Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Jack's Almost Brother

Christmas time is always a hard time in the life of a knitting blogger since so much of what I'm doing revolves around Christmas and Christmas knitting is always hush-hush. So in place of finished objects to show off, I will tell you about our latest (and sad) adventure in trying to get a doggy brother for Jack.....

Meet Rusty:

Isn't he cute? We found him and his [very nice, I might add] family through Craig's List. He's a 4 year-old Shih Tzu whose family thought he needed some more love and attention than they had in their schedule. Since we're all about doggy love and attention and Jack needs a brother, we decided to check him out.

We drove out to their house with Jack in tow so the dogs could meet. Jack is working on realizing he's a dog and as such takes a lot of warming up to dogs before they can be friends. Jack was scared of Rusty at first and they still weren't playing after being there for half an hour or so so we asked if we could take Rusty home with us for a few days and see how the two of them did. They agreed and Rusty came to kick it with Team Bonham.

The first night was a little nuts because the two dogs chased each other up over the top of the bed, down the the floor, under the bed and back over the top for HOURS....resulting in not much sleep. After that first night, though, they became inseparable and were never more than 3 feet from each other. They chased each other and played a took dog naps.....so cute! We were glad the two were getting along so well and we really liked Rusty's mellow demeanor so we decided we wanted to keep him.

This is where it gets perilous.....

Our apartment complex requires a "pet interview" for new dogs. They have to be in the rental office off-leash, behave, and take a treat out of the manager's hand without biting. Figuring we'd get the inevitable out of the way, we took a trip to the office for Rusty's pet interview. This is how it went:

Manager: Oh, is this Jack's little friend?

Me: Yeah, he's staying with us for a few days to see how things go.

Manager: So are you thinking of adopting him?

Me: Yup, we're just seeing how things go first. As long as the two of them keep getting along, we'd like to adopt him.

Manager: You know you're only allowed the have 1 dog, right?

Me: WHAT? You're kidding? Joe and I thought we could have 2.

Manager: You can have two cats or one dog and one cat but just one dog.

Me: But Jack counts as a cat, right? He's smaller than most cats.....

It went downhill from there.

So what to do? Joe, who likes to play by the rules, wanted to keep him anyway. He really is a sweet dog and who can resist that little ewok face? So I thought about it. But in the end we decided it wouldn't be fair to keep him. A life of running from the law is too much for a little dog and as much as we like him, he's not worth getting evicted over. So we had to give him back. He did get to keep Jack's striped sweater (the one in the picture above) as a momento of his time in chez bonham.

The happy side of this is that Rusty's original family decided they missed him so much while he was with us that they are going to keep him. We've offered to dog-sit if they need it, so there's the possibility of seeing Rusty again in the future.

Now off to make Christmas cookies.....

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Channeling Austin Scarlett

Jack went to get groomed on Friday but because of all the rain we've been having combined with how much this dog runs around, Jack has essentially felted himself. Poor Jack. :-( So in order to de-felt him, the groomer had to cut his hair pretty short all over except for his face, which she was able to keep longer. When I got him home, I put one of his sweaters on to keep my poor baby warm. His sweater combined with his little scarf he got from the groomer totally make him look like Austin Scarlett of Project Runway fame.

What do you guys think?





Tuesday, December 4, 2007

My first KAL

Not that I've participated in...but the first one a pattern of mine has been chosen for!

My Cupcake Dishcloth pattern was picked to be the pattern this week for the Dishcloth Weekly Knitalong group on Ravelry (sorry....that last link only works if you're already on Ravelry). So that's kind of exciting! People like my pattern enough to get a whole bunch of them together to knit it. Whee!

If you're on Ravelry, you can check out other's knitted dishcloths here.

I'm back!

Sorry for the blog neglect. Last week, I was in hibernation while working on a grad school paper about Pentecostals and environmental responsibility (did you know the founder of Earth Day was a Pentecostal?). As such, I didn't really do much not related to my paper including cleaning my house or grocery shopping so now I'm in catch-up mode.

So what happened in the meantime. A lot!

I won a sweet auction on e-bay for this book:

There's no date but I'm guessing somewhere between the 40's and 50's. It has awesome patterns in it particularly for long stockings (I have developed a thing recently for both vintage knitting and thigh high stockings). If I'm doing my math right, though, the stockings are designed for a thigh circumference of 10." Yeah. That's what I thought, too. My calves aren't even 10" around. So I'm going to need to do some calculating to make them properly sized for modern adults.


Oregon Flooded
Apparently it's the worst storm in decades and there are these signs everywhere (this picture was taken on my way home last night when I had to drive through a road that had turned into a pond).


Oh. Wait. What's that? Dang it. Husband wants the computer (to his credit, he hasn't been on it much since I've been writing my paper) so I guess this is where this blog post is going to end.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Ωφελια

Introducing Ophelia.....


I was lamenting the price of adjustable dress forms to my my mom (who used to be a professional seamstress) and asking if she knew any inside track ways to get more affordable dress forms. Next thing you know, she's digging around and finds an old dress form of hers that is exactly the size I need it to be! She doesn't have legs and she needed a good cleaning but free is a much better price than $189+. Hooray!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Cupycakes Knit Apron Pattern

UPDATE!
This pattern is now available as a free PDF download on Ravlery.

As I mentioned back in a post from September, I submitted an original pattern to Knitty for consideration. And while I wish I could be telling you that Amy Singer e-mailed me today to tell me that she loved my apron, she didn't. Instead, she let me know that Knitty won't be publishing this pattern (she was very nice about it, though).

Perhaps I am the only person in the world who would like to own a retro-style skirt apron with cupcake pockets. However, in the event that I'm not, I'd like to share it with my knitting, cupcake-loving blog public. This is in a different format than most of my patterns appear as this in the form in which I sent it to Knitty. So without further ado....

Cupycakes


by Carissa Marie Bonham

Piquant

Inspired by retro-style skirt aprons, I decided to combine my two favorite obsessions: knitting and cupcakes. With skirt aprons, knitting and cupcakes each making a strong (not to mention sexy) comeback, this would be the perfect apron to wear while you unleash your inner domestic goddess in the kitchen this holiday season. Make it for yourself or as a gift for your favorite cupcake connoisseur.
This apron is knit in 100% acrylic yarn instead of cotton to keep it both washable and from getting too heavy. Superwash wool would be an appropriate substitute, although may be rather warm to wear in a hot kitchen.

