New sock accessories

I can't decide if these scream "there's no place like home" or "you deserve a break today." Regardless, here are the new sock vehicles.

Why Greaseball is a Butt

Seriously, these pictures do not need any annotation.

Not Done Jaywalking

I turned the heel on my toe-up Jaywalker a few nights ago - I ended up chickening out on doing a heel flap, so I did a trusty short row heel instead. Plus, I knitted the foot up to 1.5 inches from the heel, so I would have had to frog part of my sock to make a heel flap work. No thanks!

The next time I do this pattern, I'm going to knit the sole side in stockinette stitch because I don't like the way the ribs feel on the bottom of my feet.

I think this will be an anklet sock with a picot bind off.

Mingus goes Zepplelin on yo' ass

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, ah!


I come from the land of the ice and snow,
from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow!



Now, let's take it down a notch.

Groovin'... on a Sunday afternoon.

Poor, unsuspectiong piece of popcorn

You've had a good life, oh corny one. You were once a hard, boring seed. Now, after trial by fire, you've transformed into a beautiful fluffy cloud of popcorny goodness. You thought you escaped death when I accidentally dropped you onto the table instead of into my waiting mouth. But little did you know that I left you there as a sacrifice for the Beast.


She takes no prisoners. I'm sorry, oh corny one.


Fifty-Fifty sees all. She knows all. You must believe.

Whose tail is it? You be the judge

Vespa's butt:

Mingus' butt:

Tail in question (lower, right-hand corner):

And Another Washcloth

Flower Bud Washcloth
Size 6 needles
Tahki Cotton Classic, Lipstick

Why another washcloth? Because it's short and sweet. That's why!

"The Great Thinking Cap made me do it!"

GTC: Vespa, in order for this plan to work, you need to think about what makes your brother Mingus tick.

V: That's easy. Treats and belly rubs is what that dog is all about!

GTC: Very good. You are correct - Mingus will do anything for treats and belly rubs. Now, listen to me and I'll tell you how to be rid of Mingus permanently. You can once again be the only dog, Vespa. Imagine how much attention you'll get with Mingus out of the way!

GTC: First, tell Mingus that he needs to pack his bags. He's going to a land where everyone will give him treats and belly rubs.

M: Oh boy! A land where everyone will give me treats and belly rubs? Really, Vespa? Lemme at it! I'll pack!


V: Uh, Mingus... I said that you need to pack your bag, not pack yourself in the bag!

M: Huh?

V: Oh, give me a break. I'll do it! Just sit right here while I pack your bag.

M: Can we go now? I want some treats!

V: Mingus, you'll have to do this by yourself. I can't go with you.

M: Why not? Oh, I get it! More treats and belly rubs for me! I'm all packed up and ready to go!

GTC: Once Mingus is packed, give him keys to the car and show him the door. You must be quick, Vespa! This must be done while your parents are at work, or else they will stop him and you'll forever be plagued by Mingus.

M: What are these? Car keys? Vespa, I don't know how to drive!

V: Mingus, if you don't want to go the land of treats and belly rubs, I can go instead. Driving is easy. Just follow this map.

M: Well, okay... If you say so...

(3 Hours Later)

M: I think I've been tricked! There are no treats and belly rubs here! Vespa, I'm gonna get you!!!


(Meanwhile, back at the wildtomato house...)

GTC: Muahahahahaha! There is no such thing as a Great Thinking Cap, dumb dogs! One dog down, and one more to go!

Oh, Great Thinking Cap! Let me know the way!

V: Oh, Great Thinking Cap, please give me new ideas on how to get Mingus!

V: Yes, that is brilliant, oh Great One. I am amazed at your cunning. That is the perfect idea...

V: I shall execute the plan tomorrow at noon, just as you ordered. Thank you, oh Great One.


M: Oh, Great Thinking Cap! Please tell my mom to give me lots of belly rubs and treats! Hello? Great Thinking Cap, do you hear me?

V: Hey, Mingus! You have it on backwards...

M: Oh, I am so humiliated. Not.

Next month, the dogs can eat Alpo

Yesterday, a good chunk of time was wasted spent dealing with my dogs' food. As I've mentioned before, my dogs are raw fed, which means that our freezers (yes, plural!) are packed with a monthly assortment of raw bones, meat, and organs.

Since the boy is off again on another business trip, this month's meat delivery was all my responsibility, from picking it up to processing it.

The end result (and this isn't even all of it):


Someone, please remind me why I don't feed my dogs kibble. These dogs don't only get raw food, but all their food is from local, sustainable sources. They eat better than me!

After spending hours dealing with dog food, I went over to harleysmom's house for a delicious dinner, wine, and cake. Her dogs really dug me. It took me longer than it should have to realize that the reason they were so interested in me was because my shirt smelled meat-o-riffic.

Here's Charlie, a 12-year old lab harleysmom just adopted. He is a total love bug whose mannerisms remind me of what I imagine to be an old Vespa. Sniff.


How can you resist this smile?

#8072, that's me!

As of today, I'm #8072 on the Ravelry wait list. There are 2214 people ahead of me in line and 9688 people behind me.

For those of you also (not) waiting patiently for your invitation, you can look up your place in line here.

Goodies from the Indian Market

While waiting for dinner at Shalimar, I ventured into the Indian market next door to check out the produce. Whoo hoo! I scored some sprouted mung beans and mango ginger!


