I’m sure most of you have at least some black or white yarn in your stash for the Hokie Healing squares, but for those who need maroon and burnt orange, Sue from Yarn for All is planning to do a group order from Brown Sheep:
Autumn Harvest: orange
Medieval Red: maroon
Onyx: black
White Frost: white
All colors come in both worsted weight (190 yds, needle size 8) and bulky weight (125 yds, needle size 10 1/2). Contact Sue by Thursday, 10 am to get in on the group order.
Mosaic Yarn Shop in Blacksburg, VA is collecting 8 x 8 inch squares to assemble into blankets for the families of the fallen Hokies. The squares can be knitted or crocheted in maroon, burnt orange, white or black out of the nicest, softest yarn you can afford.
I am going to coordinate a shipment of squares at the end of May for anyone locally who wants to contribute. You can drop squares off to me at the following events:
If you can’t make one of those events, let me know in the comments and we’ll make other drop off plans. I’ll be posting reminders throughout the month of May. Let’s make sure the Hokie Nation knows that they are in our thoughts!
Ok, enough is enough. I ordered replacement needles for you last Friday. The game is over. You won. There’s no need for you to wait for your replacements to actually be delivered. Seriously. You can come out now.
When people ask me what M needs these days, my first answer is always, “No more stuffed animals or dolls!” However, I’m her mom, and I haven’t really bought her much of anything, so the rule doesn’t apply to me. Yesterday I had to buy some yarn from Knit Picks to finish a project that is on the needles and I was below the minimum for free shipping. I decided to get the yarn I need to make Lulu. I’ve been planning to knit her for awhile, but I really needed a reason to spend the money. Running out of yarn for my current project was just the gentle push I needed. I also bought replacement size six needles for the ones I lost a few months ago. I predict I will find those little buggers in the next few days.
Do you ever come away from a conversation and hours later think, “I wish I had said that.” I had one of those moments the other night and it won’t stop echoing in my head so I’m just going to post it.
I was talking about blogs with some folks and was caught off guard by some of their comments. “Putting your personal information on the Internet for all to read is just stupid.” “If you want to keep in touch with family, just send an email.” Actually, I think I was more caught off guard by the tone of the words and not the words so much. I hear the words a lot. I never have heard such a tone, though. It was, to me, a little hostile. (I want to emphasize to me because I think I reacted probably more personally than I should have.)
So, the tone made me a little defensive and I started explaining all the reasons why I blog and how it’s easier than email and that I really don’t share that much personal information on the internet (relatively speaking) and blah blah blah. Then I got home and had some time to reflect on the conversation. Here’s what I discovered:
I like writing entries and posting pictures. I like that readers can interact with me and each other in the comments. I like going back and reading entries from a year ago and looking at pictures of our move out to Nebraska. I like to hear that M’s grandparents are watching her videos over and over and over again. (I do that, too!) I like that I am able to stay in touch with family, friends, colleagues from previous jobs, and yes, people I’ve met online that I’ve never met in person.
Then I realized what I should have said, and wished I would have said.
Because I enjoy it.
The house is quiet. T went to bed early and M was already asleep when I got home from knitting group. I stayed up and watched my DVR’d episodes of Knitty Gritty. It’s the new season and there’s a new episode every day. I was already three episodes behind! After finishing the third episode, I have to say that I’m totally in love with Cookie A.’s socks. They are probably too advanced for me, but Wow! they are beautiful. Now I’m going through the archives on knitty.com to check them all out. I think once I get some of my current projects finished up, I am going to pick a pattern to try. They’re all so fabulous. It will be hard to decide which one to knit first.
My Today Show post is getting quite a few comments. Thank you to the knitters who offered a ride or carpool to one of the nearby Harlot appearances. If any of the events were on the weekend, I might consider it, but during the week it’s just too crazy around here to go off and get all wooly.
It’s a funny thing about those comments; I read the Harlot’s blog entry and didn’t even notice she had linked to me. I just zoomed by the link thinking “Yeah, whatever. I already saw the knitters on the Today Show. How was the rest of the day?” It wasn’t until Christy left me a comment that I realized it. (Yes, a teething baby is kind of like having a newborn again: up all night and really fuzzy during the day.)
