29

Feb

Random Friday!

8 Random Facts About Me (as if there were 8 things anyone didn’t know about me)

1. At 20 years of age I was one number away from winning the powerball jackpot of 42 million dollars. Instead I matched 4 numbers plus the powerball which won me 5,000.

2. I have severe road rage but am not an agressive driver. I expect people to follow the rules and drive responcibly, but of course they never do. So I yell a lot when I’m in the car. Consequencly I have never been ticketed or in an accident.

3. For some reason I think that you are instantly “urban cool” if you live in New York City or Boston. I always think that I would be so much cooler if I lived in one of those places. Alas I know deep in my heart that I will be a dork where ever I live.

4. I am a closet yuppy. “Young Urban Proffessional” as my mother in law tells me. I know it’s true yet I resist to admit it.

5. I think the rudest question on the face of the earth to ask someone is “When are you guys going to have kids?” Or any variation there of. It makes people uncomfortable and it will never be any of your business.

6. I have an uncanny sense of smell.  I can easily figure out what something smells like (and usually ruin it for other people). Boligas soup smells like wet cat food when made from scratch.

7. I hate monkies. Like seriously hate them. Like, a personal vandetta against them kind of hate. I don’t know why either.  Every time some one brings up monkies or I see them on TV it just brings out a strange primevil rage. My husband thinks this is hilarous & threatens to one day bring one home so he can watch us battle it out.

8. People who have money will never impress me, I really couldn’t care what other people have. The people that really impress me are the ones that are fearless in following their dreams and do amazingly cool things. One of the ladies in my knitting group is retired & lives with her husband on a sail boat. Now that is impressive :)

On the knitting front I’m knitting a doily. Yeah, laugh, real mature. Nice. Ok, are we done yet? Yeah, a doily. I don’t know what happened or why I’m doing it, but all I can say is that I’m 1/2 way done & very pleased with myself. What will I do with it you ask? I really couldn’t say.

I finished Valpuri yesterday & she is currently blocking. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have a sweater, a doily (enough laughing already, seriously!), and hopefully Pat’s snail mitts to show off.  Then it will be time to cast on all sorts of new things! :)

1437 days ago Short URL 5 Comments

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28

Feb

Lace Leaf T

Another knit finished (actually I have a few finished but nothing blog worthy).

Please excuse the crappy picture. I don’t know why it came out like that.

This was a very soothing, no brainer knit. I loved it. Whipped right by & flew off the needles and all that nonsense.

Pattern: Leaf T (I like Lace Leaf T better but whatever)

Needles: US 5′s for the whole thing, even ribbing (it calls for a 6 but I like the tigher knit)

Yarn: Cascade 220 in turquoise. (I know it doesn’t look really turquoise in these pictures but it is.)

Mods: Probably about a billion. Basically this pattern only goes up to a size 40 bust. That just isn’t happening for me. (WHY O WHY DESIGNERS CAN’T YOU BE BOTHERED TO DO THE MATH FOR ME?! WHY BE A DICK?!) anywho. I cast on the required number of stitches and kept increasing until I reached 90 for each sleeve & 120 for back & front. Then I just did what you do on a raglan. :) No waist shaping because it didn’t need it. This yarn is very elastic & hugs just the way I like.

Mmmm Leafy.

This picture is true to color. See the difference? Who knows. I didn’t have enough time this morning to mess with it. Though I do like the emerald color. O_O

Over all I’m extremely happy with this knit. The lace was fun & super duper easy which is always rewarding & the yarn was easy to work with.

I do have to pull out my soap box a little bit here though. I am a big fan of sweater knitting. I love it. I find them very rewarding.  But the more I cruise ravelry the more I see a disturbing trend among us ladies. See when you pose for your sweater pictures it seems that 1/2 our knitting population is either sans bra or don’t know that the straps are adjustable.

