The Last Few Days...In List Form

Dear Sweet Blog, Oh summer has been so fun, and there is so much to share, but I've been so busy enjoying it all that I haven't been able to give all of these topics proper posts! So here it is, in bite-sized list form...Cheers, Sarah.



1) I'm working on my first garment for myself, the Juliet from Zephyr Style. Knitting this with Knit Picks Andean Silk in Barn Red. This yarn is heaven! So far, so good.



2) Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary was this past Tuesday! It involved: Sleeping late, breakfast at Betty's Kitchen, bathing suit shopping (ugh), new CDs, Duffy and She and Him, (Verdict: The latter is better than the former, but I knew that before I purchased them), gourmet chocolatey, marshmallowy, caramelly goodness, Boylan's soda, amazing new vintage store in Portsmouth, (more on this later), Somerville, getting lost, arriving at Magpie just as it closed, Diesel Cafe, old school photobooth, crepes, kisses and one more day of love love loving this awesome man that is my husband!



3) Enjoying, and sharing, the taste of good, *mostly* local food: Amazing hot milk sponge cake with strawberries and whipped cream, finished off the frozen corn from last year in a smoked salmon corn chowder, Amy's Mail Order Banana Bread recipe, fresh peas and did I mention the strawberries? I can't get enough.



4) Dim photos here, it's been rainy in New England, rubbish for blogging! Thrift scores: All the Fire King was bought at a yard sale across the street from my house for the grand total of a dollar. I couldn't believe it! The bake ware pattern is "Blue Heaven." The type case I picked up on the curb, also down the street. A little wash and a few staples to the back and it will be good as new. It will be gussied up a la Ali Edwards soon.

5) I have a bicycle! Which I haven't been able to photograph/ride because of all this darn rain! She's a beauty! Vintage, blue, basket on the front, headlight, larger basket rack on the back. I'm in love! And also a little wonky with my riding skills! I've been pining for a bicycle, specifically a Cape Cod Blue Amsterdam. I'm so close to the grocery store, bank, post office, etc, that it is ridiculous to take the car to those places, especially with the ever rising price of gas! If I get a ton of use out of this bike, then I'd consider looking into an upgrade, but this was a much more affordable starter bike. Pictures soon - so cute!

That is all for now...except if everyone could send me some good job karma that would be awesome. Figuring out my employment situation beyond this summer has not been going so well. I'm off for a little more knitting therapy!

Chipping away at the almighty gifts-to-make list...

Hello! Quickie post today - my latest finished object:



Aside from that, I've been busy with lots of lying on the beach with my hubby. Tough life, eh?

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine as much as I have been! Cheers!

Bits and Bobs of Random Goodness

Let's catch up, shall we...

:: Knitting ::

Knitting is definitely my gateway drug *cough* craft addiction which has opened my world to all of the crafty goodness that currently occupies my life...and the majority of my apartment! I have recently re-fallen in love with knitting because of the amazingly awesome, though slightly sinister time-killing, Ravelry. I'm a little obsessed...

I finished the Broadripple Socks,



And last night I started the Umbilical Cord Hat from the first SnB book at 11:00pm...and finished in a crazed knitting stupor roughly around 3:00am!



The hat is one of a few I'll be making for the upcoming baby showers in my life. I'm might do a little embroidery embellishment on them, we'll see.

:: Christmas Gifts ::

Speaking of baby gifts, I finished another teddy bear! Two down, one to go! This one is wonky and a little asymmetrical. I like him - Matt thinks he's ungiftable. I think Matt's silly! What do you think?



:: Shopping ::

I've made some fun Etsy purchases in the last few days. First off, I bought a golfer window decal for my dad for Father's Day. Secondly, and not to be missed, my sensational artist blog friend, Flossy-P, has made some of her works available in form of a super affordable post card! I was able to purchase two of my all time favorites, String Theory and the set Looking for Love/Sometime Soon. Very exciting, indeed.