Even though I won’t be attending a Harlot appearance, I am very excited about another upcoming knitting event: World Wide Knit in Public Day. The Lincoln Knitters will be celebrating with a spot at the Farmer’s Market in Haymarket on June 9th from 8-12. Nebraska knitters — and those from nearby states — mark your calendars and come join us!
They were outside of the Today Show. In fact, they are all over NYC today as part of Yarn Harlot’s Represent Event. I so wish I could be there. All those knitters in one place! All the yarn crawls! I guess I will have to settle for the book. I doubt Nebraska will ever make it as a stop on the tour.
I recently signed up for a knitting buddy exchange and had to introduce myself to my buddy. I figured it would make a good blog entry.
I’m from Baltimore, MD and used to work in Washington, DC. Now I live in Nebraska and still experience culture shock now and then.
I’m a graphic designer and loved the advertising world, just hated the stress. Now I am self-employed and love being my own boss.
I have a baby girl, who is 4 1/2 months old. I take care of her and work from home. I’m still trying to balance all of that out.
I’ve been knitting for two years and I’m hopelessly addicted to it. A friend of mine taught me how to knit because she thought it might help me with anxiety and stress. This was about a year after we moved to Nebraska for my husband’s job and he decided to quit and start his own business. Knitting has kept me quite sane, and his business is doing well, so I guess everything has worked out.
I have taught a few people to knit, one of whom is my mother. None of them have stuck with it. I hope that isn’t a reflection on my teaching abilities!
I regularly attend two different knitting groups in Lincoln and I’ve met some of the most wonderful women through them.
I have a cat who is almost 15 years old. I love her dearly and hate that she is getting old.
I’ve been to England a few times. The first was to take a London Theater class in college. I lived in Maida Vale for five weeks and going to the theater was my “homework.” I fell in love with the city and almost didn’t come back to the US! The second was with my husband. We stayed in London a few days on the way back from a trip to India. We were horribly jet lagged—up too early and to bed too early. We had fun, but it was definitely a different kind of trip than when I was in school! We’ll be heading to Brighton this summer. My brother-in-law is getting married and his fiancée has dual citizenship. Maybe with a little planning, we can meet up and knit together! You’ll have to advise me on yarn stores.
I have a blog (like everyone else these days) to stay in touch with friends and family on the east coast. Occasionally I post about my knitting.
My birthday is in November. I love the Fall season and hate to see Christmas decorations out before Thanksgiving. The retail industry always seem to rush us through my favorite time of year.
I thought I’d have a tough time writing this, but it seems like I can babble on about myself quite easily.
M is going through a growth spurt right now. It seems like she’s always hungry and ready to nurse. That means I’m always hungry, too—like, amazingly hungry. You know when pregnant women say all they want to do is eat? Well, I never really experienced that because I was so nauseated all the time. I wonder if it is anything like this. Nothing fills me up. I keep making my meals larger and keep adding on snacks and I’m still Always. Hungry.
So, since I’m already hungry, I might as well talk about food and make you hungry, too. Dairy-free experimentation in the kitchen continues, and I’m still in search of dairy-free recipes to fill the Mexican food void in my life right now. Last night I made Chile Verde. I wanted to use pork, because that’s what you usually get in a restaurant, but it was hard to find a recipe that didn’t have chicken. Also, there’s a gazillion different recipes using all kinds of different peppers. I chose this one, but modified it a bit.
Chile Verde
Toss in a roasting pan with a T of olive oil: 5 tomatillos quartered, 1 onion quartered, 3 serranos halved lengthwise and de-seeded, 4 smashed cloves of garlic. Roast at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until tomatillos are soft and the edges of the onions start to turn brown. Meanwhile, cube 1 lb of pork tenderloin and brown in a skillet. Once the veggies are done, transfer to a blender and puree with 1/3 bunch of cilantro. Pour over pork and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve with warm tortillas.
The surprising thing about this recipe is that it tasted sweet, but kind of left you feeling a little salty afterward, which is odd because I didn’t add anything else—no spices, no salt, no pepper. Maybe it was the roasted garlic that gave it the sweetness? Are tomatillos sweet?
I’m looking forward to the leftovers tonight and would like to experiment with other variations of this recipe. Anyone have a good one to share?