Ladies. Give your girls a helping hand. Lift them up off your rib cage & support them. See the picture above? Yeah, I have big tatas AND I can keep them up. Crazy concept right? I mean the physics involved would BLOW YOUR MIND.  Please ladies, go invest in a good bra (or 4). 50 bucks is not to much to spend on giving your girls a lift. It will make you look 10 pounds thinner, make your shirts look better & make YOU feel better.

I mean if I can lift and separate a cup size of an E you can definitely lift up your B’s C’s & D’s with out problems. Plus, you can still buy the pretty bras (which I totally hate you for by the way, my “fancy” bras are plain black).  Do yourself (and me) a favor. I can’t keep my mouth shut forever, I’m kind of a jerk*, sooner or later I will start pointing out random saggy tata occurrences and I won’t be nice enough to black bar your eyes like Glamour.

*actually I’m kind of a huge jerk and I will point and laugh.

1438 days ago Short URL 7 Comments

Knitting

27

Feb

Stolen from Kim @ Yarn Abuse. I guess I seem to have the same smooshed face thing has renee. Sad.

Alternately my husband resembles these people the most. I don’t even see a slight resemblence.

1439 days ago Short URL 3 Comments

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26

Feb

Tuesdays Come as They Go

I’ve got nothing.  

Unless you want to hear about me almost snorting latte out my noose at suckbucks when 6 foot, 100 pound a trophy wife wanna be stated to the barista, “Why is it that mocha tastes just like chocolate?” and before I could even register out of my mouth popped “GOD DAMN! YOUR RIGHT! It must be a conspiracy! Call the Belz!”

Or at over hearing one of our sales people make a cold call to one Hanable Lector of Lector’s Meat Market.

1439 days ago Short URL 3 Comments

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25

Feb

Weekends Like This

What a great weekend! Sometimes you just have those 2 days that are completely awesome. Some days it seems like you got so much done and experienced so much and you really feel as if you are finally living life to it’s fullest.  This was one of those weekends.

Saturday I got up bright and early meeting Cheryl at Cafe Nouvoue for breakfast after which I drove us over to Becky’s place in Camarillo. Talk about a cute house. I want to move in next door :) Of course we had to take the tour of the yarn room (am I the only one with out a yarn room? I feel so inadiquate!).

After packing up the dodge with all of us girls we headed out to Santa Monica for Wild Fiber.

What a great shop! Very big & open so you can see everything in one scan. Very nice. It’s always so exciting to find yarn shops that have so much diffrent stuff. I will always have a deep love for Anacapa Fine Yarns and will buy my bulk from Louis, but it’s fun to go to new shops & buy more exotics & random skiens.  I walked away with some beautiful turquiose baby alpaca, some koigu in a very hollyhock pink & a deep egg plant purple, some noro sock yarn (which is already almost 1 sock), and some more pinky yarn which I can’t quite remember what it is. I will post pictures I promise :)

 They had Habu, I had never seen this in person before & it’s quite intriguing to say the least.

How can you not be stunned by the beauty of fiber? Diffrent colors and textures. It’s always so intoxicating for the senses.

Becky & Cheryl get comfy right away. Becky assures me that you can “Never take a nice picture”. So I clicked right away :) . (I have also come to the conclusion that my monitor at home is so much better than the one I use at work becaues this picture isn’t dark at all in real life).

After Wildfiber we headed out to Father’s Office which is a hole in the wall burger joint in Santa Monica Becky turned us onto & it was truely fabulous.

That’s the burger you get. Don’t you dare ask them to change it because they state clearly…

The service was as you would expect. They almost forgot Becky’s burger but it was all so tastey. After we were all refulled we window shopped a bit, & headed home.

But the fun was not over.

Sunday Matt and I cruised in the foothills of Ventura & dropped in on many an open house. We were obviously wasting the time of the agents because there is no way in hell we could afford the 1.5 million dollar homes we were poking around in, but man some of those views!  We also stopped in a few houses in our price range & it’s heartening to know that there are things out there that are not dumps that we can afford. We are still going to wait till summer though because we would like more of a down payment to secure better rates. Yeah I know, they say the rates are great, but you still have to qualify for those.

