Culinary Delights...

Well, not much news on the knitting front - still working away on that last pair of socks. Have been doing a bit of sewing though, making diapers for a friend that wants to try out cloth nappies. I'll post photos later - my favourite of the batch is a wild fabric, reminiscent of a Pucci print.

But as for the title, it refers to the fact that one of the local Chinese restaurants has started offering dim sum. Fan's is out in Dartmouth, and OH MY GOD is the food good there. I went there yesterday for the first time for dim sum (they've only been doing dim sum for the past 3 weeks) and I'm telling you...it was heavenly. Growing up in Toronto (where the chinese food is second only to Hong Kong), I know what makes for a good yum cha (= tea time, another name for dim sum). And Fan's has got it all down pat. For me, dim sum is comfort food - it takes me back to my childhood, as my family went for dim sum EVERY weekend when we were growing up. Not only was it an opportunity for our family to catch up, but it was also a way of connecting to our culture. I mean, who can pass up the little trolley deals that they've got going on?

I believe that the reason that Fan's has started offering dim sum on the weekends (Saturday and Sunday 11am - 2pm) is because they've hired a southern Chinese chef, whereas most of the chefs there were northern Chinese (BIG difference in the cuisines). So, I just wanted to say - GO next weekend to Fan's for dim sum. Hell, if anyone wants to go with me and get an insider's point of view on what and how to eat...gimmie a ring. I'll be there in a heartbeat.

Rounding third base...

I'm on my last pair of Holiday socks!


It's Opal Elemente, very nifty yarn. And in the background, I wanted to show you all Mr. Ninja's FO for the summer - Mr. Munchkin's pirate ship treehouse. My handyman did *real* good. It's got a ship's wheel, a rope ladder, a couple of cannons - one of which actually has an acorn shooting mechanism built in - and a periscope. And it's also got a proudly Canadian flag at the stern. (I think it's the stern...nautical terms get me confused.)

So, I have this pair of socks to get done, and then a hat for my lovely Mum. Thank goodness for CSI marathons on Spike - I've also been knitting and watching all of the bad Hallowe'en type movies that have been airing on tv lately...who knew that there were THAT many of them out there? Holy crap, was Van Helsing ever a mess of a movie. Tragic waste of Hugh Jackman's abs if ever there was one.

Anyway. A hat! My Mum decided that she'd much rather have a silk hat than silk stockings, so I'm off to the LYS today to scout out some Artyarns Regal. I hope Tangled Skeins still has some nice colours left. Last night, I was scouring Ravelry for hat patterns and happily contemplating knitterly freedom from holiday knits...when the baby kicked my spleen. Really hard. Looks like someone wants a handknit layette. Gah.

Knitting = Deaf?

What is with the number of people who make this assumption? In the past week, I've had two separate incidents of me happily knitting away in public and people commenting LOUDLY about that fact, as if the act of knitting renders me deaf. It's just bizarre. While the commentary wasn't offensive in and of itself...the very act of assuming that I can't hear what they're saying about me is rather rude, dontcha think?

It's been a busy week (hand's all better, thanks), as we had the 20 week ultrasound last Wednesday. Still don't know the baby's gender, but there were two arms, two legs, etc. So far so good. And ever since then, the baby has really started moving. I have a future kickboxing star on my hands, methinks. At least my poor insides feel that way...


As for crafting - made an emergency pair of mittens for Mr. Munchkin (holy crap, when did it get so cold in the mornings), finished spinning up some more BFL (Berry colourway from the Sweet Sheep), and completed another pair of Christmas socks. But I'm a little cheesed with these socks (Trekking Pro Natura - lovely bamboo to work with), as I've cast them off two times and yet the binding is WAY too rigid. I've tried casting off with larger needles twice (upping the ante each time), and that didn't work. So, I'm going to have to rip them back and try one of the methods listed here. Grr...

So far, am debating what to start knitting next. Hanami? Or the last of the adult sized socks? Hmmm.

The sound of one hand blogging...

So, happy turkey day to my fellow canucks! Myself, I'm not terribly pleased at the moment. Was making cranberry sauce, and in a moment of baby brain fog (apparently, I do have a brain slug attached somewhere in the vicinity of my liver), I put my left hand onto the hot stove element. Three blistered fingers. No more knitting, spinning, quilting, sewing or anything fun for a little bit.

Poo.

Anyone have any good movie recommendations for me to recover to?

The things I do for love...

Man, oh man.

So, one of Mr. Ninja's dearest friends is spawning. The buddy and his lovely wife are expecting a baby (they don't know the gender, as the kid was pole dancing with the umbilical cord when they did the ultrasound) in the early New Year. Late last night, I was thinking of them and wondering aloud about what we should send them for the new baby. I'm suggesting typical things like cloth diapers, burp cloths, etc. when Mr. Ninja suddenly gets an odd gleam in his eye.

Mr. Ninja: "A baby hat."
Me: "Oh, ok. That's easy." (starts humming happily as stash diving commences)
M.N.: "But not just any baby hat. A brain slug."
Me: "A what?"
M.N.: (excitedly) "A brain slug! A baby brain slug hat!"