Photo credit [model: Carissa Marie Bonham/photographer: Joe Bonham]

SIZE
One size fits S to XL

FINISHED MEASUREMENTSWaist band (before adding ribbon): 16.5 inches
Length: 18 inches

MATERIALS
[MC] Caron Perfect Match [100% Acrylic; 335 yd/325 m per 198 g skein]; color: Bright White; 1 skein

[CC1] Caron Perfect Match [100% Acrylic; 335 yd/325 m per 198 g skein]; color: Lilac; 1 skein

[CC2] Caron Perfect Match [100% Acrylic; 335 yd/325 m per 198 g skein]; color: Cream; 1 skein

3 US #6/4mm straight needles
2 29 or 32 inch US #7/4.5mm circular needles

Notions
Waste yarn (for provisional cast on)
Size H Crochet hook
Tapestry Needle
3 yards of 1.5 inch-wide grosgrain ribbon in a color matching one of the contrasting colors of yarn

GAUGE

18 sts/25 rows = 4” in Stockinette stitch on larger needles
16 sts/25 rows = 4" in seed bump pattern on larger needles (see pattern notes)

PATTERN NOTES

The main body of the skirt is worked back and forth on one circular needle using Seed Bump Pattern (see below). Due to the large quantity of stitches picked up later, the garter stitch ruffle is worked on two circular needles.

Seed Bump Pattern:
Row 1: K1 *P1, K3*
Row 2: P all sts
Row 3: K3 *P1, K3*
Row 4: P all sts

For the CO sts in the skirt shaping section, I recommend using a cable cast on to make it easier to pick up the stitches for the ruffle later in the pattern

PATTERN

Apron: Skirt
Using one of the circular needles, CO 37 sts in MC.

Foundation rows:
WS: P all sts
RS: K all sts
WS: P all sts

Lower Skirt Shaping:
Row 1: CO 8, K1 *P1, K3*
Row 2: CO 8, P to end
Row 3: CO 8, K3 *P1, K3* to last 2 sts, P1, K1
Row 4: CO 8, P to end

Repeat these 4 shaping rows once more as-is.
Repeat one more time without CO sts.

Increase Rows:
Row 1: kfb *P1, K3* to last st, kfb
Row 2: pfb, P to last st, pfb
Row 3: K1 *P1, K3*
Row 4: P all
Row 5: kfb, K2, *P1, K3* to last 2 sts, P1, kfb
Row 6: pfb, P to last st, pfb
Row 7: K 3, *P1, K3* to last 2 st, P1, K1
Row 8: P all
Repeat all 8 increase rows 3 more times (you will have 133 sts)

Continue working in Seed Bump Pattern until skirt measures 15 inches from CO edge. End on a WS row.

Waist Band:
RS: *K1, k2tog, K1* to last st, K1
WS: P all
RS: K3tog to last st, K1
WS: P all
RS: *K1, P1*
WS: *P1, K1*
Repeat last two rows 4 more times

Loosely BO all sts in pattern.

Apron: Ruffle

Ruffle is worked using two circular needles. Begin with one and add second needle when necessary.

Using CC1, pick up 6 sts on side of waist band, pm, pick up 230-250 sts around perimeter of skirt to the bottom of waist band, pm, pick up 6 sts along side of waist band.

WS: P6, sm, *kfb* until marker, sm, P6
RS: K all
Repeat these two rows once more.

WS: P6, sm, K to marker, sm, P6
RS: BO all sts loosely

Cupcake Pockets (make 2)

Cupcake pockets are worked back and forth on sz 6 straight needles.


Cupcake bottom:
Using CC2, CO 23 sts

RS: *K3, P1* 5 times, K3

WS: P3 *K1, P3* to end

Repeat these two rows 6 more times

Leave sts on needle, break yarn and set aside

Cupcake Frosting:
Using scrap yarn and crochet hook, CO 23 sts using provisional CO method
Connect CC1 to provisional CO and work as follows:

Rows 1 and 2: K all
Row 3: K2, ssk, k to last 4, K2tog, K2
Rows 4 and 5: K all

Repeat rows 3-5, 3 more times

Next row: ssk, ssk, K to last 4, k2tog, k2tog
Next row: K all
Repeat these two rows once more

Next row: ssk, K3, k2 tog
Next row: ssk, K1, k2tog
BO all stitches

Joining Cupcake pieces:
Turn Frosting piece over and use knitting needle to pick up CC1 stitches from back of provisional CO (count to make sure you have 23 sts!). Unzip provisional CO and set aside.

Pick up the bottom portion of the cupcake set aside earlier.

Join CC1 and knit across one row

Hold the bottom and frosting pieces, wrong sides together, with the needles pointing the same direction.

Use third knitting needle to knit the first stitch on each needle together

Continue across until all stitches have been knit onto the third needle. You will have 23 sts.

Frosting Ruffle:
This technique might be a little different than anything you’re used to but I think it provides the best “frosting” ruffle effect:

Hold the knitting needle with the live stitches in your left hand and the crochet hook in your right hand.

Using the crochet hook as if it were a knitting needle, knit the first stitch off of the needle.

You will now have 22 sts on your needle and 1 loop on your crochet hook.

Use crochet hook to SC three times into the base of the knit stitch.

Once again:*use crochet hook as a knitting needle to K the next st off the needle (there will be two loops on the crochet hook), wrap yarn from back to front on crochet hook and draw through two loops on crochet hook (there will now be one stitch on hook), work 2 SC into base of st*

Repeat directions between **’s until no more sts remain.

Break yarn and draw through

FINISHING
Weave in ends of cupcakes and apron.

Sew the cupcakes to the apron around their bottom portions to form pockets.

Center and sew the ribbon across the top of the waist band beginning in the center. Try on your completed apron and cut ribbon tails to a length that suits you.


I hope someone other than me enjoys this pattern. You can also find it on Ravelry here.

If you're looking for gift knitting ideas, I think this apron would make a cute "domestic goddess" gift set by pairing it with a cupcake dishcloth or two.

Christmas Tree Dishcloth

UPDATE! This pattern is now available as a free PDF download on Ravelry.
This was a bit of an experimental pattern. I wanted to make a Christmas tree dishcloth (square ones are so boring) but didn't have the right colors. Since my dishes don't care, I used what I had and came out with this: Odd as it is, I think it's kind of cute. If you want a a Christmas tree dishcloth of your own, this is what you do....

Yarn in progress

I think this yarn dying business might get addictive. I LOVE how my yarn is turning out. I'm waiting for it to dry now.

It looks a lot nicer in real life. Here are the details:

Yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool

Color: Twisted Denim

Dye: Wilton's food dye (the thick kind...in lilac and a bit of red)

What I did: Frogged my ugly sweater into 2 yard-circumference skeins (about 400g; 892 yards of yarn total). Soaked it in vinegar water in my crock pot for an hour. Drained the vinegar water and moved it to sink while I boiled some water. Moved one skein into ginormous metal bowl, where I poured about 2 cups of had-just-been-boiling water which I had mixed with dye over the skein and squished it around. Added another skein on top and repeated until all skeins were in the bowl.

Transferred yarn back to crock pot and turned it on high for 3.5 hours. Drained yarn and let cool in crockpot and then transferred to colander. After a few hours, I rinsed the yarn in cool water with a bit of mild soap, spun it dry in the best salad spinner ever (seriously, if you dye yarn or block a lot of your knitting, I think this would be seriously worth the investment) and it is now drying on a towel on my counter and hanging from my pot rack. My kitchen smells like a wet sheep. :-)

I'm excited to see how it all turns out once it's all done. :-)

Friday, November 16, 2007

Quick...Before it dies!

