Seahawks 12th Man Wine Cozy

Any Seahawks fans out there?!  I've lived in the northwest my whole life and am therefore a Seahawks fan.  Life as a Seahawks fan has been admittedly pretty good over the last few years... except for that one moment which we will never speak of again.

Watching football is generally associated with beer drinking, but hey, wine drinkers like football too!  I designed this Seahawks wine cozy for a white elephant gift exchange, and I don't know if it is because booze were involved or everyone at the party was a Seahawks fan, but it got passed around a few times ;).

To find the pattern for purchase ($2.50 US), go to my Ravelry designers page here.

If you are a new knitter and haven't tried fair isle (stranded) colorwork yet, don't be afraid of this pattern!  This is the perfect project to give fair isle a try!

FO: Hedgerow Socks

I finished my 2nd ever pair of socks the other day.  This has been my grab and go knitting for the last month, so the bulk of my at-home knitting time was spent on other projects.  Socks are really a labor of love.  They take longer for me to finish than most things I generally knit, but that is what I like most about them.  I like that my project stays small and portable.  I like when I give these away as a gift (and these ones I am), that person will know how much love and time went into them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this pattern.  This pattern is written cuff down.  The repeat was super easy to memorize, and the directions for the heel, gusset, and toe were clear and concise.  I particularly enjoyed how the toe was constructed.  Rather than having decreases on either side of the toe with grafting at the end, it treated the toe decreases similar to that of a hat.  I may just use this toe to replace others in sock patterns I knit in the future.

FO: Baby Pilot-Style Hat

This weekend is my cousin's baby's 1st birthday.  (I did the research and apparently she is my first cousin, once removed.)  Unfortunately, I live half a state away and won't be able to be there for the celebration, so I'll be mailing little Sophie's hat to her.

Master Bathroom Remodel Plan

My parents planned a last minute trip to come visit us this upcoming weekend (after Mom and I figured out with our schedules and their other travels we wouldn't see each other until late April).  I've been plotting a master bathroom remodel for quite some time, so I thought with my handy dad around, we might be able to hammer a few projects out this weekend.

My goal is to make myself a relaxing and chic master bathroom that has MINIMAL costs.  The Husband generally rolls his eyes at home decor/remodeling, so if I make it as inexpensive as possible, he can't really complain when we end up with a nice new room right?

Here is the "before" (as I started clearing things out to begin painting).

The walls are not quite a lime green, but not quite pastel.  This is the color when we moved in, and I don't think I would pick this color for my house.  I do like cooler colors overall, but when I'm putting makeup on every morning in this room... I have to be careful not too put on too much blush when a green tint is being reflected back at me.  It took me a while to realize that the ceiling was also painted this spring green color and not just a reflection of the walls.

A Week of Tired

Last week was shadowed by an overarching, dreadful tiredness.  So tired, in fact that my knitting has come to a slow crawl with only a row here or there right as I sit down for the evening to watch this or that on Netflix (last night was Full Metal Jacket - the Husband's pick, not mine).  Not that my knitting isn't interesting.  I'm really enjoying my current projects.  It's just that knitting takes hand movements... but more importantly requires some brain work and that just isn't happening been happening lately.

Here is what is happening in the slow roll of my projects this week:

I finished my Brioche Cowl over a week ago.  I had this idea that I wanted to wear it for a date night we were having the next day to see the Globetrotters.  (This, by the way was not a "Valentine's" date.  I had gotten the Husband these tickets for his birthday last month.  We have made it a tradition to not celebrate Valentine's day, and instead we have a goal to go on at least one date a month.  I like this spread out love and fun rather than one day of trying to show off and annoyingly post it on social media.  The only person in the world that needs to know how much the Husband loves me is me.)

Fortunately, I got some pictures of me in the Brioche Cowl at the game.  Unfortunately for you all, I really didn't make much of an effort with makeup... or a hairbrush for that matter.

I also have a pair of Hedgerow Socks on the needles.  This is my commuting project that is always in the car with me.  I have two points in my commute where I sit not moving in traffic for 10-20 minutes each way depending on the day.  That's vital knitting time... and better than messing around on my phone waiting for the line to move.