In Indian cooking, mango ginger is enjoyed as a pickle. That explains why there were three big bins full of them. It is supposed to taste like raw mango. Since I only bought a handful of the ginger, I'm going to steep it in some coconut milk for a curry.

The mung bean sprouts that are enjoyed in Indian cuisine are the same sprouts used in Chinese cooking. The only difference is that Indian cooks use the bean sprouts when the sprouts are teeny tiny. They're sweeter and nuttier than eating an unsprouted mung bean, and they're very easy to make at home. Just soak your dried mung beans overnight (about 12 hours), drain, then cover them with a damp towel. Keep them out of the sunlight, in a cool dark place, and let them do their beany magic for 2 -3 days. Oh, and do remember to rinse the sprouts every 12 hours or so. When you want to stop the sprouting, stick 'em in the 'fridge. Easy!

My Weekend, by Vespa

Last weekend, we went to my grandparents' house. I go there to practice my skills. My first task was to earn my sea legs. As you can see, it's hard to balance on a moving boat!


I decided to stop trying, and to just chill out and enjoy the scenery.


I asked if they would let me drive the boat. They said I couldn't because I am a minor. I was so humiliated!

Mingus spent the majority of his time with my grandfather. My grandfather was educating Mingus on the different types of birds and weeds in the lake. Somehow, I don't think Mingus remembers any of his ecology lesson, but we all know that Mingus is a dork and he'll pretend to do anything as long as he gets lots of attention.

After the boat ride, it was time to practice my disc golfing skills. Mom says that I am a natural.


Ha! She doesn't say the same thing about Mingus. Well, maybe she would if he would just open his eyes when she throws him the disc. What a dork!


After my disc golfing lesson, I had to practice my "get Mingus" skills. I am constantly looking for new techniques to more effectively get Mingus. If you have any tips on this, feel free to email my mom or leave a comment.



Oh, my mom wants me to mention that she finished knitting a washcloth. Ho hum, how boring. What am I supposed to do with this?


I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Signing off,
Vespa

Paella. It's what for dinner.

The Inevitable Sock

Yes, I have jumped on the Jaywalker bandwagon! I couldn't help myself! After knitting miles of stockinette stitch for the boy's mondo socks, I couldn't tolerate doing another plain sock. Doing so would cause me to stick my itty bitty needles into my eyes.

Since I just adore toe up socks, I didn't follow the Jaywalker pattern precisely. For starters, I started at the toe instead of the cuff. Meet my friend, the Turkish cast on. It produces a much better result, and is much easier, than the fidgety figure 8 cast on I was doing for past socks. See how clean it looks? No seam! I also didn't have to tighten stitches or untwist stitches by knitting through the back loop. So. Much. Easier. When I did my first pair of socks, I literally spent 3 hours trying to do the figure 8 over, and over, and over. (I am nothing if not stubborn!) Much swearing was involved and the boy had to hear about the f*cking figure 8 for the rest of the night. So, thank you Turkish cast on.

Once I increased by enough stitches to fit my foot, I started the signature zig zag Jaywalker pattern.

Right now, I think I want to knit a heel flap when the time comes. I could do another short row heel, but I get bored easily

Hm, what else can I tell you about this sock? Well, I'm using 2 size 0 circular needles, the yarn is Tofutsies, I started by casting on 28 stitches, and I finished increasing at 76 stitches. The number of stitches I ended up using for the foot happened to be the same number of stitches in the original pattern by happy accident. Even if it wasn't, though, it would have been easy enough to modify due to the symmetrical knit stitches on either side of the increase and decrease stitches. Oh, and I feel a need to point out to you that Tofutsies smell weird. Not good. Not bad. Just weird, like something is burning weird.

In other news, Fifty got a little session with the Furminator today. The Furminator won! I thought about spinning her hair, but who am I kidding? I have 3 pounds of alpaca and some Mingus fur in the spinning queue.

Training Sock Complete

Since all of my other socks have a short row heel, I wanted try a the more traditional heel flap to compare. However, all my sock yarns require knitting with toothpicks, so knitty's training sock was in order. The pattern was great and it knit up. A friend helped me make a few adjustments to the pattern since I was using two circular needles instead of DPNs.

So, here is the elusive Fifty modeling the sock. She thinks that socks suck, but she sure likes corn chips.

And now just the sock:My Tofutsie sock yarn is going to be my next WIP, and I am having a hard time deciding what to do with it. It will probably end up as an anklet since in a weak moment, I bought my Tofuties in girly-girl pink. What was I thinking? I don't have any pink in my wardrobe!

And, talking to myself here, I think I'll order some more colors to swatch with for my blanket. I am just not jazzed about my color choices. Thanks for all your input, though. (Related rant: why is chocolate brown cotton yarn all sold out?????)

Swatches and Kittens!

First, I'd like to solicit some advice. I'm planning on making the Curve of Pursuit blanket from Woolly Thoughts and I'm having trouble coming up with colors. I did a couple of swatches over the weekend. Which one do you like better? The swatch with three colors would have a black row between each green and red section. I might end up not using any of these colors, too. I'm just not sold. I also messed up on the bigger swatch, but better now than later.


For your input, I'll repay you with kitten pictures! My friend is fostering a momma cat and her kittens. Right now, these little guys are around a month old. They play hard, then they fall asleep. What a life!