I Love Yarn Day!!

Today was so much fun!  My mom and I got to Nature's Yarn a little after 10 so we were there when she first described how to do the knitted magic loop cast on, but the nice lady next to me helped me.  Once we got the hang of it we were then kicked out of the back room so people could use that table for making felted leaves.

I got to try Vickie Howell Craft(Ravelry link) yarn.  I love it.  It is made out of 35% milk fiber and 65% organic cotton.  Too bad I leaned that it is discontinued.  I also got to try square needles for the first time.

They were fun to use except that they were a tiny bit too short.  The end was right where the heel of my hand was, so I got a nice red area.
The pattern we used had both the knit and crochet versions on it.  Spice & Clove Knit and Crochet Pumpkins are too cute for words.

As usual, I don't know how to follow patterns.  I added more rows to the body, 14 instead of the 8 it calls for.  I also did not add the segments.  I just pulled the tail from the beginning through the middle and tied them tightly.  Instead of a regular stem I added a crochet spiral as a vine.  Where I tied the vine on looks a little like a tiny stem.

Last year there was a variety of dips and desserts.  This year there was only some donuts, coffee, and cider.  So I was very hungry after making my one pumpkin.  I might have started on the crochet version if there had been more to snack on.

I got two packages of gimbap (aka kimbap: 김밥).  I had it a while ago, but I didn't know what they were called.  The one on the left has the rice colored with wine.  It doesn't change the flavor too much, but I like the nice purple color.
The thing on top is the scarf part of the pattern I am writing.  It will be free, but I need to hurry and finish the samples so I can get a picture.  I can't wait to put it on Ravelry and see all the versions people make!

Tonight was pretty awesome!

Our Monday night knit group's size changes from time to time.  It tends to be bigger in the colder months and around holidays, in general.  There are also some nights we don't get to sit in our regular area because a large party has gotten there first and hasn't left when we start to show-up.  Tonight we were in the second large area, though before too long we spilled over into our normal area of Panera.  Someone who was not in our group was in the last table.  I don't know if the other guy knew him, but some muscley guy came by and ribbed the guy asking if he was learning how to knit.
So the guy with the big muscles ended-up sitting near the part of our group that was in our normal area.  After a bit of time we look over and he has scooted over on the bench and was being taught to knit.  A little bit later he even had one of the ladies take a picture of him with his knitting.
While that was awesome, that was not the only awesome thing that happened.  As we were knitting one of our regular people brought someone over and was talking.  I look up and was not sure I was seeing who I was seeing.  It was Tanis Gray!  She is on Knitting Daily and is also a very good designer(Raverly link).  I was very proud of myself because I didn't go crazy.  When she walked by my end of the table and we made eye contact I smiled and waved to her and she smiled and waved back.

In more news.  I am looking forward to I Love Yarn Day at Nature's Yarn on Friday.  I registered and everything!  If you are in the area I think you should come.  I want to learn how to make both the knit and crochet pumpkins.  I enjoy all things that have to do with pumpkins.

Anime USA 2014 report.

I love anime conventions.  Though what I do at them have changed over the years.  I used to take so many pictures, at least two disposable camera's worth.  Now I only take a few.  Though I never used to go with large groups of people, and now there are a lot of people I go with.  I don't mind the change really, though I would like to go back to cosplaying some more and taking more pictures.

I love seeing awesome costumes like this one.  She was the cutest Toothless I have ever seen!

This is something else I like to do at cons that I never did before.  The Maid Cafe.  I like getting the Omurice because the maid you get will draw on it with ketchup.

We got cute cupcakes this time.  I'm not sure what they used for the ribbon because it didn't taste like ceiling, but I really liked it.

One of the people I help during the con brought one of her new friends to join our little group.  She brought these.  They are good alone but taste even better with banana milk (which she also brought).