I'm making these for a gift for someone in the coming months.  This is my second official pair of socks ever (I've made Christmas stockings, but those don't quite count), and my second so far this year.  I have a goal to finish three pairs before the end of the year, and I can tell I'm getting the sock knitting bug.  I like this pattern and how it is written, but I probably won't knit it again.  It is a lot of knit purl knit knit purl purl.  My favorite part of the sock is the toe.  It is different than I have knit before (with decreases on either side making almost seams).  This is more similar to a hat decrease of k2tog every couple of rounds.  I think it is much more comfortable to wear, AND no kitchener stitch to finish the toes!

I'm excited to finish and block these socks, although I will need to wait until my parents visit again, as my dad made me sock blockers out of really thick cardboard.  I'm excited to see how they work!

The second item (still and will be for a while) on my needles is the Gnarled Oak Cardi.  I've made it through the body up until the bottom of where the sleeves will seam in, and have now moved on to the first sleeve.  This is slow going and boring, so I have been knitting a few rows when I get the will power every now and then.  This week this has not happened with the eternal tiredness.  I'm hoping to have this cardigan done around June so I can wear it for my birthday.  I'm picturing a backyard BBQ with friends and a fire in our firepit.  I'll wear a cute pair of shorts I have with a black tee and this cardigan.  What a nice birthday present it will be for myself.

The third item on my needles in a Garter Yoke Baby Cardi (for 6-12 months).  It is knit in one piece top down.  Is small.  And will make me feel accomplished when all I have been knitting are hats and cowls and socks.  I cast on to make this for a friend who just had a baby, but if it turns out too cute to part with, I may keep it in a future baby stash.

I feel a bit nervous about having five little buttons on a baby cardigan like this.  Babies stick everything in their mouths and this is just the size to be troublesome if they were to fall off.  Is there a trick to REALLY sewing on buttons?  I'll have to do some research.

Heartwarmers and Basic Winter Hats

My adorable twin nephews are turning two next month, and of course I have to knit them something!  Because I'm determined to have my knitting theme of the year be "Seriously?  I'm done a month early?!", I started back in January.  I know, my theme is probably overly optimistic, but a knitter can dream can't she?

Their mom (my sister-in-law), Katie requested Heartwarmer cowls so that they could match the one I made their dad for Christmas in 2014.  The whole "I wanna be like daddy" thing is about the cutest thing I can imagine, so I cast on right away in the 2-4 yo size, finishing the cowls (Archer's and Xanders) within a few days and well before the end of January.

I really enjoyed the Heartwarmer pattern.  It was very well written with short rows (which have been hard for me to wrap **hehe, get it?** my brain around), as well as reglan shaping for the shoulders which I have never done before.  I used seed stitch at the top and bottom as the pattern suggested, but still found that with the yarn I used it had a bit of curl to it.  I'm currently blocking them, so hopefully that will straighten things out.  The pattern is written fairly well for those who use the magic loop method like I do, but it is certainly not necessary if you use a short circular or DPNs.

Next, I cast on to make two Basic Winter Hats in toddler size (Archer's and Xander's).  This pattern was really simple and I managed to finish both in about two days.  I really love the wide brim on these, and with the lovely family trait of having large heads, these should fit them for a year or two at least.  I didn't feel like the hats needed blocking, so I weaved in the ends and am leaving as is.

The yarn I used for both projects is Cascade Yarn's Pacific in Persimmon, purchased in November 2013 in Port Angeles, WA at Cabled Fiber Studios.  This is the same yarn that I used to make the twins little foxes and scarves before they were born.  Awww....  Right?  Even after making the fox softies, fox scarves, winter hats, and cowls, I still have a skein and a half leftover.  I also have this same yarn in a black, blue, and green, so maybe something can come of that someday.

I also found these cute little socks in the Target to go with the hats and cowls.  The socks may be a bit too big for them yet, but I just couldn't resist!  Here is the full gift.  Two year olds in the excitement of birthday party will probably move on quickly, but as long as mom and dad get me some pictures of them wearing it later, I don't mind.  Baby/Toddler knits seem to go so quickly too.

