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.

I'm good at starting things!

For as long as I can remember I have been really good at coming-up with ideas and getting the first bits of those ideas started.  Say, making some super cool Kukui nut necklaces the second I saw them in lei form when I was in Hawaii.  I got a few different colors and brought them home.  I found my memory wire and some black cording and set off to make samples to see how my idea would work best.  I bought beads and other fun things to go with the nuts.  So far I have made one for me, one for a friend for her birthday, and one to time myself on about how long it takes to make one.  None have been made to list on my Etsy shop.  I also get the urge to go out and buy all new fabric for a new sewing idea, even though I have a epic ton of fabric and probably didn't use the new fabric I got for the last awesome idea.
I mention this whole long thing because I will sometimes find cool things, or finish a project, but not know what else to mention in a post.  So I have a few partially started posts with nothing but a link or some pictures dumped in them.

This hat is one of them:

I took this hat to block at work before I left for my cabin fun.  You remember the one, where I didn't get any knitting really done but got my legs to a state to baffle doctors.  Well, I didn't have any round objects that were the correct size at home so here it is at work.

Since I was wet blocking it, I had to let it sit for a few nights.  The brim was even still a bit damp when I did take it home with me.  Though since I had left it there so long, it got a bit of notice.  I saw this note on it the second morning it was there.  Why yes, we do have two 'Debbie's at work.  At one point we also had three 'C(h)ristina's and one Christine; and a Mary, Meri, and Gary.  Ours is the store of similar names.

I left this note and mentioned it to at least one of the Debbies.  I hope the other saw it too, but I didn't get to see her before she left for the day.

In case anyone is wondering about how my follow-up with the doc went, it wasn't too bad.  The new doc didn't think I needed any more antibiotics, so that's a nice thing.  He also thought that from what he heard about their previous state that I am healing quite nicely.  My legs are now more of a neon pink than purple and I can be upright for many hours without wanting to cry.  Go me!  I am supposed to supply my poor skin with much aloe vera throughout the day.  It still feels nice.

There is also this guy.  I can not tell you how happy he/she made me.  I love cicadas so much.  It was such an awesome time for me when the 17 year swarm came out.  I had one that would not leave me, I would put him on a random plant, but then he would fly off and land on my leg again.  It took me about 5 tries to get him to stay.  I also had one crawl up to me in a field and start singing his cicada love song at me.  I told the hubby he had competition.  I was super bummed when there was supposed to be another huge batch of them around, but I never saw any.  I hear them all the time, but I love seeing the creepy little buggers.  They are so big but so non-threatening to me.  I went to go rinse out a glass and saw this little guy/gal.  I wish I could let him know how much he made me smile.

Fifth Time's A-Charm?

I finally have this thing done and how I like it!

Here is the front and back of what I plan to be the outside of my Swiss Cheese Headband (or it could be a cowl for someone with a skinny neck).  There is some yarn left over, but I think that is a good thing.  Why is it a good thing?  I love this yarn so much.  It was donated yarn with no tag, so I can't just easily look it up.  I am going to take some of my left-overs to my various knitting groups and see if anyone has any idea what it might be.  I knit this on size 5 needles.

This is the inside.  It looks kind of similar.  You can also see the difference in picture quality between my tablet and my camera.
To make this I cast on 100 sts and worked garter for 8 rows.  I then *knit 10, cast off 10, then used a knitted cast on to cast on 10* across the row to make the holes.  I did garter for 7 rows before doing another hole row, only with the cast off/on before the knit 10.  At the top I did 8 more rows of garter before using a sewn bind-off.
I hope that, along with the pictures, makes some sort of sense.  I know it does to me, but it might not to other people.

My short and mostly fun trip to the ER.

So here is a little more to that.  The sunburn on my arms, face, and hands was getting better nicely.  The burn on the upper part of my legs still hurt, but was slowly coming along.  The burn on my calves were a whole other story.  They were swelling and turning a darker color.  I took one day off but then went in yesterday.  I shocked everyone with the purple hue.  A few people said that they thought it was sun poisoning.  I called my mom to see if she would drive me to the doctor in the morning.  My dad overheard and said we should head over sooner rather than later.
After work my mom met me at my house and we headed to Urgent Care...two actually.  Turns out Urgent Care was closed at 11pm.
We then headed to the ER.  Turns out it was the same one I took Bill to when he had bronchitis.  It was pretty dead, so we got seen really soon.  Though it was really funny because I had to use the bathroom and the nurse checking me in was like "We probably won't need this, but since you have to go..."
My mom was shocked by the fact that they had an iPad and free wifi for me to play with while I waited.  They doc walked in and gave my legs a 'what is this?!' look.  He asked me about it and I told my story.  He asked what I had put on it and kept asking 'if I was sure that was ALL I put on it' and if I had put it on only on my shins or not.  He poked various parts of my legs and felt the temp difference between my purple area and my feet.
He kept going 'hmmm...are you sure that is everything you put on it? Hmmmm...'  I could even tell the nurse was shocked as to the color my legs were.  I felt like I should sell tickets, haha.
The doc decided that the closest thing he could think it was was "dermatitis due to sun, cellulitis, and leg swelling" and decided that since he didn't completely know what was wrong we were going to do a double whammy on it.  So I now have anti-biotics and steroid cream to fight what is either a skin infection or a reaction to something that touched my skin.  Overnight the first dose of cream has already taken me from purple down to pink.  It is still a very angry pink, but a nicer color non-the-less.
Another funny thing is that the nurse was named Cheryl.  I work with a Cheryl and I know that she has another job, but I didn't know what it was.  Turns out this one wasn't the same one, but she also found the story funny.
The lady at the all-night RiteAid even asked me to step back so she could see my legs better.
I'm super glad that I got someone to cover my shift for today.  I don't have to tell anyone else about how I saved kittens from a burning building (since sun burn sounds so boring) and I get to relax and heal.
Next time there is going to be a tube of sunblock with me at all times.