In knitting news I finished my leaf lace t-shirt. It looks fabulous & is currently blocking. Pictures to come soon. This week I am determined to get all my UFO’s off the needles.

To finish:

Dad’s Scarf

Pat’s Snail Mits (I think I’ve lost these in the house somewhere!)

Valpuri (Chugging along, 3/4 of a sleeve left!)

Step Ridged Shawl

One By One Scarf

Then after that I can cast on Maude :) Have a happy monday to ya all!

1441 days ago Short URL 5 Comments

california/Knitting

22

Feb

Announcement

*drags out soap box & lifts a mega phone to my mouth*

Can ya all hear me in the back? Yeah? Good.  Just to let you all know, comments that hurt my feelings or are not in the spirit of this blog will be deleted. Because ya know, I’m cool like that & have the blog abilities of GOD.  I will zap your little internety words into oblivion. They will go *Poof* & no one will be the wiser.  This also goes for the weightwatchers & diet blog stealers. You guys are screwed up. Stop stalking me, how many times do I have to delete your non-sense comments?

Snark is always welcome as long as you are funny about it. 

Deffintion of snark:

snark
verbal ingenuineness that is brief, subtle, yet quite stabbing. snark is often marked by deep creativity & use of psychological attack. It employs coldbloodedness and is best served unprovoked. Snark can contain hidden complimentary meaning under a mean face, but it hurts more than it strengthens.

usu found in adjective form: “snarky”: making use of snark.

“you looked at me like a snark while your head was extremely mentally blocked.”

1443 days ago Short URL 4 Comments

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22

Feb

Knitting News

There have been some smoking needles this week as I have randomly desided that I must finish this project in under a week. Why? I’m not quite sure.

Lace T-Shirt (pattern free on Ravelry).

Cascade 220 Wool.

Nothting all that special about this sweater. The lace pannel is nice & easy & the stockingknit requires absolutely no brain power what so ever. I probably will be done with this today.

Also I found THIS sweater which I think is beyond cute & totally with in my range of knitting very easily. So I’m going to keep that in the back of my mind for spring knitting. I have a few things that would like to be done first though :)

Next onto the needles is Maude (ravelry link).

Picture belongs to Diane Mulholland who created this lovely pattern.

How cute is this? I bought Rowan Cotton Glace in a vivid purple last night & hope to have this on the needles this weekend.  I think I even have the perfect buttons for this too :) CUTE! I used to always think that short sleeved sweaters were a wasted, that was until rusted root. I love that sweater so much that now my whole attitude has changed :)

 Tomorrow I am meeting up with Becky & Cheryl to head to Santa Monica & hitting up Wild Fiber. I’m quite excited as I think that these two ladies are quite the awesomeness :)

 

Also on a random side note, It’s starting to get a little annoying how people really dump on Minnesota & the Twin Cities & the midwest in general.  There was a lady at knitting last night that took it a little far & ended up looking like a jerk in my mind. Just because you are from the midwest does not mean you are stupid or uncultured.

 

1444 days ago Short URL 1 Comment

Knitting

21

Feb

Night & Day

Last night we had a lunar eclipse. It was neat. I am in need of a new better stronger lens that is roughly the size of Matt’s F150. Yes, that would be what I needed last night to do this natural wonder justice. “Hello, santa? Yes, I would like some glass as big as Matt’s F150 please. Don’t mind those starving children in africa, this is the  really important issue. Preita needs new glass.”

Yes the sky was this color last night. You’d think the world was ending, though it was not, because that would be exciting & exciting rarely happens to me.

is it weird that my eyes can barely look at this picture with out squinting?

See that tiny little “star” at the bottom right of this frame? Yeah, that’s Jupiter, neat huh?

Also here are some random pictures from Grant’s park in Ventura.

Overlooking the Channel Islands.