Vitamix

Please join me in welcoming the newest addition to my kitchen.... the Vitamix 5300!!!!  I'm currently contemplating what to name her/him.  I think it should start with a V, just so I can remember it better.  Vasco?  Vladamir?  Victor?  Vera?  I'll work on it.

Here is the beauty making me a berry smoothie for breakfast this morning.
(The Husband who leaves earlier than me for work was quite jealous when I sent him a picture.)

I am lucky beyond belief that the Parents thought an appropriate exchange of goods and services was to give me a Vitamix for watching their pup for the last month or so.  (I think I got the better end of that deal, but don't tell them!)

Now, since we were first married four years ago, I have had a very good KitchenAid blender.  It got the job done (with time and often lots of spatula scraping) enough so that I could never think of a good enough excuse to abandon it and spend a small fortune on a Vitamix.  I just kept hoping that a time would come that it would "vroom" its last and we would simultaneously win the lottery.... or at least a really good scratch ticket.

Alas, this wildly impossible situation did not need to come.  When the Parents arrived Saturday morning, Dad brought in a sizable box and pronounced it as their "thank you" for watching Tilly (now and at least one more time).  I ripped open the brown paper wrapped package to see just a part of one side.  It had a fondue bowl on it.  I have been lactose intolerant for over a decade and mostly avoid (especially liquid) cheese at all cost.  The Parents know this, so I had a momentary mind panic of what I would say.

Here is it on its virgin run in making Hummus (recipe on my food blog here).

More of the brown paper came off to reveal a brightly colored smoothie.  I knew what this was!  Jumping up and down squealing in my robe and slippers followed.  The Husband looked on with only a portion of the enthusiasm I was experiencing (he will understand my joy when I get to using it more and more this week... and forever!).

Our conversation later on Sunday after the Parents headed home went something like this:

The Husband: So you are covered for life when it comes to kitchen stuff right?
Me:  Yes.
The Husband: Ok, good, because next time you--
Me: Well, at least for now.  Let me clarify, I am covered on major appliances for a long long time.  Having this now means that I can give away my old blender, my old food processor, and my old mini food processor.
The Husband:  Sigh.

Wavy Moss Hat - Long Distance Hug

I have a dear friend, let's call her May, that has had not the best month.  January is supposed to come with feelings of renewal and potential, but hers has not quite been so.  I live half a state away and sadly have to comfort and encourage her from a distance, when all I want to do is have her coach me through making her a good bloody Caesar and proceed to talk and hug it out.

Over the last month she has not been directly physically, emotionally, or professionally harmed.  Her friends have.  With the heart this girl has, bad things happening to friends feels just as horrible if not more so.

My solution is of course to knit.  I knit her my version of a hug from a distance and sent it with a loving note including a cute squirrel picture or two.

I know knitting doesn't come close to making the bad feel better.  Only time does that.  But she might as well pass that time in something made of yarn made my someone who loves her dearly.

In my world, yarn is love and it forever will be.

Trying my hand at Brioche

I've only ever seen pictures of knitted brioche.  The way the colors intertwined mesmerized me and I convinced myself it was "too advanced" or "too fussy" for me.  I'm here to tell you that I was wrong and appreciate brioche for what it is: clever and actually very simple double knitted ribbing.  Seriously, it's very easy!  If you can do basic ribbing and know how to yarn over, you can make this happen.  Trust me! 

Now, I don't do much knitting requiring more than one color (making two custom Christmas stockings out of acrylic the first year the Husband and I were married put me off to color work for a while), but brioche is essentially knitting horizontal stripes without letting anyone know.  Each row alternates between each color, and you simply knit together a yarn over with the previous row.

Ok, I'm just making it confusing.  The pattern from Purl Bee is A LOT better at explaining than I am.  I used their pattern for the Brioche Cowl, but cut down the stitches from 218 to 124 to make it a single wrap cowl.  Find my Ravelry project page here.  So far, I love the results.  I always knew there was a reason I stored these two colors in the same baggie after all of these years.