I have been experiencing no end to the technical difficulties in my life recently so alas my blog is one area which has been sorely neglected. But! I wanted to share with you (quickly...before my computer dies [again]) where part of my afternoon today went / is going:






To be continued....

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Which lolcat are you?

I am (appropriately enough)...

Sad Cookie Cat


Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat

61% Affectionate, 39% Excitable, 64% Hungry

You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.

Find out which cat you are here

Mi doggee toks




I think these two websites are hilarious:

http://laughoutlouddogs.com/

and http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Joe, on the other hand, doesn't get it. I will look at pages of these and laugh and laugh and laugh. Joe just stares...kind of blankly.

In case anyone else enjoys this kind of humor, I'm sharing. And so's Jack.

Enjoy!

Monday, October 29, 2007

The day has finally come!

I'm on Ravelry!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

You can find me here.

I was just checking my e-mail "really quick" before joining Husband in bed but got distracted playing with it and almost 3 hours later I'm still up. :-S

Okay.....off to bed with me.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

A Little Odd


It's called "Puppy Purse" and is a dog carrying system that lets you carry your dog like, well, a purse. The picture on the left is my favorite. I'm sure they're trying to show how cool and manly you can look while carrying your pretty-pretty-princess dog on your side. Sadly, it just doesn't work.

To see more ways to embarrass yourself in public by carrying around your dog like a piece of luggage, you can check out their website where the home page features pictures of women in dressy clothes toting their pups like fashion accessories.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Adventures in bad baking

As odd as it sounds, I like to make cake and cupcakes with diet soda. I box cake mix + 1 can diet soda mixed with a whisk (not electric beaters) and baked as usual results in a yummy, light and fluffy cake despite how weird it sounds. For best results, match the mix and the sodas like this:

Chocolate or Devil's Food cake mix + diet cola, Dr. Pepper or root beer

White or funfetti cake mix + diet sprite, 7up, or fresca (funfetti w/ fresca is my favorite)

Yellow cake mix + diet cream soda or sprite

Making cakes this way instead of with eggs and oil reduces calories and fat grams in the finished product. The reason you whisk by hand is because the carbonation in the soda is what will make it rise w/o the eggs and beating it with a mixer is too aggressive and beats the bubbles out.

Today my cake baking methods have met their match. I had a box of reduced sugar Devil's Food cake mix and wanted to make weight watchers friendly cupcakes and so stirred in a can of Diet Dr. Thunder. Bad idea. Something happened chemically with the reduced sugar cake mix and the sugarless soda and created a gooey, sticky mess. Not only was it hard to tell when the cupcakes were done (the insides were still gooey after 25 minutes in the oven.....which is a long time to bake cupcakes in my oven) but when once they came out and cooled stuck to the cupcake papers so the whole thing was mangled and only the top escaped unscathed.

So word to the wise: If making reduced sugar cupcakes, keep the fat. If you want to make cupcakes with soda, use regular cake mix.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Puppy Clothes

It's taken a bit to get the pics up for this (the green one) since most pictures of Jack look like this:
This dog just doesn't sit still! In the meantime, I had a chance to finish sweater #2 so now I have 2 FO's to show off when we had better luck with the camera today (I bribed him with bacon cheddar doggie biscuits). So I present to you the (mini) doggie fashion show starring: Jack!
















Sweater #1 is knit in Lion Brand Wool-Ease thick & quick in the colors of grass and pine and knit on size 15 needles. Pattern is by me. The original design had a V-neck but it looked funny on my small dog, so I sewed it up and now it has a plain front and a roll-neck collar in back. This was great because it was a SUPER fast knit (I'd say maybe 2.5 - 3 hours max). I'm going to try an adapted version of what I did in the round so I don't have to do seaming.



Sweater #2 is a very adapted take on Buster by Berroco. Berroco's pattern is only for medium-large dogs (and jack is on the xs side of small) so with some gauge change, stitch count change, yarn change and more really it just kind of looks like Berocco's but is pretty different in construction. I used some leftover Red Heart Soft Yarn in black and size 6 needles.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

10 reasons the West Coast makes me happy

While still harboring much affection for my friends in Boston (or other parts of the world) I realize more and more that I am almost deliriously happy to be back in the Pacific Northwest. Thereby I present to you my top 10 reasons I'm happy to be back in the Pacific Northwest:

1. Trader Joe's is just another grocery store and not a place where "all the weird hippie people work."








2. My family is now a 1-3 hour drive away rather than a 1 week drive away.







3. Jack is the best puppy ever and has brought Joe and I tremendous amounts of joy. If we hadn't moved back I'd still be puppy-less.







4. People don't look at you funny if you pass a stranger on the sidewalk and say hi.















5. It's normal for people to talk to not only the cashier but also the people in line at the grocery store. (I was telling this to one of my Boston friends and her was response was, "People actually do that?!?" Why yes. Yes they do.)




6. Alpacas. There are a lot of them here. I don't think I've seen a single alpaca living in Boston.












7. It's kind of refreshing to be normal again (as opposed to "punk rock Carissa from Seattle"). Yesterday I wore a long sleeve shirt under a t-shirt, a fat ball-chain necklace, a chunky leather watch with buckles, a studded belt, my hair up in a ponytail to show off my tattoo and flipflops where my dark purple nail polish with chunky sparkles could be seen nobody looked at me funny. (Or made fun of the way I talk....but that's a different story)



8. Fall lasts longer here. The enjoyable weather lingers a bit longer before becoming quite cold and I think the colors last longer, too (or at least longer before they are covered in snow). Lest I be accused of making things up...yes, we really have fall here. In fact, this picture was taken yesterday while I was driving home.






9. Hooray for no sales tax! I think I save a significant amount each year by not having to pay sales tax.











10. Even though there are the same number of hours in a day, being in the Pacfic time zone makes me feel like I have more time. For example, it's 7:00 now, but it's 10:00 in Boston. Which means I've got 5 more hours until midnight, they've only got three.





***Only photos used for number 3, 7, and 8 are mine. All others found on Flickr. Click image to go to fullsize photo on flickr *****

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

9252

That's how many people are ahead of me in line to get into Ravelry.

And what kills me is not only can I not use Ravelry yet....but I can't even look at other people's stuff on Ravelry until I'm invited.

*sniff sniff*

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Mama Mia!

Coming home from running errands today I began to ponder dinner. I had meant to buy turkey meatballs at the store but, alas, this store did not carry them. What to make for dinner then?

So far this week we had sushi, tuna casserole (not the nasty, runny tuna wiggle kind. This is amazing tuna casserole) and fajitas. I was feeling a bit like getting back to my [Italian] roots. I didn't want to make a plain old boring meat sauce and thought I'd do meatballs myself. I pulled out my family's top secret meatball recipe and got to work.

