Sunday, November 30, 2008

Tejidos

I finally had a chance (or the inclination) to take pictures of some FO's.

Here they are:
This combo was part of my mom's birthday present, but since that is in Oct and now we're closer to Christmas, it is now part of her Christmas present ;-)














For the beret I followed instructions in The Complete Book of Progressive Knitting, very easy
fast. I used La Grand Mohair . Details are at Ravelry.

















My inspiration for the neck warmer was the Purl scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It's very easy, just K1P1 until you have the right length. I made it shorter and used some buttons to make it a nice neck warmer. The yarns I used were La gran Mohair, Bernat's Cool Crochet and some yarn that I got while in Paris (you can see it here). I love it! it's very easy, super warm and a great stash buster. I might have to make one for myself.


















This is another rainbow hat. It was knitted originally for my soon-to-be-born nice, but It came out a Little too big, so I decided to give it to Anna. She's one and a half years old and I think it fits her nicely. I'll knit a smaller version for the baby, because you know, she's not chopped liver ;-)
















The pattern is Lil' Devil Baby hat. The hat ended up having 2 sides, a mostly red side and a blue side. Anna really liked it and didn't want to take it off.



















I'm getting closer to my 100th post, yey! What should I do? Maybe a contest?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

looking for a post

Have you seen it? I'm looking for a post. I know I should post something, but can't somehow come up with an idea. I don't have pictures of my latest FO's and my brain is so fried from waking up at 3:40 for so many days that I can't really think of anything to post.
I can tell you about my day...
I woke up around 5am, a little later than usual because I had a medical appointment.
I left the house and was on time for my "procedure". It was not painful ( i thought it was going to be), but it wasn't pleasant either. That went pretty well. GAD!
After that we had breakfast at The Bad Waitress (for some reason I always call it the naughty waitress). The food is really good and we remember that we forgot to take my sisters there.
After that I went to work. I came in at 9am and started mixing scones (Orange + candied ginger), then I made a huge batch of chocolate chunk cookies, scooped them and started again with cherry oatmeal cookies. The place where I'm working (is it really working if you're not getting paid?) is fairly new, but becoming very popular. Everything is delicious!
I left at 2.30pm to catch a ride with a neighbor that works near by.
Got home, ate a sandwich with lots of onions and then watched Desperate Housewives and that's where I'm right now...
DH will get some take out (maybe spicy noodles) and we'll watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
We'll go to bed early and start all over again tomorrow.
How was your day?

p.s. now that I have reviewed my day I think that that I should be doing laundry and washing the dishes

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Chocolate extravaganza

Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the chocolate extravaganza for free...if you don't count the stress of having to make a chocolate sculpture to enter to the contest.
As part of one of my classes, we had to make a chocolate sculpture and enter it in the contest.

The theme was sports and we had only 2 days to make the sculptures.

There were several requirements that we had to meet, like height (16"), use of at least two colors, use of cut-out chocolate, molded and modeling chocolate.

I didn't put too much time into the planning and it showed on the final piece.

My piece had several "delicate" parts and I was adviced by my instructor to assemble it and put the finishing touches the day of the competition. I was told there was going to be tempered chooclate ready for us to use as glue, but there wasn't, and then... several parts of my piece broke. I guess it happens, and poor planning and execution add to the risk factors.

I don't think my piece was the best (far, far from it), but it wasn't the worst either.

I learned a lot and if I had to do it again I would change several things, but what can I do now, right?

Here's my piece. It's a soccer field with soccer balls ( I lost one and had to drop Mexico from the field), on top of each ball is a flag. Uruguay hosted the first world cup in 1932, USA hosted in 1994 and Germany hosted last in 2006. The next World cup will take place in 2010 and South Africa will be hosting.
The background was supposed to look like the logo for World Cup 2010, but I could not get all the pieces to stand right...I'm just happy that I had something to present. When the pieces started breaking, I told a friend that at least I had the big guy...and as soon as those words came out of my mouth... it broke!
I have no idea who won, but I'll update the post with a picture of that sculpture as soon as I know.
Tickets for the event were $25 and since we got to go in for free, we decided to walk around and get some of the freebies. My favorite was the Mayan Experience, it was delicious! it was like a liquid dessert, so chocolaty and decadent. Their Potion N.9 was also good, I can picture it with cookies, ice cream or as a very rich frosting on a cupcake.
There were lots of wine vendors giving free samples, but I didn't try them. I guess that If I had paid the full price I would have, you know, so it would be worth it ;-)
Have you had your chocolate fix today?

Friday, November 14, 2008

I spy

This is what I'm doing on a Friday night. DH is having dinner with residency candidates and I'm waiting for Ghost Whisperer to start on TV (I think she'll wake up and everything will be a nightmare).


















