The No-Knitting Content part of my Knitting Blog

I just realized that the last four posts of mine have been entirely without photos. That's boring. Really boring. So, to revitalize this blog, I give you pictures of what I've been up to during my non-knitting time.

1. I haven't had these since fourth grade





I now have bangs.

(I was going to talk only about this new haircut and title this post "She Bangs" [because for some reason Ricky Martin songs are burned into my brain and nothing NOTHING! can remove them] but I didn't want the really creepy perverts finding this site. I'm only comfortable with the sort-of-weird.)

The last time I had bangs was the fourth grade. I would get bored in class and just stare at my hair, which screwed up my vision, and which resulted in my not having bangs ever again (and also in my getting glasses in sixth grade, the end result of which are my new glasses visible in these fine photographs).

I got the rest of my hair cut, too, but I'm still not sure how I like it. The very enthusiastic stylist suggested layers, and I wanted a change so layers sounded really good. Then she took off so much hair that I feel dangerously close to mullet territory. THEN! she blow dried it all poofy and put more hairspray in it than I use in an entire year, and I looked like a lion. A lion, people. I've been wearing my hair up ever since.

2. What does a vegan have on her pizza?

We made pizza on Sunday night, using the following ingredients...


black beans...


diced cooked potato...


sauteed/carmelized onions (so tasty!)...


fresh mushrooms...


green olives (for which I have a mad passion)...


avocado (which we peeled and diced, of course)...


and fake mozzerella cheese, from Vegan Gourmet.

And pizza crust, and pizza sauce. And it all turned out amazing and tasty and good, but I didn't get a picture of the finished product because I was hungry like the wolf and ate it all up before I even thought of the camera. Best pizza I've had in a long time.

3. When you can't stitch, plan your next project!

Or your next project after the fifty in line ahead of this one.

There's this long story behind the pictures I'm going to show you, but as I want this post to be more about the pictures and less about me rambling on and on about some crazy story, I give you the pictures.


This is Nine-Patch Number One...


...and this is Nine-Patch Number Two.

I started making these squares about three years ago, thinking that I'd make Nick an afghan (a visible and warming manifestation of my love). Turns out these squares are pretty small (7 inches across). I've made 20 of the buggers, and I'm not making any more. My current plan is to (1) Weave in the ends, (2) Crochet them together, (3) Somehow make one afghan out of two giant squares. I think I'm going to crochet a border around the nine-patches, then attach the two and make that the central panel of the blanket, then work some basic stitch on the sides.

Easy as pie, right? I'll get to it right after I finish everything else.

It will make a great 15-year anniversary present.

Some Observations

1. The weather has gone bat-shit crazy, as is usual here for March. Yesterday it rained all morning, got sunny and warm at lunchtime, then went grey and evil during the afternoon. Then it snowed all night with high winds (my apartment building? It sways in the wind. Yes.), and that seems to be the trend for today. Fantastic. But the weird-and-happy thing is, the wind that's blowing feels not as soul-crushingly cold as it has been. That long-awaited season (I'm not going to jinx it by saying its name) is coming!

2. I have purchased new yarn.

Cherry Tree Hill in Monet.


Fleece Artist in Moss.

I decree that this is not a falling off of the KFYS wagon. I have determined that casting on for a second pair of socks practically equals finishing a second pair of socks, the prerequisite for purchasing more sock yarn. Plus I wanted it. Plus the CTH has turned into a beautiful teal-green-based rainbow of a yarn cake. And the pretty pretty Moss is for a specific project (more on that later... it is marinating just now). So I am entirely justified. I mean it.

3. Our friends Mark and Amy are coming to town tonight! We haven't seen them since New Year's Eve: Hammerfist Style and I'm totally excited about it. Friends of ours are having their wedding reception tomorrow, and MarkAmy are staying with us and it's going to be awesome with the cooking together and the dressing up for the party and the hanging out. I've started the pre-preparation for the crockpot dinner I'm going to put together on my lunch hour, and dinner will be ready just after they get here, and all will be awesome. Awesome, I say!!

4. I have made progress on the to-be-felted tote.

I finished the base,


and cast on about thirty-seven times for the side. First it was too small. Then it was too big. Then it was way too big. Then it was too small. Now it is just right. Ugh. Garter stitch is a little sneaky stitch when it comes to how many stitches equal how many rows. This last time (the time that seems to be working, unless I have jinxed myself by saying that) I cast on 64 stitches, which is the number of ridges (2 rows of garter) I have in the base. I hope this is right.

5. My Mom's feet make sort of cracking/snapping sounds when she walks. It's not painful (I think) or problematic, her feet just do that. When I was little I could always tell when she was walking down the hall or up the stairs or wherever, just by hearing her feet snap. I never really thought about it until I moved out of the house and didn't hear it regularly anymore. This morning, as I got up early to chop vegetables, my feet made the snapping noise and I realized that my feet have been making that noise for a long time. I have my mother's feet. It made me all happy.

(I just don't have any good recent pictures of me and Mom, what with the camera being a twit, so I give you a picture from my wedding day)

Anyone else have any physical trait from your parents that makes you smiley and happy?

How Cold Is It?

It's so cold that there is no moisture in the air anymore. Everything is drying up and freaking out. I live in fear of the inevitable bloody nose, my hands appear to have aged 75 years in the last week, my hair is static-y and clinging to my face and neck which is making me want to just hack it all off with a knife, and the snow makes this annoying squeaky-squeaky sound when one steps on it.



That's how cold it is.

I am pretty much done with winter, thank you.


Oh, and the vegan bechamel sauce? Right. The other night I had a taste for pasta with leftover vegan sausage (it tastes amazing and very much like sausage, because sausage tastes like spices), and thought I'd make a white sauce to go over it. In my mind it was going to be a lot like biscuits-and-gravy, a very savory white sauce full of pepper and goodness.


Did I go to the computer and look up "vegan white sauce" or "vegan biscuits and gravy"? Of course I didn't, for I was feeling cocky and oh-so-capable and full of my ability to MAKE FOOD OUT OF NOTHING! So I just grabbed a non-vegan cookbook full of pasta sauce recipes, found one that resembled the concoction in my brain, pulled out my vegan ingredients, and went at it.


My first red flag should have been the quantities called for. Six tablespoons of butter (I used Earth Balance... mmm)? Some flour... three cups of milk (soy milk)? All this wasn't really necessary -- it was just Nick and me. Did I stop and reconsider? Of course I didn't, for I was feeling cocky, etc. It was only after I'd added everything together and tasted it that I realized what was certainly obvious to Nick (who was humoring me in the cutest way): it was wrong on many, many levels, not the least of which was the fact that it tasted like a damn sugar cookie.

We had marinara with our pasta and sausages that night.