A Few Finished Projects

So, usually I wake up, roll out of bed and turn on the computer. From there, I check email, then Twitter. I do my rounds on my favorite blogs and websites. Then I write my NaNoWriMo word count for the day while I chat with the fiance at work. Afterwards, I'm free to do whatever. Free to do housework, clean, watch some of my many television shows that I hoard onto the DVR. Lately, the fiance and I have been watching Doctor Who when he gets home. I'll fix dinner, and we will start an episode while we eat. After dinner, I work on knitting projects. So, today's blog post is kind of a finished project photo day. I have a couple that I have finished recently, and just got around to photographing.



These are socks that I made for Tyler for his birthday a couple weeks ago. I had tried a different pattern before this one. It was really fancy, with cables, ribbing, patterns, and even a toe-up, which had be stressing for almost a full day. I just could not understand the Judy's Magic Cast-on. But, I eventually did it, and it wasn't until I got a good 4 inches into the sock, that I realized it was going to be way too big for him. I took it out and realized I was going to be pressed for time to finish it, so I picked a less complicated pattern, which fit him much better. He had to show every single person at his birthday get-together, I think he was proud of my work, and wanted to show it off to everyone. He put them on immediately when we got home. I think they turned out nice, and they should be a good starter sock for him, to see if he likes them and will wear them. If he does, I'll probably make more for him.



This Henslowe Shawl I finished last month. It was a complete nightmare to block, and had both me and Tyler pinning it out (the poor fiance had no idea what he was doing, honestly, but I appreciated the help he did do). It was brutal, and I'm not sure I'll make another one of these. Which is sad because I rarely pay for patterns, and this was one of the only that I purchased. The instructions on picking up stitches were a little confusing, probably because I have never done Shetland lace construction before? I don't know, but I can't foresee myself doing another.



These miserable fingerless mitts. I first started them on double pointed needles, and kept taking them out for some reason or another. One day I thought they were too long, the next day too short, or, I didn't like how the picot edging looked. It was always something. After it sat for many weeks, I eventually just divided the yarn into two balls (with my cheap new kitchen scale, yay!), and cast on for two at a time. I was determined to finish them, and finally did. I am extremely pleased with them, and for the past 2 days, I've been wearing them everywhere.

NaNoWriMo Begins!

Today is November 1st, the beginning of National Novel Writing Month! I've heard a lot about NaNoWriMo throughout the years, and this year, I have decided to participate! I've been waiting for it for weeks, thinking of what I'm going to write, then making character profiles, and then just making general notes about what I want to happen. I have started my novel, and completed my first 1,667 words this morning. Yay! I'm excited. I told the fiance that I'll be spending November working on this, and he has been really supportive about it. Even today when I told him I was stuck, I don't know what to write, he tried his best to give me ideas, even when he had no idea about the direction of the story.

Anyway, I've been gathering resources for the past month, and I thought I'd write a blog post on some of the things that I've found helpful.



The single, most helpful thing I've found is StoryBox. It appears to be a program that you pay for, but the creator offers the full program with no trial, no restrictions. So, you can use this software completely free, forever. At first I didn't think I needed this program, it's filled wit SO many features that I didn't think I'd need. But, as I started to outline my characters, locations and plot, there are just so many things that I don't think I'd be able to live without now. I can upload photos of places, animals, layouts, floorplans, anything up into the file so that I don't forget about what places look like. I can completely list out everything about my characters. Especially helpful so I don't forget what side that scar is on. Left or right.  If you are participating in NaNoWriMo, you need this program. Or a similar one. I love it. (By the way, you can click on the photo to go to the Flickr page, where you can view in full size).

If you prefer an online based outline service, check out LitLift. You can create characters, settings, and items on there. The most useful thing for me is their character generator. I'm horrible at coming up with names, so I just tell the generator if I want a male or a female, and it pops out several names for me to choose from. I love this feature.

Also, for backup, I'm intending to upload to Dropbox. Through the years, I have lost many important files. Many that were hours, days or even weeks of work. For this novel which will require even more time than anything I've ever done before, I'm becoming a backup fiend. I have a little 4GB flash drive that I'll be using for this, as well as Dropbox. The cool thing about Dropbox is if you have multiple devices to work on, Dropbox syncs your work to all devices. I can work on my desktop computer, then leave the house and work where I left off at the mall from my phone.

Sourdough Bread Bowl with Clam Chowder

You ever have that food that just makes all your cares in the world disappear? I do. For me, it's clam chowder in a bread bowl. For years, my family and I would go down to the wharf in San Francisco, where we'd stop and eat clam chowder. Not just any clam chowder though, it just had to be in a sourdough bread bowl. It was amazing, Even if we couldn't get to San Francisco, we'd stop by at the local Boudin and get a sandwich and the chowder in a bread bowl. Now, in Iowa, I can't find another place like it. It's one of my favorite foods, and I can't even find any place to buy a single sourdough bread bowl. Therefore, I made my own!

