Sole Food Swap Q&A

I'm participating in my first swap on Ravelry! It sounded like so much fun I couldn't pass it up. These questions and answers are for whoever gets my name:

1. What weight of sock yarn do you generally prefer (fingering, sport, or DK?)
   I've only worked with fingering and sport weight but I'm open to anything.
   

2. What is your favorite type of yarn to knit with?
   I tend to lean towards superwash wool with nylon but like cotton as well.
   

3. Are there any brands of sock yarn that you have wanted to work with but have not had the chance?
   I'm easy - if it's pretty I'll use it!
   

4. What colors do you like?
   Blue, purple, dark reds and greens but I have a lot of this in my stash. I enjoy variegated and self-striping, as well as solids for intricate patterns.
   

5. What colors do you not like?
   I can't imagine I'd ever like orange socks and I have issues with some browns / golds.
   

6. What type of recipes do you usually cook with?
   I'm a vegetarian (no meat / fish) so I enjoy cooking pasta, rice, and vegetable dishes.
   

7. What type of recipes do you usually bake with?
   Baking is my favorite!! I love love love to bake. I enjoy making cookies the most, but bars, muffins, pies, tarts, bread are right up my alley too.
   

8. What is your favorite food?
   Bread and pasta with chocolate cream pie for dessert. *ok, I'm drooling now*
   

9. Are you a tea or coffee drinker?
   Tea and hot chocolate! I don't touch coffee but for some reason don't mind eating the beans when they're smothered in chocolate.
   

10. What type of sweets do you like?
    mmmm - I have a serious sweet tooth. Chocolate is my favorite (especially dark) but anything goes.
    

11. Does your kitchen have a theme?
    Nah - my kitchen is very eclectic.
    

12. Do you have any allergies (to food, fibers, pets, etc) or diet restrictions?
    Just that I'm a vegetarian. I eat cheese but only bake with eggs and milk (for example, I don't eat quiche or milkshakes). I pretty much have a 4 egg limit on baked goods - else they start tasting too "eggy" for me. I also stay clear of anything that has gelatin because it's an animal product. Unfortunately, this rules out everything with marshmallows, Skittles, Starburst and almost anything gummy (bears, worms, etc). Although swedish fish are fine - strange!
    

13. Is there anything else you would like your pal to know?
    I'm super excited to be participating in this swap! I can't wait to get to know you and see what kind of cool stuff you've chosen for me! You can find loads more about me from my Ravelry profile, projects and stash.
    

I Have a Disease - Webs Tent Sale 5/17/09

So, of course I don't need more yarn. I have more yarn than I clearly know what to do with. It's mostly stuffed in the closet out of the way, but then I have bunches here and there through out the apartment because it won't fit nicely into the closet! I also have projects in various states of completion that take up even more space! I have made the bathroom off limits (eeeww that'd be gross) but there is literally yarn in every other room of my living space (and my cube at work).


Admitting I have a problem is the first step, right? Somehow I can't seem to make it past that first step and found myself dancing and singing my way to the Webs tent sale yesterday. Oh my - it was amazing. My husband drove us there (so I could knit on the way, of course) and we arrived at 9:30. The sale was scheduled to start at 10:00 but there were already hungry looking women devouring the sale tables. There were bags of great yarn at very reasonable prices and even more inside that you didn't have to buy as a 10 pack! Amazingly, there were even some boxes of free yarn that they put out every now and then. I tried to be good but I did end up with more than I thought I would.

I was there for about 3 1/2 hours and it was packed by the time I left. The Webs employees definitely deserve some time off for all the hard work they put in this weekend. Despite the crowds they were smiling and helpful the whole time I was there.

In addition to the sale, they had a Fleece Market featuring some of the local sheep and alpaca fleece vendors. Most of the roving was natural but Jean Willmann (S. Deerfield, MA) had some beautifully dyed fleece (pictured right) that made me want to learn how to spin.

After an exhausting but blissful shopping experience, we headed over to Cafe Evolution in Florence, MA. It's a vegan cafe / restaurant that serves up some good food! I had the peanut noodles (yum) and my husband got a burrito made with sheese. A trip there wouldn't be complete without a sweet vegan treat. I opted for the chocolate mint cupcake but the chocolate peanut butter and pistachio cupcakes looked really good too!

When I arrived home and emptied out my bags I was a bit aghast at the increase to my stash and what this means for my storage options. I'm thinking if I move my husband's computer area to the basement I could create a cozy craft corner! (With that much alliteration it has to be a good idea!) If you click on the picture you'll get a larger view of my new stash items and Cunningham surveying the damage.

Spring Déjà Vu & Nest Fodder Status

My husband bought me some really pretty tulips the other night. I'm not sure if it was a mistake or a bonus, but there's a pretty pink flower among the orange ones! So pretty! Especially on these cold and raw days.

April means fundraising time and last year I blogged about making Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cheese Bars for the antique appraisal day that our Friends of the Library was hosting. I was really annoyed at the thought of baking something that would dirty lots of bowls last night but recalled that these bars were pretty easy and had gone over well. I pulled up my post and what do you know?! - A few slight recipe modifications and I was in business and having a major case of déjà vu!

Now onto the most important news: my yarn suet-feeder nest maker thingy!! (I seriously need to come up with a name for this - any ideas??) I've been watching the holder closely over the last two weeks and am sad to say there hasn't been any notable activity. It's still early though! We have just begun Spring and there are many nests to be made!!

