Hopping Back on the Knitting Bandwagon

Once summer kicked in, my knitting was suddenly put on hold. It's just not as easy to knit in 90-degree weather. My hands get sweaty, the yarn sticks to the needles - it's an awful mess. Unless the air conditioning is on full blast, I have no business picking up needles and yarn. I did however, find a small retreat under the wings of the ceiling fan in my dining room. Turns out it's the only place in the apartment where I can knit comfortably in 90+ temperatures.


With that said, I've started working on my 3rd pair of booties. I'm making it for a couple who I think can truly appreciate funky and wild color combinations. I came across these two yarns and thought, Eureka! This is what I'm looking for!

Together they didn't look so good, so I decided to combine the green with an orange yarn I recently purchased. Sounds funky, sounds groovy. I did one bootie but now I'm not sure if I'm feelin' it. It looks a little crazy, but not the crazy I was going for. But who knows...maybe it works, and I just don't realize it. What do you think? (I haven't seamed it up completely, so you'll still see some random yarn hanging out.)

I'm also in the middle of knitting a cushion. I started it about a month or so ago and as I continued to knit, I realized it was too big. I didn't get too far, only about 10-15 rows, but still enough to feel some pain at the thought of unravelling what I had started. I had to accept my failure, unravel, and start over. I started this weekend and hopefully all will go well. Inspiration for the cushion came from a "Jennifer's Sofa" subway ad. There was a striped cushion made of fabric and I thought...hmmm, I can probably make a knit version of that.

Cushion from the ad

Cushion from the ad (close-up)

In the meantime, I've got plenty of knitting to do and..OH! I almost forgot. Some lady on craig's list was selling a ton of yarn for $1 a skein. ONE DOLLAR! Nice stuff too! So of course I jumped on it and bought 22 skeins. About 5 different kinds. Fun! Fun! Fun! I don't know what I'm going to make with all of it, though. The hubby wants me to make a bikini out of the burgundy eyelash yarn. I dunno...we'll see ;)

The Matrix Revisited...Again

The trailers for Wanted really pulled me in. I'm a sucker for a good action flick. So, on Saturday night, the hubby and a friend of ours took off to the Lincoln Square Theater for 110 minutes of car-jumpin', gun-slingin', fist-throwin', knife-jabbin' good fun.

As much as I looked forward to it, I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, the stunts were great and the action was non-stop, but the execution of storyline could have used some work. From beginning to almost end, the movie was practically a dupe of The Matrix. A young man working at a dead-end job, stuck in a cubicle all day who has no sense of identity...c'mon. And then only to be rescued by a hot chick with a gun who, by the way, can kick serious ass. Oh, and let us not leave out the wise and all-knowing leader of the pack who reveals to our hero his true calling. If that doesn't have Neo, Trinity and Morpheus written all over it, I don't know what does. While Neo can dodge bullets, our Wesley can bend them around the corner. Close enough. Come on Hollywood, I know The Matrix was a hit, but let's move on.

If you don't care about the obvious carbon copy elements of the movie and are just in it for the excitement, you'll certainly get it.

You know what's funny? After the movie (and generally after every Angelina flick), my lips felt just little bit more plump than before I walked in. I think I've stopped puckering after two days.


Out of 5 poofy lips, I'd give it a 3. That's my rating and I'm sticking to it.

No Salmonella In These Babies!

The hubby has put great energy and effort into this project. Lo and behold, the fruits of his labor have come alive! We have tomatoes! Some were planted with great care while others were bought as already growing plants. But it wasn't until recently that tomatoes started to show. This is so exciting. I never had fruit growing in my own backyard. Okay, so we don't have a backyard, it's a balcony. Whatever. They're still growing. We have plum tomatoes, black tomatoes and...um, regular tomatoes. Haven't got all the names down yet. But either way we'll have fresh tomatoes ready for consumption in a few weeks or so. Yay!

Smart *and* Cute

Wow. I'm falling way behind in my blog entries. Can't believe the most recent one was around Mother's Day! Well, just to update all of you, the hubby applied for a scholarship at his culinary school. The scholarship was created in memory of his Chef who recently passed away. In addition to maintaining a high GPA and submitting strong recommendations from instructors, the other requirement of the scholarship required that each applicant write an essay about an event in their life that embodied the characteristics of this beloved Chef. Three scholarships were awarded and Timothy was one of the lucky recipients! Yay! Go hubby!! A well deserved award, I say.

Alleluia! The Booties are Done.

I finally finished  sewing on the velcro for the booties. It was agony. More so in thought than in actual execution. When I look back on it, it really wasn't at all bad. In the end, it turned out fine. Finished the project on Saturday morning, just in time for Mother's Day. Mommy was very happy with the gift. Yay :)

I still have to work on my seams, they still look a little wonky. But I'm sure with practice, I'll get there. My first pair of baby booties for a real baby was, for the most part, a success. They fit and EVERYTHING!

Iron Man - Go See It!

Hi All! Just a quick note to say that the hubby and I went on an unplanned trip to the movie theater. We were walking along Broadway with nothing special scheduled, when suddenly a giant LED screen screamed out to us with the words "IRON MAN" in neon green. Yes, the signage is cheesy, but a great theater nonetheless.

I loved it. Timothy was very happy with Robert Downey Jr.'s performance and so was I. Great character, great story. For those who know me, I never followed the comic book series, but according to Timothy, they did nice interpretation.

So whether you're a follower of the series or an Iron Man newbie, fun will be had by all. There's probably a lot more I can say, but I'm working on a tight schedule so we'll have to chat later. In the meantime, if you've seen it, feel free to leave your comments about the movie.

As far as the knitting, I still can't bring myself to sew that last piece of velcro on those dang booties! Okay, tonight. For real.

My Husband's Blond Tart

That's right, the hubby's got a tart on the side. Not that kind, silly. DESSERT! Culinary school has been treating us both very, very well. He's brought home quite an exquisite medley of sweets. All to my liking, of course. Out of all the desserts, the fruit tart, was by far the prettiest. The crust was blond* baked (baked before the addition of the pastry cream and fruit), hence the scandalous title.

Here are some shots of his masterpiece.

To learn more about my hubby's culinary adventures, visit "The lunatic ravings of an insane Culinary Student."

*editor's note: My husband made a typo in his blog, using the word "blond" instead of "blind". Freudian slip? Who knows, I'll confront him about that later. In the meantime, I'm keeping the title as-is because, well, it's just funnier.