Saturday by having a delicious dinner at the always fabulous Dahlia Lounge. Dahlia never fails. Tom Douglas just opened a new restaurant by Pike Place Market called Seatown Snack Bar that has take away and dine in.

  2. Then we went to see Ira Glass at Benaroya Hall. If you don't listen to This American Life, you should. It is an hour of radio (or podcast) that is guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and think. Sometimes all at once.

  3. I took my older son with some of his friends to see Scott Pilgrim. Again. I really enjoyed it the second time two.

  4. Audrey in Unst is getting to look like a sweater.


  5. Based on your enthusiasm, I bought the dress from last week. I was going to wear it out last night but as I was getting ready to go--thankfully, before I cut off the tags--I noticed that there was something wrong with the sleeve lining that made it hang down below the hem. I'll have to return it. Too bad. I got it at Macy's. You can get one for yourself if you're interested.

August 21, 2010

I'm Skeptical



Over 40 millionn people bought these CDs to learn Bulgarian? I think I'd like to see that data.

August 20, 2010

Sweet Sixteen

Wes and I got married on this day sixteen years ago. I don't have a cute photo to show of us, mere children, dressed for the special day because I've been married since before the invention of digital photography.

Wes grabbed this Twitter conversation from yesterday for his blog.

rosekimknits: Hey @weskimcom, Nordstrom is playing our wedding song. :)
weskimcom: @rosekimknits Boom, Boom (Let's Go Back To My Room)?
rosekimknits: @weskimcom Ah, the memories.

(Note: He's just kidding. Our wedding song was Fly Me To The Moon.)

August 19, 2010

What is the World Coming to?

10-year-old accused of armed robbery

"Seattle police say this isn't the first time they've encountered the 10-year-old. They say he has a history of assault and robbing people with a pellet gun."

August 17, 2010

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

Perhaps you've heard of Laver's Law.

Indecent 10 years before its time
Shameless 5 years before its time
Outré (Daring) 1 year before its time
Smart Current Fashion
Dowdy 1 year after its time
Hideous 10 years after its time
Ridiculous 20 years after its time
Amusing 30 years after its time
Quaint 50 years after its time
Charming 70 years after its time
Romantic 100 years after its time
Beautiful 150 years after its time

He forgot 5 years after its time: Redorkulous.



Paisley in fun fur, spotted at Nordstrom for $288!

This one's from the same company.



It's like a sane, decent sweater being attacked from the rear by another much uglier sweater. I don't think Laver has a law for this.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

As I walked to get a coffee the other day I passed a sandwich board for a bar by the shop. I was really pleased that they have finally stopped spelling "tacos" with an apostrophe. When I walked back to the shop with my drink I saw the reverse side of the board.



I'm sure they were thinking, "An N goes in there somewhere."

August 15, 2010

So Much Stuff

I keep blogging things. But only in my mind. So here's just a list of a bunch of stuff I've been wanting to share.
  1. The pickles from last week came out really great. We pickled thinly sliced raw beets based on this recipe. We used a jalapeno instead of Thai chiles. They are sweet and really crispy. We've been enjoying them (probably too much) with feta and crackers. Goat cheese would be great too but we had the feta already. The radishes were done based on this recipe. We put radishes, red onion, jalapeno and garlic in together. The white vinegar/water brine has a really potent, nose stinging kick. Not bad but strong. I think I'd like a wine vinegar or cider vinegar next time. We're not eating the garlic because it's still a big chunk of raw garlic but the onions and chiles mellowed a lot.

  2. Angry Birds is super-addictive. Like really, really addictive. Wes and I were up until nearly 2:30 last playing. Neither of us are terribly proud of this.

  3. We went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on Friday. We all loved it. If you like rock, comic books, Michael Cera, and/or video games this is a really fun time at the movies. We liked it so much that we bought the entire set of the books and got the soundtrack.

  4. We also went to see Toy Story 3 again. We did it mainly to get out of the heat but, damn, what a great film. I wept uncontrollably for the last 15 minutes again.

  5. We hid out at the mall today so I played dress up tried on clothes. I found the perfect Joan Holloway dress.



    Sadly I have nowhere I could ever wear this dress unless I suddenly start working at a law firm or go back in time. It's so hard to find a dress with sleeves that's flattering to a full figure.