I spy, I spy with my little eye...an UFO!

* Hat to match boots

I spy, I spy with my little eye...a barley drink

*Newcastle brown ale

I spy, I spy with my little eye...a guy drinking coffee

* Sam from Private Practice

I spy, I spy with my little eye...a free magazine subscription

*Ready Made magazine

I spy, I spy with my little eye... a relaxing friday night

* After my first week of internship

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Abril is...

-Knitting a scarf for mom (Purl scarf from Last Minute Knitted gifts)

- Listening to Brisinger

- Waiting for Eclipse

- Watching Friends (season 2) & Sarah Connor Chronicles

- Waking up at 4 am for 3 weeks

- Going to the Chocolate Extravaganza

Monday, November 10, 2008

Thanks for visiting us!














My sister and my friend Ali decided (finally!) to come and visit us for a few days.
We had a lot of fun. We made bread (focaccia, oh-so-good!), I made Tarte tatin, we shopped, drank beer, but mostly we just enjoyed each other's company.
Gracias por visitarnos!!! No se tarden en regresar.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Practicas

Manana empiezo mis practicas de reposteria. Tengo que acumular 120 hrs y el lugar donde las voy a hacer no paga a sus "internos".
Estoy un poco ansiosa y a pesar de que me tengo que levantar muy temprano (5am) no me puedo dormir y aqui estoy navegando la red.
Deberia de poner a tejer la bufanda de mi mama, esa que le voy a hacer para que haga juego con la boinita que ya le teji (lo que me recuerda: tomar fotos de boina).
Tengo muchos proyectos de tejido en mi lista. Por un momento pense que podria tejer regalos de navidad para todos, pero recupere la cordura y me di cuenta que me quedan poco menos de 6 semanas para compeltarlos. Decidi que mejor me llevo los proyectos a Suiza y los tejo mientras este visitando a mi hermana.
*nota a mi hermana: los de ustedes si los voy a llevar hechos ;-)

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Greenery Hat



















Today was cold enough to merit wearing a hat. I snapped this picture of DH as we were leaving for schools this morning ( I know, it sucks to go to school on a Sat., but I'm done!)
The pattern is Greenery Hat, knitted in Fishermen's Wool. I used 5mm (8US) needles.
I did about 4" of the ribbing pattern . The pattern is written line by line, which is nice because I don't know how to read charts. After a while the knitting gets pretty intuitive.
I like it , he likes it and we're all very happy.

Friday, November 07, 2008

What?

Apparently I didn't realize yesterday that it WAS already Thursday! It snowed today for most of the morning, but there was no accumulation and it didn't get that cold, so the hat is still unused.
Today was my last day of production class. In this class we pretend to have a bakery and we make products to sale to faculty, staff and students. Each week we take turns to be the "manager". It was very hectic, but fun. Tomorrow we get to finish our sugar sculptures ( I promise there will be pictures later) and Monday I start my internship. I need 120 hrs, so it will take me about 3 weeks. After that I only have 3 weeks to get ready for my trip! It will probably take me that long to pack.
I forgot to write about a beret I made for my mom (this is just a remainder for myself, he he he)

p.s. post without pictures are no fun :-(

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Me ganaron...

My sister posted pictures of the Baby Surplice jacket that I made for my soon-to-be born niece. You can see them here.
I finished DH hat. It turned out very nicely, just in time for the first real snow ( maybe this Thursday?). Haven't taken pictures because the sun hasn't come out in days. This weather reminds me of the weather in the little town of Forks, from the Twilight saga...I know, don't judge me, I've been sucked in.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

History in the making...

This is huge and just being alive to witness it gives me goosebumps.

"Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz"

Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.
Benito Juarez
1806-1872

Monday, November 03, 2008

NoBloPoMo

I know I already missed a day, but still, in the spirit of NoBloPoMo here's a list of things I have on my needles (sorry, no pictures, only links)

Juliet I started this almost a year ago (can it be that long?). I ran into some problems because I substituted the original yarn and my gauge was much , much smaller.

Phiaro Technically off the needles, but still need to hide all the ends and braid the fringe. I didn't use a pattern, I kinda figured it out myself , very easy mindless knitting.

The Greenery Hat This is for DH. I'm using Lion Brand's fishermen's wool in brown. I really like it, hopefully it will be done before it snows... for real (ok, it has snowed, but it was mostly rain and it didn't accumulate)

I know I have lots of UFO's but I can't recall names or yarns...I'll leave that for later.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Feliz Dia de los Muertos


















before....



















Yum!

I have lots of knitting to share, I promise it will be soon!