At first I thought the ingredients were a little odd. The recipe includes some things that would have never occurred to me to put in meatballs and leaves out some things I would think were "obvious." I resisted the urge to mess with it. I also resisted the urge to use my fancy Pampered Chef tools to make it faster and easier. I wanted to do it the old school way.

Then something magical happened. Standing barefoot in my quiet kitchen rolling meatballs by hand I felt this strange connection to my family thousands of miles and/or generations away. This is how my sister, mom, grandmother and great-grandmother (and who knows how much further back) all make these meatballs. It was almost like they were all there with me. I also felt very, very Italian (I mean, I am Italian....but I just felt like Super Italian). This is the first time this has ever happened to me and it was really special.

This also gave me an insight into the line of thinking some knitters have: that you do things to old school way, because that's how it's been done for thousands of years. Previous to this experience, this thought process seemed very, well, odd. But for the first time I understood. I still don't feel that way about knitting -- as far as I can tell, my family doesn't have much of a knitting legacy to pass down and that's probably why. But meatballs, stuffing and lasagna? You do it the old school way....because that's just how you do it.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

I found this awesome sweater called "the Deep V Argyle Vest" from See Eunny Knit! The pattern can be downloaded here.


I think it looks great, is sexy and has kind of a punk edge to it. I nominated it for the next KAL over at the Sexy Knitter's club but it lost (to patterns that only fit if you're no larger than a small....ask me what I think about that). Anyway, I think I'm going to knit this anyway but was wondering if there might be sufficient interest in others to start a KAL for it?

If anyone else is interested, say so in the comments. Thanks!

Delta Helps Monkeys by Hiring Them to Determine Airline Ticket Prices!

Has anyone else noticed that airline fares can not only be ridiculously overpriced, but make no sense either? Take my current situation for example:

I want to go to a conference in Cincinnati in January. I need to fly from Portland, OR to Cincinnati. Round trip tickets? Yeah, they cost more than $500. $500! To go to Cincinnati! I can fly to Mexico or Puerto Rico for less than that. So....I started exploring my options. Maybe I could juggle some one-way tickets and get a better deal.

This is what I found: On the day I want to fly, a one-way ticket from Portland to Boston is only $170. This flight has one layover in (you guessed it) Cincinnati. If I just want to book the leg of the trip from Portland to Cincinnati, guess how much I pay? $500! $500 for something they would give me and more for only $170. Yeah....that makes sense. Does anyone else feel like monkeys are the ones running this whole thing:
I do. So I called Delta. After sitting on hold for 15 minutes, I was transferred to a non-native English speaker who sounded like he had a thick Asian accent. While he was very polite, he wasn't helpful. When he asked if I was using the website to find these fares and I said yes, he said I needed to contact customer support through the website live chat. I didn't see a way to do this on the website, so I asked about it:

Him: You will need to contact my colleauge who is trained in these matters through the Delta website.

Me: Am I supposed to send an e-mail (I saw a link to send e-mail....and I didn't want to wait for a response) or is this live chat?

Him: It is live chat.

Me: Okay. Um....I'm not seeing where I go to find that. Can you help me?

Him: It's on the Delta website.

Me: Right. But where? What do I need to click on to get to that area?

Him: For your question you will need to contact my colleague who is doing live chat to assist customers on the website.

Me: That's fine, but how do I find this person? I don't see anything on the website about live online help.

Him: (obviously exasperated with me) Just hold on. I'll transfer to the person doing the live chat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I find it amusing I'm being transferred via phone to the online chat person. This person answers and has a British accent. She was nice and somewhat more helpful. I'll spare you the conversation (it wasn't as amusing) but in the end, there is nothing to stop me from booking my flight to "Boston" and then getting off in Cincinnati and not coming back. IN FACT she says that if I only take the first leg of my trip, I may have a CREDIT in the Delta system that I can use for up to one year.

Hmmm. So pay $500 or pay $170 and get money back? Gee, that one's hard. Why does this have to be so complicated? Why can't I just get charged a fair rate for what I want to do? So note to anyone looking around at airfare: don't just take the price the monkeys give you -- shop around first.

Wish you all a happy and cupcake-filled day,

Carissa

Thursday, September 27, 2007

I caught the bug

Last night after Hubby went to bed (I wasn't tired yet) I was surfing the internet in search of cool cardigan patterns (a BIG thank you to ShadKitty who sent me some AWESOME ones). While I was searching I came across this:


Now as far as a scarf goes, I'm not sure it's immensely practical. It seems it would be a bit bulky under a coat, etc. That and I found the pattern difficult to understand. But I was inspired. I want to make this...but different. Same color, similar idea, but something totally different. I spent a while trying to ignore my intense longing to start knitting lots of garter stitch and after an hour or so I gave in. I found some yarn, did some swatching and knit to old episodes of Grey's Anatomy while garter stitching my little heart out. Then this morning as I was waiting for my brain to boot so I could do things that make money, I sat and knit this. This is where I'm at:

You can tell from the dictionary and other clutter on my desk that I was supposed to be doing something else while I was taking this picture (but that's besides the point). But I have this odd compelling NEED to knit this thing. I don't know why. I don't even like garter stitch. I feel in general garter stitch should be used only for dishcloths, cupcake tops and afghan squares but I'm making something I'm (gasp!) going to wear.....assuming it turns out okay.

But I've got to go. I need to go do some more money-making stuff before Husband comes home and I knit while watching Grey's. Hooray!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Pirate Cupcakes

Tell me this is not the coolest thing ever:


You can find it as a T-shirt on etsy by going here.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

A Rant...

I am starting to get really frustrated. I like to think of myself and young and somewhat hip. When I started knitting I decided that I didn't want to be one of those knitters who knits something just because she can (and then end up with something ugly that one should never be caught wearing in public). I decided I would only knit things that I would have purchased should I have seen them for sale in store.

Things like this:



And the piece that I REALLY really REALLY want is this:


I love this cardigan. I saw it in a store the other day with my sister and decided I must have one. The only problem is I can't seem to find a pattern for anything even similar. Instead, hours of searching for cardigan patterns has turned up things that look more like this:



I have one word for you: blech. Now, these cardigans might be fitting for their designers or women with different lifestyles than myself but they are not for me and they don't look anything like this:
or anything like any of the other pictures posted above. Where have the young, hip knitting designers gone? Are they hiding somewhere? Are they secretly knitting cute things and hoarding the patterns? Why can't I find patterns for the kinds of things I want to knit?

I suppose I could go buy the sweater I'm jonsing for. Afterall, it would save me a lot of time and would probably cost about as much as the raw yarn needed to knit it. But it's the principle of the thing. Knitters aren't supposed to (gasp!) buy machine-knit sweaters. Then the same thing happens as happened the last time I broke down and bought something I couldn't find a pattern for.....everyone asks "Wow, I love that. Did you knit it?" And then I sheepishly look at the ground and admit I bought it (and then kick myself as they walk away). No more, I say! NO MORE!

So for all of you who know that knitting is sexy and who know where to find all the cute patterns....will someone fill me in already? Please????