Whoopie Pies & Turban Calzones

I decided to make whoopie pies last weekend since I was having a major craving for them. I'd never made them and went to my trusty recipe box for mom's standby. What I found instead was a very complicated one I'd copied out of a book and it involved getting buttermilk and non-alkalized cocoa. My handwriting was so tiny on the card I immediately knew it was NOT what I wanted.

A quick call to my sister produced the "easy" recipe for whoopie pies that I remembered enjoying so much as a kid. I lined my pans with parchment and began dropping mounded tablespoons of the batter.

My husband (who had never eaten a whoopie pie) tried to grab one of the cookie halves when I wasn't looking. I slapped his hand away and asked "What do you think you're doing?!?!" I had counted them out so I had just enough for 21 pies. He said "I want to eat a whoopie pie!" The poor sheltered thing didn't realize that there was more goodness to come in the form of blinding white filling.

The only problem I ran into was that I didn't let the cookie halves stay on the baking sheet long enough when they came out of the oven. The only group that looked right was the last bunch. I forgot about them for a minute or two and rushed to get them onto the cooling rack. They were the only ones to stay puffed instead of deflating.

I gave them out to a few people who uttered things like "OMG!" and "amazingly delicious!" so I guess they were a success after all. The cookie is cakey but not too dense, and the filling is creamy and delicious. Yay for whoopie pies!

For dinner we decided to make our turban calzones. (The way I roll the ends together and the size of the calzones reminds me of a turban I could wear on my head.) The double batch of homemade pizza dough is filled with caramelized onions, diced tomatoes, basil and cheeses. The recipe makes two, and as you can see, I can hardly get them on one cookie sheet. They taste SO good though - especially with a side salad or peas and a nice bottle of wine. We share one and refrigerate the other for another meal later in the week.

It's Spring - Let the Nest Making Begin!

I've been waiting for today for a long time! All winter long I collected up my yarn scraps, bits of raffia and Cunningham's fur and put it in a suet feeder. I decided on the first day of spring that I'd hang it up so the birds could use it to build their nests with. I'm not sure where I saw the idea (sadly it wasn't originally mine) but I love the thought that this spring and summer maybe my throw-away items will be turned into a little nest. How cool would it be to look up at a nest and see bits of yarn from the socks or hat I knit?!?

Birds love building their nests with fur so I made sure lot's of Cunningham's soft fur made it from his brush to the holder. I'm not exactly sure when the nest building begins, but it seemed like a good day to put it out there. I have it hanging next to a suet-filled feeder and right now the birds seem much more interested in that one. I captured a chickadee in mid flight as he flew from nest supplies to...yummy food.

I'll keep taking pictures every couple of weeks and track the progress. We have so many birds in our back yard that I can only imagine it will get used eventually.

Joe the Cup

I managed to get quite a bit of crafting in over the long weekend. Since I'm a beginner crocheter, I gravitated to Ana Paula Rimoli's book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. Her patterns are really easy to follow and the results are darling! I've been obsessed with knit and crochet food, so my latest was her "Café con Leche" (i.e. Joe the Cup). I didn't add the pink cheeks in her pattern because 1) I wasn't sure I liked them, and 2) I didn't have pink felt.

I love using safety eyes. Besides the fact that it's impossible to find them at any of my three local craft stores, I ordered a bunch online from Harvey's Hobby Hut. They have a great selection of craft eyes and sell them in bulk or in the smaller packages. The prices are pretty good and they ship fast! I'd definitely recommend them if you are having trouble getting safety eyes locally.

Recent Crochet

I'm now saying that I officially crochet. After completing two projects that actually look like what they're supposed to, I feel like I deserve to list it as one of my crafty skills.

My little black cat sat around for awhile in pieces - for some reason I was convinced he wouldn't go together easily. It did take a really long time to get his face just perfect, but I think he was worth the effort. For a first pattern, it was definitely easy, but I should have chosen another color. It was really difficult to see the stitches when I was working. One of the good benefits of using black was that it hides all of my terrible sewing for his little arms, legs and tail!

I haven't decided if I'm going to give him up or not. I've gotten somewhat attached since he is my first crochet project. And he's just so darn cute!

My second project were a couple of Happy Eggs. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw the picture, so I borrowed the book from the library and made it my second project. I started by making the yellow chick with wool ease and then was annoyed that the white has a strand of glitter running through it and bought a white Vanna's Choice. The shell was way too big for the little guy so I made the gold chick and ended up making the yellow chick's shell by ripping out the shimmery strand. I actually like the wool ease chick and egg better even though it's not as firm as the Vanna's Choice. The little chick is fuzzier and the gauge works out to be more the size of an actual egg.

What I'm Reading: Angela's Ashes: A Memoir - Frank McCourt

Thumbs way up! I'd heard people say that Angela's Ashes was a must-read book, but for some reason it took me a very long time to get around to agree. I think I made the decision to put it on my 2008 list when we got back from Ireland and wanted to mentally prolong my visit. After reading The Glass Castle (TGC), I thought "eh, why not another memoir?" I was on a memoir roll!

Once again, I listened to the audio - which happens to be done my McCourt himself. I found this particularly nice because he sings all the old Irish songs.

Overall I thought it was well written and very good. As with TGC the subject matter was at times difficult to listen to, but what amazed me in McCourt's experience, was that often times, there were people around to help out. That's not to say he didn't endure hardship, it was just different from TGC.

I feel like I have a much better understanding of what it means to be Irish and Catholic (I'm neither). McCourt does an amazing job of setting you in his shoes - tape and holes included - to get an idea of what it is to be both.