One Skein Wonder is done!

Wow, all you people who made this already are correct - this is fun! I picked up some Brown Sheep Co. Lamb's Pride Super Wash at a LYS clearance sale for about $3. I bought the purple you see here and a lovely sunflower yellow color (OSW #2?)

I haven't blocked it but to be honest, I probably won't. It's such a tight fitting item, I don't think it needs it (honest opinions on this are welcome!)


Anyway, this is a very easy pattern and is available here for $3.75. I started knitting about a week ago. It probably took me 5-6 hours (I'm a slow knitter!) I had hoped to get this done in time to wear with my little turquoise dress that I wore to our Caribbean party Saturday night but not quite.

Classic comment from the husband: "Is it going to get bigger?"

Ok, back to my Sitcom Chic cardigan ("which is a bigger sweater, sweetheart.")

Caribbean Dinner Club - the day after

Whew! My neighborhood dinner club met at our house last night for a Caribbean fest! It was great fun. I planned the menu and distributed recipes to the 6 couples. Food was great and company was terrific! Here's the menu:

Mojitos (Cuba) & Pina Coladas Coconut Shrimp With Tamarind Ginger Sauce Sir Clifford's Conch Salad (Bahamas) Jerk Pork Tenderloin (Jamaica) Pineapple Cole Slaw (Bahamas) Coconut Red Beans and Rice (U.S. Virgin Islands - St. Thomas) Bajan Sweet Bread (Barbados) Banana Flambé with vanilla ice cream (Martinique)

The pictures show before, during, and after. LOL! Can you see the cute little flags stuck in the candles? That's how everyone was assigned seats - they picked a flag out of a "hat" and matched it to the table setting. That's me in the turquoise dress (I swear my butt isn't really that big - it's the angle. No really, I'm just saying....) Unfortunately, my husband is missing from the photos (he was taking the photos) along with several other guests who were assisting with the flambe-ing or making after dinner drinks - manhattans and such.

Lots of knitting ..... nothing to show for it

This has been a productive knitting week. Attended oldest daughter's college orientation and much to her embarrassment, I knit through quite a few of the sessions. As a result, I finished the 4th straight section of my Clapotis (love that Lion and Lamb yarn!!) and am about halfway through the second sleeve on my Knitty Sitcom Chic. But it would be boring to post pictures cause it's still in process .... so I won't!

On the cooking scene, my good friend Linda is out of town so her husband (Charlie) had dinner with us tonight. He's another foodie kind of person, so we decided to experiment and made cedar planked salmon. Hubby went to Home Depot and purchased an 8 foot piece of untreated cedar and cut it down to the size we needed. Soaked it all day.... But alas, hubby cooked the glaze just a tad too long..... turned into burnt maple taffy! We persevered and planked the ole fish anyway. Lots of steaming and smoking and burnt cedar smellin' later, we had a delicious smoked salmon. Charlie and I tried to salvage the maple glaze to save hubby's feelings but egads! it was burnt for God's sake. LOL! We will definitely do the cedar plank thing again. Very tasty!

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Another quiz! Am I in junior high, or what?!

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who have a split personality - cold as ice on the outside but hot as fire in the heart.

In love, you feel the most alive when your partner is patient and never willing to give up on you.

You'd like to your lover to think you are flexible and ready for anything!

You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please.

Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage something you've always wanted... though you haven't really thought about it.

In this moment, you think of love as commitment. Love only works when both people are totally devoted.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Where I've been

How cool is this! Here's a map of all the places I've been in my life. I've obviously skipped over the west. What's up with that?

create your own personalized map of the USA

Cocktail Napkin humor

Does anyone else love cocktail napkins like I do??? I have packages and packages of them cuz I love them so much. Well, look at the one my friend had at her house last night. This is so me! LOL!

Shaken..... not stirred

The Good and The Bad..... and knowing when to say ribbit!

The BAD..... I tried. Oh boy, I tried. I asked everyone I know about the clapotis in the pastely colors (see monstrosity on the right side of picture). No one.... not even the people who don't know me very well and oughta be trying to salvage my feelings would say "Bonnie, it's a LOVELY clapotis." Nope. The best I got was a bunch of stammering and stuttering. (The worst was outright laughter.) So I will be frogging said creation......

But the good, OH SO GOOD!!! After "saving" SO much money at the Knit Happens going out of business sale, I splurged on some Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb yarn for a replacement clapotis. I found a beautiful colorway called iris garden and someone had 3 skeins for sale on ebay. I wish everyone could feel this yarn. It is scrumptious! I started the clapotis this morning. And I think everyone will agree these colors are more my style!

Menu Planning

I just notice someone's blog who also plans their meals for the week. If I didn't plan my meals, I'd spend 1/2 hour in front of the freezer every night wondering what to make before hustling the family off to a restaurant. I can even get my kids to help when I have it planned out!

