"MMMmmmm Beer..."


Has anyone tasted the goodnesss that is Lambic? It is available at Trader Joe's and Larry's Market. I have tried framboise and cassis, and have to say cassis is my favorite. The cassis, or blackcurrant, is like Ribena with a tangy alcoholic kick. Saveur has an informative article about the history and brewing process of this unique beer. I've only had Lindemans (love that art nouveau label) and hope to find another brewer to do a taste comparison.

Voila! No-Sweat est complet. My modifications are as follows:

1. I knitted this in two pieces. The front and back of each side were knitted as one piece, eliminating the side seams.

2. To sew the pieces, first turn wrong-side out and sew both the in-seams. Keep one leg wrong-side out, then put the leg that is right-side out in the wrong-side out so that the right sides are facing each other. Line up the front and back seams of both pieces and sew. There you have it...pants.

3. Instead of crotcheting a tie I used 3/8" gros grain ribbon. With a tapestry needle, the eye should be large enough for the 3/8" ribbon, if not us a safety pin, baste the ribbon to the waist, baste stitch is one inch long and the tie is one inch from the top. Overlap both ends of the tie so that you can easily cinch the waist.

I was planning to knit two inches more of the waist so I could fold it over to create a casing for the tie, but thought that the fold would be too thick. Blocking Homespun on high heat... not a good idea. The acrylic/polyester fibers did not like the high heat. It has lost its trademark fuzzy-ness.

Cool!

Cool thing #1: The weather is f*cking awesome! What the heck am I doing inside?

Cool thing #2: We had a visit from a bigwig. She came to give a talk, and as she was walking through the lobby she noticed a display for our wellness program and was interested in the concept. Direct quote from the person who was hosting her: "quite interested." She asked that they send her assistant the website link. She thinks our program would be a great idea for her organization. Does this not rock?! Our humble little program has been recognized! It's been a lot of work, and to know that people like what we've done is so great. Not just because some bigwig liked the idea but that we had over 75 people come to one of our events today on their lunch hour when for the first time this year the weather was so amazingly summer like.

Cool thing #3: No-Sweat is three inches from being done. I can't believe I finally finished a knitting project. It's been so long that I can't remember the last project I finished.

Last Saturday was the drop spindle spinning class at Weaving Works. Yup, picked up another hobby. I haven't stopped spinning since Saturday. It has even invaded my dreams. Spin, pull, spin, pull, wind, repeat. Reminds me of when I first played Tetris, I couldn't get enough of it. I dreamt of falling blocks. Rotate, left, rotate, right, right, no left, rotate...

Been distracting myself from buying yarn, so I've been putting some mileage on the old Singer. I've been on a sewing spree, it's crazy. Are these signs of an addictive personality? Spinning, sewing...I'm doomed.

One leg down...

(click on the pic)

Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

I love working for an organization that not only give employees vacation days and sick days (and a lot of sick days) but also personal days! It's not even nine in the morning, and I have sorted the laundry, mopped the kitchen floor, and blogging! OOh, ooh another reason I'm happy... two words...tax refund! I checked my bank account and see that the IRS has deposited my refund. Yea, for finishing the dreaded thing early and YEA! for getting money back.

Looking at my projects list on the left there I see that I've listed more things there than I've listed on the recently completed list. I was thinking the other day that I should create a UFO graveyard, a memorial to projects that got me excited and happy, but only to die a slow death by my neglect. Each one would have a tombstone with a description of why I wanted to start the project but why/how it fell out off my radar.

Collar is on. Wooohooo! May be another month before the front is done.



Elann has yarn for that cute cardigan from Interweave. I can't decide what color to get. And will there be any decent colors left in April? The burnt orange is cute, but I'll be going overboard with all this orange yarn I've surrounded myself with lately. Eggplant? I recently finished the eggplant/plum cable cardigan. What's a girl to do? Life is too hard. I need to go and contemplate all this.

Those No-Sweat Pants are fun to knit. Homespun is not! I'm nearly done with one half. I've made some alterations to the pattern by knitting the front and back of each sides as one piece, decreased the crotch in two rows (5sts. and 3sts.), and I will add a couple of extra inches at the waist so I can fold over for the tie. Homespun is really annoying to knit. That darn yarn is constantly snagging at every stitch!

No Sweat

I recently purchased a copy of Interweave, love it!. Don't know why I took so long to buy it. I like all the patterns in this issue. So, I started out making the Debbie Bliss pattern, the one on the cover, but the yarn I had was just not working out. This is the third pattern I've attempted with this darn yarn! I don't what to knit with it now. I've decided to join the fun and make the No-Sweat Pants. The experiment is to knit the front and back of each leg as one piece, leaving the inner seam to be sewn up. Thought of doing it in the round but thought having an inner seam would give the pants some stability. Whoa, I just went to the website and saw free patterns! Okay, I'm so out of it! I've been living under a rock.

Found it!

If you've seen the cover for Budget Living you may be eyeing the cute top the model is sporting. Well, so am I. I've been on the hunt for the pattern or something like it since I got the magazine. I found it! Now I can go back to work.