Told ya, Nothing special sunset wise. Matt and I have decided that we are going back to Sanibel Island this September though. Armed with new glass (Matt has decided that the best way not to fuck up presents, not that he ever has, is to do jewelry for christmas & lens’s for my birthday. Is he a keeper or what?!) I’m sure to get some even more amazing pictures than last year when all I had to my name was a kit lens. :)

But…it does go to show you that it’s the photographer not the lens (or even the camera) that takes great pictures. I did some major damage with a kit lens.  If you just got yourself a fancy new camera don’t let people talk down to you or tell you that you know nothing (and I know most people don’t deal with this, but I have and it makes you feel like crap).  With courage to whip out your camera at any oppertunity (yes it does take courage to randomly block traffic or crawl on a city side walk) and “Digital Photography for Dumbies” you have just taught yourself more than most photography schools could.

Photographed with a kit lens.

Also taken with a kit lens.

Also? photoshop is great, but if just cropping the picture doesn’t make it then it’s way to much work for me. I rarely spend time editing anything so all colors are produced as they were seen in person.

1445 days ago Short URL 5 Comments

california/photography/Picture/Pictures/thoughts

19

Feb

Eating Should Be An Experience, Not A Trial.

I know that I am not the only one watching what I eat and trying to loose a few pounds. I am also probably a lot like you, I won’t eat it if the “food” is obviously diet food. Also I have a husband I have to think about. He’s no small man & will only indulge me for so long. So what do you cook that will look like “real food”, taste like “real food” & is (the biggest winner for me) EASY. I’ve been going to weight watchers for a little less than a month. There are some things that I can appreciate with their meals, but others are just not practical.  Do they cover a subject of “Tasting like you are overindulging but really not & no one will be able to tell?”

No. Frankly they do not. So I’m going to.  These recipes are not invented by me, rather by Martha (Stewart, or most likely her Staff). They come from Everyday Food. And since I am on weight watchers I have broken them down into the weight watchers recipe calculator & give you the number of points per serving. Craziness huh?  So here is the first of probably weekly installments. 

Goat Cheese Ravioli With Parsley Sauce

POINTS® Value: 6
Servings:  2

Preparation Time:  30 min
Cooking Time:  30 min
Level of Difficulty:  Moderate
Course: main meals

Ingredients

  • 3 oz soft-type goat cheese
  • 1/4 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
  • 1 clove garlic clove(s)
  • 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp table salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 12 items wonton wrapper(s)

Instructions

in a small bowl use a fork to mash together goat cheese, ricotta, garlic and nutmeg until smooth; season with salt and pepper and stir to combine.
assemble ravioli and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper (if making ahead, cover ravioli with plastic wrap; refrigerate up to 1 day, then transfer ravioli to a large resealable freezer bag, freeze up to 1 month).
Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. reduce to a bare simmer. Drop ravioli into water, one at a time, stirring them gently to prevent sticking. Cook until al dente. 5-7 minutes. (Cooking time is same for frozen ravioli).
Using a slotted spoon, transfer ravioli to a paper towel lined baking sheet and arrange in a single layer to drain briefly. Divide between two plates, drizzle parsley sauce and serve immediately.
**Parsley Sauce**
In a small bowl stir together 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoon grated Parmesan and 1 teaspoon water. Season with salt and pepper.

1447 days ago Short URL 6 Comments

Recipes

18

Feb

Ilean, You Lean, We All Lean!

There is always knitting going on here at Casa Salyer.  

Pattern: Ilean (ravelry link)

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Sunset

US 7 strait needles

Mods: Only made it a bit longer than the pattern sugested, otherwise this pattern is perfect as is!

 

This is the most perfect 1 skien Malabrigo project. I love the easy lace pattern and the perfect diagnols. I love that this was knit flat & then seamed with a 3 needle bind off. Makes it much easier :) Next time I think I will end up casting on more stitches so that I can us an entire skien with out any left overs.

I am deffinately going to be making more of these since I have a surplus of random malabrigo skiens around.

(God my hair’s growing fast! I see now that I am in sore need of a hair cut!)

1448 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

Knitting

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