I made the sourdough starter a couple days beforehand. It was teasing me all 3 days it sat on the counter. I wanted my sourdough bread then, I didn't want to wait. But I did. Sadly.



The bowl turned out okay. It wasn't sourdoughy enough, but after a few more feedings to the starter, I think it will turn out okay, once it really starts going. But, the bowl was the perfect size, the crust was nice and crispy, and the inside dough was perfect and dense. I was still pleased with it, I put some canned clam chowder in there, sprinkled with pepper and some chives. It was worth the wait, really.

Bedroom Violets

In addition to the African Violets in the sunroom, that I posted about a couple days ago, I also have a few in my bedroom. Our air conditioner does not cool off the house, at all in the summer. We have a portable air conditioner, that we would roll into the main living area in the morning, and roll it to the bedroom at night. Every day. It didn't cool off the main living areas in the apartment, so after a while of suffering in the heat (it would get up to 98 degrees, in the apartment), I got tired of it all. We moved the television, air conditioner, and everything I needed into the bedroom. For 3 solid months, this is where we lived. We never came out of the bedroom, because that is the only room that the air conditioner actually kept cool. We ate, slept, watched movies, and everything in there. Only recently, did we bring the TV back out to the living room, and use the bedroom for sleeping again.

Since we moved into the bedroom during this time, I was unable to see my  African Violets all the time, like I wanted. So, Tyler went out and bought me a cheap desk lamp, and a compact florescent light bulb for it, so that I can keep a few in the bedroom with me. I originally wanted to keep only one or 2, but the light covered a lot more space than I thought. I picked out 4 of my favorite violets, and put them in the bedroom with me.

My camera is kind of a drama queen with lighting. This photo was actually taken mid-day, with the light on, but somehow it makes it look like it was taken in the middle of the night in a dark room. Whatever, camera. Anyway, here are my 4 favorites. To those who are familiar with African Violets, they are (in clockwise direction): Ma's Ching Dynasty, Ma's Fuzzy Slippers, Ma's Hot Flash, and  Ma's Easter Parade.

Ma's Ching Dynasty even is sprouting a flower bud! It feels like this blossom is never going to open. I've been watching it for days and it's like agony. I want to see what you look like, little flower! Open open!

As for these 4 plants though, I think it's time to find them another place. Now that it's fall, I'm flinging open the bedroom windows at night, and it's been in the 30s and lower lately. I love sleeping in the cold I love the feeling of curling up in my comforter and blankets. Last winter, I would even keep the windows wide open while it snowed, and got into the negative degree temperatures. That said, the bedroom is now too cold for them. There's a bookshelf in the dining room which I think is going to be perfect for them during the fall and winter. I usually keep the radiators on when I need them in the front room and dining room, so it should stay quite warm for them out there.

Update on African Violets

It's been a while since I updated my blog on my precious African Violets, huh? Well, a lot has changed since my last (and only?) post on them. Shortly after that post, the fiance allowed me to go on a shopping spree and buy some more for a slightly early birthday gift. I headed over to The Violet Barn and ordered..... 11 more plants. yes, 11. And this does not include the ones I picked up from our local Lowes.



I've moved them from the windowsills, into the sunroom, under my florescent lighting. The large, full ones are from Lowes, the smaller ones are the babies that I received from The Violet Barn. They were so small then, and they've grown by leaps and bounds in the almost 2 months I've had them.



The ones I got from Lowes, are starting to flower! This was one of my first violets, of the Optimara variety. I'm not sure exactly what it's name is, but it's pretty. I fell in love with the ruffled edges, and hey, it's pink!



Another unknown Optimara variety from Lowes. This one isn't as attractive as the first one to me, but it's still special. When I was mad at the fiance one night, he came home with this for me. It's the thought that he went out and picked one for me is what makes it special. And yes, he was forgiven on the spot. Hah.



This Optimara is about to bloom. I'd forgotten which one this is, I can't wait until they open and I can see!



Even the ones I purchased from The Violet Barn are preparing to bloom as well. This one is Rob's Ooh Lala, a semiminiature variety. They will be gorgeous when they open, I can tell. It's really exciting, because almost all of the ones I purchased from The Violet Barn in August, are producing flower stalks. Yay!

