gobble gobble

Posted on October 23, 2003 by mariko

I have a thing for food magazines, and right now, it seems I have a thing for food magazines that talk about turkey:
turkey mags.JPG
This is ironic, since I have no idea what we’re doing for Thanksgiving. I want to try this whole brining thing, but when I think about fixing a Thanksgiving meal, I just get tired and begin wondering which restaurants will be serving turkey dinners!
My current project is one I’ve kind of kept under wraps because I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. It is a poncho. Yup. When I confessed to the Hedster that I was knitting a poncho, she laughed and said she had one when she was 13. Yup, me, too. My mother made it, and it was pink and purple. I think she crocheted it. I loved it. So maybe I’m regressing? I tried to tell Hedi that it was just going to be an indoor poncho, but we shall see. Here’s the back:
poncho front.JPG
It’s the MiniChic poncho by Bonne Marie. I love her patterns. I am using some nasty Lion Brand Homespun, which is 100 percent acrylic. I like the color, though, and I like that it will be easy care.

Posted in General | 9 Comments

get on the peeps bus

Posted on October 22, 2003 by mariko

My friend Alice used to say “Get on the clue bus” all the time (in grade school, she went through a phase where she would say, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” It was incessant). I am not a regular rider of the clue bus, but I sure would like a pass on the Marshmallow Peeps fun bus! As you can see, I am a proud, card-carrying member of the Peeps Fan Club:
peeps membership.JPG
My mother left for Japan yesterday. She went to visit her 98-year-old mother, who is not doing very well (note that last year, when we visited, she was still out in the fields pulling weeds!). She seems to be doing better, though, and now she gets up in the middle of the night to listen to the radio at full blast and/or eat an orange. She has also taken to shouting out when she wants some coffee. Apparently, she keeps yelling until someone hears her and honors her request. I have a feeling this is how my father is going to act when I get to Portland …

Posted in General | 3 Comments

baby gift numero dos

Posted on October 21, 2003 by mariko

Wheee, I finished the 2nd sock, so now I can mail the ensemble off to my friend Melissa. Her baby is due in a couple of weeks!
melissa baby gift.JPG
I called the Marshmallow Peeps fun bus hotline today, and I don’t know if I’m going to be able to visit the fun bus in Portland. The only day I can see it is Sunday, and that day they are going to be in Salem, which is about 40 minutes south of Portland. I’d have to finish the half-marathon, rush home, get cleaned up, then scoot on down to Salem. I might just have to follow it to San Francisco!

Posted in knitting | 8 Comments

my left foot

Posted on October 20, 2003 by mariko

Sock number one to go with the raspberry cap!
baby sock for melissa.JPG
Now I just need to knit the second sock and get the ensemble into the mail before I go to Portland this weekend.
I never thought I’d be happy about switching to Standard Time (early darkness is so depressing), but today I was. This Sunday I am planning to run the Run Like Hell Half-Marathon in Portland. My primary motivation for signing up is my suspicion that the shirts will be Halloween themed and, well, you know, I love Halloween. The race starts at 7am, which is disgustingly early, but with the time change, it will actually be 8am! Yay! I *think* I can live with that.

Posted in knitting | 4 Comments

bbrrrzztzzztttttttt

Posted on October 19, 2003 by mariko

And more knitting for babies has taken place! Voila, a raspberry cap for my friend Melissa’s soon-to-be-born little baby girl:
raspberry cap.JPG
I plan to make matching socks, and then off it will go.
Other than that, not much new around here. I had the major punes (pronounced “pyoonz”) on Friday and could not function. It was a result of heat exhaustion and dehydration, I think. I spent the whole weekend trying to recover.

Posted in knitting | 6 Comments

blankie with booties

Posted on October 16, 2003 by mariko

I whipped up a little quilt sort of blanket for baby Zephyr. It won’t get there in time for his shower, but at least it will be there before he is born!
zephyr blanket.JPG
I didn’t really know what I was doing, but that’s okay, because I think a lot of innovation and creativity stems from ignorance (well, it wasn’t really the case in this situation, but I think the blanket will be functional). I sewed together some squares and backed the “quilt” with polarfleece (I have an embarrassing amount of black polarfleece. Last year I purchased 50 pounds of remnants from Malden Mills, and this is the first time I’ve used any of it). It is a small, lap-sized blanket. Now Zephyr has booties and a blankie.

Posted in sewing | 8 Comments

booty call

Posted on October 15, 2003 by mariko

Ahh, the port and starboard booties for baby Zephyr are finished:
baby booties.JPG
I started a striped hat to match, but I realized I don’t have enough yarn! So, I’ve decided to sew a little receiving blanket type thing. There are too many projects swirling around in my head right now …

Posted in knitting | 5 Comments

shake your boo-tay

Posted on October 14, 2003 by mariko

A lot of people I know are preggers right now. Unfortunately, I have not been very organized in terms of knitting baby gifts. Yesterday I dug through my stash looking for SOMETHING so I can knit a little gift for baby Zephyr, whose shower is this weekend (gulp, guess the gift won’t make it in time). I finished one sock:
baby sock.JPG
I plan to finish the other one tonight, and if there’s enough yarn left over, maybe I’ll knit up a little matching cap!
Here’s a picture of cancer-fighting Megan with hair (she’s a hairdresser in San Francisco):
megan.JPG
Doesn’t she look normal? Well, she’s NOT! Heh. But that’s what we love about her.

Posted in knitting | 2 Comments

chemo cap #2 completed!

Posted on October 13, 2003 by mariko

Okay, Megan, you can lose your hair now, because I finished a second cap for you! I’m a little embarrassed to post this photo, because, well, I look insane (and the sad part is this is probably how I really look!):
devil hat.JPG
The devil cap was quite fun to knit. I used a super soft Merino wool that has some poly schmoly stuff mixed in (full details in the gallery).
I got a little travel cup of Sour Skittles at Target yesterday. They eat the enamel off my already sensitive teeth and make my teeth feel really weird when I brush them, but I don’t care, because they are addictive and tasty.
Thanks for all the nice comments on my Becky Wannabe sweater!

Posted in knitting | 8 Comments

Becky Wannabe COMPLETE

Posted on October 12, 2003 by mariko

At long last, the Becky Wannabe sweater is complete! I finished seaming it yesterday while watching Lagaan. It’s subtitled, so I wasn’t really paying attention. I did have to watch the catchy dance numbers, though. The sweater turned out fairly well. At first I didn’t think I liked the fit, since I don’t generally like super fitted sleeves (also, I don’t know what made me think seaming the sleeves using the crochet method would be a good idea. It took forever!), but I think I will like it as time goes on. Here are two views:
beck completed.JPG beck completed 2.JPG
You can see what I mean about the sleeve/shoulder area. Also, the sweater is a tad short, but I am wearing hyper low low-rise jeans in the picture, so the shortness factor is heightened. I followed the pattern exactly, I was on gauge, and I am short, so I’m not sure what happened with the length.
We purchased Halloween candy today. We generally get around 200 kids, so I usually start stocking up early. This year I have been busy, and I am going to be in Portland for Halloween, anyway, so I just bought it all at once. Poor Peter will have to hand out the candy solo. I think this will be enough:
halloween candy.JPG

Posted in knitting | 18 Comments