Just how many…

bamboo spoons does one person need?

I apparently need more than most. As I unpacked my kitchen boxes when I moved earlier this year, I discovered several items of which I had multiples. My name is Mycki and I'm a kitchen gadget buyer.

Other things I found: three whisks (two exactly the same), four pie servers (two styles), three paring knives, three can openers, three bar boards, two scallop-edge slicers, three potato mashers, three slotted spoons, five nylon serving spoons, several spatulas (at least two exactly the same), and four bamboo tongs.

My kitchen is not very big and I can't help but think I would have more room if I get rid of my duplicate implements, but I have a feeling that I might need them someday!

Jumpin' Jellyfish!

I'm on vacation again. This time, I'm in Southern California. I came to visit my sis and to go to the Happiest Placed on Earth! The day we planned on going it rained (but it never rains in Southern California, right?) so we decided to go the the Aquarium of the Pacific. Can I tell you how much I'm mesmerized by jellyfish? This aquarium has several different varieties (?) of jellyfish. Also, not all of them are dangerous to people. The second picture above are moon jellies. Their sting is not enough to harm. Another thing I fell in love with during this trip are stingrays. I'll post a picture of them later. Right now I'm off to have Thai food with my other sister. Laters...

Harry Potter UK Cover Yarn Club

September: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

October: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

November: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban

These are the first three colorways of the first Sock Yarn club I've joined. I've been hesitating to join any clubs because you never know what you'll end up with. This club seemed like a safe bet because I know which colors would be used and I've seen other colorways by this dyer. There are a total of seven skeins I'll be receiving in this club. Each one is based on the cover of one of the Harry Potter books released in the UK. The cover art for those editions is vastly different than the US Scholastic versions. If you look closely at the ball band you can see a picture of the actual UK cover that colorway was based on. I am so pleased with my skeins so far. I think Dharmafey (Ravelry name) from Cosmic Fibers does an excellent job matching the dye colors to the cover art. She also includes a little extra something with each shipment. With my first skein I received an HP trading card, with the second I received temporary tatoos of all the covers, and with the third I received a matching stitch marker. I can't wait to see what I get next!

Time to Dye

This post goes out to Knitvicious! Cause she's tired of the lake...

Way back in September, I got together with a couple of fellow Chicks to try our hand at dyeing our own yarn. Okay, it was not my first or even fourth time dyeing yarn, however, it was my first time using the dip method and my first time dyeing a sock blank.

The top photo is the result of dipping the ends of a pre-wound skein into two canning jars, one with pink dye and the other with chestnut dye, then microwaving the whole shebang. Hot Stuff! (By the way, Felted I still have your jars) The resulting skein has a deep chocolate color fading to tan and then a vanilla middle and light pink darkening to a perfect strawberry ice cream color. Neopolitan!

The bottom photo is the sock blank. This was a little harder to dye than I supposed, but only because my dye bottles were leaking. You can see little spots of blue on the pink and purple sections. I had a pattern picked out for this yarn before I dyed it so you would think that now, being two months later, I would have finished this project and could post an "after" picture. You would be wrong.

I spent the rest of September finishing old projects and working on WIP's. I didn't want to start any new projects until I'd done something about my total WIP count. I can't seem to bring it under 13. (I haven't decided if that's good or bad luck) So, while I have finished some projects (Mystery Stole 3, Carmen sweater, Marie Antoinette sock #1, Baby Ripple Blanket) I did not start my socks in September.

For October, my focus was all Halloween... (check back for my next post)

A Little Vacation

Ever since I can remember, my favorite part of summer has been going to the beach. It was always the Pacific Ocean when I was growing up, but now that we live in Northern California, we are trying something different. (Besides, I did go to Dohene in So Cal a couple of months ago so I don't feel like I totally missed out this year!) We went to Lake Tahoe last week. It was a great getaway and the lake is gorgeous. We stayed in Tahoe City at a pet friendly place (because we took the dog). The room had a nice woodsy decor featuring black bears. There was a lovely grassy area leading to the beach across the road from where we stayed. I spent a lot of time there reading Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I got a sunburn my last day because I was so into the book I forgot to turn! Overall my time there was relaxing and I plan on doing it again, but the lake, no matter how beautiful, doesn't compare to my beloved Pacific!

Going Home

Who says you can't go home again? I recently went to visit my sister in Laguna Niguel and since Bakersfield is on the way, I stopped for a short (one hour) visit with my cousin. My mom was with me and she suggested we drive by our old high school. Yep, I went to the same high school (and junior high!) as my mom, exactly twenty years later. Above you can see one of my favorite spots, the East High Auditorium. I was in Drama (so was my mom, does the apple fall far from the tree?) so I have many fond memories of plays and musicals held there. I can still see the lines of people waiting for the doors to open. I can even remember snippets of conversations as we hurried by to get into our costumes and make-up. Oh, the memories!

In Da Hoodie

It's finished! I am completely done with my Neck Down Hoodie. The pattern is from Knitting Pure & Simple. I used fabulous Brook Farms Yarn wool and silk blend Four Play yarn and size 7 and 9 needles. It feels great on and I can't wait to wear it. You might be thinking I'll have a long wait for cool weather since I live in California, but not so! I work in a very cold office and so I'll be wearing it later this week...ahh! I started this project in March, soon after coming back home from Stitches West where I bought the yarn. I wove in the ends and attached the button on Friday. It was a pretty fast knit considering I didn't work on it for much of March and April. I recommend it to anyone that doesn't mind lots of knit stitch.