Most recent domestic activities

This winter I bought myself a hand blender for myself as a Christmas present. I bought this so that I could make soups and sauces. The first soup that I made was a wonderful broccoli cheddar soup, recipe from Deborah Madison's "Vegetable Soup". This is a great soup with a slight kick to it. That book has a number of wonderful soups. I have used the soup for two additional recipes:
Tomato bisque

lentil with chickpea (it was supposed to be farro and chickpea but I got the wrong thing)

I know that these soups may not look like anything special but they were damn good. I have to try more.

Aside from cooks I am still knitting. The cold weather this winter kind of inspired me to try something new. So I am working on my second lace project. It is a sampler called the Hanami Stole. I realized very quickly that this might not be the project for me. Ahhh. I messed up on the first pattern. Oh well. I still think that it looks kind of cool. That was really the only reason that I have not ripped anything back.

Since the weather was so chilly at least a couple of days this winter I decided to knit a scarf. The last time that I made as scarf was sometime during college. I made a eight foot long, basket weave and seed stitch scarf. I believe that after I made that scarf I vowed to never make another scarf again. But this year I really wanted a circular/moebius. Those things look so warm and you don't have to worry about tying any loose ends. I also thought that it wouldn't take very long because it would definitely be shorter than the first scarf I made. I am beginning to think that neck wear is the bane of my existence. Why you may ask? Well the patterns become tedious and boring. This is not a reflection on the pattern itself. Its all me. I am currently working on the 5th Avenue. It is a great lacy pattern that hides mistakes pretty easily. I really like how it is coming out. But I do need a little distraction. Since it is getting warm now I think that my goal is to finish by next Winter. I know that is really lazy, but hey, it's still a goal.

This year I made two winter hat. I usually don't make hats because I lose them. But this time I was not knitting it for myself so I am not terribly worried. I made another Nora Gaughan and I also made

a Raleigh Hills Hat. THAT came out cool. I don't usually make cabled beanies (I don't know why. I am not "anti-beanie). It was really fun making in and the yarn was nice to work with. I believe that it is Debbie Bliss "Fez". Which was a change from the Malabrigo that I am using for my other projects. I think that I will use the Fez again to make a hat for myself... maybe I will make one with a pom-pom on the top.

Hello! I have not given up blogging. I was on a bit of a hiatus due to working on my fiction writing for a class that I was taking. I know that it has been a while since I posted anything. But at usual I vow to post more often. Lets see if I can meet my goal of twice a month. I think that is a good number for a person who is not always the most busiest.

The Winter holidays were pretty fun. My family did Secret Santa for the first time. I think that, with the help of my family members, it went well and I hope that we will it again next year. I think that it will work better if I have everyone's email address. I got a wonderful gift certificate to YarnMarket.com. I feel like I should use the certificate wisely. I have hidden it from myself so that I don't buy sock yarn that I may never use. I would love it but I may never use it.

It was nice to see the City get all dolled up for Christmas. The Hyatt at the Embarcadero looked pretty good. Sure most of it were just some red and green lights but it still gave me warm fuzzies.




I also received a great knitting related gift from my boss. He bought me (i believe that he was advised by his knitting sister-in-law who apparently helped with the set up of Ravelry.com) great stitch markers from DragonLadyDesigns on Etsy they are really great looking. I am sort of afraid to use them because I worried that I might lose them. But they would look really nice on a work in progress.



During my winter break I finished a second Sunflower tam (forgot to take a picture) and worked on my 5th Avenue Infinity scarf (there is not much to take a picture of). I will do a WIP post sometime in the next few weeks.