This isn't a food thing, but don't worry, we will get back to food soon.  Wait...isn't this a crafting blog and not a food blog...  Moving on!  This is the hat I started while at the con.  It is based on the faux brioche scarf my mom had found that I had figured out the pattern for.  It took me an oddly long time to try and figure out how to do it.  I was trying to picture it in my head and was having some sort of imagination block.  I then tried figuring it out on a piece of paper and it took me less than a minute.
I started this one more than once because the pattern looks like a ribbing so an inch of regular 2x2 ribbing looked like it was a bit much.

Here is more food!  I have seen the Eat Your Kimchi people eat this food and I've also seen it on Let's Eat(a very fun Korean drama).  I also got the kit to make it at home, but I wanted to taste the real thing myself.  Well, I got to!  There is a place called Lighthouse Tofu not too far from me that has a bunch of different kinds.  I dragged my co-worker with me, those are her hands and arms.
I think I really impressed some of the people who worked there.  I knew the egg went into the super hot soup(not shown) and about the rice to the side.  The rice with liquid to the right is the leftover bits of rice in with some water.  They combine together to make some burnt rice tea.  I was also explaining what the sides were to her.

This is a very short video of the soup.  You can see how hot it is.  I got the beef and pork version with a medium level of heat.  Next time I am going to get the beef and kimchi.  It was so good and it was the perfect level of spicy.  It also turned out that the kits were not too far off from the flavor of the one in the restaurant.
My co-worker wasn't too impressed by it, but I found out one of my convention friends now lives nearby.  I know he also likes food like this.  Much eating will happen.

Hurray for quick projects!

While I still love working on the shawl I designed, it is still a shawl.  I even saved the charts in a printer friendly version if I try and sell the pattern online.
If I had more time to knit and didn't have to do anything else, I would be a lot farther.  So instead of showing a picture of a very small shawl, I wanted to show you something done.  It also helped me since I was able to get this done very quickly.  There is nothing like those small projects when you feel like something else is dragging on.

The ball band gives you a pattern, but I didn't like the look of the finished product on the front.  My friend and I were wondering if not many of these yarn skeins sold because of that reason.

 Here it is on.  It really is nice and cushy.  I like how the Möbius style lets is lay flat.  My friend did some arm knitting with hers and she was able to make a full scarf out of it.
This is how I made it:
I cast on 5 sts and did seed stitch until I was almost out of yarn. I bound off, twisted one end once and sewed them together with the tail.

This is a Paula Red apple.  I thought it just looked so pretty I had to get some.  I did not like them.  I like my apples to be very crisp.  The crisper the better.  If I had checked online I would have learned that "it has a firm white flesh that becomes soft and mealy extremely quickly as its season declines."  Oopsies.

Buffets Everywhere!

 Image from the internet.

 Let me tell you a tale.  Years ago there were two buffet places right next to each other.  One went by the name of Super Buffet and the other by Total Buffet.  Super Buffet was where you went for Chinese food and Total Buffet was where you went for Korean BBQ.  Unlike most Korean BBQs, the meat was buffet style too.  You did not have to order one style of meat, everyone could choose their own.  The sweet beef and the spicy octopus were my favorites.  You could also get a few options of sushi to go with your amazing grilled meats.  There were not a ton of options, but there were enough.

 Image from the internet.

One day there was a ‘for sale‘ sign on the doors of Total Buffet.  Before too long another Korean BBQ place by the name of GA Go Pa moved in to the location.  It made sense, there were already burners at every table and vents above.  They were more like a typical Korean BBQ and made you choose what meats you wanted from a menu.  There was, however, a larger buffet area of other items.  Fried noodle bundles, more sushi, and even some desserts.  The major downside was the fact that the vents were not run the same way.  Instead of turning them on when someone was cooking at a table, each row would get a turn.  This did not work out since a few rows might not have people in them, but the vents would turn on for a set period of time.

  Image from the internet.

Since people did not like this, it has been replaced by yet another Korean BBQ.  From what I have read online, there is no buffet part anymore.

It follows the same idea.