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Jack's Almost Brother

Christmas time is always a hard time in the life of a knitting blogger since so much of what I'm doing revolves around Christmas and Christmas knitting is always hush-hush. So in place of finished objects to show off, I will tell you about our latest (and sad) adventure in trying to get a doggy brother for Jack.....

Meet Rusty:

Isn't he cute? We found him and his [very nice, I might add] family through Craig's List. He's a 4 year-old Shih Tzu whose family thought he needed some more love and attention than they had in their schedule. Since we're all about doggy love and attention and Jack needs a brother, we decided to check him out.

We drove out to their house with Jack in tow so the dogs could meet. Jack is working on realizing he's a dog and as such takes a lot of warming up to dogs before they can be friends. Jack was scared of Rusty at first and they still weren't playing after being there for half an hour or so so we asked if we could take Rusty home with us for a few days and see how the two of them did. They agreed and Rusty came to kick it with Team Bonham.

The first night was a little nuts because the two dogs chased each other up over the top of the bed, down the the floor, under the bed and back over the top for HOURS....resulting in not much sleep. After that first night, though, they became inseparable and were never more than 3 feet from each other. They chased each other and played a took dog naps.....so cute! We were glad the two were getting along so well and we really liked Rusty's mellow demeanor so we decided we wanted to keep him.

This is where it gets perilous.....

Our apartment complex requires a "pet interview" for new dogs. They have to be in the rental office off-leash, behave, and take a treat out of the manager's hand without biting. Figuring we'd get the inevitable out of the way, we took a trip to the office for Rusty's pet interview. This is how it went:

Manager: Oh, is this Jack's little friend?

Me: Yeah, he's staying with us for a few days to see how things go.

Manager: So are you thinking of adopting him?

Me: Yup, we're just seeing how things go first. As long as the two of them keep getting along, we'd like to adopt him.

Manager: You know you're only allowed the have 1 dog, right?

Me: WHAT? You're kidding? Joe and I thought we could have 2.

Manager: You can have two cats or one dog and one cat but just one dog.

Me: But Jack counts as a cat, right? He's smaller than most cats.....

It went downhill from there.

So what to do? Joe, who likes to play by the rules, wanted to keep him anyway. He really is a sweet dog and who can resist that little ewok face? So I thought about it. But in the end we decided it wouldn't be fair to keep him. A life of running from the law is too much for a little dog and as much as we like him, he's not worth getting evicted over. So we had to give him back. He did get to keep Jack's striped sweater (the one in the picture above) as a momento of his time in chez bonham.

The happy side of this is that Rusty's original family decided they missed him so much while he was with us that they are going to keep him. We've offered to dog-sit if they need it, so there's the possibility of seeing Rusty again in the future.

Now off to make Christmas cookies.....

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Channeling Austin Scarlett

Jack went to get groomed on Friday but because of all the rain we've been having combined with how much this dog runs around, Jack has essentially felted himself. Poor Jack. :-( So in order to de-felt him, the groomer had to cut his hair pretty short all over except for his face, which she was able to keep longer. When I got him home, I put one of his sweaters on to keep my poor baby warm. His sweater combined with his little scarf he got from the groomer totally make him look like Austin Scarlett of Project Runway fame.

What do you guys think?





Tuesday, December 4, 2007

My first KAL

Not that I've participated in...but the first one a pattern of mine has been chosen for!

My Cupcake Dishcloth pattern was picked to be the pattern this week for the Dishcloth Weekly Knitalong group on Ravelry (sorry....that last link only works if you're already on Ravelry). So that's kind of exciting! People like my pattern enough to get a whole bunch of them together to knit it. Whee!

If you're on Ravelry, you can check out other's knitted dishcloths here.

I'm back!

Sorry for the blog neglect. Last week, I was in hibernation while working on a grad school paper about Pentecostals and environmental responsibility (did you know the founder of Earth Day was a Pentecostal?). As such, I didn't really do much not related to my paper including cleaning my house or grocery shopping so now I'm in catch-up mode.

So what happened in the meantime. A lot!

I won a sweet auction on e-bay for this book:

There's no date but I'm guessing somewhere between the 40's and 50's. It has awesome patterns in it particularly for long stockings (I have developed a thing recently for both vintage knitting and thigh high stockings). If I'm doing my math right, though, the stockings are designed for a thigh circumference of 10." Yeah. That's what I thought, too. My calves aren't even 10" around. So I'm going to need to do some calculating to make them properly sized for modern adults.


Oregon Flooded
Apparently it's the worst storm in decades and there are these signs everywhere (this picture was taken on my way home last night when I had to drive through a road that had turned into a pond).


Oh. Wait. What's that? Dang it. Husband wants the computer (to his credit, he hasn't been on it much since I've been writing my paper) so I guess this is where this blog post is going to end.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Ωφελια

Introducing Ophelia.....


I was lamenting the price of adjustable dress forms to my my mom (who used to be a professional seamstress) and asking if she knew any inside track ways to get more affordable dress forms. Next thing you know, she's digging around and finds an old dress form of hers that is exactly the size I need it to be! She doesn't have legs and she needed a good cleaning but free is a much better price than $189+. Hooray!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Cupycakes Knit Apron Pattern

UPDATE!
This pattern is now available as a free PDF download on Ravlery.

As I mentioned back in a post from September, I submitted an original pattern to Knitty for consideration. And while I wish I could be telling you that Amy Singer e-mailed me today to tell me that she loved my apron, she didn't. Instead, she let me know that Knitty won't be publishing this pattern (she was very nice about it, though).

Perhaps I am the only person in the world who would like to own a retro-style skirt apron with cupcake pockets. However, in the event that I'm not, I'd like to share it with my knitting, cupcake-loving blog public. This is in a different format than most of my patterns appear as this in the form in which I sent it to Knitty. So without further ado....

Cupycakes


by Carissa Marie Bonham

Piquant

Inspired by retro-style skirt aprons, I decided to combine my two favorite obsessions: knitting and cupcakes. With skirt aprons, knitting and cupcakes each making a strong (not to mention sexy) comeback, this would be the perfect apron to wear while you unleash your inner domestic goddess in the kitchen this holiday season. Make it for yourself or as a gift for your favorite cupcake connoisseur.
This apron is knit in 100% acrylic yarn instead of cotton to keep it both washable and from getting too heavy. Superwash wool would be an appropriate substitute, although may be rather warm to wear in a hot kitchen.

