super eggplant stitch markers

Posted on June 1, 2004 by mariko

The world of knitbloggers is so full of generous souls! Lookie what the amazing Maggi sent my way:
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How fabulous are those stitch markers?
Oh, and this is what happens when you try to prop a spoon into a large tub of Marshmallow Fluff:
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Oh no, Mr. Bill!!! (Those of you younger than 30 might not know that reference. Or maybe you do. I am pretty out of it, aren’t I.)

Posted in knitting | 15 Comments

wide receiver

Posted on May 31, 2004 by mariko

Quite a few years ago, I purchased some solar weave fabric (it blocks out UV rays) to make Peter a shirt. The fabric was sitting patiently in my stash, but then Peter started harassing me about it, so I decided to sew the shirt. I used a Vogue pattern in size XL, since Peter is 6’2″ and of Danish descent (no dainty bones). I don’t know who designs these patterns, but the shirt is huge. It was also too short, so I had to add some extra fabric to the bottom! I also did a pretty crappy sewing job. Sewing guru Mrs. H told me today that using a jeans needle is helpful on tightly woven fabrics (like nylon and Gortex). I’ll remember that next time! Despite all my troubles, Peter seems to like his shirt, and I guess that’s what counts.
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Hope everyone had a nice weekend. I think we must have been the only people in the country who did not attend a barbecue or picnic.

Posted in sewing | 16 Comments

she floats!

Posted on May 29, 2004 by mariko

This morning Peter and I went down to the water to test out a free rowboat given to Peter. Peter fixed it up, and she floats!
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The boat’s name is Japhy (I have no idea what the origin of the name is. At first I thought it was a racial slur, but then I looked at the name more carefully and realized, oh, that’s an “h” and not another “p.” Heh).
In knitting news, I am just about ready to switch to the contrasting color on the neckline of Gigi. Sadly, however, that contrasting color is not yet here. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago, but it was afflicted by the curse of the backorder! Assurances that it would arrive soon were given, but they were lies! All lies! (I’m being dramatic. The online store was actually very nice.) Anyway, I ended up canceling then ordering from Patternworks, which has the color I want, cherry moon, in stock. It’s not getting mailed out until Tuesday, though, so it won’t get here for AT LEAST another week. HOW WILL I GO ON (okay, being dramatic again).

Posted in General | 6 Comments

pizza on the grill

Posted on May 27, 2004 by mariko

Yo, peeps, still knitting on Gigi, so today I thought I would talk about grilled pizza. I know, I’m sorry, no knitting content (though let me tell you that I did snag that Debbie Bliss wool cotton from the stash redistribution box!).
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Grilled pizza is the yummiest! It’s also quick and easy and great for the summer, since you keep the heat outside (if you have ever cooked pizza in the oven, you know you have to set the oven to 500 degrees. Yowza). I made my own dough for this batch, but oftentimes I go to my trusty Trader Joe’s and buy the readymade, fresh pizza dough. You know what? Their pizza sauce ain’t bad, either. I also like their fresh mozzarella. Way tastier than the rubbery kind.

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Posted in cooking | 8 Comments

toys

Posted on May 26, 2004 by mariko

I finally finished off my kinder egg supply. Here is a sampling of the toys I got:
kinderegg toys.JPG
Much to my dismay, I got about half of dozen of that darned coyote leaning against the gas pump. I got a lot of the coyote series, actually, and no, I never did find Mr. Strong. Miss Love will have to go solo for now. (I just realized that if you didn’t know that a pair of the toys was named Mr. Strong and Miss Love, you would think I was speaking in some strange code.)
I know many of you are curious about how Gigi looks on a human model, so go check out Melissa‘s completed Gigi. It is gorgeous!!

Posted in candy/chocolate | 8 Comments

stash arrival

Posted on May 25, 2004 by mariko

When I got home today I found this on my back steps:
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Click on the box to see what’s inside!
I stared at it for a while trying to figure out what it was, and then it hit me–it was the box from the Great Stash Redistribution Project! That box sure looks like it’s been through a lot. I found a couple of goodies in there and will have to look through it again more carefully to see if there’s anything else I “need.”

Posted in knitting | 10 Comments

gateau au yaourt

Posted on May 24, 2004 by mariko

One of my favorite food blogs is chocolate & zucchini. Food blogger Clotilde lives in Paris, and as a result, I’ve learned a lot about French foods and customs. Last week she had a recipe for Gateau au Yaourt, or yogurt cake. Apparently it is a very basic and well used recipe throughout France, so I figured, when in California, do as the French do (or something like that). The neat thing about the recipe is you use the yogurt container to measure out the remaining ingredients!
I began with this modest container of yogurt:
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Which then was miraculously transformed into this:
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Click on the photo to see the crumb (it’s a dense and chewy cake).

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Posted in baking | 21 Comments

frankenchair

Posted on May 23, 2004 by mariko

The webbing on a couple of our lawn chairs has deteriorated, so I “fixed” one of them today. I had found a Kwik-Kover replacement at a garage sale and decided that would be much easier than unscrewing and rescrewing a million screws that hold the webbing (though I did have to unscrew and rescrew them all to get the old webbing off. Doh). It’s one big piece of plastic stuff that you lace up like a corset! Unfortunately, it didn’t seem very sturdy, and I think it would be highly unpleasant to be sitting outside sipping a lemonade only to fall through the chair and smash your butt on the concrete patio. SO, I took some of the replacement webbing that came with the chair (also purchased at a yard sale) and put in some reinforcement webbing. It doesn’t look very pretty, but hopefully it will prevent any unfortunate accidents:
frankenchair.JPG
I’m going to go eat some cookies now. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Posted in General | 2 Comments

When the calves come home

Posted on May 22, 2004 by mariko

I finished a little skirt today. It has an elastic waistband, because Action Hero Melissa told me that every girl needs an elastic waistband skirt in her closet. I was actually inspired by the Hedster, who whipped up a little elastic waistband monkey skirt for herself (and hers has perfect seams):
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The fabric is some scrap fabric I bought to use as bag lining. Now that I have the sizing somewhat right, I can make some more comfy skirts with my fabric stash, which is in desperate need of reduction (though I bought some more fabric today. Oops. I was buying a pattern, and the patterns are 50% off IF you make a fabric purchase, so I had no choice! And then I was mocked by the employee, “Are you going to buy that crazy giant clown fabric? Most people are scared of clowns.”)
Today at the knitting guild meeting, some of us got in a discussion about calf size (mostly because I was complaining about the enormity of my calves). Nancy of crazy slipper fame has a roommate whose calves are bigger than her boyfriend’s calves, and he is a foot taller than she is! So, when I got home, I immediately measured Peter’s calves, and phew, they are slightly larger than mine (I still can’t fit my calves into gogo boots, though, and YES, I want to).

Posted in sewing | 14 Comments

from chaos to, uh, not so chaotic

Posted on May 21, 2004 by mariko

Though I am not a completely disorganized person, I am also not a totally organized person. I guess you could call me a half-assed person–kind of lazy, lax on the details, you get the picture. Well, I decided to make an attempt to organize my loose knitting patterns!
chaos1.jpg
And after?

Click the photo to see what’s inside.

Posted in knitting | 6 Comments