Can I be this happy doing my chores?

I can if I crochet and knit these tawashis! The boy has sworn that I've said the word "tawashi" over 1000 times in the past few days. I think he underestimated. (My apologies to anyone who has seen me in person in the past week, because whether you wanted to or not, you've had to listen to me yammer on about this. If this made you confused or just plain bored, do not read further.)

These pamphlets are full of specialized cleaners. Need to clean your horizontal blinds? There's a tawashi for that! Need to clean your computer keyboard? There's a tawashi for that, too! Need to dust your car or shoes? Well, you get it.

Where did I find these wonderful tawashi booklets? Kinokuniya, of course! When I kept on mentioning tawashis and my quest to venture to Kinokuniya in order to peruse their Japanese crochet books, my friend thought we should go together so we could also visit Bazaar Bizarre. Little did we know that the bigger event that day was the Cherry Blossom Festival, which meant that San Francisco's Japantown was full of snack booths. Yay! I snarfed down a strawberry and pineapple shaved ice. Japanese shaved ice is fluffy like snow, and you can eat it solo, or pair it with sweet red beans and ice cream. I should have taken a picture, but I was too busy eating.

I also have many non-tawashi FOs that I need to photograph and share, but tawashi fever still has me in its grips.

Tawashi Fever

Charted crochet patterns are so much easier for me to read than the written stuff, which is why these Japanese patterns are perfect. Well, they are perfect until there is some crucial note in Japanese... Luckily, I can muddle through most of it and come up with a FO that looks related to the original pattern, like the flower (pdf link).

This tawashi turned out like a distant cousin to the original pattern (pdf link). Those little bumps around the circles were tedious to crochet since you have to go down a few hook sizes, and they didn't really show up very well in the outer, white circle. I'm sure I did something wrong because I couldn't figure out how to do the bumps and the HDCs in the same round. If anyone can figure it out, please let me know!


I also crocheted some more flower dishcloths. So far, 7 of them have flown off the hooks.

These have all been great palate cleansers for my next project: another knit green cardigan. I'm still stumped as to which pattern it will be, or if I'll just wing it. I'm thinking a top down yoked cardigan would be fun to make, but these tawashi take no time at all and are so fun to make... (I have yet to wash my dishes with any of these. So far, they are just sitting around in piles looking pretty.)

Spring Crochet

If I keep on hooking in bright, cheerful colors, will Spring please
come?

Cypress Sweater (aka Somewhat Cowl)

Wendy Bernard is a sweater designer genius. I love all of her patterns because they are so wearable and timeless. This sweater, The Somewhat Cowl, is a little retro, but still fashionable enough to wear right now. For my detailed notes, you can check out my page on Ravelry.

I'm sad that the yarn I used for this project, The Fibre Company Khorma DK, is discontinued. However, if it wasn't being discontinued and therefore on super sale, I would have never bought it in the first place. Khorma's original price of $15/skein is a little rich for my blood, and I used 5 skeins (800 yards) for this project.

Don't mind Mingus. He can't keep away from the camera. Silly, camera hogging dog.

Caramelized Onions Made Easy

Some may argue that caramelized onions are the easiest thing to make.
I agree, so long as they are thrown into a slow cooker. Whenever I
attempt these on a stovetop, I fail due to my inability to leave
cooking food alone.

A scattering of salt and a few drizzles of olive oil is all it takes
to convert raw onions into a kitchen staple. They freeze really well,
too.

Another Oddity

Since I'm on the topic of odd, here's another one for the files.


The boy snapped this blurry picture last night before retiring to bed. Since Mingus recently chewed up the last dog bed (we used to have 3), we've been laying down old towels for the dogs. Apparently, our efforts at providing a place for them to sleep were rebuffed in favor of our laundry basket full of (formerly) cleaned bedsheets. While I'm used to this trick from the cats, it was one of those "I have to see it to believe it" moments for me in regards to Mingus, hence the boy's picture.

Mingus is a little big for that basket, don't you think?

Odd and More Odd

I had quite a scare this morning. I woke up with a jet black tongue. Even though I did take a picture, it's gross, so no visuals of said tongue from me.

It was with the utmost dread that I started doing web searches on what could be wrong. Doing a web search for "black tongue" came up with really bad things. Then, I searched "black tongue pepto bismol." Bingo.

PSA, if you've had any wine, chew a couple of Pepto-Bismol tablets, and then go to bed, you may wake up with a jet black tongue. Before I had the nerve to google what was wrong with me, I showed the boy and it made him scream "Whoa, you need to see a doctor now!", which in turn made Vespa come over and start licking his face. Who needs coffee on a morning like this?

The worst part of my newly black tongue is that it could last for a few days. Seriously? Am I not supposed to open my mouth in the next few days? I look like a lizard mutant.

The more odd piece of news I have is Rear Gear. Yes! A "Mr. Brown Eye" cover for pets! I'm somewhat tempted to crochet something like this for Mingus or the cats, but then I think about the logistics (will I have to wash it after each use? who wants to wash that?) and I decide against it. But if you're feeling saucy, you should craft one up, put it on your pet, and then send me a pic!

Pressure Cooker Beef Stew

At the opposite end of the spectrum from slow cooking is super duper speedy pressure cooking! I made this recipe today and it tasted as if I had stewed the meat on low heat all day long. Since I added quartered potatoes, which in retrospect should have been whole potatoes, there is no picture. The potatoes turned to mush and made a very unsavory looking (but savory tasting!) dish.

Anchovies and oil cured black olives (please, no watery black olives from a can) in a beef stew was a revelation. I'm such a salt fiend!

The Plume is Gone

Mingus's tail spent quality time with the Furminator. He's upset that I took away his plume. However, I don't like to vacuum said plume on a daily basis. Rip the bandaid off fast, I say.

Don't call him "rat tail," not even as a joke.

Unexpected Sheep

I am watching a wacky car race, and up pop the sheep. Too bad I left
my shears and spindle at home!