Photo credit [model: Carissa Marie Bonham/photographer: Joe Bonham]

SIZE
One size fits S to XL

FINISHED MEASUREMENTSWaist band (before adding ribbon): 16.5 inches
Length: 18 inches

MATERIALS
[MC] Caron Perfect Match [100% Acrylic; 335 yd/325 m per 198 g skein]; color: Bright White; 1 skein

[CC1] Caron Perfect Match [100% Acrylic; 335 yd/325 m per 198 g skein]; color: Lilac; 1 skein

[CC2] Caron Perfect Match [100% Acrylic; 335 yd/325 m per 198 g skein]; color: Cream; 1 skein

3 US #6/4mm straight needles
2 29 or 32 inch US #7/4.5mm circular needles

Notions
Waste yarn (for provisional cast on)
Size H Crochet hook
Tapestry Needle
3 yards of 1.5 inch-wide grosgrain ribbon in a color matching one of the contrasting colors of yarn

GAUGE

18 sts/25 rows = 4” in Stockinette stitch on larger needles
16 sts/25 rows = 4" in seed bump pattern on larger needles (see pattern notes)

PATTERN NOTES

The main body of the skirt is worked back and forth on one circular needle using Seed Bump Pattern (see below). Due to the large quantity of stitches picked up later, the garter stitch ruffle is worked on two circular needles.

Seed Bump Pattern:
Row 1: K1 *P1, K3*
Row 2: P all sts
Row 3: K3 *P1, K3*
Row 4: P all sts

For the CO sts in the skirt shaping section, I recommend using a cable cast on to make it easier to pick up the stitches for the ruffle later in the pattern

PATTERN

Apron: Skirt
Using one of the circular needles, CO 37 sts in MC.

Foundation rows:
WS: P all sts
RS: K all sts
WS: P all sts

Lower Skirt Shaping:
Row 1: CO 8, K1 *P1, K3*
Row 2: CO 8, P to end
Row 3: CO 8, K3 *P1, K3* to last 2 sts, P1, K1
Row 4: CO 8, P to end

Repeat these 4 shaping rows once more as-is.
Repeat one more time without CO sts.

Increase Rows:
Row 1: kfb *P1, K3* to last st, kfb
Row 2: pfb, P to last st, pfb
Row 3: K1 *P1, K3*
Row 4: P all
Row 5: kfb, K2, *P1, K3* to last 2 sts, P1, kfb
Row 6: pfb, P to last st, pfb
Row 7: K 3, *P1, K3* to last 2 st, P1, K1
Row 8: P all
Repeat all 8 increase rows 3 more times (you will have 133 sts)

Continue working in Seed Bump Pattern until skirt measures 15 inches from CO edge. End on a WS row.

Waist Band:
RS: *K1, k2tog, K1* to last st, K1
WS: P all
RS: K3tog to last st, K1
WS: P all
RS: *K1, P1*
WS: *P1, K1*
Repeat last two rows 4 more times

Loosely BO all sts in pattern.

Apron: Ruffle

Ruffle is worked using two circular needles. Begin with one and add second needle when necessary.

Using CC1, pick up 6 sts on side of waist band, pm, pick up 230-250 sts around perimeter of skirt to the bottom of waist band, pm, pick up 6 sts along side of waist band.

WS: P6, sm, *kfb* until marker, sm, P6
RS: K all
Repeat these two rows once more.

WS: P6, sm, K to marker, sm, P6
RS: BO all sts loosely

Cupcake Pockets (make 2)

Cupcake pockets are worked back and forth on sz 6 straight needles.


Cupcake bottom:
Using CC2, CO 23 sts

RS: *K3, P1* 5 times, K3

WS: P3 *K1, P3* to end

Repeat these two rows 6 more times

Leave sts on needle, break yarn and set aside

Cupcake Frosting:
Using scrap yarn and crochet hook, CO 23 sts using provisional CO method
Connect CC1 to provisional CO and work as follows:

Rows 1 and 2: K all
Row 3: K2, ssk, k to last 4, K2tog, K2
Rows 4 and 5: K all

Repeat rows 3-5, 3 more times

Next row: ssk, ssk, K to last 4, k2tog, k2tog
Next row: K all
Repeat these two rows once more

Next row: ssk, K3, k2 tog
Next row: ssk, K1, k2tog
BO all stitches

Joining Cupcake pieces:
Turn Frosting piece over and use knitting needle to pick up CC1 stitches from back of provisional CO (count to make sure you have 23 sts!). Unzip provisional CO and set aside.

Pick up the bottom portion of the cupcake set aside earlier.

Join CC1 and knit across one row

Hold the bottom and frosting pieces, wrong sides together, with the needles pointing the same direction.

Use third knitting needle to knit the first stitch on each needle together

Continue across until all stitches have been knit onto the third needle. You will have 23 sts.

Frosting Ruffle:
This technique might be a little different than anything you’re used to but I think it provides the best “frosting” ruffle effect:

Hold the knitting needle with the live stitches in your left hand and the crochet hook in your right hand.

Using the crochet hook as if it were a knitting needle, knit the first stitch off of the needle.

You will now have 22 sts on your needle and 1 loop on your crochet hook.

Use crochet hook to SC three times into the base of the knit stitch.

Once again:*use crochet hook as a knitting needle to K the next st off the needle (there will be two loops on the crochet hook), wrap yarn from back to front on crochet hook and draw through two loops on crochet hook (there will now be one stitch on hook), work 2 SC into base of st*

Repeat directions between **’s until no more sts remain.

Break yarn and draw through

FINISHING
Weave in ends of cupcakes and apron.

Sew the cupcakes to the apron around their bottom portions to form pockets.

Center and sew the ribbon across the top of the waist band beginning in the center. Try on your completed apron and cut ribbon tails to a length that suits you.


I hope someone other than me enjoys this pattern. You can also find it on Ravelry here.

If you're looking for gift knitting ideas, I think this apron would make a cute "domestic goddess" gift set by pairing it with a cupcake dishcloth or two.

Christmas Tree Dishcloth

UPDATE! This pattern is now available as a free PDF download on Ravelry.
This was a bit of an experimental pattern. I wanted to make a Christmas tree dishcloth (square ones are so boring) but didn't have the right colors. Since my dishes don't care, I used what I had and came out with this: Odd as it is, I think it's kind of cute. If you want a a Christmas tree dishcloth of your own, this is what you do....

Yarn in progress

I think this yarn dying business might get addictive. I LOVE how my yarn is turning out. I'm waiting for it to dry now.

It looks a lot nicer in real life. Here are the details:

Yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool

Color: Twisted Denim

Dye: Wilton's food dye (the thick kind...in lilac and a bit of red)

What I did: Frogged my ugly sweater into 2 yard-circumference skeins (about 400g; 892 yards of yarn total). Soaked it in vinegar water in my crock pot for an hour. Drained the vinegar water and moved it to sink while I boiled some water. Moved one skein into ginormous metal bowl, where I poured about 2 cups of had-just-been-boiling water which I had mixed with dye over the skein and squished it around. Added another skein on top and repeated until all skeins were in the bowl.

Transferred yarn back to crock pot and turned it on high for 3.5 hours. Drained yarn and let cool in crockpot and then transferred to colander. After a few hours, I rinsed the yarn in cool water with a bit of mild soap, spun it dry in the best salad spinner ever (seriously, if you dye yarn or block a lot of your knitting, I think this would be seriously worth the investment) and it is now drying on a towel on my counter and hanging from my pot rack. My kitchen smells like a wet sheep. :-)

I'm excited to see how it all turns out once it's all done. :-)

Friday, November 16, 2007

Quick...Before it dies!