  6. My kingdom for a shirt that doesn't have jewels, beads or twelve pounds of ruffles on it! The pickings are so slim right now. At least the colors this season are more reasonable. Lots of soft grays and medium blues and none of that coral and screaming teal from last summer. I went into Banana Republic today and it looks like the entire shop was designed by Leanne from season 5 of Project Runway. All of this reminded me of here work in terms of the color palette and the soft ruffles. I think I might try adding some ruffles or rosettes or something to some of my shirts that I've gotten stains on. Better than throwing them out, right?

  7. Gosh, it's hot.

Entering a Blue Period


Audrey in Unst


Cabled Beret from Knitting 24/7

August 12, 2010

Don't Tell Me My Dog Isn't Dumb

I was standing in front of George when a piece of cereal fell out of my bowl and landed on the floor just inches from him. He stared off into space. I tapped my foot on the floor next to the piece of cereal as that is the international human to dog signal that there is something yummy to be eaten that the human is unwilling to bend over and pick up. He stared off into space. Isabella, who had been asleep on the second floor of the house, heard the tapping, woke up, came downstairs and ate the piece of cereal while George still just stood there. What a dummy.

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

First, can I get some applause for remembering that today is Thursday? Kidding. Sorry again about last week.

Now, I know you've all been dying to discuss this.



I think we can all agree that there is a potentially cool way to incorporate the Union Jack into a sweater design. In fact a quick peek on Google shows me several options. (Though for whatever reason many of them are for dogs and one is a thong. Shrug.) I think the essential issue is simple math. A sweater that is more than twice as wide as it is long than it will not be cute on anyone. And how long do you think those sleeves are? They must be about 4" which, I'm guessing, is why you can't see them in the photos. It would be much faster and simple to paint a flag on a shipping box and just wear that.

August 10, 2010

Eliina





Pattern: Eliina
Yarn: 2 skeins Dye Dreams Luster Sox
Needles: US7 Addi Turbo Lace
Notes: I knit this exactly as written except used SSK instead of SKP. I love the size of it. I know small shawls are all the rage but there's something to be said for a big shawl you can wrap yourself in. After blocking the yarn has wonderful drape.

August 8, 2010

A Town Called Malice Panic



We all watched A Town Called Panic (Panique au village) tonight. It's on Netflix Watch Instantly now and we had missed it when it made a brief appearance in the theaters here. It's a quite zany, French stop-motion animated story of a horse, cowboy and Indian that live together. When 50 million bricks accidentally get delivered all hell breaks loose. We all loved it. It has a Pee Wee's Playhouse vibe to it but is far more surreal. It's subtitled so not for really little ones and there are a few uses of mild curses like "hell" and "bastard." But we all laughed quite a lot and did not know what would happen next!

Unfortunately I can't get The Jam's Town Called Malice out of my head now.

Things That Turned My Hands Red Today

Eliina



Her rinse water



Radishes for pickling



The beets made them reddest of all

August 6, 2010

More Reasons I'm a Terrible Mother

  1. Younger son order Buttermilk Pancakes for brunch. On the check it was abbreviated as BUTT CAKES. I laughed for about five minutes.
  2. Older son was picking fruit out at the grocery store. He said he liked under-ripe nectarines because, "they're hard and chewy." Without thinking about it I responded, "That's what she said!" Then I laughed for about five minutes.
Can I chalk these up to fatigue?

Vogue Fall Preview

It's up. What do we think? I'm seeing some good and some bad.

Was Thursday Yesterday?

Crap. Sorry, guys. This week has been busybusybusy. I'll try to get you a little Thursday on Friday later today.

August 3, 2010

August 1, 2010

I Almost Feel Bad About It

Older son is fired up to get an iPod Touch. I said that would be fine if he could save enough money. He has a notoriously bad track record for being incapable of saving money. He saves for a little while then decides he wants something else and spends then laments not being able to get the big ticket item. This time he is being a lot more determined. Last week he helped me with my office for nearly three hours. This week he wondered what he could do around the house for some extra money. He suddenly seized upon an idea.

"I can clean the toilets! Will you pay me 50 cents to clean the toilets?"

I suppressed a grin and agreed to pay him 50 cents if he cleaned all three toilets knowing he would never do it.

"Would you pay me 75 cents if I cleaned the shower and bathtub too?"

"Sure, honey."

Well, yesterday he cleaned all the toilets. He didn't do a very good job but, hey, for 50 cents...Then this morning he wanted to clean the shower. As he's up there scrubbing away and I'm down here casting on a new hat I almost feel bad about it.

Older son now says he wants to be paid a dollar for it. I can live with that.