:: Cooking ::

Still with me? I made the Asparagus and Morel Bread Pudding sans the morels from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Very tasty, and it made a TON! Oh my, has it been more than a week since I've sung the praises of this book?! If you haven't read it, please do. It will likely change your life, give the warm fuzzies, make you feel like you can change the fate of the planet by doing your little bit.

Made the Rhubarb Crisp from Slow Food by Alice Waters again. Came out scrumptious, again. **EDIT** I just popped over to my mum's blog and she's posted a delicious looking recipe for Rhubarb Bread. I'll have to give that one a go!

So that's what I've been up to - how about all of you? Having a productive week?

Until next time, cheers!

Broadripple Socks :: WIP

These are knit from the glorious aforementioned Tashi that we picked up at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival. They are shaping up to be much, much easier than my first socks, and it leaves me hopeful that I can whip up a dozen pairs of hand made socks in less than a decade.



The pattern I'm using is Broadripple Socks from the summer Knitty, 2003. I messed up the cuff on the first sock, but it's a mistake I celebrate, because I actually like it better than what the pattern calls for. Instead of purling between the cuff rows, I continued to do the pattern over and over and it created a cute wavy edge.



I managed to do the kitchener's stitch for the first time ever, to finish off the toe, and I'm in love with how neat and clean it is!



Now I have to not let the second sock syndrome take over so that I can sport these around town!

P.S. If you are visiting my blog, you'll notice that I've decided to display only one post up per day on the main page. This is so my mom won't go crazy trying to read my blog and avoid seeing her Christmas present at the same time! Mom: If you missed a few older posts, just look at the sidebar to the right and you'll see my previous post titles and archives. You know which one not to look at ;)

Skully Fake Isle - Complete!

My skully fake isle is done!









What I learned:

* I hate circular needles, so I made the large size of this on double pointed needles. I don't recommend doing this! The tension caused the design to be difficult to block, and fit a little snugly across the forehead area.

* The large size is LARGE, if I were to make this again for myself I would probably make the regular size.

Hopefully my hubby likes it! I think it will be a good snow-boarding hat. What do you think?

The Mystery Knit *REVEALED*

Wowza - this post has been sitting in my draft box for days! I didn't expect to be as busy as I've been over the past few days!

I'll give the highlights, then on to the knitting...

* Attended/Played merch girl for 2 of 3 Growler shows this weekend
* Got over my pissy-ness and had an okay time working at the theatre
* We had company this weekend, which accounts for 90% of my house looking stunning right now - hurray!
* Taught all day Saturday/Watched my students perform their choreography showcase - proud mama moments abounded for sure.
* Attended a second teaching artist training workshop - amazing.

Okay - on to the crafty shhhtuff!!!

The mystery knit was...



a pair of legwarmers!


Over the years I've become a bit of a yarn snob, but I have a ton of acrylic nastiness in my stash from my learning days. This is the perfect project to dent that stash, and still make a nice little gift. These are a Christmas present for my bestest dance bud, Allison, who I'm pretty sure doesn't read my blog, so I think it's safe to show! Now I have to get on another Christmas project right away. My goal is to do one per month, and I'm already two months behind - yikes!

P.S. Sorry my blog has been angry, spotty, and f-bomb dropping. I marinated on deleting that post, because I try to keep this a receptacle for my happier thoughts, but sometimes a girl's got to vent, ya know?

P.P.S. My husband is currently slaving away on my taxes. He's my hero.

This is...my creation

The good, the bad and ugly. Mittens for me=good yay! The giant mess that they are perched upon=bad, eww! I finished these weeks ago, and I haven't had a chance to take a picture of them to post them. I wanted nice natural light, but ah well, that didn't happen!

Today was the most unproductive day of all time. That's what happens when you drink gallons of wine. It's all good though. Last night was a fundraiser for the dance company that I work for, and I usually loathe those things, but it was awesome. It was at a patron's mansion by the beach, the food was delicious, the gospel choir/band that we have the upcoming collaboration with performed, and I partied like a rock star with my friends. Most excellent.

Off to hydrate with non-alcoholic beverages...