swamped

It’s the rare occasion that I don’t have some sort of something crafty/tasty/interesting going on in my life, but to be honest..I’m empty.  I didn’t even have time to shoot a picture today!

On top of regular weekly stuff, I have been spending the entirety of this week studying for two major exams I have basically back-to-back next week, one Monday night and one Tuesday night.  In fact, I plan to spend the entire weekend studying.  Hopefully I’ll get some knitting breaks in there!

Ummmmyeah I can’t even think of any cool Youtube videos or anything to show off.  WEAK.  I know.

one lonely mitten

I love this mitten!!  I just hope the second one isn’t half as tedious.

i made it

All of a sudden I feel like a read grad student, almost as though it came on overnight.  Today consisted of going to class at 830, powering through my (usually two to three days worth) homework in about 2 1/2 hours, and coming home at lunch to eat and study.  I didn’t put the books up until about 10.

Being productive again feels great, but damn is it exhausting.

what november is all about

After being spoiled by all of the quirky, well-priced groceries at Trader Joe’s for the past 3 years or so, I am seriously hurting without it.  I know it’s only a grocery store, but there were a lot of things that I purchased regularly there that I can’t get at the “normal” grocery stores.  I doubt they’ll be opening one up in Lafayette anytime soon, so for now I just do what I can.

This time last year, I really enjoyed buying TJ’s marshmallows and putting them in my coffee in the mornings.  This year I’m improvising.  I made my own!

They were actually pretty easy to make, and I guess they weren’t that bad to clean up after, either.  The only thing that was kind of a pain was having to use two separate mixers.  If I made them again, I’d beat the egg whites with the hand mixer, and do the rest in the stand.  They are definitely delicious!!  The recipe’s on the Food Network site here.

Despite the chilly rain and wind, this morning was so nice with two marshmallows in my favorite coffee!  :o)

beefy goat?

I remember back when I was maybe 12, I had a crush on this guy in my class who was from France.  I don’t remember a thing about him except that he was French, and that I stole his sandwich idea.  So you may feel free to pretend that this is classy and foreign and whatnot.  In any case, it’s simple and delicious.

YOU’LL NEED

• last week’s rye bread (don’t waste it!)
• roast beef
• goat cheese (I used the herb & garlic variety, but plain works just as well.)
• red leaf lettuce

Step 1: Rock out with the cheese.  I went for the cut-then-crumble method, but I’m pretty positive that spreading would work just as well.

Step 2: Meat & lettuce.  That’s it!  I told you it was simple.

Step 3: Assemble a meal and enjoy!  Note: Lay’s “Lightly Salted” chips are pretty decent, even if I mainly bought them because the pretty blue bag called out to me.  Also note: The jury’s still out on that Cherry 7Up Antioxidant.  I refuse to be held accountable if you hate it.

a winner!

Without further ado, the winner (chosen via random.org’s random number generator) is..

Karen in Toledo!

Thank you guys so much for playing!  Seeing all of the comments makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.  :o)

win it!

As promised, here’s the second yarn I dyed.

Now, go comment on yesterday’s post, so you can win this or the red/orange skein!  Hurry!  :o)

a second and a first

Today marks my blog’s second anniversary! Hooray! I love that my blogiversary falls right in the middle of NaBloPoMo..it feels almost like a month-long celebration of my happy little blog! :o)

In order to celebrate and thank everyone for reading, I will be hosting my first ever blog contest! Check out the prize below. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling me what you would make with the prize! I will close comments and randomly select the winner at 5PM EST this Sunday, November 15th. (Of course, feel free to comment if you’re not into yarn, too!)

Does anyone remember that one time that I got really crazy and bought a sweater at Goodwill, with the intention of reclaiming the yarn? Are people supposed to remember really trivial stuff that far back? 18 November, 2007: “..I picked up a really ugly sweater made with really great yarn for six dollars. I fully intend to frog it and dye it once I get time. It should be an adventure.” It’s more than fair to say that my experience with that ugly sweater has been an adventure!

This past summer, I finally got around to linking up smaller balls of sweater yarn into two large skeins. I washed it. It smelled. Weird.

That’s two skeins of worsted weight, about 200 yd each. I DYED THEM. Last night and tonight, I went crazy and finally got around to the final step of this ridiculously never-ending yarn project!! It was really fun, and I can see how yarn dyeing could become extremely addictive.

I think the coolest part is how the yarn soaks up all of the color and leaves the water clear. But at the same time, I believe everything but the dye stays in the pot! (I didn’t add sugar and drink it..but I did think about it. For the sake of not feeling like a weirdo, I am going to assume that others would think about this as well.)

The yarn I dyed last night is the orange/pink one shown above. (I thought that I might be able to give a better idea of the color next to green..it was hard to shoot accurately!) The yarn I dyed tonight is blue/green, and I will post a decent picture of it when it’s done drying. The contest winner will get to choose between them!

(Coincidentally, after planning this contest for a couple of weeks, I found out today that I was randomly chosen as a winner in Sister Diane’s Craftypod “Gave Away” for commenting about an awesome craft store experience! Go karma! I am absolutely shocked to have been chosen without even entering, and I just have to say thanks, especially to Pat at The Crafty Retailer for donating the gave-away prizes. I can’t wait to flip through that book!)

ocd

These thrummed mittens?  They’re killing me.  I finished one.  The top was too short.  I had to fold my hand a little when I put it on.  It wasn’t horrible, but it sure was less than ideal.  So..I decided to take it out and add some more.  No big deal, right?

As I’m in the process of reknitting the top, I realize that there is going to be an abrupt and weird change in color at the top of the mitten if I just continue with my new plan.  I could just do the same thing on the other mitten and call it a design element.  That would be the sane and easy thing to do.  Instead, with some crazy image of the perfect mittens in mind, I rip out the thumb as well.

After a mind-boggling evening full of swearing and maniacal laughter, I finally have the top done.  I haven’t started on the thumb yet, but that should be easy enough, since the first thumb was good, and I made note of how I made it.  But WTF?!  I think these mittens must be cursed because the top now seems a bit too large..

Maybe they’ll fit perfectly once I do the thumb.  If not, maybe I’ll just leave it.  Sure.  That’s it.

i got promoted

What I am about to say is going to sound horribly, ridiculously nerdy. You’ve been warned.

I went to a really great workshop today!!  Susan Butler, the author of Become the CEO of You, Inc. came to campus to speak to graduate students.  She gave a lot of good information about how to take control of your own life and take steps to achieve your goals.  As a first-year grad student, I feel like I’ve been thrown into the middle of this confusing, challenging transition in my life, so this workshop couldn’t have come at a better time.

I would ordinarily not even think to attend a workshop like this.  But I’ve read part of this book before, and it was really an inspiration to me.  (See?  I told you it was going to be nerdy.)  There are a ton of books like this out there, but this one is good.  A mentor of mine at Arizona lent me the book after I told him I was unsure of where to take my future.  I unfortunately had to return it before finishing, but this book was literally one of the things that helped me make the decision to go to graduate school!  Needless to say, Susan is a bit of a personal hero, and it was incredible to hear her speak and meet her in person.