Today will be blocking day!  Yay!  Though this sounds like a lot more will get done than probably will.  It doesn't help me that I only have one dedicated blocking spot and a few large things to block.  We will try and make this work.

I have watched this video about Korean Shabu Shabu a ton of times, it helps they are both funny and adorable together.  Each time I see it I not only think it is a very good idea, but I also get very hungry.  You use all the broth but don't have just one type of food.   I always feel like the broth part of your meal at The Melting Pot is always wasted.  You cook things in it, make it more interesting, then they take it away.

So I am going to do my own version on Shabu Shabu/Hot Pot!  It is not going to be me trying to replicate what I saw, but more use what I saw as guild line.

I first made the rice and set that off to the side since I will be using the same pot again.  Do you like my rice holding bowl?

I then made broth and heated it.  I don't have any thinly sliced beef, but I do have some bacon that is getting old and needed to be used up.  They also had some veggies, so I threw in dried shiitake mushrooms.

While I did not have thick noodles like they had, I had a package of Ramen.  I did not use the seasoning packet because I knew that the broth base and the bacon would have made the broth salty enough and I didn't have to add to it.  I added some spinach at the end so it would wilt a little but not become bitter.
In the picture is also the beginning of a shawl.  It only has one stitch marker at this point because I thought I had two on me when I started it at the K&CC meeting yesterday but turns out I only had one.

I then added the raw egg and rice and stirred to let it all cook together.  Mine did not get as thick as theirs, but looking back on the video it seems I had more broth left than they did.  I didn't put a lot of it into my noodles when I ate them.  Next time I know I can share more of the broth with the noodles.

For anyone who wants something like a recipe ingredient list, here is what I used:

• 2 c water
• 2 tsp Better Than Bullion veggie
• cooked rice (1/2 c uncooked rice cooked in 1 c water)
• 3 strips of bacon cut in half
• a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms
• big handful of spinach
• 1 egg

This was so good and things cooked a lot faster than I thought they would.  I'm pretty sure the time it took me to cook the rice was longer than all the other cooking steps.

Another note: I know that Knitters and Crocheters Care meetings are usually the fourth Sat of the month and yesterday was only the second one.  We lost the old room that we were meeting in, but Uniquities said we could move to their smaller class room.  This is a pretty small space since it is also used as a storage area.  We will have access to the room when they do not have a Sat class during the three hours we normally meet.  This means that there will be no set weekend in each month for that space.  However, last weekend we tried meeting at Wegmans.  As usual, Wegmans is a fun place to meet.  It also means I wouldn't have to leave early to get food before having to run to work.  So our usual place will be Wegmans with a bonus weekend at Uniquitites.

It's like pie in a cup.

My mom found a listing for some things on Craig's List.  This pottery studio had a bunch of stuff people had made/painted that they had left behind.  They were giving them away today from 4-6pm.

This is the place.  It was back behind a bunch of places I have been to before.  I had no idea there were a bunch of other businesses back there.

They give a bunch of different classes and stuff.  You can take a class on the potter's wheel or just come in and paint a pre-made form.

So while the ad had said that the giveaway was today, it seems people had been stopping in all week.  My mom was hoping to get the flying pig, but that was not still left.  My mom got the cat and I got the Pegasus behind the coffee cup on the right.

Here is where the title of the post comes in to play.  It was the first time I have been to Peet's Coffee.  Since fall is slowly coming and pumpkin things are making an appearance I decided to get the pumpkin chai latte.  It was sooooo good.  It tasted like pie in a cup.  It didn't just have the spices, it tasted like the whole thing.  You could almost taste the crust to go with the smooth pumpkin center and also a hint of whipped cream on top.  I know the sound of crust in a drink sounds bad, but it was not.

On the knitting side.  I have finished the knitting on my kite shawl and just need to block it; my heart cardigan is almost done, I am working on the second sleeve; and I have knitted a swatch for my leaves and vines shawl.  Pictures of those things coming...at some point.