I have been experiencing no end to the technical difficulties in my life recently so alas my blog is one area which has been sorely neglected. But! I wanted to share with you (quickly...before my computer dies [again]) where part of my afternoon today went / is going:






To be continued....

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Which lolcat are you?

I am (appropriately enough)...

Sad Cookie Cat


Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat

61% Affectionate, 39% Excitable, 64% Hungry

You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.

Find out which cat you are here

Mi doggee toks




I think these two websites are hilarious:

http://laughoutlouddogs.com/

and http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Joe, on the other hand, doesn't get it. I will look at pages of these and laugh and laugh and laugh. Joe just stares...kind of blankly.

In case anyone else enjoys this kind of humor, I'm sharing. And so's Jack.

Enjoy!

Monday, October 29, 2007

The day has finally come!

I'm on Ravelry!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

You can find me here.

I was just checking my e-mail "really quick" before joining Husband in bed but got distracted playing with it and almost 3 hours later I'm still up. :-S

Okay.....off to bed with me.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

A Little Odd


It's called "Puppy Purse" and is a dog carrying system that lets you carry your dog like, well, a purse. The picture on the left is my favorite. I'm sure they're trying to show how cool and manly you can look while carrying your pretty-pretty-princess dog on your side. Sadly, it just doesn't work.

To see more ways to embarrass yourself in public by carrying around your dog like a piece of luggage, you can check out their website where the home page features pictures of women in dressy clothes toting their pups like fashion accessories.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Adventures in bad baking

As odd as it sounds, I like to make cake and cupcakes with diet soda. I box cake mix + 1 can diet soda mixed with a whisk (not electric beaters) and baked as usual results in a yummy, light and fluffy cake despite how weird it sounds. For best results, match the mix and the sodas like this:

Chocolate or Devil's Food cake mix + diet cola, Dr. Pepper or root beer

White or funfetti cake mix + diet sprite, 7up, or fresca (funfetti w/ fresca is my favorite)

Yellow cake mix + diet cream soda or sprite

Making cakes this way instead of with eggs and oil reduces calories and fat grams in the finished product. The reason you whisk by hand is because the carbonation in the soda is what will make it rise w/o the eggs and beating it with a mixer is too aggressive and beats the bubbles out.

Today my cake baking methods have met their match. I had a box of reduced sugar Devil's Food cake mix and wanted to make weight watchers friendly cupcakes and so stirred in a can of Diet Dr. Thunder. Bad idea. Something happened chemically with the reduced sugar cake mix and the sugarless soda and created a gooey, sticky mess. Not only was it hard to tell when the cupcakes were done (the insides were still gooey after 25 minutes in the oven.....which is a long time to bake cupcakes in my oven) but when once they came out and cooled stuck to the cupcake papers so the whole thing was mangled and only the top escaped unscathed.

So word to the wise: If making reduced sugar cupcakes, keep the fat. If you want to make cupcakes with soda, use regular cake mix.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Puppy Clothes

It's taken a bit to get the pics up for this (the green one) since most pictures of Jack look like this:
This dog just doesn't sit still! In the meantime, I had a chance to finish sweater #2 so now I have 2 FO's to show off when we had better luck with the camera today (I bribed him with bacon cheddar doggie biscuits). So I present to you the (mini) doggie fashion show starring: Jack!
















Sweater #1 is knit in Lion Brand Wool-Ease thick & quick in the colors of grass and pine and knit on size 15 needles. Pattern is by me. The original design had a V-neck but it looked funny on my small dog, so I sewed it up and now it has a plain front and a roll-neck collar in back. This was great because it was a SUPER fast knit (I'd say maybe 2.5 - 3 hours max). I'm going to try an adapted version of what I did in the round so I don't have to do seaming.



Sweater #2 is a very adapted take on Buster by Berroco. Berroco's pattern is only for medium-large dogs (and jack is on the xs side of small) so with some gauge change, stitch count change, yarn change and more really it just kind of looks like Berocco's but is pretty different in construction. I used some leftover Red Heart Soft Yarn in black and size 6 needles.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

10 reasons the West Coast makes me happy

While still harboring much affection for my friends in Boston (or other parts of the world) I realize more and more that I am almost deliriously happy to be back in the Pacific Northwest. Thereby I present to you my top 10 reasons I'm happy to be back in the Pacific Northwest:

1. Trader Joe's is just another grocery store and not a place where "all the weird hippie people work."








2. My family is now a 1-3 hour drive away rather than a 1 week drive away.







3. Jack is the best puppy ever and has brought Joe and I tremendous amounts of joy. If we hadn't moved back I'd still be puppy-less.







4. People don't look at you funny if you pass a stranger on the sidewalk and say hi.















5. It's normal for people to talk to not only the cashier but also the people in line at the grocery store. (I was telling this to one of my Boston friends and her was response was, "People actually do that?!?" Why yes. Yes they do.)




6. Alpacas. There are a lot of them here. I don't think I've seen a single alpaca living in Boston.












7. It's kind of refreshing to be normal again (as opposed to "punk rock Carissa from Seattle"). Yesterday I wore a long sleeve shirt under a t-shirt, a fat ball-chain necklace, a chunky leather watch with buckles, a studded belt, my hair up in a ponytail to show off my tattoo and flipflops where my dark purple nail polish with chunky sparkles could be seen nobody looked at me funny. (Or made fun of the way I talk....but that's a different story)



8. Fall lasts longer here. The enjoyable weather lingers a bit longer before becoming quite cold and I think the colors last longer, too (or at least longer before they are covered in snow). Lest I be accused of making things up...yes, we really have fall here. In fact, this picture was taken yesterday while I was driving home.






9. Hooray for no sales tax! I think I save a significant amount each year by not having to pay sales tax.











10. Even though there are the same number of hours in a day, being in the Pacfic time zone makes me feel like I have more time. For example, it's 7:00 now, but it's 10:00 in Boston. Which means I've got 5 more hours until midnight, they've only got three.





***Only photos used for number 3, 7, and 8 are mine. All others found on Flickr. Click image to go to fullsize photo on flickr *****

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

9252

That's how many people are ahead of me in line to get into Ravelry.

And what kills me is not only can I not use Ravelry yet....but I can't even look at other people's stuff on Ravelry until I'm invited.

*sniff sniff*

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Mama Mia!

Coming home from running errands today I began to ponder dinner. I had meant to buy turkey meatballs at the store but, alas, this store did not carry them. What to make for dinner then?

So far this week we had sushi, tuna casserole (not the nasty, runny tuna wiggle kind. This is amazing tuna casserole) and fajitas. I was feeling a bit like getting back to my [Italian] roots. I didn't want to make a plain old boring meat sauce and thought I'd do meatballs myself. I pulled out my family's top secret meatball recipe and got to work.

