Vivren

Birthday knitting

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:57:30 -0500

Finally finished some knitting that I have been working on for a while. I was suffering from a little "second mitten syndrome" where I was really motivated to knit the first one, but the second one was delayed by another project due to the DREAD of knowing how much work was required to complete it. BEHOLD, the completed Swedish fish mittens:

Fish Mittens

I made them for my friend's birthday. I started earlier, but because of the previously mentioned bout of 2nd mitten syndrome, I didn't finish the second one until yesterday morning. But still in time to give them to her!

I love the fish. They are super cute. I like the detailing of the eyes and that each row of fish swim in a different direction. If you're a knitter with A LOT of patience and you're pretty good with stranded/colorwork/intarsia knitting, then you can find the pattern here (but it costs $$). That's a Ravelry link so if you're not part of Ravelry you won't be able to pull it up.

Knitterly details:
I changed a few things in the pattern. Right up front, I didn't use the same yarn as she did. I used some different colorways of Claudia Hand Painted Sock yarn. At first I didn't like the variegated look, but now I really like it because it looks like little scales or that the fish are reflecting different kinds of light as they swim (go, go gadget imagination!). For the main color (off white) I used this new line of yarns from Blue Sky Alpaca called "Spud and Chloe." Not gonna lie, people. This yarn kind of blows. I'm not sure if it's because I was using size 1 needles and that's the lower limit of the yarn (it's recommended for size 1-3) or what, but it pulled apart like CRAZY and was really irritating if I ever had to rip back any mistakes. Anyway, just a note for the future. The Claudia Hand Painted, on the other hand was DREAMY to work with. Such a nice yarn. But I guess you get what you pay for seeing as the Spud and Chloe was much cheaper than the Claudia Hand Painted. The CHP was super expensive, but I bought enough for at least 2 pairs of mittens.

The pattern recommended DPNs, but I kind of despise DPNs so I used the magic loop technique and just bought a long size 1. SIZE 1. OMG. It was crazy. The pattern knits quickly because it's fun, but oh man, 80 stitches per round gets to be a pain in the wrist. Also, the color changes? Just imagine when you finish and you have to WEAVE IN all the ends. It literally took me an hour to weave in all the ends of the first mitten. Much faster with the second because I knew what I was doing, but that was crazypants. Thank you Hulu queue and awesome time-difference friends on the phone for getting me through that.

I also changed the ribbing at the bottom because 1x1 ribbing wasn't going to do it for me, so I did 2x2 ribbing with no increases, just flat out 80 stitches. I think it came out fine, it's not a huge noticable difference. The 2x2 is still stretchy enough that it will hug your wrist and help keep the cold out. However, the fact that it is sock yarn means that these are pretty light mittens and are probably better for fall and the warmer of winter days.

The fish swim in different directions

The thumbs came out weird. I'm not sure why. I think they just need to be wider at the bottom to make the thumbs more comfortable. But I like when the fish line up EXACTLY on the thumb and the mitten.

Almost lines up

I also added some extra rows in the main color at the top of the mitten and on the thumb before I kitchener stitched the tops together. The decreases were done on either end of each side of the mitten. I think I ended up with 20 stitches at the top of each mitten and about 10 stitches at the top of the thumbs. The pattern has a different decrease written, but I didn't like how the sides of the mitten curved in and I wanted to try to make these more rounded.

Some details are on my ravelry.

So that's done. There will be more knitting posts coming up, once I can finish up more present knitting. Fish!

Fish!

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PIE

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:09:32 -0500

I made my ultimate apple pie:

Pie top

PIE

Oh man. Not only did the lattice come out AWESOME, but it was super delicious. Better than the crap pie I made a little while ago. (Never again, Courtland apples! You tricked me into thinking you would make a good pie, but you do not.) I made this with a delicious CHEDDAR CHEESE crust. Mmmm. Salty and sweet and sour, soft and flaky and crunchy. I love fall.

Here is a hilarious photo session outtake:

Outtakes

Oh, Madeline. Your head is cute.

In other news, I really really really want a kitchenaid. Specifically the Williams Sonoma 90th anniversary red one with the glass bowl. No pressure.

