Major Knitter

And Now, a Word from our Sponsors

OK - not really.  I don't have any sponsors.  But I had a contest just before Hurricane Irene struck and in all the frenzy of preparedness, didn't get a chance to announce the winner of the Vogue Knitting "Where is Major Knitter" contest.

The contest required that you tell me where you saw me in the Fall 2011 Vogue Knitting.

I wrote the names down on pieces of paper and let Wilma choose the winner.

Congratulations Beverly!  You're the winner of a skein of sock yarn in honor of my mention in the Sock-cess piece at the bottom of page 60.  It's small... but hey... it's Vogue Knitting.  I'm thrilled!

My sock tip is this:

I knit both socks at the same time, on two sets of needles, to avoid the Second Sock Syndrome.  Cast on for both socks.  Knit the cuff for one sock, then the other; continue in this way until you get to the toes.  The best part of working this way?  When you graft the toe shut on one sock, you immediately graft the toe shut on the second.  Also, if you vary from the pattern on one sock, you can easily remember to make the same variation on the second.

Beverly - please select your sock yarn from the three skeins pictured below.  I snapped the shot outside in sunlight to hopefully get the most accurate representation of the yarn.  As you know, I have Wilma, but live in a smoke-free home.

From left to right, your choices are:

1. Ty-Dy Sox in a brown, green and black colorway Color #1883, Lot #56
2. Sock Yarnista - Green, brown, pink, lavendar and cream colorway - "Winter Quince Blossom"
3. Mountain Colors Hand-Painted Yarn in a blue, green, purple colorway  - "Steelhead"

Beverly - please email me or leave me a comment with your mailing address and your yarn selection and I'll send you your prize.  Maybe during your acceptance speech, you'll leave us a comment with your favorite sock tip.

Congratulations to everyone and thanks for all your heartfelt congratulations!

 

 

Be Prepared

We were prepared for Hurricane Irene.

We turned our laundry room into our Hurricane Irene bunker shelter and stocked it with food, water, flashlights, first aid kit, sleeping gear, board games, stools, batteries, radio, and more.  Fortunately, we didn't really need it.  We weathered the storm quite well.  In fact, except for a neighbor's tree in the back yard that damaged our fence and a broken branch in the front, we really didn't have any damage - just lots of small branches and leaves everywhere.  We were without power for three days, but since we were prepared for about 15-20 days, I'd say we did quite well.  

And thanks to the recommendation of a friend and Eagle Scout, we popped several packs of Boy Scout popcorn beforehand and stored it in the decorative tin.  This came in especially handy during the next few powerless, er, microwave free days.

At night we played board games via our many super duper handy dandy camping gear reflective lanterns.  BTW, I highly recommend investing some money in at least one if not two of these for your emergency preparedness kit.  Anyway, the board games, family time, and popcorn were great fun.  In fact, I was a little sad to see the power return today and see us quickly scatter to our internet and videogame connections.

Not really much to complain about from Irene - at least at our house.  I know many were devastatingly affected and my heart goes out to them.

 

But the day after the storm, the Saugatuck River and the Long Island Sound show no signs of fury.  In fact, it's been perfectly gorgeous weather ever since Irene left.  The clean-up continues and a third of my town is still without power.  School's opening has already been delayed two days - and perhaps more.  

But what remains is that we're all safe and sound.  I felt better knowing we were prepared.  

 

Sampler Baby Blanket - Check

We finished getting our emergency preparedness checklist finished yesterday and then we just sat around waiting for Hurricane Irene.  She's scheduled to start showing her face in an hour or so - with rain and thunderstorms - and then the really ugly stuff is supposed to hit Westport, CT between 10:00 p.m. tonight and last through 12:00 noon tomorrow.  That's 14 hours of frightening storms.  We're prepared physically, and I sure hope we're prepared mentally, too.  I'm still hoping it will blow off course, but as of yesterday the eye of the storm is poised to pass pretty much right over us.

So instead of worrying about the storm, I finished the crocheted edge of my Sampler Baby Blanket.  This is the year long class I took with Lynn Wilson at my LYS.  

I really love this blanket with its 30 different stitch samples.  

I still need to block it one last time to relax the crochet sts, but I'm so pleased with this finished blanket.

I'm going to put it away for a future heirloom gift for someone very special.

You can make this wonderful blanket, too.  The Sampler Blanket pattern is now available at Knitting Central.  Thanks Lynn for helping me cross the finish line with this lovely pattern.  Special shout out to Danni who patiently sat with me most of this week to teach me, and teach me again, how to crochet the strips together and do the crochet edging.  

Now I feel like I'm prepared and have something accomplished.  I'm planning on finishing a pair of socks and work on seaming and edging the red Sampler Blanket during the storm.  I may have a slew of finished objects when Irene is all said and done.  Wish us luck - and everyone in Irene's path.

We Interrupt This Blog...

...for an important safety announcement.  