Let me just say that, I've never been good with propagating these. But I keep trying. When I repotted all the Violet Barn violets (way back in August), I broke off two leaves from some semiminiature varieties. They were just too small to pot in their little containers, and my fingers are clearly too fat. The violets lost the battle between finger and container, and I cringed when I heard the little leaves go SNAP. I took a chance and attempted to propagate them anyway. I stuck them in some soil and just waited to see what happened.



They have been in this little pot for almost 2 months. As the fiance was playing his latest Playstation 3 game, I was tending to my violets, and literally shrieked when I seen that I had little baby plantlets poking up from the soil. I was screaming at him to come check it out. He did, but he didn't share my glee. Hmph. The smaller leaf in the photo has the baby plantlets (if you look closely at the base of the stem, you can see them), the bigger one is just now growing roots. It should hopefully sprout babies in a couple weeks.



This little yellow tray, is what I call my nursery. Mainly for leaves that I somehow manage to break off, or suckers that I'm hoping will root and make more plants.

Madelinetosh Lace

For the majority of my knitting time, I've been using Knit Picks yarn. It's a great value, and it creates beautiful objects. However, in looking through some pattern's projects, a lot of the things I want to make use this yarn called Madelinetosh. I don't have a yarn store around me, the nearest one is about 80 miles away, so I've never seen this yarn in person. I looked at ordering at online vendors, and bawked at the cost of a hank. I've never spent anything over $11 for a hank, and Madeline tosh was $26? For one hank??



I found this Vermillion colorway from a Ravelry member, for a slightly cheaper price. I think it was $23? Or something around there. It's only slightly cheaper than the online vendors, but hey, shipping was included on this deal. I got in in the mail, and it was love at first sight. It's gorgeous, squishy, and so soft. I've already started a project with this hank - the Rock Island Shawl. The finished project is really beautiful, but I'm 7 repeats into the edging and I'm bored already. So, I don't know.



I liked that one so much, I had to get another one. I found this Calligraphy colorway on sale at Jimmy Beans Wool. I have plans for this one too. This will become a Vostok Shawl. I loved that pattern when I seen it, and I can't wait to start it. I love Madelinetosh yarn, but honestly, I don't think I'll ever buy another hank unless I find it on sale.

Hiya Hiya Goodies

Last Monday, I finally decided it was time to purchase a set of interchangeable knitting needles. I started knitting a couple years ago, and didn't know if I was really going to like it. So, my needle case has been slowly filling up with cheap needles, ones purchased from chain craft stores. Last year, I got two sets of nickle-plated  double pointed needles from Knit Picks, but at this point in time, they are basically unusable. From them, I have discovered that my skin tarnishes nickel like crazy, so any more Knit Picks needles were out of the question for me.

Since my love for knitting is not going away, it was time to invest in some quality needles. I researched all the major brands now, Knit Picks, Addi, Hiya Hiya. After looking and looking, I decided on the Hiya Hiyas. I heard that the joins on the interchangeables were one of the best, they are made out of stainless steel (I'm assuming since my forks and spoons aren't tarnished, I won't tarnish these needles), and they since they are metal they will fit my knitting style really well. I don't like wooden or acrylic needles, at all.

I was all set to order from the Hiya Hiya website, but then I noticed that I couldn't choose what color of the Puppy Snips I wanted (cute little tiny scissors, perfect for dropping in my travel knitting bag). Getting the pink was kind of important to me, and that was when I placed my order somewhere else - The Yarn Grove.



Saying I was ecstatic when I saw this bag outside the door to my apartment was an understatement. After snapping this photo, I literally clawed through the packaging to get at my new interchangeable needle set. I've never had such umm.... expensive needles before. Well, they were expensive to me, at least. They are reasonable for the quality you get, but my fiance and I are on a budget. I'm really lucky he found it in the budget to get these for me.



The bottom is my interchangeable set. I got the Small Sharp set (sizes 2-8), because very rarely, do I need anything larger. I also got a size 1.5 fixed circular needle, with a 40 inch cable. I really want to learn magic loop, so this, I thought, would be my training needle. And, my Puppy Snips! I was shocked at the size of this, it is so small!



The interchangeable set. I can't even describe how much I love them. It came with the sizes 2-8, 4 cable lengths, little grippers to help tighten the cables, and a really fabulous case. As soon as I got them out of the wrapping, I immediately transferred my Henslowe shawl that I was knitting on some needles I got at Michaels, to my new Hiya Hiya's. I adore them. The tips are sharp, the joins are so smooth, and no longer to I need to boil cables to get them to flex! Love.

As for The Yarn Grove, I am so happy with them. All my needles were packaged so well, shipped really fast, and I adored the little handwritten note on my order receipt. It gave some kind of personality to ordering online. And, the prices were better (and, I got free shipping on these! Win!).