The Great Yarn Re-Org of 2009

Friday night we had our dinner club, with a "Hawaiian" theme. To be honest, I'm usually really good with all the foodie stuff but was short of ideas on what to bring to this one. Since I didn't think the hosts would appreciate a Slow-cooked Hawaiian Kalua Pig in their backyard, I settled for an old favorite with a new twist. I found this recipe for Sake-Soy Guacamole in one of my Sunset magazines. It was by a Hawaiian chef so that counts, right?

I didn't catch a photo of it but I HIGHLY recommend it. It still has all that avocado-yumminess you expect from Guac, but with a smoother, tangier (is that a word?) taste. Served it with Tarro chips, but I think it would have been really yummy with the veggies suggested as well.

Before the dinner, I spent my Friday afternoon organizing, photographing, and Ravelring (I making up words left and right today!) my entire yarn stash.

BEFORE:




AFTER:





Check out the fruits of my labor over here at Ravelry. I also have about 15 projects lined up with yarn I already have, so let's see how far I can make it into the year without buying yarn.

Saturday the spring cleaning continued into our closets. However the effort was somewhat deterred by a phone call from a friend inviting us up to the lake on their boat. How do you say NO to that?



Katy came along and got to try out her new life vest.





Sunday was Mother's Day and we spent some time visiting with M's mom and Grandma, then headed to my mom's house for dinner. I was in charge of dessert, and brought Mimosa Granita, served with Vanilla Ice Cream & Strawberries. Highly recommended, especially if you live somewhere like the Central Valley and it's already 85 degrees at 8pm.

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In other news, I have been getting a mad, mad itch to start sewing again. My sewing machine has been buried in our spare bedroom but it is actually starting to see the light of day thanks to our weekend clean-up. I've been seeing this top popping up all over blogland and I LOVE it - I could see myself wearing it all summer long. I'm hoping I will have a few hours on my hands this week/end to give it a whirl...

"Honey, How Much Yarn Did You Buy This Month?"

That's always a good question to be greeted with when you walk through the front door.

In my defense, I needed to order from two different sources, Knit Picks and Webs. It's pure coincidence they showed up on the same day.


9 balls Swish Superwash in Truffle, for a Vest for my dad


8 hanks Berroco Seduce in Vintage White, for Pucker.

And I'm not going to lie, I am little bit concerned that 8 balls that are this size:

are actually going to create a garment that will cover my D's. I guess I've gotta trust Norah on this one.

And by the way, I LOVE Norah Gaughan Vol 4. Love it. I've got about 4 of the other designs floating around in my head.

I Don't Remember Alpaca Itching Like This

Writing from work today because I am waiting for my computer to copy about 15 memory sticks. Fun.

Wearing the Minimalist Cardigan to work today, and I am ready to scratch my arms off. I do not remember Alpaca being this itchy.

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In unrelated news, I've finally worked out the details for my DH's next sweater. I am going to be knitting him Beau from Rowan Vintage Knits. I even splurged and bought him the nice yarn for it (Rowan Scottish Tweed in Navy).


The goal is to have it done in time for our Italy trip in mid-February. I should be getting the yarn by the end of the week, so I'll probably cast that on this weekend.

And of course, I couldn't resist this bargain when I found it. I picked up 12 balls in Antique for Laurent from the same book.



I am leaving the flowers and the belt off. This project will probably come with me on the plane for loooong flight to Europe.

Anyhow... that's it for now. I almost forgot about the itching for a minute but it's back now. Must remember to wear long sleeves under this thing from now on....

Weekend Roundup

I have lots and lots to talk about today! First up, the wedding. Ah Santa Barbara, how do I love thee. My friend's wedding was AWESOME, the weather was GORGEOUS, and it was great to see so many old friends.

We may have done tequila shots by this point!

I also found out my friend Mitch (well actually it's Michelle, but we all called her Mitch. And they called me Peter. Don't ask.) is a knitter as well. She saw a couple photos I had on MySpace and was delighted that our post-college days had both led us to the needles. Her husband and Matt didn't think it was entertaining as we did.

The wedding was on Friday, so Saturday we headed to downtown SB and walked around, then had lunch at one of my favorite places from college. We then went and drove around Isla Vista, saw the old sorority house, and stopped at Robert Hall Winery.

Perhaps the best stop on the trek home was at a place called BB Knits I had heard about, and when I went to their website I found out that the owner was retiring and everything in the store was 50% off. Uh, AWESOME!


~ 4 balls Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky for matching Cal/UC Davis Hats for Dad & I (a long overdue gift I have been promising for like 2 years )
~ 4 balls RYC Luxery Cotton for the latest bun in a friend's oven (which is a delicious yarn, and the cardi has already been started here)
~ 4 hanks Inca Alpaca in a Dark Green for Matt's next pair of socks (I'm thinking Log Cabin Socks)

I bought the yummy yarn for Matt as a thank you for this:


He built me a swift so he didn't have to listen to me cussing up a storm everytime I got my yarn in knots trying to hand crank it. Of course, his yarn was the first to take a spin and it works perfectly.

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I knit up almost one whole ball of Gloss this weekend, between the drive to SB and trying to work out the wedding guest list on Sunday - people aren't kidding when they say that it is the worst part of planning a wedding (we have a hall that only holds so many people and our current list greatly exceeds that number). Let the good times roll.

I'm Going After Knit Picks With a Camera and Proper Lighting

Two massive boxes of yarn arrived this week. One was stuffed to the brim (it literally exploded when I opened it) with Lion Jiffy, and the other was from the binger about a week ago. And of course, i've been dupped by Knit Picks AGAIN. Behold the recent purchase (a mini-version, of course):



I love the Pumpkin/Gloss and Cinnamon/Andean Silk, but that "Coal" is not as it appears on the site AT ALL (although it seems there are new pictures there today. GAH!). With the flash it looks sorta grey, like it used to online, but it is definitely jet-black in person. I'm debating sending it back for a lighter color, or holding onto it for a future project. I sort of hate the post office so the latter of the two sounds more appealing.

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I'm also harboring a mad-love for buttons these days:



The toggles are for Glee and the small irridecent ones are for jazzing up a blouse but the rest, Uh, they were purty?