For those of you not in the geek know, there once was a television show called Futurama. And lo, it was good. Alas, it was also cancelled after only 3 seasons. But it's one of the all-time favorite tv shows of myself, Mr. Ninja, his friend, and also of his wife. There were a few episodes featuring small creatures called brain slugs, which were parasitical organisms that fed off of brain wave energy. Or something like that. Here's a quote from a site selling toy brain slugs:

The Brain Slug is a parasitic alien life-form, consisting of a clear, carbon-based gelatinous material. This wily being requires a host body to survive, as it has no brain of its own (unfortunately, one attached itself to Fry's brain and subsequently died of starvation). Once attached, the brain slug controls all of its host's thoughts, turning them into a zombie-like creature incapable of emotion or intelligent conversation.

And here's a pic for you.



So, I sat myself down with a copy of "Ten Things I Hate About You" (delightfully fluffy and brain free watching), and using a base pattern from Itty Bitty Hats, I whipped this up last night.



Pattern adjustments include: picking up stitches around the base, and randomly casting off two stitches at a time. I then knit the flaps each separately (oy, the weaving in of ends). The eye is knit with a small short row to get the slightly puffy effect, and the pupil is a piece of wool felt that I had lying around and stitched on. I'm still debating whether or not to block the hat to get the flaps to lie down flatter.

I have a feeling that Mr. Ninja is laughing to himself when he thinks of the new parents putting the hat on the kid during a particularly drooly day and saying "Well, usually...we have a pretty smart baby. We blame the brain slug for the lack of coherent conversation." I can't wait to see his reaction when I show him this silly thing.

Magic Loop Tutorial!

At the request of a dear reader (*waves to La Cabeza Grande*), I'm posting a quick and dirty tutorial on the Magic Loop method of knitting in the round. I apologize in advance for the protruding belly in the majority of the photos - seems that the baby's already a ham for the camera. Well, that or it's the Haagen-Daas. Sorry about the delay in the post - I had a sock sitting on the needles and couldn't stop procrastinating enough to finish them until today. Ahem.

Required materials:
Circular needle (I'm using Addi Turbos, 2.5 mm and 32 inches long)
Yarn (duh)
Patience (if unavailable, ice cream, chocolate or alcoholic beverages are acceptable substitutes)

Step 1:

Cast on. For the purposes of this tutorial, I'm pretending to cast on for a pair of top-down socks. Personally, I love magic loop for toe-up socks as it makes the cast on even easier. So, cast on the total number of stitches required, all on one side of the circular.

Step 2:

Shove all of the stitches to the cord end of the needle that you just cast onto.

Like so. Count the stitches carefully, and find the midpoint of the row.

Step 3:

Carefully grab the cord at the midpoint (between two stitches), and pull it out so that it makes a loop. You will have separated the stitches in half with this loop - one half on the original cast on needle, and the other half on the cord.

Step 4:

Pull the looped cord so that the stitches are all on needles - half on the original cast on needle, and the other half on the previously dangling needle. You'll have two very pretty parallel rows of stitches.

Step 5:

Pull the original cast on needle towards the right - which will push the stitches that it was holding leftwise, and onto the cord. The cast on needle is now your working needle. You will be working on the stitches sitting on the needle in the "front" (the needle closest to your body).

Checking carefully for twisted stitches (go on, ask me how I know to be careful with this part), join the stitches for working in the round. Go ahead, stitch away until the end of the stitches on the needle. Turn your work in preparation for working the other set of stitches.

Step 6:

You'll have something that looks like this after you turn your work.


Take the needle that is now closest to you (the long one in front), and shove it backwards into the stitches so that you get two needles holding stitches in parallel. You'll have a big loop on the left side of the stitches again.

It should look something like this.

To continue knitting, gently yank the needle at the back of the knitting (furthest away from your body) to the right and start using it as your working needle. Knit merrily along until the end of the row, turn work and repeat the needle pushing and pulling process.

Hope that was as clear as mud.

Here's the socks that I just finished today - only 3 big pairs left and 1 small one for Christmas. These are standard men's socks. Admittedly with hellish amounts of ribbing. Knit up in Opal Dreamcatcher (Thanks for the yarn info, Ms. Yes - I had no idea what this stash find really was.)

In case you've noticed that I'm not weaving in the ends of the socks as I proclaim them to be "done", it's a bit of silly superstition on my part. It has to do with an old Chinese legend of an emperor, a talented painter and a magical paintbrush - but that's another story for later. This post is long enough. Yeesh.

But how can I resist Captain Jack? Yes, I know I'm about a week late for International Talk Like a Pirate Day...but I just found this yesterday. Must, must, MUST share with you all. Enjoy it. Once it gets past the initial cheesy factor, this video makes me laugh so very hard.

Quick hit.

Just checking in.

I finished the UFO Sheldon that I picked up at the KOL swap - and it was promptly claimed by Mr. Munchkin. He has been feeding Sheldon constantly. I did not know prior to today that stuffed turtles survive off a diet of fuzzy slippers. Amazing.

Second, ordered The Opinionated Knitter from Knitpicks, along with a few skeins of random yarn. (Apparently Sheldon needs a friend.) Holy crap - $30 for the book! Yeesh.

Third, documented my stash on Ravelry. I think that I need to stop buying yarn. I have so completely hit S.A.B.L.E. - but I blame my Mum...living with three (3!) yarn closets in my parents house may have skewed my perception of what a reasonable stash is. Harumph. I'm on there as bluenail, if anyone wants to add me to their list.

Over and out.