Here's what I planned for this week:
Sunday:
Grilled beer can chicken
Red Skin mashed potatoes
Steamed green beans
5 cheese mac & cheese (for vegetarian daughter and eldest daughter who just had wisdom teeth pulled)
Macadamia-white chocolate chip and chocolate-chocolate chip cookies (cheated - from freezer dough)

Monday:
grillled brats & metts
cabbage au gratin

Tuesday:
Chicken Asian noodle salad
Asian cucumber salad (from Costco)

Wednesday:
Mexican short ribs, shredded & rolled in tortillas
Black beans with cilantro
Rice

Thursday:
Leftovers!

Friday:
Take out Pizza

I also made some awesome granola for breakfast (thanks, Linda - great recipe!!!) and some broccoli cheese soup for wisdom-teethless daughter.

Sitcom Chic Progress

Spent about an hour and a half on the cardigan over the weekend. Here are the results:

Time for a cat shot

I've noticed most knitters are cat people (as am I!) So here are some shots of our 3 cats and my son.

Knit Happens - Going out of Business!

A LYS is going out of business - owners moving to Florida. I went two different times and bought lots of goodies! I picked up a set of Denise Circular needles, a sock book, a scarf pattern set, some bulky yarn to make a big sweater, feltable yarn for my secret pal who likes to make felted purses, a couple cute baby patterns, and lots of fun yarn!

My Secret Pal strikes again!

Check out this beautiful yarn that my SP5 sent me. It's a combination of mohair, glitter and a fringy yarn. She sent instructions for what sounds like a lovely scarf. I can't wait to start it!!!!

By the way, she lives somewhere in England so if you're a praying sort, join me in prayer for her.

New Clapotis

Well, here's my second Clapotis. I'm really not crazy about the color of this yarn. It looks like a baby blanket. Can't decide whether I should continue or not. The yarn itself is a lovely soft merino wool from handpaintedyarn.com but ick on the color.

My Soleil is Finished!

Here are two shots of my Soleil. Not the most flattering shot of me (major bad hair day!!) but what the heck - it is what it is!! The blocking shot makes it look like it has white marks - but it doesn't. I'm very happy with my first fitted knit item. A little big in the armholes but that's ok. I wore it to work today with a white lacy camisole underneath it. I used Classic Elite Flash in Crocus. It's a periwinkle blue with a darker purpley color marbled in. I love the color.

Thank you SP5!!!

Look at my goodies! I received a lovely package from my secret pal. She's in England and send me some beautiful cashmere yarn and a felted bag. Both are in shades of purple - my favorite! Oh and a beautiful lace shawl pattern. Thanks Secret Pal!!

Blooming Water Lilies

The lilies in our pond are so beautiful right now! We have white, yellow, pink/white and bright magenta. My favorite thing to do is sit outside in the morning with my coffee and listen to the waterfall and the frogs croaking.

T-Shirt Pillow Front

This is what it said on the front of the T-shirt and the lion picture is on the back.

T-Shirt Pillow

I had planned to make my daughter a quilt for her high school graduation out of school t-shirts but couldn't find enough t-shirts. Instead I made her a pillow from one t-shirt. The plaid border is the same fabric from her uniform skirt. Cool, huh?

Knitters are such nice people!

In my short knitting phase, I have met the nicest people who are knitters. Some I've "met" online and have always been so impressed with the number of people who are willing to share their time to help a fellow knitter with a request. Others I've met in person through a pop-up knitting group. Great group of people that I never would have met if we didn't share an interest in knitting.

So why am I gushing? Well, I just finished wrapping the first package to send off to my secret pal for SP5 I had emailed Bob (one of the people in my knitting group) to see if I could order some of his gorgeous stitch markers to send to my secret pal and mentioned that my SP liked fairies and the color purple (among other things.) So check out the photo..... Bob finds a cute little votive with a fairy on it in the color purple and picks it up for me! And then, his partner Jeff makes me an adorable little fairy from wire and silk flowers. Are they too nice, or what???? I'm sure my SP will love them, too!

Here's a picture of the projects I've been working on. I am almost done my Soleil top. All I have left is to crochet the edges and block it (I can't remember how to crochet!) I'm so excited about this project. It's the first fitted item I've knit and it actually fits me! I can't wait to wear it.

I also started another pair of socks. I am trying out Cascade Fixation in a purple varigated color and I like it a lot. The pattern is Knitty's Broad Ripple Sock. Cute pattern and not difficult at all:

The pink and white triangle is a dishcloth I started last night. I was just in the mood to do something quick.

Oh and the little packages? The first shipment to my Secret Pal!! Shhhhh......