For this project I used some stashed Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes Worsted Yarn in Tranquil (teal) and Fairy Tale (magenta).  This picture totally doesn't do the colors justice, but I love how each color pops between the other.  Note to self: Get off the couch and out of your yellow-walled family room to take some descent project pictures that actually show them off once in a while!

Now that brioche is firmly in my "I can do this" camp, here are a few other brioche projects that I've promptly put into my favorites.

Kennermerland hat, cowl, and mitten set by Alexandra Richards

Vintage Deco wrap/scarf by Nancy Merchant (frankly, I should just include her whole collection)

High Vibe by Maiko Hikosaka

Shallow End Brioche Accent Pillow by Trudianne Temple

Ah, Brioche.  Let's be friends forever.....

The Rainbow Fish Cowl has been Flushed

The Rainbow Fish Cowl has been flushed....  making a joke of it didn't make me feel better.  I thought it would.  Damn.

I made it through nearly 6 inches of this 280 stitch double wrap cowl before diving into my second skein.  Only to realize that the pinks were way more "pinky" in the second, and the gorgeous teal was pretty much nonexistent.  After having to redo the cast on several times to begin with (280 stitches on size 8 needles needs a long long long tail cast on, yo), it was so painful to rip it out.

After nice strong beer that night and a feel good movie, I have resolved to take this as a lesson to alternate between skeins within a large garment, and will be making something a bit different now that I'm back at square one.  I decided that I'm going to make a single wrap cowl along with a matching headband and fingerless mitts.  It'll be a cute little set that will still have the twisted rib and slip stitch "fish scale" elements of the first.

But for now, I need another project to take my mind off of the tragedy that is frogging... flushing... whatever I want to call it.  My twin nephews' birthdays are coming up in March... and I think they may need a neck warmer that goes with their adorable fox jackets my mom made them :)

Musings About Christmas Yarn

For Christmas my wonderful husband's big present to me was a box full of yarn.  Delicious, spectacular, colorful YARN!!!!  While opening presents, we were in our PJ's and sitting next to our gas fireplace.  All warm and cozy, and even then, I kid you not, I got chills when I opened this box of yarn.

My fellow yarn lovers will know, a box of yarn can be a magical thing.  It is not just delicately twisted, dyed, and wound up string of varying thicknesses.  It is potential.

I'm going to get a little nerdy, so bear with me here.  If you're learning basic physics one of the topics when studying energy and force is potential energy.  The most basic example of potential energy is placing (to keep us at least a bit on subject) a ball of yarn at the top of a hill.  Although, of course, none of us would ever subject our precious yarn to touch outdoor ground unless the house was on fire and the only way to save the stash would be to toss it out the window.

While at the top of this hypothetical hill, the yarn has the potential to roll down the hill with its 100g mass with the help of gravity and the height of the hill.  Potential energy is the energy stored in an object, such as this yarn at the top of the hill... but I don't think that's quite true in the figurative sense, at least not when it comes to yarn.

The potential in yarn goes so much farther than a skein's relative mass and distance above ground.

When opening that box of yarn you ordered to make family and friends Christmas presents, sometime around August and September, you don't see hours and hours of selfless knitting for others.  You see the look on their faces when they open and pull out the personalized garment of their favorite colors made just to fit them and their personality.  Even if you never see this FO again, you will hold in your memory their faces and how their hands lovingly touched what you knitted for them as they eagerly put it on.

When I opened that box of yarn the Husband got me this year for Christmas, I saw hours and hours of selfish knitting... for once!  After knitting selfless gifts for the last few months, this is the best present I could have hoped for.  Of course the yarn, but the gift of the potential.

Here is how some of that potential is coming along so far.  I'm preemptively calling this the Rainbow Fish cowl.  I'll work on publishing the pattern when I'm finished and satisfied.  I'm using Knit Pick's Hawthorne Sport Multi in Happy Valley.  You can find my Ravelry project page here.

Loaded Black Bean Soup

Do you ever have those days where you know you ate too much earlier in the day and you know darn well you shouldn't have much for dinner?  Lunch almost always ends up being the largest meal of the day for me.  This is usually because I pack a ton of veggies or fruit to eat along with my proper lunch of a soup, rice dish, or salad.