There will be no knitting content today as we prepare for Hurricane Irene.  I repeat.  There will be no knitting content today as we prepare for Hurricane Irene.

• Go Bag.  Check.
• Outdoor furniture inside.  Check.
• Food.  Water.  MREs.  Check.
• Flashlights.  Batteries.  Check.
• Books.  Games.  Knitting.  Check.
• Wilma.  Dog food.  Water bowl.  Check.
• Charged electronics.  Car chargers.  Check.
• Important papers.  Computer back-ups.  Check.
• First Aid Kit.  Check.
• Camping gear.  Check.
• Cars filled with gas.  Check.
• Water.  Water.  Water.  Check.
• Photos of house.  Insurance info.  Check.
• Emergency plan.  Rendevous plan.  Out-of-state central contact.  Check.

 OK.  Now it's time to sit back and wait.  

Summer Reading

I'm really enjoying this summer.  When I'm not doing Marine Corps stuff or Boy Scout stuff, I'm reading, resting, relaxing and rknitting (sorry, I wanted it to start with a letter R).  

I've been reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series all summer.  I read the first four books in the early 90s but recently discovered that she kept on writing (after I thought I had finished the series).  So I started over again.  I've finished Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager and Drums of Autumn.  Each book is a hefty 700 - 1,000 pages!  Now I'm starting The Fiery Cross.  With all this dedicated reading, I decided I needed my own particular bookmark.

Being a knitter, I grabbed some random fingering weight yarn, size 6 needles and began Lace #1 from Nancie Wiseman's Lace from the Attic.  Voila!  The perfect bookmark for my epic reading.

P.S.  Wilma asked me to pass along her thanks for all your well wishes.  She woke up feeling much better!

Wilma on Wednesday - Not Quite Up to Par

Poor Wilma.  Something's not quite right with her today.  I think she caught something at the kennel the other day when I took her for grooming.  Drat!  I'll be taking her to the Wonder Vet today for a look-see.  

"Why are you pointing that camera thingy at me?"

"Maybe if I give her my forlorn look, she'll have pity on me and give me extra treats."

"Mmmm.  The treats are right there on that counter.  C'mon lady.  Throw me a bone!"

Wish my Girly-Girl luck today.  I hope it's nothing too bad.  My wallet hopes it's nothing too significant either.  

 

Summer Vegetables = Ratatouille

I love summer vegetables.  The farm share gets picked up every Thursday afternoon and I start trying to decide how I can possibly cook, serve and eat all those amazing vegetables.  

 

I started with a bunch of lovely tomatoes.

I washed them and cut a cross in the end of each tomato

Then I put them all in a large pot of boiling water for about 5-10 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, I carefully removed the tomatoes from the pot of boiling water and placed them in a sink with ice cold water.

The tomatoes peeled in 4 easy sections!

I quartered the tomatoes and placed them in a large pot and cooked them over medium heat until they made a thick, rich tomato sauce, turning down the heat as necessary.  At this point I seriously considered canning my own fresh stewed tomatoes for use all winter long, but lacking a pressure cooker canner, I opted for an extra large batch of ratatouille.

I had all the perfect vegetables from the farm - eggplant, squash, zucchini, peppers, basil, onions, and garlic.

I sauteed the onion, garlic and two peppers in olive oil with freshly ground salt and pepper before adding them to the tomato sauce with a bit of vegetable broth for extra flavoring.  Then I chopped an eggplant and two zucchinis and summer squash; sauteed them in the frying pan until slightly brown and added them as well.  I let the whole mixture simmer on low for about 20 minutes before serving.  

Delicious ratatouille.  It tastes just like summer in a bowl.  Enjoy!

Inverted Sock Pose Strikes Again

Thanks for all your kind words about the Vogue Knitting item.  I won't say more since the contest is still open - and I won't publish the comments until after the contest closes.  Good luck!  

In the meantime, here's another pair of socks I finished this week.  

Sockotta  - Color 618 Lot 901
US Size 1 needles (magic loop method) 
Cast on 60 sts
Basic top-down, heel flap sock.

This is my favorite way to photograph socks.  You lie down on the floor with your feet in the air and snap away.  Gravity works with you - not against you.  I highly recommend doing some good stretches before you attempt this.  Also, you might want to have your dog in another room, unless you like getting licked in the face.

Feeling the love!

This is actually great.  I'm using the end of summer to clean up my Ravelry queue.  I just love that.  Don't you?

Major Knitter in Vogue Knitting Fall 2011

Did you see my contribution to Vogue Knitting Fall 2011?

Comment before midnight EST on August 24th with the winning answer of where you saw me in Vogue Knitting and you'll be entered to win a chance at yarn to knit a pair of socks.

Ooh!  I just love prizes.  I hope you do, too.

Finishing Friday - Paws Galore

I made another pair of cashmere worsted weight socks for BF this week.  He liked them.  Wilma liked them.  I liked them.  We had quite the fashion shoot.  Everyone got involved.