I made this pie as a thank you to a friend of mine who let me borrow his kitchen aid. I was super productive with it. I made a big batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, froze some (cookie at any time!) and baked some. And I made an apple pie and TWO tomato pies. All of that baking was in TWO days. The other days the kitchenaid sat on the table, practically humming with potential to help create delicious foods.

One day, kitchenaid, when I have a real job, you will be mine.

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New recipe: Curried couscous salad!

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:13:50 -0400

In a fit of culinary demonic possession, last night I made the most bangin' salad EVAR.

Behold, the curried couscous salad. Do not be fooled by the crappy salad recipes online that feature raw onions (I don't hate onions, but I openly and blatantly hate the inclusion of too many raw onions in salads). This salad is pure delicious lettuce and tomatoes with cucumber raita dressing and curried couscous. Colorful and yum.

YUM.

So, how do you make this flavor bomb?? First, let's make the raita dressing. Raita is a yogurt condiment that goes with a lot of Indian food. It helps cut the heat of some curries. I LOOOOVE it. I don't know how traditional it is to have cucumber in it, but I have been to restaurants that put cucumber in their raita. And I went to a dinner party at the house of an Indian coworker and her raita had cucumber in it as well. That's all the data I have on that. I used Greek yogurt because it tends to be nice and thick and sour which maintains that good yogurt-y taste when it becomes a dressing. Also, I think rice vinegar is not as harsh as white vinegar, so that's what I used (I'm partial to that taste), but I'm sure regular white vinegar would work as well.

Raita dressing

3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 tbl. rice vinegar

2 tbl. olive oil

½ cucumber, peeled, seeded and minced

Mix liquids until smooth and combined.

Then add cucumber and stir well.

Then the CURRIED COUSCOUS. MMMMMM. I was worried about the curried couscous because I thought that i might come out too dry or tasting like curried cardboard, but I was really excited and pleasantly surprised when it came out like curried tummy lovin'. Here's the breakdown:

Curried couscous

½ cup plain couscous (best to be purchased for cheaps at a local Indian or Middle Eastern food store)

½ tsp of the following spices:

coriander

garam masala

tumeric

cumin

fenugreek

½ tsp powdered garlic

½ tsp powdered ginger

½ tsp powdered onion

½ tsp salt

1 tbl olive oil

2/3 cup boiling water

Mix spices with couscous until evenly spread.

Pour in boiling water and let sit covered for 5 minutes.

Fluff with fork and then cover again for another 5 minutes.

Then use some romaine lettuce (I used one head, enough for a huge salad or two medium salads.) chopped into ribbons. One pint of cherry tomatoes, halved and lightly salted to sweat them out and make them taste crisp. I coated the lettuce with raita dressing, then added the tomatoes, then topped with the nice warm couscous. Mmmmm.

You know you want some.

Curried couscous salad

I think this would be SO GOOD in the summer, when you're really craving that Indian food but the thought of eating something spicy and hot is on the bottom of your priorities. This would give you that essential curry/Indian food taste without the heat. Refreshing and yummy!

4 out of 4 PhD students (and one lab tech) agree, it is delicious.

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Love that British wit

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:52:46 -0400

Charlie Brooker on British and American TV News

Money quote:

"Fox News leans further to the right than a man who's just had his right leg blown off!"

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Creepy photo opportunity

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:13:11 -0400

I was reading this article and noting how creepy it was when my friend emailed me about it. Notably, we are both creeped out by this photo.

First of all, who takes a picture like this? Second of all, who SMILES while taking a picture of this? It's so strange and inappropriate.

And of course, Dan Savage says it the best. (For extra funness, look at comment #8 and then the reply at comment #10. Thanks for picking up on that, Al!)

