Omg I Swatched!

Yes, I actually swatched - shocking, isn't it? And of course it's the one thing I don't have a picture of :P I swatched for the Hooded House Coat out of the book Knitting At Home by Leanne Prouse. I have a bunch of Cascade 220 in a rather flat grey colourway that I picked up at Wendy's Canada Day sale for a song. I thought I was going to make the Book Exchange Cardigan out of Nancy Marchant's Knitting Brioche but I just couldn't grow to love the colour for that project. My only problem has been that while I'm very close for the stitch count over 4" (20 sts/4" and I got 19 - easy to fix for me, because I was trying to knit a little looser than usual, so I don't have to worry about that apparently) I'm a fair ways off on the row gauge, which is 24 rows/4" and I got 28. So. What to do, exactly. I can go up a needle size and still be okay for the stitch count, but will that be enough to get the proper row gauge. Ponder, ponder... Yes, I know the answer is to swatch again, and I will, but I was a little cranky with those results so instead I went on to another project :D

That would be this baby :D

It's a very simple pattern from the book Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders, edited by Judith Durant. It's the Horizontal Rib Hat pattern, and it's great. So easy and quick, I knocked it off in four days, mostly at work on my layovers. I do think that next time I'll put in one extra repeat of the main body rib pattern, but this is for a friend and I think she has a smaller head than I do. Not as much hair, certainly, since she keeps hers shorter :) I wound up only using a little more than half the skein of yarn that it called for, so with what's left over I'm going to try another pattern from the same book, the Woven Fingerless Gloves, to go with the hat.

Also in the works is B sock of the Snooty Mustard Socks for himself :) This is a pic of A sock, just a basic vanilla sock recipe with the stitch pattern King Charles Brocade for interest.

Little miss, wondering why I'm bugging her when she's trying to snooze on the new cushion we got from Costco today. Little dog, big cushion, you know the drill. It's meant for Boo, the golden retriever, because she's getting older and lying on the ceramic tile all day she gets stiff and sore when she tries to get up so we got her one of these for her to lie on instead.

This is Suzi, I'm looking after her for a few weeks while my ex is on a motorcycle trip to the East Coast. She's so adorable - I just want to keep her but somehow I think he would object ;)

Yes, this is a picture heavy post, but really, it's worth it :D I had a basket of peaches that I got the other day and decided to make peaches and cream ice cream with my lovely little Cuisinart ice cream maker that I bought about a month ago. Three cups of peaches with a cup of sugar and a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice.

The blending and freezing process :D om nom nom nom...

I got some new yarns the other day - this one is fairly thick, for boot socks the lady at the store said, but I think it would make some nice gloves or mittens myself.

Blue Moon Socks That Rock Lightweight - love love love this purple - soooo pretty! No idea what it's going to grow up to be, but I'm sure it will tell me :)

Self striping jacquard yarn, at least according to the illustration on the side of the ball band, but I'm thinking maybe another Horizontal Rib Hat would be nice.

And last but not least, two of the four Treasury volumes from Barbara Walker. They seem to be getting harder to find, and there was only one copy of each there, so I figured I'd jump on them before they got away. I have some new yarn from a destash that's called Angry Dragon, it's a lovely bronze colour with silver in the yarn and I'm looking for a stitch pattern to make them into appropriate socks for ME! :D

 

So that's it for now, I suppose :) Dinner has to be made soon, steak on the grill with candy salad on the side and maybe some potatoes or noodles, I haven't decided. I was going to boil some corn but I didn't buy any today so that's out. And of course, there's the peaches and cream ice cream for dessert :)

In case you're wondering what candy salad is, here are the directions:

Greens of your choosing - I usually use spring mix

Raspberries, strawberries, peaches or any soft fruit you love

Soft goat cheese, aka chevre

Raspberry vinaigrette

Honey roasted cashews 

All ingredients to the amount you wish to eat, if it's a full meal, then use more, side salad use less. I make the plates individually and cover the plate with the greens, then use up the berries because I love them and I figure they're better for me than some other things I eat. The cheese adds a lovely savoury counterpoint to the sweet of the berries and the dressing, and the nuts add some wonderful crunch. I don't always use the nuts in the salad, only if I happen to have some in the cupboard and I remember them.

Anyway, now I'm hungry, so I'm off to make dinner. Have a great weekend!

C.