At first I thought the ingredients were a little odd. The recipe includes some things that would have never occurred to me to put in meatballs and leaves out some things I would think were "obvious." I resisted the urge to mess with it. I also resisted the urge to use my fancy Pampered Chef tools to make it faster and easier. I wanted to do it the old school way.

Then something magical happened. Standing barefoot in my quiet kitchen rolling meatballs by hand I felt this strange connection to my family thousands of miles and/or generations away. This is how my sister, mom, grandmother and great-grandmother (and who knows how much further back) all make these meatballs. It was almost like they were all there with me. I also felt very, very Italian (I mean, I am Italian....but I just felt like Super Italian). This is the first time this has ever happened to me and it was really special.

This also gave me an insight into the line of thinking some knitters have: that you do things to old school way, because that's how it's been done for thousands of years. Previous to this experience, this thought process seemed very, well, odd. But for the first time I understood. I still don't feel that way about knitting -- as far as I can tell, my family doesn't have much of a knitting legacy to pass down and that's probably why. But meatballs, stuffing and lasagna? You do it the old school way....because that's just how you do it.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

I found this awesome sweater called "the Deep V Argyle Vest" from See Eunny Knit! The pattern can be downloaded here.


I think it looks great, is sexy and has kind of a punk edge to it. I nominated it for the next KAL over at the Sexy Knitter's club but it lost (to patterns that only fit if you're no larger than a small....ask me what I think about that). Anyway, I think I'm going to knit this anyway but was wondering if there might be sufficient interest in others to start a KAL for it?

If anyone else is interested, say so in the comments. Thanks!

Delta Helps Monkeys by Hiring Them to Determine Airline Ticket Prices!

Has anyone else noticed that airline fares can not only be ridiculously overpriced, but make no sense either? Take my current situation for example:

I want to go to a conference in Cincinnati in January. I need to fly from Portland, OR to Cincinnati. Round trip tickets? Yeah, they cost more than $500. $500! To go to Cincinnati! I can fly to Mexico or Puerto Rico for less than that. So....I started exploring my options. Maybe I could juggle some one-way tickets and get a better deal.

This is what I found: On the day I want to fly, a one-way ticket from Portland to Boston is only $170. This flight has one layover in (you guessed it) Cincinnati. If I just want to book the leg of the trip from Portland to Cincinnati, guess how much I pay? $500! $500 for something they would give me and more for only $170. Yeah....that makes sense. Does anyone else feel like monkeys are the ones running this whole thing:
I do. So I called Delta. After sitting on hold for 15 minutes, I was transferred to a non-native English speaker who sounded like he had a thick Asian accent. While he was very polite, he wasn't helpful. When he asked if I was using the website to find these fares and I said yes, he said I needed to contact customer support through the website live chat. I didn't see a way to do this on the website, so I asked about it:

Him: You will need to contact my colleauge who is trained in these matters through the Delta website.

Me: Am I supposed to send an e-mail (I saw a link to send e-mail....and I didn't want to wait for a response) or is this live chat?

Him: It is live chat.

Me: Okay. Um....I'm not seeing where I go to find that. Can you help me?

Him: It's on the Delta website.

Me: Right. But where? What do I need to click on to get to that area?

Him: For your question you will need to contact my colleague who is doing live chat to assist customers on the website.

Me: That's fine, but how do I find this person? I don't see anything on the website about live online help.

Him: (obviously exasperated with me) Just hold on. I'll transfer to the person doing the live chat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I find it amusing I'm being transferred via phone to the online chat person. This person answers and has a British accent. She was nice and somewhat more helpful. I'll spare you the conversation (it wasn't as amusing) but in the end, there is nothing to stop me from booking my flight to "Boston" and then getting off in Cincinnati and not coming back. IN FACT she says that if I only take the first leg of my trip, I may have a CREDIT in the Delta system that I can use for up to one year.

Hmmm. So pay $500 or pay $170 and get money back? Gee, that one's hard. Why does this have to be so complicated? Why can't I just get charged a fair rate for what I want to do? So note to anyone looking around at airfare: don't just take the price the monkeys give you -- shop around first.

Wish you all a happy and cupcake-filled day,

Carissa

Thursday, September 27, 2007

I caught the bug

Last night after Hubby went to bed (I wasn't tired yet) I was surfing the internet in search of cool cardigan patterns (a BIG thank you to ShadKitty who sent me some AWESOME ones). While I was searching I came across this:


Now as far as a scarf goes, I'm not sure it's immensely practical. It seems it would be a bit bulky under a coat, etc. That and I found the pattern difficult to understand. But I was inspired. I want to make this...but different. Same color, similar idea, but something totally different. I spent a while trying to ignore my intense longing to start knitting lots of garter stitch and after an hour or so I gave in. I found some yarn, did some swatching and knit to old episodes of Grey's Anatomy while garter stitching my little heart out. Then this morning as I was waiting for my brain to boot so I could do things that make money, I sat and knit this. This is where I'm at:

You can tell from the dictionary and other clutter on my desk that I was supposed to be doing something else while I was taking this picture (but that's besides the point). But I have this odd compelling NEED to knit this thing. I don't know why. I don't even like garter stitch. I feel in general garter stitch should be used only for dishcloths, cupcake tops and afghan squares but I'm making something I'm (gasp!) going to wear.....assuming it turns out okay.

But I've got to go. I need to go do some more money-making stuff before Husband comes home and I knit while watching Grey's. Hooray!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Pirate Cupcakes

Tell me this is not the coolest thing ever:


You can find it as a T-shirt on etsy by going here.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

A Rant...

I am starting to get really frustrated. I like to think of myself and young and somewhat hip. When I started knitting I decided that I didn't want to be one of those knitters who knits something just because she can (and then end up with something ugly that one should never be caught wearing in public). I decided I would only knit things that I would have purchased should I have seen them for sale in store.

Things like this:



And the piece that I REALLY really REALLY want is this:


I love this cardigan. I saw it in a store the other day with my sister and decided I must have one. The only problem is I can't seem to find a pattern for anything even similar. Instead, hours of searching for cardigan patterns has turned up things that look more like this:



I have one word for you: blech. Now, these cardigans might be fitting for their designers or women with different lifestyles than myself but they are not for me and they don't look anything like this:
or anything like any of the other pictures posted above. Where have the young, hip knitting designers gone? Are they hiding somewhere? Are they secretly knitting cute things and hoarding the patterns? Why can't I find patterns for the kinds of things I want to knit?

I suppose I could go buy the sweater I'm jonsing for. Afterall, it would save me a lot of time and would probably cost about as much as the raw yarn needed to knit it. But it's the principle of the thing. Knitters aren't supposed to (gasp!) buy machine-knit sweaters. Then the same thing happens as happened the last time I broke down and bought something I couldn't find a pattern for.....everyone asks "Wow, I love that. Did you knit it?" And then I sheepishly look at the ground and admit I bought it (and then kick myself as they walk away). No more, I say! NO MORE!

So for all of you who know that knitting is sexy and who know where to find all the cute patterns....will someone fill me in already? Please????

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | Facebook Themes