This lovely soup came about around New Years when the Husband was determined as all-get-out to meet one of his goals for 2015: to get under 184 pounds.  This was a goal he had reached earlier this summer, from starting at just over 200 lbs last January.  Since summer, however, he had become more lax, and of course Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas came to pass with endless goodies around.  For him, he considered this goal a failure if he didn't achieve this goal just before midnight of the new year.

(Now, for the record, I asked about the logic of achieving your goal only on New Years, rather than making healthy habit for a lifetime... in the Husband's mind, a goal is a goal, so I went along and try to steer him as healthy as I could.)

So, for the last week or so before New Years, he dropped all beer from his diet (leaving me to have my occasional evening wine glass to myself).  Three days before New Years he was at the gym daily sweating it out.  Two days before New Years he severely limited his food and drank green tea almost constantly.

Now, fundamentally, I don't have an issue with dropping beer (other than we just bought a keg for our kegerator and now it is sitting idly in the garage), and I don't have an issue with him going to the gym religiously as long as he's not hurting himself.  I DO have an issue with not eating.

So, in an effort to help him to achieve his goal while coaxing him to eat some decent food and not go hungry, I made this Black Bean Soup from Jill Nussinow's pressure cooking cookbook, The New Fast Food, and altered it a bit to include more veggies, more spices, more beans, and some corn.  When calculated out, this large 8+ cup recipe serves 6 and is under 200 calories per serving.

This recipe can EASILY be adapted for the stovetop with a bit more cooking time and using only canned beans.  Please see my notes below.

Loaded Black Bean Soup
Print this recipe!
(adapted from Jill Nossinow's original recipe, which you can find here)
Serves: 6
Time: 10 minute prep, 5 minute saute, 7 minute high pressure, natural pressure release, 1 minute high pressure, quick release

Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
3 large celery ribs, diced
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 bay leaf
2 tsp dried oregano (or 2 Tbsp fresh)
1 1/2 cups dried black beans, soaked for 8 hours
6 cups vegetable broth (homemade or low sodium preferred)
........................................................
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn, not thawed
........................................................
salt to taste
cilantro to garnish
soy yogurt or sour cream to top (optional)

Instructions:

1. Prepare all ingredients before beginning.
2. Sauté the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes in a heated pressure cooker, adding water as needed to prevent burning.  Add in the carrot, celery, and spices.  Stir well to mix and sauté for 2 more minutes.
3. Add in the soaked dried beans and vegetable broth.  Lock the lid and set to cook at high pressure for 7 minutes (those with an InstantPot can alternatively use the soup function for 7 minutes).  When the timer is done, allow the pressure to come down naturally.
4. After the pressure has been released, carefully remove the lid.  Use an immersion blender, or scoop several cups of the soup into a blender.  Blend until about half of the soup is creamy, leaving quite a few small chunks behind.
5. Add in the canned black beans and frozen corn.  Lock the lid and set to cook at high pressure for 1 minute.  Once the minute is up, carefully quick release the pressure.
6. Serve hot with cilantro to garnish and soy yogurt/sour cream to top.  Leftovers will thicken up in the fridge and the flavors will marinade to make the soup even better the next day!

Notes for adapting for the stovetop:

1. Prepare all ingredients before beginning.
2. In a large soup pot, water sauté the onion and garlic.  Add in the carrot, celery, and spices.  Stir well to mix and sauté for 2 more minutes.
3. Add in 2 cans of washed and drained black beans along with the vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on.
4. Use an immersion blender to blend about half of the soup.
5. Add in the 3rd can of rinsed and drained black beans as well as the frozen corn and cook for an additional 10 minutes without the lid.
6. Serve hot with cilantro garnish and soy yogurt/sour cream to top.  Leftovers will thicken up in the fridge and the flavors will marinade to make the soup even better the next day!

Nutritional Info (as calculated on MyFitnessPal.com)
Serving size: 1.5-2 cups soup
Servings per recipe: 6
Calories: 174; Total Fat: 1 g; Cholesterol 0 g; Sodium (varies with broth and added salt) mg; Potassium 314 mg; Total Carbohydrate 45 g; Dietary Fiber 21 g; Sugars 5 g; Protein 14 g