I'd just like to second and third and fourth what Dan Savage is translating for these people who think they they are pious by letting "God do what He's going to do":

What? If you were gonna let God do what He's going to do, you shouldn't have sought out fertility treatments. Here's what God was gonna do: God was gonna make you infertile. God did that, actually, and then you thwarted God's plan for you—that you be infertile—and availed yourselves of the latest medical technologies and sought the help fertility specialists. Then you ignored the advice of your doctors and refused to reduce the number of fetuses you were carrying and now four premature infants have died in great pain and two more will very likely die—but, hey, you'll get another smug, self-satisfied, just-letting-God-do-what-he's-gonna-do photo op out of it, so it's not a total loss. And it's all material for the blog you're writing about "your journey," and there'll probably be a book deal in it for you when it's all over ("Thom & Amanda Minus 6").

Yeah, I would have felt bad for them. Would have.

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Odd.

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:20:12 -0400

Yesterday I was catching up on my TeeVee watching (Bones, Glee, Dollhouse) on Hulu. I'm terrible at watching my shows when they are actually on tv. I was desperately watching Dollhouse, hoping and praying that it gets better and up to the miraculous television that I have now come to expect from Joss Wheadon (re: Firefly, re: Dr. Horrible, re: Buffy) and who do I see but this actor in episode 3, Belle Chose:

Arye Gross

And I was like...what??? Is this person related to:

Victor Garber

Seriously, right? The ears. THE EARS.

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Oh, Flickr

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:15:16 -0400

My Flickr was super cute today:

O HAI

Haha. It made me laugh. Lolspeak! It used to annoy the crap out of me. But now I think it's hilarious. Because sometimes I can see my cats saying "O HAI" I'm just digging in your purse, looking for a hair elastic to play with.

In other news, here are some interesting links I'd like to share.

#1. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. These people are seriously unfit to parent. They deserve a harsher punishment. I know they are thinking of the kids, but seriously. Come on, now, Judge. Also, does this set a precedent? Oh, I just want to LET MY KID DIE, I'll just blame it on God and get off easy. Ugh, disgusting.

#2. Maureen Dowd's column from a couple of days ago has this GREAT gem in it:

In an ideal world, bosses would refrain from sleeping with subordinates, so as not to cause jealousy and tension in the office. But we’re not in an ideal world. Otherwise, we’d already have health care for everyone and Glenn Beck wouldn’t have any influence over the White House.

HA! I HATE GLENN BECK.

#3. This NYT article talks about an interesting way that the brain may work. I like this section:

Researchers have long known that people cling to their personal biases more tightly when feeling threatened. After thinking about their own inevitable death, they become more patriotic, more religious and less tolerant of outsiders, studies find. When insulted, they profess more loyalty to friends — and when told they’ve done poorly on a trivia test, they even identify more strongly with their school’s winning teams.

I think this explains so much...

#4. This has been all over the news, but I really like what Dan Savage had to say about it. This is probably because I have an unhealthy obsession with Dan Savage and I worship him. Reading stuff like this reminds me that at one point I want to try out begin vegetarian and/or vegan. I think it would be a good experience. I think my life is too crazy at this point to try this out, but once I become a real adult (read: graduate, move out, live life like a normal human being at age 29) I think I will do this. Not because I think eating animals is wrong. To be honest, I don't think it's THAT wrong. I just don't trust the food industry. Which, is probably the more sad reason.

In happier news, I made these cute wrist warmers for a friend in Paris:

A little bit 80s

Pretty cute when they're all scrunched up, but they do go all the way up to my elbows. I hope they fit her.

Yay for my inner grandmother!

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New shoes!!

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:14:22 -0400

But probably not the kind you're thinking of...

Five Ten Anasazi LV

Pretty excited. I'm getting these on a huge discount thanks to a certain friend who is always in the know about crazy awesome deals.

I'm glad that sometimes having mutantly small feet pays off.

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Thanks, Cammy

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:12:04 -0400

What do Omaha and Providence have in common?

I think the first comment says it all.

Qualifies as "low carb" right?

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Finally, I know someone with a baby

nobody@vox.com(Vivren) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:54:50 -0400

I attended my cousin's baby shower this weekend. I was excited only because I could FINALLY make a small craft thing for a BABY instead of something extremely time consuming for large adult people.

Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts [LAST-MIN PATCHWORK + QUILTED G]

Joelle(Author) ; Williams, Anna(Photographer) Hoverson

My cousin is a rather picky girl. She likes her designer labels so I decided to make a baby quilt/blanket using Lilly Pulitzer fabric. The idea is adapted from the Joelle Hoverson book, "Last-minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts."

She has this big person quilt in there called "Just sweet enough" with this geometric square/rectangle quilt top. I decided to shrink everything down to baby size and instead of using fabric with a color gradient, I used two contrasting prints called "White King Crab" and "Belle of Lillyville." One is a powder blue/lavender/sea green color palette print on white and the other is a mix of pinks with white outlines. I set the colorful squares in a bright white muslin.

The top sheet has 4 inch border of muslin surrounding alternating 3 inch strips of either plain white muslin or chained pieces of bright Lilly fabric with varying sizes of white muslin. I was going for a "square polka dot-like" effect. I pressed the seams open instead of to the side. You can see the seams through the white muslin, but I actually kind of like the effect it makes. The seams almost look like mini borders or outlines. It highlights the colorful squares. After quilting, this effect was mostly lost due to the diffusing color of the white batting and the blocking affect of the pale yellow fleece fabric that I used for the back of the quilt.

Top sheet of baby quilt

Washing, ironing and cutting the fabric took one night (Wednesday). The next night I plotted out the basic design, figuring out how to make all the varying length pieces fit together so that they all add up to the same length AND look cool (surprisingly difficult). Then I chained together all the strips and made the top sheet (Thursday). The day after that (Friday, aka. crunch time) I cut the batting, yellow fleece and white muslin border pieces to make the back of the quilt and made the double-fold binding out of more Lilly fabric. Before adding the binding I quilted each colorful square. I was only going to do a spattering of quilted squares, but after doing a few, I realized it looked stupid so I did them all, like the psycho OCD masochistic person that I am.

Fluffy Baby Quilt

I hand-stitched Aug 2009 using dark brown embroidery floss into the fleece backing to commemorate. I used yellow fleece because I wanted something more gender neutral. The fabrics are pretty girly, especially the pink flowers, but I didn't want to it make too pink because I hate that gender pandering shizzit that goes on during these "baby shower" type deals. I mean, boys don't always have to get sports stuff and girls don't have to get everything in pink. Like Joelle says in the book, I wanted it too be sweet, but not too sickenenly sweet.

lo-def embroidery

I really wanted to make the back fleecy because I thought that would be so great for a baby--a nice snuggly warm blanket. The extra layer of high loft batting I used in between made it really fluffy and soft and poofy. That baby will never be cold!

Finished product: (sorry about the blur)

Double fold binding

The double fold binding was super easy. I cheated and I didn't hand stitch the back with a blind stitch. This is mostly because I had to stay up pretty late Friday night to get the blanket done in time for Saturday morning. I couldn't be bothered. I just machined stitched the binding closed. This was my shoddiest work, but it was late and I needed to sleep to drive to the baby shower!

All in all, I think it came out super cute. So cute that I kind of want to make an adult sized one for me. I'm glad I stitched all the squares and I liked how to alternating binding colors turned out. I also really liked how puffy the quilting came out. I actually really like when quilts do that and sometimes it is hard to get that look when you machine quilt.

My cousin liked it, and her friends at the party (whom I didn't know personally) liked it so much that they joked that my cousin would have to learn how to quilt in time for when they get pregnant and are planning their baby shower.

I was really excited to FINALLY know a baby so that I can make and give away these cute small projects. It probably took me a little over 14 hours total from start to finish (washing, ironing, cutting, planning, etc). The quilt in the book is listed under the "8-12 hour projects" and I think I could have done that if I followed the pattern exactly and didn't try to adapt it and change it for a baby size.

Baby sized projects are so satisfying because you can do them quickly and they are so cute. But I don't really know very many babies so if I made baby sized stuff I wouldn't know what to do with it all. I guess I could just cross that line and start making tiny baby stuff for my cats, but I don't know if I want to wear that heavy mantle of a truly psychotic crazy cat lady. There's plenty of time for that to develop at its own pace without help from me.

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